XFX R9 285 Double Dissipation Black Edition Review
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Futuremark Issues Minor Updates For 3DMark and PCMark 8
Futuremark has released software updates for its popular 3DMark and PCMark 8 benchmark software that fixes some bugs while keeping scores mostly unchanged. 3DMark has received improved hardware detection and a reduction in hardware monitoring overhead. A memory issue was also fixed that had the potential to cause a crash while stress testing. One of the fixes for PCMark 8 can influence scores in the Storage Consistency and Storage Adaptivity tests found in the Professional Edition. PCMark 8 also has an update to improve hardware compatibility and was issued a fix that could cause the Adobe After Effects test to fail.
Source: Press Release
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Razer Nabu Available Tomorrow
The Razer Nabu, winner of the Best of CES award this past year, will be available for purchase from the RazerStore and participating retailers. The Nabu joins a number of "wearable" devices from manufacturers such as Samsung and LG and "delivers discreet notifications from smartphones, is a highly accurate fitness tracker, and stands as the world’s first social wearable by way of a unique band-to-band communication capability." The device has gone through extensive testing since the reveal at CES including a Beta program and a Developer Program that gave app developers an early shot at the device. The Nabu will carry an MSRP of $99.99 and was summed up by CEO Min-Liang Tan who called it "a device that has something cool in-store for everyone."
Source: Press Release
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GPU Memory Bandwidth of 1TB/s Could Be Coming Soon
The AMD Radeon R9 390X is expected to be one of the first cards to use High Bandwidth Memory, HBM, and has the potential to provide memory bandwidth up to 640GB/s over a 4096-bit memory bus. The first generation of HBM is made by SK Hynix and is capable of bandwidth of 128GB/s per die, with up to four die able to be grouped. The second generation of HBM will be even faster, reaching bandwidth up to 256GB/s per die, giving it the ability to provide 1.28TB/s bandwidth per four core group. For comparison, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 has 224GB/s memory bandwidth. The massive increase in memory bandwidth will help to provide for better performance, especially as higher resolution displays gain popularity.
Source: Tweaktown
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Earth has a Plasma Shield
On the surface of the Earth we are not exposed to much radiation, but surrounding the planet are belts of very high energy radiation, such as electrons traveling at nearly the speed of light. For years now we have observed at these ultrarelativistic electrons do not come to close to the Earth, but have not understood why. Using data from NASA's Van Allen Probes, researchers at MIT have devised an explanation that could be of great use for future satellites.
These ultrarelativistic electrons move so fast that they can complete an orbit of the Earth in just five minutes. With so much energy, they pose a serious risk to satellites and astronauts, but for conveniently they do not come within 11,000 Km of the Earth's surface. To explain this limit, the researchers looked at a few possibilities, including the Earth's magnetic field and ground-based radios. The magnetic field could not be the answer, because the limit is not affected by weak spots in it, and terrestrial radio waves would not affect the high energy electrons. What the researchers eventually determined was that the solution has to do with the plasmapheric hiss. This is a phenomenon of very low frequency electromagnetic waves in the Earth's upper atmosphere. The researchers determined that when the electrons encounter it, they are made to move parallel to the Earth's magnetic field, which causes them to collide with neutral gas atoms, which absorb them.
This explanations means there is a very firm barrier that will prevent any of these ultrarelativistic electrons from coming below 11,000 Km. Such information will be very important to future satellites, as it effectively gives them a safe zone where they will be free of this ionizing radiation, allowing for much longer lifespans.
Source: MIT
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Leaked Benchmark Details Upcoming AMD Radeon R9 300 Series
A leaked set of screenshots reportedly show the performance of the upcoming AMD Radeon R9 300 series of GPUs, also known as Fiji XT. The results come from Chinese website Chiphell, which has leaked accurate benchmarks in the past, and shows the average performance and power consumption compared to current generation cards. The card was tested on several current generation games at a resolution of 2560x1440 with all graphics settings maxed out. The average results for the R9 300 were about 16% higher than a factory overclocked GeForce GTX 980 and 31% better than the AMD R9 290X series. The full specifications for the R9 300 remains unknown at this time, but it will be interesting to see if the card will put AMD back on top of the GPU hill.
