HighPoint RocketStor 5322 Review
Looking at the benefits of HighPoints latest storage solution the RocketStor 5322 with Dual dedicated 6Gb/s eSATA connectivity.
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OCZ Vector 256GB Review A closer look at the OCZ Vector 256GB SSD. Read More ...
AMD Radeon HD 8000 Series Set for End of the Year AMD delivered on its promise to clarify its GPU plans for 2013, although it may not entirely be what you want to hear. The good news is the Radeon HD 8000 series is on track to arrive later this year, but the bad news is it'll be near the tail end of 2013. Radeon HD 7000 series cards will be the focus for the first half of the year, with AMD even planning on new product launches. What exactly those entail wasn't specified, so your guess is as good as mine. The reason AMD is still focused on a series of cards a year old (or more) is because the sales numbers in January 2013 were better than at any point in 2012. That's largely due to the Never Settle campaign, which offers big-name titles (like Far Cry 3, Crysis 3, BioShock Infinite) with purchase of HD 7000 cards. Bundles will continue to be offered with the cards, and some are going to contain image-editing software so AMD can show its about more than just gaming. Driver development and new industry partners are going to be another part of AMD's focus this year in order to remain in people's minds. New HD 8000 series cards are going to arrive at some point, just AMD doesn't feel like it needs to deliver them now. NVIDIA's plans could throw a wrinkle in all of that, but again we're waiting to see what Team Green is doing, too. Source: PC World Read More ...
Working to Planar Boron Some describe graphene as a wonder material because of its numerous, fantastic properties including strength, flexibility, and conductivity. It is not the first material to be given that title though, and likely will not be the last. One possible wonder-material of the future though is having a hard time escaping theory and entering the lab, but researchers at Rice University are trying to find it an exit. Boron is the element with one less proton than carbon, so some of their properties are similar. For example, according to theory a 2D plane of boron should be able to conduct electricity better than its carbon counterpart, and it should be able to do so with some imperfections, such as missing atoms. The structure would be a tessellation of triangles instead of hexagons, and if one boron atom is missing the material's properties will not change. Unfortunately boron does not like to have a 2D structure. Graphene actually represents a global energy minimum for carbon, which means it is stable and you would have to add energy to change the structure, but this is not the case for boron, so it tries to form 3D clumps. The Rice researchers have a plan though and crunched the numbers to find that the best method to create 2D boron sheets utilizes chemical vapor deposition and a silver or gold substrate. Coincidentally and fortunately, this is similar to a method for producing graphene, so what researchers have learned about graphene fabrication should help them produce 2D boron. Source: Rice University Read More ...
Hardware Roundup: Friday Edition We get to examine a couple of gaming mice in today's roundup beginning with the Lua Classic 3-Button mouse from ROCCAT which is an entry level unit with a 2000DPI optical sensor. The second mouse review is presented by Neoseeker and covers the AZiO Levetron GM2000 which also has a maximum DPI of 2000. While on the subject of input devices, we should mention the RK-8100 gaming keyboard from Rosewill. Another Rosewill product is in the mix today with a review of the Tachyon Series 1000W power supply. That leaves us with a final article covering AMD's Trinity A10-5800K processor on the GIGABYTE F2A85X-UP4 motherboard. Enjoy your reading and have a great weekend! CPUs AMD Trinity A10-5800K & GIGABYTE F2A85X-UP4 @ OCAU Input Devices ROCCAT Lua Classic 3-Button Gaming Mouse @ Madshrimps AZiO Levetron GM2000 Gaming Mouse @ Neoseeker Rosewill Gaming Keyboard RK-8100 @ Benchmark Reviews Power Supplies Rosewill Tachyon Series 1000W Power Supply @ PC Perspective Miscellany Podcast #238 @ PC Perspective Read More ...
Acoustic-Assisted Magnetic Recording Developed With more content being created everyday as pictures, music, videos, and of course text, the need for storage is constantly growing. Increasing storage is not easy though as new technologies have to be developed that not only have higher data densities but are also stable enough to store the data for extended periods of time. Researchers at Oregon State University have recently discovered a means to improve magnetic data storage, like hard drives, and potentially also create a new kind of solid state memory. It is well known that one way to increase the storage density and decrease power requirements for magnetic data storage is to heat the area you want to write the data. The heat makes it easier to write the data but can potentially corrupt nearby data if the heat is not contained to the single bit. What the researchers have done is invented a technology to mimic the effects of heating the storage material using ultrasound. Once the ultrasound is stopped, the material returns to its normal state, but only the intended area has been affected. If this technology were implemented within a standard hard disk drive, storage capacity would increase and power requirements would decrease, because creating the ultrasound requires less energy than making a stronger magnetic field. The researchers also believe it is possible to create a solid state storage device using this technology, which would be more durable than its disk-spinning cousins. Source: Oregon State University Read More ...
Steam Client Now Available for Linux A Steam client has been released for the Linux OS and Valve has labeled Ubuntu Linux as the best version of the OS to use. In addition to a number of games already compatible with Linux, the client also features support for Steam Big Picture technology which works with gamers who want to use a television and game controller. To celebrate the release of this client, more than 50 Linux titles will be 50-75% off until February 21. An in-game item, Linux mascot Tux, will be given to anyone that plays Team Fortress 2 on Linux. Director of Consumer Applications at Canonical David Pitkin said, “We expect a growing number of game developers to include Ubuntu among their target platforms. We’re looking forward to seeing AAA games developed with Ubuntu in mind as part of a multi-platform day and date release on Steam.” Source: Steam Read More ...
Examining Nanowires with Quantum Dots Before the world can convert electronics to some new kind of technology, researchers must first understand how these new technologies work. Towards that end, researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute have actually combined multiple, new technologies to better study them. Quantum dots, plasmonics, and microfluidics are the three technologies and each, alone, could impact the future in many ways. Quantum dots are like designer atoms as the particles can have their photoelectric properties tailored to whatever someone wants. Microfluidics is the study of how nanoliters of fluid behave within equally small channels. Plasmonics deals with a curious coupling of electrons and photons that enable light to be squashed down to sizes normally impossible, and then travel along a metal as though it were an electron. The researchers combined these technologies by placing a silver nanowire in a microfluidic crossed-channel device, with quantum dots floating in the liquid. A green laser is then aimed at the system, causing the dots to emit red light, one photon at a time. These photons are absorbed by the nanowire, which changes its electric field. The changing electric field induces changes in the quantum dots then, causing them to produce a different colored light, which the researchers could see with a CCD camera. Potentially this setup could be used to create plasmonic equivalents to electronic circuit components. For now though it should provide insight into the plasmonic effects of nanowires, by showing how they affect nearby quantum dots. Source: Joint Quantum Institute Read More ...
Hardware Roundup: Thursday Edition In today's roundup we have an article from our Neoseeker sister site that examines the newly released Futuremark 3DMark benchmarking software suite. The current version is for Windows users, but there are plans to support iOS and Android platforms as well. Next up is a look at a low-profile air cooler from SilverStone designed for small form factor systems. Speaking of SilverStone and small form factor, there is also a review of the Sugo Pack designed for transporting your small system around to the next LAN party. Be sure to check out the rest of the reviews as well before you leave today. Cooling SilverStone Nitrogen NT06-Pro CPU Air Cooler @ [H]ardOCP Input Devices A4Tech Ultracore3 V7 Gun3 Gaming Mouse @ Benchmark Reviews Software Futuremark 3DMark @ Neoseeker Miscellany SilverStone Sugo Pack @ LanOC Reviews How to Install Google Chrome on the Amazon Kindle Fire HD @ ThinkComputers Read More ...
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