Sky is on to a winner with the upgraded Smart Box – and the content bundles aren’t bad, either SKY’S NOW TV streaming service has been undergoing some big changes of late. Service-wise, there’s a new Now TV Combo package, which encompasses TV, phone and broadband in one, while the Now TV box itself has … Read more
DETAILS • Manufacturer Xenta • Requirements: Standard ATX PSU, micro ATX motherboards The component maker Xenta produces a range of cases, and they may at first seem a little basic, but they’re actually quite impressive for a number of reasons. The one we have to test in this instance is the Xenta B138A. This is … Read more
Requirements: Atandard ATX PSU, ATX, micro and mint-ATX motherboard support The Falcon case, from Game Max, is a fantastic-looking item that comes in three different versions – blue, green and red – with each representing the colors of the pre-installed LED fans. The Game Max Falcon is a pretty neat case to build your future … Read more
DETAILS • Manufacturer Deepcool • Requirements: ATX PSU, ATX, micro, mini-ATX motherboards The Deepcool Landking v2 measures 512 x 218 x 515mm and is made up from a mixture of plastic and steel, with 0.5mm thick panels. There are eight PCI expansion slots available (with support for four GPUs in SLI/CrossFire mode), a bottom-mounted PSU … Read more
DETAILS • Manufacturer: Cooler Master • Requirements: Standard ATX PSU, mATX, ATX motherboard The Cooler Master brand is certainly no stranger to the pages of Micro Mart. The company’s cooling, power supply and peripherals are considered some of the best available, offering a good mix of both price and quality. However, it’s the company’s range … Read more
Digitise real-world objects This might be the most futuristic gadget we’ve ever seen in the Computeractive office, which makes its affordable price all the more remarkable. It’s roughly the opposite of a 3D printer: you start with an object that already exists, which could be anything from your head to an ornament that you want … Read more
DETAILS Manufacturer: AMD Requirements: AM3+ motherboard, DDR3 RAM, 450W minimum AMD has an odd numbering system going on. You would expect a more recent processor than the FX-9370 to have a higher number, but in fact it’s lower. The FX-8370E came out in September 2014, over a year after the FX-9370, and it’s not like it’s based on … Read more
DETAILS Manufacturer AMD Requirements: AM3+ motherboard, DDR3 The FX-9370 marked the return of AMD to the high-end CPU market in June 2013. This Piledriver- and Vishera-based chip has a 4.4GHz base clock, a 4.7GHz turbo clock speed, and it uses the same 32nm manufacturing processes as the previous models in the guide, but in this instance … Read more
DETAILS Manufacturer. AMD Requirements: AM3+ motherboard, DDR3 RAM, 500W minimum The AMD FX-4350 is a slightly newer processor than the FX-6300. Released in April 2013, this Piledriver micro architecture, Vishera core is a mid-class CPU using a 32nm manufacturing process. This 4.2GHz AM3+ processor, with a turbo clock speed of 4.3GHz, features four cores, four threads, … Read more
Some weeks ago, we looked at a collection of Intel i5 and i7 processors, so now it’s the turn of AMD’s FX-range. AMD is known for producing cost-effective alternatives to Intel’s processors, but in recent years AMD has dropped the ball when it comes to manufacturing the latest processor technology. We have six of the … Read more
Les Pounder tests a single board computer that offers an alternative to the Raspberry Pi, but will he take ‘up’ the offer? When it comes to single board computers (SBC), the ARM CPU has near dominance with the Raspberry Pi, of course. But a recent Kickstarter has created a new Intel-based SBC alternative. The Up board comes in a variety of RAM and flash storage configurations, and we tested a board with 2GB DDR3 RAM … Read more
YOU’LL NEED THIS ANY RAspBERRY pi wiTH A 40-piN GpiO Connector Raspbian Pixel, official Pi camera, 1x push button, 1x breadboard, 1x MCP3008 ADC, 9x male-to-male jumper wires, 8x female-to- male jumper wires, 2x 10k potentiometers TIME LAPSE PHOTOGRAPHY can create fascinating footage of certain phenomena, such as plants growing and flowering, that you wouldn’t get … Read more