Table of contents for January 2017 in Custom PC UK

Apart from a few notable exceptions, most music download services don’t offer lossless audio It’s tough trying to do the right thing when the people you’re trying to help make it so difficult. As you may or may not be aware, last year the High Court made it once again illegal to rip DVDs, Blu-ray discs and CDs to your hard drive. That’s a problem for me, because I don’t want shelves full of needlessly big boxes of unreliable discs, and plenty of my DVDs aren’t available to purchase as legal downloads. Like many people, I decided to do it anyway. I’ve spent the last month using Handbrake to rip all my DVDs to my Synology NAS box,which also contains all my CDs and records (yes, records – it took…

The big surprise is the sound quality from the 50mm drivers SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk / MODEL NUMBER HX-HSCS-BK/EM SPECIFICATIONS Cup type Circumaural Connection 3.5mm jacks Drivers 50mm Frequency response 50Hz-18KHz Impedance Not stated With so many manufacturers on the gaming headset scene now, there’s a huge amount of choice, especially as most of the big players have considerably upped their game. Nevertheless, HyperX has consistently wowed us with the superb sound quality of its Cloud and Cloud II headsets, which also offer great value, and HyperX has just added another gaming headset to its bow recently too. This time it comes in the form of the Cloud Stinger – a £50 headset that undercuts much of the competition, but still packs a punch. In this league, Corsair’s Void Stereo is…

At first glance, the Fellows Memory Foam Mouse Pad might provoke derision in the eyes of your inner gamer snob. It’s small, rounded and inoffensive-looking, promising neither extremes nor performance. It’s friendly and squashy, and probably wouldn’t hurt a fly, even if you told it the fly had called it names. However, its memory foam wrist rest makes it so comfy to use that it’s hard to complain. In front of this cushion, there’s the cloth surface for the mouse itself, which is fine as a surface, although it’s very small and not ideal if you have big hands or a big mouse, as you can run over the edges – it isn’t built for gaming. The bottom of the pad is initially slightly adhesive, but the adhesive fades if…

How we test People rarely consider upgrading their router, but replacing your ailing router, or the brand-new one that came with your ISP contract, can result in big leaps in Wi-Fi speed and range. Wi-Fi has progressed in leaps and bounds over the past few years too. Older Wi-Fi standards used the 2.4GHz band, but the 5GHz band was introduced with 802.11n. Then, along came 802.11ac, which also uses the 5GHz band and adds the 80MHz channel, as well as a host of new signalling techniques such as more MIMO (multiple in/multiple out) spatial streams (up to three), higher-density modulation (256-QAM) and beamforming to increase baseline performance. The end result was speeds of up to 600Mb/sec over 2.4GHz and 1,300Mb/sec over 5GHz. Since then, we’ve seen tri-band routers that add…

Its feet spring open when the router is removed from its box SUPPLIER www.bt.com BT’s latest Smart Hub is one of the few ISP-provided routers to be fully Wave 2 capable. We expect to see updated routers from the other major players at some point, but right now, BT has a clear advantage over its main competitors. It’s also the cheapest router on test, so if performance holds up, it’s a great option, especially if you’re already a BT Infinity customer, in which case it’s a £50 upgrade. Like many ISP routers, the Smart Hub is designed to be small enough to squeeze through a typical letter box. It’s impressively slim, and we like the way its feet spring open when the router is removed from its box. The…

Setup is simple and the interface is neat, tidy and intuitive SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk Ahe Archer C3150 is TP-Link’s new flagship dual-band router, and it packs absolutely all the latest tech. There’s full Wave 2 compatibility, plus NitroQAM for up to 1,000Mb/sec over 2.4GHz and 2,167Mb/sec over 5GHz, and there’s SmartConnect support too. For such a powerful beast, the C3150 is surprisingly muted-looking. Its rounded edges and slim profile are finished in a subtle combination of glossy and matt black plastic. Unlike most of the other routers on test, it doesn’t scream that it’s trying to make a statement about its prowess, it just looks attractively understated. You’re not left wanting for any physical features either. There are four removable aerials, two USB ports and on top of the unit…

