XFX 1000W Pro Series 80 Plus Platinum

We've recently tested the first 80 Plus Platinum PSUs to hit our labs, courtesy of Seasonic and Enermax. Both were good if expensive PSUs, and next up on the test bench is a Platinum series that's sold by a brand without their own PSU factory: XFX. They sent us their newest product, the Pro Series 80 Plus Platinum Black Edition, which sets its sights on the high-end of the market. XFX has created an interesting casing with some unusual elements, but we need to find out how good this model acutally is.

While efficiency is all the marketing rage in the world of PSUs, we should keep in mind that many manufacturers are trying to reach 80 Plus Platinum levels using some "tricks". As we noted in our Seasonic article, there are various routes to higher efficiency, like removing resistors that may fill other roles. Shunt resistors for example transform some of the power into power loss when current flows through it, since there is a voltage drop. That's actually their job as they measure and prevent overcurrent in an indirect way. On the following pages we will show how XFX reached the requirements for 80 Plus Platinum (90%/92%/89% efficiency at 20%/50%/100% load), and we'll also discuss the ODM and how well the XFX model fares in an increasingly crowded market.

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Enermax Platimax 750W - 80 Plus Platinum Arrives

Since the introduction of the 80 Plus certifications, we've seen a slow but steady trickle down effect where labels that were once reserved for the highest of the high-end (e.g. 80 Plus Gold) have eventually reached mainstream price points. Manufacturers including FSP, Rosewill, Sparkle, and SuperFlower now sell affordable 80 Plus Gold power supplies for less than $100. But if mainstream users are now able to get 80 Plus Gold, what should the high-end market offer? Enter 80 Plus Platinum:

Those looking for maximum efficiency can now set their sights on 80 Plus Platinum PSUs, which will be new halo market for high-end—and high cost—power supplies. To reach the necessary efficiency levels, some improvements are necessary that can change some of the core characteristics of a power. Improved resonant topologies, new MOSFETs for synchronous rectifying, higher switching frequencies, better drivers, and low-resistance conduction paths are just some of the things we'll see with 80 Plus Platinum. We're naturally eager to see what the new models can bring to the table, and Enermax sent us their Platimax 750W model, which uses an optimized Modu87+ design. Read on to find out if Enermax is the new efficiency king, and how it performs in other metrics.

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CiragoTV Platinum CMC3200 Network Multimedia Center Review

Legit Mods and Ends Reviews

The CiragoTV Platinum Network Multimedia Center

When we ran into Cirago at this year’s Consumer Electronic Show we were introduced to their brand new media player, the CiragoTV Platinum.  CiragoTV outfitted the Platinum HD Multimedia Center with the ability to play Blue-ray ISOs, as well as MKV, AVI, MP3, and OGG files.  They also included a BitTorrent client and the ability to convert the player to a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device so that all devices in your home or office can access the contents of the CiragoTV Platinum.  There is even a huge 2TB hard drive built in to house as much multimedia as you want.

The CiragoTV Platinum comes in three different configurations: The $179 500GB CMC3050; a $199 1TB CMC3100; and a $299 2TB CMC 3200.  The CiragoTV Platinum CMC3200 HD media player that we have contains a Realtek chipset that has traditionally been great for viewing every form of HD multimedia.  We really don’t expect any surprises when we evaluate this unit.  Our biggest questions are how well does the GUI look and feel and how functional are all the amenities such as the BitTorrent client.

Another big plus that this player has is the ability to record live television through its AV In.  From the looks of things, it should function as a SD digital recorder.  The CiragoTV CMC3200 doesn’t have a built-in tuner so don’t pick this unit up expecting to get digital signals over the air or even ones that aren’t decoded by a cable box.

(Click on Comparison Chart above for larger picture)

CiragoTV CMC3200 Featured Specifications

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• Store media files on the built-in hard drive


• Watch high definition 1080p videos directly on your TV


• Access files on the local network with the NAS function


• Stream files over the network directly to your TV


• Share P2P files using the BitTorrent client


• Copy files between Multimedia Center, USB devices, memory cards, and other devices on the local network


• Record Live TV through AV in (DTV converter or cable/satellite box required)


• Record and playback different shows simultaneously


• Pause or rewind live TV shows with the Timeshift feature


• Built-in LAN networking, wireless networking via optional USB adapter


• Enjoy photo slideshows, music playlists and internet radio


• Card reader (MemoryStick/MemoryStick Pro, SD/SDHC/MMC) for easy access to media


• 2 available USB ports for additional storage space


• Multi-language user interface


• Get PlayOn for only $19.99 - www.cirago.com/playon


• PlayOn User Guide - www.cirago.com/playonuserguide


• Interface     2x USB 2.0 (host), USB 2.0 (device)     Spec Sheet


• Ethernet     10/100Mbps, wired and wireless (via optional USB 802.11n 300Mbps adapter)


• Card Reader formats     MemoryStick/MemoryStick Pro, SD/SDHC/MMC


• Power     12V, AC/DC 110/240V adapter included


• Video output     HDMI up to 1080p, AV


• Audio output     SPDIF (optical), Stereo


• Video input     AV Input


• Recording format     MPEG2, up to 720 x 480


• Supported video formats     MPEG1 (dat, mpg), MPEG2 (vob, mpg, ts), MPEG4 (avi, divx, xvid, wmv, mov, mkv), RM/RMVB, VC-1, H.264


• Supported audio formats     MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, WAV, AAC, AC3, ADPCM


• Supported image formats     JPEG, JPG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PNG


• Warranty     1 year

Next Page - Setting up the CiragoTV Platinum

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ASUS GTX 580 Matrix Platinum 1.5 GB reviews and features

As a lead covering motherboard and graphics card supplier, ASUS has lot of ability to put into devolope and manufacture of high-end products that are something that deviates from refers to a technical blueprint, and certify as being genuinely in-house.

Still,variety is not really in short supply either, and the Matrix GeForce GTX 580 Platinum proves this.This graphics adapter is a factory overclocked, custom-cooled version of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580, the currently strongest single-GPU card in the company's arsenal.

It is supplied with the GF110 graphics processing unit which, in this occasion, operates at 816 MHz, a significant boost over the stock 772 MHz.Additionally, the 1.5 GB of GDDR5 VRAM are set at 4,008 MHz, while the shaders (512 CUDA cores) work at 1,632 MHz (stock setting is 1,544 MHz). Finally, the memory interface is of 384 bits.

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