Project Unity sees 15 consoles crammed into one huge box
Project Unity is an interesting beast, a single, unified gaming console made by hardware hacker (among other things) 'Bacteria'. Project Unity crams in a bunch of the best consoles from the past couple of decades into a single gaming box.
Project Unity includes Sega Master System, Neo Geo MVS, GameCube, Dreamcast, Saturn, Intellivision, Colecovision, Atari 7800, Turbografx 16, PS1/PS2, Mega Drive, NES, Super NES, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64 and Amstrad GX4000 games. The console was made out of authentic hardware and doesn't use any emulators of combo units. It does all of this from a single power supply, video output and custom-built controller - no matter the system selected at the time.
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Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon's latest trailer will have you click that pre-order button
If you haven't seen or heard about Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon yet, then the trailer (below) will make you want to buy it, right now. The game is set in the "near future" of 2007, and has the main character voiced by 80s action star (The Terminator, Aliens) Michael Biehn.
There's a bunch of cyborgs, toxic wastes, neon lights and a huge VHS feel to the trailer - which all adds to its awesome feel. It looks like Ubisoft are having a bunch of fun with this game, and by the looks of it, it could've been its own game and dropped the Far Cry 3 name completely. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon launches next month!
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Tablet sales to reach $64 billion this year, a hefty 28% increase from last year
According to market intelligence firm ABI Research, tablet sales are set to create $64 billion worth of sales this year - up 28% year-over-year. Over the course of 2013, there are set to be approximately 150 million tablets sold, up 38% year-over-year.
Since 2010, Apple has been the tablet champion - where last year's shipments saw 60% of tablets purchased by customers come with iOS while Google's Android OS sat at 37%. The remaining 3% of the market was divided up to Windows (in its many flavors), BlackBerry Tablet OS and unidentified OS implementations.
It should be an interesting year, to see if Apple can hold onto that 60% of the tablet market, or whether they'll see those numbers erode away as people move toward Android-based slates.
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RumorTT: AMD working on a 5GHz CPU based on their Vishera architecture
AMD are definitely doing their best to jump back into the market, as they're really struggling right now. They've won contracts to have various products in all three next-gen consoles, and their Never Settle promotion for Radeon GPUs is doing very well.
In the CPU market however, things aren't so well, as Intel are just dominating too much. Haswell is about to launch, Intel's fourth-generation Core processor, and AMD have, well, nothing - or do they? There are now rumors going around that AMD are to release a super-FX CPU based on the Vishera architecture that makes the FX-8350 come to life, which runs at 4.2GHz.
This new CPU, codenamed 'Centurion', will be released in very limited quantities and would ramp the clock speed up to 5GHz - all on air. There's no details on what voltage or supporting hardware needed to run at this speed - but if the rumors are true, we're looking at around $795 for this limited edition FX CPU.
I think this CPU would have to run rings around Intel's Haswell CPU - especially at $795, which would most likely buy you a Core i7 4770K, a good motherboard and 16GB of RAM in just a few months time.
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Bing returns 5x as many sites with malware as Google, searchers beware!
A study conducted by AV-Test, an independent German testing lab, found that Bing returned over five times as many links to malicious sites than Google did. The study, conducted over 18 months, found out that malware sites are still appearing as top search results, even with all of the work Google does to keep them from appearing.
The entire study examined around 40 million different websites that were returned from seven different search engines. Google did quite well in the study, returning just 272 malicious results in 10 million. Bleko did even better, though not by percetnage. Bleko returned just 203 out of three million results.
Bing, on the other hand, returned a massive 1,285 malicious results out of 10 million. Yandex was one of the worst offenders, returning 3,330 malicious results out of 13 million pages.
Unfortunately, the creators of malicious websites are using search engine optimization tricks, causing malicious websites to sometimes be the top returned result. Just remember to be safe when searching the web.
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US House of Representatives can now listen to Spotify after previous ban prevented use
The House of Representatives now have access to the music streaming service Spotify. Previously, Spotify had seen itself banned in the House due to an IT rule that prevents peer-to-peer technology when operating on the House's secure network.
To help protect House data, our IT policy generally prohibits the use of peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies while operating within the secure network. While Spotify is currently not authorized, the CAO has and will continue to work with outside vendors to enable the popular services that improve member communication capabilities.
Hopefully some Spotify music will calm the nerves and reduce the fighting between members of the House. May I recommend
Why can't we be friends by War?
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Ouya provides a shipping schedule for their consoles
I received an e-mail today, along with the thousands of other early backers of the Ouya console, detailing the shipping schedule of their consoles. All backers are still set to receive their consoles by May 25, where 25% of which will receive them before the end of April.
Ouya have said that they've changed a partner this week, so they
"could shave days off the total shipping timeline". They've hired more people to expand the Ouya team, in both their production house and distribution facility, in which they're already
"seeing the benefits of this".
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Samsung Galaxy S4 teardown contest between HTC One sees the Galaxy S4 come out on top
Samsung's Galaxy S4 isn't even out yet and there's already one lucky SOB who has received one, and like you'd do with one of the hottest phones of the year (I'm grinding my teeth typing that), you tear it apart.
TechnoBuffalo posted the teardown video, which sees the Galaxy S4 surprisingly easy to take apart. The S4's screen might cost users a bit to replace, if they ever needed to, but other than that the S4 is "almost infinitely" easier to repair than the HTC One. You can also read the teardown write up
here.
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Seiki offering a 50-inch 4K TV for $1299, it wants to be your next display
If you thought the $10,000+ for an Ultra HD TV was too much, Seiki are coming to the result.
TigerDirect have this Seiki 50-inch 4K-capable TV for sale, for just $1299. Yes, $1299.
The Seiki 50-inch Class 4K2K LED HDTV has the eye-busting 3840x2160 resolution we all dream of running, backed up by the buttery smooth 120Hz refresh rate and 6.5ms response time. This should mean it will provide some ultra high-res, ultra pretty, and ultra smooth gaming. Desktop use on this thing would be a beast, I just wish I could have it shipped to Australia.
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ReportTT: iPad 5 could slim down by shrinking LED backlighting
According to a CNet report, the next iPad--likely the iPad 5--could be slimmed down by shrinking the LEDs used to backlight the screen. They cite NPD DisplaySearch, an authority on all things display related: "
It's likely that part of the thinner/lighter design will be reducing the size of the LED backlight, partly by making the display more efficient and partly by using more efficient LEDs."
Other option for Apple to reduce the thickness and weight of the next iPad would be to change the touch sensor: "
The other significant change that we feel is likely is a shift to a film-based touch sensor," Paul Semenza, an analyst at NPD DisplaySearch, wrote.
Apple has also been rumored to be looking into different display technology, such as IGZO. Sharp has heavily pursued IGZO and was originally expected to be present in the third-gen iPad.
Rumors place the next-gen iPad arriving sometime in the third quarter, likely around September.
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Google gets YT.be domain to use as URL shortener
Google has obtained a new domain to use for URL shortening. YT.be is now in Google's possession and we imagine that it will be used to shorten links to YouTube videos. Currently Google uses Youtu.be for shortened links that point to YouTube videos, but characters are becoming increasingly important.
YT.be is currently redirecting to Google's goo.gl URL shortening webpage. Google acquired the new URL from a Belgian Internet entrepreneur who originally purchased the domain in May 2003. Purchase price has not been disclosed.
It's unlikely that Google would opt to use YT.be for anything other than YouTube issues for many reasons. The most obvious reason would be branding issues, which is the same reason Google only uses g.co for Google websites.
Google will likely start using YT.be to shorten YouTube URLs soon.
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Ask the Experts: I want to get a new GPU for my system but want to make sure there's no CPU bottleneck
Our
Ask the Experts section has a new question, where we have Ahmad from Malaysia wanting to upgrade his GPU but before he does, he wants to make sure there's not going to be a CPU bottleneck, and that his PSU is capable of taking the upgraded GPU.
Q: Here's my spec:
- MB: MSI 7636 H55M E33 Chipset AMI BIOS v10
- PSU: Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 500W
- CPU: i3 530
- RAM: 2 X KVR1333D3N9/4G (8GB)
- HDD: 1 X ST3320418AS Seagate Barracuda 320GB and 1 X WD 500GB
- GPU: ASUS GT 440 1GB DDR5
- OS: Win7 64bit ultimate
- DISPLAY: 32" Sony Bravia EX65 1080p
Im thinking of upgrading my GPU to 7850, will it be any problem especially on CPU bottleneck, the PSU (since Cooler Master Power calculator tells me i need 550w ones). What do you guys recommend?
A: You can view the answer to Ahmad's question right
here.
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Facebook Messenger update gives Chat Heads feature to most Android smartphones, even without Facebook Home
Those of us with older Android smartphones were pretty bummed out to hear that our devices will not be able to run Facebook Home. Things are not as bleak as they appear, though. Facebook has just released an update to Messenger that will bring Chat Heads to most Android phones.
The new update will install Chat Heads to Facebook Messenger on Android devices running Android 2.2 or later, which means that unless you own a bottom of the barrel 3+ year old phone, the update should work on your phone.
I checked out the available updates for my phone and tablet, and both had a Facebook and Facebook Messenger update available, but after installing the update and testing, I have yet to see any Chat Head functionality. I only update about once a month, so chances are that both updates were old and the new one has not yet been pushed to my devices.
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Nintendo to cancel some built-in Wii apps on June 28th
This morning Nintendo officially announced that it will be canceling several services built into the Wii effective June 28th. The apps on the chopping block are ones not featured on the Wii U, and were expected to be canceled at some point.
Wii users will no longer have access to News, Weather, Everybody Votes, Mii Contest, Digital Camera Print and Nintendo channels, as well as WiiConnect24 apps like messaging and exchanging system data.
Nintendo has yet to announce if the apps will be removed elsewhere too.
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Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox suffered large DDOS attack yesterday
In the past 48 hours, life has been pretty stressful for those invested in the virtual currency Bitcoin. On Wednesday the Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox
experienced a massive crash that led to the Bitcoin losing half of it's value. Then yesterday Mt. Gox announced a
12 hour suspension in trading to upgrade servers, and let investors calm down over the crash.
This morning we got word that before yesterday's shutdown, Mt. Gox was also attacked by hackers when it experienced a massive DDOS attack. This is the second large cyber-attack on the exchange in less than a week, which should fuel speculation about the security of investing in a yet-to-be vetted virtual currency.
Skeptics of Bitcoin will be quick to point out the fact that it will be hard to validate the new currency until the market is secure from such attacks, and measures are implemented to prevent such massive sell-offs. The debate over Bitcoins has come up a lot in the past few weeks, and I want to know your feelings on the "currency of the future". Leave me a comment or send me an email.
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LG unveils Value Pack upgrade for Optimus G Pro, looks remarkably similar to Galaxy S4 features
LG is looking to combat rival Samsung's Galaxy S4 head on with its flagship Optimus G Pro, which features similar hardware included in the Galaxy S4. With some planned software tweaks and a "Value Pack" upgrade, the Optimus G Pro will even more closely resemble the Galaxy S4 in function.
The Value Pack will introduce a "Smart Video" feature which like Samsung's Smart Pause, will pause video when a user's eyes are not focused on the screen. Also included in the upgrade pack is the ability to pause live recording and start it again in the same video file. Users will also be able to use both the front and rear cameras to capture both a photo of the subject and the user at the same time.
Existing Optimus Pro smartphones in the Korean market will begin getting the Value Pack upgrade beginning today, with further roll-out taking place in the coming weeks.
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Motorola's upcoming X Phone delayed until August
We have been talking about
Google's
Motorola's Googlerola's upcoming
X Phone since December, and there is news this morning that could mean we will be speculating about the new flagship all the way into August.
The X Phone has long been rumored to be the most advanced Android phone ever, and will be the first device running Google's next-gen Android 5.0 platform, dubbed Key Lime Pie. Rumors today are pointing to the X Phone being delayed until August,
instead of the May, June or July time frame, as previously reported.
There is no reason given for the speculated delay, but it could have something to do with
Google not being impressed with early designs, or that Android 5.0 is just not going to be ready in time. I think it could have something to do with the recent releases from Samsung and HTC, and Google / Motorola realizing that they really have to step their game up if they wish remain a big time player.
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GIGABYTE HQ officially open new OC Lab, dedicated to all things overclocking
Earlier today we were invited to the GIGABYTE headquarters here in Taipei, Taiwan to get a look at the motherboard maker's brand new pride and joy. No, for once we're not talking about a new motherboard... we're talking about a new lab.
Staff at GIGABYTE had been pushing senior staff at the Taiwanese company to sign off on a new "OC Lab" for its employees to spend their days overclocking and tweaking new GIGABYTE motherboards and video cards. HiCookie, a famous Taiwanese overclocker, joined GIGABYTE some years ago now and I can indeed confirm each time I visited him, he was slowly taking over cubical by cubical, with all of his overclocking hardware and gear. He and others at the company needed such a new place to be free and overclock, till they can overclock no more.
Eventually the bosses at GIGABYTE signed off on the overclocking lab, known simply as the "OC Lab". GIGABYTE invited some local press and overclockers there earlier today, where we christened it with a couple of drinks. It will be the new home for HiCookie when he moves into the OC Lab next week - he would have been in there by now if it were not for IDF Beijing, which he just returned from.
As you can tell by the pictures, no expenses were spared in the new lab. There are three tables set up, which will seat two test systems per table. HiCookie told us that he plans to have an "Extreme table" for LN2 and dry ice, a "Medium table" for water cooling, and the final table for standard air cooling solutions. Each table is equipped with an air extraction vent to remove harmful smoke and gases from the room for when soldering and such takes place. And yes, they had four NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan video cards, just laying around for showing off.
