Fable III free on Xbox Live right now
While surfing Xbox Live tonight, a friend of mine noticed that Fable III is available for download for the sweet sweet price of $0.00. That's right it's 100 percent free! First released in October 2010, Fable III has sold more than 3 million copies.
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Western Digital are the first with a 7mm-thick 1TB HDD
Computex Taipei 2013 - Western Digital had a lot of momentum going into Computex but at the show they went for the checked flag. First up in a few posts coming from the company is the new 7mm, dualplatter 1TB, 2.5" HDD.
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Western Digital explains their new 5mm SSHD
Computex Taipei 2013 - Once you go black....you never go back to blue? Western Digital's performance line for consumers is the Black Series. With flash increasing performance the company decided it was time to add a little flash magic to their proven mechanical products.
We finished testing Western Digital's 5mm Blue drive right before walking out of the door for Computex.
Look for a review of that product first and a follow up from Tyler on the UltraSlim Black SSHD.
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Amazon resurrects its 9.7-inch Kindle DX after almost a year of absence
After almost a year of laying in the grave, Amazon has brought the large 9.7-inch Kindle DX back to life. The company pulled the DX last year after self-report showed that consumers were leaning more towards smaller tablets.
Some analysts are suggesting that Amazon may have found some back stock that they had forgotten about and are simply looking to clear the inventory; others suggest that this is a test to see if demand for a cheaper and bigger screen has arisen in the textbook market. In any event you can head over to Amazon.com and pick up a DX for yourself at a price of $299.
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Super Flower Leadex - A PSU with lights at Computex 2013
Computex Taipei 2013 - While dashing through the halls I crossed paths with the Super Flower Leadex 1000W PSU. I noticed the PSU rather quickly but it wasn't until my second day at the hall till I snapped a couple of quick pics.
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Soon but not soon enough - OCZ Vector PCIe, it's coming
Computex Taipei 2013 - We know it's coming and coming sometime soon but that isn't good enough when OCZ Technology teases it at CES and Computex in 2013.
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TweakTown Best of Computex 2013 Awards and Winners now complete!
Computex Taipei 2013 - And like that, it's all over for another year. The entire TweakTown crew have been working around the clock bringing you the best Computex 2013 coverage, and we hope you've loved it as much as we have.
Here's a little tease though, we're all gushing over ASUS' new 4K monitor.
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Noctua shows world's 1st ANC CPU cooler
Computex Taipei 2013 - Noctua had their maybe upcoming active noise cancellation (ANC) cooler back out at Comptuex this year. We say again because we had a taste of the technology last year at Computex but this year's version is much more refined. I would say it is pretty damn close to production ready actually but that's not to say anyone can afford it.
The first thing everyone is thinking has to be why Noctua would even make a product like this to begin with. The company makes silent coolers, I've hand nearly all of them and can honestly say I don't use anything else and the reason why is because they are quiet and work better than advertised.
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GIGABYTE Z87 Motherboards with The Brix
Computex Taipei 2013 - Today we ran into a familiar face at the GIGABYTE Expo area. Mr. Brix himself guided us though the some of the new motherboard line up. With the new Haswell platform, GIGABYTE released roughly four new motherboards, many with features designed by Mr. Cookie himself!
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MemoRight XT3 Series SSD joins the world's of Marvell and TLC together
Computex Taipei 2013 - MemoRight had a sizable booth this year at Computex and inside we found a product we're ready to try. To date, only Samsung has shipped consumer grade SSDs with triple-level cell (TLC) flash but that's about to change now that Toshiba has their 1Xnm TLC in production.
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Meet 'Boundless Informant', the NSA's secret tool to track global surveillance data
The National Security Agency has developed a powerful tool for recording and analyzing where its intelligence comes from, raising questions about its repeated assurances to Congress that it cannot keep track of all the surveillance it performs on American communications. The Guardian has acquired top-secret documents about the NSA data-mining tool called "Boundless Informant" that details and even maps by country the voluminous amount of information it collects from computer and telephone networks.
The focus of the internal NSA tool is on counting and categorizing the records of communications, known as metadata, rather than the content of an email or instant message. The Boundless Informant documents show the agency collecting almost 3 billion pieces of intelligence from US computer networks over a 30-day period ending in March 2013. One document says it is designed to give NSA officials answers to questions like, "What type of coverage do we have on country X" in "near real-time by asking the SIGINT [signals intelligence] infrastructure."
An NSA factsheet about the program, acquired by the Guardian, says: "The tool allows users to select a country on a map and view the metadata volume and select details about the collections against that country." Under the heading "Sample use cases", the factsheet also states the tool shows information including: "How many records (and what type) are collected against a particular country." A snapshot of the Boundless Informant data, contained in a top-secret NSA "global heat map" seen by the Guardian, shows that in March 2013 the agency collected 97 billion pieces of intelligence from computer networks worldwide.
The heatmap gives each nation a color code based on how extensively it is subjected to NSA surveillance. The color scheme ranges from green (least subjected to surveillance) through yellow and orange to red (most surveillance).
The disclosure of the internal Boundless Informant system comes amid a struggle between the NSA and its overseers in the Senate over whether it can track the intelligence it collects on American communications. The NSA's position is that it is not technologically feasible to do so. At a hearing of the Senate intelligence committee in March of this year, Democratic senator Ron Wyden asked James Clapper, the director of national intelligence: "Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?"
"No sir," replied Clapper.
Judith Emmel, an NSA spokeswoman, told the Guardian in a response to the latest disclosures: "NSA has consistently reported--including to Congress--that we do not have the ability to determine with certainty the identity or location of all communicants within a given communication. That remains the case." Other documents seen by the Guardian further demonstrate that the NSA does in fact break down its surveillance intercepts which could allow the agency to determine how many of them are from the US. The level of detail includes individual IP addresses.
IP address is not a perfect proxy for someone's physical location but it is rather close, said Chris Soghoian, the principal technologist with the Speech Privacy and Technology Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. "If you don't take steps to hide it, the IP address provided by your internet provider will certainly tell you what country, state and, typically, city you are in," Soghoian said. That approximation has implications for the ongoing oversight battle between the intelligence agencies and Congress.
On Friday, in his first public response to the Guardian's disclosures this week on NSA surveillance, Barack Obama said that that congressional oversight was the American peoples' best guarantee that they were not being spied on. "These are the folks you all vote for as your representatives in Congress and they are being fully briefed on these programs," he said. Obama also insisted that any surveillance was "very narrowly circumscribed." Senators have expressed their frustration at the NSA's refusal to supply statistics. In a letter to NSA director General Keith Alexander in October last year, senator Wyden and his Democratic colleague on the Senate intelligence committee, Mark Udall, noted that "the intelligence community has stated repeatedly that it is not possible to provide even a rough estimate of how many American communications have been collected under the Fisa Amendments Act, and has even declined to estimate the scale of this collection."
The team will "accept user requests for additional functionality or enhancements," according to the FAQ acquired by the Guardian. "Users are also allowed to vote on which functionality or enhancements are most important to them (as well as add comments). The BOUNDLESSINFORMANT team will periodically review all requests and triage according to level of effort (Easy, Medium, Hard) and mission impact (High, Medium, Low)."
Emmel, the NSA spokeswoman, told the Guardian:
Current technology simply does not permit us to positively identify all of the persons or locations associated with a given communication (for example, it may be possible to say with certainty that a communication traversed a particular path within the internet. It is harder to know the ultimate source or destination, or more particularly the identity of the person represented by the TO:, FROM: or CC: field of an e-mail address or the abstraction of an IP address). Thus, we apply rigorous training and technological advancements to combine both our automated and manual (human) processes to characterize communications - ensuring protection of the privacy rights of the American people. This is not just our judgment, but that of the relevant inspectors general, who have also reported this...The continued publication of these allegations about highly classified issues, and other information taken out of context, makes it impossible to conduct a reasonable discussion on the merits of these programs.
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Bilderberg 2013 : UK Prime Minister to attend this year's secretive 'Gathering of Power'
The Prime Minister of Britain, David Cameron, is to attend a behind-closed-doors meeting of global business leaders, politicians, and academics that critics say is too secretive. Number 10 Downing Street--which is the British equivalent to the US White House--said the prime minister had been invited to the Bilderberg meeting in Hertfordshire in his role as head of the government hosting it. Other politicians listed as attending are Ken Clarke, George Osborne, Lord Mandelson, Ed Balls, and Lady Williams, plus the former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the prime minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte, the former US commander in Afghanistan and former CIA director General Petraeus. The list also includes business and banking leaders like Google boss Eric Schmidt, Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos, Goldman Sachs International chairman Peter Sutherland, and former Barclays chairman Marcus Agius.
The annual Bilderberg meetings of the world's political and financial elite are pitched as a forum for "informal, off-the-record discussions about megatrends and the major issues facing the world." The Bilderberg Group maintains that the private nature of the conferences allow people to "listen, reflect and gather insights" without being bound by "pre-agreed positions." Critics say the numbers of people attending--around 140 are invited from Europe and the US--mean it should be more accountable. Gathered protesters have heckled those arriving at the four-day event on Thursday.
Downing Street indicated it would not be providing a summary of Mr. Cameron's discussions to the press, but denied it was a departure from the prime minister's pledge to lead the most transparent government in the world. "The prime minister regularly has meetings with key ministers from other countries and with business people and others as part of his job," the spokesman said. "We have advanced the fact that he is doing this today. It is not as though he has gone to do this without telling anyone about it." Labour MP Michael Meacher, who was among protesters outside the Grove Hotel on Thursday said: "These are people who are all in the most dominant positions in the governance of Western capitalism. They only meet in order to concert their plans about the future of capitalism over the immediate future period--the next year or two. My objection is that it's being done in utter secrecy with the police keeping everyone else out."
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Barack Obama defends US surveillance tactics
President Barack Obama has defended newly revealed US government phone and internet surveillance programs, saying they are closely overseen by Congress and the courts. Obama said his administration had struck "the right balance" between security and privacy. He also stressed US Internet communications of US citizens and residents were not targeted and he tried to reassure the US that "nobody is listening to your phone calls".
On Wednesday night, the UK's Guardian newspaper reported a secret court had ordered phone company Verizon to hand over to the NSA millions of records on telephone call "metadata". That report was followed by revelations in both the Washington Post and Guardian that the NSA tapped directly into the servers of nine Internet firms including Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to track online communication in a program known as Prism.
Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, said the press reports were "outrageous" and denied Facebook's participation in the program. His statement echoed those of other Internet companies, who said they had not given the government direct access to their servers. Zuckerberg said: "We have never received a blanket request or court order from any government agency asking for information or metadata in bulk, like the one Verizon reportedly received. And if we did, we would fight it aggressively. We hadn't even heard of Prism before yesterday."
On Friday, the Guardian reported that the UK's electronic surveillance agency, GCHQ, had been able to see user communications data from the American Internet companies because it had access to Prism. The Guardian reported that GCHQ had access to the system since June 2010 and information from Prism had contributed to 197 British intelligence reports last year.
In California on Friday, Obama noted both NSA programs had been authorized repeatedly by Congress and were subject to continual oversight by congressional intelligence committees and by secret intelligence courts. The president said he had come into office with a "healthy scepticism" of both programs, but after evaluating them and establishing further safeguards he had decided "it was worth it.""You can't have 100% security, and also then have 100% privacy and zero inconvenience," Obama said. Acknowledging "some trade-offs involved," the President said, "We're going to have to make some choices."
In Congress, reaction to the revelations was split. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden said: "When law-abiding Americans make phone calls, who they call, when they call and where they call from is private information. As a result of the disclosures that came to light today, now we're going to have a real debate in the Congress and the country and that's long overdue." Republican Senator Rand Paul called the programs "an astounding assault on the Constitution." His colleagues, Republican Senator Lindsay Graham and Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, both defended the phone records practice on Thursday.
The Prism project was reportedly developed in 2007 out of a program of domestic surveillance without warrants that was set up by President George W Bush after the 9/11 attacks. Prism reportedly does not collect user data, but is able to pull out material that matches a set of search terms. James Clapper, director of US national intelligence, said in a statement on Thursday that the Internet communications surveillance program was "designed to facilitate the acquisition of foreign intelligence information concerning non-US persons located outside the United States. It cannot be used to intentionally target any US citizen, any other US person, or anyone located within the United States." Clapper also said that the program--under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act--was recently reauthorized by Congress after hearings and debate.
But while US citizens were not intended to be the targets of surveillance, the Washington Post says large quantities of content from Americans are nevertheless screened in order to track or learn more about the target. According to the Post, the Prism program has become a major contributor to the president's daily intelligence briefing, and accounts for almost one in seven intelligence reports.
