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Monday, September 30th 2019
Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless SE Review
Corsair's most expensive and luxurious gaming headset, the Virtuoso RGB Wireless SE, offers a couple of upgrades from the "regular" Virtuoso RGB Wireless, but also surprisingly falls behind in the microphone department.
Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless Review
Corsair just released a new line of high-end gaming headsets. The Virtuoso RGB Wireless is the company's best and most complete gaming headset to date, offering fancy looks, good sound quality, excellent battery life, great versatility, and the best wireless headset microphone yet.
Thermaltake S500 TG Review
The Thermaltake S500 TG aims to bring the essential feature-set and look and feel of the A500 to the masses at a fraction of the price. With its bold material mix of plenty of steel and a glass panel, the S500 TG is one of the heavier cases out there, but its mass market price tag makes it worth taking a detailed look.
AMD Releases Radeon Software 19.9.3 - Introducing RIS on Vega and Support for Ghost Recon Breakpoint
AMD today released their latest Radeon Software driver. Version 19.9.3 brings with it a much requested feature: support for Radeon Image Sharpening (RIS) on graphics cards based on the Vega architecture. It has been a sore point in the community for some time now how AMD's Vega, their high-performance architecture that offered greater performance than Polaris, was left in the dust in support for AMD's RIS, with only Navi (and then Polaris) users being able to benefit from the image quality-enhancing feature. Now, AMD has finally baked in driver support for that feature with Vega, so you can go on, install the latest driver, and see what it's all about.
Additionally to adding RIS support for Vega, this driver includes specific performance and stability optimizations for Ghost Recon Breakpoint, the online tactical shooter from Ubisoft whose release is slated for October 4th. You can rest assured that you will have the best gameplay experience AMD could muster for launch day with this particular set of drivers. Grab them in our downloads section.
Additionally to adding RIS support for Vega, this driver includes specific performance and stability optimizations for Ghost Recon Breakpoint, the online tactical shooter from Ubisoft whose release is slated for October 4th. You can rest assured that you will have the best gameplay experience AMD could muster for launch day with this particular set of drivers. Grab them in our downloads section.
TechPowerUp and Thermaltake Level Up to RGB Giveaway: The Winners
Earlier this month, TechPowerUp partnered with Thermaltake to bring you the Level Up to RGB Giveaway. Thermaltake needs no introduction as the leading PC casing, power, cooling, and gaming peripherals brand that's at the forefront of technology such as voice-based control over Amazon Alexa and consumer-friendly brand differentiators such as Tt LCS-certified, TT Premium, and of course, the iconic Tt eSports. The Level 20 brand represents that highest level of engineering from Thermaltake for what gamers and PC enthusiasts truly want today. As part of the Giveaway, we have three lucky winners. Without further ado, here they are!
- Joseph from the United States: Wins a Thermaltake Level 20 GT RGB chassis
- Ispas from Romania: Wins a Thermaltake Toughpower iRGB Plus 1000 W Gold power-supply
- Rafał from Poland: Wins a combo of a Level 20 GT RGB gaming keyboard, a Level 20 RGB mousepad, and an E1 RGB headset stand (one each)
HyperX Shipping Qi-enabled Pulsefire Dart Wireless Gaming Mouse and ChargePlay Base Wireless Charger
HyperX, the gaming division of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., today announced its first Qi-compatible HyperX PulsefireTM Dart wireless gaming mouse and Qi-certified HyperX ChargePlay Base wireless charger. Both products offer wireless charging convenience to the world of gaming expanding wireless flexibility and convenience.
The HyperX Pulsefire Dart wireless gaming mouse offers up to 50 hours of battery life on a single charge and comfortable padded leatherette side-grips. Pulsefire Dart delivers pinpoint accuracy with its Pixart 3389 sensor and native DPI settings up to 16,000 DPI. The mouse also provides three preset DPI settings - 800, 1600 and 3200 DPI - with LED indicators. The left and right buttons use Omron switches for exceptional click feel, response and consistency and are rated up to 50 million clicks.
The HyperX Pulsefire Dart wireless gaming mouse offers up to 50 hours of battery life on a single charge and comfortable padded leatherette side-grips. Pulsefire Dart delivers pinpoint accuracy with its Pixart 3389 sensor and native DPI settings up to 16,000 DPI. The mouse also provides three preset DPI settings - 800, 1600 and 3200 DPI - with LED indicators. The left and right buttons use Omron switches for exceptional click feel, response and consistency and are rated up to 50 million clicks.
AMD "Raise the Game" Bundle Makes a Comeback
AMD announced the 2019 edition of its "Raise the Game" game-bundle offer that goes with purchase of its Ryzen desktop processors and Radeon RX graphics cards. The bundle extends the 3-month Xbox Game Pass to a much larger part of AMD's product lineup, and not just the Radeon RX 5700-series. The bundle introduces three new AAA games to the mix - Tom Clancy's "Ghost Recon: Breakpoint," "The Outer Worlds," and "Borderlands 3," including AMD-exclusive in-game content. Depending on what AMD product you buy, you either get both games, or get to choose between the two. The 3-month Xbox Game Pass stays included.
AMD's flagship Ryzen 9 series and Ryzen 7 3800X includes both games - "The Outer Worlds" and "Borderlands 3," - and the 3-month Xbox Game Pass. The Ryzen 7 3700X, 3600X, 2700X, and 2700 include one of the two games - "The Outer Worlds" or "Borderlands 3," and the 3-month Xbox Game Pass. The Ryzen 5 3600, 3400G, and Ryzen 5 2000-series include just the 3-month Xbox Game Pass. Over in the GPU front, buyers of Radeon RX 5700-series, RX 590, RX 580, and RX 570, get to choose one of the two games - Tom Clancy's "Ghost Recon: Breakpoint" or "Borderlands 3," and also receive the 3-month Xbox Game Pass. The Radeon VII, Radeon RX Vega series, and Radeon RX 560 stocks include 3-month Xbox Game Pass. You also get to choose either of the two games when you buy a qualifying pre-built desktop or notebook powered by AMD Ryzen or Radeon products.
AMD's flagship Ryzen 9 series and Ryzen 7 3800X includes both games - "The Outer Worlds" and "Borderlands 3," - and the 3-month Xbox Game Pass. The Ryzen 7 3700X, 3600X, 2700X, and 2700 include one of the two games - "The Outer Worlds" or "Borderlands 3," and the 3-month Xbox Game Pass. The Ryzen 5 3600, 3400G, and Ryzen 5 2000-series include just the 3-month Xbox Game Pass. Over in the GPU front, buyers of Radeon RX 5700-series, RX 590, RX 580, and RX 570, get to choose one of the two games - Tom Clancy's "Ghost Recon: Breakpoint" or "Borderlands 3," and also receive the 3-month Xbox Game Pass. The Radeon VII, Radeon RX Vega series, and Radeon RX 560 stocks include 3-month Xbox Game Pass. You also get to choose either of the two games when you buy a qualifying pre-built desktop or notebook powered by AMD Ryzen or Radeon products.
AMD Announces Availability of the Ryzen PRO 3000 Series Processors
Today, AMD announced the global availability of its new AMD Ryzen PRO 3000 Series desktop processor lineup, along with new AMD Ryzen PRO processors with Radeon Vega Graphics and AMD Athlon PRO processors with Radeon Vega Graphics. The AMD Ryzen PRO and Athlon PRO desktop processors combine powerful performance, built-in security features, and commercial-grade reliability to get the job done. Starting in Q4 2019, robust enterprise desktops from HP and Lenovo powered by AMD Ryzen PRO and Athlon PRO desktop processors are slated to be available.
"The launch of the Ryzen PRO 3000 Series processors for commercial and small business users is the latest demonstration of our commitment to technology leadership in 2019," said Saied Moshkelani, senior vice president and general manager, AMD Client Compute. "Designed specifically to efficiently data-crunch, design, compose, and create - AMD Ryzen PRO and Athlon PRO processors accelerate enhanced business productivity while offering protection safeguards with built-in security features, such as full system memory encryption and a dedicated, on-die security processor."
"The launch of the Ryzen PRO 3000 Series processors for commercial and small business users is the latest demonstration of our commitment to technology leadership in 2019," said Saied Moshkelani, senior vice president and general manager, AMD Client Compute. "Designed specifically to efficiently data-crunch, design, compose, and create - AMD Ryzen PRO and Athlon PRO processors accelerate enhanced business productivity while offering protection safeguards with built-in security features, such as full system memory encryption and a dedicated, on-die security processor."
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Shuttle Unveils New Palm-sized, 4K Capable Nano PC with Intel Whiskey Lake
Shuttle Inc., the global leader in small form factor computer technology, today announces its newest addition to the Nano PC solution: NC10U series. Powered by the new Intel Whiskey Lake ULV platform, the NC10U series is a palm-sized, 4K capable and low-power PC perfect for a variety of applications including home, office, and digital signage.
The NC10U series comes with a selection of Intel's 8th Generation ULV processors ranging from Celeron, Core i3, Core i5 to Core i7 and supports for dual-channel memory with up to 32 GB of DDR4. With an 8th Gen technology, the system reduces power consumption while delivering significant performance improvement. The NC10U series features HDMI 2.0a and DisplayPort connections to support dual-screen displays for increased productivity and efficiency. Plus with the availability with HDMI 2.0a, the NC10U series gives a smooth playback of 4K content and 4K HDR videos as well.
The NC10U series comes with a selection of Intel's 8th Generation ULV processors ranging from Celeron, Core i3, Core i5 to Core i7 and supports for dual-channel memory with up to 32 GB of DDR4. With an 8th Gen technology, the system reduces power consumption while delivering significant performance improvement. The NC10U series features HDMI 2.0a and DisplayPort connections to support dual-screen displays for increased productivity and efficiency. Plus with the availability with HDMI 2.0a, the NC10U series gives a smooth playback of 4K content and 4K HDR videos as well.
Razer Launches Seiren Emote Microphone
Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today introduced the Seiren Emote, the world's first professional-grade streaming microphone featuring an emoticon display. The Razer Seiren Emote synchronizes the emoticons displayed on the microphone to on-stream events, allowing streamers to engage with their audience in a whole new way.
At the heart of the Seiren Emote is the world's first 8-bit Emoticon LED display powered by Razer's Emote Engine. The Emote Engine synchronizes emoticon responses to on-stream audience interaction like alerts, chat messages, follows, donations and more. Streamers are free to express themselves and entertain in their own unique way through hundreds of presets or customizable emoticons that they can add or design themselves.
At the heart of the Seiren Emote is the world's first 8-bit Emoticon LED display powered by Razer's Emote Engine. The Emote Engine synchronizes emoticon responses to on-stream audience interaction like alerts, chat messages, follows, donations and more. Streamers are free to express themselves and entertain in their own unique way through hundreds of presets or customizable emoticons that they can add or design themselves.
Intel Sunny Cove Successor Significantly Bigger: Jim Keller
Sunny Cove is codename for Intel's first truly new performance CPU core design since "Skylake," and made its debut with the company's 10 nm "Ice Lake" processors, packing the first tangible IPC increase in years. VLSI guru Jim Keller is leading the effort to build Intel's future CPU core designs, and dropped a big hint on what to expect, speaking at a gathering in U.C. Berkeley. It's unclear which specific core Keller is referring to. The immediate successor to "Sunny Cove" is codenamed "Willow Cove," and Intel's own public sketch hints at an incremental upgrade over Sunny Cove, with faster caches and process-level optimization. It's only with "Golden Cove," slated for 2021, that Intel speaks of its next round of IPC increases (dubbed "ST perf"). It's plausible that Keller is referring to this core since a 2021 launch would fit better with a 2018-19 design phase.
In his talk, Keller describes Intel's next big CPU core as being "significantly bigger" than "Sunny Cove," with its 800-wide instruction window, and "massive" data- and branch-predictors, to put Intel back on a linear performance growth trajectory between generations. Keller also commented on this being a "mindset change" at Intel, which over the past decade, only delivered minor IPC increments between generations, and focused on other areas, such as efficiency. In stark contrast, through the 1990s and 2000s, Intel delivered IPC leaps between generations, such as the one between "Netburst" and "Conroe," and onwards to "Nehalem." These were in-part helped by rapid process advancements that slowed in the 2010s as Intel approached the sub-10 nm scale.
The video presentation by U.C. Berkeley follows.
In his talk, Keller describes Intel's next big CPU core as being "significantly bigger" than "Sunny Cove," with its 800-wide instruction window, and "massive" data- and branch-predictors, to put Intel back on a linear performance growth trajectory between generations. Keller also commented on this being a "mindset change" at Intel, which over the past decade, only delivered minor IPC increments between generations, and focused on other areas, such as efficiency. In stark contrast, through the 1990s and 2000s, Intel delivered IPC leaps between generations, such as the one between "Netburst" and "Conroe," and onwards to "Nehalem." These were in-part helped by rapid process advancements that slowed in the 2010s as Intel approached the sub-10 nm scale.
Goke Microelectronics Launches Toshiba XL-Flash Based NVMe SSDs
As the industry's leading provider of SSD controllers and storage solutions, Goke Microelectronics was invited to the 2019 Flash Memory Summit to demonstrate an ultra-low latency NVMe SSD based on Toshiba Memory's XL-FLASH memory. One year ago, Toshiba Memory announced XL-FLASH at the 2018 Flash Memory Summit, promising to use ultra-low latency 3D SLC flash to reduce read latency to 5μs, which is equivalent to 1/10th of read latency of 3D TLC NAND.
Goke 2311-series drives are based on the 2311 SSD controller and are paired with Toshiba Memory's XL-FLASH memory. The prototype of 2311-series drives have implemented an overall 4K random read latency under 20μs and the final drives will offer a 4K random read latency in less than 15μs. Goke 2311-series drives support up to 4 TB capacity with a maximum write bandwidth of 1 GB/s and read bandwidth of 3 GB/s through a PCIe Gen 3 x4 interface. They will also support SM2/3/4 and SHA-256/AES-256 with built-in security engines.
Goke 2311-series drives are based on the 2311 SSD controller and are paired with Toshiba Memory's XL-FLASH memory. The prototype of 2311-series drives have implemented an overall 4K random read latency under 20μs and the final drives will offer a 4K random read latency in less than 15μs. Goke 2311-series drives support up to 4 TB capacity with a maximum write bandwidth of 1 GB/s and read bandwidth of 3 GB/s through a PCIe Gen 3 x4 interface. They will also support SM2/3/4 and SHA-256/AES-256 with built-in security engines.
Sunday, September 29th 2019
AMD "Navi 14" and "Navi 12" GPUs Detailed Some More
The third known implementation of AMD's "Navi" generation of GPUs with RDNA architecture is codenamed "Navi 14." This 7 nm chip is expected to be a cut-down, mainstream chip designed to compete with a spectrum of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 16-series SKUs, according to a 3DCenter.org report. The same report sheds more light on the larger "Navi 12" GPU that could power faster SKUs competing with the likes of the GeForce RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Super. The two follow the July launch of the architecture debut with "Navi 10." There doesn't appear to be any guiding logic behind the numerical portion of the GPU codename. When launched, the pecking order of the three Navi GPUs will be "Navi 12," followed by "Navi 10," and "Navi 14."
"Navi 14" is expected to be the smallest of the three, with an estimated 170 mm² die-area, about 24 RDNA compute units (1,536 stream processors), and expected to feature a 128-bit wide GDDR6 memory interface. It will be interesting to see how AMD carves out an SKU that can compete with the GTX 1660 Ti, which has 6 GB of 192-bit GDDR6 memory. The company would have to wait for 16 Gbit (2 GB) GDDR6 memory chips, or piggy-back eight 8 Gbit chips to achieve 8 GB, or risk falling short of recommended system requirements of several games at 1080p, if it packs just 4 GB of memory.
"Navi 14" is expected to be the smallest of the three, with an estimated 170 mm² die-area, about 24 RDNA compute units (1,536 stream processors), and expected to feature a 128-bit wide GDDR6 memory interface. It will be interesting to see how AMD carves out an SKU that can compete with the GTX 1660 Ti, which has 6 GB of 192-bit GDDR6 memory. The company would have to wait for 16 Gbit (2 GB) GDDR6 memory chips, or piggy-back eight 8 Gbit chips to achieve 8 GB, or risk falling short of recommended system requirements of several games at 1080p, if it packs just 4 GB of memory.
ASUS Rolls Out ROG Crosshair VIII Impact - Not Strictly Mini-ITX
ASUS over the past week rolled out its flagship socket AM4 motherboard for SFF gaming PC builds, the ROG Crosshair VIII Impact. Based on the AMD X570 chipset and supporting the latest 3rd generation Ryzen processors, this board is slightly longer than the Mini-ITX specification, while retaining its mount-hole layout. The logic here is that most ITX gaming PC cases have two expansion slots to accommodate dual-slot graphics cards, and so it would make sense to extend the motherboard's PCB up until there, reclaiming precious PCB real-estate. Technically this board would qualify as mini-DTX, but ASUS believes it should fit in most ITX cases that have two expansion slots. The board's dimensions are 203 mm x 170 mm.
The ROG Crosshair VIII Impact draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors, conditioning power for the AM4 SoC using a massive 8-phase VRM. The AM4 socket is wired to a pair of DDR4 DIMM slots, the board's sole expansion slot, a PCI-Express 4.0 x16, and the interestingly-named SO-DIMM.2 slot. Physically, this is an SO-DIMM slot that's been re-wired with PCIe gen 4.0 leading up to a proprietary SO-DIMM daughterboard that holds two M.2-2280 slots with PCIe 4.0 x4 and SATA 6 Gbps wiring, each. Four SATA 6 Gbps ports make for the rest of the storage connectivity. The area of the motherboard just below the PCIe x16 slot has another proprietary slot that holds the second daughterboard, this one with the SupremeFX Impact IV onboard audio solution, which has been physically isolated from the main PCB, and has an EMI-shielded Realtek ALC1220 main CODEC, ESS Sabre ES9023P DAC for the main stereo channel, a de-pop circuit, and audio-grade capacitors.
The ROG Crosshair VIII Impact draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors, conditioning power for the AM4 SoC using a massive 8-phase VRM. The AM4 socket is wired to a pair of DDR4 DIMM slots, the board's sole expansion slot, a PCI-Express 4.0 x16, and the interestingly-named SO-DIMM.2 slot. Physically, this is an SO-DIMM slot that's been re-wired with PCIe gen 4.0 leading up to a proprietary SO-DIMM daughterboard that holds two M.2-2280 slots with PCIe 4.0 x4 and SATA 6 Gbps wiring, each. Four SATA 6 Gbps ports make for the rest of the storage connectivity. The area of the motherboard just below the PCIe x16 slot has another proprietary slot that holds the second daughterboard, this one with the SupremeFX Impact IV onboard audio solution, which has been physically isolated from the main PCB, and has an EMI-shielded Realtek ALC1220 main CODEC, ESS Sabre ES9023P DAC for the main stereo channel, a de-pop circuit, and audio-grade capacitors.
Friday, September 27th 2019
Today's Reviews
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Headphones
- 1MORE Spearhead VRX MacFay Hardware (fr)
- Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless ComputerBase (de)
- CORSAIR Virtuoso RGB Wireless Cowcotland (fr)
- Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless Guru3D
- Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless HardwareInside.de (de)
- Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless Hexus.net
- CORSAIR Virtuoso RGB Wireless NikkTech
- Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless Tom's Hardware
- Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless Tweaktown
- Corsair VIRTUOSO RGB Wireless XtremeHardware (it)
Speakers
ASRock Radeon RX 5700 XT Taichi OC+ Review
The ASRock RX 5700 XT Taichi OC+ is the fastest factory overclocked Navi card we've tested so far. We measured it to run almost 2 GHz real clock on average in our real-life, mixed gaming load. Temperatures are good, too, and the cooler includes idle-fan-stop.
Intel Gen12 iGPU With 96 Execution Units Rears Its Head in Compubench
Intel's upcoming Gen12 iGPU solutions are being touted as sporting Intel's greatest architecture shift in their integrated graphics technologies in a decade. For one, each Execution unit will be freed of the additional workload of having to guarantee data coherency between register reads and writes - that work is being handed over to a reworked compiler, thus freeing up cycles that could be better spent processing triangles. But of course, there are easier ways to improve a GPU's performance without extensive reworks of their design (as AMD and NVIDIA have shown us time and again) - simply by increasing the number of execution units. And it seems Intel is ready to do just that with their Gen12 as well.
An unidentified Intel Gen12 iGPU was benchmarked in CompuBench, and the report includes interesting tidbits, such as the number of Execution Units - 96, a vast increase over Intel's most powerful iGPU to date, the Iris Pro P580, with its 72 EU - and far, far away from the consumer market's UHD 630 and its 24 EUs. The Gen12 iGPU that was benchmarked increases the EU count by 33% compared to Intel's top performing iGPU - add to that performance increases through the "extensive architecture rework", and we could be looking at an Intel iGPU part that achieves some 40% (speculative) better performance than their current best performer. The part was clocked at 1.1 GHz - and the Iris Pro P580 also clocked to that maximum clock under the best Boost conditions. Let's see what next-gen Intel has in store for us, shall we?
An unidentified Intel Gen12 iGPU was benchmarked in CompuBench, and the report includes interesting tidbits, such as the number of Execution Units - 96, a vast increase over Intel's most powerful iGPU to date, the Iris Pro P580, with its 72 EU - and far, far away from the consumer market's UHD 630 and its 24 EUs. The Gen12 iGPU that was benchmarked increases the EU count by 33% compared to Intel's top performing iGPU - add to that performance increases through the "extensive architecture rework", and we could be looking at an Intel iGPU part that achieves some 40% (speculative) better performance than their current best performer. The part was clocked at 1.1 GHz - and the Iris Pro P580 also clocked to that maximum clock under the best Boost conditions. Let's see what next-gen Intel has in store for us, shall we?