The lab is even setup with a little bar for those times when overclocking just becomes too stressful, or for when GIGABYTE wishes to entertain media and customers. Not pictured (my bad!) is the sofa setup and row of chairs for the comfort of those attending. Cheers Colin (pictured above), GIGABYTE's new marketing director, for the drink, but in seriousness, it is great to see GIGABYTE putting its money where its mouth is and investing more and showing even further seriousness when it comes to overclocking.
You can view more pictures below in the gallery.
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ASUS Qube Google TV box to launch on April 23rd
GTVSource is reporting that ASUS will launch its first entry into the Google TV market later this month. Named the Qube, we first got a glimpse of it at CES 2013 in Las Vegas, and now four months later it is coming to market.
The Qube is essentially an Android box that features Marvell's ARMADA 1500 media SoC, which is paired up with 1GB of RAM. Only 4GB of onboard storage is included for additional app installs, but ASUS says that the Qube will come with 50GB of free cloud storage.
The device comes with a full featured remote, which includes a built-in QWERTY keyboard. Users will be able to stream their content as well as content from services like HBOGo, Crackle, Pandora, Amazon, Google Play and Netflix.
The Qube will launch in the US on the 29th of April and retail at $129. Additional markets will follow shortly after according to the report.
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EA lays off many Montreal studio staff, said to be refocusing efforts on mobile and new platforms
This morning the air is thick with sadness at EA's Montreal studio where the company has reportedly laid off most of its staff. The reports have been confirmed by EA, but no official word on how many employees were let go.
Our early findings appear to show that as many as 170 employees got the notice this morning, with once source saying that most of those affected were quality assurance and contract workers. In a statement to gaming site Joystiq, EA said that the layoffs were part of an effort to sharpen their focus on providing games for new platforms and mobile.
"These are difficult decisions to let go of good people who have made important contributions to EA, and whenever possible we retrain or relocate employees to new roles. Streamlining our operations will help ensure EA is bringing the best next-generation games to players around the world."
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Nokia releases updated firmware for Lumia 920, 820, 620
Nokia seems to be one of the few brands taking the time to update older mobile hardware. Microsoft's updates are sporadic at best and non-existent at worst. However, Nokia is taking care of the issue by releasing updated firmware for its popular Lumia 920, 820, and 620 devices.
The updates, said to be rolling out over the coming weeks, is already available on some users' devices. It brings various improvements, which are listed on the Lumia 920 support page:
- Improved automatic display brightness adjustment
- Fix for intermittent screen blanking during a call
- Improvements for connectivity issues in certain network conditions
- Performance and stability improvements
The 820 and 620 are also getting the improvements listed above. The 620 is also gaining the following improvements:
- Improved touch screen functions, including corrections in multi-touch actions
- Better voice quality with Bluetooth headsets that support echo/noise suppression
- Enhanced camera performance with corrected exposure when flash is used in bright light conditions
- Various improvements to system stability, performance, and usability
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LeakedTT: BlackBerry 10 update will improve camera speed, HDR, and other improvements
BlackBerry is apparently already readying an update for its BlackBerry 10 operating system used on its latest flagship devices. The new update is said to be in the works for release by the end of the month and will bring with it numerous improvements.
According to the leak, BlackBerry 10 users can expect numerous improvements for just the camera. BB10.1 is said to feature a faster camera and HDR support. BB10.1 will also be getting UI and keyboard tweaks to help BlackBerry users adjust to the on-screen keyboard. The full list of improvements is below:
- Mnemonic Phone Dialing
- BlackBerry Mobile Voice System Support
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- BlackBerry Balance
- Word Prediction
- Type N Go
- Corporate Liable Feature
- Cross Domain Email Warnings
- Dark Theme Support
- Out-of-Box-Experience
- Smartcard Support
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Windows Update bug causes some Windows 7 PCs not to boot in Brazil
A warning to all of our readers in Brazil: If your system is powered by Microsoft's 32-bit version of Windows 7, you should disable automatic Windows Updates. Patch number KB2823324 will cause 32-bit Windows 7 systems in Brazil to enter an infinite reboot loop, something most would like to avoid.
Oddly enough, the problem only presents itself in Brazil: "
The problem is isolated to Brazil and we are working on a solution," Microsoft said.
To fix the problem, you'll need to load a recent System Restore points. If you don't use System Restore, you might be able to use Command Prompt in Safe Mode to remove the botched patch. Run the following command:
DISM.exe / image: C: [windows8 install]/ cleanup-image / revertpendingact
Of course, your mileage may vary. If all else fails, you can wait for Microsoft to issue an official fix or reinstall your operating system.
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Sprint rolling out LTE to 21 new markets on April 12, according to leak
According to a document obtained by PhoneArena, Sprint will be rolling out LTE to 21 new markets tomorrow, April 12. Sprint has said that the roll out in Los Angeles will be more of a soft roll out as they continue to test bits and pieces much like the San Francisco roll out has taken place.
The markets below are said to be receiving LTE tomorrow:
- California: Los Angeles, Contra Costa County
- Florida: Palm Bay, Port St. Lucie, West Palm Beach
- Indiana: Bloomington and Lafayette
- Illinois: Rochelle
- Minnesota: Mankato-North Mankato
- Missouri: Joplin
- North Carolina: Charlotte, Shelby, Albemarle, Sailsbury, Lincolnton
- Tennessee: Memphis, Greenville, Tullahoma
- Texas: Denison, Kerrville
- Virginia: Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News
The document says that users will be able to enjoy download speeds of 6-8 Mbps down and 2-3 Mbps up. Of course, to use LTE, you'll need an LTE compatible Sprint device such as the LG Optimus G, Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung Galaxy Note II, or Apple iPhone 5. I'm still waiting for LTE to come to a city near me.
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RumorTT: Xbox 720 launch titles said to include Ryse and new Forza
The latest rumor to surface regarding the Xbox 720 talks about what games will be available at launch. According to The Verge, who have been active with numerous Xbox 720 rumors as of late, the Xbox 720 will be launching with several new games including a new Forza and Ryse.
Ryse was originally shown off during E3 2011--the trailer can be seen above--but has yet to materialize. Crytek and Microsoft Studios have reportedly been working on rewriting the game to make use the hardware and features present on the new Xbox 720. Ryse is said to be the mega launch title for the new Xbox 720 console. It will apparently be Microsoft's new Gears of War or Halo series.
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Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) Blu-ray Movie Review
The Disney of the 1980's was neither a particularly pleasant, nor creatively uplifting place. Since Walt's departure in 1966, the company slowly slid into irrelevance, supplanted heftily by its competitors - barely a shadow of the company that created such timeless classics as
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and
Fantasia. But a funding injection by Silver Screen Partners allowed the studio to reinvent itself and one of the more curious (and riskiest) projects; the live action / animation hybrid
Who Framed Roger Rabbit, went on to great success, utilizing cutting edge technology to tell a story that could not previously be visualized.
In an alternate 1940's Los Angeles, Toontown houses Hollywood's eclectic collection of animated stars, including Roger Rabbit (voiced by Charles Fleischer), the leading light of Maroon pictures, and his wife, Jessica Rabbit (voiced by Kathleen Turner). Concerned for his star, R.K. Maroon (Alan Tilvern) hires the down and out detective Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) to investigate Jessica Rabbit's alleged adultery. Flung headfirst into a world he doesn't understand and with more than a chip on his shoulder, Valiant is dragged into a scheme hatched by the aptly named Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) to bulldoze Toontown and lay a highway in its place.
I've always loved
Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the world that was created, now all the more so that I understand the backbreaking efforts and pre-digital craftsmanship that went into its production. Director Robert Zemeckis, fresh from his success with the
Back To The Future franchise (the third of which was in post-production at the same time as
Rabbit) was on a roll and successfully made a picture that although has well and truly been supplanted from a technical perspective, has the heart and soul as real and pervasive as anything made since.
Video
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is presented in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with AVC MPEG-4 compression.
Made well before the digital age, the film has always had a dirty and artifact addled transfer owing to limits of pre-digital compositing and manual rotoscoping techniques that lie at the heart of the production. However, clearly struck from a new transfer and significantly rejuvenated,
Roger transcends its primitive shackles with a pleasant and striking Blu-ray transfer.
Newly color timed and digitally restored, the film now features nary a visible film artifact, which is somewhat of a minor miracle itself. There is evidence of judicious application of digital noise reduction, but never in the extreme. As such, grain is kept to a minimum. Shots with animation feature a slight, but noticeable drop in detail, which is no doubt built in to the master.
I've long watched
Who Framed Roger Rabbit on previous mediums and it's a definite understatement to say that the film has never looked better than it does here. Sure, it could be bettered, but short of a full restoration and re-composition of its elements, (a hugely cost prohibitive measure), it won't likely be.
Audio
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, at 24 bits.
Originally mixed with six channel audio,
Roger hits Blu-ray with the same 5.1 mix as the 2003 DVD release, albeit now in lossless form. It's certainly not the most aggressive, nor impressive audio mix of all time, but I think most of the films fans will know exactly what to expect.
Dialogue for the most part comes across well, with good audio sync. A few of Bob Hoskin's faux American accented lines are difficult to make out, but more of a reflection of late 80's production methods.
Unsurprisingly the sound design frequently utilizes over the top sound effects and action to accompany the too-infused antics, and many are mixed to make use of surrounds at key moments. Low frequency usage is appropriate, however lacking the power to strike terror in the hearts of neighbors.
The score by Alan Silvestri is entirely memorable and suits the somewhat film noirish 1940's backdrop well.
Extras
Disney have included some worthwhile extras on the
Who Framed Roger Rabbit Blu-ray, but haven't taken the opportunity to create any additional ones.
First up is the screen specific
Audio Commentary featuring Directors Robert Zemeckis, producers Frank Marshall and Steve Starkey, ILM visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston and writers Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. With such a large group of contributors, there's hardly a gap to be found, and the group discuss every aspect of the production, including the once cutting edge visual effects and some of the well hidden Easter eggs. Thanks to this track, I now know what a 'goose' is.
The 37 minute
Behind the Ears: The True Story of Roger Rabbit Documentary hosted by the voice of Roger Rabbit, Charles Fleischer, unveils a reasonably in-depth look at the novel production by way of on-set footage, un-animated rushes and interviews, of which a significantly cut down version can be found in the shorter, and more kid-friendly
Who Made Roger Rabbit featurette.
The highlight for me are the
Three Animated Shorts, which were originally tied to theatrical exhibitions of Disney releases such as
Dick Tracy and
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The shorts are animated at the same level of quality as the film proper, and have similarly been remastered in HD, with 5.1 sound.
Next up are thee smaller featurettes
Before and After which compares footage from the rough dailies with the final animated scene,
Toon Stand Ins which reveals the on set aids which assist the actors to hit their marks and
On-Set, which takes the form of some further behind the scenes outtakes.
Finally, we have one
Deleted Scene, along with director introduction explaining why it was cut. It would have been nice to see this one integrated into the film proper. Perhaps for the 30th anniversary release.
...
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Microsoft Windows 8 and Metro UI: The (d)evolution of the world's most popular OS
Reports surfaced this week clearly showing a huge drop in overall PC sales during the first quarter of 2013. As
we have reported in a recent news article, expert analyst firms have placed this drop between the region of 11% (Gartner) to 14% (IDC). This is a massive drop, the largest one ever seen by research analysts in almost 20 years of tracking.
The experts have cited several contributing factors for this fall, but once again Windows 8 has been burdened with a large part of the blame. With Windows 8, Microsoft has dumped the classic taskbar and the familiar Start Button and Start Menu of previous Windows iterations, in favour of the touchscreen Metro UI. Many Windows users around the world felt alienated by this dramatic change towards an interface which is deemed by many as more suitable to a touchscreen tablet or smartphone, rather than a PC. There has been a lot of speculation why Microsoft did this. In this article we will explore some of the possible reasons that may have led Microsoft to take such drastic measures.
It is plain to see that Google's Android has quickly become the OS of choice for tablets and smartphones. Android has essentially become the "Windows" of the mobile devices world. Google has been instrumental towards the development of the Linux-based platform, which they fully acquired in 2005. Since then they have managed to plant the OS to a great variety of touchscreen devices, produced by many different manufacturers. This has led to a global touchscreen devices market, which is largely dominated by Google and Apple.
Microsoft must have felt pretty much like an outsider in this massive global game. Their response was a touchscreen interface of their own, and Metro UI was born. The main problem for the Redmond people at that point was the simple fact that Google and Apple had already established themselves as the major players and global market leaders in the field. Microsoft had entered the arena very belatedly. For the first time in its history, Microsoft was reduced to the role of the third contender, desperately trying to catch-up with the leaders up front. At some point the Microsoft people must have realized that their only realistic short-term hope was to go for bronze. Windows smartphones were eventually released to a lukewarm reception. By that time Google and Apple had already reserved the biggest slices of the pie, leaving behind only crumbs for Microsoft.
I can almost imagine the endless brainstorming sessions that must have taken place at Redmond during that period, with desperate managers franticly trying to find a way out of the black hole they had found themselves in. It must have been during one of these stressful sessions that the decision was made to dump the Windows 8 Start Button/Menu in favour of Metro UI. Like many decisions which are born out of desperation, this one has proven to be a divisive one.
I can understand the way of thinking that led to such an action. With the apparent failure of Windows smartphones, Microsoft must have realized that the only way out for them would be to gradually worm their way back into a mainstream position of strength via the only avenue that was left open to them: The PC. Windows 7 was still the most popular PC OS in the world. The only way for Microsoft to balance things out in their favour had to be through their next Windows iteration.
When the Windows 8 release candidate was unleashed to the public, I just couldn't believe that Microsoft had left out the Start Button/Menu. End-user logic dictates to at least give users the choice to disable Metro and bring back the classic Windows 7 desktop and Start Button/Menu, if they want to. The problem is that end-user logic is often at odds with a company's long term planning. In the end Microsoft opted to take the choice away from its customers, essentially forcing Metro down our collective throats.
