Season 2009 2009

TV-PG

We take a look at some new digital photo frames from Samsung which offer a good assortment of feature and excellent picture quality.

I head outside outside to test out some new glasses, no, not sunglasses, but nVidia's 3D Glasses for use with select 3D monitors

We ask the Intel Bunny Man bobble head what he thinks of AMD's latest Phenom II processors, and we also get his take on the Intel "Extreme" series of processors. We think you will find him to be an unbiased and reliable source of information

Unboxing and showing the first P55 sample I've received in the mail. I can't talk about pricing or performance or any of that stuff yet, but it looks very promising!

Showing you how the overclocking buttons work on MSI P55-GD65. Very cool feature!

Got my hands on the brand new Acer Aspire Revo. There are finally in stock after so many months of hype about the "upcoming" Ion platform from nVidia. It's finally here! I haven't done any testing with it yet, but

Just got another P55 sample. From my understanding this board may be an NCIX exclusive at launch in Canada!

I've got the whole MSI P55 family with me now. I'm excited to bring your my unboxing of what I think could be one of the hottest P55 motherboards at launch. MSI is targeting a very aggressive price point with this board, but they're including some killer features like OC Genie and DrMOS.

The last in this series of MSI P55 motherboard unboxing videos (for now...). Stay tuned for more motherboard previews from other vendors as supplies start to trickle in leading up to the launch of the P55 platform.

Well our Lian Li shipment was delayed by the typhoon, but it's finally here! I'm really excited to show off their latest creation. Cool features of this case include support for 1x5.25" drive, 1x3.5" drive, and a standard ATX power supply

I have a quick look at some "Made Right in Canada" Picquic screwdrivers: The Dash 7, Multique, and Teeny Turner. They feature a unique bit load system and rugged construction.

Here's the full version of the video I meant to upload last night. I never meant to put up an incomplete video. We cover the accessories and layout of an exciting new P55 motherboard coming from Gigabyte the P55M-UD4. It's the first board we've seen with SLI and Crossfire in a mATX form factor on this new platform.

The cream of the cream for Gigabyte P55 motherboard lineup: The P55-UD6. It features 24 phase power, SLI and Crossfire, and pretty much everything else you could want on a premium board. This is our first video filmed in Taiwan (snicker). I hope you enjoy it.

It's my pleasure to present Gigabyte entry level P55 motherboard. It's a mATX solution that doesn't have some of the higher end features like sophisticated VRM cooling and SLI/Crossfire, but you can still expect excellent performance out of this small package.

This step-down board from the uber-premium UD6 that we already looked at is mostly the same in terms of feature set. The biggest differences between the UD5 and the UD6 lie in the subtle details and the inclusion of a 12 phase power design versus a 24 phase power design.

Went down to the warehouse and grabbed a set of Corsair 8GB dual channel "i5" RAM so I thought I'd show you all the packaging it comes in. It lacks the traditional Corsair clamshell on account of it being a 4 DIMM kit. I suspect if these kits take off in popularity we will see more of them in the future, and a proper package. We also have a look at Corsair's hot new heatspreader.

I know this product isn't exactly new, but it's a very popular (and awesome... I own lots of them) product so I thought it might be helpful for people to see a hands-on of the accessory package :)

Part two of our "building an external RAID enclosure for the Cameraman" project involves finding a suitable enclosure. I realize I'm a little late with this update, but I'm happy to say our latest NCIX Tech Tips video was actually edited on the RAID 10 array in this enclosure and the Cameraman is very impressed with the speed

Yeah. It's a hard drive. What are YOU gonna do? Actually we only unboxed this hard drive because we need four of them for Cameraman's new video editing eSATA enclosure.

Since i5 is just around the corner, many of the heatsink manufacturers have been shipping compatible units for quite a while. We open up the NH-U12P SE2 (Special Edition TWO!!!) to find out what's so special about it

I challenged myself to explain the new P55/Core i5/LGA1156 platform from Intel in one minute, and hopefully this clears things up for most of you. If not, feel free to post in the comments and I'll try to address your questions.

I thought I was done unboxing the Gigabyte boards, but it looks like I'm not :(

FTW or "For the Win" is gamer speak for "this thing is freakin' awesome". Let's have a look and see just how much "win" this board is "for".

