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Tuesday, June 30th 2015
DeepCool Intros Wave Micro-ATX Case
DeepCool introduced the Wave mini-tower case, designed for micro-ATX and mini-ITX builds. The case is characterized by a wavy design that run along its front facade, including a door that conceals some drive bays. The case features a top-positioned PSU bay, and with its drive cages occupying the top and central portions, this frees up room at the bottom (the expansion slot area) for graphics cards as long as 33 cm. The case also offers room for CPU coolers as tall as 14.5 cm. The DeepCool Wave offers two 5.25-inch, one exposed and three concealed 3.5-inch/2.5-inch drive bays. Ventilation includes a 120 mm front intake, a 90 mm rear exhaust, and a 90 mm side vent. Measuring 387 mm x 175 mm x 353.5 mm (LxWxH), the case weighs 3.2 kg, and is made of SECC steel and ABS plastic. DeepCool didn't announce pricing or availability info.
Origin PC Launches NVIDIA G-SYNC Ready EON17-X and EON15-X Laptops
ORIGIN PC announced today NVIDIA's revolutionary G-Sync technology is now available on their EON17-X and EON15-X custom gaming laptops. By synchronizing the display refresh rates to the GPU, G-SYNC eliminates screen tearing, minimizes display stutter and lowers input lag to deliver the very best gaming experience possible and for the first time ever it's available on a laptop. Experience the smoothest and fastest gameplay ever with NVIDIA's G-SYNC display technology on ORIGIN PC's EON17-X and EON15-X high-performance laptops today.
AMD FirePro Graphics Powers Virtual Reality Solution From zSpace
AMD today announced that zSpace has chosen AMD FirePro W5170M graphics to power the new zSpace for Education enabling real world virtual reality in the classroom. Unlike other VR solutions, AMD FirePro professional graphics-powered zSpace for Education delivers interaction and group collaboration through a VR precision 'stylus' to naturally access the virtual experience matched with a head-tracking computer display in an innovative, all-in-one design.
The zSpace for Education solution features an easy-to-use interface that is natural and intuitive. zSpace will implement AMD's LiquidVR technology, harnessing AMD GPU hardware sub-systems to make the virtual reality experience as comfortable and as realistic as possible. "AMD is proud to work with zSpace to power their new real world virtual reality solution," said Sean Burke, corporate vice president and general manager, AMD Professional Graphics Group. "AMD FirePro professional graphics deliver the features and horsepower required for this innovative new product which requires exceptional visual performance."
The zSpace for Education solution features an easy-to-use interface that is natural and intuitive. zSpace will implement AMD's LiquidVR technology, harnessing AMD GPU hardware sub-systems to make the virtual reality experience as comfortable and as realistic as possible. "AMD is proud to work with zSpace to power their new real world virtual reality solution," said Sean Burke, corporate vice president and general manager, AMD Professional Graphics Group. "AMD FirePro professional graphics deliver the features and horsepower required for this innovative new product which requires exceptional visual performance."
ADATA Announces Availability of SP600NS34 M.2 SATA SSD
ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash products, today launches thePremier SP600NS34 M.2 2242SATA 6Gb/s SSD for Ultrabooks and desktop PCs. To meet the latest platform and users' expectations, "slimmer, faster, and power-saving", ADATA's Premier SP600NS34 features multiple functions to enhance efficiency, such as DEVSLP, BCH ECC technology, and Intel Smart Response Technology. If you are seeking a new solution to upgrade your Ultrabook, the Premier SP600NS34 will be a great choice with the best cost-performance ratio.
The Premier SP600NS34 comes in capacities of 128GB and 256GB, and adopts the smallest SSD form factor - M.2 2242, with measurements of only 22 x 42 x 3.5mm. However, the compact size does not sacrifice performance - with the JMicron controller, the sequential read speed of SP600NS34 is up to 550MB/s, and the maximum 4K random read/write performance is up to 75K/77K IOPS. The Premier SP600NS34 supports DEVSLP (Device Sleep) technology, helping to consume less power than traditional idle and prolonging the battery life at the same time.
The Premier SP600NS34 comes in capacities of 128GB and 256GB, and adopts the smallest SSD form factor - M.2 2242, with measurements of only 22 x 42 x 3.5mm. However, the compact size does not sacrifice performance - with the JMicron controller, the sequential read speed of SP600NS34 is up to 550MB/s, and the maximum 4K random read/write performance is up to 75K/77K IOPS. The Premier SP600NS34 supports DEVSLP (Device Sleep) technology, helping to consume less power than traditional idle and prolonging the battery life at the same time.
Philips Intros BDM3275UP 32-inch 4K Ultra HD Monitor
Philips introduced the BDM3275UP 32-inch monitor, offering 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 pixels) resolution. It embeds an IPS-AHVA panel, with 178°/178° viewing angles, 350 cd/m² maximum brightness, dynamic mega-contrast ratio, and 30-bit color (1.07 billion colors). The display takes input from HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2, and dual-link DVI. A headphones output (putting out audio from the HDMI/DP audio channels), and a 4-port USB 3.0 hub make for the rest of its feature-set. The company didn't reveal pricing or availability.
Toshiba Announces its Highest Capacity Enterprise Cloud HDD
The Storage Products Business Unit of Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., a committed technology leader, announces a new, high-capacity addition to the MC04 Series launched in May of last year. The 6TB version of the MC04 Series of enterprise high-capacity HDDs is designed for bulk storage systems and servers supporting cloud-based applications and scale-out workloads. With an industry standard 3.5-inch form factor, the MC04 Series delivers 7,200 revolutions per minute (RPM) performance, enabling suitable service levels for high performance cloud-based applications and storage.
Toshiba's highest capacity enterprise cloud HDD delivers a 20 percent increase over the previous generation's 5TB capacity, enabling more efficient high-density, high-growth storage for multi-petabyte rack deployments. Furthermore, the newest addition to the MC04 Series improves ROI for scale-out storage solutions with a 20 percent increase in power efficiency (TB/W) over previous generations, enabling more cost-effective delivery of cloud storage services.
Toshiba's highest capacity enterprise cloud HDD delivers a 20 percent increase over the previous generation's 5TB capacity, enabling more efficient high-density, high-growth storage for multi-petabyte rack deployments. Furthermore, the newest addition to the MC04 Series improves ROI for scale-out storage solutions with a 20 percent increase in power efficiency (TB/W) over previous generations, enabling more cost-effective delivery of cloud storage services.
GIGABYTE Releases Super-Compact GeForce GTX 960 WF2X Graphics Cards
GIGABYTE released a new super-compact dual-fan WindForce 2X VGA cooling solution, and launched a pair of GeForce GTX 960 graphics cards featuring it. The cooler allows the card to have a length of just 18.1 cm. These include the 4 GB N960OC-4GD and the 2 GB N960OC-2GD. Both cards come with factory-overclocked speeds of 1190 MHz core, and 1253 MHz GPU Boost (against reference clocks of 1127/1178 MHz), with 7.00 GHz memory. The cooling solution consists of a single 8 mm-thick copper heat pipe, which passes through the center of the heatsink base, projecting out in an "S" shape, and passing through two ends of an aluminium fin stack. It's ventilated by a pair of fans. The card draws power from a single 6-pin PCIe power connector. Display outputs include two dual-link DVI, and one each of HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2.
SilverStone Releases CPS03 Mini-SAS Cable Assembly
To meet demands from professionals and enthusiasts with high performance storage demands, SilverStone created CPS03, a cable designed for Mini-SAS devices. With sideband connection (SGPIO) feature, the CPS03 is designed for always on and reliable operation with servers or workstations. On both ends of the cable are 36 pin SFF-8087 connector and SATA 7 pin * 4 (target device) with Sideband connector made out of industrial-grade material with weave sleeving for robust and trouble-free connections. Finally, CPS03's supports a four lane design to provide top performance for any professional SAS or SATA storage systems.
Monday, June 29th 2015
Today's Reviews
Cases
Cooling
CPU Coolers
Desktop PC
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Keyboards
Motherboards
Mouse
Notebooks
PSUs
Speakers
G.Skill Ripjaws4 F4-3000C15Q-16GRBB Review
If you're into the latest tech, DDR4 is in your sights, and G.Skill is here on these pages yet again with another Ripjaws4 kit, its timings 15-16-16-35 at a blazing 3000 MHz. Great-looking, the F4-3000C15Q-16GRBB quad-channel kit is affordable, fast, and clad in blue.
Belkin Announces Universal HDMI to VGA Adapter Kit with Audio
Belkin, a trusted leader of technology solutions for office, classroom, IT infrastructure, and mobile environments, today announced availability of its new Universal HDMI to VGA Adapter Kit with Audio, the only branded, multi-purpose adapter kit that gives existing legacy equipment complete compatibility with new digital devices.
Today's classroom is a mixed technology environment comprised of legacy VGA equipment (e.g., old projectors, early-generation interactive whiteboards) and new HDMI-enabled devices (e.g., iPads, Apple TV, Chromebooks). Budget constraints can restrict the purchase of new equipment, forcing educators to use what the school currently has available. There is no easy way to integrate existing equipment with new devices, creating a disconnect that hinders collaboration in the classroom.
Today's classroom is a mixed technology environment comprised of legacy VGA equipment (e.g., old projectors, early-generation interactive whiteboards) and new HDMI-enabled devices (e.g., iPads, Apple TV, Chromebooks). Budget constraints can restrict the purchase of new equipment, forcing educators to use what the school currently has available. There is no easy way to integrate existing equipment with new devices, creating a disconnect that hinders collaboration in the classroom.
NVIDIA Addresses Google Chrome Bug with GeForce Hotfix Update
NVIDIA released a GeForce driver update, version 353.38 Hotfix (not WHQL signed), that addresses a software bug that affects users of the popular Google Chrome web-browser. Users of the GPU-accelerated web-browser have been reporting crashes (both of the browser and display driver), and app freezing. The driver also addresses the issue of slow startup and window-switching of apps with G-SYNC enabled. The rest of its feature-set is carried over from the 353.30 drivers.
DOWNLOAD NVIDIA GeForce 353.38 Hotfix
DOWNLOAD NVIDIA GeForce 353.38 Hotfix
Want to be the Face of TechPowerUp?
TechPowerUp's foray into the YouTube medium can be led by you. Yes, you! Do you think you can talk hardware and gaming in front of a camera, for our thousands of readers? If so, sign up for our TechPowerUp YouTube Channel project, and you could be the face of this site on YouTube. All you need to be, is aged between 21 and 30, based in US or Canada; be presentable (we're not too strict on this), and have a good command over English, with an easy international accent; have basic video editing skills, and most importantly, have a good aptitude with PC hardware (you needn't be too technically sound or have a formal education in this area).
Upload a sample of your work, while keeping it "unlisted" (eg: describe a piece of hardware, or explain a recent news story at length, while keep it interesting. We are interested in seeing your face, personality and speech), and e-mail a link to that video to w1zzard@techpowerup.com . You needn't be a regular forum member of TechPowerUp. Do not post links to your videos in the comments. We will get back in touch with shortlisted candidates to talk turkey.
Upload a sample of your work, while keeping it "unlisted" (eg: describe a piece of hardware, or explain a recent news story at length, while keep it interesting. We are interested in seeing your face, personality and speech), and e-mail a link to that video to w1zzard@techpowerup.com . You needn't be a regular forum member of TechPowerUp. Do not post links to your videos in the comments. We will get back in touch with shortlisted candidates to talk turkey.
Micron Begins Shipping its First 20 nm-class GDDR5 DRAM Chips
Micron Technology announced during its Q3 FY-2015 earnings call, that it began shipping GDDR5 memory chips based on its 20 nm-class node. The company is reportedly shipping 8 Gb (1 gigabyte) GDDR5 memory chips. The company was last reported to be acquiring Japanese DRAM major Elpida, which also supplies GDDR5 chips to graphics cards, notebooks, and game console makers. The GDDR5 memory space has been saturated by companies such as Samsung and SK Hynix. The memory standard itself is on the brink of becoming obsolete; with AMD implementing HBM on its new high-end GPU, and NVIDIA expected to implement HBM with its upcoming "Pascal" GPU family. There is still quite a few GDDR5-equipped graphics cards to be sold, before HBM takes over GPUs of all market segments.
E Fun Announces Nextbook Flexx 10
Summer is finally here; the sun is out, school is no longer in session and many families take the opportunity to take a vacation. Don't get stuck inside on a large laptop or desktop, make the most of your summer with a new portable Nextbook Flexx 10 from E FUN. Larger than a smartphone, yet smaller than a computer, this versatile 2-in-1 tablet makes the perfect travel companion for the entire family this summer. The Nextbook Flexx 10 is available now for under $200.
At 10.1", this Windows 2-in-1 is the perfect size to bring on vacation, so you can conveniently watch movies, play games, listen to music and surf the web on any flight or car ride. And with a 16:10 aspect ratio, you still get the high definition you've grown accustomed to. For those that want to be productive while traveling, the Nextbook Flexx 10 comes with a full-sized detachable keyboard, perfect for getting work done wherever your summer travels take you.
At 10.1", this Windows 2-in-1 is the perfect size to bring on vacation, so you can conveniently watch movies, play games, listen to music and surf the web on any flight or car ride. And with a 16:10 aspect ratio, you still get the high definition you've grown accustomed to. For those that want to be productive while traveling, the Nextbook Flexx 10 comes with a full-sized detachable keyboard, perfect for getting work done wherever your summer travels take you.
Friday, June 26th 2015
Today's Reviews
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Motherboards
Mouse
Mousepads
Processors
SSD
Storage
Corsair Hydro Series H80i GT Review
Corsair revamped the Hydro Series of all-in-one liquid CPU coolers once again with the H80i GT. This new design takes the thick 120 mm radiator design a step further with an ultra-thick radiator. Add in a new look, full Corsair Link support, and exceptional performance, and it is another top AIO from Corsair.
AMD Didn't Get the R9 Fury X Wrong, but NVIDIA Got its GTX 980 Ti Right
This has been a roller-coaster month for high-end PC graphics. The timing of NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 980 Ti launch had us giving finishing touches to its review with our bags to Taipei still not packed. When it launched, the GTX 980 Ti set AMD a performance target and a price target. Then began a 3-week wait for AMD to launch its Radeon R9 Fury X graphics card. The dance is done, the dust has settled, and we know who has won - nobody. AMD didn't get the R9 Fury X wrong, but NVIDIA got its GTX 980 Ti right. At best, this stalemate yielded a 4K-capable single-GPU graphics option from each brand at $650. You already had those in the form of the $650-ish Radeon R9 295X2, or a pair GTX 970 cards. Those with no plans of a 4K display already had great options in the form of the GTX 970, and price-cut R9 290X.
The Radeon R9 290 series launch from Fall-2013 stirred up the high-end graphics market in a big way. The $399 R9 290 made NVIDIA look comically evil for asking $999 for the card it beat, the GTX TITAN; while the R9 290X remained the fastest single-GPU option, at $550, till NVIDIA launched the $699 GTX 780 Ti, to get people back to paying through their noses for the extra performance. Then there were two UFO sightings in the form of the GTX TITAN Black, and the GTX TITAN-Z, which made no tangible contributions to consumer choice. Sure, they gave you full double-precision floating point (DPFP) performance, but DPFP is of no use to gamers. So what could have been the calculation at AMD and NVIDIA as June 2015 approached? Here's a theory.
Image credit: Mahspoonis2big, Reddit
The Radeon R9 290 series launch from Fall-2013 stirred up the high-end graphics market in a big way. The $399 R9 290 made NVIDIA look comically evil for asking $999 for the card it beat, the GTX TITAN; while the R9 290X remained the fastest single-GPU option, at $550, till NVIDIA launched the $699 GTX 780 Ti, to get people back to paying through their noses for the extra performance. Then there were two UFO sightings in the form of the GTX TITAN Black, and the GTX TITAN-Z, which made no tangible contributions to consumer choice. Sure, they gave you full double-precision floating point (DPFP) performance, but DPFP is of no use to gamers. So what could have been the calculation at AMD and NVIDIA as June 2015 approached? Here's a theory.
ROCCAT Announces Taito Control Gaming Mousepad
For serious gamers who thrive with a cloth mouse surface with more control ROCCAT adds a new gaming surface to its Taito Series. The expertly crafted Taito Control takes the award-winning blueprint of the original Taito and re-develops it with an emphasis on more precise control. At a comfortable mid-size of 400 X 320 mm and a design focused on extended durability, the Taito Control is a high-spec pad that won't let you down.
Most cloth mousepads try to provide gamers with a balance between glide and control, excelling at neither. For gamers who want a cloth pad with more control, there is no more need to compromise. The Taito Control features an exceptionally smooth surface with enhanced command. It is perfect for those who prefer a pad with more resistance. With just the right amount of glide on super smooth surface using only the finest materials, the Taito Control lets you consistently take out your foes time and time again.
Most cloth mousepads try to provide gamers with a balance between glide and control, excelling at neither. For gamers who want a cloth pad with more control, there is no more need to compromise. The Taito Control features an exceptionally smooth surface with enhanced command. It is perfect for those who prefer a pad with more resistance. With just the right amount of glide on super smooth surface using only the finest materials, the Taito Control lets you consistently take out your foes time and time again.
Lite-On Introduces Low Latency M.2 PCIe SSDs for Cloud Vendors
Lite-On, a global leader in the design, development and manufacturing of enterprise Solid-State Drives (SSDs), introduces low latency M.2 PCIe drives to support I/O intensive workloads for one of the largest cloud service providers. Lite-On's EP1 series gives cloud service providers the competitive advantage by offering premium storage for its end users.
Lite-On's Gen2x4 M.2 PCIe SSDs are becoming widely adopted by the cloud computing industry. The M.2 PCIe interface EP1 series are compact, power-efficient solid-state solutions that fit directly into the server's PCIe bus to increase server application performance while delivering fast and reliable access to data without burdening the host CPU and memory resources.
Lite-On's Gen2x4 M.2 PCIe SSDs are becoming widely adopted by the cloud computing industry. The M.2 PCIe interface EP1 series are compact, power-efficient solid-state solutions that fit directly into the server's PCIe bus to increase server application performance while delivering fast and reliable access to data without burdening the host CPU and memory resources.
Ozone Gaming Announces ORIGEN Mousepad
Ozone Gaming, the international brand of high performance products for gamers , in collaboration with Origen Team, today announced launch of the exclusive Origen Mousepad. As part of the collaboration with the team, Ozone will developed the exclusive Origen line. " Be part of it" is a firm statement of intent from Ozone Gaming to intensify its commitment with the gamers involving them to the eSports competition and bringing them closer to the professional team.
"Ozone Gaming is not just a brand of this sector, we are an active entity that aims not only the growth of the company but of the eSports industry in general. Origen brings together all our enthusiasm, desire and effort to achieve that goal. This product line embodies all those feelings," says Adrian Alarcon, marketing director of the brand." Within the game is our slogan of a new era in our company, meaning that we're where the challenges take place, with the growth of the sector and with the competitive show of the century " concluded Alarcon.
"Ozone Gaming is not just a brand of this sector, we are an active entity that aims not only the growth of the company but of the eSports industry in general. Origen brings together all our enthusiasm, desire and effort to achieve that goal. This product line embodies all those feelings," says Adrian Alarcon, marketing director of the brand." Within the game is our slogan of a new era in our company, meaning that we're where the challenges take place, with the growth of the sector and with the competitive show of the century " concluded Alarcon.
PNY Launches the Mini HP v160 USB 2.0 Flash Drive
PNY Technologies Inc. world renowned manufacturer of USB and Memory products announced the release of the new and compact HP v160. The HP v160 offers a convenient way to store, share and transfer all your digital media, files like photos, videos, music and more. The v160 comes in a secure plastic casing with classic blue and white pattern. The rectangular structure and easy grip makes it convenient to plug into the USB port with no hassle.
The HP v160 is designed with a protective cap to protect your files from any external damage. For additional protection the drive is resilient towards dust and water, which allows you to use the drive during all types of projects. The drive features a strap hole located at the head of the top of the drive to enhance mobility. Mobile straps can be used to create a stylish accessory or you can simply attach it to your Key chains, backpacks or wallets.
The HP v160 is designed with a protective cap to protect your files from any external damage. For additional protection the drive is resilient towards dust and water, which allows you to use the drive during all types of projects. The drive features a strap hole located at the head of the top of the drive to enhance mobility. Mobile straps can be used to create a stylish accessory or you can simply attach it to your Key chains, backpacks or wallets.
Thursday, June 25th 2015
Today's Reviews
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
- MSI R9 380 Gaming 2G LAN OC
- AMD R9 Fury X ComputerBase (de)
- AMD R9 Fury X Guru3D
- AMD R9 Fury X HardOCP
- AMD R9 Fury X HardwareCanucks
- AMD R9 Fury X HardwareHeaven
- AMD R9 Fury X Hexus.net
- AMD R9 Fury X HotHardware
- AMD R9 Fury X Tech Report
- AMD R9 Fury X Tom's Hardware
- AMD R9 Fury X Tweaktown
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB i2Hard (ru)
Speakers
SSD
TechPowerUp Announces GPU-Z 0.8.4 and PowerColor Fury X Giveaway
TechPowerUp announced GPU-Z version 0.8.4. The latest version of the popular video subsystem information, monitoring, and diagnostic utility, comes with full support for AMD Radeon R9 Fury X graphics card, and support for two other chips, namely the Radeon R7 370, and Intel "Broadwell" GT3e. The user-interface has been polished up, to include high-DPI aware visual elements, such as vendor logos. The video BIOS UEFI support indicator has been improved.
With GPU-Z 0.8.4, TechPowerUp and PowerColor bring you a new GPU-Z Giveaway! Two lucky winners stand to win a PowerColor Radeon R9 Fury X graphics card, each, by simply filling up a small form, and answering a simple question, in the "PowerColor Giveaway" tab of the main version of GPU-Z. The Radeon R9 Fury X is AMD's new flagship graphics card. Good Luck!
DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.8.4 | GPU-Z 0.8.4 ASUS ROG Themed
The change-log follows.
With GPU-Z 0.8.4, TechPowerUp and PowerColor bring you a new GPU-Z Giveaway! Two lucky winners stand to win a PowerColor Radeon R9 Fury X graphics card, each, by simply filling up a small form, and answering a simple question, in the "PowerColor Giveaway" tab of the main version of GPU-Z. The Radeon R9 Fury X is AMD's new flagship graphics card. Good Luck!
The change-log follows.
Tesoro Announces The Thyrsus Optical MMO and MOBA Mouse With 6 Thumb Buttons
Tesoro Technology USA Inc., a manufacturer of high-tech gaming peripherals, announces the Thyrsus optical gaming mouse. Named after the staff of Dionysus, the Thyrsus features comfortable, ergonomic design, a high-precision optical sensor, and 6 fully programmable thumb buttons for MMO and MOBA games.
Instead of the ordinary 1 or 2 thumb buttons, the Tesoro Thyrsus has 6 buttons positioned for thumb control, making a total of 10 fully independent and programmable buttons. The 64Kb of onboard memory allows users to configure up to 5 gaming profiles, 35 macro keys and 1600 recordable actions. The Tesoro Thyrsus is easy to control in the new, specifically designed software. Gamers can adjust the DPI, polling rate up to 1000Hz, and the multicolor LED illumination as well as program the 6 thumb buttons.
Instead of the ordinary 1 or 2 thumb buttons, the Tesoro Thyrsus has 6 buttons positioned for thumb control, making a total of 10 fully independent and programmable buttons. The 64Kb of onboard memory allows users to configure up to 5 gaming profiles, 35 macro keys and 1600 recordable actions. The Tesoro Thyrsus is easy to control in the new, specifically designed software. Gamers can adjust the DPI, polling rate up to 1000Hz, and the multicolor LED illumination as well as program the 6 thumb buttons.
EASARS Announces the Flare RGB Mechanical Keyboard
EASARS, a global leading eSports peripherals maker has released its latest mechanical gaming keyboard, the Flare with full RGB lighting. Using a 32-bit ARM based CPU and with 512KB of flash memory, the keyboard has a report rate of 1,000Hz (1milli-second) and uses a gold plated USB plug. It is Key backlit with full spectrum of up to 16 million colors. It features a "No ghost key" hardware design and comes with 50 million life cycle mechanical switches.
The Flare employs a light weight design and adopts a 2-area layout, saving space and making it easy to carry around to gaming events. What stands out with the Flare is the RGB Mechanical Axis keys. It uses full color (16 million colors) RGB mechanical axis keys to give out a full range of colors all using mechanical key with longevity and durability. These are dazzling, bright LED colors with an adjustable RGB backlight. It brings you a new visual experience while you are on the computer.
The Flare employs a light weight design and adopts a 2-area layout, saving space and making it easy to carry around to gaming events. What stands out with the Flare is the RGB Mechanical Axis keys. It uses full color (16 million colors) RGB mechanical axis keys to give out a full range of colors all using mechanical key with longevity and durability. These are dazzling, bright LED colors with an adjustable RGB backlight. It brings you a new visual experience while you are on the computer.
EK Water Blocks Ready with its Radeon R9 Fury X Water Block, Single-slot Capable
Slovenian liquid-cooling giant EK Water Blocks gave us a sneak-peek of its upcoming full-coverage water block for the AMD Radeon R9 Fury X. When launched, the block will likely come in two material options - exposed copper and nickel-plated copper; and a choice of clear acrylic and acetal tops. The block features a common coolant channel for the GPU and the VRM areas, and features a dense micro-channel lattice over the GPU area. The company may also separately sell a single-slot bracket for the card's display I/O.
GIGABYTE Announces its Radeon R9 Fury X Graphics Card
GIGABYTE announced availability of its AMD Radeon R9 Fury X graphics card. Based entirely on AMD's reference design, the card features reference clocks of 1050 MHz core, and 500 MHz (512 GB/s) HBM clocks. Since the card lacks DVI connectors, GIGABYTE is including a DP-DVI adapter in its package. Based on the 28 nm "Fiji" silicon, the R9 Fury X offers 4,096 stream processors, 256 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and a 4096-bit wide HBM interface, holding 4 GB of memory. The compact card is cooled by a factory-fitted closed-loop liquid cooling solution. The card is generally available at US $649.99.
Addonics Announces the Super Fast and Inexpensive USB 3.1 Controller
Addonics Technologies today announced the Addonics USB 3.1 PCIe controller, a simple and economical solution for adding the latest high speed 10 Gbps USB 3.1 port to desktop computers or servers.
Designed to install into any PCI-Express 2X slot, the USB 3.1 controller can handle data rates up to 10 Gbps on the PCIe 2.0, doubling the speed of USB 3.1.
One of the key features is a maximum speed of 10 Gbits/sec, which is twice the speed of USB 3.0 and 20 times the speed of USB 2.0. It is capable of SuperSpeed (10 Gbps, 5Gbps), HighSpeed (480 Mbps), FullSpeed (12 Mbps), and LowSpeed (1.5 Mbps) transactions.
Designed to install into any PCI-Express 2X slot, the USB 3.1 controller can handle data rates up to 10 Gbps on the PCIe 2.0, doubling the speed of USB 3.1.
One of the key features is a maximum speed of 10 Gbits/sec, which is twice the speed of USB 3.0 and 20 times the speed of USB 2.0. It is capable of SuperSpeed (10 Gbps, 5Gbps), HighSpeed (480 Mbps), FullSpeed (12 Mbps), and LowSpeed (1.5 Mbps) transactions.
EVGA Announces SuperNOVA P2 Series 80 Plus Platinum PSUs
The unbeatable performance of the EVGA SuperNOVA P2 power supply line is now available in 850, 750 and 650 watt versions. Based on the award winning P2 power supplies, these units feature 80 Plus Platinum rated efficiency, and clean, continuous power to every component. The ECO Control Fan system offers fan modes to provide absolutely zero fan noise during low to medium load operations. Backed by an award winning 10 year warranty, and 100% Japanese capacitor design, the EVGA SuperNOVA 850, 750 and 650 P2 power supplies offer unbeatable performance at an unbeatable value.
Wednesday, June 24th 2015
Today's Reviews
Cases
Graphics Cards
Keyboards
Monitors
Motherboards
PSUs
AMD Radeon R9 Fury X 4 GB Review
AMD's Radeon R9 Fury X is released today, introducing HBM memory for graphics cards. The new card is built around a watercooled Fiji GPU, which enabled AMD to design a very compact card that will fit into many small-form-factor cases. Gaming performance at 4K is good and roughly matches the GTX 980 Ti.
MSI Unleashes the Radeon R9 Fury X Graphics Card
As the world's No.1 in GAMING graphics cards, MSI is pleased to announce the availability of the revolutionary AMD Radeon R9 Fury X. With the MSI R9 Fury X 4G, MSI adds a new high-end graphics card to its recently introduced and already heavily awarded AMD R9 and R7 300 series range. The MSI R9 Fury X 4G is equipped with 4GB of the groundbreaking High Bandwidth Memory, which is engineered directly onto AMD's Fiji XT GPU for unprecedented performance. The AMD Fury X is built for the future of ultra-high resolution gaming and Virtual Reality, which is available for enthusiasts to explore.
The card is housed in a much smaller form factor than we are used to from a top-level graphics card, which means that it fits into nearly any case. It is cooled by a closed loop liquid cooling solution which is included in the box which keeps the GPU around 50 degree Celsius during typical gaming sessions. The radiator can be mounted on the inside of the case to blow the heat directly outwards, it uses a single high quality 120mm fan for quiet performance.
The card is housed in a much smaller form factor than we are used to from a top-level graphics card, which means that it fits into nearly any case. It is cooled by a closed loop liquid cooling solution which is included in the box which keeps the GPU around 50 degree Celsius during typical gaming sessions. The radiator can be mounted on the inside of the case to blow the heat directly outwards, it uses a single high quality 120mm fan for quiet performance.
VisionTek Announces Radeon R9 Fury X, Alongside R9 300 and R7 300 Series
VisionTek Products LLC, a leading manufacturer of award-winning, high-performance upgrades and accessories for PCs and Macs, today announced the Radeon Fury X, alongside five other new Radeon R9 300 and R7 300 graphics cards designed with Advance Micro Devices (AMD) GPUs. The new VisionTek Radeon graphics cards will feature a new extreme look and are available starting June 24th, 2015.
The VisionTek Radeon Fury X opens a whole new dimension of gaming, for an unbelievable alternate reality. It is the world's first graphics card with AMD-pioneered High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) integrated on-chip, delivering 60% more memory bandwidth over GDDR5. The VisionTek Radeon R9 Fury X features black-nickel aluminum exoskeleton, maintenance-free AIO closed-loop liquid cooling, GPU Tach activity indicator, and red LED "RADEON" illumination along the spine of this wicked beast. The compact 7.5-inch card packs a performance punch, leading the way to create small and powerful PCs by condensing the HBM memory into 94% less space than GDDR5. The VisionTek Fury X was built to enable the next generation of 4K and VR gaming. With this card, PC users won't just upgrade, they will revolutionize.
The VisionTek Radeon Fury X opens a whole new dimension of gaming, for an unbelievable alternate reality. It is the world's first graphics card with AMD-pioneered High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) integrated on-chip, delivering 60% more memory bandwidth over GDDR5. The VisionTek Radeon R9 Fury X features black-nickel aluminum exoskeleton, maintenance-free AIO closed-loop liquid cooling, GPU Tach activity indicator, and red LED "RADEON" illumination along the spine of this wicked beast. The compact 7.5-inch card packs a performance punch, leading the way to create small and powerful PCs by condensing the HBM memory into 94% less space than GDDR5. The VisionTek Fury X was built to enable the next generation of 4K and VR gaming. With this card, PC users won't just upgrade, they will revolutionize.
PowerColor Announces its Radeon R9 Fury X Graphics Card
TUL Corporation, a leading and innovative manufacturer of AMD graphic cards since 1997, has released a new graphics card with the High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) from AMD's latest invention. HBM is a new type of memory chip with low power consumption, ultra-wide communication lanes, and a revolutionary new stacked configuration. HBM's vertical stacking and fast information transfer open the door for truly exciting performance in innovative form factors, not to mention that GPU applications are just the start - look for HBM's superior power efficiency and space savings to spark industry-wide innovation. PowerColor R9 Fury X easily handles the most graphically intense games today due to its advanced and innovative GPU to ever create for the beloved PC gaming community. This power comes from AMD-pioneered High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) integrated on-chip that delivers more than 3 times the bandwidth per watt than GDDR5 along with a 4096-bit memory interface for incredible new advances in power and efficiency.
Spiff-up your gaming rig with sleek, envy-inducing design and make a powerful statement. It is packed with unique features, such as industrial styling including black-nickel aluminum exoskeleton and soft-touch aluminum plates, maintenance-free closed-loop liquid cooling, premium 120mm fan, GPU Tach activity indicator, and LED illumination highlight designs that details for that finished luxurious look. Pack that all in a slim and compact 7.5-inch card and you have yourself a stylish yet powerful graphics processing power that you can hold with your hands.
Spiff-up your gaming rig with sleek, envy-inducing design and make a powerful statement. It is packed with unique features, such as industrial styling including black-nickel aluminum exoskeleton and soft-touch aluminum plates, maintenance-free closed-loop liquid cooling, premium 120mm fan, GPU Tach activity indicator, and LED illumination highlight designs that details for that finished luxurious look. Pack that all in a slim and compact 7.5-inch card and you have yourself a stylish yet powerful graphics processing power that you can hold with your hands.
Club3D Announces its Radeon R9 Fury X Graphics Card
The future starts today. Get ready for a giant leap forward when it comes to the pinnacle of GPU engineering. Get ready for the revolutionary Club 3D Radeon R9 Fury X. The world's first graphics card featuring AMD-pioneered High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) for extreme performance in the highest resolutions. Benefit from an improved Graphics Core Next architecture, more advanced PowerTune management, improved connection flexibility enabling a 6K gaming setup with multiple monitors and a world class, whisper quiet Closed Loop Liquid Cooling Solution. The Club 3D Radeon R9 Fury X is the fastest GPU in the world and it's here to take your gaming performance to a completely new dimension.
Take the lead with the awesome gaming power of the most advanced and innovative GPU ever created for PC gaming. The Club 3D Radeon R9 Fury X is the world's first graphics card to feature AMD-pioneered High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) integrated on-chip, delivering 60% more memory bandwidth over GDDR5 memory. With 4K Stream Processors, 4K MB High Bandwidth Memory, 4K Bit memory interface aimed at providing the best 4K gaming experience, Fury X marks the beginning of a new era in PC Gaming.
Take the lead with the awesome gaming power of the most advanced and innovative GPU ever created for PC gaming. The Club 3D Radeon R9 Fury X is the world's first graphics card to feature AMD-pioneered High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) integrated on-chip, delivering 60% more memory bandwidth over GDDR5 memory. With 4K Stream Processors, 4K MB High Bandwidth Memory, 4K Bit memory interface aimed at providing the best 4K gaming experience, Fury X marks the beginning of a new era in PC Gaming.
AMD Officially Launches the Radeon R9 Fury X Graphics Card
AMD officially launched its latest flagship graphics card, the Radeon R9 Fury X. Designed to compete with NVIDIA's high-end products, including the GTX TITAN X, and the recently launched GTX 980 Ti, this card implements a breakthrough new memory design, with HBM (high bandwidth memory), silicon interposer, and the memory being relocated to the GPU package, to reduce the chip's overall PCB footprint, allowing for an extremely compact main PCB.
The Radeon R9 Fury X comes with a factory-fitted liquid cooling solution, much like the R9 295X2, which promises gaming temperatures in the in the fifties (°C), and load noise output of 32 dB. Based on the new 28 nm "Fiji" silicon, the R9 Fury X offers 4,096 stream processors, 256 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and a 4096-bit wide HBM interface, holding 4 GB of standard memory amount, with a staggering 512 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The core is clocked at 1050 MHz, and the memory at 500 MHz. The card has the same typical board power figure as the R9 290X, at 275W, despite a 40 percent increase in number crunching muscle. Available now in some parts of the world, the card will be widely available in the following few weeks, priced at US $649.99.
Read the TechPowerUp Review of the R9 Fury X right here.
The Radeon R9 Fury X comes with a factory-fitted liquid cooling solution, much like the R9 295X2, which promises gaming temperatures in the in the fifties (°C), and load noise output of 32 dB. Based on the new 28 nm "Fiji" silicon, the R9 Fury X offers 4,096 stream processors, 256 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and a 4096-bit wide HBM interface, holding 4 GB of standard memory amount, with a staggering 512 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The core is clocked at 1050 MHz, and the memory at 500 MHz. The card has the same typical board power figure as the R9 290X, at 275W, despite a 40 percent increase in number crunching muscle. Available now in some parts of the world, the card will be widely available in the following few weeks, priced at US $649.99.
Read the TechPowerUp Review of the R9 Fury X right here.
