Puget Systems Articles

Side Panel Fans: Are They Worth It?

Matt Bach — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 18:22:55

Adequate cooling is always a concern when using high-end hardware. In this article we will examine the cooling advantages a side fan can give to an otherwise normal system.

Product Qualification: Lancool PC-K9B

Matt Bach — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 22:04:59

The PC-K9B is a mid tower chassis from Lancool's "First Knight" series. It is available in black, silver and a black version with a painted black interior. For this qualification, we will be reviewing the basic black version.

Product Review: Gelid GX-7 CPU Cooler

Matt Bach — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:28:39

The GX-7 is Gelid's latest addition to their heatsink line and is in their Gamer line of coolers. In this article we will be reviewing the performance and noise levels in comparison to to the Gelid Rev. 2 Tranquillo.

Product Qualification: Asus F1A75-I Deluxe Motherboard

Matt Bach — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 22:53:44

The F1A75-I Deluxe is Asus' first mini-ITX motherboard based on the new AMD A75 platform. In this article we will be reviewing the features available on this board to see if it lives up to its intended use in home theater systems.

Product Review: Silverstone TJ08-E

Matt Bach — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 00:23:45

The Silverstone TJ08-E is the successor to the popular Silverstone TJ08. Today we will be reviewing the case to see if it is worthy of replacing the Silvestone TJ08.

Product Roundup: Intel/LSI RAID cards

Matt Bach — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 19:50:37

As hard drives are becoming faster and faster, you need a RAID card that is able to keep up with them. Today we will be reviewing the performance of five RAID cards. From LSI: the 9211-4i, the 9750-4i, and the 9240-4i. From Intel: the RS2BL040 and the RS2BL080.

Product Qualification: Antec 120/140mm TrueQuiet Fans

Matt Bach — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 01:20:01

The Antec TrueQuiet series of fans are designed for quiet operation and feature a low/high switch allowing the user to choose between silent or higher cooling modes. We are very familiar with Antec's Tri-Cool case fans and have been very happy with them, but they are not the best option for quiet operation. In this article, we will see if the TrueQuiet fans live up to their name.

Product Qualification: Gelid Slim Silence I-Plus

Matt Bach — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 21:49:08

The Gelid Slim Silence I-Plus is a cooler designed to fit in places too small for even a stock CPU cooler. But given the small size of this cooler, will it have enough cooling to keep a CPU cool?

Gigabyte 6750/6770 Silent Cell Video Cards

Jon Bach — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 20:09:44

At Puget Systems, we pride ourselves in building some of the quietest PCs in the industry. At the same time, we build high-performance computers, and designing a computer to be both can be a delicate balance. Passively cooled video cards are essential to an ultra-quiet computer like our Serenity PC. The Gigabyte Silent-Cell video cards appear to be a perfect fit, but as we'll find in this article, appearances can be deceiving.

SATA cables: Is there a difference?

Matt Bach — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 01:34:31

With the release of SATA III 6GB/s, we have seen some confusion on the web regarding what SATA cables are supported. Today we will be addressing those concerns by testing multiple SATA 3Gb/s and SATA 6Gb/s cables to see if there are any performance differences.

Product Roundup: Kingwin 3.5inch Hot Swap Racks

Matt Bach — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 20:56:04

Today we will be reviewing three different sizes of 3.5" internal hot swap racks from Kingwin. They are the KF-1000-BK (single drive), KF-3001-BK (triple drive) and the KF-4001-BK (quad drive).

Vertical vs. Horizontal Case Cooling

Matt Bach — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 01:21:22

Some manufactures begun rotating their cases so they have a up/down rather than front/back airflow, claiming that this vertical airflow is superior since it is working in cooperation with the forces of convection. Does vertical airflow really improve cooling?

Product Qualification: LSI 9211-4i RAID Controller

Matt Bach — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:54:35

The LSI 9211-4i is a budget-oriented four port RAID card that supports RAID 0,1 and 10 as well as single drive configurations. In this article, we will be reviewing its performance compared to the RAID cards in our current product line.

Product Review: BitFenix Shinobi Black w/ Window

Matt Bach — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:22:42

The BitFenix Shinobi is a case designed with budget consumers in mind. Looking at this case though, it is clear that a cheap price does not necessarily mean cheap construction. All too often, budget cases feel flimsy and the design not fully thought through. Luckily, the Shinobi has neither of those problems.

Product Review: Asus ASMB5-iKVM

Matt Bach — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:46:33

The Asus ASMB5-iKVM is a BIOS-level remote management solution, allowing it to work at any point; whether the system is in the OS, the BIOS, or even halted due to a bluescreen. Most current remote management solutions are software-based, so they only work when an OS is running, which makes the Asus ASMB5-iKVM an attractive solution for network administrators and many home users alike.

How it works: O.C. Profiles

Matt Bach — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 20:35:51

O.C. profiles allow users to save their BIOS settings to a memory chip on the motherboard so that if the BIOS gets reset due to a power loss or the CMOS battery dies, you can quickly restore the BIOS to the proper settings. This article show the basics of using O.C. profiles.

How it works: Windows 7 Libraries

Matt Bach — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 22:13:26

The addition of libraries in Windows 7 allows users to store data anywhere they want on their PC, while still being able to access it all from one central location. But how does one go about configuring their libraries to fit their needs?

SATA Controller Performance Explored

William George — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 21:50:29

As SATA III (6Gbps) becomes the standard used on hard drives, is a 6Gbps controller on the motherboard required to get full performance? Is the answer the same for solid-state drives? And how do Intel 6Gbps ports compare against add-on chips like those from Marvell? Read on for the answers!

