NVIDIA set to license out Kepler technology to mobile manufacturers
It looks like NVIDIA is taking a different, and great new path with their business - where they'll shift from simply making their own GPU's and SoC's to licensing their technology to other manufacturers.
The company have had trouble getting into the mainstream with their Tegra processors, as good as they are, it's still not mainstream. This new path could lead to a much better future for NVIDIA, as OEM's will most likely just dive onto this plan versus spending buckets of money on their own internal R&D.
     |
Read More ...
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 SoC is going to blow the competition away
Engadget have had some hands-on experience with Qualcomm's new MDP devices, which are powered by the company's Snapdragon 800 SoC (MSM8974). The tablet the site used is an 11.6-inch device featuring a 1920x1080-pixel display.
The phone side of things features a 4.3-inch 720p display with a 1500mAh battery. Engadget chucked the Snapdragon 800 SoC into the benchmarking ring, and found some truly ridiculous results. In just a few tests, it truly blows the competition away - completely. Things like AnTuTu 3.x score 13,836 on the current Snapdragon S4 Pro, compared to a whopping 33,828 with the Snapdragon 800 doing the work.
In Quadrant 2.0, an S4 Pro-powered device scores around 7,698 while the S800 MDP bashes through the wall with 20,762 - some incredible results. It'll be great to see what these bad boys can do in consumer models in the coming months.
| |
Read More ...
The Last of Us is doing well, selling over one million copies in its first week to be the biggest launch of the year
Naughty Dog's new IP, The Last of Us, is doing very well in its first week on sale. The game has sold 1.3 million copies in the first week of its release, making it the biggest launch of the year. BioShock Infinite sold 1.16 million units across two platforms - the PS3 and Xbox 360.
| |
Read More ...
AT&T getting BlackBerry Q10 on June 21 for $199.99
AT&T has confirmed that the BlackBerry Q10 is coming to the network on June 21 for $199.99. The Q10 had previously been put on pre-order by the telecom giant June 5 for $199.99. At that time, AT&T had not released the actual release date. However, now you know just when you should expect your device if you placed a pre-order.
As a refresher, the Q10 is styled after BlackBerry's earlier QWERTY-sporting models. It features a 3.5-inch touch-enabled display, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, an 8MP rear-facing camera, a 2MP front-facing camera, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and a 2,100mAh battery.
| |
Read More ...
Surface RT now available for $199 for schools and colleges
Microsoft has reduced the price of the Surface RT to $199 for schools and colleges. This ARM-based tablet normally retails for $499 for the base 32GB model, so this represents a real discount for educational institutions. Some may take this as a sign that the Surface RT continues to suffer from slow sales.
The offer is available in select countries directly from Microsoft. Schools and colleges in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China (via Digital China), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States can grab the deal.
Microsoft recommends getting your order in early "while supplies last." It could be Microsoft is clearing inventory ahead of a refreshed model or could be trying to turn a poor selling product into a goodwill gesture towards education. It's anybody's guess.
| |
Read More ...
Facebook CEO met with Samsung to discuss possible partnerships
Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has met with Samsung's head of handsets to talk about possible partnerships to boost advertising sales from mobile devices. This comes shortly after the recently launched HTC First was deemed a failure by most. AT&T quickly reduced the purchase price to just $0.99 with a new contract.
Facebook declined to comment on the visit.
| |
Read More ...
ReportTT: Facebook video ads reportedly delayed until fall
It seems as though your Facebook News Feed will be free of video ads, at least until fall. According to a report, Facebook has delayed plans to introduce 15-second video ads to your News Feed. Previous reports suggested that Facebook would start rolling these ads out in July.
Rumors say the ads will auto-play, though it's likely that sound won't be enabled. Reports suggest Facebook was seeking in excess of $1 million for a day-long run of one of these ad units.
| |
Read More ...
Apple updates Java 6 with security enhancements
Apple has released an update for Java 6 on Mac OS X. This update brings with it important security updates, reliability improvements and compatibility improvements. This Java 6 update is available from Apple, while the newer Java 7 is available directly from the developers at Oracle.
Java for OS X 2013-004 delivers improved security, reliability, and compatibility by updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_51.Earlier this year, Java was compromised several different times through various different exploits. Many have decided that the world doesn't need Java on the web anymore with HTML5 and other solutions, hence many recommend disabling Java completely.
On systems that have not already installed Java for OS X 2012-006, this update disables the Java SE 6 applet plug-in. To use applets on a web page, click on the region labeled "Missing plug-in" to download the latest version of the Java applet plug-in from Oracle.
Please quit any web browsers and Java applications before installing this update.
See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5717 for more details about this update.
See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222 for information about the security content of this update.
Depending on your operating system, you'll need to select the correct update or update your system through the Mac App Store. The update for Snow Leopard is available here and the Lion/Mountain Lion update is available here.
| |
Read More ...
Nintendo 3DS outsold Xbox 360, Wii U continues to not sell well
The video game industry continues to flounder ahead of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 going on sale later this year. Data from NPD Group shows that retail sales of hardware, software, and gaming accessories fell around 25 percent to $386.3 million during May.
Despite poor sales, Nintendo has said that it has no plans to drop the price of the Wii U.
| |
Read More ...
Adobe beats expectations with $1.011B in revenue, $0.36 EPS
Adobe has performed better than expectations by posting second-quarter revenues of $1.011 billion and earnings-per-share of $0.36. Analysts had predicted that Adobe would post earnings-per-share of just $0.34 on $1 billion in revenue. While not massively higher than expectations, it is good news for Adobe that they performed better than expectations.
It's important for Adobe to continue adding Creative Cloud subscribers as Adobe has transitioned the Creative suite to a cloud-only subscription model.
| |
Read More ...
PS Plus will not be required for PlayStation 4 social features, entertainment apps, or auto-updates
Likely as another shot at Microsoft, Sony has confirmed that PS Plus will not be required for PlayStation 4 users interested in using the social aspects, entertainment apps, or auto-updates. Xbox 360 users will know that Xbox Live Gold is required for Netflix, Hulu, and social aspects of the console.
It seems like some of the PS Plus details for the PlayStation 4 are still under discussion inside the company and are subject to change. This would explain why Sony has detailed the system and PS Plus fully. PS Plus will apply across the PlayStation 3 and 4 for no extra charge.
| |
Read More ...
Google seeks to disclose FISA requests separately, invokes first amendment rights as part of argument
Google is one of the first companies to release transparency reports that disclose the number of requests for personal data they receive from various governments. Unfortunately for Google, FISA and NSL requests often come with gag orders to prevent them from disclosing the fact they even received a request.
We have long pushed for transparency so users can better understand the extent to which governments request their data-and Google was the first company to release numbers for National Security Letters. However, greater transparency is needed, so today we have petitioned the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to allow us to publish aggregate numbers of national security requests, including FISA disclosures, separately. Lumping national security requests together with criminal requests-as some companies have been permitted to do-would be a backward step for our users.Google has filed a motion to gain permission to specifically separate the number of FISA requests they receive from general criminal requests in their transparency reports. Facebook, Apple, and Yahoo have all started publishing national security orders in their respective transparency reports.