GIGABYTE Outs Cost-effective P85-Gaming 3 Motherboard
For those looking to build a gaming rig on a shoestring budget, yet want a "gamer-centric" motherboard that has good onboard audio, GIGABYTE launched just the thing - the P85-Gaming 3. This socket LGA1150 motherboard is based on Intel B85 Express chipset, and derives the "P" in its model name from the fact that it has minimal connectivity for its integrated graphics (just one HDMI port), since its target buyers use discrete graphics cards anyway. The board is built in the slim (190 mm wide) ATX form-factor, and draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors. The CPU is powered by a basic 4-phase VRM.
Expansion slots include one PCI-Express 3.0 x16, a second x16 slot that's electrical gen 2.0 x4 and wired to the PCH; and two each of PCIe 2.0 x1 and legacy PCI. Storage connectivity includes four SATA 6 Gb/s and two SATA 3 Gb/s. Its onboard audio solution features a Realtek ALC892 CODEC, backed by audio-grade electrolytic capacitors, a headphones amp, and ground-layer isolation. Gigabit Ethernet, and four USB 3.0 ports (two on the rear panel, two by headers), make for the rest of it. Expect an attractive sub-$100 price tag.
Expansion slots include one PCI-Express 3.0 x16, a second x16 slot that's electrical gen 2.0 x4 and wired to the PCH; and two each of PCIe 2.0 x1 and legacy PCI. Storage connectivity includes four SATA 6 Gb/s and two SATA 3 Gb/s. Its onboard audio solution features a Realtek ALC892 CODEC, backed by audio-grade electrolytic capacitors, a headphones amp, and ground-layer isolation. Gigabit Ethernet, and four USB 3.0 ports (two on the rear panel, two by headers), make for the rest of it. Expect an attractive sub-$100 price tag.
Antec Announces TrueQuiet 120 UFO Fan Series in Europe
Antec is presenting TrueQuiet 120 UFO, an extremely quiet fan for PC housings with a highly efficient level of air circulation. Nine specially shaped fan-blades prevent swirls and their unwanted noise. Due to rubberised contact points to the housing, vibrations are being dampened efficiently. Thanks to its transparent LED ring, the TrueQuiet 120 UFO can powerfully illuminate the housing in the colours blue, green, white or red. The included rubber pins furthermore enable a tool-free installation of the fan.
Finally the TrueQuiet 120 UFO is available in Europe, bringing state-of-the-art fan technology to PC systems. This new 120-mm housing fan has been developed with a strong focus on noise reduction and performs its work almost unheard. Two ventilating speeds are available via control system: 1,000 rounds per minute at 19.9 dBA or 600 rounds per minute at almost unnoticeable 8.9 dBA.
Finally the TrueQuiet 120 UFO is available in Europe, bringing state-of-the-art fan technology to PC systems. This new 120-mm housing fan has been developed with a strong focus on noise reduction and performs its work almost unheard. Two ventilating speeds are available via control system: 1,000 rounds per minute at 19.9 dBA or 600 rounds per minute at almost unnoticeable 8.9 dBA.
QNAP Adds 4-bay Models to the High-performance TVS-x71U Turbo vNAS Series
QNAP Systems, Inc. today announced the release of the new 10GbE-ready TVS-471U Turbo vNAS series, including the TVS-471U-RP and TVS-471U. Featuring high performance, scalable design, reliability and rich business applications, the TVS-471U series is designed for SMBs to ensure smooth daily file operations with low total cost of ownership. The exclusive QvPC Technology introduces more hands-on usage for directly accessing stored data, monitoring live surveillance feeds, watching multimedia, and much more with a keyboard, mouse, and HDMI display. By using Qsirch, users can quickly search through all of their files on the QNAP NAS to find specific items with better productivity.
The 4-bay rackmount TVS-471U series is powered by Intel Haswell Pentium and Core i3 processors that are capable of providing over 1,500 MB/s throughput and 128,000 IOPS for CPU-intensive tasks including Virtualization Station, serving large numbers of simultaneous connections, and 4K video playback and transcoding. Its two on-board internal cache ports enables users to install mSATA flash modules to further enhance NAS performance for IOPS-demanding applications. The storage capacity of the TVS-471U series can be scaled up to over 1PB by attaching multiple QNAP RAID expansion enclosures (REXP-1600U-RP and REXP-1200U-RP).
The 4-bay rackmount TVS-471U series is powered by Intel Haswell Pentium and Core i3 processors that are capable of providing over 1,500 MB/s throughput and 128,000 IOPS for CPU-intensive tasks including Virtualization Station, serving large numbers of simultaneous connections, and 4K video playback and transcoding. Its two on-board internal cache ports enables users to install mSATA flash modules to further enhance NAS performance for IOPS-demanding applications. The storage capacity of the TVS-471U series can be scaled up to over 1PB by attaching multiple QNAP RAID expansion enclosures (REXP-1600U-RP and REXP-1200U-RP).
Tuesday, June 23rd 2015
Today's Reviews
Cases
CPU Coolers
Gaming PC
Graphics Cards
Keyboards
Monitors
Motherboards
Networking
Notebooks
PSUs
SSD
AMD Does Trust its CPUs After all, to Offer Intel on Project Quantum as Options
AMD issued a statement on its upcoming Project Quantum SFF gaming desktop featuring Intel CPUs. The company clarified that it will offer both Intel and AMD processors, in the interest of consumer choice. AMD pointed out that the star-attraction in Project Quantum is the fact that it features two "Fiji" graphics processors in CrossFire configuration, to serve up graphics power unheard of, for this form-factor. Buyers will have a choice over the CPU, so if they feel that a CPU of a particular brand serves their needs better, they can make that choice.
Project Quantum will be an SFF gaming PC designed for super high resolution gaming. The company collaborated with liquid cooling majors to come up with a custom solution that cools the CPU and the two "Fiji" GPUs, over a common coolant channel, and a single large radiator. The system is split between two thermally-isolated chambers, with just coolant tubing and wiring running between the two. The bottom chamber features the mini-ITX form-factor motherboard, the dual-GPU video card, the SSD, and the power distribution PCB (PSU is external), while the top chamber is dominated by the radiator, and other liquid cooling components, such as the reservoir, pump, and a single large fan.
Project Quantum will be an SFF gaming PC designed for super high resolution gaming. The company collaborated with liquid cooling majors to come up with a custom solution that cools the CPU and the two "Fiji" GPUs, over a common coolant channel, and a single large radiator. The system is split between two thermally-isolated chambers, with just coolant tubing and wiring running between the two. The bottom chamber features the mini-ITX form-factor motherboard, the dual-GPU video card, the SSD, and the power distribution PCB (PSU is external), while the top chamber is dominated by the radiator, and other liquid cooling components, such as the reservoir, pump, and a single large fan.
QNAP Launches 2 GB RAM Variant of AMD-Powered TS-563 NAS
QNAP Inc. knows small and medium business IT storage needs well; and starting today has a new Turbo NAS offering that perfectly blends storage capacity, performance, and business productivity - the TS-563. This new 5-drive desktop NAS features up to 30 TB (with five 6 TB drives) of storage and is 10 GbE network ready. This new model also features 2 GB of DDR3L RAM (an 8 GB model was launched in May). The TS-563-2G is the second QNAP product line to be introduced; which features the AMD G-series quad-core 2.00 GHz embedded processor with its impressive, virtualization and hardware accelerated encryption capabilities.
Today's small and medium businesses need to wring every dollar of productivity out of their IT spends and that extends to storage. QNAP's Turbo NAS' have evolved into being far more than just networked storage, file/printer sharing, and backup solutions. Today they can host virtual machines without the expense of VMware, host websites, and a bevy of other business critical applications. Extend the capabilities of a QNAP NAS further with a wide range of free Apps available from 3rd party developers, right from the dashboard of the embedded QTS management interface. QNAP's brand new Qsirch search feature makes it fast and easy to find documents, videos, photos, music, and more on the NAS through natural-search terms similar to how one would use a search engine.
Today's small and medium businesses need to wring every dollar of productivity out of their IT spends and that extends to storage. QNAP's Turbo NAS' have evolved into being far more than just networked storage, file/printer sharing, and backup solutions. Today they can host virtual machines without the expense of VMware, host websites, and a bevy of other business critical applications. Extend the capabilities of a QNAP NAS further with a wide range of free Apps available from 3rd party developers, right from the dashboard of the embedded QTS management interface. QNAP's brand new Qsirch search feature makes it fast and easy to find documents, videos, photos, music, and more on the NAS through natural-search terms similar to how one would use a search engine.
AOC Releases a Pair of AMD FreeSync-Ready Gaming Monitors
AOC released a pair of high refresh-rate gaming monitors featuring AMD FreeSync, a technology that synchronizes the the display's refresh-rate to the GPU's output frame-rate, for smooth, stutter-free display output. These include the 24-inch G2460PF, and the 27-inch G2770PF. Both offer full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) resolutions, and are based on TN-film panels, but offer refresh-rates of up to 144 Hz, and response-time of 1 ms. Both panels offer viewing angles of 170°/160° (H/V); up to 350 cd/m² maximum brightness on the G2460PF, and up to 300 cd/m² on the G2770PF. Display inputs on both, include DisplayPort 1.2a (required for FreeSync), dual-link DVI, and D-Sub (VGA). The G2460PF is expected to be priced around $350 (including taxes), while the G2770PF is expected to go for $450 (including taxes).
AMD Releases Catalyst 15.6 Driver for Batman: Arkham Knight
AMD released Catalyst 15.6 drivers, with optimizations for Batman: Arkham Knight. These Beta drivers, meant for Radeon R9 200 series, HD 7000 series, and HD 6000 series;(there are separate upcoming drivers for R9 300 and R9 Fury series); include performance optimizations, stability improvements for Batman: Arkham Knight, this week's big game release. The game itself has been causing problems to PC gamers, with a 30 fps cap, which can be disabled using a config file edit, but yielding stuttering and frame-skipping on both Radeon and GeForce video cards; and is expected to see a launch-day patch.
DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 15.6 for Batman: Arkham Knight, for Windows 7 64-bit | Windows 7 32-bit | Windows 8.1 64-bit | Windows 8.1 32-bit
DeepCool Intros GamerStorm TriStellar SW with Tempered Glass Panels
DeepCool's quirky yet desirable TriStellar three-chambered mini-ITX case, which made its debut with CyberPowerPC Trinity, and then as a standalone case, now comes in a new variant, called Tristellar SW, that features tempered glass panels on three sides, for its top chamber, which houses your graphics card, and three 3.5-inch drive bays. Consistent with DeepCool's GamerStorm Nephrite ITX in function, the tempered glass panels let you flaunt whatever high-end / modded beast you have, running underneath them. The three panels are mounted along the chassis, with four thumb-screws, each. The rest of its feature-set is identical. The company didn't announce pricing or availability info.
Eurocom Starts Shipping Gaming Notebooks with Core i7-5775C
Eurocom is shipping high performance gaming laptops with unlocked socket based Intel Core i7-5775C desktop processors and top of the line, upgradeable NVIDIA GeForce, AMD Radeon and NVIDIA Quadro MXM 3.0b graphics. The EUROCOM P5 Pro Extreme closes the gap between laptops and high performance desktop computers by bringing home a full-fledged Intel Core i7-4790K or I7-5775C with overclocking and no compromises. The EUROCOM P5 Pro is a hig performance, desktop gaming and workstation in disguise.
The Intel Core i7-5775C is a socketed desktop processor with Intel's most advanced on-die graphics engine, Iris Pro Graphics 6200, it is compatible with the LGA 1150 interface, and they're also multiplier-unlocked, allowing users the ability of overclocking it for additional performance. Eurocom provides an optional unlocked BIOS to allow customers to take full advantage of overclocking capabilities within unlocked Intel processors. These 14nm Intel Broadwell CPUs advance power efficiency over previous offerings by specifying 65W TDPs for unlocked quad-core models p to 95W for overclocking and maximum performance.
The Intel Core i7-5775C is a socketed desktop processor with Intel's most advanced on-die graphics engine, Iris Pro Graphics 6200, it is compatible with the LGA 1150 interface, and they're also multiplier-unlocked, allowing users the ability of overclocking it for additional performance. Eurocom provides an optional unlocked BIOS to allow customers to take full advantage of overclocking capabilities within unlocked Intel processors. These 14nm Intel Broadwell CPUs advance power efficiency over previous offerings by specifying 65W TDPs for unlocked quad-core models p to 95W for overclocking and maximum performance.
Monday, June 22nd 2015
Today's Reviews
Graphics Cards
Motherboards
Notebooks
EVGA GTX 980 Ti SC+ 6 GB Review
The EVGA GTX 980 Ti SC+ comes overclocked out of the box, using the company's ACX dual-fan cooling solution. It features low noise in gaming, and the fans will turn off completely in idle for that perfect noise-free experience. Performance levels exceed those of the much more expensive GTX Titan X.
Corsair RMi Series 1000 W Review
Corsair introduced the RMi series at Computex 2015, and it offers some major upgrades compared to the previous RM line. Today, we will evaluate the strongest RMi unit with 1 kW capacity in order to figure out how it does against its predecessor and all other competing offers in its category.
Samsung Launches First Monitors in UHD Line to Deploy AMD's FreeSync Technology
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., announced the introduction of the U24E590D and U28E590D, the first Samsung UHD monitors with AMD's FreeSync technology. These UHD monitors offer unprecedented picture quality for gaming, entertainment and multi-tasking activities.
The U24E590D and U28E590D are the first UHD Samsung monitors with AMD FreeSync capabilities. FreeSync synchronizes the monitors' refresh rates to eliminate large jumps in frame time for noticeably smoother multimedia use. The integration of AMD FreeSync is especially beneficial for gamers, who will notice an immediate increase in responsiveness and the elimination of screen tearing and shuttering.
The U24E590D and U28E590D are the first UHD Samsung monitors with AMD FreeSync capabilities. FreeSync synchronizes the monitors' refresh rates to eliminate large jumps in frame time for noticeably smoother multimedia use. The integration of AMD FreeSync is especially beneficial for gamers, who will notice an immediate increase in responsiveness and the elimination of screen tearing and shuttering.
MSI Launches Premium GAMING SLI Bridge
As game developers continue to push the boundaries of epic in-game graphics, the popularity of 4K gaming is also on the rise. To fully enjoy this spectacular gaming experience, hardware requirements are also pushed higher than ever. Gamers running multiple powerful graphics cards in SLI are enjoying ever more benefits. As the leading brand in Gaming, MSI is excited to unveil a brand new premium GAMING SLI bridge which forms the perfect link for any MSI GAMING SLI setup.
The bridge features a premium LED illuminated GAMING logo that can be controlled by the exclusive MSI Gaming App and is forged out of high quality materials. It supports 2-Way SLI for NVIDIA GTX 900 series graphics cards. The carefully engineered metal shroud on the SLI connectors gives the new GAMING SLI Bridge a solid look & feel while also enabling higher conductivity. Optimized for 4K+ resolutions and 144Hz+ refresh rates, the MSI GAMING SLI bridge is ready for next generation gaming.
The bridge features a premium LED illuminated GAMING logo that can be controlled by the exclusive MSI Gaming App and is forged out of high quality materials. It supports 2-Way SLI for NVIDIA GTX 900 series graphics cards. The carefully engineered metal shroud on the SLI connectors gives the new GAMING SLI Bridge a solid look & feel while also enabling higher conductivity. Optimized for 4K+ resolutions and 144Hz+ refresh rates, the MSI GAMING SLI bridge is ready for next generation gaming.
Creative Unveils the ROAR 2 Portable Bluetooth Speaker
Creative Technology Ltd., today announced the launch of a brand new variant of the critically acclaimed Sound Blaster Roar portable Bluetooth wireless speaker − the smaller, lighter, sexier Sound Blaster Roar 2. The all new Sound Blaster Roar 2 portable Bluetooth wireless speaker retains the same 5 speaker drivers, electrical design, and
battery life as the Classic Sound Blaster Roar − but is now 20% smaller and 10% lighter. And it is available in black or white. Encased in a stylish sleek housing that exudes the understated sophistication of a well-designed audio instrument, the smaller-lighter-sexier Sound Blaster Roar 2 continues to impress, whether it is used at the office, in a designer home, or at a party.
battery life as the Classic Sound Blaster Roar − but is now 20% smaller and 10% lighter. And it is available in black or white. Encased in a stylish sleek housing that exudes the understated sophistication of a well-designed audio instrument, the smaller-lighter-sexier Sound Blaster Roar 2 continues to impress, whether it is used at the office, in a designer home, or at a party.
AMD "Fiji" Block Diagram Revealed, Runs Cool and Quiet
AMD's upcoming flagship GPU silicon, codenamed "Fiji," which is breaking ground on new technologies, such as HBM, memory-on-package, a specialized substrate layer that connects the GPU with it, called Interposer; features a hefty feature-set. More on the "Fiji" package and its memory implementation, in our older article. Its block diagram (manufacturer-drawn graphic showing the GPU's component hierarchy), reveals a scaling up, of the company's high-end GPU launches over the past few years.
"Fiji" retains the quad Shader Engine layout of "Hawaii," but packs 16 GCN Compute Units (CUs), per Shader Engine (compared to 11 CUs per engine on Hawaii). This works out to a stream processor count of 4,096. Fiji is expected to feature a newer version of the Graphics CoreNext architecture than "Hawaii." The TMU count is proportionately increased, to 256 (compared to 176 on "Hawaii"). AMD doesn't appear to have increased the ROP count, which is still at 64. The most significant change, however, is its 4096-bit HBM memory interface, compared to 512-bit GDDR5 on "Hawaii."
"Fiji" retains the quad Shader Engine layout of "Hawaii," but packs 16 GCN Compute Units (CUs), per Shader Engine (compared to 11 CUs per engine on Hawaii). This works out to a stream processor count of 4,096. Fiji is expected to feature a newer version of the Graphics CoreNext architecture than "Hawaii." The TMU count is proportionately increased, to 256 (compared to 176 on "Hawaii"). AMD doesn't appear to have increased the ROP count, which is still at 64. The most significant change, however, is its 4096-bit HBM memory interface, compared to 512-bit GDDR5 on "Hawaii."
NVIDIA Releases GeForce 353.30 WHQL Game Ready Driver
NVIDIA released its latest "Game Ready" driver that's become customary for the company ahead of a big AAA game launch; GeForce 353.30. These WHQL-signed drivers come "ready" for Batman: Arkham Knight, including SLI profiles, and GeForce Experience settings. The driver also adds an SLI profile for Lord of Vermilion Arena in its DirectX 9 mode. Batman Arkham Knight features NVIDIA's GameWorks varnish, and should feature a few effects and settings exclusive to NVIDIA. The game releases tomorrow (23/06/2015).
DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 353.30 WHQL for Windows 8/7/Vista 64-bit | Windows 8/7/Vista 32-bit | Windows XP 32-bit | Windows XP 64-bit
Overclockers UK Announces the Blade Line of Gaming Desktops
Overclockers UK, NewcastleUnder-Lyme, one of the UKs largest gaming PC system builders took a step back to review their current line-up of gaming systems and are revamping the ranges into an easy to understand category system, following on from the Atomic and the special edition Project CARS PCs, Overclockers UK are proud to announce their main gaming range, the Blade range.
The systems have been tailored to the current markets needs but will still feature a wide selection of options to allow the customer to optimise the system for their own requirements. Introducing the nine high performance gaming PCs into the Blade range: The Titan Karambit, Tanto, Katana, Scythe, Sabre, Rapier, Dagger, Scimitar and the Machete.
The systems have been tailored to the current markets needs but will still feature a wide selection of options to allow the customer to optimise the system for their own requirements. Introducing the nine high performance gaming PCs into the Blade range: The Titan Karambit, Tanto, Katana, Scythe, Sabre, Rapier, Dagger, Scimitar and the Machete.
Razer Tartarus Chroma Gaming Keypad Now Available for Purchase
The Razer Tartarus Chroma gaming keypad comes with 25 anti-ghosted, fully programmable keys, including an 8-way thumb-pad for complete control and manoeuvrability.
Now with Chroma customizable lighting, the latest version of this gaming keypad has access to the full spectrum of 16.8 million color options. As a gaming keypad, the Razer Tartarus Chroma provides a comfortable and efficient alternative to keyboards for PC gaming, especially real-time strategy MMOs and other key-intensive games where left- and right-hand independence is useful.
The Razer Tartarus Chroma offers infinite commands with its 25 fully programmable keys allowing users to bind all their preferred skills, macros and hotkeys for a personalized gaming experience. The precise 8-way directional thumb-pad can also act as modifier keys. The Razer Tartarus Chroma features advanced ergonomics with its adjustable wrist-rest that can be angled to maximize comfort. Now featuring Chroma lighting with 16.8 million color options, the keypad opens up a world of practically limitless personalization possibilities and preloaded lighting effects, all easily programmed through Razer Synapse.
Now with Chroma customizable lighting, the latest version of this gaming keypad has access to the full spectrum of 16.8 million color options. As a gaming keypad, the Razer Tartarus Chroma provides a comfortable and efficient alternative to keyboards for PC gaming, especially real-time strategy MMOs and other key-intensive games where left- and right-hand independence is useful.
The Razer Tartarus Chroma offers infinite commands with its 25 fully programmable keys allowing users to bind all their preferred skills, macros and hotkeys for a personalized gaming experience. The precise 8-way directional thumb-pad can also act as modifier keys. The Razer Tartarus Chroma features advanced ergonomics with its adjustable wrist-rest that can be angled to maximize comfort. Now featuring Chroma lighting with 16.8 million color options, the keypad opens up a world of practically limitless personalization possibilities and preloaded lighting effects, all easily programmed through Razer Synapse.
BIOSTAR Releases N3150NH Mini-ITX Motherboard
BIOSTAR is offering the N3150NH motherboard with the on-board Intel N3150 1.6G Quad-core processor, using a Mini-ATX form factor with a size of 17x17cm, builders are able to make creative designs for many different uses that fit into small enclosures.
The N3150NH boards comes with the Intel Celeron N3150 1.6G Quad-core processor with turbo boost up to 2.08G already installed and it supports up to 8GB Memory for DDR3L-1600 OR 16GB Memory for DDR3L-1066. With the integrated GPU, watching HD content and playing games is no sweat. Expansion includes 1 PCI-E 2.0 slot. Indeed, the N3150NH board is ready for building all kinds of multimedia systems with its HDMI and analog VGA-out, and high definition audio with the Realtek ALC662 6 Channel HD Audio chip.
The N3150NH boards comes with the Intel Celeron N3150 1.6G Quad-core processor with turbo boost up to 2.08G already installed and it supports up to 8GB Memory for DDR3L-1600 OR 16GB Memory for DDR3L-1066. With the integrated GPU, watching HD content and playing games is no sweat. Expansion includes 1 PCI-E 2.0 slot. Indeed, the N3150NH board is ready for building all kinds of multimedia systems with its HDMI and analog VGA-out, and high definition audio with the Realtek ALC662 6 Channel HD Audio chip.
AMD Doesn't Trust its Own Processors - Project Quantum Driven by Intel Core i7-4790K
One of the three unexpected products based on the "Fiji" GPU, which AMD announced at its E3 event, Project Quantum, or the quest to design a 4K-worthy SFF gaming PC, which runs two "Fiji" GPUs in CrossFire, had the press assume that the rest of the system could be AMD-based, such as AMD-branded (albeit Patriot Memory manufactured) memory, AMD-branded (albeit OCZ manufactured) SSD; and importantly an AMD-made CPU or APU. Given its liquid-cooling, the prospect of a 95W "Godavari," or even upcoming "Carrizo" APU didn't seem far-fetched. Even a 95W FX CPU could have been deployed, since AM3+ on mini-ITX is not impossible.
When taken apart, Project Quantum was shown to be running an Intel Core i7-4790K "Devil's Canyon" CPU, on an ASRock-made mini-ITX motherboard, with its non-essential parts soldered out. The i7-4790K is neighbored by a pair of half-height Crucial Ballistix memory modules, which is excusable, since there are no half-height AMD Radeon memory modules, yet. The SSD is AMD-branded. The unit features a unified liquid cooling solution that's custom-made for AMD, by Asetek. A large (200 mm?) radiator, with a single fan, cools the CPU, the PCH, as well as the two "Fiji" GPUs.
When taken apart, Project Quantum was shown to be running an Intel Core i7-4790K "Devil's Canyon" CPU, on an ASRock-made mini-ITX motherboard, with its non-essential parts soldered out. The i7-4790K is neighbored by a pair of half-height Crucial Ballistix memory modules, which is excusable, since there are no half-height AMD Radeon memory modules, yet. The SSD is AMD-branded. The unit features a unified liquid cooling solution that's custom-made for AMD, by Asetek. A large (200 mm?) radiator, with a single fan, cools the CPU, the PCH, as well as the two "Fiji" GPUs.
AMD Radeon R9 Fury X Pictured Some More
Somebody with access to a Radeon R9 Fury X review sample (looking at the box), has been plastering tech-forums the web over, with clear pictures of it. We picked up a few from our forums. The pictures reveal a card with solid build quality and industrial design. It is arguably the best looking reference-design AMD Radeon product. The card itself is extremely compact, and uses length savings for fittings and tubings of its closed-loop AIO liquid-cooling to pop out. The cooler has a chunkier 120 mm x 120 mm radiator, than the one the R9 295X2 comes with, but features a slimmer 15 mm-thick included fan, which looks a lot like a Scythe Gentle Typhoon.
When installed, the card looks extremely premium in your case. The vent-free cooler design, coupled with the solid back-plate, give it a "wholesome" look, despite its split liquid cooling solution. The card draws power from a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors. A dozen red and green SMT LEDs line the area, and give you a real-time readout of GPU load. Display outputs include three DisplayPort 1.2a, and one HDMI 1.4a. The lack of HDMI 2.0 may prove to be a bummer for people planning to plug this to a 4K TV, however, every 4K monitor ever sold, features a DP 1.2 input. We'll leave you to the pics.
A few more pics follow.
When installed, the card looks extremely premium in your case. The vent-free cooler design, coupled with the solid back-plate, give it a "wholesome" look, despite its split liquid cooling solution. The card draws power from a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors. A dozen red and green SMT LEDs line the area, and give you a real-time readout of GPU load. Display outputs include three DisplayPort 1.2a, and one HDMI 1.4a. The lack of HDMI 2.0 may prove to be a bummer for people planning to plug this to a 4K TV, however, every 4K monitor ever sold, features a DP 1.2 input. We'll leave you to the pics.
Friday, June 19th 2015
Today's Reviews
Cases
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
- ASUS R7 370 STRIX 2GB Guru3D
- MSI R7 370 Gaming 2GB Play3r
- Sapphire R9 380 4GB Nitro eTeknix
- ASUS R9 380 STRIX 2GB Guru3D
- MSI R9 380 Gaming 2GB HardwareHeaven
- MSI R9 380 Gaming 2GB Overclockers Club
- HIS R9 380 2GB IceQ X2 Tweak.dk (dk)
- MSI R9 390 Gaming 8GB Bjorn3D
- PowerColor R9 390 PCS+ 8GB HotHardware
- AMD R9 390X, R9 380 and R7 370 ComputerBase (de)
- MSI R9 390X Gaming 8GB Guru3D
- MSI R9 390X Gaming HardOCP
- HIS R9 390X, R9 390, and R9 380 Legion Hardware
- MSI R9 390X Gaming 8 GB TechPowerUp
- AMD R9 390X, R9 390, and R9 380 TechSpot
- AMD R9 390X, R9 380 and R7 370 Tom's Hardware
- MSI R9 390X Gaming 8GB Tweaktown
- EVGA GTX 980 Ti SC Bjorn3D
Monitors
Motherboards
MSI R9 390X Gaming 8 GB Review
MSI's Radeon R9 390X GAMING comes with a massive triple-slot, dual-fan cooler that turns its fans off completely when the card idles. Thanks to the overclock out of the box, the card matches GTX 980 performance at 1440p and beyond. Like all R9 390X cards, the MSI R9 390X GAMING is equipped with 8 GB of video memory.
Intel to Debut its Core "Skylake" Processors at Gamescom 2015
Intel is expected to debut its 6th generation Core "Skylake" desktop processor family at Gamescom 2015, which will be held in Cologne, Germany, between 5th and 9th August. PC enthusiasts should look forward to two parts in particular, the Core i7-6700K, and the Core i5-6600K. The two quad-core chips will be built in the LGA1151 package, compatible with upcoming motherboards based on Intel's 100-series chipset. Motherboards based on the Intel Z170 Express chipset will allow CPU overclocking. The integrated memory controller of "Skylake" CPUs support both DDR3 and DDR4 memory standards, and should prove to be a transition point between the two.
Following the i7-6700K and i5-6600K with Z170 chipset motherboards, at Gamescom; Intel will launch other parts in the 6th gen. Core processor family between late-August and early-September. Those launches will include i7-6700/6700T, Core i5-6600, 6500, 6400, 6600T, 6500T and 6400T, and H170 and B150 chipsets. Then in late-September, the company will launch the entry-level H110 chipset.
Following the i7-6700K and i5-6600K with Z170 chipset motherboards, at Gamescom; Intel will launch other parts in the 6th gen. Core processor family between late-August and early-September. Those launches will include i7-6700/6700T, Core i5-6600, 6500, 6400, 6600T, 6500T and 6400T, and H170 and B150 chipsets. Then in late-September, the company will launch the entry-level H110 chipset.
Radeon R9 Fury X Faster Than GeForce GTX 980 Ti at 4K: AMD
AMD, in its press documents, claimed that its upcoming flagship single-GPU graphics card, the Radeon R9 Fury X, will be faster than NVIDIA's recently launched GeForce GTX 980 Ti, at 4K Ultra HD resolution. This puts to rest speculation that its 4 GB of video memory hampers performance against its competitor with 6 GB of memory. From the graph below, which was extracted from AMD's press material, the R9 Fury X will be faster than the GTX 980 Ti, in even the most memory-intensive games at 4K, including Far Cry 4, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Crysis 3, Assassins Creed: Unity, and Battlefield 4. Bigger gains are shown in other games. In every single game tested, the R9 Fury X is offering frame-rates of at least 35 fps. The Radeon R9 Fury X will launch at $649.99 (the same price as the GTX 980 Ti), next week, with market availability within the following 3 weeks.
Jonsbo-Cooltek Announces the RM1 Chassis
With the RM1 we present a particular compact Mini Tower, which offers an unusual flexibility for the installation of hardware. Despite the minimalistic design, the RM1 offers enough space for ATX systems with dual VGA card support. If needed, a 5.25 inch drive can be installed, when using either a Mini-ITX or Micro-ATX motherboard. The RM1 uses brushed aluminum and shines with its superb quality. By using materials of the highest quality the RM1 offers a superb and exquisite look. The deliberately kept simple design of the RM1 harmonizes perfectly with any environment.
Motherboards of up to 305 x 245 mm can be installed in the RM1. This allows not only the installation of Mini-ITX or Micro-ATX systems in the compact case, but also of full size ATX boards. Despite its compact dimensions, the RM1 offers enough space for a powerful system. Thus, VGA cards of up to 290 mm in length and CPU-coolers with a maximum height of 95 mm can be installed in the elegant aluminium case.
Motherboards of up to 305 x 245 mm can be installed in the RM1. This allows not only the installation of Mini-ITX or Micro-ATX systems in the compact case, but also of full size ATX boards. Despite its compact dimensions, the RM1 offers enough space for a powerful system. Thus, VGA cards of up to 290 mm in length and CPU-coolers with a maximum height of 95 mm can be installed in the elegant aluminium case.
EVGA Readies X99 Micro2 LGA2011v3 Motherboard
EVGA is giving finishing touches to the X99 Micro2, is latest socket LGA2011v3 motherboard, in the micro-ATX form-factor. The board is characterized by support for two USB 3.1 ports, including a type-C port. Most of the feature-set from the original X99 Micro, is carried over. This includes a 10-phase CPU VRM, three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (full-time x16/x16/x8), a 32 Gb/s M.2 slot, with NVMe BIOS support, making up its expansion area. The board supports up to 64 GB of quad-channel DDR4 memory. Storage connectivity on the X99 Micro2 includes ten SATA 6 Gb/s ports, apart from the 32 Gb/s M.2 slot. Other modern connectivity includes two USB 3.1 ports (at least one of which is type-C), six USB 3.0 ports (four on the rear panel, two by header), 8-channel HD audio with ground-layer isolation, and a headphones amp; and gigabit Ethernet. EVGA didn't announce pricing or availability.
Thursday, June 18th 2015
Today's Reviews
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Keyboards
Notebooks
Processors
SSD
Storage
Nox Xtreme Coolbay CX Review
The NOX Xtreme Coolbay CX joins the fray of sub 70 euro mATX cube cases - a hard fought-over case segment. It aims to catch your eye with its ability to hold a 280 mm radiator and its built-in card reader. But will that be enough to take away from more specialized or more colorful mATX cases?
ASUS Tames AMD's Feisty Grenada Silicon, Intros 0 dBA Idle STRIX Graphics Cards
ASUS managed to tame AMD's feisty "Grenada" silicon, which powers the Radeon R9 390 and Radeon R9 390X, by announcing two high-end graphics cards based on its new triple-fan STRIX DirectCU 3 cooling solution. The cooler turns its fans off when the GPU is idling (common desktop / light-3D loads), and begins to spool up only under heavy 3D loads. The company claims that this will be the quietest R9 390 series cards you can buy.
The STRIX DirectCU 3 cooler is the same as the one pictured cooling the GeForce GTX 980 Ti STRIX, which we spotted at Computex. It features a huge monolithic aluminium fin-stack heatsink, to which heat drawn from the GPU is fed by four 10 mm thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes. This heatsink is ventilated by three 100 mm spinners. This heatsink has contact bases even over the card's 8-phase VRM, and a base-plate that draws heat from its 16 GDDR5 memory chips, that make up 8 GB. The R9 390 STRIX offers factory OC of 1050 MHz (vs. 1000 MHz reference); while the R9 390X STRIX offers 1070 MHz (vs. 1050 MHz reference). The memory ticks at 6.00 GHz on both cards. ASUS didn't announce pricing.
The STRIX DirectCU 3 cooler is the same as the one pictured cooling the GeForce GTX 980 Ti STRIX, which we spotted at Computex. It features a huge monolithic aluminium fin-stack heatsink, to which heat drawn from the GPU is fed by four 10 mm thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes. This heatsink is ventilated by three 100 mm spinners. This heatsink has contact bases even over the card's 8-phase VRM, and a base-plate that draws heat from its 16 GDDR5 memory chips, that make up 8 GB. The R9 390 STRIX offers factory OC of 1050 MHz (vs. 1000 MHz reference); while the R9 390X STRIX offers 1070 MHz (vs. 1050 MHz reference). The memory ticks at 6.00 GHz on both cards. ASUS didn't announce pricing.
GIGABYTE Announces its Radeon R9 300 and R7 300 Series
GIGABYTE kicked off its Radeon R7 300 and Radeon R9 300 graphics card lines, by leveraging its latest generation of in-house design WindForce cooling solutions, and custom PCBs. All the cards launched by GIGABYTE today, are factory-overclocked; some even bear the company's flagship G1.Gaming branding. The series begins with the GV-R736OC-2GD, based on the R7 360, with factory overclocked speeds of 1200 MHz core (vs. 1050 MHz reference); and a single 90 mm fan based heatsink cooling solution. Next up, is the GV-R737WF2OC-2GD/4GD, which comes in 2 GB and 4 GB variants, factory OC of 1015 MHz (vs. 975 MHz reference), and GIGABYTE's compact rendition of its WindForce 2X cooling solution.
Next up, is the Radeon R9 380 G1.Gaming SOC (GV-R938G1 GAMING-4GD), featuring 4 GB of memory, a minor OC of 990 MHz (vs. 970 MHz reference), and a surprisingly compact mid-tier WindForce 2X cooler in charge of taming this 190W chip. We then move on to the big boys, the R9 390 G1.Gaming and R9 390X G1.Gaming, with which GIGABYTE again surprises us with 2-slot, 2-fan WindForce 2X cooling solutions, handling the 275W cards. The R9 390 G1.Gaming ticks at 1025 MHz (vs. 1000 MHz reference); while the R9 390X G1.Gaming runs its core at 1060 MHz (vs. 1050 MHz reference).
Next up, is the Radeon R9 380 G1.Gaming SOC (GV-R938G1 GAMING-4GD), featuring 4 GB of memory, a minor OC of 990 MHz (vs. 970 MHz reference), and a surprisingly compact mid-tier WindForce 2X cooler in charge of taming this 190W chip. We then move on to the big boys, the R9 390 G1.Gaming and R9 390X G1.Gaming, with which GIGABYTE again surprises us with 2-slot, 2-fan WindForce 2X cooling solutions, handling the 275W cards. The R9 390 G1.Gaming ticks at 1025 MHz (vs. 1000 MHz reference); while the R9 390X G1.Gaming runs its core at 1060 MHz (vs. 1050 MHz reference).
