Patriot Ignite 480GB Review
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MSI Launches Eight New Motherboards That Support Godavari APUs
While other motherboard manufacturers such as ASRock and Biostar are releasing UEFI firmware updates to their products that enable support for Godavari APUs, MSI has decided to release eight new motherboards that support the upcoming AMD products. The new boards, which are FM2+/FM2 socket based and come in ATX, micro-ATX, and mini-ATX form factors, feature traditional technologies such as onboard LAN, PCI Express 3.0 x16, SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.0, and multiple display support. The new boards feature Military Class IV designs, which means that they offer protection against EMI emission and short-circuiting, and also provide excellent stability in some of the most extreme conditions. MSI is touting that its new A88X, A78, and A68H based motherboards are not only some of the most comprehensive solutions available for Godavari APUs, but are also some of the most cost-effective.
The eight motherboard models launched by MSI include the A88XI AC V2, A88X-G41 PC Mate V2, A88XM-P33 V2, A88XM-E54 V2, A88XM-E35 V2, A78M-E45 V2, A78M-E35 V2, and A68HM-E33 V2.
Source: WCCFtech
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FreeSync Driver Pushed Back on CrossFire Systems
FreeSync is the technology from AMD that "allows the refresh rate of a compatible monitor to smoothly vary and synchronize with the fluctuating frame rates of video games." When it was initially released it was only compatible with single GPU systems, with support for multi-GPU systems planned for April. AMD has now officially delayed the release, but stated that it will "continue to develop and test this solution in accordance with our stringent quality standards, and we will provide another update when it is ready for release." It is worth noting that NVIDIA has supported multi-GPU configurations using its G-Sync technology for "quite some time now."
Source: Tech Spot
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Amazon Prime Coming to Jet Blue Flights
Amazon and airline Jet Blue have announced a partnership that will allow passengers to stream videos for free through the in flight Wi-Fi. The service will be called Fly-Fi for Amazon Prime and will give Prime users access to the Amazon instant video service. Users will also have access to the Prime Music and Kindle Book services. Jet Blue will benefit from the arrangement by gaining access to "some behind-the-scenes footage from Amazon's original shows" that it will use "on its seatback TV inflight offerings." Streaming will be available on Airbus A321 and A320 aircraft this year and Embraer E190 in 2016.
Source: Yahoo Finance
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1D Channels Found in Graphene Could be Used for Valleytronics
There are many possibilities for what the future of computing technology will be, from spintronics and optical computers to different kinds of quantum computers. Another possibility is valleytronics, which is a relatively new field of science. Now researchers at Berkeley Lab have discovered that graphene can contain one dimensional conducting channels that are desirable for this technology.
Valleytronics involve the movement of electrons through a 2D semiconductor as waves with two energy valleys. These valleys can then be described with a distinct momentum and quantum valley number, with the latter number being able to store information. Recent work has suggested that the domain walls in graphene could act as 1D conducting channels for electrons that would preserve electron valleys. This is in contrast to the edges of graphene that mix the valleys. The Berkeley researchers' work confirms that this is the case, at least at low temperatures.
The next step for this work is to increase the ballistic length of the channels, as this will allow for the creation of electron valley filters and other means of manipulating electron valleys. One application for valleytronics may be in quantum computers, but only time will tell.
Source: Berkeley Lab
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Find Out What It Takes to Slay Some Monsters in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Monsters are witchers' work, and there is no more recognizable witcher than Geralt of Rivia. When The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt arrives in a couple of weeks, players will undoubtedly seek out some monsters to slay and bring some peace to the terrorized communities. Facing off against the monsters is no small task, as first you must find out where the monsters lurk, how they can attack, and what is best used against them. All monsters fear something, even the scary ones, and learning all of that will help you take them down. A new video from CD Projekt RED shows just that, as well as some particularly nasty creatures that are the stuff of nightmares. Geralt is a professional monster slayer, however, and one that does not back down from a challenge.
Source: YouTube
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Dragon Age: Inquisition - Dragonslayer and Black Emporium DLCs Arrive on All Platforms
Thedas is expanding once again, as the Dragonslayer DLC for Dragon Age: Inquisition has arrived. This multiplayer DLC lets players form up and take down some high dragons for the first time online. The dragon fights in single player take careful preparation to survive, so things should be no different online. Three new agents debut in the Dragonslayer DLC, although one is familiar face for anyone who has played the past games. The Sky Watcher, the Avvar you can encounter in the Fallow Mire, is now playable, with the mighty warrior bringing some devasting elemental attacks to the group. Zither is a self-proclaimed Virtuoso that can launch magical attacks from his lute. Zither was an April Fool's joke initially, but now he's a reality. Lastly there's Isabella, the Admiral and Queen of the Eastern Seas, a master duelist that brings plenty of swagger and bravado to the party.
