PNY GTX 980 XLR8 Review
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Amazon and Google Chrome Move to Block Flash Ads; End of Flash is Nigh?
For years, Adobe's Flash Player was the way to view videos and more on the Internet. However, it hasn't always been kind to performance or the most secure, and over the last several years has slowly started to be replaced. In fact, earlier this year YouTube switched its video player over to HTML5 instead of Flash. Now it seems Flash is truly on its way out, as Amazon has blocked Flash ads from displaying across its platforms and services. Likewise, starting next month, Google Chrome will prevent Flash ads from playing by default, as a user must click on them in order for them to display. Mozilla's Firefox browser also blocks Flash, and Adobe itself, Flash's creator, has been shifting clients away from it and towards other programs that serve a similar purpose.
Flash ads account for more than 100 million of the ads displayed in June, with 84% of banner ads still using it. But with Amazon, Google, and Mozilla all blocking those ads, things are going to have to change. It should hopefully mean a world without Flash and its detrimental effects, both in terms of performance and security. After all, Android and iOS devices don't really rely on Flash, and those all function just fine. Computers without Flash is the next step, and one that hopefully happens soon.
Source: The Guardian
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Intel Announces 5x5 Motherboard Form Factor
Intel has announced a new motherboard form factor that has a smaller footprint than mini-ITX, granting it the honor of "smallest socketed board standard at 5.5 x 5.8 inches / 140 x 147 mm." The new board is larger than the Intel NUC but makes up for that with some features not found in the smaller offering. The 5x5 board accepts LGA based CPUs while the NUC is equipped with a BGA processor soldered to the board. The new boards also have support for two SODIMM memory sticks, 2.5" or M.2 storage, and wired or wireless networking. The board won't be able to completely replace larger boards as the 5x5 doesn't have PCI or PCI-E slots.
Source: Legit Reviews
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DEEPCOOL Announces Lucifer K2 Cooler
DEEPCOOL has announced the launch of the newest addition to its GAMER STORM sub brand, the Lucifer K2 CPU Cooler. The K2 is built on the base design of the Lucifer V2 with some additional improvements. The K2 starts with a fanless design and six heatpipes but also adds a polished pure copper base and a 120mm slim fan. The slim fan was included to help with space constraints caused by the size of memory modules. The K2 is capable of cooling CPUs up to 130W with no added fans provided the case has adequate airflow. The Lucifer K2 will be available next month at an MSRP of $79.99.
Source: Press Release
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GOG Galaxy Beta Receives Rollback Feature
Back in May the GOG Galaxy client came to open beta, allowing everyone interested to work with the completely optional and DRM-free platform. At the time it listed more features as coming than were included, but today one of the more significant and unique features has been released: the Rollback feature. With this feature you can take a game back to a previous version, when mods were working, performance was better for you, exploits were still present, or whatever other reason you may have.
To get the update with the Rollback feature, you will have to go into Galaxy's settings and check off receiving preview updates, as it is not yet being distributed to every user. Along with this feature, the Friend system has been improved to accept email address and GOG.com username, improved navigation, better performance HiDPI support, the ability to pause downloads and installations, and more control over the installation process in general, amongst other changes. You can read more on these other changes by following the source or going to the GOG.com/Galaxy webpage, where all of the upcoming features are listed.
Source: GOG
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Hardware Roundup: Tuesday, August 25, 2015, Edition
Another Tuesday is upon us, with just a couple of items to tide you over. There is an article on how to optimize the potential of a horizontal or top-down CPU cooler and get the most out of your investment. We also have an article for the laptop and tablet users making the change to Windows 10, with it showing how best to extend your battery life with Microsoft's newest OS.
Miscellany
Optimized CPU Cooling with Top-Down Heatsinks @ Benchmark Reviews
How To Significantly Improve Battery Life In Windows 10 @ ThinkComputers
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Advanced 3D Printer Works with 10 Materials
Many people consider the development of the 3D printer the beginning of a new renaissance as anyone could use such a printer to quickly and cheaply construct objects they design or find designs for. While 3D printers do indeed have great potential, we are still developing better ways to tap that potential by bringing in new techniques and technologies. Now researchers at MIT have succeeded in creating a 3D print that can work with 10 materials, and is self-correcting.
Most 3D printers only work with a single material, but there are some that can work with three materials at a time, and these printers can cost $250,000. This new printer, named MultiFab, however costs just $7000 and can work with 10 materials because it utilizes 3D scanning from machine vision techniques. With 3D scanning, it is possible for the printer to examine the shape of the object it is building, or the shape of objects placed inside of it. If it is trying to print a multi-material object, it can work with one material and then see where those components are, for printing other materials around it. If an object is put into the printer though, such as an LED array, the printer can determine where it is and print directly on it, in this case a lens for the LEDs.
