IT-Code-News: IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 23/07/2014

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 23/07/2014

TweakTown

Facebook's acquisition of Oculus VR is now official
When Facebook announced it was acquiring Oculus VR back in March, it had the entire world up in arms - myself included. Time has passed, and those worries have all but died down, with the news that the acquisition is now final, with an update issued by both of the companies.

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Facebook and Oculus VR said in a joint statement: "We're looking forward to an exciting future together, building the next computing platform and reimagining the way people communicate". Back in March, Facebook said it was going to acquire Oculus VR for $2 billion, in a deal that would include $400 million in cash, and 23.1 million shares in Facebook valued at $1.6 billion.
At the time, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook said: "Mobile is the platform of today, and now we're also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow. Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate". In April, the Federal Trade Commission approved the deal. Right now, people are waiting for their Development Kit 2 (DK2) units to arrive, sporting a 1080p low-persistence screen, and much more.

Apple reportedly orders 70-80 million next-gen iPhones
According to sources of The Wall Street Journal, Apple has ordered a huge number of next generation iPhones. The Journal's sources have said that the company has ordered a huge 70 to 80 million units, with this order being split between the two screen sizes.

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Remember that we should have both a 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 arriving, with the 4.7-inch being teased the most so far. If we put these figures up against the order that Apple placed for the iPhone 5S and 5C, Apple ordered between 50-60 million. The iPhone 5S was met with big demand, which saw Apple experiencing shortages for consumers.
Things have changed in the past year for Apple, with the company signing a rather large deal with China Mobile, which has over 790 million subscribers on its network. We should expect Apple to bake in considerable changes into the iPhone 6, in both the software and hardware departments.

Newbee takes out The International, walks away with $5 million
The build up has been big, but the huge DOTA 2 'The International' tournament is over for another year - with Chinese team 'Newbee' taking first place. Newbee takes home a huge $5 million for their efforts.

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Coming in second place is fellow Chinese rivals ViCi Gaming, who walk away with $1.5 million. Newbee entered into the finals with a 7-8 record, compared to ViCi's 12-3 record. For its first five matches in the Grand Final, Newbee lost them all, but then won the final three in a row. Coming in third place was Evil Genuises, who take home $1 million. Fourth place goes to DK, who scooped themselves up $819,000.

Pair running Apple-themed phishing scams conducted other criminal acts
The man and woman involved in an Apple-themed phishing scheme, in which they sent emails that looked like Apple warning of security issues, were sentenced to 14 years in prison. Both Radu Savoae, 28, and Constanta Agrigoroaie, 23, plead guilty to six counts of possessing fraudulent ID cards, equipment to make fake bank and ID cards, and conspiracy to commit fraud.

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In addition to the phishing operation, police authorities found cloned credit cards and fake Spanish and Romanian identification cards in their apartment. A spreadsheet found on the pair's computer also listed out fraudulent transactions for flights, vehicle insurance and other data given to to local pickpockets operating in the area.
For every major cybercriminal yanked off the streets, federal and local law enforcement struggle to keep up. Unfortunately, it usually takes a large amount of victims before banks and authorities catch on and launch investigations.

Anonymous victimizes Kenya Defense Ministry's Twitter account
The Anonymous hacker group reportedly hacked the official Kenya Defense Ministry Twitter account that is used to share information about the military's operations. The breach is now being investigated by Kenyan military technicians, and no internal military systems were compromised by the breach. Anonymous supporters have targeted Kenya, Zimbabwe and Twitter accounts used by other African governments.

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In a tweet posted to the KDF website today: "Account hacked Again by @anon_0x03 and Anonymous Kenya F**K YOU ARMY!"
The @kdfinfo account was hacked by @Anon_0x03, with Kenya political actions mocked and criticized, including the following topics: animal poaching, ivory trafficking, corruption, drugs, and continued tribalism. Anonymous has taken offense to Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta, claiming he's only interested in defending the rich - and not doing enough to keep regular civilians safe and secure.

Connected TVs in U.S. will double number of Internet users by 2017
There will be double the amount of connected TV devices in the United States when compared to U.S. Internet households by 2017, according to the NPD Group. There will be an estimated 204 million connected TVs using the Internet over the next three years, double the figure of estimated Internet growth.

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The adoption of connected TVs and streaming media players, along with lowering costs, have provided consumers with a wide selection of product choices. More consumers are using their connected living room technologies to stream Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, Hulu, and other popular entertainment services.
"The evolution of hardware and digital content distribution is constantly changing the TV viewing experience," said John Buffone, NPD Connected Intelligence executive director, in a press statement. "Over the coming years, the consumers' preferred device for apps on TV will be shaped by the next generation of video game consoles, Smart TVs, and a new wave of streaming media players."
The connected TV device market is expected to reach saturation in the United States starting in 2018, as majority of homes will have apps and other connectivity.

Researchers creating smart helmet technology to relay concussion data
A new technology being developed at Western Michigan University hopes to give coaches and medical staff a better glimpse when a player suffers a concussion on the field. A new pressure sensor designed for helmets uses printed electronics that sends information to a smartphone, providing immediate data on hit severity.

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All data can be stored so coaches and staff can monitor each player's complete history following a concussion-related incident.
"Basically, this device or system would eliminate the possibility of inaccuracies from field judgments made by coaches, who rely on the self-assessment or self-reporting of players," said Massood Atashbar, WMU electrical and computer science professor, in a statement to local media. "The coach would receive real-time, actionable information when one of the players receives a potentially dangerous and serious impact to the head."
Concussion-related injuries plague football players from high school and college to the NFL, with many players trying to hide symptoms to keep playing. For many high schools and smaller college football programs, however, coaches and staff might not be trained well enough to detect potential problems.

AskMen website hacked twice in the past month, sending malicious code
For the second time in the past month, AskMen.com was compromised, with malicious code injected on the company's server sending out attacks. AskMen is reportedly looking into the security issue after being contacted by security software company Malwarebytes.

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In the previous attack, visitors were being targeted by malicious code courtesy of the Nuclear Pack exploit kit, Websense researchers discovered. The attack started by redirecting users to another website, and then a Java exploit (CVE-2013-2465) and Adobe PDF exploit would be installed.
The second attack discovered by Malwarebytes runs using the same idea - a JavaScript iframe is created to redirect users to a malicious website. The new website serves as a landing page for the same Nuclear Pack exploit kit, with the payload dropped and executed on unsuspecting users. The Malwarebytes Anti-Malware software flags the software as "Trojan.Kelihos," the company said.

Google now promotes legal links if you search for TV torrents
Users who now enter piracy related keywords into Google will see legal content promoted above anything that's against the law.

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If users type in keywords like torrent, Putlocker or DVDrip, they will be shown what they are looking for - but Google will prioritize results like Netflix and Hulu above the search results. And Google Play, its own content selling service, is one of these that it promotes. It's an interesting premise that operates on the good faith assumption of people looking for these terms will be interested in their legal alternatives. For some Googlers this will be the case, but we strongly suspect it won't be for all or even most of them. However, this does not seem to have reached the UK just yet, so it's possible Google is running a trial in selected markets.
This rollout appears to have been done on the quiet but is rather all-encompassing - high-risk pirate search terms like a TV title followed by 'watch' will lead to a similar set of results, as well as keywords like 'view' or 'download'. "These ads will appear after various searches that include specific movie, TV, and music titles," a spokesperson for Google told TorrentFreak.

Criminals using Malaysia Airlines MH17 to compromise users with spam
Cybercriminals are capitalizing on media attention of the Malaysia Airlines MH17, with a constant barrage of tweets, Facebook status updates, and emails promising additional information about the crash. Most recently, a reported "video" of the Malaysia Airlines crash posted on Facebook actually links to a pornographic website - and other similar spam efforts are likely on the way.

