Firstly I must say I have yet to order and assemble the PC myself, so for more information on that, look at Robert’s guide. Secondly, this is not going to be the most upgradable or expensive PC in the world, but you will easily fool your friends with its power.

Requirements

Before you get started make sure you have a copy of Windows and a monitor, as well as a keyboard and mouse. This guide does not account for the price of either of these so the easiest solution to this is to use an existing TV or monitor and an existing hard drive. If you are like me and your old rig died, simply remove the hard drive and use it on your new PC, as you already have a copy of Windows on it. This PC build will include a 60GB SSD within the $600 budget, so if you do not own Windows, you will have a super fast hard drive to put it on.

Components

Motherboard – Biostar A780L3G – Once again, its not state of the art, but it will definitely get the job done. This motherboard has one PCIe slot and two memory bays. Not the best if you are looking to upgrade, but at $50, its a bargain. There are other options, so if you have a few hundred dollars, this is the first thing I’d recommend spending the money on.

Processor – AMD Phenom II x6 1035T CPU – A cheaper alternative to Intel’s Core i7 series, this AMD processor is beastly, and its six dedicated cores will tackle any game with ease. This is one of the more expensive items in the build, but having the power of a nice CPU can be worth it.

Graphics Card – XFX Radeon HD 6870 900M 2GB GDDR5 – This graphics card is one hell of a deal, considering it has not just one gig of memory, but two gigs! For the price its the best card you can get, and pairing ATI with AMD processors is always your best bet.

RAM – Patriot 8GB (2x 4GB) DDR3 RAM – In today’s world, RAM is no longer that expensive and eight gigs is your best bet to tackle the job. 8GB of RAM will get through most of your gaming needs, and going higher just slopes up the price rapidly.

Hard Drive – OCZ 60GB SSD - This hard drive is puny, but it is blazing fast. For situations like mine where you already have an existing drive with all your games, this drive is perfect for a clean installation of Windows and your favorite games and will run silently for gaming in the dark. Even with such a small size, the benefits outweigh it. If you prefer, you can use a 1TB HDD instead for the same price.

Optical Drive – Samsung 22x DVDRW drive – Noting fancy, but will allow you to install software and use optical media. This isn’t really required, but it’s up to you if you think you need it. If you didn’t get this, you could upgrade your RAM slightly, or another tweak so think wisely!

Case and PSU – For the case and PSU we will be looking at a slightly less expensive version of the case Robert used last year in his build – the Cooler Master Storm Scout Mid-tower case. And to top things off, the Coolmax 600-Watt Modular Power Supply will get the job done.

And there you have it! All the components to build a beastly rig that won’t break the bank. Putting togethor your new computer really isn’t very hard, and there are tons of guides online which can help you assemble everything.  If you have any questions, drop ‘em in the comments below! All of the components are on Amazon and here are their respective links:

Motherboard – http://omnite.ch/vOSaZG
Processor – http://omnite.ch/sz4I9f
Graphics Card – http://omnite.ch/vR7Plb
RAM – http://omnite.ch/rOIy4a
Hard Drive – http://omnite.ch/s0LHGV
Optical Drive – http://omnite.ch/sjx3mm
Case – http://omnite.ch/sCzAfc
PSU – http://omnite.ch/s8X9sG

G-Technology makes some awesome hard drives (because of the Hitachi internals), so Robert interviews Stacey from the company on their current hard drives.

Read our recent review on the G-Drive slim here: http://omnite.ch/mRDcxe

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Design

Being the “G-Drive Slim”, this hard drive is you guessed it; really thin. It’s by far thinner than my iPhone and MacBook Air. It has a sort of curved design which makes it slightly thicker, but definitely makes it look nice.

Speeds

I’ve found the best thing to use this drive for is using it as a Time Machine backup drive. It’s definitely got enough storage, and the speeds are adequate for backing up. It also works great for storing pictures, videos, and other large files on the go, because it’s so slim. Hey, it even passes for basic video editing in iMovie. It really is an awesome all purpose hard drive.