Creative Announces Sound Blaster X3 with Super X-Fi; Upgrade Promotion for Existing Users
Creative Technology today announced the release of Sound Blaster X3, its latest addition to the illustrious Sound Blaster line-up of sound cards which ignited the PC audio revolution 30 years ago. A high-resolution USB DAC with multi-channel audio playback, it combines Creative's multiple award-winning technological breakthroughs - the famed Sound Blaster digital processing technology and game-changing Super X-Fi headphone holography - for a compelling solution which audio enthusiasts simply cannot ignore.
BIOSTAR Launches the New Mini-ITX X470NH Motherboard
BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, is proud to announce a new mini-ITX form factor to its AMD socket AM4 line-up with the BIOSTAR X470NH. Design as the foundation for the ideal compact HTPC for home and office workers looking for a powerful yet discrete machine to run their daily tasks or build a secure NAS from, the X470NH meets their needs with a set of features focus on making a capable and affordable PC. Without forgetting about gamers, the X470NH offers overclocking capabilities to improve performance, giving the users the edge needed to stay ahead of the race.
TEAMGROUP Releases MP33 M.2 PCIe Solid State Drive, Classic SD Memory Card
TEAMGROUP releases a solid state drive and a memory card designed for expanding storage space. These two products are: MP33 M.2 PCIe Solid State Drive that supports the latest NVMe 1.3 standard and adopts PCIe Gen3 x4 interface, and Classic SD Memory card that is suitable for Full-HD video recording with many capacities available to choose from.
TEAMGROUP releases MP33 M.2 PCIe Solid State Drive, which has the latest NVMe 1.3 standard, and adopts high speed PCIe Gen3 x4 interface and the newest generation of 3D flash memory technology, allowing capacity, performance, durability to be greatly improved in every way. MP33 has a mainstream 2280 (22 mm x 80 mm) size with maximum storage capacity up to 1 TB. The highest read/write speed can reach up to 1800/1500 MB/s, which is three times faster than the read/write speed of conventional SATA III interface. MP33 has built-in smart management mechanism and supports S.M.A.R.T function. It not only improves the accuracy and reliability of data transfer, but also allows consumers to experience a fast and stable performance. It is the wisest choice for your laptop, mini PC or gaming PC.
TEAMGROUP releases MP33 M.2 PCIe Solid State Drive, which has the latest NVMe 1.3 standard, and adopts high speed PCIe Gen3 x4 interface and the newest generation of 3D flash memory technology, allowing capacity, performance, durability to be greatly improved in every way. MP33 has a mainstream 2280 (22 mm x 80 mm) size with maximum storage capacity up to 1 TB. The highest read/write speed can reach up to 1800/1500 MB/s, which is three times faster than the read/write speed of conventional SATA III interface. MP33 has built-in smart management mechanism and supports S.M.A.R.T function. It not only improves the accuracy and reliability of data transfer, but also allows consumers to experience a fast and stable performance. It is the wisest choice for your laptop, mini PC or gaming PC.
Moore's Law - Is it Really Dead ?
"Moore's Law" is a term coined in 1965 by Gordon Moore, who presented a paper which predicts that semiconductor scaling will allow integrated circuits to feature twice as many transistors present per same area as opposed to a chip manufactured two years ago. That means we could get same performance at half the power than the previous chip, or double the performance at same power/price in only two years time. Today we'll investigate if Moore's Law stayed true to its cause over the years and how much longer can it keep going.
China Starts Production of Domestic DRAM Chips
China's semiconductor industry is seeking independence in every sector of its industry, with an emphasis of homemade products for domestic use, especially government facilities, where usage of homegrown products is most desirable. According to the report of China Securities Journal, Chinese firm has started production of DRAM memory.
A company named ChangXin Memory Technology, founded in 2016 to boost domestic silicon production, on Monday started production of DRAM memory, aiming to directly replace the current supply of foreign memory from companies like Micron, SK Hynix and Samsung. Being build using 18 nm technology which ChangXin calls "10-nanometer class" node, this DRAM chip isn't too far behind offers from competitors it tries to replace. Micron, Samsung and SK Hynix use 12, 14, and 16 nm nodes for production of their DRAM chips, so Chinese efforts so far are very good. The company promises to produce around 120.000 wafers per month and plans to deliver first chips by the end of this year.
A company named ChangXin Memory Technology, founded in 2016 to boost domestic silicon production, on Monday started production of DRAM memory, aiming to directly replace the current supply of foreign memory from companies like Micron, SK Hynix and Samsung. Being build using 18 nm technology which ChangXin calls "10-nanometer class" node, this DRAM chip isn't too far behind offers from competitors it tries to replace. Micron, Samsung and SK Hynix use 12, 14, and 16 nm nodes for production of their DRAM chips, so Chinese efforts so far are very good. The company promises to produce around 120.000 wafers per month and plans to deliver first chips by the end of this year.
BZFuture Saves Your Business Big on Genuine Security Software
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But why stop at renewing your antivirus? Still on Windows 7 or know someone dear who still is? BZFuture is bundling a genuine, globally-valid Windows 10 Pro permanent OEM license with all of its security software products! BZFuture operates globally, and accepts payments via reputed gateways such as PayPal, so your payment instruments stay secure. The store is also emerging as a great place to buy well-priced gaming peripherals. BZFuture in particular would like to recommend the MotoSpeed CK80, a full 104-key mechanical gaming keyboard with RGB LED lighting and Outemu Gold switches (comparable to Cherry MX Blue), for just $69.46, shipped for free worldwide. Slash 10% off the price of this keyboard with the coupon-code "Techpowerup" at checkout!
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But why stop at renewing your antivirus? Still on Windows 7 or know someone dear who still is? BZFuture is bundling a genuine, globally-valid Windows 10 Pro permanent OEM license with all of its security software products! BZFuture operates globally, and accepts payments via reputed gateways such as PayPal, so your payment instruments stay secure. The store is also emerging as a great place to buy well-priced gaming peripherals. BZFuture in particular would like to recommend the MotoSpeed CK80, a full 104-key mechanical gaming keyboard with RGB LED lighting and Outemu Gold switches (comparable to Cherry MX Blue), for just $69.46, shipped for free worldwide. Slash 10% off the price of this keyboard with the coupon-code "Techpowerup" at checkout!
Buy McAfee Antivirus 1 PC 1-year + Windows 10 Pro for $11.02 | Kaspersky Internet Security 1 PC 1-year + Windows 10 Pro for $18.20 | Buy MotoSpeed CK80 Gaming Keyboard for $62.51
PowerColor Teases "Liquid Devil", a Water-Cooled Radeon RX 5700 XT
PowerColor, who have released excellent Radeon RX 5700 XT custom designs recently (our reviews: Red Dragon, Red Devil) has just posted an image announcing a watercooled Radeon RX 5700 XT "Liquid Devil".
I enhanced the photo of the card a bit and you can now clearly see the "EK" logo in the bottom right corner of the card, confirming that it is based on a custom EK Water Blocks cooling solution that you integrate into your existing watercooling loop. Release date and specifications are yet unknown, but I wouldn't be surprised if this will end up being the highest-clocked RX 5700 XT out there, because Navi will definitely benefit from lower temperatures and a higher power limit.
I enhanced the photo of the card a bit and you can now clearly see the "EK" logo in the bottom right corner of the card, confirming that it is based on a custom EK Water Blocks cooling solution that you integrate into your existing watercooling loop. Release date and specifications are yet unknown, but I wouldn't be surprised if this will end up being the highest-clocked RX 5700 XT out there, because Navi will definitely benefit from lower temperatures and a higher power limit.
OBS Software Maker Streamlabs Acquired By Logitech For $89 Million
Logitech today announced that it has agreed to acquire Streamlabs of San Francisco, California. Streamlabs is a leader in software and tools for live streaming, allowing game streamers to engage with viewers, grow their brands and channels, and monetize their broadcasts across platforms like Twitch, YouTube, Mixer and Facebook.
Ujesh Desai, general manager and vice president of Logitech G, commented: "We've been fans of Streamlabs and their software since we started partnering with them over two years ago. Their industry-leading software is complementary to our existing gaming portfolio, and we believe we can do even greater things together."
Ujesh Desai, general manager and vice president of Logitech G, commented: "We've been fans of Streamlabs and their software since we started partnering with them over two years ago. Their industry-leading software is complementary to our existing gaming portfolio, and we believe we can do even greater things together."
BIOSTAR Lists unannounced AMD Ryzen 9 3900 Processor
AMD released their Zen 2-based Ryzen 3000 processors in July this year, and they instantly became a smash hit with gamers, due to their solid performance, and good pricing. The company's flagship processor at this time is the Ryzen 9 3900X, priced at $500, featuring 12-cores/24-threads, with clocks reaching up to 4.6 GHz. Now BIOSTAR has posted an update to their motherboard CPU support list, which mentions a previously unannounced "Ryzen 9 3900", without the "X", running at 3.1 GHz base clock and having a TDP of 65 W (the 3900X has 105 W TDP).
It looks like the Ryzen 9 3900 non-X is a more power-efficient version of the 3900X with lower clocks. It's possible that it is made from chips that failed the clock-frequency certification for the 4.6 GHz boost clock of the 3900X, but that work fine otherwise. By dialing down the TDP of their chip, AMD could also build an interesting SKU for OEMs, that want to market the high core counts, but aren't willing to drive up the cost of their power and cooling setup.
It looks like the Ryzen 9 3900 non-X is a more power-efficient version of the 3900X with lower clocks. It's possible that it is made from chips that failed the clock-frequency certification for the 4.6 GHz boost clock of the 3900X, but that work fine otherwise. By dialing down the TDP of their chip, AMD could also build an interesting SKU for OEMs, that want to market the high core counts, but aren't willing to drive up the cost of their power and cooling setup.
Intel Core i9-9900KS to Cost around $600
Australian e-tailer MWave has put up their product page for the Intel Core i9-9900KS processor that Intel announced earlier this year, but with no actual product in sight. The merchant's listing is showing an AUD 899 price for SKU BX80684I99900KS, which converts to USD 605. The new Intel processor, is basically a binned eight-core Coffee Lake Core i9-9900K, which runs at 4.0 GHz base clock (up by 400 MHz) and 5.0 GHz all-core Turbo (300 MHz increase). Single-core maximum Turbo remains at 5.0 GHz (just like on the Core i9-9900K).
Just earlier this week, ASUS posted a BIOS update note, mentioning in it that the Core i9-9900KS will have a 127 W TDP. It looks like Intel can definitely defend the gaming performance crown with the Core i9-9900KS, mostly thanks to its high clock speeds. However, since most of the improvements are in multi-core workload boost clocks, and single-threaded clocks are identical to 9900K, I'm having some doubts whether the processor can really make any substantial difference — it's definitely not going to beat the $100 cheaper Ryzen 9 3900X in Cinebench, and the 127 W TDP limit might mean that the 5.0 GHz all-core Boost will end up being active only for a short amount of time.
Just earlier this week, ASUS posted a BIOS update note, mentioning in it that the Core i9-9900KS will have a 127 W TDP. It looks like Intel can definitely defend the gaming performance crown with the Core i9-9900KS, mostly thanks to its high clock speeds. However, since most of the improvements are in multi-core workload boost clocks, and single-threaded clocks are identical to 9900K, I'm having some doubts whether the processor can really make any substantial difference — it's definitely not going to beat the $100 cheaper Ryzen 9 3900X in Cinebench, and the 127 W TDP limit might mean that the 5.0 GHz all-core Boost will end up being active only for a short amount of time.
Thursday, September 26th 2019
Today's Reviews
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Keyboards
Motherboards
NAS
PowerColor Radeon RX 5700 Red Dragon Review
Priced at $360, the PowerColor RX 5700 Red Dragon is an amazing factory-overclocked custom design for AMD Navi. Despite its dual-slot cooler, it runs very quietly, with good temperatures, and has idle-fan-stop, too. A second "quiet" BIOS lets you dial down noise levels even further, making the card whisper quiet.
SilentiumPC Navis EVO ARGB 280 Review
SilentiumPC's Navis EVO ARGB 280 mm all-in-one liquid CPU cooler is a value-oriented offering with muted looks which spring to life when illuminated. Add in solid performance and a fairly pleasant noise profile and you have a recipe for success.
EPIC Games Store Offering Copies of "Metro 2033: Redux" and "Everything"
The EPIC Games Store, the digital storefront most PC gamers love to hate, has made available two free gamers for those who want to simply login to their store. The first game is Metro 2033: Redux, the updated Metro 2033 version that uses its sequel, Metro: Last Light's graphics engine. Besides the updated graphics, there are numerous quality of life improvements in the game, making it the definitive version of it to try out (if you have been living under a rock, or just haven't had any time for gaming in recent years whatsoever).
The other game is Everything, a procedurally-generated game that simulates mechanics and systems of nature. There is no objective in this game - the objective is just to immerse yourself and your time on a leisurely approach to space and planet-bound systems. Just log into your EPIC games account via the store and you can add both these games to your digital library (did I mention they're available for free?)
The other game is Everything, a procedurally-generated game that simulates mechanics and systems of nature. There is no objective in this game - the objective is just to immerse yourself and your time on a leisurely approach to space and planet-bound systems. Just log into your EPIC games account via the store and you can add both these games to your digital library (did I mention they're available for free?)
Intel Shares New Roadmap for Optane, NAND, Including 144 Layer QLC and TLC
Intel today at a press event in South Korea announced their plans for future product launches in the memory spaces. Optane is the name of the carriage Intel is pulling here - there's no novelty about that - and the company will be pushing a second generation release of Optane enterprise SSDs and Optane DC Persistent Memory modules. Most interesting for us down-to-earth PC enthusiasts, though - the market launch of 144 Layer QLC NAND in 2020, which should bring even lower pricing to NAND-based devices. Later, the company also plans to launch 144 layer TLC NAND solutions.
The new Optane modules apparently make use of first-generation 3D XPoint memory still - the love child of the now defunct Intel-Micron partnership. Intel's new Optane DC Persistent Memory products will materialize in codename Barlow Pass modules, with a release window around the likes of Cooper Lake (14nm) and Ice Lake (10nm) server processors scheduled for 2020. It seems that Intel's only consumer solution based in Optane - the Optane Memory H10 two-in-one SSD - is a lonely child effort which won't be joined by the previously-planned Optane Memory M15 (a dedicated cache drive for systems with mechanical-based storage, which are already on their way out) and Optane SSD 815P (which would only offer 118 GB of storage, clearly too little for current data storing trends in the overall market.
The new Optane modules apparently make use of first-generation 3D XPoint memory still - the love child of the now defunct Intel-Micron partnership. Intel's new Optane DC Persistent Memory products will materialize in codename Barlow Pass modules, with a release window around the likes of Cooper Lake (14nm) and Ice Lake (10nm) server processors scheduled for 2020. It seems that Intel's only consumer solution based in Optane - the Optane Memory H10 two-in-one SSD - is a lonely child effort which won't be joined by the previously-planned Optane Memory M15 (a dedicated cache drive for systems with mechanical-based storage, which are already on their way out) and Optane SSD 815P (which would only offer 118 GB of storage, clearly too little for current data storing trends in the overall market.
BenQ Announces the EX2780Q Monitor: 27", 2560 x 1440 IPS, 144 Hz, 5 ms, HDRi, FreeSync
BenQ today announced the release of the EX2780Q monitor, a 27" affair sporting a WQHD (2560 x 1440) resolution across its 10-bit IPS matrix (95% DCI-P3 color space coverage). The monitor offers an 144 Hz refresh rate which, when paired with the usage of AMD's FreeSync, should enable smooth gaming scenarios - though the 5 ms GtG response time gives us a whole lot of pause. The resolution is a good compromise one between 1080p and 4K when it comes to graphics muscle requirements, and should thus make the 144 Hz refresh rates actually attainable in most scenarios (something that just wouldn't happen in a 4K screen).
One of the things about this monitor, however, is the inclusion of an "HDRi" badge, which simply denotes the usage of some of BenQ's proprietary technologies - Visual Edge, Black eQualizer and Color Vibrance - essentially auto-adjustable screen brightness, some sort of proprietary implementation of dynamic contrast, and automatic color balance adjustments. The EX2780Q includes a remote control that allows on-the-fly changes on some of the settings; and I/O is taken care of by 2x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort, 1x USB-C, and a headphone port. The sound system in this monitor has been upgraded compared to others - it offers a built-in 2.1 setup of treVolo speakers (2x2 watts + 5 watts subwoofer). Pricing stands at $599.
One of the things about this monitor, however, is the inclusion of an "HDRi" badge, which simply denotes the usage of some of BenQ's proprietary technologies - Visual Edge, Black eQualizer and Color Vibrance - essentially auto-adjustable screen brightness, some sort of proprietary implementation of dynamic contrast, and automatic color balance adjustments. The EX2780Q includes a remote control that allows on-the-fly changes on some of the settings; and I/O is taken care of by 2x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort, 1x USB-C, and a headphone port. The sound system in this monitor has been upgraded compared to others - it offers a built-in 2.1 setup of treVolo speakers (2x2 watts + 5 watts subwoofer). Pricing stands at $599.
Shuttle Introduces Whiskey Lake-based P51U XPC All-in-one
Shuttle is expanding its successful XPC all-in-one range, which now comprises four different platforms, to include a model based on Intel's Whiskey Lake processor generation. In addition to the 15.6" capacitive touchscreen, the P51U also features an IP54-certified front panel. The display has Full HD resolution, while an energy-saving Intel Celeron 4205U dual-core processor delivers the required computing power.
Alongside the X50, the P51U is the second Shuttle model in a 15.6" format. It is the first of its size with a capacitive IPS display that has a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels and allows easy, intuitive operation using more than one finger. Its compact dimensions of 39.3×27.3×4.0 cm (W×H×D) mean that it fits easily into a range of different environments. The P51U is less at home in the consumer segment than in the POS segment. The retail sector and restaurant trade are two primary target groups for this all-in-one PC.
Alongside the X50, the P51U is the second Shuttle model in a 15.6" format. It is the first of its size with a capacitive IPS display that has a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels and allows easy, intuitive operation using more than one finger. Its compact dimensions of 39.3×27.3×4.0 cm (W×H×D) mean that it fits easily into a range of different environments. The P51U is less at home in the consumer segment than in the POS segment. The retail sector and restaurant trade are two primary target groups for this all-in-one PC.
CORSAIR Delivers Incredible Sound, Impeccable Clarity with New VIRTUOSO RGB Wireless Gaming Headsets
CORSAIR, a world leader in PC gaming peripherals and enthusiast components, today launched its new flagship line of premium gaming headsets with the CORSAIR VIRTUOSO RGB Wireless and VIRTUOSO RGB Wireless SE. Bridging the gap between gaming headsets and high-fidelity headphones, VIRTUOSO RGB Wireless provides uncompromising sound and voice quality, delivering an astounding audio frequency range of 20Hz-40,000Hz alongside a detachable broadcast-grade microphone. Crafted and styled for exceptional comfort and refined looks, VIRTUOSO RGB Wireless is available in black, white, or SE gunmetal, with plush memory foam earpads and headband for all-day, all-night listening. Connecting via your choice of hyper-fast SLIPSTREAM WIRELESS, high-fidelity USB wired, or universal 3.5 mm, the VIRTUOSO RGB Wireless sets a new standard for gaming headset audio, comfort, and versatility.
The VIRTUOSO RGB Wireless is engineered for the most accurate and impressive sound quality CORSAIR has ever offered in a gaming headset. Thanks to a pair of high-density 50 mm neodymium audio drivers, carefully hand-matched to within +/-1dB of tolerance for exceptional performance, the VIRTUOSO RGB Wireless boasts double the frequency range of typical gaming headsets at 20Hz - 40,000Hz. This allows for incredibly detailed and accurate reproduction of sound, from the deep rumbling of tanks in the distance to the whine of jet engines flying overhead, and everything in-between.
The VIRTUOSO RGB Wireless is engineered for the most accurate and impressive sound quality CORSAIR has ever offered in a gaming headset. Thanks to a pair of high-density 50 mm neodymium audio drivers, carefully hand-matched to within +/-1dB of tolerance for exceptional performance, the VIRTUOSO RGB Wireless boasts double the frequency range of typical gaming headsets at 20Hz - 40,000Hz. This allows for incredibly detailed and accurate reproduction of sound, from the deep rumbling of tanks in the distance to the whine of jet engines flying overhead, and everything in-between.
COLORFUL iGame Sigma I300 is a Compact Gaming PC with RTX 2060 Super and 9400F
Colorful Technology Company Limited, professional manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards, high-performance storage solutions and gaming PCs is proud to introduce another entry in its line of Sigma Gaming PCs. COLORFUL is proud to introduce the iGame Sigma I300 Gaming PC. Debuting with the luxurious M500, COLORFUL is addressing the needs of those looking for a compact gaming box. Brandishing an elegant body and a small footprint, the iGame Sigma I300 also brings respectable performance to the table. Perfect for minimalist setup, small rooms or just about anyone that just wants to game and game with exceptional performance, the iGame Sigma I300 is a great choice.
The iGame Sigma I300 is available in multiple configurations with MSRP starting at $999.
The iGame Sigma I300 is available in multiple configurations with MSRP starting at $999.