It is really not that difficult to assess Microsoft's possible reasons for doing this. We all know that touchscreens are the way things are going. One only has to look at kids nowadays with their smartphones and tablets, fingers flying. These are the users of tomorrow, young people, a lot of which have only known touchscreens. For such young users a mouse and keyboard is often seen as an optional peripheral, at best. They may still be using those with a school computer, but at the end of the day, they are much more comfortable with a touchscreen, simply because their own personal devices feature such an interface.
Microsoft must have realized that by allowing the classic Windows 7 desktop with a Start Button/Menu as an optional extra in Windows 8, they would essentially be shooting themselves in the foot. If the classic mouse/keyboard driven Windows interface was to be allowed as an option in Windows 8, then it is very probable that parents who buy a new computer, would readily be reverting to the classic interface that they know best. The problem for Microsoft with such a scenario is that parents would also end up teaching their kids to use their computers in the old-fashioned way. This is something that Microsoft most certainly does not want.
It is obvious that Microsoft thought long-term with this. By forcing Metro UI upon PC users, Redmond hoped to grab a larger piece of the global mobile devices market in the long run. If Metro is the sole interface available in future Windows iterations, then it would soon become the only mainstream computer interface that future computer users will ever know. If young users can only use the Metro interface on their personal computers, then Metro will quickly become the usage standard for future generations of PC users. This also means that there is a much better chance that such users would also buy a Windows smartphone or Windows tablet in the future, too.
By employing such a strategy Microsoft faces an immediate problem. Millions of Windows users worldwide are still used to the old way of doing things, and reject Metro as a result. Microsoft hopes to change all of that. Some see this as the devolution of the world's most mainstream PC operating system. Others see it as simply the natural evolution of Windows towards an era when fingertips on a screen or on a mid-air holographic projection (when such tech becomes commercially available), will totally replace the need for a keyboard and mouse.
The future of the humble Start Button looks very dim indeed with Windows Blue also taking the choice away from users, at least that's what we've seen so far. Not that I have expected anything different; in fact I would be very surprised if Microsoft was to yield to public pressure and bring the classic taskbar/button/menu back in future Windows iterations. I see Redmond digging in its heels and sticking to its guns through thick and thin with this: Metro is here to stay. A large decisive factor will be the rate of adoption of Windows 8 (or later) by businesses. Swapping Windows 7 workstations for Windows 8 equivalents is not a priority for I.T. managers at this point, but this is bound to change. Future Windows iterations will most likely be Metro driven and eventually most businesses will be forced to adopt the new way of doing things.
Of course there are third-party software solutions available for Windows 8 that bring back a version of the Taskbar/Start Button/Start Menu. To me (and also to many others), this is irrelevant. The main point for me is that Microsoft takes our choice away in favour of their transparent long-term marketing plans. I don't like it, but I also realize that Microsoft has no choice in the matter. They have to do something drastic right now if they ever hope for the future tide to turn in their favour. If this calls for some hard business choices to be taken today, then so be it.
Personally I will be bypassing Windows 8 altogether. With all the great Linux distros that are readily available nowadays, it is unlikely that I would upgrade my own systems to a version of Windows anytime soon - unless of course Microsoft manages to release something truly exceptional in the relatively near future. I still understand though that I will also be forced eventually to adapt to the new way of doing things, despite my initial reluctance to do so. For as long as we live and our mental faculties remain intact, we can always learn new things; and learn new things we must, it seems.
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Gainward GeForce GTX 650 Ti 2GB Boost Golden Sample Video Card in SLI Overclocked Review
Introduction
The other day we got the chance to look at our first retail GTX 650 Ti Boost in the form of a
video card from Palit. We found ourselves impressed with what the company had done with the cooler, but when it came to the out of the box overclock, the small jump in clock speeds did very little for extra performance.
With Palit and Gainward offerings always sharing some similarities with Palit being the parent company to Gainward, we thought what better way to test the GTX 650 Ti Boost Golden Sample then to test it in SLI. With the card sharing the same clock speeds as the Palit version and a very similar cooler design, it was the perfect pair. We'll get into all of this in just a moment when we take a closer look at the card and clock speeds.
Due to the fact that the minor bump in clock speeds brought with it very little change in performance when compared to the reference model, and for the fact that we've already looked at the reference GTX 650 Ti Boost
in SLI, now was the perfect time to test SLI overclocked.
Before we look at the performance of the GTX 650 Ti Boost in SLI when overclocked we've got to do a few things. The first is of course to look at the package that Gainward has put together. Once we've done that we'll take a closer look at the card itself before looking at the out of the box specifications and the clock speeds we managed to achieve today when overclocking.
Once we've looked over the card we'll take a quick look at our testbed, talk about the cards that you'll see in our graphs today, and then get stuck straight into the performance. First, though, we've got to take a quick look at the package Gainward is offering.
Package
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You can see this is of course a Golden Sample model and we have a small sticker that mentions it's a Dual Fan type. You can see the model and some of the main highlights including the 2GB of GDDR5. Turning the box over we get a bit more detail on DirectX 11, Full HD gaming and the system requirements.
When it comes to the bundle we've got a Quick Install Guide along with the driver CD. Connectors come in the form of a DVI to VGA connector and a dual Molex to 6-pin PCIe power connector.
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CaseLabs Merlin SM8 Full-Tower Customizable Chassis Review
Introduction
For the longest time, as I see people asking for recommendations for a new chassis, I kept seeing the name CaseLabs being added to lists. At first I wasn't so sure about this company or what they had to offer. I am used to seeing chassis much like this concept, but they were from the likes of Danger Den, and while cool and fun to build, those cases always left me wanting in room, compatibility with my loop components, and most importantly, I didn't like the acrylic dust attracting materials for a chassis. You could have always gone to the likes of MountainMods, but from what I hear, the components are flimsy, and for the cost, customers are sometimes left with remorse for paying so much to be disappointed. That being said, there was room to improve on both ideas, and hopefully someone could deliver customers what they have been looking for this whole time.
This is where CaseLabs stepped in. They have some basic ideas that make them stand out, like being comprised of aluminum to reduce the weight and afford a material that will help remove heat from inside the chassis, as well as going the extra step to powder coat all of the parts to weather the stresses of component installation. CaseLabs offers a few sizes of cases from tech stations all the way on up to a dual system chassis. In with all of the chassis form factors, you can buy the basic design with a good layout, and then customize these cases to fit your specific coloration want, what is included in the front I/O, how many fan holes are in certain panels, and they add a full line of parts and accessories to not only repair things you may break after years of use, but you can also change parts you have to have a contrast of colors later down the line.
That brings us to why we are here today. CaseLabs has sent along the Merlin SM8 chassis for us to have a look at. On top of that, they also sent along some extra parts, slightly customized my chassis, and with all of these additions, we are almost to the SM8-X Extreme Edition offering of this chassis. So not only do you get to look at one of the most well designed water cooling capable chassis I have yet to see, you are going to see soon enough, that even with dual loops and an ATX motherboard, the Merlin SM8 will take anything you can throw at it and still be able to sleep a baby comfortably on the inside.
There is a lot to go over, and quite a few options to discuss, but however long this review is, the enthusiast in you will not be able to stop looking at and appreciating what you are about to see.
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Palit GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB OC Video Card Review
Introduction
Last month we saw the release of two new mid-range video card models from AMD and NVIDIA. Both heat up the mid $100 segment more than we've probably ever seen before. Hitting fairly firmly at the $149 mark, the HD 7790, which we've looked at from
Sapphire,
GIGABYTE and
ASUS all did a good job of impressing us.
On the other side of the equation you've got the new GTX 650 Ti Boost from NVIDIA. Priced slightly higher, the model does offer twice as much memory with 2GB instead of 1GB, and offers slightly higher performance, as we saw in our original review of the
reference card, which we looked at during the launch of the new model.
While we've managed to take a look at a few retail versions of the HD 7790, we're yet to see what's going on with retail versions of the GTX 650 Ti Boost. That's mainly due to the fact that AMD didn't offer a reference card at launch and instead relied on partners to promote the model, while NVIDIA released a reference card, and slightly after the AMD offering.
The process will as always be fairly standard with us moving from here straight into the box of the model before diving inside to find out what's going on with the bundle. Once we've done that we'll move onto the card itself before look at the specifications of this OC model. We'll quickly cover the testbed, the cards you'll see in our graphs here today before finally getting stuck into the performance side of things.
Package
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You can clearly see the model and above that you can see mention that we're dealing with an OC Edition. Across the bottom you can see it's a 2GB model and has the normal support for 3D Vision, PhysX, SLI, GPU Boost, PCIe 3.0 and a 28nm core.
The back of the box goes into a bit more detail on some of the main features like DirectX 11 and some of the main core specifications.
Inside we've got a very typical bundle with not much being seen. Starting from the left we've got a Quick Installation Guide and next to that a driver CD. Finally we finish the bundle off with a DVI to VGA connector along with a Dual-Molex to 6-pin PCIe power connector.
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Thermaltake BlacX Duet 5G USB 3.0 Docking Station Review
Over the years hard drive docks or docking stations have really helped in simplifying the way I work, especially when I have years of data backed up on spinners. Since I no longer have to fiddle around mounting drives in my system and can simply slap a drive in a dock and pull the data I need and move on with my day, it saves me a great deal of time.
Now the Thermaltake BlacX Duet 5G is certainly not the only dual bay docking station on the market, but it is among the smaller units available. The Duet is comprised of a plastic body with an internal weight to hold the dock steady, while you're slamming drives in and out of the system - and that goes to say it does support hot swapping. The internal SATA ports support a generation three configuration, but are also backwards compatible with SATA and SATA II drives. As far as OS compatibility the BlacX Duet 5G supports Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8 along with Mac OS 10+.
The BlacX Duet 5G shares many of its characteristics with its little brother, the single bay BlacX 5G. Everything from the shape and choice materials have stayed the same between units, but there are some obvious differences, such as the power button and internal PCB, which we will touch on shortly.
The top of the dock has a slight brushed appearance brought on by the slice of aluminium Thermaltake has placed here. As you will notice the power switch incorporates two LEDs, both of which are blue - one indicating the unit is switched on and the other for activity. To the right there are also two levers for ejecting your drives.
The back of the dock is rather simple, housing a power input and USB 3.0 connection.
The scope of delivery for the BlacX Duet 5G includes the power adapter and USB 3.0 cable along with a warranty booklet and user guide. We also found two rubber drive covers in the box to combat drive acoustics.
The meat and beans of the BlacX Duet 5G all comes down to the PCB as it will determine how fast this dock really is. Above, as you can see, the controller used in this dock is the JMicron JMS551, a SATA III to USB 3.0 bridge controller that operates on the Bulk Only Transport specification - no UASP support.
The flip side of the PCB houses the dual SATA III ports.
Choosing the proper benchmarks to be used in a review can be, at times, a hassle. While I would love to please all of you and run every possible benchmark on these enclosures, it would be at the very least time consuming. With that said I have chosen some of the more popular, and widely available benchmarks. All testing is run in the same order on every enclosure and that is the order you see it here in this review. Drives used in this review are a pair of very capable Corsair Neutron SSD's.
Using ATTO we see the BlacX Duet 5G top out at 267MB/s read and 263MB/s write. Our Z77 test motherboard has seen numbers close to 500MB/s on USB 3.0 previously, and as such, we know that this is where the BlacX electronics top out in the Duet 5G model.
CrystalDiskMark, as expected, showed similar numbers in sequential read and write.QD32 results were similar to what I've seen from previous reviews at 15MB/s read and 27MB/s write.
Moving over to DiskBench for some real-world testing we see the BlacX Duet 5G held on with 220MB/s transferring our test data folder.
As this unit is a dock and supports no RAID features, I thought it would be nice to see how the unit does while transferring data drive to drive both installed in the BlacX. As you can see there was a slight bottleneck when we compare this to our previous transfer of 220MB/s PC to BlacX. However 120MB/s is not slow by any means, especially when working with platter drives.
Over the past few months it's pretty safe to say I have tested my fair share of enclosures, some of which carried extreme performance, but also a hefty price tag as well. With that said there is always the middle ground, the place where a great amount of manufacturers battle it out in price vs. performance, adding features to their product line-up to set themselves apart.
The Thermaltake BlacX 5G is one of these units, while it is no secret that this unit has been on the market for a while now, it was a trend setter when it came to market with several other manufactures taking notes from Thermaltake and releasing similar products shortly after.
As far as build quality goes, the BlacX Duet 5G is top tier in my book. The entire unit is well built with ABS plastics and even a slice of aluminium for aesthetics. The top mounted LEDs, while shining blue, aren't so bright that they blind you, but rather just perfect. Performance of the unit is on par with what I expected with no UASP support, with read and write speeds well into the 200MB/s + range.
Pricing of the Thermaltake BlacX Duet 5G sits at $71.99 as of today and seeing that this unit has been out for quite a while, I don't see the price coming down much from there.
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G.I. Joe Retaliation (2013) Cinema Review
Emboldened by the success with transporting the series of
Transformers toys and cartoons into a fully fledged movie franchise, Hasbro extended their reach with
G.I. Joe and
Battleship flicks, the former which was trashed by critics but modestly financially successful, the former which was shunned by all. Still, Paramount must have thought there was enough of a heartbeat in
G.I. Joe to continue with a second outing. Sadly, if it were a dog, it would have been put down long ago.