MSI Announces its Radeon R9 300 and R7 300 Graphics Cards
As the world's leading brand in graphics cards, MSI is excited to introduce a brand new line of MSI GAMING graphics cards powered by the AMD R9 and R7 300 series GPUs. Armed with the award winning Twin Frozr V cooler, this new generation of MSI AMD graphics cards is sure to deliver cool and quiet gaming sessions. MSI's graphics cards lineup gets boosted with no less than four GAMING models based on the AMD R9 390X, R9 390 and R9 380.
Both the R9 390X GAMING 8G and R9 390 GAMING 8G cards feature a massive 8GB of VRAM to support smooth 4K gaming in the latest games such as GTA V. The R9 380 GAMING will be available in both a 4G and 2G edition. End-users will be pleased to know that all the new MSI AMD R9 300 GAMING series graphics cards come equipped with a solid metal backplate.
Both the R9 390X GAMING 8G and R9 390 GAMING 8G cards feature a massive 8GB of VRAM to support smooth 4K gaming in the latest games such as GTA V. The R9 380 GAMING will be available in both a 4G and 2G edition. End-users will be pleased to know that all the new MSI AMD R9 300 GAMING series graphics cards come equipped with a solid metal backplate.
HP Launches Next Generation Pavilion Detachable PC and ENVY Notebooks
HP today announced its latest generation Pavilion x2, a new detachable designed to be a tablet first without compromising the notebook experience. HP also announced new ENVY notebooks that combine great battery life in a thinner, new curved design.
"Customers want devices that are portable without sacrificing battery life or power," said Kevin Frost, vice president and general manager, Consumer Personal Systems, HP. "For 2015, we are reinventing our ENVY notebook product line to deliver great battery life, thinner and lighter designs, bright, high resolution displays and Bang & Olufsen audio for better entertainment, communications and productivity experiences."
"Customers want devices that are portable without sacrificing battery life or power," said Kevin Frost, vice president and general manager, Consumer Personal Systems, HP. "For 2015, we are reinventing our ENVY notebook product line to deliver great battery life, thinner and lighter designs, bright, high resolution displays and Bang & Olufsen audio for better entertainment, communications and productivity experiences."
Toshiba Unveils New Satellite Radius Line of 2-in-1 PCs
Toshiba's Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced three new 2-in-1 convertible PC designs: the 14-inch Satellite Radius 14, 15.6-inch Satellite Radius 15 and 15.6-inch Satellite Radius 15 4K Ultra HD Edition. Built for Windows 10, these convertible PCs feature a precision 2-axis hinge, allowing the screen to rotate a full 360-degrees, which converts the devices from laptop to tablet and everything in between.
"A tremendous amount of R&D has gone into convertible PC design over Toshiba's 30-year history as a laptop leader," said Philip Osako, senior director of product marketing, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. "Today, convertibility is all about convenience - consumers can ditch multiple devices and get it all done with one. We believe that by offering new thin and light designs, screen options in resolutions from HD to 4K and a range of new, affordable price points, we're playing our part in further fueling the growth potential of this category."
"A tremendous amount of R&D has gone into convertible PC design over Toshiba's 30-year history as a laptop leader," said Philip Osako, senior director of product marketing, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. "Today, convertibility is all about convenience - consumers can ditch multiple devices and get it all done with one. We believe that by offering new thin and light designs, screen options in resolutions from HD to 4K and a range of new, affordable price points, we're playing our part in further fueling the growth potential of this category."
Toshiba Debuts New Satellite L Series Mainstream Laptops
Toshiba's Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., introduced today the new Satellite L Series laptops, available in 15.6-inch and 17.3-inch screen sizes and built to take advantage of the key features of Windows 10. The only laptops in their class to feature a branded audio solution, Satellite L series laptops pump out rich, natural sound via stereo speakers tuned by the audio experts at Skullcandy.
"These laptops hit all the right notes for the consumers looking for a laptop to work, game and be entertained on," said Phil Osako, senior director of product marketing, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. "Our Satellite L series delivers a great display, awesome audio and robust performance to help you do, create and play - all from one affordably priced laptop that will work great with Windows 10."
"These laptops hit all the right notes for the consumers looking for a laptop to work, game and be entertained on," said Phil Osako, senior director of product marketing, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. "Our Satellite L series delivers a great display, awesome audio and robust performance to help you do, create and play - all from one affordably priced laptop that will work great with Windows 10."
Toshiba Introduces New Satellite C Series Laptops
Toshiba's Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced its all-new line of Satellite C Series laptops that offers everyday essentials at a great value. Ideal for people that want a solid laptop that's easy to use and great for everyday tasks like email, web browsing, online banking and shopping, creating documents and playing casual games, the Satellite C Series are reliable, full-powered Windows PCs that are also built to take advantage of the features of Windows 10.
"Our new Satellite C Series laptops deliver stronger price-to-performance in the entry-level category, giving everyday consumers what they need to stay productive and entertained without breaking the bank," said Philip Osako, senior director of product marketing, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. "These laptops include built-in forward-looking hardware features, so when customers are ready to upgrade, they can automatically start taking advantage of the new functionality in Windows 10."
"Our new Satellite C Series laptops deliver stronger price-to-performance in the entry-level category, giving everyday consumers what they need to stay productive and entertained without breaking the bank," said Philip Osako, senior director of product marketing, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. "These laptops include built-in forward-looking hardware features, so when customers are ready to upgrade, they can automatically start taking advantage of the new functionality in Windows 10."
Toshiba Reveals New Premium Satellite S Series Laptops
Toshiba's Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced a refresh to its Satellite S Series of performance laptops timed with the Back-to-School selling season. The series features slim styling, premium design, includes two screen size options - 15.6-inch or 17.3-inch - and comes configured with the latest high-performance processors and technologies for top mobile performance, making it an ideal choice for power users, multi-taskers, media creators and PC gamers alike. Built to take advantage of the key features of Windows 10, Satellite S series laptops deliver a robust experience, while proving to be an ideal choice for new capabilities, such as Xbox streaming.
"Satellite S Series laptops are a powerhouse platform for productivity," said Philip Osako, senior director of product marketing, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. "Full-featured and packed with premium components in an all-new stunning design, these laptops provide the ultimate entertainment and productivity experience for those who require it in their everyday lives."
"Satellite S Series laptops are a powerhouse platform for productivity," said Philip Osako, senior director of product marketing, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. "Full-featured and packed with premium components in an all-new stunning design, these laptops provide the ultimate entertainment and productivity experience for those who require it in their everyday lives."
PowerColor Announces PCS+ Radeon R7 300 and R9 300 Graphics Cards
TUL Corporation, a leading and innovative manufacturer of AMD graphic cards since 1997, has released a whole new line of graphics cards that you have all been waiting for. All models are based on the latest GCN architecture to help deliver outstanding and extraordinary graphics performance and image quality. PCS+ R9 390X/390 both utilizes 8GB of GDDR5 memory with 2816 stream processors and ships with core clock speed at 1060MHz for the 390X, 1010MHz on the 390, and 1500MHz memory clock speed which is connected via a new high speed 512-bit memory interface. For enhancing power efficiency and preventing losses, Digital PWM solution is provided to work at a higher frequency in order to support fine tuning adjustment and low ripple at an output voltage. Moreover, the total of 8 phase (6+1+1) board design is applied to the models for power efficiency, stability, and delivering ultimate performance at OC mode.
PowlRstage increases the power up to 3-13%, features up to 1.0 MHz switching frequency, and supports efficient cooling ability. Also, the anodized back plate is attached to the back of the card to protect the components as well as helping to lower the temperature. The Efficient Trio Fan design with the Mute Fan Technology delivers intelligent fan controlling to provide noiseless environment as well as reducing the power consumption when the GPU temperature is lower than 60°C. For the best thermal solution, the card is equipped with pure copper GPU block to absorb heats from GPU. This block is connected to 3pcs of 6mm heat pipes and 1pc of 8mm heat pipe to help deliver heat to the nickel plated aluminum fins heat sink. These two models support AMD's newest technologies such as Virtual Super Resolution, FreeSync, Liquid VR, and 4K resolution.
PowlRstage increases the power up to 3-13%, features up to 1.0 MHz switching frequency, and supports efficient cooling ability. Also, the anodized back plate is attached to the back of the card to protect the components as well as helping to lower the temperature. The Efficient Trio Fan design with the Mute Fan Technology delivers intelligent fan controlling to provide noiseless environment as well as reducing the power consumption when the GPU temperature is lower than 60°C. For the best thermal solution, the card is equipped with pure copper GPU block to absorb heats from GPU. This block is connected to 3pcs of 6mm heat pipes and 1pc of 8mm heat pipe to help deliver heat to the nickel plated aluminum fins heat sink. These two models support AMD's newest technologies such as Virtual Super Resolution, FreeSync, Liquid VR, and 4K resolution.
Sapphire Announces Radeon R9 390X Tri-X 8GB Graphics Card
Building on the success of the previous generation, the new series features the latest Graphics Core Next architectures from AMD, paired with larger frame buffers and the evolution of our award winning cooler solutions to deliver the very best performance ratings and support for the latest technologies including DirectX 12, AMD FreeSync, TrueAudio, Liquid VR, VSR scaling and support for Ultra HD. This new generation includes models with our industry acclaimed Tri-X and Dual-X cooling technologies and will be available from 18th June 2015.
At the top of the range is the new SAPPHIRE Tri-X R9 390X which features the latest version of our award winning Tri-X cooler. This now features dual ball bearings in each of the three fans for higher reliability and enhanced Intelligent Fan Control (IFC-II) which turns off the fans completely for silent operation under light load. Its heatpipe array with its industry leading 10mm heatpipe and diecast heatsink design keeps the card running cool even under the most demanding applications, and the use of long life capacitors and SAPPHIRE Black Diamond chokes contribute to consistent performance and high reliability.
At the top of the range is the new SAPPHIRE Tri-X R9 390X which features the latest version of our award winning Tri-X cooler. This now features dual ball bearings in each of the three fans for higher reliability and enhanced Intelligent Fan Control (IFC-II) which turns off the fans completely for silent operation under light load. Its heatpipe array with its industry leading 10mm heatpipe and diecast heatsink design keeps the card running cool even under the most demanding applications, and the use of long life capacitors and SAPPHIRE Black Diamond chokes contribute to consistent performance and high reliability.
Sapphire Announces NITRO Series Graphics Cards
Today SAPPHIRE Technology introduces a new line of graphics cards based on the latest Graphics Core Next architectures from AMD. The new SAPPHIRE NITRO series is an evolution of our market-leading, award-winning, high-end graphics card technology developed with features designed to be attractive to the majority of PC gamers. At the same time, SAPPHIRE will also promote a new community website for gaming enthusiasts - SAPPHIRE NATION.
The excellent performance, quality, reliability and stability of high-end graphic cards has always been the preserve of the hardcore gamer. Until now. The SAPPHIRE NITRO series boasts a range of features previously reserved for high-end cards, including long-life capacitors and award-winning SAPPHIRE Black Diamond Chokes, as well as new versions of our award-winning cooling solutions. Its elegant contours with purposeful black and gunmetal finish have been designed to suit any build. And the latest graphics architecture from AMD paired with larger frame buffers delivers fast, reliable gaming performance as well as support for the latest technologies including DirectX 12, AMD FreeSync, TrueAudio, Liquid VR, VSR scaling and Ultra HD. So whatever kind of gamer you are, the SAPPHIRE NITRO series offers you the maximum gaming experience for your budget.
The excellent performance, quality, reliability and stability of high-end graphic cards has always been the preserve of the hardcore gamer. Until now. The SAPPHIRE NITRO series boasts a range of features previously reserved for high-end cards, including long-life capacitors and award-winning SAPPHIRE Black Diamond Chokes, as well as new versions of our award-winning cooling solutions. Its elegant contours with purposeful black and gunmetal finish have been designed to suit any build. And the latest graphics architecture from AMD paired with larger frame buffers delivers fast, reliable gaming performance as well as support for the latest technologies including DirectX 12, AMD FreeSync, TrueAudio, Liquid VR, VSR scaling and Ultra HD. So whatever kind of gamer you are, the SAPPHIRE NITRO series offers you the maximum gaming experience for your budget.
Club3D Announces its Radeon R7 300 and R9 300 Series
Today, Club3D is proud to announce the brand new Club 3D Radeon R7 and R9 300 series! Value for money has always been of key importance for AMD based graphics cards and the new stack pushes the boundaries again, providing unprecedented FPS for your money! Whether you are looking for a capable new graphics card to dominate online gaming in Full HD 1080p resolution or to have the best performance per dollar the industry has to offer to play the latest AAA titles on your Ultra HD 2160p screen or multi monitor setup, rest assured that you will find the card that meets your demands in the new Radeon R7 and R9 300 series.
Lian Li Expands Desk Lineup with DK-Q2 and DK-03 Desk Chassis
Lian-Li Industrial Co. Ltd today announces two additions to the desk chassis lineup: the single-system DK-Q2 and the dual-system DK-03. Like the previous desk chassis, the aluminum body and tempered glass surface highlight the minimalism of this practical fusion of desk and chassis. The updates on these new models add simplicity to system building, more refined aesthetics and ergonomics.
With gratitude to such positive feedback, Lian Li has refreshed ergonomics in the design of the DK-Q2 and DK-03. The body depth of the desk has been reduced to give you more leg room. The 30mm of height expansion allows a larger variety of user legs to fit comfortably under the desk. Taller, stronger adjustable legs and thinner body allow a much more natural height and angle of arms for typing, the extra legroom makes a big difference.
With gratitude to such positive feedback, Lian Li has refreshed ergonomics in the design of the DK-Q2 and DK-03. The body depth of the desk has been reduced to give you more leg room. The 30mm of height expansion allows a larger variety of user legs to fit comfortably under the desk. Taller, stronger adjustable legs and thinner body allow a much more natural height and angle of arms for typing, the extra legroom makes a big difference.
AMD Makes 4K UHD Gaming Affordable with the Radeon R9 390 Series
AMD wrapped up today's GPU launch marathon, with the Radeon R9 390 series; which includes the R9 390, and the R9 390X. The Radeon R9 390 is priced at US $329, and offers performance competitive to the GeForce GTX 970. The R9 390X, on the other hand, is starts at US $429, and offers performance that's between the GTX 970 and GTX 980, while being closer to the latter. Both are based on the 28 nm "Grenada" silicon, which is the "Hawaii" silicon re-hashed.
The R9 390 packs 2,560 stream processors, 160 TMUs, 64 ROPs; while the R9 390X offers 2,816 stream processors, 176 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. Both cards offer 8 GB of GDDR5 memory, across the chips' 512-bit wide memory interfaces. Both cards let you game at 1440p with settings maxed out; or 4K Ultra HD, with reasonably high eye-candy. The R9 390 features core clock speeds of 1000 MHz, while the R9 390X tops that with 1050 MHz core. The memory on both cards, is clocked at 6.00 GHz (GDDR5-effective), translating into a staggering 384 GB/s memory bandwidth.
The R9 390 packs 2,560 stream processors, 160 TMUs, 64 ROPs; while the R9 390X offers 2,816 stream processors, 176 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. Both cards offer 8 GB of GDDR5 memory, across the chips' 512-bit wide memory interfaces. Both cards let you game at 1440p with settings maxed out; or 4K Ultra HD, with reasonably high eye-candy. The R9 390 features core clock speeds of 1000 MHz, while the R9 390X tops that with 1050 MHz core. The memory on both cards, is clocked at 6.00 GHz (GDDR5-effective), translating into a staggering 384 GB/s memory bandwidth.
AMD Also Announces Radeon R9 380 Performance-segment Graphics
In addition to the Radeon R7 300 series, AMD announced the Radeon R9 380 performance-segment graphics card. Available in 2 GB and 4 GB variants, with the 2 GB variant priced at $199, to compete with NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 960, and the 4 GB variant about $50 costlier, the card can play any of today's games at 1080p, with eye-candy maxed out, but can also play them at 1440p, with reasonably high settings.
Based on the 28 nm "Tonga" silicon, the R9 380 packs 1,792 stream processors based on the latest GCN 1.2 architecture, with 112 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and up to 4 GB of memory across a 256-bit wide memory interface. Its core is clocked at 970 MHz, with the memory at 5.70 GHz (GDDR5 effective), churning up 184 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The card's typical power draw is rated at 190W, it draws power from a pair of 6-pin PCIe power connectors.
Based on the 28 nm "Tonga" silicon, the R9 380 packs 1,792 stream processors based on the latest GCN 1.2 architecture, with 112 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and up to 4 GB of memory across a 256-bit wide memory interface. Its core is clocked at 970 MHz, with the memory at 5.70 GHz (GDDR5 effective), churning up 184 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The card's typical power draw is rated at 190W, it draws power from a pair of 6-pin PCIe power connectors.
AMD Announces the Radeon R7 300 Series
AMD officially announced the Radeon R7 300 series mid-range graphics cards. Designed to make MOBA and MMORPG gaming at 1080p resolution affordable, the two occupy sub-$150 price points. The R7 360 packs in 768 stream processors based on the Graphics CoreNext architecture, with 48 TMUs and 16 ROPs. It offers 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, across the chip's 128-bit wide memory interface. The Radeon R7 370, offers 1,024 stream processors, 64 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and 2 GB or 4 GB of GDDR5 memory, across a 256-bit wide memory interface. Both cards draw power from single 6-pin PCIe power connectors, with board power of under 110W.
Sharkoon Announces S28 ATX Mid-tower Case
For those who prefer it simple: The black Sharkoon S28 Value ATX case offers a minimalist appearance, without sacrificing functionality. The new midi-tower is available in either a S28 Value, with closed side panel, and a S28 Window, with acrylic side panel, version. The S28 also offers a variety of possibilities for the installation of components. The modular hard drive cage allows the use of extra-long graphics cards up to 41.5 cm. If equipped with the maximum amount of hard drives, the case offers space for graphics cards up to 32.5 cm in length. Thanks to its generous width of 21 cm, tower coolers with a height of up to 17 cm can be easily installed. The cable management system ensures discreet wiring of the built-in hardware.
In the front, there are already two quiet 120 mm fans behind the designed air intakes. In the back of the case a quiet 120 mm fan is pre-installed. Thus, the S28 is well prepared for the optimal cooling of high-performance components. The front panel provides two USB 3.0, two Audio and two USB 2.0 ports. If the installed mainboard does not have a USB 3.0 port, the USB 3.0 ports can also operate in USB 2.0 mode. The case features two 5.25" drive bays for the tool-free installation of optical drives. Up to three 3.5" hard drives as well as four 2.5" HDD/SDDs can be comfortably mounted using the enclosed rails. An additional 2.5" HDD/SSD can be mounted on the case bottom.
In the front, there are already two quiet 120 mm fans behind the designed air intakes. In the back of the case a quiet 120 mm fan is pre-installed. Thus, the S28 is well prepared for the optimal cooling of high-performance components. The front panel provides two USB 3.0, two Audio and two USB 2.0 ports. If the installed mainboard does not have a USB 3.0 port, the USB 3.0 ports can also operate in USB 2.0 mode. The case features two 5.25" drive bays for the tool-free installation of optical drives. Up to three 3.5" hard drives as well as four 2.5" HDD/SDDs can be comfortably mounted using the enclosed rails. An additional 2.5" HDD/SSD can be mounted on the case bottom.
Swiftech Announces Komodo Eco Water Block for NVIDIA GTX Titan X and GTX 980 Ti
Swiftech rolled out its flagship full-coverage water block that's suitable for NVIDIA's reference PCB for the GeForce GTX 980 Ti and GeForce GTX Titan X, the Swiftech Komodo Eco Titan X. Made of nickel-plated copper, with a clear acrylic top, the block features a main coolant channel that passes along the length of the card, with micro-fin channels over the GPU area. The block covers the memory on the obverse side of the PCB, as well as the VRM. It also includes a back-plate, thermal pads for 24 memory chips, and MOSFETs, thermal paste for the GPU, and 1/4" BSPP (G1/4) thread fittings preparation. Available now, the block is priced at US $115.95, and the back-plate adds $29.95. It can also be purchased separately.
AMD "Fiji" Silicon Lacks HDMI 2.0 Support
It turns out that AMD's new "Fiji" silicon lacks HDMI 2.0 support, after all. Commenting on OCUK Forums, an AMD representative confirmed that the chip lacks support for the connector standard, implying that it's limited to HDMI 1.4a. HDMI 2.0 offers sufficient bandwidth for 4K Ultra HD resolution at 60 Hz. While the chip's other connectivity option, DisplayPort 1.2a supports 4K at 60 Hz - as do every 4K Ultra HD monitor ever launched - the lack of HDMI 2.0 support hurts the chip's living room ambitions, particularly with products such as the Radeon R9 Nano, which AMD CEO Lisa Su, stated that is being designed for the living room. You wouldn't need a GPU this powerful for 1080p TVs (a GTX 960 or R9 270X ITX card will do just fine), and if it's being designed for 4K UHD TVs, then its HDMI interface will cap visuals at a console-rivaling 30 Hz.
Wednesday, June 17th 2015
Today's Reviews
Cases
Cooling
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Keyboards
Motherboards
Processors
MSI Unveils GeForce GTX 980 Ti V1 Graphics Card
MSI unveiled its GeForce GTX 980 Ti V1 graphics card. The card is MSI's custom-design rendition of NVIDIA's reference design board, but with its own choice of components and cooler shroud design. This allows MSI to maximize its earnings from the card, since it's buying only the GPU from NVIDIA, instead of a fully-assembled reference PCB. MSI's PCB closely follows the reference design. The heatsink under the shroud is very similar to the black NVTTM (NVIDIA time-to-market) cooling solution, although the blower and cooler shroud (now a silvery plastic one, with black metal base-plate), are designed by MSI. This card will stick to NVIDIA reference clock speeds of 1000 MHz core, 1076 MHz GPU Boost, and 7.00 GHz memory, and will be priced at US $649.99.
Polk Audio Introduces Exclusive Striker Pro Hitman Contract Edition Headset
Polk Audio, a high-performance audio brand with over 40 years of sound engineering and design expertise, today announced the debut of a limited edition gaming headset, the Striker Pro Hitman Contract Edition. Designed for gameplay on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One (using the new controller), Wii-U, PC, laptop or smartphone, each audiophile-grade gaming headset purchased is uniquely serialized with numbers on the inside of the earcup. Additionally, the headset features signature branding from the popular Hitman video game series and upcoming movie Hitman, including a white spring-steel headband against plush, padded black ear cups with Hitman red interior accents. The headset will be on display, along with new Striker Pro headset, at Polk Audio's E3 booth, #5612.
New developed drivers utilizing Polk Optimized Electro-Acoustic Tuning (POET) and Dynamic Balance technology result in rich, immersive audio quality and allow users to hear all the details and subtleties in their game. For clear chat, the headset comes with a new removable omni-directional microphone with push button mute for both console and PC gaming, as well as a small and discrete in-line microphone for mobile use. To easily switch gaming preferences, three detachable cables and two removable microphones are included.
New developed drivers utilizing Polk Optimized Electro-Acoustic Tuning (POET) and Dynamic Balance technology result in rich, immersive audio quality and allow users to hear all the details and subtleties in their game. For clear chat, the headset comes with a new removable omni-directional microphone with push button mute for both console and PC gaming, as well as a small and discrete in-line microphone for mobile use. To easily switch gaming preferences, three detachable cables and two removable microphones are included.
AMD Embedded G-Series SoC Powers New Line of Samsung All-in-One Thin Client
AMD today announced that Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. selected the AMD Embedded G-Series SoC (system on chip) for a new line of all-in-one cloud monitors featuring integrated thin client technology. The Samsung 21.5-inch TC222W and 23.6-inch TC242W are powered by AMD Embedded G-Series SoCs that couple high-performance compute and graphics capability in a highly integrated, low power design. The AMD SoC improves data transfer rates and saves space on the motherboard, which makes it a perfect fit for the compact form factors required by thin clients.
"Thin client is a key market for AMD Embedded Solutions and we're thrilled that Samsung has chosen to partner with us for their newest line of products," said Scott Aylor, vice president and general manager, Embedded Solutions, AMD. "The collaboration with Samsung builds on the number one position AMD holds in a market that continues to grow, becoming more and more prevalent in commercial installations that serve a broad range of markets."
Planned availability starting in Q3 2015, the Windows-supported Samsung cloud monitors will provide customers with expanded choice, capability and configuration flexibility. Complete with Samsung's professional-grade display panel, the cloud monitors will create a superior user experience through easy connectivity and high-quality reliability. As a superior option for effective desktop virtualization, Samsung's thin-client monitors will also enable improved productivity and optimized end-to-end performance.
"Thin client is a key market for AMD Embedded Solutions and we're thrilled that Samsung has chosen to partner with us for their newest line of products," said Scott Aylor, vice president and general manager, Embedded Solutions, AMD. "The collaboration with Samsung builds on the number one position AMD holds in a market that continues to grow, becoming more and more prevalent in commercial installations that serve a broad range of markets."
Planned availability starting in Q3 2015, the Windows-supported Samsung cloud monitors will provide customers with expanded choice, capability and configuration flexibility. Complete with Samsung's professional-grade display panel, the cloud monitors will create a superior user experience through easy connectivity and high-quality reliability. As a superior option for effective desktop virtualization, Samsung's thin-client monitors will also enable improved productivity and optimized end-to-end performance.
Samsung Announces the Thinnest and Lightest 4 TB External HDD in the World
Samsung HDD, a division of Seagate Technology, today announced 4TB M3 Portable and the P3 Portable external hard drives, which are the first 4TB USB-powered single drive solutions to come in 2.5" cases in the world.
"Previously only attainable in desktop or bulky multi-drive internal designs, we can now achieve a 4TB capacity in a compact drive thanks to the latest Samsung HDD technology," said Dave Klenske, director of product line management, Samsung HDD. "By going to a single drive solution, we can power the drive through just a USB connection while fitting it into a case that is only a 1/10 of an inch thicker than our 2TB drive. They are the perfect lightweight drives for notebook computer owners who need to access media collections too large to fit on traditional internal storage options."
"Previously only attainable in desktop or bulky multi-drive internal designs, we can now achieve a 4TB capacity in a compact drive thanks to the latest Samsung HDD technology," said Dave Klenske, director of product line management, Samsung HDD. "By going to a single drive solution, we can power the drive through just a USB connection while fitting it into a case that is only a 1/10 of an inch thicker than our 2TB drive. They are the perfect lightweight drives for notebook computer owners who need to access media collections too large to fit on traditional internal storage options."
ADATA XPG DDR4 Memory Hits Fastest Air-Cooling Record at 4222 MHz
ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash application products, is honored to announce that its XPG Z2 DDR4 computer memory breaks new record again! It's able to clock up to 4222MHz when used with an air-cooled msi X99A XPOWER AC motherboard. This creates a new overclocking world record for production line DDR4 computer memory.
In cooperation with motherboard manufacturers, ADATA strives to achieve the best performance in DDR4 memory compliant with the Intel X99 architecture. The XPG Z2 DDR4 memory breaks the record with extremely high clock frequency of 4222MHz, impressing both gamers and standard CPU clock users alike with outstanding sustained performance, cooling and stability.
In cooperation with motherboard manufacturers, ADATA strives to achieve the best performance in DDR4 memory compliant with the Intel X99 architecture. The XPG Z2 DDR4 memory breaks the record with extremely high clock frequency of 4222MHz, impressing both gamers and standard CPU clock users alike with outstanding sustained performance, cooling and stability.
AMD Radeon R9 Nano to Feature a Single PCIe Power Connector
AMD's Radeon R9 Nano is shaping up to be a more important card for AMD, than even its flaghsip, the R9 Fury X. Some of the first pictures of the Fury X led us to believe that it could stay compact only because it's liquid cooled. AMD disproved that notion, unveiling the Radeon R9 Nano, an extremely compact air-cooled graphics cards, with some stunning chops.
The Radeon R9 Nano is a feat similar to the NUC by Intel - to engineer a product that's surprisingly powerful for its size. The card is 6-inches long, 2-slot thick, and doesn't lug along any external radiator. AMD CEO Lisa Su, speaking at the company's E3 conference, stated that the R9 Nano will be faster than the Radeon R9 290X. That shouldn't surprise us, since it's a bigger chip; but it's the electrical specs, that make this product exciting - a single 8-pin PCIe power input, with a typical board power rated at 175W (Radeon R9 290X was rated at 275W). The card itself is as compact as some of the "ITX-friendly" custom design boards launched in recent times. It uses a vapor-chamber based air-cooling solution, with a single fan. The Radeon R9 Nano will launch later this Summer. It could compete with the GeForce GTX 970 in both performance and price.
The Radeon R9 Nano is a feat similar to the NUC by Intel - to engineer a product that's surprisingly powerful for its size. The card is 6-inches long, 2-slot thick, and doesn't lug along any external radiator. AMD CEO Lisa Su, speaking at the company's E3 conference, stated that the R9 Nano will be faster than the Radeon R9 290X. That shouldn't surprise us, since it's a bigger chip; but it's the electrical specs, that make this product exciting - a single 8-pin PCIe power input, with a typical board power rated at 175W (Radeon R9 290X was rated at 275W). The card itself is as compact as some of the "ITX-friendly" custom design boards launched in recent times. It uses a vapor-chamber based air-cooling solution, with a single fan. The Radeon R9 Nano will launch later this Summer. It could compete with the GeForce GTX 970 in both performance and price.
Announcing the Cherry MX Board 6.0
CHERRY, specialist in computer input devices, is presenting the MX Board 6.0, the world's most responsive performance keyboard for enthusiasts. The keyboard combines the latest RealKey-technology for analog signal processing with the proven and precise MX-switches for uncompromised performance. With this flagship model, CHERRY aims for an absolute puristic design of the highest quality.
With its RealKey-technology, the MX Board 6.0 achieves unmatched performance. Thanks to an analogue signal path, all buttons are connected directly to the controller, so there is no need for digital scanning of the switching points. The MX Board 6.0 can rapidly transmit signals to the PC in less than a millisecond and is ideally suited for situations where response time is crucial. In contrast, conventional mechanical keyboards works much slower and need around 20 milliseconds because of their signal conversion. More so, RK-technology allows for a full N-key rollover and 100 percent reliable anti-ghosting. CHERRY ensures that all keys can be read simultaneously, actively preventing any erroneous interpretation of the signal inputs.
With its RealKey-technology, the MX Board 6.0 achieves unmatched performance. Thanks to an analogue signal path, all buttons are connected directly to the controller, so there is no need for digital scanning of the switching points. The MX Board 6.0 can rapidly transmit signals to the PC in less than a millisecond and is ideally suited for situations where response time is crucial. In contrast, conventional mechanical keyboards works much slower and need around 20 milliseconds because of their signal conversion. More so, RK-technology allows for a full N-key rollover and 100 percent reliable anti-ghosting. CHERRY ensures that all keys can be read simultaneously, actively preventing any erroneous interpretation of the signal inputs.
D-Link Announces the DNS-340L NAS Server
D-Link today announced immediate availability of its new ShareCenter + 4-Bay Cloud Network Storage Enclosure (DNS-340L). Designed to provide features offered in both business and consumer storage arrays, the DNS-340L is an ideal solution for SMBs seeking a cost-effective iSCSI target for their video-surveillance projects and storage requirements.
Powered by the latest generation 1.2GHz CPU and 512MB RAM, the new Unified Storage Enclosure delivers high performance with low power consumption. The storage solution integrates a rich feature set which can act as a small multi-functional server to support applications such as media and print serving, FTP, web server, download and backup center, photo and audio center, surveillance, and more with an affordable price.
Powered by the latest generation 1.2GHz CPU and 512MB RAM, the new Unified Storage Enclosure delivers high performance with low power consumption. The storage solution integrates a rich feature set which can act as a small multi-functional server to support applications such as media and print serving, FTP, web server, download and backup center, photo and audio center, surveillance, and more with an affordable price.
QNAP Introduces Affordable Rack-optimized 4-bay Dual-core NAS
QNAP Systems, Inc. today announced a new 4-bay TS-431U Turbo NAS that offers optimal price/performance in a 1U network storage server chassis for file sharing, backup, synchronization, and more. Featuring an advanced Freescale dual-core 1.2GHz processor and 1GB DDR3 RAM, the TS-431U delivers exceptional multi-tasking performance as a business NAS, enhancing productivity and providing a private cloud for easily and securely accessing data.
"The TS-431U provides an ideal solution for small businesses and workgroups who want high-performance networked storage with low acquisition costs but without compromising reliability and features," said Jason Hsu, product manager of QNAP. The TS-431U is a reliable and affordable yet high-performance network storage solution, providing up to 148 MB/s read and 119 MB/s write throughput with dual Gigabit LAN ports. The TS-431U supports dual IP settings, port-trunking modes and enables users to set up fault tolerance or link aggregation for increased data throughput.
"The TS-431U provides an ideal solution for small businesses and workgroups who want high-performance networked storage with low acquisition costs but without compromising reliability and features," said Jason Hsu, product manager of QNAP. The TS-431U is a reliable and affordable yet high-performance network storage solution, providing up to 148 MB/s read and 119 MB/s write throughput with dual Gigabit LAN ports. The TS-431U supports dual IP settings, port-trunking modes and enables users to set up fault tolerance or link aggregation for increased data throughput.
Antec Announces P50 Window Chassis
Antec's P50 WINDOW is the perfect combination of compactness and optimal airflow due to its sophisticated two-compartment architecture. The cube-shaped case with its dimensions of 312(H) x 260(W) x 330(D) mm features a two-compartment design that separates the power supply unit, the optical drive and the hard drives from the other components. Accordingly, the included fans (2 x 120mm and 1 x 80mm) offer more efficient cooling than within ordinary enclosures due to the fact that they are focussed on parts that heat up during operation.
Numerous routing holes in the central dividing wall offer various possibilities for a clean cable layout, ensuring an ideal airflow through the cube-shaped enclosure of the P50 WINDOW. The dual-layer side panels made from Polycarbonate eliminate vibrations from within the chassis and render the Antec P50 WINDOW whisper-quiet - even with up to seven rotating fans. The cube-layout of the enclosure features mounts for four more fans (2 x 80mm at the back and 2 x 120mm at the top) in addition to three included cooling fans at the front.
Numerous routing holes in the central dividing wall offer various possibilities for a clean cable layout, ensuring an ideal airflow through the cube-shaped enclosure of the P50 WINDOW. The dual-layer side panels made from Polycarbonate eliminate vibrations from within the chassis and render the Antec P50 WINDOW whisper-quiet - even with up to seven rotating fans. The cube-layout of the enclosure features mounts for four more fans (2 x 80mm at the back and 2 x 120mm at the top) in addition to three included cooling fans at the front.
KLEVV High Performance Gaming Memory Modules Now Available in Europe
Essencore Limited, a noteworthy newcomer in DRAM modules and NAND Flash application products including Gaming Memory Modules, Solid State Drives, USB Flash Drives and MicroSD cards, is pleased to announce the sales kick-off in European countries with its brand "KLEVV". In attempt to expand its global presence and to accelerate growth, Essencore hopes that this KLEVV product launch will help to efficiently deliver its premium products to its European customer.
As a young company founded in 2014 by CEO IU Kim, Essencore strives to become world's leading vendor of both DRAM modules and NAND Flash application products. To achieve this goal, Essencore has introduced its house brand "KLEVV" with the industry's first-rate quality and best performing products. In a conscious move to strengthen brand awareness and products at this early stage, KLEVV will focus on the three key consumer markets of U.S., Europe and China. Of all regions, Europe is deemed to have the highest potential, with its huge population of tech enthusiasts. Starting in Germany, UK, and Poland in summer 2015, KLEVV products will soon be available in all corners of Europe.
As a young company founded in 2014 by CEO IU Kim, Essencore strives to become world's leading vendor of both DRAM modules and NAND Flash application products. To achieve this goal, Essencore has introduced its house brand "KLEVV" with the industry's first-rate quality and best performing products. In a conscious move to strengthen brand awareness and products at this early stage, KLEVV will focus on the three key consumer markets of U.S., Europe and China. Of all regions, Europe is deemed to have the highest potential, with its huge population of tech enthusiasts. Starting in Germany, UK, and Poland in summer 2015, KLEVV products will soon be available in all corners of Europe.
Razer Unveils the World's Most Advanced Gaming Mouse
Razer, a world leader in connected devices and software for gamers, today announced the world's most advanced gaming mouse, the new Razer Mamba. The successor to one of the leading wired/wireless gaming mouse, the new Razer Mamba is powered by the world's most precise gaming mouse sensor, the revolutionary Adjustable Click Force Technology, and industry leading gaming grade wired/wireless technology.
The new 5G laser sensor is capable of tracking up to 16,000 DPI which is optimized for multi-display set-ups with ultra-high display resolutions. The 5G laser sensor is also the world's most precise -- with its ability to track up to 1 DPI increments (as opposed to the current industry standard of 50 DPI increments). The next generation gaming mouse sensor is also able to track lift-off cut-off distance as precise as 0.1 mm, reducing on-screen jitter so your aim stays on target even as you move. The 5G laser sensor in the new Razer Mamba was designed to be an extension of your natural hand movement.