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"When a disaster like this happens it's a great opportunity for all sorts of scammers," said Ken Gamble, Australian chapter chairman of the International Association of Cybercrime Prevention, in a statement to the media. "It's a great opportunity to prey on people's vulnerabilities and emotion is the greatest one."
Cybercriminals typically launch spam attacks following major international incidents - and it's becoming easier - as news is so frequently shared via email and social media. As emotions run high, criminals want to compromise users as they try to learn more about the incident and share details with friends online.
If you come across any of these scams via social media, you can report it to phish@fb.com on Facebook, or @spam and @safety on Twitter.

Criminals expanding use of card skimmers to steal data from customers
The battle continues against the use of card skimmers to steal debit and credit card information from customers, with data being stolen at ATMs, gas stations, and other similar locations. Data skimmed often is sold online or used to clone the credit card for use locally, with customers, banks, and law enforcement typically one step behind.

TweakTown image criminals_expanding_use_of_card_skimmers_to_steal_data_from_customers

Criminals are using handheld skimmers and small devices that can be installed to compromise point-of-sale (POS) systems. The newer generation electronic skimmers can be installed and remotely controlled inside of ATMs or other POS machines - and often times can be very difficult to detect. Banks and security experts recommend customers always pay attention to their bank statements and credit card bills, in case mysterious charges begin to appear.
"[The skimmer is] hidden, the person using it will never see it, it's simple to add, it's simple to modify it," said Dan DeFelippi, a former credit card hacker. "It only takes seconds to open it up and put it in there. They're ubiquitous. There are gas pumps everywhere. You can easily find a gas station to do it at and go back and gather."

IT would improve security infrastructure if money, opportunity arose
Almost thirty percent of security experts would conduct an overhaul of current enterprise security if they had the necessary resources and opportunity to make changes, according to a survey conducted by Websense. There is a lack of communication between IT security and company decision makers, as many current security systems are outdated and unable to defend against some attacks.

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"This Ponemon Institute security survey highlights that a lack of communication, education and inadequate security systems is making it possible for cybercriminals to attack organizations across the globe," said John McCormack, Websense CEO, in a press statement. "It's not surprising that many security professionals are disappointed with the level of protection their current solutions provide, as many still use legacy solutions that cannot disrupt the kill chain to prevent data theft."
Advanced persistent threats (APTs) remain a top concern among organization security experts, with APTs typically serving as well-coordinated attacks aimed at single corporations. The stealth attack is continuous and many users are unaware they've been compromised - stealing confidential data that can be sold or used for ransom.

Lego pieces still washing up on English coast after 90s shipwreck
The tides on a British coast keep washing in the remnants of a 1997 shipwreck that was carrying a cargo load of Lego.

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Lego pieces keep emerging on the shores of Cornwall, England, and there have been hundreds spotted since the ship, the Tokio Express, was pulled under a freak wave, losing just under 5 million pieces of Lego in the process. Some of the Lego pieces include, ironically, plastic spear guns and scuba gear.
Tracey Williams, who runs the Lego Lost at Sea page, which is dedicated to the strange phenomena, was interviewed by the Bristol Post newspaper. "I've collected between 500 and 600 pieces over the years," she said. "Collectively we've found thousands and thousands between us - but there's still so many more to find." An oceanographer, Curtis Ebbesmeyer, told the paper that the mystery is in where most of the pieces have ended up, as they have only been reported definitively just off the coast of Cornwall. "The most profound lesson I've learned from the Lego story is that things that go to the bottom of the sea don't always stay there," Ebbesmeyer added.

Smartwatch makers aiming for children and those monitoring health
Smartwatches piqued the interest of technology enthusiasts, but has largely fallen flat to appeal to casual consumers. To create new marketing hype, LG Electronics, Filip Technologies and VTech Holdings are catering devices to children, which could be an easier sale than to adults.

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Basic smartwatches from children, like the VTech Kidizoom smartwatch, is simple and affordable: $60 with no Wi-Fi or 3G/4G support. Keeping kids mobile with technology could be used for both education and entertainment, supporters say. Meanwhile, smartwatches from Samsung, Apple and other companies rely heavily on technology, including mobile connectivity, to constantly monitor blood sugar levels and other medical data.
"Children as well as the elderly are ideal customers for wearable technologies," Jong-seok Park, head of LG Mobile Communications, in a recent statement. "Wearables allow us to stay connected without the worry of losing a device or the inconvenience of having to carry a large item in a pocket."
Just 1 in 5 adults have shown an initial interest in smartwatches, a number that OEM watch makers will try to improve on.

Britain's BBC hit by mysterious technical glitches all weekend
In a strangely self-referential post, Britain's public broadcasting network, the BBC, has outlined the technical issues that have been plaguing, well, the BBC.

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Although issues continued throughout the weekend, BBC News has now published a post that speaks about the problems. Its iPlayer service - the flagship streaming website that allows Brits to watch TV live, on demand, or listen to the radio for free provided they pay a licence fee - was struggling for unspecified reasons. Some users were unable to access the service at all, while the BBC website was forced to display a basic version. It led to speculation from some online users the network was victim of a Denial of Service attack. The iPlayer is critically acclaimed for its service and pioneering of official on-demand streaming.
The corporation put out tweets saying it hoped the service would be back up and running soon, as well as issuing an official apology. UK internet providers also noticed something was wrong. "The final fixes for the problems were expected to be applied on 21 July when the vast majority of people should be able reach the web-based video services as normal," the BBC News website says. "The BBC said it would issue a statement when it knew more about the cause of the glitches."

Internet adoption in China declines to lowest point in 8 years
China has an economy that is booming and as more and more Chinese citizens increase their spending power, adoption of smartphones, internet access, and other items is growing significantly. Over the last several years internet adoption in China has been growing like crazy.

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However, a new report has found that internet adoption in China has declined to levels not seen in the last eight years. China added 14.4 million new internet users in the first half of 2014 making the slowest growth rate recorded in the last eight years.
China is the world's largest internet using population. It appears that usage in major cities and urban areas is becoming saturated and rollout of internet in rural areas is struggling. In those rural areas, about 450 million people never get online. Internet penetration in China is currently at 46.9% compared to the 87% penetration rate in America.

Top 10 TweakTown News Stories from the past week [21 July 2014]
Here are our top 10 news posts from the past week!

Huawei sales boom with 19% increase in first half of 2014
Smartphone makers and other firms know that one of the biggest emerging markets for all electronics products is China. Smartphone firms are working hard to get into the Chinese market where business is growing while sales in other more developed markets are slowing.

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China has a homegrown brand that is giving firms from other countries a big run for their money, that Chinese brand is Huawei. Huawei has announced that it has had a 19% sales increase in the first half of 2014. The company says that it expects profit margins in the area of 18.3% for the first half of the year.
Those numbers make it one of the most successful smartphones makers in the world. IDC shows that Huawei has shipped 13.7 million smartphones in Q1 2014 making it the third largest smartphone vendor in the world.

DRM-free indie books outsell DRM laden ones 2:1
If you haven't noticed, consumers don't care for DRM. We like to buy books and music once and then put them on any of the devices we own that we want to. DRM will often keep you from installing your legally purchased content on all of your devices. A new report has been published looking at indie books on Amazon comparing the sales success of DRM laden titles to those lacking DRM.

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The report has found that independent books being sold on Amazon without DRM are selling at a 2:1 rate compared to those with DRM. Digital books from the big five publishers almost all use DRM. When it comes to indie books, only about 50% of the titles are published with DRM.
At the end of the day, the report found that independent books selling without DRM installed significantly out-earned titles that had DRM. The only price point where DRM titles from independent authors outsold titles without DRM was at $6.99, where two books from a single author are outliers.