In the motion, Google cites its first amendment rights, the value it places on transparency, and the need to defend itself from claims that it gave access to user data to the NSA. It will be interesting to see if FISA numbers start being broken out in future transparency reports.
| |
Read More ...
Facebook for iOS gets updated, brings with it emotions for status updates
Facebook has released an update to their iOS app that brings with it emotions for status updates and better controls over sharing. Emotions for status updates were released not too long ago on the desktop side of things, but it has now been brought to iOS through this latest update.
The latest version of the app can be grabbed from the Apple App Store.
| |
Read More ...
GameStick delayed until August, cites the need for user feedback
GameStick was one of the biggest so-called "game changing" Android-based gaming console to be talk about this year. After successfully completing its Kickstarter funding campaign, GameStick has gathered cash and has shipped out all of its units, but the commercial release has been delayed not once, but now twice.
| |
Read More ...
Logic Supply releases new LGX Core i3 and i5 fanless industrial computer systems
Today, Logic Supply announced the release of their LGX ML250 Intel Core i3 / i5 fanless industrial PC systems. The system is built around ASRocks's IMB-170 industrial motherboard and features Intel's Core i3, i7, and Celeron processors. The systems are being touted as "an economical alternative to wide-temperature fanless systems. The LGX ML250 combines commercial-off-the-shelf, high-performance, mobile computing with a silent, compact, fanless chassis that's designed to be redesigned."
| |
Read More ...
AMD announces x86 server roadmap, Berlin and Warsaw are the future
Earlier today, we covered the announcement of AMD's ARM-based server architecture codenamed Seattle. Following that announcement, AMD laid out the next generation of its x86 server compatible chips.
| |
Read More ...
LeakedTT: First accessories begin appearing for Low-Cost iPhone
A video has surfaced detailing what appears to be a new case accessory for Apple's upcoming low-cost iPhone. The case shows that the cheap iPhone may be about 2mm thicker than the iPhone 5 and will have rounded corners instead of flat corners.
While there are no official specs known for the cheap iPhone, it is highly believed that it will feature a plastic body in lieu of the metal frame Apple has used in the past. Additionally, the device will come in an array of colors that span the rainbow. The cheaper iPhone is expected to sell in the $300 to $400 range unlocked and for around $199 with a contract.
| |
Read More ...
Yahoo looking to acquire video maker app Qwiki for a reported $50 million
In a world where we see startups and dev houses being snatched up left and right, it is no surprise that someone is looking to purchase the automated video maker app Qwiki. With Vine growing every day in popularity and Instagram looking to add video to its service later this week, Yahoo is looking to get in on the video app craze that is so popular at the moment.
For those not familiar, Qwiki is an app that lets iPhone users quickly combine photos and videos into a single stylized video for sharing with friends on the web. This is yet another purchase in a long line of acquisitions since CEO Marissa Mayer took the head seat at the company.
| |
Read More ...
Giveaway time thanks to AMD! Win one of five A Series A8 6600K 3.9GHz CPU's
While at E3 last week, we visited AMD, and left with five A Series A8 6600K 3.9GHz (4.2GHz Max Turbo) quad-core processors - ours to give away to you, our lovely TweakTown readers.
Good luck everyone! Enter here!
| |
Read More ...
Giveaway time thanks to AMD! Win one of five A Series A8 660K 3.9GHz CPU's
While at E3 last week, we visited AMD, and left with five A Series A8 660K 3.9GHz (4.2GHz Max Turbo) quad-core processors - ours to give away to you, our lovely TweakTown readers.
Good luck everyone! Enter here!
| |
Read More ...
AMD 5GHz FX-9590 CPU pricing info spotted, seems a bit too high
Last week during E3, AMD launched its new FX-9590 CPU, the world's first factory clocked 5GHz CPU. While the timing was a little odd for such a big deal product, it still managed to make some enthusiasts turn their heads and once again look AMD's way. Unfortunately in another weird move, AMD announced that the new CPU would only be available to system integrators for the time being.
| |
Read More ...
Samsung will live stream it's "Premiere" event on Thursday from London on YouTube
Samsung will hold a launch event dubbed "Premiere" this Thursday to showcase new Galaxy and ATIV devices, and TweakTown will be there to cover it with hands on video as well as a complete Live Blog.
We are expecting to see Samsung debut a new Galaxy NX camera as well as a few new ATIV Windows based devices appear. We could also see the upcoming Galaxy S4 with LTE Advance, or even a new Galaxy Tab tablet.
The whole event will be live streamed on YouTube on Samsung's channel (source #2) and do remember to follow along with our live blog.
| |
Read More ...
LeakedTT: ASUS GeForce 760 DirectCU II OC video card specs and pricing seen on retail sites
A European price-aggregator website has spotted what appears to be the first real leak on the upcoming NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 video card. The leak showed off pricing and specification details on the ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DirectCU II OC.
| |
Read More ...
Hands-on video with the brand new Huawei Ascend P6, the world's thinnest smartphone
Johannes Knapp is currently at the Huawei launch event in London right now for what the Chinese company is marketing as the world's thinnest smartphone. Let's discuss the Ascend P6 a little.
In our hands-on video which is embedded above, you'll get a great close-up look at the new P6. As far as specs go, it includes a decently sized 4.7-inch 720p display and is powered by a Hisense 1.5GHz quad-core processor with 2GB of onboard memory and an 8GB ROM. There is also a microSD card slot for expanding the storage capabilities. Inside the phone is a 2000 mAh battery and it comes installed with Android 4.2.2.
| |
Read More ...
Huawei debuts Ascend P6, world's thinnest smartphone
Huawei has just launched its latest flagship smartphone, the Ascend P6, which is being touted as the world's thinnest phone. While we have seen this phone pop up in many leaks over the past few weeks, the P6 is actually a refreshing take on an Android smartphone.
Other features include an 8-megapixel rear and 5-megapixel front cameras, while a 4.7-inch 1280x720 screen handles the display duties. The Ascend P6 ships with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, but unfortunately there is no LTE coverage and users will have to settle for 3G connectivity for their mobile data needs. A 2000mAh battery will however keep the phone up and running for a very respectable time.
We are working on our hands-on video and it will be posted soon.
Here is our very own hands-on video!
| |
Read More ...
The Next-Gen Console War is here, but should we only dream about Xbox One and PS4?
Computex 2013 is done, E3 2013 is done - and now where are we? We have been greeted with the PlayStation 4 unveiling from Sony and Microsoft with the Xbox One, but are you impressed yet? Sure, these next-gen consoles are finally "next-gen", but is next-gen really just 1920x1080 at 60 frames per second (FPS)?