Dragon Age: Inquisition - Dragonslayer and The Black Emporium are free DLCs for all platforms. A new patch is also out for DA:I to address a range of issues. The Jaws of Hakkon DLC also received a launch date for gamers not on the PC and Xbox One, as they can experience that single player adventure on May 26.
Source: Dragon Age Website [1] & [2] and BioWare Blog
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CRYORIG Launches the H5 Ultimate CPU Cooler
CRYORIG has introduced a new CPU cooler to its midst that builds on the success of its H5 Universal cooler. The CRYORIG H5 Ultimate features the same design as the H5 Universal, but features a bigger XF140 140mm fan and a TDP increase to 180 watts instead of 160 watts. This gives the Hive Fin air flow system a chance to show its capabilities and cooling potential. The XF140 fan has a 76 CFM rating, which is about a 17% increase over the fan on the H5 Universal. There are also jet black heat sink covers on the H5 Ultimate to give it a streamlined look and set it apart from past models. The MultiSeg mounting system ensures compatibility on a wide range of sockets, with all current AMD and Intel sockets accounted.
The CRYORIG H5 Ultimate will be available this summer for $46.99.
Source: Press Release
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GOG Galaxy Platform Now in Open Beta
Last year GOG announced it was working on a DRM-free online gaming platform named GOG Galaxy. Until today it was in a closed alpha, but now it is in open beta, so anyone can sign up for it. Being only in beta though, it is not as feature rich as Steam, Origin, UPlay, or other platforms, but it has the basics right now and plans for some interesting ones.
Currently you can do everything you can from the GOG website, such as purchase, download, and install games and associated content. These games can also be set to auto-update, unless you would rather control that yourself. One of the upcoming features is actually to rollback updates, in case they break things. In-game features include achievements, multiplayer and matchmaking, even with Steam players, game-time and stats tracking, with an in-game overlay coming in the future. Naturally there are also community features, like a friends list and online chat, but game invites and joining are not yet implemented.
All of these features can be turned off, so if there is one you do not care about, you can tick it off and move on. Even the client itself is optional, with nothing being mandatory to enjoy your games and no personal data is collected either. As the GOG Galaxy page puts it, "we want to make it so good, you'll actually want to use it." Follow the links to sign up for the beta, which is rolling out in batches.
Source: GOG
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Hacking Rampant in GTA Online; Rockstar Implements Anti-Cheat to Ban Offenders
Grand Theft Auto V has been out on the PC for a little while now, yet it has been in the news recently for some less than stellar reasons. Hacking has taken off in GTA V and greatly reduced the enjoymeny of people playing legitimately in GTA Online. Rockstar then implemented an anti-cheat measure, which caused even more groaning and outright lying from people saying they were banned because the developer can't distinguish between a "good" or "bad mod." Some people even said they were banned in single player for using mods, which isn't entirely accurate. Players who used the Field of View (FOV) mod in GTA Online were banned, as were people shooting money at others. Artifically increasing your money in GTA Online has always resulted in a ban ever since the game came out on consoles, and it looks like people who unwittingly get their money increased by the hackers can be banned, too.
Source: Reddit [1] & [2], Rockstar Support, and Inquisitr
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Could The Joker Be in Batman: Arkham Knight?
Details for Batman: Arkham Knight's DLC appeared the other day, where we found out we could play as Batgirl. A recent trailer showed the likes of Robin, Nightwing, and Catwoman with the Dual Play feature, where we can team up with one of them for some fights. However, one scene in that trailer has started fueling some rumors. The scene in question has "Johhny Charisma: Live!" on a theater marquee, and when some people broke up parts of that name, we get "JOCHA IS ALIVE." So, is The Joker making an appearance in Batman: Arkham Knight as an enemy to face off with, an unlikely ally to help out, or is this just grasping at straws?
There is always a chance we'll see the Clown Prince of Crime in one of Scarecrow's fear-induced hallucinations or even in a flashback, but other than that I'm not entirely convinced we'll see the Joker at all. Still, given that Rocksteady and Warner Bros. are keeping some things about the game close to their chests, it's something we can't rule out altogether.