Following on from the events of its predecessor, Cobra Commander (Luke Bracey) has been captured by the Joes and encased in a watery solitary confinement tube, however Zartan (Arnold Vosloo) has successfully infiltrated the White House, posing as a double of the United States of America whilst the real President (Jonathan Pryce) is kept hostage. When the Joes are framed for the theft of nuclear weapons and subsequently wiped out by order of Zartan, the survivors, including Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson) must band together with former foes in order to foil plans for worldwide destruction.
Originally planned for a (U.S.) summer 2012 release, Paramount Pictures pulled the film just weeks before release and delayed it for nine months, in a move that many pundits proclaimed was due to terrible audience reaction and to beef up the role of heart throb Channing Tatum. However, the real reason was to post-convert the film to 3D and give the film a little more breathing room in a crowded marketplace. The move seems to have paid off for the studio (I hear they've already greenlit a third movie), but the film whether in 2D or 3D is still a mess, albeit an entertaining one.
Recasting some roles and writing out others, with new writers and a new director,
G.I. Joe Retaliation is as much of a reboot as it is a sequel, representing a change of tone from its predecessor, eschewing some of the forced humor in favor of a straight up action adventure. Sadly, the unnecessarily convoluted plot has not been rectified, leaving a confusing mess of a film that's despite being made up of all the right elements, including some impressive visual effects from Industrial Light and Magic, fails to gel together in anything resembling a cohesive bond.
Stars such as Channing Tatum and Dwayne Johnson are reliable leads and lend the film some much needed gravitas (if I can use the word so lightly), whilst Adrianne Palicki provides the eye candy, however it's just not enough to overcome a plot that didn't need to be so 'clever'.
Still (and I know I'm at the risk of letting the film go easy), there is a small, but quantifiable amount of entertainment value to be found here, such that it's at least worth a drunk Saturday night viewing, although waiting for a cheaper home video session would be infinitely preferred. However, if you do feel the need to see it at the cinema, at least skip the 3D showings - the conversion by Digital Domain Stereo Group is extremely aggressive, with significant 3D pop-out that caused me the most painful 3D induced head ache I've ever experienced. Definitely not worth the surcharge for that.
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Plextor M5 Pro 128GB with Xtreme Firmware SSD Review
Introduction
We started testing 128GB class drives again a couple of months ago and the Plextor M5 Pro was the drive we really wanted to get in the ring. Plextor has always manufactured excellent 128GB capacity drives, some of the best on the market. So, when we decided to take a deeper look at this capacity size, we had to bring Plextor into the mix.
The problem was, a couple of months ago was a crossover period for Plextor. The M5 Pro that we are looking at today received a firmware update to Plextor's Xtreme Firmware. Plextor was also in the middle of a hardware change, also Xtreme. The M5 Pro can be flashed to the new M5 Pro Xtreme, but the full on M5 Pro Xtreme has a hardware change as well. It's all a bit confusing, but the breakdown is like this, M5 Pro uses 8K page sizes in the 19nm NAND flash. M5 Pro Xtreme uses new 19nm NAND flash with 16K page sizes.
Today we'll look at the Plextor M5 Pro 128GB, with 8K page size 19nm NAND flash, flashed with the new Xtreme firmware update. This isn't Plextor's newest M5 offering, but it gives us a model to look at until a Xtreme drive with new 16K page size hits the lab.
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost Video Cards in SLI
Introduction
Recently we looked at the new
NVIDIA GTX 650 Ti Boost and a few days after that launched we received a second card. With two reference NVIDIA video cards on hand we knew there was only one thing to do. That was of course throw both into our testbed and see just what kind of performance we could get out of the new budget orientated SLI setup.
It's been a while since we've seen two NVIDIA cards of the same model that would us allow to test in SLI. After I installed the two cards into the testbed and looked down at them sitting together with no SLI bridge, I then discovered I had to actually go find an SLI bridge, something that we haven't used in quite a long time.
Fortunately it didn't take me too long to find one and I found the machine up and running quite quickly. Because we've already looked at the GTX 650 Ti Boost in a fair bit of detail in our original launch article, we won't be covering too much extra today.
From here we'll move onto the testbed system setup and also quickly take a look at our GPU-Z screenshot to make sure that SLI is of course enabled and working. From there we'll simply just get straight into the benchmark side of things to see just what kind of performance we're able to get out of this new setup.
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Ineo NA216U2 Plus External USB 3.0 Enclosure
Ineo Technology is not one of the most well-known companies, but they have been producing high quality storage devices for many years. You will find products ranging from NAS appliances to external storage solutions like the NA216U2 Plus we are reviewing today, in their portfolio.
The NA216U2 Plus is a simplistic USB 3.0 enclosure that Ineo has designed so that you can quickly swap drives for an on demand super speed storage solution to fit anyone's budget. The NA216U2 Plus is compatible with Windows XP/Vista/7 and 8.
The Ineo NA216U2 Plus as stated before is a simple enclosure. The driving force behind this is the small SATA II to USB 3.0 adapter that comes packaged inside the plastic shell.
Looking over the adapter we see Ineo has included a blue LED off to the right as an activity indicator. The USB 3.0 cable for the adapter is directly attached with no possibility of removal, which I found to be somewhat annoying, as it leaves your drive hanging off the back of your PC.
Popping of the plastics we get to the meat of the adapter and stumbled upon an ASMedia 1051 controller, which does not support UASP.
After installing our Corsair Neutron SSD we can see the plastic enclosure fits our drive securely inside.
Everything was going great with our Ineo until I dropped it on the floor. That being said it was a fairly decent drop onto a hardwood floor.
Benchmarking external enclosures will consist of three pieces of software all using the same drive or drives in the case of a RAID device, Corsair Neutron SSD(s). The first benchmark is ATTO for marketing performance followed up by CrystalDiskMark to test NCQ at QD32 keeping in mind that for an external storage device to support NCQ it must also have UASP support. The last is DiskBench for the real world aspect of things.
Taking a peek at our results from ATTO, we find the INEO was capable of 259MB/s write and 271MB/s read.
Running CDM on our Ineo NA216U2 Plus we found the results to be similar to ATTO. At QD32 the enclosure was capable of 19MB/s read and 27MB/s write, which is comparable to most enclosure you will find on the market today.
DiskBench showed us the INEO was a pretty capable device as far as real-world transfers are concerned. Seen above the enclosure was able to transfer our test data at 217MB/s taking just 51 seconds to do so.
As I have stated many times in this review the INEO NA216U2 Plus is a simple enclosure. The case that fits your drive is made with the same type of plastics found in your tackle box for fishing, which surprised me when it shattered hitting the floor. The adapter itself uses a controller that does not support UASP, the ASMedia 1051. Personally I feel INEO should have opted for the ASMedia 1053, giving the end user higher performance with only a marginal increase in price.
However, as you seen in the review, the NA216U2 Plus does have decent performance. We were able to hit the higher end of the 200MB/s spectrum at 271MB/s read in ATTO again using our Corsair Neutron SSD.
Pricing of this enclosure at the time of review is $14.99 in the United States. With a price this low this enclosure should bring the option of USB 3.0 storage to the masses, just don't drop it.
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Corsair Vengeance M95 Performance MMO & RTS Laser Gaming Mouse Review
Introduction
Just a week shy of a year ago was when the M90 review went live on the pages of TweakTown, and while the M90 was a great concept on paper, some of its features held it back a bit in my opinion. The mouse was contoured correctly, even if it was made for those with larger hands. With more of a medium sized hand, I found that some of the programmable buttons on the side were just slightly out of reach for my thumb, and the fact that the activation pressure needed to use them was so high, even if you could get to the buttons, they were still tough to use. When I first jumped into the Vengeance Series of mice, there was also a LOD issue that would pretty much make the mouse dysfunctional if set to the lowest setting. While that issue was corrected in later software, sometimes little things can be overlooked when taking your first leap into a market, and I think that is exactly what happened then, I just hope everything is tended to this time around.
With a year of time passing, Corsair decided it was time to refresh the entire peripherals lineup. They are now offering revised versions, or soon will, of both keyboards and both mice. This time, simply changing zeros to fives in the naming scheme, they took a serious look at the customers comments and have adapted these new products to what the customers felt the originals may have been lacking or needed changed in internal components to make things work and feel better. Specifically in the product to hit our desk most recently, the sensor and some of the switches have been changed, but the design keeps almost everything else aesthetically that everyone loved about the first released series of products.
Today we will be looking at the Corsair Vengeance M95 laser gaming mouse, and yes it is still designed with MMO & RTS gamers in mind. There are things like the ability to keep many profiles in the mouse, and the 15 button layout of the original to allow for as much programming of the mouse as one thumb can handle. They did address the sensor, and this time it has been upgraded to the current top of the line offering in laser sensors. The other major change was to the buttons on the side as I had mentioned. They used to be super tough to press, and while it made accidental clicks a non-issue, they would fatigue the thumb quite a bit. This time around they are only need about half of the activation pressure to use them, so even if you have to stretch a bit to hit the "sniper" key, it is much easier when the button is half as tough to press.
With new things to look out for, and some software to tinker with, let's see if the Vengeance M95 is better than the original, and more importantly, if it is worth your investment.
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NZXT Kraken X40 140mm AIO CPU Cooler Review
Introduction
While it does say right on the Kraken box that NZXT was first in the world to deliver a 140mm AIO cooling solution, we were not sent this cooler upon release. While everyone else was taking a look at what these new larger AIO coolers had to offer users, I was given the pair of Respire coolers that almost seemed like some sort of a bad joke. In the mean time I reviewed the pair of worse than average, budget air cooling solutions; the rest of the world was looking at why we are here today. In the meantime, while NZXT was trying to find me samples, Corsair snuck in and delivered a pair of 140mm cooling solutions to have a look at, so at bare minimum, at least we have a similar setup to compare the Kraken to.
We will be starting with the smaller of the two offerings from NZXT. They have released a more standard solution with a single 140mm radiator, based on an Asetek cooler design. What came to mind as soon as I got my hands on these units were the older Antec 620 and 920 coolers. Why I say this is based on two things. One is the light up head unit, but it is more than what Corsair offers with their standalone units. The Kraken series works with a USB cable connected and offers software control of all sorts of things, and unlike with Corsair, you do not have to buy the Link to obtain this level of control. The software is the second reason, as it not only gives you fan speed control, pump speed control, and lighting control, but you also have readouts for all of these things, plus you can keep an eye on the internal liquids temperature to see just how efficient these coolers are, or how close to saturation you really are with a wild overclock.
Today, we are going to start off the series with the Kraken X40 from NZXT. This is a single 140mm radiator AIO that uses high FPI count in the radiator, and match the system with a decent fan to cool the tight nit area. With an increase of 36 percent of surface area, the 140mm solutions seem very good for this application, and as we saw with the H90 and H110, these larger units do offer better cooling than most 120mm solutions, even some of the dual radiator setups. With the bar already set from Corsair, we can now have a look at NZXT's offerings and see if the first in the world means best in the world.
On paper things seem to be leaning to the NZXT solutions, but we have hit the point to where we will see for ourselves what NZXT has brought to the table, and see if there are any reasons to choose these over the Corsair solutions.
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Leetgion El'Druin "Optimized for Diablo" Gaming Mouse Review
Introduction
Last time a Leetgion product ran across my desk for testing, I took a look at the Leetgion Hellion mouse. While oddly shaped for my personal taste, it was very functional and offered many features that I thought should bring buyers to Leetgion, specifically those who play a lot of StarCraft II. It sports an Avago ADNS 9500 laser sensor, has full RGB color options for the LED lighting, comes equipped with Omron switches inside, and was the first mouse to offer a Cherry MX Blue mechanical switch on the side for the "attack" key command. The downfall of this mouse for me was the large profile switch under the mouse that made you have to flip the mouse over to select said profiles, but at least Leetgion was trying to innovate and incorporate new ideas, and with the latest submission, I can see innovation is something that Leetgion is sticking with again.
As with the Hellion, this newest mouse I am testing also adds a bit of innovation, and definitely stays in the unique category of designs and overall aesthetics. Leetgion is smart though, and kept things that made the Hellion a success. The Avago sensor is kept, the Omron switches are kept, and they deliver very simple to use software with it. Since this mouse isn't designed for StarCraft II players, but rather those out there that can't get enough of Diablo III, the design this time is more of feel towards a very short sword with a gold shield on either flank. The "shields" aren't just there to be pretty either, with this latest submission, there are quite a few programmable buttons that are designed into them to give the users plenty of control all within reach of the fingers of your right hand.
If you haven't figured it out by the title, today we are going to be taking a look at the El'Druin from Leetgion. As I said, this mouse has quite a few, 12 in fact, programmable buttons on the mouse, it offers four profiles, and will allow for any Macro you can think to program as well. Considering they use top of the line components with the sensor and switches, there should be no issues with tracking, and the longevity of this mouse should offer users reliable and accurate usage to a long time to come.
I say we pull out this "sword of justice", swing it around a bit, and see what Leetgion really has to offer with the El'Druin laser mouse.
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Intel 525 Series mSATA SSD Review: Five Capacities Tested
Introduction
When we went notebook shopping for a model that accepted both SATA III and mSATA, we had a difficult time. Many of the major notebook manufacturers use mSATA in their popular models, but don't list the open slot as a feature or even its existence. We finally choose the Lenovo W530 for its ability to handle two SATA III 2.5" form factor drives and the presence of an onboard mSATA slot under the keyboard. I have a long time love affair with Lenovo notebooks as well, so that played a role as well.
The Lenovo W530 and its consumer counterpart T530 are not advertised with mSATA. The product specifications don't mention mSATA, the official videos don't comment on mSATA, but you can configure the unit with a cache drive and often times that is code for an mSATA slot.