Microsoft lost a lot of loyal fans with the Xbox One debacle - used games, DRM, always-on Kinect, and more. Sony, from what we've seen, looks like the go. It looks like the PS4 is going to be the dominant next-generation console at this stage, which is something I would not have expected a couple of years ago.
But here we are... getting closer day by day to the next-gen consoles from launching. There are some awesome titles coming up - Watch Dogs, The Division, Battlefield 4, DriveClub, Destiny and many more. But are these games enough to sell millions of consoles over the holiday season? Hell yes, they are. But are the consoles themselves ready for the lime light? If the competition stays as it is, I think so.
Sony has then come out revealing more details on the PS4, after Microsoft showed their hand, and this has (so far) paid off for Sony. We're not quite at launch yet, but Sony is definitely pulling all of the right moves - let's just hope they can continue at this pace and not stumble.
I hinted at a company that could come out and really change things, because these two consoles are running strict gaming OS'. Sure, Microsoft's Xbox One is most along the lines of Windows - but it's still not Windows.
Valve.
Yes, I believe that Valve could really change things with a next-gen console - something we've all heard about as the "Steam Box". Valve has the imagination, the freedom (of being a privately-owned company, with no pressure from external influences), the money behind them, the fans, and most of all - the talent.
Valve have changed PC gaming for the better, and I think without Steam, PC gaming would not be in the same position it is now. Valve has made some of the best games to-date, Half-Life being one of them, and huge fan and competitive games like Counter-Strike and Team Fortress. They do the right acquisitions of gaming companies, and know when to strike.
Does Valve have the chops to fight against the big boys? Yes, they do. Sure, Sony and Microsoft have the experience and money - but they're both run like corporations. It's all about profits, long term projections, and making the most money in the long run - Microsoft has made this rather clear just recently. Valve obviously enjoy the money - but they do it more for the fans - the more fans, the more purchasing and loyal clients - the more of this, equals exactly what Microsoft and Sony are going for, but Valve would be gaining many more loyal consumers.
A next-generation Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike and more could all be launched at a competitive price of something like $399 with all four next-gen games included. How can Microsoft and Sony fight that? They can't - and that's where things get even better.
Valve's Steam Box could go thermonuclear - thanks Steve Jobs for coining that phrase when it comes to getting dirty with other companies - and support technology from the likes of Razer, Tt eSPORTS and most of all - Oculus.
We know that Valve and Oculus have been working together with Team Fortress 2 and Rift - virtual reality gaming from Valve is already here, and we know the company were working on it previously, but it looks like Oculus have gotten it right and Valve just need to use their technology on their Steam Box and the world of gaming could be turned upside down.
There's no talk of enhanced artificial intelligence, or non-linear gameplay - we've heard it a few times, but it just looks like flashier graphics on a run-into-the-ground couple of genres. I want something that excites me and has me throwing my wallet at my screen. Valve, you can do this.
Games are about to go interstellar - really. Even without the Steam Box, games are about to get an injection of some seriously pretty graphics, and it's going to lead us down a path of much more exciting games because developers have much, much more powerful hardware to play with.
Oculus Rift and Valve, two companies that could truly redefine what gaming is to us. They could be the nails in the coffins of at least the Xbox One, and even possibly the PS4. Sure, not overnight - but after a PS4 fan has gone to their friend's house and slid on some virtual reality headset and played a next-gen game from a company that has made one of the best games ever released, it could really change everything.
... Read the rest in your browser!
| |
Read More ...
Corsair Vengeance Pro PC3-19200 16GB Dual Channel Memory Kit Review
The other day we got a chance to check out the new Vengeance Pro PC3-14900 memory kit from Corsair. If you found yourself impressed with what was being offered, but thought that you'd might like to have a bit more speed out of the box, then we might have just the kit for you here today.
Today we'll be looking at another other Vengeance Pro kit from Corsair which, as you can see below, shares an almost identical setup to the previous kit. The main difference you might notice is the red highlight on the kit instead of the silver color on the other. Like other people have mentioned to us, we've got to say the red really does look fantastic against the black heatsink and black PCB.
Diving in closer you can see the CMY16GX3M2A2400C10R model number which already tells us a fair bit of information. Running across the bottom of the sticker, though, we get a bit more detail on just what exactly we're dealing with here today.
While this is the highest speed kit we've used on our new i7 4770K processor, we didn't expect to have much trouble as we've already heard consistently good stories about the quality of the Internal Memory Controller (IMC) on the latest generation of Intel Haswell chips.
With that said we installed the memory into our testbed, went straight into the BIOS and set our XMP Profile to the default. Looking below you can see everything was running fine with our timings at 10-12-12-31-2T, while running at 2400MHz DDR.
As always once we've done the stock testing we move into the overclocking side of things. The next step up from the 2400MHz DDR divider is the 2600MHz DDR. We moved up to that and our system wouldn't boot. We wanted to mess around a bit and see if we could get our system working at this speed, so we jumped back into the BIOS and started to mess with the timings a little bit.
We eventually got our system into Windows at 11-13-13-35-2T @ 1.7v and ran AIDA64 with no problems. After sitting in Windows a little bit, though, our system ended up crashing. It seemed that even with the more relaxed timings, it wasn't going to be 100% stable. We could've loosened them up even more, but we didn't want to move too far away from the stock timings.
The problem is we couldn't really work our way back down from 2600MHz DDR as it meant reducing our BCLK to below 100. Because of that we moved back to the 2400MHz DDR divider and started to head north with the BCLK. We knew we wouldn't get a ton of headroom with the BCLK, but hopefully enough to give us some extra MHz.
We ended up pushing our BCLK up to 104 and this in turn pushed our memory to an even 2500MHz DDR with everything at the same timings and our memory voltage running at just 1.65v again. You can see below our settings in Windows. Of course the BCLK increase also meant our CPU was pushed up slightly as well to 3846.9MHz.
We tested multiple times and we tested the stock speeds again multiple times and outside a slight bit of fluctuation, there was really no change in the results. With that done we would normally push up our CPU speed. Because we knew, though, that from a MHz stand point there was some more room, we just couldn't get to it because of the BCLK and Memory Divider options, we figured we'd attack the timings instead.
The first thing we did was move from 2T to 1T. That is always a nice little change and we got into Windows with no problems. Once we did that we hit up the other timings. We moved to a CL9 setup, but straight away our system wouldn't boot. We messed around for a little while in the BIOS trying to see if we could do much with the timings, but once we moved to the 1T setup, nothing else wanted to move.
Comparing the last two results with each other, though, you can see the 1T Command Rate has offered us slightly improvements across the board in every area. You can see the MB/s has gone up slightly in all areas, while the latency has also been reduced slightly.
Finally we headed back into the BIOS one more time and adjusted our CPU multiplier to 44x which brought our CPU clock in at 4576MHz. If you remember in our last review of the Corsair Vengeance Pro, we saw barely any change when CPU overclocking was thrown into the mix. Under AIDA64 we ended up with Read / Write numbers of 26,120 MB/s / 22,492 MB/s, Copy speed of 23,842 MB/s and latency of 42.7ns. You can again see that little change is seen when overclocking the CPU. Apart from the latency being reduced slightly again, we can see across the board nothing more than a bit of fluctuation.