Wednesday, September 25th 2019
Today's Reviews
Cases
Graphics Cards
Motherboards
Mouse
Notebooks
Cougar Panzer EVO RGB Review
The Cougar Panzer EVO RGB is an evolution of the original Panzer G, which was followed up by the Panzer EVO and now an RGB-equipped variant, the Panzer EVO RGB. It keeps the bulky, elaborate design, its signature handles and plenty of glass to boot.
Cooler Master V Series 750 W Gold Review
The Cooler Master V750 Gold sports excellent transient response at +12V, which is what matters the most with real-life applications. However, it costs more than its competitors, and availability in the US market is restricted due to Trump's recent tariffs on all products made in China.
MetallicGear Announces the new NEO 520 Series: NEO-G, AIR & SILENT
Powered by Phanteks, MetallicGear today announced the release of three new design to the Neo series. The new ATX mid-towers provides uncompromised value and functionality in three different styles. The new Neo series includes the Neo Silent, Neo Air, and Neo-G. The Neo Silent is subtle and silent and comes with a sound insulation front panel to help reduce noise; the Neo Air comes with the MetallicGear's characteristic mesh design that offers high airflow performance and includes 2x Skiron 120 mm RGB fans; and the Neo-G features a decorative front panel with 2x Skiron 120 mm D-RGB fans. All three Neo mid-tower cases are compact and design to bring lots of innovation and features like vertical GPU mounting (bracket required), 280 mm radiator support in front, full size hardware support, and plenty of storage.
Beta for Microsoft Project xCloud to be Available in October in Select Regions
After continuously testing its Project xCloud streaming gaming service in an internal group, Microsoft is now looking to expand its testing of the service for a broader audience. This will be done via a Beta launch of the service, available at first only for residents in the US and UK (click here, and (South) Korea (click here). The idea is to stress-test the service, since according to Microsoft, "It's time to put Project xCloud to the test in a broader capacity, with a range of gamers, devices, network environments and real-world use-case scenarios, and this is where you come in." There is no end in sight for the Beta: Microsoft wants it to last "until customers are consistently reporting a great, fun experience and the technology meets our internal quality standards."
The only thing that's needed to participate is a Bluetooth Xbox One controller that you can connect to whatever device you want, be it a smartphone, tablet, or other streaming-capable device. The idea here is to test the xCloud service in as broad hardware and network configurations as possible, and it's a Beta, so remember to cool your expectations adequately. You won't be able to play games that are already connected to your account - Microsoft offers a curated selection of titles that includes (for the time being) Halo 5: Guardians, Gears 5, Killer Instinct, and Sea of Thieves.
The only thing that's needed to participate is a Bluetooth Xbox One controller that you can connect to whatever device you want, be it a smartphone, tablet, or other streaming-capable device. The idea here is to test the xCloud service in as broad hardware and network configurations as possible, and it's a Beta, so remember to cool your expectations adequately. You won't be able to play games that are already connected to your account - Microsoft offers a curated selection of titles that includes (for the time being) Halo 5: Guardians, Gears 5, Killer Instinct, and Sea of Thieves.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super Releases on Oct 29nd
Chinese website ITHome has new info on the release of NVIDA's GeForce GTX 1660 Super graphics cards. According to their website, the release is expected for October 22nd, which seems credible, considering NVIDIA always launches on a Tuesday. As expected, the card will be built around the Turing TU116 graphics processor, which also powers the GTX 1660 and GTX 1660 Ti. Shader counts should either be 1472, because NVIDIA wants to position their card between GTX 1660 (1408 cores) and GTX 1660 Ti (1536 cores). The memory size will be either 4 GB or 6 GB. Specifications of the memory are somewhat vague, it is rumored that NVIDIA's GTX 1660 Super will use GDDR6 chips, just like GTX 1660 Ti — the plain GTX 1660 uses GDDR5 memory. Another possibility is that shader count matches GTX 1660, and the only difference (other than clock speeds) is that GTX 1660 Super uses GDDR6 VRAM.
The Chinese pricing is expected around 1100 Yuan, which converts to $150 — surprisingly low, considering GTX 1660 retails at $210 and GTX 1660 Ti is priced at $275. Maybe NVIDIA is adjusting their pricing to preempt AMD's upcoming Radeon RX 5500/5600 Series. Videocardz has separately confirmed this rumor with their sources at ASUS Taiwan, who are expected to launch at least three SKUs based on the new NVIDIA offering, among them DUAL EVO, Phoenix and TUF3 series.
Update Oct 24th: Seems the actual launch is October 29th, this post has more info: https://www.techpowerup.com/260391/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1660-super-launching-october-29th-usd-229-with-gddr6
The Chinese pricing is expected around 1100 Yuan, which converts to $150 — surprisingly low, considering GTX 1660 retails at $210 and GTX 1660 Ti is priced at $275. Maybe NVIDIA is adjusting their pricing to preempt AMD's upcoming Radeon RX 5500/5600 Series. Videocardz has separately confirmed this rumor with their sources at ASUS Taiwan, who are expected to launch at least three SKUs based on the new NVIDIA offering, among them DUAL EVO, Phoenix and TUF3 series.
Express Yourself with the Creator PC from NZXT BLD
NZXT, a leading developer of software-powered hardware solutions for PC gaming, today announces the Creator PC a new high-end pre-build that focuses on the needs of creatives at all skill levels.
The NZXT Creator PC is designed to ensure that everyone has the right tools to showcase their talents. Housed in the stylish NZXT H510 Elite chassis, the NZXT Creator PC comes packed with an Intel Core i9 9900k and Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, giving users all the horsepower needed to edit photos and videos, stream, and play the latest video games at optimal settings.
The NZXT Creator PC is designed to ensure that everyone has the right tools to showcase their talents. Housed in the stylish NZXT H510 Elite chassis, the NZXT Creator PC comes packed with an Intel Core i9 9900k and Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, giving users all the horsepower needed to edit photos and videos, stream, and play the latest video games at optimal settings.
Intel's 14nm Chip Shortage Continues
Intel is constantly having troubles with its silicon manufacturing business lately. Firstly the late delivery of 10 nm, then the shortage of 14 nm chips that started all the way back in 2018. Despite the making of $1 Billion investment into extending its 14 nm production capacity, there seems to be no end of troubles in sight.
According to sources close to DigiTimes, 14 nm production has fallen short of demand again and will likely cause many notebook manufacturers to delay their products to 2020. Most likely victim of this delay is the newly announced 10th generation mobile CPUs codenamed Comet Lake. Those CPUs were supposed to be built using Intel's "14nm++" revision of 14 nm technology which targets higher CPU frequencies and improved efficiency, but most likely due to continued shortage of 14nm, there will be only a few notebooks powered by these chips. As the source suggests, many manufacturers are likely to delay the launch of their products to 2020, when this situation is supposed to be resolved.
According to sources close to DigiTimes, 14 nm production has fallen short of demand again and will likely cause many notebook manufacturers to delay their products to 2020. Most likely victim of this delay is the newly announced 10th generation mobile CPUs codenamed Comet Lake. Those CPUs were supposed to be built using Intel's "14nm++" revision of 14 nm technology which targets higher CPU frequencies and improved efficiency, but most likely due to continued shortage of 14nm, there will be only a few notebooks powered by these chips. As the source suggests, many manufacturers are likely to delay the launch of their products to 2020, when this situation is supposed to be resolved.
TSMC to Begin Mass Production of 5nm Chips in 2020
According to industry sources over at DigiTimes, TSMC will begin mass production of its 5 nm node in March 2020, when companies using the 5 nm PDK can tape out their designs and integrate them into future products. Going into volume production two years after the 7 nm node, 5 nm is trying to put Moore's Law back on track again.
Built using the Extreme Ultra-Violet lithography (also known as EUV), 5 nm node is supposed to utilize existing FinFET transistors along with many improvements in speed, power and density when compared to existing 7 nm node. Speed is supposed to increase by around 15%, while density will improve by as much as 80%, which is excellent news for everyone. Noticeable power reduction is also present and it is now possible to have about 30% reduction in power consumption, while also enjoying additional speed and density improvements that new node brings.
Built using the Extreme Ultra-Violet lithography (also known as EUV), 5 nm node is supposed to utilize existing FinFET transistors along with many improvements in speed, power and density when compared to existing 7 nm node. Speed is supposed to increase by around 15%, while density will improve by as much as 80%, which is excellent news for everyone. Noticeable power reduction is also present and it is now possible to have about 30% reduction in power consumption, while also enjoying additional speed and density improvements that new node brings.
Microsoft's Windows 10 is now used on Over 900 Million Devices
Microsoft's corporate vice president of the "Modern Life, Search and Devices" group, Yusuf Mehdi sent out a Tweet today that the company's Windows 10 operating system is now being used on over 900 million devices.
Windows 7, one of the most popular legacy operating systems will reach end-of-support in just a few months, which should definitely drive up Windows 10 adoption rates, too. Let's hope Microsoft takes this milestone as a reason to improve the QA testing of their OS updates, as a lot of users have experienced issues recently.
Windows 7, one of the most popular legacy operating systems will reach end-of-support in just a few months, which should definitely drive up Windows 10 adoption rates, too. Let's hope Microsoft takes this milestone as a reason to improve the QA testing of their OS updates, as a lot of users have experienced issues recently.
Tuesday, September 24th 2019
Today's Reviews
Cooling
Harddisks
Headphones
Mouse
Processors
Ducky One 2 SF Keyboard Review
Ducky adds to their popular One 2 keyboard series with the 65% form factor One 2 SF. With arrow keys and more dedicated keys compared to their Mini series, and a lot of onboard controls over lighting and functionality included, it makes for an attractive little keyboard (and mouse, too).
Portable Encrypted Storage for the USB Interface
What do you do when you need portable storage that absolutely has to be encrypted and certified to various degrees? We take a close look at various options from multiple vendors to compare form factor, usability, performance, and encryption features alike.
Fortune Names AMD Lisa Su "One of the Most Powerful Women in Business"
AMD's resurgence is a well threaded story already. Missteps with their Bulldozer architecture, spinning-off of their manufacturing division off to a separate entity (Global Foundries), the investment in semi-custom solutions and the launch of Zen are well documented throughout numerous articles on this publication. As such, and considering AMD's current market position - one-upping Intel in all but the lightest-threaded tasks in both consumer and enterprise markets - the fact that Fortune named her "one of the most powerful women in business" should come as a surprise to, well, almost no-one.
The nomination is headed by comments on AMD's 23% revenue increase YoY, as well as the 66% increase in stock value after the launch of Zen 2-based products. The fact that Lisa Su is the only female leader in the semiconductor industry also doesn't go by unnoticed in the nomination.
The nomination is headed by comments on AMD's 23% revenue increase YoY, as well as the 66% increase in stock value after the launch of Zen 2-based products. The fact that Lisa Su is the only female leader in the semiconductor industry also doesn't go by unnoticed in the nomination.
GLOBALFOUNDRIES Introduces 12LP+ FinFET Solution for Cloud and Edge AI Applications
GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF), the world's leading specialty foundry, announced today at its Global Technology Conference the availability of 12LP+, an innovative new solution for AI training and inference applications. 12LP+ offers chip designers a best-in-class combination of performance, power and area, along with a set of key new features, a mature design and production ecosystem, cost-efficient development and fast time-to-market for high-growth cloud and edge AI applications.
Derived from GF's existing 12nm Leading Performance (12LP) platform, GF's new 12LP+ provides either a 20% increase in performance or a 40% reduction in power requirements over the base 12LP platform, plus a 15% improvement in logic area scaling. A key feature is a high-speed, low-power 0.5 V SRAM bit cell that supports the fast, power-efficient shuttling of data between processors and memory, an important requirement for AI applications in the computing and wired infrastructure markets.
Derived from GF's existing 12nm Leading Performance (12LP) platform, GF's new 12LP+ provides either a 20% increase in performance or a 40% reduction in power requirements over the base 12LP platform, plus a 15% improvement in logic area scaling. A key feature is a high-speed, low-power 0.5 V SRAM bit cell that supports the fast, power-efficient shuttling of data between processors and memory, an important requirement for AI applications in the computing and wired infrastructure markets.
AMD Could Release Next Generation EPYC CPUs with Four-Way SMT
AMD has completed design phase of its "Zen 3" architecture and rumors are already appearing about its details. This time, Hardwareluxx has reported that AMD could bake a four-way simultaneous multithreading technology in its Zen 3 core to enable more performance and boost parallel processing power of its data center CPUs. Expected to arrive sometime in 2020, Zen 3 server CPUs, codenamed "MILAN", are expected to bring many architectural improvements and make use of TSMC's 7nm+ Extreme Ultra Violet lithography that brings as much as 20% increase in transistor density.
Perhaps the biggest change we could see is the addition of four-way SMT that should allow a CPU to have four virtual threads per core that will improve parallel processing power and enable data center users to run more virtual machines than ever before. Four-way SMT will theoretically boost performance by dividing micro-ops into four smaller groups so that each thread could execute part of the operation, thus making the execution time much shorter. This being only one application of four-way SMT, we can expect AMD to leverage this feature in a way that is most practical and brings the best performance possible.
Perhaps the biggest change we could see is the addition of four-way SMT that should allow a CPU to have four virtual threads per core that will improve parallel processing power and enable data center users to run more virtual machines than ever before. Four-way SMT will theoretically boost performance by dividing micro-ops into four smaller groups so that each thread could execute part of the operation, thus making the execution time much shorter. This being only one application of four-way SMT, we can expect AMD to leverage this feature in a way that is most practical and brings the best performance possible.
ViewSonic Introduces New ELITE Gaming Monitors with G-SYNC IPS Nano Color and 1 ms Response Time
ViewSonic announced new additions to the ELITE gaming portfolio. The company is expanding its gaming line-up with the ELITE XG27 gaming monitor series, XG05 gaming monitor series, ELITE Ally monitor control peripheral, and two new software applications. The new gaming products and software provide the ultimate experience for multifaceted gamers while fulfilling a variety of setups and lifestyles.
Play and Create Without Compromises with the New HD60 S+ Capture Card from Elgato
Elgato, the leading provider of hardware and software for content creators, today announced the launch of HD60 S+, an external video capture card that lets content creators play high-fidelity console games in stunning 4K60 HDR10 while simultaneously streaming or recording gameplay in 1080p60 HDR10. It's easy to get set up and streaming with HD60 S+ thanks to a simple USB 3.0 connection and full compatibility with today's most prominent streaming applications including OBS Studio, Streamlabs OBS, and XSplit. Accompanied by powerful Elgato 4KCU recording software, HD60 S+ is ideal for content creators looking to grow audiences on Twitch, YouTube, and Mixer.
Building upon the original hugely popular HD60 S, HD60 S+ allows 4K60 HDR10 zero-lag passthrough, with onboard video downscaling to enable streaming to any platform in industry standard full HD 1080p60 quality and recording unlimited 1080p60 HDR10 footage to your hard drive. HD60 S+ also benefits from ultra-low latency Instant Gameview technology, keeping gameplay, mic, webcam, and other sources perfectly synched.
Building upon the original hugely popular HD60 S, HD60 S+ allows 4K60 HDR10 zero-lag passthrough, with onboard video downscaling to enable streaming to any platform in industry standard full HD 1080p60 quality and recording unlimited 1080p60 HDR10 footage to your hard drive. HD60 S+ also benefits from ultra-low latency Instant Gameview technology, keeping gameplay, mic, webcam, and other sources perfectly synched.
Reported Specifications on AMD B550 Chipset Surface
We've known for some time that AMD's mainstream-segment B550 chipset wouldn't bring all the bangs and whistles of its bigger, enthusiast-class cousin X570. For one, it wouldn't make sense to increase development and implementation costs of both the chipset and motherboards built for mainstream enthusiasts by adding PCIe 4.0 support and the more stringent signaling and power requirements the new standard entails. As such, B550 reportedly cuts down fully on PCIe 4.0 support, as well as on the latest USB standards, to offer a product that's sufficiently rounded up on I/O while offering overclocking support for users that demand it.
Reportedly, AMD's B550 will only support up to 2x USB 3.2 Gen2 devices, 6x USB 2.0, 4 + 4 SATA3 connections, and the interlink between the chipset and the CPU occurs via a 4x PCIe 3.0 interface, which means there's less bandwidth for communication between the CPU and the chipset than on X570 - not that that was a real problem on AMD's previous-gen Ryzen products, though, so that's more of a technicality at this point. Ryzen 3000 CPUs still offer 4x PCIe 4.0 ports, though, so these could be used for speeding up a PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, for instance. The launch of B550-bound products is expected towards October.
Reportedly, AMD's B550 will only support up to 2x USB 3.2 Gen2 devices, 6x USB 2.0, 4 + 4 SATA3 connections, and the interlink between the chipset and the CPU occurs via a 4x PCIe 3.0 interface, which means there's less bandwidth for communication between the CPU and the chipset than on X570 - not that that was a real problem on AMD's previous-gen Ryzen products, though, so that's more of a technicality at this point. Ryzen 3000 CPUs still offer 4x PCIe 4.0 ports, though, so these could be used for speeding up a PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, for instance. The launch of B550-bound products is expected towards October.
FinalWire AIDA64 v6.10 Released
FinalWire Ltd. today announced the immediate availability of AIDA64 Extreme 6.10 software, a streamlined diagnostic and benchmarking tool for home users; the immediate availability of AIDA64 Engineer 6.10 software, a professional diagnostic and benchmarking solution for corporate IT technicians and engineers; the immediate availability of AIDA64 Business 6.10 software, an essential network management solution for small and medium scale enterprises; and the immediate availability of AIDA64 Network Audit 6.10 software, a dedicated network audit toolset to collect and manage corporate network inventories.
The new AIDA64 release implements AVX optimized benchmarks for Zhaoxin processors, adds PCIe 4.0 and NVMe 1.4 devices support, monitoring of sensor values on Matrix Orbital EVE3 displays, and supports the latest AMD and Intel CPU platforms as well as the new graphics and GPGPU computing technologies by both AMD and nVIDIA.
The new AIDA64 release implements AVX optimized benchmarks for Zhaoxin processors, adds PCIe 4.0 and NVMe 1.4 devices support, monitoring of sensor values on Matrix Orbital EVE3 displays, and supports the latest AMD and Intel CPU platforms as well as the new graphics and GPGPU computing technologies by both AMD and nVIDIA.
AMD Re-releases Radeon Software 19.9.2 Beta as WHQL
Yesterday, AMD silently posted a WHQL-signed version of Radeon Software Adrenalin 19.9.2 drivers that it originally released as a Beta on September 12. This should be good news for owners of Radeon RX 5700 Navi cards, as "WHQL" means these should be the best drivers to use on these cards.
It seems the new driver doesn't have any changes other than WHQL certification. Do let us know if your RX 5700 Series driver issues are fixed now, or if they still persist. Grab them from our downloads section.
It seems the new driver doesn't have any changes other than WHQL certification. Do let us know if your RX 5700 Series driver issues are fixed now, or if they still persist. Grab them from our downloads section.
Monday, September 23rd 2019
Today's Reviews
Cases
Cooling
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Monitors
Motherboards
Mouse
1STPLAYER Black Sir Lite K7 Wireless Keyboard Review
1STPLAYER aims to impress with their new Black Sire Lite K7 keyboard. The particular version we examine is a TKL form factor unit without backlighting and 2.4 GHz wireless connectivity paired with Outemu Blue switches and the CIY hot-swappable switch socket.
Consumer Technology Association Defines Standards for 8K Televisions
4K hasn't even come in full swing, and already we have the 8K standard nailed down by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). The standard comes as more of a confirmation than an encouragement to 8K set releases; all 8K TVs currently on the market are within the new standard's specs. These are pretty straightforward as well: a resolution of 7680 x 4320 pixels (my god the monstrosity); at least 24, 30 and 60 FPS support for content; 10-bit colour; HDR; 8K upscaling (duh) and HDCP 2.2.
Of course, content will trickle down at an even slower rate than it already has with 4K. It seems interesting that the pace of innovation barely brings the rest of the content along. Though the jumps do have to start somewhere - and let it be on hardware, so that economies of scale and manufacturing kinks can be ironed out until there is enough content to entice the average consumer when prices finally come down to sane levels. Devices will be able to make use of the new 8K Ultra HD logo starting January 2020. CTA projects U.S. sales of 8K UHD TVs will reach 175,000 units and $734 million in revenue in 2019, with continued growth expected in subsequent years. With whispers of next-generation console hardware supporting the resolution upfront, it may actually happen that a transition occurs more swiftly than it did with 4K.
Of course, content will trickle down at an even slower rate than it already has with 4K. It seems interesting that the pace of innovation barely brings the rest of the content along. Though the jumps do have to start somewhere - and let it be on hardware, so that economies of scale and manufacturing kinks can be ironed out until there is enough content to entice the average consumer when prices finally come down to sane levels. Devices will be able to make use of the new 8K Ultra HD logo starting January 2020. CTA projects U.S. sales of 8K UHD TVs will reach 175,000 units and $734 million in revenue in 2019, with continued growth expected in subsequent years. With whispers of next-generation console hardware supporting the resolution upfront, it may actually happen that a transition occurs more swiftly than it did with 4K.
A Reprieve: Select PC Hardware Exempt of Tariffs on Chinese Imports to the US
The US Trade Representative on Friday granted a reprieve to the increased tariffs being levied at China-imported electronic goods. The exemption, valid for one year until 20th August 2020, includes some products that will be welcome to PC hardware enthusiasts, including motherboards, graphics cards, desktop cases, "mouse input devices" valued over $70, "trackpad input units" valued at over $100, and power supply units that output more than 500 W.