Well we needed some of these for use with the Tech Tips microphone as well as the Cameraman's wireless mouse at work, so we borrowed some from the warehouse much hilarious (okay none) ensues.

I've finally begun to tackle ASUS' enormous lineup of P55 motherboards. Here's the first one that I take a look at, the P7P55D LE.

A slightly cost-down version of eVGA's drool-worthy "FTW" motherboard for the new LGA1156 Core i5/i7 CPUs.

I'm unboxing more RAM. I actually thought this stuff was blue on top (didn't bother to look online) and I wanted to put it in the demo system I'm doing for our soon-to-be-open Aberdeen store, but when I unboxed it I found out it was red. Boo.

Corsair launched the H50 a few months ago to much critical acclaim, so I decided to grab one from the warehouse and see what all the fuss is about

Today we take the ASUS Maximus III Formula P55 motherboard for a quick spin. I'm really impressed by the look and features of this board, but the price you pay for it is quite high.

Our first processor unboxing reveals:

Today we unbox the successor to the supremely popular Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. This "rev2" model brings a new mounting clip system to the table along with support for LGA116.

XFX's very first power supply ever. They're shaking things up with a sharp new aesthetic, excellent efficiency (80+ Silver), and a nice modular design.

The cameraman and I threw this together while we waited for a couple co-workers to go for snacks after work, so we filmed it on the hood of my Civic.

So this is the "somewhat high end" but "still no support for SLI" motherboard from ASUS's P55 line up. It's basically a somewhat upgraded version of the "LE" board or a somewhat downgraded version of the "Pro" board. However you want to look at it.

The Evo version of ASUS' P7P55D lineup fits into kinda a weird niche. It's for users who don't want to pay for the high end "Deluxe" board, but a few features beyond what's already offered on the "Pro" level board. Personally if I was on a budget I'd be looking at the Pro board because it includes SLI support, and this one doesn't seem to have much in terms of benefits over it.

The "Deluxe" level board has all the bells and whistles without the wicked colour scheme of the Maximus III Formula. Overall I think I'd go for the Maximus III Formula if I was spending this much on an ASUS P55 board.

Got these in the mail today and thought I'd give you all a quick look at them. This is the brand new XAI laser gaming mouse from Steelseries and one of their new gaming surfaces, the 4HD. Spent some time using them tonight and while I really like the tracking on the XAI, the ergonomics are just not up to par with the Ikari Laser (my current favourite). The 4HD doesn't do anything for me (cloth user), but the medium-rough surface user in the house really likes it so far.

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=43094&vpn=123-LF-E653-KR&manufacture=eVGA

XFX sent us an ATI Radeon HD 5870 DirectX 11 1GB video card to feature in unboxing. The cameraman and I will have a full overview including eyefinity technology coming very soon :)

I confess I know nothing about the Xbox 360, being a PC kinda guy, and even less about SFIV.

Step by step I'll walk you through the process of setting up ATI Eyefinity technology for HUGE resolution gaming.

Today I unbox the Logitech G19 gaming keyboard at my desk and compare it briefly to the G15 Gen2

Today I'll unbox the hottest SSD on the market right now. The new "generation 2" model of the Intel X25-M. I'll also show you the adapter you need to mount it in your case

The successor to the iconic HX620 power supply brings 30 more watts of power, a different colour scheme, and some other cool new features.

Got my hands on a Razer Naga, their new 17 button mouse. I've gotta say this thing looks soooo much better in person than it does in pics!!

Today I'm unboxing the ASUS O!Play media player, which is kinda like a Popcorn Hour or a WDTV. The key feature with this one is that it plays back RMVB files.

The cameraman bought some ear buds, so I figured we'd better unbox them on camera! I'm not sure how interested people will be in these things, but I'm always looking for cool new stuff to unbox.

3.4GHz stock clock speed makes this the fastest AMD chip EVER both in terms of frequency and in terms of sheer processing power. Today on my blog I'll be unboxing it.

Today I unbox a very unique product. This card has support for DTS-HD and TRUE-HD so you can actually experience lossless Blu-Ray audio with this sound card!! Also it features an X-fi chip, so it's great for gaming.

Well we unboxed the 5870 about a week ago and now the 5850 is FINALLY in our warehouse! It's the smaller, cheaper, almost-as-awesome little brother to the 5870.

Thought I'd do a quick video showing both of these cards together and talking about how they compare since people seem to be so interested in them these days.