The new 5G laser sensor is capable of tracking up to 16,000 DPI which is optimized for multi-display set-ups with ultra-high display resolutions. The 5G laser sensor is also the world's most precise -- with its ability to track up to 1 DPI increments (as opposed to the current industry standard of 50 DPI increments). The next generation gaming mouse sensor is also able to track lift-off cut-off distance as precise as 0.1 mm, reducing on-screen jitter so your aim stays on target even as you move. The 5G laser sensor in the new Razer Mamba was designed to be an extension of your natural hand movement.
NEC Display Solutions Adds 27-Inch Enterprise Model to UHD Portfolio
NEC Display Solutions of America, a leading provider of commercial LCD display and projector solutions, announced today the MultiSync EA275UHD display, the latest addition to its 4K Ultra High-Definition product portfolio.
The monitor's UHD resolution (four times full HD), business-class features and factory calibration are ideal for high-end corporate users, CAD/CAM engineers, Command & Control personnel and entry-level graphics users as well as anyone desiring more desktop space. The 27-inch display has flexible input configurations, allowing one or two inputs on screen simultaneously.
The monitor's UHD resolution (four times full HD), business-class features and factory calibration are ideal for high-end corporate users, CAD/CAM engineers, Command & Control personnel and entry-level graphics users as well as anyone desiring more desktop space. The 27-inch display has flexible input configurations, allowing one or two inputs on screen simultaneously.
AMD Also Announces Radeon R7 300 and R9 300 Series GPUs
In all the buzz surrounding the five products based on its Fiji silicon, AMD also announced five other mid-thru-performance segment graphics cards, the Radeon R7 360, the Radeon R7 370, the Radeon R9 380, the Radeon R9 390, and Radeon R9 390X. Aimed at competitive online MOBA gaming the Radeon R7 360 is good enough to play MOBAs such as "League of Legends," at 1080p, and most other modern games at 900p and 720p.
Based on the "Bonaire" silicon, the Radeon R7 360 features 768 stream processors, 48 TMUs, 16 ROPs, and a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 2 GB of memory. The core is clocked at 1050 MHz, and the memory at 6.50 GHz (GDDR5-effective), translating into 104 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The card draws power from a single 6-pin PCIe power connector, and has a typical board power rating of 100W.
The Radeon R7 370 is designed for MOBA, FPS, and MMORPGs at 1080p resolution. It is expected to feature 1,024 stream processors, 64 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 2 GB or 4 GB of memory. The core is clocked at 975 MHz, and the memory at 5.40 GHz (GDDR5-effective), belting out 179 GB/s of memory bandwidth. AMD has given this chip some energy optimizations, which lends it a typical board power of just 110W. The card draws power from a single 6-pin power connector.
Based on the "Bonaire" silicon, the Radeon R7 360 features 768 stream processors, 48 TMUs, 16 ROPs, and a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 2 GB of memory. The core is clocked at 1050 MHz, and the memory at 6.50 GHz (GDDR5-effective), translating into 104 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The card draws power from a single 6-pin PCIe power connector, and has a typical board power rating of 100W.
The Radeon R7 370 is designed for MOBA, FPS, and MMORPGs at 1080p resolution. It is expected to feature 1,024 stream processors, 64 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 2 GB or 4 GB of memory. The core is clocked at 975 MHz, and the memory at 5.40 GHz (GDDR5-effective), belting out 179 GB/s of memory bandwidth. AMD has given this chip some energy optimizations, which lends it a typical board power of just 110W. The card draws power from a single 6-pin power connector.
Tuesday, June 16th 2015
Today's Reviews
Desktop PC
Game Controllers
Keyboards
Motherboards
Mouse
Mousepads
Notebooks
SSD
Radeon Fury X Outperforms GeForce GTX Titan X, Fury to GTX 980 Ti: 3DMark Bench
AMD's upcoming $650 Radeon R9 Fury X could have what it takes to beat NVIDIA's $999 GeForce GTX Titan X, while the $550 Radeon Fury (non-X) performs close to the $650 GeForce GTX 980 Ti, according to leaked 3DMark 11 and 3DMark (2013) benches by Korean tech publication ITCM.co.kr. The benches see the R9 Fury X score higher than the GTX Titan X in all three tests, while the R9 Fury is almost as fast as the GTX 980 Ti. The cards maintain their winning streak over NVIDIA even with memory-intensive tests such as 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra (4K), but buckle with 5K. These two cards, which are bound for the market within the next 30 days, were tested alongside the R9 390X, which is not too far behind the GTX 980, in the same graphs. The R9 Nano, however, isn't circulated among industry partners, yet. It could still launch in Summer 2015.
AMD Dual-GPU "Fiji" Graphics Card PCB Pictured
Here is the first reasonably detailed PCB shot of the dual-GPU graphics card based on "Fiji," which AMD announced at its E3 conference. The card is an inch taller than standard, but surprisingly short, for a dual-GPU board. This is thanks to the memory being relocated to the GPU package. All that's left on the PCB, besides the two GPUs, are the PLX PEX8747 PCI-Express gen 3.0 x48 bridge chip, and the 12-phase VRM, which draws power from a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors. Display outputs include one HDMI 2.0, and three DisplayPort 1.2a connectors.
AMD announced significant energy efficiency gains for "Fiji" over "Hawaii," and so this card could have a much lower than expected power-draw. The reference board could come with AIO liquid-cooling, much like the single-GPU Radeon R9 Fury X, some AIBs could even release cards with air-cooling solutions. The yet unnamed dual-GPU "Fiji" based graphics card could be available in Autumn 2015.
Image Credit: Anshel Sag (Twitter)
AMD announced significant energy efficiency gains for "Fiji" over "Hawaii," and so this card could have a much lower than expected power-draw. The reference board could come with AIO liquid-cooling, much like the single-GPU Radeon R9 Fury X, some AIBs could even release cards with air-cooling solutions. The yet unnamed dual-GPU "Fiji" based graphics card could be available in Autumn 2015.
AMD Announces Five New Products Based on the Fiji Silicon
AMD announced no less than five new products based on its swanky new 28 nm "Fiji" silicon, the company's most powerful GPU, packing over 8 TFLOP/s of raw compute power, and the first GPU to feature stacked HBM (high-bandwidth memory), moved to the GPU package, and communicating with the GPU die over a special silicon substrate called the interposer. The "Fiji" silicon will enable AMD to target NVIDIA's entire high-end GPU lineup.
The first product is Project Quantum. This is a console-sized SFF gaming desktop designed by AMD, which will be sold by the company's add-in board partners. Despite its diminutive size, the desktop packs two "Fiji" GPUs in AMD CrossFireX, and an AMD 64-bit x86 machine driving the rest. All main components (the CPU, the chipset, and the two GPUs), are liquid-cooled. This desktop will enable smooth 4K/5K gaming in the living room.
The first product is Project Quantum. This is a console-sized SFF gaming desktop designed by AMD, which will be sold by the company's add-in board partners. Despite its diminutive size, the desktop packs two "Fiji" GPUs in AMD CrossFireX, and an AMD 64-bit x86 machine driving the rest. All main components (the CPU, the chipset, and the two GPUs), are liquid-cooled. This desktop will enable smooth 4K/5K gaming in the living room.
AMD Unveils Fiji Based Dual-GPU Graphics Card
AMD unveiled the fastest graphics card money will be able to buy, a dual-GPU graphics card based on its swanky new "Fiji" silicon. This card will feature 8 GB of memory, and packs two "Fiji" cores in an internal multi-GPU configuration. The card will offer smooth 5K (four times 1440p resolution) gaming. Fiji introduces 50% improvements in performance-per-Watt over the previous-generation "Hawaii" silicon, while staying at 28 nm.
AMD Unveils the Radeon R9 Fury X, Ready for 5K Gaming
AMD CEO Lisa Su announced the company's latest super high-end graphics card, the Radeon R9 Fury X. The company claims this graphics card will be your gateway to 5K (that's four times 1440p) gaming. The card leverages AMD's new "Fiji" silicon, featuring stacked HBM (high-bandwidth memory), which offers significant performance and performance-per-Watt improvements over the previous generation. The company also announced the Radeon R9 Fury, the company's second-best card based on "Fiji," and the R9 Nano, the third-best product. The R9 Nano is about the size of an ASUS DirectCU Mini, is air-cooled, with performance significantly higher than the R9 290X, and half its power draw.
The Radeon R9 Fury X could be priced around the $650 mark, and will be available in mid-July. The Radeon R9 Fury, on the other hand, could be priced around the $550 mark, and come out a little sooner. The R9 Nano is the dark horse here, and could be AMD's most important product among the three, since it could go head on against the GeForce GTX 970 in both pricing and performance. Its biggest feature over the GTX 970 is 4096 MB of usable memory at half-a-terabyte per second speeds. The R9 Fury could seat itself in an interesting price-performance position between the GTX 980 and GTX 980 Ti; while the R9 Fury X could go head on against the GTX 980 Ti, and GTX Titan X. There's a dual-GPU product based on the "Fiji" silicon, which AMD is trying to launch very soon. There's nothing from NVIDIA's current product lineup that can match that.
The Radeon R9 Fury X could be priced around the $650 mark, and will be available in mid-July. The Radeon R9 Fury, on the other hand, could be priced around the $550 mark, and come out a little sooner. The R9 Nano is the dark horse here, and could be AMD's most important product among the three, since it could go head on against the GeForce GTX 970 in both pricing and performance. Its biggest feature over the GTX 970 is 4096 MB of usable memory at half-a-terabyte per second speeds. The R9 Fury could seat itself in an interesting price-performance position between the GTX 980 and GTX 980 Ti; while the R9 Fury X could go head on against the GTX 980 Ti, and GTX Titan X. There's a dual-GPU product based on the "Fiji" silicon, which AMD is trying to launch very soon. There's nothing from NVIDIA's current product lineup that can match that.
AMD Announces Project Quantum
AMD announced Project Quantum, what it claims to be the most powerful small form-factor gaming PC. About the size of a gaming console, and designed entirely by AMD, using AMD components, this machine packs two AMD "Fiji" graphics processors, with 8 GB of graphics memory, set in CrossFire, and an AMD 64-bit x86 machine. All hot components are liquid-cooled. The desktop will be marketed by AMD AIB partners, and will offer 60 FPS on any game at 4K resolution. Leveraging Windows 10 and DirectX 12, the machine will ship out a little later this year. More details soon.
JEDEC to Update Solid State Drive Standard
JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, the global leader in the development of standards for the microelectronics industry, today announced that its JC-64.8 Subcommittee for Solid State Drives is currently engaged in an effort to update the JESD218 standard for Solid State Drive Requirements and Endurance Test Method. Originally published in September 2010 and revised in February 2011, the new update to JESD218 will primarily address improvements in test methodologies to better reflect product expectations, reduce testing options to remove unused methods, and add clarifications to improve the readability and understanding of test methods and artifacts caused by accelerated testing. Additional topics are discussed when brought up by task group participants. JEDEC strongly encourages all interested parties to contact the JEDEC office at 703-907-7560 to become involved with SSD standards development.
JESD218 Solid-State Drive Requirements and Endurance Test Method defines the conditions of use and corresponding endurance verification requirements for both Client and Enterprise application classes, as well as providing a standard endurance rating. Workloads are described in a separate, related document: JESD219 Solid-State Drive Endurance Workloads. Both JESD218 and JESD219 are available for free download from the JEDEC website.
JESD218 Solid-State Drive Requirements and Endurance Test Method defines the conditions of use and corresponding endurance verification requirements for both Client and Enterprise application classes, as well as providing a standard endurance rating. Workloads are described in a separate, related document: JESD219 Solid-State Drive Endurance Workloads. Both JESD218 and JESD219 are available for free download from the JEDEC website.
Inno3D Announces GeForce GTX 980 Ti iChill X4 Ultra
Inno3D announced its flagship GeForce GTX 980 Ti based graphics card, the GTX 980 Ti iChill X4 Ultra. The card derives its name from a gargantuan custom air cooling solution by the company, which features four fans - three cooling the main GPU heatsink; and one along the card's top, cooling the memory and VRM. The main heatsink, a little over 2 slots thick, features a meaty aluminium fin-stack heatsink, with two aluminium fin-stacks projecting from a central base. This heatsink is ventilated by three 100 mm fans, suspended on a metal shroud, which is easily detachable by turning a few thumb-screws. The second heatsink draws heat from the heatspreader covering the memory and VRM, using a flat heat pipe, dissipating it under air-flow by a 60 mm spinner.
The card offers factory-overclocked speeds of 1152 MHz core, 1241 MHz GPU Boost, and 7200 MHz (GDDR5-effective) memory; against reference speeds of 1000 MHz core, 1076 MHz GPU Boost, and 7012 MHz memory. The underlying PCB is NVIDIA reference design, featuring an 8-phase VRM, and 6-pin + 8-pin PCIe power connectors. Display outputs include one each of HDMI 2.0, dual-link DVI, and three DisplayPort 1.2 connectors. Expect the card to feature a 10% pricing premium over reference. Based on the 28 nm GM200 silicon, the GTX 980 Ti offers 2,816 CUDA cores, 176 TMUs, 96 ROPs, and a 384-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 6 GB of memory. The card bundles a medium-sized mousepad with iChill branding, and a key to 3DMark (2013) Advanced.
The card offers factory-overclocked speeds of 1152 MHz core, 1241 MHz GPU Boost, and 7200 MHz (GDDR5-effective) memory; against reference speeds of 1000 MHz core, 1076 MHz GPU Boost, and 7012 MHz memory. The underlying PCB is NVIDIA reference design, featuring an 8-phase VRM, and 6-pin + 8-pin PCIe power connectors. Display outputs include one each of HDMI 2.0, dual-link DVI, and three DisplayPort 1.2 connectors. Expect the card to feature a 10% pricing premium over reference. Based on the 28 nm GM200 silicon, the GTX 980 Ti offers 2,816 CUDA cores, 176 TMUs, 96 ROPs, and a 384-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 6 GB of memory. The card bundles a medium-sized mousepad with iChill branding, and a key to 3DMark (2013) Advanced.
ASUS Compact DirectCU 3 Cooling Solution Pictured, Debuts on GeForce GTX 960
ASUS will be designing its DirectCU 3 cooling solution in different sizes. We've seen the super-tall, almost-triple slot version, strapped to a GeForce GTX 980 Ti, at Computex. Here is its more tame, two-slot, normal-height sibling, which ASUS could feature on several of its performance segment products, such as the GTX 960, GTX 970, GTX 980, and perhaps even the upcoming Radeon R7 370 and R9 380. The card pictured below is a GTX 960.
The DirectCU 3 cooler appears to feature three heat dissipating components, a central heatsink that draws heat from the GPU, with two aluminium fin stacks on either sides, suspended along three 8 mm-thick copper heat pipes, which make direct contact with the GPU. A trio of temperature-activated 80 mm spinners ventilate it. This particular card offers factory-overclocked speeds of 1228 MHz core, 1291 MHz GPU Boost, and 7.00 GHz memory (vs. 1127 MHz core and 1178 MHz GPU Boost reference). The card started selling in China, there's no word on a wider launch. The cooler itself, though, will feature on a boat-load of upcoming products from ASUS.
The DirectCU 3 cooler appears to feature three heat dissipating components, a central heatsink that draws heat from the GPU, with two aluminium fin stacks on either sides, suspended along three 8 mm-thick copper heat pipes, which make direct contact with the GPU. A trio of temperature-activated 80 mm spinners ventilate it. This particular card offers factory-overclocked speeds of 1228 MHz core, 1291 MHz GPU Boost, and 7.00 GHz memory (vs. 1127 MHz core and 1178 MHz GPU Boost reference). The card started selling in China, there's no word on a wider launch. The cooler itself, though, will feature on a boat-load of upcoming products from ASUS.
Gainward Announces GeForce GTX 980 Ti Phoenix GS Graphics Card
As the leading brand in enthusiastic graphics market, Gainward proudly presents the brand-new GeForce GTX graphics - base on the next generation MAXWELL architecture, GeForce GTX 980 Ti Phoenix "Golden Sample". Gainward GeForce GTX 980 Ti Phoenix "Golden Sample" is the most advanced graphics cards, is accelerated by the groundbreaking NVIDIA Maxwell architecture to deliver an unbeatable 4K and virtual reality experience. With 2816 NVIDIA CUDA cores running at 1.152GHz base clock (1.241GHz boost clock) and 6 GB 384 bits memory with 3500MHz memory clock speed, it has the horsepower to drive whatever comes next. It offers Gainward GeForce GTX 980 Ti Phoenix "Golden Sample" up to 11%+ more performance than reference board.
A brand new cooler design for Gainward GeForce GTX 980 Ti Phoenix "Golden Sample" is to offer hard core gamers an excellent thermal solution for high end graphics. Its triple fans and very low thermal resistance for GPU and PWM components provides that Gainward GeForce GTX 980 Ti Phoenix "Golden Sample" can run very stable under heavy loading environment and still have room for extra over-clocking. With "Zero RPM fan design", all three fans can be stop until the GPU temperature raises to 60°C or above. It doesn't introduce any noise while light loading operation.
A brand new cooler design for Gainward GeForce GTX 980 Ti Phoenix "Golden Sample" is to offer hard core gamers an excellent thermal solution for high end graphics. Its triple fans and very low thermal resistance for GPU and PWM components provides that Gainward GeForce GTX 980 Ti Phoenix "Golden Sample" can run very stable under heavy loading environment and still have room for extra over-clocking. With "Zero RPM fan design", all three fans can be stop until the GPU temperature raises to 60°C or above. It doesn't introduce any noise while light loading operation.
Super Talent Announces USB 3.0 DRAM Disk
Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of NAND flash storage solutions, announces the USB 3.0 Express Dram Disk. With sequential read scores of up to 4041 MB/s and sequential write scores of up to 5388 MB/s, the USB 3.0 Express Dram Disk is a speed demon of a drive housed in a sleek aluminum casing. The USB 3.0 Express Dram Disk and its unique built-in software utilize your computer's available RAM to transfer files at an amazingly quick rate. Software is included.
This USB also transfers files while you are using the program, cutting down on wait time later. A productivity gem for creative professionals whose daily regime relies upon constantly moving files on-the-go-cutting their valued time in half.
This USB also transfers files while you are using the program, cutting down on wait time later. A productivity gem for creative professionals whose daily regime relies upon constantly moving files on-the-go-cutting their valued time in half.
Monday, June 15th 2015
Today's Reviews
Cases
CPU Coolers
Desktop PC
Graphics Cards
Harddisks
Headphones
Keyboards
Notebooks
Gigabyte GTX 980 Ti G1 Gaming 6 GB Review
Gigabyte's GTX 980 G1 Gaming comes with a large overclock out of the box, which lets the card surpass the GeForce GTX Titan X in performance, at a much lower price. The cooler is also better than the reference heatsink and avoids the 84°C thermal limit at all times - it also turns off its fans in idle and light gaming.
EVGA Announces SuperNOVA 650 G2 and 550 G2 Power Supplies
The unbeatable performance of the EVGA SuperNOVA G2 power supply line is now available in 650 and 550 watt versions. Based on the award winning G2 power supplies, these units feature 80 Plus Gold rated efficiency, and clean, continuous power to every component. The ECO Control Fan system offers fan modes to provide absolutely zero fan noise during load to medium load operations. Backed by an award winning 7 year warranty, and 100% Japanese capacitor design, the EVGA SuperNOVA 650/550 G2 power supplies offer unbeatable performance at an unbeatable value.
Razer Unveils New Kraken Pro Headset
Razer, a world leader in connected devices and software for gamers, today announced the improved Razer Kraken Pro gaming headset. The Razer Kraken Pro now comes with inline controls for volume and mic mute in addition to its fully retractable microphone. "The Razer Kraken Pro encompasses everything serious gamers need in a headset," says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder and CEO. "By adding inline controls, the most popular headset among eSports athletes is now more functional than ever."
Available in green, black and white, the Razer Kraken Pro is designed for ultimate comfort, delivering an unmatched balance of weight, functionality and performance. A closed ear cup with plush circumaural padding creates superior sound isolation, ensuring an immersive gaming experience over long periods of time, perfect for practice and tournaments. The Razer Kraken Pro headlines the Kraken family of audio devices, which also includes a USB-powered Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma with 16.8 million customizable color options, and an audio solution for the Xbox One.
Available in green, black and white, the Razer Kraken Pro is designed for ultimate comfort, delivering an unmatched balance of weight, functionality and performance. A closed ear cup with plush circumaural padding creates superior sound isolation, ensuring an immersive gaming experience over long periods of time, perfect for practice and tournaments. The Razer Kraken Pro headlines the Kraken family of audio devices, which also includes a USB-powered Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma with 16.8 million customizable color options, and an audio solution for the Xbox One.
Netgear Launches Nighthawk AC1900 Modem-Router
NETGEAR, Inc., a global networking company that delivers innovative products to consumers, businesses and service providers, has expanded its family of VDSL Modem Routers with Nighthawk AC1900 WiFi VDSL/ADSL Modem Router (D7000) with dual band WiFi and Gigabit Ethernet. This two-in-one device is a high performance router with an embedded DSL modem supporting ADSL/ADSL2/ADSL2+ and VDSL/VDSL2 speeds. It carries the Nighthawk name -the premium line of NETGEAR routers- reflecting its powerful dual-core 1GHz processor, extreme WiFi speeds and superior range for better streaming and gaming experiences. It is also the first AC1900 VDSL Modem Router to offer two SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports for faster connections and twice the USB storage access.
The Nighthawk AC1900 WiFi VDSL/ADSL Modem Router provides a built-in fast DSL modem for broadband that is compatible with legacy ADSL, ADSL2 and ADSL2+ connections as well as lightning-fast VDSL and VDSL2 speeds. It offers a great solution to replace outdated or lower-performing equipment from your DSL provider. It also offers a Gigabit Ethernet WAN port for universal compatibility with any Internet service, making Nighthawk a logical choice for offering a future-ready upgrade to fiber/cable Internet service.
The Nighthawk AC1900 WiFi VDSL/ADSL Modem Router provides a built-in fast DSL modem for broadband that is compatible with legacy ADSL, ADSL2 and ADSL2+ connections as well as lightning-fast VDSL and VDSL2 speeds. It offers a great solution to replace outdated or lower-performing equipment from your DSL provider. It also offers a Gigabit Ethernet WAN port for universal compatibility with any Internet service, making Nighthawk a logical choice for offering a future-ready upgrade to fiber/cable Internet service.
Radeon R9 390X and R9 390 to Feature Faster Memory, Core Over Predecessors
AMD's upcoming Radeon R9 390X and R9 390 performance-segment graphics cards reportedly feature higher GPU and memory clocks over the products they are a re-branding of, the R9 290X and R9 290, respectively. The 28 nm "Grenada" silicon they are based on, is identical to "Hawaii," down to the last transistor. This has been confirmed by leaked GPU-Z screenshots, which reveal the device-IDs of the two cards to be identical to those of the R9 290X and R9 290. Since the Device-IDs are the same, GPU-Z is reading the chip as "Hawaii." The code-name "Grenada" appears in the BIOS version string.
Unlike older, more blatant re-brands, such as GeForce 8800 GT to 9800 GT, AMD did drop in a few changes. To begin with, the memory amount has been doubled on both cards, to 8 GB. The memory clock has been increased from 1250 MHz (5.00 GHz GDDR5-effective), to 1500 MHz (6.00 GDDR5-effective), resulting in memory bandwidth increase to 384 GB/s, up from 320 GB/s. The core clock speed on the R9 390X is 1050 MHz (up from 1000 MHz on R9 290X); and 1000 MHz on the R9 390 (up from 947 MHz on the R9 290).
Unlike older, more blatant re-brands, such as GeForce 8800 GT to 9800 GT, AMD did drop in a few changes. To begin with, the memory amount has been doubled on both cards, to 8 GB. The memory clock has been increased from 1250 MHz (5.00 GHz GDDR5-effective), to 1500 MHz (6.00 GDDR5-effective), resulting in memory bandwidth increase to 384 GB/s, up from 320 GB/s. The core clock speed on the R9 390X is 1050 MHz (up from 1000 MHz on R9 290X); and 1000 MHz on the R9 390 (up from 947 MHz on the R9 290).
Palit Announces GeForce GTX 980 Ti Super JetStream Graphics Card
Palit Microsystems Ltd, the leading graphics card manufacturer, releases the latest GTX 900 series in Palit GeForce product line-up, GeForce GTX 980 Ti Super JetStream. The revolutionary Palit JetStream series of graphics cards features advanced innovative cooling and an optimized product design to deliver gamers the ultimate gaming experience. As the latest and the next generation NVIDIA Maxwell architecture, the Palit GeForce GTX 980 Ti Super JetStream guarantees gamers cutting-edge performance and an explosive new gaming experience.
Palit GeForce GTX 980 Ti Super JetStream has 2816 Maxwell cores clocked at 1152MHz (base clock) and 6144MB with 384 bits 7GHz memory, making it much faster than the stock1000MHz of NVIDIA's reference design. Equipped with the modified JetStream cooler and optimized product design, Palit GeForce GTX980 Ti Super JetStream provides gaming benchmark up to 11%+ compare with GTX 980 Ti reference board. With the new JetStream thermal design for the factory over-clocked board, the GPU temperature is 12°C cooler and the noise level is 8dB quieter under the heavy game loading. With the new 0-dB Tech features, there is zero noise while you are at general workload, such as internet or multi-media application. Stay Quiet, Stay Cool and Enjoy the High gaming performance with Palit JetStream.
Palit GeForce GTX 980 Ti Super JetStream has 2816 Maxwell cores clocked at 1152MHz (base clock) and 6144MB with 384 bits 7GHz memory, making it much faster than the stock1000MHz of NVIDIA's reference design. Equipped with the modified JetStream cooler and optimized product design, Palit GeForce GTX980 Ti Super JetStream provides gaming benchmark up to 11%+ compare with GTX 980 Ti reference board. With the new JetStream thermal design for the factory over-clocked board, the GPU temperature is 12°C cooler and the noise level is 8dB quieter under the heavy game loading. With the new 0-dB Tech features, there is zero noise while you are at general workload, such as internet or multi-media application. Stay Quiet, Stay Cool and Enjoy the High gaming performance with Palit JetStream.
Radeon R9 390X Taken Apart, PCB Reveals a Complete Re-brand
People with access to an XFX Radeon R9 390X graphics card, took it apart to take a peek at its PCB. What they uncovered comes as no surprise - the underlying PCB is identical in design to AMD reference PCB for the Radeon R9 290X, down the location of every tiny SMT component. At best, the brands on the chokes and bigger conductive polymer caps differ; and 512 Gbit GDDR5 chips under the heatspreader, making up 8 GB of the standard memory amount. The GPU itself, codenamed "Grenada," looks identical to the "Hawaii" silicon which drove the R9 290 series. It's highly unlikely that it features updated Graphics CoreNext 1.2 stream processors, as older rumors suggested.
Saturday, June 13th 2015
AMD Radeon R9 Fury X Pictured Some More
Here are some of the clearest pictures of AMD's next-generation flagship graphics card, the Radeon R9 Fury X. Much like the R9 295X2, this card features an AIO liquid cooling solution. With the relocation of memory from chips surrounding the GPU to the GPU package as stacked HBM, the resulting PCB space savings translate into a card that's very compact. Under its hood is a full-coverage liquid cooling pump-block, which is plumbed to a thick 120 mm x 120 mm radiator. The card draws power from a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors. Display outputs include three DisplayPort 1.2a, and one HDMI 2.0.
Friday, June 12th 2015
Today's Reviews
Cooling
CPU Coolers
Headphones
Monitors
Motherboards
Mouse
Networking
SSD
Creative Announces Sound Blaster FRee Portable Bluetooth Speaker
Creative Technology Ltd today announced the Sound Blaster FRee, its latest multifunction portable Bluetooth speaker with two custom-tuned Neodymium drivers and twin passive radiators that deliver massive full-range audio with powerful bass. Featuring dual-orientation playback, the Sound Blaster FRee can be placed either horizontally for wide stereo imaging or vertically for 360-degree sound. This powerful yet lightweight speaker boasts a compact cylindrical form factor small enough to fit comfortably in the user's hand and carried in a bag, giving users the freedom to play music out loud everywhere they go. Everyone can experience awesome music now at home, at work, at play, and even by the pool - the Sound Blaster FRee is splash-proof.
The Sound Blaster FRee has extensive connectivity options. This includes wireless Bluetooth for smartphones or tablets, USB for PCs or Macs, as well as Aux-in for analog sources. It even comes with a built-in MP3 player for standalone playback from a microSD card up to 32 GB. Users can customise different microSD cards with music for different moments and easily swap them. Users can also arrange all their music into different folders on a microSD card and easily skip a folder with one touch. The Sound Blaster FRee also doubles up as a hands-free Bluetooth speakerphone when paired with a smartphone, allowing users to enjoy music and movies while effortlessly taking calls in between.
The Sound Blaster FRee has extensive connectivity options. This includes wireless Bluetooth for smartphones or tablets, USB for PCs or Macs, as well as Aux-in for analog sources. It even comes with a built-in MP3 player for standalone playback from a microSD card up to 32 GB. Users can customise different microSD cards with music for different moments and easily swap them. Users can also arrange all their music into different folders on a microSD card and easily skip a folder with one touch. The Sound Blaster FRee also doubles up as a hands-free Bluetooth speakerphone when paired with a smartphone, allowing users to enjoy music and movies while effortlessly taking calls in between.
AMD Radeon R9 Fury X Confirmed SKU Name for "Fiji XT"
The bets are off, AMD's latest flagship graphics card will indeed get a fancy name, and it will be named Radeon R9 Fury X. Korean tech-site HardwareBattle leaked a product flyer with the SKU name, and its catchphrase "revolutionary, inside out." Based on the 28 nm "Fiji" silicon, the R9 Fury X is expected to feature 4,096 stream processors, 256 TMUs, 128 ROPs, and a 4096-bit wide HBM memory interface, holding 4 GB of memory.
The reference-design Fury X will come with an AIO cooling solution, likely designed by Asetek, featuring a Cooler Master made fan, ventilating its 120 x 120 mm radiator. Just as the Radeon R9 290X did away with D-Sub (VGA) support (even with dongles), Fiji does away with the DVI connector. You still get three DisplayPort 1.2a ports, and a single HDMI 2.0 connector. The card has been pictured on the web featuring two 8-pin PCIe power connectors.
The reference-design Fury X will come with an AIO cooling solution, likely designed by Asetek, featuring a Cooler Master made fan, ventilating its 120 x 120 mm radiator. Just as the Radeon R9 290X did away with D-Sub (VGA) support (even with dongles), Fiji does away with the DVI connector. You still get three DisplayPort 1.2a ports, and a single HDMI 2.0 connector. The card has been pictured on the web featuring two 8-pin PCIe power connectors.
Lian Li Announces Availability of PC-O8 Dual-Compartment Chassis
Lian-Li Industrial Co. Ltd today launches the PC-O8 dual-compartment chassis. Comprised of aluminum and tempered glass, the PC-O8 allows DIY builders to show off their high-end, intricate setups, while hiding cables and less eye catching components in the large compartment behind the motherboard tray.
Through the front glass panel, the PC-O8 is divided into two zones. Zone 1 allows DIY enthusiasts to show off their motherboard and graphics cards through the edge-to-edge side panel windows. On the other side of the motherboard tray, Zone 2 gives plenty of room for cables and less eye-catching components such as hard drives and the power supply.
Through the front glass panel, the PC-O8 is divided into two zones. Zone 1 allows DIY enthusiasts to show off their motherboard and graphics cards through the edge-to-edge side panel windows. On the other side of the motherboard tray, Zone 2 gives plenty of room for cables and less eye-catching components such as hard drives and the power supply.
Thursday, June 11th 2015
Today's Reviews
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Monitors
Notebooks
SSD
Thermalright Macho Rev.B Review
Thermalright looks to improve upon the ever-popular Macho series with the new Macho Revision B. This revision offers an offset design for better memory compatibility while sticking with a massive single tower. Offering fantastic performance for the price when compared to ultra high end solutions, it could very well be just what you are looking for.
Synology Introduces RC18015xs+ & RXD1215sas NAS
Synology America Corp. today announced the RC18015xs+ and RXD1215sas, high-availability server solution featuring massive scalability, superior performance, and point-in-time data backup for small- and medium-sized businesses seeking enterprise solutions.
"For today's businesses, maintaining server uptime is the key to ensuring maximum productivity and minimized costs. The high-availability cluster design of RC18015xs+ and RXD1215sas is the ideal storage solution for enterprises that want nonstop business continuity, scalability, and comprehensive data protection tools," said Michael Wang, Product Manager at Synology Inc.
"For today's businesses, maintaining server uptime is the key to ensuring maximum productivity and minimized costs. The high-availability cluster design of RC18015xs+ and RXD1215sas is the ideal storage solution for enterprises that want nonstop business continuity, scalability, and comprehensive data protection tools," said Michael Wang, Product Manager at Synology Inc.
Integral Memory Launches FUSION USB Type-C Flash Drive
Integral Memory has announced the launch of its first flash drive featuring a USB Type-C connector which is the answer to an increasingly mobile world. The Fusion USB Type-C Flash Drive provides an instant data storage device with ultimate compatibility between smartphones, tablets, PCs and Macs. In future the Type-C connector will simplify all formats into one universal interface that will carry both data and power between devices at higher speeds.
"The Fusion USB Type-C is the first generation of a new age of connectivity that answers the demands of a multi-device world. It is well-timed to answer the demands of a data hungry age, where higher resolution media and more complex apps demand increased speed and compatibility between the workplace and the home," commented Francesco Rivieccio, Senior Product Manager at Integral Memory plc.
"The Fusion USB Type-C is the first generation of a new age of connectivity that answers the demands of a multi-device world. It is well-timed to answer the demands of a data hungry age, where higher resolution media and more complex apps demand increased speed and compatibility between the workplace and the home," commented Francesco Rivieccio, Senior Product Manager at Integral Memory plc.
Logitech G Introduces First Force Feedback Racing Wheel for Xbox One and PC
Logitech, a leading innovator of gaming peripherals, today announced the Logitech G920 Driving Force, its first force feedback racing wheel available for Xbox One, as well as PC, will be available this fall. Built for precision racing and long-lasting reliability, the Logitech G920 Driving Force features Logitech's powerful dual-motor force feedback transmission with anti-backlash helical gearing, hand-stitched leather-wrapped rim, and stainless steel throttle, brake, and clutch pedals. The wheel is also compatible with the optional Driving Force Shifter, a six-speed manual gear stick with push-down reverse. This is the first Logitech racing wheel available for Xbox One.
"The G920 is the wheel fans have been asking for on Xbox One," said Ujesh Desai, general manager of the Logitech gaming business. "We built on our history and legacy of previous generation driving wheels to deliver on a truly immersive experience for Xbox One gamers. I personally can't wait to get behind our new wheel to play Forza Motorsport 6."
"The G920 is the wheel fans have been asking for on Xbox One," said Ujesh Desai, general manager of the Logitech gaming business. "We built on our history and legacy of previous generation driving wheels to deliver on a truly immersive experience for Xbox One gamers. I personally can't wait to get behind our new wheel to play Forza Motorsport 6."
SilverStone Announces the Kublai KL05 Chassis
SilverStone announced the Kublai KL05 series case. The Kublai KL05 is a high quality ATX tower case designed for enthusiasts with the need for ample liquid cooling and storage space. It has convenient tool-less 5.25" drive bays and highly flexible cages designed to accommodate any combination of 2.5" or 3.5" drives. With a relatively tall and slender profile, it has surprising room for fitting liquid coolers.
Not only does it have complete support for 240mm and 280mm radiators on both the top and the front panel, it has numerous paths for tubing, mounting holes for fans, and easily removable filters for an exceptionally cool and clean build. KL05 is offered in two variations depending on front panel design so whether the preference is for a direct intake case with side window or a conservative, quiet build with indirect intake and sound-absorbing foam, there is a model perfectly suited for the intended task.
Not only does it have complete support for 240mm and 280mm radiators on both the top and the front panel, it has numerous paths for tubing, mounting holes for fans, and easily removable filters for an exceptionally cool and clean build. KL05 is offered in two variations depending on front panel design so whether the preference is for a direct intake case with side window or a conservative, quiet build with indirect intake and sound-absorbing foam, there is a model perfectly suited for the intended task.
Wednesday, June 10th 2015
Today's Reviews
Cases
Cooling
Gaming PC
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Keyboards
Monitors
SSD
Sharkoon Announces Availability of SharkZone K30 Gaming Keyboard
Sharkoon expands its range of gaming keyboards and presents the SHARK ZONE K30 Illuminated Gaming Keyboard. The keyboard comes in a 3-block layout with typical SHARK ZONE design, white LED illumination and an integrated palm rest. The illumination can be adjusted in several steps directly on the keyboard, even without the installed gaming software. To run macros and/or start profiles, the K30 provides five practical macros as well as three profile keys.