Batman: Arkham Knight arrives June 23 for the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Picking up an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 or 970 video card nets you a copy of the game, as well as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Source: WCCFtech
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Leaked AMD 2016 Roadmap Reveals Desktop and Mobile Plans
A recent roadmap leak shows what AMD has in store for 2016, and it looks like desktop and mobile parts will get some Zen and K12 love. The remainder of 2015 will bring the second generation FX CPUs based on up to eight Piledriver cores, the Godavari APUs with up to four Steamroller cores, and Beema APUs with up to four Puma core. Both APUs will be built on the 28nm process, with the Beema APUs also in an SoC form. Pretty familiar stuff, just with some tweaks here and there. Once the calendar turns to 2016, however, we get some new toys, starting with the Summit Ridge performance CPU. It will use up to eight Zen cores, DDR4 support, and be on the FM3 socket instead of AM3+, like the current FX processors. Performance of this CPU should be far better than the current ones, and maybe even the current 16 core Opteron CPUs, if the Zen core block diagram is anything to go by.
Moving on to the APU side, there's the Bristol Ridge APU with up to four Zen cores, DDR4 support, and the next generation GCN core. It has full HSA 1.0 support and could have the first APU with stacked HBM, although right now that remains to be seen. There are also the Basilisk APUs, essentially a lower-powered Bristol Ridge, which have up to two Zen cores, DDR4 support, and a less powerful next generation GCN core. Both APUs are built on the 14nm process and use the FM3 socket, just like the high-end Summit Ridge CPUs, and even come in an SoC model with an integrated southbridge.
On the mobile line, which covers both laptops and tablets/smartphones, the 2015 lineup has the Carrizo and Carrizo-L APUs, as well as the Amur APUs. The Carrizo APUs feature up to four Excavator cores, the Carrizo-L APUs have up to four Puma+ cores, with both on the 28nm process. The Amur APUs have up to four ARM Cortex-A57 cores and are built on the 20nm process. Heading into 2016 brings the Bristol Ridge and Basilisk APUs, like the desktop side, but also the ultra-low power Styx APUs. The Bristol Ridge and Basilisk APUs are just like their desktop counterparts, but the Styx APUs change things up. These use up to two K12 cores, which are the company's custom made ARM cores.
2016 should be an interesting year for AMD CPUs and APUs, and later years also look quite good. Pair up AMD's upcoming plans with Intel's, and we should have a ton of advances in CPUs.
Source: WCCFtech
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Hardware Roundup: Tuesday, May 5, 2015, Edition
A new day is upon us, with some new items to get you on the right foot. There is a review of the Corsair H100i GTX Liquid CPU Cooler, which has a 240mm rad to help keep even the hottest running CPUs from going up in flames. If you need a little bit of a different liquid CPU cooler, the SilverStone Tundra TD03-E, with its 120mm rad, is tested. Finishing off today is the final DirectX 12 reveal from the BUILD 2015 conference.
CPU Cooling
Corsair H100i GTX Liquid CPU Cooler @ ThinkComputers
SilverStone Tundra TD03-E CPU Liquid Cooler @ Benchmark Reviews
Miscellany
BUILD 2015: The Final DirectX 12 Reveal with Implicit Multiadapter @ PC Perspective
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Bringing Invisibility to the Classroom
Growing up, there were probably times you wished you could just vanish from your classroom, or maybe you wished someone else would. Either way, people cannot just disappear from a classroom, but some small objects now can. As reported by The Optical Society, researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have created an invisibility cloak that can be used in classrooms to demonstrate the effect.
Invisibility is one of those powers man has been dreaming about for millennia, but only thanks to modern technology is it becoming possible. More specifically the thanks are to optical metamaterials with special properties that will bend light around objects, instead of reflecting off of them. One challenge with these cloaks is that when light is diverted around an object, it takes longer to get to the other side, like a road detour, except light as a firm speed limit. To solve this problem for the demonstration piece, the researchers used a light-scattering material, which slows down the propagation speed of the light. With all of the light moving slower inside of the material, that gives the researchers room to speed it up as it goes around an object, so every light wave has the same average speed.
The solid-state cloak the researchers build has two metal tubes coated with an acrylic paint inside of a common organic polymer that has been doped with titanium dioxide nanoparticles. With a properly bright light source, it is possible for this setup to show the principles of cloaking without any special equipment.
Source: The Optical Society
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Beautiful Rainforest Environment Created in Unreal Engine 4
It has been just two months since Epic Games announced that its immensely popular Unreal Engine 4 was free for everyone to download and use. Talented individuals have undoubtedly been creating a wealth of environments since the engine was made available for free, and now one individual, who goes by "Techuser/2" on Flickr, has released images and a video of a rainforest environment that looks downright beautiful. While it may or may not look as good to some viewers as some tropical environments created in CryEngine, there is no doubt that the scenes provided showcase some impressive lighting and textures that can be facilitated through Unreal Engine 4.
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