Tuesday, February 23, 2016

IT News Head Lines (Overclockers Club) 24/02/2016

Overclockers Club



Tomb Raider (2013) 3-Years Later Review


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HyperX Savage 2666MHz 32GB Memory Review


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IOGear Kaliber Gaming Saga Surround Sound Gaming Headphones Review


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Huawei Announced 2-in-1 Windows 10 Device
Huawei announced its' first foray into the 2-in-1 device market with the MateBook at the 2016 Mobile World Congress. The 12" tablet is powered by Windows 10 with a screen resolution of 2160x1440 and the observed "text and photos look sharp and the colors are bright." Users can choose between Intel Core M3, M5, or M7 processors and the MateBook is being marketed to users looking to achieve high levels of productivity. The battery will last up to 13 hours under light use or up to 9 hours for video playback. To help aid in productivity, the tablet comes with the MatePen, a digital pen that includes a laser pointer, eraser, and two multi-function buttons, with up to 100 hours of battery life on a single charge.
Source: The Verge


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Price Announced for Vive VR Headset
The Vive Virtual Reality headset was announced last March and is the collaborative effort between HTC and Valve, and the price has just been announced. The Vive will release in 24 countries in April at an MSRP of $799, $200 more than the Oculus Rift. The price includes a pair of controllers that "you’ll need to power the Vive’s 360-degree tracking experience," which is being referred to as "the complete package." Worth noting is that the Oculus Rift won't have controllers available until the second half of the year and they aren't included in the initial $599 price tag, which means the two devices could be closer on price when that is taken into account. Vice President of VR at HTC Dan O'Brien described the price stating, "Because it is the price for the complete system. It is the price for a system with input and controllers. For 360-degree tracking at full room scale. With safety and chaperone. All the things that we’ve thought about to make it the best possible experience. That’s what that price is for. And we feel really good about it. It’s giving that user that one-time, out of box, it’s all there for you."
Source: Tech Crunch


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Corsair Announces VOID Surround and Wireless RGB White Headsets Available Now
Corsair Announces VOID Surround and Wireless RGB White Headsets Available Now
If you are looking for a new gaming headset, Corsair has just added to its line up the VOID Surround and a white version of its VOID Wireless headset. Both feature Dolby 7.1 support, unidirectional noise-cancelling microphones, and microfiber and memory foam earpads for comfort. The VOID Surround is a wired headset with a 3.5 mm connector, making it compatible with various handheld devices and both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, though you will require an Xbox One controller with the appropriate port to connect to. For when you play on PC, you can use the included USB 7.1 Dolby headphone adapter to get Dolby Surround and use Corsair Utility Engine (CUE) software with its customizable equalizer.
The new white version of the VOID Wireless 7.1 RGB Gaming Headset keeps the multi-award winning design of the Void Wireless headset. It has up to 40 feet of wireless range and its battery can last 16 hours, so you can keep playing all day. Its lights can also be synchronized via Corsair's CUE link with other RGB-enabled Corsair products, like mice, keyboards, and other headsets. The Corsair Utility Engine software is also getting a new feature that allows any RGB-enabled keyboard to act as a multi-color graphic equalizer. You will be able to watch it change color in response to the active audio or microphone signal. This feature is compatible with the VOID Wireless, USB, and Surround headsets, including the two new ones.
The VOID Surround has an MSRP of $79.99 while the VOID Wireless RGB in white is $129.99, and both are available for purchase today. The VOID Visualizer feature is also live right now, in version 1.15.36 of the Corsair Utility Engine.
Source: Press Release


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Hardware Roundup: Monday, February 22, 2016, Edition
February is starting to wind down, but not before we have plenty of items for you to check out. We have a look at the Samsung Portable SSD T3, a compact model offering fast speeds, large capacities, and a USB 3.1 Type C connector. There are two reviews on the Corsair VOID Surround Gaming Headset, a new headset offering Dolby 7.1 surround and compatibility with PCs and consoles. We have another headset in the Patriot Viper V360, which also offers 7.1 surround sound, as well as the Patriot Viper V560 mouse with its Avago 9800 laser sensor and nine programmable buttons. Wrapping things up for today is a guide on how to assemble your first gaming PC, perfect for those just entering the DIY computer field.
Storage/Hard Drives

Samsung Portable SSD T3 @ Benchmark Reviews
Keyboards/Mice

Patriot Viper V360 Headset and V560 Mouse @ LanOC Reviews
Speakers/Headphones

Corsair VOID Surround Gaming Headset @ Madshrimps

Corsair VOID Surround Gaming Headset @ ThinkComputers
Miscellany

My First PC Build - Going from Zero to Gaming in 3 Steps @ PC Perspective


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Graphene Made Superconductive
Graphene is a somewhat common topic when discussing future electronic technologies because it has some very useful properties, such as electrons flowing across it as though they have no mass. This means the all-carbon material has exceptional electron mobility, but these electrons do still flow with some resistance. Only electrons in superconductors move without any resistance, and now researchers at Tohoku University have discovered how to make graphene superconducting, combining these two amazing properties.
To achieve superconductivity, the researchers fabricated bilayer on a silicon carbide substrate. Next they inserted calcium atoms between the two atom-thick layers of graphene, creating a sandwich, and cooled it. At temperatures around 4 K (-269 ºC) the electrical resistivity of the material dropped quickly, as happens when superconductivity emerges. At just 4 K, this transition temperature is very low, but potentially replacing the calcium atoms with some other metal or increasing the number of graphene layers could raise it. Regardless, this is going to lead to new studies to try to understand what exactly is going on when electrons that move with no mass also move with no resistance.
Potential applications for superconducting graphene include ultrahigh-speed nano devices and quantum computers. If the transition temperature can be raised from 4 K, many more applications will become possible for this combination of highly desirable electronic properties.
Source: Tohoku University