SUPPLIER www.aquatuning.co.uk SPECIFICATIONS Compatibility Intel: LGA2011, LGA2011-v3, LGA115x, LGA1366, LGA775; AMD: Socket AM3+, AM3, AM2+, AM2, FM2+, FM2, FM1 Radiator size with fans (mm) 324 x 144 x 55 (WxDxH) Fans 2 x 140mm Stated noise Up to 29dB(A) We were big fans of Alphacool’s smaller 240mm Eisbaer (see Issue 157, p28) and, at just over £110, the 280mm version is noticeably more wallet-friendly than the offerings from Be Quiet!, Corsair and NZXT. The 280mm Eisbaer also sports the same refillable reservoir as its smaller sibling, so if you want to use coloured coolant, it’s a simple task to drain it and fill the reservoir again. Alphacool includes a quick release adaptor with the Eisbaer too, so you can add a graphics card waterblock without needing to drain the…

SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk SPECIFICATIONS Compatibility Intel: LGA2011, LGA2011-v3, LGA115x, LGA1366; AMD: Socket AM3+, AM3, AM2+, AM2, FM2+, FM2, FM1 Radiator size with fans (mm) 315 x 143 x 55 (WxDxH) Fans 2 x 140mm Stated noise Up to 38dB(A) NZXT’s Kraken coolers have spent some considerable time sitting on our Elite List, so we were originally concerned to hear that the likes of the X61 and X41 were reaching the end-of-life stage. Thankfully, though, NZXT is replacing these coolers with even better models. The rather predictably named X62 is the successor to the 280mm X61, and retails for a fairly hefty price of £140 inc VAT, meaning it isn’t far off the price of EKWB’s Predator all-in-one expandable liquid cooler. However, you get an awful lot for your money with…

If an entire galaxy isn’t enough of a distraction then you probably need to consider your priorities The rate at which games have grown in the last quarter of a century never ceases to amaze me. In that time, games have shifted from two dimensions to three dimensions and now to stereoscopic VR. An industry that was once dominated by platformers, then by shooters, is now led by sprawling open-world games that allow players to explore entire cities, countries, worlds and even galaxies. Games such as Elite Dangerous and No Man’s Sky, which let you land on and explore planets in a galaxy comprising billions of stars, feel like the culmination of a trajectory towards which the industry has been heading for decades. But I also find myself asking what’s…

Flying Wild Hog’s Shadow Warrior reboot was arguably the best surprise of 2013, a fun and inventive shooter that, although a little rough around the edges, offered absurd action and an abundance of heart (literally – demon hearts could be used as weapons). We would be happy with a straightforward sequel, perhaps with a lick of polish to the combat, but the developers have radically reworked Shadow Warrior 2 into a procedurally generated, co-op enabled gun collect-athon. Just like its predecessor, it’s fun, inventive and rough around the edges. However, Shadow Warrior 2 is now a semi-open-world game. The story and side missions are doled out in a hub world area, and can be accessed from a map. Once selected, the game generates the level layout using several visually impressive…

REVIEW Dremel 3000 FourStar Kit First things first, a warning: if you already own a recent Dremel rotary multi-tool, such as the Dremel 3000, which was released way back in 2011 as a successor to the Dremel 300, then the new Four-Star Kit isn’t for you. While the bundled accessories certainly add value, the kit is an expensive way to bulk up your supplies unless you need a second tool. Instead, the Dremel 3000 Four-Star Kit is aimed at folks treating themselves to an entirely new tool or upgrading from an outdated or broken model, as well as people picking up a present for the modding-inclined loved one in their life. It sits in the centre of a three-item range launched specifically for Christmas: the Three-Star Kit, with the bare…

I always opt for wired networking on any non-mobile device Back in Issue 149, I discussed NBase-T and its aim to go beyond Gigabit speeds with existing CAT5e and CAT6 cables. With speeds of up to 5Gb/sec, it could be a big bonus for anyone at home with an SSD-equipped NAS box. We’ve been stuck with Gigabit Ethernet for the best part of 15 years, and I’m now keen to jump on the 5Gb/sec bandwagon. Unlike our friends in the USA, who are statistically the biggest buyers of 802.11ac Wi-Fi networking gear, in Europe and Asia, houses are more likely to be made from bricks and concrete, meaning that 5GHz Wi-Fi doesn’t work effectively. The result is that sales of 802.11ac wireless networking gear over here haven’t been as successful…