The Bottom Line

Is a 3TB hard drive not big enough for you? Well Samsung has managed to increase hard drive platter density to 1TB, which means we’ll be seeing some really thing 1TB hard drives, and some 4TB hard drives. Samsung hasn’t actually announced a 4TB hard drive, but it shouldn’t be long now.

Robert takes a look at the new GoFlex Ultra Portable hard drive for Mac. This 1TB drive gets an 8/10, and is an awesome time machine backup drive, and just a great all around hard drive for Mac users. It is $80 more expensive than it’s PC brother, which is also an awesome drive. To buy this hard drive on Amazon for $180, go here:
http://amzn.to/fQpRpr

To buy the 1TB PC GoFlex Ultra Portable Hard Drive, go here:
http://amzn.to/gKzcvB

We reviewed the Pogo Plug a while back and we love it. Pogo Plug has just expanded their army of Pogo Plugs with the Pogo Plug video. The idea behind the Pogo Plug Video is that it will take the videos on the attached hard drive and convert them to H.264. It’s also got a neat feature where it can take video from a connected camcorder, and share it with people that you know. Sony’s AVCHD camcorders will have support when the device is released while Pogo Plug is working to get support on other devices. The Pogo Plug Video will be available on March 1st.

Buy it on Amazon: http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=omni0fe-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=B00455MCRA

[rating:4/5]

Most of our media is stored on external hard drives or online solutions likes DropBox. All my pictures our stored on a 500GB drive while all my videos and music is stored on the Pogo Plug. When I want to view all this content, it’s a hassle getting it all in one place. I end up watching all my media on my computer which is counter-productive, and the experience just isn’t as good as my TV. What the Western Digital Live TV Plus does is pull your media from external hard drives, media servers, and your computer without hassle of a full desktop computer.

The Good

Tiny form-factor, virtually silent, looks great with the My Passport Elite hard drive, extremely cheap, has two USB ports, long list of codecs that are supported, can connect to YouTube, Pandora, Netflix and more, features HDMI connectivity with full 1080p support.

The Bad

Somewhat slow interface, doesn’t support enough picture formats, cluttered way of viewer large number of files.

Overall

The TV Live Plus is a cheap way of viewing your media from your TV without the stress of having a PC nearby. It has a vast codec support including some tricky 1080p formats that don’t work with most media players. Setting up the TV Live plus couldn’t be easier, and works with media servers, hard drives, Netflix and Pandora out of the box. I would highly recommend getting the My Western Digital Passport Elite hard drive if you get the WD TV Live Plus because the compliment each other very nicely. While it has no built in storage, it does have two USB ports and Netflix support. The only downside is that I will have no DRM capabilities so if you get your music and video from iTunes, your out of luck. If your in the market from a new TV-side multi-media player, you should definitely consider the Western Digital TV Live Plus.

Full list of codecs

• Video – AVI (Xvid, AVC, MPEG1/2/4), MPG/MPEG, VOB, MKV (h.264, x.264, AVC, MPEG1/2/4, VC-1), TS/TP/M2T (MPEG1/2/4, AVC, VC-1), MP4/MOV (MPEG4, h.264), M2TS, WMV9
• Photo – JPEG, GIF, TIF/TIFF, BMP, PNG
• Audio – MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, AIF/AIFF, OGG, Dolby Digital, DTS
• Playlist – PLS, M3U, WPL
• Subtitle – SRT, ASS, SSA, SUB, SMI

Full Review

A good media either works really well, or fails, there’s not an in-between. After using the TV Live Plus for a few weeks, I have decided that the Live Plus is the in-between. The thing that makes the Live Plus shine is definitely it’s size. It’s so tiny, that it’s almost as small as the remote that it uses. It has a brushed plastic look which is kind of cheap-looking, but it keeps the cost down.