The K30 is programmed by means of the enclosed gaming software. Especially practical is that five game profiles can be activated, which are executed automatically as soon as the desired game starts. Additionally provided are programmable mouse actions and individually configurable key functions, which can be easily adjusted in the gaming software. Thanks to the onboard memory all customizations are saved in the keyboard.
The K30 is programmed by means of the enclosed gaming software. Especially practical is that five game profiles can be activated, which are executed automatically as soon as the desired game starts. Additionally provided are programmable mouse actions and individually configurable key functions, which can be easily adjusted in the gaming software. Thanks to the onboard memory all customizations are saved in the keyboard.
XFX Radeon R9 390X Pictured Some More
Ahead of its possible June 16 launch, more pictures of AIB-branded Radeon R9 390X graphics cards are hitting the wires. Here, we have an XFX-branded R9 390X, complete with its box-art. The R9 390X, is expected to be a re-brand of the previous generation R9 290X, with its standard memory amount raised to 8 GB. It's based on the 28 nm "Grenada" silicon. We've seen no evidence pointing at "Grenada" being some sort of an upgrade of "Hawaii" with newer GCN 1.2 stream processors. Perhaps AMD polished its electricals to the extent it could, without changing the silicon. We'll know for sure only next week.
XFX' Radeon R9 390X features a custom air cooling solution, which is taller than the one the company used on its R9 290 series products. It still retains its 2-slot form. The cooler consists of two aluminium fin-stacks, along the edges of seven 8 mm thick copper heat pipes, which draw heat from the GPU at the base. A metal heatspreader conveys heat from the memory chips to the main heatsink; while individual metal heatsinks cool the VRM. The card draws power from a combination of 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connectors. Display outputs include two dual-link DVI, and one each of HDMI 1.4a and DisplayPort 1.2a connectors.
XFX' Radeon R9 390X features a custom air cooling solution, which is taller than the one the company used on its R9 290 series products. It still retains its 2-slot form. The cooler consists of two aluminium fin-stacks, along the edges of seven 8 mm thick copper heat pipes, which draw heat from the GPU at the base. A metal heatspreader conveys heat from the memory chips to the main heatsink; while individual metal heatsinks cool the VRM. The card draws power from a combination of 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connectors. Display outputs include two dual-link DVI, and one each of HDMI 1.4a and DisplayPort 1.2a connectors.
Logitech Announces the Wireless Touch Keyboard K400 Plus
Today Logitech announced the Logitech Wireless Touch Keyboard K400 Plus, a living room keyboard that lets you comfortably control your computer screen on your TV. The K400 Plus features a wireless range of up to 33 feet and an integrated touchpad, making it easy to stream movies, TV shows, music and other entertainment on your PC from your couch.
"The living room is a place where we come to relax, entertain ourselves and connect with friends and family," said Charlotte Johs, global vice president of computer peripherals at Logitech. "The Logitech Wireless Keyboard K400 Plus makes it easy to connect your PC to the TV and search for Internet content."
"The living room is a place where we come to relax, entertain ourselves and connect with friends and family," said Charlotte Johs, global vice president of computer peripherals at Logitech. "The Logitech Wireless Keyboard K400 Plus makes it easy to connect your PC to the TV and search for Internet content."
GFXBench Validation Confirms Stream Processor Count of Radeon Fury
Someone with access to an AMD Radeon Fury sample put it through the compute performance test of GFXBench, and submitted its score to the suite's online score database. Running on pre-launch drivers, the sample is read as simply "AMD Radeon Graphics Processor." Since a GPGPU app is aware of how many compute units (CUs) a GPU has (so it could schedule its parallel processing workloads accordingly), GFXBench was able to put out a plausible-sounding CU count of 64. Since Radeon Fury is based on Graphics CoreNext, and since each CU holds 64 stream processors, the stream processor count on the chip works out to be 4,096.
SMART Announces Volume Production of HRS-S3 SSD
SMART High Reliability Solutions ("SMART HRS"), a provider of current and next-generation solid-state storage solutions specializing in ruggedized, high-performance and high-capacity solid-state drives ("SSDs") for defense, aerospace and industrial markets, today announced its HRS-S3 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s SSD, which has been successfully sampling with key customers, is now available in volume quantities to qualified customers. As the latest in a robust line of products from SMART HRS that emphasizes the company's exclusive focus on solid-state storage solutions, the HRS-S3 is ideal for industrial temperature applications.
Building on the accomplishments of SMART HRS's long line of SSD products for the defense industry, the HRS-S3 SSD delivers performance metrics of 500MB/s sequential read and 400MB/s sequential write speeds while delivering 35K IOPS and 20K IOPS respectively during random operation. Using highly reliable single-level-cell (SLC) NAND Flash, the HRS-S3 is available in capacities ranging from 120 to 960GB.
Building on the accomplishments of SMART HRS's long line of SSD products for the defense industry, the HRS-S3 SSD delivers performance metrics of 500MB/s sequential read and 400MB/s sequential write speeds while delivering 35K IOPS and 20K IOPS respectively during random operation. Using highly reliable single-level-cell (SLC) NAND Flash, the HRS-S3 is available in capacities ranging from 120 to 960GB.
Samsung Display Introduces First Mirror and Transparent OLED Display Panels
Samsung Display Co., Ltd. unveiled the industry's first Mirror and Transparent OLED display panels in a dazzling state-of-the-art showcase for personalized shopping and informational browsing, held this week at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The exhibit features the first retail use of advanced commercial OLED panels - a "virtual necklace" display for the world renowned Chow Sang Sang jewelry company.
The new Samsung Display OLED panel technology provides a digital viewing platform for making the consumer purchasing experience more visually engaging. When Samsung's OLED display technology is integrated with Intel Real Sense technology, a visually compelling, interactive closet or "self-modeling" wardrobe is created that can enable consumers to virtually "see" clothes or other retail items from an extremely realistic, customized perspective.
The new Samsung Display OLED panel technology provides a digital viewing platform for making the consumer purchasing experience more visually engaging. When Samsung's OLED display technology is integrated with Intel Real Sense technology, a visually compelling, interactive closet or "self-modeling" wardrobe is created that can enable consumers to virtually "see" clothes or other retail items from an extremely realistic, customized perspective.
Rosewill Shows Off RGM-1100 Gaming Mouse
Rosewill unveiled its flagship gaming mouse, the RGM-1100. Designed for a palm-grip, the mouse could appeal even to claw-grip users, due to a less pronounced front end. It features a sand-blasted plastic top, with an aluminium main body. You get five action buttons, apart from on-the-fly DPI adjustment buttons on the top. Under the hood is an 8,200 DPI laser sensor; the two main buttons are backed by Omron-made switches; and 6-piece adjustable weights. A braided USB cable with a gold-plated connector, makes for the rest of it.
Rosewill Unveils Mabelode RGB 100 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
Rosewill unveiled its flagship gaming keyboard, the Mabelode RGB 100. This full-sized mechanical keyboard offers a standard 104-key set, with multi-color RGB illumination, with a the ability to set color for individual keys using the included software. In addition to color, you can set up to 6 lighting modes, and 5 lighting levels (brightness). The profiles you make using the software, are stored on the local memory on the keyboard, rather than your system, so a system crash doesn't wipe off your customization. They keyboard's onboard memory can store up to five such profiles. The keyboard comes with multimedia hot keys, and a detachable wrist-rest, with a textured, rubberized surface.
Rosewill Also Unveils Capstone Series Mid-range PSUs
In addition to its four high-Wattage PSU lines, Rosewill showed off additions to its mid-range Capstone line of PSUs. Targeted at gamers, with gaming PC builds of up to three high-end graphics cards, and enough juice for mild CPU and VGA overclocking, the Capstone line will come in moderately high Wattage models, including 750W, 850W, 1000W, and 1200W. These units offer 80 Plus Gold efficiency, partially modular cabling (in which the 24-pin ATX and 4+4 pin EPS cables are fixed); single +12V rail design, and 5-year product warranties.
Rosewill Unveils Four New High-Wattage PSUs
Rosewill flexed its PSU engineering muscle, by unveiling four new high-Wattage PSU lines for PC enthusiasts. Among the four exhibited, were the Aim Series 1200W, the Quark Series 1200W, the Tokamak Series 1500W, and the Hercules 1600W. The Aim series consists of smart-PSUs, units which talk to your system over USB, letting you monitor their key stats using software. The Aim series offers 80 Plus Platinum efficiency, fully modular cabling, a single +12V rail design, and enough cabling for a gaming PC build with up to four graphics cards. The target user-base is pro gamers, who aren't exactly climbing OC leaderboards.
The Quark series is much like the Aim series in its feature-set, and we suspect that the two share a common platform under the hood. The only notable difference here is that instead of the USB interface, and software-based monitoring, the PSU has a set of diagnostic LEDs. Much like the Aim series, the Quark 1200W offers 80 Plus Platinum efficiency, a single +12V rail design, and fully modular cabling, with enough connectors for gaming PC builds with up to four graphics cards. We then move on to the two Goliaths, the Tokamak 1500W and the Hercules 1600W.
The Quark series is much like the Aim series in its feature-set, and we suspect that the two share a common platform under the hood. The only notable difference here is that instead of the USB interface, and software-based monitoring, the PSU has a set of diagnostic LEDs. Much like the Aim series, the Quark 1200W offers 80 Plus Platinum efficiency, a single +12V rail design, and fully modular cabling, with enough connectors for gaming PC builds with up to four graphics cards. We then move on to the two Goliaths, the Tokamak 1500W and the Hercules 1600W.
Tuesday, June 9th 2015
Today's Reviews
Cases
Cooling
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Mousepads
PSUs
AMD Radeon Graphics Roadmap for 2015 Leaked
It looks like AMD's desktop discrete GPU lineup for 2015 will see a mix of rebrands, re-codename, and one big new chip, all making up the new Radeon R7 300 and R9 300 series. Cards based in this lineup should begin rolling out this month. Leaks from OEMs such as this one, suggest that the first of these should begin rolling out as early as June 16.
The spread is pretty cut and dry. "Hawaii," the chip driving the R9 290 series, will not only get a new codename as "Grenada," but also a seamless rebrand to the R9 390 series, with Grenada Pro making up the R9 390, and Grenada XT making up the R9 390X. One possibility could be AMD taking advantage of low 4 Gbit GDDR5 chip prices to cram 8 GB of standard memory amount, across Grenada's 512-bit wide memory interface. The R9 390X will compete with the GeForce GTX 970, while the R9 390 will offer an option in the vast price and performance gorge between the GTX 960 and GTX 970.
The spread is pretty cut and dry. "Hawaii," the chip driving the R9 290 series, will not only get a new codename as "Grenada," but also a seamless rebrand to the R9 390 series, with Grenada Pro making up the R9 390, and Grenada XT making up the R9 390X. One possibility could be AMD taking advantage of low 4 Gbit GDDR5 chip prices to cram 8 GB of standard memory amount, across Grenada's 512-bit wide memory interface. The R9 390X will compete with the GeForce GTX 970, while the R9 390 will offer an option in the vast price and performance gorge between the GTX 960 and GTX 970.
Announcing the TechPowerUp WCG Fathers Day Challenge
In honor of all the fathers around the world, and in fond remembrance of our beloved Dean "Kreij" Kortenhoven, the TechPowerUp World Community Grid (WCG) team is announcing a new challenge and a giveaway, "donated by crunchers, for crunchers." By taking part in the events that span from 10/06 (tomorrow), all the way through 21/06, you stand to win some cool crunching hardware, PayPal gifts, and AAA game keys. Get crunching!
For more information, visit the forum threads of the 2015 WCG Fathers Day Challenge and Kreij Memorial PC Giveaway
For more information, visit the forum threads of the 2015 WCG Fathers Day Challenge and Kreij Memorial PC Giveaway
HGST Delivers World's First 10TB Enterprise HDD for Active Archive Applications
Helping the world harness the power of data, HGST, a Western Digital company (NASDAQ: WDC) today announced the first enterprise-class 10TB (terabyte) hard disk drive (HDD) for next-generation active archive applications. The host-managed Ultrastar Archive Ha10 SMR HDD sets a new standard in enabling the world's densest server and storage systems with unprecedented TCO levels. This industry-defining product is the result of combining two complementary technologies - HGST's second generation, field-proven HelioSeal platform and shingled magnetic recording (SMR) - to deliver unmatched storage density and power efficiency, without compromising reliability and performance predictability. With an industry-leading 10TB capacity, the Ultrastar Archive Ha10 gives customers a time-to-market capacity advantage for archival environments and applications where data is sequentially written and randomly read, such as social media, cloud storage, online backup, life sciences as well as media and entertainment.
HGST recognizes SMR as core technology necessary in driving areal density increases. By overlapping or "shingling" the data tracks on top of each other, higher areal density can be achieved within the same physical footprint. Based on feedback from customers whose data center environments demand predictable performance and control of how data is handled, HGST has implemented a host-managed SMR solution. The sequential write behavior of host-managed SMR complements active archive workloads.
HGST recognizes SMR as core technology necessary in driving areal density increases. By overlapping or "shingling" the data tracks on top of each other, higher areal density can be achieved within the same physical footprint. Based on feedback from customers whose data center environments demand predictable performance and control of how data is handled, HGST has implemented a host-managed SMR solution. The sequential write behavior of host-managed SMR complements active archive workloads.
AMD Radeon R9 370 Reference Design Board Pictured
Alienware leaked the first images of AMD's upcoming Radeon R9 370 graphics card and R9 390M GPU. The card's design looks a lot like the liquid-cooled Fiji-XT "Radeon Fury" board that's being pictured around these days. If the picture Alienware is from AMD, then it's safe to assume that both the R9 370, and the R9 390M will be based on the 28 nm Curaçao silicon. The only major change here, will be the standard memory amount, which has been bumped to 4 GB from 2 GB, thanks to the 4 Gbit GDDR5 chips that are becoming commonplace. AMD is expected to launch these cards a little later this month. The Curaçao silicon features 1,280 GCN stream processors, 80 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface.
ASUSTOR NAS Integrate Rompr-MPD Media Center App
ASUSTOR started integrating Rompr, a popular browser-based media center app with its new generation home NAS servers. The app lets you organize all your media files, audio and video, and lets you stream it to any device with a web-browser that can playback HTML5 video/audio. Rompr is tied to MPD (music-player daemon). ASUSTOR is focusing particularly on the ability to play back high-resolution audio formats, such as DSD Audio. Rompr-MPD will let you keep your media files away on your NAS, and govern access rights, so others in your home have access to media suitable to them.
Galaxy Ready with GeForce GTX 980 Ti HOF Liquid Cooled Edition
Galaxy is done whitewashing the GeForce GTX 980 Ti, with the development of its HOF (hall of fame) LCE graphics card. The card features an all-white custom PCB, with a 16-phase VRM that draws power from three 8-pin PCIe power connectors, which interestingly, are located along the back of the card, rather than the top of it. The star attraction here is a full-coverage water block designed by Bitspower. The block features an opaque white top, and a white metal back-plate. This card will be sold through Galaxy's various sub-brands (such as Galax and KFA2), when it hits the shelves later this month. The company did not disclose clock speeds or pricing.
Monday, June 8th 2015
Today's Reviews
Cooling
CPU Coolers
Gaming PC
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Keyboards
Networking
Notebooks
Processors
Speakers
Synology DS1515+ & DX513 Expansion Unit Review
Synology's DS1515+ mostly addresses SMB environments since it can combine with two DX513 expansion units to support up to 15 HDDs. Today, we have the opportunity to evaluate a DS1515+ along with one of Synology's expansion units, which make for a great opportunity to figure out how this combination performs in various usage scenarios.
Other World Computing Announces New USB-C Dock
Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, announced today the OWC USB-C Dock. Available for immediate pre-order, the new OWC USB-C Dock provides a complete connectivity solution for the 2015 Apple MacBook and other computers that utilize USB-C ports.
Available in Silver, Space Gray, and Gold, the OWC USB-C Dock provides eleven ports and enables essential everyday peripheral connectivity. Users will be able to charge devices, connect a display, add external storage, import photos from an SD card, utilize wired Gigabit Ethernet connections, connect their favorite audio accessories, and even power their MacBook, all through a single USB Type-C cable.
Available in Silver, Space Gray, and Gold, the OWC USB-C Dock provides eleven ports and enables essential everyday peripheral connectivity. Users will be able to charge devices, connect a display, add external storage, import photos from an SD card, utilize wired Gigabit Ethernet connections, connect their favorite audio accessories, and even power their MacBook, all through a single USB Type-C cable.
LG Announces 27-inch 4K Ultra HD IPS Monitor with AMD FreeSync Support
LG Electronics will help gamers take their experience to a new level with the new LG 4K ULTRA HD monitor (model 27MU67) which will be available for the first time in the United States later this month. The 27-inch class monitor (26.3-inches diagonally), which is specifically designed to provide a premium gaming experience, boasts a large viewing area and a 3840 x 2160 screen resolution for an eye-popping level of 4K visual detail.
LG's newest monitor is intended for graphics-intensive gaming and the fast-paced action of the latest first person shooter (FPS) games and Real-Time Strategy (RTS) war games. The monitor supports AMD's FreeSync technology with a refresh range of 40 - 60Hz. FreeSync eliminates image-tearing and stuttering, which occurs when the monitor and graphics card are out of sync. The result is a smooth and seamless gaming experience, with fluid motion and no loss of frame rate.
LG's newest monitor is intended for graphics-intensive gaming and the fast-paced action of the latest first person shooter (FPS) games and Real-Time Strategy (RTS) war games. The monitor supports AMD's FreeSync technology with a refresh range of 40 - 60Hz. FreeSync eliminates image-tearing and stuttering, which occurs when the monitor and graphics card are out of sync. The result is a smooth and seamless gaming experience, with fluid motion and no loss of frame rate.
Cooler Master MasterPower PSUs Pictured
Cooler Master showed off the first of many from the MasterPower line of smart-PSUs. Built to offer 80 Plus Titanium efficiency, fully modular cabling, a fan that begins to spin only beyond a load/temperature threshold, and an interface with your PC that lets you monitor the unit not only over your desktop, but also using your smartphones or tablets. The PSU will come in several high-Wattage variants, the ones pictured here are the 1000W unit, and another 1200W unit installed in a MasterCase build with MasterLiquid cooling. The company is giving final touches to an even bigger 1500W variant.
Cooler Master MasterAir and MasterLiquid Coolers Pictured
In addition to the MasterCase, Cooler Master unveiled its flagship CPU coolers, the MasterAir and the MasterLiquid, which as their names suggest, and air- and liquid-coolers, respectively. The MasterAir is styled a lot like the old V8 GTS, but is a single fin-stack, tower-type cooler, with two pre-installed 140 mm fans in push-pull configuration. The cooler integrates what CM calls a "3D vapor-chamber," which combines the benefits of a horizontal (plate making direct contact with CPU) and vertical (that which conducts heat through the fin-stack) vapor chambers. In addition, there are eight conventional copper heat pipes. The 140 mm fans glow with red or white LEDs. The MasterLiquid, on the other hand, is a DIY liquid cooling solution, with CPU blocks, reservoirs, tubing, coolants, fittings, and 2x 140 mm radiators branded by Cooler Master. The company showed off one such solution installed in a MasterCase exhibit.
Cooler Master's Flagship MasterCase 5 Pictured Up Close
Arguably the most beautiful case at the show, the MasterCase 5 was announced early last week, through a press-release, which came with rendered images that don't do justice to the real thing. MasterCase 5 is a highly customizable ATX full-tower by Cooler Master, which you can custom-order with any combination of drive-bays, front and top panels, in-built fans, side-panels, and more. Cooler Master shows us variants that can house a typical multi-GPU high-end gaming PC build with liquid cooling; and a multi-socket workstation build with a boat-load of drives, and an enterprise-grade PSU. The case itself may not be made of exotic materials, but the quality of construction is top of the line.
AIDA64 Turns 20, Recounts Journey from DOS to iOS
FinalWire released the smartphone edition of its leading system information utility, AIDA64 for iOS and Windows Phone. With the new apps, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch owners as well as users of Windows-based phones and tablets can get accurate information about the hardware that powers their devices. The GUI of the freely available apps uses the design language of the platform to ensure that users feel at home when navigating the graphical user interface.
"These applications complete the AIDA64 mobile portfolio, and we do hope that the utility will be just as popular on iOS and Windows Phone as on Android. The Android app has been downloaded more than 160,000 times since its release early March", commented Tamás Miklós, lead developer at FinalWire. "It was exactly 20 years ago this month that we started the development of AIDA64, and we have come a long way since the DOS-only first edition. Just like in the past two decades, we will continue to do our best to follow hardware technology innovations and to provide the most accurate hardware and software information to our users."
"These applications complete the AIDA64 mobile portfolio, and we do hope that the utility will be just as popular on iOS and Windows Phone as on Android. The Android app has been downloaded more than 160,000 times since its release early March", commented Tamás Miklós, lead developer at FinalWire. "It was exactly 20 years ago this month that we started the development of AIDA64, and we have come a long way since the DOS-only first edition. Just like in the past two decades, we will continue to do our best to follow hardware technology innovations and to provide the most accurate hardware and software information to our users."
Colorful Also Unveils its Flagship Z170 Motherboard
In addition to its flagship GeForce GTX 980 Ti graphics card, Colorful unveiled its most premium socket LGA1151 motherboard, the Z170 Ymir-G. This board offers a massive 18-phase CPU VRM with provision for liquid cooling, four DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting up to 64 GB of dual-channel DDR4-3400 memory, three each of PCI-Express 3.0 x16 and PCI-Express 3.0 x1 slots, making up the expansion area. Storage connectivity includes two SATA-Express 16 Gb/s, one M.2 32 Gb/s (under a detachable portion of the metal shroud, two USB 3.1, six USB 3.0 ports; two gigabit Ethernet connections, and a premium 8-channel HD audio solution.
Colorful iGame GTX 980 Ti Ymir TOP Graphics Card Pictured
Colorful unveiled its top of the line air-cooled GeForce GTX 980 Ti graphics card, the iGame-Ymir TOP. The card features a massive 2+ slot cooling solution, which consists of two aluminium fin-stack heatsinks that meet at the GPU base, where their 8 mm thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes draw heat directly from the GPU die; ventilated by three 100 mm spinners. The card sticks to the standard height for add-on cards, and draws power from a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors. It is expected to feature a 20-ish percent factory-overclock, and a failsafe BIOS (dual-BIOS).
BitFenix Aegis Micro-ATX Pictured in Five Color Options
BitFenix unveiled its Aegis line of micro-ATX cases in five color options - black, white, red, blue, and yellow. The cases feature glossy-black front, with glossy plasticky sides and top. The color shades look much like the ones you'd find on a Lumia or an iPhone 5C. The case offers a spacious micro-ATX motherboard tray with five expansion slots (so you can use a dual-slot graphics card installed on the bottom-most slot of your motherboard); with room for CPU coolers as tall as 170 mm, and graphics cards as long as 380 mm.
Storage spaces include four each of 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drive bays, in detachable drive cages. Much like the Pandora ATX, it offers a 4-channel PWM fan-controller, with a 2.8-inch LCD display. Cooling includes three 120 mm front intakes (which convert to two 140 mm); and a similar vent cluster on the top; a 140 mm bottom intake, and a 120 mm rear exhaust. You can install 3x 120 mm or 2x 140 mm radiators on the front and top vents. 360 mm dust filters cover the front and top vents.
Storage spaces include four each of 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drive bays, in detachable drive cages. Much like the Pandora ATX, it offers a 4-channel PWM fan-controller, with a 2.8-inch LCD display. Cooling includes three 120 mm front intakes (which convert to two 140 mm); and a similar vent cluster on the top; a 140 mm bottom intake, and a 120 mm rear exhaust. You can install 3x 120 mm or 2x 140 mm radiators on the front and top vents. 360 mm dust filters cover the front and top vents.
BitFenix Pandora ATX Case Detailed
BitFenix unveiled the Pandora ATX at Computex 2015. The case is a re-imagination of the original Pandora ITX case, launched last Computex, for the ATX form-factor. The Pandora ATX is scaled up in almost all ways to the original, and retains its styling. The case offers room for ATX and E-ATX motherboards, with eight expansion slot covers (so you can install a dual-slot graphics card on the bottom-most slot of your motherboard). There's room for CPU coolers as tall as 160 mm, graphics cards as long as 380 mm, and PSUs as long as 220 mm.
Storage spaces include two 3.5-inch, and three 2.5-inch internal drive bays. Cooling system is governed by a 4-channel PWM-based fan-controller, with a 2.8-inch TFT LCD display, giving you fan-speed and temperature readouts. Fan vents are aplenty, with two 140 mm (or three 120 mm) front intakes, two 140 mm (or three 120 mm) top exhausts; and a 120 mm rear exhaust. The front and top vents can each hold on to either a 3x 120 mm, or a 2x 140 mm radiator. Both these big vents have magnetic dust filters.
Storage spaces include two 3.5-inch, and three 2.5-inch internal drive bays. Cooling system is governed by a 4-channel PWM-based fan-controller, with a 2.8-inch TFT LCD display, giving you fan-speed and temperature readouts. Fan vents are aplenty, with two 140 mm (or three 120 mm) front intakes, two 140 mm (or three 120 mm) top exhausts; and a 120 mm rear exhaust. The front and top vents can each hold on to either a 3x 120 mm, or a 2x 140 mm radiator. Both these big vents have magnetic dust filters.
Aorus Unveils Two Gaming Notebooks with G-Sync
Aorus showed off its first notebooks featuring NVIDIA G-Sync technology, the 17-inch X7 Pro-Sync, and the 15-inch X5. The X7 Pro-Sync features a 17.3-inch IPS LCD screen with Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) resolution and G-Sync support, wired to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M SLI graphics. You also get a Core i7-4870HQ quad-core processor, 8 GB of RAM a gaming-grade keyboard with scissor-type switches, and up to three 512 GB SSDs in a RAID configuration of your choice.
The new X5 is what Aorus is claiming to be the world's most powerful 15-inch class notebook. It offers a 15.6-inch WQHD+ display (2880 x 1620 pixels resolution), wired to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M SLI graphics, with 2x 4GB video memory; a Core i7-5700HQ "Broadwell" CPU, 8 GB of RAM, up to 512 GB of M.2 32 Gb/s SSD storage, with two additional 2.5-inch SATA SSDs; and Killer DoubleShot networking. The case is surprisingly compact for its chops - measuring 390 (W) x 272 (D) x 22.9 (H) mm.
The new X5 is what Aorus is claiming to be the world's most powerful 15-inch class notebook. It offers a 15.6-inch WQHD+ display (2880 x 1620 pixels resolution), wired to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M SLI graphics, with 2x 4GB video memory; a Core i7-5700HQ "Broadwell" CPU, 8 GB of RAM, up to 512 GB of M.2 32 Gb/s SSD storage, with two additional 2.5-inch SATA SSDs; and Killer DoubleShot networking. The case is surprisingly compact for its chops - measuring 390 (W) x 272 (D) x 22.9 (H) mm.
Angelbird Unveils Two New PCIe SSDs
Austrian SSD maker Angelbird unveiled two new PCIe SSDs at Computex, the Wings MX2 and the Wings X2. The Wings MX2 is simple SSD with a PCI-Express 3.0 x4 host interface, and similar chops to today's M.2 (32 Gb/s) SSDs; and should appeal to enthusiasts with older boards that lack M.2 slots. The Wings X2, on the other hand, is a RAID-on-a-stick card. Its main PCB is essentially a SATA RAID card with two SATA 6 Gb/s back-planes. With two 2.5-inch SSDs (possibly the company's own Wings or SSDWrk-series drives installed, the controller puts out a host-abstract RAID 0 volume.
Akasa Also Unveils Aluminium Case for Raspberry Pi
Akasa went smaller than the NUC, with its latest case for Raspberry Pi, the DIY micro-computer that captured every budding electronics engineer's imagination. Called simply "Pi," the case is made of 4 mm-thick aluminium on 5 sides, and a tinted acrylic top. The case measures 91.5 mm x 68 mm x 35.5 mm, and features cutouts for the base-board, with standard extension boards that add the Ethernet RJ-45 connector, and additional USB ports.
Akasa Unveils Abel Series NUC Cases
For those looking to build an extremely compact NAS server that's fan-less; Akasa unveiled the Abel MT at Computex 2015. Made entirely of aluminium, with body panels that double up as heatsink for the CPU and PCH, the Abel MT can enclose a 5th generation Core "Broadwell" NUC system board. Eight types of "Broadwell" NUC system boards are supported.
A star attraction with the Abel MT, is its two 2.5-inch SATA hot-swappable drive caddies. Other features include two USB 3.0 front-panel ports, VESA mounts (letting you tuck it away behind a monitor), and cutouts for WLAN antennae. The company also unveiled the Abel S, a fan-less NUC case with roughly the same dimensions and features as the Abel MT, but with a slimline optical drive bay, instead of the two 2.5-inch caddies. The case includes front bezels for both tray-type and slot-in type optical drives.
A star attraction with the Abel MT, is its two 2.5-inch SATA hot-swappable drive caddies. Other features include two USB 3.0 front-panel ports, VESA mounts (letting you tuck it away behind a monitor), and cutouts for WLAN antennae. The company also unveiled the Abel S, a fan-less NUC case with roughly the same dimensions and features as the Abel MT, but with a slimline optical drive bay, instead of the two 2.5-inch caddies. The case includes front bezels for both tray-type and slot-in type optical drives.
Noctua Unveils Two New U-type CPU Cooler Prototypes
Noctua unveiled two new tower-type (U-type in Noctua-speak) CPU cooler prototypes, based on a new asymmetric design, which creates additional clearance over the memory slots area in a conventional motherboard. The 120 mm version is based on the NH-U12S, with heat pipes bent in a way that pushes the fin-stack a little off-center from the base; creating headroom for memory modules. The 140 mm version features a similar design, and is derived from the NH-U14S.
The 120 mm version offers 50% more surface area for heat dissipation than the NH-U12S; while the 140 mm version offer 30% more surface area than the NH-U14S. Both coolers, offer 100% clearance for memory modules. The 140 mm version has the fin-stack slanted away from not just the memory modules, but also the expansion slots, so the cooler doesn't eat into the topmost PCI-Express slot of your motherboard. Both coolers will feature next-generation 120 mm and 140 mm fans by the company.
The 120 mm version offers 50% more surface area for heat dissipation than the NH-U12S; while the 140 mm version offer 30% more surface area than the NH-U14S. Both coolers, offer 100% clearance for memory modules. The 140 mm version has the fin-stack slanted away from not just the memory modules, but also the expansion slots, so the cooler doesn't eat into the topmost PCI-Express slot of your motherboard. Both coolers will feature next-generation 120 mm and 140 mm fans by the company.
Noctua Unveils New L-type 120 mm CPU Cooler Prototype
Noctua unveiled an L-type CPU cooler prototype at Computex 2015. A design evolution of the NH-L12, the cooler features a slim aluminium fin-stack arranged along the plane of the motherboard, to which heat drawn from the CPU is conveyed by four nickel-plated copper heat pipes. This heatsink is ventilated by a new-generation NF-A9x14 fan on the top, and a 120 mm fan on the bottom. With the top fan removed, the cooler is just 65 mm tall. The cooler features the company's SecuFirm 2 mount, supporting a wide range of sockets.
Noctua Unveils Two New Slim A-series Fans
Noctua unveiled two new super-slim A-series fans at Computex 2015. These include the all-white Slim 120 mm spinner, and the Slim 200 mm. The 120 mm Slim A-series is just 15 mm thick (compared to 25 mm standard); and features an all-white frame and impeller. It features an acoustic-optimized frame, with inner surface micro-structures that serve an anti-acoustic function; and vibration-dampening pads along its frame-mount, and included rubber bolts. An SS02 bearing gives the fan six-figure-hour MTBF. The 200 mm version features all those, plus a common Noctua-brown color scheme, and a 200 mm low-noise impeller.
Noctua Announces Project Chromax - DIY Colorful Fans
Sick and tired of the brown, but can't do without Noctua quality? The company announced Project Chromax, an initiative to design new products that will give users the freedom to choose their own colors on certain parts of the fan, such as frame-mounts, and rubber bolts. Currently shown off with the company's all-black IPC 120 mm spinners, Noctua unveiled silicone-based anti-vibration frame-mounts and bolts in four colors. The company didn't announce any product with these yet, but is expected to launch a few, with such accessories.
Noctua Makes Progress with ANC Fans
Noctua announced several major design breakthroughs in its effort to design the first fan with a fully integrated active noise-cancellation system (ANC). ANC works on the principle of destructive interference in wave mechanics. As the fan blades and motor produce noise, a microphone takes in that noise to a processor, which inverts the phase of the sound, and sends it to speakers, that give out sound that interferes destructively with the noise output of the fan, reducing its amplitude.
Noctua announced breakthroughs that include a logic board that can fit into the fan's motor-hub and needn't stay in an [ugly] plastic box hanging outside the fan; and a new standards-compliant 25 mm-thick 120 mm fan design, which will pass off as any 120 mm fan; and can be easily installed on existing systems. The company also improved the ANC system magnets that run along the bore of the frame, and is working on improving the impeller design, and the software driving the ANC system. The company successfully concluded mass-production feasibility study.
Noctua announced breakthroughs that include a logic board that can fit into the fan's motor-hub and needn't stay in an [ugly] plastic box hanging outside the fan; and a new standards-compliant 25 mm-thick 120 mm fan design, which will pass off as any 120 mm fan; and can be easily installed on existing systems. The company also improved the ANC system magnets that run along the bore of the frame, and is working on improving the impeller design, and the software driving the ANC system. The company successfully concluded mass-production feasibility study.
Noctua To Give Away Skylake LGA1151 Adapters For Free
Noctua announced in its Computex 2015 presentation that the company will give away adapters that let its CPU cooler models from as far as 2005 support Intel's upcoming socket LGA1151. The company will give away NM-115x retention module, which will let you install its CPU coolers on socket LGA1151 motherboards, which drive Intel's upcoming 6th generation Core "Skylake" processors. Products in Noctua's current product-stack already support LGA1151, as the socket features an identical mount-hole spacing to its predecessors, the LGA1150, LGA1155, and LGA1156. Those with older Noctua coolers that are upgrading from another socket (eg: LGA775 or LGA1366) should be able to write to Noctua with a few simple purchase details, and receive the adapter for free.
NVIDIA Tapes Out "Pascal" Based GP100 Silicon
Sources tell 3DCenter.org that NVIDIA has successfully taped out its next big silicon based on its upcoming "Pascal" GPU architecture, codenamed GP100. A successor to GM200, this chip will be the precursor to several others based on this architecture. A tape-out means that the company has successfully made a tiny quantity of working prototypes for internal testing and further development. It's usually seen as a major milestone in a product development cycle.
With "Pascal," NVIDIA will pole-vault HBM1, which is making its debut with AMD's "Fiji" silicon; and jump straight to HBM2, which will allow SKU designers to cram up to 32 GB of video memory. 3DCenter.org speculates that GP100 could feature anywhere between 4,500 to 6,000 CUDA cores. The chip will be built on TSMC's upcoming 16 nanometer silicon fab process, which will finally hit the road by 2016. The GP100, and its companion performance-segment silicon, the GP104 (successor to GM204), are expected to launch between Q2 and Q3, 2016.
With "Pascal," NVIDIA will pole-vault HBM1, which is making its debut with AMD's "Fiji" silicon; and jump straight to HBM2, which will allow SKU designers to cram up to 32 GB of video memory. 3DCenter.org speculates that GP100 could feature anywhere between 4,500 to 6,000 CUDA cores. The chip will be built on TSMC's upcoming 16 nanometer silicon fab process, which will finally hit the road by 2016. The GP100, and its companion performance-segment silicon, the GP104 (successor to GM204), are expected to launch between Q2 and Q3, 2016.
Friday, June 5th 2015
Today's Reviews
Cases
CPU Coolers
- Gelid GX-7 i2Hard (ru)
Keyboards
Mouse
Notebooks
Processors
High-value ASRock Z170 Extreme4 Motherboard Detailed
ASRock is seeking to strike a cost-features sweet-spot around the $130-150 mark with the new Z170 Extreme4 motherboard. ASRock didn't finalize the board's heatsink design, but showed it off at Computex. This ATX form-factor, socket LGA1151 motherboard based on Intel's Z170 Express chipset, features four DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting up to 64 GB of dual-channel DDR4-3400 MHz memory. A 10-phase VRM powers the CPU. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors; and with this generation, is appears that ASRock has finally got the onboard electrical distribution right; with the board lacking any additional power inputs.
Expansion slots include two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x16/NC or x8/x8), one PCI-Express x16 (electrical x4) wired to the PCH, and three PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. Much like the beefier Z170 Extreme7, this board offers three SATA-Express 16 Gb/s ports, but just one M.2 (32 Gb/s) slot; and six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. All other essentials for this generation are covered, with two USB 3.1 ports (one each of Type-C and Type-A), and eight USB 3.0 (four on the rear panel, four by headers); 115 dBA SNR onboard audio with a headphones amp and ground-layer isolation; and a single gigabit Ethernet interface (Intel controller).