By using printheads similar to those of inkjet printers, MultiFab has a resolution of 40 micrometers, which is about half the width of a human hair. Not bad considering the entire printer was built from off-the-shelf components, contributing to its low cost.
Source: MIT
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Early Performance and Efficiency Figures Appear for the AMD Radeon R9 Nano
AMD's Radeon R9 Nano video card is fast approaching its launch, bringing the Fiji chip into a tiny package. Some early performance numbers have found their way online, and things are looking quite promising for the Nano. The card uses the same Fiji core found on the Fury X, with the 4GB of HBM memory and 512GB/s memory bandwidth, but with a reduced core speed. All of that in a card just over six inches long, yet with twice the peformance per watt and performance density of an R9 290X. That 290X may only hit 30.5 FPS in an AMD gaming test at Hot Chips 2015, with the R9 Nano hitting 33 FPS and the R9 Fury X hitting 42 FPS at a 4K resolution. Compared to the R9 290X, the Nano is 1.9 to 2.0x more efficient, with the Fury X just 1.25x more efficient. Impressive to be sure, but we still need some actual gaming benchmarks to know exactly how the Nano stacks up.
The AMD Radeon R9 Nano is apparently launching this week on August 27, although a price was not mentioned. What was mentioned is the card will run with just a single 8-pin PCIe power connector as the entire TDP is just 175W. We'll have to see just how much this performance will cost us. You can also check out how the card looks, including in a system, below, courtesy of a user over at ITCM.
Source: WCCFtech and ITCM (Korean site, requires translation)
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Enthoo EVOLV ITX Special Edition Chassis Announced by Phanteks
Last March, Phanteks officially announced a Mini ITX case known as the Enthoo EVOLV ITX, which provided consumers with premium features alongside a minimalistic design. Now, the company, which happens to be a developer of CPU coolers, fans, and chassis, has announced the new Special Edition Enthoo EVOLV ITX, which introduces two new color options. The two new color options include a white exterior with a black interior, as well as a black exterior paired with a red interior. The Enthoo EVOLV ITX Special Edition chassis comes with a PH-F200SP fan, an SSD Bracket, two 3.5-inch removable hard drive brackets, and multiple front I/O ports. The latest chassis from Phanteks also includes a unique bracket solution that allows the radiator to be mounted on top without any hardware conflicts. Boon Tuoh Khor, the Leader Designer at Phanteks, noted that "Features such as being very versatile, having a spacious and clean interior and of course making it very easy to build watercooling systems is what the Enthoo Series is all about."
The Enthoo EVOLV ITX Special Edition chassis is expected to be available to purchase in October of this year.
Source: TechPowerUp
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Android Pay Could be Available Later This Week
Google's answer to Apple Pay, not surprisingly known as Android Pay, was announced at the Google I/O conference earlier this year with an expected launch of "later this year." Android Police has obtained an electronic memo from McDonald's advising employees that the company would start accepting Andoid Pay on August 26. A separate paper memo from McDonald's was posted to the Android subreddit echoing the information in the electronic memo. Both memos also stated that Samsung Pay would become supported on August 21, a date which has been moved to next month. It is possible that the memos contain outdated information, but it could also be a simple mistake as the Samsung Note and S6 Edge+ had a launch date of August 21.
Source: Android Police
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More Details Emerge for AMD Greenland GPUs
The next generation of AMD GPUs, currently known as Greenland, was first mentioned near the end of March and into early April. At the time not much was revealed other than the fact that the cards were expected to be available in 2016 and they would use HBM2. Some more significant information is now available with the reveal that Greenland will be an entirely new microarchitecture with a brand new instruction set architecture, rather than another iteration of the current Graphics Core Next architecture. The GPUs will also boast "twice the power efficiency of GCN, where we can expect these GPUs to be made on the 16nm FinFET or 14nm process, with a serious jump on the number of stream processors when compared to the Fiji architecture." Consumers can also expect 8GB or 16GB of HBM2 on their cards while enthusiast and professional cards will pack up to 32GB.
Source: Tweak Town
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Rockstar Editor Receiving Updates and Coming to Consoles Next Month
When the PC version of Grand Theft Auto V launched earlier this year, it included the Rockstar Editor, a tool for capturing and editing gameplay to create videos. With it the player can record gameplay starting from any point, or keep the last few moments captured for when something unexpected happens. Then the clip can be loaded up and manipulated by changing the camera's position and angle, adjusting the speed of the clip, and more.