America has also been rocked recently by the appalling PowerPoint presentation of the project, an effort which has been ridiculed web-wide. A missing slide (discovered by David Schneider, Gabby Hutchinson Crouch and David Beresford) reveals even more:
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QNAP brings 10GbE to the SMB market
Computex Taipei 2013 - We have a few stories from QNAP in the works, but this one will affect the largest number of new buyers. Until now, the 10GbE Ethernet option was available only on larger NAS systems, platforms with eight or more drives.
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Mad Catz CEO unwraps Project M.O.J.O, a new Android gaming console, will debut at E3 next week
During next week's E3 Expo, we will undoubtedly see many new games as well as gaming accessories unveiled. We all expected Mad Catz to show off its upcoming line of Xbox One accessories, but what was unexpected was the announcement that it will be showing off a new Android gaming console.
Mad Catz says that Project M.O.J.O. focuses purely on hardware performance and will be an open platform and will rely on existing Android developers to create content for the console. While no hardware details have been leaked, we are almost positive that M.O.J.O. is the fruit of a recent partnership between NVIDIA and Mad Catz, which means it should be fully compatible with Tegra Zone, and therefore will have a bookstore of games available at launch.
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ADATA M.2 SSDs Performance Preview and the NGFF Story
Introduction
For the last six months or so we've heard bits and pieces about this new great piece of technology called NGFF. Behind the scenes, we call Next Generation Form Factor NGFF for short, but over the coming months the marketing term will pop up more often. At that point, the suits will turn NGFF to m.2, not to be confused with AMD's socket AM2.
The first time we started playing with PCIe based storage was with a Dell Mini 9 sent to us by MyDigitalDiscount. Although physically similar, the card in the Mini 9 looked and physically fit modern day mSATA products. mSATA was the primer for thumb stick sized SSD storage.
mSATA was popular with OEMs for SSD integration, either for primary storage or in caching solutions. GIGABYTE gave the technology a big push on desktops with two generations supporting the standard. As stated, mSATA was just the primer though.
Now we have NGFF, but that doesn't mean we're ready for computing nirvana yet. Before we get there, the controller makers need to provide a bridge between PCI Express and NAND flash. It's easy enough in theory, but the flash of today isn't the same as flash of tomorrow. Controller makers need to make products that don't just work with 2Xnm flash, but much deeper into the roadmap, even beyond 1Ynm, the generation on the horizon.
To bridge the gap between SATA and PCIe NGFF, we're first going to see the NGFF socket used with SATA devices. One of the products we're previewing today uses the LSI SF-2281 controller, the same we've raved on about for over two years. The NGFF socket is electrically compatible with both SATA and PCIe.
On the SATA side, not much has changed other than the shape and a few features that reduce power consumption. Not to downplay and amazing advances in power consumption that we'll look at in detail once I get back to the US office, but the storage system is still the slowest in a modern PC. We want the performance!
Even once we get true native PCIe SSDs for NGFF sockets, performance isn't just going to shoot to the moon. The first NGFF sockets are electrically PCIe 2.0 x1-lane. Today we're using the new ASUS Maximum Extreme VI, possibly the best motherboard I've used since the ABIT BE6 II with an Intel i440BX chipset. At the time of writing, ASUS is the only desktop motherboard manufacturer to include a NGFF socket on a desktop board. ASUS has a few products, mostly higher-end, with NGFF. These products are electrically compatible with SATA and PCIe 2.0 x1-lane. A single lane provides 5GT/s or roughly 500MB/s of throughput.
Intel first shipped PCIe 2.0 in October of 2007, on the X38 chipset. Even though 500MB/s is technically slower than SATA III's 560 MB/s -ish (real-world, post overhead), the latency is lower. The marketing folks are going to have a difficult time pushing PCIe SSDs in the coming months due to this issue, 500MB/s is slower than 560 MB/s, but now you need to pay attention to this latency number because it's what really matters. We've talked about latency for at least the last two years and tried to pound the importance of latency in because it's what makes day to day activities feel faster on your PC.
Taking NGFF one-step further, the standard will scale over time. The starting line is x1 lane and that will quickly leap to x2 lanes, just not on desktop motherboards, not at first. Each PCIe lane is comprised of four wires or traces. Two traces to transmit and two to receive the bi-directional signals. Running traces can be expensive and let's face it, Intel hasn't tried to significantly increase the number of PCIe lanes over the last few generations.
At Computex, we saw NGFF products with SATA III, PCIe 2.0 x2 and even a PCIe 2.0 x4 lane drive. The latter is what I would consider the Holy Grail for performance in 2014, up to 1,800 MB/s sequential read / write (can't wait to get my hands it).
As mentioned, only one motherboard manufacturer has NGFF on a desktop board, ASUS. That doesn't mean notebooks will follow the same suit. In pre-Computex meetings and casual conversation though we learned that most of the notebook makers aren't ready to jump onboard the NGFF nirvana train either. In my limited knowledge, at the time of writing, ASUS was the only manufacturer offering NGFF in a notebook / ultrabook at Computex 2013. Admittedly, I didn't go around with a Phillips head and take every product apart at the show so others could and most likely are out there. GIGABYTE and Acer are NGFF no-shows though. This will change closer to 4Q when holiday notebooks start to ship, but we still haven't confirmed why other than it has something to do with Intel. We were told on two occasions to talk to Intel and the story is being held onto pretty tight because this is the kind of information I fly 24 hours across the world to get.
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DEEPCOOL GAMMAX S40 CPU Cooler Review
Introduction
For those of you that are unaware of the DEEPCOOL name and company, let me give you a bit of history. They jumped into the market in 1996 originally only making server coolers and coolers for ODM partners. Since that time, with a bit of exposure, DEEPCOOL is now a widely known name in this game. The company prides itself on being ECO-friendly, professional, innovative, quality control, and the fact that they are constantly updating to fit the needs of the latest offerings in the PC marketplace. A little fun fact while we are on the history lesson. The name DEEPCOOL is a spin on the old IBM program Deep Blue. They figured since PCs were the way of the future, they want to be as successful as that program was in its time.
Today we are looking at a tower cooler from their long established GAMMAXX series of CPU coolers. The basic idea is to offer a stock replacement cooler that will afford users more room in thermal results if they live in warmer climates or want to try their hand at a minimal overclock. They also kept the price point way down to make this latest cooler affordable to the masses, and are a perfect solution for those who do a lot of mid-range builds. The last thing offered in these coolers is the fact that you will also have much less noise to deal with than would be found in a stock cooler.
With this in mind, let me introduce to you the DEEPCOOL GAMMAX S40 CPU cooler that we are testing today on the next page.
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Scythe Mugen 4 Tower CPU Cooler Review
Introduction
Along all of these incarnations of the Mugen, various things were tried. Five heat pipes, six heat pipes, a dog bone fin design, completely square, separated individual towers and even various bases. While the bases were two pieces surrounding soldered in copper heat pipes, Scythe toyed around with skived heat sinks on the top of the base, as well as some without. Another thing that has evolved is the hardware. While obvious changes have needed to be made to allow the cooler to fit on new sockets, things weren't just updated with new holes; there is a whole new way of mounting the Mugen with the latest release.
Today with the sixth go at the Mugen series of coolers, Scythe has delivered the Mugen 4 for testing. Not only has the hardware changed, but the styling, fin stacking, and the overall size is much more accommodating and will allow users access to most of the components near it, unlike some of the previous models. With as many releases of the Mugen, there is a lot of what people will expect to see, and the Mugen 4 does hark back to the designs of the earlier coolers; you can definitely see the Mugen in it right out of the box.
The thing is though, the latest version is something that is definitely a one off design as well, and while having some hints of the older coolers, just at a quick glance, you can see Scythe it trying a mix of a lot of new ideas with the Mugen 4, and I believe it will be well worth your time to continue on and see what the Scythe Mugen 4 has to offer in today's market.
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NZXT Grid 10 Port Fan Hub Review
Introduction
As the title suggests, when delving into a full custom build where you plan to remove the stock fans and install a ton of water cooling into the chassis, once you start to ponder a push/pull orientation on a couple of double radiators, powering and maintaining the wiring of all of these fans is something most will overlook on their first glance of parts needed to complete a clean build. Of course, you could install a couple of fan controllers to allow you to install more than six fans, since most fan controllers stop there without the addition of any Y-splitters or any way of daisy-chaining the fans onto a single power connection. You could also go and buy a bunch of Molex to 4-pin fan adapter plugs, but going that route leads you into a real mess of PSU wires and stacks of Molex adapters that you have to hide.What if there was a small, self contained device that would allow you to simply plug multiple fans into it, and have only one power source? This would alleviate most of the wiring issues associated with the fan controllers and Molex adapters right out of the gate. You would also be able to locate this device anywhere you see fit to allow all of your fans to easily be plugged in without the need for extensions as you would likely need to connect a controller to fan wiring in the bottom of the chassis. With a device such as this, I can see this becoming the new must have device for most, if not all custom case builds, just like braided cables and lighting are.
This is where NZXT steps in to offer something that used to be, in its original form, a fan hub that was sent inside of the new Switch cases. Because the chassis had a load of fans, and due to the size of those cases, fan wiring was an issue, and they needed to devise a solution. Once the device was a success in the cases, they took the original design, wrapped it in a clean looking black plastic box, threw their name on the front of it, and even added some LED lighting to it, so if you do decide to show it, it looks even better once powered on.
Now any system builder, no matter the chassis manufacturer, can still have this sweet little 10 port fan hub that NZXT calls the Grid.
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Western Digital My Passport Edge for Mac 500GB External HDD Review
In the lab today we have the 500GB My Passport Edge for Mac. Coming in at just 10mm thick, the Edge offers maximum portability for those on the go. Utilizing the included WD Smartware software, the My Passport is easily configurable as an automated backup device, with compatibility of the Edge extending as far as Mac OS in its preformatted Journaled file system (JFS) and even Windows after a simple reformat. We are using it in the Windows configuration for this review.
To test external storage platforms I utilize three of the most well-known and respected benchmark applications. ATTO Disk Benchmark is the first and is recognized as the industry standard for marketing specifications. The second, CDM or Crystal Disk Mark, offers sequential read and write metrics, 512K random read and writes and 4K data with Queue Depths up to 32. Through DiskBench we offer real-world testing as it offers a custom data set that can be controlled by the user. For our testing I use a 10GB directory of mixed data that includes, pictures in both the RAW and JPEG file formats, AVCHD video and documents in both the XLS and DOC formats.
Having the opportunity to test quite a few external storage options over the past few months, I have come away quite impressed with the My Passport Edge, and not just in terms of performance. The drive itself is designed to be thin and act as an extension to your MacBook, but I think it would really complement any Ultrabook or notebook, too.
The included WD SmartWare software offers one of the easiest solutions when it comes to data backup and restoration, which I find to be something that really enriches the environment the end-user experiences. The additional support for Dropbox is also a welcomed addition, and I suspect as Box.com gains popularity we may find this included as well.
Performance of the Edge was top-tier with our unit topping out at 112MB/s in both ATTO and CDM. Real-world testing netted us a chart leading 105MB/s in directory copy.
Pricing of the Western Digital My Passport Edge in its 500GB capacity is set at a very comforting $79.99 with availability extremely high. Western Digital covers the Passport Edge with a three year warranty.
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PQI Air Card 4GB Wi-Fi SDHC Review
On the surface the Air Card looks like a great product. It offers another option to consumers that like the thought of Wi-Fi and Secure Digital together in one device. However, the Air Card changes things up a bit, allowing you to choose and upgrade the amount and speed of storage you want. If we got down to the fine details, this would classify the Air Card as more of an SD to micro SD adapter, more than it is an actual memory card.
As I stated previously, we received the Air Card in its 4GB configuration which comes with a 4GB Class 4 microSD card. Specifications of the actual adapter allow for 4GB to 32GB cards to be installed, and being aimed at mobile users, the Air Card has downloadable apps on both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Warranty is listed at one year.
I personally like the concept of the PQI Air Card. The adapter functionality adds another dimension for the end-user supporting up to 32GB of capacity. However, there are a pile of issues with the application, which tends to be a proverbial turn off, when it comes to the full user experience.
Performance of the card in the configuration we received was subpar and left me wanting more, with the card reaching just shy of 4MB/s. Wireless performance was equally disappointing, and even sitting my Touchpad right next to the card offered no resolve.
Availability of the PQI Air Card is almost non-existent in the United States, as I was only able to find it on eBay. Pricing of the Air Card in the 4GB configuration we tested is set at $45.99.
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TweakTown Blue Prodigy PC breaks PCMark Storage World Record at Computex 2013
TweakTown Best of Computex 2013 Awards and Winners
Not only do we have our Best of Computex Taipei 2013 awards for the best products in certain categories at the show, we also teamed up with BitFenix and other tech companies to build the TweakTown Blue Prodigy PC. We are delighted to announce that it is the current PCMark Vantage world record holder in the storage suite test.