Details on August Xbox One update surface, 3D Blu-ray support coming
Some details on the next major update for the Microsoft Xbox One game console have surfaced. The most important thing added in the update due to land next month is support for 3D Blu-ray discs. That means owners who have a 3D TV will get to enjoy 3D movies from the console.

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Other improvements coming in the update include changes to the console Activity Feed and Friends section. Users will also gain the ability to automatically download new games and apps. That feature allows you to purchase content from Xbox.com via the web or Smart Glass connected devices and have the Xbox download it automatically.
Another nice update is a warning that will display when your controller is getting low. Xbox controllers will also get a vibration to acknowledge when input with a notification has been made. There will be other updates and tweaks made as well.

Best Buy offers LG G3 for $99.99 on Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T
If you want to get your hands-on a new smartphone without having to pay the typical $200 to get one, the new LG G3 might be the perfect option. Best Buy is offering this smartphone with a low price, at least low by new smartphone standards, of $99.99.

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The LG G3 will be available for $99.99 on three major mobile networks including AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. That makes the device $100 cheaper than it was when it first launched. The discounted price will also work for those getting the device on the Sprint Easy Pay, Verizon Edge, or AT&T Next plans.
Purchasing the LG G3 smartphone directly from any of these three carriers will cost you $199.99. The G3 has a Snapdragon 801 processor, and 2 or 3GB of RAM depending on the version. The screen has a resolution of 2560 x 1440 with 538ppi.

Gionee's upcoming smartphone could be the thinnest yet, at just 5mm
Smartphones continue to get thinner and thinner, but it looks like Gionee could be leading the pack with its upcoming smartphone codenamed GN9005. The GN9005 is just 5mm, or 0.2 inches thick, which would make it one of the thinnest, if not the thinnest smartphone on the market.

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The Gionee GN9005 should arrive with a 4.8-inch 720p AMOLED display, a quad-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, and 5-megapixel front-facing shooter. This should all be powered by a 2050mAh battery. There's no ETA on this super-thin smartphone, but we should hear more about it in the coming weeks.

DOTA 2 International championship Grand Finals teams now known
After two weeks of intense gaming, and the leaking of the strategy of Team DK for DOTA 2, we now know the two teams who will be competing in The International's Grand Final. The Chinese team Newbee, who clawed their way to the final from losing multiple rounds, to not losing a single round in an entire week of play.

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The second team, ViCi Gaming, started off strong against Evil Geniuses, with a 16-minute win in-game on, but lost during their second game. In game three they caught up, so that they could compete against Newbee in the final. The two teams will now play a best-of-5 series that will see the winner of The International take home a huge $5 million.
This also marks the first time that The International final has featured two Chinese squads, too.

Google will no longer call games free if they have in-app purchases
It looks like Google has made the first move in cleaning up its Play store, where it has made it clearer to know what an actual free game is, versus a game that will feature in-app purchases.

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The European Commission has requested Google change the way that it markets apps shown on digital storefronts like the Google Play store, with the company moving forward to keep its consumers better informed. This now includes no longer putting up with apps with in-app purchases to call themselves "free". The Mountain View-based search giant has said that it will install new guidelines for games and developers so that kids won't be encouraged to buy items once they are in the game.

Lead R&D Graphics Engineer of Crytek leaves for id Software
We have been reporting on the still on-going issues over at Crytek, but things just got worse for the developer of Crysis. Tiago Sousa, Crytek's Lead R&D Graphics Engineer has left the company, joining the ranks of id Software.

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Sousa is now working as the Lead Rendering Programmer on the new reboot of Doom and the engine that powers it: id Tech 6 game engine. Sousa was with Crytek for 11 years, so this is quite the loss for Crytek. According to Sousa's LinkedIn profile, he has contributed to work on CryENGINE 3, as well as all three Crysis games, Ryse: Son of Rome for the Xbox One, Warface and "undisclosed multiplatform projects".
Considering most of Crytek's UK-based staff have stopped going to work, and the studio isn't paying its staff on time, this is troubling times. This isn't considering that the studio has already lost key staff such as the game director for Homefront: The Revolution leaving, as well as its Development Manager, Ben Harris.

Intel Pentium G3258 (Haswell) 20th Anniversary CPU Gaming Performance

Introduction

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The other day, we got a chance to look at the new Intel Pentium G3258 processor, and it really did a good job of impressing us thanks to its low cost and unlocked multiplier that gave us quite the overclocking potential. When it came to testing the CPU in our normal line up of CPU benchmarks, it didn't fare so well. With only two cores and no HyperThreading, the G3258 clearly sits behind its much more expensive counterparts.
What we want to do today is see just what the new budget friendly G3258 processor is capable of in a gaming environment. With a price difference of around $250, the extra money saved can be put towards something else that can increase your overall gaming experience. We're mainly talking about throwing an extra couple of hundred dollars into your video card.
Does the lack of HyperThreading affect the overall performance under games? We know that when it comes to synthetic benchmarks, the new processor doesn't perform nearly as strongly. What happens under a gaming environment, though? That's exactly what we intend to find out. Today, we'll be testing both the G3258 and i7-4790K at stock and overclocked. With some strong overclocking potential on the budget friendly G3258, we're expecting some strong gains in overall performance.
We won't say much else here, and instead we'll just get into the test system setup where we'll talk about how we went with the overclocking side of things before we get straight into the performance. Is it worth saving some money on the processor and throwing it into the video card? Well, let's not drag it on any longer and find out.
PRICING: You can find the Intel G3258 for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: The Intel G3258 retails for $69.99 at Amazon.
Canada: The Intel G3258 retails for CDN$98.71 at Amazon Canada.
... Read the rest in your browser!

Crucial MX100 256GB SSD Review

Introduction

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You may have caught our recent coverage of the PNY Optima scandal that led to a boycott of PNY and Kingston SSDs on Reddit. Several technology websites picked up the initial blog post and post inspection editorial. For the most part, the industry chimed in with supporting remarks, damning both companies for changing important components after reviews hit the web. There were a handful of dissenting opinions, though. All were based on fiction, like those buying low-cost SSDs don't care about performance, and the manufacturers can't keep up with the demand during manufacturing, so they get to just throw together any product they want and sell it under the same model name. The latter is what really caught my attention and the new Crucial MX100 proves the claim false.
Crucial is part of the Micron and Lexar, Micron being one of the largest NAND flash and DRAM manufacturers in the world. Crucial gets first pick of NAND flash made by Micron, in a cooperation with Intel called IMFT. Both Micron and Crucial have SSD product lines, Micron sells to OEM customers like Dell, and Crucial sells to the channel, customers like you and me. In a roundabout way, we can say that Crucial has NAND flash production via proxy, just like Intel, Samsung, SanDisk, Toshiba and SK Hynix.
As the SSD market grows, these NAND flash manufacturers will make sure they have NAND flash for themselves before selling flash to third-party SSD manufacturers, those without NAND flash product capability. SSD prices are rapidly shrinking and so are profit margins per unit sold. When you have NAND flash production, it's really not a big deal, but when you have to buy flash and sell a drive at a competitive price point, it certainly is.
What we're seeing now is the lower-end of the totem pole cutting corners to stay competitive with the six NAND flash manufacturers. If they were having problems before, then things are about to get a whole lot worse.

