CES 2012 - Earlier on today we visited the Sapphire hotel suite at the MGM Grand here at CES in Las Vegas where we met up with Bill who was kind enough to give us an introduction to some of the new toys they had on display.

First up we got a quick look at Sapphire's X79 motherboard along with their Radeon HD 7970 video card where Bill mentioned they are seeing good performance since both products are able to support PCI-E 3.0.

Next up we got a look at Sapphire's first AMD based Mini-PC called the Edge-HD3 and it is based on the AMD APU E450 processor which is clocked at 1.6GHz and Radeon HD6320 graphics. It comes with 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 320GB HDD, USB 3.0 and more. Bill mentioned they are currently at pre-production level and they should be shipping around the middle of February and go on sale for around $300 USD.

CES 2012: Microsoft announced during their final CES keynote that the Windows 8 beta will be released to their darling public late next month. On top of the release of the public beta of Windows 8, Microsoft will also launch the Windows Store.

Microsoft's Windows Store is their central repository for Metro applications. Windows Store will be available globally, and will support every language that Windows supports, which is great. At this point in time, there was no talk of the release candidate, but if we're seeing a public beta next month, we should expect a single release candidate of Windows 8, just like Windows 7 had.

It is worth pointing out that when compared to Windows 7, Windows 8's development is slightly lagging when on a calendar basis. The Windows 7 beta was released to the public on January 10th, while the Windows 8 beta arrives 6 weeks later. There was a 9.5 month gap between the Windows 7 public beta and retail availability, so we should expect Windows 8 toward the end of the 2012. Maybe on December 21, 2012 and that's what the Mayan's meant by the end of the world? Gasp.

CES 2012 - First on the list of cool offerings from Thermaltake in the add-on market is the Max 5 Duo. This hady 5.25" bay device offers quite a bit in one small package. This bay device not only offers a 2.5" and 3.5" hot swap hard drive bays that are powered with a single power lead, and of course each drive gets its own SATA connection in the back. Another added feature to this unit is the dual USB 3.0 ports to allow those with chassis to put two more high speed ports on the board as long as you have multiple native USB 3.0 20-pin connections.

Thermaltake has also moved into the USB charging market. What I found here is that they are now going to offer a multitude of USB charging solutions, some with additional power outlets as well as the USB charging ports. Every device you buy these days comes with a wall charger of some sort, but here strides are taken to make then not only more universal to just detach the factory plug ends and use these devices, but there are going to be regional offerings with the appropriate power plugs, but Thermaltake took it even one step further with dual port, car lighter, USB charging devices.

Under the Toughpower moniker, that we are used to from Thermaltake's power supplies, they are now going to be delivering a 90W and a 120W universal laptop power supplies. These units are used just as you would use a factory equipped version, but with the universal tips supplied with these units, the possibilities of what can be powered or what devices batteries can be charged with it, the list is pretty much endless.

CES 2012: BenQ's two XL Series Gaming Monitors have been teased previously, but have now been announced to launch in North America at CES. The XL Series comes in a bunch of sizes, 17-, 19-, 21.5-, 22-, 23- and 24-inch, with pricing at of the XL2420T and XL2420TX at $549 and $649, respectively.

The XL2420T and XL2420TX were engineered in conjunction with ZOWIE GEAR, who are a manufacturer of high-end professional gaming gear and R&D partner to BenQ. President of BenQ America Corp., Lars Yoder, says:

The new XL Series models prove that 'gaming is in the details,' building on the technology of our popular XL2410T monitors, which were featured at huge gaming events such as DreamHack Summer 2011, Global Starcraft II League, and GamesCon 2011, ESEA. Offering a 120-Hz refresh rate, 2-ms GTG response time, and 12M:1 dynamic contrast ratio, the XL2420T and XL2420TX not only provide the fundamentals essential to mastering FPS gaming, but also possess exclusive features meticulously constructed to provide FPS gamers with the ultimate sense of ease and control.

CES 2012 - Does anyone remember the Thermaltake Armor Series cases? Well it is making a comeback! Thermaltake took styling cues from the original Armor chassis with the aluminum wings on the front of the chassis, but the left side panel is a newer design. As with most of the top end chassis from Thermaltake, this chassis comes in both black and a Snow Edition you see here.

Since Thermaltake had such a great response to the Chaser Mk 1, and the airflow that that chassis provided, along with the feature rich design, with the new Armor chassis, it uses a direct copy of the Mk 1 interior too. This now gives you even more aesthetic options to the Chaser for those who didn't feel that design, but still liked what it had to offer.

Along with all the higher end chassis Thermaltake is offering in our near future, there is also a pair of budget friendly chassis in line to be released for the gamers who don't want to pay high end prices to get a satisfactory chassis t build in without breaking the bank. To fill this segment Thermaltake is going to offer the Commander MS-II with a chunky front bezel, and the Commander MS-III with the smoother front bezel sitting behind it.

CES 2012: Intel and mobiles have never really gone together like... peanut butter and jelly (for you Americans) and vegemite on toast (for you Australians), but this year, marks a very big change for the chip developer. During Intel's keynote presentation at CES, Liu Jun, president of Lenovo's mobile Internet division, announced the Lenovo K800 smartphone built on Intel's "Medfield" Atom platform.