Now Rockstar has announced that this tool will be coming to both the Xbox One and Playstation 4 next month, as part of a downloadable update that also includes new GTA Online Freemode gameplay. Rockstar Editor is also getting some new features, including an ambient audio and sound effects library, the ability to export still frames to Snapmatic, improvements to Director Mode, new fonts, and the ability to copy and paste marker properties (something I personally have been looking forward to).
Source: Rockstar Newswire
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Hardware Roundup: Monday, August 24, 2015, Edition
A new week is here as August starts to wind down, but not before we have some items for you to check out. There is a review of the BitFenix Prodigy M micro-ATX case, a slightly bigger model of its popular Prodigy case that can pack in a little more hardware than before. We also have the ASUS PB258Q framless 25" IPS monitor, featuring a 2560x1440 IPS panel and a design that virtually eliminates the frame when the monitor is turned on. The Corsair Strafe mechanical keyboard gets reviewed to see how well it stacks up to the competition and what the MOBA and FPS keycaps bring to the party. For those looking for a new Android tablet, perhaps the Dell Venue 10 7000 Series is for you, with its convertible design to turn it into a full-fledged laptop. Finally we have an article looking at the top 10 hidden features of Windows 10.
Cases
BitFenix Prodigy M Micro-ATX @ ThinkComputers
Monitors
ASUS PB258Q Frameless 25-inch WQHD IPS @ PC Perspective
Keyboards/Mice
Corsair Strafe Mechanical Keyboard @ Madshrimps
Laptops/Tablets
Dell Venue 10 7000 Series: Convertible Tablet @ PC Perspective
Operating Systems
Top 10 Hidden Windows Features @ TechSpot
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Business Class Carrizo APUs Coming Soon from AMD
While AMD officially announced the Carrizo microarchitecture back in June of this year, and successfully launched three quad core mobile APUs that include the FX-8800P, A10-8700P, and A8-8600P, the company will soon offer business class Carrizo APU products as well. The products are virtually the same as their consumer counterparts, and individuals can differentiate between the Carrizo APUs by the P suffix, which pertains to consumer class processors, and the B suffix, which pertains to business class processors. Overall, the complete Carrizo lineup is meant to offer decent processing power with incredible efficiency, something that AMD hopes will sit well with consumers and businesses alike.
Model |
Cores / Threads |
Frequency / Turbo |
L2 Cache |
Graphics |
GPU Frequency |
Memory |
TDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A6 PRO-8500B |
2 / 2 |
1.6 / 3GHz |
1MB |
R5 |
800MHz |
No data |
15W |
A6-8500P |
2 / 2 |
1.6 / 3GHz |
1MB |
R5 |
800MHz |
No data |
15W |
A8 PRO-8600B |
4 / 4 |
1.6 / 3GHz |
2MB |
R6 |
720MHz |
DDR3-2133 |
15W |
A8-8600P |
4 / 4 |
1.6 / 3GHz |
2MB |
R6 |
720MHz |
DDR3-2133 |
15W |
FX PRO-8800B |
4 / 4 |
2.1 / 3.4GHz |
2MB |
R7 |
800MHz |
DDR3-2133 |
15W |
FX-8800P |
4 / 4 |
2.1 / 3.4GHz |
2MB |
R7 |
800MHz |
DDR3-2133 |
15W |
A10 PRO-8700B |
4 / 4 |
1.8 / 3.2GHz |
2MB |
R6 |
800MHz |
DDR3-2133 |
15W |
A10-8700P |
4 / 4 |
1.8 / 3.2GHz |
2MB |
R6 |
800MHz |
DDR3-2133 |
15W |
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New Means to Creating Optical Computers Without Plasmons
We are quickly approaching the fundamental limits of silicon-based electronic computers, which is why many teams around the world are working on replacements. Among these potential replacements are optical computers that would use photons instead of electrons to transmit and process information. Photons can only fit into spaces so small though, due to their wavelength, which is why special means of working with them are required, like those developed by researchers at Lomonosov Moscow State University along with French and Spanish researchers.
Typically people are turning to plasmonics as a means to condense optical signals into smaller spaces, but there is a significant issue with this approach. The best materials for use in plasmonics, like the conductors copper and platinum, exhibit high electrical resistance when at frequencies near those of visible light, which are the frequencies plasmons made from visible light would have. The researchers however turned to electrical insulators that have high refractive indices. Back in the 1980s it was predicted that these materials could exhibit a new kind of light scattering, and this is what the researchers are finally demonstrating.
The researchers created small ceramic spheres that will interact with light to get their electrons vibrating at optical frequencies. By tuning the light correctly, the waves can have their harmonics precisely controlled, allowing the incident radiation to be redirected. This is exactly what is wanted for potential use in optical computers, and to make things better the spheres can be made easily and cheaply.
Source: Lomonosov Moscow State University
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