Specifications, Pricing and Availability

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Hot on the heels of Crucial's flagship M550 release is the replacement for M500, the MX100. Crucial positioned the MX100 at the lower tier of a two-tier structure - one product designed for the performance market, and the other designed for mainstream users. 'Mainstream users' is really an odd term, but it means those who don't want to spend a lot of money on a product.
Nearly all SSDs deliver enthusiast levels of performance, but some perform a bit better under heavy workloads. A true mainstream user wouldn't be able to tell the difference between an expensive SSD and one that costs less than $100. It's a significant price point though because it's an easy to swallow amount, even if you only care about your PC booting quicker and web pages loading faster.
The Crucial MX100 ships in three capacity sizes - 128GB, 256GB and 512GB. All three capacity sizes read sequential data at 550 MB/s, but the sequential write speeds vary by the capacity and range from 150 MB/s for the 128GB model to an impressive 500 MB/s on the 512GB model.
We recorded the current prices at the time of writing and snagged a screenshot from Newegg, shown at the top of this page. The MX100 128GB comes in at just $77.99, the 256GB model costs just $109.99 and the 512GB model just $214.99. It seems Newegg is even reducing the cost of shipping on the MX100, just 99 cents.
Things get interesting on the technology side. While the 128GB MX100 uses 128Gb die capacity 20nm NAND flash, like the larger capacity M550 series, the 256GB and 512GB MX100 models use new 16nm flash. Micron is able to produce more 16nm die per wafer than 20nm die. Since the wafer price is the same, Micron gets more parts per wafer at 16nm, which trickles down to mean lower price SSDs. 16nm lithography is Micron's answer to Samsung's 3-bit MLC (Triple-Level Cell, TLC) flash. For years, we've heard that price is the leading reason for users to pass on solid state storage technology, and Micron / Crucial's 16nm flash addresses the price issues.

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You may think the MX100 also cuts technology features from the flagship M550, but that isn't the case. The MX100 checks all of the boxes with an extensive list of features. Those include hardware encryption via TCG Opal 2.0 and Microsoft's eDrive. Crucial's RAID technology is also included, as well as adaptive thermal protection, power loss protection and a host of industry standards.
The MX100 series of products carry a three-year warranty with a TBW of 72TB or 40GB per day. To frame the writes per day, I've used the same SSD in my daily use notebook, the one that I take everywhere, and average 23GB writes per day.
PRICING: You can find the Crucial MX100 256GB SSD for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: The Crucial MX100 256GB SSD retails for $109.99 at Amazon.
Canada: The Crucial MX100 256GB SSD retails for CDN$160.45 at Amazon Canada.
... Read the rest in your browser!

Top 10 TweakTown Content from the past week [21 July 2014]
Here are our top 10 articles, reviews and guides from the past week!

Western Digital Red 6TB NAS Consumer HDD Review

Introduction

TweakTown image western_digital_red_6tb_nas_consumer_hdd_review

In what seemed a matter of time, we had an idea WD was right around the corner from releasing their very own 6TB storage solution. While we did not think it would be from the WD Red lineup, it is here and I am sure others are right around the corner as well.
The new WD Red brings to market the very first 6TB purpose built for NAS storage solutions. With this, WD has also increased the bay count to a maximum of eight in a tower installation or 16 bays if you have the new WD Red Pro.
As with all WD Red solutions, the 6TB carries on the 24x7 reliability of the brand, and introduces NASware 3.0, further enhancing compatibility with NAS systems, while offering improved performance.

Specifications, Pricing and Availability

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Looking at the slide above, you can see the list of features for the new 6TB Red. WD has added StableTrac to the 5TB and 6TB Red models, while keeping with the IntelliPower scheme the Red has always enjoyed. This time around, NASware has been upgraded to version 3.0, as mentioned above, while WD has a focused manufacturing and testing process for the Red lineup.
The MSRP of the WD Red in the 6TB capacity is set at $299.99. In addition to this, WD has released a 5TB capacity for $249.99; both drives carry a three-year warranty.
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The Lego Movie (2014) Blu-ray Movie Review

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The Lego Movie (2014)

Just a decade ago, the Lego Company was on its knees and literally months from bankruptcy. Despite the relative success of Star Wars tie-ins, a perfect storm of issues coalesced for the Danish company, including the development of complex and costly new products, reduced sales and the introduction of a series of ill-advised toy-lines that strayed precariously far from the company's core products.
Flash forward to today and with yearly revenues of nearly $5 billion, it seems Lego is now more popular than ever. Nothing exemplifies the company's renewed success more than the premiere of The Lego Movie and the millions that it has brought in to company coffers off its own back.

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In a land where creativity has been oppressed by the evil Lord Businessman (Will Ferrell), happy-go-lucky construction worker Emmett (Chris Pratt) is recruited by fringe dwellers Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) and Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) and hailed as the prophesied "special", the hero destined to thwart Lord Businessman's plan to freeze the world with the terrifying power of the super glue 'Kragle'. Teaming up with the master builders of the Lego world, including Batman (Will Arnett), Metalbeard (Nick Offerman) and Unikitty (Alison Brie), Emmett offers the denizens of Cloud Cuckoo Land the best chance of defeating the forces of evil, but what hope do they have if the prophecy proves incorrect?
Whilst it's easy to dismiss The Lego Movie as a cynical, $100m advertisement for the minuscule slabs of plastic, there's no denying the entertainment value and theatrical opportunities that the line offers, probably surpassing that of other products that have transitioned quite well, including Transformers and G.I. Joe.
The CG animation is unique and features a lot more attention to detail than might be instantly obvious, taking on an almost stop-motion style, with the characters movement carefully emulating that of the Lego figures themselves.
Writer/Directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord have produced a whip smart script full of in-jokes, pop culture references and other irreverent humor with breezy abandon, the film manages to enthrall for three quarters before disappointingly stalling towards the finish line. Having cut their teeth on animated and live action productions such as Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street, their attempts to bridge the animated and live action world's in The Lego Movie simply to deliver a schmaltzy message about the importance of play and creativity proves unnecessary. A disappointment to be sure, but it seems that others might just have enough goodwill banked up from the sheer fun of the first 90 minutes to overlook this transgression.

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Video

The Lego Movie is encoded with AVC MPEG-4 compression and presented in the intended aspect ratio of 2.40:1.
A pleasing direct digital transfer, The Lego Movie certainly looks the goods, but not all will agree with the creative choices in the film's visuals. First off - this isn't your typical Disney or DreamWorks CG animated film - colors are desaturated, the animation deliberately stilted to emulate a stop-motion effect. However, the image is as perfect as the directors intended.
Such is the attention to detail evident in this transfer are the Easter eggs littered throughout, including the flaws built into character models such as fingerprints, dents and mold joins and other tidbits that the directors point out with glee in the audio commentary.
This is a fabulous transfer, exquisitely matched to artistic intent - just don't expect bright and bold CG visual perfection. That just wasn't the aim.

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Audio

The Lego Movie is presented in DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, at 24 bits.
As with all animated films, it's often easy to forget that every single sound effect that goes into the mix is built from the ground up - not just a case of sticking a boom mic on a set. Whilst this may give some freedoms in post-production, let's just dwell on that point for a sec.
In short, The Lego Movie features a stunning and aggressive audio mix, which impresses with relative ease. It's an incredibly dense track with every channel overflowing with some kind of effect. Gone are the days when the subwoofer was used lightly in case it scared the kids - The Lego Movie holds little back in this area.
Any review of the sound quality must mention the films de facto theme song "Everything is awesome", whose catchiness has resulted in a slight reduction in the score. Just kidding.