The K800 sports a 4.5-inch 720p screen, HSPA+ support, runs Android 4.0 and will be available in China in Q2 of 2012. Inside, the processor is the Intel Atom Z2460 with 21Mbps HSPA+ connectivity on the China Unicom network from Intel's XMM 6260 chipset. Lenovo also showed off its IdeaPad K2110, a 10-inch Android 4.0-based tablet, powered again, by Intel's Medfield.

The Medfield goodness didn't stop though, Motorola Mobility CEO, Sanjay Jha announced that Motorola and Intel had entered into a "multiyear, multidevice strategic partnership," with Motorola's first Atom-powered phones to ship in the second half of this year.

CES 2012 - We all know the Phantom chassis NZXT delivered a while ago, and readers of my reviews will soon be reading about the all red version of the Phantom 410. Here we have a trio of what was explained to me as the customer choice versions of the Phantom 410. The blue on white, white on black, and orange on black are all striking choices to buy. There is also an all gun metal grey version, but that chassis did not make it to CES.

After taking the last image I looked up, and behind it on another table was a new chassis that has yet to release that was modded to honor the Los Angeles Police with a futuristic, almost Judge Dred looking Switch 810 chassis. Not only was this chassis sort of wore torn in the design, it offers custom grills and etchings on the window to deliver the full effect of the mod.

On the right side of the Switch 810, there is a futuristic mural of what looked to be a police vehicle in a downtown cityscape. Once again I showed this variant of the Switch 810, as I know you all like the modded chassis as much as I do!

CES 2012 - The first cooler I want to discuss is another AIO water cooler making it to the scene. Here we have an image of the Water 2.0 Pro which is made to replace the older Big Water solutions. Thermaltake has joined with Asetek to deliver this thick radiator version with dual fans on it, but there is a slimmer radiator version also with dual fans, and the third of the group is a dual 120mm radiator version, and again ships with two fans.

I apologize up front, as I wasn't able to get a look at the new Frio Extreme as well as Cameron did in his video the other night. This is a direct competitor to the D-14 and all other variants of the dual tower concept, but is also rumored to outperform all of those in this category. Another thing noteworthy is the control module in this hardware kit that allows PWM or forced 12V to both fans on the cooler with the flick of a switch. Time will tell as these samples arrive to my door, and I get to do my own testing and see just how well it performs.

Next in line is a new addition to the Contact line of coolers. The Contact 39 is a single tower cooler boasting three 8mm heat pipes that make direct contact to the processors IHS. Along with this tall stack of aluminum Thermaltake is maximizing the potential of the Contact 39 by using a pair of 120mm fans to cool this tower as much as possible.

CES 2012 - As I walked the room with Shannon Robb at my side pointing out all the new goodies at the NZXT meeting I just had with them earlier today, I was led to this awesomely amazing customization of the Level 10 GT. I was told this has been a project that was in the works for over six months, and with use of something called Balsa foam, Dan delivers the most amazing Level 10 on the planet!

This is really the case mod that keeps on giving. Every bit was hand carves and offers details that you might miss at first glance, and you can actually sit here for hours looking at all the fine detail and leaving you to find all of the hidden treasures. For instance, there is the pyramid window which is more obvious, but things like the little god under the headphone rack, he is actually gripping an Xbox controller. Also on top of all the fine work done to the chassis, there is an artificial moss applied here and there to make the chassis appear as if it has been sitting out in the forest and was just discovered next to a Mayan temple.

Even on the back of the chassis the brickwork is top notch and the Mayan calendar with the Tt logo in the center inspired me to ask the question is this chassis designed to self destruct on 12/21/12, but Shannon jokingly answered "no, but there is the coolest BSOD that will happen on that date." Of course he was just kidding, there is nothing really going to happen then!

CES 2012 - Since the release of the Hydro Series H80 cooler I tested some time back, there was a special connection that was in the head unit of this AIO cooling solution. After the H80, I was also finding this connection of the H100, and even the Dynamic LED display for the Dominator GT memory. These odd connectors have been rumored to have a controller module on the way that with the use of software as you see in the image above, will allow full control over potentially every cooling device with a 3-pin or 4-pin fan header. That isn't all though! As you can also see in that image this unit is completely software controlled. So with just a few clicks of the mouse, you can choose any Corsair chassis image to back the temperature readings, and even upload other case images into the software if you plan to add this to a non-Corsair solution.

This device is very modular and allows you to take the main module (denoted with an arrow) that fits in a 3.5" drive bay making installation super simple. Not only can you control the fan speeds, pump speeds, set fan speed profiles or choose one already provided, you can also hook LED light strips to the Link. This even goes further than you think. Most assume you are going to get on/off control, or possibly dimming of the lighting, but on top of that, there are sliders to give you full access to the RGB spectrum.

Along with the main module, you do need to attach a module to control the fans, and a module to control the lighting, but as I discussed the system further with them, I was made aware that you can keep stacking fan and lighting modules on the main Link systems 8 ports. So if you want to control every fan and light your case like an airport runway, the Link from Corsair will give you everything you need at the click of a mouse. Stay tuned to the reviews section as well. I was told the Link just released today, and it's possible I may have one on my door step when I return from CES.