The design is also phenomenal. It has two led lights which lights up when it turns on and when a drive is connected. On the side, it has a USB port which can be used to connect external storage. It has another USB port on the back. For it’s $119 price tag, it packs some pretty good connectivity in terms of video. It supports full 1080p HDMI, RCA and component which our the new standards of video. The audio is also looking good with optical out, and the standard AV out. Of course it also has the standard power plug and Ethernet port for connecting to the internet. I think the connectivity is great because the TV Live Plus will work with really old, and really new TVs.

I have to say, the UI on this media player isn’t great, it’s kind of slow, and bulky. Of course that being said, it does keep the cost down because it doesn’t need a fast processor. Everything is in a menu kind of like that of Windows Media Center. From the main dashboard, you can access everything from Netflix, to the external hard drives. It’s easy to access your network drives as well. As soon as I plugged in the Ethernet cable, I could see my Pogo Plug and other NAS. It’s also very easy to set up Netflix and Pandora which are key features of the device.

If your looking for a hard drive that goes well with the Live TV Plus, I would highly recommend the WD My Passport Elite. This tiny little hard drive is perfect for transporting media stored on your desktop, to the Live Plus. It weighs extremely little, and comes with a cool USB 2 dock. It looks very similar to the Live TV Plus, and has an amazing design which looks good on your desk, and by your TV.

The only problem I have, is that inserting the drive into the dock can sometimes be a hassle and it sits sort of uncomfortably. One of the notable features is that it has an LED indicator on the front. This is one of the best indicator lights I have ever seen on a hard drive. Unfortunately, the My Passport Elite doesn’t have USB 3 capabilities which is one of the only drawbacks to the device. Western Digital has also put some nice backup software with the hard drive which works just as you’d expect. Of course it’s compatible with the WD TV Live Plus right out of the box.

Overall, I think the WD Live TV Plus is a great product with lots of great features. It packs Netflix and Pandora while also having an amazing number of supported codecs. It has a sluggish user interface, but that’s made up with it’s IO. If you need a device which plays your media without the hassle of a computer, the WD TV Live Plus is a great choice.

The Seagate GoFlex system is very useful for people with an on-the-go lifestyle. Sometimes we can’t always take our hard drives with us for various reasons and that’s where the SeaGate FreeAgent GoFlex Net comes in. This product docks two GoFlex Ultra-Portable hard drives and one USB external drive and makes them accessible anywhere via it’s Ethernet connectivity to the internet. It costs $99, but is it worth buying?

The Good

Has a very nice design, only costs $99, has a very good online interface, can support 2 ultra-portable hard drives and one external USB drive, uses the Pogo Plug software.

The Bad

Only has one port for external USB drives, scratches easily.

Overall

The FreeAgent GoFlex Net is a great product, if you have a GoFlex ultra-portable hard drive. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend buying a GoFlex Net unless you have one of these awesome little drives. If you already have one of these drives, I would highly recommend getting the Seagate Net. It has a great web interface powered by the Pogo Plug software, and looks great with drives in it. The GoFlex Net is only $99 and is great for anyone who wants access their data anywhere.

Full Review

The SeaGate GoFlex Net uses the award winning Pogo Plug online software to manage and retrieve files on your hard drive/s. If you already have a Pogo Plug, all you have to do is connect the GoFlex Net to your account, the hard drives just sit right by the ones on the Pogo Plug. Here is our review of the Pogo Plug if you’re more interested in the Pogo Pug software.

To setup the GoFlex Net, all you have to go to is a simple URL and setup and account and then it’s ready for action. The setup process is extremely simple and can be done by even the most novice computer users. You can also access the files on your GoFlex Net using your iPhone, Blackberry or Android phone thanks to the Pogo Plug applications for these phones.

For $99, the connectivity on the GoFlex Net isn’t that great compared to the Pogo Plug, but it does house 2 GoFlex hard drives on the top. It also has one USB port on the back for other external hard drives that aren’t GoFlex drives. That’s 3 connectivity options for hard drives which is one less than the Pogo Plug. It has one Ethernet port and the power port on the back which are both necessary for the GoFlex Net to work.

