LeakedTT: Possible images of iPhone 5S surface, could get fingerprint reader if rumors ring true
It never fails. When an Apple product is a month to a few weeks away from launch, we begin to see leaked rumors, images, and hardware info begin to surface from just about every corner of the internet. The past few weeks have been no different with the upcoming so-called "low-cost iPhone".
Finally Reuters is reporting that the new iPhone 5S will in fact include a fingerprint reader for biometric security, and password authentication.
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Cambridge Audio introduces Minx M5, a powerful 2.1 audio system
Cambridge Audio has just announced the Minx M5, a 2.1 audio system that "reproduces computer audio with clarity, emotion and passion." The company says that the new system combines the benefits of Cambridge Audio's proprietary sound technologies and an in-house design expertise.
The unit features a single 2-inch driver per satellite and a 5.25-inch subwoofer, all of which is powered by a 30W amp. Weighing in at less than a pound each, the satellite speakers take up a mere three inches cubed of desk space while the subwoofer tops the scales at 10 pounds and about eight inches cubed. The Minx M5 is available from Cambridge Audio now at a price point of $229.
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All of the negative Xbox One news did nothing to stifle sales at Amazon
If you think all of the negative news surrounding the Xbox One did anything to hurt pre-order sales, then you are horribly mistaken. This morning, Amazon.com told us that last week during the height of E3, the company saw more than 2500 Xbox One and Playstation 4 console pre-orders being sold per minute.
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Microsoft's former Xbox designer will soon be the Chief Design Officer of Xbox Entertainment Studios
Microsoft has appointed a new Chief Designer to their Xbox Entertainment Studios, former Xbox designer Elan Lee. Lee left Microsoft for a while, where he formed two different companies working on different projects.
The move by Microsoft to aggressively court Hollywood studios and the rest of the entertainment ilk underscores two facts: the future of the Xbox is a holistic entertainment device, and not a gaming console that has the mere ability to play Netflix. Secondly, Microsoft has real work ahead of it at the E3 event: it must prove to gamers that even though Xbox is growing up, the company hasn't forgotten about its core constituency.
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Foxconn are confident in Firefox OS, will hire 3000 software engineers for help
Foxconn obviously think Firefox OS is a safe bet, since the company are hiring some 3,000 software engineers to help them out. Why would Foxconn need the software engineers being a manufacturing facility? Well, software engineers can write Firefox OS drivers and optimizations for devices that they build, which helps them in a big way.
HTML5 experience comes in handy from a manufacturing point of view, as most devices can benefit from it - not just Firefox OS.
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Low-cost iPhone won't be so cheap according to Pegatron chairman
We're told to expect a cheaper iPhone to be unveiled later this year, something that could hit the very sweet spot of $350-$400. At this price, it would compete with what I think is the hardest to beat smartphone on the market right now, the Nexus 4.
Japanese site Macotakara are the ones reporting the news from the China Times, reporting that Tung addressed the iPhone at a meeting of Pegatron's shareholders. He expressed his displeasure with reports that the new iPhone could be "cheap" and noted that the "price is still high". Tung believes that attaching the word "cheap" anywhere near the word "iPhone" would make it look like a low-value feature phone.
I don't think it does, because I think when people think of the iPhone, they know it is expensive. Expensive being $600+ for a smartphone.
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Logitech unveil standalone version of the Harmony Ultimate Hub
Logitech have just unveiled a new standalone version of their Harmony Ultimate Hub. All that is required is an application for your Android- or iOS-based device, which will then allow you to control up to eight home theater devices.
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Lenovo launches a slew of new Windows 8, touch-capable laptops
Lenovo have just unveiled a heap of new laptops, which are all running Windows 8 and are touch-capable. We have the Lenovo Miix, which is a 10.1-inch tablet that feature a "quick-flip" detachable folio case with an integrated AccuType keyboard that converts it into a full-fledged Windows 8 laptop.
The IdeaPad S400 and S500 can be configured with Intel's third-generation Core i5 processors. The IdeaPad S210 features either Intel's third-generation Core i3 or Core i5 processor. All three products include Dolby Advance Audio v2 certification which will give consumers a great audio experience. S Series users will also enjoy Lenovo Companion, Lenovo Support and Lenovo Cloud applications which will allow data backups and recovery in a simple way.
The S400 is a 14-inch device while the S500 features a 15.6-inch display - both products have HD resolutions. The S210 comes with an 11.6-inch HD display. Price-wise, we should expect the S400 to sell for $449 and the S500 to start at $579.
The new U Series laptops are available with Intel's latest and greatest "Haswell" processors, the fourth-generation Core products. These devices feature optional NVIDIA GeForce graphics, 1TB of storage, a 16GB SSD and have it all crammed into a metal frame weighing just 3.7 pounds. The U330 Touch features a 13.3-inch display which can be optioned up to a Full HD screen. The U430 Touch features a 14-inch HD+ or Full HD display.
The U330 will sell for $799 and the U430 should arrive at $899.
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Kickstarter-funded ARKYD space telescope reaches funding goal
Planetary Resources' Kickstarter goals for their ARKYD space telescope have been reached, a goal of a hefty $1 million. The project saw 11,000 backers, and should launch into orbit in 2015.
This means that a new round of add-ons for the extra-committed, oh goodie! Backers can purchase a special mission patch for $7, additional selfie photos starting from $25, and for the really committed, you can purchase a half-size ARKYD replica for just $600. Planetary Resources has longer term goals, which could see a second ground stations, selfies during the beta stage and even hunts for undiscovered planets.
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Microsoft's 180-degree turn on the Xbox One sees it top the Amazon best-seller chart
You spoke, they listened - Microsoft pulled most of the crap that made people hate the Xbox One, something we've written countless pieces on now. The PS4 from Sony was at the top of the Amazon best-seller chart, but it has now been replaced by the Xbox One.
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RumorTT: Robert Downey Jr to be the face of HTC's smartphone range
HTC are hoping that getting the man who plays Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr, to be part of their new marketing plans. The news comes from Bloomberg who are reporting that "two people with knowledge of the plans" leaking the deal to the publication.
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Battlefield 4's Spectator Mode is shaping up very nicely
One of the games at the top of my most-wanted list is definitely DICE's Battlefield 4, and that game has just impressed me much more with their new Spectator Mode. The official Battlefield YouTube channel saw the release of a new video yesterday with EA DICE producer Daniel Matros walking us through Battlefield 4's Spectator Mode.
BF4's Spectator Mode allows players to watch the game being played, in a very easy fashion. You can view it from the usual first-person view, or even go into third-person mode where the camera floats behind the player's back. You can pull up the scoreboard and simply click on a player, where it will go straight to that player's first-person view. There are also "free cams" within the game, which are pinned around the map and not locked to a particular player.
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Pirate Bay founder receives two-year sentence for hacking Logica
Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, one of the Pirate Bay founders, was arrested last September on charges that he was part of the hacking against Logica. Logica is an IT company that manages tax documents and services for Swedish companies.
Warg was already serving a one-year sentence for his sharing of copyright-protected files through the Pirate Bay, after which he failed to show up for a hearing on the charge. Warg went into hiding and was found and arrested in Cambodia last September. These two years will now tack onto the end of his one-year sentence.
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Max Payne 3 slow mo jumps onto the Mac today
The slow-mo diving, pain killer-taking Max Payne 3 has arrived on the Apple Mac OS X platform today. Until now, it was only available on PC and the consoles, but now it is available for all your Mac lovers out there!
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LG set to host event in NYC on August 7, should we expect a new flagship smartphone to be unveiled?
Mark your calendars for August 7, as it looks like LG is hosting an event in New York City. We don't know what the South Korean giant will be unveiling, but I'm expecting to see a new flagship smartphone featuring Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 SoC.
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Google creates another Chrome web game, meet Cube Slam
Google has created another web-based game playable directly in Google Chrome. Cube Slam allows you to play a 3D version of Pong against your friend. You attempt to send the cube through your opponent's screen. The real fun starts when you play against a friend with a webcam.
Other companies could make use of technology Intel is developing to isolate just the player's head, which could then be placed on the in-game character. Check out Google's Cube Slam and let us know what you think. Make sure to be using Chrome when visiting the link.
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EA reaffirms Online Pass discontinuation despite Microsoft's DRM reversal
Electronic Arts has reaffirmed that the Online Pass DRM scheme will not be making a comeback, even after Microsoft's Xbox One DRM reversal. Most players despised EA's Online Pass because it required them to buy a code to get online access. Of course, if you bought the game new, it came with one free pass.
Luckily, it looks as though this won't be the case.
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Check out Rovio Stars' first game, 'Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage'
Not too long ago, we announced that Rovio had opened a publishing studio to help new game studios get started. Rovio Stars' first game to be published is Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage. From the trailer, it appears to include aspects of Cut the Rope and Slice It! Take a look for yourself:
The game is available for $0.99 on the iPhone and $2.99 on the iPad. It looks like it could be a fun game, though I haven't yet gotten a chance to try it out for myself. One of the best parts of the game is that it features a variety of different puzzles through featuring different obstacles.
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Microsoft investigated building an e-commerce site to take on Amazon, Ebay
According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft recently considered entering the e-commerce market. Rolling out an e-commerce site would have put Microsoft in direct competition with Amazon and Ebay, the two current market leaders in the e-commerce market.
Project Brazil was an incubation to enable a more direct commerce model between customers and brands and merchants. We remain committed to finding new and differentiated ways to enable a richer, more task oriented approach to e-commerce and online advertising.E-commerce is an important marketplace. The market continues to expand, with estimates saying it will reach $1.3 trillion this year, which is up 18 percent from last year. The e-commerce site would have been part of Windows and eventually other products such as Xbox and Windows Phone. Source #1 below has the full details.
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ReportTT: Skype's Project Chess investigated legal and technical issues with making Skype calls readily available to government
More and more continues to surface regarding the NSA and its spying programs. Now the New York Times has reported that Skype worked on a secret project roughly five years ago and involved fewer than a dozen Skype employees. Project Chess, as it's called, was started to investigate the legal and technical issues with making Skype calls readily available to the government.
