SilverStone has announced new models for its Essential series of PSUs, which aim to bring quality to a lower pricing level than the more premium offerings, and allow SilverStone to cater to the high-volume market at the same time. These PSUs are Sirtec-made, and do cut some corners in order to address some aggressive pricing targets. Case in point: SilverStone rates these PSUs for 40ºC operation, a full 10ºC lower than the ATX specification defines, and includes only a few protections, namely Over Power, Over Voltage, and Short Circuit. The lacking OTP (Over Temperature Protection) would seem to be the best feature for such a model with a lower-rated operating temperature, but alas, this is what SilverStone offers.

The ET-550B, ET-650B are 80 Plus Bronze certified, and their +12V rails can deliver 504 and 600 W respectively. Their combined +3.3, +5V rating stands at 110 W for the 550B, and 120 W for the 650B. The cabling is fixed on both options, black-braided, and cooling is taken care of by tour average 120 mm Sleeve Bearing Fan. The PCIe connectors stand at 2x PCIe (1x 6+2 pin, 1x 6 pin) for the ET-550B, while the ET-650B doubles that amount to two of each. The dimensions stand at 150 mm (W) x 86 mm (H) x 140 mm (D). European pricing seems to be the sweet spot for these PSUs, with the 550B coming in at around 53,50€ and the 650B upping the ante to 60,60€ (prices excluding VAT, however.) In the US, I don't expect these to sell well if they keep their pricing, where the 650B currently retails for $90.Source: Tom's Hardware

be quiet!, the market leader in PC power supplies in Germany for eleven consecutive years, announced its latest ATX case, the Pure Base 600 Window. Meeting customer requests, be quiet!'s new all-rounder case includes a detachable tempered glass side panel and is available in an all-black design, as well as black with orange highlights. The stylish windowed side panel is also available separately for those who previously purchased a Pure Base 600 case and want to upgrade the case's design.

Cherry GmbH, the German-American computer peripheral-device maker best known for its mechanical keyboard switches, has announced a new addition to their Silent line of switches. The new Silent Black switches join the company's Silent line-up of Silent Red, Silent RGB Red, and Silent RGB Black. Cherry MX Silent switches are not particularly new, but until now, they were limited to linear Red switches, and were used exclusively on Corsair products (such as the STRAFE RGB Keyboard). Now, though, Corsair's exclusivity has come to an end, leaving other companies free to implement the Silent switches onto their own keyboards.

The "silent" operation is achieved via a rubber pad which dampens the sound of both the switch bottoming out and the rebound noise. Otherwise, the switches' specifications are identical to those of their non-silent counterparts. It's also worth noting that both Red and Black switches are linear, meaning there's no extra click within the key travel. The Silent Black switches are specified for 60 cN +/- 20 cN actuation force (against the 40 cN of their Silent Red counterparts), 2mm +/-0.6 pretravel, 4mm /-0.4 actuator travel, <5 ms bounce time, and are rated at 50 million key presses.

Finally putting the lid on all of ASUS' leaked and detailed motherboards, comes, the PRIME Z270-A, which doesn't belong to a special, bang-and-whistle-filled product line, and is just concerned with getting the job done. It clads itself in a simple and appealing white and gray color-scheme, and is expected to keep most of the important features in ASUS' more expensive product lines.

The PRIME Z270-A comes with ASUS' 8+2+2 Phase Digital power design, fed by an 8-pin connector, that features 10K black metallic capacitors, MicroFine Alloy Chokes, NexFET PW (Power) block MOSFET and DIGI+ Power Control Utility for real-time adjustment, courtesy of the new ASUS Extreme Engine Digi+ technology that improves CPU stability and overclocking. It features four DDR4 DIMM slots that can support up to 64 GB of memory with speeds of up to 3866 MHZ (O.C+), and expansion slots on the motherboard include three PCIe 3.0 x16 (x16/x8/x4 electrical), four PCIe 3.0 x1 and dual M.2 slots that deliver up to 32 GB/s transfer speeds, with the PCIe slots being armored for higher resistance.

Mushkin Inc., a leading designer and manufacturer in high-performance computer innovations and solutions, unveils new additions to its already-powerful Stealth and Redline memory series. The latest models for the Stealth and Redline series will offer speeds of 2800Mhz. Both releases will come in DDR3 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB memory kits with 12-14-14-35 latency at 1.65V.

The Stealth memory line is a sleek matte black designed with value and performance in mind without compromising quality. Redline is distinctive for its iconic red ridgeback heatsink that leaves room for greater overclocking potential. Computer enthusiasts will be capable of efficiently overclocking their memory to even greater speeds for the ultimate high-performance machine.

PNY Technologies, Technologies, considered one of a worldwide leaders in Memory and Flash products, announced its authorized HP portable hard drive p2050/p2100 to take care of your portable data storage requirements. It sports a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 port that supports speeds up to 4x faster than USB 2.0, thus saving you a lot of time while transferring data. Of course, the drive is backward compatible with USB 2.0 and can therefore be used with older computers. With a single USB port, it doesn't require a separate power cable, thus saving you the trouble of carrying along a power adapter.

The drive has a unique book-style design that lends it elegance and it won't look out of place if you stack several on top of each other in a bookshelf. The casing is made of durable aluminum and has a nice brushed finish. The slim drive is light and portable. Encased within is a 2.5" hard drive, usually found inside laptops, running at 5400 RPM. Available capacities are 500 GB and 1 TB, thus providing ample storage space for your data.