RAM overclocking on the latest platform is becoming quite interesting with results going a little all over the place. As always, with more and more memory tested, we'll get a better idea of just what exactly is going on. The next kit we're looking at will carry a 2933MHz DDR clock out of the box and it will be interesting to see what exactly happens with those results.
Comparing the 2400MHz DDR Vengeance kit to the 1866MHz DDR one here today, you can see that we got some strong gains in both the read numbers and the latency. When it comes to pricing, the 2400MHz DDR kit is going to set you back an extra $45 when compared to the 1866MHz DDR kit.
You really can't go too wrong with the Corsair Vengeance Pro memory on a whole. Something we'll be keeping an eye on in the coming weeks, though, is the performance numbers when overclocking is thrown into the mix. Keep an eye out as we explore this more and more as we expand our range of memory kits tested on the new Haswell platform.
| |
Read More ...
Seagate Desktop HDD .15 (ST4000DM000) 4000GB HDD Review
Introduction
Seagate recently upped the ante in terms of raw storage capacity releasing the next generation of desktop 3.5" drives. This latest drive out of the Seagate camp packs four terabytes into a single 3.5" form factor, and with pricing sitting around $190 or just over four cents per GB, it's also one of the most affordable drives in existence.
To accomplish this high capacity low-cost drive, Seagate shipped the Desktop HDD .15 with a slower 5900RPM spindle speed, which isn't too surprising, as we typically see new platter technologies released at slower speeds before they are ramped up at a later date. Don't think that this slow spindle speed is going to hold back the performance of the .15 though, as its areal density sits at the top of the market at 625GB/sq. in.
This means that the same amount of data is passed through the head in one revolution at 5900RPM compared to what goes through the head of the WD Black at 7200RPM with its 400GB/sq. in areal density.
Specifications, Pricing and Availability
Power consumption figures for the .15 list a two amp startup draw with 7.5 watts used during normal operation. At idle the drive drops to 5 watts with standby consuming just 0.75 watts.
Newegg at the time of writing has the Desktop HDD .15 in the 4TB capacity listed and in stock at $189.99 or 0.475 cents per GB. The Desktop HDD .15 comes in both retail and bare drive forms and is covered under Seagate's two year warranty.
... Read the rest in your browser!
| |
Read More ...
The Great Gatsby (2013) Cinema Review
With expectations in check, I thoroughly enjoyed The Great Gatsby, a visually stunning tour de force with solid performances from a well developed adaptation of an American classic.
| |
Read More ...
Man of Steel (2013) Cinema Review from the perspective of a Superman fanboy
Superman is the quintessential superhero - everyone knows who he is, he's the biggest superhero of them all. Back then, there was no good Batman movie, no Iron Man, no The Avengers or Spider-Man, it was a man in tights with his underwear on the outside and it changed everything. It paved the way for superhero movies, did it in style (with an injection of camp) and it propelled superheroes to the forefront of the silver screen.
They all but died off when Spider-Man came around and Marvel has been enjoying the fruits of their labor for quite sometime. DC Comics have been riding off the Dark Knight series by Christopher Nolan, and saw mild success with Superman Returns. As a huge Superman fan, Returns was just a throwback to the original Superman movies by Donner, and didn't feature enough action or threat to the Man of Steel himself to be a huge blockbuster.
Nolan had Warner Bros' back as he has made them billions from Batman, and was given the power to push Superman in a new direction with the help of David Goyer, who helped write the Dark Knight movies. "300" and "Watchmen" director, Zack Snyder, was brought in to direct, which gave critics and fans alike something to worry about.
I have watched the Superman movies countless times as a child, and adult, and the John Williams theme will bring me to tears - seriously - Superman has an emotional attachment to me because of my childhood. The Williams theme is also one of the biggest roadblocks of any new Superman movie, which is why Returns used some of Williams' work, but by John Ottman. I watched the Superboy TV series (with both actors), all of Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher's "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" TV show, and the Tom Welling led "Smallville" TV show, which lasted for 10 seasons.
I'm emotional during these shows, and I'm not afraid to admit it - so you can see where I'm coming from for Man of Steel. I watched all of the trailers, all of the TV spots, listened to the theme music before the movie was released, interviews from the cast, I watched all three seasons of Boardwalk Empire to prepare myself for Michael Shannon's performance of Zod, and to top it off...?
Man of Steel is a complete reboot of the series, which gives us an entire new vision of Krypton, the home planet of Superman, or Clark Kent, or his birth name: Kal-El. Australian actor and "Gladiator" star, Russell Crowe, plays Jor-El, Superman's birth father. In Man of Steel, Kryptonian's are genetically engineered to be specific people required on the planet - workers, soldiers, warriors, leaders, scientists and so on. General Zod is of course bred as a warrior, which explains his lust for wanting the Last Son of Krypton dead, and the story continues that Krypton is destroyed.
A last-minute military coup by General Zod sees Jor-el and Lara Lor-Van (Superman's Kryptonian parents) send Kal-El to Earth so that he can survive. There, he will make a decision - to use his God-like powers for good, or evil. We know which way that pans out.
Man of Steel is a true reboot, so we have a different origin story in a way, and a different structure to the film itself. Clark's backstory is explained to us in flashbacks, which I actually quite enjoyed, but these can get confusing for some.
All three parts of the main character, Kal-El, Clark Kent and Superman are more grounded in "reality", which is something I truly loved about Man of Steel. Once we leave the visually gorgeous Krypton, the fun begins on Earth with Superman's abilities.
You can feel Nolan's guidance throughout the movie, but not too much - it almost feels like the amount of people who had their hands on this all came together to make a great movie, and had fun doing so. Everything from the script to the cast is near perfection.
The script is done very well, and is emotionally heavy when it comes to Jonathan Kent's parts - Superman's father on Earth. Kevin Costner nails this piece, perfectly. He tells Clark a few things that guide him through his life, and there are a few standout pieces in Man of Steel that had me choking on tears from Costner's performance alone.
There are of course issues with the script (which is a Nolan/Goyer thing, it's like they tag team writing plot holes) - which is something I did not like in the Dark Knight Rises, where there are large holes in the story - but we are talking comic book movies here. The plot holes in Man of Steel are nothing like the Dark Knight Rises, thankfully.
Zod's left-hand woman, Faora-Ul is perfect for this - and is a true threat to Superman. Antje Traue plays her with a true passion, and when you see her on screen threatening multiple people, you feel it. At one point she threatens Martha Kent, where Superman flies in at hundreds of miles per hour, picks Zod up off the ground and flies with him just pounding him in the face, flying through silos and gas stations in a true, epic, Superman vs. Zod fight - and that's not even the best bit.