Expansion slots include two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x16/NC or x8/x8), one PCI-Express x16 (electrical x4) wired to the PCH, and three PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. Much like the beefier Z170 Extreme7, this board offers three SATA-Express 16 Gb/s ports, but just one M.2 (32 Gb/s) slot; and six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. All other essentials for this generation are covered, with two USB 3.1 ports (one each of Type-C and Type-A), and eight USB 3.0 (four on the rear panel, four by headers); 115 dBA SNR onboard audio with a headphones amp and ground-layer isolation; and a single gigabit Ethernet interface (Intel controller).
ASRock Z170 Extreme7 Motherboard Pictured Up Close
Here's one of the first pictures of ASRock's flagship socket LGA1151 motherboards from its mainline Z170 Extreme series, the Z170 Extreme7. This board offers an exhaustive feature set, and should appeal to gamers and overclockers alike. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS, with no other auxiliary inputs. The LGA1151 socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting up to 64 GB of dual-channel DDR4-3200 MHz memory; and three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x16/NC/NC or x8/x8/NC or x8/x4/x4); the fourth PCIe x16 slot is electrical x4, wired to the PCH. There's also an mPCIe slot; which will seat a WLAN+Bluetooth card on the /ac variant of this board.
The Z170 Extreme7 is the first motherboard to feature three M.2 slots, all three of which are PCIe gen 3.0 x4 (32 Gb/s). Other storage options include three SATA-Express 16 Gb/s, and ten SATA 6 Gb/s ports. The board features two USB 3.1 ports, one each of Type-C and Type-A; and eight USB 3.0 ports, four on the rear panel, four by headers. Display outputs include one each of dual-link DVI, HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2. The onboard audio is an ASRock designed Purity Sound III solution, which combines a Realtek ALC1150 CODEC with ground-layer isolation, a headphones amp, and audio-grade capacitors. Other features include dual-BIOS (manual switching), and a high-quality plastic sheath running along its I/O area.
The Z170 Extreme7 is the first motherboard to feature three M.2 slots, all three of which are PCIe gen 3.0 x4 (32 Gb/s). Other storage options include three SATA-Express 16 Gb/s, and ten SATA 6 Gb/s ports. The board features two USB 3.1 ports, one each of Type-C and Type-A; and eight USB 3.0 ports, four on the rear panel, four by headers. Display outputs include one each of dual-link DVI, HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2. The onboard audio is an ASRock designed Purity Sound III solution, which combines a Realtek ALC1150 CODEC with ground-layer isolation, a headphones amp, and audio-grade capacitors. Other features include dual-BIOS (manual switching), and a high-quality plastic sheath running along its I/O area.
Thermaltake Draws Flack for Ripping Off Other Brands' Products
Thermaltake, a brand that has been associated with DIY PC for decades, is accused of blatantly copying designs of other [smaller albeit popular] brands' products, with some of the new products it unveiled at Computex 2015. It begins with the Suppressor F51, a case that was launched just a month before Computex, and was widely reviewed by the media. Our readers almost instantly noticed (and we agree) that the Suppressor F51 bears an uncanny resemblance to the Define R5, a pioneering case by Fractal Design. We could excuse similarities to an extant, but it appears that Thermaltake copied even intricate design details.
Legit Reviews compiled a list of other products Thermaltake copied in a similar way. These include its Riing series fans, which resemble Corsair Air Series 120 mm; the Commander FT fan-controller copies some UI design elements from the NZXT Sentry 3; and the most blatant rip-off being the W2 CPU water block, which looks identical to the Swiftech Apogee XL. Perhaps the biggest victim of this episode is CaseLabs. A very small player in the PC case industry, CaseLabs is critically acclaimed, and loved by PC enthusiasts to come up with some of the most original high-end case designs. The company's Merlin SM8 and TH10 cases are copied by Thermaltake into two of its prototype cases exhibited at Computex. These examples alone are class-action bait that, if pursued, could lead to a trade-ban for Thermaltake in markets such as the US and EU.
Legit Reviews compiled a list of other products Thermaltake copied in a similar way. These include its Riing series fans, which resemble Corsair Air Series 120 mm; the Commander FT fan-controller copies some UI design elements from the NZXT Sentry 3; and the most blatant rip-off being the W2 CPU water block, which looks identical to the Swiftech Apogee XL. Perhaps the biggest victim of this episode is CaseLabs. A very small player in the PC case industry, CaseLabs is critically acclaimed, and loved by PC enthusiasts to come up with some of the most original high-end case designs. The company's Merlin SM8 and TH10 cases are copied by Thermaltake into two of its prototype cases exhibited at Computex. These examples alone are class-action bait that, if pursued, could lead to a trade-ban for Thermaltake in markets such as the US and EU.
Thursday, June 4th 2015
Today's Reviews
Cases
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Monitors
Notebooks
In Win 707 Review
The In Win 707 is the In Win 703's bigger brother, offering the full-tower experience with the same clean and asymmetrical design, but the ability to install potent water cooling and a very modular HDD cage. While the chassis is of high quality and offers the look, we cannot shake the feeling of having seen this all before.
NVIDIA Could Capitalize on AMD Graphics CoreNext Not Supporting Direct3D 12_1
AMD's Graphics CoreNext (GCN) architecture does not support Direct3D feature-level 12_1 (DirectX 12.1), according to a ComputerBase.de report. The architecture only supports Direct3D up to feature-level 12_0. Feature-level 12_1 adds three features over 12_0, namely Volume-Tiled Resources, Conservative Rasterization and Rasterizer Ordered Views.
Volume Tiled-resources, is an evolution of tiled-resources (analogous to OpenGL mega-texture), in which the GPU seeks and loads only those portions of a large texture that are relevant to the scene it's rendering, rather than loading the entire texture to the memory. Think of it as a virtual memory system for textures. This greatly reduces video memory usage and bandwidth consumption. Volume tiled-resources is a way of seeking portions of a texture not only along X and Y axes, but adds third dimension. Conservative Rasterization is a means of drawing polygons with additional pixels that make it easier for two polygons to interact with each other in dynamic objects. Raster Ordered Views is a means to optimize raster loads in the order in which they appear in an object. Practical applications include improved shadows.
Volume Tiled-resources, is an evolution of tiled-resources (analogous to OpenGL mega-texture), in which the GPU seeks and loads only those portions of a large texture that are relevant to the scene it's rendering, rather than loading the entire texture to the memory. Think of it as a virtual memory system for textures. This greatly reduces video memory usage and bandwidth consumption. Volume tiled-resources is a way of seeking portions of a texture not only along X and Y axes, but adds third dimension. Conservative Rasterization is a means of drawing polygons with additional pixels that make it easier for two polygons to interact with each other in dynamic objects. Raster Ordered Views is a means to optimize raster loads in the order in which they appear in an object. Practical applications include improved shadows.
G.Skill Shows Off Phison-powered Phoenix Blade PCIe Gen 3.0 SSD
G.Skill unveiled a product that makes it abundantly clear that Phison has established itself as not just a cheap SSD controller maker, but one that can cater to the most choosy PC enthusiasts. The second-generation Phoenix Blade PCIe SSD from G.Skill is driven by a Phison PS5007-E7 processor, which features a native PCI-Express 3.0 x4 host interface, wired to up to 1920 GB of MLC NAND flash. The drive succeeds the PCIe 2.0 x8-based first-generation drive which was launched last October. The drive offers sequential transfer rates of up to 2,600 MB/s reads, with up to 1,400 MB/s writes; and 4K random access performance of 300,000 IOPS reads, with up to 200,000 IOPS writes. The drive is designed to compete with the likes of Intel SSD 750 series, and will be competitively priced.
Giada Unveils Intel "Skylake" Based NUC
Embedded systems and IPC major Giada is one of the first to openly exhibit a NUC (next unit of computing) compact desktop based on Intel's 6th generation Core "Skylake" processor. The i80 Ultra-Compact Mini PC by Giada features a "Skylake-U" dual-core processor, meant for Ultrabooks and NUCs; and tucks in four USB 3.0 ports, 802.11 ac WLAN, gigabit Ethernet (Intel controller), mini-DisplayPort, and HDMI 2.0, with just enough room for an mSATA SSD; in a compact chassis that measures 116.6 mm x 111 mm x 47.5 mm.
EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Classified Kingpin Edition Pictured
Here are some of the first pictures of EVGA's flagship GeForce GTX 980 Ti based graphics card, the Classified Kingpin Edition. Designed and tuned by the legendary overclocker himself, the card will be the fastest GTX 980 Ti offering out of the box, by EVGA. It begins with a large PCB (though not as tall as the one on ASUS Strix), which draws power from a combination of one 6-pin and two 8-pin PCIe power connectors; conditioning it for the GPU using a 15-phase VRM, capable of an obscene amount of current at 600A, letting you stabilize your overclock.
The cooling solution is a copper mine, with a large all-copper base, from which 8 mm-thick copper heat pipes convey heat to a copper-fin array; which is ventilated by a pair of temperature-activated 100 mm spinners. The company didn't disclose clock speeds, but is hopeful of selling the fastest GTX 980 Ti in the market, which means its clock speeds could be in the same ball park as ZOTAC's GTX 980 Ti AMP Extreme.
The cooling solution is a copper mine, with a large all-copper base, from which 8 mm-thick copper heat pipes convey heat to a copper-fin array; which is ventilated by a pair of temperature-activated 100 mm spinners. The company didn't disclose clock speeds, but is hopeful of selling the fastest GTX 980 Ti in the market, which means its clock speeds could be in the same ball park as ZOTAC's GTX 980 Ti AMP Extreme.
PowerColor Shows Off its Devil Hybrid Cooling Solution
PowerColor showed off its latest custom graphics card cooling solution, the Devil Hybrid. This particular sample was shown off on a Radeon R9 290X-based prototype, which will likely never make it to the market, because AMD AIB partners cannot unveil "Fiji" based parts just yet; but is expected to feature on AMD's upcoming graphics cards. The Devil Hybrid is a combination of an AIO liquid-based GPU block, and a conventional temperature-activated single fan heatsink for the VRM. The GPU block is plumbed to a 120 mm radiator, with a PWM spinner included. Given that such a setup could tame the R9 295X2, it could prove adequate for a single GPU.
DeepCool Also Shows off GamerStorm Cube Case
In addition to the Nephrite, which makes your graphics card unmistakable at a LAN party; DeepCool also unveiled an untitled cube-shaped ITX case under its GamerStorm brand. The case features four differently-sized chambers divided by a cross-shaped partition that doubles up as a front applique.
The top-right chamber holds the mini-ITX motherboard tray, with an 80 mm fan vent, and two 3.5-inch drive trays; the top-left chamber is dedicated to the graphics card, with a tinted acrylic window on two sides. The motherboard's expansion slot protrudes into this chamber, and so no risers are required. The bottom-right chamber holds two 2.5-inch drive trays, and a portion of the case's ATX-type PSU bay. The bottom-left chamber holds a bulk of the PSU bay, with room for cable management; and a portion of the bottom 120 mm fan intake.
The top-right chamber holds the mini-ITX motherboard tray, with an 80 mm fan vent, and two 3.5-inch drive trays; the top-left chamber is dedicated to the graphics card, with a tinted acrylic window on two sides. The motherboard's expansion slot protrudes into this chamber, and so no risers are required. The bottom-right chamber holds two 2.5-inch drive trays, and a portion of the case's ATX-type PSU bay. The bottom-left chamber holds a bulk of the PSU bay, with room for cable management; and a portion of the bottom 120 mm fan intake.
DeepCool Nephrite ITX Case Lets You Flaunt Your Graphics Card to the Max
DeepCool, which is on a roll with cases such as the Tristellar, unveiled a slew of unique new case designs at Computex; beginning with the GamerStorm Nephrite. This slim, console-sized case, which measures 330 mm x 100 mm x 428 mm (DxWxH), features a two-compartment design, much like the ones we see in cases such as the RVZ02 by SilverStone, except for its asymmetric design, and its top (add-on card) compartment, which is transparent on three sides, letting you flaunt your high-end graphics card. So now, when you say your machine runs a GTX Titan X, or a Fury, you'll mean it.
The rest of the case is made of steel, with carbon fiber pattern cladding, cutouts at the right spots, and an interesting vent pattern. The motherboard tray seats a standard-height mini-ITX motherboard, with room for CPU coolers as tall as 120 mm, with a 120 mm fan mount right over it. You should have just enough room to stack an AIO liquid cooler block, with a 35 mm-thick radiator and one 25 mm-thick 120 mm spinner right over it. The case offers room for an SFX power supply. Now, if only NVIDIA bundled a $2 back-plate with its GTX Titan X, like it did with the GTX 980.
The rest of the case is made of steel, with carbon fiber pattern cladding, cutouts at the right spots, and an interesting vent pattern. The motherboard tray seats a standard-height mini-ITX motherboard, with room for CPU coolers as tall as 120 mm, with a 120 mm fan mount right over it. You should have just enough room to stack an AIO liquid cooler block, with a 35 mm-thick radiator and one 25 mm-thick 120 mm spinner right over it. The case offers room for an SFX power supply. Now, if only NVIDIA bundled a $2 back-plate with its GTX Titan X, like it did with the GTX 980.
Find a Cooler PC Case. Pro Tip: You Can't
On the first day of Computex, we sifted past the In Win 909, which at the time, we thought was a wacky enough case by In Win for this year; until the company dropped this on us, the next day. This unnamed In Win case (working title: "H-tower prototype") is being designed with the ASUS ROG brand licensed; which could be sold directly to the consumers, and part of an ASUS ROG desktop. The case looks like any heavily styled ATX mid-tower with premium aluminium panels, until you push a button, making the case open up like a blooming mech-flower from Cybertron, giving you easy access to its innards. There was nobody around the exhibit who wasn't gaping at it.
The way it opens up is so cool that we decided to take a short video (after the break).
Phanteks Unveils PSU Power Splitter for Enthoo Mini XL
Phanteks' highly desirable dual-motherboard case, the Enthoo Mini XL, was displayed with a new PSU power splitter accessory, at Computex. Simply put, this accessory lets you multiply the 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors of your PSU, so you can run both the ATX and ITX motherboards with a single PSU, with the added freedom of shutting down and powering up either board without affecting the other. The splitter takes is 'smart' in this way. It takes 24-pin and 8-pin inputs from the real PSU, and to the end user, behaves like two PSUs, so both "systems" (motherboards) can be turned on or off at whim.
Phanteks Enthoo Pro Pictured, Too
In addition to the Enthoo Evolv ATX, Phanteks showed off its sibling, the Enthoo Pro M. This mid-tower features a nearly identical inner frame to the Enthoo Evolv ATX, but with a 5.25-inch bay, and additional vents to install radiators onto. In addition to the front 280 mm mount, you get a 240 mm mount on the partition between the motherboard tray and the bottom PSU/drive compartment; and one on the top, covered by a rubber sheet, when not in use. This case if perfect, if you want the innards of the Evolv ATX, while keeping your optical drive, and some additional radiators.
Wednesday, June 3rd 2015
Today's Reviews
Cases
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Harddisks
Networking
PSUs
Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX Pictured Up Close
Phanteks upscaled the design of its critically acclaimed Enthoo Evolv ITX case to ATX standards. The new Enthoo Evolv ATX, which comes in three color options - Satin Black, Glacier White, and Anthracite Gray, retains the interior design of its ITX sibling, featuring a vast motherboard tray with room for extremely tall CPU coolers, and long graphics cards; 3.5-inch/2.5-inch drive bays lining the sides (drives oriented perpendicular to the plane of the base), and a bottom compartment that isolates the PSU and its cabling. This arrangement creates room for 280 mm front radiator.
G.Skill Showcases DDR4 Memory in Multiple Configurations at Computex
G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and solid state storage, displays the highest frequency DDR4 3800MHz kit and the largest DDR4 128GB kit running at a full 3000 MHz CL14.
After the announcement of the DDR4 3666MHz kit in May 2015, G.SKILL continued pushing DDR4 speed to new heights. At Computex this year, G.SKILL demos the ultimate DDR4 3800MHz 16GB(4x4GB) kit on two live demo systems with GIGABYTE GA-X99-SOC-Champion and ASRock Fatal1ty X99M Killer motherboards.
After the announcement of the DDR4 3666MHz kit in May 2015, G.SKILL continued pushing DDR4 speed to new heights. At Computex this year, G.SKILL demos the ultimate DDR4 3800MHz 16GB(4x4GB) kit on two live demo systems with GIGABYTE GA-X99-SOC-Champion and ASRock Fatal1ty X99M Killer motherboards.
All MSI Z97 and H97 Motherboards Support 5th Gen. Core Processors
MSI, leading in motherboard design, is proud to announce that our Z97 & H97 motherboards fully support the 5th Generation Intel Core processors! With the latest BIOS update, current MSI Z97 & H97 motherboards are completely compatible with the 5th Gen Intel Core processors, and able to unleash your system's full performance.
Committed to ensuring compatibility and performance, the MSI R&D team is making sure you never have to worry about your MSI Z97 & H97 motherboard supporting the latest generation of Intel Core processors. If you want to fully enjoy all the advantages of the 5th Generation Intel Core processors, MSI Z97 & H97 motherboards are definitely your best choice.
Committed to ensuring compatibility and performance, the MSI R&D team is making sure you never have to worry about your MSI Z97 & H97 motherboard supporting the latest generation of Intel Core processors. If you want to fully enjoy all the advantages of the 5th Generation Intel Core processors, MSI Z97 & H97 motherboards are definitely your best choice.
Silicon Motion Announces SM2256 SATA 6 Gbps SSD Controller
Silicon Motion Technology Corporation, a global leader in designing and marketing NAND flash controllers for solid state storage devices, today announced that its SM2256 SATA (6 Gb/s) client SSD controller now supports Micron's new 16 nm 128 gigabit (Gb) TLC NAND flash, enabling high-performance and unprecedented reliability for a new class of cost-effective TLC-based SSDs.
SM2256, the world's first SSD controller supporting Micron's 16nm TLC NAND, offers the best performance and cost-optimized four channel SATA 6 Gb/s client SSD controller in the market. Using Micron's 128 Gb 16 nm TLC NAND, the SM2256 delivers up to 540 MB/s sequential read performance and 460 MB/s sequential write, as well as up to 90,000 random read IOPS and 80,000 random write IOPS. Leveraging Silicon Motion's proprietary NANDXtend error-correcting code (ECC) technology, the SM2256 enhances the endurance and retention of TLC NAND, delivering more than three times better reliability for TLC SSD as compared to the existing BCH ECC schemes.
SM2256, the world's first SSD controller supporting Micron's 16nm TLC NAND, offers the best performance and cost-optimized four channel SATA 6 Gb/s client SSD controller in the market. Using Micron's 128 Gb 16 nm TLC NAND, the SM2256 delivers up to 540 MB/s sequential read performance and 460 MB/s sequential write, as well as up to 90,000 random read IOPS and 80,000 random write IOPS. Leveraging Silicon Motion's proprietary NANDXtend error-correcting code (ECC) technology, the SM2256 enhances the endurance and retention of TLC NAND, delivering more than three times better reliability for TLC SSD as compared to the existing BCH ECC schemes.
Streacom Unveils Prototype Symmetrical Case
Streacom showed off a unique new prototype case, which you can place upside down or downside up in tower orientation; or even either ways in pedestal orientation; and the case would still maintain its rigidity and design. The unnamed prototype is made of 4 mm-thick aluminium panels, and can seat ATX motherboards, with standard ATX-type PSUs. The case lacks air vents in all its panels, except the top and bottom. The PSU bay vents out on the panel. It comes with a rail system, just like the F12C, which allows for plenty of hard drives to be installed without the need of drive bays. The same parts may be used for pumps or reservoirs. The case prototype looked nearly finished even though it was hand-made, and when released later this year, could cost anywhere between $250-300.
ECS Unveils L337 Z170 Claymore and Blade
ECS unveiled two socket LGA1151 motherboards based on the Z170 Express chipset, under its L337 line of gamer-centric products - the ATX Z170-Claymore, and the micro-ATX Z170-Blade (pictured in that order). The two pictured below are pre-launch versions, the company didn't finalize their heatsink design or color-scheme. The Z170-Claymore features a 12-phase CPU VRM, four DDR4 DIMM slots, and five PCI-Express x16 slots. Of these, three are wired to the CPU (x16/NC/NC or x8/x8/NC or x8/x4/x4); and two are gen 2.0 x4, wired to the Z170 PCH. Storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gb/s, one SATA-Express 16 Gb/s, one M.2, two USB 3.1, six USB 3.0, Realtek-made gigabit Ethernet and HD audio, and 2-way SLI support. The Z170-Blade, on the other hand, is a micro-ATX board with a 9-phase CPU VRM, two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x16/NC or x8/x8), one PCIe 2.0 x1, six SATA 6 Gb/s ports, an M.2 slot; 6-channel HD audio, and gigabit Ethernet, making up the modern connectivity. Two USB 3.1 and six USB 3.0 ports make for the rest of it.
BIOSTAR Also Shows Off Micro-ATX Hi-Fi H170Z3 with Dual Memory Type Support
In addition to the Hi-Fi B150Z5, BIOSTAR unveiled the micro-ATX Hi-Fi H170Z3. Based on the H170 Express chipset, which has the same feature-set as the Z170, minus CPU overclocking and multi-GPU; the Hi-Fi H170Z3 offers a 7-phase CPU VRM, two each of DDR3 and DDR4 memory slots (you can use any one type at a given time), supporting up to 16 GB of dual-DDR3-1600 and up to 32 GB of dual-DDR4-2133; a single PCI-Express 3.0 x16 and PCIe 2.0 x1; two legacy PCI slots; and storage options that include SATA-Express, two SATA 6 Gb/s, and M.2 (10 Gb/s). An 8-channel Hi-Fi onboard audio, gigabit Ethernet, and six USB 3.0 ports, make for the rest of its modern connectivity.
BIOSTAR Shows off Hi-Fi B150Z5 with DDR3 and DDR4 Memory Slots
Here's one of the first glimpses of a socket LGA1151 motherboard featuring both DDR3 and DDR4 memory slots, the Hi-Fi B150Z5 by BIOSTAR. The board supports up to 16 GB of DDR3L-1600, and up to 32 GB of DDR4-2133. The board is driven by Intel's mid-range B150 Express chipset, and should do just fine for gaming builds with single graphics cards. Expansion slots include one PCI-Express 3.0 x16, one PCIe 2.0 x16 (electrical x4), three legacy PCI, and one PCIe 2.0 x1. Storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gb/s (from which two wire out as SATA-Express 16 Gb/s). BIOSTAR's Hi-Fi 6-channel onboard audio solution, gigabit Ethernet (Intel controller), and six USB 3.0 ports, make for the rest of its connectivity. The board features dual-UEFI BIOS.
ADATA XPG SX930 Performance SSD Detailed
ADATA unveiled its new high-performance 2.5-inch SATA SSD, the XPG SX930. Based on a JMicron-made controller, wired to 19 nm MLC NAND flash, the drive comes in capacities of 120 GB, 240 GB, and 480 GB; with sequential transfer rates of up to 565 MB/s reads, with up to 465 MB/s writes; and 4K random access performance of up to 80,000 IOPS reads with up to 70,000 IOPS writes. Built in the 7 mm-thick 2.5-inch form-factor, with SATA 6 Gb/s interface, the drive supports modern SSD features, such as TRIM and NCQ. The company didn't disclose pricing, but mentioned that the drive will come with 5-year warranties.
MSI X99-GODLIKE Gaming Audio Boost 3 Pro Solution Has Some Serious Chops
The past two generations of motherboards saw the onboard HD audio finally get a quality leap it deserved, as motherboard makers addressed the shortcomings of onboard audio in dealing with heavy gaming and audiophone headsets. We've seen things like a 115 dBA SNR CODEC by Realtek (ALC-1150), ground-layer isolation, de-pop circuits, audio-grade electrolytic capacitors, and headphones amps become essentials for today's high-end motherboard onboard audio solutions. It looks like MSI is trying to push that envelope even further with Audio Boost 3 Pro, a new onboard audio solution making its debut with the X99-GODLIKE Gaming, which could also feature on some upcoming high-end LGA1151 motherboards by the company.
To begin with, the solution consists of two separate DACs. An ESS Sabre 124 dBA SNR chip handles the front-out and headphones out channels; while a Realtek ALC1150 (115 dBA SNR) handles other analog channels in a 7.1-channel setup. The way this works is that the Realtek chip is wired to the HDA channel of the PCH, while offloading select channel D/A conversion to the Sabre chip. Further downstream to this chip is a 600Ω headphones amplifier chip by TI. Even the other analog channels have amplifier circuits. Signal loss is prevented by Nichicon Muse electrolytic capacitors. The CODEC and DAC are capped by an inner EMI shield, and the board's outer metal shroud; and is isolated from the ground-layer of the rest of the board. This solution also features Nahimic, a sound quality enhancing DSP used in the defense and aerospace industries. All analog jacks feature gold-plating. Digital outputs include optical TOSLINK. Unrelated to the audio solution, the X99-GODLIKE also features a special USB port meant for headsets, that has additional electrical stabilizers.
To begin with, the solution consists of two separate DACs. An ESS Sabre 124 dBA SNR chip handles the front-out and headphones out channels; while a Realtek ALC1150 (115 dBA SNR) handles other analog channels in a 7.1-channel setup. The way this works is that the Realtek chip is wired to the HDA channel of the PCH, while offloading select channel D/A conversion to the Sabre chip. Further downstream to this chip is a 600Ω headphones amplifier chip by TI. Even the other analog channels have amplifier circuits. Signal loss is prevented by Nichicon Muse electrolytic capacitors. The CODEC and DAC are capped by an inner EMI shield, and the board's outer metal shroud; and is isolated from the ground-layer of the rest of the board. This solution also features Nahimic, a sound quality enhancing DSP used in the defense and aerospace industries. All analog jacks feature gold-plating. Digital outputs include optical TOSLINK. Unrelated to the audio solution, the X99-GODLIKE also features a special USB port meant for headsets, that has additional electrical stabilizers.
Reeven Shows off Three New Fans
In addition to three new fan controllers, Reeven unveiled three new fans - the Euros, the ColdWing 12, and the ColdWing 14, pictured in that order. The Euros is positioned as a premium high air-flow offering. This 120 mm spinner features S-FDB bearing, which translates to an MTBF of 120,000 hours, and comes in speeds of 800, 1200, 1600, and 2000 RPM in its 3-pin variants; and 500~1200, 500~1600, and 800~2000 RPM in its 4-pin (PWM) variants.
The ColdWing 12 and ColdWing 14 are value offerings. The 120 mm ColdWing 12 features conventional sleeved bearing, with 30,000 hours MTBF. Its 3-pin variant comes in 800 RPM and 2000 RPM versions; while its 4-pin (PWM) variant offers a speed range of 300~1500 RPM. The 140 mm ColdWing 14, on the other hand, comes in 800, 1200, and 1700 RPM variants for 3-pin; and 300~1700 RPM for its 4-pin (PWM) variant. Like the ColdWing 12, it features a 30,000-hour MTBF rated sleeved bearing.
The ColdWing 12 and ColdWing 14 are value offerings. The 120 mm ColdWing 12 features conventional sleeved bearing, with 30,000 hours MTBF. Its 3-pin variant comes in 800 RPM and 2000 RPM versions; while its 4-pin (PWM) variant offers a speed range of 300~1500 RPM. The 140 mm ColdWing 14, on the other hand, comes in 800, 1200, and 1700 RPM variants for 3-pin; and 300~1700 RPM for its 4-pin (PWM) variant. Like the ColdWing 12, it features a 30,000-hour MTBF rated sleeved bearing.
Reeven Unveils Three New Fan Controllers
Reeven showed off three new fan controllers at Computex. These include the Four Eyes Touch (RFC-03), Six Eyes II (RFC-02), and Polariz (RFC-04), pictured below in that order. The Four Eyes Touch, as its name suggests, is a touchscreen-based controller, with four fan channels. The controller can put out up to 30W per channel, and can display fan speeds of up to 9,999 RPM. Its thermal probes can read temperatures of up to 99°C. The Six Eyes II combines a similar touchscreen interface, with physical buttons for switching channels. It can control six fan channels, with similar chops as the Four Eyes Touch. Lastly, there's the Polariz. This 3-channel controller has analog rotary knobs for each channel, with digital fan-speed and temperature readouts on tiny LED displays on each knob.
GIGABYTE 100 Series Motherboards First Adopter of New Intel USB 3.1 Controller
GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, is proud to announce that its 100 Series of motherboards is the world's first to feature the new Intel USB 3.1 premium I/O controller onboard, for the best I/O solution over Type-C connector. The new Intel 6th Gen. Core processor ready motherboards from GIGABYTE sports Intel USB 3.1 premium I/O controller to offer more protocol compatibility than any other I/O controller, such as USB 3.1, and in the future, DisplayPort 1.2 connectivity and Thunderbolt 3. All of this is achieved over the new popular reversible Type-C connector, making connectivity widely compatible.
Using PCIe Gen.3 x4 lanes from the chipset and Display connectivity from the processor, the USB 3.1 controller from Intel is capable of delivering a total bandwidth of 40 Gb/s. When configured to handle dual USB 3.1 connectivity either through the Type-C or Type-A connector, this means the USB 3.1 controller can deliver true simultaneous and uninterrupted 10 Gb/s bandwidth over both ports, making GIGABYTE motherboards the best USB 3.1 solution.
Using PCIe Gen.3 x4 lanes from the chipset and Display connectivity from the processor, the USB 3.1 controller from Intel is capable of delivering a total bandwidth of 40 Gb/s. When configured to handle dual USB 3.1 connectivity either through the Type-C or Type-A connector, this means the USB 3.1 controller can deliver true simultaneous and uninterrupted 10 Gb/s bandwidth over both ports, making GIGABYTE motherboards the best USB 3.1 solution.
AMD Unveils 6th Generation A-Series Processor
AMD today announced its 6th Generation A-Series Processor, the world's first high-performance Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) in a System-on-Chip (SoC) design. Previously codenamed "Carrizo," the 6th Generation AMD A-Series Processor takes advantage of extensive AMD processor and graphics IP enabling exceptional computing experiences not possible before. The 6th Generation AMD A-Series Processor is the most versatile notebook processor ever produced, built to excel at today's and tomorrow's consumer and business applications, delivering premium streaming entertainment, unmatched smooth online gaming, and innovative computing experiences, with all day unplugged performance.
The world's first high-performance Accelerated Processing Unit in a SoC design marks a number of technology firsts: the world's first High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) hardware decode support for notebooks, the first Heterogeneous Systems Architecture (HSA) 1.0-compliant design, and the first ARM TrustZone-capable high-performance APU. The new processor harnesses up to 12 Compute Cores -- 4 CPU + 8 GPU -- leveraging AMD "Excavator" cores and the third generation of AMD's award-winning Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture. The result is a groundbreaking processor that boasts more than twice the battery life of its predecessor, up to 2x faster gaming performance than competitive processors, innovative computing experiences enabled through HSA, and a premium Microsoft Windows 10 experience with support for DirectX 12, adding up to an extraordinary experience for consumers.
The world's first high-performance Accelerated Processing Unit in a SoC design marks a number of technology firsts: the world's first High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) hardware decode support for notebooks, the first Heterogeneous Systems Architecture (HSA) 1.0-compliant design, and the first ARM TrustZone-capable high-performance APU. The new processor harnesses up to 12 Compute Cores -- 4 CPU + 8 GPU -- leveraging AMD "Excavator" cores and the third generation of AMD's award-winning Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture. The result is a groundbreaking processor that boasts more than twice the battery life of its predecessor, up to 2x faster gaming performance than competitive processors, innovative computing experiences enabled through HSA, and a premium Microsoft Windows 10 experience with support for DirectX 12, adding up to an extraordinary experience for consumers.
Kingston Digital Releases USB Type-C Flash Drive
Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the release of DataTraveler microDuo 3C USB Flash drive. DataTraveler microDuo 3C has a dual interface that works with both standard USB Type-A (3.1, 3.0, 2.0) and USB Type-C ports. USB Type-C, allowing for slimmer and sleeker future devices, is an up and coming reversible connector standard that enables a single port to function as a point for data transfer, video output, charging and even power external devices.
DataTraveler microDuo 3C is an ideal way to provide up to 64GB of extra storage for the very latest smartphones, tablets and Mac computers while also working with current generation devices. Shipping later this month, the simple plug-and-play drive offers fast USB 3.1 performance with read speeds up to 100MB/s and write speeds up to 15MB/s. The light weight and small-form factor DataTraveler microDuo 3C complements portable devices and is easily transportable.
DataTraveler microDuo 3C is an ideal way to provide up to 64GB of extra storage for the very latest smartphones, tablets and Mac computers while also working with current generation devices. Shipping later this month, the simple plug-and-play drive offers fast USB 3.1 performance with read speeds up to 100MB/s and write speeds up to 15MB/s. The light weight and small-form factor DataTraveler microDuo 3C complements portable devices and is easily transportable.
First AMD "Fiji" Package Shot
AMD CEO Lisa Su unveiled the company's next flagship graphics processor at an event on the sidelines of Computex, in Taipei. Arguably the biggest GPU package, measuring in at 50 mm x 50 mm, Fiji will instead reduce graphics card PCB size, because memory has been moved to the GPU package, with four 1024-bit HBM1 stacks surrounding the GPU die on the package. We detailed the chip's memory implementation at great lengths in this article. The first graphics cards based on this chip could be unveiled at E3, two weeks from now; and market launch could follow a week later.
Philips Announces World's First Quantum-dot PC Monitor
The world's first quantum dot desktop monitor was launched today in China thanks to a partnership between MMD (Philips Monitors) and QD Vision. The Philips 27" Full HD monitor (276E6ADS) achieves 99% Adobe RGB color, making it ideal for entertainment and gaming, as well as professional photography and design. QD Vision is demonstrating the new quantum dot monitor at booth 1025 at SID Display Week.
Philips' new high-performance desktop monitors use QD Vision's Color IQ optics to deliver vibrant colors and life-like images. The Color IQ quantum dot solution, coupled with full HD resolution display, produce a professional-quality display available at a price of mainstream desktop monitors. "The E6 monitor breaks new ground, delivering superior picture quality at an exceptional value," said Chris Brown, Marketing Manager at MMD for Philips Monitors "We are proud to again lead the industry - this time with the world's first quantum dot monitor - featuring Color IQ from QD Vision."
Philips' new high-performance desktop monitors use QD Vision's Color IQ optics to deliver vibrant colors and life-like images. The Color IQ quantum dot solution, coupled with full HD resolution display, produce a professional-quality display available at a price of mainstream desktop monitors. "The E6 monitor breaks new ground, delivering superior picture quality at an exceptional value," said Chris Brown, Marketing Manager at MMD for Philips Monitors "We are proud to again lead the industry - this time with the world's first quantum dot monitor - featuring Color IQ from QD Vision."
Conexant Launches Next-Generation HD Audio CODEC
Conexant Systems, Inc. introduced an ultra-low power, high-performance HD Audio CODEC: the CX8200. Targeted to mobile PC applications including notebooks, ultrabooks and tablets, the new CX8200 intelligently drives speakers to optimize sound pressure level (SPL) while providing best-in-class speaker protection and eliminating background noise. Part of the AudioSmart 2.0 product family, the CX8200 features a fully integrated Class-D smart amplifier and interfaces directly with Conexant's innovative software to deliver flawless speech recognition and audio output that is up to several times louder using existing PC/tablet speakers.
Voice and speech communications play a critical role in people's personal and professional lives; however, the background noises and echoes that occur during Skype or Lync calls can effectively shut down communication and ruin collaboration. Conexant's AudioSmart 2.0 solutions improve the audio experience in noisy, real-world conditions and allow for a more natural collaboration experience with crystal clear playback and no background noise. The CX8200 allows users to hear what others are saying, speak naturally, listen to multimedia content at higher volume levels, make use of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) for dictation and virtual assistant applications (such as Cortana), and much more.
Voice and speech communications play a critical role in people's personal and professional lives; however, the background noises and echoes that occur during Skype or Lync calls can effectively shut down communication and ruin collaboration. Conexant's AudioSmart 2.0 solutions improve the audio experience in noisy, real-world conditions and allow for a more natural collaboration experience with crystal clear playback and no background noise. The CX8200 allows users to hear what others are saying, speak naturally, listen to multimedia content at higher volume levels, make use of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) for dictation and virtual assistant applications (such as Cortana), and much more.
Dell Announces New Generation Inspiron Laptops
Dell today announced at Computex 2015 a comprehensive new line-up of Inspiron devices, offering a wide range of technology solutions to meet families' everyday computing needs. Adding to Dell's award-winning consumer product line up, the new portfolio includes the Inspiron 5000 Series laptops, Inspiron 15 7000 Series 2-in-1, Inspiron 15 7000 Series performance notebook, Inspiron 20 & 24 3000 Series All-in-One desktops, and a full line of Inspiron Desktops. Demonstrating Dell's commitment to offering something for everyone, these new devices are available with a wide range of processor options and configurable features, enabling students, families and value-conscious shoppers to connect, learn and achieve more.