The only difference may be the sticker that comes on the heatsink, but here's the Gigabyte version of the Radeon HD 5850!

I'm in search of a low-cost new camera. I'll be trying out a few different options, but since the weather is getting worse all the time, I'll have to film more videos inside.

So the spot cool has been around a long time, but I thought I'd take a couple minutes and show our viewers the "what's what" about this neat little device. Basically it's for "cooling a spot"

I'm very excited to bring you the WDTV Live. These things arrived in our warehouse minutes ago, so I grabbed one of my co-workers and we threw together a quick video to show you this cool new product.

Still in search of a camera that takes good quality video indoors and can focus up close without too much hassle. One of my co-workers says this one has a pretty good video mode, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

The Antec Earthwatts 650W is a very popular unit right now so I thought I'd give my viewers a chance to check it out. I'm also trying out a new camera, so we'll see how the quality is.

It's time to talk a walk down mainstream lane. This is DirectX 11 for the masses. The 5700 series cards offer performance that is comparable to a GTX 260 while taking a very small bite out of the wallet

Finally I've released my last unboxing of the Radeon 5000 series. The Radeon 5750 is the entry level DirectX 11 part from ATI at this time, and it delivers a lot of the features of its more expensive brothers at a fraction of the price.

Yet another media player that sits next to your TV and streams files over the network and/or from an internal/external hard drive. Yes that sounds complicated, but actually they're quite simple to use and very inexpensive compared to using computers for everything.

Today I unbox... A disc!

Basically I wanted to see the gaming terrain feature of this keyboard in person. That's the only reason for this unboxing :P

Corsair's big thing right now is about using their components as the basis for your new PC. This Windows 7, DirectX 11, Core i7 gaming PC that we built for them to take to tradeshows is a great example of their new philosophy of choosing reputable parts to build your own "brand name" PC.

Today I unbox and (fail to) operate the Retrogen high tech gaming system featuring 262 THOUSAND colours!

Here I figure out how to insert the cartridge properly so it actually works...

This guy's been around for a while, but I happened across one and I wanted to take a minute to unbox what has been the PSU of choice for MANY enthusiasts since it launched.

I've heard a lot about this thing and I wanted to see it in person. That's pretty much it.

So this video was shot with the Lifecam Cinema WebCam from Microsoft. I bought this thing for Batman: AA, but I ended up finishing the game with the Mouse/Keyboard before it came in stock, so oh well...

Still experimenting with different cameras. This webcam promises high quality 720p video. Will it live up to it?!

Yeah I know. It's a fan. These are great fans though, and sometimes we have 5-pack pricing that makes them VERY affordable :)

Today I unbox a retail copy of Windows 7 Professional. Unlike the OEM copies, it contains a 32-bit and 64-bit disc, and it also has a cool retail box.

I know I'm a little late to the party, but I got an opportunity to get my hands on a Core i7 Extreme 975 and I thought I'd unbox it just for fun :p

I'm pretty excited to bring you my Popcorn Hour C-200 unboxing. I was very impressed with the original Popcorn Hour, and I can imagine this new one is more of the same & better!

My C-200 video didn't go into as much depth about what makes this unit new and interested as I would have liked, so I took some time to further investigate the "guts" of the C-200

RAM isn't always the most interesting thing in the world to some people, but these Ripjaws series DIMMs have been lighting some fires lately both in the record books and in people's homes (not literally in people's homes... I mean they can buy this awesome RAM and take it home...)

Contrary to all of the other information I was able to find (on official documents AND on the internet) you are NOT supposed to install Windows XP first, then request a downgrade from the product activation center. You are supposed to call Microsoft Customer Service at 1-800-936-5700 and request a downgrade BEFORE you install Windows XP.

Yet another network media player! It seems like everyone wants to get into this market. Check it, yo. One of the unique features that this Seagate unit has going for it is a dock for their 2.5" external hard drive enclosures.

Random? Yes. Useful? Maybe.

We're setting up a 3D Vision demo PC in our new store, so I figured I might as well do an unboxing of the monitor we'll be using!

Visiontek is the latest board partner to join the Bigfoot Networks family with their very own Killer NIC product. Check out my unboxing!

This board is so TUF (The Ultimate Force) that it's resistant to corrosion from salty air! WOW!