Then we have the fight of Metropolis - which makes Transformers, Iron Man and The Avengers all look weak in comparison. If you watch Man of Steel, the Metropolis fight between Superman and Zod is all but worth it. It is a truly epic fight, with buildings getting utterly demolished and the two men just beating the general crap out of each other.
The fight in Metropolis will see your jaw on the floor, with Superman using the best of his abilities to stop Zod from killing him, and many others. It's hard not to spoil it, but this fight alone will be re-watched many times by fans like myself. It surely has to be the new benchmark when it comes to visual and sound effects.
This isn't a true movie review, but it is a review coming from a fan's point of view - so I'm going to add some "things I liked" and "things I didn't like" to the end of this review of Man of Steel.
Things I liked:
The action - it's just awesome.
The special effects - for the most part, they're actually great - I'm usually one to over-analyze this, but I found myself so engrossed with it I only noticed a few bad spots.
The acting - the cast is chosen perfectly.
The scale - is truly epic, it sets the tone for the DC Comics universe, Justice League and of course, Man of Steel 2.
Things I didn't like:
Script holes - multiple times I was thinking "eh, how did they get there so fast" or "why isn't this person injured after something happening to them".
The flashbacks are a great way of telling the story, but it will definitely confuse some people.
The countless deaths in Metropolis and Smallville - which can be accounted to script holes, I guess.
Overall, I still utterly loved it. Superman Returns feels like a joke compared to this, with Man of Steel being the best Superman movie now, replacing the Reeve movies, which have done justice for decades now.
| |
Read More ...
ASRock Z87 OC FORMULA (Intel Z87) Motherboard Review
Introduction
They brought to the table a board that performed exceptionally well, offered strong overclocking capabilities, massive amount of features, a great bundle, and all at just a simply fantastic price point. It quickly became one of our favorite Z77 motherboards to use and became the center of all our RAM testing for a couple of reasons. The first was the overclocking potential on the board was great. The second, though, was the fact that Nick Shih, the man behind the creation, is so on top of the BIOS. Working constantly to provide the best BIOS to overclockers, Nick made sure that the latest and greatest memory was always compatible on it and working well.
For all these reasons we found ourselves extremely excited to check out what the team over at ASRock had done with the latest Z87 chipset from Intel. Initial showings of the board looked fantastic and seeing it Computex 2013 made our mouth water even more. So much so that when we talked to the friendly folk at ASRock and told them we'd happily take the board only for now, as we knew that the full package setups weren't being sampled yet.
So, with that said, today we'll be moving straight from here into the motherboard itself, since we don't have the box or the bundle to discuss. This is definitely one board we're excited to test, so let's just get stuck into it and see what exactly is being offered from ASRock on the new Z87 OC FORMULA.
... Read the rest in your browser!
| |
Read More ...
Lian Li PC-Q27 Black Mini-ITX Chassis Review
Introduction
We are going in the direction of a SFF chassis with the latest case from Lian Li. This chassis is based with a Mini-ITX motherboard in mind, and only Mini-ITX. With the idea to stay as compact as possible, Lian Li brings forth some new tricks that are firsts for me, along with some ingenuity coming forth in older systems, just now incorporated in places you may not have thought of before. In all honesty, this design does remind me of the Silverstone FT-03, but done completely different, and in a way that screams Lian Li throughout the entire chassis.
The chassis that we are going to have the pleasure of gazing at today is the PC-Q27 B from Lian Li. In the most basic sense of the chassis, you are given a cube style case that is slightly taller than it is wide or deep. It is of course glad in brushed aluminum and offers USB 3.0 with reverse compatibility for older systems.
I really don't want to get too deep at this stage about what Lian Li has packed inside of the PC-Q27 chassis. So, at this point we should just cut to the chase, and you can see and read for yourself to see if this is the next SFF chassis you want to buy over the next few pages.
... Read the rest in your browser!
| |
Read More ...
Ironside Cyclone Desktop Gaming PC (with custom TweakTown airbrushing) Review
Introduction
It's worth noting that because of the high degree of customization, your Cyclone system could look radically different than the one pictured above and throughout this review. Ironside allows you to select a platform-in this case, Ivy Bridge-and then select a case and components that make use of that platform.
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 there are fewer systems to compare to.
Without further ado, let's dive into the meat of this review and see what the Cyclone is made of.
Specifications, Configurations and Pricing
Ironside Computers equipped our Cyclone gaming desktop review sample system with Intel's Ivy Bridge-powered i5-3570K. One of the main differences between the 3570K and the 3770K is the inclusion of HyperThreading. For gaming, HyperThreading is a mostly useless technology. The 3570K retains Turbo Boost, which allows it to jump from 3.4GHz to 3.8GHz when one or two cores are loaded.Cooling is provided by Ironside's Level 2 Iron Tundra liquid cooling set up. It makes use of a 240mm radiator combined with an XSPC 5.25-inch reservoir and pump combo and an XSPC waterblock for the CPU. This should ideally perform better than an integrated all-in-one water cooler that seems to be in fashion.
The 3570K is slotted into an ASRock Z77 Extreme 4. This motherboard features support for CrossFire and SLI, making it the perfect base for a gaming PC. It features on-board USB 3.0 and SATA 3 6Gbps. There are definitely better motherboards out there, but this one is no slouch.
Two 8GB DDR3 DIMMs are slotted into the motherboard's RAM slots, leaving two slots open for easy expansion to 32GB in the future. They are clocked at 1600MHz, which should provide good performance for gaming.
Graphics are provided by an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 video card. The NVIDIA GTX 670 is quite a capable video card, though the Cyclone can be configured with SLI'd GTX Titans, one of the fastest video card configurations currently on the market. All of these components are housed inside a Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Gunmetal mid-tower case.
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit is the operating system pre-installed on a Corsair Neutron GTX 120GB SSD. Users can customize the Cyclone to come with various 64-bit versions of Windows 7 or Windows 8 Pro 64-bit. Storage is provided by a 7,200RPM 1TB drive.
The cost for a system like this is $1,948.37, give or take a few dollars for sales and other discounts. Configuration is endless, thanks in part to the case. Ironside Computers offers a high degree of customization. Individual components can be selected from different manufacturers for most of the major components in the system.
... Read the rest in your browser!
| |
Read More ...
Seagate Enterprise Performance 10K HDD V.6 (Savvio 10K.6) SAS Enterprise HDD Review
Introduction
High performance tiers of HDD's continue to serve a vital role in the datacenter, with the speedy SSD competition only accounting for 3% of datacenter storage in 2012. While the percentage of SSD's is forecasted to expand to 9.9% by 2016, this still leaves the HDD as the storage backbone of the datacenter with a whopping 90.1% share.
The high capacity HDD market also continues its rapid expansion, with the HDD industry shipping 53% more TB of capacity in 2012 compared to 2011. Creating a fast front-end for these vast arrays of HDD's requires a nimble high-performance tier that can also provide a robust amount of storage capacity.