It was during the lead up to Computex that BitFenix announced the release of the blue version of its hugely successful Prodigy computer case, and one that we are fans of around here. That got us thinking - how could we get involved with BitFenix to build some sort of PC based around it? After giving it some thought, we decided to approach the folks at BitFenix to build a system that would break the Futuremark PCMark Vantage world record, right at the show, on the show floor, for everyone to see.
After a few email exchanges, BitFenix were in on the project. We then hit up Intel and ASRock to support us on the CPU and motherboard front - it had to be Haswell and Z87, mini-ITX of course for the Prodigy case. Next up the ever reliable Corsair joined the party and shipped over unreleased RAM, cooling, PSU and some awesome gaming gear (keyboard, mouse and gaming surface). The full specs list is below:
We would like to thank Intel, ASRock, Corsair, BitFenix, Mushkin and Futuremark for supporting us on this project. You guys rock! We hope you all enjoyed this article and the system we built - gotta love those amazing performance numbers!
Now... what do we do for Computex 2014 to top this? We'll get back to you on that.
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TweakTown's "Best of Computex 2013" Awards and Winners
TweakTown Best of Computex 2013 Awards and Winners
In an ideal world, we would have select dozens of award categories, but since this is our first time running this award, we had to limit the categories. Below you'll find the categories TweakTown editors judged for new products at Computex.
- CPU
- SSD
- Memory Kit
- Motherboard
- Video Card
- Case
- Cooler
- Laptop / Tablet
- Gadget
- Technology
Several TweakTown editors are involved in picking winners for the categories - each editor is handling the category they handle for their regular product reviews here at TweakTown, since each editor is best informed on each of the products belonging to those categories. Starting us off Shawn Baker, he took care of our GPU, GPU, Memory Kit, Motherboard and Video Card awards. Chris Ramseyer being our consumer storage expert selected the SSD winner. Chad Sebring as our chassis and cooling expert handled our Case and Cooler awards. Anthony Garreffa handled our Laptop / Tablet award as our Mobile Devices editor. As a group we collectively decided on the Gadget and Technology awards.
Without further ado, let's begin!
TweakTown Best of Computex 2013 Winner and Notable Mentions - CPU
While carrying the new Intel HD 4600 graphics integrated into the CPU offering strong improvements over the current HD 4000 graphics seen on the Intel Core i7 3770K, most people opting for the higher-end CPU will no doubt be choosing a dedicated video card. With more performance, less power draw and more overclocking ability, the next generation Intel chip is no doubt going to be making its way into many high-end PC systems in the coming weeks and months.
TweakTown Best of Computex 2013 Winner and Notable Mentions - SSD
Available in three capacity sizes, 120GB, 240GB and 480GB, the Extreme II increases performance over the Extreme SSD and does it with both compressible and incompressible data. Priced well for a flagship SSD, the Extreme II is a superior next generation product that actually manages to increase performance at a time when others are falling back.
One of the most interesting aspects of Vector PCIe is the new VCA 2.0 architecture. VCA 2.0 brings SMART and more importantly, TRIM to the (RAID) array on card. This is a feature lacking on competitors' products on the market, and a feature enthusiasts need to keep performance at near fresh out of box levels.
TweakTown Best of Computex 2013 Winner and Notable Mentions - MEMORY KIT
Built with the new Haswell platform in mind, the kit comes with a 12-14-14-36 setup with 1.65v requirement. 2933MHz DDR in itself is a task, but to offer that across a 16GB kit and four modules is a great accomplishment from Corsair. This is not only the RAM we'll be using in our launch coverage of the new Intel Z87 and Haswell platform, but will be used in future motherboard reviews carrying that chipset.
TweakTown Best of Computex 2013 Winner and Notable Mentions - MOTHERBOARD
The Z87 OC FORMULA/ac brings with it even more than before with four PCIe x16 slots, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth V4.0, 12 Phase Power Design, Premium Alloy Choke, 8 Layer PCB, Nick Shih's OC Profiles, multiple thermal sensors and one of the more interesting features, Waterproofing by Conformal Coating, so even the most extreme overclockers don't have to worry about damaging their motherboard during the most intense extreme benching.
TweakTown Best of Computex 2013 Winner and Notable Mentions - VIDEO CARD
The custom designed "Classified" version beings with it a 14 + 3 Power Phases design, Dual BIOS support along with an upgrade to a dual 8-pin PCIe power connector setup. Together this all helps provide the ability to achieve higher clocks than just your standard reference designed version. Combined with the ACX Cooling solution, EVGA have one of the strongest valued single GPU solutions for anyone wanting some serious 3D gaming power.
TweakTown Best of Computex 2013 Winner and Notable Mentions - CASE
In this chassis, the LEET only uses aluminum components, and the front and sides are made from one piece of extruded aluminum to help leave the chassis with great structural integrity. You have the choice to grab one of these in black or in a natural silver, both are brushed in their finish, and both offer a FingerVU 700M touch-display that measures 88mm by 480mm centered in the front. The LEET can also house anything up to an E-ATX motherboard; it fits 11-inch video cards, allows for plenty of drive bays, has a removable motherboard tray, and even accommodates water cooling inside of the unit. There is also a full list of optional equipment to go along with the LEET chassis.
Considering the overall design is based more for the HTPC market, I see this as more of an elegant and sophisticated CM HAF XB, it also offers a top panel window, and we all know an HTPC doesn't need this nor would it likely ever be seen. For those that want to spruce up the build Steiger Dynamics offers choice of a gold or silver logo, the window is optional, LED lighting, PSUs, cabling, ton of cooling options including loop components that are made specifically to fit in this chassis, optional front I/O panel, parts, and a remote control. In my opinion Steiger Dynamics and their LEET chassis is unstoppable, and will likely flood the web soon with plenty of mods.
The other case that I would like to give an honorable mention to is InWin and their D-Frame. I know we all saw this at CES, but I am sure it will be all over Computex with all of the various companies builds being showcased in them. The reason I believe that InWin has what it takes, is once they got over making the somewhat "childish" cases I always hammer them for in the past, when they think outside the box, boy do they go way out of the box. With a motorcycle inspired, tubular, open air chassis that looks so good and works so well, I just couldn't pass over a mention of this product.
TweakTown Best of Computex 2013 Winner and Notable Mentions - COOLER
To me it is all in the details. Designed by an overclocker for overclockers, you can see where the personal touches all come into play. First Thermaltake start with an average sized single tower design that is super easy to mount to any motherboard. They then wrap the tower with a shroud to take advantage of all of the air flow the pair of accompanying fans produce. The pair of fans simply slide into the shroud to allow users easy access to swap fans on a whim, as well as being able to easily clean the fins after extended use.
Along with the NiC C5 placing in the top five of all air coolers I have ever tested, this cooler, by its namesake, 'No Interference Cooler', means that you have plenty of room for memory in all of the DIMM slots. You can get to all the surrounding screws and power plugs with ease, and it won't run into the video card or interfere with motherboard heat sinks, making the NiC C5 not only a great performer, but the feature set makes it one of the best air coolers money can buy that will fit on any motherboard without issue.
Quite the opposite in reality as this cooler is easy to install, has some memory clearance issues, but once you put a second fan on this cooler, you get right behind the performance levels of the NiC C5, but with little more than a slight hum if these fans are drawing 12V, otherwise once the NH-U14S is in the chassis, you will be hard pressed to hear anything, and you just get to enjoy the silence and cool temperatures being reported.
TweakTown Best of Computex 2013 Winner and Notable Mentions - LAPTOP / TABLET
TBA - we expect the award to be announced here on June 6, 2013.TweakTown Best of Computex 2013 Winner and Notable Mentions - GADGET
TBA - we expect the award to be announced here on June 6, 2013.TweakTown Best of Computex 2013 Winner and Notable Mentions - TECHNOLOGY
TBA - we expect the award to be announced here on June 6, 2013.A very big congratulations to all of the winners of our first annual Best of Computex awards! See you again in June 2014, likely with even more product categories.
Would have you judged the winning products differently? Tell us in the comments below - everyone is entitled to their opinion!
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SanDisk Extreme II 480GB SSD Review
Introduction
Adding a SSD to a notebook has many benefits. For the last year we've shown battery life improvements and for as long as affordable SSD's have been on the market, we've shown large performance gains over mechanical hard drives. The one area we rarely touch on is how a high performance SSD increases a notebook's overall lifespan. Most of us buy new notebooks when the old one gets slow. Even though I have four newer notebooks within ten feet from me, I'm typing this article on a Lenovo T61p. This unit is so old it only uses SATA - not SATA II or SATA III - the really old stuff. I've replaced the keyboard three times, the battery many more time, but even now it doesn't feel slow. The Rifleman's Creed says, "This is my rifle. There are many rifles like it, but this one is mine."
This is my weapon and the SSD inside keeps it shooting straight. Certainly the 1920x1200 screen resolution helps too, but even that wouldn't keep this notebook in use if I had to keep a slow spinner inside. The point is, a high capacity SSD in an aging notebook increases service life and the performance increase can actually make your old notebook respond faster than a majority of new notebooks with mechanical HDD's. Going large on the capacity means you can keep more of the files you want without lugging around external storage.
Right now let's move on and check out SanDisk's 480GB Extreme II and see how it fits into this picture.
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SanDisk Extreme II 240GB SSD Review
Introduction
The 120GB capacity size was easy for SanDisk to steam roll competitor's products since SanDisk has the most advanced flash in a consumer SSDs on the market today. The 256GB class is another story though, more interleaving of the NAND and several products still around with 24nm/25nm means this capacity size is more street brawl than boxing match.
SanDisk's original Extreme is one of the big players in the 256GB class and its new $160 price point is amazing for such a good product. If I would have seen the price at Amazon, it would have won the Bang for your Buck - The Best 256GB Class SSDs under $200 award a few weeks ago. At the time the drive wasn't at Newegg, which I used to compare prices. In the same boat at OCZ's Vector, the Extreme uses older 2xnm flash and we know production has either stopped or been reduced. Extreme won't be around much longer at $160 or any price.
Enter SanDisk's new flagship SSD, Extreme II. Based on the latest Marvell 88SS9187, the same used in the Plextor M5 Pro / Xtreme and Crucial M500, the controller already has a solid reputation for stability, performance and the ability to scale to 1TB with new 128-bit NAND flash. The 9187 isn't a plug and play controller like the LSI SandForce SF-2281. If a company wants to use it, they need to either write firmware or hire an outside firm to do it. Working with a third-party means delays in the optimization cycle, because of that SanDisk is now building their own firmware, working on their own optimizations and promises to not have another TRIM event ever again.
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Top 10 TweakTown Content from the past week [03 June 2013]
Here are our top 10 articles, reviews and guides from the past week!
- EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI Overclocked
- EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI
- Western Digital Scorpio Blue (WD5000LPVT) 500GB HDD Review
- WORLD EXCLUSIVE - Toshiba PX02SM Series 12Gb/s Enterprise SSD Review
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card Review
- Logitech G700s Rechargeable Gaming Mouse Review
- Intel Core i7 4770K (Haswell 4th Gen) CPU and Z87 Express Chipset Review
- Analogix Semiconductor SlimPort Cable (HDMI Adapter) Review
- Digital Storm ODE Haswell-powered Desktop Gaming PC Review
- LaCie CloudBox 1TB Personal NAS Review
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SanDisk Extreme II 120GB SSD Review
Introduction
Nearly a year ago we sat down with two SSD's at Computex for an early look at IMFT 20nm flash and Toshiba 19nm Toggle Flash. Both drives used identical LSI SandForce SF-2281 controllers and matching firmware. By the time we walked away, it was clear that 20nm ONFi flash had lost a lot of performance compared to 25nm ONFi, and that 19nm Toggle wasn't much different than 24nm Toggle when it came to performance. At the time we thought IMFT would get it together, but now that we have real products in hand, it's becoming clear that 20nm ONFi flash isn't very good for smaller capacity SSD's, like the 120GB capacity size.
Even though today's review is on the SanDisk Extreme II, I can't help myself from drawing attention to the 19nm vs. 20nm differences. The SanDisk Extreme II uses the Marvell 88SS9187 controller, the same as the Plextor M5 Pro / Xtreme and Crucial M500. Since we have all of these drives in the 128GB class size, we can see how NAND flash affects performance. A large portion of our Architecture Deep Dive linked above talks about SanDisk's new ALB flash with nCache.
Marvell doesn't deliver programming / firmware with their products so if you want to use a Marvell SSD controller, you need to build your own firmware, like SanDisk did. The other option is to go to a third party like LiteOn or MemoRight to have it made for you. When you use a third-party firmware, you need to work with them on fixing issues that may pop up. Working with a third-party means delays, something SanDisk wants to avoid after the original Extreme SSD issues.
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A look at SanDisk's Extreme II SSD Architecture
Introduction
SSD shipments grew 22% between 4Q 2012 and 1Q 2013 and in that time SanDisk moved into the number two spot by number of units shipped. Positioned just behind Samsung (31.3%), SanDisk's market share was 16.8% - not bad for a company that flew under our radar until the performance class Extreme SSD hit our labs in early 2012.