There's still a lot we don't know about NSA spying and Prism, though it's starting to become abundantly clear that all digital communications could be tapped by government agencies fairly easily.
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Hands-on with Samsung's new devices unveiled at the Premiere 2013 event in London
Johannes Knapp is in London for the Samsung Premiere 2013 event and went hands-on with all of the new Samsung devices that were debuted today. Take a look at his hands-on video below:
We have full coverage of the specifications and press shots in earlier news posts. To get the full details, check out our posts on the GALAXY S4 mini, GALAXY S4 Zoom, GALAXY NX, and ATIV Q.
Our man on the ground noted that the devices are all quite solid, with the ATIV Q's screen being of incredibly high resolution. He also noted the snappy response of the GALAXY NX camera that is powered by a quad-core processor.
We'll hopefully have some, if not all, of these devices in for review so we can get a more thorough review for our readers.
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European retailer posts sign that says Sony PlayStation 4 is coming November 13
While far from official, one European retailer has outed November 13 as the day the PlayStation 4 will be available in Europe. The only official launch date we've received from Sony is that it will launch for $399 sometime in 2013, likely towards the holiday season.
The Wii U launched last year in November and November makes a great time for a launch as it is 4 to 8 weeks before Christmas. This would allow time for parents to shop for their children. As with all unofficial reports, take this date with a grain of salt.
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WhatsApp now has more than 250 million active users, looks to be gunning for Facebook's 1 billion
Messaging platform WhatsApp has seen massive user growth over the past four years, with a large portion of the growth coming in the last year or two. WhatsApp has announced that they are now seeing more than 250 million active users, or a quarter of the total users on Facebook.
Whether WhatsApp will be able to continue this rate of growth remains to be seen.
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Say hello to the GALAXY S4 Active, an S4 variant designed to stand up to dirt and water
You've probably caught on that Samsung held a press event in London today where they unveiled a bunch of GALAXY S4 variants. The last one we have for you today is the GALAXY S4 Active, a smartphone designed for an active lifestyle that might be hazardous to other electronic devices.
It sports a 1.9 GHz quad-core processor powered by a 2,600mAh battery. It features a 5-inch full HD TFT LCD with a pixel density of 443ppi. The rear-camera is 8MP and features a new 'Aqua Mode' to take great pictures under water. It also comes with all of the features of the Samsung GALAXY S4 introduced in March.
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Meet the GALAXY S4 mini, a trimmed down version of the GALAXY S4
At Samsung's Premiere press event in London, Samsung debuted the GALAXY S4 mini. The S4 mini is a trimmed down version of the GALAXY S4 that is designed for customers looking for a great device on a budget. It's a smaller device, as the name implies, which makes it attractive to some purchasers.
The rear-facing camera is 8MP and the front-facing camera is 1.9MP. It features pretty much what you would expect from a Samsung device: 3G, LTE, Wi-Fi, Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2, and the new features Samsung introduced with the GALAXY S4 back in March.
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Angelbird SSD2Go 240GB USB 3.0 Portable SSD Drive Review
Angelbird is a relatively young company; starting out just two years ago, they have released a number of products some of which include the Wings PCIe SSD, along with the Enterprise Class Crest Master Solid State Solution. Angelbird has now joined the external storage market with the SSD2Go, offering their custom drive in 120GB, 240GB and 480GB capacities.
The Angelbird SSD2Go is compatible with recent Microsoft Windows operating systems and Mac OS X 10.4+. The SSD2Go carries a three year warranty.
To test external storage platforms, we utilize three of the most well-known and respected benchmark applications. ATTO Disk Benchmark is the first and is recognized as the industry standard for marketing specifications. The second, CDM or Crystal Disk Mark offers sequential read and write metrics, 512K random read and writes and 4K data with Queue Depths up to 32.
Through Disk Bench, we offer real-world testing as it offers a custom data set that can be controlled by the user. For our testing I use a 10GB directory of mixed data that includes, pictures in both the RAW and JPEG file formats, AVCHD video and documents in both the XLS and DOC formats.
The SSD2Go takes external storage to another level in terms of customization and build quality. The amount of detail that goes into the custom CNC machined casing is unreal adding to this the glass beading the enclosure goes through before being anodized all giving the end-user a silky smooth portable storage solution.
Performance of the SSD2Go was exceptional, claiming the top spot on our charts and becoming the first single drive storage solution to claim every bit of performance from our native USB 3.0 test system, reaching 458MB/s. Adding to the impressive storage performance is the CapX super capacitor that allows four seconds of protection, which, in case of power loss, will perform a flush command shutting down the controller and the whole device safely.
Pricing of the SSD2Go in the configuration tested here today is set at $389.99, with the 120GB and 480GB capacities available for $219.99 and $669.99 respectively.
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NZXT H630 Silent Ultra Tower Chassis Review
Introduction
Writing that email wasn't something I wanted to do, but NZXT was more than understanding as I sent an image along of their chassis, completely soaked. They told me then not to worry about it because they had something down the line that they were going to send me instead of another Phantom chassis. That time has now arrived, and while the interior is very close to what was offered in the Phantom 630, this new chassis has that design, but on steroids. Of course there are some small changes here, but the main concept on the inside is much the same. As for the exterior, things are completely different this time around.
Two major changes are to be found in this new chassis from NZXT when compared to the Phantom 630. The first is the overall size, as this new chassis is enormous, and is classified and an Ultra-Tower. The second, and reasoning as to why it is now an H series offering, is that they have taken measures to limit the noise levels as much as possible.
With all of this fresh in your mind, let's jump right into the specifications and pricing to complete that mental image of what the new H630 from NZXT brings.
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Cooler Master i700 700-Watt 80 PLUS Bronze Power Supply Review
Introduction
We've gone over this many times, but the power supply can be just as important as any other component, because while it may not directly lead to performance increases, it does dictate system stability to a certain amount. This is because "dirty" power just doesn't go well with modern CPUs and GPUs that operate at such high levels these days.
Cooler Master's i700 is meant to fit that budget build where limiting cost is a huge factor, but doesn't cut too many corners in build quality and reliability. It may not be the most feature rich unit on the market, but if it does so without breaking the bank and passing our tests, it might be one of the best choices for a budget unit.
Let's take a close look over the next few pages.
Specifications, Availability and Pricing
The Cooler Master i700 has an MSRP of $79.99 and is already available just about everywhere. At the time of writing Newegg lists the unit for $59.99 after a $20 rebate and free shipping, so that makes this a very cheap unit no matter how you look at it. Cooler Master provides a five year warranty on the i700.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Corsair Vengeance Pro PC3-14900 16GB Dual Channel Memory Kit Review
While the Vengeance series has been around for a while now, the introduction of the new Z87 platform has brought with it the new Vengeance Pro series of RAM.
Looking below you can see the overall design, while new, isn't anything too wild. The heatsink height is pretty standard. One thing that really stands out, though, is the black PCB. Against the black heatsink it looks great, and while we know it's only cosmetic, it's something that always grabs our eye. There's nothing more of an eyesore than a nice black heatsink or any other color for that matter, with an ugly green PCB.
While the CMY16GX3M2A1866C9 model number gives us a fairly good idea of what's going on, you can see below that we're dealing with a 16GB kit that comes in the form of two 8GB modules.
With the kit installed, we headed into the BIOS and simply set the XMP profile for the module. Looking below you can see once we got into Windows with no problems and everything was running fine.
When it came to the memory overclocking side of things it's all a bit new for us on this new platform. Like the Z77 platform, though, which bought a strong increase to memory overclocking, the new Z87 takes that a step further with some truly amazing memory speeds being reached by overclockers around the world.
This being our first kit of RAM that we've overclocked we didn't know what to expect. Coming in at 1866MHz DDR at stock we jumped up to 2200MHz DDR to see how we went. Straight away our system wouldn't boot. From there we moved down to the 2133MHz DDR divider. While our machine booted, as soon as we got into Windows, we found ourselves greeted with a BSOD.
So, we headed back into the BIOS and moved down to the 2000MHz DDR divider. Straight away our machine booted as we expected and got into Windows with no problem. We ran our AIDA64 CPU benchmark and found no issue with the kit running at this speed.
With that all looking good we headed back into the BIOS to play with the BCLK on our 4770K for the first time. We jumped up to 102 and kept moving by .5 increments. We got to 105 and our system stopped booting. We moved back to 104.5 and while we booted with no issue, we got a BSOD before Windows was fully loaded. We then moved back to 104 and got into Windows with no trouble. We fired up AIDA64 and straight away our benchmark ran with no issues.
Under AIDA64 we ended up with Read / Write numbers of 31,368 MB/s / 32,598 MB/s, Copy speed of 30,756 MB/s and latency of 45.9ns. Overall you can see a bit of movement in all areas. Unlike the Z77 platform, there isn't just one area that just jumps up. Instead you can see across the board a nice increase in all areas and a nice reduction in the latency speed.
Once we found the overclock, we headed into the BIOS and increased our CPU speed as high as possible. Of course this clock can vary a bit due to the fact that the BCLK is thrown into the mix often. Keeping with the same timings and 104 BCLK, our memory remained at 2079MHz DDR.
Under AIDA64 we ended up with Read / Write numbers of 31,302 MB/s / 32,648 MB/s, Copy speed of 30,937 MB/s and latency of 46.0ns. This is of course the first time we've done memory overclocking on the new platform and it's interesting to see that overclocking the CPU does almost nothing to memory performance. In the past we'd see a strong jump in the read and write speeds, but here you can see that performance is almost identical. The only thing we're dealing with is a bit of fluctuation in all our results.
Our first look at the new Corsair Vengeance Pro looks to be a good one with some strong performance being seen. I think the most interesting thing to note, though, is that unlike previous platforms that saw a jump in memory performance when overclocking the CPU, the new Haswell platform doesn't really get that.
At $144.99 the CMY16GX3M2A1866C9 kit comes in at a good price. 16GB of RAM continues to be enough for most people and 1866MHz DDR is a speed that is fast, but isn't going to cost you an arm and a leg. The new heatsink looks great and in typical Corsair fashion, the overall quality of the kit is very high.
