ROCCAT Isku FX Multicolor Gaming Keyboard Review
ROCCAT Isku FX Multicolor Gaming Keyboard Review
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AMD A10-6800K & A10-6700 Richland APU Review
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Intel Core i7 4770K Review
Digging into the performance delivered by Intels Core i7 4770K Haswell processor.
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MSI GTX 770 N770 TF 2GD5/OC Review
Taking a look at the new MSI GTX 770 Gaming with comparisons to the New GTX 770 reference card.
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Cooler Master Notepal U2 Plus Cooling Pad Review
A detailed review of the Cooler Master Notepal U2 Plus Movable Fan Aluminium Cooling Pad
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PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 Myst Edition Crossfire Review
Taking a second look at PowerColor's Myst Edition HD 7870, this time in Crossfire.
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Review
Testing out the latest from NVIDIA the GTX 780.
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Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon Review
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How to Install AMD Drivers Guide
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Removing and Wiping Drivers Guide
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Luxa2 P1 7000mAh High Capacity Battery & Charger Review
A close look at the Luxa2 P1 7000mAh High Capacity Battery & Charger
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ROCCAT Hiro Mousepad Review
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How to Install NVIDIA Drivers Guide
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ASUS ROG Orion Pro Gaming Headset Review
ASUS ROG Orion Pro Gaming Headset Review
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MSI Announces Line of Intel 8 Series Motherboards at Computex
Computex is beginning to wind down, but there's still plenty of information as MSI is announcing its new line of motherboards based on Intel's 8 Series chipset. The "GAMING" series includes a wealth of features for that particularly crowd, with motherboards like the Z87-GD65 GAMING. That board features a Killer network chip to ensure your online games are as smooth as possible, and an Audio Boost to deliver killer sound. The Z87-GD65 GAMING even won a Computex 2013 Best Choice Golden Award, which is a first for any motherboard (and something MSI is very proud to share).
Overclockers are taken care of too, with MSI's "Overclock" series of motherboards. Those ones have passed OC certified tests, and include the likes of the Z87 XPOWER, Z87 MPOWER, and Z87 MPOWER MAX. The first one has a 32-phase digital power design and support for 4-Way SLI/Crossfire, while the latter two are designed for heavy-duty overclocking. MSI's MPOWER and MPOWER MAX both include the Extreme Tuning Utility adjustment software, developed in cooperation with Intel, to help you get to that next level of overclocking, and maybe even a world record.
All the MSI motherboards are equipped with the brand new Military Class IV components, which have passed all seven MIL-STD-810G tests, to keep everything nice and stable for a long time. Every motherboard also includes new technologies like OC Genie 4, which is capable of one-second overclocking, Click BIOS 4 graphical interface, Control Center software that combines monitoring, tuning, and remote controlling, plus plenty of others. Look for all these MSI Z87 motherboards to get reviewed soon, as one of them may just be the heart of your new computer.
Source: Press Release
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Working to Bring Hybrid Quantum Dot LEDs to Consumers
What to do when you have two promising technologies that are just not promising enough at the moment? One thing you can try to do is combining them to unlock their potential. That is what researchers at the University of Louisville in Kentucky have done with quantum dots and OLEDs, as reported by the Optical Society.
Organic LEDs, or OLEDS, are a special kind of LED made from polymers, which can be produced cheaply and are flexible. Quantum dots on the other hand are inorganic nanoscale, semiconductor crystals, which can also be produced cheaply. Both technologies can emit light at specific frequencies, but are not very efficient at the moment, so researchers have combined them to create hybrid OLEDs or quantum dot LEDS (QD-LEDs). This has the effect of increasing efficiency and the range of colors they can emit. To create the combined material, the researchers used inkjet printing to precisely spray the quantum dots on the OLEDs. While they are currently working on the scale of a single inch, the researchers state it should be possible to scale it up to 6 inches by 6 inches, or larger.
This combination of technologies could one day offer cheap and efficient light sources to consumers, but more research is required to better optimize the materials. When ready though, the lights will be useable in more places than current bulbs, as hybrid OLEDs can be applied to flexible surfaces.
Source: The Optical Society
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Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: Ultimate Edition Coming to PC on August 27
Though it had technically been confirmed last year, a Konami press release today has officially announced that Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: Ultimate Edition will be released for Windows PC via Steam on August 27, with physical copies arriving on shelves August 30. While the press release only mentions "across Europe," I can confirm that the game has already appeared on Steam in the United States with the same release date, so I would imagine that's just an oversight. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow was a critical and commercial success on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, so it's about time the game makes its way to the PC. In fact, it's the best-selling Castlevania game of all-time and a sequel is already in the works, also supposedly coming to PC.