Got this sample today and normally I wouldn't have bothered to unbox a product that we don't even carry at NCIX, but it seems like this product would go really well with the Sabertooth 55i motherboard that I unboxed the other night.

I had to go to our Langley store and buy a hard drive today. One of the drives in my Windows Home Server died and needs to be replaced. I chose the WD Green because of its "green" power saving characteristics, but if you don't want to read this blurb, you could always just watch the video to find that out :P

Today I'm unboxing the OCZ Vertex. I actually already have one of these that I'm very happy with (it's a 120GB), but I bought it before I started doing unboxing videos, so I didn't have one that was still sealed to unbox for you all. This 60GB is destined for my media PC when I move into my new house, but I'm jumping the gun a little bit on unwrapping it :p

Today I'll be unboxing a power supply first. This is the modular OCZ Z-Series Gold 1000W. It's 80+ Gold Certified, and full of lots of other great features!

Today I'll be unboxing something that interests me, and very few other people, but you will have to indulge me because I've not been feeling well enough to go into the warehouse and get other stuff out. This came to me in the mail.

Today I have a couple of unique products from a relatively new company in the "gaming gear" market. The headphones have SURPRISINGLY good sound isolation (they are "closed" headphones) and equally surprising sound quality compared to similarly priced gaming products, but the build quality leaves a bit to be desired. The mouse pad isn't my favourite, but I don't really like fast mouse pads, so that could be the problem.

Just a quick video I threw together. As with every build I do, it's a work in progress, and one of the big things it needs is LIGHTS, but I've got the reservoir running now and it looks HAWT!

Today I'm unboxing a triple 120mm water cooling radiator from Swiftech. This is the "stack" version of their MCR320 QP or "quiet power"

This power supply has intrigued me since I first heard about it. It's a 1500W fully modular unit with an 80+ Silver rating. Basically by the time you actually maxxed out a PC connected to this thing, you wouldn't be able to plug your monitor and PC speakers into the same wall outlet!!

This power supply is HUGE. I cannot overstate how large it is. There's a new one coming soon that I'd also like to have a look at, but for now the 850W will do :)

The reason for all the power supply unboxings lately is that I'm planning an episode of NCIX Tech Tips where basically I explain the benefits of non-modular vs modular power supplies. This one is to be my example of an excellent non-modular power supply.

Yet another unboxing of something I've spent my own hard-earned money on. I'm very impressed with these things so far. They aren't outstanding from a "loudness" point of view, but the stereo effect is excellent and very hard to lose even if you move around the room.

Having a look at a neat & unique product today. The BlacX allows you to use hard drives basically like you would normally use floppy disks!

This is a product I've been quite excited to see for a while. The original Siberia was very well regarded and it looks like Steelseries has made some very compelling improvements to this product. Hopefully I will have a chance to listen to them soon and give my impressions.

This is a pretty cool product that we're looking at bringing in at some point in the future (potentially). The killer apps are automatic head tracking and it comes bundled with an application that allows you to monitor your webcam remotely from another PC or even your iPhone (over 3G!!)

Finally got my hands on one of these cards, and had some time to have a look at it today. I'll be uploading an installation video soon.

Here I take a look at the 5970 in terms of what kind of gargantuan case you're going to need to install this crazy thing. I'm using the Corsair 800D, but I suppose there might be a couple more cases out there that will support it. Seriously though, this thing is HUGE. Even gamer-oriented cases like the Antec 900 won't fit it without modifications.

This thing is actually pretty cool. It's motion-sensing and it tracks your face to make sure that the webcam is always looking at you. You can also use the included Seedonk application to monitor your webcam from another computer or even an iPhone!

Here I do an unboxing and short comparison of the WoW Mouse from Steelseries against its most direct competition, the Razer Naga. The Naga has an advantage in terms of ergonomics and number of buttons, but the WoW mouse has the upper hand in terms of software integration and buttom layout (if you don't want all buttons in the same place)

Overall I'd say I'm impressed with the product. Tracking is flawless with my Ikari Laser and with my G9 even at very low CPI/DPI settings. My one criticism is that the surface is a little bit too fast for me compared to the QCK I'm using now. Not enough friction. That should be GREAT for people who are trying to make the transition from a hard smooth surface to cloth though!