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Extras

Roadshow's local disc mirrors the international equivalent, coming with a generous collection of bonuses that will please fans. Let's take a look.
First up is an Audio Commentary with Co-Directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord , joined by voice artists Chris Pratt, Will Arnett, Charlie Day and Alison Brie. Miller and Lord are funny guys, and they give a comedic and illuminating running track of trivia, often highlighting the Easter eggs and in-jokes littered throughout.
Bringing LEGO to Life is the longest featurette running at around 13 minutes, which looks predominantly at the CGI produced by Australian VFX firm Animal Logic and the designs that emulate the look of real LEGO blocks.
Next up are a bunch of short and sweet featurettes, including Stories from the Story Team which looks at the evolution of scenes from their storyboard concepts, See It, Built It! which gives instructions on how to recreate a few moments from the film with LEGO blocks, Everything is Awesome Sing-Along for you to belt out Karaoke style, Fan-Made Films: Top-Secret Submissions, which show excerpts from some of the best homemade LEGO adventures.
The Alleyway Test featurette shows an early, proof of concept for the film's animation style, while Batman's A True Artist is a spoof music video starring the caped crusader being all "dark" and brooding, whilst Enter the Ninjago is a brief encounter with the other LEGO franchise that didn't quite get a look in during the film, but is being actively developed for a film in its own right.
Finally, we have a number of Deleted Scenes, which didn't get out of the storyboard phase, whilst the Outtakes reel is not as funny as one would hope.
PRICING: You can find the Lego Movie Blu-ray for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: The Lego Movie Blu-ray retails for $17.96 at Amazon.
Canada: The Lego Movie Blu-ray retails for CDN$24.99 at Amazon Canada.

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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) Cinema Movie Review

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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

The Planet of the Apes franchise, which last year celebrated its 45th anniversary, has displayed significant longevity, weathering four direct sequels of diminishing quality, two cheap 70's TV series, a critically disastrous Tim Burton reboot and the 2011 prequel Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which tells the backstory to loop back to the 1968 original. However, throughout the ups and downs, the franchise has never failed in sheer entertainment value, but they've never been quite as interesting, nor as thought provoking as its current iteration.

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Ten years from the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which saw humanity decimated by the airborne virus ALZ-113, otherwise known as the 'Simian Flu', Dawn of the Planet of the Apes finds the human survivors of the outbreak attempting to continue with their lives in an enclave separated from the ape civilization, which has evolved at alarming speed - even learning to speak English.
With supplies of petrol dwindling, signaling the imminent end of power generation, the human force, led by Malcom (Jason Clarke) attempt to restart the nearby hydropower dam. The only problem being that it runs straight through the ape's territory, putting the two alpha-species on a collision course for conflict.

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I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which eschewed the tongue in cheek camp of the later entries, for a more serious and thoroughly engaging, multi-layered tale. Through it all, Dawn proves to be more than a worthy follow-up on multiple levels, including through some truly miraculous motion capture performances, which successfully manage to engage emotionally with the audience.

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Director Matt Reeves, best known for the micro-budgeted sci-fi hit Cloverfield, under the tutelage of J.J. Abrams, is clearly adept at controlling a much larger production. The opening titles remind of the devastation inflicted on humanity, lending instant dramatic weight to the proceedings, before flinging right into the present dilemma. Admittedly, I didn't really feel that much for any of the human characters. Sure, I didn't want them to go to war, but mainly because the ape race would be decimated by their firepower. That said, Australian actor Jason Clarke does his best (even if he isn't leading man material), but the ever dependable Gary Oldman provides the film much needed case of gravitas.
The real actors here are the apes themselves, and much like its predecessor lived or died by their strengths, this film once again delivers in spades. Partially due to some superb CG, but mostly due to the indispensable motion capture provided by Andy Serkis, Caesar is a brought to screen living breathing hero, with more character and depth than any of the humans. There's a real emotional force to their plight, something which I was quite taken aback by.

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There's a lot going on in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, proving itself to be highly adept at driving the reality grounded predecessor forward, while continuing to stitch connective tissue to the legacy franchise. I can't wait to see where they take things next, but with a projected release date just two years into the future, I guess we won't have to wait too long at all.

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NZXT Phantom 240 Mid-Tower Chassis Review

Introduction, Specifications and Pricing

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NZXT has been in the chassis game for what feels like forever as far as my career in reviewing is concerned. We have seen just about everything possible in case designs to have come from them in the past, and that history of building better and better designs is something you cannot deny NZXT at this point. NZXT is one of the select few companies that really puts thought and effort into their designs, and their latest submission is no exception.
Out of all of the case series they have come up with over this time, the most popular, and most economically beneficial to NZXT has to be the Phantom Series of cases. One major consistency over all of the Phantom cases we have seen to date, is that they are all mid-tower designs. Over our time here, we have seen them start off with an older interior design that was pretty plain and simplistic, but the Phantom series has always been known for its unusually designed exterior that really lent to losing the basic square chassis design, and gave customers a new idea of what cases could be.
As time has progressed, we have seen improvements in the features sets of these designs with new wire management ideas, new modular bay designs, and progressively offering more and more for your money. We have also seen many changes in the exterior as far as windows, ventilations, and shape of the front door, along with a few other features. This time, the Phantom series gets yet another facelift to stay current, yet it will still be a design that is easily recognized among the many previous Phantom designs.
NZXT has delivered the latest to hit their lineup in the Phantom series with this Phantom 240 mid-tower we are about to see today. While aesthetics and interior design have been improved upon, NZXT has yet to do much about the pricing, offering what has to be one of, if not the best, bang for the buck chassis yet to be offered in this series. So stick with us as we cover all aspects of the design, and discuss the pricing before we get down and dirty with this Phantom 240 mid-tower from NZXT.

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As we can see, this Phantom 240 is a mid-tower chassis, and it also goes by the part number of CA-PH240-W1. This breaks down to CA for case, PH240 for Phantom 240, and the W1 stands for its white color, which, as far as we can tell, is the only current color choice for this design. Inside of this chassis there are three 5.25" bays, followed by six drive bays that can house either a 2.5" or 3.5" drive on each tray.
As for the cooling, the front can hold two 120mm fans, but only one is supplied. The top can house a pair of 120mm or 140mm fans, but neither are supplied, the rear holds the last included 120mm fan, and there is an option to place yet another 120mm fan in the floor. Just below the cooling section, we do see that there are some limitations to this design where the CPU cooler cannot be taller than 158mm, video cards can only be 290mm in length unless the modular section of HDD rack is removed, and NZXT even offers up spacing of 17mm behind the motherboard tray.
The dimensions of this steel and plastic chassis show that this chassis is only slightly taller than it is deep, with 530mm and 529mm measurements respectively. We can also see the width is 195mm. The motherboard tray is designed to house Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, as well as ATX motherboards, to fit most users' needs. At the bottom, we are given the dry weight of the chassis at 8.1Kg, and we also see that this chassis comes with a two-year warranty.
While we are not going to be very descriptive of the design and aesthetics at this point, it is because we feel a picture is worth a thousand words. With just a couple of glances at this design, it is easy to see the changes that have been made from previous Phantom cases we have seen thus far.
However, we will tell you that just about everywhere we usually haunt to shop for gear has this chassis available, and it is even available at some places we have never seen before. What we found is that across many locations, the pricing very near the $69.99 price point that the NZXT shop offers the chassis at. We did mention some newer locations, but in that aspect, we can see the pricing for this Phantom 240 escalating quickly up to, and over $100 in some places, which makes us realize why we stick to Amazon, Newegg, Tiger, and other places that do so much business they don't have to be a wallet killer on each and every product they sell.
Shop around, but you will be very hard pressed to find this chassis for less than $70. But who knows, if you do find a sale, you are getting a seriously good deal, as we are very willing to tell you there is plenty of value in this chassis at its current pricing.
PRICING: You can find the NZXT Phantom 240 Mid-Tower Chassis for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: The NZXT Phantom 240 Mid-Tower Chassis retails for $69.99 at Amazon.
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BitFenix Shadow Mid-Tower Chassis Review

Introduction, Specifications and Pricing

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Lately, BitFenix has been trying to keep us busy with a full on assault of new cases that they have released over the past month or so. Most of the designs are similar in nature to what we will be reviewing today. The chassis we are here to review today is a simpler setup; it is a chassis for builders, or even beginners who just don't want to throw a bunch of money into a chassis. We all know there is plenty of need for these types of cases, either to keep overall costs down to pass on to your customers, or for those who feel that spending over $50 for a case is like trying to pull teeth from a bird.
We have seen many of these cost-effective mid-tower designs over the years, but in our minds, it has always sort of been a back and forth between what BitFenix was doing, and what NZXT had to offer. Both have the same basic concept of offering air flow options, only shipping with a fan or two at most. At the same time, they also try to offer things like wire management, tool-free mechanisms, and even color coordinated wires with the traditional black on black theme that most of these cases come in.
The thing is, BitFenix has always tried to offer things using a much different approach to aesthetics than its competition, and this latest sample fits all of the molds we expect from both this class of cases, and what we know from BitFenix in the past.
Join us as we take a break from the huge, and fully appointed monster towers that we usually deliver, and take a step back to appreciate the more economical side of case design. The reason we have you here today is to look at the BitFenix Shadow mid-tower chassis. While this chassis does fall into the below $100 price range, lately we have seen some really stellar designs that we can get in this form factor, and even at some really great prices. So, while this market is always open for more competition, the bar is set mighty high, and we will see soon enough if this chassis from BitFenix should come out of the dark and be seen, or if it should just lurk in the shadows and be forgotten.