Cooler Master launched the K380 value gaming chassis, the first of many K-series cases which feature a hint of HAF DNA. The ATX mid-tower measures 209 x 479 x 445 mm (WxDxH), weighing about 4.7 kg, and is made of SECC steel and matte-black ABS plastic, in addition to its large acrylic side-panel window. Its storage area includes three 5.25-inch drive bays, two exposed and five discrete 3.5-inch bays, a 3.5-to-2x 2.5 adapter comes included. Ventilation includes a red LED-lit 120 mm front intake fan, a 120 mm rear exhaust, a 120 mm side-panel fan, and one each on the top and bottom. Its front-panel features a space to put your smartphone (it isn't a drive-dock), one each of USB 3.0 (by cable) and USB 2.0/1.1 ports (by header), and HD audio front-panel jacks. Expect this one to go for around $80.Source: Hermitage Akihabara

Streacom is working on its most compact case yet, the FC2. Pictured below, the case will be available in graphite black and silver, and is designed for mini-ITX platforms with CPU TDP below 45W. The aluminum body of the case doubles up as a fanless CPU heatsink. The case measures about 185 x 200 x 45 mm. In addition to the motherboard, there's room for a couple of 2.5-inch drives.Source: FanlessTech

After eight years in limbo the complete fan remake of the original Half Life game using the Source engine will finally be released. The remake will come with all the bells and whistles you have come to expect from the Source engine, including new textures, lighting effects and yes even new sounds. The only thing missing from the remake will be the "Xen" section of the game. The project lead 'cman2k' said that they are going to be releasing it later this year. They are making the "Xen" section of the game into its own expansion with new dialog added. You can already download the soundtrack here and the rest of the remake on September 14.Source: Shacknews

Prolimatech, the master of cooling is going a step further after the success of the Prolimatech Megahalems by presenting another revolution in CPU cooling with the limited edition Prolimatech Black Series Genesis. Besides the immaculate quality - which is present across their entire product line-up - the Black Genesis sets new standards in cooling capability and cool looks.

Prolimatech continues the trend set by the Megahalems and Super Mega by utilising two separate towers, but instead of placing them next to each other, they have been rearranged for maximum performance. The large array of cooling fins can hold up to three 120 or 140 mm fans, two of which can be installed right out of the box with the included mounting materials. Besides keeping the CPU cool, the construction allows for direct air flow across critical areas like the memory and power phases of the system.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 doesn't need a brand new game engine to improve the graphics over previous games in the series, Treyarch has insisted. Black Ops 2 is built using the latest, most advanced version of the engine that Call of Duty developers have used to build the first-person shooter series since 2005's Call of Duty 2: a heavily modified version of the id Tech 3 engine. Some fans have called on Activision to invest in a brand new graphics engine in order to spruce up Call of Duty's visuals. But Treyarch chief Mark Lamia said continuing to upgrade the current engine was enough to meet the development team's design goals. "People always ask me, 'Is this a new engine?' he told One of Swords. "I liken it to people who live in an older house that has been remodelled. Just because you're remodelling the house and it will look new or it will have a new kitchen, you don't tear out the foundation, or break out some of the framing. You might even go as hardcore as replacing the plumbing, and we will do that sort of thing, as an analogy. It's a gross simplification, but it's one way to say that. There's a lot of good still in that foundation that you wouldn't get rid of, and we don't. We look to advance in the areas that support our game design.

"Engines, each time they get touched, they change. The creators alter them; they don't modify what they don't need to, and then they alter what they need to. You can't make a competitive product if you're not upgrading that engine along the way." He added: "I think the whole thing about a new engine... sometimes that's a great buzzword. Well, I have a new graphics engine - is that a new engine? Where does it start and stop? Elements of the code, you can trace back for a very, very long time... but whole parts of the code are entirely new. Two areas we did focus on for this game were the graphics and the lighting - a pretty significant amount of work is going into that."When Activision announced Black Ops 2 earlier this month it promised a "visual overhaul", with graphical upgrades a mix of "tech and technique". In a demo to press played on an Xbox 360 build of the game, an unpopulated level set on Socotra Island in Yemen showed HDR lighting, bounce lighting, self-shadowing and a new texture technique called reveal mapping - all running at 60 frames per second.

It 'tis the season of rumors and assumptions for this years winter time blockbusters. According to Computer and Video Games, the following information, claiming to reveal the game's release date and a load of multiplayer features, was first posted on the official Black Ops forums in a thread that was later taken down, and its cached version is unavailable. It was then reposted in another thread on Activision's forums, which was also killed off by the publisher, but its cache remains available (via MP1st). None of this information is confirmed, but there's no reason it couldn't be genuine as it all sounds feasible. The list is full of new modes but makes no mention of a new game engine.

Chinese company SAMA introduced Nighthawk 2, a value ATX mid-tower case, priced at just 299 RMB (US $47.4). Despite its low cost, it offers a host of new features, aesthetic touches, and a good load-out of fans. Measuring 450 x 200 x 420 mm (WxDxH), the case is made of ABS and SECC/steel. It features an all-black interior and exterior, with a red acrylic side panel window, which slightly protrudes. Most of its front-panel is perforated.

The case is spacious enough to hold 300 mm-long graphics cards. Drive bays include four 5.25" and six 3.5", all of which are tool-free. Its ventilation system includes one 120 mm red LED-lit front intake, one 120 mm exhaust between the 3.5" drive cage and the motherboard tray, one 120 mm rear exhaust, and two 120 mm top exhausts. The front utility panel includes four USB 2.0 ports, and audio.Source: Expreview