Corsair Hydro Series H90 Review
A look at Corsairs latest Hydro Series self contained liquid cooling solution the H90.
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Steam Greenlight Spotlight: Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley is an adventure RPG and country-life simulation rolled into one. It's a dose of Terraria and a dose of Farmville (but without the Facebook wall spam). Maybe it was my love of Terraria (sleeper hit of 2011) that drew me into this game, despite farming not being of particular interest to me. Though developer ConcernedApe doesn't list Terraria as an influence, it's quite obvious after watching the videos. But don't worry – this is no clone. Some of you may also see the influence of the Harvest Moon series, but I've never played those games, nor are they for PC, so I think Terraria and Farmville are more apt comparisons.
You control a boy or girl who has just moved to Stardew Valley to begin a new life. You'll get to customize your skin, hair, eye, and clothes colors, but aside from that, you start with nothing but an overgrown field. The goal of the game is to turn this land into a thriving farm. If you want to receive the coveted title of "Stardew Hero", you'll have to prove yourself worthy and beat out the competition in just two years (no mention of how that equates in real-world time). You'll gather resources, plant crops, fish, and more. However, the game doesn't end there – you can keep playing forever even after the competition ends.
But if farming simulations may not be your thing, don't worry, there's plenty more to do in Stardew Valley. Like Terraria, this is an open-world game. Not only do you have the whole overworld to explore, but there's also a vast, mysterious cave to traverse. It's in this cave where the game starts to look and act more and more like Terraria. Instead of explaining it to you myself, here's what ConcernedApe wrote about the cave system:
The Stardew Valley caves are uniquely generated each time you start a new character. Your progress in the cave is saved, so you don't have to worry about making it to the bottom in one day. As you dig deeper and deeper, you'll encounter new and dangerous monsters, different environments, valuable gemstones, raw materials for crafting and upgrading tools, and mysteries to be uncovered.
Within the cave (and maybe above it too?), you can come across a variety of ancient artifacts that you can then turn into the local archaeology office for reward. Since ConcernedApe says "strive to discover every artifact!", expect there to be an achievement tied to finding them all – and also expect that to be no small task.
If you prefer a little character interaction and narrative in your RPGs, Stardew Valley has you covered there as well. There are over 30 unique characters living in the Valley, with their own daily schedules, secrets, and of course problems they need help with. But what good is starting a new life if you cannot share it with a loved one? Stardew Valley will feature ten bachelors and bachelorettes looking for some loving. Date around, find the perfect match for you, and marry him or her (same sex marriages are confirmed as possible as well). After you do, your new spouse will live on the farm with you and help you with chores!
While it seems like I may have listed a lot of features already, I'm not done yet. What good is an RPG without character progression? As you progress in the game, you'll level up and earn points to distribute into six different areas of expertise: farming, mining, digging, fishing, foraging, and luck. You'll also learn new crafting and cooking recipes, with over 100 recipes awaiting your discovery. While some recipes will yield useful items like temporary stat boosts or furnaces, you'll also be able to craft a variety of decorative items to furnish your house.
As you can see, there is a lot to do in Stardew Valley, but I left out what many may feel is the best part – the game will feature drop-in/drop-out online and LAN co-op for up to four players! Help out on your friend's farm, have him or her help on yours, or work entirely together the whole time. And yes, if the NPCs don't do it for you, you'll be able to marry another player, though I guess you'd then lose the benefit of an NPC to help with chores. Stardew Valley is expected to release some time this year and cost around $10 USD.
Previous Spotlight: Hammerwatch. Favorite the OCC Steam Greenlight Spotlight Collection. And don't forget to visit the forum thread.
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Math Gender Gap More Complicated than Thought
A number of studies and educational resources have gone into closing the gender gap that shows male students outperforming their female counterparts in subjects such as math. As there is little to no physical explanation for this gap, people want to close it and are putting a fair amount of effort into doing so. Researchers at Brigham Young University though have found that the source of the gender gap may be more complicated than previously thought.
Most people would think that to identify if the gender gap exists they should simply give male and female students the same test and see who performs better. It turns out that while that does indeed reveal a gap, if you give the students a second test, the gap will disappear. The Brigham researchers had 24 elementary schools hold five-round contests the students participated in, and after the first round the score differences between the boys and girls disappeared. The researchers also found that when the teachers told the students, "It's not a race," thus reducing the pressure of the time constraint, the girls again performed as well as the boys.
The researchers suggest that while it may seem that girls shy away from competition, encouraging them to stick around will overcome any disparity between them and boys. Such a finding could have some very interesting impacts on how schools approach gender gaps in the future.
Source: Brigham Young University
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Hardware Roundup: Friday Edition
It looks like a busy Friday leading into the weekend. In the roundup today there is another review on the OCZ Vector 256GB solid state drive for you to read. In cooling, we have a couple of heatsink reviews covering products from DeepCool and Noctua. SilverStone has managed to come up with a different design in some of its cases which have a motherboard orientation rotated 90 degrees from the standard configuration. The Raven 3 case maintains this unusual configuration while improving on its predecessors. Enjoy your reading this weekend!
Cases
SilverStone Raven 3 @ LanOC Reviews
Cooling
DeepCool IceBlade Pro V2.0 Heatsink @ Frostytech
Noctua Low Profile Heatsinks @ Bjorn3D
Input Devices
EpicGear Meduza Mouse & HybridPad Mousepad @ XSReviews
Mobile
Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX HD Smartphone @ Benchmark Reviews
Prebuilts
iBUYPOWER Revolt Gaming System @ ThinkComputers
Storage
OCZ Vector 256GB SATA III 2.5" SSD @ Madshrimps
Miscellany
Podcast #240 @ PC Perspective
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Creating Organic Topological Insulators
Many things have been called exotic until they become well understood, but I would not be surprised if topological insulators always bear that description. These special materials conductor electrons with little resistance on their surface but block electrons within the volume. Now researchers at the University of Utah have discovered a way to produce organic versions of these, which could have a profound effect on the future uses of topological insulators.
