Icy Dock MB882SP and MB982IP Hard Drive Converter Reviews

Legit Storage Reviews

The 3.5” hard drive has been in use for many years.  It has been a standard size for desktops, network storage and enterprise use.   In recent years, 2.5” hard drives have become popular due to increases in performance and storage capacity.  Additionally, Solid State Drives are quickly becoming the standard.  The problem is that in order to use one of the new 2.5” hard drives, you either have to modify your existing hardware, or buy new equipment.   For some, this can be a very costly update.  Icy Dock has a lower priced solution in the form of 2.5” to 3.5” hard drive converters.  A 2.5” hard drive can be installed, making it the same size as a 3.5” hard drive with a standard SATA interface.  These converters can be found starting at around $26.00 for the entry level converter and up to $34.99 for the enterprise class SAS compatible converter.

Using the enterprise version as an example, Icy Dock has a great picture showing how the MB982IP-1S-1 matches up to a standard hard drive.  Here they attempt to show the size and that their enclosure has the same screw holes as a standard 3.5” drive.

Icy Dock 2.5” to 3.5” Hard Drive Converter Features:

SATA, SAS or SSD (7mm to 15mm)

Converts your 2.5” SATA HDD or SSD to a 3.5” SATA hard drive, for 3.5” SATA drive bay usage.Support SATA 6Gbps.Compatible with Most 3.5” HDD Backplanes and Hot Swap Devices.Universal mounting holes for most common PC case.Screw-less design for quick & easy hard drive installation.Airflow vents for heat dissipation with shockproof design.Simple and Lightweight design.Compatible with Mac Pro.Perfect for System Integrators and IT Professionals3 Year warranty

There are two main versions of the Icy Dock 2.5” to 3.5” hard drive converters, each designed with slightly different target uses, however they can both be used in virtually any situation, providing the hard drive is compatible.

The consumer and small business version is the MB882SP (right converter) line, is mostly made out of plastic and is compatible with SATA drives only, while the MB982IP (left converter) line targets the enterprise this line includes SAS connectivity and is made out of metal.

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AMD A10-6800K and A10-6700 Richland APU Reviews

Legit Processor Reviews

Last week, Intel released 4th Generation Core "Haswell" processors and this week we have AMD releasing the company's 3rd generation of APUs, known as "Richland." AMD "Richland" APUs are said to bring 20-40 percent performance increases over the previous generation of AMD A-Series "Trinity" APUs, so AMD fans have been waiting months for this day to come. The other nice thing about these new APUs is that they don't require a new platform and work in all existing AMD Socket FM2 motherboards after a quick BIOS update.

It has been three years since AMD launches the Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) and the they have progressed nicely since a rather bumpy launch.  The AMD Llano APU was a nice processor on the FM1 platform, but there was no upgrade path for the platform and the socket was essentially dead from the get go. Last years AMD Trinity APU brought significant performance gains along with the new FM2 platform, which thankfully can support both Trinity and Richland! It's always good when your socket design can last for more than one generation!

The AMD Richland APU uses "Piledriver" 32nm HKMG process cores (up to 4 cores), up to 128 KB L1 Cache (64 KB Instruction, 64 KB Data), Up to 4 MB L2 and 2 x 128-bit FPUs / compute module. The 32nm processors are available in 65W and 100W configurations and have a die size of 246mm2 with 1.3 billion transistors. AMD Turbo Core 3.0 has taken the increased the boost frequency from 4.2GHz from the last generation Trinity APU to 4.4GHz with Richland. Richland supports the latest ISA instructions including FMA4/3, AVX, AES, XOP. Basically you get the latest Piledriver  cores along with VLIW4 GPU architecture. The end result is up to 779 GFLOPS on OpenCL Apps.

2013 AMD A-Series Platform Features:

Turbo Charged x86 architecture featuring “Piledriver” cores Supports up to 4 cores and support for the latest ISA instructions including FMA4/3, AVX, AES, XOPUp to 2MB L2 cache per dual-core module (up to 4MB total)Max Turbo Frequencies up to 4.4 GHzConfigurable via AMD OverDriveAMD Radeon HD 8000 Series GPU Cores Featuring VLIW 4 architectureUp to 384 shadersUp to 844MHzUp to 8xAA and 16AF supportControllable via AMD OverDriveDirectX11 SupportNew DDR3-2133 support on A10 APUsEnhanced AMD Turbo Core More Frequency/Voltage levels for CPU and x86 coresTemperature Smart Turbo CoreNew bottleneck detect algorithmsControllable via AMD OverDriveUVD and VCE Video Encode and Decode Hardware to offload CPUAMD Picture Perfect support with HD Post Processing technologiesSupport for latest display technologies AMD Eyefinity2 technology for 3+1 monitor supportDisplay Port 1.2 support

FM2 Platform

AMD CrossFire support with AMD A85X motherboardsAMD Memory Profile support (auto select memory timings in select DIMMs)AMD Dual Graphics support with AMD Radeon HD 6450, 6570, and 6670 graphics cards

Here are the details of the five Richland APUs that will be available at launch. The AMD A10 series quad-core processors have 384 Radeon cores clocked at 844MHz and 4MB of total cache. Richland has a 44MHz speed bump on the Radeon Cores over the previous Trinity APUs! The AMD A8 series are also quad-core processors with 4MB cache, but have just 256 Radeon cores and the speed on them drops to just 800MHz on the A8-6500. The AMD A6 series consists of the A6-6400K, which is a dual-core part with just 1MB cache and 192 Radeon cores running at 800MHz.  Notice that just the AMD A10-6800K, has been validated and certified for use with DDR3-2133MHz memory. The other Richland APUs officially support just 1866MHz memory kits.