The SAS Enterprise Performance V.6 delivers enhancements in speed, power consumption and encryption capabilities over the previous 10K.5 generation. The jump from a 168MB/s sustained transfer rate with the 10K.5 to 204MB/s for the Enterprise Performance V.6 equates to a 21% jump in performance. This places the sustained sequential transfer rates for the V.6 on equal footing with 2.5" 15K HDD's.
Another key selling point of the V.6 is its energy efficiency. The V.6 features a 14% decrease in power requirements in comparison to the Savvio 10K.5 HDD's. Even more impressive is the power consumption reduction of up to 71% in comparison to 15K-RPM 3.5" HDD's. The performance and power consumption gains are impressive, but the Seagate Enterprise Performance 10K HDD V.6 also brings other enterprise-class features to the table.
One ongoing concern for large HDD deployments is excessively long RAID rebuilds. The V.6 is the first mission-critical HDD to offer the Seagate RAID Rebuild technology option. The RAID Rebuild feature enables faster recovery from a failed drive in a RAID configuration. RAID Rebuild improves performance by extracting easily readable data from a failing drive by identifying blocks that would take longer to recover from the failed drive than to rebuild from parity data in the RAID array. This minimizes the likelihood of a second drive failure in the array during rebuild and allows host control of error recovery.
The V.6 drives also include self-encryption at no extra cost for all capacity points. For those with more intense requirements for data security, there is a 900GB V.6 that also provides the FIPS Self-Encrypting Drive option. A shocking 50,000 drives leave datacenters daily with terabytes of data intact. According to IBM, more than 90% of drives returned for warranty contain readable data. By providing FIPS 140-2 Level 2 compliance, Seagate gives customers an easy means of protecting data at rest.
Seagate's Instant Secure Erase reduces the time required to overwrite the drive from hours to less than a minute, speeding the process of repurposing or retirement of the drive. Protection Information (PI) technology provides an end-to-end data protection scheme that prevents data corruption from the application level down to the drive. The V.6 is backed up by a five year warranty.
Today we will compare the performance of the 10K V.6 against a leading 15K HDD, and the energy efficiency to a lower RPM 7,200 RPM model.
... Read the rest in your browser!
| |
Read More ...
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card Overclocked
Introduction
While we had hoped to do it much closer to launch, due to the craziness that surrounds Computex, we just didn't get a chance to do so. With that all died down now and with things returning to normal, we're able to step back into our office, sit in front of our computers and testbeds and get everything up and running again.
While we've had a few GTX 770 video cards start to pile up around us over the last week, the first thing we really want to do before we get into them is check out the overclocking capabilities on the reference design model. With companies offering us some new coolers at launch, we're looking forward to seeing those load temperature numbers drop down like we saw on the EVGA GTX 780 SC a few weeks ago.
As always, because we've already looked at the reference card, which we linked just above, we'll get straight into our testbed and the overclocking before we check out the performance. If you want to take a closer look at the card we recommend you check out our launch review in the event you missed it.
... Read the rest in your browser!
| |
Read More ...
Intel DC S3500 480GB Enterprise SSD Review
Introduction
The mainstream SSD market is booming and many administrators are choosing to deploy mainstream SSDs to address performance challenges in read-centric and mixed workload environments. The high performance envelope of enterprise SSDs boosts system performance up front, and the long-term advantages of radically lower power consumption, space reduction, and cooling costs drive TCO down even further.
One of the most pressing needs in today's datacenters is optimization of the compute layer. Performance is often hamstrung by I/O bound systems, leading to servers that operate with much lower CPU utilization than possible. The explosion of virtualization and the resulting 'I/O Blender' of sporadic highly random workloads require storage solutions with consistently high performance and low latency. Boosting the efficiency of the storage subsystem feeds the CPU with enough data to operate efficiently, creating more production and density per server.
The Intel DC S3500 (codename Wolfsville) is designed to provide a more cost-friendly alternative for those in need of acceleration with enterprise-class features at a lower price point. The DC S3500 (DC for Datacenter and S for SATA) provides a mainstream alternative to the Intel DC S3700, yet retains many similar characteristics.
The DC S3500 aligns itself to replace the Intel 320 customer base, offering seven times the endurance and 85% improved random read performance over the 320 Series. The 320 arrived in early 2011 and a replacement for the 3Gb/s 320 series is overdue. Intel's goal is to replace the 320 with an SSD with similar characteristics to the DC S3700.
The primary differentiator between the S3500 and the S3700 is the NAND employed. The DC S3500 utilizes 20nm MLC NAND in contrast to the 25nm HET-MLC NAND onboard the DC S3700. This provides a lower endurance threshold that is more suitable to read-centric and mixed workloads. The DC S3500 features a maximum of 450 TB Written for an 800GB capacity drive, and we expect endurance to scale with the various capacity points. The DC S3700, in contrast, offers up to 14.6PB of endurance for the 800GB model.
The DC S3500, with the same controller as the DC S3700, also focuses on performance consistency. Performance variability can rob applications of performance. Individual 'hangs' and lags from outlying I/O can significantly affect application performance simply because applications are forced into waiting for the next I/O to complete. The DC S3500 does not have quite the robust write latency specifications of the DC S3700, focusing more on read latency performance. The DC S3500 guarantees a maximum read latency of 500ms 99.9% of the time during a 4k random workload, and 50/65uS typical read/write latency.
Many administrators have experimented with utilizing standard client SSDs in enterprise environments and have suffered the consequences of inconsistent performance. The DC S3500 will rival client-side offerings with a price of roughly $1.22 per GB at launch. Delivering performance consistency and reliable performance at this price range will provide Intel a solid entrant into the booming value/mainstream SSD market.
Providing solid performance with a host of enterprise features such as end-to-end data path protection, 256-bit AES encryption, ECC protected memory, power loss protection, and a five year limited warranty rounds out the impressive feature set of the DC S3500.
... Read the rest in your browser!
| |
Read More ...
Sony brutally destructs Microsoft's Xbox One plan with its PlayStation 4 console at E3
When the Xbox team woke up in Los Angeles yesterday they would have been brimming with confidence, but as they slowly reached their beds in hotels, they may have secretly had the grin wiped off their faces. Of course publicly they will deny that Sony has torn their plans apart, and shown that the next generation could potentially be a one sided battle, but inside they will know after a wave of momentum and cheering that Sony now has the upper hand leading into the third war between these two multinational giants. Sony brought the pain today, and gave the gaming world what it wanted, with one exception.
Yesterday we witnessed Microsoft attempting to use games to show that the Xbox One is still a console you should care about despite it being a very complex system to use in comparison to the Xbox 360. The fact is MS has a lot of seriously good games on that system from early looks. Since I wrote my last editorial, MS has confirmed that there will be DRM for used games and there will be a requirement for a fairly always-on internet connection (at least every 24 hours) to enforce this DRM policy. Many of us awoke thinking Sony would follow suit, but potentially to Microsoft and gamers surprise, they did not. In fact, not only did they not go down this path, they proceeded to rub Microsoft's nose in it. Sony knew what it was doing, so much so it had prepared a video to upload to YouTube (embedded below) showing how easy it is to share games with friends - basically just give them the disc.