That said, just mentioning a SSD/HDD cache arrangement doesn't always mean the presence of mSATA, as I found out two weeks ago. Now that I have a number of mSATA drives on hand and one of my daily use notebooks is getting up there in age, I went shopping at the local big box retailers for a new notebook. I actually went out to look at $500 - $700 models and came home with a Samsung 7-Series 17" ultrabook. As advertised in the store, the 7-Series comes with a 500GB HDD and an 8GB cache drive. The advertised specs worked out well because my plan was to replace the HDD with an Intel DC S3700 800GB SSD and replace the mSATA drive with the Mushkin 480GB mSATA. After returning home, I found the mSATA drive was actually an iSSD from SanDisk. A controller and NAND flash combined on a single chip and soldered to the motherboard. Lesson learned, just because a notebook says cache doesn't always mean mSATA.
Over time we'll see an increase in both of these solutions and the inclusion of another, m.2 also known as NGFF. Until Haswell hits the market, NGFF is on the back burner, but till then mSATA leads the performance category, and will expand into even more areas.
A number of desktop motherboards already have mSATA slots, with GIGABYTE leading the way with the most mSATA equipped models. Intel's new NUC platform uses mSATA as well. The mSATA drive in the NUC is the new 525 Series that we're looking at today.
Let's take a look at the specifications and the features of Intel's new 525 Series.
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Sleeping Dogs Benchmarked with AMD EyeFinity at 5760x1080
Introduction
Our third outing in our EyeFinity benchmarks, this time we have Sleeping Dogs on the benchmarking table. Sleeping Dogs has been available for a while now, and features some great graphics and a beautiful built-in benchmark.
Let's get into it shall we? For your information, I'm running:
- Intel Core i7 3770K @ 4.8GHz
- Corsair H100 Hydro Cooler
- Corsair Force Series GT 240GB SSD
- ASRock Z77 Extreme 9 motherboard
- Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 7970 Dual-X OC Edition (x2)
- Lian Li PC-T60 Pitstop
- Corsair Dominator Platinum - 16GB kit of 2133MHz DDR3 RAM
- Windows 7 Ultimate Edition x64
- AMD Catalyst 13.2 beta 4 drivers
I'd like to extend a big thank you to Sapphire, Corsair and ASRock for supplying the parts for this machine, I couldn't write this article or any future articles without this hardware!
It's a seriously nice machine, and really powers through what I do each day. I've got the CPU clocked up to remove any potential CPU-based bottlenecks, the RAM is at stock as it doesn't really help gaming performance all that much and everything else is at out-of-the-box settings.
Benchmark Results
What we've done with Sleeping Dogs is run it at the Extreme quality preset, with both 'Normal' and 'Extreme' AA settings. We've run this at 1080p with a single GPU stock, overclocked GPU stock at both Normal and Extreme AA settings. We ran this again with CrossFire enabled at both stock/overclocked and Normal/Extreme AA settings. We've run this same test yet again, at 5760x1080 with single/CF GPU, stock/overclocked and Normal/Extreme.
It takes some time, but it gives us a better idea of what stresses the cards out and where potential usefulness with CrossFire comes into play.
A single Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 at 1920x1080 can provide us with some great performance. We saw 125.4 FPS at stock, with an overclock giving a nice increase, pushing the frame rate up to 134.3 FPS at 'Normal' AA settings. Enabling 'Extreme' AA dropped the frame rate considerably, where at stock settings we saw 57.4 FPS and the OC on the single HD 7970 helped out by around 15% bumping the frame rate up to 65.1 FPS.
Enabling the second GPU for some CrossFire action provided some interesting results - at 1080p under Normal AA, we saw 126.7 FPS - a single frame faster than our single GPU test. Overclocking provided us with something weird - less average FPS than a single GPU!
Let's get into what we're all here for today - EyeFinity. First off, let's talk about the single GPU performance, where we respectively saw 57.4 and 65.1 FPS for the Normal and Extreme AA settings at 5760x1080. These are definitely playable frame rates, hitting that sweet 60 FPS average number for what we consider to be able to offer a solid gaming experience.
AA always kills multi-monitor setups, and this is no different - enabling the Extreme AA setting saw a drastic drop in performance under our single Sapphire HD 7970 setup - dropping the frame rate to sub-20 FPS with 16.3 and 18.6 FPS for stock and overclocked settings, respectively.
Enabling the second GPU provided some huge increases in performance under EyeFinity, which we expected and were happy to see. Under the Normal AA settings at 5760x1080, we respectively saw 100.8 and 108.8 FPS for stock and overclocked on our HD 7970. This is around 80% extra performance over our single GPU results at 5760x1080 - some great results.
CrossFire with AA is always a great thing to see on EyeFinity, where we saw 32.7 and 37.7 FPS for stock and overclocked GPU, respectively. This is nearly double the single HD 7970 results, so there's some nice scaling with the Radeon HD 7970's in EyeFinity mode on Sleeping Dogs with Extreme AA enabled.
So there you have it, a bunch of numbers on EyeFinity with Sleeping Dogs. Our next adventure with Sapphire and their great HD 7970 video cards will be EyeFinity with Metro 2033 and BioShock Infinite - check back in a couple of days!
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SteelSeries APEX [RAW] Gaming Keyboard Review
Introduction
For some reason or another, I'm not sure if I missed the release of it, or if it was a bit before my time, but as I look now, the APEX keyboard was quite the full featured offering, even in today's market. With the APEX, there were things like 88 Macro keys over four levels of the software and five LED color zones with full RGB options with 16.8 million colors. While it is based on rubber dome switches, it offers anti-ghosting of up to 20 keys, and it even offered a dual port USB hub built into the keyboard to allow users to keep the mouse and headset all tied right into the keyboard. While this version of the APEX is super full in its feature list, it may have been too much for most users to even need or really even use.
That leads us to why we are here with SteelSeries today. They have taken a look at what the APEX offered and stripped it down to the essentials without giving up what honestly matters to most gamers out there. While fully customizable LEDs in various sections are cool, one color is just fine for most users. Most users will have a hard time programming, using, or even remembering the sheer amount of Macro potential, so that was slimmed down along with the amount of layers you can add more Macros to. One last major change to the new version is that SteelSeries has done away with the USB ports on the keyboard and has users plugging additional peripherals directly into the rear I/O of the PC now.
I know I pretty much spilled the beans as to what the new APEX [RAW] gaming keyboard we are about to look at brings to the table, but there is still more to come in the review. There are quite a few things I have yet to cover about this new submission, but as I say, with the [RAW] naming, the idea is to deliver the basics of the original without overwhelming the user with a bunch of fluff that everyone may not be able to take advantage of in normal usage.
Along with this idea comes a good reduction in price as well, so if your interest is piqued at this point, continue reading as I show you what the new APEX [RAW] offers and if it is worth the price.
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Far Cry 3 PC Review
If publishers want a case in point in how to build hype at an E3 reveal, Far Cry 3 is the perfect case. Ever since we first heard Vaas utter those now famous words, "Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?", we have waited with baited breath. The video had action, intense gameplay and also psychological elements that sent the hype levels of the game through the roof. And so now 18 months later it's time to determine if the developers have delivered on the promise from that video and aside from a few quirks here and there and a poor ending to the story, the answer is a resounding yes.
In Far Cry 3 you take control of Jason Brody, a young college kid with rich parents enjoying life to the max on an island paradise when things go awry. Jason and his friends are captured by pirates and the infamous Vaas. Taken for ransom from their wealthy parents, Jason manages to escape with his brother and from there the story becomes that you as Jason must rescue your friends, but also as you build acquaintances on the island, decide how you want the future to be for those people. There is a point where the story just becomes boring and formulaic unfortunately, but until then it's one of the best stories of this generation.
As expected based on the first two games, Far Cry 3 puts you in a massive open world with side missions and main story to complete. One of the key facets of the title is exploration and the game significantly rewards you for exploring. Whilst there are scripted elements to some of the missions, sometimes it's just interesting to wander about the island and see what the enemy and other NPCs are doing. One example was we were closing in on an enemy kill, only to see a crocodile jump out of the water to take him alive. If someone else was to go to that exact spot, it may not happen because those sequences are not scripted.
In fact, Far Cry 3 gives one of the best representations of a living breathing world in a video game to date. You can of course choose to main line the story if you wish, but that is to completely devalue the amount of effort that Ubisoft has not only put into the side missions, but also the world itself. You will miss a lot of the awesome areas of the island and some interesting, story building sequences as well. There is also a meta game within the game where you can hunt animals present throughout the world to improve Jason's overall abilities and weaponry.
For example, if you get some shark skins, you can craft a new pouch which improves your inventory level - something which is a lot more interesting to do than just buy a new pouch. You can pick up leaves and plants to help you concoct medicine to heal Jason. At no real point in the game are you forced to buy things. For example, one area which encourages exploration is the local stores. If you manage to take over the local radio tower, the shops will give you free weapons as a reward whilst that tower is not held by the enemies. It's a really interesting mechanic that rewards exploration in a manner that is tangible rather than just 'let's see this entire island'.
For the most part the missions are also enjoyable to play as well. There are over thirty campaign missions with quite a number more side missions to complete. To complete Far Cry 3 without doing side missions will take you about 10 hours and so it is a fairly meaty game when you compare it to most releases. The game does contain fast travel once you have visited a location although sometimes it is better to just explore and see the world on offer.
What Far Cry 3 manages to achieve is a believable world. This island could be a real world thing (although it's not), and the developers have clearly put a lot of work into building a fantastic world for the game. It has the crazy professor and the tribal warriors to complete the mix. But what takes it to the next level is the various fauna milling about the place. You can be swimming quietly in the rivers or ocean and the next minute a shark or crocodile attacks. The first time this happens you will literally jump in your seat and it's generally over before it even starts. You can imagine this is how it happens in the real world as well with most victims attacked before they even know it's happening.
The design of the island also allows for some open world elements to creep into the campaign missions as well. Whilst you are somewhat restricted as to the zone you can move in during missions (we guess to not break the mission entirely), you are given leeway as to how you approach the mission. Go in guns blazing? Or snipe from the mountain side? Many different ways are available to generally complete each mission and it is this variety that keeps the game fresh to the end.
On the PC at least, Far Cry 3 is a visual tour de force and one of the best games graphically we have ever played. If you have the hardware and video card to push this to the max you will see a visually stunning world with amazing graphics. Tone the graphics done a little and the game still shines even on older hardware, so it is clear Ubisoft has done its job in optimizing this game for fairly run of the mill systems as well. This is something that the original Far Cry game was criticised for not doing.
The game also features a co-operative multiplayer portion for up to four players to take part in. It is set six months before the actual events of the single player campaign and so in many ways is its own story. Introducing co-operative into such an awesome, open world game is something that Ubisoft had to do to take this game to the next level. With a length of about six hours, you certainly get your money's worth even though it's not the main campaign.
Far Cry 3 started out with a great E3 presentation that put the hype levels through the roof. Usually when this happens games significantly let us down, but in this case Ubisoft has delivered. No doubt they felt the pressure of such an awesome opening with Vaas and our main character, but instead of crumbling, they produced what is sure to be one of the best games of 2012.
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Hitman: Absolution Xbox 360 Review
As a series Hitman has been quite successful and this is why it's puzzling that we are now only just getting the return of the game. Hitman Blood Money was one of the better games from the earliest times of this generation, but IO Interactive decided to put that to the side and come up with the new IP.
This game became Kane & Lynch which had middling success in both sales and critical format. So six years later we have the return of Agent 47 and it's not without changes. Absolution completely changes up the series in many ways and we still aren't sure if all the changes and decisions made were the right ones.
Absolution picks up with Agent 47 being tasked to kill his agency handler Diana. She has gone rogue and has been selling secrets to enemies of the agency so his final contract becomes her. The agency has produced another agent from a child, Victoria with Diana on her deathbed asking 47 to protect her at all costs. This is what the story primarily revolves around; the protection of Victoria and escaping from the agency that 47 once called home. From the outset this shows just how much of a departure Absolution is to the regular format with previous games tasking 47 with contracts to fulfil for the agency.
In terms of the gameplay there are a lot of elements that have returned from previous games. On some of the missions you will be tasked with taking down a target and you can either choose to go in all guns blazing or make the death look like an accident with the latter not only scoring you more points, but generally being more satisfying to do as well. Hitman can be seen as a puzzle game - trying to concoct together various environmental elements such as leaking oil and a bullet to take out enemies unseen.
This is only apparent on some of the levels. On many levels within the game there are no targets and instead it is 47's goal to reach another area to continue the story. As well as this there are times where the game takes control from you and performs kills in cut scenes. For a series which has focused so much on clean quiet kills from a gameplay perspective, to have this happen is frustrating. There are some sections in the game where quiet kills just cannot occur.
This is where you will like this game or not. Whilst in the past each mission was one huge environment for 47 to traverse and come up with sneaky ways to take out the target, in this game you are instead tasked with basically getting from point a to point b. Hitman in many ways becomes a third person shooter with the amount of sandbox missions able to be counted on less than two hands. Given that there are 20 missions overall in the game, this is a bit disappointing.
However, on those levels which do give you the freedom to explore and come up with various ways to take out the targets, the game absolutely shines. Previously seen at E3, the King of Chinatown level is one such example where there is many different ways to take out the target such as poisoning fish or blowing up a car. And it is these missions that you will revisit over and over again to try and come up with different ways to end the mission without being seen.
As well as the actual targets each mission contains a number of challenges to complete. Sometimes these challenges are to take out the targets in various different ways whilst other times it can be tasks such as finishing the mission only using 47's suit. Given that you very often traverse areas where you should not be, doing this is harder than it sounds.
Many of the elements we have seen in previous titles have again come back. You can still take the disguises of other characters although this is a bit harder than last time around.
Enemies will spot that you are not one of them quite easily and so it becomes a case of still having to focus on stealth even when blended in. To aid with this, 47 now has an instinct ability which allows you to see enemies through walls and walk near enemies in disguise without being spotted. You gain more instinct by performing quiet kills and tasks.