Today the company releases the follow up to the Extreme SSD, the Extreme II. More of a revolutionary than evolutionary part, Extreme II uses a new controller architecture and the most advanced NAND flash on the market today.
Rather than trying to lump all of this information into the three capacity size reviews of Extreme II today, let's cover the new architecture in this article and then look at the reviews of the three capacity sizes in review form throughout the day. That way we can keep each review to a coffee break size and still compare each capacity size to equal sized products.
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TweakTown's Guide to 3D Printing: Part 2 - 3D Printer Kit Selection
Introduction
Another thing you must look out for is kits that appear to be complete, but are missing key components like printed or laser cut parts, extruder parts or even guide rods. While most sellers are upfront about these missing parts, some leave little or no clue to what you need to finish the kit.
In this installment I am going to showcase a few of the best kits on the market, as well as point you in the right direction if you want to go the entire DIY route.
Different types of 3D printing kits
I covered this section in the last article, but I really want to make sure that you understand the two main types of 3D printer DIY kits. One will path will take you into the realm of hardware sourcing, while the other will provide you with almost everything you need to build your own printer.
If soldering is not your bag, then I would definitely avoid a kit that requires soldering. Like a scratch build, you will need to spend hours adjusting, calibrating and configuring things before your machine is printing at a good level of quality. The image above is the typical RepRap Prusa Mendel kit you will find for sale around the web.
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Star Trek: Enterprise - Season One (2001) Blu-ray Review
12 years on and 8 from the broadcast of the last episode of Star Trek on television screens, interest in Enterprise has been rekindled by the relative success of the new feature films, and the high definition debut of the much loved Next Generation series. Whilst none of the 26 episodes that make up the first season can be considered classic, there are some good episodes, including the pilot Breaking Bow and Shuttlepod One an effective character exploration on minimalist terms.
I still have gripes with the cold sterility of the first season, but there is more to like that I remembered, and importantly it does get better over time. For those willing to give Enterprise a second chance, they'll find a competent and enjoyable series that acts as a nice alternative to some of the pretenders that have cropped up since (I'm looking at you Into Darkness
Video
Star Trek: Enterprise Season One is presented in the series original aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with AVC MPEG-4 compression.
Owing to the emergence of digital television at the dawn of the new millennium Enterprise was the first Trek series to be natively composed and broadcast in a widescreen aspect ratio, riding the crest of HD technology, which was still in its infancy. Sadly, this is also an Achilles heel for the Blu-ray. The 35mm scan is now, 12 years later considered to be ancient, with many of the tell-tale signs of age, including at time rampant grain and noise. A further issue is that all CG shots were rendered out at between 480p and 720p. Upscaled to 1080p, most CG shots exhibit obvious aliasing effects and shimmering. And this is before you even consider the somewhat ropey nature of some of the effects from today's perspective.
Still, it's not all bad. This is still a solid effort and the best that Enterprise has ever looked - certainly better than television broadcasts and previous DVD releases. Color balance is good, most shots feature a visible improvement in detail, and textures are nicely rendered, whether it be the fine patterns on uniforms, to the slick harshness of brushed metal.
In short, those expecting the same image quality than the Next Generation Blu-rays will be disappointed, and perhaps ironically so, but it is an improvement and realistically the best the series will ever look.
Star Trek: Enterprise Season One is presented in DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 at 24 bits.
Unlike The Next Generation, CBS have not taken the opportunity to expand Enterprise with a 7.1 audio mix, but this isn't a necessarily bad thing, because the 5.1 mix is more than reasonable, if a little conservative by modern standards.
Dialogue is recorded and presented well and I don't recall any audio sync issues. The front soundstage handles most of the shows actions, but there is reasonable bleed into the rear channels, which also houses some bleed from Dennis McCarthy's score.
Low frequency use is a bit hit or miss - some scenes feature noticeable kick in the sub, yet over scenes feature significantly less. Perhaps this is more a reflection of who was behind the audio dials upon the original mix.
For many, one of the more compelling reasons to pickup Enterprise is based on the strength and quantity of the extra features packaged, which have sprinkled over all six discs. Directors Roger Lay and Robert Meyer Burnett have once again created a significant amount of new features, in addition to previously produced extra features, making this one of the most generous Blu-ray release of a TV series yet seen. Let's take a look.
Next is the hour long In Conversation Documentary which reunites show runners Rick Berman and Brannon Braga ruminating on getting the show up and running so soon after years of back-to-back productions. Even after all this time, it's clear how burnt out the two were, really giving a sense of the burden that time proved, which resulted in a rocky start to the series. The candor on display is impressive, with the duo clearly comfortable in discuss the good and not so good, sharing blame equally and holding little back. I love features like this that truly peel back the onion, but sadly we see so little of it. I also particularly note the discussion revolving around the show's theme song, which is still to this day a bone of contention amongst fans! In short; hardcore and casual fans alike need to give this feature their time.
Four episodes feature newly recorded Audio Commentary, from a range of participants, whilst the pilot also features a second commentary track recorded in 2005. Three episodes also include Text Commentaries written by Trek luminaries Michael and Denise Okuda in a nicely formatted manner of display.
On The Set is a vintage produced but unreleased 30 minute look at the ups and downs of production, focusing on the "Vox Sola" episode towards the end of the first season. The Cast Introduction, and Network and Syndication Presentations are an interesting look at the techniques involved with selling the series to the networks and audiences alike.
Next we have some of the previously released DVD features which are good to retain for posterities sake (and completists like myself), but featurettes such as Creating Enterprise and Enterprise Secrets are mostly made redundant by the aforementioned 90 minute documentary. O Captain! My Captain! A Profile of Scott Bakula and Cast Impressions: Season One take a look at the human element and the show's casting (albeit from a more promotional standpoint). Star Trek Time Travel: Temporal Cold Wars and Beyond and Inside Shuttlepod One take a look at some of the more important plot points of the first season and Celebrating Star Trek which gives an insight into the weird and wacky world of Star Trek conventions.
Finally, we have a total of eight episodes which feature brief Deleted Scenes, presented in 1080p and a nine minute Gag Reel in 480p.
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The Hangover Part III (2013) Cinema Review
It feels rather strange, like someone kidnapped the characters from the first film, cloned and put them in a familiar landscape. They look the same and talk the same, but they don't act the same. This is how the Hangover III felt for me.
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Digital Storm ODE Haswell-powered Desktop Gaming PC Review
Introduction
We've previously reviewed Digital Storm's small form-factor Bolt gaming PC, which used a custom case. The ODE makes use of an off-the-shelf case that makes it have a bit better fit-and-finish.
Please note that PCMark 7 has been updated to the latest version, causing previous benchmark results to not be comparable. We have archived these results. Unfortunately, this means that we have few comparison systems for this review.
Without further ado, let's take a look at this powerful gaming PC and see what we think.
Specifications, Configurations and Pricing
Digital Storm was able to provide us a Haswell-powered rig ahead of the NDA, giving us time to check out the latest and greatest generation. Our system is equipped with Intel's newest Core i7-4770K CPU. The 4770K, which has been reviewed by our resident CPU reviewer, features four cores and eight threads. It's clocked at 3.5GHz, but uses TurboBoost to break the 4GHz barrier.The i7-4770K is cooled by a Corsair H100i integrated water cooling system. This all-in-one cooler should provide good temperatures for Intel's latest CPU. It will also add to the Corsair theme you'll see in this system.
The heart of the machine is supported by an ASUS Sabertooth Z87 motherboard, which is new for the Haswell line of CPUs. It makes use of the Z87 chipset and brings many of the styling cues that the Sabertooth brand stands for. The I/O panel comes with a full-compliment of four USB 2.0 ports and four USB 3.0 ports, two eSATA 6G ports, an HDMI port, Display Port and the usual audio connectors.
Digital Storm has equipped our review system with 16GB of Digital Storm-certified ADATA RAM clocked at 1600MHz. The layout is 2 x 8GB sticks, so it's an easy-and cheap-upgrade to 32GB of RAM should you need it in the future.
Graphics are provided by NVIDIA's latest and greatest GTX 780. It appears our system is rocking the NVIDIA reference card as there is no add-in board partner labeling visible on the card. It features 3GB of RAM and should easily destroy the other systems we've reviewed, save for the dual-GTX 680 powered Chimera we opened our desktop reviews with.
The ODE features a 120GB Corsair Neutron GTX SSD and 1TB Western Digital Caviar HDD. The system is powered by a Corsair 1050W Pro Silver 1050HX PSU. Windows 8 64-bit is the operating system pre-installed on our system's SSD. Users can customize the Digital Storm ODE to come with various 64-bit versions of Windows 7 or Windows 8 Pro 64-bit.
The cost for a system like this is $2,731, give or take a few dollars for sales and other discounts. Configuration is quite high. Digital Storm offers a wide variety of upgrades, component selection and customization. This is aided by the giant Corsair Graphite Series 600T case, which provides plenty of room for multiple video cards, hard drives and high-performance components.
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Intel Core i7 4770K (Haswell 4th Gen) CPU and Z87 Express Chipset Review
Introduction
You're going to see an absolute ton of coverage to the new platform as it brings with it so many new products. Unlike the last Intel CPU we looked at, the Intel Core i7 3970X Extreme Edition, the Core i7 4770K brings with it a new chipset in the form of the Z87 Express. The products that surround a new chipset are what are going to keep us extremely busy for the coming weeks and months.
It of course starts with new motherboards from the huge amount of vendors that exist. It's not just a matter of receiving a single motherboard from each vendor, we have up to nine motherboards from a single vendor at the moment. Weeks before launch the amount of motherboards we had already sat in double digits, and as the days go on the amount of boards we have to test is climbing at a rapid rate.
It's not just motherboards, though, a new platform often brings with it new memory. We saw the last generation Ivy Bridge platform bring with it a chance to achieve memory speeds much higher than we had seen before. The latest Haswell platform is said to take that a step further and that of course means that Corsair, G.Skill and others are jumping on the high speed memory bandwagon as quickly as they can.
We've then of course got multiple CPU models coming out for the desktop platform along with mobile versions of everything. Combining all this together means that we've then got a bunch of new systems coming from PC builders and of course laptops and ultrabooks coming from manufacturers.
Today, though, is all about two things. The new CPU's that we'll be seeing alongside the performance of the top dog Core i7 4770K. The second is the new Intel Z87 chipset. The particular Z87 motherboard that we'll be using today comes from ASUS in the form of the Z87-Expert.
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MyDigitalSSD BP4 240GB mSATA Review
Introduction
MyDigitalSSD set new battery life standards with the BP4 and at this time they are equal to the early SandForce B02 stepping products that we've tested in the lab. In a month we'll be at Computex Taipei 2013 and B02 should be all over the place in new products, but until then, MyDigitalSSD's BP4 is the battery life king... and they might even have the crown after Computex, too. The main difference for those buying today, the BP4 is available now and has been on sale at Amazon for over a month already.
MDSSD's BP4 uses the same controller found in the BP3, the Phison S8. As we've mentioned before, most SSD's are just simply FPGA chips and the programming / firmware is more important than the actual silicon, most of the time. Holding that statement true today, the Phison S8 in the BP4 is programmed for increased overprovisioning - that's why the marketing capacity is now 240GB. The data performance is also faster on the BP4. Random data is quicker due to new programming, and sequential performance is faster thanks to new Toshiba 19nm Toggle Type B flash.
The mSATA market is really starting to heat up and several notebooks / ultrabooks cut the red ribbon in around a month's time. In order to meet low pricing demands by customers, many of the OEMs have turned to older, slower designs that cost less than new exciting products. Soon to market low-cost ultrabooks with small cache SSD's paired with HDD's will require an upgrade to full flash based mSATA drives to make your ultrabook perform like your desktop with an SSD in it now. With the slots present, dropping in a large SSD is still the best bang for the buck upgrade most users can do, without diving under the notebook skin too deep.
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WORLD EXCLUSIVE - Toshiba PX02SM Series 12Gb/s Enterprise SSD Review
Introduction
Last week Toshiba announced full availability of the PX02SMx eSSD (enterprise SSD's) for European markets. Understandably, this caught us by surprise as there are currently no 12Gb/s RAID adapters or HBA's on the market. Our early samples of the PX02SMx series have been languishing in the enterprise storage lab for nearly a month, while we awaited the key component for testing a 12Gb/s SSD: a 12Gb/s adapter. All 12Gb/s adapters from the normal vendors are under NDA or currently only sampling to OEMs. Luckily, we had already set plans in motion to gain access to the necessary equipment for testing.
The launch of 12Gb/s SAS brings a doubling of bandwidth that on the surface seems to be the most compelling feature. PCIe 3.0 and SAS 12Gb/s seem to be the perfect match, but in reality, the insatiable speed provided by 12Gb/s SAS already outstrips the available bandwidth of PCIe 3.0.