I'm demoing a product that I've actually been using for a while (without the USB dongle, which works great and didn't even need me to download drivers btw) and I have to say that besides maybe the Siberia V2, the 5H V2 is the most comfortable headset out there for gaming. Yeah the performance isn't that great for music, but since most people don't listen to music for 5+ hours in a row, and many people game for that long, comfort is FAR more important than sound quality for a gaming headset.

Today I explain what Intel Turbo Boost technology does for you, but mostly I'm just showing the cool little gadget that they've created which monitors how much your CPU is overclocking itself at any given time.

Having a look at a pretty unique product today. Everyone in the RAM industry is pushing for faster and faster speeds, but G.Skill seems to be the only one doing that while driving the power consumption DOWN!

Forgot to write a description for this. I didn't actually mean to make it public, but YouTube fails. I wanted to fix the black borders before making it visible to everyone. I guess it's out there now so I might as well leave it.

Having a quick look at the heatpipe cooler that's dominating the charts right now. Still getting the hang of my new high def camera, but image quality seems better than the last one.

USB 3.0 and SATA3 or SATA 6.0Gb/s are the big features on this new generation of boards coming out right now. Check out one of the best "bang for the buck" boards out there from Gigabyte.

Sorry for the random video but this was too funny not to share. Was at my parents' place for a family photo and we decided to test our snow ramp by removing the middle of the ramp and launching my brother at it in a wagon.

As per a customer request, I'm opening up this case to have a look at it. I'm sorry the video is so long, but it's surprisingly hard to do a short case unboxing!

Having a look at Noctua's brand new CPU cooler. Well, it's not really brand new, but the fan sitting on top of it is quite new. Basically this new cooler is the old NH-C12P, but now it's got a 140mm fan!!

It's been a while since Logitech has been releasing new products so actively. It seems like the G15 gen2 and G9 were on the market forever without a refresh and now suddenly we have TWO new keyboards (G19 and G110) as well as a new mouse (G500) with hopefully more to come!

Today I have a look at another member of Gigabyte's P55 lineup. The P55A-UD4P. Like its big brother it features SLI, USB 3, and SATA 6Gb/s, but in a more economical package.

Having a look at the entry level board from Gigabyte's new P55A line up. No SLI and less robust power delivery are a couple of features missing on this board when compared against its big brother the UD4P.

Another completely self-indulgent unboxing of water cooling stuff! The Typhoon III is a very unique reservoir, so you should check this out whether you care about water cooling or not. Also I edited a video for the first time.

Today I have a look at a pretty cool special edition of the Razer Lycosa keyboard. It features quiet keys, a very standard (read: good) layout and some other key gaming related features.

I've been interested in seeing this mouse since I first heard of it. It boasts excellent wireless 2.4GHz performance, along with a host of other gaming related features.

Who doesn't like thermal compound? If you raised your hand, then you suck! Just kidding...

It struck me today that static electricity can be a real problem, and many users may not know the proper procedure for discharging any built up static electricity from their bodies so I got all charged up and made a video about it.

Having a look at a very cool product from Antec. This nifty expansion bay slot will turn an ordinary (probably empty) 5.25" bay into a hot swap 3.5" bay! WOW!

This is a product that was a long time coming. A replacement for the traditional keyboard we've been using for gaming since the days of Wolfenstein (yeah I know there was stuff before that, but that's as far back as I go). Belkin tried, and their product is well-regarded, but it's about time one of the big boys took a shot at this one.

I've finally gotten around to taking a quick look at one of ASUS' new P55 boards with USB 3.0 and SATA 6.0Gb/s. Basically not a whole lot has been updated except for those two MAJOR updates to the spec of this board. You can save yourself the trouble of watching if you already know what a USB 3.0 or SATA 6.0Gb/s port looks like.

Today I take a quick look at the Steelseries 4H headset. This is one of the more basic products in their lineup, but besides the "features" like detachable ear pieces, it's not very much unlike the 5H V2, but at a very competitive price.

This mouse pad actually really impressed me. I've been using it for a few days as of uploading this video and it's definitely a worthy replacement for my trusty QCK . Bravo Steelseries. It's a little bit faster than what I'm used to, but the comfort that I love from cloth is still there!

This is my Christmas present for Esther this year, so I thought it's only appropriate to demand not only that she allow me to unbox it on YouTube, but also that she make an appearance for her adoring Facebook fans.