We're looking forward to testing more and more of the Vengeance Pro kits as we know that Corsair will be offering speeds as high as 2933MHz DDR in time. Until then, though, if you're looking for something that isn't so insane, this is a great option to throw into your new Haswell build.
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Top 10 TweakTown Content from the past week [17 June 2013]
Here are our top 10 articles, reviews and guides from the past week!
- A look at SanDisk's Extreme II SSD Architecture
- ASUS Z87-Expert (Intel Z87) Motherboard Review
- Ironside Cyclone Desktop Gaming PC (with custom TweakTown airbrushing) Review
- Sony brutally destructs Microsoft's Xbox One plan with its PlayStation 4 console at E3
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card Overclocked
- Seagate Enterprise Performance 10K HDD V.6 (Savvio 10K.6) SAS Enterprise HDD Review
- Intel DC S3500 480GB Enterprise SSD Review
- Man of Steel (2013) Cinema Review from the perspective of a Superman fanboy
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Australian Blu-ray Importing: June 2013 Buying Guide
The last month has seen the Australian dollar ride a roller coaster which has pushed the value down, although it has done a good job of retaining its value just short of parity.
Of course, this has made imports just a tad less enticing than last month, however, nothing is more compelling than Blu-ray titles that haven't made their way to our shores so let's take a look at the latest instalment of the series. As always, these discs are safe to import for local Region B Blu-ray players.
One Hour Photo
Country of Origin: United States
Purchase: Amazon.com
Region: A, B, C
At the turn of the new millennium, funny man Robin Williams turned his back on comedy, with a series of seriously dark fare that showed off his wider acting range. The most memorable of these, Mark Romanek's One Hour Photo is just as chilling as it was in 2002, even if the thought of developing 35mm film is a notion from another age.
When the outwardly mild mannered, but twisted photo clerk Sy (Robin Williams) begins to obsess over a young family and their seemingly perfect life, their worlds clash together when Sy crosses the line. With an almost art-house feel, and an unexpectedly great turn from Robin Williams, One Hour Photo truly stands the test of time.
Ghostbusters: Mastered in 4K
Country of Origin: United States
Purchase: Amazon.com
Region: A, B, C
In an echo of Sony Picture's long abandoned 'Superbit' line of DVD titles which provided negligible benefits over standard releases, Sony have resurrected the idea and brought it into the HD world. The 'Mastered in 4K' line of titles are designed to increase the bitrate of titles, encoding them such that they should provide an increase in quality for those with 4K compatible displays, albeit in a 1080p resolution.
This doesn't necessarily mean that those without 4K displays don't benefit, although with some titles the benefit is rudimentary. In the case of Ghostbusters however, Sony have struck a new transfer for the 1984 sci-fi comedy which offers tangible benefits over the initial Blu-ray release. Whilst the extra features have been sadly dropped (in a manner similar to the Superbit range), the transfer is more stable, with superior color and less hot whites which washed out the picture.
Fans will still want to hold on to the initial release, but for a bargain price, the more demanding Blu-ray aficionados amongst us should definitely give this one a spin.
Lilo and Stitch: 2 Movie Collection
Country of Origin: United States
Purchase: Amazon.com
Region: A, B, C
After being drip fed classic Disney releases on Blu-ray for a number of years, in 2012 the drip has become a torrent, with the vast majority of the holes in the Disney classic collection being filled. While it's not all roses; the Blu-ray features none of the extensive extra features prepared for the DVD release - in fact no extra features at all, the transfer for the first film is impeccable and joined by the films sequel makes for a reasonably solid package for Disney fans.
Lilo and Stitch is one of contemporary Disney's most loved non-CG animated features, which Japanese audiences in particular took quite a fascination with. The sequel is typical Disney fare, one which is a little bit of a dis-service to the original, but might keep the kids quite for a good few hours.
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome
Country of Origin: United States
Purchase: Amazon.com
Region: A, B, C
Whilst the Mad Max Trilogy is not generally considered amongst the classic motion picture trilogies such as Back To The Future, Star Wars and Toy Story, it is nonetheless an interesting film series which shows real progression between entries, rather than rehashing the same story three times over.
Beyond Thunderdome is memorable to South Australians for having been filmed in the outback of Coober Pedy, which a trip last year indicated to me has not changed much since 1985. Sadly, Warner have not included any new features, but they have struck a pleasing new 2K transfer which will no doubt excite fans prior to the release of next year's Mad Max: Fury Road.
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BBC's Africa (2012) Blu-ray Review
Africa consists of six 45 minute episodes which looks at specific areas of the continent; including Kalahari, Savannah, Congo, Cape and the Sahara, focusing on the wildlife, threats and challenges that face the fragile eco systems exclusive to each. Full of stunning footage, which both boggle the mind and pull at the heart strings, Africa brings home to viewers just how much the animal kingdom has in common with humanity, and have the power to both uplift and respect.
Video
Africa is presented in the film's original aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 1080i 50Hz, encoded with AVC MPEG-4 compression. Due to the use of 50Hz video frequency, viewers from NTSC regions will not be able to playback the discs on standard displays and should therefore purchase the release locally, which has been converted to 24p.
Whilst there are occasional artifacts which take the form aliasing as a result of the 1080i encoding, some, or all of these may be inherent in the source material and the varying models of the approximately 500 HD cameras utilized in the production, specific display panels and projectors will handle the necessary descaling with differing degrees of success.
Overall however, I was extremely pleased with the image quality of Africa, both from a technical standpoint, and a photographic standpoint. Colors are bold and brilliant, and seemingly accurate to the subject matter. Images are crisp and clear and every frame bristles with detail - from the strands on a lions mane, to thousands of flocking birds, all of which no doubt push video encoders to their limits.
Africa is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, at 24 bits.
For a documentary release, expectations for a barn storming audio track were kept somewhat diminished, and with that in mind it is easy to be impressed! David Attenborough's narration is kept front and center, with the main soundstage supported by the majority of action, whilst general ambience and semi-frequent directional effects fill the surrounds. Low frequency effects are rare, but assist where necessary.
Overall a pleasing effort, although it would have been great for Roadshow to present a narration free 5.1 track as an added option.
Sadly, BBC have neglected the opportunity to include a mountain of extra features, however each episode features an Eye to Eye featurette which takes the form of behind the scenes footage which explain the logistical issues of filming in challenging environments, and often include the filmmakers pleasure at having achieved a certain shot. At 10 minutes each, times by six - Eye to Eye is essentially an hour long documentary, which at the end of the day isn't too shabby at all.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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ADATA M.2 SSDs Performance Preview and the NGFF Story
Introduction
For the last six months or so we've heard bits and pieces about this new great piece of technology called NGFF. Behind the scenes, we call Next Generation Form Factor NGFF for short, but over the coming months the marketing term will pop up more often. At that point, the suits will turn NGFF to m.2, not to be confused with AMD's socket AM2.
The first time we started playing with PCIe based storage was with a Dell Mini 9 sent to us by MyDigitalDiscount. Although physically similar, the card in the Mini 9 looked and physically fit modern day mSATA products. mSATA was the primer for thumb stick sized SSD storage.
mSATA was popular with OEMs for SSD integration, either for primary storage or in caching solutions. GIGABYTE gave the technology a big push on desktops with two generations supporting the standard. As stated, mSATA was just the primer though.
Now we have NGFF, but that doesn't mean we're ready for computing nirvana yet. Before we get there, the controller makers need to provide a bridge between PCI Express and NAND flash. It's easy enough in theory, but the flash of today isn't the same as flash of tomorrow. Controller makers need to make products that don't just work with 2Xnm flash, but much deeper into the roadmap, even beyond 1Ynm, the generation on the horizon.
To bridge the gap between SATA and PCIe NGFF, we're first going to see the NGFF socket used with SATA devices. One of the products we're previewing today uses the LSI SF-2281 controller, the same we've raved on about for over two years. The NGFF socket is electrically compatible with both SATA and PCIe.
On the SATA side, not much has changed other than the shape and a few features that reduce power consumption. Not to downplay and amazing advances in power consumption that we'll look at in detail once I get back to the US office, but the storage system is still the slowest in a modern PC. We want the performance!
Even once we get true native PCIe SSDs for NGFF sockets, performance isn't just going to shoot to the moon. The first NGFF sockets are electrically PCIe 2.0 x1-lane. Today we're using the new ASUS Maximum Extreme VI, possibly the best motherboard I've used since the ABIT BE6 II with an Intel i440BX chipset. At the time of writing, ASUS is the only desktop motherboard manufacturer to include a NGFF socket on a desktop board. ASUS has a few products, mostly higher-end, with NGFF. These products are electrically compatible with SATA and PCIe 2.0 x1-lane. A single lane provides 5GT/s or roughly 500MB/s of throughput.
Intel first shipped PCIe 2.0 in October of 2007, on the X38 chipset. Even though 500MB/s is technically slower than SATA III's 560 MB/s -ish (real-world, post overhead), the latency is lower. The marketing folks are going to have a difficult time pushing PCIe SSDs in the coming months due to this issue, 500MB/s is slower than 560 MB/s, but now you need to pay attention to this latency number because it's what really matters. We've talked about latency for at least the last two years and tried to pound the importance of latency in because it's what makes day to day activities feel faster on your PC.
Taking NGFF one-step further, the standard will scale over time. The starting line is x1 lane and that will quickly leap to x2 lanes, just not on desktop motherboards, not at first. Each PCIe lane is comprised of four wires or traces. Two traces to transmit and two to receive the bi-directional signals. Running traces can be expensive and let's face it, Intel hasn't tried to significantly increase the number of PCIe lanes over the last few generations.
At Computex, we saw NGFF products with SATA III, PCIe 2.0 x2 and even a PCIe 2.0 x4 lane drive. The latter is what I would consider the Holy Grail for performance in 2014, up to 1,800 MB/s sequential read / write (can't wait to get my hands it).