So let's get to the good news. Sony has announced that the system will be playable offline indefinitely, will support used games (much to the cheering of GameStop shareholders no doubt) and will not have an online connection requirement. There was some bad news as well, but let's focus on the good news for the moment.
The way Sony announced this was simple. A simple set of slides that announced to the world the PS4 would support used games, and there was no DRM for disc based games. Of course there will be DRM for downloadable titles, but that's acceptable for numerous reasons. Sony utterly destroyed Microsoft in this three minute discussion around DRM.
However, with the good news, came the bad. Sony has decided to follow Microsoft's path and charge for online multiplayer. If this is the compromise that gamers have to take to be able to avoid some of the draconian DRM systems Microsoft is putting in place, I think most will be happy to have it. PSN Plus will be required, but it was also confirmed that the PS Plus free game system will continue over to PS4, with Driveclub (or a variant of it) being confirmed as available for PS Plus customers on PS4. So pay for multiplayer sure, but get free games. We should note that MS is following this path with Xbox Live Gold as of September.
... Read the rest in your browser!
| |
Read More ...
Top 10 TweakTown Content from the past week [10 June 2013]
Here are our top 10 articles, reviews and guides from the past week!
- A look at SanDisk's Extreme II SSD Architecture
- NZXT Grid 10 Port Fan Hub Review
- SanDisk Extreme II 240GB SSD Review
- TweakTown's Guide to 3D Printing: Part 2 - 3D Printer Kit Selection
- SanDisk Extreme II 120GB SSD Review
- SanDisk Extreme II 480GB SSD Review
- TweakTown's "Best of Computex 2013" Awards and Winners
- TweakTown Blue Prodigy PC breaks PCMark Storage World Record at Computex 2013
- PQI Air Card 4GB Wi-Fi SDHC Review
| |
Read More ...
ASUS Z87-Expert (Intel Z87) Motherboard Review
Introduction
Now that Computex is over, we can back on track and start to plough through the samples that sit around us, especially those that are related to everything Haswell. Today we're starting off with a motherboard and it's the original one that you saw in our launch review of the 4770K CPU.
Package
The right hand side of the box expands on some of the main features which include the Dual Intelligent Processors 4 with 4-Way optimization covering performance, efficiency, digital power and system cooling. You can also see a run down on Thunderbolt and below that you can see information on the Wi-Fi GO! feature that is included.
... Read the rest in your browser!
| |
Read More ...
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.
... Read the rest in your browser!
| |
Read More ...
Cooler Master N200 Chassis Review
Introduction
On the outside you can do just about anything, but as many companies will tell you, once you get too far outside the box, less and less people are interested in your designs. What I look for externally is a unique looking bezel that is well ventilated, but looks will supersede airflow for some. As for the door panels, well I prefer flat panels with a window, but my second choice is panels with bumps for extra room, and without a window, I do like the option to have a fan in the left side to blow directly on the video cards to help keep them cool when in SLI or X-fire. As for the back of the chassis, I don't expect much, maybe some removable expansion slot covers that I can replace later. No cheap tool-free mechanisms in the back, maybe some holes for water cooling, but most definitely it needs an exhaust fan. As far as the PSU is concerned, it can be at the top or the bottom as long as the cables reach, but if it is on the bottom a dust filter is a must.
The newest chassis to hit the desk for testing is the Cooler Master N200. What many will be surprised to see is that most of the things I listed above are in some way included in this new chassis. While this is a much smaller chassis than most are used to dealing with, Cooler Master did not let that stop them from helping to redefine what buyers want to see in any chassis, even if released in the sub-$50 category as this one is.
What you are about to see may be compact, but it is attractively stylish, offers all sorts of things we don't see in some towers much larger and more expensively priced, and is a chassis that I can see many buyers warming up to once they see everything the N200 has to offer.
... Read the rest in your browser!
| |
Read More ...
Scythe Ashura CPU Cooler Review
Introduction
The idea behind this latest addition to their CPU cooler lineup was to offer more room for the memory. With that in mind, they didn't want to shrink the tower any, or have to rely on a super thin fan to make the room, so they were left with the idea to simply offset the cooler slightly. Essentially once the pipes leave the base, they make a roughly ten degree bend to the left. This alone will allow this full sized tower cooler to now offer room for all the DIMM slots to be populated. Take into account that this new cooler looks very appealing, and should match any system with the black anodized aluminum top plate of the cooler that you will be looking at when this cooler is in use, and the fact that they claim they did not sacrifice performance in doing any of this, there is potential for this design yet.
Today we will be looking at the Ashura from Scythe. As I said, it is offset, it ships with a strong 140mm fan for cooling, and with the new hardware, it should give a secure and high pressure mount to the CPU, and with all the minor features added into the design, it should give the Ashura a leg up on the competition.
I plan to test exactly that with the Ashura, as we work through the next few pages keep an eye out for all the finer details along with the obvious ones as we see just how well the Scythe Ashura keeps up with the competition in single fan tower cooling.
... Read the rest in your browser!
| |
Read More ...
Genius X-G510 Optical Gaming Mouse Review
Introduction
The mouse we will be looking at in-depth shortly is a different take on the design and layout all together. When Genius built the DeathTaker, they limited the market some to people who love a bunch of buttons, and of course for those who have small hands. This time around the coin was flipped and the new mouse is more about simplicity, while showing off just a little. In this latest entry, not only is the functionality simplified, this is also ambidextrous, and so it gives those "lefties" out there another option. I do wish I had a broader sampling of Genius mice, but with a laser sensor example out of the way with the DeathTaker, I am glad to see an optical offering for the second time around.
So, let's get down to it and explain why we are here today and why you should keep reading. For one, the looks of the mouse you are about to see is very well thought out, and does make for a great fit to both right and left handed users. This mouse also offers rubberized coatings, a unique LED lighting scheme and software that will allow you to do anything you wish with the mouse.
All of this is contained inside of the new Genius X-G510 gaming mouse, and I really think it is well worth a look, more specifically once you catch wind of the great pricing.
... Read the rest in your browser!
| |
Read More ...
CM Storm Quick Fire Stealth Mechanical Keyboard Review
Introduction
One of the cooler things I got to see at CES 2013 was in the Cooler Master suite, and is also where I got to meet Carter who is designing these keyboards and trying to make CM Storm one of the top names in mechanical keyboards. In his pursuit to come up with something out of the box without taking it too far, he designed a mechanical keyboard where initially I thought all of the letters, icons, and numbers had been removed, when I saw it at a distance. After asking Carter about it, he then pulled the keyboard out so I could take a closer look. The idea behind this keyboard was to give the purists and elitists something they would be proud to own, while still making something a visual typist could use and just feel cool for having the top of his key caps blanked out, while still having something to go off of to locate where the key is on the keyboard, too.