The AMD FM2 platform can now use both Trinity and Richland APUs and there are ten processors to pick from. The AMD A6-6400K is a dual-core part that runs 4.2GHz for $69, the AMD A8-6500 and A8-6600K are quad-core parts that are $112 and the AMD A10-6700 and A10-6800K are $142. AMD is making you pick between lower clocks and a 65W TDP or an unlocked processor with higher clocks and a 100W TDP. Personally, we'd go with the unlocked part and set it up how you want to in your motherboards BIOS!

Memory plays a critical role on AMD APU's and can dramatically improve your user experience by using the highest supported memory kit. The AMD A10-6800K Richland APU is the first AMD APU to ever officially support DDR3 2133MHz dual-channel memory. AMD says that you get a 9-12% performance boost in popular game titles when you run 2133MHz versus 1600MHz, so be sure to buy the fastest memory kit possible.  For the AMD A10-6800K we recommend 2133-2400MHz. Our AMD A10-6700 Richland APU won't run 2133MHz with full stability, which is odd, so 2133MHz is going to be hit or miss on the A10-6700. It doesn't officially support it, but not every processor is going to be able to run it out of the box.

The new AMD APU's also now come with a software bundle thanks to the AMD Elite Experience Program! The AMD A10 APU product line is available with a game title from AMD's Never Settle Game Promotion and a suite of new apps that is being released for the very first time. The game title that will be included with AMD A10 series APU's here in North America is Tomb Raider, so if you spend $142 on the AMD A10-6800K or the A10-6700, you get a game title that normally sells for $40 on Amazon. The other software features are AMD Gesture Control, AMD Screen Mirror, AMD Quick Stream Technology, AMD Face Login, AMD Steady Video and AMD Perfect Picture HD. The summary on those applications are below.

AMD Face Login – Uses facial recognition technology and a webcam to allow for quick log-in to Windows and other browser-based websites that require a log-in, like social networking sites and email services;
AMD Gesture Control – Tracks a user’s hand gestures and converts them into commands for basic functions on media players, browsers, e-readers and other popular applications leveraging a webcam, advanced image processing and machine-vision algorithms;
AMD Screen Mirror – Wirelessly shares content like photos, videos, HD media streams and webpages from a PC or tablet based on a 2013 AMD A-Series APU with any supported TV or display with a DLNA receiver, or with other PCs. Available only on select AMD-based devices;
AMD Video Entertainment Features – Make your content look its very best: AMD Steady Video technology gives users push-button control over shaky home video and helps stabilize the images for better viewing; AMD Quick Stream technology enables smooth video streaming and a virtually interruption free streaming experience; and AMD Perfect Picture HD8, creates rich and lifelike color on video entertainment.

AMD sent over the A10-6700 and A10-6800K "Richland" APUs to try out and those are going to be the processors we will be looking at closer today!

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ASUS Xonar DGX and Xonar DSX Audio Cards Reviews

Legit Mods and Ends Reviews

It’s unfortunate that desktop sound cards are becoming less popular. Many years ago, sound cards with their dedicated audio processors could genuinely benefit gamers and their computers when CPUs were much slower. Nowadays, sound cards are being displaced by such factors as fast CPUs, increasing usage of software audio processing, and improved motherboard audio. Additionally, quality listening hardware is necessary to really hear the difference and the cost of good headphones or speakers is another cost burden many people don’t want to deal with. Cheap audio solutions are acceptable to most people and that's fine, but a more recent to insult to high-end audio is the development of trendy headphone fashion currently led by Beats by Dr. Dre, though I digress.

Nevertheless, there will always users who demand the benefits sound cards can bring to the table. Audiophiles demand sound quality, home theater PC users can utilize the outputs and connectivity, and gamers can step up their game with accurate positional audio. ASUS has tackled these challenges with its Xonar sound card line-up. Today we’re looking at the two budget Xonar cards, the DGX and the DSX, though ASUS has made an entire range of Xonar solutions. Among them are the Essence ST and STX which are targeted at home audio enthusiasts, the ROG Phoebus which complements the gamer’s arsenal, and the Essence One DACs made for the most hardcore of audiophiles.

It’s been a very long time Legit Reviews has looked at a desktop sound card. It’s also quite special that ASUS sent two which allows us to make for a comparison. However, there was much to catch up on and it took me a considerable amount of research on community findings and hours of careful listening to make this review as informative as I can.

The Xonar DGX and DSX are PCI-E versions of the older Xonar DG and DS respectively, both which used the vanilla PCI interface. There are two clear advantages of using the newer PCI-E versions: these cards are compatible on motherboards that only have PCI-E slots and the PCI-E bus can provide all needed power thus eliminating the need for an additional power supply plug.

When it comes to online pricing you can find the ASUS Xonar DGX runs $39.57 shipped and the ASUS Xonar DSX costs $59.24 shipped. All ASUS Xonar cards carry a 3 year warranty.

Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted) (Front-out)

Input Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted)

Output THD+N at 1kHz (Front-out)

Frequency Response (-3dB, 24bit/96KHz input)

Digital-to-analog converter (DAC)

Texas Instruments NE55329 (swappable)

The technical specifications table above highly indicates a myriad of hardware differences between the DGX and the DSX. Predictably, there are differences in their audio characteristics which I will explain further on.

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