The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Review
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Hardware Roundup: Friday, June 5, 2015, Edition
The end of the first week of June is here, and we have a couple of items to help you welcome the weekend. There is a look at the ADATA Premier SP610 SSD, which has a 256GB capacity and read speeds up to 560MB/s, it will be interesting to see how it compares to other drives in that size. The write speeds are not the best, but you'll just have to see how that affects the overall performance, if any. Our other item is a new podcast covering the latest news and reviews from the past week.
Storage/Hard Drives
ADATA Premier SP610 SSD @ Benchmark Reviews
Miscellany
Podcast #352 @ PC Perspective
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New Way Found for Recovering Indium from LCDs
An integral part of flat screens is the transparent conductor indium tin oxide (ITO), but it brings with it special challenges. For one thing, indium is a rare-earth metal, making it rather expensive and some estimate that in twenty years we will run out of it. Many new technologies are being investigated for replacing ITO, but now researchers have also found a way to potentially recover and recycle the element, as reported in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.
According to the report, it is possible to recover indium by grinding up LCD glass into particles less than 75 micrometers in size, and submerging them in sulfuric acid heated to 122 ºF, along with other parameters. By using this method, the hope is that the display industry will be able to recycle the material instead of having to draw more from reserves. As it is expected that China alone will throw out 100 million displays between 2014 and 2020, the impact by recovering indium could be dramatic.
Source: American Chemical Society
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Current GCN Cards from AMD Don't Feature Full DirectX 12 Support
While DirectX 12 is slated to be exclusive to Windows 10 devices, it has proven itself to gamers thus far by offering a 20 percent improvement in graphics performance. The number of draw calls when using DirectX 12 are increased by 330 percent as well, according to a user of Reddit. With all of the benefits that DirectX 12 brings to the table, in terms of graphical performance and visual fidelity, it is important that hardware manufacturers support the latest Microsoft API. The DirectX 12 API is comprised of three levels, which include feature level 11_0, 12_0, and 12_1. Feature level 11_0 offers performance improvements, while the other two offer features catered to improving graphics and visuals.
According to Robert Hallock, the Head of Global Technical Marketing at AMD, the company’s current GCN cards do not feature full DirectX 12 support, with the cards only being able to offer support for the 12_0 feature level. Graphics cards from AMD that are expected to support DirectX 12 feature level 12_0 include the Radeon HD 7790, the Radeon R7 260 (X), the Radeon R9 285, and the Radeon R9 290 (X). It is unknown as this point in time whether Fiji will support the 12_1 feature level of DirectX 12, something that the GeForce 900 series from NVIDIA currently does, but if so, it will be the only AMD product to support the feature level that includes conservative raster and raster order views.
For a more detailed look at the various feature levels contained within DirectX 12, please click on the images contained within this article.
Source: WCCFtech
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Performance for the Seagate SandForce SF3500 Controllers Leak Out of Computex
Some new information concerning Seagate's SandForce SF3000 series of controllers for solid state drives. Seagate is showing off the controller during Computex, but won't reveal full details on its performance until later in August. However, this leak provides us the nitty gritty, and boy does it look good. The SF3700 parts will be used in enterprise SSDs and pack in some enterprise-level features, but the four-channel SF3500 parts are for consumers. The SF3514 is the mainstream SATA part, the SF3504 the entry-level PCIe, and the SF3524 the enthusiast level for boh SATA and PCIe. The SF3514 can hit read speeds up to 550MB/s and write speeds up to 450MB/s, but both the SF3504 and SF3524 can hit read speeds up 900MB/s and write speeds of 525MB/s. Random read on the SF3514 is 100,000 IOPS, with random write at 80,000 IOPS. The SF3504 and SF3524 both have a random read of 130,000 IOPS and a random write of 90,000 IOPS.
All three controllers support a maximum capacity of 1TB; support MLC, TLC, and 3D flash; and support dual AES-256 encryption. The two PCIe models are on the PCIe 2.0 x2 slot and not the x4 slot like some other recent controllers, but that usually doesn't hinder a SandForce controller much. Still, real world tests will show all of that and more, just we won't get to know for sure until later this year.
Source: Tom's Hardware
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Steam Hardware Gets November Release Date
The long awaited Steam related hardware from Valve has finally received a release date. The Steam Link, Steam Controller, and Steam Machine boxes from Alienware and CyberPower will launch on November 10 with early access pre-orders shipping on October 16 "while supplies last." The Link and Controller will have a price of $50 while the Steam Machines will start at $450. Pre-orders are being accepted from Valve and at several retailers including GameStop and EB Games. The low-end Alienware box has a Core i3 processor, 4GB RAM, and 500GB of storage for a price of $450. A $750 model includes a Core i7, 8GB RAM, and 1TB of storage. Both models use an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M+ GPU. The CyberPower system starts at $500 with a Core i3 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 GPU with several options for customization.
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be quiet! Announces Several New Products at Computex
be quiet! has announced the addition of several new products across multiple different market segments. The Pure Wings 2 are PWM fans that range in size from 80mm to 140mm. The fans can be controlled by the motherboard and feature quiet operation even at maximum speed with an expected availability of September. The SilentWings 3 fans feature a new fan frame and intake mechanism to reduce vibration, power consumption, and sound while keeping cooling performance up. The SilentWings 3 will be available in October at sizes of 120mm and 140mm in PWM and non-PWM options. The Shadow Rock LP is a low profile CPU cooler with a Pure Wings 2 fan. The Dark Rock TF has two pre-installed SilentWings fans and is described as having "extremely high cooling performance."