As mentioned, only one motherboard manufacturer has NGFF on a desktop board, ASUS. That doesn't mean notebooks will follow the same suit. In pre-Computex meetings and casual conversation though we learned that most of the notebook makers aren't ready to jump onboard the NGFF nirvana train either. In my limited knowledge, at the time of writing, ASUS was the only manufacturer offering NGFF in a notebook / ultrabook at Computex 2013. Admittedly, I didn't go around with a Phillips head and take every product apart at the show so others could and most likely are out there. GIGABYTE and Acer are NGFF no-shows though. This will change closer to 4Q when holiday notebooks start to ship, but we still haven't confirmed why other than it has something to do with Intel. We were told on two occasions to talk to Intel and the story is being held onto pretty tight because this is the kind of information I fly 24 hours across the world to get.
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Far Cry 3 PC Review
In Far Cry 3 you take control of Jason Brody, a young college kid with rich parents enjoying life to the max on an island paradise when things go awry. Jason and his friends are captured by pirates and the infamous Vaas. Taken for ransom from their wealthy parents, Jason manages to escape with his brother and from there the story becomes that you as Jason must rescue your friends, but also as you build acquaintances on the island, decide how you want the future to be for those people. There is a point where the story just becomes boring and formulaic unfortunately, but until then it's one of the best stories of this generation.
As expected based on the first two games, Far Cry 3 puts you in a massive open world with side missions and main story to complete. One of the key facets of the title is exploration and the game significantly rewards you for exploring. Whilst there are scripted elements to some of the missions, sometimes it's just interesting to wander about the island and see what the enemy and other NPCs are doing. One example was we were closing in on an enemy kill, only to see a crocodile jump out of the water to take him alive. If someone else was to go to that exact spot, it may not happen because those sequences are not scripted.
For example, if you get some shark skins, you can craft a new pouch which improves your inventory level - something which is a lot more interesting to do than just buy a new pouch. You can pick up leaves and plants to help you concoct medicine to heal Jason. At no real point in the game are you forced to buy things. For example, one area which encourages exploration is the local stores. If you manage to take over the local radio tower, the shops will give you free weapons as a reward whilst that tower is not held by the enemies. It's a really interesting mechanic that rewards exploration in a manner that is tangible rather than just 'let's see this entire island'.
For the most part the missions are also enjoyable to play as well. There are over thirty campaign missions with quite a number more side missions to complete. To complete Far Cry 3 without doing side missions will take you about 10 hours and so it is a fairly meaty game when you compare it to most releases. The game does contain fast travel once you have visited a location although sometimes it is better to just explore and see the world on offer.
What Far Cry 3 manages to achieve is a believable world. This island could be a real world thing (although it's not), and the developers have clearly put a lot of work into building a fantastic world for the game. It has the crazy professor and the tribal warriors to complete the mix. But what takes it to the next level is the various fauna milling about the place. You can be swimming quietly in the rivers or ocean and the next minute a shark or crocodile attacks. The first time this happens you will literally jump in your seat and it's generally over before it even starts. You can imagine this is how it happens in the real world as well with most victims attacked before they even know it's happening.
On the PC at least, Far Cry 3 is a visual tour de force and one of the best games graphically we have ever played. If you have the hardware and video card to push this to the max you will see a visually stunning world with amazing graphics. Tone the graphics done a little and the game still shines even on older hardware, so it is clear Ubisoft has done its job in optimizing this game for fairly run of the mill systems as well. This is something that the original Far Cry game was criticised for not doing.
The game also features a co-operative multiplayer portion for up to four players to take part in. It is set six months before the actual events of the single player campaign and so in many ways is its own story. Introducing co-operative into such an awesome, open world game is something that Ubisoft had to do to take this game to the next level. With a length of about six hours, you certainly get your money's worth even though it's not the main campaign.
Far Cry 3 started out with a great E3 presentation that put the hype levels through the roof. Usually when this happens games significantly let us down, but in this case Ubisoft has delivered. No doubt they felt the pressure of such an awesome opening with Vaas and our main character, but instead of crumbling, they produced what is sure to be one of the best games of 2012.
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Hitman: Absolution Xbox 360 Review
This game became Kane & Lynch which had middling success in both sales and critical format. So six years later we have the return of Agent 47 and it's not without changes. Absolution completely changes up the series in many ways and we still aren't sure if all the changes and decisions made were the right ones.
Absolution picks up with Agent 47 being tasked to kill his agency handler Diana. She has gone rogue and has been selling secrets to enemies of the agency so his final contract becomes her. The agency has produced another agent from a child, Victoria with Diana on her deathbed asking 47 to protect her at all costs. This is what the story primarily revolves around; the protection of Victoria and escaping from the agency that 47 once called home. From the outset this shows just how much of a departure Absolution is to the regular format with previous games tasking 47 with contracts to fulfil for the agency.
This is only apparent on some of the levels. On many levels within the game there are no targets and instead it is 47's goal to reach another area to continue the story. As well as this there are times where the game takes control from you and performs kills in cut scenes. For a series which has focused so much on clean quiet kills from a gameplay perspective, to have this happen is frustrating. There are some sections in the game where quiet kills just cannot occur.
This is where you will like this game or not. Whilst in the past each mission was one huge environment for 47 to traverse and come up with sneaky ways to take out the target, in this game you are instead tasked with basically getting from point a to point b. Hitman in many ways becomes a third person shooter with the amount of sandbox missions able to be counted on less than two hands. Given that there are 20 missions overall in the game, this is a bit disappointing.
However, on those levels which do give you the freedom to explore and come up with various ways to take out the targets, the game absolutely shines. Previously seen at E3, the King of Chinatown level is one such example where there is many different ways to take out the target such as poisoning fish or blowing up a car. And it is these missions that you will revisit over and over again to try and come up with different ways to end the mission without being seen.
As well as the actual targets each mission contains a number of challenges to complete. Sometimes these challenges are to take out the targets in various different ways whilst other times it can be tasks such as finishing the mission only using 47's suit. Given that you very often traverse areas where you should not be, doing this is harder than it sounds.
Many of the elements we have seen in previous titles have again come back. You can still take the disguises of other characters although this is a bit harder than last time around.
Enemies will spot that you are not one of them quite easily and so it becomes a case of still having to focus on stealth even when blended in. To aid with this, 47 now has an instinct ability which allows you to see enemies through walls and walk near enemies in disguise without being spotted. You gain more instinct by performing quiet kills and tasks.
One of the more frustrating elements of Absolution is the change from limited save games to checkpoints. Instead of being able to save at any point in the game (within a limited number), you now have to track down and find checkpoints in the level. They are generally off the beaten track and this can be very frustrating especially on the tougher levels. The checkpoints also do not get retained if you leave your game which we have no idea why IO Interactive decided that was a good idea.
On the visual and environmental side of things the game is generally impressive. Whilst there is quite a variety to the locations that you will visit during your time with the game, it is not as varied as it was in Blood Money with some locations being visited more than once. Some of the missions are quite large in size whilst others are almost corridors only. It goes without saying the larger missions are the ones where 47's abilities can really shine. One thing that is true is that in general IO Interactive has used the environments to the best of their abilities with 47 being able to perform numerous environmental based kills on his targets.
Multiplayer comes in the form of contracts mode and in an ironic twist this system is much closer to that of the older games. You can either build or download contracts from other users and basically you are dropped into a world and have to kill targets silently to fulfil the contract. As you do so you gain money which can be used to upgrade your weaponry in multiplayer. This is an interesting take on multiplayer and we hope that users really embrace this system because it's entirely possible this could give the game a lot of legs.
Hitman: Absolution is a game that made us think about how we review games in many ways. Should we review a game based on what the name is on the box, or what the content actually is. Of course the latter is the answer, but we can't help but feel that this is not the greatest Hitman game. It's significantly different to other Hitman titles, but it's also not a bad game. If you come into the game expecting Blood Money 2 you will be disappointed, but if you look past this you will find a competent Hitman game that has just enough elements of its predecessors to ensure you should play as 47 again.
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Assassin's Creed III: Liberation PlayStation Vita Review
However, with the release of a new platform, the PS Vita, Ubisoft decided to give the portable space another crack with the AC series and have come out with mixed results. Liberation is not necessarily a bad game, but there are some areas which can be quite infuriating to play.
Liberation for the first time introduces a female character as the main lead. You play as Aveline, the black daughter of a rich businessman in the 1700's. A result of infidelity, Aveline lives with her step mother and father in New Orleans as one of the wealthy and famous. However, Aveline wants to rid the world of slavery, especially for her people and sets about trying to bring down the tyranny which existed in the time. Set in the 1700's, the game takes place during the same timeline as that of the main console game, and to get the most out of the story, you need to play both.
This is probably the most interesting change to the franchise because it means you often have to change your clothing to complete tasks. Having to change clothing to complete a task can be a tad tiresome (especially when it's not clear which clothing you should be wearing), but all the same the addition enhances the franchise.
As well as the main city, you will also visit the bayou of New Orleans which gives you the opportunity to partake in tree climbing and jumping. Ripped directly from the console game with Connor you can at will climb trees and often have to when completing assassination tasks. The game controls well and it's very obvious when you can and cannot climb trees. The Bayou has a very Metal Gear Solid 3 feel to it - a large, lush jungle full of crocodiles and other animals that can hurt Aveline. The main difference being that Aveline does not need to eat animals to survive.
The structure of the game takes on that of its console big brothers. The game includes nine sequences to complete which is a little on the short side and you will have this game down in around six to eight hours depending on how good you are at it. There is no difficulty setting so once you finish it, that's it really.
There are a number of side tasks to complete and there is a meta game where you can control a shipping company to gain money, but really in the grand scheme of things, you can ignore these and easily complete the game. One of the interesting elements is that the story you get if you just play the main missions is not the actual story. To get the real ending you need to take out a particular hidden character in each sequence.
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One of the biggest bugbears we have with the game is the PS Vita controls. The main controls themselves are fine, but when the developer is trying to shoe horn in the touch mechanics of the game, it just starts to break. For example, the game will at times ask you to put the Vita camera near a bright light. It took us a while to find a light that would give the Vita what it wanted, and there was no indication at all whether we were getting closer or not.
There are also other sections of the game which use the back touchpad such as paddling a canoe. There is nothing wrong with trying to include Vita specific controls, but when they work like they do in Liberation (it's a lucky dip as to whether your motions will be picked up), it would have been best to leave them out.