12Gb/s also brings other enhancements and changes to the SAS storage fabric that will allow for an expansion of the SAS ecosystem. SAS has long been an interface just begging to be let out of the box, and with the inclusion of new connectivity features, SAS is finally able to expand beyond its current limitations. We will cover some of these improvements on the following pages.
The major players with NAND foundries are all now rapidly expanding their presence in the enterprise realm with a variety of tiered solutions that appeal to different environments. The Toshiba PX02SMF080 series of eSSDs is the leading edge of a full frontal assault from Toshiba into the enterprise SSD battleground.
The PX02SM aims for Tier 0 applications with a dual-port 12Gb/s SAS interface and is Toshiba's first eSSD to feature 24nm eMLC (enterprise Multi Level Cell) NAND. The entry and mid-level PX02AM series also features 24nm eMLC NAND, but utilizes a SATA connection. The low-cost PX03AN series rounds out the offerings by leveraging standard 19nm MLC NAND and a SATA connection for entry-level and read-centric applications. All three SSD's support cryptographic-erase functionality in addition to AES 256-bit self-encryption.
The SED versions of the PX02SM series, the PX02SMQ/U, also offer Trusted Computing Group (TCG) enterprise protocol self-encryption. These features are important in today's computing environment where, according to Symantec, the average loss of an enterprise data breach is $5.5 million.
The PX02SM flagship product we are evaluating today features a Toshiba/Marvell controller in conjunction with 24nm eMLC and comes in capacities of 200GB, 400GB, 800GB and 1,600GB with a slim 7mm Z-height. The PX02SM series also features longevity that scales with capacity, with up to 29.2PB of write endurance for the 1,600GB model, which translates to roughly 10 DWPD (Drive Writes Per Day). This endurance promise is backed by a five year warranty.
The PX02SM also utilizes Toshiba's proprietary Quadruple Swing-By Code (QSBC) to protect from read errors, an integral component of a layered ECC approach for improved error correction capabilities. The addition of power loss protection defends data from power loss events.
The Px02SMF080 is designed to support mission critical enterprise applications that demand performance, endurance and frugal power consumption. Toshiba has extensive history and experience with flash memory; they actually invented NAND flash over 25 years ago in 1987. Leveraging these decades of experience brings forth a serious contender to the enterprise SSD market.
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card Review
Introduction
If the out of the box performance, though, wasn't enough, we then overclocked the model and found that with a core clock of over 1000MHz, the GTX 780 3GB did an excellent job closing the gap with the GTX TITAN, offering performance at times that was very similar to the $999 model.
Today sees the first phase of the new GTX 700 series completed with the release of the second model, the GTX 770 2GB. As the name would suggest, this model comes in below the GTX 780 3GB, much in the same way we saw a GTX 680 and GTX 670 in the last generation. General habit would tell that we'd see a GTX 760 and GTX 750 in time, but mid-range GTX 700 replacements aren't something we've heard of to date.
Let's dig in now and check out the new GTX 770 over the next pages!
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Far Cry 3 PC Review
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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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Top 10 TweakTown Press Releases from the past week [03 June 2013]
Here are our top 10 posted press releases from the past week!
- Origin PC Offers GTX 780-equipped PCs with Cyanogenic Liquid Cooling
- G.SKILL To Announce Brand New Gaming Gear at Computex 2013
- Cooler Master PSUs are Haswell-Ready
- Titan Launches Dragonfly CPU Coolers
- Seagate Delivers Industry's First Purpose-Built 4TB Video HDD
- Razer Introduces the Blade Pro-Designed For Work and For Play
- iBUYPOWER Announces Availability of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 in Gaming Desktops
- World's Top Overclockers to Compete at Computex OC Main Event Sponsored by Corsair
- ORIGIN PC Launches New EON 17-S and EON15-S High-Performance Laptops
- ORIGIN PC Launches Intel 4th Generation Processors
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OCZ Technology to Showcase its Leading Solid State Drives and Launch New Power Management Solutions at Computex 2013
SAN JOSE, CA-June 3, 2013-OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:OCZ), a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) and power management solutions for computing devices and systems, will showcase the Company's comprehensive storage solutions for client and enterprise computing along with announcing its new line of Fatal1ty Series power supply products at Computex 2013 in Taipei, Taiwan June 4 through June 8. OCZ solutions can be viewed at the main show floor this year at the Nangang Exhibit Hall, Booth K0309a.
To kickoff the launch of the exciting new power supplies, Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel will compete against fellow gamer and former sparring partner Kyle "relic" Mims in a special shootout to be held June 6, 7-11pm at the SPARK venue in Taiwan's landmark Taipei 101 on June 6th. With a record of 12 World Titles in five different games, Wendel is one of the most successful and recognized professional gamers in history. In recent years Wendel has declined to compete professionally and instead stay focused on promoting video gaming globally in his role as a Gaming Ambassador, while concentrating on his Fatal1ty Gaming Gear enterprise which includes the latest OCZ power supplies. In this special event, press, partners, and invited attendees can get a firsthand look at the latest OCZ Fatal1ty Gaming Series power supplies, along with viewing the live head-to-head shootout between these two gamers.
For client storage, OCZ will demo its upcoming Vector PCIe SSD featuring exceptional IOPS, high bandwidth, and high capacities ideal for power users, content creation, and workstation applications. Residing directly on the PCI Express bus, the new Vector PCIe Series provides lower latency to data, faster file transfers and boot-ups, expanded storage capacities, and an even quicker, more responsive experience over the already blazing fast SATA III-based Vector SSDs. In addition, OCZ will showcase its current consumer SSD lineup with the recently launched Vertex 450 SATA III SSD Series which has already earned numerous accolades and praise from the global media for its high performance coupled with the latest 20nm flash geometry for mainstream computing applications.
OCZ will also be displaying its complete portfolio of enterprise storage solutions including the SATA based Deneva 2, Talos 2 SAS drive, and Z-Drive R4 PCIe SSD Series, featuring the newest ZD-XL SQL Accelerator that represents the convergence of enterprise hardware and software as one tightly integrated, optimized solution, ensuring that appropriate and readily available data is on SSD flash when a SQL Server needs it.
Join OCZ Technology on the Computex main show floor at theNangang Exhibit Hall, Booth K0309ato see the latest SSD and PSU products designed for enterprise and client applications demanding maximized productivity, performance, and total cost of ownership (TCO).
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CYBERPOWERPC Unleashes New Desktop and Notebook Gaming Series Based on 4th Generation Intel Core Processors
CITY of INDUSTRY, CA (June 2, 2013) - CyberPower Inc. http://www.CYBERPOWERPC.com, a global manufacturer of custom gaming PCs, today announced its new series of desktop and notebook gaming PCs based on the 22nm 4th Generation Intel Coreâ„¢ Processor codenamed Haswell, which promises big gains in power efficiency and graphics performance.
CYBERPOWERPC will feature the new CPUs with the speedy and feature rich Z87 Express Chipset in its entire Zeus EVO Thunder series - a redesigned lineup of performance gaming PCs to satisfy the cravings of enthusiasts and gamers. The Zeus EVO Thunder will come in various forms offering both 4th Gen. Core i5 and Core i7 K-series CPUs that are unlocked allowing you to crank performance up to 30% higher with CYBERPOWERPC's Venom Boost overclocking option. The new Zeus EVO Thunder series will also incorporate NVIDIA's new GTX 700 series GPUs for a performance packed combination that delivers benchmark shattering power.
In addition to the Zeus EVO Thunder, CYBERPOWERPC's Fang III series, Gamer Xtreme series, and others will receive the 4th Generation Intel Coreâ„¢ CPU and Z87 Express Chipset upgrade.
New CYBERPOWERPC FANGbook EVO Notebook Series Based on 4th Gen. Intel CPUs
The award winning CYBERPOWERPC FANGbook gaming notebook has evolved into a mobile game station - a powerhouse equipped with the 4th Gen. Intel Coreâ„¢ mobile processor and new NVIDIA GTX 700 series mobile graphics. The new FANGbook EVO lets you game and multitask like never before with a revised set of hardware that provides desktop-like power.
Mobile PC gamers want longer battery life without sacrificing performance. The new FANGbook EVO will feature a similar aggressive and stylish design with several notable improvements including a new CPU and chipset along with more power efficient GPUs from NVIDIA featuring its Optimus technology that automatically optimizes battery life and GPU performance.
With the fourth-generation core, CYBERPOWERPC's FANGbook EVO gaming notebook will see a greater improvement in battery life depending on the applications and display settings. The FANGbook EVO series will come in three configurations - the EVO HX7-100, 200, and 300.
All CYBERPOWERPC gaming systems can be customized with a number of performance hardware and components such as solid state drives, blu-ray drives, performance gaming memory, gaming peripherals, business and productivity software, and more at the company's website, http://www.CYBERPOWERPC.com.
All CYBERPOWERPC systems are assembled and supported in the USA. Every system is meticulously built including precise cable routing to ensure optimal airflow and a clean aesthetic appearance. CYBERPOWERPC loads every system with Microsoft Windows 8 for an enhanced gaming and multimedia experience. All CYBERPOWERPC desktop gaming systems include an industry-best 3-year limited warranty and 1-year warranty on notebook systems.
Desktop gaming systems based on 4th Generation Intel Core processors start at $559. The FANGbook EVO gaming notebook start at $ 1399
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ORIGIN PC Launches New EON 17-S and EON15-S High-Performance Laptops
Miami, FL - June 2, 2012, 12:01AM Eastern - ORIGIN PC announced today the availability of their next generation award-winning EON17-S and EON15-S high-performance laptops. Featuring an exclusive updated top-panel laptop design, Intel 4th generation mobile processors, Dual mSATA storage drives with RAID support, next generation NVIDIA GeForce GTX 700M series and support for the new NVIDIA Quadro K1000M graphics cards, the EON17-S and EON15-S offers breakthrough next generation mobile technology for gamers, artists, enthusiastsand professionals. ORIGIN PC is offering their exclusive top-panel laptop design as a standard option in red, black, silver and custom air-brushed, or the option of a traditional top-panel free of charge.
High Res images and video:
ORIGIN PC's EON17-S and EON15-S Laptops Feature:
- Exclusive Updated ORIGIN PC Top-Panel Design: First shown at CES 2012, the exclusive new ORIGIN PC top-panel has an updated look, but still offers the unique, eye-catching and aggressive design exclusively to ORIGIN PC. The updated top-panel laptop design will be available as a standard option in black, red, silver, or your choice of custom paint.
- Customizable Backlit Keyboard and Touchpad: With three lighting zones and seven beautiful color options, you can customize your laptop backlit keyboard to match any color style you want, including the new exclusive backlit ORIGIN PC branded touch-pad.
- Intel 4th Generation Mobile Processors: Stay up to date with the latest Intel 4th generation mobile processors providing up to a 15% CPU performance increase overlast generation and increased power efficiency for a longer lasting battery life.
- Up to 5 storage options: For the first time in an ORIGIN PC laptop, you now have the option for having Dual mSATA and Dual HDD/SSD storage drives in independent RAID configurations plus an additional storage option with the optical bay hard drive caddy for a total of 5 storage drives inside a single laptop!
- NVIDIA GeForceGTX 780M, 770M, 765M Graphics and QUADRO K1000M Graphics: NVIDIA's next generation and most powerful GTX and QUADRO mobile graphics cards that run allof the latest AAA games and applications with stunning detail and high resolutions and offers up to a 25% mobile GPU performance increase over its predecessor.
- ORIGIN PC CPU + GPU Professional Overclocking : Let our overclocking experts take your system to an even higher level of performance with our CPU (available soon for the EON17-S only) and GPUoverclocking backed by our industry leading service and support.
- Free Lifetime24/7 Support: Every ORIGIN PC comeswith industry leading Lifetime 24/7 Support based in the United States.
ORIGIN PC has also launched Intel's 4th generation processors and NVIDIA 700 series graphics cards in their award winning desktops announced in separate press releases.
"ORIGIN PC is thrilled to launch our brand new EON17-S and EON15-S laptops with the latest next-generation technology from Intel and NVIDIA. This is the best time to upgrade to an award winning ORIGIN EON laptop," said Kevin Wasielewski ORIGIN PC CEO and co-founder. "With the latest next generation technology, a customizable backlit keyboard/touchpad, Dual mSATA and Dual HDD/SSD support in RAID andour updated exclusive ORIGIN top-panel design, our new EON laptops truly offer acomplete next generation mobile gaming experience!"