One of the more frustrating elements of Absolution is the change from limited save games to checkpoints. Instead of being able to save at any point in the game (within a limited number), you now have to track down and find checkpoints in the level. They are generally off the beaten track and this can be very frustrating especially on the tougher levels. The checkpoints also do not get retained if you leave your game which we have no idea why IO Interactive decided that was a good idea.
The enemy AI generally revolves around them being able to determine you are 47 rather than actually being tough. When things go bad you generally can get out of a tight spot with your bullets except towards the end of the game where that type of tactic just gets impossible due to the weaponry they have. Once they spot you the game moves into a very Metal Gear like alarm system. At the highest level they hunt you and shoot on sight whilst if you can manage to hide long enough, they will give up and lower the alarm level. Of course the best way is to not be spotted at all and in general this is possible on every mission.
On the visual and environmental side of things the game is generally impressive. Whilst there is quite a variety to the locations that you will visit during your time with the game, it is not as varied as it was in Blood Money with some locations being visited more than once. Some of the missions are quite large in size whilst others are almost corridors only. It goes without saying the larger missions are the ones where 47's abilities can really shine. One thing that is true is that in general IO Interactive has used the environments to the best of their abilities with 47 being able to perform numerous environmental based kills on his targets.
Multiplayer comes in the form of contracts mode and in an ironic twist this system is much closer to that of the older games. You can either build or download contracts from other users and basically you are dropped into a world and have to kill targets silently to fulfil the contract. As you do so you gain money which can be used to upgrade your weaponry in multiplayer. This is an interesting take on multiplayer and we hope that users really embrace this system because it's entirely possible this could give the game a lot of legs.
Hitman: Absolution is a game that made us think about how we review games in many ways. Should we review a game based on what the name is on the box, or what the content actually is. Of course the latter is the answer, but we can't help but feel that this is not the greatest Hitman game. It's significantly different to other Hitman titles, but it's also not a bad game. If you come into the game expecting Blood Money 2 you will be disappointed, but if you look past this you will find a competent Hitman game that has just enough elements of its predecessors to ensure you should play as 47 again.
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Assassin's Creed III: Liberation PlayStation Vita Review
It's fair to say that whilst the Assassin's Creed II series of games were some of the most well received games this generation, the portable versions of the game haven't really set the gaming world on fire. Appearing only on the PSP (aside from the iOS games that were not 3D), the games focused on Altair, the original protagonist, rather than the very likeable Ezio.
However, with the release of a new platform, the PS Vita, Ubisoft decided to give the portable space another crack with the AC series and have come out with mixed results. Liberation is not necessarily a bad game, but there are some areas which can be quite infuriating to play.
Liberation for the first time introduces a female character as the main lead. You play as Aveline, the black daughter of a rich businessman in the 1700's. A result of infidelity, Aveline lives with her step mother and father in New Orleans as one of the wealthy and famous. However, Aveline wants to rid the world of slavery, especially for her people and sets about trying to bring down the tyranny which existed in the time. Set in the 1700's, the game takes place during the same timeline as that of the main console game, and to get the most out of the story, you need to play both.
There are a few major changes for the franchise aside from the fact you now control a woman. The game introduces for the first time personas. Aveline has three; wealthy lady, slave and assassin. Depending on the persona (clothing) you are currently wearing will limit or improve the abilities Aveline has available to her. For example, in the wealthy dress, Aveline cannot climb buildings or walls whilst in the assassin clothing she will draw suspect looks from the guards right away.
This is probably the most interesting change to the franchise because it means you often have to change your clothing to complete tasks. Having to change clothing to complete a task can be a tad tiresome (especially when it's not clear which clothing you should be wearing), but all the same the addition enhances the franchise.
As well as the main city, you will also visit the bayou of New Orleans which gives you the opportunity to partake in tree climbing and jumping. Ripped directly from the console game with Connor you can at will climb trees and often have to when completing assassination tasks. The game controls well and it's very obvious when you can and cannot climb trees. The Bayou has a very Metal Gear Solid 3 feel to it - a large, lush jungle full of crocodiles and other animals that can hurt Aveline. The main difference being that Aveline does not need to eat animals to survive.
The structure of the game takes on that of its console big brothers. The game includes nine sequences to complete which is a little on the short side and you will have this game down in around six to eight hours depending on how good you are at it. There is no difficulty setting so once you finish it, that's it really.
There are a number of side tasks to complete and there is a meta game where you can control a shipping company to gain money, but really in the grand scheme of things, you can ignore these and easily complete the game. One of the interesting elements is that the story you get if you just play the main missions is not the actual story. To get the real ending you need to take out a particular hidden character in each sequence.
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One of the biggest bugbears we have with the game is the PS Vita controls. The main controls themselves are fine, but when the developer is trying to shoe horn in the touch mechanics of the game, it just starts to break. For example, the game will at times ask you to put the Vita camera near a bright light. It took us a while to find a light that would give the Vita what it wanted, and there was no indication at all whether we were getting closer or not.
There are also other sections of the game which use the back touchpad such as paddling a canoe. There is nothing wrong with trying to include Vita specific controls, but when they work like they do in Liberation (it's a lucky dip as to whether your motions will be picked up), it would have been best to leave them out.
The environments that the game is set in are impressive for a handheld product. The city of New Orleans is beautifully represented by period buildings and the actual city itself is quite large, but nowhere near what you find in the console games of course. The split of the bayou and the city is an interesting feature with both environments having graphical problems as well as also some impressive sections. Voice acting on the system is impressive especially for a handheld and whilst the soundtrack can become repetitive, it suits the game and setting well.
There is no doubt that Assassin's Creed III: Liberation is the most impressive handheld version of the series yet. Ubisoft has used some of Vita's power well, but also included some utterly frustrating mini games based on the touch and camera features. It is on the short side and that means it's not really suitable as something for a long distance trip, but for short spurts on the way to work, it works almost perfectly.
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Samsung Mass Producing 10 nm Class High-Performance 128-Gbit 3-bit MLC NAND Flash
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, announced today that it has begun mass producing a 128-gigabit (Gb), 3-bit multi-level-cell (MLC) NAND memory chip using 10 nanometer (nm)-class process technology this month. The highly advanced chip will enable high-density memory solutions such as embedded NAND storage and solid state drives (SSDs).
"By introducing next-generation memory storage products like the 128Gb NAND chip, Samsung is extremely well situated to meet growing global customer needs," said Young-Hyun Jun, executive vice president, memory sales & marketing, Device Solutions Division, Samsung Electronics. "The new chip is a critical product in the evolution of NAND flash, one whose timely production will enable us to increase our competitiveness in the high density memory storage market."
Samsung's 128Gb NAND flash is based on a 3-bit multi-level-cell design and 10nm-class process technology. It boasts the industry's highest density as well as the highest performance level of 400 Mbps data transfer rate based on the toggle DDR2 interface.
Utilizing 128Gb NAND flash memory, Samsung will expand its supply of 128-gigabyte (GB) memory cards, which can store as many as sixteen 8GB full HD video files. Samsung now will also increase its production volume of SSDs with densities over 500GBs for wider adoption of SSDs in computer systems, while leading the transition of main storage drives in the notebook market from hard disk drives (HDDs) to SSDs.
Demand for high-performance 3-bit MLC NAND flash and 128Gb high storage capacities has been rapidly increasing, driving the adoption of SSDs with more than 250GB data storage, led by the Samsung SSD 840 Series.
Samsung started production of 10 nm-class 64 Gb MLC NAND flash memory in November last year, and in less than five months, has added the new 128Gb NAND flash to its wide range of high-density memory storage offerings. The new 128 Gb chip also extends Samsung's 3-bit NAND memory line-up along with the 20 nm-class 64 Gb 3-bit NAND flash chip that Samsung introduced in 2010. Further, the new 128Gb 3-bit MLC NAND chip offers more than twice the productivity of a 20 nm-class 64 Gb MLC NAND chip.
Samsung plans to keep introducing leading-edge SSDs and embedded memory storage solutions with high-quality features, in accelerating the growth of the premium memory market.
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EK Water Blocks Announces ASRock Z77 Extreme11 FB Block
EK Water Blocks, Ljubljana based premium water cooling gear manucturer, is proud to introduce the company's first full-board water block for ASRock motherboard - the Z77 Extreme11. EK-FB ASR Z77 Extreme11 water block is a complete liquid cooling solution for ASRock Z77 Extreme11 motherboard. This water blocks directly cools Intel Z77 southbridge (PCH), PLX PEX 8474 PCIe lane splitter, LSI SAS2308 control hub as well as power regulation (VRM / MOSFETs) module. It is a high flow water block that can be easily used with systems using weaker water pumps.
Base of the waterblock is made of nickel plated electrolytic copper while the top is made of quality POM Acetal material. The sealing is performed by quality rubber gaskets. The nickel plated brass screw-in standoffs are already preinstalled and allow for easy and trouble-free installation.
EK-FB ASR Z77 Extreme11 comes with the MSRP of 120.95 euros (incl. VAT) and is readily available for pre-order through EK Webshop and Partner Reseller Network. The item will start shipping on Tuesday, April 16th 2013.
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Silicon Power Presents Velox V50 SSD
Are you still spending your quality time waiting for your computer to boot up? Have you experienced lag problems while operating multiple applications? SP/Silicon Power, the world's leading provider of memory storage solutions, today introduces an addition of the Velox series 2.5" SATA III SSD - Velox V50 to solve your problems. The Velox V50 features the latest controller technology to provide a brand new computer experience in excellent performance and cost effectiveness for those who are about to retire their traditional hard drives.
Different from the other solutions in the market, SP Velox V50 is equipped with a brand new controller, delivering a more stable and more powerful user experiences. Combining with the latest firmware and advanced controller circuit design, Velox V50 is able to maintain a long-standing IOPS performance while using it under extended period.
The new Velox V50 features the SATA III 6Gbps interface, delivers four time faster performance than the traditional hard drives in computer's boot time as well as in operating multiple programs. Built up with the advanced high speed NAND flash, V50 performs a high data transfer rate up to 530MB/s in read speed and 200MB/s in write speed.
With the combination of reliability and durability, SP Velox V50 is your ideal solution for users looking to upgrade their desktops and laptops. The V50 SSD is available in 32GB, 64GB, 128GB and 256GB, and is backed by a three year warranty.
Features:
- SATA 6 Gb/s, backwards compatible with SATA 3 Gb/s
Transfer rates:
- 530 MB/s max. read speed
- 200 MB/s max. write speed
- Supports TRIM command and Garbage Collection technology
- NCQ and RAID ready
- Sustain IOPS performance over other competing solutions on NTFS file system
- Implemented with ECC technology to guarantee data transmission reliability
- Built-in with SMART monitoring system
- Low power consumption
- Shockproof & Anti-Vibration
- Noiseless operation, no latency delay and no seek error
- 3 year warranty
Specifications
- Capacities: 32 GB, 64 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB
- Dimensions: 100 mm x 69.85 mm x 9.5 mm
- Weight: 63g
- Vibration Resistance Test: 20G
- Shock Resistance Test: 1500G Max
- Color: Iron Grey Brushed Aluminium
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PC Shipments Post the Steepest Decline Ever in a Single Quarter, According to IDC
Worldwide PC shipments totaled 76.3 million units in the first quarter of 2013 (1Q13), down -13.9% compared to the same quarter in 2012 and worse than the forecast decline of -7.7%, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. The extent of the year-on-year contraction marked the worst quarter since IDC began tracking the PC market quarterly in 1994. The results also marked the fourth consecutive quarter of year-on-year shipment declines.
Despite some mild improvement in the economic environment and some new PC models offering Windows 8, PC shipments were down significantly across all regions compared to a year ago. Fading Mini Notebook shipments have taken a big chunk out of the low-end market while tablets and smartphones continue to divert consumer spending. PC industry efforts to offer touch capabilities and ultraslim systems have been hampered by traditional barriers of price and component supply, as well as a weak reception for Windows 8. The PC industry is struggling to identify innovations that differentiate PCs from other products and inspire consumers to buy, and instead is meeting significant resistance to changes perceived as cumbersome or costly.
"At this point, unfortunately, it seems clear that the Windows 8 launch not only failed to provide a positive boost to the PC market, but appears to have slowed the market," said Bob O'Donnell, IDC Program Vice President, Clients and Displays. "While some consumers appreciate the new form factors and touch capabilities of Windows 8, the radical changes to the UI, removal of the familiar Start button, and the costs associated with touch have made PCs a less attractive alternative to dedicated tablets and other competitive devices. Microsoft will have to make some very tough decisions moving forward if it wants to help reinvigorate the PC market."
The impact of slow demand has been magnified by the restructuring and reorganizing efforts impacting HP and Dell. Lenovo remains a notable exception as it continues to execute on a solid "attack" strategy. Mid- and bottom-tier vendors are also struggling to identify growth markets within the U.S. Among the most vulnerable group of vendors are the whitebox system builders, which are undergoing consolidation that is affecting shipments as well as the distribution sector.
"Although the reduction in shipments was not a surprise, the magnitude of the contraction is both surprising and worrisome," said David Daoud, IDC Research Director, Personal Computing. "The industry is going through a critical crossroads, and strategic choices will have to be made as to how to compete with the proliferation of alternative devices and remain relevant to the consumer. Vendors will have to revisit their organizational structures and go to market strategies, as well as their supply chain, distribution, and product portfolios in the face of shrinking demand and looming consolidation."
Regional Highlights
- United States - The U.S. market had another dismal quarter in 1Q13, contracting -12.7% year on year, with a drop of -18.3% compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. With total volume falling to 14.2 million, quarterly shipments reached their lowest level since the first quarter of 2006. With this latest figure, the U.S. is now in its tenth consecutive quarter of year-on-year contraction (excluding a brief moment of growth - less than 2% year on year - in 3Q11).
