Editors’ Picks: Digital Discoveries
Jarred Walton, senior editor, and Bo Moore, technology editor, reveal their latest tech highs
Shoot me down, but I won’t fall, I am titanium! Fitting lyrics for what is currently the best of breed in the PSU world. Seasonic has been making PSUs for decades, and its Prime Titanium line tops the charts. It’s not just about 80 Plus Titanium certification either— the 650W model also has ETA A (a far more demanding assessment of PSU quality) and Lambda A++ (less than 20dB noise) ratings.
That’s all well and good, but here’s what you really need to know: The 650W Prime Titanium is awesome! Thanks to the exceptional efficiency, it barely gets warm under moderate loads, and even at max it’s very quiet. Ripple, voltage regulation, and power factor are all excellent as well. The 650W model is one of the least expensive Titanium rated PSUs on the market, and while $150 isn’t cheap, this is a component that could last through a decade of upgrades.
Why splurge on a power supply, perhaps the least sexy part of a build? A good PSU can help eke out the last drop of overclocking headroom, thanks to a clean power signal, and keeping noise and temps down is a plus. I’ve had a few bad PSUs that failed and took other components with them, so for highend builds, I’m done skimping on a PSU. $149, https://seasonic.com I’m a big fan of Logitech’s wireless mice offerings. The wireless G403 has been my daily driver for more than a year, while several of my colleagues swear by the G900 Chaos Spectrum. The wireless tech is top-notch, but for all the freedom going cordless affords, we’ve still been stuck tethered to power cords—at least every time the battery runs dry.
Logitech aims to fix that with its new PowerPlay Wireless Charging System (see review, pg. 88). It’s a mat that sits under your mousepad of choice, and wirelessly sends a trickle of charge up into your mouse—either the G703 (the new name for my venerable G403) or G903 (ditto for the G900). After using it for the last few weeks, the highest praise I can give is that it just works.
It might not seem worth it to spend $100 just to do away with the small annoyance of having to plug your mouse in to charge every week or so, but losing battery is an excruciating reason to lose a fight. With the PowerPlay charging pad, there’s no plugging in, no setting your mouse in a specific spot— just use your mouse as normal, and the pad keeps it charged. Wireless is freedom—I don’t think I can go back to being tied down. $100, http://gaming.logitech.com