The environments that the game is set in are impressive for a handheld product. The city of New Orleans is beautifully represented by period buildings and the actual city itself is quite large, but nowhere near what you find in the console games of course. The split of the bayou and the city is an interesting feature with both environments having graphical problems as well as also some impressive sections. Voice acting on the system is impressive especially for a handheld and whilst the soundtrack can become repetitive, it suits the game and setting well.
There is no doubt that Assassin's Creed III: Liberation is the most impressive handheld version of the series yet. Ubisoft has used some of Vita's power well, but also included some utterly frustrating mini games based on the touch and camera features. It is on the short side and that means it's not really suitable as something for a long distance trip, but for short spurts on the way to work, it works almost perfectly.
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BIWIN Announces SSD C8386 with Power Failure Protection Technology
BIWIN, a world-leading expert in the development and manufacture of flash and advanced NAND flash memory, has launched a new business-grade SSD, the C8386, equipped with unique power failure protection technology. BIWIN's C8386 SSD offers real-time monitoring through the adoption of a power supply detection chip. The firmware of the SSD will be immediately guarded once the voltage is detected to be lower than 4V. This effectively avoids serious damage caused by an unexpected power loss, such as the disk being unable to be read or a system crash.
Within the high standard selection of flash memory, the C8386 is optimized for its outstanding performance. Both read and write speeds are 3 times faster than a traditional hard disk, which enormously reduces the file transferring time and accelerates program execution processes.
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AMD Performance Screams with Adobe Photoshop CC and Premier Pro CC
After a successful collaboration with AMD over the past two years to leverage open standards to drive amazing quality, scalability, and performance for our customers - Adobe has just released Adobe Photoshop CC and Adobe Premiere Pro CC. Now users can get the production releases of these flagship products which have been optimized to the massive compute power of AMD APUs, AMD Radeon HD graphics and AMD FirePro professional graphics to enable GPU-accelerated performance across a broad range of form factors through the OpenGL and OpenCL open standards. As highlighted in recent blogs, these optimizations are significant because, not only do they result in faster final render times, but more importantly, they enable users to apply effects and preview their edits in real-time, enabling greater productivity. This is great news for end-users everywhere, who now have unprecedented choice in using the hardware that best suits their needs. AMD-based systems coupled with Adobe's shift to the affordable and innovative Adobe Creative Cloud model for managing licenses and software updates can now put these latest Adobe creative tools in the hands of more users than ever.
Delivered performance is always dependent on both hardware and software performance even the fastest hardware in the world can become crippled when coupled with a faulty or low-performing video drivers or with an application that does not efficiently leverage the hardware resources. The great news is that with AMD and Adobe, you get all three of these critical components. We tested the production builds for both Adobe Photoshop CC and Adobe Premiere Pro CC with the latest publically available drivers, converted the raw times into rates, and normalized to 1 (where "1" is the slowest of the test scenarios to complete the test) to make the charts and comparison easier to read. The results below* are for our newest AMD Elite A-series APU - the AMD A10-6800K.
AMD has worked closely with Adobe not only on the development side to enable optimized application performance on AMD hardware, but also on the quality assurance (QA) side to support the rigorous testing Adobe requires to achieve "White List" status with every Premiere Pro release (see Adobe blog post and tech specs). In fact, AMD can currently boast the greatest number of products on Adobe's officially qualified hardware list - a total of 64 graphics devices today with even more expected over time. While acceleration on Premiere Pro can be enabled by end users for any OpenCL-capable device in a PC or Mac, the fact that Adobe has included so many officially qualified AMD devices on the list is a testament to the hard work and close collaboration between AMD and Adobe; we are pleased to have made the effort with Adobe to enable this added level of assurance and to deliver a top-notch user experience for our shared customers.
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Top 10 TweakTown Press Releases from the past week [17 June 2013]
Here are our top 10 posted press releases from the past week!
- World's Top Overclockers to Compete at Computex OC Main Event Sponsored by Corsair
- CYBERPOWERPC Releases the Zeus EVO Storm Series -- Enthusiast Performance at its finest powered by NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780
- Rosewill Expands RPLC Powerline Networking Series
- More Value Added to ADATA's DashDrive Series
- PQI Highlights the World with the Latest Technologies at Computex 2013 Announcing New Products for New Lifestyles
- Apotop to Showcase Thunderbolt SSDs & Expanded Line of Wireless Storage Devices at COMPUTEX 2013
- Velocity Micro announces desktops powered by NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780
- iBUYPOWER Announces Availability of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 in Gaming Desktops
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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/
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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.
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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
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Top 10 TweakTown Press Releases from the past week [03 June 2013]
Here are our top 10 posted press releases from the past week!
- Origin PC Offers GTX 780-equipped PCs with Cyanogenic Liquid Cooling
- G.SKILL To Announce Brand New Gaming Gear at Computex 2013
- Cooler Master PSUs are Haswell-Ready
- Titan Launches Dragonfly CPU Coolers
- Seagate Delivers Industry's First Purpose-Built 4TB Video HDD
- Razer Introduces the Blade Pro-Designed For Work and For Play
- iBUYPOWER Announces Availability of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 in Gaming Desktops
- World's Top Overclockers to Compete at Computex OC Main Event Sponsored by Corsair
- ORIGIN PC Launches New EON 17-S and EON15-S High-Performance Laptops
- ORIGIN PC Launches Intel 4th Generation Processors
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OCZ Technology to Showcase its Leading Solid State Drives and Launch New Power Management Solutions at Computex 2013
SAN JOSE, CA-June 3, 2013-OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:OCZ), a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) and power management solutions for computing devices and systems, will showcase the Company's comprehensive storage solutions for client and enterprise computing along with announcing its new line of Fatal1ty Series power supply products at Computex 2013 in Taipei, Taiwan June 4 through June 8. OCZ solutions can be viewed at the main show floor this year at the Nangang Exhibit Hall, Booth K0309a.
To kickoff the launch of the exciting new power supplies, Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel will compete against fellow gamer and former sparring partner Kyle "relic" Mims in a special shootout to be held June 6, 7-11pm at the SPARK venue in Taiwan's landmark Taipei 101 on June 6th. With a record of 12 World Titles in five different games, Wendel is one of the most successful and recognized professional gamers in history. In recent years Wendel has declined to compete professionally and instead stay focused on promoting video gaming globally in his role as a Gaming Ambassador, while concentrating on his Fatal1ty Gaming Gear enterprise which includes the latest OCZ power supplies. In this special event, press, partners, and invited attendees can get a firsthand look at the latest OCZ Fatal1ty Gaming Series power supplies, along with viewing the live head-to-head shootout between these two gamers.
For client storage, OCZ will demo its upcoming Vector PCIe SSD featuring exceptional IOPS, high bandwidth, and high capacities ideal for power users, content creation, and workstation applications. Residing directly on the PCI Express bus, the new Vector PCIe Series provides lower latency to data, faster file transfers and boot-ups, expanded storage capacities, and an even quicker, more responsive experience over the already blazing fast SATA III-based Vector SSDs. In addition, OCZ will showcase its current consumer SSD lineup with the recently launched Vertex 450 SATA III SSD Series which has already earned numerous accolades and praise from the global media for its high performance coupled with the latest 20nm flash geometry for mainstream computing applications.
OCZ will also be displaying its complete portfolio of enterprise storage solutions including the SATA based Deneva 2, Talos 2 SAS drive, and Z-Drive R4 PCIe SSD Series, featuring the newest ZD-XL SQL Accelerator that represents the convergence of enterprise hardware and software as one tightly integrated, optimized solution, ensuring that appropriate and readily available data is on SSD flash when a SQL Server needs it.
Join OCZ Technology on the Computex main show floor at theNangang Exhibit Hall, Booth K0309ato see the latest SSD and PSU products designed for enterprise and client applications demanding maximized productivity, performance, and total cost of ownership (TCO).
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CYBERPOWERPC Unleashes New Desktop and Notebook Gaming Series Based on 4th Generation Intel Core Processors
CITY of INDUSTRY, CA (June 2, 2013) - CyberPower Inc. http://www.CYBERPOWERPC.com, a global manufacturer of custom gaming PCs, today announced its new series of desktop and notebook gaming PCs based on the 22nm 4th Generation Intel Coreâ„¢ Processor codenamed Haswell, which promises big gains in power efficiency and graphics performance.
CYBERPOWERPC will feature the new CPUs with the speedy and feature rich Z87 Express Chipset in its entire Zeus EVO Thunder series - a redesigned lineup of performance gaming PCs to satisfy the cravings of enthusiasts and gamers. The Zeus EVO Thunder will come in various forms offering both 4th Gen. Core i5 and Core i7 K-series CPUs that are unlocked allowing you to crank performance up to 30% higher with CYBERPOWERPC's Venom Boost overclocking option. The new Zeus EVO Thunder series will also incorporate NVIDIA's new GTX 700 series GPUs for a performance packed combination that delivers benchmark shattering power.
In addition to the Zeus EVO Thunder, CYBERPOWERPC's Fang III series, Gamer Xtreme series, and others will receive the 4th Generation Intel Coreâ„¢ CPU and Z87 Express Chipset upgrade.
New CYBERPOWERPC FANGbook EVO Notebook Series Based on 4th Gen. Intel CPUs
The award winning CYBERPOWERPC FANGbook gaming notebook has evolved into a mobile game station - a powerhouse equipped with the 4th Gen. Intel Coreâ„¢ mobile processor and new NVIDIA GTX 700 series mobile graphics. The new FANGbook EVO lets you game and multitask like never before with a revised set of hardware that provides desktop-like power.
Mobile PC gamers want longer battery life without sacrificing performance. The new FANGbook EVO will feature a similar aggressive and stylish design with several notable improvements including a new CPU and chipset along with more power efficient GPUs from NVIDIA featuring its Optimus technology that automatically optimizes battery life and GPU performance.
With the fourth-generation core, CYBERPOWERPC's FANGbook EVO gaming notebook will see a greater improvement in battery life depending on the applications and display settings. The FANGbook EVO series will come in three configurations - the EVO HX7-100, 200, and 300.