On the front, the GoFlex Net has two LED gauge meters which light up only when a GoFlex drive is inserted. This is useful if you keep your GoFlex drive on your desk. The design is great through the GoFlex Net which suits the style of the GoFlex system. The Net is very small considering it packs so may features which conserves desk space.

The bottom line is, if you have a Seagate GoFlex ultra-portable hard drive, the GoFlex Net is probably worth buying. The design, usability and features of this product are great and is a good value for the cost. The GoFlex Net is available on Amazon for $99. It keeps the good name of the GoFlex system but it’s not for everyone.

[rating:3.5/5]

[rating:5/5]

It’s a fact that everyone uses storage differently. Some people use Firewire 800, while others use USB 2 or 3. Some people want their storage to be shared with their entire family, while others want to keep their data safely tucked away on a nice little USB 2 dock. Seagate’s GoFlex system lets you do all these things without buying more than one hard drive.

The Good

Has many different connectivity options available for purchase, very light and small, comes in several different colors, doesn’t get hot even under heavy usage, comes in sizes up to 1TB, doesn’t scratch up very easily, 3 year warranty.

The Bad

Only comes with USB 2.0 connectivity in the box, wouldn’t do so well if it took a fall.

Overall

The Seagate GoFlex Ultra-Portable hard drive is a great hard drive for anyone for wants lots of connectivity options for their hard drive. It can be connected to all of Seagate’s GoFlex compatible products which range from HD video players to the Seagate Net which turns your hard drive into network storage. Whether you want a hard drive for backing up your files, or a high speed solution for storing your video, the GoFlex Ultra-Portable hard drive will work with whatever your need is. If your in the market for a new hard drive, the GoFlex drive would be a highly recommended choice.

Specs

Full Review

The main feature of the Seagate GoFlex hard drive is that it’s extremely flexible. Upgrade cables can be bought which let you use many different kinds of connections with the hard drive. To change out the current cable, the bottom end of the drive is removed and then the replacement cable is attached. You can also completely remove the bottom of the GoFlex and use it with the GoFlex Net and GoFlex TV. The great thing about having switchable parts on a hard drive is that when using it with another accessary, there is no added bulk. The GoFlex system is an innovative solution from Seagate and I hope more companies learn from it.

The Seagate GoFlex Ultra-Portable is a very small hard drive considering it packs so many features. The drive itself weighs as much as an iPhone and easily fits into your pocket. The plastic case is extremely scratch resistant which is useful when carrying it around. The only part of the drive with moving parts is the end which is going to extend the lifetime of the drive. If you compare the GoFlex to the 2.5 inch hard drive you would find inside, there is almost no difference. Even with the USB 2 adaptor, the GoFlex Ultra-Portable hard drive is still incredibly small. I didn’t actually drop the GoFlex but if it were to take a drop, it probably would do that well because of the plastic case and it doesn’t have any type or rubber guards or protection.

The GoFlex USB 3 adaptor is extremely useful if you need high data speeds for video editing. It costs $79.99 and has everything to get you started with USB 3 on your laptop. It comes with the GoFlex USB 3 adaptor, PC card laptop adapter and USB power connector. It has backwards compatibility with USB 2 which helps when using your drive with a non-USB 3 device. The drivers for the laptop adaptor come on the drive itself and are easy to install on either a Mac or PC. Again, Seagate is thinking outside the box by not including any unnecessary disks. The speeds are just incredible with USB 3, I get up to 10x faster speeds than USB 2. If you’re a first time USB 3 user, your mind will be blown. For $79.99 I think it’s worth getting the Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Upgrade Cable Kit if you need the speeds of USB 3.0.

The GoFlex drive we reviewed was 500GB and is available for $90 on Amazon. You can also get a pro version of this hard drive which comes with a USB 2 dock and premium backup software and is available on Amazon for $110. If you go on Amazon, you’ll also see a verity of color options which include black, red, silver and blue.This ultra-upgradeable, ultra portable hard drive is one of the best drives I’ve ever tested and is definitely worth a look if your in the market for a new, portable hard drive.

[rating:5/5]