Fallout 3 7-Years Later Review
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AMD Crimson Drivers Causing Overheating Issues
AMD released its latest graphics drivers, with a name change from Catalyst to Crimson, early last week. A week later, there is some not so good news about the drivers. Users are reporting a bug where the drivers set the fans on the card to 20% of the maximum speed and locks the speed even when GPU usage rises. Some cards are experiencing temperatures up to 90° C, resulting in degraded performance "due to thermal throttling, graphical glitches and crashes, and some users are reporting permanent hardware damage." AMD is planning to introduce a hot fix for the issue today so be on the lookout if you have upgraded to the Crimson drivers.
Source: Ars Technica
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BIOSTAR Announces GeForce Gaming GTX 950
The GeForce Gaming GTX 950 is the latest GPU offering from BIOSTAR, built around the second generation Maxwell core from NVIDIA. The card is packed with 2GB of GDDR5, 768 CUDA cores, and a heat pipe cooling design that offers low noise output and high performance cooling. It is compatible with NVIDIA PhysX and DSR technology, along with DirectX 12. Connectivity is offered through two DVI, DisplayPort, and HDMI with support for up to four monitors with NVIDIA Surround technology.
Source: Press Release
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Graphene Used in a Microphone
Ever since it was discovered, researchers have been thinking of more and more applications for graphene, with a heavy focus on electrical and optical systems. This is because the material has many useful electrical and optical properties, but it also has beneficial mechanical properties. Now researchers at the University of Belgrade, Serbia, as reported by the Institute of Physics, have successfully used graphene in a microphone.
Graphene is an atom-thick sheet of carbon that is transparent, flexible, strong, and highly conductive. Its high strength and flexibility is what the researchers are taking advantage of, along with its light weight, by making an acoustic membrane out of it. This is the part of a condenser microphone that actually converts sound into an electrical current. The membrane is about 60 layers of graphene thick and the researchers placed it into the housing of a commercial microphone for testing. Compared to a typical nickel-based microphone, the graphene-based version demonstrated a 15 dB higher sensitivity at frequencies up to 11 kHz. In theory adding more layers to the membrane will allow it to perform well in the ultrasonic range of the spectrum.
While it is impressive as is, the graphene-based microphone is just a proof of concept, especially as graphene is difficult to produce. As manufacturing obstacles are knocked down though, we could see these more sensitive microphones appearing at lower costs.
Source: Institute of Physics
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Hardware Roundup: Monday, November 30, 2015, Edition
The final day of November is here, and with the holiday weekend over, it's time to get back into the swing of things. There is a review on the MSI Interceptor DS200 Gaming Mouse, a laser mouse featuring nine programmable buttons and an 8200DPI sensor to show that MSI isn't messing around. We also have a look at the TP-LINK Touch P5 AC1900 WiFi Gigabit Router, which has a touchscreen built onto the top to easily perform your initial setup and check on other features once in use. The Primal Carnage: Extinction game pits humans versus dinosaurs in an online multiplayer shooter, and we have a review of it to see how well it plays. We have a new case mod highlighted that uses a custom-made aluminum case for a truly unique look. The holiday season is upon us, with plenty of gifts on the way, so perhaps a stroll through a PC buying guide can help you figure out that next upgrade. We end things with a look back at the 20 worst PC setups seen throughout the month.
Keyboards/Mice
MSI Interceptor DS200 Gaming Mouse @ ThinkComputers
Networking
TP-LINK Touch P5 AC1900 WiFi Gigabit Router @ Madshrimps
Gaming
Primal Carnage: Extinction @ Madshrimps
Miscellany
TechSpot PC Buying Guide: Holidays 2015 Update @ TechSpot
Case Mod Friday: Luna @ ThinkComputers
20 of the Worst PC Setups – November 2015 @ ThinkComputers
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Superconductivity Linked to Topology in Unexpected Way
For many people, understanding superconductor is an ultimate goal as these materials could revolutionize much of the modern world. This is much easier said than done though, as the physics behind superconductivity is quite complicated and crosses many fields. Now researchers at Aalto University have made an unexpected discovery that links superconductivity and topology by solving a curious paradox.
Back in 1928 theories on the motions of electrons in crystals were developed and it was found that electrons in a crystal will act like electrons in free space, thanks to quantum mechanics. In the crystal though, the ordered array of atoms will make the electrons behave like they have more or less mass than normal. In superconductors, where electrons can flow without resistance, it is actually possible for the electrons to appear to have infinite mass, which is contrary to expectations as infinite mass would stop a normal particle. Under quantum mechanics though, electrons are both particles and waves and by including something called the quantum metric to characterize the electrons, the answer appears. While the apparent mass of the electrons increase within the superconductor, this metric also increases, making the electrons seem to spread across the crystal. The greater the quantum metric is, the greater the supercurrent that can be carried.
The quantum metric has a relation to the Chern number from topology, where it is an invariant. That means that without breaking the object, the value will not vary, like the number of twists in a belt. By having a nonzero value for the electrons, the electron waves will be forced to overlap, which ensures superconductivity. The next step for this research could be to test the prediction in ultracold gases.
Source: Aalto University
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