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While the BitFenix Shadow is made of steel and ABS plastic just like most other chassis, the external aesthetics are pretty plain. To dress things up a bit, the front offers an angled front door that receives a rubberized coating; and along with a few small vents to either side of it, there is a logo placed low on the front door. As for the rest of the chassis that is easily visible, it is just flat expanses of steel that have a textured black finish applied inside and out. Inside of its more compact dimensions, this mid-tower is still designed to fit Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, and ATX motherboards.
On the inside you will find three 5.25" bays, followed by seven bays for 3.5" drives, oriented front to back. On the floor inside of the HDD rack, there are holes to screw down a single 2.5" drive. The cooling system consists of a 120mm fan in the front, and another in the rear of the chassis. The chassis also offers optional locations to place an additional 120mm fan in the front, or in the floor. Also, if for some reason you feel the need, the rear fan can be replaced with a 92mm fan.
Switching gears again, the chart takes us to the seven expansion slots, then off to the top of the chassis to discuss the front I/O panel. The chart then goes on to discuss the PSU size, the SofTouch treatment, LEDs, dust filters, and the tool-free mechanisms on all of the bays.
Looking around all of the usual places, we find the Shadow has decent availability, and appears at many different e-tailers. We also see that the pricing is pretty level, no matter where you locate this mid-tower chassis; all of the pricing we saw was on the mark of $79.99 U.S. dollars. While it doesn't take huge leaps and bounds to fill out eighty dollars' worth of casing, when it comes down to cost versus return, it is a limiting factor to some extent. Considering what many $50 cases have to offer, and what newer $100 designs bring these days, we will see soon enough if this chassis is worth the cost, and just how well it stacks up to the rest of the cases in this price range.
PRICING: You can find the BitFenix Shadow for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: The BitFenix Shadow retails for $79.99 at Amazon.
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Seagate Desktop HDD 5TB ST5000DX000 Consumer Review

Introduction

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About a month ago, we were able to get our hands-on one of the very first Seagate Desktop 6TB drives meant for the average consumer by harvesting it from the LaCie 2Big Thunderbolt 2. Today, we harvest yet another drive from Seagate in the form of the 5TB Desktop HDD. This time around, we were able to gather this drive from a NAS appliance sent to us for review.
Like the 6TB model we reviewed last month, this 5TB drive houses 1TB platters inside with an areal density of 633Gbits/in2, and while the model we have in the lab today is not available at retail, in the coming months they should start appearing on store shelves, albeit with a new model number.
Let's dive in and take a close look now.

Specifications, Pricing and Availability

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Again, we have to look over at the Enterprise Capacity V4 to get an idea of what the specification of the 5TB Desktop HDD will emulate. As we know, the Desktop variant will not carry many of the features found in the Enterprise Capacity V4, but the basics should be very similar. However, things do get a bit tricky in Seagate's portfolio as SMR enabled drives are just around the corner, and if you so happened to look at marketing materials on the product webpage, you will find a similar drive with model number ST5000DM000 that is in fact SMR enabled. The drive we have in house does not use SMR technology.
With that said, looking at the specifications above from the performance section on down, we fully expect this drive to carry those features. Of course we start with the 7200 RPM spindle speed with a max sustained transfer rate of 216 MB/s. Average latency is listed at 4ms, while idle and typical power are listed at 6.9 and 11.27 watts respectively.
MSRP for the Seagate Desktop HDD 5TB is a bit tricky. We found that Seagate's website is offering the SMR powered ST5000DM000 for $225.99 at CDW, but if we monitor other online retailers, we know the 6TB Desktop HDD lands at $299.99, while the 4TB sits at $179.99. This leaves Seagate with roughly $120 to play with so we would assume this drive will land somewhere around $249.99 if it ever comes to retail in its five platter variant.
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Phanteks Enthoo Pro Full-Tower Chassis Review

Introduction, Specifications and Pricing

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Of course, Phanteks has been widely known for their CPU coolers over the years. Phanteks took what was essentially a Noctua cooler at the beginning, and did what everyone asked for in the first place by offering different colors than what Noctua stayed true to all these years. What some of you may have missed, or have since forgotten about, is that Phanteks is also in the chassis game, and has been since the release of their first chassis, the Enthoo Primo. This case was oversized, modular, and a perfect chassis to not only hide wiring for a clean finished product, but with some innovative additions to the design, Phanteks also offered the first chassis we had seen that would also hide the majority of a water loop for the ultimate experience in cleanly built PCs.
By sprinting out of the gate with one of the most innovative and unique chassis designs we had ever seen before, Phanteks made their job really tough trying to follow that act. Well, it seems that the original design wasn't such a huge aesthetic hit, but with Phanteks' newest Enthoo, we get a lot of what made the Primo such a hit, yet inside of a completely new design. This new design offers just a bit of styling to distinguish its heritage, yet it has an almost Corsair Obsidian-like appeal.
All of this boils down to the reason you are here, and still reading this article: you are interested in what this Phanteks Enthoo Pro is all about. Well, we are here today to find out just that. If even half of this design is similar to the Primo, and it offers most of the same tricks, we honestly don't see how they could go wrong, but that is part of what we plan to cover as we get up close and personal with this Enthoo Pro full-tower chassis from Phanteks.
Phanteks provides what have to be the most thorough charts we have seen on any product to date. They start by offering the dimensions, form factor, and details on the steel and plastic used to build this full-tower chassis. Inside of the chassis, there is room for the usual Micro-ATX and ATX, but in this design not only is EATX not an issue, but even SSI-EEB motherboards are good to go. We are also informed of the USB 3.0, USB 2.0, and the HD Audio connectivity of the front I/O panel. They also describe the dual windows in the side panel, and that there is an optional PSU cover, which is in the chassis we have.

