Tech Power Up

AQIRYS Aquarius 360 AIO Cooler Review

2 Packaging & Contents » Introduction A big thank you to AQIRYS for supplying the review sample. AQIRYS is a brand of DIY PC components based in Romania. While they may not be well known to some of our readers, they have rapidly branched out into multiple market segments. Their product portfolio currently includes gaming chairs,… Read more

Silicon Power Armor A66 2 TB & 5 TB Review

Introduction Silicon Power is a Taiwanese hardware manufacturer founded in 2003. In enthusiast circles, they are well known for providing reasonably priced high-quality flash storage products. Silicon Power’s various product lines include DRAM modules, SSDs, flash drives, and portable storage. Today, we’re looking at a portable hard drive, which is a refreshing change from all… Read more

ROCCAT Kone XP Review

Introduction Established in 2006, ROCCAT is a peripherals company based in Germany. Essentially, the Kone XP is a Kone Pro with more buttons and additional RGB lighting. Whereas the Kone Pro was rather barebones in those regards, the Kone XP is the spiritual successor to the Kone EMP. The Kone XP comes with 13 buttons… Read more

Red Dead Redemption 2: FSR 2.0 Community Patch Review

Introduction Followed by our previous testing of the FSR 2.0 community mod for Cyberpunk 2077 and Dying Light 2, the loyal modding community continues to improve games before developers even release their patches. Red Dead Redemption 2 is the next AAA-game to receive FSR 2.0 support through a community mod. The way this mod works… Read more

EK Fluid Works S5000 Workstation Review

33 Packaging & Contents » Introduction Founded in 2003, EK has since risen from its humble beginnings to become a dominant player in the PC water-cooling market. In fact, the brand is nearly synonymous with PC water-cooling itself. The company provides solutions to meet every need, be it cooling your CPU, motherboard VRM, or graphics cards…. Read more

Dying Light 2: FSR 2.0 Community Patch Review

Introduction Last week we reviewed the AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0 community mod for Cyberpunk 2077, and the loyal modding community continues to improve games before developers even release their patches. Dying Light 2 is the next game to receive FSR 2.0 support through a community mod. The way this mod works is by hooking… Read more

ThieAudio Elixir In-Ear Monitors Review – Got Wood?

Introduction ThieAudio made a lot of waves last year with some very impressive IEM launches across its hybrid (Legacy 5, Legacy 2) and tribrid line, as the new Monarch MK.2 seemingly improved over the already appealing ThieAudio Monarch alongside the all balanced armature Voyager series getting a new flagship with the fun and technical V16… Read more

The ASUS TUF Gaming Alliance Revisited

Introduction I would like to thank ASUS, Team Group, Enermax, and Intel for supplying the parts for this article. The TUF (short for The Ultimate Force) brand has been around since 2010 and has evolved considerably since by including a wider variety of products from ASUS and various partners, enabling completely TUF-branded system build. In… Read more

Netac NV7000 2 TB M.2 NVMe SSD Review

Introduction Netac is a flash storage expert company based out of Shenzen, China. It was founded in 1999 and has always had a focus on flash-based products, like USB sticks and memory cards, but also DRAM-based memory like DDR4. While the company’s main focus of operation is their OEM business, producing flash products for various… Read more

EVGA X12 Gaming Mouse Review

Introduction Founded in 1999, EVGA is a US-based computer hardware company. Much like other recent EVGA mouse releases, the X12 comes with a whole host of features. First of all, just like the X15 and X17, the X12 is capable of true 8000 Hz polling. PixArt’s PMW3389 sensor is used, complemented by an additional lift-off… Read more

Fractal Design Pop Air RGB Review

Introduction I would like to thank Fractal Design for supplying the review sample. Fractal Design is well known for its higher-end products, including the Define series. Over the years, there have been pushes by Fractal into lower price brackets with some success, but none forged into that $70-80 range successfully enough to spawn several product… Read more

Quick Look: FiiO K5 Pro ESS Desktop DAC/Amplifier

Introduction This is the second in a series of FiiO products being covered on TechPowerUp, with the first the FiiO FA7s set of all balanced armature driver in-ear monitors. I mentioned in said review how FiiO puts out more products in a year than most companies do in a decade, and FiiO not only has… Read more

Gainward GeForce GTX 1630 Ghost Review – Challenging the AMD RX 6400

Introduction Today, we have for review the Gainward GeForce GTX 1630 Ghost. This card is a real “ghost” from the past, as it’s the first GeForce GTX product we’ve reviewed in almost two years. The GTX 1630 is, surprisingly, a brand-new SKU being launched today. Based on the older “Turing” graphics architecture and positioned in… Read more

MSI MPG X570S Carbon EK X Review

Introduction In today’s review, we are covering another collaboration between MSI and EKWB for the AMD AM4 platform. The biggest selling point of this type of product is EKWB’s talented team’s ability to create a monoblock tailored to a specific motherboard. Combined with MSI’s well-received MSI MPG X570S Carbon MAX WiFi, a mid-tier motherboard with… Read more

Cyberpunk 2077: FSR 1.0 vs. FSR 2.0 vs. DLSS Comparison Review

Introduction Cyberpunk 2077 was released almost two years ago, but a loyal modding community improved the game by itself before CD Projekt Red even released its patches. Last summer I discovered that DLSS can be updated to the newer version manually, by swapping the DLL, which fixes some of the visual issues, such as excessive… Read more