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Tt eSPORTS Announces COMMANDER COMBO Multi-Light
Tt eSPORTS, a brand of Thermaltake that is committed to providing gamers with the most personalized and highest quality weapons for competitive cyber battles, has officially announced the COMMANDER COMBO Multi-Light. The new gaming keyboard and mouse combination from Tt eSPORTS improves on the original COMMANDER Gaming Gear Combo that was revealed in January of last year by offering two additional colors and other enhancements and improvements. The included keyboard boasts red, blue, and purple LED backlighting, Plunger Switches with mechanical keycaps, select N-key rollover, repeat rate options, multimedia keys, and shortcut keys. The mouse that is featured as part of the COMMANDER COMBO Multi-Light offers gamers with four different LED lighting effects, on-the-fly sensitivity adjustments from 800DPI to 2400DPI, an illuminated dragon logo, and side buttons.
The COMMANDER COMBO Multi-Light from Tt eSPORTS features an MSRP of just $34.99, making the keyboard and mouse combination quite affordable for a wide range of consumers.
Source: Press Release


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Sony Smart Ear Expected to be Unveiled at Mobile World Congress
Sony Smart Ear Expected to be Unveiled at Mobile World Congress
Thanks to a press render that has recently been leaked online, Sony is expected to reveal its Smart Ear device at this year's Mobile World Congress, which begins on February 22 and runs until February 25. If officially confirmed and released by Sony, the device will be the company's first entry into the growing market of truly wireless earbuds. Due to the name, it is likely that the Sony Smart Ear will be more of a headset than an actual stereo earbud solution, but the self-contained Bluetooth wireless device is said to be similar to the Moto Hint that was released in 2014 and featured built-in assistant functionality.
Source: The Verge


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Simple Means of Doping Graphene Discovered
Since its discovery, graphene has been of great interest to many thanks to its intriguing properties, such as high conductivity strength, flexibility, and transparency. Getting into electronics is difficult though, because the material is a natural conductor and what we want is a semiconductor. Combining it with certain other materials can affect its electrical properties and now researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University, and SUNY Polytechnic Institute have found a very simple means to dope graphene.
The discovery, like many others, was actually an accident. Initially the researchers were testing a solar cell made of graphene stacked on top of copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS), a semiconductor, which was also stacked on a soda-lime glass substrate. When considering doping the graphene to optimize performance, they were surprised to find it was already optimally doped. After careful analysis, which involved isolating the graphene on the glass, they discovered the sodium atoms within the glass were causing high electron density within the multi-layered piece of graphene. They also found that this doping is quite resilient, lasting for several weeks in open air.
This is a very important discovery for potentially bringing graphene to various devices, especially as this combination can be made cheaply and be easily scaled up. Among its possible applications is replacing ITO, a transparent conductor used in many technologies such as displays and solar cells, but is also quite brittle and expensive.
Source: Brookhaven National Laboratory


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Hardware Roundup: Friday, February 19, 2016, Edition
The end of the week is here, with a couple of items along to help you welcome in that weekend. A new case mod is highlighted that features an custom-made Parvum Systems case and as much ASUS ROG hardware possible to give this its ROG BOX name. The red and black color scheme is quite striking, as is the overall size and portability of the project. Our other item is a podcast covering the latest news and reviews from the past week.
Miscellany

Case Mod Friday: ROG BOX @ ThinkComputers

Podcast #387 @ PC Perspective


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LPC-720F Fanless Mini PC Released by Stealth
LPC-720F Fanless Mini PC Released by Stealth
Stealth, a leader in the industrial rugged computer and peripherals market, has officially released its new fanless mini PC, the LPC-720F. The latest product from Stealth features a rugged extruded aluminum chassis that allows the computer to be ran without any fans, providing users with a quiet and clean computing environment. The Stealth LPC-720F offers built-in dual expansion slot capability that includes either two PCI slots or two PCIe x1 expansion slots, allowing consumers to add additional functionality, as needed. Louis Houde, the Business Unit Director of Stealth.com, noted that "Customers require high-powered products with small formats that can be used in multiple applications." Houde went onto say that "We relied on our expertise to develop a product that exceeds those requirements."
The LPC-720F includes a third generation Intel Core i7 mobile processor, up to 16GB of memory, six RS232 serial ports, two Gigabit LAN ports, two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, and VGA, DVI-D, and HDMI display outputs. Stealth has ensured that the unit also operates on a wide range of DC input power, making it ideal for various markets such as military, marine, utility, transportation, mining, telecommunications, and more.
The LPC-720F fanless mini PC starts at $1,995 and is available for immediate purchase.
Source: TechPowerUp