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ORIGIN PC Launches Intel 4th Generation Processors
Miami, FL, June 2nd, 12:01 A.M. EST - ORIGIN PC announces the availability of new Intel Core 4th generation processors to their line of award-winning GENESIS, MILLENNIUM, and CHRONOS desktops and EON laptops. Now gamers, artists, professionals and enthusiasts will have the power to game, create, work and inspire like never before with Intel's latest Core processors. The new Intel Core 4th generation processors raise the bar in multi-core processing technology with a 15% CPU performance increase over last generation, low power consumption to enhance battery life, and built in security features to help keep your data safe and secure. ORIGIN PC will also be including a free digital copy of the upcoming PC title, GRID 2â„¢ with the purchase of any ORIGIN PC gaming system with Intel Core 4thgeneration processors.
- Increased Performance - Up to a 15% CPU performance increase for improved productivity, 2x faster application load up time than previous generations, and higher overclocking flexibility.
- Intel HD Graphics-Enhanced 3-D performance for an immersive gaming experience on any ORIGIN PC gaming system. Can support Ultra HD (4K) video playback and up to three Ultra HD (4K) displays with built-in DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI and DVI support.
- Enhanced Security -Detects and defends your system against malicious malware, helps protect against theft or loss of data and provides additional secure access to your favorite online services.
- Power Efficient - Improved low power CPU efficiency over previous generation with a 20x reduction in idle power draw.
- Professional ORIGIN PC Overclocking: Get the most performance out of your system by allowing ORIGIN PC's award winning system integrators to professionally overclock your supported CPU.
- FREE Lifetime 24/7 Support: Every ORIGIN PC comes with industry leading Lifetime 24/7 Support based in the United States
"Intel's 4th generation Core processors are the perfect ingredient for delivering uncompromising power and performance inside of ORIGIN PC's award-winning systems" said Brent McCray, Worldwide Enthusiast Marketing Manager of Intel. "ORIGIN PC continues to be a key launch partner of Intel and we're excited to have our latest 4th generation processors available to power their custom high-performance desktops andlaptops."
For more information on ORIGIN's award winning desktops and laptops, please visit http://www.originpc.com
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Razer Introduces the Blade Pro-Designed For Work and For Play
SAN FRANCISCO - May 30, 2013 - Razer, the world leader in high-performance gaming hardware, software and systems, today announced the Blade Pro, the latest evolution of its award-winning 17-inch gaming laptop. Powered by a future 4th gen Intel Core processor, next generation NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M graphics and groundbreaking storage performance, the new Blade Pro is faster and more powerful than ever before.
Razer's designers and engineers refined every inner component to increase performance, while staying true to portability. At 0.88 inches thin and weighing 6.5 pounds, the Blade Pro is the most portable 17-inch gaming laptop in its class. Every detail is sleek, slim and light, all the way down to the compact power supply, making the Blade Pro the best choice for gaming performance and creative work on-the-go.
"Innovation is happening across the PC industry, and what Razer has done with the Blade Pro is groundbreaking," says Navin Shenoy, vice president and general manager of Intel's Mobile Client Platforms. "Utilizing a future 4th gen Intel Core processor, the Razer Blade Pro delivers top-class gaming and professional performance in a very portable form factor."
"The Razer Blade Pro packs extreme performance in an ultra-portable form factor," says Rene Haas, vice president and general manager of notebook GPUs at NVIDIA. "Thanks in part to the performance-per-watt efficiency of the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPUs, the new Razer Blade Pro is incredibly thin for a 17-inch gaming laptop."
The Razer Blade Pro also features 8 GB of fast 1600 MHz DDR3L memory and now comes standard with 128 GB of total solid-stage storage, with optional 256 GB and 512 GB SSDs. With solid-state storage technology, gamers will now experience up to four-times the performance of a traditional 5400-rpm notebook hard drive.
Razer is also offering a new creative professional pricing program, allowing design students, game developers, development staff, Kickstarter partners and others to purchase Razer products, including the Blade Pro, at special prices. Selected developers and partners are now listed at http://www.razerzone.com/creativepro. Those not listed are encouraged to fill out an application on the page for a chance to be included in the program.
The Blade Pro will be available for pre-order June 3. For more information, go to http://www.razerzone.com/bladepro.
Price:
Starts at $2,299
Availability:
Razerzone.com - Pre-Order June 3
United States and Canada
Product features:
- Future 4th gen Intel Core processor (formerly codename 'Haswell')
- 8 GB DDR3L (2 x 4 GB 1600MHz)
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M (2 GB GDDR5) & Intel HD4600
- Windows 8 64 Bit
- 128 GB SSD, with optional 256/512 GB SSD (mSATA)
- Qualcomm Killer NIC N1202 (802.11a/b/g/n + Bluetooth 4.0)
- 17.3-in. Full HD 16:9 Ratio, 1920 x 1080, with LED backlight
- Stereo 2.0 speakers
- 3.5 mm audio microphone/headphone combo jack
- HD Webcam (front-facing, 2.0 MP)
- Array microphones
- (3x) USB 3.0 port (SuperSpeed)
- Codec supports 7.1 (via HDMI 1.4)
- Dolby Home Theater v4
- Razer Anti-Ghosting Keyboard (with adjustable backlight)
- Razer Switchblade User Interface
- Razer Synapse 2.0 Enabled
- Built-in 74 Wh Rechargeable lithium ion polymer battery
- Kensington Lock
- 16.8 in. / 427 mm (Width) x 0.88 in. / 22.4 mm (Height) x 10.9 in. / 277 mm (Depth)
- 6.58 lbs. / 2.98 kg
For more information about the Razer Blade Pro, please visit http://www.razerzone.com/bladepro.
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World's Top Overclockers to Compete at Computex OC Main Event Sponsored by Corsair
FREMONT, California - May 30, 2013 - Corsair, a worldwide designer of high-performÂÂÂÂÂÂance components to the PC hardware market, is teaming up with Intel to host the Computex OC Main Event on June 3rd in Taipei, Taiwan. The event will bring the world's best overclockers together to compete in setting the first speed records with 4th generation Intel Core processors and Corsair's soon-to-be-announced new line of highly overclockable memory.
At this year's Computex OC Main Event, elite overclockers from around the world will be vying for $20,000 USD in cash prizes. Competitors at the event will include some of the finest overclockers in the world including 8-Pack, Andre, Coldest, Coolice, Der8auer, Dinos22, Elmor, Hazzan, HiCookie, Lin222, lucky_n00b, Mad222, Nick Shih, Pt1t, Slamms, Smoke, Splave, tor_za, ZoLKoRn, and Zzolio. The live event broadcast by Overclocking-TV will be available at corsair.com/OCMainEvent on June 3rd from 13:00 - 18:00 GMT +8.
In addition to the overclocking competition, the event will feature presentations by Intel and Corsair, including a PC building master class and a demonstration of the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility. Attendees will also be among the first to see Corsair's new line of products that are designed for use with the 4th Generation Intel Core processor.
"We are excited to be hosting the premier overclocking event of Computex 2013 with our friends at Intel," said Thi La, Senior VP and GM of Memory and Enthusiast Component Products at Corsair. "Together we'll be unleashing the world's top overclockers for the first time on the latest Intel processors and our new line of Corsair memory. With the sheer level of overclocking talent and the capabilities of the new hardware, I anticipate seeing groundbreaking levels of performance."
"Our upcoming 4th Gen Intel Core processors will deliver amazing new levels of performance to the enthusiast community," said Zane Ball, Intel Vice President, Global Ecosystem Development. "We are excited to sponsor the world's top overclockers at this year's Computex OC Main Event."
Time and Location:
The Computex OC Main Event
Marquee Restaurant & Lounge
1F., No. 16-1, Sec. 5, Hsin-Yi Road
Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Monday, June 3rd, 13:00 - 18:00 GMT +8
The event is invitation-only to members of the press and industry partners. For inquiries please visit the event registration page: http://ocmainevent.eventbrite.com.
For coverage of the event visit corsair.com/OCMainEvent.
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Titan Launches Dragonfly CPU Coolers
Taiwanese PC cooling company Titan expanded its Dragonfly line of low-noise CPU coolers with two additions, the Dragonfly 3 (model: TTC-NC85TZ/RB) and Dragonfly 4 (TTC-NC95TZ/RB), pictured in that order. Both coolers are built in the aluminum fin tower-type form-factors, with heat pipes fanning out throughout the stacks, rather than passing through its edges. This ensures a more uniform heat transfer to the stack. The two use exposed copper heat pipes that make direct contact with the CPU.
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G.SKILL To Announce Brand New Gaming Gear at Computex 2013
G.SKILL International Co. Ltd., the worldwide leading high performance memory designer and manufacturer, will be making a strong entrance in the field of PC gaming peripherals with newly engineered gaming headsets.
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Cooler Master PSUs are Haswell-Ready
As with many new product launches of this scale, there has been a bit of misinformation spread regarding the recently launched line of 4th Generation Intel processors codenamed Haswell. This has been centered on PSU compatibility with these processors. We would like to clarify the situation to calm and reassure our customers and partners that they will be able to upgrade safely. A full list of Cooler Master power supplies is listed below. Please refer to these quick facts that the public should be aware of.
- Most power supplies don't support Haswell - False
- I need a Haswell certified power supply to build a Haswell system - False
- Haswell only works with DC-DC Power Supplies - False
- Haswell only works with 80+ Gold and better Power Supplies - False
- Haswell requires a second 12V rail and doesn't work with single rail Power Supplies - False
- On some older power supplies, Haswell consumes 5W more in idle mode - True
Nevertheless, should customers experience problems or would like to enable the advanced power saving mode on older power supplies that might not support it, there is a simple fix. Simply add a single silent case fan to the system and connect it to the power supply. It should provide enough additional load to keep the system running in an advanced power saving mode.
The only disadvantage would be that power savings in idle mode on such a system would only amount to around 2-3W instead of ~5W.
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Seagate Delivers Industry's First Purpose-Built 4TB Video HDD
Seagate Technology today announced the new Seagate Video 3.5 HDD- the industry's first 4TB, 3.5-inch hard disk drive (HDD) engineered specifically for use in video applications such as digital video recorders (DVRs), set-top boxes (STBs), and surveillance systems. Purpose-built for video solutions, the Video 3.5 HDD can store up to 480 hours of high-definition (HD) content making it the industry's highest-capacity drive designed specifically for video.
"Leveraging Seagate's 10 years of experience understanding the requirements of the video market, we've combined our knowledge on heat, acoustics and power to deliver what we believe to be the most reliable DVR drive in the world," said Scott Horn, Seagate vice president of marketing. "Our commitment to deliver a drive with unrivaled reliability ensures the safekeeping of consumers' content as well as keeping DVRs, STBs, and surveillance systems in the field longer."
Featuring industry-leading reliability, the Video 3.5 HDD has a 0.55 percent annual failure rate enabling product to be kept in the field longer while reducing the cost of field deployment and maintaining customer retention- making it ideal for manufacturers who need reliable product with long lifespans. The drive is engineered for low power consumption and heat emissions allowing solution providers greater design flexibility.
"We congratulate Seagate on its newest innovation," said Mark Jackson, president of EchoStar Technologies, one of the top DVR manufacturers for the satellite market in North America. "Seagate is a leader in the dedicated video HDD space, delivering top-of-the-line products that help us bring customers the most advanced and reliable DVRs in the industry."
The living-room environment requires superior acoustic management to limit audible distractions during operation of DVRs and STBs and the Video 3.5 HDD enables designers to build the quietest home entertainment systems possible. Boasting near silent acoustics, the drive operates below the range of audible sound for the human ear at just 2.3 decibels providing optimized acoustics for home entertainment components - crucial for consumer electronics and video applications.
For more information on the Seagate Video 3.5 HDD please visit this page.
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Origin PC Offers GTX 780-equipped PCs with Cyanogenic Liquid Cooling
ORIGIN PC is the first to begin offering their innovative CRYOGENIC liquid-cooling solution for NVIDIA's latest GeForce GTX 780 graphics card in SLI to their line of award-winning GENESIS desktops starting today. Engineered for maximum performance, the award winning ORIGIN PC CRYOGENIC custom liquid cooling system makes sure you are always at your best.
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Top 10 TweakTown Press Releases from the past week [27 May 2013]
Here are our top 10 posted press releases from the past week!
- SEAGATE DELIVERS INDUSTRY'S FIRST PURPOSE-BUILT 4TB VIDEO HARD DISK DRIVE
- HGST Launches The Highest Capacity Hard Drive For The Mainstream Mobile Market
- The Sony Xperia SP - Available now
- HighPoint to announce the Industry's First Certified Thunderbolt Storage Dock at Computex 2013
- iBUYPOWER Announces Availability of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 in Gaming Desktops
- HP Unveils Desktop PC That Leaves the Desk Behind
- High-End PC Case Maker Lian Li to Unveil New Products at COMPUTEX 2013
- ASRock Promises Improved WiFi with A-Style: 2T2R Dual Band 802.11ac WiFi + Bluetooth v4.0
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More Value Added to ADATA's DashDrive Series
Taipei, Taiwan - May 23, 2013 - ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash application products, has launched a new DashDrive UV150 USB Flash drive, a value-priced USB 3.0 solution with an attractive pearlescent exterior.