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The next section covers the eight expansion slots, the trio of 5.25" bays, and the six 3.5" bays. It also explains that all 3.5" locations are ready for 2.5" drives; plus, there is a tray behind the motherboard tray. Moving into the cooling, we find that the front of the chassis can house two 120mm fans, three 140mm fans, or the 200mm fan Phanteks has installed, but of course, not all at once. The front follows the same rules of fit for the 200mm fan they include, but it can house three 120mm or 140mm fans. The rear of the chassis offers room for a 120mm or 140mm fan, and it also has slits to adjust this fan's vertical alignment. The floor has the potential to hold either a pair of 120mm fans or a single 140mm fan, and even the HDD cage has room for a pair of 120mm fans on the inside of the racks. You can also get an idea of the radiator support with the section that follows.
Limitations on this design are not really limitations at all. There is 347mm of room for video cards with the hard drives in play, and without them there is 472mm of room. They also mention the 193mm CPU cooler height limitation, but in our time here, we have yet seen a cooler that tall anyways. The last mention is of the amount of room behind the motherboard tray, and as stated, there is 27mm of room to pack in the wiring and keep everything clean. Outside of the 200mm fan specifications, and the weight of this chassis, at the bottom, we find that Phanteks stands by their chassis for a term of five years.
While the Enthoo Primo was a design that made you dig deep into your wallet for the sum of near $250, when it comes to the Enthoo Pro, things are much different. This full-tower design can be had for just about $99 at just about any location this product is listed, and most places currently offer free shipping as well. That is in no way to say that you should expect to see some stripped down, watery version of the Enthoo Primo in this design. We feel that once you wrap your mind around what is going on in and around this chassis, you will find the Enthoo Pro hard to pass up when looking for a new full-tower chassis.
PRICING: You can find the Phanteks Enthoo Pro for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing, but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: The Phanteks Enthoo Pro with optional windows retails for $99.99 at Amazon, and the Phanteks Enthoo Pro without windows retails for $89.99 at Amazon.
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Intel DC P3700 800GB NVMe vs. Intel 730 Series SATA SSD RAID Report

Introduction

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Enthusiasts are always-on the lookout for the newest and fastest technology. This is specifically what I do here at TweakTown. I am on a never-ending quest for the ultimate enthusiast OS disk. Over the past year, we have examined what will deliver the ultimate storage performance in an OS setting, and SATA based RAID 0 has been the clear winner to date.
Recently we have seen a wave of PCIe based SSD's hit the market all claiming to break the chains of the SATA bottleneck. It is true that certain the PCIe drives recently introduced do have sequential performance that exceeds SATA III bandwidth, and in that respect, they do break the SATA bottleneck. PCIe drives such as OCZ's recently launched Revo 350, Comay's Blade drive, Plextor's M6E, Samsung's X941 and so on can all deliver superior sequential performance in comparison to a SATA based SSD.
When it comes to choosing the ultimate OS disk, those big time, sequential numbers as we have demonstrated time, and time again, mean exactly nothing in an OS environment. Random file performance, 4k write performance at a low queue depth in particular, is what makes for a superior performing OS disk. SATA based RAID 0 delivers far superior 4k random write performance to the recently launched PCIe drives I mentioned. In fact, the only consumer based PCIe drive that can actually outperform a high performing single SATA based SSD in a heavy usage enthusiast setting is Samsung's X941 m.2 PCIe SSD. However, when we RAID 0 our SATA based SSD's, the PCIe drives I listed get blown away in an OS environment.
The main downfall all of these PCIe SSD's is that they communicate utilizing the AHCI protocol. Using AHCI drivers means these PCIe drives cannot take full advantage of the PCIe interface's superior latency potential. This is where NVMe comes in to change everything. The NVMe protocol is so superior to AHCI that it is almost hard to fathom. We aren't going to get into why it's so superior here, but if you want to know all the details, you can read Paul Alcorn's "Defining NVMe" article.
We want to know if Intel's game changing NVMe PCIe drive, the DC P3700, can actually outperform our fastest SATA based RAID 0 array in an OS environment. Intel has demonstrated that their new DC P3700 can provide performance equivalent to (7) DC S3700's when attached via an HBA card. This demonstration, however, pertains to secondary attached storage arrays in a data center setting and not an operating system volume in an enthusiast setting. Nothing we have tested to date has been a remote threat to dethrone even a 2-drive SSD SATA array's performance superiority when utilized as an OS disk, so this should be an interesting showdown.
It is important to keep in mind that Intel did not design the DC P3700 with consumer-based workloads in mind. The DC P3700 is an enterprise drive through and through. However, because the DC P3700 is not priced completely out of the enthusiast's budget, you can be certain it will make its way into some upper tier enthusiast's PC's; after all, it's the fastest single SSD ever made.
Today we have our fastest arrays composed of Intel's powerful 730 480GB SATA III SSD's in RAID 0. So far, Intel's 730 series SSD has been a SATA based RAID 0 juggernaut. Nothing else we have tested is in the same league, which is the reason Intel's 730 480GB SSD is TweakTown's current SATA based RAID 0 champion. The showdown is on; it's Intel vs. Intel. The fastest motherboard based SATA array vs. the fastest PCIe drive ever made, Intel's NVMe based DC P3700 PCIe SSD.
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Digital Storm Vanquish 2 Level 4 Desktop Gaming PC Review

Introduction

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Digital Storm is a name we're quite familiar with around these parts. We've seen the company's work at CES and in our very own lab, and every time we've been quite impressed with what the custom PC manufacturer is doing.
Digital Storm is based out of the San Francisco, CA, bay area and uses both mass-produced cases and custom cases created using other local metal workers and machine shops. We've seen systems from Digital Storm that fall into both of these categories. Today in the lab, we have a system that falls into the former category. Enter the Vanquish II Level 4.
The Vanquish II Level 4, as the name might suggest, is the second iteration of the Vanquish gaming system line. We, unfortunately, don't have a frame of reference to see the improvements, as we didn't get a chance to look at the Vanquish I, but we can investigate the machine to see if it stands by itself as an awesome gaming machine.
The Level 4 designation means that the system has been configured by Digital Storm's experts to maximize performance on a certain budget level. Level 4 is the highest budget, and the system comes a little over $1,000, but we'll cover that aspect in a minute.
Without further ado, let's dive into the meat of this review and see what the Vanquish II is made of.

Specifications, Configurations and Pricing

The Level 4 Vanquish II comes configured with an Intel i5-4590. The 4590 is a quad-core processor based on Intel Haswell microarchitecture. It features a base speed of 3.3GHz and a TurboBoost speed of 3.7GHz. Unfortunately, the 4590 is not a K skew, so the processor's multipliers remain locked for overclocking. The 4590 also lacks HyperThreading, so the system is presented with just four cores and four threads.
The CPU features generic "upgraded CPU Air Cooling." On our system, this means cooling is provided by a ZALMAN CNPS5X 92mm tower-style air cooler that retails for just $23 on Newegg. It's certainly better than stock, but by how much remains to be seen. Of course, since it is a generic upgrade, your system may make use of a different CPU cooler.
The 4590 is slotted into an ASUS H81M-D Plus mATX motherboard. Again, this is a budget motherboard, something you can tell by the use of the Intel H81 chipset, as opposed to a higher-end Z87 chipset. The motherboard itself supports a max of 16GB of DDR3, and features two SATA 6Gb/s ports, one PCIe x16 slot, and two PCIe x1 slots. It does, however, include gigabit networking.
Two 4GB DDR3 DIMMs are slotted into the motherboard's RAM slots. According to the spec sheet, they are clocked at 1600MHz and are "Digital Storm Certified Performance Series." This generic statement again means that your system could come with differing memory. In the case of our system, we have ADATA XPG RAM with timings of 9-9-9-24.
Graphics are provided by an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 2GB video card. Our specific card is the DirectCU II from ASUS, a solid brand and model. We expect that your system could come with a different brand and model as no specific brand or model is specified.
Windows 8.1 64-bit is the operating system pre-installed on a Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD. Storage is provided by a 7,200RPM 1TB Seagate drive. All of the components are stuffed into a Corsair Graphite Series 230T case in the Battleship Gray color.
Digital Storm has the Vanquish II Level 4 on sale on its website for $1,259. You can, of course, customize this machine to your heart's content, but the price and ship time may increase depending on your selections. This price includes lifetime Expert Care and a three-year limited warranty.
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Corsair Flash Voyager GTX 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review

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It has been a few months since we have had any new storage solutions come through the lab here at TweakTown from Corsair. However, today that streak comes to an end, as the new Flash Voyager GTX comes to market.
The latest flash solution from Corsair is available in both 128GB and 256GB capacities. Marketing dictates performance of 450 MB/s read and 360 MB/s write depending on the benchmark used, while compatibility ranges from modern Windows operating systems to OS X and Linux. A unique feature of the new Flash Voyager GTX is the device supports TRIM and SMART commands due to its internal SSD controller.
MSRP of the Flash Voyager GTX in the 128GB flavour is listed at $129.99 with a five-year warranty.