4K on a budget I’ve been building my own PCs for around ten years, and I’ve been a CPC reader for most of that time, finding your mag helpful, interesting and for the most part unbiased. Like most gamers, I would love to build a PC with a couple of Titan X cards powering the graphics, but I live in the real world and have to be content with more affordable hardware. I therefore keenly follow new developments in the mid-range graphics card sector, and I’m wondering if you’ve missed a trick in your recent roundup in Issue 159. I accept that cards such as the GTX 1060 and the RX470/480 are aimed at 1080p and 2,560 x 1,440 gaming, but what if I’m greedy and I want to reach…

On the reverse of the drive is a sticker containing a thin layer of copper SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk Last month we took an in-depth look at Samsung’s new 960 Pro SSDs, and now we’ve got hold of some samples, so we can deliver our definitive verdict. To recap, the 960 Pro drives replace last year’s ridiculously fast 950 Pro drives, and share many of the same features. They use the M.2 form factor, PCI-E bus and NVMe standard and are based on MLC rather than TLC, so they have high sustained write speeds and longevity. Samsung builds on this spec with a new controller (the 5-core Polaris) and new 48-layer 3D-VNAND (up from 32-layer) to create what is, on paper, the fastest consumer SSD you can buy. While SATA SSDs…

A red tab on top of each module enables you to alter the colour SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk SPECIFICATIONS Frequency 3200MHz Timings 16-16-16-36 Voltage 1.35V Height (from base) 60mm Lighting Yes (RGB) DDR4 memory is going to be with us for a good while yet, and it will definitely be compatible with Intel’s Kaby Lake platform due in the next few months, so we’re seeing plenty of innovation with the latest premium memory kits. Not only are clock frequencies on the up, but we’re also seeing some great progress in terms of lighting and aesthetics. It’s visual pizzazz that’s the main draw of GeIL’s Evo X kit, though, which the company claims to contain the world’s first RGB memory modules. The likes of Corsair and Avexir, as well as GeIL, have…

The four removable aerials are sturdy and easy to tighten, so they don’t tip over SUPPLIER www.box.co.uk Asus’ RT-87U is a more modest affair than the RT-AC88U (see p40), although it still packs all the essentials into its chassis, and sports several premium features too. Joining the Wave 2 (quad-stream, 160MHz and MU-MIMO) Wi-Fi features are four Ethernet ports are two USB ports – one USB 2 and one USB 3 – and access to Asus’ AiCloud service and AiProtection for security. The latter is powered by Trend Micro and it blocks malicious addresses, attempted intrusions and infected devices. Meanwhile, AiCloud is Asus’ cloud storage service that lets you easily share any data stored on devices connected to the router’s USB ports. This router can also claim to be…

It showed the most consistent speed when SmartConnect was enabled SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk The DIR-879 is D-Link’s newest router and it sports a fancy new EXO brand, four aerials and full AC1900 speeds. However, while it looks like it should be a new dual-band flagship, D-Link has in fact skipped several features, making it more of a mid-range unit. All of which is fine, until you see that it’s selling for a whopping price of £160 inc VAT everywhere except Amazon. At first glance, you wouldn’t suspect the DIR-879 was lacking any features compared with its competitors. It has the same stealth-bomber shape as the company’s monstrous flagship tri-band AC5300 router, the DIR-895L/R, and a snazzy orange paint job – clearly, no expense has been spared when it comes to…

CHERRY DW 5100 Board   www.amazon.co.uk £30.00 Break free from wires! The CHERRY DW-5100 is a stylish and comfortable keyboard and mouse set, using 24GHz technology for an interference free, 5m range. The mouse has a switchable 1000/1750-dpi resolution for fast desktop movement, 5 programmable buttons and a rubber side-grip for added comfort. This ergonomically designed mouse also has batteries that will last for up to 2 years between changes. The keyboard is a low-profile design with 10 programmable hot keys and an on/off switch to help conserve power. Supplied with a nanoUSB receiver, the set is simply plug and play with no additional software required. CHERRY MC 4000 Mouse   www.amazon.co.uk £25.00 With a fast 1000/2000-dpi switchable sensor, indicated by blue and red LED’s respectively, this semantical mouse is…

SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk SPECIFICATIONS Compatibility Intel: LGA2011, LGA2011-v3, LGA115x, LGA1366, LGA775; AMD: Socket AM3+, AM3, AM2+, AM2, FM2+, FM2, FM1 Radiator size with fans (mm) 319 x 144 x 55 (WxDxH) Fans 2 x 140mm Stated noise Up to 37dB(A) We’ve reviewed a number of air coolers from Be Quiet! over the years, but the Silent Loop series represents the company’s first foray into liquid cooling. There are three models available, catering for single 120mm, double 120mm and double 140mm-fan radiators, each equipped with Pure Wings 2 fans, which retail for around £10 a pop. Its price tag of £130 seems a little steep, though, given that the Corsair H115i costs £20 less and includes software control. We suspect the same OEM manufacturer is behind some or all of the…

The galaxy is a kaleidoscope of shimmering starlight The original Master of Orion spawned the ‘4X’ moniker (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate), laying the template for countless space strategy games. It was a groundbreaking, genre-defining creation, but this reboot, published by World of Tanks creators Wargaming.net, is anything but groundbreaking. Wargaming has taken the Master of Orion name, and used it to develop a space strategy game designed to introduce new players to the 4X genre. The intent behind it is admirable, but the decision to use the Master of Orion name is questionable. That said, as introductions to 4X go, you could do worse than Master of Orion. The premise is the same as always; you can choose to play as one of ten races, including boring old humans,…

There’s no getting around the fact that today’s computer chips get incredibly hot. Despite all manner of efficiency improvements over the past few years, if you pack that many fast-switching transistors into such a small space, the end result is going to be a concentrated hotspot. Not only do the processor, graphics card and power supply all need active cooling, but your case will also have at least one fan it to shift airflow over the components and out the back. The CPU has been a famous hotspot for a long time, and has been the target of increasingly larger and more efficient heatsinks, as well as water-cooling systems, in an attempt to cut noise. These improvements have been largely successfully too – the latest heatsinks and liquid-cooling products are…

We’ve built a PC that’s silent for most of the time, but adds some fan assistance for the CPU and graphics card in particularly toasty scenarios. However, building a silent PC isn’t without its issues or extra expense, and the difference to your ears between total silence and the noise created by a couple of slow spinning fans is practically negligible. There are numerous ways to reduce the noise made by your PC, though, and for not much money. By reducing the speed of your case fans, using a larger, quieter cooler, or adding sound-absorbing foam, you can drastically cut noise without having a huge impact on cooling. To test the effectiveness of these methods, we’ve used a sound meter to measure the impact of our tweaking, which measures the…

Gimp We use Gimp to open and edit large images. Unlike our previous Gimp test, this one uses more than one CPU core, although it’s still more sensitive to clock speed increases than more CPU cores. Handbrake H.264 video encoding Our heavily multi-threaded Handbrake H.264 video encoding test takes full advantage of many CPU cores, pushing them to 100 per cent load. LuxMark OpenCL This GPU compute test is the only synthetic part of our suite, although the renderer is based on the real LuxRender physically based rendering software. As 3D rendering is a specific workload that not everyone will use, and because OpenCL support isn’t standard in most software, this section is given just a quarter of the weighting of the other tests in the final score. Heavy multi-tasking…

MILESTONES THIS MONTH TOP 20 OVERALL TOP 20 PRODUCERS WHAT IS FOLDING? Folding@home uses the spare processing cycles from your PC’s CPU and graphics cards for medical research. You can download the client from http://folding.stanford.edu and our team’s ID is 35947. Once you pass a significant milestone, you’ll get your name in the mag. You can also discuss folding with us and other readers online at the www.bit-tech.net forums.…

 Fver since PCs have needed cooling fans, I’ve been in a constant battle to make my systems quieter. I don’t mind the positive aural feedback that a mechanical keyboard provides, but I detest buzzing fans, the whine of pumps and vibrating electromagnetic coils. While the new floor looks amazing, the solid surface reflects and, to some extent, amplifies vibrations A few months ago, I had to rebuild my main PC’s aging cooling system, as the old one was struggling and belching out burned dust into the room. It was all fine and dandy until I replaced the knackered, old wafer-thin carpet in my study with a solid wooden floor. Unfortunately, while the new floor looks amazing, the solid surface reflects and,to some extent,amplifies vibrations, so now my PC seems much…