Technology Primer - Sandy Bridge

William George — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 20:00:00

Intel has announced a new line of processors, which follow in the footsteps of the socket 1156 chips which have been popular in mainstream systems for the last year. While the role of the CPU is not changing, there are several differences from Intel's previous generations. This article will explore the technology involved, in terms everyone can understand.

Technology Primer - Power Supply Wattage and Efficiency

William George — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 20:00:00

Power supplies are a critical piece of hardware in modern computers, but there are some aspects of them which aren�t well known or understood. This article will explain some of the less known aspects of power supplies, such as what wattage and efficiency ratings really mean, and what other factors you should consider when selecting a power supply for your next computer.

Technology Primer - ATI Radeon HD 6000-series

William George — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 07:00:01

ATI has just launched their next-generation graphics card line, starting the process that will see the venerable Radeon HD 5000 cards replaced by 6000 models over the coming months. The first such cards, released today, are the 6850 and 6870 - known also by their codename �Barts�. In this article, we'll take a look at what makes them different, and how their performance compares with the competitive offerings from NVIDIA.

Technology Primer - USB 3.0

William George — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 21:33:00

For over a decade, USB has been the most common standard on computers for connecting peripherals. It has grown from a port found in small numbers on brand-new systems in the late 1990s to the near-universal standard for everything from input devices to data storage, and is even in widespread use for charging mobile phones. Our modern desktops feature between six and twelve USB ports, a testament to their widespread usage. This article is an introduction to the latest version of USB, with information on performance, availability and backward-compatibility.

Best Practices for Computer Performance and Safety

William George — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 16:00:00

In the course of my work as a sales consultant here at Puget Systems, I am often asked how I recommend setting up a computer. After all, providing advice like that on hardware configurations is my job! However, there are some deeper insights into how a computer can be set up which go beyond just selecting the right hardware. There are things I don't often have the opportunity to discuss, and which aren't really within the purview of a system builder. I wanted to take some time to write about the ideas and practices I use in my own computer setups, in the hope that some of this advice will help others to get the most out of their computers.

Dedicated PhysX Comparisons

Ruben Romero — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:14:02

A few years back, Ageia Technologies launched a product designed to help handle the increasingly complex physics calculations which were becoming popular in modern games. They named this product "PhysX", and it was the worlds first dedicated physics card. Enthusiasts were excited, and many thought that this technology was set to be the next piece of essential hardware for enthusiast systems. We decided to independently test the Nvidia PhysX platform, and share our results.

Case Comparison: Antec P182 vs. P183

Matt Bach — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:05:10

There has been a lot of talk about whether or not the new Antec P183 is truly an improvement over the old Antec P182. The P182 has long been one of our favorite cases at Puget Systems, so there is some resistance to the P183 taking over the role as the flagship case in our lineup. The question is: is the P183 truly superior to the P182, or is the latest revision of the P180 series a step in the wrong direction?

Product Review: Cooler Master V8 Cooler

Matt Bach — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:46:00

At Puget Systems, we test hundreds of different computer components a year, and through this testing we constantly shape and improve our product line. In the past, we have kept the testing data internal to our company, but recently we have realized that we're missing out on a large opportunity to help the public (and our customers) by publishing our findings. Why keep something internal if the data is useful to others? That being said, the Cooler Master V8 is the first of hopefully many product reviews by Puget Systems. We were looking for a CPU cooler to add to our line to provide a quieter cooler option for Core i7 CPUs. Does the Cooler Master V8 fit the bill?

Gaming Computer Advice

William George — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:33:54

As a custom computer builder, we get a lot of people asking for help designing high-end computers. Many times they are for media editing, stock trading, or research - but one of the most common uses of such powerful systems is video games. Given how much interest there is in gaming computers, I wanted to provide a guide for how to select what components to use in a modern gaming computer. There are lots of review sites that talk about specific hardware recommendations, but those are outdated quickly - so this article will attempt to focus more on the ideas behind the various parts of a custom gaming computer and what you need to take into consideration when building or purchasing one.

Cooling Solutions for Intel Core i7

Dan Olson — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:08:55

The latest powerhouse CPU offering from Intel is here. The Intel Core i7 -- a quad-core processor available in three different speed configurations that is really taking the computing world by storm. Several new features have been added to this processor, such as on-chip DDR3 memory controller, smart cache, and HD boost. Of course, with all the extra features and power comes the issue of how to keep it cool. The Core i7 may be powerful, but it is also very hot running. From the stock heat sinks and fans, to liquid cooled solutions, the cooling possibilities are many. Unfortunately we can't test them all, so in this article we'll take a look at 4 popular cooling solutions and how they fared.

PC Sound and Speakers: A Subjective Look

Melissa Hermanson — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:08:55

When purchasing a new computer, audio is often a peripheral concern or overlooked entirely. Though most audio products are reviewed in great detail by the audiophile community (audiophiles: people who love and make a hobby of audio technology), those outside of it often can�t answer some basic questions � how much difference does a sound card make? Can an average listener tell the difference between an expensive sound card and a basic one? Which should you put your money into, sound cards or speakers? With these questions in mind, we set out to get answers.

The 64-bit Question

William George — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:00:00

One of the things we get asked about a lot here at Puget is 64-bit Windows, and more specifically these days 64-bit Vista. The 32-bit version is still generally considered the norm, but because picking an operating system is an important aspect of configuring a computer, and because of the general confusion about the differences between these versions, it was apparent that an article on the subject might be helpful to both our existing and prospective customers.