The exempts have come as fruits of requests from US stakeholders in the hardware space; should imports be available only from China (meaning there are no alternate sources of said materials) or if the tariff could cause "severe economic harm", a temporary reprieve on the levies could be sought. And so the exempts were requested, and now granted. Prices paid before the announcement of the reprieve that included the added tax penalties are final; the exemption is only valid for orders after September 20th. This means the 25% increased rates (itself an increase on the initial 10%) on the tax basis are now frozen when it comes to the aforementioned hardware. This means companies no longer have to scramble to source their manufacturing to countries other than China, and that prices increased for end consumers on the basis of the tax increase are now meritless.
The exempts have come as fruits of requests from US stakeholders in the hardware space; should imports be available only from China (meaning there are no alternate sources of said materials) or if the tariff could cause "severe economic harm", a temporary reprieve on the levies could be sought. And so the exempts were requested, and now granted. Prices paid before the announcement of the reprieve that included the added tax penalties are final; the exemption is only valid for orders after September 20th. This means the 25% increased rates (itself an increase on the initial 10%) on the tax basis are now frozen when it comes to the aforementioned hardware. This means companies no longer have to scramble to source their manufacturing to countries other than China, and that prices increased for end consumers on the basis of the tax increase are now meritless.
Cooler Master Launches MasterFan SF120M Computer Case Fans
Cooler Master, a global leader in designing innovative PC components, introduces the MasterFan SF120M, a new addition to the flagship MasterFan Series of computer case fans. The SF120M is designed purely with performance in mind.
The SF120M features a patented, anti-vibration motor featuring dual ball-bearings to reduce friction, increase performance, and minimize noise during operation. Additionally, the frame's exclusive sound damping design featuring rubber corner pads lessen vibrations, further minimizing noise.
The SF120M features a patented, anti-vibration motor featuring dual ball-bearings to reduce friction, increase performance, and minimize noise during operation. Additionally, the frame's exclusive sound damping design featuring rubber corner pads lessen vibrations, further minimizing noise.
AMD Radeon RX 5500 Gets Benchmarked
AMD is preparing lower-end variants of its NAVI GPUs based on new RDNA graphics card architecture, which will replace all the existing cards based on aging GCN architecture. Today, AMD's upcoming Radeon RX 5500, as it is called, got benchmarked in GFXBench - a cross-platform benchmark which features various kinds of test for Windows, MacOS, iOS and Android.
The benchmark was run on Windows OS using OpenGL API. It only ran the "Manhattan" high-level test, which yielded a result of 5430 frames in total or about 87.6 frames per second. When compared to something like RX 5700 XT, which scored 8905 frames in total and 143.6 FPS, RX 5500 clearly seems positioned at the lower end of NAVI GPU stack. Despite the lack of details, we can expect this card to compete against NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1660/1660 Ti GPUs where AMD has no competing offer so far.
The benchmark was run on Windows OS using OpenGL API. It only ran the "Manhattan" high-level test, which yielded a result of 5430 frames in total or about 87.6 frames per second. When compared to something like RX 5700 XT, which scored 8905 frames in total and 143.6 FPS, RX 5500 clearly seems positioned at the lower end of NAVI GPU stack. Despite the lack of details, we can expect this card to compete against NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1660/1660 Ti GPUs where AMD has no competing offer so far.
Exclusivity Costs: EPIC Games Store's Control Cost $10.5 million to Become PC Exclusive
Control is one of the better single player releases of this year already, and has been enough of a success for Remedy and 505 Games to launch a content roadmap stretching all the way to 2020. The game is being served on PC exclusively through the EPIC Games Store, which, besides offering developers higher revenues than Steam, has also launched an all-out campaign to secure high-profile exclusives such as Control and Metro: Exodus (even if some of them are timed exclusives).
Now, an Italian earnings report from 505 games highlights that the developers received a lump, $10.5 million upfront from EPIC; according to the report, "Revenue comes from the computer version of Control (...) The game was released on August 27 but the structure of the marketplace who requested the PC exclusivity has made possible to gain the revenue starting from this quarter." It appears EPIC is offering a safety net for developers in exchange for the exclusivity deals, paying upfront the amount of revenue developers expect to receive from the games' sales throughout the PC platform. In this case, the $10.5 million correspond to a total of 200,000 individual sales of Control. Until that number is achieved, EPIC keeps the full revenue from every sale. Any units sold starting from 200,000, and the revenue is split between the developer and EPIC. It's a win-win, really: EPIC gets more and more traction and publicity on its store, and developers guarantee they get the minimum amount they'd expect to earn by selling the game across the full spectrum of PC marketplaces.
Now, an Italian earnings report from 505 games highlights that the developers received a lump, $10.5 million upfront from EPIC; according to the report, "Revenue comes from the computer version of Control (...) The game was released on August 27 but the structure of the marketplace who requested the PC exclusivity has made possible to gain the revenue starting from this quarter." It appears EPIC is offering a safety net for developers in exchange for the exclusivity deals, paying upfront the amount of revenue developers expect to receive from the games' sales throughout the PC platform. In this case, the $10.5 million correspond to a total of 200,000 individual sales of Control. Until that number is achieved, EPIC keeps the full revenue from every sale. Any units sold starting from 200,000, and the revenue is split between the developer and EPIC. It's a win-win, really: EPIC gets more and more traction and publicity on its store, and developers guarantee they get the minimum amount they'd expect to earn by selling the game across the full spectrum of PC marketplaces.
Radeon RX 5300 XT and AMD B550 Chipset Coming to OEM Systems in October
HP has listed new desktop consumer prebuilts that use previously unannounced hardware from AMD, namely the Radeon RX 5300 XT graphics card and the B550 chipset. B550 has been expected for a while — it's a lower-cost chipset for Ryzen 3000 "Zen 2" processors with reduced feature set. HP calls the chipset "AMD Promontory B550A" in their sheets which seems to be designed and produced by ASMedia (unlike X570, which is a fully AMD in-house design). One of the major differences between X570 and B550 is that the latter has no support for PCI-Express 4.0, which won't matter one bit in its target segment. This move not only reduces chipset cost, it also drives down the cost of motherboards significantly, as the more stringent signal integrity requirements for PCIe 4.0 won't apply here.
While we have heard rumors that AMD is working on a smaller chip for their "Navi" architecture (Navi 12 and Navi 14), it's uncertain whether RX 5300 XT is really based on Navi, or whether it will be yet another rebrand — we wouldn't be surprised if Polaris is making a comeback yet again. Both systems are listed for € 699 and € 899, with shelf availability expected for October 8th.
While we have heard rumors that AMD is working on a smaller chip for their "Navi" architecture (Navi 12 and Navi 14), it's uncertain whether RX 5300 XT is really based on Navi, or whether it will be yet another rebrand — we wouldn't be surprised if Polaris is making a comeback yet again. Both systems are listed for € 699 and € 899, with shelf availability expected for October 8th.
Sharkoon ELBRUS 1 & ELBRUS 2 Gaming Chairs Released
Sharkoon Technologies is an international supplier of PC components and peripherals, offering performance at a reasonable price. Sharkoon now presents the ELBRUS 1 and the ELBRUS 2: two models of comfortable and ergonomic gaming chairs. Each model uses different materials has a different design. For maximum durability, the gaming chairs are made with an integrated steel frame and have a sturdy five-star base.
ELBRUS 1: Tilt Mechanism for More Comfort.
To relieve the back and for more comfort, the ELBRUS 1 is equipped with a tilt mechanism. The pleasant rocking motion provided by this mechanism helps the user to relax during long gaming sessions. The handle for locking and unlocking the tilt mechanism is within easy reach on the underside of the chair.
ELBRUS 2: Adjustable for Personal Needs.
As with the ELBRUS 1, the ELBRUS 2 is also equipped with a tilt mechanism. Moreover, the ELBRUS 2 can be even further adjusted to the requirements of the user. Not only the seat height but also the horizontal angle of the arm rests and the angle of the backrest can be modified. The backrest can be steplessly reclined and locked at an angle between 90° and 160°, offering a comfortable sitting position for any kind of situation.
ELBRUS 1: Tilt Mechanism for More Comfort.
To relieve the back and for more comfort, the ELBRUS 1 is equipped with a tilt mechanism. The pleasant rocking motion provided by this mechanism helps the user to relax during long gaming sessions. The handle for locking and unlocking the tilt mechanism is within easy reach on the underside of the chair.
ELBRUS 2: Adjustable for Personal Needs.
As with the ELBRUS 1, the ELBRUS 2 is also equipped with a tilt mechanism. Moreover, the ELBRUS 2 can be even further adjusted to the requirements of the user. Not only the seat height but also the horizontal angle of the arm rests and the angle of the backrest can be modified. The backrest can be steplessly reclined and locked at an angle between 90° and 160°, offering a comfortable sitting position for any kind of situation.
HyperX Announces Cloud Alpha S Gaming Headset
HyperX, the gaming division of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., today announced the HyperX Cloud Alpha S gaming headset is now shipping. The new addition to HyperX's gaming headset line-up features custom-tuned HyperX virtual 7.1 surround sound and bass adjustment sliders for three levels of bass fine-tuning providing listeners with a richer audio gaming experience.
The Cloud Alpha S offers the design and sound quality features found in the HyperX Cloud Alpha including dual chamber technology that separates bass frequencies from the mids and highs for more accurate audio. The custom-tuned HyperX virtual 7.1 surround sound with an advanced audio control mixer feature enables surround sound and the ability to adjust the mix between game and chat audio.
The Cloud Alpha S offers the design and sound quality features found in the HyperX Cloud Alpha including dual chamber technology that separates bass frequencies from the mids and highs for more accurate audio. The custom-tuned HyperX virtual 7.1 surround sound with an advanced audio control mixer feature enables surround sound and the ability to adjust the mix between game and chat audio.
Power Matters with EVGA PowerLink - Clean up your Power and System!
Everyone knows that the EVGA PowerLink does wonders to improve your cable management for your graphics card. But did you know that the EVGA PowerLink also stabilizes the power going into your graphics card? The EVGA PowerLink is designed to provide both a more stable power source and reduce ripple and noise, compared to connecting your power supply directly to the graphics card. The EVGA PowerLink features two solid state capacitors that help to filter/suppress ripple and noise from the power supply.
The practical impact can be seen in power graphs. The 12V line going into graphics card without a PowerLink under load rates a Peak-to-Peak voltage of 1,008mV, while the 12V line going into the graphics card with a PowerLink is only 728mV. That's nearly a 28% reduction in voltage variation from the external power source!
The practical impact can be seen in power graphs. The 12V line going into graphics card without a PowerLink under load rates a Peak-to-Peak voltage of 1,008mV, while the 12V line going into the graphics card with a PowerLink is only 728mV. That's nearly a 28% reduction in voltage variation from the external power source!
Friday, September 20th 2019
Today's Reviews
Graphics Cards
Mouse
Networking
Notebooks
ASUS GeForce RTX 2080 Super STRIX OC Review
The factory-overclocked ASUS RTX 2080 Super STRIX OC is the company's flagship RTX 2080 Super. It comes with a powerful 10+2 phase VRM and large triple-slot, triple-fan cooling solution. Thanks to the dual-BIOS capability, you are free to pick between excellent temperatures or excellent noise.
Thermaltake Level 20 RGB Extended Mouse Pad Review
Thermaltake released a lot of Level 20 RGB gaming peripherals simultaneously, one of which is an extended cloth mouse pad. It has RGB lighting implemented into its edge stiching, which can be controlled via the iTAKE software, but you can also synchronize it with other Thermaltake products, Razer Chroma, and even Amazon Alexa!
System Requirements for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Released
The official system requirements for the Call of Duty: modern Warfare Beta have been outed, and these should remain pretty close to the final release version requirements. If you want to enjoy the game's implemented NVIDIA RTX features, you know you'll have to have an NVIDIA RTX graphics card - that part is pretty straightforward.
Luckily, the system requirements for non-RTX gameplay aren't too steep; this is a Call of Duty game we're talking about, after all. Even though these games usually offer more than adequate graphics, this is a twitch shooter; the better frame rates players can have, the better and more fluid the action is; and hence, an optimized game engine is key. For the minimum system requirements, a Core i5 2500K "or AMD equivalent" is required, paired with an NVIDIA GeForce 670 2 GB (jeez, they really went into their dust bin for this one) or, puzzlingly, a GTX 1650 4 GB; for the AMD camp, a Radeon HD 7950 is all that's necessary. The recommended specs call for an Intel Core i7 4770K "or AMD equivalent" paired with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4 GB / GTX 1660 6 GB or an AMD Radeon R9 390 / RX 580. The games' beta will be available for all players tomorrow, September 21st.
Luckily, the system requirements for non-RTX gameplay aren't too steep; this is a Call of Duty game we're talking about, after all. Even though these games usually offer more than adequate graphics, this is a twitch shooter; the better frame rates players can have, the better and more fluid the action is; and hence, an optimized game engine is key. For the minimum system requirements, a Core i5 2500K "or AMD equivalent" is required, paired with an NVIDIA GeForce 670 2 GB (jeez, they really went into their dust bin for this one) or, puzzlingly, a GTX 1650 4 GB; for the AMD camp, a Radeon HD 7950 is all that's necessary. The recommended specs call for an Intel Core i7 4770K "or AMD equivalent" paired with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4 GB / GTX 1660 6 GB or an AMD Radeon R9 390 / RX 580. The games' beta will be available for all players tomorrow, September 21st.
New Information on Intel's Upcoming i9-9900KS Processor Outed - 127 W TDP
Intel's upcoming 5 GHz-on-all-cores Core i9-9900KS will certainly be a beast of a processor for the company - in more ways than one. The 8-core, 16-thread 5 5 GHz all-core turbo CPU will be Intel's best-performing consumer CPU for a while. The steps taken to ensure that have been the only ones Intel could do with their current CPU design and fabrication process - increase the TDP and improve all-core boost frequency, which should allow the CPU to perform incredibly well in peak performance.
The question that remains, of course, is how long the CPU will actually be able to keep its 5.0 GHz all-core frequency when it's engaged. The 127 W TDP as outed by an ASUS BIOS is a monstrous amount for an 8-core CPU, and I don't envy the heatsinks that will have to keep it in check. All in all, this seems to be nothing more than a CPU binned for Intel's purposes of becoming the best CPU for gaming and "home user relevant applications".
The question that remains, of course, is how long the CPU will actually be able to keep its 5.0 GHz all-core frequency when it's engaged. The 127 W TDP as outed by an ASUS BIOS is a monstrous amount for an 8-core CPU, and I don't envy the heatsinks that will have to keep it in check. All in all, this seems to be nothing more than a CPU binned for Intel's purposes of becoming the best CPU for gaming and "home user relevant applications".
Philips Announces the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box
Signify, a Philips partner, launches the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box. With this product, you can synchronize all your Philips Hue lamps with your television. The sync box is placed between an HDMI device and your TV.
For this purpose, the box receives the signal from up to four HDMI devices, analyzes the image content and then forwards the signal to the TV set. While the image signal is passed unchanged, the sync box passes the color values to the Philips Hue bulbs. Similar to Philips TV sets with "Ambilight", the TV picture is then synced to the smart Philips Hue lights. The lighting effects can be reproduced on up to 10 lamps/lights in an entertainment area. The more lights are involved, the more impressive the effect will be. The Sync Box supports satellite receivers and Blu-ray players as well as game consoles, notebooks or streaming devices.
For this purpose, the box receives the signal from up to four HDMI devices, analyzes the image content and then forwards the signal to the TV set. While the image signal is passed unchanged, the sync box passes the color values to the Philips Hue bulbs. Similar to Philips TV sets with "Ambilight", the TV picture is then synced to the smart Philips Hue lights. The lighting effects can be reproduced on up to 10 lamps/lights in an entertainment area. The more lights are involved, the more impressive the effect will be. The Sync Box supports satellite receivers and Blu-ray players as well as game consoles, notebooks or streaming devices.
Intel Cascade Lake-X Core i9-10980XE Put Through Its Paces in GeekBench
Intel's upcoming Extreme Edition Core i9-10980XE from the Cascade Lake-X family. Cascade Lake-X (CSL-X) will be Intel's next take on the High End Desktop (HEDT) systems. The Core i9-10980XE is pegged as the flagship on that lineup, sporting an 18-core, 36-thread design, and are still based on Intel's 14 nm process node. These processors will be pin-compatible with Intel's LGA 2066 platform. Caches are expected to be set at 1.125 MB, 18 MB and 24.75 MB of L1, L2 and L3.
Base clocks set in the Geekbench 4 entry are set at 4.1 GHz, with a maximum boost of 4.7 GHz. That's a lot of frequency on a 14 nm CPU with 18 cores; if previous entries on the Intel HEDT family (such as the i9-9980XE) sported a 165 W TDP with clocks of 3.0 GHz and 4.4 GHz respectively, it seems highly unlikely that Intel will keep the same TDP for the i9-10980XE - and even if they do, power consumption will certainly be higher. Those reported clocks for the i9-10980XE may not be right, however - we don't know the conditions of the test run.
Base clocks set in the Geekbench 4 entry are set at 4.1 GHz, with a maximum boost of 4.7 GHz. That's a lot of frequency on a 14 nm CPU with 18 cores; if previous entries on the Intel HEDT family (such as the i9-9980XE) sported a 165 W TDP with clocks of 3.0 GHz and 4.4 GHz respectively, it seems highly unlikely that Intel will keep the same TDP for the i9-10980XE - and even if they do, power consumption will certainly be higher. Those reported clocks for the i9-10980XE may not be right, however - we don't know the conditions of the test run.
AMD Confirms: Ryzen 9 3950X and Threadripper 3rd Generation Coming in November
AMD just released an update on their upcoming processor launches this year. First revealed at E3, just a few months ago, the Ryzen 9 3950X is the world's first processor to bring 16-cores and 32-threads to the consumer desktop space. The processor's boost clock is rated at "up to 4.7 GHz", which we might now actually see, thanks to an updated AGESA software that AMD released earlier this month. Base clock for this $749 processor is set at 3.5 GHz, and TDP is 105 W, with 72 MB cache. While AMD said "September" for Ryzen 9 3950X back at E3, it looks like the date got pushed back a little bit, to November, which really makes no difference, in the grand scheme of things.
The second big part of today's announcement is that AMD is indeed working on "Rome"-based third generation Threadripper processors (probably the industry's worst-kept secret), and that these CPUs will also be launching in November, right in time to preempt Intel from having any success with their upcoming Cascade Lake-X processors. Official information on AMD's new HEDT lineup is extremely sparse so far, but if we go by recent leaks, then we should expect new chipsets and up to 32-cores/64-threads.
AMD's full statement is quoted below.
The second big part of today's announcement is that AMD is indeed working on "Rome"-based third generation Threadripper processors (probably the industry's worst-kept secret), and that these CPUs will also be launching in November, right in time to preempt Intel from having any success with their upcoming Cascade Lake-X processors. Official information on AMD's new HEDT lineup is extremely sparse so far, but if we go by recent leaks, then we should expect new chipsets and up to 32-cores/64-threads.
AMD Ryzen 5 3500X CPU Listed
AMD will soon launch its budget CPU offerings from Ryzen 3000 series of CPUs to continue the tradition of covering all market segments. Today, Ryzen 5 3500X CPU has appeared in listing at Chinese retailer called JD which showed off CPU's pricing information and specifications. Coming in with a price tag of 1099 yuan (around $155), newly listed Ryzen 5 3500X is supposed to be a higher clocked variant of unannounced Ryzen 5 3500 CPU.
Featuring six cores and six threads, this CPU seems to have similar specs as Ryzen 5 3600 with the only difference being the disabled SMT support and slightly lower boost speeds. It has a 3.6 GHz base and 4.1 GHz boost frequency, all while having TDP of 65 Watts. Amount of L3 cache stays the same as its bigger, SMT enabled, variant which features 32 MB of GameCache. Additionally, JD also included some graphs where Ryzen 5 3500X was compared to Intel's i5-9400F CPU at various games, using NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1660 graphics card. Bellow are the benchmarks comparing the two CPU offerings:
Featuring six cores and six threads, this CPU seems to have similar specs as Ryzen 5 3600 with the only difference being the disabled SMT support and slightly lower boost speeds. It has a 3.6 GHz base and 4.1 GHz boost frequency, all while having TDP of 65 Watts. Amount of L3 cache stays the same as its bigger, SMT enabled, variant which features 32 MB of GameCache. Additionally, JD also included some graphs where Ryzen 5 3500X was compared to Intel's i5-9400F CPU at various games, using NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1660 graphics card. Bellow are the benchmarks comparing the two CPU offerings:
Western Digital Announces Sale of IntelliFlash Business and Intention to Exit Storage Systems
Western Digital Corp. today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its IntelliFlash business to DDN, a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI) and multi-cloud data management. In addition, Western Digital and DDN have agreed to expand their existing partnership through a multi-year strategic sourcing agreement, under which DDN will increase its purchase of Western Digital's HDD and SSD storage devices.
This announcement is part of Western Digital's strategic intention to exit Storage Systems, which consists of the IntelliFlash and ActiveScale businesses. The company is exploring strategic options for ActiveScale. These actions will allow Western Digital to optimize its Data Center Systems portfolio around its core Storage Platforms business, which includes the OpenFlex platform and fabric-attached storage technologies.
"As we look to the future, scaling and accelerating growth opportunities for IntelliFlash and ActiveScale will require additional management focus and investment to ensure long-term success," said Mike Cordano, president and chief operating officer. "By refocusing our Data Center Systems resources on our Storage Platforms business, we are confident that the Western Digital portfolio will be better positioned to capture significant opportunities ahead and drive long-term value creation."