The DashDrive UV150 is available in colors of glossy black and scarlet. Capacities are 8, 16, and 32 gigabytes.
Availability
For more information about UV150, see the website at http://www.adata-group.com/index.php?action=product_feature&cid=1&piid=214
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CYBERPOWERPC Releases the Zeus EVO Storm Series -- Enthusiast Performance at its finest powered by NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780
CITY of INDUSTRY, CA (May 23, 2013) - CyberPower Inc. http://www.CYBERPOWERPC.com, a global manufacturer of custom gaming PCs, today unleashes the Zeus EVO Storm, a series of performance desktop gaming PCs based on NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 780 extreme performance GPU.
Beginning May 23th, CYBERPOWERPC customers can configure their new gaming PC with the GeForce GTX 780 as an upgrade option across the entirety of its Fang III, Zeus EVO, Gamer Xtreme series and more. The powerful NVIDIA GTX 780 series will be the favored weapon on the new Zeus EVO Storm series - a lineup of enthusiast class systems featuring the latest and greatest extreme edition processors from Intel and graphics by NVIDIA.
Base price of a GTX 780-based gaming system will be $1179.
The Zeus EVO Storm delivers the best graphics performance by utilizing the X79 chipset from Intel with high-speed PCIe x16 lanes for full bus-speeds in single and multi-GPU setups. Users will benefit from the performance gains with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 in SLI, 3-Way SLI, and even Quad-SLI configurations.
The Zeus EVO Storm incorporates the Advance Hydro II liquid cooling kit that combines the new XSPC RayStorm CPU block, redesigned AX radiators that provide a greater surface area, and high-performance D5 pumps in single or dual pump setups to provide unparalleled cooling power. The new GeForce GTX 780 can be optionally liquid cooled for even lower noise output and greater thermal headroom.
The all new Zeus EVO Storm series start around $1499.
CYBERPOWERPC systems based on the GeForce GTX 780 offer all the premium features gamer expect such as 4-Way NVIDIA SLI technology to intelligently scale graphics performance by combining multiple NVIDIA GeForce GPUs on a single motherboard as well as NVIDIA TXAA and NVIDIA PhysX technologies combine to provide the refined image quality on all gaming titles. Users upgrading to the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 GPU can expect a minimum of 25% performance gain over previous generation GTX 680.
The new GeForce GTX 780 powered systems are also NVIDIA 3D Vision and Surround ready. Support for NVIDIA 3D Vision brings a fully immersive stereoscopic 3D experience to the PC and transforms hundreds of PC games into an immersive 3D experience. It also enables streaming of 3D movies and 3D digital photographs from 3DVisionLive.com in crystal-clear quality. The Vision Surround feature provides support for gaming across three displays in full stereoscopic 3D with one single GPU for the ultimate "inside the game" experience. NVIDIA surround also supports triple-screen gaming with non-3D Vision monitors.
Users can tweak their CYBERPOWERPC system with GPU Boost 2.0 Technology, which allows for smart monitoring of clock speed to ensure that GPUs run at its peak and games at the highest frame rate possible. It also offers new levels of customization, including GPU temperature target, overclocking, and unlocked voltage.
All CYBERPOWERPC GeForce GTX 780 equipped gaming systems can be customized with a number of performance hardware and component upgrades such as liquid cooling, solid state drives, blu-ray drives, premium sound cards, performance gaming memory, gaming peripherals, business productivity software, and more at the company's website, http://www.CYBERPOWERPC.com.
All systems are housed in gaming chassis from top-tier manufacturers that are designed to provide ample features and intelligent functionality with a strong emphasis on advanced cooling, silent performance and extreme airflow. All CYBERPOWERPC systems are assembled and supported in the USA. CYBERPOWERPC loads every system with Microsoft Windows 8 for an enhanced gaming and multimedia experience. All CYBERPOWERPC gaming PCs include an industry best 3-year limited warranty.
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Apotop to Showcase Thunderbolt SSDs & Expanded Line of Wireless Storage Devices at COMPUTEX 2013
May 23, 2013, Taipei, Taiwan - Apotop, a provider of memory, storage, and mobile products and accessories, will showcase its newest line of wireless storage products for mobile devices, a line of Thunderbolt products, including external SSDs and docking stations, Apple peripherals and memory products at COMPUTEX Taipei 2013. Apotop invites all attendees to visit their booth (# I0802 Nangang Exhibition Hall 1F) and get a hands-on experience with the latest product offerings.
Thunderbolt Connectivity
At Apotop's booth, visitors can take a look at Apotop's developing Thunderbolt line, which includes docking stations and external SSDs. The docking stations have HDMI, USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt connections which to other devices such as printers, monitors, stereos and other storage device for fast data transfer.
Wireless Storage Devices
Apotop will be displaying the Wireless Storage Device Series, including the DW21 Wi-Copy which is the only portable product on the market that can transfer data from SD cards and USB flash drives right to Android and iOS devices as well as directly copy data between the SD card and USB flash drive. Besides being a wireless card reader, Wi-Copy also integrates the functions of a Wi-Fi router and power bank. More new feature rich additions to the Wireless Storage Device Series will also be shown.
MacBook Storage Peripherals
The MacBook Storage Peripherals Series includes two products that cost effectively enhance the storage capacity of SSD equipped MacBooks, AP-U2 and SmartSuit. The AP-U2 is a mini-external drive of 32GB that sits flush in the USB port of the MacBook Air. The SmartSuit is a thin sleeve that can be easily slid into the SD card slot of a MacBook. - upgrading the internal storage.
Memory / Storage Devices
Apotop's memory products include a variety of flash memory devices such as SSDs, USB flash drives, SD/microSD cards and DRAM modules.
For more information about Apotop, please visit:
http://www.carry.com.tw
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PQI Highlights the World with the Latest Technologies at Computex 2013 Announcing New Products for New Lifestyles
May 23, 2013
Computex Taipei 2013, the largest annual ICT exhibition in Asia and second largest of the world, is coming up from June 4 to June 8 at the TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall in Taipei. PQI, a global leader in wireless storage solutions, will be on the first floor of the exhibition at Booth I1109a. The five major product lines will be on display - PQI Storage, PQI Air, PQI Power, PQI Audio, and PQI Mobility - along with products exclusively from PQI and a wide range of the latest electronics technology from the company. The booth is designed to be simple and bright with product kiosks to demonstrate a real user environment. Stage events will interact with showgoers and showcase the charm of PQI products!
Industry Leading Technologies:
PQI Connect is the Best Storage Solution for Smart Phones and Tablet Computers
Dual Micro-USB and USB connectors
The Connect features the PQI exclusive patented COB3.0 (Chip-on-Board 3.0) technology to enable the world's smallest storage solution for smart phones and tablet computers. Its "lightweight and thin" design is just the size of a penny but features both the micro-USB and USB dual connectors. Simply plug the micro-USB connector directly into the smart phone to transfer files without the need for additional cables. The file system is automatically categorized for syncing and sharing to Facebook with your photo, video, and music files. The USB connector can be directly to any USB port on the notebook or personal computer just as any USB thumb drive. The small design sits flush with the Ultrabook and MacBook Air to become one with the ultraportable devices.
PQI Thunder with Extreme Speeds
Unmatched Capacity and Performance
PQI Thunder 1 is the smallest bootable thumb drive in the industry. Its SSD controller technology supports USB3.0 and Windows 8 for high performance and low latency file access.
PQI Thunder S501 is the Credit Card-Sized SSD with Upgraded Capacity. No more bulky SSD drives, the PQI Thunder S501 is a credit card-sized drive encased in metallic gold. It is a sophisticated and distinguished design offered up to 1TB capacity. The side-access USB3.0 connector is designed for the portability and convenience of an external SSD drive. It is reliable, shock-proof, and has low power consumption while operating.
PQI NFC (Near Field Communication) Thumb Drive
Protects Your Most Secure Data
This NFC-enabled thumb drive provides a deeper layer of protection for your personal information and industry trade secrets. Simply plug the thumb drive into a USB port and use an NFC-equipped smart phone in close proximity to engage the encryption mechanism and access files stored on the thumb drive. Your personal files are safeguarded from prying eyes with the highest level of protection.
PQI Air for a Wireless Lifestyle
PQI's Air series features Wi-Fi technology to get rid of transfer cables for instant sharing and storage solutions. It features the "Communication-enabled expandable storage device" and "Communication-enabled card reader" technology patents to bring true wireless access to the products and consumer lifestyles.
Power, Audio, Mobility to Diversify the Product Lineup
PQI will be expanding and diversifying the PQI Power, PQI Audio, and PQI Mobility brands into the agent markets starting in 2013. Portable, modern, simple, and practical products from millions of brands worldwide will be hand picked by PQI for the consumers. Brands to be showcased at this exhibition includes BlueAnt, Kross Precision, Mujjo, PhotoFast, Verbatim, @Muse, iKit, Joy Factory, Puregear, AproLink, PGL+, and Soundmatters. These are the global brands with leading products in protection, power, Bluetooth, and Hi-Fi stereo to fully complement your unique lifestyle. We welcome you to come to our booth and experience a new world of personal gadgets that will rock your senses!
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Velocity Micro announces desktops powered by NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780
Richmond, VA - May 23, 2013 - Velocity Micro, the premier builder of award winning enthusiast desktops, laptops, peripherals, and Cruz tablets announces the immediate availability of custom desktops powered by the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780. With 2,304 total cores and 3GB of GDDR5 memory, this bleeding-edge card offers Velocity Micro customers not only extreme performance, but improved thermals and acoustics and acoustics as well. The GTX 780 will be available on the Edge Z55, Raptor Z90, Raptor Signature Edition, and Overdrive PC BigBlock.GTX starting at $2,249.
The Kepler-based GeForce GTX 780 is designed to be fast and powerful, pairing perfectly with the ultra-performance hardware and superior quality of a Velocity Micro desktop. Key selling features and enhancements of this innovative graphics card include:
- 2,304 total cores - 50% more than its predecessor
- 3GB of GDDR5 memory
- NVIDIA GPU Boost 2.0 technology for greater customization and overclocking options
- GeForce Experience for one-click driver and settings optimization
- NVIDIA PhysX and TXAA for smooth, sharp graphics
- Improved thermals and acoustics to keep fan noise to a minimum
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ORIGIN PC Introduces A New Evolution in Gaming Performance with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 GPU
May 23, 2013, 9:00 am EST, Miami, FL, - ORIGIN PC is thrilled to announce the launch of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 GPU to their award-winning desktops for gamers, professionals, artists andenthusiasts. The new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 marks an evolution in gaming performance by providing an insanely fast, smooth, and whisper-quiet gaming experiences like never before. Featuring a powerful NVIDIA Kepler GPU with 2,304 cores, 3GB of high-speed GDDR5 memory and NVIDIA GPU Boost 2.0 technology, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 provides the performance capabilities needed to game at the most extreme settings. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 is perfectly tuned for today's advanced gaming technologies with features such as GeForce Experience for one-click driver and settings optimization, plus NVIDIA PhysX and TXAA for smooth, crisp graphics on any ORIGIN PC desktop system.
- NVIDIA CUDA Technology - Get the most out of the GeForce GTX 780 graphics horse power with an outstanding 2,304 cores, a significant performance increase from its predecessor and 3 GB of high-speed GDDR5 memory to push the most demanding tasks such as video transcoding, physics simulation, ray tracing, and more.
- ORIGIN PC Professional GPU Overclocking - Increase the performance out of your graphics card by allowing ORIGIN PC's award-winning system integrators to professionally overclock your GPU and unlock its true performance potential.
- Connect up to 4 displays on a single card -With a single GeForce GTX 780 you can power up to 4 concurrent displays using two dual-link DVI, HDMI and Displayport 1.2 ports.
- NVIDIA SLI Ready - Supports Up To 4-WAY SLI Graphics Cards
- Ultra HD 4k Resolution Gaming Support - With the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 graphics card, you can game on a 4k Ultra HD compatible display up to a stunning 4096 - 3112 resolution.
"NVIDIA continues to evolve their amazing Kepler architecture with the incredible performance and efficiency ofthe GeForce GTX 780", says Kevin Wasielewski, CEO/Co-Founder of ORIGIN PC. "I expect more and more gamers to evolve their gaming experience and choose an ORIGIN PC equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 over the PS4 and Xbox One. With backwards compatibility, gaming in 4K resolutions, a huge library of triple-A-quality free to play games, wireless PC game streaming from the NVIDIA SHIELD, and game changing Virtual Reality technology, it's becoming more and more obvious that PC gaming is the best gaming experience right now and that won't change even with next generation consoles launching."