All CYBERPOWERPC gaming systems can be customized with a number of performance hardware and components such as solid state drives, blu-ray drives, performance gaming memory, gaming peripherals, business and productivity software, and more at the company's website, http://www.CYBERPOWERPC.com.
All CYBERPOWERPC systems are assembled and supported in the USA. Every system is meticulously built including precise cable routing to ensure optimal airflow and a clean aesthetic appearance. CYBERPOWERPC loads every system with Microsoft Windows 8 for an enhanced gaming and multimedia experience. All CYBERPOWERPC desktop gaming systems include an industry-best 3-year limited warranty and 1-year warranty on notebook systems.
Desktop gaming systems based on 4th Generation Intel Core processors start at $559. The FANGbook EVO gaming notebook start at $ 1399
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ORIGIN PC Launches New EON 17-S and EON15-S High-Performance Laptops
Miami, FL - June 2, 2012, 12:01AM Eastern - ORIGIN PC announced today the availability of their next generation award-winning EON17-S and EON15-S high-performance laptops. Featuring an exclusive updated top-panel laptop design, Intel 4th generation mobile processors, Dual mSATA storage drives with RAID support, next generation NVIDIA GeForce GTX 700M series and support for the new NVIDIA Quadro K1000M graphics cards, the EON17-S and EON15-S offers breakthrough next generation mobile technology for gamers, artists, enthusiastsand professionals. ORIGIN PC is offering their exclusive top-panel laptop design as a standard option in red, black, silver and custom air-brushed, or the option of a traditional top-panel free of charge.
High Res images and video:
ORIGIN PC's EON17-S and EON15-S Laptops Feature:
- Exclusive Updated ORIGIN PC Top-Panel Design: First shown at CES 2012, the exclusive new ORIGIN PC top-panel has an updated look, but still offers the unique, eye-catching and aggressive design exclusively to ORIGIN PC. The updated top-panel laptop design will be available as a standard option in black, red, silver, or your choice of custom paint.
- Customizable Backlit Keyboard and Touchpad: With three lighting zones and seven beautiful color options, you can customize your laptop backlit keyboard to match any color style you want, including the new exclusive backlit ORIGIN PC branded touch-pad.
- Intel 4th Generation Mobile Processors: Stay up to date with the latest Intel 4th generation mobile processors providing up to a 15% CPU performance increase overlast generation and increased power efficiency for a longer lasting battery life.
- Up to 5 storage options: For the first time in an ORIGIN PC laptop, you now have the option for having Dual mSATA and Dual HDD/SSD storage drives in independent RAID configurations plus an additional storage option with the optical bay hard drive caddy for a total of 5 storage drives inside a single laptop!
- NVIDIA GeForceGTX 780M, 770M, 765M Graphics and QUADRO K1000M Graphics: NVIDIA's next generation and most powerful GTX and QUADRO mobile graphics cards that run allof the latest AAA games and applications with stunning detail and high resolutions and offers up to a 25% mobile GPU performance increase over its predecessor.
- ORIGIN PC CPU + GPU Professional Overclocking : Let our overclocking experts take your system to an even higher level of performance with our CPU (available soon for the EON17-S only) and GPUoverclocking backed by our industry leading service and support.
- Free Lifetime24/7 Support: Every ORIGIN PC comeswith industry leading Lifetime 24/7 Support based in the United States.
ORIGIN PC has also launched Intel's 4th generation processors and NVIDIA 700 series graphics cards in their award winning desktops announced in separate press releases.
"ORIGIN PC is thrilled to launch our brand new EON17-S and EON15-S laptops with the latest next-generation technology from Intel and NVIDIA. This is the best time to upgrade to an award winning ORIGIN EON laptop," said Kevin Wasielewski ORIGIN PC CEO and co-founder. "With the latest next generation technology, a customizable backlit keyboard/touchpad, Dual mSATA and Dual HDD/SSD support in RAID andour updated exclusive ORIGIN top-panel design, our new EON laptops truly offer acomplete next generation mobile gaming experience!"
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ORIGIN PC Launches Intel 4th Generation Processors
Miami, FL, June 2nd, 12:01 A.M. EST - ORIGIN PC announces the availability of new Intel Core 4th generation processors to their line of award-winning GENESIS, MILLENNIUM, and CHRONOS desktops and EON laptops. Now gamers, artists, professionals and enthusiasts will have the power to game, create, work and inspire like never before with Intel's latest Core processors. The new Intel Core 4th generation processors raise the bar in multi-core processing technology with a 15% CPU performance increase over last generation, low power consumption to enhance battery life, and built in security features to help keep your data safe and secure. ORIGIN PC will also be including a free digital copy of the upcoming PC title, GRID 2â„¢ with the purchase of any ORIGIN PC gaming system with Intel Core 4thgeneration processors.
- Increased Performance - Up to a 15% CPU performance increase for improved productivity, 2x faster application load up time than previous generations, and higher overclocking flexibility.
- Intel HD Graphics-Enhanced 3-D performance for an immersive gaming experience on any ORIGIN PC gaming system. Can support Ultra HD (4K) video playback and up to three Ultra HD (4K) displays with built-in DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI and DVI support.
- Enhanced Security -Detects and defends your system against malicious malware, helps protect against theft or loss of data and provides additional secure access to your favorite online services.
- Power Efficient - Improved low power CPU efficiency over previous generation with a 20x reduction in idle power draw.
- Professional ORIGIN PC Overclocking: Get the most performance out of your system by allowing ORIGIN PC's award winning system integrators to professionally overclock your supported CPU.
- FREE Lifetime 24/7 Support: Every ORIGIN PC comes with industry leading Lifetime 24/7 Support based in the United States
"Intel's 4th generation Core processors are the perfect ingredient for delivering uncompromising power and performance inside of ORIGIN PC's award-winning systems" said Brent McCray, Worldwide Enthusiast Marketing Manager of Intel. "ORIGIN PC continues to be a key launch partner of Intel and we're excited to have our latest 4th generation processors available to power their custom high-performance desktops andlaptops."
For more information on ORIGIN's award winning desktops and laptops, please visit http://www.originpc.com
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Razer Introduces the Blade Pro-Designed For Work and For Play
SAN FRANCISCO - May 30, 2013 - Razer, the world leader in high-performance gaming hardware, software and systems, today announced the Blade Pro, the latest evolution of its award-winning 17-inch gaming laptop. Powered by a future 4th gen Intel Core processor, next generation NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M graphics and groundbreaking storage performance, the new Blade Pro is faster and more powerful than ever before.
Razer's designers and engineers refined every inner component to increase performance, while staying true to portability. At 0.88 inches thin and weighing 6.5 pounds, the Blade Pro is the most portable 17-inch gaming laptop in its class. Every detail is sleek, slim and light, all the way down to the compact power supply, making the Blade Pro the best choice for gaming performance and creative work on-the-go.
"Innovation is happening across the PC industry, and what Razer has done with the Blade Pro is groundbreaking," says Navin Shenoy, vice president and general manager of Intel's Mobile Client Platforms. "Utilizing a future 4th gen Intel Core processor, the Razer Blade Pro delivers top-class gaming and professional performance in a very portable form factor."
"The Razer Blade Pro packs extreme performance in an ultra-portable form factor," says Rene Haas, vice president and general manager of notebook GPUs at NVIDIA. "Thanks in part to the performance-per-watt efficiency of the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPUs, the new Razer Blade Pro is incredibly thin for a 17-inch gaming laptop."
The Razer Blade Pro also features 8 GB of fast 1600 MHz DDR3L memory and now comes standard with 128 GB of total solid-stage storage, with optional 256 GB and 512 GB SSDs. With solid-state storage technology, gamers will now experience up to four-times the performance of a traditional 5400-rpm notebook hard drive.
Razer is also offering a new creative professional pricing program, allowing design students, game developers, development staff, Kickstarter partners and others to purchase Razer products, including the Blade Pro, at special prices. Selected developers and partners are now listed at http://www.razerzone.com/creativepro. Those not listed are encouraged to fill out an application on the page for a chance to be included in the program.
The Blade Pro will be available for pre-order June 3. For more information, go to http://www.razerzone.com/bladepro.
Price:
Starts at $2,299
Availability:
Razerzone.com - Pre-Order June 3
United States and Canada
Product features:
- Future 4th gen Intel Core processor (formerly codename 'Haswell')
- 8 GB DDR3L (2 x 4 GB 1600MHz)
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M (2 GB GDDR5) & Intel HD4600
- Windows 8 64 Bit
- 128 GB SSD, with optional 256/512 GB SSD (mSATA)
- Qualcomm Killer NIC N1202 (802.11a/b/g/n + Bluetooth 4.0)
- 17.3-in. Full HD 16:9 Ratio, 1920 x 1080, with LED backlight
- Stereo 2.0 speakers
- 3.5 mm audio microphone/headphone combo jack
- HD Webcam (front-facing, 2.0 MP)
- Array microphones
- (3x) USB 3.0 port (SuperSpeed)
- Codec supports 7.1 (via HDMI 1.4)
- Dolby Home Theater v4
- Razer Anti-Ghosting Keyboard (with adjustable backlight)
- Razer Switchblade User Interface
- Razer Synapse 2.0 Enabled
- Built-in 74 Wh Rechargeable lithium ion polymer battery
- Kensington Lock
- 16.8 in. / 427 mm (Width) x 0.88 in. / 22.4 mm (Height) x 10.9 in. / 277 mm (Depth)
- 6.58 lbs. / 2.98 kg
For more information about the Razer Blade Pro, please visit http://www.razerzone.com/bladepro.
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World's Top Overclockers to Compete at Computex OC Main Event Sponsored by Corsair
FREMONT, California - May 30, 2013 - Corsair, a worldwide designer of high-performÂÂÂÂÂÂance components to the PC hardware market, is teaming up with Intel to host the Computex OC Main Event on June 3rd in Taipei, Taiwan. The event will bring the world's best overclockers together to compete in setting the first speed records with 4th generation Intel Core processors and Corsair's soon-to-be-announced new line of highly overclockable memory.