"With today's new product launches, Dell's Inspiron brand continues its legacy of developing great devices that are easy to use, employing the latest technology to help families get more out of life," said Ray Wah, vice president, Consumer Product Group, Dell. "Everyday computing is more fun when you can power video chats and games with the latest processors and graphics, or enjoy an immersive multi-media entertainment experience courtesy of brilliant front-of-screen displays with fantastic audio. From laptops to convertible 2-in-1s to desktops, we are delivering devices for every need at an exceptional value, empowering our customers to easily create and share content and connect with the people who matter the most to them."
"With today's new product launches, Dell's Inspiron brand continues its legacy of developing great devices that are easy to use, employing the latest technology to help families get more out of life," said Ray Wah, vice president, Consumer Product Group, Dell. "Everyday computing is more fun when you can power video chats and games with the latest processors and graphics, or enjoy an immersive multi-media entertainment experience courtesy of brilliant front-of-screen displays with fantastic audio. From laptops to convertible 2-in-1s to desktops, we are delivering devices for every need at an exceptional value, empowering our customers to easily create and share content and connect with the people who matter the most to them."
G.Skill Showcases Ripjaws Series Gaming Peripherals
G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and solid state storage, is excited to showcase a completely new series of high end gaming peripherals at Computex 2015! The new Ripjaws series gaming peripherals include two mechanical gaming keyboards, a RGB gaming mouse, and two 7.1 surround sound headsets.
Available in two lighting flavors, full range RGB and crimson red, the KM780 RGB and KM780 MX are fully loaded mechanical keyboards designed and built with durability and practicality in mind for the ultimate gaming and typing experience. Featuring Cherry MX Red and Brown key switches with 50 million key-press lifecycle and a braided 2.0m USB cable, allows the Ripjaws KM780 series keyboard to last for years of daily usage.
Available in two lighting flavors, full range RGB and crimson red, the KM780 RGB and KM780 MX are fully loaded mechanical keyboards designed and built with durability and practicality in mind for the ultimate gaming and typing experience. Featuring Cherry MX Red and Brown key switches with 50 million key-press lifecycle and a braided 2.0m USB cable, allows the Ripjaws KM780 series keyboard to last for years of daily usage.
G.Skill Showcases Ripjaws Power Supply Series
G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and solid state storage, showcases its new Ripjaws series PC power supply units at Computex 2015.
The G.SKILL Ripjaws series PC power supply units consists of four models ranging from 750 watts up to 1250 watts, suitable for the needs of all PC system builders whether it's a high-end workstation or a gaming oriented system. All four Ripjaws series PSU feature a full module design that allows cleaner cable management and better case airflow.
The G.SKILL Ripjaws series PC power supply units consists of four models ranging from 750 watts up to 1250 watts, suitable for the needs of all PC system builders whether it's a high-end workstation or a gaming oriented system. All four Ripjaws series PSU feature a full module design that allows cleaner cable management and better case airflow.
G.Skill Showcases New Trident Z series DDR4 Memory
G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and solid state storage, showcases the brand new Trident Z series of DDR4 memory designed for PC enthusiasts.
With numerous overclocking records under its belt, G.SKILL TridentX series is known as the most powerful overclocking memory series in the PC enthusiast community. The new Trident Z series comes with high quality aluminum heatspreaders and a customized bar in various colors, providing PC builders the options to match their own system's color scheme, while maintaining efficient heat dissipation.
With numerous overclocking records under its belt, G.SKILL TridentX series is known as the most powerful overclocking memory series in the PC enthusiast community. The new Trident Z series comes with high quality aluminum heatspreaders and a customized bar in various colors, providing PC builders the options to match their own system's color scheme, while maintaining efficient heat dissipation.
Announcing the Killer Wireless-AC 1535 Controller
Rivet Networks, a leading maker of high performance networking products, today launched the Killer Wireless-AC 1535, the world's first network adapter to offer ExtremeRange Technology redefining the wireless experience by delivering up to 150 Mbps of additional throughput at ranges beyond 10 meters.
Gamers and performance users are now free to enjoy their online experience at greater distances from their wireless access point than before thanks to Killer's new ExtremeRange Technology, with two external amplifiers plus full MU-MIMO and Transmit Beamforming support that extends intelligence and control while increasing wireless networking speed.
Gamers and performance users are now free to enjoy their online experience at greater distances from their wireless access point than before thanks to Killer's new ExtremeRange Technology, with two external amplifiers plus full MU-MIMO and Transmit Beamforming support that extends intelligence and control while increasing wireless networking speed.
Tuesday, June 2nd 2015
Today's Reviews
Cases
Cooling
CPU Coolers
Desktop PC
Graphics Cards
Harddisks
Keyboards
Speakers
- Edifier C3X PC Max (de)
SSD
CRYORIG H7 Universal Review
CRYORIG continues to push ever forward with, this time, the H7 Universal. Poised to take the entry level market by storm with an affordable price and exceptional features, this smaller sibling to the H5 Universal proves more than a match for the competition, its performance packing a serious punch considering its size.
Reeven Unveils a Trio of Low-profile CPU Coolers
Reeven showed off a trio of low-profile top-flow CPU coolers, some meant to simply replace your stock cooling, others to lower noise, and increase OC headroom. The lineup begins with the Steropes (RC-1206). This 60 mm tall cooler (including fan), features a large (120 x 120 mm size) aluminium fin-stack, which is just tall enough to stay above key motherboard components on a mini-ITX board, while still leaving room for standard height memory modules, and the PCI-Express slot. The cooler is ventilated by a 12 mm-thick 120 mm fan.
Next up, is the Brontes (RC-1001). This cooler is even shorter than the Steropes at just 59 mm, but has lower clearance below the fin-stack, and uses a 12 mm-thick 100 mm fan. The cooler itself measures 105 mm x 59 mm x 114 mm. Lastly, there's the Vanxie (RC-0801). This 33 mm tall cooler is just about the size of a reference Intel heatsink; and has almost no clearance below the fin-stack. It's ventilated by a 10.8 mm-thick 80 mm spinner; and measures 80 mm x 33 mm x 93 mm. All three coolers support Intel LGA115x and AMD AM1, AM3+, and FM2+ socket types (under 100W TDP).
Next up, is the Brontes (RC-1001). This cooler is even shorter than the Steropes at just 59 mm, but has lower clearance below the fin-stack, and uses a 12 mm-thick 100 mm fan. The cooler itself measures 105 mm x 59 mm x 114 mm. Lastly, there's the Vanxie (RC-0801). This 33 mm tall cooler is just about the size of a reference Intel heatsink; and has almost no clearance below the fin-stack. It's ventilated by a 10.8 mm-thick 80 mm spinner; and measures 80 mm x 33 mm x 93 mm. All three coolers support Intel LGA115x and AMD AM1, AM3+, and FM2+ socket types (under 100W TDP).
SilverStone Raven X RVX01 Pictured
The centerpiece at SilverStone's Computex booth was the might Raven X (RVX01). This ATX tower features a top-oriented motherboard tray, in which expansion slots and the rear I/O point upwards. One major advantage of this orientation is better conventional heat exhaust, and minimized PCB bending on long graphics cards thanks to Lady Gravity. The case comes in black with red tones. The RVX01 features tons of 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drive bays located along its inner panels; fan mounts that include a rear 120 mm exhaust, a 120 mm top exhaust, and three 120 mm bottom intakes. Measuring 195 mm x 473 mm x 470 mm (WxHxD), the case is made of a steel frame with ABS front panels.
SilverStone CS380 Lets You Combine a Gaming PC with a Home NAS
Want a compact gaming PC that doubles up as a home storage? The CS380 "Compact Storage" case could be worth checking out. This micro-ATX case features an aluminium door (with noise-dampening material), steel frame, and ABS front panel bits. Behind the door are eight 3.5-inch drive caddies, with SATA backplanes, which let you hot-swap drives; and a standard 5.25-inch drive bay. Apart from the eight 3.5-inch caddies, the case has two internal 2.5-inch drive bays (for OS drives).
The eight 3.5-inch caddies are split between two drive cages of four; which are separated by room meant for long graphics cards. Its ventilation includes two 92 mm front intakes (located in the space between the drive cages); two 120 mm side vents, two 120 mm top vents (which can hold on to a 240 mm radiator); and a 120 mm rear exhaust. The case measures 212 mm x 435 mm x 444 mm (WxHxD).
The eight 3.5-inch caddies are split between two drive cages of four; which are separated by room meant for long graphics cards. Its ventilation includes two 92 mm front intakes (located in the space between the drive cages); two 120 mm side vents, two 120 mm top vents (which can hold on to a 240 mm radiator); and a 120 mm rear exhaust. The case measures 212 mm x 435 mm x 444 mm (WxHxD).
SilverStone Milo ML08 is the Refined Cousin of the RVZ02
SilverStone is spoiling you for choice with console-size premium mini-ITX cases. First, it was the second-generation Raven Z (RVZ02), and now, the Milo ML08. This case offers a similar feature-set to its Raven cousin, but with a more restrained and subtle styling, and a handlebar, that lets you carry the case around. Measuring 380 mm x 87 mm x 370 mm (WxHxD), the case features a steel frame, with ABS front panel. Inside, you get the same SFX PSU bay, a slimline optical drive bay, two to three 2.5-inch/3.5-inch drive bays, a full-height graphics card bay, and oversized air vents over the CPU/motherboard area.
SilverStone Unveils Raven RVZ02 Mini-ITX Gaming Chassis
SilverStone gave its iconic Raven Z console-sized mini-ITX gaming PC chassis an update, with the RVZ02. The case now has a new front facade that's a departure from the ridged RVZ01, with fewer design character lines, and a cool "V-shaped" central LED cluster. The case has room for a standard-height mini-ITX motherboard, a full-height dual-slot graphics card, an SFX form-factor PSU, a slimline optical drive bay, and multiple internal 2.5-inch drives.
The demo build by SilverStone at the Computex show-floor dropped jaws, with a Core i7 "Haswell-E" processor, SilverStone Argon AR06 low-profile CPU cooler, ASRock X99E-ITX/ac motherboard, 16 GB of dual-channel DDR4-2933 memory by GeIL, ASUS GeForce GTX 980 STRIX graphics, SilverStone SX600-G SFX power supply, and an ADATA 256 GB SSD.
The demo build by SilverStone at the Computex show-floor dropped jaws, with a Core i7 "Haswell-E" processor, SilverStone Argon AR06 low-profile CPU cooler, ASRock X99E-ITX/ac motherboard, 16 GB of dual-channel DDR4-2933 memory by GeIL, ASUS GeForce GTX 980 STRIX graphics, SilverStone SX600-G SFX power supply, and an ADATA 256 GB SSD.
SilverStone Petite PT20 "Broadwell" NUC Case Picture
SilverStone's foray into the super-compact NUC enclosure market is led by its Petite series. Picture here, is the PT20, the company's enclosure for Intel Core "Broadwell" equipped NUC boards. The case may look aluminium, but is made of SECC steel. Measuring 125 mm x 50 mm x 110 mm (WxHxD), the case features a single 2.5-inch drive bay, cutouts at the right spots, including two USB 3.0 front-panel ports.
SilverStone ZEUS Series Smart PSU Pictured
Here's the first picture of SilverStone's next flagship smart-PSU line, the ZEUS. The company is expected to launch these in several high-Wattage variants, the one on display here is the 1200W variant. This fully-modular unit has enough juice and straws to power a GTX 980 Ti Quad-SLI machine. Its key features include a single +12V rail design, with a single 100A rail, 80 Plus Platinum efficiency, a temperature-activated 140 mm fan, which stays off below a temperature/load threshold, most modern electrical protection mechanisms, and an onboard sensor suite. The PSU talks to your system over USB (internal USB 2.0/1.1 connector), interfacing with a neat little tool that lets you monitor temperature, power-draw, efficiency, and other parameters for each of its voltage domains; and lets you customize its fan speeds.
SilverStone SFX-L 700W PSU Pictured Up Close
Here are some of the first pictures up-close of the SX700-LPT, the first 700W PSU in the SFX-L form-factor, which is smaller than ATX, but slightly bigger than conventional SFX. This unit features fully modular cabling, a single +12V rail design, 80 Plus Platinum efficiency, and enough juice and straws for a gaming PC build with up to two high-end graphics cards. Many of SilverStone's upcoming compact cases, including those for the living room and the desk, could feature SFX-L bays. The company will include SFX-L to ATX adapters, so you can use it in conventional cases.
Nanoxia Announces CoolForce PC Case Series
This week it's all about Computex 2015 - and all our fans know that Computex means new Nanoxia products: We revealed our first PC-case, the Deep Silence 1, during Computex 2012. The Deep Silence 4, Deep Silence 5 and Deep Silence 6 have been introduced during Computex 2013. To keep in this tradition, on this opening day of Computex 2015, we want to introduce a complete new range of PC-Cases: The Nanoxia CoolForce Series!
The CoolForce Series will offer an outstanding price-performance ratio. Five different models will be made available, offering a variety of features at very attractive prices. As with the Deep Silence Series, we made sure that the different models will be easily recognizable as belonging to the same family.
The CoolForce Series will offer an outstanding price-performance ratio. Five different models will be made available, offering a variety of features at very attractive prices. As with the Deep Silence Series, we made sure that the different models will be easily recognizable as belonging to the same family.
Team Shows Off L3 EVO Line of Cost-effective SATA SSDs
Team Group unveiled its cost-effective L3 EVO line of SATA SSDs. Making use of TLC NAND flash chips, these drives come in capacities of 240 GB, 480 GB, and 960 GB (pictured below). The 240 GB and 480 GB variants offer sequential speeds of up to 560 MB/s, with up to 540 MB/s writes; with up to 85,000 IOPS reads and up to 90,000 IOPS writes, in 4K random access performance. The company didn't put out performance figures of the 960 GB variant. The drives feature SATA 6 Gb/s interface, are 7 mm-thick, and support all modern SATA SSD features, including TRIM, NCQ, native AES acceleration, and SMART.
Team Shows off its Flagship M.2 PCIe SSD
Team Group showed off its flagship M.2 PCIe SSD at Computex, the TM8FP7 series. Available in 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB sizes, the drive takes advantage of PCI-Express 3.0 x4 (32 Gb/s), and offers up to 2,300 MB/s reads with up to 380 MB/s writes on its smallest variant, and up to 2,500 MB/s reads with up to 720 MB/s writes on its biggest one. The drive uses MLC NAND flash, supports DevSleep and TRIM, although there's no word on whether its controller supports NVMe.
Team Unveils Three New Premium DDR4 Memory Lines
Team Group showed off three new premium DDR4 memory lines at Computex. It begins with the iconic Team Xtreem brand. The company launched the Xtreem LE (18th Anniversary Limited Edition), a double-height module made with binned DRAM chips, and rigorous QA, that results in DDR4-3400 at 16-16-16-36, with 1.35V DRAM voltage. The module PCB is green, but is topped off with a thick black aluminium heatsink, with a soft-gold beam running along its top.
Next up, is the most imaginatively named of the lot, the Team Gaming OC. These blood-red modules feature a 2-layer aluminium heatsink cooling the DRAM chips. Though the heatsink isn't as tall as the one on the Team Xtreem LE, it is decked with red or green LEDs. These modules offer DDR4-3000 with 16-16-16-36, at 1.35V. Last of the three, is the new Team Dark 128 GB memory kit, made up of eight 16 GB modules. These modules do DDR4-2666 at 15-17-17-35, with 1.2V DRAM voltage.
Next up, is the most imaginatively named of the lot, the Team Gaming OC. These blood-red modules feature a 2-layer aluminium heatsink cooling the DRAM chips. Though the heatsink isn't as tall as the one on the Team Xtreem LE, it is decked with red or green LEDs. These modules offer DDR4-3000 with 16-16-16-36, at 1.35V. Last of the three, is the new Team Dark 128 GB memory kit, made up of eight 16 GB modules. These modules do DDR4-2666 at 15-17-17-35, with 1.2V DRAM voltage.
Shuttle Unveils Robust PCs with Built-in Broadwell Core i3, i5 and i7 Processors
Up to now, absolute noiselessness combined with compact dimensions meant sacrificing computing performance. Whenever high performance was called for, an active cooling system always had to be fitted. Shuttle now makes a difference and demonstrates that fanless computers and speed are no longer mutually exclusive.
Shuttle is adding three new models to expand its DS series in one fell swoop. The existing DS57U is now complemented in European stores by the DS57U3, DS57U5 and DS57U7 all with soldered Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors. The four models, all in black, are based on 14 nm Broadwell micro-architecture, featuring extremely low energy consumption and an improved graphics unit.
Shuttle is adding three new models to expand its DS series in one fell swoop. The existing DS57U is now complemented in European stores by the DS57U3, DS57U5 and DS57U7 all with soldered Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors. The four models, all in black, are based on 14 nm Broadwell micro-architecture, featuring extremely low energy consumption and an improved graphics unit.
New Version of Crucial SSD Software Enhances Burst Performance
Crucial, a leading global brand of memory and storage upgrades, today announced significant updates to its Storage Executive tool. The new version (3.20) features Momentum Cache, an intelligent caching feature that can enhance burst performance by up to 10x[1], and allows users to extend SSD lifetime by reducing redundant writes. The tool uses idle memory for caching as needed, and installs easily via the Storage Executive interface.
In addition to the new features, Storage Executive also allows users to:
In addition to the new features, Storage Executive also allows users to:
- Update to the latest firmware
- Monitor drive's temperature and health
- Reset the drive's encryption password
- Easily check how much storage has been used
Crucial Announces Ballistix DDR4 16GB Memory Modules
Crucial, a leading global brand of memory and storage upgrades, today announced Crucial Ballistix DDR4 16GB performance memory. Ideal for gamers and enthusiasts who deal with content creation, virtual machines, RAM drives, and memory-intensive applications, the new Ballistix modules leverage Micron's new 8Gb DDR4 component technology to offer up the highest density DDR4 memory to date.
Until now, only expensive server systems have been able to reach these memory densities, but with Ballistix DDR4 16GB modules, users can achieve greater densities on high-end desktop systems like the latest Intel X99 platforms. Available across Sport LT, Tactical, and Elite product lines, each module includes Intel XMP 2.0 profiles for easy setup and support.
Until now, only expensive server systems have been able to reach these memory densities, but with Ballistix DDR4 16GB modules, users can achieve greater densities on high-end desktop systems like the latest Intel X99 platforms. Available across Sport LT, Tactical, and Elite product lines, each module includes Intel XMP 2.0 profiles for easy setup and support.
Crucial Announces 8GB-based DDR4 Server Memory
Crucial, a leading global brand of memory and storage upgrades, is now sampling Crucial DDR4 2400MT/s 8Gb-based RDIMM, LRDIMM, and ECC UDIMM server modules through its Technology Enablement Program. Engineered to enable higher density modules, 8Gb-based DDR4 memory allows for increased performance, bandwidth, and energy efficiency.
Higher density modules, when combined with the next DDR4 speed increase of 2400MT/s, create greater channel bandwidth and channel density, as well as increased energy efficiency. Ultimately, these benefits provide more value per gigabit than current 4Gb-based offerings. Taken together, the increase in density, bandwidth, and value deliver a lower total cost of ownership for users.
Higher density modules, when combined with the next DDR4 speed increase of 2400MT/s, create greater channel bandwidth and channel density, as well as increased energy efficiency. Ultimately, these benefits provide more value per gigabit than current 4Gb-based offerings. Taken together, the increase in density, bandwidth, and value deliver a lower total cost of ownership for users.
Intel Leads a New Era of Computing Experiences
Intel Corporation today announced products and solutions that will deliver new user experiences and support the computing ecosystem's expansion into new areas. During the opening keynote address at Computex 2015, Kirk Skaugen, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Client Computing Group encouraged the Taiwan ecosystem to work together and capture the opportunity to shape the future of computing.
"The power of Moore's Law has enabled incredible computing innovation over the past 50 years and because of it, nearly everything in the future will have the ability to compute and connect," said Skaugen. "Our 30-year history of collaboration with Taiwan has delivered historic innovation to the world, from personal computing to the cloud and data centers. The next 30 years will see even greater innovation as we deliver new computing experiences and bring intelligence and connectivity to the Internet of Things together."
"The power of Moore's Law has enabled incredible computing innovation over the past 50 years and because of it, nearly everything in the future will have the ability to compute and connect," said Skaugen. "Our 30-year history of collaboration with Taiwan has delivered historic innovation to the world, from personal computing to the cloud and data centers. The next 30 years will see even greater innovation as we deliver new computing experiences and bring intelligence and connectivity to the Internet of Things together."
Jim Anderson Joins AMD to Lead Computing and Graphics Business Group
AMD today announced that Jim Anderson (43) has joined the company as senior vice president and general manager of AMD's Computing and Graphics (CG) business group, reporting to President and CEO Dr. Lisa Su. Anderson will be responsible for managing all aspects of strategy, business management, engineering, and sales for AMD's computing and graphics products and solutions.
"Jim's business and technical expertise make him another strong addition to AMD's leadership team," said Dr. Su. "His deep industry knowledge and proven ability to transform businesses to drive profitable growth make him the ideal candidate to lead the Computing and Graphics business."
"Jim's business and technical expertise make him another strong addition to AMD's leadership team," said Dr. Su. "His deep industry knowledge and proven ability to transform businesses to drive profitable growth make him the ideal candidate to lead the Computing and Graphics business."
Cooler Master Rekindles Maker Spirit, Launches "Make It Yours" Slogan
Cooler Master is launching a new slogan: "Make It Yours." The slogan kicks off a new drive to harness "the Maker Spirit" in Cooler Master's products and community.
"The maker spirit is that curiosity to know how and why things work, and the satisfaction that stems from taking ownership of something you make," said Roger Lin, Cooler Master's Chief Executive Officer. "People want unique products to express themselves, that's human nature."
As part of a drive to capture the maker spirit earlier this year, Cooler Master invited a team of renowned PC industry veterans, including Richard Surroz from the US, Peter Brands and Richard Kier of the Netherlands, Mathieu Heredia of France, and Ronnie Hara of Brazil (by way of Japan), to Taipei for a week-long workshop on the future of case technology.
"The maker spirit is that curiosity to know how and why things work, and the satisfaction that stems from taking ownership of something you make," said Roger Lin, Cooler Master's Chief Executive Officer. "People want unique products to express themselves, that's human nature."
As part of a drive to capture the maker spirit earlier this year, Cooler Master invited a team of renowned PC industry veterans, including Richard Surroz from the US, Peter Brands and Richard Kier of the Netherlands, Mathieu Heredia of France, and Ronnie Hara of Brazil (by way of Japan), to Taipei for a week-long workshop on the future of case technology.
ASUS Z170 Motherboard Lineup to Retail Design Scheme from X99 Series
ASUS' mainline motherboard lineup based on the upcoming Intel Z170 chipset could retain the black + glossy white design scheme from the company's X99 mainline motherboard series. The company showed off its premium upper-mid segment Z170-Pro motherboard, which could be sold around the $170-$190 price range. This socket LGA1151 motherboard offers a 16-phase CPU VRM, a new high-capacity VRM heatsink design; and four DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting up to 64 GB of dual-channel DDR4-3000 memory.
Expansion slots include three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x16/NC/NC or x8/x8/NC or x8/x4/x4), and four PCI-Express 2.0 x1. Storage connectivity includes eight SATA 6 Gb/s, from which two wire out as a SATA-Express 16 Gb/s slot; and an M.2 slot. Other modern connectivity includes two USB 3.1 ports, eight USB 3.0 ports, two Intel-driven gigabit Ethernet interfaces, 802.11 ac WLAN with Bluetooth 4.0, and Crystal Sound 2 audio (115 dBA SNR CODEC, ground-layer isolation, audio-grade capacitors, EMI shielding, and DTS Ultra PC II).
Expansion slots include three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x16/NC/NC or x8/x8/NC or x8/x4/x4), and four PCI-Express 2.0 x1. Storage connectivity includes eight SATA 6 Gb/s, from which two wire out as a SATA-Express 16 Gb/s slot; and an M.2 slot. Other modern connectivity includes two USB 3.1 ports, eight USB 3.0 ports, two Intel-driven gigabit Ethernet interfaces, 802.11 ac WLAN with Bluetooth 4.0, and Crystal Sound 2 audio (115 dBA SNR CODEC, ground-layer isolation, audio-grade capacitors, EMI shielding, and DTS Ultra PC II).
ASUS Triple-fan STRIX Cooler Pictured, Debuts with GTX 980 Ti
ASUS' new generation triple-fan STRIX cooling solution was up on display at Computex. This gargantuan cooler will make its debut with the GeForce GTX 980 Ti STRIX OC, and is designed to tame the 250W TDP chip, by staying completely silent until the chip breaches a 65°C temperature threshold, and staying low-noise beyond that. It features a very large aluminium fin-stack, to which heat drawn directly from the GPU die is conveyed by 10 mm-thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes. The heatsink is ventilated by three 100 mm fans, with independent speed control using ASUS GPU Tweak tool. The GTX 980 Ti STRIX features a huge PCB that's 1.5x the standard add-on card height; and features a back-plate. It will ship with a 15% factory-overclock.
Fractal Design Gives its Kelvin Line of AIO Liquid Coolers a Design Update
Fractal Design gave its Kelvin line of all-in-one liquid CPU coolers a design update. The 120 mm T12, 240 mm S24, and 360 mm S36, now come with newer Dynamic GP-12 PWM fans, which offer quieter operation and increased air-flow (500-2,000 RPM speed range); a 9V speed control adapter for the pump; an improved fill-port design, which can be opened with a coin, letting you replace or top-up the coolant; and new PH2 heads on the radiator screws, so you no longer need an Allen key to deal with them.
Fractal Design Core 500 Detailed - Small Footprint, Big Potential
Fractal Design's other new case unveiling this Computex is the Core 500, which goes with the catchphrase "small footprint, big potential." This cube-shaped mini-ITX case is intended more for the desk than your living room. It has all the goods to let you build a mean gaming box with a high-end graphics card, and liquid cooling. Measuring 250 x 203 x 367 mm, the case features a multi-chambered design, with a horizontal main partition.
Inside the Core 500, there's room for CPU coolers as tall as 170 mm, graphics cards as long as 310 mm, and ATX PSUs as long as 170 mm (160 mm in case of modular PSUs). Storage areas include a 5.25-inch drive bay, with three each of 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch bays. Ventilation is care of as 140 mm rear exhaust (a Fractal Silent R3 1K RPM spinner comes included), and two 140 mm top vents, which can hold on to 140 x 280 mm radiators (140 x 140 mm can be used without having to remove the 5.25-inch bay). The side and top vents feature magnetic dust filters. Front panel connectivity includes two USB 3.0 ports (standard header) and HDA audio jacks. The Core 500 will be priced at US $59.99.
Inside the Core 500, there's room for CPU coolers as tall as 170 mm, graphics cards as long as 310 mm, and ATX PSUs as long as 170 mm (160 mm in case of modular PSUs). Storage areas include a 5.25-inch drive bay, with three each of 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch bays. Ventilation is care of as 140 mm rear exhaust (a Fractal Silent R3 1K RPM spinner comes included), and two 140 mm top vents, which can hold on to 140 x 280 mm radiators (140 x 140 mm can be used without having to remove the 5.25-inch bay). The side and top vents feature magnetic dust filters. Front panel connectivity includes two USB 3.0 ports (standard header) and HDA audio jacks. The Core 500 will be priced at US $59.99.
Fractal Design Node 202 and Node 202+ Pictured
Fractal Design showed off its latest wares at Computex, beginning with the Node 202 and Node 202+ mini-ITX cases for HTPC builds. Featuring a slick, minimalist design, and dimensions that compare to game consoles (10.2L volume, 377 x 82 x 330 mm), the Node 202 has room for a standard-height mini-ITX motherboard, CPU coolers up to 56 mm tall, an SFX power supply, a full-height, dual-slot graphics card (using a PCIe x16 riser) up to 31 cm long; and two 2.5-inch internal drives.
There are two 120 mm fan mounts in the add-on card chamber, with dust filters. One such dust filter hovers over the CPU socket area, so your cooler doesn't breathe in dust. The Node 202+ has all that, plus a factory-fitted Fractal Design Integra 450W SFX PSU, with 80 Plus Bronze certification, 24-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS, and two each of 6+2 pin PCIe and SATA power connectors. The Node 202 will be priced at US $79.99; the Node 202+ will go for $139.99.
There are two 120 mm fan mounts in the add-on card chamber, with dust filters. One such dust filter hovers over the CPU socket area, so your cooler doesn't breathe in dust. The Node 202+ has all that, plus a factory-fitted Fractal Design Integra 450W SFX PSU, with 80 Plus Bronze certification, 24-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS, and two each of 6+2 pin PCIe and SATA power connectors. The Node 202 will be priced at US $79.99; the Node 202+ will go for $139.99.
Cooler Master Launches the MasterCase
Cooler Master is excited to announce the launch of the MasterCase, the world's first mid-sized modular tower with exterior expandability. The MasterCase heralds a new family of cases that offer unparalleled control over form and function. It draws inspiration from the MasterConcept, a revolutionary concept case developed at Cooler Master Headquarters in Taipei.
"The MasterConcept represents a vision that every person's PC case should be unique, and is a first step in a fundamental reimagining of our relationship with our fans and supporters," said PS Tang, Vice President, Cooler Master. "Inspired by the MasterConcept's revolutionary approach to interior and exterior modularity, the MasterCase represents the crest of this new wave of case technology."
"The MasterConcept represents a vision that every person's PC case should be unique, and is a first step in a fundamental reimagining of our relationship with our fans and supporters," said PS Tang, Vice President, Cooler Master. "Inspired by the MasterConcept's revolutionary approach to interior and exterior modularity, the MasterCase represents the crest of this new wave of case technology."
Patriot Releases EP Pro microSDHC/SDXC 4K Capable Card
Patriot, a leading manufacturer of USB Flash, mobile accessories, computer memory and SSDs, announced the release of the latest addition to its 4K capable cards, the EP Pro micorSDXC Class 10, UHS-I U3 card.
Compliant with the latest SD Association specifications for Class 10 UHS-I U3 cards, it is perfect for 4K recording. The Patriot EP Pro microSDXC Card reaches speeds of up to 95 MB/s read and 80 MB/s write. Capable of capturing a range of video and still images the EP Pro microSDXC can shoot video in Full HD, Ultra HD and 4K2K as well as capture continuous still image shooting in HD. Ideal for the extreme sports enthusiast, outdoorsmen and professional photographers the EP Pro microSDXC Card is the ideal choice for the latest action camera, Android smartphone or tablet.
Compliant with the latest SD Association specifications for Class 10 UHS-I U3 cards, it is perfect for 4K recording. The Patriot EP Pro microSDXC Card reaches speeds of up to 95 MB/s read and 80 MB/s write. Capable of capturing a range of video and still images the EP Pro microSDXC can shoot video in Full HD, Ultra HD and 4K2K as well as capture continuous still image shooting in HD. Ideal for the extreme sports enthusiast, outdoorsmen and professional photographers the EP Pro microSDXC Card is the ideal choice for the latest action camera, Android smartphone or tablet.
CRYORIG Reveals the A Series of Hybrid Liquid Coolers, and IoT enabled PSU
At this year's Computex, CRYORIG is revealing the next generation of Hybrid Liquid Cooling (HLC) units and IoT enabled power supply units. CRYORIG's new A Series A40, A40 Ultimate and A80 Hybrid Liquid Cooling units combines the strength of both Air Cooling and Liquid Cooling in an innovative package. CRYORIG's Pi Series of Power Supply Units with IoT or Internet of Things capability, allows users to remotely control their PSU unit's through phones apps.
CRYORIG's A Series Hybrid Liquid Cooling (HLC) products is designed to solve one of the major problems with Closed Loop Cooling liquid units, which is the severe lack of airflow for the CPU's surrounding components. At Computex, CRYORIG's live thermal imaging demo shows the potential impact of how HLC can benefit the system. Heat imaging shows a drastic drop of over 10° Celsius in regions of the surrounding Voltage Regulator Modules, RAM and even the GPU card can benefit from added airflow from CRYORIG's patent pending proprietary Airflow Circulator fan.
CRYORIG's A Series Hybrid Liquid Cooling (HLC) products is designed to solve one of the major problems with Closed Loop Cooling liquid units, which is the severe lack of airflow for the CPU's surrounding components. At Computex, CRYORIG's live thermal imaging demo shows the potential impact of how HLC can benefit the system. Heat imaging shows a drastic drop of over 10° Celsius in regions of the surrounding Voltage Regulator Modules, RAM and even the GPU card can benefit from added airflow from CRYORIG's patent pending proprietary Airflow Circulator fan.
Patriot Arms Gamers with Viper Line of Gaming Accessories
Patriot, a leading manufacturer of mobile accessories, computer and USB memory, announces their Viper line of gaming accessories. Designed for the most fervent gamers, the Viper collection includes a mechanical keyboard, headset, and two mice to maximize gaming performance.
"Gamers already use Patriot's Viper Memory for superior performance in gaming and we wanted to provide them with a full ecosystem of accessories that speak to their needs with exceptional tactical advantages and a true gaming experience," says Saeed Arash Far, Global Director of Engineering at Patriot. "The Viper line of accessories blasts itself into the competition with four products that not only have key differentiators, but also provides a huge value proposition to all gamers."
"Gamers already use Patriot's Viper Memory for superior performance in gaming and we wanted to provide them with a full ecosystem of accessories that speak to their needs with exceptional tactical advantages and a true gaming experience," says Saeed Arash Far, Global Director of Engineering at Patriot. "The Viper line of accessories blasts itself into the competition with four products that not only have key differentiators, but also provides a huge value proposition to all gamers."
Monday, June 1st 2015
Today's Reviews
Cases
CPU Coolers
Desktop PC
Graphics Cards
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB Bjorn3D
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB Cowcotland (fr)
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB Guru3D
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB Hardware Asylum
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB HardwareCanucks
- EVGA GTX 980 Ti SC Hi Tech Legion
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB Hi Tech Legion
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB HotHardware
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB KitGuru
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB LAN OC
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB Legion Hardware
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB NeoSeeker
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB Overclockers Club
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB Tech Report
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB TechGage
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB TechSpot
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB Tom's Hardware
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB TweakPC (de)
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB Tweaktown
- NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti 6GB Vortez
Keyboards
Speakers
In Win 909 Yet Another Eyeball Magnet
It's never a Computex without a wacky albeit highly desirable premium case by In Win. This time around, it's the new 909. This ATX full-tower is made of high quality brushed aluminium panels decking an aluminium frame; with a tempered glass side panel, with front panel connectivity flowing to the side. The case has room for E-ATX motherboards (up to 8 expansion slots), with add-on cards as long as 320 mm, and CPU coolers as tall as 180 mm. The PSU bay can hold on to a high-end unit as long as 220 mm, with room to spare for your cable spaghetti.
The cooling system on the In Win 909 includes two 140 mm front intakes, a 120 mm conveyor between the drive cage and motherboard tray, either three 120 mm or two 140 mm rear exhausts, and two 120 mm bottom intakes. You can turn these into room for a 140 x 280 mm front radiator, a 120 mm middle radiator, a 360 mm or 280 mm rear radiator, and a 240 mm bottom radiator, 35 mm to 60 mm thick. Front panel connectivity includes a USB 3.1 Type-C connector (standard header), three USB 3.0 Type-A, and HDA audio jacks.
The cooling system on the In Win 909 includes two 140 mm front intakes, a 120 mm conveyor between the drive cage and motherboard tray, either three 120 mm or two 140 mm rear exhausts, and two 120 mm bottom intakes. You can turn these into room for a 140 x 280 mm front radiator, a 120 mm middle radiator, a 360 mm or 280 mm rear radiator, and a 240 mm bottom radiator, 35 mm to 60 mm thick. Front panel connectivity includes a USB 3.1 Type-C connector (standard header), three USB 3.0 Type-A, and HDA audio jacks.
Be Quiet! Unveils its Silent Wings 3 Fans
Be Quiet! also unveiled the third-generation of its flagship low-noise fan series, the Silent Wings 3. So much R&D has gone into making these fans low-noise, that the company is claiming them to be "virtually inaudible." Available in 120 mm and 140 mm sizes, the fans take in 4-pin PWM power input, cost-effective variants come with 3-pin inputs, and preset voltage adapters. Design improvements include a new refined rubberized frame that's air-flow optimized, a newer copper-core FDB bearing, a 6-pole motor, and vibration-dampening mounts. The company will sell these in several SKUs based on size and power input type; and part of its upcoming CPU cooler packages.