"ORIGIN PC shares our dedication and passion to PC gaming and builds some of the world's best custom high-performance PCs," said Scott Herkelman, general manager of the GeForce GPU business at NVIDIA. "We are very excited to see ORIGIN PC push the performance of our already insanely fast GeForce GTX 780 GPU to a whole new level for their customers."
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OCZ Launches the Next Generation Vertex 450 Series Solid State Drives
SAN JOSE, CA - May 23, 2013 - OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:OCZ), a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced the release of the Vertex 450 SATA III SSD Series featuring the company's proprietary Indilinx Barefoot 3 M10 Series controller. As part of the leading-edge Vertex series, Vertex 450 lives up to its name and bridges the gap between high performance and mainstream solid-state storage. With advanced storage performance, reliability, and quality, the Vertex 450 utilizes 20nm process geometry NAND flash to meet the needs of today's high-end consumer and client applications.
With its powerful and feature-rich Barefoot 3 M10 Series controller, the Vertex 450 is fine-tuned to deliver high speed sequential transfers and consistent sustained performance over time, regardless if the data file formats are compressed or uncompressed for faster file transfers, boot-ups, and a more responsive storage experience. The BF3 M10 controller is a derivative of the original product which adds AES-256 encryption and a power-optimized clock. This gives OCZ the ability to offer a power/cost optimized solution targeted for the mainstream market. With a priority on reliability and flash-optimized endurance, the Vertex 450 also features an advanced suite of flash management tools that analyze and dynamically adapt to increasing NAND vulnerabilities as flash cells wear, heightening data integrity over the long term.
Vertex 450 SSDs feature an ultra-slim 7mm alloy housing for compatibility with the latest thin form factor notebooks, and come bundled with a 3.5-inch adapter bracket as well as Acronis True Image cloning software with Windows 8 support to easily transfer data from legacy hard drive storage. The Vertex 450 will be available in 128GB to 512GB capacities and is backed by a 3-year warranty.
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iBUYPOWER Announces Availability of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 in Gaming Desktops
May 23, 2013 - City of Industry, CA - If you want the best graphics on the market, bar-none, we've got it.
iBUYPOWER is excited to announce the availability of NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 780 graphics cards in its performance gaming systems. Gaming performance from a GeForce GTX 780 is screen shredding, tearing apart frame rate barriers and delivering incredible details at ultra-settings in games with authority.
"We always stay on the forefront of performance, and equipping our systems with the latest graphics technologies allows us to give our customers the best possible experience," said Darren Su, Co-Founder and VP of iBUYPOWER.
iBUYPOWER is the official gaming PC of Major League Gaming. NVIDIA's latest GeForce GTX 780 graphics cards are available right now in iBUYPOWER's award winning systems. Check out the new levels of performance here:
http://www.ibuypower.com/info/nvidia-gtx-780.aspx
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Rosewill Expands RPLC Powerline Networking Series
Rosewill, the leading brand of PC Components and Peripherals and award-winning power supplies, computer cases, and gaming keyboards, is expanding its offering of powerline networking members due to the success of their RPLC-200KIT and RPLC-500KIT adapters. Joining Rosewill's growing family of wireless routers, switches, wireless adapters, network adapters, and powerline adapters, Rosewill is proud to present 3 additional members to join the line-up of networking products for all networking needs.
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EK Water Blocks Announces EK-SF3D Inflection Point EVO Evaporator
EK Water Blocks, Ljubljana based premium water cooling gear manufacturer, is proud to introduce EK-SF3D Inflection Point EVO, company's second product from the line of liquid nitrogen (LN2) evaporation coolers for competitive overclockers.
EK-SF3D Inflection Point EVO key features:
- air-tight micro climate area inside the CPU evaporation cooler's hold-down enclosure
- perfect mount every time you install the evaporation cooler
- heating elements used to heat up the inside of the enclosure as well as the circuit board itself to keep the motherboard's VRM capacitors as warm as possible
- fast remount turn-around - it takes less than a minute to swap out a CPU - perfect for binning the best CPU
- improved contact surface fits Intel's concave IHS of the CPU pefectly thus further improving the performance of the unit
- less insulation needed than with any other solution on the market.
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AMD Amplifies the Mobile Experience
AMD today launched three new additions to its 2013 A-Series and E-Series Mobile Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) lineup -- delivering solutions ideally positioned to address today's evolving PC market with dramatically increased performance and power efficiency, as well as a portfolio of unique user experiences, and superior gaming and graphics:
- The 2013 AMD Elite Mobility APU (formerly codenamed "Temash") -- the world's first 28nm, quad-core x86 system-on-a-chip (SoC) APU designed for touch small form-factor notebooks, tablets, and hybrids 13-inches and below;
- The 2013 AMD Mainstream APU (formerly codenamed "Kabini") -- the first and only quad-core x86 SoC solution for entry-level and small-form factor touch notebooks;
- New, low power versions of the 2013 AMD Elite Performance APU (formerly codenamed "Richland") -- offer the best graphics and compute in a performance APU for premium ultrathin notebooks.
"The client market has evolved -- with greater diversity in the types of mobile form factors and higher performance demands from the software -- and AMD is uniquely positioned to deliver the best processors to meet the needs of mobile device users today," said Lisa Su, senior vice president and general manager, Global Business Units at AMD. "As computing becomes more visual and the graphics processor can be leveraged to do other types of processing, our dedication to the software community and the APU architecture sets us apart from the competition and enables us to deliver the best user experience whether on a tablet, a hybrid device or a notebook."
2013 AMD Mobile APU Platform Details
2013 AMD Elite Mobility APU
- World's first 28 nm, quad-core x86 SoC APU, delivers the best graphics experience of any SoC on the planet for touch small form-factor notebooks, tablets and hybrids, 13-inches and below, enabling a superior HD media experience and high-end gaming.
- Available as AMD A-Series APUs, this new platform comes in dual (A4) and quad-core (A6) configurations, combining "Jaguar" x86 Central Processing Unit (CPU) cores with Graphics Core Next AMD RadeonT HD 8000 Series graphics.
- Up to 172 percent more CPU performance per watt and up to 212 percent better graphics performance per watt than its predecessor, and up to 12 hours of resting battery life.
- Up to 45 percent longer battery life and nearly five times more GPU performance than the competition.
- Full support for 1080p touch display capability and full Microsoft Windows compatibility, including support for "Windows Blue."
- Best-in-class graphics and first-in-class x86 quad core SoC delivers the ideal balance between function and affordability for entry-level and small-form factor touch notebooks. Combine either two or four "Jaguar" x86 CPU cores with Graphics Core Next AMD Radeon HD 8000 Series graphics, enabling stunning visual performance and all-day battery life6.
- Quad core 2013 Mainstream APUs, a part of the 2013 AMD A-Series APU family (A4 and A6 models), are the first and only quad-core x86 solution for entry-level and small-form factor touch notebooks.
- Dual core versions are AMD E-Series APUs, with E1 and E2 models available.
- Up to 132 percent better visual performance per watt and up to 127 percent better productivity performance per watt, plus up to 25 percent better power efficiency than previous generations7,8,9, with up to 11 hours of idle battery life.
- Up to 88 percent better graphics performance, up to 33 percent better gaming performance and up to 29 percent faster file compression than the competition.
- Top-of-the-line AMD A-Series APUs with A8 and A10 models that deliver the best graphics and compute in a performance APU, including elite performance and battery life, innovative features for the evolved PC user experience, and the most entertainment, all at a great value for premium ultrathin notebooks.
- Up to 12 percent better productivity performance and between 20-40 percent better visual performance than the previous generation, including up to 51 percent more power efficiency in HD video playback16 and up to 13 hours of resting battery life.
- Between 39-72 percent better gaming performance on today's leading games than the competition.
All AMD APUs are designed to deliver the best user experience for the computing activities that matter most to consumer today. AMD is uniquely positioned to do this due to its breadth of experience that spans not only the traditional x86 compute architecture that's best suited for productivity-focused tasks like word processing and spread sheets, but also graphics processing for today's new user interfaces, and media- and graphics-intensive workloads. And the three new AMD APUs announced today offer a multitude of features related to looking at, and interacting with, mobile devices in a new way.
AMD Elite Experiences Software -- Leverage the power of the combined compute and graphics cores in AMD Elite APU Platforms to accelerate a suite of available software experiences that can dramatically expand and enhance the user experience:
- AMD Gesture Control -- Control basic functions using hand gestures;
- AMD Face Login -- Quickly log in to Windows and other browser-based sites;
- AMD Screen Mirror -- Wirelessly share content with any supported TV or display.
- AMD Radeon Graphics with DirectX 11.1 support -- Enjoy discrete-level performance for crisp & sharp photos, movies and games.
- AMD Dock Port -- Use up to four external monitors and sync to other devices through a single connection.
- AMD AllDay Power -- Stay unplugged with long battery life.
- AMD Start Now technology -- Boot up or resume from hibernate in seconds.
- For more information, visit this page.
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HP Unveils Desktop PC That Leaves the Desk Behind
HP today announced the HP ENVY Rove20 mobile All-in-One PC, the company's first mobile All-in-One PC, which frees the desktop PC from the desk and allows families and friends to enjoy a shared entertainment experience with a built-in battery, unique design and advanced touch technology. HP also announced new consumer notebooks, all-in-one PCs and printers that give people more flexibility in how they access and share information. With affordable touch technology and new form factors, HP's new additions provide seamless integration of technology into customers' busy lives.
The HP ENVY Rove20 can easily move from upright to completely horizontal for a tabletop entertainment experience. Using advanced multitouch technology, multiple users can interact with games and more at the same time. Multiplayer games such as Electronic Arts' Monopoly, Fingertapps JigsWar Puzzle, Fingertapps Musical Instruments, and nsquared makewords are an ease to play when the PC is laid flat.
In addition to sharing games, families and friends can enjoy multimedia content on the 20-inch 1,600 x 900 IPS LED panel that enables wide viewing angles, rich colors and sharp graphics, while built-in Beats Audio offers crisp, clear sound. Powered by 4th generation Intel Core processors, Intel HD graphics and 10-point touch, the HP ENVY Rove20 packs power for productivity tasks and an immersive entertainment experience with the ease of touch interaction.
Additional information about the HP ENVY Rove20 is available on The Next Bench.
Affordable touch for every task
HP offers an intuitive Windows 8 touch experience at great value with new all-in-one PCs and powerful consumer notebooks that feature multitouch display technology. With products at a range of price points, touch has never been more accessible. Users will benefit from new design elements that enhance durability, usability and performance.
- The new HP Pavilion 20 TouchSmart All-in-One PC and the HP Pavilion 23 TouchSmart All-in-One PC offer a great user experience for the value-conscious consumer. The HP Pavilion 23 TouchSmart features a 23-inch diagonal full HD display and an IPS panel with wide viewing angles for a stunning view of websites, videos and movies.
- The HP Pavilion 11 TouchSmart Notebook provides an excellent Windows 8 experience with 11.6-inch, 10-point capacitive touch screen, and is the most affordable HP touch-enabled notebook.
- The HP Pavilion 14 TouchSmart Sleekbook is the best-value touch-optimized HP Sleekbook, ideal for work or entertainment. Movies and gaming come alive powered by AMD A-series processors.
HP also introduced additional HP TouchSmart PCs and a selection of stylish, reliable notebook PCs that offer performance for everyday computing, at a reasonable price.
Enhanced solutions for an intuitive experience
- HP also announced a suite of exclusive solutions and services that enhance the Windows 8 experience and help users create, organize and print the content that matters.
- Box and HP will provide students and professionals with a cloud-based collaboration solution for storing, managing and accessing content from wherever the classroom or work takes them. HP ENVY and HP Spectre users will receive a 50GB Box account, valued at up to $19.99 per month. HP Pavilion users will receive a 25GB Box account, valued at up to $9.99 per month. The Box offer is valid in the Americas only.
- Customers can receive greater phone and online support, beyond the standard product limited warranty, for these and other new products with the new HP Care Pack. HP CarePack offers an easy-to-access suite of services including Accidental Damage Protection and HP LoJack to help consumers breathe easier when theft or accidental drops, spills and surges occur.
- The HP ENVY Rove20 will be available in July with pricing to be determined.
- The HP Pavilion 20 TouchSmart All-in-One PC will be available in the United States on June 26, with a starting price of $619.99.
- The HP Pavilion 23 TouchSmart All-in-One PC will be available in the United States on June 5, with a starting price of $749.99.
- The HP Pavilion 11 TouchSmart Notebook will be available in the United States on June 26, 2013 with a starting price of $399.
- The HP Pavilion 14 TouchSmart Sleekbook will be available in the United States on June 26, with a starting price of $479.99.
- The HP ENVY 4500 e-All-in-One will be available in the United States on June 17, with a starting price of $99.
- The HP ENVY 5530 e-All-in-One will be available in the United States on July 1, with a starting price of $129.
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