There are quite a few "hidden features" in the latest submission from CM Storm. Hence the naming of this keyboard, the Quick Fire Stealth. Just like in warfare, this comes all black to sneak up on the enemies - at a quick glance it has nothing to give it away as far as bold lettering that is plainly visible, and just like the plane, with this keyboard, you can order it with whatever switch type serves the job best under the key caps for you.
I say we dive right in and see what these hidden features and all this talk about the blanked out key caps is all about so that you can make the call for yourself whether or not this is one of the coolest keyboards you have ever seen.
... Read the rest in your browser!
| |
Read More ...
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.
... Read the rest in your browser!
| |
Read More ...
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.
... Read the rest in your browser!
| |
Read More ...
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.
 |  |
Read More ...
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.
| |
Read More ...
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.
[img]2[/img]
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.
| |
Read More ...
ASRock's Motherboards Win More Awards and Break More World Records at COMPUTEX 2013 with TweakTown
TAIPEI, TAIWAN, June 11, 2013 - They say Haswell is faster, but do those incremental improvements justify for building a new desktop PC this year? The globally trusted tech site, TweakTown answers this question by awarding ASRock's latest member of the OC Formula Series, Z87 OC Formula/ac with a Best of COMPUTEX 2013 award!
TweakTown's Best of COMPUTEX 2013: Z87 OC Formula/ac
As you might have guessed, Z87 OC Formula/ac is designed by one of the best overclockers around, Nick Shih, just like its predecessor. This overclocking oriented motherboard does not simply inherit the great overclocking capabilities from the former model, it is also equipped with numerous new features. Such as a Status OLED that displays the motherboard's frequency, temperature, BCLK ratio and other crucial information. There's also lifestyle based features, A-Style, including the only genuine conductive liquids, dust, corrosion resistance solution for motherboards, Conformal Coating. 2T2R 802.11ac WiFi for up to 867Mbps internet connections. Purity Soundâ„¢ which provides excellent bass, more details, less distortion, and supports 600 ohm high impedance headphones. HDMI-In for allowing two devices to share one monitor, and allowing users to instantly toggle between the two devices. Lastly, ASRock's remote wake and remote desktop solution, Home Cloud.
TweakTown Breaks PCMark Vantage HDD World Record with 592754 points on ASRock's Z87E-ITX
Another 8 Series motherboard worthy of mentioning is ASRock's Z87E-ITX. TweakTown used an Intel Core i5-4670K CPU, plus a total of 16 Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 240GB SSD drives and a new Areca RAID controller on ASRock's Z87E-ITX to break the PCMark Vantage HDD world record by 592754!
http://www.asrock.com/microsite/intel8/
| |
Read More ...
COMPRO Technology, C4Home Cloud Platform & TN-Series IP Camera Successful Conference at COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2013
Do you know how cloud and IP camera are changing the security industry? What is Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS)? C4Home, a cloud platform is the answer to the above and enables manufacturers to tap into more market segments.
C4Home cloud platform empowers users with a new digital lifestyle with access anytime and anywhere technology. It combines the best of both worlds by integrating video surveillance and home automation under a single APP. C4Home is more than a traditional VSaaS, it is a platform is built with OPENNES in mind, which allows us to integrate cameras, security sensors, home automation devices, NVR and e-health devices.
- 1. Easy Installation: 3 Steps with Scan & Forget function
- 2. True Mobility: Users are able to communicate (listening / speaking) directly from their cell phones, anytime, anywhere.
- 3. Intelligent Camera with Notification: The camera is on constant watch for any suspicious activities and will send out push notifications should they be detected.
- 4. Split Screen Viewing: Users will be able to view four cameras simultaneously on Android smartphones.
- 5. Keep it personal: Each of the cameras can be individually configured from smart phone to broadcast the video or not. For example, you can turn off the camera if you were at home and be assured that your privacy is kept.
- 6. HD on the Go: Users now have the ability to view 720P HD video on smart phones when coupled with a supported camera, e.g. TN90.
- 7. Cloud Storage: The C4Home smart phone APP had included DropBox support so the important snapshots can be saved to cloud immediately after events happened.
- TN30: The entry level MJPEG VGA day & night camera, targeted at the first time buyers.
- TN60: The advanced H.264 VGA day & night camera, a feature-rich cube camera for those who wishes to retrieve local recordings on cloud.
- TN90: A 720P HD day & night camera for the enthusiast, offering all the bells and whistles, including 720P H.264 video, day & night vision, PIR sensor for human detection.
The TN-series of IP camera is available from June 2013. To find out the availability or the specific models for your country, please contact http://www.comprousa.com.
| |
Read More ...
Top 10 TweakTown Press Releases from the past week [10 June 2013]
Here are our top 10 posted press releases from the past week!
- OCZ Launches the Next Generation Vertex 450 Series Solid State Drives
- More Value Added to ADATA's DashDrive Series
- HP Unveils Desktop PC That Leaves the Desk Behind
- PQI Highlights the World with the Latest Technologies at Computex 2013 Announcing New Products for New Lifestyles
- AMD Amplifies the Mobile Experience
- CYBERPOWERPC Releases the Zeus EVO Storm Series -- Enthusiast Performance at its finest powered by NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780
- EK Water Blocks Announces EK-SF3D Inflection Point EVO Evaporator
- Rosewill Expands RPLC Powerline Networking Series
| |
Read More ...
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
| |
Read More ...
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).
| |
Read More ...
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
| |
Read More ...
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!"
| |
Read More ...
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
| |
Read More ...
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.
| |
Read More ...
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.
| |
Read More ...
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.
| |
Read More ...
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.
| |
Read More ...
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.
| |
Read More ...
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.
| |
Read More ...
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.
| |
Read More ...
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
| |
Read More ...
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
| |
Read More ...
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.
| |
Read More ...
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
| |
Read More ...
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!
| |
Read More ...
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
| |
Read More ...
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."
| |
Read More ...
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.
| |
Read More ...
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
| |
Read More ...
Available Tags:NVIDIA , BlackBerry , Facebook , CEO , Samsung , Apple , Java , security , Nintendo , Xbox , Adobe , Google , iOS , AMD , server , iPhone , Yahoo , CPU , YouTube , ASUS , GeForce , smartphone , smartphone , Seagate , HDD , HDD , ASRock , Gaming , TweakTown , Seagate , HDD , HDD , GeForce , GTX , Intel , SSD , Sony , TweakTown , ASUS , Cooler Master , CPU Cooler , Gaming , Keyboard , CPU Cooler , CPU Cooler , Motherboards , TweakTown , TweakTown , TweakTown , OCZ , Notebook , Gaming , Intel , Intel , Overclockers , CPU Cooler , Gaming , Cooler Master , Seagate , HDD , GTX , TweakTown , GeForce , GTX , Thunderbolt , Wireless , GeForce , GTX , Gaming , GeForce , GTX , GPU , OCZ , GeForce , GTX , Gaming ,
No comments:
Post a Comment