Be Quiet! Unveils Silent Base 600 Chassis
Be Quiet!, which forayed into high-end gaming PC cases last November with its Silent Base 800, followed up with its second, the more affordable Silent Base 600 mid-tower. The design focus remains firmly on low-noise, and the case looks like a shrunk-down version of its older brother, but the good bits remain, with active noise insulation, virtually tool-free installation, and factory-fitted Be Quiet! Pure Wings 2 fans for the front intake and rear exhaust (140 mm and 120 mm, respectively). Other features include detachable drive cages that create room for long add-on cards, 5.25-inch drive bays concealed behind an acoustic-padded door, and air-flow control.
KLEVV Shows off its CRAS "Creative Evolution" Flagship DDR4 Module
Hong Kong-based KLEVV, which came out of nowhere in 2014 as a premium PC memory vendor, and established itself as a brand to look out for, launched its flagship DDR4 memory module for the year, the CRAS "Creative Evolution" series. This full-height unbuffered DDR4 module is characterized by a tall anodized aluminium heatsink with aluminium protrusions that add to its surface area of dissipation, and a brushed aluminium strip, with either red or white LED lighting.
KLEVV CRAS comes in module densities of 4 GB and 8 GB, in variants of DDR4-2133 (15-15-15 @1.2V), DDR4-2666 (XMP 2.0, 15-15-15 @1.2V); DDR4-2800 (XMP 2.0, 16-16-16 @1.2V), and DDR4-3000 (XMP 2.0, 16-18-18 @1.35V). It will be initially sold in quad-channel kits of 16 GB (4 x 4 GB), and 32 GB (4 x 8 GB); dual-channel kits of 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) and 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) will soon follow. 
KLEVV CRAS comes in module densities of 4 GB and 8 GB, in variants of DDR4-2133 (15-15-15 @1.2V), DDR4-2666 (XMP 2.0, 15-15-15 @1.2V); DDR4-2800 (XMP 2.0, 16-16-16 @1.2V), and DDR4-3000 (XMP 2.0, 16-18-18 @1.35V). It will be initially sold in quad-channel kits of 16 GB (4 x 4 GB), and 32 GB (4 x 8 GB); dual-channel kits of 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) and 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) will soon follow.
ZOTAC Gives the GeForce GTX 980 Ti a Massive 25% Factory Overclock
A 25% factory-overclock is something you usually hear with entry-level graphics cards around the $60 mark; and the bigger the silicon, the more conservative VGA makers get with factory-overclocks. ZOTAC thinks otherwise. The company's GTX 980 Ti AMP Extreme graphics card ships with a massive 25% factory-overclock - something unheard of for a chip with 250W TDP, much less an 8 billion-transistor count.
The card comes with 1253 MHz core (vs. 1000 MHz reference), 1335 MHz GPU Boost (vs. 1076 MHz reference), and 7210 MHz memory (vs. 7012 MHz reference). The card is cooled by a meaty triple-slot IceStorm air-based cooler by ZOTAC; and a VRM that draws power from two 8-pin PCIe power connectors keep the card fed. ZOTAC could ask a $100 premium over the base price of $649, offering performance which, we reckon, could be much higher than that of the $999 GTX TITAN X.
The card comes with 1253 MHz core (vs. 1000 MHz reference), 1335 MHz GPU Boost (vs. 1076 MHz reference), and 7210 MHz memory (vs. 7012 MHz reference). The card is cooled by a meaty triple-slot IceStorm air-based cooler by ZOTAC; and a VRM that draws power from two 8-pin PCIe power connectors keep the card fed. ZOTAC could ask a $100 premium over the base price of $649, offering performance which, we reckon, could be much higher than that of the $999 GTX TITAN X.
Antec Unveils Stunning Signature S10 Chassis
Antec announced its newest flagship PC case, the Signature S10. Arguably the most important product for the Antec brand, the case looks like a typical ATX full-tower, but is 3-chambered inside. The most notable design element here is a drive cage that spans the entire height of the case, with its own side doors, letting you hot-swap 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drives. The inner chambers include a large motherboard tray with room for XL-ATX motherboards, and two 280 / 420 mm radiators; and a bottom chamber with room for an extremely large PSU, and liquid cooling ancillaries, such as pumps and reservoirs. The case will be available in Europe from July, and will be priced at 399 GBP.
PowerColor Devil HDX Sound Card Detailed
PowerColor rolled out the Devil HDX PCI-Express sound card. Designed with a strong focus on output quality, and targeted at PC enthusiasts with high-end headphones, the card is driven by a C-Media CMI8888 native-PCIe master processor, wired to Wolfson WM8741 primary DAC, with 124 dBA SNR, driving the headphones and front-out channels. Amplifying this, is a TI LM4562 OPAMP, which is swappable.
Nichicon Muse electrolytic, and metalized polypropylene caps man all channels, reducing signal loss. Only the electrical portion features solid-state capacitors. The card draws power from a 4-pin Molex input. The entire audio area is electrically isolated from the PCIe slot power input. The main PCB features a 6.3 mm headphones jack, supporting cans with up to 600Ω impedance, stereo RCA out, and 7.1-channel optical SPDIF (TOSLINK) outputs. A daughterboard gives out additional analog channels and inputs via 3.5 mm jacks. On the software side of things, you get C-Media's Xear3D software customized by PowerColor, with ASIO 2.2 support.
Nichicon Muse electrolytic, and metalized polypropylene caps man all channels, reducing signal loss. Only the electrical portion features solid-state capacitors. The card draws power from a 4-pin Molex input. The entire audio area is electrically isolated from the PCIe slot power input. The main PCB features a 6.3 mm headphones jack, supporting cans with up to 600Ω impedance, stereo RCA out, and 7.1-channel optical SPDIF (TOSLINK) outputs. A daughterboard gives out additional analog channels and inputs via 3.5 mm jacks. On the software side of things, you get C-Media's Xear3D software customized by PowerColor, with ASIO 2.2 support.
Windows 10 Release Date Announced
Microsoft Windows 10 will launch on the 29th of July, 2015. This is when existing users of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 will be able to upgrade to their applicable variant of Windows 10 for free; PC makers ship desktops and notebooks with the OS pre-installed; and when you will be able to buy Windows 10 copies off the shelf.
Microsoft is expecting at least 350 million users of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 to freely upgrade to Windows 10 by the end of the year, many of which could upgrade on day-one, clogging Microsoft Update. To mitigate that, Microsoft launched a "reservation" system. Current users of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, woke up to a curious Windows logo in their system-tray, which launches a tiny app that lets you "reserve" your upgrade (a position in the queue to upgrade). When your time comes, Windows will fetch the Windows 10 upgrade image from Microsoft Update. The actual upgrade process will be similar to that of Windows 7 to Windows 8. You can choose a clean install, or upgrade over an existing installation. Once installed, your Windows 10 license is tied to the machine forever.
Microsoft is expecting at least 350 million users of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 to freely upgrade to Windows 10 by the end of the year, many of which could upgrade on day-one, clogging Microsoft Update. To mitigate that, Microsoft launched a "reservation" system. Current users of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, woke up to a curious Windows logo in their system-tray, which launches a tiny app that lets you "reserve" your upgrade (a position in the queue to upgrade). When your time comes, Windows will fetch the Windows 10 upgrade image from Microsoft Update. The actual upgrade process will be similar to that of Windows 7 to Windows 8. You can choose a clean install, or upgrade over an existing installation. Once installed, your Windows 10 license is tied to the machine forever.
ASRock Next Generation Fatal1ty Motherboard Lineup Pictured
ASRock is designing multiple Fatal1ty Killer branded socket LGA1151 motherboards, which it plans to differentiate using a new naming scheme - K3, K4, and K6. The company showed off some of its latest such boards at Computex. The series is led by the Z170 Gaming K6, followed by the Z170 Gaming K4, H170 Performance, and the Z170-e ITX. All four feature the familiar red+black color scheme, and Fatal1ty branding.
The Z170 Gaming K6 leads the pack with a strong 13-phase VRM, 3-way multi-GPU support, dual-channel DDR4-3000 support, dual SATA-Express 16 Gb/s, Ultra M.2 (32 Gb/s), Killer E2200 NIC, and high-end 115 dBA SNR audio. The Z170 Gaming K4 and H170 Performance share a common PCB design, offering all essentials from this platform, and are intended for gaming PC builds with single graphics cards; the Z170 ITX offers a decent feature-set despite its space constraints, including mSATA, Ultra M.2 (32 Gb/s), SATA-Express 16 Gb/s, and USB 3.1 ports. ASRock did not finalize heatsink design.
The Z170 Gaming K6 leads the pack with a strong 13-phase VRM, 3-way multi-GPU support, dual-channel DDR4-3000 support, dual SATA-Express 16 Gb/s, Ultra M.2 (32 Gb/s), Killer E2200 NIC, and high-end 115 dBA SNR audio. The Z170 Gaming K4 and H170 Performance share a common PCB design, offering all essentials from this platform, and are intended for gaming PC builds with single graphics cards; the Z170 ITX offers a decent feature-set despite its space constraints, including mSATA, Ultra M.2 (32 Gb/s), SATA-Express 16 Gb/s, and USB 3.1 ports. ASRock did not finalize heatsink design.
Corsair Brings Liquid Cooling to Latest NVIDIA GeForce GPUs
Corsair, a world leader in high-performance PC hardware, today announced the all-in-one Hydro Series H110i GTX, the company's most advanced and customizable liquid CPU cooler yet, as well as new Hydro Series HG10 GPU cooling brackets for NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan X, GTX 980, GTX 980 Ti and GTX 970 graphics cards.
The Hydro Series H110i GTX liquid CPU cooler pairs two 140mm fans with a 280mm radiator for extreme CPU cooling that is superior to stock CPU air coolers, delivering lower temperatures and quiet operations for both processor-intensive applications or light PC loads. The self-contained design of the H110i GTX makes it easier to install than stock air coolers and requires no filling or maintenance. The H110i GTX features a new generation, high-efficiency cooling block with a striking new look, including Titanium-colored logo inserts on the block and radiator. An optional kit with both red and blue inserts will be sold separately.
The Hydro Series H110i GTX liquid CPU cooler pairs two 140mm fans with a 280mm radiator for extreme CPU cooling that is superior to stock CPU air coolers, delivering lower temperatures and quiet operations for both processor-intensive applications or light PC loads. The self-contained design of the H110i GTX makes it easier to install than stock air coolers and requires no filling or maintenance. The H110i GTX features a new generation, high-efficiency cooling block with a striking new look, including Titanium-colored logo inserts on the block and radiator. An optional kit with both red and blue inserts will be sold separately.
Corsair Announces Obsidian 750D Airflow Edition Case
Corsair, a world leader in high-performance PC hardware, today announced the Obsidian Series 750D Airflow Edition full-tower PC case. Based on the award-winning Obsidian Series 750D, the new Airflow Edition adds a perforated front grill, increasing airflow into the case for systems that require more cooling. Like all Obsidian Series cases, the 750D features an elegant black monolithic design, brushed aluminum and solid steel construction, and generous expansion flexibility.
The Obsidian Series 750D's rigid exterior surrounds a frame that has ample room for high-performance components, as well as sophisticated cooling for users who want to push their components to the limits. The increased ventilation offered by the new Obsidian 750D Airflow Edition opens up even more cooling options and performance, with three AF140L fans included to ensure great cooling right out of the box. The case is designed to make building a PC fast and simple with features such as tool-free side panels and drive bays, cable routing grommets and mount points, and motherboard rear CPU access and alignment pegs.
The Obsidian Series 750D's rigid exterior surrounds a frame that has ample room for high-performance components, as well as sophisticated cooling for users who want to push their components to the limits. The increased ventilation offered by the new Obsidian 750D Airflow Edition opens up even more cooling options and performance, with three AF140L fans included to ensure great cooling right out of the box. The case is designed to make building a PC fast and simple with features such as tool-free side panels and drive bays, cable routing grommets and mount points, and motherboard rear CPU access and alignment pegs.
Corsair Announces STRAFE Mechanical Keyboard
Corsair Gaming, a division of PC gaming hardware leader Corsair, today announced the addition of the STRAFE mechanical gaming keyboard to Corsair's award-winning line of PC gaming accessories. By bringing the unmatched lighting customization and Cherry MX switches found in Corsair's RGB keyboards to STRAFE, Corsair has created the most advanced mono-backlit mechanical gaming keyboard available. Sporting a sleek new industrial design, STRAFE will be widely available in late June at an MSRP of $109.99.
The STRAFE mechanical gaming keyboard's brilliant red backlighting can be customized to a virtually unlimited number of lighting configurations and effects. Each key can be programmed with automated macros using CUE (Corsair Utility Engine) software. Users can choose from six unique lighting effects or craft their own custom profiles and share them on Corsair Gaming.
The STRAFE mechanical gaming keyboard's brilliant red backlighting can be customized to a virtually unlimited number of lighting configurations and effects. Each key can be programmed with automated macros using CUE (Corsair Utility Engine) software. Users can choose from six unique lighting effects or craft their own custom profiles and share them on Corsair Gaming.
Corsair Unleashes Bulldog DIY 4K Gaming PC on the Living Room
Corsair, PC gaming hardware leader, today at Computex unveiled Bulldog, the first DIY PC built exclusively to bring the vivid immersion of 4K gaming to the living room. Composed of a DIY kit with a stylish gaming console-sized chassis, liquid CPU cooler, power supply, and motherboard, and designed with plenty of space for customization and upgrades, Bulldog provides the foundation for users to build the ultimate living room PC. Using its proprietary liquid CPU and GPU cooling technology, Corsair condensed the desktop PC computing performance into Bulldog's compact form factor. An early version of Bulldog is on display at Computex 2015, with availability expected in early Q4.
"Bulldog is designed to take the 4K gaming experience delivered by desktop gaming PCs, and bring it to the big 4K screens in the home," said Andy Paul, CEO of Corsair Components. "We knew we needed to deliver a solution that was elegant, powerful, and compact. By leveraging our leading expertise in PC case design and liquid cooling, we met that goal with Bulldog. We can't wait to unleash it on gamers this fall."
"Bulldog is designed to take the 4K gaming experience delivered by desktop gaming PCs, and bring it to the big 4K screens in the home," said Andy Paul, CEO of Corsair Components. "We knew we needed to deliver a solution that was elegant, powerful, and compact. By leveraging our leading expertise in PC case design and liquid cooling, we met that goal with Bulldog. We can't wait to unleash it on gamers this fall."
Corsair Announces RMi Series 80 Plus Gold Smart PSU Series
Corsair, the most awarded and recommended PC power supply brand in the world1, today announced the addition of the RMi Series PC power supplies to the company's award-winning line of PSUs. The new RMi Series PSUs raise the bar for what PC enthusiasts can expect from an 80 Plus Gold certified power supply with the addition of silent Zero-RPM fan operation, Corsair Link customization and monitoring, all 105°C- rated Japanese capacitors, and fully modular cables. The new RMi Series PSUs are immediately available in 650, 750, 850, and 1000-Watt capacities.
Building on Corsair's legacy of enthusiast class PSUs, the RMi Series PSUs are designed from the ground up to deliver 80 PLUS Gold energy efficiency, reducing operating costs and excess heat, while delivering superior electrical performance, thanks to extremely tight voltage regulation and minimal ripple noise. To do this, Corsair has used only industry-leading 105°C-rated Japanese capacitors, providing unwavering power and reliability for high-end PCs. This ensures the electricity reaching a gaming PC's power hungry components is as clean and stable as possible. The RMi Series PSUs are also stable, with a 140 mm fluid-dynamic-bearing equipped cooling fan that runs in Zero RPM fan mode, only spinning up when the PSU needs to and operating virtually silently at low and medium loads.
Building on Corsair's legacy of enthusiast class PSUs, the RMi Series PSUs are designed from the ground up to deliver 80 PLUS Gold energy efficiency, reducing operating costs and excess heat, while delivering superior electrical performance, thanks to extremely tight voltage regulation and minimal ripple noise. To do this, Corsair has used only industry-leading 105°C-rated Japanese capacitors, providing unwavering power and reliability for high-end PCs. This ensures the electricity reaching a gaming PC's power hungry components is as clean and stable as possible. The RMi Series PSUs are also stable, with a 140 mm fluid-dynamic-bearing equipped cooling fan that runs in Zero RPM fan mode, only spinning up when the PSU needs to and operating virtually silently at low and medium loads.
EVGA Announces its GeForce GTX 980 Ti Lineup
Introducing the EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti. Accelerated by the groundbreaking NVIDIA Maxwell architecture, GTX 980 Ti delivers an unbeatable 4K and virtual reality experience. With 2816 NVIDIA CUDA Cores and 6GB of GDDR5 memory, it has the horsepower to drive whatever comes next. In fact, the EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti provides 3x the performance and 3x the memory of previous-generation cards*. You can now take on even the most challenging games at high settings for a smooth, ultra high-definition, 4K experience.
These cards also feature EVGA ACX 2.0+ cooling technology. EVGA ACX 2.0+ brings new features to the award winning EVGA ACX 2.0 cooling technology. A memory MOSFET Cooling Plate (MMCP) reduces MOSFET temperatures up to 13%, and optimized Straight Heat Pipes (SHP) additionally reduce GPU temperature by 5C. ACX 2.0+ coolers also feature optimized swept fan blades, double ball bearings and an extreme low power motor, delivering more air flow with less power, unlocking additional power for the GPU.
These cards also feature EVGA ACX 2.0+ cooling technology. EVGA ACX 2.0+ brings new features to the award winning EVGA ACX 2.0 cooling technology. A memory MOSFET Cooling Plate (MMCP) reduces MOSFET temperatures up to 13%, and optimized Straight Heat Pipes (SHP) additionally reduce GPU temperature by 5C. ACX 2.0+ coolers also feature optimized swept fan blades, double ball bearings and an extreme low power motor, delivering more air flow with less power, unlocking additional power for the GPU.
MSI Next Generation GAMING Motherboards Pictured
MSI's third-generation "GAMING" series motherboards are almost ready, and the company displayed two of them at Computex. The first is a mid-range socket LGA1151 motherboard, the MSI Z170A-G45 Gaming, and the X99A-GODLIKE Gaming (we kid you not). It looks like MSI is doing away with the "Gaming 3/5/7/9" nomenclature in the wake of GIGABYTE copying it. The Z170A-G41 Gaming offers a decent feature-set for gaming PC builds with up to two graphics cards. This includes an 10-phase CPU VRM, four DDR4 DIMM slots (dual-channel DDR4), three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, two M.2 slots (32 Gb/s and 10 Gb/s); SATA-Express 16 Gb/s, six SATA 6 Gb/s, Killer E2205 networking, and 8-channel HD audio with ground-layer isolation and audio-grade capacitors.
The X99A-GODLIKE Gaming is a different beast. Topping off the company's LGA2011v3 lineup, this board offers top of the line components. It begins with a 12-phase VRM that draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS, and 4-pin ATX power connectors; five PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots with support for 4-way SLI/CrossFire, 32 Gb/s M.2 slot, and an EMI shield that covers a large part of the front PCB area (a la ASUS TUF), and gaming-centric connectivity that includes two gigabit interfaces, 8-channel audio with onboard 600Ω headphones amp, 802.11 ac Killer ACK Double-Shot WLAN, and USB 3.1 type-C ports.
The X99A-GODLIKE Gaming is a different beast. Topping off the company's LGA2011v3 lineup, this board offers top of the line components. It begins with a 12-phase VRM that draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS, and 4-pin ATX power connectors; five PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots with support for 4-way SLI/CrossFire, 32 Gb/s M.2 slot, and an EMI shield that covers a large part of the front PCB area (a la ASUS TUF), and gaming-centric connectivity that includes two gigabit interfaces, 8-channel audio with onboard 600Ω headphones amp, 802.11 ac Killer ACK Double-Shot WLAN, and USB 3.1 type-C ports.
ASUS Unveils Three High-end STRIX Series 7.1-ch Sound Cards
ASUS unveiled two new high-end 7.1-channel sound cards under its premium STRIX brand, the STRIX RAID DLX, the STRIX RAID Pro, and the STRIX Soar. The three are based on a common base card design, and differ with features and DSPs. The DAC component of the card consists of a native-PCIe multi-CODEC HD audio controller, wired to an ESS SABRE 9006a DAC, dedicated to the front audio output, with 116 dBA SNR; and a separate 110 dBA SNR DAC wired to the main headphones amplifier. On the RAID DLX, the front-out DAC is a higher quality SABRE 9016a.
The main amp can handle 600Ω impedance headphones. On the software side of things, is a Raid mode (positional audio), Sonic Radar (lets you pinpoint enemies based on audio, and a new Sonic Studio control panel interface. The RAID DLX and RAID Pro come with an external module with audio jacks, and physical switches to audio feature controls, besides volume control.
The main amp can handle 600Ω impedance headphones. On the software side of things, is a Raid mode (positional audio), Sonic Radar (lets you pinpoint enemies based on audio, and a new Sonic Studio control panel interface. The RAID DLX and RAID Pro come with an external module with audio jacks, and physical switches to audio feature controls, besides volume control.
ASUS X99M-WS Micro-ATX Motherboard Pictured
Here's the first picture of ASUS X99M-WS, an upcoming workstation-grade socket LGA2011v3 motherboard based on the Intel X99 Express chipset, which the company claims will be the "most powerful" motherboard of its kind in this form-factor. The board draws power from 24-pin ATX, and two 8-pin EPS power connectors, with an optional 6-pin PCIe power input to stabilize power to add-on cards. The socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting up to 128 GB of quad-channel DDR4 memory; and two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 connectors.
Other expansion slots include one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4) and a PCI-Express 2.0 x1. Storage connectivity includes eight SATA 6 Gb/s, and a 32 Gb/s M.2 slot. Other connectivity includes two USB 3.1 ports, six USB 3.0 ports, two gigabit Ethernet interfaces (Intel-made controllers); 802.11 ac WLAN, Bluetooth 4.0, 8-channel HD audio with a 115 dBA SNR CODEC, ground-layer isolation, and audio-grade capacitors. The board supports certain 1P Intel Xeon models in addition to Core i7 ones.
Other expansion slots include one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4) and a PCI-Express 2.0 x1. Storage connectivity includes eight SATA 6 Gb/s, and a 32 Gb/s M.2 slot. Other connectivity includes two USB 3.1 ports, six USB 3.0 ports, two gigabit Ethernet interfaces (Intel-made controllers); 802.11 ac WLAN, Bluetooth 4.0, 8-channel HD audio with a 115 dBA SNR CODEC, ground-layer isolation, and audio-grade capacitors. The board supports certain 1P Intel Xeon models in addition to Core i7 ones.
GIGABYTE Also Shows off B150M-D3H Micro-ATX Motherboard
The B150M-D3H, based on Intel's mid-range B150 Express chipset, offers a neat feature-set at a potentially sub-$100 price point. This full-width micro-ATX board offers a 6-phase CPU VRM, four DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting dual-channel DDR4-2666 memory, expansion slots that include one PCI-Express 3.0 x16, two legacy PCI, and one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4). Storage connectivity includes a 32 Gb/s M.2 slot, two SATA-Express 16 Gb/s ports, and six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. D-Sub, DVI, and HDMI make up the display outputs; six USB 3.0 ports, gigabit Ethernet and 8-channel HD audio make for the rest of it.
GIGABYTE Shows off Entry-level Z170-HD3 Motherboard
GIGABYTE showed off its entry-level ATX motherboard based on Intel Z170 chipset, the Z170-HD3. This socket LGA1151 board, ready for 6th generation Core "Skylake" processors, offers a basic feature-set for single graphics card gaming PC builds. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors, and conditions it for the CPU with a 7-phase VRM. The CPU socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting dual-channel DDR4 memory.
Expansion slots on the Z170-HD3 include one PCI-Express 3.0 x16, a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4, wired to the PCH), and two each of PCI-Express 2.0 x1 and legacy PCI. Storage connectivity includes 32 Gb/s M.2 (PCI-Express 3.0 x4 physical layer), two SATA-Express 16 Gb/s, and six SATA 6 Gb/s. Display outputs include one each of D-Sub, dual-link DVI, and HDMI 2.0. Six USB 3.0 ports, gigabit Ethernet (Realtek controller), and 8-channel HD audio with audio-grade capacitors and ground-layer isolation make for the rest of its modern connectivity.
Expansion slots on the Z170-HD3 include one PCI-Express 3.0 x16, a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4, wired to the PCH), and two each of PCI-Express 2.0 x1 and legacy PCI. Storage connectivity includes 32 Gb/s M.2 (PCI-Express 3.0 x4 physical layer), two SATA-Express 16 Gb/s, and six SATA 6 Gb/s. Display outputs include one each of D-Sub, dual-link DVI, and HDMI 2.0. Six USB 3.0 ports, gigabit Ethernet (Realtek controller), and 8-channel HD audio with audio-grade capacitors and ground-layer isolation make for the rest of its modern connectivity.
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 980 Ti Gaming G1 Pictured
GIGABYTE displayed its latest WindForce 3X VGA cooler design at Computex, which makes its debut with the GeForce GTX 980 Ti Gaming G1 graphics card. This 3-slot cooler packs enough metal to cool the GeForce GTX 980 Ti with its three fans completely stopped, when the GPU is below a 65°C temperature threshold. The underlying heatsink design consists of two independent aluminium fin stacks, with 8 mm thick copper heat pipes meeting at the GPU base, where they make direct contact with the GPU die. A base-plate cools the memory and VRM. Three 100 mm fans ventilate the heatsink, which are topped off by a two-tone metal shroud. The card features six display outputs including two DVI, three DisplayPort 1.2, and an HDMI 2.0; and supports up to five displays at a time. This card will be formally launched a little later, as the company launched its GTX 980 Ti with a reference-design board.
SanDisk Delivers New 2TB SATA SSD Optimized for Cloud Data Services
SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash storage solutions, at Computex Taipei 2015 today announced its new CloudSpeed Eco Gen. II SATA SSD, a purpose-built storage device for cloud service providers with up to 2TB capacity. This new SSD is now sampling with select hyperscale customers. Based on 15 nm NAND flash, the new CloudSpeed Eco Gen. II SSD delivers greater storage density with 3x the streaming bandwidth vs. hard disk drives (HDDs). Designed as a drop-in replacement for HDDs, CloudSpeed Eco Gen. II provides datacenters with a lower cost-per-square-foot for hyperscale applications such as analytics, media streaming and content repositories.
Cloud Data Services, such as Big Data Analytics, SaaS, IaaS and PaaS environments, are driving radical data center transformation. The number of connected 'things' is set to explode, with Gartner forecasting this number will reach 25 billion by 2020, generating a deluge of data that will need to be analyzed in real-time. Micropayments, online commerce and similar applications are read-intensive and require high data throughput and scalable storage capacity.
Cloud Data Services, such as Big Data Analytics, SaaS, IaaS and PaaS environments, are driving radical data center transformation. The number of connected 'things' is set to explode, with Gartner forecasting this number will reach 25 billion by 2020, generating a deluge of data that will need to be analyzed in real-time. Micropayments, online commerce and similar applications are read-intensive and require high data throughput and scalable storage capacity.
SanDisk Announces World's Highest- Performing Portable SSD
SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash storage solutions, today entered the portable SSD market with a family of high-performance drives, including the SanDisk Extreme 900 Portable SSDs, the world's fastest line of Type C-based portable SSDs; and the SanDisk Extreme 500 Portable SSDs, the company's new pocket-sized, rugged drives. The SanDisk Extreme 900 drives feature speeds of up to nine times faster than a portable hard drive, while the SanDisk Extreme 500 drives offer speeds up to four times faster. These powerful solutions are ideal for photographers, videographers, creative professionals and tech enthusiasts looking to move massive files at phenomenal speeds, helping them save time and simplify work processes at the office or out in the field.
"As a recognized leader in developing solutions for professional photographers and videographers, we designed this game-changing family of offerings to provide our customers with even greater speeds and capacities to keep up with rapidly increasing demands for high-quality content," said Dinesh Bahal, vice president, product marketing, SanDisk. "Whether a professional or amateur, this level of portability, speed and capacity is exceptional, and we believe it will transform the way people create and produce high quality video content-ultimately saving them time and money."
"As a recognized leader in developing solutions for professional photographers and videographers, we designed this game-changing family of offerings to provide our customers with even greater speeds and capacities to keep up with rapidly increasing demands for high-quality content," said Dinesh Bahal, vice president, product marketing, SanDisk. "Whether a professional or amateur, this level of portability, speed and capacity is exceptional, and we believe it will transform the way people create and produce high quality video content-ultimately saving them time and money."
SanDisk Introduces Breakthrough USB 3.0 Flash Drives
SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash storage solutions, today launched two new, USB 3.0 flash drives - the 128GB SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.0 Flash Drive, the world's smallest USB 3.0; and the 256GB SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 Flash Drive, SanDisk's highest capacity USB flash drive to-date. The new offerings enhance SanDisk's award-winning USB line-up with impressive capacities and performance, delivering speeds up to 10 times faster than a standard USB 2.0 drive. With these higher capacities, consumers can now save more of their favorite videos, photos and music on their laptops, TVs, gaming consoles or other entertainment systems.
"The quality of content consumers create and consume continues to increase, generating higher demand for more sophisticated digital storage," said Philippe Willams, director of product marketing, SanDisk. "With remarkable USB 3.0 speed and compact designs, our new high-capacity USBs let users enjoy even more of their favorite content without having to even think about running out of space. SanDisk is constantly engaging in new ways to leverage our flash memory expertise and deliver innovative, reliable solutions that really make a difference in consumers' daily lives."
"The quality of content consumers create and consume continues to increase, generating higher demand for more sophisticated digital storage," said Philippe Willams, director of product marketing, SanDisk. "With remarkable USB 3.0 speed and compact designs, our new high-capacity USBs let users enjoy even more of their favorite content without having to even think about running out of space. SanDisk is constantly engaging in new ways to leverage our flash memory expertise and deliver innovative, reliable solutions that really make a difference in consumers' daily lives."
Palit Announces its GeForce GTX 980 Ti Graphics Card
Ti. The most powerful two letters in the world of GPUs. When paired with our flagship gaming GPU - Palit GeForce GTX 980 - it gives you incredible new levels of performance and capabilities. Palit GTX 980 Ti is accelerated by the groundbreaking NVIDIA Maxwell architecture to deliver an unbeatable 4K and virtual reality experience. With 2816 NVIDIA CUDA cores and 6 GB of memory, it has the horsepower to drive whatever comes next.
Palit GeForce GTX 980 Ti provides 3x the performance and 3x the memory of previous-generation cards*. You can now take on even the most challenging games at high settings for a smooth, ultra high-definition, 4K experience.
Palit GeForce GTX 980 Ti provides 3x the performance and 3x the memory of previous-generation cards*. You can now take on even the most challenging games at high settings for a smooth, ultra high-definition, 4K experience.
Patriot Expands Viper 4 DDR4 Series to Include 128GB Kit
Patriot, a leading manufacturer of computer memory, USB/flash memory, SSDs, and mobile accessories, today extended their Viper 4 series of DDR4 memory to include new 64GB and 128GB quad kits designed for the latest Intel X99 DDR4 platform and Haswell-E processor.
Patriot's latest addition to their Viper 4 DDR4 line of extreme performance memory built for the most demanding environments will include a 64GB (4 x 16GB) and a 128GB (8 X 16GB) kits for the ultimate PC build. Testing in at 14-16-16-31 the Viper 4 64GB and 128GB will start at 2400MHz 1.2V with higher speeds to be announced at a later date. Designed for the PC enthusiast builder or content creator the latest capacity of Viper 4 DDR4 will take any build to the ultimate level of speed.
Patriot's latest addition to their Viper 4 DDR4 line of extreme performance memory built for the most demanding environments will include a 64GB (4 x 16GB) and a 128GB (8 X 16GB) kits for the ultimate PC build. Testing in at 14-16-16-31 the Viper 4 64GB and 128GB will start at 2400MHz 1.2V with higher speeds to be announced at a later date. Designed for the PC enthusiast builder or content creator the latest capacity of Viper 4 DDR4 will take any build to the ultimate level of speed.
ZOTAC Announces its GeForce GTX 980 Ti Series
ZOTAC International, a global innovator and manufacturer of graphics card and ZBOX mini PCs, sets loose the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 980 Ti series. Engineered to game, ZOTAC has taken the reference GeForce GTX 980 Ti and amped it with more power.
"Graphics technology is shifting quickly jumping from 1080 HD to 4K. As 4K gaming gains ground as the standard, our teams are working harder to engineer higher limits into our products," says Tony Wong, CEO, ZOTAC International. "We are bringing performance and design to the forefront that will help extract more power in each ZOTAC graphics card."
"Graphics technology is shifting quickly jumping from 1080 HD to 4K. As 4K gaming gains ground as the standard, our teams are working harder to engineer higher limits into our products," says Tony Wong, CEO, ZOTAC International. "We are bringing performance and design to the forefront that will help extract more power in each ZOTAC graphics card."
Manli Announces its GeForce GTX 980 Ti Graphics Card
Manli Technology Group Limited, the major Graphics Cards, Mini-PCs and other components manufacturer, today announced the ultimate graphics solution for gamers - Manli GeForce GTX 980Ti.
Powered by GM200 GPU, the Manli GeForce GTX 980Ti provides top tier gaming performance for gaming enthusiast. It built-in 2816 CUDA Cores, with core frequency is at 1000 MHz, base clock that can boost up to 1076 MHz, gamers can enjoy the ultimate gaming experience in HD and 4K UHD resolution, as well as headroom for overclocking via using TurboEngine software. The memory of 6GB GDDR5 ensures gamers can enjoy smooth and detailed gaming experience in DirectX 11 and incoming DirectX 12 new games.
Powered by GM200 GPU, the Manli GeForce GTX 980Ti provides top tier gaming performance for gaming enthusiast. It built-in 2816 CUDA Cores, with core frequency is at 1000 MHz, base clock that can boost up to 1076 MHz, gamers can enjoy the ultimate gaming experience in HD and 4K UHD resolution, as well as headroom for overclocking via using TurboEngine software. The memory of 6GB GDDR5 ensures gamers can enjoy smooth and detailed gaming experience in DirectX 11 and incoming DirectX 12 new games.
MSI Announces its GeForce GTX 980 Ti Gaming Graphics Cards
MSI is excited to introduce the new flagship of the MSI GAMING graphics cards lineup: the MSI GTX 980 Ti GAMING 6G. This imposing new model is powered by NVIDIA's Maxwell GM200 GPU, yet running on significantly higher clockspeeds than the reference model. Combined with 6GB of GDDR5 memory, this enables gamers to enjoy a smooth 4K gaming experience. Featuring the award-winning Twin Frozr V thermal design, the MSI GTX 980 Ti GAMING 6G delivers unmatched cooling and acoustic performance. To bolster the premium look & feel, the MSI GTX 980 Ti GAMING 6G comes equipped with a solid metal backplate.
Besides the revered GAMING series, MSI are also introducing two reference models featuring exhaust thermal design. The MSI GTX 980 Ti 6GD5 will be available immediately, shortly followed by the MSI GTX 980 Ti 6GD5 V1, which comes equipped with an all new premium silver shroud and Military Class 4 Components for durable, solid performance.
Besides the revered GAMING series, MSI are also introducing two reference models featuring exhaust thermal design. The MSI GTX 980 Ti 6GD5 will be available immediately, shortly followed by the MSI GTX 980 Ti 6GD5 V1, which comes equipped with an all new premium silver shroud and Military Class 4 Components for durable, solid performance.
NVIDIA Releases GeForce 353.06 WHQL Drivers
In the wake of its new high-end GPU launch, the GeForce GTX 980 Ti, NVIDIA released new GeForce 353.06 WHQL drivers. In addition to support for the new GPU, version 353.06 WHQL is Game Ready for "Heroes of the Storm," including an SLI profile and one-click optimization in GeForce Experience.
The R353 drivers bring a few new features to the table, including G-Sync support for windowed applications (could be useful in 'windowed-maximized' display-modes in certain games), a new feature called ULMB (ultra-low motion-blur), which arbitrarily decreases motion-blur drawn by applications (could help with excessive ghosting on LCDs with high response-times), and Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR) for notebook GPUs. The drivers also add a comprehensive game-optimization suite for GPUs based on the "Kepler" architecture, which should increase frame-rates across the board for GeForce GTX 600 and GTX 700 series.
DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 353.06 WHQL for Windows 8/7/Vista 64-bit | Windows 8/7/Vista 32-bit | Windows XP 32-bit | Windows XP 64-bit
The R353 drivers bring a few new features to the table, including G-Sync support for windowed applications (could be useful in 'windowed-maximized' display-modes in certain games), a new feature called ULMB (ultra-low motion-blur), which arbitrarily decreases motion-blur drawn by applications (could help with excessive ghosting on LCDs with high response-times), and Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR) for notebook GPUs. The drivers also add a comprehensive game-optimization suite for GPUs based on the "Kepler" architecture, which should increase frame-rates across the board for GeForce GTX 600 and GTX 700 series.
May 1st, 2024 09:28 EDT
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