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Original Developer Joins System Shock 3 Team
Warren Spector, the "main creator" for the original System Shock, has joined the development effort for System Shock 3 to "make sure that the new title is as good as the original." OtherSide Entertainment is trying to get as much of the original team back together to try to recreate the magic from the original, which received "unanimous praise in its 22 years of existence." In addition to the original System Shock, Spector has worked on titles such as Deus Ex and Ultima. Spector described his motivation for returning to the System Shock universe, stating "Working on System Shock was one of the most fulfilling things I've done in my career and it's hard to describe how much I'm looking forward to sharing with players what Shodan has been up to since the last game was released."
Source: Tech Times


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Nanowire Lasers Integrated Into Silicon Chip
We are quickly approaching a wall that modern electronics cannot surpass due to the physical limitations of the materials used. Some new technology will be necessary to continue increasing computing power and among the possibilities is photonics, which use light to transmit information instead of electricity. To make photonics possible though, we need to ability to attach light sources to silicon and now researchers at the Technical University of Munich have found a way to do just that.
The light sources in this case are nanowire lasers, which create the coherent light by reflecting photons off of the top and bottom of the wires, amplifying the light until it can start lasing. The nanowires are made from gallium arsenide, which normally cannot be grown on silicon, because the two materials have different lattice structures and expand differently when heated. Also the interface between the silicon and gallium arsenide is not reflective enough for a nanowire laser. The solution to both problems was to add a 200 nm layer of silicon oxide on top of the silicon. Small holes can then be precisely etched into this layer so that the nanowires will grow vertically from them. This reduces the footprint and thus the strain the nanowires will endure, while also providing the desired mirror surface.
The next step for this work is to find a means to power the nanowire lasers electrically, instead of requiring an external laser to pump in the energy. Also the researchers want to be able to control the light emitted by the lasers, which is currently limited to a predefined infrared wavelength.
Source: Technical University of Munich


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Hardware Roundup: Thursday, February 18, 2016, Edition
Another week is nearing its end, but not before we have plenty of items for you to check out. There is a look at the OCZ Trion 150 SSD, a budget model using 15nm TLC NAND to help boost performance compared to the previous model. If you need to keep your CPU cool, perhaps the CRYORIG H5 Ultimate CPU cooler is your solution. To better control your games, the Gamdias Mechanical Gaming Combo features a Hermes Lite GKB1000 mechanical gaming keyboard and Erebos Lite GMS7300 optical mouse to get you everything you need in one convenient package. There's a look at the Braven BRV-1 Bluetooth Speaker that can work indoors or out, thanks to its IPX7 certification for rain or getting dunked in a pool. Wrapping things up is a portable storage option with the Silicon Power Mobile C80  Dual Flash Drive that has a USB 3.1 Type C connector and also a USB 3.0 Type A connector.
Storage/Hard Drives

OCZ Trion 150 SSD @ TechSpot

Silicon Power Mobile C80 Dual Flash Drive for Type-C Ready Mobile Devices @ Madshrimps
CPU Cooling

CRYORIG H5 Ultimate @ ThinkComputers
Keyboards/Mice

Gamdias Mechanical Gaming Combo @ Benchmark Reviews
Speakers/Headphones

Braven BRV-1 Bluetooth Speaker @ ThinkComputers


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Square Enix Games Coming to GeForce Now
Today it has been announced that five Square Enix games will be coming to NVIDIA's GeForce Now game streaming service, starting with the 2013 title Tomb Raider. If you have an NVIDIA SHIELD device and a subscription to the GeForce Now service, you can start playing Tomb Raider today, for free. Later we will see Sleeping Dogs, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, Quantum Conundrum, Murdered: Soul Suspect and more launching for the service.
A GeForce NOW subscription costs $7.99 a month, but the first three months are free. With these titles, the service offers members over 80 games they can play instantly on a SHIELD device.
Source: NVIDIA Blog


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Comparing Vulkan, DirectX, and OpenGL in The Talos Principle
Version 1.0 of the Vulkan graphics API was released yesterday, and while many game developers have pledged to support the new software, Croteam is the first to release support with its game The Talos Principle. The puzzle based game already supports rendering through DirectX 9, DirectX 11, and OpenGL and the team can now add beta support for Vulkan to the list. The tests that were run offer an early look at the potential of Vulkan with Croteam noting that it is "not as fast as their now highly tuned DirectX 11 implementation." Tests were run on multiple cards from AMD and NVIDIA at multiple resolution settings, with frame rate being the comparison metric. DirectX 11 was the clear winner in all tests, and Vulkan compared favorably to OpenGL in most tests, coming out ahead in some and losing in others. The tester notes that the Vulkan rendering looked just as good as its competitors, and it should be interesting to see what developers can do going forward after becoming more familiar with the API.
Source: Anandtech


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Available Tags:Gaming , Gaming , Windows , Wireless , Hardware , Sony , GeForce

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