The Ultimate Edition coming to PC includes the full base game along with the two DLC add-on chapters, Reverie and Resurrection. The press release also goes on to state that it "boasts enhanced 1080p HD graphics, runs at a solid 60 frames per second via recommended spec, and offers trophy integration through Steam with Cloud saving." The recommended spec, according to the Steam page, is Windows 7 or higher, a quad-core CPU, 2GB RAM, and a DirectX 11 compatible video card with 1024MB RAM. So most PC gamers should have no problem running it maxed. And while the press release doesn't state "and above" after 1080p, the Steam page does say it supports multi-screen displays, so higher resolutions should indeed be supported. If you're not interested in maxing it out, you'll be able to get away with Windows XP, a dual-core processor, and a DirectX 9 512MB video card.
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Kingston Releases HyperX Memory for Intel Haswell CPU
Kingston has unveiled its latest set of HyperX memory to support Intel Haswell fourth generation Core processors. The new i7, i5, and i3 CPUs are built on the Z87 chipset, and the memory from Kingston has been Intel XMP-validated. The new HyperX modules range in frequency from 1600MHz to 2666MHz and are available in sets of two or four. The new kits will be available in capacities of 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB.
Source: Press Release
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Haswell Won't Eliminate the Need for GPUs
The latest CPU family from Intel, Haswell, has improved graphics performance relative to previous generations of Intel CPUs. A recent interview with VP and GM of computing products at NVIDIA Rene Haas has pointed out that the integrated graphics are still far from the performance of discrete GPUs. The area where the most glaring differences can be seen is when gaming, where integrated graphics are still well short of the power required to play the latest games. Haas feels that the improved performance of Haswell will even help NVIDIA in the notebook market segment.
Source: NVIDIA
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Spelunky Coming to the PC This Summer
Roguelike platformer Spelunky originated on the PC as freeware, but its HD reboot has previously only been available on the Xbox 360 as an XBLA title. That is, until this Summer. Back in March, it was unveiled that Spelunky would arrive on the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita via PSN. Today, a new page on the Spelunky website, entitled "Coming Home", has announced that Spelunky is coming back home to where it all began – the PC. According to the page, "Spelunky will launch on Steam and GOG, followed shortly by the Humble Store."
So if you've been itching to spelunk randomly generated levels, but do not own an Xbox 360, you'll soon be able to choose among three other platforms this Summer, including our beloved PC!
Source: Spelunky World
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Why are Some LEDs More Efficient than Others?
More and more LEDs are being incorporated into technologies for their high energy efficiency, long life, and pure color, but they are not all created equal. It has been found that LEDs using the semiconductor, indium gallium nitride (InGaN), are more efficient than others. This discovery has stirred up a fair amount of debate in the scientific community, but researchers at MIT have recently settled it.
To understand why InGaN LEDs are more efficient, some scientists have put the material under an electron microscope. There they discovered indium-rich clusters, a defect, and so many believe they are responsible for it, but not every is convinced. Some researchers have suggested that it was the high-energy electron beam of the microscope that created those clusters, and that is what the MIT researchers have confirmed. Using a different kind of electron microscope with lower energy beams, the researchers were able to capture sub-nanometer details without damaging the InGaN sample, and no indium clusters were found.
While this is definitely a blow to those hoping it was the indium clusters that led to the high efficiency, this research is truly a benefit to the science as everyone can refocus on what the cause actually is. Helping that new research will be the microscopy method used for this study, as it does not disturb InGaN samples.
Source: MIT
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Hardware Roundup: Wednesday Edition
We have a little bit of everything for you in the middle of the week, including some reviews on AMD's newly released Richland APUs (OCC review on the A10-6800K and A10-6700 here). The A10-6800K is the new flagship part and gets its share of the reviews, as does the A10-6700, but even the low end A4-4000 gets in on the action. On the Intel side we have a look at the MSI Z87 MPower motherboard for the new Intel Haswell processorsThere's a review on a 2GB AMD HD 7790 from Gigabyte if you need a new video card instead of an APU. We also have another look at the Cooler Master Notepal U2 Plus cooling pad so your laptop doesn't melt during an intense gaming session. Desktop cooling is covered with a review on the AeroCool Touch-2100 fan controller, complete with a multi-colored display and five channels. If you want a bit of a history lesson, well how about a look at the history of the hard drive from its beginning way back in 1953 to today.
CPUs
AMD A10-6800K and A4-4000 Richland APU @ TechSpot
AMD A10-6800K APU Richland Processor @ Benchmark Reviews
AMD A10-6800K and A10-6700 Review: Richland Finally Lands @ PC Perspective
Motherboards
MSI Z87 MPower @ LanOC Reviews
Video Cards
Gigabyte HD 7790 2GB (GV-R779OC-2GD) @ Bjorn3D
Cooling
Cooler Master Notepal U2 Plus @ LanOC Reviews
AeroCool Touch-2100 Fan Controller @ Madshrimps
Miscellany
The History Of The Hard Drive @ ThinkComputers
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Available Tags:Gaming , Keyboard , AMD , APU , Intel , i7 , MSI , GTX , Cooler Master , Radeon , NVIDIA , GeForce , ASUS , Motherboards , Kingston , CPU , Hardware ,
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