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Packaging for the Flash Voyager GTX carries capacity information at the top, with branding below.

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The back of the packaging houses marketing numbers for the drive.

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Looking over the drive, it carries a similar design to the GS, we reviewed a few months ago.

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The Voyager GTX carries a capped design and of course the USB 3.0 port is appropriately colored.

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The Flash Voyager GTX is factory formatted with the FAT32 file system, insuring compatibility between Windows and Macintosh computers. The usable capacity after formatting is 119GB.

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In the previous image, we have our first set of tests with IOMeter. The Voyager GTX came in at 413 MB/s read and 192 MB/s write.

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Next up we move to 4K with a QD of 8. As you can see above, the GTX did quite well pushing 27608 read IOPS and 7046 write IOPS.

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Price/Performance again has us changing out the top spot. As you can see thanks to the great performance of the drive and excellent MSRP of $1.02 per GB, the Flash Voyager GTX takes top spot.
The Flash Voyager GTX is certainly among the top USB flash drives on the market today. While it isn't the quickest, as that honor goes to the Ventura Ultra from Mushkin, this drive is right there with it. Build quality seems to be top notch; the aluminium exterior holds internal components tight via plastic end caps, and the cap itself when placed on the drive is held tight as well.
Performance of the Flash Voyager GTX is quite good. As you could see in our testing with IOMeter, we were able to touch 413MB/s read and 192 MB/s write. On the other hand, we also found the Voyager GTX to take the top spot in price/performance.
MSRP for the Flash Voyager GTX in the 128GB capacity is set at $129.99 with a five-year warranty. Current market pricing can be found below.
PRICING: You can find the Corsair Flash Voyager GTX USB 3.0 128GB Flash Drive for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: The Corsair Flash Voyager GTX USB 3.0 128GB Flash Drive retails for $146.18 at Amazon.

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Intel Pentium G3258 (Haswell) 20th Anniversary Edition CPU Performance

Introduction

The Intel Pentium G3258 kind of snuck up on us during Computex 2014, without much being spoken about it previously. With most of the focus being on the Devil's Canyon I7 4790K, seeing a new processor from Intel for under $100 with overclocking in mind was a pleasant surprise. While processors under $100 from Intel aren't anything new, the unlocked nature of the multiplier on its Anniversary Edition processor is.
The Intel Pentium G3258 is a Haswell based Dual Core processor that lacks a lot of the flair that we're used to seeing when it comes to our processor reviews. With a price tag of well under $100, it comes as no surprise that we're not seeing the same kind of features. The two big features that we miss are Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost technology; the first being something that we've especially grown fond of since introduction.

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Aside from those features, the other main features we don't see include Intel Clear Video HD, vPro, VT-d technologies, AES, and TSX-NI instruction sets. While the latter list of features might not be so familiar, there's no denying that the lack of Hyper-Threading is going to have the largest impact on this 3.2GHz processor. What we do have on the LGA 1150 socketed CPU is Intel HD Graphics, Quick Sync Video, 3MB Smart Cache, Support for Dual Channel DDR3 1333MHz DDR, and compatibility on both the Intel 8 and 9 series chipsets.

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Looking above, you can see the one area where the CPU stands out is the Unlocked feature that is offered, which is something normally reserved for the K series of processors. Intel has bought this wonderful feature to its budget friendly Pentium line with this particular processor.
There's really not a whole lot we need to say about the new processor that isn't shown in the above images. What we really want to know is just how the CPU performs against other processors on the market, so let's get into our test system setup, and cover the overclocking before we get into the fun stuff.
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Valiant Hearts: The Great War PC Game Review

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When it comes to video games, one area which has not been explored in a war format is the First World War. One reason could be is that it was a very different war to that of ones which came after it, and despite having a few very memorable campaigns, the Second World War is where people seem to be able to relate the most. So when Ubisoft announced they were making a puzzle adventure game based on the First World War, our ears pricked up. Valiant Hearts is a stunning example of what happens when you pair the right engine with the right idea, and obviously the right development team.
Valiant Hearts opens with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which is what is widely seen as the trigger for the First World War. The game revolves around four characters with widely varying reasons for getting dragged into the war. There is Karl who is a German who is deported out of his current home France and placed into the German army. Emile who is part of the French army, Anna a Belgian nurse and Freddie, a US soldier who volunteered to join the French army during the war.

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These characters intertwine in such a way that to detail how they fit in with each other would spoil much of what makes this game so interesting to play. It is such an intricate story that may have you with a jaw dropped every so often with how well Ubisoft has put this together. This is also a game that is not afraid to shock you. Utilizing a cartoon style does somewhat lessen the impact of some of the shocking, tragic imagery from the war, but do not be surprised if you feel sick to the stomach or even shed a tear playing this game. It draws you into the story that much.

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When it comes to the gameplay, Valiant Hearts is a fairly run of the mill adventure/puzzle game. Every so often in the environment, you will need to find an object to proceed, or use each character's special items. What is clear is that Ubisoft wanted a game that people could finish and get through rather easily. This is not a frustrating or difficult puzzle game, and most only take around five or so minutes to figure out. It might be that you need to dig a hole with a spade, whilst avoiding the many bombs featured throughout. Or you might need to tend to a soldiers wounds with Anna before continuing.
It's a very clever game that rewards the mentality of trying everything to see what happens. Although sometimes this will lead to your character succumbing to the war (such as mustard gas), you are very quickly back in the level trying to figure out what to do. There was only once or twice where we got stuck and once we actually thought about the puzzle, it was easy to solve. However, we will say that due to this lack of challenge, in an extended game session, it can become a bit trite and repetitive. It's best to play this game in moderately short sessions to get the most out of it.
Aside from the main story, there are other items to find in the world. These items fill in a bit of the back story of the First World War and more specifically around the location you are currently in. For example, if you are in a town where mustard gas has just been dropped and everyone is coughing and spluttering, the piece of paper you find will explain all about how mustard gas was used in the First World War and how damaging it was to the people that inhaled it.
This actually makes Valiant Hearts a history teaching tool and if you are a history teacher there is every possibility this game could be used to teach people about the First World War.

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One thing that this game does extremely well is figuring out when people are most likely to feel sad and depressed about the story and mix it up with something funny or different. One such example is when you take control of a taxi with Anna. To the music of the 'can can', you have to dodge and avoid objects. It really does lighten the mood, and again reinforces how masterfully this game has been put together.
The game uses the Ubiart engine (same as Child of Light and Rayman) to display its visuals and it is stunning to say the least. As mentioned before, the cartoon style imagery that has been used does lessen the impact of some of the more shocking scenes, but to have those images in full color and non-cartoon probably would have gone too far. There is no real voice acting so to speak and most of the time there is a low, foreboding soundtrack except for when the developers think that they may have depressed you just a bit too much.

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Valiant Hearts: The Great War is a stunning masterpiece that takes the source material of World War One and presents it in a way that is neither glorifying war nor cashing on in the era. This is a thinking person's game in more ways than one. The puzzles are not difficult to overcome, but the story and visuals are some of the most striking and impacting you will see in a game. If you shed a tear playing this game, don't feel bad, but realize that this really is one of the best games of 2014, and one of the most impactful video games made in a very long time.
PRICING: You can find the Valiant Hearts: The Great War PC Game for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: The Valiant Hearts: The Great War PC Game retails for $14.99 at Amazon.

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Top 10 TweakTown Press Releases from the past week [21 July 2014]
Here are our top 10 posted press releases from the past week!

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