Source: Kit Guru
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Windows XP Usage Lowers Thanks to Windows 8.1
According to StatCounter, Windows 8.1 has officially overtaken Windows XP usage. Windows XP is now used by 10.69 percent of the total desktop market, dropping from 11.95 percent in October, while Windows 8.1 is now utilized by 10.95 percent of all users, up from 9.31 percent in October. The growth of Windows 8.1 is likely due to the recent back-to-school season, along with the surge of holiday shopping. Additionally, more users may be moving to Windows 8.1 due to the free upgrade that Microsoft has continued to offer Windows 8 users.
Despite the growing amount of people now using Windows 8.1, Windows 7 continues to represent the majority of the total market, with the five-year-old operating system now accounting for 50.34 percent of the total market.
Source: PCWorld
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Steam Gift Trading Sees a Change
Steam sales are a great time to stock up on games, like the one going on now and the one likely to start later this month. These games can be purchased for yourself, or purchased and placed in your inventory, to be gifted or traded away later. In the case of trading games, it will be later than it had been as Valve now blocks game trades for 30 days after the purchase. Games can still be gifted at any time as the change is only to the trading system.
The reason for this change is that some people were apparently exploiting the time it can take to process a transaction. A game would enter their inventory, allowing them to trade it for something, only to have the game they traded away revoked from the new owner. The person exploiting the system would still have whatever they traded for.
Source: Steam Trading Cards Group
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Hardware Roundup: Monday Edition
The Thanksgiving weekend is over in the US, which means it is time to head back to school and/or work (except retail, who have already been working). There are a lot of items to kick off the week and final month of 2014, so let's dive right in. We have a review on the MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Gaming video card, which offers a custom cooler to keep the card from going up in flames. A couple of cases get tested as well, with both the NZXT H440 Razer Edition and Fractal Design Node 804 up for consideration. The QNAP TS-653 Pro SMB NAS gets reviewed to see if it is the solution to those needing more storage. We also have the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact smartphone, which offers all the features of the regular Z3 in a smaller package. Ending things are a look at the 20 Worst PC Setups from the month of November, and an in-depth look at Intel's new 3D NAND and what it offers.
Video Cards
MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Gaming @ PC Perspective
Cases
NZXT H440 Razer Edition @ Benchmark Reviews
Fractal Design Node 804 @ LanOC Reviews
Storage/Hard Drives
QNAP TS-653 Pro SMB NAS @ Madshrimps
Mobile
Sony Xperia X3 Compact @ TechSpot
Miscellany
20 of the Worst PC Setups - November 2014 @ ThinkComputers
Intel's new 3D NAND will cost less, but may offer effectively similar write speeds @ PC Perspective
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Rumors Suggest That the Windows 10 Dashboard is Coming to Xbox One
According to recent rumors, Microsoft will push an update in January for the Xbox One that will integrate the Windows 10 dashboard with its popular gaming console. The new dashboard is expected to usher in support for new features, such as the ability to use a mouse as well as support for installing and playing Windows PC games. While the integration of the Windows 10 dashboard and its accompanying features is still a rumor at this point, with official word from Microsoft expected to come at an event it is holding in January, the thought of having a gaming console with PC features is highly interesting.
Source: WCCFtech
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Intel Will Likely Power the Next Google Glass
Although Intel missed the majority of the smartphone boom, with its competitor ARM powering the majority of the smartphones currently available, the chip manufacturing company is still highly interested in getting acquainted with the mobile market. According to sources familiar with the matter, the next version of Google Glass will feature Intel hardware inside, an effort that represents the business strategy Intel currently has in regards to the mobile sector. Intel plans to market the next version of Google Glass to work environments, focusing specifically on hospitals and manufacturing plants.
Neither Google nor Intel has offered any confirmation or denial of the report.
Source: Engadget
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Turning Cellulose into Gasoline and More
One of the reasons so many materials are made from petrochemicals is because oil contains long chains of hydrocarbons. Synthesizing similar hydrocarbon chains has traditionally been all but impossible, but that has been changing of late. Now researchers at KU Leuven have found a way to convert cellulose into these materials, and with one more step, into gasoline.
Cellulose is a very common chemical on Earth because of its role in plant life, and it is already made of long chains of hydrocarbons. The catch is that it also has a lot of oxygen bonded to it, which has to be removed before being converted into petrochemicals. The researchers found a way to remove the oxygen though, such that waste materials like sawdust could be thrown into a chemical reactor with a catalyst, and at the right temperature and pressure, the desired hydrocarbons will be produced half a day later.
While using this method to produce gasoline is one application, it could also be used to create ethylene, propylene, and benzene, which can become rubber, plastic, nylon, insulating foam, and more.
Source: KU Leuven
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