- EMEA - As expected, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) remained constrained, posting a stronger double-digit decline than anticipated in the first quarter of 2013. Results fell short of expectations in the consumer segment as softness in demand persisted amid a continued shift to tablets and ongoing budget pressures. Meanwhile, the market response to Windows 8 and touch-enabled devices remained slow, leading to cautious sell-in from most vendors. Shipments in the commercial market remained constrained as predicted, following continued economic pressure and lack of major IT renewals.
- Japan - PC shipments were in line with expectations in the first quarter. Some economic improvement is helping to support commercial replacement demand ahead of the scheduled end of support for Windows XP next year. However, consumer shipments remained very weak.
- Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) (APeJ) - PC shipments in APeJ declined sharply, dropping a record -12.7% year on year, the first time the region has experienced a double-digit decline. Although much of the earlier Windows 7 stock had cleared, a lukewarm reception toward Windows 8 hampered new shipments. China's inactivity contributed heavily to the decline, as public sector spending continued to be constrained.
Vendor Highlights
- HP remained the top vendor, but posted a substantial double-digit decline in shipments after an aggressive fourth quarter kept growth flat during the holidays. HP's worldwide shipments fell more than -23% year on year in 1Q13, with significant declines across all regions, as internal restructuring continued to affect commercial sales. Although HP maintained its leadership position in the United States, the company saw U.S. shipments fall -22.9% from a year ago.
- Lenovo remained second in global shipments and nearly closed the gap with HP. Lenovo continued to outpace the market, notably expanding shipments with its attack strategy. In the United States, Lenovo outperformed the market with double digit year-on-year growth compared to the market's double-digit contraction. Shipments in Asia/Pacific declined, however, keeping Lenovo's overall growth flat.
- Dell saw shipments decline by more than -10% globally and -14% in the United States. The vendor continued to face tough competition and struggled with customer uncertainty about the direction of its restructuring. Nevertheless, the decline in shipments was smaller than the past few quarters, and its sales to Asia/Pacific returned to positive growth.
- Acer Group continued to see substantial declines in shipments across regions. As the leader in Mini Notebook shipments, the vendor has been particularly exposed to the decline in these systems. Slow consumer and SMB growth has also taken a toll. In a sequential comparison, Acer's market share rose slightly to 8.1% in 1Q12 from 8.0% in 4Q12, halting its market share decline.
- ASUS managed some growth in the United States, but saw a substantial decline in EMEA and Asia/Pacific. The company's substantial surge in Americas shipments in the second half of 2012 gave way to limited growth as demand weakened.
- Apple fared better than the overall U.S. market, but still saw shipments decline as its own PCs also face competition from iPads.
- Toshiba also saw shipments decline in the United States, but fared better than the overall market, benefitting somewhat from the restructuring of market leaders HP and Dell.
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Genius Announces Ring Mouse 2
Genius is pleased to announce the enhanced Ring Mouse 2. With the same full mouse functionality as the previous Ring Mouse, Ring Mouse 2 allows business travelers, education users, and i-users to click, drag and 4-way scroll on their PC or Mac from their fingertips.
The five button Ring Mouse 2 re-imagines the computer mouse and provides a new way to surf the web with a unique, flexible rubber design that fits securely on your finger or in your pocket, so it is ready to go wherever you are. Teachers and other education professionals can now easily navigate webpages or documents when lecturing or giving presentations, while business professionals now have an easy-to-use and portable alternative to laptop trackpads in space confined when traveling. With using worry-free 2.4GHz technology, the Ring Mouse 2 ensures a solid connection every time from a distance of up to 30 feet.
The Genius Ring Mouse 2 has a rubber ring design giving more comfort and a better finger grip. The ring also serves as a storage unit for the USB pico receiver when moving from place to place. The outer appearance has also been updated giving it a more modern sleek design. For users that want to match color with style the Ring Mouse 2 is available in two colors: silver and titanium.
This tiny in-air cursor controller has a rechargeable design and uses an ultra-slim Li-ion battery that not only saves money on frequent battery changes but also helps the Ring Mouse 2 keep a slim profile. The smart battery indicator flashes blue when a recharge is needed.
The Ring Mouse 2 is now available in the US and Canada for the suggested retail price of US$49.99.
Package Contents
- Ring Mouse 2
- USB receiver
- Rechargeable cable (micro USB)
- CD driver
- Pouch
- Multi-language quick guide
For more information, visit the
product page.
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New USB 3.0 Flash Drives from Sharkoon
Sharkoon is expanding their range of affordable flash drives and introduces the new "Flexi-Drive GO" series. Additionally, the existing USB flash drive series was revised and now offers an improved read/write performance. Also new: The Flexi-Drive Ultimate is now available with 256 gigabytes.
The "Flexi-Drive GO" is a downwards compatible USB 3.0 flash drive, which replaces the manufacturer's previous USB 2.0 drives. Sharkoon thus focuses exclusively on the latest transfer standard and consequently removes USB 2.0 drives out of their program. The drives offer the latest transfer performance but are priced the same as the USB 2.0 standard of the previous series. They are available in 8, 16, 32 and 64 gigabytes. The Flexi-Drive GO, through USB 3.0, reaches a read rate of up to 80 MB/s and a write rate of up to 10 MB/s. The 8 GB version achieves a write rate of up to 5 MB/s. They support the operating systems Windows XP/Vista/7/8, Mac OS 10.x and Linux from Kernel 2.4. Dimensions are 55 x 18 x 8 mm (L x W x H) and weighs around 7 grams.
Also newly available is the "Flexi-Drive Sprint Plus" series, which has been technically upgraded and now offers a better write/read performance than its "Sprint" predecessor. With USB 3.0, its reaches a maximum read speed of 190 MB/s and a write speed of 40 MB/s. The 16 GB version achieves a maximum write speed of up to 20 MB/s. The Flexi-Drive Sprint Plus is available from 16 GB to 64 GB.
Already on the market, the Flexi-Drive Ultimate is now available for purchase with 256 gigabytes. With its USB 3.0 transfer speed, it reaches a maximum read speed of up to 250 MB/s and a write speed of up to150 MB/s. The suggested retail price is 279 euros.
End customers will find the Sharkoon Flexi-Drive flash sticks available for the suggested retail price starting at 9.99 euros from authorized retailers.
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ZOWIE GEAR Announces the ZOWIE CAMADE Cable Management Device
ZOWIE GEAR's product line expands into cable management devices with the introduction of the CAMADE.
ZOWIE GEAR understands that there are users who experience inconveniences with their mouse cable; whether it's due to space constraints, caught cable, or cable entanglement. The CAMADE is our solution to those issues. It manages the cable ensuring that this does not happen by allowing gamers to have a set cable length available to make quick and unobstructed movements.
Furthermore, the unique adjustable spring design enables the user to choose a comfortable height and its solid design allows convenient mobility without any necessary assembly. CAMADE is equipped with a rubber clip that fits mouse cables of different thicknesses.
ZOWIE CAMADE will be available in May with 3 different color option.
Features:
- Guarantees that the cable does not get caught or entangled while moving the mouse.
- Unique adjustable spring allows users to select a comfortable height
- Rubber feet provides stability and a solid grip
- Unique design allowing for convenient mobility
- Rubber clip compatible with all types of mice cables
MSRP: 24.99 euros / $24.99 (Plus tax)
Product available in May, Please check below for participating launch partner shops:
America:
Europe:
- Denmark: Webdanes
- Finland: Jimm's PC
- Germany: Caseking
- Norway: MAXFPS
- Poland: NEOGEAR
- Spain: VERSUS GAMERS
- Sweden: MAXFPS
- Sweden: Inet
- United Kingdom: Kustom PC
- Russia : Cyberlife
Asia:
- Kazakhstan : Goodgame
- Malaysia : Extreme Gear
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IEEE Launches Study Group to Explore 400 Gb/s Ethernet
IEEE, the world's largest professional organization advancing technology for humanity, today announced the launch of an IEEE 802.3 "Standard for Ethernet" study group to explore development of a 400 Gb/s Ethernet standard to efficiently support ever-increasing, exponential network bandwidth growth.
"Traffic is growing everywhere-more Internet users, more ways to access the Internet more quickly, higher-bandwidth content, new applications enabled, etc.-and it's critical that we move now to create a plan for the Ethernet ecosystem to evolve beyond today's capabilities, in order to accommodate the burgeoning bandwidth tsunami," said John D'Ambrosia, chair of the new IEEE 802.3 400 Gb/s Ethernet Study Group and chief Ethernet evangelist, CTO office, Dell. "The launch of this study group is the next critical step in evolving the IEEE 802.3 standard to stay ahead of industry's needs. It builds on two years of open efforts around inviting Ethernet's vast array of stakeholders into the work of assessing and tackling the market's emerging application requirements."
The IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Bandwidth Assessment report, which precipitated the launch of the IEEE 802.3 Industry Connections Higher Speed Ethernet Consensus group in August 2012, forecasted that networks will need to support 58 percent compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) on average. Driven by simultaneous increases in users, access methodologies, access rates and services (such as video on demand and social media), the report said, networks would need to support capacity requirements of 1 terabit per second in 2015 and 10 terabit per second by 2020 if current trends continue. These open Industry Connections efforts helped build consensus on the need for an Ethernet solution beyond 100 Gb/s and to launch a "call for interest" within IEEE for a study group to explore development of a 400 Gb/s Ethernet standard.
"Ethernet is an arena of constant innovation, driven by the market demand for support of new ever-increasing bandwidth speeds, as well as new protocols, applications and media types," said Alan Weckel, vice president enterprise and data center market research at Dell'Oro Group. "Global bandwidth requirements are continuing to grow exponentially, and that makes it so important that the IEEE 802.3 standards community take proactive steps such as assessing needs and launching this study group. Standards-based solutions are integral to maintaining business growth across the Ethernet ecosystem."
Individuals interested in the future of IEEE 802.3 Ethernet wireline standards are invited to contribute to the IEEE 802.3 400 Gb/s Ethernet Study Group, which is scheduled to meet during the IEEE 802.1/802.3 May 2013 Joint Interim, scheduled for 14-17 May 2013 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. For more information about the meeting, please visit
this page.
"An IEEE 802.3 study group is formed when there is interest in developing a request to initiate an IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standards-development project," said David Law, chair of the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Working Group and distinguished engineer with HP Networking. "The IEEE 802.3 400 Gb/s Ethernet Study Group will provide an opportunity for expertise from across application spaces and geographic regions worldwide to collaborate on a proposal for development of a 400 Gb/s Ethernet standard, and I look forward to its work in further galvanizing the Ethernet ecosystem around next steps and accelerating potential future standards-development activities."
Ethernet is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Deployment of technology defined by the IEEE 802.3 standard is already globally pervasive, driven by the ever-growing needs of local area, access and metropolitan area networks around the world. Beyond traditional networks, new application areas such as networking for industrial, automotive and other industries are looking to expand their reliance on Ethernet in their networks. To better address the needs of all of these areas, the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standard is constantly evolving and expanding. The success of the standard-from its inception through today-has been its open and transparent development process, which is an example of the "OpenStand" principles (http://open-stand.org). These principles encapsulate a modern paradigm for global, open standards that can be extended broadly to other technology spaces.
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TSMC and ARM Tape-Out First ARM Cortex-A57 Processor on 16 nm FinFET Technology
TSMC and ARM today announced the first tape-out of an ARM Cortex-A57 processor on FinFET process technology. The Cortex-A57 processor is ARM's highest performing processor, designed to further extend the capabilities of future mobile and enterprise computing, including compute intensive applications such as high-end computer, tablet and server products. This is the first milestone in the collaboration between ARM and TSMC to jointly optimize the 64-bit ARMv8 processor series on TSMC FinFET process technologies. The two companies cooperated in the implementation from RTL to tape-out in six months using ARM Artisan physical IP, TSMC memory macros, and EDA technologies enabled by TSMC's Open Innovation Platform (OIP) design ecosystem.
ARM and TSMC's collaboration produces optimized, power-efficient Cortex-A57 processors and libraries to support early customer implementations on 16 nm FinFET for high-performance, ARM technology-based SoCs.
"This first ARM Cortex-A57 processor implementation paves the way for our mutual customers to leverage the performance and power efficiency of 16nm FinFET technology," said Tom Cronk , executive vice president and general manager, Processor Division, ARM. "The joint effort of ARM, TSMC, and TSMC's OIP design ecosystem partners demonstrates the strong commitment to provide industry-leading technology for customer designs to benefit from our latest 64-bit ARMv8 architecture, big.LITTLE processing and ARM POP IP across a wide variety of market segments."
"Our multi-year, multi-node collaboration with ARM continues to deliver advanced technologies to enable market-leading SoCs across mobile, server, and enterprise infrastructure applications," said Dr. Cliff Hou , TSMC Vice President of R&D. "This achievement demonstrates that the next-generation ARMv8 processor is FinFET-ready for TSMC's advanced technology."
This announcement highlights the enhanced and intensified collaboration between ARM and TSMC. The test chip was implemented using a commercially available 16nm FinFET tool chain and design services provided by the OIP ecosystem and ARM Connected Community partners. This successful collaborative milestone is confirmation of the roles that TSMC's OIP and ARM's Connected Community play in promoting innovation for the semiconductor design industry.
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EK Launches First Ever AMD FirePro Water Cooling Solution
EK Water Blocks, Ljubljana based premium water cooling gear manufacturer, is proud to introduce world's first water cooling solution for both AMD FirePro W9000 and S10000 graphics cards. EK Water Blocks' versatible and fully flexible solution allows for virtually any configuration to be used and expanded when necassery. Both solutions provide a single-slot design thus doubling the computing power per unit compared to factory heatsink fan (HSF) cooling solution. Same footprint - twice the power!