The key feature of topological insulators is the boundary between their conductive surface and resistive volume as there weird and wonderful phenomena take place. Among these phenomena is one that will preserve the spin of an electron travelling on the surface, which is very valuable for possible spintronic and quantum computers. What the researchers have done is shown that it should be possible to create an interface between two thin films that will make the larger material a topological insulator. Specifically the researchers examined organometallic compounds that contain both carbon and metals.
Thus far the work has only been theoretical but it could spark a surge of new research within the field of organic topological insulators. As organic materials are typically cheaper to produce and work with than inorganics, such a surge could truly change the future of technology by making some of the next generation of computing technologies less expensive and more powerful.
Source: University of Utah
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3DMark 11 Now Compatible with Windows 8
Futuremark has released update 1.0.4 for 3DMark 11 that makes it compatible with Windows 8, as well as addressing a few more issues. The company has reported that scores won't be affected and there shouldn't be any different when compared to previous updates. The update has also fixed some bugs including improved multiple GPU detection, prevention of Windows going into sleep mode during tests, and an updated DirectX redistributable.
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Mushkin Updates Website
Mushkin has announced the launch of its redesigned website which it hopes will be able to provide a better experience to customers. The site features improved structure and navigation, an improved forum system, and the ability to easily share product information with your friends. Head of Global Marketing Nicolas Villalobos said, "Mushkin.com users are the most engaged and loyal PC enthusiasts. We listened to the requests of our community and redesigned our site to provide them with a better online experience. The result is a fresh, new look with streamlined navigation and more ways for users to reach us."
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Hole-y Quantum Computers a Possibility
Among the most important laws of the Universe are the laws of conservation which keep it balanced. One of these laws concerns electric charge and it implies that electric charge can neither be created nor destroyed, though it can be neutralized, such as in an atom. That means that whenever a negative electron is pulled from an atom it must leave a positive hole in its place and now researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Delft University of Technology are working to take advantage of that for quantum computers.
To many people a hole would just be an empty space and be in no way special, but within quantum mechanics holes do have intrinsic properties, including a spin state. The spin state of a particle gives it a magnetic field with positive and negative poles and can be used to store information. Within a quantum computer the spin of a particle would be put into a superposition, so the particle would exist with multiple spin states at once, giving the computer tremendous computing power. Typically if an electron is used like this, magnetic fields must be used to affect it, but a hole's spin can be manipulated with an electric field.
The spin state of a hole is also less influenced by the nucleus of an atom, allowing it to persist for up to 10 times longer. That longer life should make this approach very desirable to those developing quantum computers as it will simplify some of the design and potentially increase its computational power.
Source: University of Pittsburgh
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Intel Breaks Into ARM Territory With 7-Inch Asus Tablet
Intel has finally broken into the low-cost Android tablet market with the debut of a 7-inch tablet running an Intel Atom Z2420 processor. The tablet is designed by Asus and is priced at a modest $249. It features 3G data and voice connectivity, as well as boasting a 1280x800 screen and nine hours of battery life. The tablet's closest ARM competitor is the HP Slate 7, a 7-inch tablet with a dual-core processor and six hours battery life, but no 3G connectivity which is available for $169.
The Asus tablet is one of the first mobile devices to feature a Lexington chip from Intel's low-cost Clover Trail series of processors. Intel hopes this series will help it gain some of the mobile market share currently dominated by the likes of ARM-based devices.
Source: CNET.com
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Keeping Your Eye In the Ball
Sports stadiums are filled with cameras, especially football stadiums which not only have mounted camera surrounding the field but also suspended above the players on a system to quickly move the camera around. Now researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo have found another place to place a camera; within the football itself.
The researchers embedded a narrow field of view camera within a foam football which would capture images as the ball spawn through the air. Looking at the raw footage of the camera gives a whirl of images showing the sky, stands, and field, but with some special algorithms the images of the sky are removed while the other images are merged together, creating a wide angle video. Much of the distortion from the different angles the images are taken at has even been removed, and with more work and a better sensor the researchers believe they may be able to remove it entirely.
Of course the BallCam is not going to be suited for the Super Bowl, but it could potentially be used for training and for some interesting action shots in movies and TV.
Source: Carnegie Mellon University
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Hardware Roundup: Thursday Edition
Today we open up with a review on a pair of Corsair's Hydro Series self-contained liquid CPU coolers featuring two of the top-end coolers based on 140mm cooling fans. Cooler Master is not a name first associated with audio products, but like other manufacturers, the company is expanding its product lineup and has added the CM Storm Ceres-400 Gaming Headset to its stable of gaming products. Our friends at Neoseeker have reviewed the headset and found it to have good performance, especially when you consider the $60 price tag. We also picked up a review on Crysis 3 gaming performance for you to check out today as well.
Cases
Lian Li PC-7HX @ LanOC Reviews
Cooling
Corsair H90 and H110 Hydro Liquid CPU Cooler @ [H]ardOCP
Gaming
Crysis 3 Performance Test: Graphics & CPU @ TechSpot
Speakers/Headphones
Cooler Master CM Storm Ceres-400 Gaming Headset @ Neoseeker
Miscellany
ThinkComputers & WD My Passport Giveaway! @ ThinkComputers
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