At this year's Computex OC Main Event, elite overclockers from around the world will be vying for $20,000 USD in cash prizes. Competitors at the event will include some of the finest overclockers in the world including 8-Pack, Andre, Coldest, Coolice, Der8auer, Dinos22, Elmor, Hazzan, HiCookie, Lin222, lucky_n00b, Mad222, Nick Shih, Pt1t, Slamms, Smoke, Splave, tor_za, ZoLKoRn, and Zzolio. The live event broadcast by Overclocking-TV will be available at corsair.com/OCMainEvent on June 3rd from 13:00 - 18:00 GMT +8.
In addition to the overclocking competition, the event will feature presentations by Intel and Corsair, including a PC building master class and a demonstration of the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility. Attendees will also be among the first to see Corsair's new line of products that are designed for use with the 4th Generation Intel Core processor.
"We are excited to be hosting the premier overclocking event of Computex 2013 with our friends at Intel," said Thi La, Senior VP and GM of Memory and Enthusiast Component Products at Corsair. "Together we'll be unleashing the world's top overclockers for the first time on the latest Intel processors and our new line of Corsair memory. With the sheer level of overclocking talent and the capabilities of the new hardware, I anticipate seeing groundbreaking levels of performance."
"Our upcoming 4th Gen Intel Core processors will deliver amazing new levels of performance to the enthusiast community," said Zane Ball, Intel Vice President, Global Ecosystem Development. "We are excited to sponsor the world's top overclockers at this year's Computex OC Main Event."
Time and Location:
The Computex OC Main Event
Marquee Restaurant & Lounge
1F., No. 16-1, Sec. 5, Hsin-Yi Road
Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Monday, June 3rd, 13:00 - 18:00 GMT +8
The event is invitation-only to members of the press and industry partners. For inquiries please visit the event registration page: http://ocmainevent.eventbrite.com.
For coverage of the event visit corsair.com/OCMainEvent.
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Titan Launches Dragonfly CPU Coolers
Taiwanese PC cooling company Titan expanded its Dragonfly line of low-noise CPU coolers with two additions, the Dragonfly 3 (model: TTC-NC85TZ/RB) and Dragonfly 4 (TTC-NC95TZ/RB), pictured in that order. Both coolers are built in the aluminum fin tower-type form-factors, with heat pipes fanning out throughout the stacks, rather than passing through its edges. This ensures a more uniform heat transfer to the stack. The two use exposed copper heat pipes that make direct contact with the CPU.
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G.SKILL To Announce Brand New Gaming Gear at Computex 2013
G.SKILL International Co. Ltd., the worldwide leading high performance memory designer and manufacturer, will be making a strong entrance in the field of PC gaming peripherals with newly engineered gaming headsets.
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Cooler Master PSUs are Haswell-Ready
As with many new product launches of this scale, there has been a bit of misinformation spread regarding the recently launched line of 4th Generation Intel processors codenamed Haswell. This has been centered on PSU compatibility with these processors. We would like to clarify the situation to calm and reassure our customers and partners that they will be able to upgrade safely. A full list of Cooler Master power supplies is listed below. Please refer to these quick facts that the public should be aware of.
- Most power supplies don't support Haswell - False
- I need a Haswell certified power supply to build a Haswell system - False
- Haswell only works with DC-DC Power Supplies - False
- Haswell only works with 80+ Gold and better Power Supplies - False
- Haswell requires a second 12V rail and doesn't work with single rail Power Supplies - False
- On some older power supplies, Haswell consumes 5W more in idle mode - True
Nevertheless, should customers experience problems or would like to enable the advanced power saving mode on older power supplies that might not support it, there is a simple fix. Simply add a single silent case fan to the system and connect it to the power supply. It should provide enough additional load to keep the system running in an advanced power saving mode.
The only disadvantage would be that power savings in idle mode on such a system would only amount to around 2-3W instead of ~5W.
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Seagate Delivers Industry's First Purpose-Built 4TB Video HDD
Seagate Technology today announced the new Seagate Video 3.5 HDD- the industry's first 4TB, 3.5-inch hard disk drive (HDD) engineered specifically for use in video applications such as digital video recorders (DVRs), set-top boxes (STBs), and surveillance systems. Purpose-built for video solutions, the Video 3.5 HDD can store up to 480 hours of high-definition (HD) content making it the industry's highest-capacity drive designed specifically for video.
"Leveraging Seagate's 10 years of experience understanding the requirements of the video market, we've combined our knowledge on heat, acoustics and power to deliver what we believe to be the most reliable DVR drive in the world," said Scott Horn, Seagate vice president of marketing. "Our commitment to deliver a drive with unrivaled reliability ensures the safekeeping of consumers' content as well as keeping DVRs, STBs, and surveillance systems in the field longer."
Featuring industry-leading reliability, the Video 3.5 HDD has a 0.55 percent annual failure rate enabling product to be kept in the field longer while reducing the cost of field deployment and maintaining customer retention- making it ideal for manufacturers who need reliable product with long lifespans. The drive is engineered for low power consumption and heat emissions allowing solution providers greater design flexibility.
"We congratulate Seagate on its newest innovation," said Mark Jackson, president of EchoStar Technologies, one of the top DVR manufacturers for the satellite market in North America. "Seagate is a leader in the dedicated video HDD space, delivering top-of-the-line products that help us bring customers the most advanced and reliable DVRs in the industry."
The living-room environment requires superior acoustic management to limit audible distractions during operation of DVRs and STBs and the Video 3.5 HDD enables designers to build the quietest home entertainment systems possible. Boasting near silent acoustics, the drive operates below the range of audible sound for the human ear at just 2.3 decibels providing optimized acoustics for home entertainment components - crucial for consumer electronics and video applications.
For more information on the Seagate Video 3.5 HDD please visit this page.
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Origin PC Offers GTX 780-equipped PCs with Cyanogenic Liquid Cooling
ORIGIN PC is the first to begin offering their innovative CRYOGENIC liquid-cooling solution for NVIDIA's latest GeForce GTX 780 graphics card in SLI to their line of award-winning GENESIS desktops starting today. Engineered for maximum performance, the award winning ORIGIN PC CRYOGENIC custom liquid cooling system makes sure you are always at your best.
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Top 10 TweakTown Press Releases from the past week [27 May 2013]
Here are our top 10 posted press releases from the past week!
- SEAGATE DELIVERS INDUSTRY'S FIRST PURPOSE-BUILT 4TB VIDEO HARD DISK DRIVE
- HGST Launches The Highest Capacity Hard Drive For The Mainstream Mobile Market
- The Sony Xperia SP - Available now
- HighPoint to announce the Industry's First Certified Thunderbolt Storage Dock at Computex 2013
- iBUYPOWER Announces Availability of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 in Gaming Desktops
- HP Unveils Desktop PC That Leaves the Desk Behind
- High-End PC Case Maker Lian Li to Unveil New Products at COMPUTEX 2013
- ASRock Promises Improved WiFi with A-Style: 2T2R Dual Band 802.11ac WiFi + Bluetooth v4.0
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More Value Added to ADATA's DashDrive Series
Taipei, Taiwan - May 23, 2013 - ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash application products, has launched a new DashDrive UV150 USB Flash drive, a value-priced USB 3.0 solution with an attractive pearlescent exterior.
The DashDrive UV150 is available in colors of glossy black and scarlet. Capacities are 8, 16, and 32 gigabytes.
Availability
For more information about UV150, see the website at http://www.adata-group.com/index.php?action=product_feature&cid=1&piid=214
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CYBERPOWERPC Releases the Zeus EVO Storm Series -- Enthusiast Performance at its finest powered by NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780
CITY of INDUSTRY, CA (May 23, 2013) - CyberPower Inc. http://www.CYBERPOWERPC.com, a global manufacturer of custom gaming PCs, today unleashes the Zeus EVO Storm, a series of performance desktop gaming PCs based on NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 780 extreme performance GPU.
Beginning May 23th, CYBERPOWERPC customers can configure their new gaming PC with the GeForce GTX 780 as an upgrade option across the entirety of its Fang III, Zeus EVO, Gamer Xtreme series and more. The powerful NVIDIA GTX 780 series will be the favored weapon on the new Zeus EVO Storm series - a lineup of enthusiast class systems featuring the latest and greatest extreme edition processors from Intel and graphics by NVIDIA.
Base price of a GTX 780-based gaming system will be $1179.
The Zeus EVO Storm delivers the best graphics performance by utilizing the X79 chipset from Intel with high-speed PCIe x16 lanes for full bus-speeds in single and multi-GPU setups. Users will benefit from the performance gains with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 in SLI, 3-Way SLI, and even Quad-SLI configurations.
The Zeus EVO Storm incorporates the Advance Hydro II liquid cooling kit that combines the new XSPC RayStorm CPU block, redesigned AX radiators that provide a greater surface area, and high-performance D5 pumps in single or dual pump setups to provide unparalleled cooling power. The new GeForce GTX 780 can be optionally liquid cooled for even lower noise output and greater thermal headroom.
The all new Zeus EVO Storm series start around $1499.
CYBERPOWERPC systems based on the GeForce GTX 780 offer all the premium features gamer expect such as 4-Way NVIDIA SLI technology to intelligently scale graphics performance by combining multiple NVIDIA GeForce GPUs on a single motherboard as well as NVIDIA TXAA and NVIDIA PhysX technologies combine to provide the refined image quality on all gaming titles. Users upgrading to the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 GPU can expect a minimum of 25% performance gain over previous generation GTX 680.
The new GeForce GTX 780 powered systems are also NVIDIA 3D Vision and Surround ready. Support for NVIDIA 3D Vision brings a fully immersive stereoscopic 3D experience to the PC and transforms hundreds of PC games into an immersive 3D experience. It also enables streaming of 3D movies and 3D digital photographs from 3DVisionLive.com in crystal-clear quality. The Vision Surround feature provides support for gaming across three displays in full stereoscopic 3D with one single GPU for the ultimate "inside the game" experience. NVIDIA surround also supports triple-screen gaming with non-3D Vision monitors.