The Silent Base 800 Window is a computer case that has the same features as the Silent Base 800 with the addition of a side panel window. It will be available in July at an MSRP of $149 in orange, black, and silver. The Silent Base 600 is a brand new case with windowed and non-windowed configurations. It can accommodate three 3.5" internal drives, three 2.5" internal drives, three 5.25" drives, video cards up to 400mm in length, and CPU coolers up to 170mm in height. Two Pure Wings 2 fans are pre-installed with space for an additional five. It will be available in October at an MSRP of $99 for the non-windowed version and $115 for the windowed version. The Dark Power Pro 11 is an 80 PLUS Platinum power supply with an overclocking key to choose between a single and multiple 12V rails. It will be available in capacities ranging from 550W to 1200W
Source: Press Release
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New Technique Developed for Advanced Sensing
With every new step in sensing, science has been able to discover new phenomena and typically improve the performance of technology. We may be seeing this happen again soon, thanks to researchers at the University of Bristol and the Center for Quantum Technologies.
Currently, one way to study quantum processes is to use quantum process tomography. This works by containing the quantum system in a box, and then shooting quantum states through the box, and measuring them when they come out. The problem with this method is that the precision is usually limited by something called the shot noise. By borrowing points from quantum metrology though, the Bristol researchers were able to solve this problem. Quantum metrology has to do with engineering and controlling quantum systems. The new method uses the generation of multiple entangled photons to study quantum processes.
The researchers have already used the new method to study an optical process that may be used to manipulate quantum bits in future quantum computers. There are other potential uses though, as increasing the precision of optical measurements can allow for measurements to be made with less light, and that is important in medical research, where light can damage samples.
Source: University of Bristol
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Hardware Roundup: Thursday, June 4, 2015, Edition
The week is drawing to a close, but not before there are a couple of items to help you out. There is a look at five of the new Intel 750 SSDs all paired up and running together for some insane performance numbers. One of them is fast, but five together is something else entirely. We also have the SISWOO C50 Longbow smartphone, which has a 5" HD screen, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage, plus a 64-bit CPU from MTK.
Storage/Hard Drives
Five Intel SSD 750s Tested - Two Million IOPS and 10 GB/sec - Achievement Unlocked! @ PC Perspective
Mobile
SISWOO C50 Longbow @ Madshrimps
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GamerStorm Cube Case Unveiled by DEEPCOOL
DEEPCOOL happens to be a leading manufacturer of computer chassis, cooling solutions, power supply units, and electronic accessories, has chosen COMPUTEX 2015 as the place to introduce the GamerStorm Cube computer chassis. The case, which is a cube-shaped ITX case as its name implies, offers gamers with four chambers that are different in size and divided by a cross-shaped partition. The mini-ITX motherboard tray, an 80mm fan vent, and two 3.5-inch drive trays are housed in the top-right chamber, while a graphics card slot and a tinted acrylic window are located in the top-left chamber. A portion of the ATX-type PSU bay, as well as two 2.5-inch drive trays, are located in the GamerStorm Cube’s bottom-right chamber, while the bulk of the PSU bay and some of the 120mm fan intake are located in the bottom-left chamber.
Pricing and availability of the GamerStorm Cube case has not yet been announced by DEEPCOOL.
Source: techPowerUp
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ASUSTOR Shows Off Brand New NAS Products at COMPUTEX
Last weekend, it was revealed that ASUSTOR had plans to show off some innovative products at this year’s COMPUTEX. Some of the products from the leading innovator and provider of network storage solutions included its 2, 3, 5, and 7 series rackmount and tower model devices, its 61 series and 10 series NAS devices, and an improved version of ASUSTOR Data Manager. With COMPUTEX currently underway, the company has revealed that its innovative products, especially the new 61 series and 10 series NAS devices, have made quite the debut to consumers and technology enthusiasts from all over the world.
Attendees of COMPUTEX 2015 are invited to the ASUSTOR booth to experience what the company truly has to offer. For those that cannot attend the ASUSTOR showcase in person, pictures from the booth are available for viewing.
Source: Press Release
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Breakthrough in Optical Interconnects for Computers
Power consumption is a big deal in electronics, and, believe it or not, but a lot of energy is used just transmitting data along interconnects between chips. To cut power usage, some have been looking for ways to replace the electrical interconnects with optical ones. Now researchers at Stanford University have made this idea more practical with an inverse design algorithm.
Most likely, the optical interconnects that would be used in computers would be made of silicon, which is transparent to infrared light like glass is to visible light. What has been holding back the deployment of these interconnects has been the need to design each connection individually. By developing an inverse design algorithm, the Stanford researchers may have solved that problem. This algorithm will allow someone to plug in the properties they want and get a producible design out.
The researchers have already demonstrated the algorithm by designing optical circuits and building them in their lab, which bodes well for adoption at commercial fabricators. From this tool we could see an interesting, new generation of electronics that could be far more efficient than modern computers, and potentially also transmit more information at the same time, as chip-scale optical links can carry 20 times the data.
Source: Stanford University
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