This announcement is part of Western Digital's strategic intention to exit Storage Systems, which consists of the IntelliFlash and ActiveScale businesses. The company is exploring strategic options for ActiveScale. These actions will allow Western Digital to optimize its Data Center Systems portfolio around its core Storage Platforms business, which includes the OpenFlex platform and fabric-attached storage technologies.
"As we look to the future, scaling and accelerating growth opportunities for IntelliFlash and ActiveScale will require additional management focus and investment to ensure long-term success," said Mike Cordano, president and chief operating officer. "By refocusing our Data Center Systems resources on our Storage Platforms business, we are confident that the Western Digital portfolio will be better positioned to capture significant opportunities ahead and drive long-term value creation."
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Compute Express Link Consortium (CXL) Officially Incorporates
Today, Alibaba, Cisco, Dell EMC, Facebook, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Huawei, Intel Corporation and Microsoft announce the incorporation of the Compute Express Link (CXL) Consortium, and unveiled the names of its newly-elected members to its Board of Directors. The core group of key industry partners announced their intent to incorporate in March 2019, and remain dedicated to advancing the CXL standard, a new high-speed CPU-to-Device and CPU-to-Memory interconnect which accelerates next-generation data center performance.
The five new CXL board members are as follows: Steve Fields, Fellow and Chief Engineer of Power Systems, IBM; Gaurav Singh, Corporate Vice President, Xilinx; Dong Wei, Standards Architect and Fellow at ARM Holdings; Nathan Kalyanasundharam, Senior Fellow at AMD Semiconductor; and Larrie Carr, Fellow, Technical Strategy and Architecture, Data Center Solutions, Microchip Technology Inc.
The five new CXL board members are as follows: Steve Fields, Fellow and Chief Engineer of Power Systems, IBM; Gaurav Singh, Corporate Vice President, Xilinx; Dong Wei, Standards Architect and Fellow at ARM Holdings; Nathan Kalyanasundharam, Senior Fellow at AMD Semiconductor; and Larrie Carr, Fellow, Technical Strategy and Architecture, Data Center Solutions, Microchip Technology Inc.
Thursday, September 19th 2019
Today's Reviews
Cases
- be quiet! Pure Base 500 GinjFo (fr)
- be quiet! Pure Base 500 HardwareInside.de (de)
- Corsair iCUE 465X RGB Basic Tutorials (de)
- Corsair iCUE 465X RGB Cowcotland (fr)
- Corsair iCUE 465X RGB GinjFo (fr)
- Corsair Carbide 275R Airflow Vonguru (fr)
- DeepCool Matrexx 70 ADD-RGB 3F GinjFo (fr)
- Fractal Design Vector RS Guru3D
- Fractal Design Vector RS KitGuru
- Fractal Design Vector RS Think Computers
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Monitors
Motherboards
Networking
Processors
SSD
Storage
1MORE Portable BT Speaker Review
Although the 1MORE Portable BT Speaker is the company's first Bluetooth speaker, nothing was left to chance. It's a product that's full of pleasant surprises, not only when it comes to build quality, mobility and extra features, but also in the way it sounds.
Kolink Enclave Series 700 W Review
The Kolink Enclave with a capacity of 700 W is an affordable, yet decently performing power supply. You won't easily find something better featuring a fully modular cable design in this price range. The cherry on top is the quiet operation due to the well-optimized fan-speed profile.
Phanteks Unveils Mesh Front Panels for Eclipse P400A Chassis
Phanteks today announced the release of the P400A's high performance, all-metal mesh front panel. Due to the high demand for this panel from our original P400(S) customers, we have decided to have this available for purchase.
The panel will be a great upgrade to all original P400(S) owners looking to boost airflow and maximize cooling performance of their case. The P400A high airflow front panel is compatible with all P400(S) models and will be available in Black and White. Because of the slight difference between the P400A and P400(S) chassis, the front fan alignment is slightly off-center by 8 mm with the P400(S) chassis. Keep in mind that this only impacts the lighting effects when using RGB fans but not airflow performance.
The panel will be a great upgrade to all original P400(S) owners looking to boost airflow and maximize cooling performance of their case. The P400A high airflow front panel is compatible with all P400(S) models and will be available in Black and White. Because of the slight difference between the P400A and P400(S) chassis, the front fan alignment is slightly off-center by 8 mm with the P400(S) chassis. Keep in mind that this only impacts the lighting effects when using RGB fans but not airflow performance.
Puro Sound Labs Brings Healthy Hearing to Gaming Market
Puro Sound Labs, the world's leading manufacturer of premium, safe-listening headphones today introduced the PuroGamer-featuring studio-grade audio, and volume-limiting-for a safe, immersive gaming experience. The new headphones employ many of the outstanding features that earned Puro Sound Labs numerous awards for their original BT-2200 kid's volume-limited headphones, including high-quality, light weight, construction, plush and comfortable noise-isolating ear-pads, the outstanding clarity of their Puro Balanced Response Curve, and a 85dB volume-limiting filter to prevent hearing damaging volume levels. In addition to the sleek design, the PuroGamer headphones add a high-quality 50 mm graphene driver, an omni-directional, detachable boom microphone, with noise canceling and anti-interference features for a competitive gaming edge. The new PuroGamer headphones will be on sale starting mid-September at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca and PuroSound.com for only $79.99.
Intel Ships Stratix 10 DX FPGAs, VMWare Among Early Partners
Intel today announced shipments of new Intel Stratix 10 DX field programmable gate arrays (FPGA). The new FPGAs are designed to support Intel Ultra Path Interconnect (Intel UPI), PCI-Express (PCIe) Gen4 x16 and a new controller for Intel Optane technology to provide flexible, high-performance acceleration. VMware is one of many early access program participants.
"Intel Stratix 10 DX FPGAs are the first FPGAs designed to combine key features that dramatically boost acceleration of workloads in the cloud and enterprise when used with Intel's portfolio of data center solutions. No other FPGA currently offers this combination of features for server designs based on future select Intel Xeon Scalable processors," said David Moore, Intel vice president and general manager, FPGA and Power Products, Network and Custom Logic Group.
"Intel Stratix 10 DX FPGAs are the first FPGAs designed to combine key features that dramatically boost acceleration of workloads in the cloud and enterprise when used with Intel's portfolio of data center solutions. No other FPGA currently offers this combination of features for server designs based on future select Intel Xeon Scalable processors," said David Moore, Intel vice president and general manager, FPGA and Power Products, Network and Custom Logic Group.
Biostar Launches the Racing B365GTQ Micro ATX Motherboard
BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, is proud to include a new micro ATX form factor to its latest generation of RACING motherboards with the BIOSTAR RACING B365GTQ. Built to last with durable components, this new reliable Intel platform is a dream motherboard for gamers looking for a compact solution, and for content creators needing something budget friendly that is capable to support high-end CPUs and graphics card. Sporting the edgy and futuristic look of the RACING series as well as an impressive set of advanced features, the RACING B365GTQ is certain to deliver great performance and hold a unique place in any build configuration.
The BIOSTAR RACING B365GTQ, equipped with the latest Intel B365 chipset, brings support for the 9th & 8th Generation Intel Core processors, a true game changer for today's gamers and content creators. In addition, the PCI-E M.2 32 Gb/s support (with Intel Optane Technology Ready) gives the user rapid access to their games or software by improving the system boot time and boosting the bandwidth to their traditional stored devices. Equipped with USB 3.1 Gen1 (5 Gb/s) for an easy plug-and-play experience as well as faster transfer speed (compared with USB 2.0), the BIOSTAR RACING B365GTQ also supports HDMI 4K resolution for a better than life visual gameplay, and up to 64 GB of DDR4 memory to give the user plenty of RAM to multitask while editing videos or creating 3D renders of complex parts.
The BIOSTAR RACING B365GTQ, equipped with the latest Intel B365 chipset, brings support for the 9th & 8th Generation Intel Core processors, a true game changer for today's gamers and content creators. In addition, the PCI-E M.2 32 Gb/s support (with Intel Optane Technology Ready) gives the user rapid access to their games or software by improving the system boot time and boosting the bandwidth to their traditional stored devices. Equipped with USB 3.1 Gen1 (5 Gb/s) for an easy plug-and-play experience as well as faster transfer speed (compared with USB 2.0), the BIOSTAR RACING B365GTQ also supports HDMI 4K resolution for a better than life visual gameplay, and up to 64 GB of DDR4 memory to give the user plenty of RAM to multitask while editing videos or creating 3D renders of complex parts.
NVIDIA Could Launch GTX 1650 Ti on October 22nd
According to the recent round of rumors, NVIDIA could extend its budget GPU offering on October 22nd when it will launch the new GeForce GTX 1650 Ti graphics card. Expected to sit between GTX 1650 and GTX 1660, the new graphics card is supposed to be NVIDIA's answer to AMD's unannounced, low-end NAVI GPUs rumored to be called the RX 5600 series.
As per ITHome, GTX 1650 Ti will be priced at 1100 yuan which translates to $155, meaning that either GTX 1650 will get a price cut to sit below new Ti model or upcoming GTX 1650 Ti will have a price slightly above the rumored number. Envisioned to feature 4 GB of VRAM and anything between 1024 to 1280 CUDA cores, the new GPU could provide a good balance between current offerings and reduce the gap between GTX 1650 and GTX 1660 graphics cards.
As per ITHome, GTX 1650 Ti will be priced at 1100 yuan which translates to $155, meaning that either GTX 1650 will get a price cut to sit below new Ti model or upcoming GTX 1650 Ti will have a price slightly above the rumored number. Envisioned to feature 4 GB of VRAM and anything between 1024 to 1280 CUDA cores, the new GPU could provide a good balance between current offerings and reduce the gap between GTX 1650 and GTX 1660 graphics cards.
ADATA Also Launches SC680 External Solid State Drive
ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules, NAND Flash products, and mobile accessories today announces the launch of the ADATA SC680 external solid state drive (SSD). The SSDs features a stylish and compact form factor for easy portability and implements the USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface for excellent read and write performance.
Lightweight (35 g), and only 10 mm thick, the SC680 is very portable, slipping into pockets and bags with ease. Utilizing the USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface it's also fast too, sporting read/write speeds of up to 530/460 MB/s, making it over 6.6 times faster than external hard drives. This performance not only benefits users when transferring stored data, but also when loading game titles. What is more, it is shockproof, operates quietly, and consumes less power than many other external SSDs.
Lightweight (35 g), and only 10 mm thick, the SC680 is very portable, slipping into pockets and bags with ease. Utilizing the USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface it's also fast too, sporting read/write speeds of up to 530/460 MB/s, making it over 6.6 times faster than external hard drives. This performance not only benefits users when transferring stored data, but also when loading game titles. What is more, it is shockproof, operates quietly, and consumes less power than many other external SSDs.
ADATA XPG Launches SX8100 PCIe Gen3x4 M.2 2280 SSD
ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules, NAND Flash products, and mobile accessories today announces the launch of the XPG SX8100 PCIe Gen3x4 M.2 2280 Solid State Drive (SSD). Utilizing PCIe Gen3x4, 3D NAND Flash, and featuring 3500/3000MB/s read and write, the SX8100 M.2 2280 SSD gives DIY enthusiasts, overclockers and graphics professionals the performance they seek.
Supporting PCIe Gen3x4 and the NVMe 1.3 standard the SX8100 delivers read and write speeds of up to 3500/3000MB per second and random read and write of 300K/240K IOPS. Along with 3D NAND Flash, it offers high capacities, efficiency, and durability, while the M.2 2280 form factor supports the latest Intel and AMD platforms. With SLC caching and a DRAM cache buffer the SX8100 accelerates PC performance for quick access to files and game loading.
Supporting PCIe Gen3x4 and the NVMe 1.3 standard the SX8100 delivers read and write speeds of up to 3500/3000MB per second and random read and write of 300K/240K IOPS. Along with 3D NAND Flash, it offers high capacities, efficiency, and durability, while the M.2 2280 form factor supports the latest Intel and AMD platforms. With SLC caching and a DRAM cache buffer the SX8100 accelerates PC performance for quick access to files and game loading.
Antec Presents the Versatile NX1000 Case
Antec Inc., a leading provider of high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself market, present the latest model of their NX Gaming Series: the Antec NX1000. The cases are now commercially available on US Newegg & Amazon. Antec's NX -Series offers a wide range of gaming cases featuring LED lighting and eye-catching front panel designs. The models NX100, NX210, NX300, NX310, NX400, NX600 and NX1000 are the latest models on the US market.
The NX1000 mid-tower gaming case effortlessly combines a range of features: USB 3.0 connectivity, ample storage drive bays, room for expansion including one pre-installed ARGB LED fan in the rear. The case supports a 360 mm liquid cooling radiator in front and a 280 mm radiator on top which makes this case an ideal choice for users who are looking for maximum cooler support.
The NX1000 mid-tower gaming case effortlessly combines a range of features: USB 3.0 connectivity, ample storage drive bays, room for expansion including one pre-installed ARGB LED fan in the rear. The case supports a 360 mm liquid cooling radiator in front and a 280 mm radiator on top which makes this case an ideal choice for users who are looking for maximum cooler support.
Intel "Cascade Lake-X" HEDT CPU Lineup Starts at 10-core, Core i9-10900X Geekbenched
With its 10th generation Core X "Cascade Lake-X" HEDT processor series, Intel will not bother designing models with single-digit core-counts. The series is likely to start at 10 cores with the Core i9-10900X. This 10-core/20-thread processor features a quad-channel DDR4 memory interface, and comes with clock speeds of 3.70 GHz base, a 200 MHz speed-bump over the Core i9-9900X. The chip retains the mesh interconnect design and cache hierarchy of Intel's HEDT processors since "Skylake-X," with 1 MB of dedicated L2 cache per core, and 19.3 MB of shared L3 cache.
Geekbench tests run on the chip show it to perform roughly on par with the i9-9900X, with the 200 MHz speed-bump expected to marginally improve multi-threaded performance. Where the "Cascade Lake-X" silicon is expected to one-up "Skylake-X" is its support for DLBoost, an on-die fixed function hardware that multiplies matrices, improving AI DNN building and training; and pricing. Intel is expected to price its next-generation HEDT processors aggressively, to nearly double cores-per-Dollar.
Geekbench tests run on the chip show it to perform roughly on par with the i9-9900X, with the 200 MHz speed-bump expected to marginally improve multi-threaded performance. Where the "Cascade Lake-X" silicon is expected to one-up "Skylake-X" is its support for DLBoost, an on-die fixed function hardware that multiplies matrices, improving AI DNN building and training; and pricing. Intel is expected to price its next-generation HEDT processors aggressively, to nearly double cores-per-Dollar.
Wednesday, September 18th 2019
Today's Reviews
Cases
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Memory
Mouse
Notebooks
Processors
Fractal Design Vector RS Review
Fractal Design is making several bold changes with the new Vector RS mid-tower case. Unlike previous products, Fractal is diverging from their symmetric, understated look by including RGB elements in the core design of the Vector RS.
Thermaltake Level 20 RGB Hard Mouse Pad Review
Thermaltake recently released a line-up of Level 20 RGB gaming peripherals, and one of these is a hard plastic mouse pad with RGB lighting along its edges and the TT logo, controlled in the iTAKE software. You can even synchronize the lighting with other Thermaltake products, the Razer Chroma, and Amazon Alexa.
Samsung Brings Revolutionary Software Innovation to PCIe Gen4 SSDs
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has brought the latest software innovations to the company's most cutting-edge PCIe Gen4 solid state drive (SSD) series, opening up a new paradigm in SSD performance.
"We are combining breakthrough speeds and capacities with revolutionary software solutions as we accelerate expansion in the premium SSD market," said Kye Hyun Kyung, executive vice president of Memory Solution Product & Development at Samsung Electronics. "We plan to introduce additional innovation led by our most advanced (sixth-generation) V-NAND in helping to trigger a lot more growth in the global IT market."
"We are combining breakthrough speeds and capacities with revolutionary software solutions as we accelerate expansion in the premium SSD market," said Kye Hyun Kyung, executive vice president of Memory Solution Product & Development at Samsung Electronics. "We plan to introduce additional innovation led by our most advanced (sixth-generation) V-NAND in helping to trigger a lot more growth in the global IT market."
ENERMAX Launches 120mm SquA RGB White Fan Version
ENERMAX, a leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance PC hardware products, announces a white-colored version of SquA RGB fan series at Computex 2019. Its eye-catching lighting effects and superior cooling performance have got many media attention. SquA RGB white version is characterized by an exquisite white square-shaped lighting frame, addressable RGB synchronization, optimized low 300RPM starting speed, and superior cooling performance. SquA RGB white version will have Single Pack and 3-Fan Pack for retail market as well.
Combined with arc and straight lines, SquA RGB white version provides user two types of lighting patterns to match the system theme perfectly. Thanks to ENERMAX LED LIGHTING Technology, SquA RGB white version is able to offer incredibly bright and even lighting; the light further can be penetrated the holes around the back of the frame to create a visual feast as diamonds shining in the dark. With the pure white frame matched, SquA RGB white version will be a dream model for users to embellish their style rigs.
Combined with arc and straight lines, SquA RGB white version provides user two types of lighting patterns to match the system theme perfectly. Thanks to ENERMAX LED LIGHTING Technology, SquA RGB white version is able to offer incredibly bright and even lighting; the light further can be penetrated the holes around the back of the frame to create a visual feast as diamonds shining in the dark. With the pure white frame matched, SquA RGB white version will be a dream model for users to embellish their style rigs.
2nd Gen AMD EPYC Continues Market Momentum with New Customers
At the European launch in Rome, Italy AMD today highlighted the growing adoption of 2nd Gen AMD EPYC processors across cloud, enterprise and HPC customers. "Today, we are proud to have new platforms from Dell and new customers adopting 2nd Gen AMD EPYC for cloud, enterprise computing and HPC," said Forrest Norrod, senior vice president and general manager, Datacenter and Embedded Solutions Business Group. "We continue to take the AMD EPYC processor to new heights and are thrilled to have the ecosystem supporting us across hardware, software and cloud providers as we face the challenges of the modern data center head-on."
AMD also announced a new addition to the 2nd Generation AMD EPYC family, the AMD EPYC 7H12 processor. The 64 core/128 thread, 2.60 GHz base frequency, 3.30 GHz max boost frequency, 280 W TDP processor is specifically built for HPC customers and workloads, using liquid cooling to deliver leadership supercomputing performance. In an ATOS testing on their BullSequana XH2000, the new AMD EPYC 7H12 processor achieved a LINPACK score of ~ 4.2 TeraFLOPS, ~11% better than the AMD EPYC 7742 processor.
AMD also announced a new addition to the 2nd Generation AMD EPYC family, the AMD EPYC 7H12 processor. The 64 core/128 thread, 2.60 GHz base frequency, 3.30 GHz max boost frequency, 280 W TDP processor is specifically built for HPC customers and workloads, using liquid cooling to deliver leadership supercomputing performance. In an ATOS testing on their BullSequana XH2000, the new AMD EPYC 7H12 processor achieved a LINPACK score of ~ 4.2 TeraFLOPS, ~11% better than the AMD EPYC 7742 processor.
Blue Introduces Yeti X, Professional USB Microphone With Blue VO!CE Software for Creators and Streamers
Blue, a 20-year leading innovator in audio technology and design, today announced the new Yeti X USB microphone for gaming, streaming and podcasting. Yeti X features new Blue VO!CE technology, which enables content creators to dial up professional vocal effects and custom presets at the push of a button. A four capsule condenser microphone array delivers exceptional focus and clarity, high-res LED metering provides visual, real-time feedback for vocal levels, and a multi-function smart knob provides instant control over essential mic functions. Combining legendary Blue audio quality with innovative new features, Yeti X is the ultimate tool for creators who want to deliver professional content and build their audience.
ASUSTOR Unveils the AS-U2.5G USB-C to 2.5GbE Adapter
ASUSTOR today has introduced the AS-U2.5G USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C 2.5-Gigabit Ethernet controller. The new AS-U2.5G provides even faster Ethernet speeds by allowing laptops, desktops and NAS devices to easily upgrade their network speeds beyond Gigabit speeds.
The AS-U2.5G is also backwards compatible with Gigabit Ethernet and 100-Megabit Ethernet using USB 3.2 Type-C. Supporting Windows, macOS, Linux and ADM; laptops, desktops and NAS devices demonstrates that the AS-U2.5G is virtually universal in its compatibility and breaks almost any device out of the Gigabit barrier without PCIe. The AS-U2.5G also features a one year warranty for peace of mind.
The AS-U2.5G is also backwards compatible with Gigabit Ethernet and 100-Megabit Ethernet using USB 3.2 Type-C. Supporting Windows, macOS, Linux and ADM; laptops, desktops and NAS devices demonstrates that the AS-U2.5G is virtually universal in its compatibility and breaks almost any device out of the Gigabit barrier without PCIe. The AS-U2.5G also features a one year warranty for peace of mind.
