Tagan BZ800 SMPS

tagan-bz800

Tagan is a relatively new name in the market for desktop power supplies. Enter their new BZ series,a funky product line, meant for discerning users and gamers and offering some show to what is usually just go.The BZ series do things radically differnt as far as visuals go. They’re modular, with pipe-like connector cables complete with circular pin arrangement(called piperock by Tagan) that ensure incompatibility with any other power supply. Then there cool looking LED-lit circular strips around each modular socket on the PSU that illuminate when a cable is plugged in. The cables are color coded as per the LED color. This ensures no mistakes while plugging in cables. If you have a transparent side window, the ensuing lighting is definitely one to get the drool out as intended. Add to that a large cooling fan(135 mm) with blue LEDs and the BZ800 is definitely lit to kill! There is a pair of branded nylon gloves free publicity for Tagan if you should chose to wear them around. The outer body itself is reasonably well built, but the gauge of sheet used isn’t as good as the CoolerMusteredRealPower 1000W or the Corsair HX series.
On the technical front the BZ800 sports six 12 volt rails. There is a Turbo mode which disables the power limitations on the 12 V rails allowing them to overdraw power , in case you should need it. Four PCIe (two 6 pin and two 8 pin) power connectors mean SLI/Crossfire is possible with the latest cards. With a combined load capacity of 64 amps on the 12 V rail (768 W) the BZ800 is no different from other recent power supplies, which concentrate on beefing up the 12 V rail that typically powers CPUs,graphics cards, hard drives, optical drives and case fans.
We fired up our nuclear reactor of a rig,consisting of our Core 2 Quad Extreme QX6850 CPU, ASUS Striker Extreme, two WD Raptor 80 GB HDDs, a500 GB WD caviar HDD, two DVD RW drives and an x-Fi Elite Pro. Just to make things interesting, we took our quad core to 3.6 GHz,and ran a gamut of benchmarks. Not once did it seem that the BZ800 ran out of juice, and performed well right through.
At $200 the Tagan BZ isn’t cheap by any means, but for a high-end power supply (which it most certainly is), the price isn’t too bad. The only better option we’ve seen is the CoolerMaster Real Power 1000W Pro-which is much costlier. Incidentally, the fact that the BZ800 is 80+ certified means your power bills will be in check. If you’re looking for an extreme PC or a super duper gaming rig, and need a powerful PSU with loads of visual appeal, you can’t go wrong with this.

Specifications:
800 W continuous power, max power (12 V)-768 W (64 A), 8x SATA connectors, 2×6 pin PCIe connectors, 2×8 pin PCIe connectors, 6x peripheral connectors (4 pin).

Popularity: 31% [?]

Canon PowerShot Sx100 IS

The Canon PowerShot SX100 IS is the first ultra-zoom camera boasting 10x optical zoom in its compact body. Touted as the perfect camera in the hands of any family member, we found it to be true-the Sx100 IS is simple to use, and delivers superb photographs with minimum tweaking. The SX100 is relatively bulky and can only be carried around in a pouch-too large for any pocket. Similar to other A-series Cameras from Canon, the SX100 has a plastic body, however it is well put together and exudes a built-to-last feel. Instead of a five way rocker, the SX100 IS has a rotating click wheel for browsing the menu-quite intuitive to use.
The SX100 IS an 8 Mega pixel camera with 10x optical zoom, face detection and image stabilization. The camera has other features typical to the A series of cameras-scene modes, manual focus, color swap-ping, panorama mode and so on. The 10x optical zoom combined with an excellent image stabilization works wonders taking distance shots. The flash on this camera is simply superb-in fact, the best flash we have seen on any point-and-shoot camera. The SX100 IS uses AA size batteries-on an alkaline pair, we got around 120 photograph; using Ni-MH, batteries we got 400 shots-terrific. the down-side to the use of AA batteries is the flash recycle time-painfully long, and becomes noticeable when batteries are low. color rendition is accurate and natural. the camera performs admirably even in low ISO settings-we got excellent photographs even at 80 ISO. Higher sensitivity ISO setting such as ISO 800 and 1600 are completely useless-grainy images.
Working with manual focus and macro was fun, and it delivered some really good shots. The best part about SX100 IS is the ease with which any one can take good photographs. Video capture is excellent. A 20 second video requires 30 MB of space. Priced at $300, the camera is a steal for the features and performance it offers. If you have any friends coming from abroad, ask them to get you the camera.
Canon PowerShot Sx100 IS

Popularity: 10% [?]

Samsung NV8 Digital Camera

Samsung NV8 Digital CameraThe Samsung NV8 is the younger sibling of the NV10 that we tested in October 2007. This is an 8 MP camera with 3x optical zoom, and looks and feels exactly like the NV10. The interface on the camera is simple to use, and is controlled by the touch sensitive buttons on either side of the screen. They’re easy to use, but take a little getting used to. The camera has a rough matte finish with a 2.5- inch screen.
Image quality is also very similar to the NV10. The clarity and crispness is there, and higher ISO levels give out a little grain in the image. The colours aren’t very vibrant; and have a washed look to them-especially in outdoor lighting. Indoor shooting is a different story altogether, and the NV8 seems to be better indoor then outdoors. You can get macro shots from up 4 cm away with good results. The video quality is good, and the same macro feature works for videos as well. Video resolutions are 640*480 and 320*240, and are saved as AVIs using MPEG4 codecs. The audio birate is 64 kbps, though the quality is nothing special.
Face detection and image stabilization are present as features, but image stabilization only kick in when you turn the mode knob to ASR (Advanced Shake reduction). If you use ASR for videos, a small area of the capture is cropped. This camera is pretty much the the NV10 with a lower MP rating. This average performing camera is priced at $350, and to be frank, there are better cameras available in the same price range.

Popularity: 11% [?]