Posts Tagged ‘pc’

Hardcore Reactor the Oil Immersion Cooled Computer

22, Oct 2008

Hardcore Computer officially announced the launch of their Reactor PC – the world’s first commercially available high-performance computer with total liquid submersion cooling technology. The Reactor PC has been developed for hardcore computer users such as gamers, graphic artists, audiophiles, industrial designers, engineers, medical imaging technicians and military technologists with the idea to provide top performance and lots of features in a really unique form. With a Reactor PC you can not only get the latest technology such as Tripple SLI with the latest Nvidia GTX 280 video cards, Quad Core Intel CPU, SSD disks combined with a really cool and innovative oil cooling that gives you not only quiet working, but also a highly overclockable computer.


Hardcore Computer submerged all of the heat-producing components – the CPU, motherboard, video card, memory and power supplies – in a custom dielectric fluid they have named Core Coolant, eliminating heat-related computing limitations. Reactor incorporates the benefits of liquid submersion cooling with twin additive and redundant server-class 650Watt power supplies; audiophile-quality Creative Labs X-Fi, EAX, 7.1-channel Dolby digital surround sound embedded on the motherboard; three on-board SATA solid-state drives configured in an ultra-fast RAID 0 array; and two truly hot-swappable external hard drives.

Form following function, Reactor has a distinctive look. Locating the majority of I/O on the top of the case for easy access resulted in the unique Spinal Cord cable management system, another industry first for a desktop system. Also on the case top are optional, dual, diversity Wi-Fi antennas. The system chassis incorporates handles that serve as a means for transporting Reactor. The handles also aid in the removal of the system core, which includes all of the computer’s active components, from the liquid for maintenance or upgrades. Over-clocking enthusiasts will appreciate a CMOS battery and BIOS reset switch located on the lid, inside a push-push access hatch door. Reactor also sports user-selectable internal tank and chassis base lights. The result is a cool and quiet state-of-the-art system that provides full-throttle processing, sustained over-clocking, HD/3D realism with maximum frame rates, an easily upgradable modular design and a rugged custom chassis. The liquid submersion technology also ensures stable, 24/7/365 hardware reliability.

You can get a Reactor PC for as low as $4464, but in order to get the top specs computer you’ll have to prepare $10541. You can pre-order your fully oil cooled PC now and it is expected to ship on 11/19/2008. You can also visit 25pc.com for more gaming tech reviews, buyer guides, and the latest gaming news.

– For more information about Hardcore Computers’ Reactor PC…

OCZ NIA – Neural Impulse Actuator

18, Oct 2008

OCZ Neural Impulse Actuator (NIA) is an innovative device that allows you to control games and practically everything on your computer with your brain or more exactly with your thoughts and not only by them. You should have in mind that the NIA is not a complete replacement for your mouse or keyboard, but an additional accessory that can give you better control of your PC, but you may still need to use additional controllers for better functionality. What the Neural Impulse Actuator actually does is to translate electrical biosignals of your body directly into computer commands… these include brainwaves, eye and muscle movements. You can combine the readings of multiple bio signals by building a custom game profile so that a given thought can be translated to the PC as a fire command in the game (simulating the pressing of the left mouse button for instance). The NIA comes with some predefined profiles that will allow you to start learning how to use the device and then you can extend and make your own gaming profiles to achieve the best results.


You should have in mind that NIA is not an easy device to master, it will take you a lot of time and effort to learn how to adequately use the device at first, because it is something new and not as straightforward as a mouse or keyboard that requires just to press a given button. So controlling your PC with your thoughts is not as easy as you think, because you’ll have to learn to control the alpha and beta brainwaves that the device detects in a way, that they can be used for movement of your character in a game for instance. And that is the hardest part of learning to use the device, because gaining control of the eye and muscle movement detection by the device will require you just a few hours, but for the brainwaves functionality it could take you up to a few weeks.

For the moment OCZ NIA works just fine under Windows XP and Vista, but only in the 32-bit versions of these operating systems. There are already beta drivers available for 64-bit Vista OS, but if you are running 64-bit Windows XP you’ll not be able to use the NIA, so have that in mind before ordering the device. Also you should know that some users are experiencing problems with the device related to inadequate grounding of their computers or electromagnetic interferences, but these issues usually can be quickly solved by some reading and experimenting with the device. After all NIA is a the first very affordable commercial brain computer interface and you should be prepared for some unexpected things to happen, because that area of development is still quite new, but that makes the usage of the device even more fun and interesting, provided that you are willing to take that additional time. If you are not ready to experiment using this new cool gadget you better wait for some more time or just stick to using your mouse and keyboard for now… 😉


The current price of this innovative device is just $136.99 ($116.99 after $20.00 Mail-In Rebate at the moment!).

– To buy an OCZ Neural Impulse Actuator brain mouse for your PC…

Laptop ExpressCard to USB Adapter

6, Apr 2008

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Now that is something that is usually hard to find and a bit expensive, but it might be very handy at times. If you have an old laptop that uses the older PCMCIA (CardBus) standard for extension cards you might be out of luck if you have to insert a new ExpressCard device for some reason. At such time this small Filco ExpressCard to USB adapter can be very useful, although it may not be very convenient to be used while traveling and using the mobile computer. The good news is that you can also use an ExpressCard device designed for your laptop on your desktop PC with the help of this adapter…

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The adapter is compatible with both the smaller ExpressCard/34 standard and the bigger ExpressCard/54 devices so you don’t have to worry your device wont be compatible and of course you’ll still have to install drivers for the device in order for it to function correctly.

The ExpressCard to USB Adapter will cost you $39.09.

– To buy this useful adapter for your laptop or desktop pc…


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