Tuesday, September 17th 2019
Today's Reviews
Cases
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
- MSI RX 5700 XT Evoke OC Comptoir du Hardware (fr)
- Sapphire RX 5700 XT Nitro+ ComputerBase (de)
- Sapphire RX 5700 XT Nitro+ Conseil Config (fr)
- ASUS ROG Strix RX 5700 XT OC GreenTech Reviews (ru)
- Sapphire RX 5700 XT Nitro+ Hexus.net
- Sapphire RX 5700 XT Nitro+ KitGuru
- Sapphire RX 5700 XT Nitro+ Tweaktown
- KFA2 RTX 2070 Super EX Vonguru (fr)
Headphones
Motherboards
Corsair iCUE 465X RGB Review
The Corsair iCUE 465X RGB is a mid-tower enclosure that includes the Lightning Node smart device, thus giving users the ability to control the lighting elements in iCUE right out of the box. With its solid build quality, the 465X RGB should be an interesting choice for those wanting to dive right into the Corsair ecosystem.
be quiet! Pure Base 500 Review
The Pure Base family of be quiet! products offers German quality and engineering for the masses at attractive price points. The company focuses on functionality instead of frills, and the be quiet! Pure Base 500 is their take on what a mass-market enclosure should provide.
InnoDisk Unveils the 3TS5-P Enterprise SSD with 2 DWPD Endurance
Engineers at Innodisk, using the latest 3D NAND vertical architecture technology, have delivered stellar performance and blistering speeds in the latest iteration of the company's new 3D NAND TLC SSD range. The Innodisk 3TS5-P SSD series complies with JESD219 standards complementing endurance workloads at enterprise level in situations where data compression or reduction is carried out for encryption purposes but doesn't distort the normal internal workings of the SSD.
The new 3D NAND TLC SSD series handles increased data storage demands in varied form-factors while maintaining read/write speeds for endurance and is designed for heavy workload applications. As data becomes the core of the IoT era and faster data speeds are required to necessitate reliability, the Innodisk 3D NAND TLC offers 2 drive writes per day (DWPD=2). This offers the potential of higher capacity within a smaller physical space thus lowering the mechanical interference and improving the airflow inside the system chassis, while also improving electrical use to reduce power consumption, boosting power consumption, and providing higher data write performance, as well as built-in hardware-based AES for data security.
The new 3D NAND TLC SSD series handles increased data storage demands in varied form-factors while maintaining read/write speeds for endurance and is designed for heavy workload applications. As data becomes the core of the IoT era and faster data speeds are required to necessitate reliability, the Innodisk 3D NAND TLC offers 2 drive writes per day (DWPD=2). This offers the potential of higher capacity within a smaller physical space thus lowering the mechanical interference and improving the airflow inside the system chassis, while also improving electrical use to reduce power consumption, boosting power consumption, and providing higher data write performance, as well as built-in hardware-based AES for data security.
CORSAIR Launches iCUE 465X RGB Smart Case
CORSAIR, a world leader in PC gaming peripherals and enthusiast components, today announced the launch of the new CORSAIR iCUE 465X RGB Mid-Tower ATX Smart Case, offering PC enthusiasts smart RGB lighting and strong cooling with three included CORSAIR LL120 RGB PWM fans behind two beautiful tempered glass panels in a black or white chassis. Users can create stunning, customizable visuals out-of-the-box with the included iCUE Lighting Node CORE RGB Lighting Controller and iCUE software.
The 465X RGB features premium, 4 mm-thick edge-to-edge tempered glass panels on the side and front of the chassis, perfect for showcasing the vibrant light shows from all of your high-profile RGB components. Three included CORSAIR LL120 RGB PWM fans light up your system with 16 individually addressable RGB LEDs each, while keeping temperatures down with powerful cooling by running up to 1,500 RPM.
The 465X RGB features premium, 4 mm-thick edge-to-edge tempered glass panels on the side and front of the chassis, perfect for showcasing the vibrant light shows from all of your high-profile RGB components. Three included CORSAIR LL120 RGB PWM fans light up your system with 16 individually addressable RGB LEDs each, while keeping temperatures down with powerful cooling by running up to 1,500 RPM.
TSMC Trembles Under 7 nm Product Orders, Increases Delivery Lead Times Threefold - Could Hit AMD Product Availability
TSMC is on the vanguard of chipset fabrication technology at this exact point in time - its 7 nm technology is the leading-edge of all large volume processes, and is being tapped by a number of companies for 7 nm silicon. One of its most relevant clients for our purposes, of course, is AMD - the company now enjoys a fabrication process lead over arch-rival Intel much due to its strategy of fabrication spin-off and becoming a fabless designer of chips. AMD's current product stack has made waves in the market by taking advantage of 7 nm's benefits, but it seems this may actually become a slight problem in the not so distant future.
TSMC has announced a threefold increase in its delivery lead times for 7 nm orders, from two months to nearly six months, which means that orders will now have to wait three times longer to be fulfilled than they once did. This means that current channel supplies and orders made after the decision from TSMC will take longer to materialize in actual silicon, which may lead to availability slumps should demand increase or maintain. AMD has its entire modern product stack built under the 7 nm process, so this could potentially affect both CPUs and GPUs from the company - and let's not forget AMD's Zen 3 and next-gen RDNA GPUs which are all being designed for the 7 nm+ process node. TSMC is expected to set aside further budget to expand capacity of its most advanced nodes, whilst accelerating investment on their N7+, N6, N5, and N3 nodes.
TSMC has announced a threefold increase in its delivery lead times for 7 nm orders, from two months to nearly six months, which means that orders will now have to wait three times longer to be fulfilled than they once did. This means that current channel supplies and orders made after the decision from TSMC will take longer to materialize in actual silicon, which may lead to availability slumps should demand increase or maintain. AMD has its entire modern product stack built under the 7 nm process, so this could potentially affect both CPUs and GPUs from the company - and let's not forget AMD's Zen 3 and next-gen RDNA GPUs which are all being designed for the 7 nm+ process node. TSMC is expected to set aside further budget to expand capacity of its most advanced nodes, whilst accelerating investment on their N7+, N6, N5, and N3 nodes.
NVIDIA Partners With Activision in Launching Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Bundles
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's re-release will see the game supporting real-time raytracing, and given NVIDIA's current stand in the market as the only provider of hardware-accelerated raytracing capable GPUs, this partnership makes total sense. NVIDIA has announced that they will be bundling Call of Duty: Modern Warfare with select RTX series GPUs, which gives gamers on the fence towards buying an RTX graphics card one more reason to take the plunge.
The bundle is available for eligible GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, 2080, 2070 Super, 2070, 2060 Super and 2060 products, whether in discrete card or laptop/desktop pre-built form. The game will be taking advantage of ray tracing and adaptive shading, and will bring gamers back to Soap and Price's story.
The bundle is available for eligible GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, 2080, 2070 Super, 2070, 2060 Super and 2060 products, whether in discrete card or laptop/desktop pre-built form. The game will be taking advantage of ray tracing and adaptive shading, and will bring gamers back to Soap and Price's story.
Intel Adds More L3 Cache to Its Tiger Lake CPUs
InstLatX64 has posted a CPU dump of Intel's next-generation 10 nm CPUs codenamed Tiger Lake. With the CPUID of 806C0, this Tiger Lake chip runs at 1000 MHz base and 3400 MHz boost clocks which is lower than the current Ice Lake models, but that is to be expected given that this might be just an engineering sample, meaning that production/consumer revision will have better frequency.
Perhaps one of the most interesting findings this dump shows is the new L3 cache configuration. Up until now Intel usually put 2 MB of L3 cache per each core, however with Tiger Lake, it seems like the plan is to boost the amount of available cache. Now we are going to get 50% more L3 cache resulting in 3 MB per core or 12 MB in total for this four-core chip. Improved cache capacity can result in additional latency because of additional distance data needs to travel to get in and out of cache, but Intel's engineers surely solved this problem. Additionally, full AVX512 support is present except avx512_bf which supports bfloat16 floating-point variation found in Cooper Lake Xeons.
Perhaps one of the most interesting findings this dump shows is the new L3 cache configuration. Up until now Intel usually put 2 MB of L3 cache per each core, however with Tiger Lake, it seems like the plan is to boost the amount of available cache. Now we are going to get 50% more L3 cache resulting in 3 MB per core or 12 MB in total for this four-core chip. Improved cache capacity can result in additional latency because of additional distance data needs to travel to get in and out of cache, but Intel's engineers surely solved this problem. Additionally, full AVX512 support is present except avx512_bf which supports bfloat16 floating-point variation found in Cooper Lake Xeons.
Wi-Fi Alliance Officially Launches the Wi-Fi Certified 6 Program
The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 certification program from Wi-Fi Alliance is now available and delivers the best user experience with devices based on IEEE 802.11ax. The certification program brings new features and capabilities that enable substantially greater overall Wi-Fi network performance in challenging environments with many connected devices such as stadiums, airports, and industrial parks. With adoption of the latest Wi-Fi generation increasing, product vendors and service providers can trust Wi-Fi CERTIFIED will distinguish Wi-Fi 6 products and networks that meet the highest standards for security and interoperability. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 provides significant capacity, performance, and latency improvements to the entire Wi-Fi ecosystem, while ensuring products across vendors to work well together to deliver greater innovation and opportunity.
Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 supports a more diverse set of devices and applications, from those requiring peak performance in demanding enterprise environments to those requiring low power and low latency in smart homes or industrial IoT scenarios. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 delivers nearly four times the capacity of Wi-Fi 5, and is an evolutionary advancement for Wi-Fi's ability to deliver high-performance infrastructure and optimized connectivity to all devices on a network simultaneously - bringing noticeable improvements in densely connected Wi-Fi environments. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 delivers critical connectivity that supports cellular networks, and leverages high speeds, low latency, power efficiency, greater capacity, and enhanced coverage to deliver many advanced 5G services.
Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 supports a more diverse set of devices and applications, from those requiring peak performance in demanding enterprise environments to those requiring low power and low latency in smart homes or industrial IoT scenarios. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 delivers nearly four times the capacity of Wi-Fi 5, and is an evolutionary advancement for Wi-Fi's ability to deliver high-performance infrastructure and optimized connectivity to all devices on a network simultaneously - bringing noticeable improvements in densely connected Wi-Fi environments. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 delivers critical connectivity that supports cellular networks, and leverages high speeds, low latency, power efficiency, greater capacity, and enhanced coverage to deliver many advanced 5G services.
Monday, September 16th 2019
Today's Reviews
Cases
Graphics Cards
Monitors
Motherboards
Mouse
Multimedia
Borderlands 3 Benchmark Test & Performance Analysis
Borderlands 3 is the latest installment in the epic loot-and-shoot series. The graphics are greatly improved and you are free to pick between DirectX 11 or DirectX 12. We took the game for a spin using 23 of the latest graphics cards, testing 1080p, 1440p, and 4K in both DirectX 11 and DirectX 12.
Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT Nitro+ Review
Sapphire's Radeon RX 5700 XT Nitro+ is the company's flagship Navi card. It comes with a large triple-slot, triple-fan cooler that runs quiet and cool. Adjustable RGB lighting and fan-stop is included, too. A unique addition is the ability to control the dual BIOS switch through software.
Phanteks Eclipse P360X Review
The Phanteks Eclipse P360X is an updated variant of the P300 with a cool new front and more RGB elements, which can be controlled directly through the built-in controller. On top of that, the frame of the P360X comes with numerous improvements as well.
PC Teaser Trailer Released for Detroit: Become Human
Well, Quantic Dream has been on a roll launching its formerly PlayStation-exclusive titles in a remastered form on the PC platform. I hope you've been having fun with them - if you crave strong, cinematic storytelling and complicated, branching choices and dynamic narratives, David Cages' brainchilds will be right up your proverbial alley. And it seems the PC versions of the games are well optimized and have more than adequate compatibility and stability - and I might be making the ports a disservice by using those particular adjectives. Just keeping your expectations in check.
I'd say this is one of the more aspiring stories told by Quantic Dream - easily. The scenarios that play out in the course of the game are all too real (at least in my own personal view of society and our systems) not to take a look at. It's a human dream, this one game. Take a look at the trailer after the break. Detroit: Become Human will be available for the PC platform via the Epic Games Store, and is expected to drop before the end of this year.
I'd say this is one of the more aspiring stories told by Quantic Dream - easily. The scenarios that play out in the course of the game are all too real (at least in my own personal view of society and our systems) not to take a look at. It's a human dream, this one game. Take a look at the trailer after the break. Detroit: Become Human will be available for the PC platform via the Epic Games Store, and is expected to drop before the end of this year.
Microsoft to Reportedly Use AMD Silicon on Its Next Gen Surface Devices
Microsoft has been using Intel hardware exclusively on its Surface lineup ever since it came out with the first Surface device. The choice was clear - Intel offered much better energy efficiency than anything AMD could offer at the time, besides the strong bond between the two companies. However, it seems that AMD might have done enough with its Ryzen 3000 series to sway big Microsoft into using some of its hardware (Ryzen 3000H or U) on upcoming Surface devices, if reports are to be believed.
Microsoft should be refreshing its Surface Laptop 2 with a 15-inch variant packing AMD hardware. It's uncertain if this will happen, and much less likely to happen for the entirety of Microsoft's Surface product stack (which includes potential refreshes for Surface Pro 6, Surface Book 2, Surface Go or Surface Studio 2). However, that AMD is now being considered alongside Intel in what can be said to be the ultimate Windows experience in Microsoft's usually excellently-designed products is a prestige in and of itself, and means an empowered brand standing for the red camp. Oh and Microsoft might finally be introducing that dual-screen device we've been hearing rumblings about for a while. Project "Centaurus" has already been seeded among Intel insiders, it seems, so it might see the light of day in the upcoming Microsoft Surface event taking place in New York on October 2nd.
Microsoft should be refreshing its Surface Laptop 2 with a 15-inch variant packing AMD hardware. It's uncertain if this will happen, and much less likely to happen for the entirety of Microsoft's Surface product stack (which includes potential refreshes for Surface Pro 6, Surface Book 2, Surface Go or Surface Studio 2). However, that AMD is now being considered alongside Intel in what can be said to be the ultimate Windows experience in Microsoft's usually excellently-designed products is a prestige in and of itself, and means an empowered brand standing for the red camp. Oh and Microsoft might finally be introducing that dual-screen device we've been hearing rumblings about for a while. Project "Centaurus" has already been seeded among Intel insiders, it seems, so it might see the light of day in the upcoming Microsoft Surface event taking place in New York on October 2nd.
HTC's Next VR Product, the Vive Cosmos, to be Available for $699
HTC has invested heavily into its VR place in the market, with the company being one of the most prolific in both exploring the market (that's till a relative niche) and developing improvements on their products. The new Vive Cosmos VR headset is another take on the VR world, one with modularity in mind and set with better technical specification than the original Vive - while undercutting the Vive Pro by $200, down to $699.
The Vive Cosmos features a higher 2880 x 1700p combined lens resolution (90Hz refresh rate), up from the original Vive's 2160 x 1200p. Usability improvements include the faceplate, which is now of a flip-up design that keeps the headset resting on your head when you need to actually take a look at the world around you (or your pet, or your staring significant other and the cold food that lays on the table by now).
The Vive Cosmos features a higher 2880 x 1700p combined lens resolution (90Hz refresh rate), up from the original Vive's 2160 x 1200p. Usability improvements include the faceplate, which is now of a flip-up design that keeps the headset resting on your head when you need to actually take a look at the world around you (or your pet, or your staring significant other and the cold food that lays on the table by now).
HP Printers Try to Send Data Back to HP
Recently in a form of a blog post, software engineer called Robert Heaton, explored the installation and setup of a regular HP printer. However, during the installation process, he found out some alarming things hidden in the install software. When going through the setup process he found a headline called "Data Collection Notice & Settings" where HP states that it tries to collect and send the data you put through the printer back to HP, for purpose of improving advertisement, customer experience, etc.
The software installation began as any normal install, with a "subscribe to our printer ink replacement program" advertisement at the beginning, which is okay because its the way HP supports customers with required ink after the stock one is used up. What seemed off was, in fact, the aforementioned "Data Collection Notice & Settings" part. Here HP intentionally hides the parts which are very important when choosing what information you plan to send back. Instead of immediately being spotted, the list is hidden so a person who isn't very tech-savvy can easily skim through without noticing the little details, making the person consent with data collection. Additionally, the "feature" is turned on by default, but end users can opt in to disable it.
The software installation began as any normal install, with a "subscribe to our printer ink replacement program" advertisement at the beginning, which is okay because its the way HP supports customers with required ink after the stock one is used up. What seemed off was, in fact, the aforementioned "Data Collection Notice & Settings" part. Here HP intentionally hides the parts which are very important when choosing what information you plan to send back. Instead of immediately being spotted, the list is hidden so a person who isn't very tech-savvy can easily skim through without noticing the little details, making the person consent with data collection. Additionally, the "feature" is turned on by default, but end users can opt in to disable it.
Thermaltake Expands the Level 20 RGB Gaming Mousepad Series
Thermaltake Gaming, a market leader in eSports gaming peripherals, introduces the Level 20 RGB Gaming Mouse Pad series, available in two sizes, and differentiated between hard and cloth editions! The Level 20 RGB Gaming Mouse Pad series are available via Thermaltake worldwide network of authorized retailers and distributors. For up-to-date pricing of the Level 20 RGB Gaming Mouse Pad series, please refer to the Thermaltake website or contact your local Thermaltake sales or PR representative.
AMD Readies the Low-Power "Dali" APU for Thin-and-Light Notebooks
AMD is expected to bring back its low-power APU family in 2020 with the new "Dali" silicon. Updated company roadmap slides see the inclusion of "Dali" as a "value mobile APU," positioned under "Renoir," a performance APU targeting both the mainstream notebook and desktop (socket AM4) platforms. AMD looks keen to branch out its APU business in two directions.
"Renoir" is expected to be a "Zen 2" based APU with CPU performance matching at least the Ryzen 5 3600 or 3700X, and a faster "Vega" based iGPU. It wouldn't surprise us if "Dali" is a monolithic 7 nm die with two "Zen 2" CPU cores and a tiny iGPU with 3-4 compute units. "Renoir," on the other hand, could be an MCM with an 8-core "Zen 2" chiplet and an enlarged I/O controller die that has the iGPU. "Dali" could see the light of the day only in 2020, by which time TSMC could substantially increase its 7 nm volumes and clear the decks for its new 7 nm EUV mass-production.
"Renoir" is expected to be a "Zen 2" based APU with CPU performance matching at least the Ryzen 5 3600 or 3700X, and a faster "Vega" based iGPU. It wouldn't surprise us if "Dali" is a monolithic 7 nm die with two "Zen 2" CPU cores and a tiny iGPU with 3-4 compute units. "Renoir," on the other hand, could be an MCM with an 8-core "Zen 2" chiplet and an enlarged I/O controller die that has the iGPU. "Dali" could see the light of the day only in 2020, by which time TSMC could substantially increase its 7 nm volumes and clear the decks for its new 7 nm EUV mass-production.
Logitech Announces the G604 LIGHTSPEED Wireless Gaming Mouse
Logitech G, a brand of Logitech, and leading innovator of gaming technologies and gear, today announced the Logitech G604 LIGHTSPEED Wireless Gaming Mouse. A next-generation wireless mouse with amazing battery life, the G604 LIGHTSPEED was designed for gamers who love to game, but also need a versatile tool that can be used for a variety of tasks.
"If you're into games such as Fortnite and WoW Classic, then this just might be the mouse you're looking for," said Ujesh Desai, vice president and general manager of Logitech Gaming. "The G604 LIGHTSPEED was designed to have six thumb buttons, so you can play at your best, and fly through actions and tasks in a heartbeat, giving you complete control. When you combine this with our LIGHTSPEED Wireless technology you get freedom of movement to take your game even farther."
"If you're into games such as Fortnite and WoW Classic, then this just might be the mouse you're looking for," said Ujesh Desai, vice president and general manager of Logitech Gaming. "The G604 LIGHTSPEED was designed to have six thumb buttons, so you can play at your best, and fly through actions and tasks in a heartbeat, giving you complete control. When you combine this with our LIGHTSPEED Wireless technology you get freedom of movement to take your game even farther."
URCDKeys Brings You the Autumn Sale on Genuine Windows 10 and Office Software
Autumn is the time to prep for Winter, and this Winter will see Windows 7 make retire. URCDKeys brings you a chance to upgrade your PC's operating system for less with the Autumn 2019 Sale. Genuine, globally-valid Windows 10 Pro and Office 2019 Professional Plus licenses are up for sale at discounts as deep as 86 percent off over prevalent prices! Windows 10 Pro is the operating system of choice for PC enthusiasts as it's loaded with several under the hood features not found on Windows 10 Home. Office 2019 Professional Plus is the latest version of the power-packed productivity software no home PC is complete without.
URCDKeys is selling genuine, globally valid Windows 10 Pro for as little as USD $11.46, and Office 2019 Professional Plus for $47.63. These prices are less than even what you see on the URCDKeys website. That's because TechPowerUp readers get an additional 20% off on the prices you see there, when you apply the coupon-code TP20 at checkout. URCDKeys uses popular payment gateways such as PayPal, so your payment instruments are secured.
Buy Windows 10 Pro from URCDKeys at $11.46 | Buy Office 2019 Professional Plus from URCDKeys at $47.63
URCDKeys is selling genuine, globally valid Windows 10 Pro for as little as USD $11.46, and Office 2019 Professional Plus for $47.63. These prices are less than even what you see on the URCDKeys website. That's because TechPowerUp readers get an additional 20% off on the prices you see there, when you apply the coupon-code TP20 at checkout. URCDKeys uses popular payment gateways such as PayPal, so your payment instruments are secured.
