PC Power & Cooling
Silencer 750 Quad power Power Supply: $199
www.pcpowerandcooling.com

PC HARDWARE IS CHANGING at an incredible speed, and it's difficult
for everyone to keep up. It wasn't long ago that the most powerful processor required four-pin auxiliary power connectors. Now the highest-end models employ beefier eight-pin plugs in order to get enough juice. PCI Express cards once monopolized a single six-pin supplementary power connection. Then SLI emerged, requiring two of those plugs to drive a pair of high-end video cards. Now NVIDIA is peddling its GeForce 8800 GTX, necessitating two six-pin connectors per card. Of course, SLI configurations demand no less than four, and not many power supplies fulfill those requirements.

PC Power and Cooling has always been one of those companies to jump up in the face of technical challenge, delivering stable power and the latest features. Mere weeks after NVIDIA began shipping its GeForce 8800 GTX, PC Power & Cooling had launched its Silencer 750 Quad. The supply's four auxiliary power connectors aren't even its top selling features. Instead, PC Power & Cooling emphasizes noise reduction. You see, air turbulence is one of the primary causes of fan noise. The Silencer 750 Quad's design pushes all obstructing vents, capacitors, and heat sinks more than 1" away from the fan blades.

It also helps that the Silencer is rated at 750W output, SLI certified, and loaded with connectivity. Though pricey at $199, customers buying pairs of graphics cards want the best. This is it.

Matrox
QID LP PCIe Quad-Display Adapter: $799
www.matrox.com

THERE'S MORE TO GRAPHICS THAN PROGRAMMABLE SHADERS and massive frame buffers. In the business world, 2D output is often paramount. Years ago, Matrox set the standard in analog 2D output quality with its Millennium and G400. The upsurge of LCDs slowly diminished the importance of analog quality, and increased competition on the 3D front nudged Matrox out of the spotlight.

Although it's no longer as prominent as ATI or NVIDIA, Matrox remains a commanding force in display technology and multi-head adapters. Its QID LP illustrates the company's continued strength by accommodating any combination of four digital or analog displays using a single low-profile graphics card natively designed around the PCI Express bus.

According to Matrox, the QID LP works well driving information applications, such as digital signage or financial workstations. Onboard memory totaling 128MB propels each display at resolutions up to 1600x1200. And Matrox's own PowerDesk software lets resellers customize connected monitors in a number of different ways. For example, the driver's desktop management interface facilitates three operational modes: stretched, independent, and cloned, whereby attached displays form one huge desktop, individual displays with unique settings, or duplicated images across several different outputs. The Desktop Divider feature breaks single monitors into smaller organizational units, while a special pivot mode reorients display information into portrait instead of landscape.

Priced at $799, the QID LP costs more than either ATI's top-end FireMV or NVIDIA's flagship Quadro NVS. Given a digital-only environment, the competing cards put on a better show. But in situations where the QID LP is able to flex its analog muscle, the 2D card really shines. Matrox also offers an optional quad-TV adapter, capable of showcasing the card's analog video output.

Logitech
Z-10 Interactive Speaker System: $149
www.logitech.com

LOGITECH IS KNOWN FOR MANUFACTURING SOME OF THE most desirable peripherals. Its Harmony remotes, diNovo desktop, and gaming headsets are all leaders in user-friendliness and sexy design. Likewise, the company's speaker systems have received praise for advocating technical excellence without overcomplicating technology. The Z-10 Interactive Speaker System represents Logitech's latest efforts, combining good sound and flashy extras in an affordable package that works well as an upsell.

Most noticeable are the Z-10's integrated controls. The dynamic LCD display and touch-sensitive panel of functions clearly suggest that the system be installed within hand's reach. Adjustments such as bass and treble are easily tweaked, as are the common play, pause, next, and previous commands. When the LCD isn't conveying volume levels, it's displaying either track information or calendar data.

The two dapper, all-black enclosures each house a pair of speaker elements—one 3" high-excursion woofer and one 1" dome tweeter. The woofer gets a little more than 14W of power, while the tweeter is driven by 1.2W RMS. Combined, the pair has a total peak power of 60W. That isn't much compared to some of Logitech's beefier multi-channel sound systems; however, the Z-10 is aimed at mainstream desktops and notebook PCs.

Little extras help differentiate Logitech's Z-10 system. Internet radio presets, a headphone port that mutes the speakers, and USB 2.0 connectivity make configuration simple. Naturally, Logitech includes all of the cables, software, and documentation to get your customer up and running.

HP/Lite-On
HP940I Super Multi Drive: $54
www.liteon.com

WHEN IT COMES TO OPTICAL drives, there seems to be little left in the way of differentiation other than media compatibility. And while that's fine when you're building mainstream boxes, it's nice to turn a few heads on more enthusiast-level systems. Dual-layer DVD burners used to be the way to go, but now it seems they come standard on most machines. The HP940I throws you a bit of a twist by supporting all of the popular media formats with the addition of LightScribe recording technology licensed from HP.

Most of the drive's specifications are fairly high-end—double-layer discs are recorded at 8x, single layer DVDs burn at speeds of up to 16x, re-writable DVDs also burn at 8x, and of course the drive powers through writable CDs. Unique in its repertoire is the ability to recognize and write to DVD-RAM media, which, while not in common use, is at least another media type that has persisted for several years now.

Principal on the HP940I's spec list is integrated LightScribe technology. When using compatible media coated with reactive dye, the drive is actually able to write labels. Although the burning is monochromatic, different background colors are available. The on-disc dye absorbs light from the writer's laser, so the labels are not re-writable.

Perhaps best of all, there doesn't seem to be a price premium for the HP940I's LightScribe functionality or DVD-RAM support.

The drive is priced at about $54—affordable even for lower-end whiteboxes.