EK-FCS10000 is a high performance full-cover water block for AMD FirePro S10000 series dual-processor professional/server graphics cards. This water block directly cools both GPUs, RAM as well as both VRMs (voltage regulation module) as water flows directly over these critical areas thus allowing the graphics card and it's VRM to remain 100% stable under any given workload. EK-FCS10000 water block also features a high flow design therefore it can be easily used in liquid cooling systems using weaker water pumps.
EK-FCW9000 is a high performance full-cover water block for AMD FirePro W9000 series professional workstation CAD/CAM graphics cards. This water block directly cools GPU, RAM as well as VRM (voltage regulation module) as water flows directly over these critical areas thus allowing the graphics card and it's VRM to remain 100% stable under any given workload. EK-FCW9000 water block also features a very high flow design therefore it can be easily used in liquid cooling systems using weaker water pumps.
Base of both water blocks is made of C110 grade electrolytic copper while the top is made of laser cut stainless steel metal plate. EK-FCS10000 also comes with single-slot I/O bracket which frees adjacent PCI/PCI-Express slot. The sealing is performed by quality NBR rubber washers. Screw-in brass standoffs are pre-installed and allow for safe, painless installation procedure. Both water blocks are - just like any EK Water Blocks product - factory pressure tested and come with 1g packaging of Arctic Cooling MX-2 thermal grease (TIM).
EK-FCS10000 comes with the MSRP of 139.95 euros (incl. VAT) while the EK-FCW9000 comes with MSRP of 119.95 euros (incl. VAT). Both product will be available for purchase through
EK Webshop and
Partner Reseller Network on Friday, April 5th 2013.
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ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU Mini Launched
ASUS today announced the GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU Mini, a compact high-performance graphics card designed primarily for small form factor PCs with mini ITX motherboards. The dual-slot card measures just 17cm and features the NVIDIA GTX 670 GPU for DirectX 11.1-compatible gaming. The reference GTX 670 measures 24.13cm, for comparison.
Small form factor PCs based on mini ITX motherboards are a popular choice for gamers and home users. Their compact cases are much easier to transport to LAN parties than a standard desktop PC, and stylish designs with comparatively low power requirements make them a natural choice for home theater PCs. The ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU Mini is designed to maximize the potential offered by mini ITX motherboards by delivering high performance graphics. It uses an exclusive DirectCU thermal design that combines a heat-spreading vapor chamber and the CoolTech Fan, which provides wide-angle airflow and venting to cool critical graphics card components.
New DirectCU Mini with vapor chamber and CoolTech Fan
ASUS has re-engineered the DirectCU cooler to fit small form factor cases. While shorter, it introduces a copper vapor chamber placed directly on top of the GPU for faster heat spreading and dispersal with 20% (or 7.5∘C) lower temperatures than reference GTX 670. Also new is the CoolTech Fan, a blower/axial crossover. Its inclusion translates into wide-angle and powerful airflow that keeps vital card components cool, with heat vented through the back and top of the card. It also provides three times quieter operation, all within a limited space.
Direct Power and Super Alloy Power for stable and durable performance
Taking advantage of its smaller form factor, the ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU Mini uses Direct Power technology, which bridges power delivery components and the GPU for clean and efficient power supply, delivering 56% lower impedance and a 15% cooler PCB. Super Alloy Power capacitors, chokes, and MOSFETs are hardened against heat and stress, averaging 2.5 times the lifespan of generic parts.
GPU Tweak quick and easy graphics tuning
Exclusive graphics card tuning utility GPU Tweak is bundled with the ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU Mini. An intuitive interface makes changing core and clock frequencies, fan speeds, voltages, and power consumption targets easy, helping get more performance out of the graphics card. Game-specific profiles can be created, which combined with effortless overclocking help LAN party goers maximize performance for competitive engagements.
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Thermaltake Announces the Urban S71 PC Chassis
As one leading brand in the computer chassis, thermal solution, and power supply unit, Thermaltake continues launching the most expecting member in Urban Series, Urban S71 mainstream full-tower, categorized in windowed and non window version. The Urban Series has a sophisticated and cutting-edge look; designed for users who looks for powerful performance and high expandability but a flamboyantly appearance or more simple and sophisticated look.
[img]01[/img]
[img]02[/img]
Urban S71 built with brushed aluminum finish front door panel to mask the extrusive drive devices (3 ODD and 6 HDD drive bays), not only unify the appearance, but also provide a simple yet elegant aesthetic; the sophisticated look can also be part of decoration at home to enhance living quality. Furthermore, the preinstalled sound-damping foams for extreme silence purpose on both side panels of Urban S71 non window version reduce noise and acoustic levels within the chassis.
[img]03[/img]
[img]04[/img]
Convenient Platform & Easy Installation
The front-top panel has implemented two of latest data transfer SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports along with two USB 2.0 ports, a HD microphone and headset jacks, to grand direct access when needed. Top-mounted 2.5" or 3.5" HDD Docking Station enables blazing fast file transfer and effortless hot-swap drive replacement design for easy setup or removal of HDD.
Extreme Ventilation
Preinstalled two of 200 mm speed control fans at the front and top plus a rear 120 mm turbo fan optimize system ventilation. In order to keep the interior dust free, all intake ventilation holes come with dust protection including removable dust filters at the top, front and bottom of the chassis.
Greater Spacious Interior
Urban S71 enables user to build up a complete high-end solution with a 240 mm radiator liquid cooling system, support motherboard up to Extend ATX and extra long graphic card with ease which helps to protect user's hardware and increase the CPU's overclocking potential, most importantly while delivering outstanding performance and efficiency from within the case.
The complete Urban Series namely Urban S21, S31, S41, and S71 had been officially introduced by Thermaltake respectively. This entire series allows users to have more options to get an elite enclosure that will last you for builds to come.
For more details on the Thermaltake Urban S71 information please visit:
Classic:
http://www.thermaltake.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00002050
Windowed:
http://www.thermaltake.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00002049
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ADATA Surges into Solid State Drives for Servers
Taipei, Taiwan - April 2, 2013 - ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash storage application products, today announced the launch of the enterprise grade SX1000L solid state drive (SSD). While the company is well-established in the consumer SSD market, this is ADATA's first offering specifically tailored towards server applications.
Taking advantage of its expertise in NAND flash memory technology, ADATA is emphasizing the reliability and performance of the SX1000L. It employs static wear-leveling technology to maximize device mean time between failures (MTBF) to 1,500,000 hours, providing the long-term dependability required by high density computing and heavy load server operations. Available in 2.5" standard SATA form factor, the SX1000L implements advanced controller technology to enhance read/write performance. Sequential read speeds reach 560 MB/sec, and sequential write is as high as 340 MB/sec, with IOPS of 73,000 and 45,000 (Maximum 4K random read and write, respectively).
The use of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND Flash memory combined with enhanced Flash chip sorting allows for outstanding sustained performance, lower latency, and superior endurance. Enhanced power-loss data protection, easy monitoring of the drive quality through SMART command, and flexible (user-defined) over-provisioning adjustment, all set the SX1000L apart from many similar models currently available.
The long write endurance and the 5 year warranty of the SX1000L make it extremely suitable for read-centric servers such as web and VOD (Video on demand) servers. Notably, the ADATA SX1000L provides greater over-provisioning with higher efficient data compression than is often seen in general SSD controllers. Since in real-world applications most data is compressible, this means sustained performance, endurance and reliability all gain significant improvement.
The SX1000L SSD will be available in capacities of 100GB and 200GB.
For more information, visit the company's website at:
http://www.adata-group.com
Read More ...
Top 10 TweakTown Press Releases from the past week [01 April 2013]
Here are our top 10 posted press releases from the past week!
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Intel Delivers New Range of Developer Tools for Gaming, Media
Intel Corporation today announced several tools and initiatives targeted at software developers, creating some of the most performance-hungry gaming and media titles on the market. Intel Core processor performance, power efficiency and strong momentum for Intel HD Graphics are freeing developers to take applications in new directions.
Debuting at GDC 2013 were new graphics capabilities for forthcoming Intel HD Graphics platforms that are accessible through DirectX extensions. The first of these extensions, called PixelSync, provides access to underlying hardware that allows programmers to properly composite partially transparent pixels without the need for an expensive sorting operation. Game developers have long awaited this capability in order to more realistically render smoke, hair, windows, foliage, fences and other complex geometry and natural phenomena.
"The artists working on 'Grid2' have been requesting this type of effect for years, and prior to this, it wasn't possible to achieve it at a reasonable cost," said Clive Moody, senior executive producer at Codemasters Racing*. "The fact that this capability will be available to millions of consumers on forthcoming 4th generation Intel Core processors is very exciting to us."
InstantAccess, the second new extension, works by allowing physical memory to be written and read from either the CPU or from the built-in Intel HD Graphics.
"We have been working directly with Intel engineers to fully exploit the Intel-specific rendering extensions that most effectively enhance rendering performance and visual quality of 'Total War: ROME II'," said Mike Simpson, the creative director of Creative Assembly*. "With our upcoming game, 'Total War: ROME II,' we've shifted our focus toward ensuring that the game looks great whether you're running it on a slim and sexy Ultrabook or a monster desktop. Intel's 4th generation Intel Core platforms and the new rendering extensions they provide have been an enormous help in making that dream a reality."
These real-time rendering extensions are being released in advance of the launch of Intel's newest generation of Core processors in order to give developers extra time to begin incorporating them into their products. Initially, these extensions are available through Intel's implementation of DirectX and on Intel 4th gen Core platforms only. Documents describing these extensions are available now from Intel's Visual Computing Source web site.
In the area of media software, consumers access and share more video than ever, so tools to help them move content to multiple devices and formats are increasingly more important. HandBrake*, one of the most popular open source video transcoders, is being accelerated using Intel Quick Sync Video - dedicated hardware built into the latest Intel Core processors. Intel and the HandBrake team are showcasing the new HandBrake optimized for Intel Quick Sync Video at GDC.
"The HandBrake team has been working closely with Intel to leverage the advantages of Intel Quick Sync Video," said Tim Walker of the HandBrake team. "While testing is in the early stages, initial results show promise in terms of performance and significantly reduced CPU usage during the decode/encode process, especially for mobile and low-power CPU parts. Early test builds will be available shortly."
Performance comparable to that of other Intel Quick Sync Video-optimized transcoding applications is expected.
Intel's suite of graphic and game development tools, Intel Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel GPA), has also been updated to further help developers analyze and optimize performance on games, media and other graphic-intensive applications on Intel Core processor-based platforms with HD Graphics or on Intel Atom processor-based Android* phones. Intel GPA 2013 R1 includes a Geometry Viewer with support for shader stages that aid developers in debugging performance bottlenecks. Other enhancements include additional Android support and platform updates for developers working with the latest Intel processors.
Development Kits, Contests to Speed Perceptual Computing, Gaming Innovation
In support of the company's efforts to make experiences with computing devices natural, intuitive and immersive, the production release of the Intel Perceptual Computing Software Development Kit (SDK) 2013 is now available. With this release, developers can now make their applications available commercially. When used with the Creative* Interactive Gesture Camera, the Intel Perceptual Computing SDK 2013 enables developers to add human-like interaction to computers in the form of close-range finger or hand-tracking, speech recognition, facial analysis and augmented reality that has applications for gaming and beyond.
Intel also announced the 2013 version of its popular Intel Level Up Contest through which it continues to encourage game developer innovation. Entries will be judged by a panel of game industry luminaries, and once again the winning entries will have a chance to win a publishing contract from contest co-sponsor Valve Corporation.
In addition, to spark innovation around perceptual computing, Intel is launching the second phase of the million-dollar Intel Perceptual Computing Challenge, and announcing the winners of phase one. Now through September 2013, developers in 16 countries will compete in phase two for more than $800,000 in prizes in categories including Perceptual Gaming, Productivity, Creative User Interface and Open Innovation. Learn more about phase two and see the winners from phase one.
Read More ...
Thermaltake Announces Urban S41 Chassis
As one leading brand in the computer chassis, thermal solution, and power supply unit. Thermaltake continues releasing new Urban S41 mainstream mid-tower, categorized in windowed and non window version, one of the members of Thermaltake latest chassis series - Urban Series. The entire series has a sophisticated and cutting-edge look; designed for users who looks for powerful performance and high expandability but a flamboyantly appearance or more simple and sophisticated look.
Urban S41 built with brushed aluminum finish front door panel to mask the extrusive drive devices ( 4 ODD and 5 HDD drive bays), not only unify the appearance, but also provide a simple yet elegant aesthetic; the sophisticated look can also be part of decoration at home to enhance living quality. Furthermore, the preinstalled sound-damping foams for extreme silence purpose on both side panels of Urban S41 non window version reduce noise and acoustic levels within the chassis.
The front-top panel has implemented two of latest data transfer SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports along with two USB 2.0 ports, a HD microphone and headset jacks, to grand direct access when needed. Top-mounted 2.5" or 3.5"HDD Docking Station enables blazing fast file transfer and effortless hot-swap drive replacement design for easy setup or removal of HDD. Preinstalled two of 120mm fans and a top-mounted 200mm fan optimize system ventilation. In order to keep the interior dust free, all intake ventilation holes come with dust protection including removable dust filters at the top, front and bottom of the chassis.
Pre-mounting holes enable user to support motherboards up to standard ATX and CPU cooler installation, the extra long graphic card as well as rubber grommet holes for Advanced Cable Management and Liquid Cooling System.
Ever since introduction of Urban S21, S31 and S41, one more member from Urban family will be introduced soon. Users can get an elite enclosure that will last you for builds to come.
For more information, visit the product pages of the Urban S41
Classic and
Windowed variants.
Read More ...
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