Buy Windows 10 Pro from URCDKeys at $11.46 | Buy Office 2019 Professional Plus from URCDKeys at $47.63
TechPowerUp and Thermaltake Present Massive Giveaway: Level Up to RGB
TechPowerUp and leading PC cooling, power, chassis, and gaming peripherals manufacturer Thermaltake present a big chance to bring home a slice of RGB LED bling. Level up to Thermaltake hardware built around the TT Premium and TT LCS ecosystems that have been built from the ground up for PC enthusiasts and case-modders on the bleeding edge of liquid cooling and RGB LED lighting. Up for grabs are five pieces of Thermaltake gear for three lucky winners.
The first lucky winner gets a Thermaltake Level 20 GT RGB chassis, a roomy premium tower that can hold an elaborate liquid cooling setup without compromising on space for premium graphics cards and storage. The second lucky winner gets a Thermaltake Toughpower iRGB Plus 1000 W Gold power-supply, a powerful fully-modular juicebox with 80 Plus Gold efficiency and an RGB LED-illuminated fan. The third lucky winner gets a set of three Thermaltake gaming peripherals, including a Level 20 GT RGB gaming keyboard, a Level 20 RGB mousepad, and an E1 RGB headset stand. To participate, simply fill up a short form to help us get back to you if you've won, and follow Thermaltake on Facebook. The Giveaway is open till September 23.
For more details and to participate, visit this page.
The first lucky winner gets a Thermaltake Level 20 GT RGB chassis, a roomy premium tower that can hold an elaborate liquid cooling setup without compromising on space for premium graphics cards and storage. The second lucky winner gets a Thermaltake Toughpower iRGB Plus 1000 W Gold power-supply, a powerful fully-modular juicebox with 80 Plus Gold efficiency and an RGB LED-illuminated fan. The third lucky winner gets a set of three Thermaltake gaming peripherals, including a Level 20 GT RGB gaming keyboard, a Level 20 RGB mousepad, and an E1 RGB headset stand. To participate, simply fill up a short form to help us get back to you if you've won, and follow Thermaltake on Facebook. The Giveaway is open till September 23.
For more details and to participate, visit this page.
Sunday, September 15th 2019
Dozens of GIGABYTE Intel 400-series Chipset Motherboards Show Up at the EEC
Intel is inching closer to the launch of its socket LGA1200 mainstream desktop platform based on its 400-series chipset and 14 nm "Comet Lake-S" silicon. The platform provides a forward upgrade path to the company's 10 nm "Ice Lake-S" processors when they come out. "Comet Lake-S" is a derivative of the "Skylake" microarchitecture that's been scaled up to 10 CPU cores, and HyperThreading enabled across the board, with clock speeds pushed to the limits of the 14 nm silicon fabrication process. The TDP of some of these parts is reportedly set as high as 125 W. GIGABYTE is ready with dozens of motherboards for these processors, based on one of five chipsets - Z490, H470, Q470, B460, and H410.
The Intel Z490 Express will be the top-end chipset geared toward gamers and enthusiasts wanting to overclock their processors. The H470 will be a slight step down, and possibly lack multi-GPU and CPU overclocking support. The Q470 is its twin with certain enterprise-relevant features. The B460 is the mid-range chipset, targeting a spectrum of users including gamers who don't overclock their CPU. The H410 will be the entry-level chipset for everyone else. What's interesting about GIGABYTE's list of motherboards filed for regulatory clearance from the Eurasian Economic Commission, is that is looks partial. There are far too few AORUS-branded products.
The Intel Z490 Express will be the top-end chipset geared toward gamers and enthusiasts wanting to overclock their processors. The H470 will be a slight step down, and possibly lack multi-GPU and CPU overclocking support. The Q470 is its twin with certain enterprise-relevant features. The B460 is the mid-range chipset, targeting a spectrum of users including gamers who don't overclock their CPU. The H410 will be the entry-level chipset for everyone else. What's interesting about GIGABYTE's list of motherboards filed for regulatory clearance from the Eurasian Economic Commission, is that is looks partial. There are far too few AORUS-branded products.
Friday, September 13th 2019
Today's Reviews
Graphics Cards
Harddisks
Headphones
Keyboards
Monitors
Motherboards
Mouse
Notebooks
Processors
Xigmatek Zest Review
The Xigmatek Zest is one hefty chassis that throws RGBs at us in every possible way: by embedding them into two 200 mm fans, the company logo, and a third fan in the rear, just for good measure. It looks like a sleek and large case that promises to handle any hardware.
Remedy Games' Control Content Roadmap Updated
Control is one of the best non-surprising surprises of this year's gaming scene. Remedy's tale of science fiction and paranatural objects and events is joined with a strong narrative, some of the best environments and art direction we've seen this side of 2019, and strong gunplay to boot. That Remedy isn't finished with exploring the world of Control is a given, and now we have some idea of how things will (para)naturally pan out.
First off, a free content drop coming later this year is a Photo Mode and a new game mode, dubbed Expeditions, which will shore-up endgame content for players who want to get engrossed, without end, in the gameplay of Control. There will also be two paid expansions for the game. The Foundation drops in 2020 with new story missions, enemies, and game mechanics, and will explore the nature of The Oldest House. The second Expansion, AWE (Altered World Event in the games' lingo) will explore the Investigations Sector of the Oldest House and the Federal Bureau of Control. This last one is the most intriguing, and could (tinfoil hat galore) mean a mesh of Control and Alan Wake. We know from Control's lore that the events depicted in Alan Wake are considered an Altered World Event in the game, and that they occur in the same universe. Also, the teaser image recreates the legendary Alan Wake cover art. Perhaps we'll find closure to Alan Wake outside the game proper? I'll be here to see, definitely. Finishing off, the Expansion pass will reportedly be set at a $24.99 pricing, which means individual expansions could go for $14.99 each.
First off, a free content drop coming later this year is a Photo Mode and a new game mode, dubbed Expeditions, which will shore-up endgame content for players who want to get engrossed, without end, in the gameplay of Control. There will also be two paid expansions for the game. The Foundation drops in 2020 with new story missions, enemies, and game mechanics, and will explore the nature of The Oldest House. The second Expansion, AWE (Altered World Event in the games' lingo) will explore the Investigations Sector of the Oldest House and the Federal Bureau of Control. This last one is the most intriguing, and could (tinfoil hat galore) mean a mesh of Control and Alan Wake. We know from Control's lore that the events depicted in Alan Wake are considered an Altered World Event in the game, and that they occur in the same universe. Also, the teaser image recreates the legendary Alan Wake cover art. Perhaps we'll find closure to Alan Wake outside the game proper? I'll be here to see, definitely. Finishing off, the Expansion pass will reportedly be set at a $24.99 pricing, which means individual expansions could go for $14.99 each.
Compete at the Speed Of Light With the Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition
Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced the Huntsman Tournament Edition (TE) compact gaming keyboard designed for esports tournaments.
The Huntsman TE joins the Huntsman premium keyboard family built with Razer's ultra-fast light activated Optical Switches. After its introduction in June 2018, the critically acclaimed Razer Huntsman Elite has taken the world by storm, becoming the best selling gaming keyboard in the U.S. The Huntsman TE, the latest addition to Razer's lineup of high-performance gaming keyboards, now features a new type of optical switch that actuates even faster - the Razer Linear Optical Switch.
The Huntsman TE joins the Huntsman premium keyboard family built with Razer's ultra-fast light activated Optical Switches. After its introduction in June 2018, the critically acclaimed Razer Huntsman Elite has taken the world by storm, becoming the best selling gaming keyboard in the U.S. The Huntsman TE, the latest addition to Razer's lineup of high-performance gaming keyboards, now features a new type of optical switch that actuates even faster - the Razer Linear Optical Switch.
Be January 24-ready with GoodOffer24: Discounted Windows 10 Pro and Office 2019
On January 24 2020, Microsoft is effectively pulling the plug on Windows 7, which means no more support or regular security updates. There's never been a better time to embrace the future with Windows 10. For gamers this means intrinsic support for the latest processors, DirectX with ray-tracing, Xbox integration, and a whole lot more. GoodOffer24 presents you the most painless way to get your computers onto Windows 10, with genuine, globally-valid licenses to the operating system. It also offers genuine Office 2016, Office 2019, and Office 365 at heavily discounted prices. GoodOffer24 is listing Windows 10 Pro for as low as USD $11.38, which is over 90% cheaper than the prevalent prices. A 2-pack of Windows 10 Pro licenses can be had for $19.50. If you run a business with dozens of computers to upgrade, GoodOffer24 is giving you a golden opportunity to save big, with Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC licenses at just $13.29 a piece! Office 2016 Professional Plus is priced at $28.19. Combos of Windows 10 Pro and Office 2016 Professional Plus can be had for $33.69. But wait, there's more! Office 2019 Professional Plus is the most advanced productivity and collaboration suite on the planet. Get it for as little as $56.74, or bundle it with Windows 10 Pro for $61.48.
Apply the discount code JGM25 at check-out for 25% off, to avail the prices you see here.
Buy Windows 10 Enterprise 2019 LTSC at $13.29 | Buy Windows 10 Pro at $11.38 | Buy Windows 10 Pro 2-pack at $19.50 | Buy Office 2016 Professional Plus at $28.19 | Buy Windows 10 Pro + Office 2016 Professional Plus Bundle at $33.69 | Buy Windows 10 Home at $11.87
Apply the 30% off coupon-code JGO24OFFICE2019 at check-out to avail the prices you see above for the following software:
Buy Office 2019 Professional Plus at $56.74 | Buy Windows 10 Pro + Office 2019 Professional Plus at $61.48 | Buy Windows 10 Home + Office 2019 Professional Plus at $52.14
Apply the discount code JGM25 at check-out for 25% off, to avail the prices you see here.
Buy Windows 10 Enterprise 2019 LTSC at $13.29 | Buy Windows 10 Pro at $11.38 | Buy Windows 10 Pro 2-pack at $19.50 | Buy Office 2016 Professional Plus at $28.19 | Buy Windows 10 Pro + Office 2016 Professional Plus Bundle at $33.69 | Buy Windows 10 Home at $11.87
Apply the 30% off coupon-code JGO24OFFICE2019 at check-out to avail the prices you see above for the following software:
Buy Office 2019 Professional Plus at $56.74 | Buy Windows 10 Pro + Office 2019 Professional Plus at $61.48 | Buy Windows 10 Home + Office 2019 Professional Plus at $52.14
Western Digital Unveils WD_BLACK Gaming Storage Lineup
Western Digital unveiled a full fledged lineup of WD_BLACK series gaming storage devices. With it, the company is branching out WD_BLACK as its new brand targeted at the gaming crowd, both PC and console. The WD_BLACK brand is a divergence from the company's classic Western Digital Caviar Black line of premium internal hard drives. The brand had a rebirth of sorts with the WD_BLACK SN750 M.2 NVMe SSDs. Its designers are launching several new products, including the WD_BLACK P10 portable hard drive, the WD_BLACK D10 external desktop hard drive, the WD_BLACK P50 portable SSD, and Xbox One variants of the P10 and D10.
The WD_BLACK P10 is a pocket-size portable hard drive with a single USB 3.1 cable needed for both power and connectivity. It comes in 2 TB, 4 TB, and 5 TB capacities. Its Xbox One variant has the Xbox One decal on its body, and includes a 2-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. The WD_BLACK D10 is meant to sit on your desk with its separate power and host-connectivity cables. It also puts out USB type-A high current ports to recharge your wireless gaming peripherals. The base variant of the WD_BLACK D10 comes in 8 TB capacity, while the D10 Xbox One edition comes with 12 TB capacity and a 3-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Lastly, there's the WD_BLACK P50. This portable SSD encloses an NVMe drive that serves up sequential transfer rates of up to 2000 MB/s by utilizing USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) interface. A single cable handles power and host connectivity. It comes in capacities of 500 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB.
The WD_BLACK P10 is a pocket-size portable hard drive with a single USB 3.1 cable needed for both power and connectivity. It comes in 2 TB, 4 TB, and 5 TB capacities. Its Xbox One variant has the Xbox One decal on its body, and includes a 2-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. The WD_BLACK D10 is meant to sit on your desk with its separate power and host-connectivity cables. It also puts out USB type-A high current ports to recharge your wireless gaming peripherals. The base variant of the WD_BLACK D10 comes in 8 TB capacity, while the D10 Xbox One edition comes with 12 TB capacity and a 3-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Lastly, there's the WD_BLACK P50. This portable SSD encloses an NVMe drive that serves up sequential transfer rates of up to 2000 MB/s by utilizing USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) interface. A single cable handles power and host connectivity. It comes in capacities of 500 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB.
GIGABYTE Announces AORUS CV27Q Gaming Monitor with Black Equalizer 2.0
GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, launched a "true 1500R" curved monitor, the AORUS CV27Q Tactical Gaming Monitor. The CV27Q uses a 27-inch QHD (2560x1440 resolution, 16:9 ratio) 1500R curved VA panel equipped with Black Equalizer 2.0 technology, and the upgraded ANC 2.0 technology.
The gamers will be amazed by its 1500R super immersive feel and the tactical features that it brings to the game. The Black Equalizer 2.0 technology works by dividing the screen into 1,296 subareas and equalizes each subarea individually, so gamers can see clearer the dark areas without having overexposure in the bright areas. This feature doesn't help only in gaming but it's also great for watching movies. An ideal solution for users who want to combine gaming and media entertainment.
The gamers will be amazed by its 1500R super immersive feel and the tactical features that it brings to the game. The Black Equalizer 2.0 technology works by dividing the screen into 1,296 subareas and equalizes each subarea individually, so gamers can see clearer the dark areas without having overexposure in the bright areas. This feature doesn't help only in gaming but it's also great for watching movies. An ideal solution for users who want to combine gaming and media entertainment.
Thursday, September 12th 2019
Today's Reviews
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Keyboards
Motherboards
Storage
Corsair M55 RGB Pro Review
Corsair's newest gaming mouse is a relatively cheap one. At $39.99, the M55 RGB Pro offers a fully ambidextrous design, PixArt PAW3327 optical sensor with a maximum resolution of 12,400 CPI, Omron switches rated for 50 million clicks, great-looking RGB lighting, and much more.
AMD Agesa ABBA with Boost Clock Fix Tested on Ryzen 3900X
AMD has finally responded to the Boost Clock issues on their Ryzen 3000 processors by releasing a fix for their AGESA BIOS firmware. We take a detailed look at the new clocking behavior and thoroughly test the update on the 12-core Ryzen 9 3900X in our extensive application and game suite.
AMD Releases Radeon Software Adrenalin 19.9.2 Drivers
AMD late Thursday released the Radeon Software Adrenalin 19.9.2 beta drivers. These drivers add optimization for "Borderlands 3," with up to 16 percent improvement in frame-rates compared to the older 19.9.1 drivers, as tested with a Radeon RX 5700. The drivers also introduce support for Radeon Image Sharpening on graphics cards based on the "Polaris" architecture (such as RX 580, RX 480, etc), for DirectX 12 and Vulkan games. Among the issues fixed with 19.9.2 are frame-rates getting locked to 30 with V-sync enabled on some displays with 75 Hz refresh-rate set; system instability when watching videos in a web-browser on some machines with RX 5700 series graphics cards; audio in ReLive desktop capture being corrupted; and problems with Enhanced Sync. Grab the driver from the link below.
DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 19.9.2
The change-log follows.
DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 19.9.2
ASRock Launches the Radeon RX 5700 XT Taichi X Graphics Card
The leading global motherboard, graphics card and mini PC manufacturer, ASRock, announces their new Taichi X series graphics cards - the Radeon RX 5700 XT Taichi X 8G OC+, which is ASRock's first Taichi X series graphics card featuring AMD's latest Radeon RX 5700 XT GPU and 8 GB 256-bit GDDR6 memory, brings exceptional computing power and an immersive experience nested within an elegant design.
In Chinese culture, "Taichi" represents the philosophical state of yin and yang. ASRock's Taichi graphics cards are designed for tech geeks and power users who care about products' design and quality, and comes with premium features that can fulfill every geek's dream and fulfill power user's important task. To carry forward Taichi's spirit, which symbolizes the balance between elegance and stability; Taichi graphics cards are formed with two main elements in mind - "design" and "quality".
In Chinese culture, "Taichi" represents the philosophical state of yin and yang. ASRock's Taichi graphics cards are designed for tech geeks and power users who care about products' design and quality, and comes with premium features that can fulfill every geek's dream and fulfill power user's important task. To carry forward Taichi's spirit, which symbolizes the balance between elegance and stability; Taichi graphics cards are formed with two main elements in mind - "design" and "quality".
CORSAIR Releases Record-Setting 4866 MHz VENGEANCE LPX DDR4 Memory
CORSAIR, a world leader in PC gaming peripherals and enthusiast components, today announced the availability of a new kit of its award-winning CORSAIR VENGEANCE LPX DDR4 Memory, setting a new record for commercially available high-frequency DRAM with clock speeds up to an incredible 4,866 MHz. This blazingly fast memory is now available in a 2x 8 GB kit, reaching its full potential in systems with new 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen Desktop Processors and X570 motherboards.
VENGEANCE LPX has long pushed the limits of performance memory, and continues that tradition today thanks to the partnership between CORSAIR and AMD. While fully compatible with most modern platforms, the new modules have been specifically designed and fully tested to achieve their record-breaking maximum frequency of 4,866 MHz on the Ryzen 3000 platform in ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Formula, MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE, and MSI PRESTIGE X570 CREATION motherboards using their included automated overclocking utilities.
VENGEANCE LPX has long pushed the limits of performance memory, and continues that tradition today thanks to the partnership between CORSAIR and AMD. While fully compatible with most modern platforms, the new modules have been specifically designed and fully tested to achieve their record-breaking maximum frequency of 4,866 MHz on the Ryzen 3000 platform in ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Formula, MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE, and MSI PRESTIGE X570 CREATION motherboards using their included automated overclocking utilities.
Phanteks Unveils the NEON Flexible Digital-LED Strips
Phanteks announced today the arrival of the new Neon Digital-RGB LED strips. The Neon Digital-RGB LED will come in three different options, M1 with 1x 1-meter LED strip, M5 with 1x 550 mm LED strips, and a combo kit that includes 2x 400 mm LED strip with motherboard adapter and extension cable.
All Neon Digital-RGB LED strips features an ultra-flexible silicone cover for durability and high-quality LEDs with a full-color range that creates a smooth and stable illumination effect throughout the LED strip. Easy to install with many mounting positions to get the perfect lighting on your hardware.
All Neon Digital-RGB LED strips features an ultra-flexible silicone cover for durability and high-quality LEDs with a full-color range that creates a smooth and stable illumination effect throughout the LED strip. Easy to install with many mounting positions to get the perfect lighting on your hardware.
Phanteks Also Announces the Evolv Shift Air Chassis
Phanteks today introduced the new Evolv Shift Air, a high airflow performance Mini-ITX chassis. The Evolv Shift Air retains the unique form factor of the original Evolv Shift and brings the innovative high-performance mesh fabric to its sleek modern design. With high-performance mesh fabric panels, the new Shift Air delivers optimal cooling performance and airflow directly to all critical system components.
Like the original Evolv Shift, the Shift Air brings a compact housing that packs plenty of power and is extremely space efficient with its small footprint. With its sleek aluminium enclosure, small profile and innovative mesh fabric panels, the Shift Air delivers a clean and clutter free desktop experience that seamlessly blends into different environments.
Like the original Evolv Shift, the Shift Air brings a compact housing that packs plenty of power and is extremely space efficient with its small footprint. With its sleek aluminium enclosure, small profile and innovative mesh fabric panels, the Shift Air delivers a clean and clutter free desktop experience that seamlessly blends into different environments.
Phanteks Announces the Eclipse P360X Chassis
Phanteks today announces the Eclipse P360X, a compact mid-tower ATX case based on the popular Eclipse P350X. The new distinctive look of the P360X's integrated D-RGB lighting is influenced by automotive 3D LED design and brings improved airflow with the new air ducts.
Like the P350X the new Eclipse P360X comes with a tempered glass side panel, water-cooling support, compact design, D-RGB lighting control, and a clean interior. Featuring an open PCI slot design, the P360X supports vertical GPU mounting with the optional Vertical GPU Bracket. The clean and sleek design of the Eclipse P360X will perfectly showcase your build without compromise.
Like the P350X the new Eclipse P360X comes with a tempered glass side panel, water-cooling support, compact design, D-RGB lighting control, and a clean interior. Featuring an open PCI slot design, the P360X supports vertical GPU mounting with the optional Vertical GPU Bracket. The clean and sleek design of the Eclipse P360X will perfectly showcase your build without compromise.
BIOSTAR Launches the NEW S120 Series Ultra Slim SSDs
BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, is proud to announce a new series of SDDs to it's offering with the latest S120, available in 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB. With a thickness of only 7mm and a minimalistic design meant to blend in any case, the S120 Series SSDs are designed for gamers who are looking for considerably better loading times and increased performance, as well as for content creators looking for a balanced storage solution that offer speed, throughput, density, portability, reliability, and affordability.
MAINGEAR Launches ELEMENT Gaming Notebook: 9th Gen Intel, NVIDIA RTX
MAINGEAR — an award-winning PC system integrator of custom gaming desktops, notebooks, and workstations — today launched the MAINGEAR ELEMENT, their new ultimate gaming notebook designed in collaboration with Intel. Custom engineered from the ground up, the ELEMENT features best-in-class hardware housed in a sleek machined magnesium alloy body, making it MAINGEAR's most professional notebook ever released.
