The Lab (14)

Fun stuff from the lab



N3L-Front-IntroAs progress continues to move forward we find ourselves being impacted by technology more and more. Even in our daily activities we are seeing a great incorporation of technology. Sometimes this is a good thing, sometimes it is not.  Recently I was able to work with a company that is incorporating technology into their customer experience.  The company in question is N3L Optics. N3L Optics sells eyewear primarily for sports but can also fit you for just about any activity. They have a very different view on the customer and how to interact with them and also to give them the best possible service. To do this N3L has brought in three key pieces of technology to guide the customer experience through act of finding and purchasing the right eyewear.

Tuesday, 20 July 2010 20:48

07-20-2010 Deliveries and a change in the Lab

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RAM-01Once more the UPS truck hits my driveway and brings some new toys to the lab. This time the parts are for reorganization. As the lab is right now I use multiple vendors for the parts used. I try to have two of each to keep things even but I am still working with having to keep up with multiple companies and that can be a pain. To help fix some of this Cameron at Tweak Town worked with Corsair to source much of the hardware we use for the test benches. We were able to get quite a bit to maintain two full test benches. Here is what has arrived so far.

Monday, 19 July 2010 19:57

UPS Brings more toys for the Lab

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cruiserThe UPS truck stopped by today and brought with it some very nice toys.  The first box was from Cooler Master and contained a Choiix Cruiser mouse, all decked out in red. This mouse is part of CM’s more college oriented line of peripherals, and has a decent look to it. We will have to see about how well it performs.



08-boardAs another product comes down off of the bench we get to crack open new one. This time we break open the Asus Rampage III Gene. This Micro ATX motherboard is the baby brother to the Rampage III Extreme and has some of the same core features, just in a smaller package.  The smaller size makes it perfect for installation into portable LAN party cases. With a retail price of about $230 (about $150 less than the Rampage III Extreme) it could be an amazing deal if the features and performance are even close to its big brother. Let’s tear open the box shall we?



11-stalker-5870Wow! Another product gets stripped from the safety of its box and shoved into one of my test benches. This one is a GPU destined for BSN, but will probably end up getting some commentary here as well. It is the Asus EAH5870 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.  Call of Pripyat Edition. We got this back in that big delivery the on the 9th and have just freed up the GPU testing station for its arrival. So let’s take a quick look at the box, the goodies and the card itself.



rt-n16-01We have another unboxing to tell you about. This one is in the networking arena. As you saw in our recent deliveries article we now have an Asus RT-N16 wireless router.  We have played with a few routers from Asus before and while they were not the fastest out there, they had some excellent features.  With that in mind let’s take a look at what we find inside the box and get a good look at the RT-N16 from Asus.

Tuesday, 13 July 2010 21:55

We unbox, the Gigabyte H55N-USB3

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03Here we have our first official unboxing. This is one of those things that can have a dual purpose. On the one hand they let everyone know what we have, and what is going on our test bench in short order. These also allow us to take the time to talk in depth about the bundle, packaging, and features of the products we get in the lab. Our first official unboxing comes in the form of the GIGABYTE H55H-USB3.

08-Rampage-III

Ah it is always nice when the FedEX, UPS or DHL truck stops in front of the house. They bring the gear that keeps me busy in one of the best jobs for a geek. Today’s Delivery listing will also include the toys that were dropped off yesterday by another FedEx truck and a UPS truck in the afternoon. So let’s kick it off with the first delivery.