Users can tweak their CYBERPOWERPC system with GPU Boost 2.0 Technology, which allows for smart monitoring of clock speed to ensure that GPUs run at its peak and games at the highest frame rate possible. It also offers new levels of customization, including GPU temperature target, overclocking, and unlocked voltage.
All CYBERPOWERPC GeForce GTX 780 equipped gaming systems can be customized with a number of performance hardware and component upgrades such as liquid cooling, solid state drives, blu-ray drives, premium sound cards, performance gaming memory, gaming peripherals, business productivity software, and more at the company's website, http://www.CYBERPOWERPC.com.
All systems are housed in gaming chassis from top-tier manufacturers that are designed to provide ample features and intelligent functionality with a strong emphasis on advanced cooling, silent performance and extreme airflow. All CYBERPOWERPC systems are assembled and supported in the USA. CYBERPOWERPC loads every system with Microsoft Windows 8 for an enhanced gaming and multimedia experience. All CYBERPOWERPC gaming PCs include an industry best 3-year limited warranty.
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Apotop to Showcase Thunderbolt SSDs & Expanded Line of Wireless Storage Devices at COMPUTEX 2013
May 23, 2013, Taipei, Taiwan - Apotop, a provider of memory, storage, and mobile products and accessories, will showcase its newest line of wireless storage products for mobile devices, a line of Thunderbolt products, including external SSDs and docking stations, Apple peripherals and memory products at COMPUTEX Taipei 2013. Apotop invites all attendees to visit their booth (# I0802 Nangang Exhibition Hall 1F) and get a hands-on experience with the latest product offerings.
Thunderbolt Connectivity
At Apotop's booth, visitors can take a look at Apotop's developing Thunderbolt line, which includes docking stations and external SSDs. The docking stations have HDMI, USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt connections which to other devices such as printers, monitors, stereos and other storage device for fast data transfer.
Wireless Storage Devices
Apotop will be displaying the Wireless Storage Device Series, including the DW21 Wi-Copy which is the only portable product on the market that can transfer data from SD cards and USB flash drives right to Android and iOS devices as well as directly copy data between the SD card and USB flash drive. Besides being a wireless card reader, Wi-Copy also integrates the functions of a Wi-Fi router and power bank. More new feature rich additions to the Wireless Storage Device Series will also be shown.
MacBook Storage Peripherals
The MacBook Storage Peripherals Series includes two products that cost effectively enhance the storage capacity of SSD equipped MacBooks, AP-U2 and SmartSuit. The AP-U2 is a mini-external drive of 32GB that sits flush in the USB port of the MacBook Air. The SmartSuit is a thin sleeve that can be easily slid into the SD card slot of a MacBook. - upgrading the internal storage.
Memory / Storage Devices
Apotop's memory products include a variety of flash memory devices such as SSDs, USB flash drives, SD/microSD cards and DRAM modules.
For more information about Apotop, please visit:
http://www.carry.com.tw
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PQI Highlights the World with the Latest Technologies at Computex 2013 Announcing New Products for New Lifestyles
May 23, 2013
Computex Taipei 2013, the largest annual ICT exhibition in Asia and second largest of the world, is coming up from June 4 to June 8 at the TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall in Taipei. PQI, a global leader in wireless storage solutions, will be on the first floor of the exhibition at Booth I1109a. The five major product lines will be on display - PQI Storage, PQI Air, PQI Power, PQI Audio, and PQI Mobility - along with products exclusively from PQI and a wide range of the latest electronics technology from the company. The booth is designed to be simple and bright with product kiosks to demonstrate a real user environment. Stage events will interact with showgoers and showcase the charm of PQI products!
Industry Leading Technologies:
PQI Connect is the Best Storage Solution for Smart Phones and Tablet Computers
Dual Micro-USB and USB connectors
The Connect features the PQI exclusive patented COB3.0 (Chip-on-Board 3.0) technology to enable the world's smallest storage solution for smart phones and tablet computers. Its "lightweight and thin" design is just the size of a penny but features both the micro-USB and USB dual connectors. Simply plug the micro-USB connector directly into the smart phone to transfer files without the need for additional cables. The file system is automatically categorized for syncing and sharing to Facebook with your photo, video, and music files. The USB connector can be directly to any USB port on the notebook or personal computer just as any USB thumb drive. The small design sits flush with the Ultrabook and MacBook Air to become one with the ultraportable devices.
PQI Thunder with Extreme Speeds
Unmatched Capacity and Performance
PQI Thunder 1 is the smallest bootable thumb drive in the industry. Its SSD controller technology supports USB3.0 and Windows 8 for high performance and low latency file access.
PQI Thunder S501 is the Credit Card-Sized SSD with Upgraded Capacity. No more bulky SSD drives, the PQI Thunder S501 is a credit card-sized drive encased in metallic gold. It is a sophisticated and distinguished design offered up to 1TB capacity. The side-access USB3.0 connector is designed for the portability and convenience of an external SSD drive. It is reliable, shock-proof, and has low power consumption while operating.
PQI NFC (Near Field Communication) Thumb Drive
Protects Your Most Secure Data
This NFC-enabled thumb drive provides a deeper layer of protection for your personal information and industry trade secrets. Simply plug the thumb drive into a USB port and use an NFC-equipped smart phone in close proximity to engage the encryption mechanism and access files stored on the thumb drive. Your personal files are safeguarded from prying eyes with the highest level of protection.
PQI Air for a Wireless Lifestyle
PQI's Air series features Wi-Fi technology to get rid of transfer cables for instant sharing and storage solutions. It features the "Communication-enabled expandable storage device" and "Communication-enabled card reader" technology patents to bring true wireless access to the products and consumer lifestyles.
Power, Audio, Mobility to Diversify the Product Lineup
PQI will be expanding and diversifying the PQI Power, PQI Audio, and PQI Mobility brands into the agent markets starting in 2013. Portable, modern, simple, and practical products from millions of brands worldwide will be hand picked by PQI for the consumers. Brands to be showcased at this exhibition includes BlueAnt, Kross Precision, Mujjo, PhotoFast, Verbatim, @Muse, iKit, Joy Factory, Puregear, AproLink, PGL+, and Soundmatters. These are the global brands with leading products in protection, power, Bluetooth, and Hi-Fi stereo to fully complement your unique lifestyle. We welcome you to come to our booth and experience a new world of personal gadgets that will rock your senses!
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Velocity Micro announces desktops powered by NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780
Richmond, VA - May 23, 2013 - Velocity Micro, the premier builder of award winning enthusiast desktops, laptops, peripherals, and Cruz tablets announces the immediate availability of custom desktops powered by the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780. With 2,304 total cores and 3GB of GDDR5 memory, this bleeding-edge card offers Velocity Micro customers not only extreme performance, but improved thermals and acoustics and acoustics as well. The GTX 780 will be available on the Edge Z55, Raptor Z90, Raptor Signature Edition, and Overdrive PC BigBlock.GTX starting at $2,249.
The Kepler-based GeForce GTX 780 is designed to be fast and powerful, pairing perfectly with the ultra-performance hardware and superior quality of a Velocity Micro desktop. Key selling features and enhancements of this innovative graphics card include:
- 2,304 total cores - 50% more than its predecessor
- 3GB of GDDR5 memory
- NVIDIA GPU Boost 2.0 technology for greater customization and overclocking options
- GeForce Experience for one-click driver and settings optimization
- NVIDIA PhysX and TXAA for smooth, sharp graphics
- Improved thermals and acoustics to keep fan noise to a minimum
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ORIGIN PC Introduces A New Evolution in Gaming Performance with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 GPU
May 23, 2013, 9:00 am EST, Miami, FL, - ORIGIN PC is thrilled to announce the launch of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 GPU to their award-winning desktops for gamers, professionals, artists andenthusiasts. The new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 marks an evolution in gaming performance by providing an insanely fast, smooth, and whisper-quiet gaming experiences like never before. Featuring a powerful NVIDIA Kepler GPU with 2,304 cores, 3GB of high-speed GDDR5 memory and NVIDIA GPU Boost 2.0 technology, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 provides the performance capabilities needed to game at the most extreme settings. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 is perfectly tuned for today's advanced gaming technologies with features such as GeForce Experience for one-click driver and settings optimization, plus NVIDIA PhysX and TXAA for smooth, crisp graphics on any ORIGIN PC desktop system.
- NVIDIA CUDA Technology - Get the most out of the GeForce GTX 780 graphics horse power with an outstanding 2,304 cores, a significant performance increase from its predecessor and 3 GB of high-speed GDDR5 memory to push the most demanding tasks such as video transcoding, physics simulation, ray tracing, and more.
- ORIGIN PC Professional GPU Overclocking - Increase the performance out of your graphics card by allowing ORIGIN PC's award-winning system integrators to professionally overclock your GPU and unlock its true performance potential.
- Connect up to 4 displays on a single card -With a single GeForce GTX 780 you can power up to 4 concurrent displays using two dual-link DVI, HDMI and Displayport 1.2 ports.
- NVIDIA SLI Ready - Supports Up To 4-WAY SLI Graphics Cards
- Ultra HD 4k Resolution Gaming Support - With the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 graphics card, you can game on a 4k Ultra HD compatible display up to a stunning 4096 - 3112 resolution.
"NVIDIA continues to evolve their amazing Kepler architecture with the incredible performance and efficiency ofthe GeForce GTX 780", says Kevin Wasielewski, CEO/Co-Founder of ORIGIN PC. "I expect more and more gamers to evolve their gaming experience and choose an ORIGIN PC equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 over the PS4 and Xbox One. With backwards compatibility, gaming in 4K resolutions, a huge library of triple-A-quality free to play games, wireless PC game streaming from the NVIDIA SHIELD, and game changing Virtual Reality technology, it's becoming more and more obvious that PC gaming is the best gaming experience right now and that won't change even with next generation consoles launching."
"ORIGIN PC shares our dedication and passion to PC gaming and builds some of the world's best custom high-performance PCs," said Scott Herkelman, general manager of the GeForce GPU business at NVIDIA. "We are very excited to see ORIGIN PC push the performance of our already insanely fast GeForce GTX 780 GPU to a whole new level for their customers."
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