Things were a little slow last week because of the holiday, but they definitely picked up this week. We covered plenty of releases in our regular news posts, and we still have leftover news from BitFenix, Gigabyte, Razer, Rosewill, and Silicon Power.
- BitFenix introduces Survivor White enclosure. Remember the BitFenix Survivor? We took a look at a pre-production model a couple of years ago, and we later went hands-on with a retail model. Well, BitFenix has now announced a white version of the enclosure. It should be available later this month for $109, and from what I can tell, it’s an exact replica of the previous model—just with a different paint job. I have to say, it doesn’t look bad. Very Star Wars.
- Gigabyte Thunderbolt desktop PC motherboards first to support 4K resolution displays. Ever fancied hooking up a 4K monitor to your PC’s integrated graphics? Well, now, you can. Gigabyte’s new Z77X-UP5 TH, Z77X-UP4 TH, Z77MX-D3H TH motherboards all have dual Thunderbolt outputs that can join forces, with the help of dual Mini DisplayPort cables, to drive a single 4K monitor. Gigabyte says the boards have been tested with Eizo’s new FDH3601 display, which has a 4096×2034 resolution and is targeted at "air traffic control and geophysical services."
- Updated Razer Orochi mobile gaming mouse lets you game longer on the go. Razer has freshened up its Orochi Bluetooth 3.0 mouse with a new laser sensor and longer battery life. The rodent now has a fourth-generation sensor with an impressive 6400-DPI resolution, and Razer claims it offers twice as much battery life as its predecessor, with "up to 30 hours of continuous gameplay or three months of conventional usage." (Power is still provided via a pair of AA batteries, and you can plug in the Orichi and use it as a wired mouse, too.) Asking price: $69.99.
- Silicon Power launches Armor A15 portable hard drive. This diminutive USB 3.0 external hard drive is designed for rough handling. Silicon Power has wrapped in shock-absorbing silica gel and outfitted it with side grips, and the company touts compliance with the U.S. military’s MIL-STD-810F "transit drop test" (whatever that means). There’s also a "one-touch" backup button and, for some reason, a trial version of Norton Antivirus in the box. Look for this drive in 500GB, 750GB, and 1TB variants.
- Rosewill unleashes the Hercules 1600W. Rosewill may be known better for its budget offerings, but the new Hercules is about as high-end as it gets for an enthusiast power supply. It’s got a $399.99 price tag, 80 Plus Silver certification (with efficiency as high as 89%), a 135-mm "silent" fan, and an impressive number of cables and connectors—which are modular for the most part. Rosewill says there’s a total of 16 (yes, sixteen) 6+2-pin PCI Express power connectors, with which users can power both "power hungry top high end motherboards" and four-way CrossFire or SLI multi-GPU setups. Not too shabby.
Given the propensity of enthusiast hardware to be more power-efficient these days, I think you’d have to struggle to put together even a top-of-the-line gaming rig with power draw anywhere close to a kilowatt and a half. Still, having the headroom available is probably nice, if you’re intent on packing your PC with graphics cards and ridiculous quantities of hard drives.
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