Many years ago, overclocking was not limited by Intel/AMD like nowadays. As it is usual, when they see they can make extra money from the consumers by limiting their features to those who pay more, they don't hesitate to take advantage of that. In the last years, the Intel made it a little bit "impossible" for those who want to buy a CPU with unlocked multiplier. Intel was limiting that feature to the Extreme Edition CPUs. AMD took this as an opportunity to approach consumers with a feature their competition wouldn't give and so the AMD Black Edition CPUs appeared. AMD has been kindly enough to offer Black Edition products for each segment in the market, and that means you can find a BE (Black Edition) CPU for less than $100. Intel is striking back with a pair of new processors which feature an unlocked multiplier without the $999 tag. Today, Benchmark Reviews will analyze the Intel Core i5 655K Unlocked CPU which basically is a Clarkdale based 2-cores/4-threads processor with Intel HD graphics and specially aimed at overclockers. Is the unlocked multiplier good enough to pay that little extra or isn't it worth it? Is it better to overclock with multiplier or should I to raise the BCLK? Those answers and more will be covered as Benchmark Reviews tests the Intel Core i5-655K Clarksdale processor, model BX80616I5655K.

Antec has been around for a long time. Chances are, if you enjoy building your own computers or even tinkering with them, you have heard of Antec. They make a myriad of components and accessories for a wide range of computer users. One of the areas in which Antec has always had a strong presence is computer cases. Many of their enclosures have received very high marks from all across the industry, earning them a lot of recognition in the computer world. In the summer of 2010, Antec released a new line of computer cases known as the Dark Fleet. In this article, Benchmark Reviews is taking an in-depth look at the Antec DF-30 Mid-Tower Computer Case. At right around $100, the DF-30 represents the most inexpensive case so far in the Dark Fleet line. We will be exploring the DF-30 Mid-Tower Case to see if it stands up to the name Antec has worked so hard to earn.

Why do we overclock? It's really a very simple question, but one that has found new meaning over the years. It used to be that computer hardware enthusiasts had very few options when it came to choosing a processor, and building your own custom system was simply not possible. This was back in the day when computers featured a 'Turbo' button, overclocking from 33 to 66MHz was a click away. Back then, overclocking the CPU could push clock speeds past any production level. Today the market is different, and overclocking the processor could result in very little additional performance. With so many dual-, quad-, and hexa-core processors now sold on the open market, overclocking has transformed itself from a tool to help people work faster, into a hobby for enthusiasts. Enthusiast overclockers demand only the best performance from their computer hardware, which is why the aftermarket heatsink industry is thriving with fierce competition. Benchmark Reviews tests the latest Intel LGA1366 heatsinks in this Best CPU Cooler Performance Q2-2010 article.

The AMD 880G Northbridge and SB850 Southbridge are two of the latest bits of chipset silicon designed to bolster AMD's position in the mainstream PC market. They were released about a month apart this Spring, as part of a full line of 800-series chips, and ASUS wasted no time putting them into production. Key items that help make the M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 motherboard stand out are native support for SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.0, and AMD's latest game changer, the Phenom II X6 CPU. With both Core Unlocker and Turbo Unlocker functionality built right into the board, this combination could be the magic ticket to dynamic-clocked, quad core processing on the cheap. Benchmark Reviews is pleased to review one of the latest ASUS motherboards, using the latest entries from AMD's new 800-series chipset.

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 460 1GB-GDDR5 graphics card empowers DirectX-11 video games to deliver unmatched geometric realism at the $220 price point. Based on the same Fermi architecture that powers their high-end GeForce GTX 480 model, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 delivers mid-range performance for gamers on a budget. The GeForce GTX 460 comes armed with NVIDIA's GF104 Fermi graphics processor, and packs seven Streaming Multiprocessors for a total of 336 CUDA Cores and 56 Texture Units. In this article Benchmark Reviews tests 3D video game frame rate performance on the 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 video card, and compare our results against the most competitive graphics products in the segment. NVIDIA's 1GB GTX 460 price tag fits in nicely between the $200 Radeon HD 5530 and $250 GeForce GTX 465, but could deliver more performance for the value. In the following pages, Benchmark Reviews demonstrates how well the GeForce GTX 460 performs against these other DirectX-11 video card products.

ProlimaTech, the company behind the award-winning and record-setting heatsink, has released a successor to the overclocking throne: the ProlimaTech Super-Mega heatsink cooler for Intel CPUs. The Megahalems was ProlimaTech's first run at CPU-cooler's, and a very successful one at that. Having already earned the Benchmark Reviews Editor's Choice Award and countless accolades from other websites, ProlimaTech has built high expectations with their follow-up products. The Super Mega is ProlimaTech's plan to remain seated comfortably at the top. In this article, Benchmark Reviews examines the ProlimaTech Super Mega heatsink and compares performance results directly against the original Megahalems design.

GIGABYTE has grown a lot in the market lately. They mainly produce top-notch quality motherboards and GPUs, and they have even entered new areas as well. We couldn't say they had a specific motherboard for each user until they finally released their Mini-ITX H55N-USB3 motherboard. Last year, Mini-ITX motherboards meant low CPU-performance. But in 2010, things have changed and now you can build a very small PC with great performance and good efficiency. Benchmark Reviews tests the GIGABYTE H55N-USB3 motherboard paired with an Intel Core i3 530 processor and 4GB of RAM to check which kind of performance we can expect from a Mini-ITX HTPC system like this one.

When we last tested an ASRock HTPC, it was the ION 330 AMCP7A HTPC armed with the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M GPU. Now equipped with Intel's Core i3-330M 2.13GHz dual-core mobile processor and Intel GMA HD integrated graphics on an ASRock HM55-HT mini-ITX HM55-Express motherboard with 4GB of DDR3, Benchmark Reviews tests high-definition video playback and gaming performance for the ASRock Core 100HT HTPC system. The latest updates add SuperSpeed USB-3.0 functionality for attached storage devices, and THX TruStudio PRO technology to deliver a realistic audio experience. Other additions come in the shape of a wireless media center remote control, and uncompressed digital HDMI audio/video output.