Steve's Picks: Weekend Hardware Sales - Mod Materials, SSDs, CPUs, NUC

Our regular "Mik's Picks" piece sees a break for Michael Mann this weekend -- I'll be filling in for the hardware sales. For this weekend's hardware sales, we've located sound-dampening case mod materials, an SSD, open air case, CPU, and Intel NUC.

Akust Noise Buster Sound Dampening Panel ($7): If you're trying to contain as much noise as possible, these sound panels (and their wavy counterparts) are designed to block noise from escaping out of any gaps/cracks in your enclosure. If you have noise-leaking panel gaps or issues with vibration in your case paneling, these are worth trying.

Intel i7-3770k CPU ($300): TigerDirect has a $20 coupon discount on Intel's 3770k CPUs, dropping the price to $300 (one of the best prices outside of going to MicroCenter, at least). Use the coupon code 'KOJ87724' at checkout - it expires at 11:59PM on 4/16. The 3770k is one of our recommended CPUs for video editing, professional work, and game development.

Barebones Intel NUoC ($300): If you remember our coverage of Intel's ultra-small Next Unit of Computing machine at PAX East 2012, we were impressed by the 4"x4" board, HD4000 IGP, and its ability to run games like StarCraft 2 on low/medium settings without spontaneously combusting. Considering the small size of these units and their accessibility to living room users, $300 is a good starting price. Please ask us questions below if you're unfamiliar with the unit -- it's not your average HTPC or PC. The product does not include RAM, a drive (get an SSD), a power cord, or an OS (get Linux), so factor those into your purchase; it does include the board, an i3-3217U (HD4000 IGP, 1.8GHz cores), and the box.

Aerocool Strike-X Open Air Case ($143): This one's sort of cool. Xoxide just started carrying Aerocool's Strike-X Air case, which serves as an open-air bench for your gaming machine. Unlike most benches, this one is targeted toward consumers (not just testers) and comes outfitted with a 200mm (LED) fan and 120mm (LED) fan. Even if you don't plan on buying it, it's neat looking and worth checking out the photos.

Pick-of-the-week time!

Intel 335 Series 180GB SSD ($150): Marked down through rebates, Intel's relatively fresh 335 Series SSD is available in 180GB capacity for $30 off. The drive ends up costing less than $1/GB and offers high sequential IO rates for those working with incompressible sequential content, while still maintaining solid 4K random IO for our gamers.

That's it for this weekend. Check back next weekend for the glorious return of your regular sales editor, Michael "Mikagmann2" Mann.

- Steve "Lelldorianx" Burke.