In October, SAG-AFTRA members picketed in front of EA’s offices While various people are still trying to figure out if video games are art, a subset of the gaming industry is battling with one of the most significant concepts in the arts: unions. Voice acting, motion capture and stunts are now normal parts of game development, but the compensations and safety requirements for the industry lag decades behind film. Broadly, unions exist to negotiate better conditions and pay for members. In Hollywood, unions have so much power that a strike can significantly affect the quality of a production (Battlestar Galactica season three, anyone?) or close it down. Film and TV production has long been in thrall to union power – for good and bad – but because video games are…

SUPPLIER www.quietpc.co.uk SPECIFICATIONS Connection Wired, USB Cable 1.8m, braided Material Steel and plastic Switch type Kaihl White Backlighting RGB Extras USB pass-through, wrist rest, additional textured keys The keyboard market is still seeing plenty of innovation, despite the mechanical switch takeover being in force for nearly a decade. Corsair regularly releases keyboards based on new switch types, such as the Cherry MX Silent, and other manufacturers are keen on bolstering features too. However, few peripheral makers have been bold enough to release a radically different physical design, until now. Nanoxia – better known for its cases and coolant – has just launched the Ncore Retro, and we’re lucky enough to have nabbed an early sample. There’s none of the technical bling usually seen on enthusiast keyboards, with Nanoxia succeeding…

A ninja, either inflatable or activated by adding water, that you could carry in your wallet would be the best item ever created. The Wallet Ninja isn’t as exciting, being a piece of flat metal shaped like a credit card with a selection of simple tools built into it, and none of these tools seem ideally suited to infiltrating a Japanese castle or providing a career for at-risk radioactive testudines. You get some spanners, screwdrivers, a bottle opener, and assorted pointy and prying bits, plus there are no blades or serrations, so it won’t chew up your wallet. The tools can be awkward to use, but they’re better than no tools if you’re in a tight spot. MALL NINJA IGA NINJA SUPPLIER www.firebox.co.uk…

The Power Wallet is a leather wallet suitable for credit cards (and Wallet Ninjas, naturally), and it also contains a battery and micro-USB port so it can be used to recharge a phone. You can store five cards in it, although there’s nowhere for folding money or other miscellaneous bits of paper. The wallet is reasonably sleek considering it has a 1,400mAh battery inside it, which gives it enough capacity to mostly refill the 1,800mAh battery on an iPhone 6, or around half of the battery capacity of an HTC 10. If you don’t need masses of extra phone charge and you don’t fancy filling your pockets with a chunky battery pack then the Seyvr is a good bet, but it’s limited for the asking price. WALLET GROMMACE SUPPLIER…

You can combine two Ethernet ports for a single 2Gb/sec wired connection SUPPLIER www.ebuyer.com There are two Asus routers on test this month, with the RT-AC88U being the swankier of the two. It’s packed with the latest tech, but with an asking price of nearly £300, can it possibly be worth the extra outlay? The big feature here is the inclusion of NitroQAM technology, which gets you theoretical maximum Wi-Fi speeds of 1,000Mb/sec (2.4GHz) and 2,167Mb/sec (5GHz), with the right client devices. You also get eight Ethernet ports, rather than the usual four, and you can use link aggregation to combine two Ethernet ports for a single 2Gb/sec wired connection. Joining that lot, you get full Wave 2 (quad-stream, 160MHz and MU-MIMO) support, a quad external aerial array and…

You get a 1.7GHz dual-core CPU, along with 512MB of RAM SUPPLIER www.ebuyer.com Netgear’s Nighthawk routers were among the most recognisable of the first wave of AC1900 routers, thanks to their distinctive all-black and angular design and often class-leading performance. The latest iteration, the X4S, adds MU-MIMO technology to create the company’s fastest dual-band router yet, rated at up to AC2600 speeds. Intriguingly, it replaces the Nighthawk X4, and stock of that unit has already almost completely dried up, yet its predecessor, the original Nighthawk (R7000), continues to be on sale. Netgear has clearly taken an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach to the design of the X4S. It looks identical to its predecessors, with a mean, moody appearance. Four removable external aerials sprout from the back,…

How we test While 240mm all-in-one liquid coolers are quite capable of taming an overclocked CPU, their larger 280mm siblings can offer even more cooling power at potentially lower noise levels, thanks to their larger 140mm fans. To test them, we’ve fitted them to our two standard Windows 10 test systems. One test rig has an Intel Core i7-4790K overclocked to 4.4GHx with a 1.275V vcore, a Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H motherboard and 4GB of 1600MHz Crucial Ballistix DDR3 RAM. Alongside these components sit a 240GB Intel SSD 730 and an AMD Radeon HD 5770 1GB graphics card. Our other rig sports an Intel Core i7-3960X overclocked to 4.2GHz using a 1.275V vcore, an MSI X79A-GD45 motherboard, 16GB of G.Skill Ripjaws 1600MHz memory and a 128GB Samsung SSD 830. We install each…

SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk SPECIFICATIONS Compatibility Intel: LGA2011, LGA2011-v3, LGA115x, LGA1366, LGA775; AMD: Socket AM3+, AM3, AM2+, AM2, FM2+, FM2, FM1 Radiator size with fans (mm) 312 x 140 x 51 (WxDxH) Fans 2 x 140mm Stated noise Up to 40dB(A) Corsair is widely credited with ushering in the all-in-one liquid cooler craze with its Hydro Series H50, around seven years ago, so the H115i – its current flagship model – is carrying a hefty weight on its shoulders. Thankfully, it has a lot going for it. For starters, despite sporting software control via Corsair’s Link dashboard, it costs just £110 inc VAT, making it the second cheapest cooler on test, undercutting the NZXT Kraken X62 by a substantial £30. It looks a little dated compared with the NZXT cooler, though,…

Build a quiet performance PC The parts you’ll need to build a very quiet PC that doesn’t compromise on performance. Not only does this machine feature an Intel Skylake CPU and an Nvidia Pascal GPU, but it also makes use of a massive CPU heatsink and a fanless PSU to eliminate fan noise, while the graphics card fans only spin up under heavy loads. You can see our full guide to building this PC on p84 . Build a budget gaming PC The parts you’ll need to build a budget machine capable of playing the latest games at maximum settings on a 1080p monitor, and even some games at 2,560 x 1,440. The machine has a discrete graphics card, a Skylake dual-core CPU and DDR4 memory. The ASRock Extreme4…

When we last covered Machine Studios’ colony sim Maia, and its underlying technology IRIS, back in early 2014, the game was still in relative infancy. Only the base tech and a handful of features were implemented, and while it showed plenty of promise, the game was still some way from the granular, AI-driven space-colony simulation the developers planned. Almost three years later (and nearly five years into Maia’s protracted development), there’s light at the end of the tunnel.‘I’ve got 99 per cent of the assets done. Really, it’s about finishing off the game,’ says Simon Roth, founder and lead designer of Machine Studios. In that time, a vast amount has changed in the game’s core tech and systems. The engine has been updated considerably to make it more current and…

Creating a silent PC is theoretically fairly easy – you just need to remove any parts that create noise, such as fans, pumps and hard disks. What isn’t so easy is then providing enough cooling for your hardware. We had to make two very small compromises with our PC build – there’s a fan on our graphics card and a single 120mm case fan. As Nvidia’s Pascal GPUs are so efficient, though, we decided to use a GTX 1060, which can actually turns off its fans for the majority of the time, allowing us to create a powerful gaming PC that only requires a little fan-assisted cooling in games. We also include options for building totally a fanless system, but since gaming audio would likely drown out any noise from…

Unlike celluloid film, vinyl records and hardback books, there’s yet to be a tape-loading computer hipster comeback. No one scoffs at your solid state drive and claims their mono tape deck has a ‘warmer data loader’, before waiting three hours for their computer to decide if it’s going to load a game or not. It’s this tape-loading system and the RF aerial output that were the main barriers to digging out my old ZX Spectrum from the loft and playing some of the old games from my childhood. The last time I’d tried had been several years ago, when I couldn’t even persuade my LCD TV to find the weak analogue RF signal outputted by the Spectrum. For any younger readers among you, well before we had HDMI, and before…

We need sexier-looking storage I love my SSD and I daresay that, if you’ve invested in one, you’re pretty keen on yours too. The speed boost they provide is unequivocal and my SSD is without doubt one of the best upgrades I’ve made in recent years. Last month I spoke about the latest M.2 drives and how they combine compactness and speed in a super-attractive if slightly expensive package. However, while you can now pick up a 3,000MB/sec 1TB SSD for under £400, there’s a crucial piece missing from these new drives, and indeed SSDs in general. They all look decidedly boring. Your average 2.5in SSDs usually come clad in a plastic or metal case, but apart from a flashy sticker or logo, manufacturers have done surprisingly little to portray…