A solid mounting system helps the SilverStone Argon AR01 and AR03 direct-touch heatpipe coolers reach elite status among SPCR tested CPU heatsinks.

Intel's latest mainstream processor architecture isn't a massive upgrade but Haswell does boast some performance gains, new/refined features, and improved energy efficiency, the latter most useful in the mobile chips running Windows 8.

Last week we tested a half dozen 140 mm fans, with models from Phanteks and Noctuas floating to top and offerings from Xigmatek sinking to the bottom. This time we have five contenders from Antec, bequiet!, Corsair, and Scythe slugging it out.

140 mm fans from Noctua, Phanteks, and Xigmatek battle in our latest fan roundup with one emerging as a clear winner in both thermal performance and acoustics.

Seasonic announced that its power supplies are ready for Intel Haswell processors. A key requirement for Haswell-Shark Bay is the power supply's ability to maintain a minimum current load of 0.05 Amps on the 12V rail for the CPU.

Seasonic's press release:

"Sea Sonic Electronics congratulates Intel on the launch of the Haswell Processors. We are inspired by the continuing efforts made by Intel to push the boundaries of performance and at the same time, be environmentally conscious through reduction of energy consumption.

"These are the exact same attributes which have driven Sea Sonic for the past 35+ years. As we strive for industry leading performance, we continue to research the long term effects of each of our design. By continuously improving our efficiency we try to achieve maximum energy savings and by using high quality components we aim to prolong product lifetime; all to achieve long term sustainability.

The NH-U12S is an attempt by Noctua to take everything we like about the larger NH-U12P and cram it into a slimmed down form factor for improve compatibility.

It's been a long wait since the last one, but here's the latest in our ever popular series of fan roundups: Nine 120mm fans from Antec, bequiet!, Corsair, GELID, Noiseblocker, and SilverStone duke it out for acoustics and cooling performance.

Rosewill may be a house brand, but Newegg has enough muscle to attract strong partners. In the case of the Silent Night 500 Fanless 80+ Platinum PSU, Rosewill's partner Super Flower has given Rosewill a major win.

The new SilverStone Grandia GD07 and GD08 deliver all the trappings of a typical ATX tower in a media PC case.

Fractal Design's take on a desktop media PC case, the Node 605 is a sturdy, elegant chassis focused on limiting noise, vibration, and dust build-up. It offers ATX board compatibility in a surprisingly small footprint, but usability is far better with a mATX board.

The Cooler Master Seidon 240M is a self-contained liquid CPU cooler with a dual fan radiator. Though equipped with a very quiet pump, its low noise performance doesn't justify the US$100 price when compared to top air coolers.

The HDPLEX H5.TODD offers home theater or computer audio enthusiasts a completely silent passively cooled PC chassis that would look good in any high end A/V cabinet or rack. The beauty of its brushed aluminum facia is actually quite deep — a whopping 1.5cm! — and its layout and construction shows good functionality as well.

Windows 8 is making possible a new class of mobile convertibles that flip between tablet and notebook. The Samsung ATIC Smart PC 500T is one example, based around a new Atom core and built around a big (for tablets) 11.6" screen, but there's an Ivy Bridge upgrade available in the 700T. Meanwhile, Microsoft's Surface Pro shows us a different vision of the convertible.

We examine a pair of external storage options from Icy Dock. The Blizzard is an oddly shaped, actively cooled HDD enclosure with some nifty extra features, while the EZ-Dock is a conventional but sleek looking docking station.

Last week, some six weeks after the review was originally posted, I received a third sample of the Seasonic 520W Platinum. This one is apparently representative of the current production models. I tested the new sample 3 times, with many hours of steady modest load (<100W) and also standby between high load testing, over a period of 5 days. All this was to ensure that no changes occurred as the unit "broke in".

Overall, the level of whining noise of the third sample is very low and did not change over time or load. It is very unlikely to cause any negative reaction with 99% of potential users. (The 1% who might complain are the ones who would never be happy with any product.) [Hit Read More to read more.]