The all-new ELEMENT fuses MAINGEAR's passion for design and performance into a truly modern gaming notebook with a thin, minimalist profile that doesn't compromise on raw power. The ELEMENT is optimized for the most demanding gamers and content creators, pairing a 9th Gen Intel i7-9750H processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 with Max-Q design GPU to hit peak performance in today's latest games. An ultra-smooth 144hz 15.6" IPS display with a narrow bezel delivers an incredibly immersive gaming experience. An RGB keyboard with individually-lit silent mechanical switches and a glass touchpad ensure users have precise control of the on-screen action. 32 GB of DDR4 memory and 2 TB of blazing-fast NVMe storage top off the ELEMENT's high-end specs.
The all-new ELEMENT fuses MAINGEAR's passion for design and performance into a truly modern gaming notebook with a thin, minimalist profile that doesn't compromise on raw power. The ELEMENT is optimized for the most demanding gamers and content creators, pairing a 9th Gen Intel i7-9750H processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 with Max-Q design GPU to hit peak performance in today's latest games. An ultra-smooth 144hz 15.6" IPS display with a narrow bezel delivers an incredibly immersive gaming experience. An RGB keyboard with individually-lit silent mechanical switches and a glass touchpad ensure users have precise control of the on-screen action. 32 GB of DDR4 memory and 2 TB of blazing-fast NVMe storage top off the ELEMENT's high-end specs.
IBM Unveils z15 With Industry-First Data Privacy Capabilities
IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced IBM z15, a new enterprise platform delivering the ability to manage the privacy of customer data across hybrid multicloud environments. With z15, clients can manage who gets access to data via policy-based controls, with an industry-first capability to revoke access to data across the hybrid cloud.
The movement of data between partners and third parties is often the root cause of data breaches. In fact, 60 percent of businesses reported they suffered a data breach caused by a vendor or third party in 2018. With the growing adoption of hybrid multicloud environments, the importance of maintaining data security and privacy only grows more acute and challenging.
The movement of data between partners and third parties is often the root cause of data breaches. In fact, 60 percent of businesses reported they suffered a data breach caused by a vendor or third party in 2018. With the growing adoption of hybrid multicloud environments, the importance of maintaining data security and privacy only grows more acute and challenging.
Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT NITRO+ Pricing Revealed
Ahead of its September 16 launch, pricing of the Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT NITRO+ (model: 100416NT+8GSR) was revealed thanks to an early product listing by leading American retailer Newegg. The card is priced at USD $439.99, which makes it on-par with certain other premium custom RX 5700 XT offerings, such as the PowerColor RX 5700 XT Red Devil and the MSI RX 5700 XT Gaming X. The Newegg listing also mentions the card's boost frequency as 2010 MHz, which is the same as the PowerColor Red Devil, but a touch short of the 2100 MHz of the MSI Gaming X. Our reviews of the Red Devil and the Gaming X show that these frequencies are mostly moot, and both cards end up performing the same.
AMD Updates Roadmaps to Lock RDNA2 and Zen 3 onto 7nm+, with 2020 Launch Window
AMD updated its technology roadmaps to reflect a 2020 launch window for its upcoming CPU and graphics architectures, "Zen 3" and RDNA2. The two will be based on 7 nm+ , which is AMD-speak for the 7 nanometer EUV silicon fabrication process at TSMC, that promises a significant 20 percent increase in transistor-densities, giving AMD high transistor budgets and more clock-speed headroom. The roadmap slides however hint that unlike the "Zen 2" and RDNA simultaneous launch on 7th July 2019, the next-generation launches may not be simultaneous.
The slide for CPU microarchitecture states that the design phase of "Zen 3" is complete, and that the microarchitecture team has already moved on to develop "Zen 4." This means AMD is now developing products that implement "Zen 3." On the other hand, RDNA2 is still in design phase. The crude x-axis on both slides that denotes year of expected shipping, too appears to suggest that "Zen 3" based products will precede RDNA2 based ones. "Zen 3" will be AMD's first response to Intel's "Comet Lake-S" or even "Ice Lake-S," if the latter comes to fruition before Computex 2020. In the run up to RDNA2, AMD will scale up RDNA a notch larger with the "Navi 12" silicon to compete with graphics cards based on NVIDIA's "TU104" silicon. "Zen 2" will receive product stack additions in the form of a new 16-core Ryzen 9-series chip later this month, and the 3rd generation Ryzen Threadripper family.
The slide for CPU microarchitecture states that the design phase of "Zen 3" is complete, and that the microarchitecture team has already moved on to develop "Zen 4." This means AMD is now developing products that implement "Zen 3." On the other hand, RDNA2 is still in design phase. The crude x-axis on both slides that denotes year of expected shipping, too appears to suggest that "Zen 3" based products will precede RDNA2 based ones. "Zen 3" will be AMD's first response to Intel's "Comet Lake-S" or even "Ice Lake-S," if the latter comes to fruition before Computex 2020. In the run up to RDNA2, AMD will scale up RDNA a notch larger with the "Navi 12" silicon to compete with graphics cards based on NVIDIA's "TU104" silicon. "Zen 2" will receive product stack additions in the form of a new 16-core Ryzen 9-series chip later this month, and the 3rd generation Ryzen Threadripper family.
Wednesday, September 11th 2019
Today's Reviews
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Memory
Motherboards
Processors
MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT Gaming X Review
The factory-overclocked MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT Gaming X is a large triple-slot, dual-fan design with a completely new cooler that achieves the best temperatures of all Navi cards we've tested so far. Even at its low temperatures, the card runs very quietly, and idle-fan-stop is included, too.
OtherSide Entertainment Releases Pre-Alpha Gameplay Footage of System Shock 3
System Shock is one of the most revered, iconic franchises for PC gaming. One of the first games to thoroughly explore the trope of the rampant AI in a fully realized world (be it lore or mechanics-wise), it has left a taste of grandeur on those that actually got to play it before some of us gamers became too blindsided by pretty, current graphics.
Developer OtherSide Entertainment, who have the rights to develop further worlds in the franchise, have just released a pre-alpha gameplay teaser that at least serves to give us a taste of their art and mood direction. I got some flashbacks to the first Dead Space game whilst watching this, but that might just be me. This really does look like one of the darkest renditions of AI-powered reckonings we've seen to date. Here's hoping for a good, engaging storyline. Check out the teaser after the break.
Developer OtherSide Entertainment, who have the rights to develop further worlds in the franchise, have just released a pre-alpha gameplay teaser that at least serves to give us a taste of their art and mood direction. I got some flashbacks to the first Dead Space game whilst watching this, but that might just be me. This really does look like one of the darkest renditions of AI-powered reckonings we've seen to date. Here's hoping for a good, engaging storyline. Check out the teaser after the break.
Kingston Technology Takes Top Spot as DRAM Module Supplier
Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced it has been ranked the top DRAM module supplier in the world, according to the latest rankings by DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce. Kingston retains its number 1 position with an estimated 72.17 percent market share, according to TrendForce. Their findings reinforce Kingston's position in the marketplace as the leading third-party supplier of DRAM modules. The rankings for 2018 mark the 16th consecutive year that TrendForce has placed Kingston in the top spot.
TrendForce states that spot prices stayed high in 1H18, even surpassing contract prices by over 20 percent. Despite rising inventory levels and price decreases in 2H18, the report indicates module manufacturers were still able to generate plenty of revenue and profit. Some of the prominent trends and growth drivers the market is witnessing include the growing popularity of online media streaming, recent technological developments in IoT, and the shift to data center and Cloud computing services.
TrendForce states that spot prices stayed high in 1H18, even surpassing contract prices by over 20 percent. Despite rising inventory levels and price decreases in 2H18, the report indicates module manufacturers were still able to generate plenty of revenue and profit. Some of the prominent trends and growth drivers the market is witnessing include the growing popularity of online media streaming, recent technological developments in IoT, and the shift to data center and Cloud computing services.
Intel Says Its Upcoming Gen12 GPUs Will Feature Biggest Architecture Change In A Decade
Intel is slowly realizing plans to "one up" its GPU game starting from first 10 nm Ice Lake CPUs that feature Gen11 graphics, equipping users of integrated GPUs with much more performance than they previously got. Fortunately, Intel doesn't plan to stop there. Thanks to the recent pull request found on GitLab Mesa repository, we can now expect to receive biggest GPU performance bump in over a decade with the arrival of Gen12 based GPUs, found on next generation Tiger Lake processors.
In this merge request, Francisco Jerez, member of Intel's open source Linux graphics team, stated the following: "Gen12 is planned to include one of the most in-depth reworks of the Intel EU ISA since the original i965. The encoding of almost every instruction field, hardware opcode and register type needs to be updated in this merge request. But probably the most invasive change is the removal of the register scoreboard logic from the hardware, which means that the EU will no longer guarantee data coherency between register reads and writes, and will require the compiler to synchronize dependent instructions anytime there is a potential data hazard..."
In this merge request, Francisco Jerez, member of Intel's open source Linux graphics team, stated the following: "Gen12 is planned to include one of the most in-depth reworks of the Intel EU ISA since the original i965. The encoding of almost every instruction field, hardware opcode and register type needs to be updated in this merge request. But probably the most invasive change is the removal of the register scoreboard logic from the hardware, which means that the EU will no longer guarantee data coherency between register reads and writes, and will require the compiler to synchronize dependent instructions anytime there is a potential data hazard..."
MSI Launches the PS341WU Prestige Monitor - 34" Nano IPS, 5120 x 2160, 60 Hz, 5 ms
MSI launched their latest monitor, in the form of the PS341WU Prestige monitor. This one comes in an all-white design with gold MSI accents - a welcome departure from the usual black color scheme preferred for these particular peripherals. The Prestige has been built with screen real-estate and color accuracy in mind - a monitor designed purely for gaming this is not. Its 21:9 aspect ratio is already slightly hit or miss in official game support, compounded by the 60 Hz refresh rate and 5 ms response time.
The monitor makes up for this for professionals or casual gamers (and aren't most of us?) due to its resolution and color rendition, tough: 5120 x 2160 pixels covering 98% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and 100% sRGB. DisplayHDR 600 certification is also on board, meaning up to 600 nits peak brightness and high-contrast HDR content delivery. The monitor's contrast ratio is set at 1,200:1, and support for display of 1.07 billion colors. Connectivity stands at 2x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort, 1x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type A, 1x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type B, 1x 3.5 mm headphone jack, mic in and an audio jack. It's currently available for preorder in select retailers for $1,199.99.
The monitor makes up for this for professionals or casual gamers (and aren't most of us?) due to its resolution and color rendition, tough: 5120 x 2160 pixels covering 98% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and 100% sRGB. DisplayHDR 600 certification is also on board, meaning up to 600 nits peak brightness and high-contrast HDR content delivery. The monitor's contrast ratio is set at 1,200:1, and support for display of 1.07 billion colors. Connectivity stands at 2x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort, 1x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type A, 1x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type B, 1x 3.5 mm headphone jack, mic in and an audio jack. It's currently available for preorder in select retailers for $1,199.99.
New NetCAT Vulnerability Exploits DDIO on Intel Xeon Processors to Steal Data
DDIO, or Direct Data I/O, is an Intel-exclusive performance enhancement that allows NICs to directly access a processor's L3 cache, completely bypassing the a server's RAM, to increase NIC performance and lower latencies. Cybersecurity researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and ETH Zurich, in a research paper published on Tuesday, have discovered a critical vulnerability with DDIO that allows compromised servers in a network to steal data from every other machine on its local network. This include the ability to obtain keystrokes and other sensitive data flowing through the memory of vulnerable servers. This effect is compounded in data centers that have not just DDIO, but also RDMA (remote direct memory access) enabled, in which a single server can compromise an entire network. RDMA is a key ingredient in shoring up performance in HPCs and supercomputing environments. Intel in its initial response asked customers to disable DDIO and RDMA on machines with access to untrusted networks, while it works on patches.
The NetCAT vulnerability spells big trouble for web hosting providers. If a hacker leases a server in a data-center with RDMA and DDIO enabled, they can compromise other customers' servers and steal their data. "While NetCAT is powerful even with only minimal assumptions, we believe that we have merely scratched the surface of possibilities for network-based cache attacks, and we expect similar attacks based on NetCAT in the future," the paper reads. We hope that our efforts caution processor vendors against exposing microarchitectural elements to peripherals without a thorough security design to prevent abuse." The team also published a video briefing the nature of NetCAT. AMD EPYC processors don't support DDIO.
The video detailing NetCAT follows.
The NetCAT vulnerability spells big trouble for web hosting providers. If a hacker leases a server in a data-center with RDMA and DDIO enabled, they can compromise other customers' servers and steal their data. "While NetCAT is powerful even with only minimal assumptions, we believe that we have merely scratched the surface of possibilities for network-based cache attacks, and we expect similar attacks based on NetCAT in the future," the paper reads. We hope that our efforts caution processor vendors against exposing microarchitectural elements to peripherals without a thorough security design to prevent abuse." The team also published a video briefing the nature of NetCAT. AMD EPYC processors don't support DDIO.
Patriot Launches VIPER VP4100 M.2-2280 PCIe Gen4 x4 SSD
VIPER GAMING, a trademarked brand of PATRIOT and a global leader in performance memory, solid-state drives (SSDs) and flash storage solutions, is releasing their new PCIe 4.0 SSD, the VIPER VP4100 M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 x 4 SSD.
VP4100 M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 x 4 SSD is an excellent M.2 SSD choice for hardcore gamers, PC enthusiasts, content creators, and video rendering professionals who are looking into blazingly fast startup times and instantaneous access for superior productivity. VIPER VP4100's blazing transfer speeds empower the user to access and get back into their games faster while accelerating the overall responsiveness of the system. The VP4100 is ten times faster than the traditional SATA III SSD speeds and deliver remarkable sequential Read speeds of up to 5 GB/s and Write speeds of up to 4.4 GB/s. The drive also provides up to 800K random Read and Write IOPs for massive throughput. 4K Aligned Random Read and Write optimizes the SSD for multi-threaded and data-intensive applications for when the system is accessing multiple applications at once.
VP4100 M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 x 4 SSD is an excellent M.2 SSD choice for hardcore gamers, PC enthusiasts, content creators, and video rendering professionals who are looking into blazingly fast startup times and instantaneous access for superior productivity. VIPER VP4100's blazing transfer speeds empower the user to access and get back into their games faster while accelerating the overall responsiveness of the system. The VP4100 is ten times faster than the traditional SATA III SSD speeds and deliver remarkable sequential Read speeds of up to 5 GB/s and Write speeds of up to 4.4 GB/s. The drive also provides up to 800K random Read and Write IOPs for massive throughput. 4K Aligned Random Read and Write optimizes the SSD for multi-threaded and data-intensive applications for when the system is accessing multiple applications at once.
Tuesday, September 10th 2019
Today's Reviews
Graphics Cards
Harddisks
Networking
Notebooks
SSD
GreedFall Benchmark Test & Performance Analysis
GreedFall is a first-person roleplaying game that reminds of Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and Skyrim with some Assassin's Creed sprinkled on top. What makes this game stand out is its well-crafted story and non-linear gameplay. We take GreedFall for a spin with 23 graphics cards in 1080p, 1440p, and 4K Ultra HD.
AMD AGESA 1.0.0.3ABBA Detailed, Fixes Zen2 Boost Issues
AMD is giving final touches to an AGESA microcode update that fixes the issue of underwhelming Precision Boost behavior on its 3rd generation Ryzen processors. Version ComboAM4 1.0.0.3ABBA is being pushed to motherboard manufacturers to integrate with their UEFI firmware, and one such dispatch to MSI got leaked to the web on ChipHell. Tom's Hardware grabbed the BIOS as it was compatible with the MEG X570 Creator motherboard they have, and tested the Ryzen 9 3900X and Ryzen 7 3700X with it.
In its testing, posted in a mini-review article, Tom's Hardware observed that with AGESA 1.0.0.3ABBA, their 3700X sample was correctly hitting 4.40 GHz across the board at stock settings. With the older 1.0.0.3AB, it would touch 4.375 GHz. The Ryzen 9 3900X behaves slightly differently with this microcode. Tom's Hardware was able to raise its peak boost frequency from 4.575 GHz to 4.625 GHz (above the 4.60 GHz specification), but in certain tests such as POV-Ray and Cinebench, its boost frequency decays down to 4.250 GHz. Overall, the reviewer tabulated improved performance on the chips with the new microcode. The new microcode also apparently changes the processor's thermal thresholds.
Update (10/9) AMD posted an elaborate release detailing the AGESA 1.0.0.3ABBA update.
In its testing, posted in a mini-review article, Tom's Hardware observed that with AGESA 1.0.0.3ABBA, their 3700X sample was correctly hitting 4.40 GHz across the board at stock settings. With the older 1.0.0.3AB, it would touch 4.375 GHz. The Ryzen 9 3900X behaves slightly differently with this microcode. Tom's Hardware was able to raise its peak boost frequency from 4.575 GHz to 4.625 GHz (above the 4.60 GHz specification), but in certain tests such as POV-Ray and Cinebench, its boost frequency decays down to 4.250 GHz. Overall, the reviewer tabulated improved performance on the chips with the new microcode. The new microcode also apparently changes the processor's thermal thresholds.
TechPowerUp GPU-Z v2.25.0 Released
TechPowerUp today released the latest version of TechPowerUp GPU-Z, the definitive graphics subsystem information, diagnostic, and monitoring utility. Version 2.25.0 adds several new features, support for more GPUs, and fixes various bugs. To begin with, you'll notice that the main screen displays a second row of APIs supported by your graphics card. These include Vulkan, DirectX Raytracing, DirectML, and OpenGL. The last one in particular help you figure out if your graphics drivers have been supplied by Microsoft of your computer's OEM (and lack OpenGL or Vulkan ICDs). Among the new GPUs supported are Quadro P2200, Quadro RTX 4000 Mobile, Quadro T1000 Mobile; AMD Radeon Pro WX 3200, Barco MXRT 7600, 780E Graphics, HD 8330E; and Intel Gen11 "Ice Lake."
With GPU-Z 2.25.0, we've improved AMD Radeon "Navi" support even further, by making the clock-speed measurement more accurate, and displaying base, gaming, and boost clocks in the "Advanced" tab. A workaround is added for the AMD bug that causes fan-speeds to lock when idle fan-stop is engaged on custom-design "Navi" graphics cards; and a faulty "65535 RPM" fan-speed reading for "Navi." A BSOD caused in QEMU/KVM machines by MSR register access has also been fixed. Grab it from the link below.
DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 2.25.0
The change-log follows.
With GPU-Z 2.25.0, we've improved AMD Radeon "Navi" support even further, by making the clock-speed measurement more accurate, and displaying base, gaming, and boost clocks in the "Advanced" tab. A workaround is added for the AMD bug that causes fan-speeds to lock when idle fan-stop is engaged on custom-design "Navi" graphics cards; and a faulty "65535 RPM" fan-speed reading for "Navi." A BSOD caused in QEMU/KVM machines by MSR register access has also been fixed. Grab it from the link below.
DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 2.25.0
NVIDIA Releases GeForce 436.30 WHQL Drivers
NVIDIA today released GeForce drivers version 436.30 WHQL. These drivers pack optimization for "Gears 5," "Borderlands 3," and "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" PC Open Beta. It also adds SLI support for "Close to the Sun." The list of G-Sync compatible displays is also expanded. Among the bugs fixed are stutter noticed with "Fortnite" with Ultra Low Latency Mode enabled; an application crash with "Forza Motorsport 6/7," flickering in "World of Warcraft" during character selection, BSOD when enabling RTX features in "Control" on GeForce 10-series "Pascal" GPUs; flickering in YouTube on Firefox with G-Sync enabled, and color corruption noticed in various games such as "Gears 5" and "Forza Horizon 4."
DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 436.30 WHQL
G.SKILL Memory First to Break DDR4 6 GHz World Record Speed
G.SKILL, the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, is very thrilled to announce a new world record for the fastest memory frequency at DDR4-6016.8 MHz, being the first ever to break through the DDR4-6000 barrier. This milestone is set by the Taiwanese professional overclocker, TopPC, using G.SKILL DDR4 Trident Z Royal memory on the latest MSI MPG Z390I GAMING EDGE AC motherboard and Intel Core i9-9900K processor.
Just 3 short months after the world record DDR4-5886MHz set by Toppc at the G.SKILL Computex booth in June, Toppc has once again set a new world record for memory frequency speed and is the first to push DDR4 memory to an astonishing 6 GHz. The validation links for this major milestone can be found in the following CPU-Z validation link and HWBot website screenshot below (validation).
Just 3 short months after the world record DDR4-5886MHz set by Toppc at the G.SKILL Computex booth in June, Toppc has once again set a new world record for memory frequency speed and is the first to push DDR4 memory to an astonishing 6 GHz. The validation links for this major milestone can be found in the following CPU-Z validation link and HWBot website screenshot below (validation).
TSMC August 2019 Revenue Report
TSMC (TWSE: 2330, NYSE: TSM) today announced its net revenues for August 2019: On a consolidated basis, revenues for August 2019 were approximately NT$106.12 billion, an increase of 25.2 percent from July 2019 and an increase of 16.5 percent from August 2018. Revenues for January through August 2019 totaled NT$650.58 billion, an increase of 0.6 percent compared to the same period in 2018.
ENERMAX Expands AQUAFUSION ARGB Liquid Cooler Series with White Version
ENERMAX, a leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance PC hardware products, is expanding the widely-acclaimed ARGB liquid cooler series, AQUAFUSION, with the addition of white 120 and 240 mm AIO coolers. Inherited from AQUAFUSION lineup, the white version is characterized by a white water block with splendid step shaped lighting effects, ENERMAX SquA RGB white fan and radiator to accent your rig's style.
Thanks to the precisely engineering technology, the patented Dual-Chamber water block design is able to isolate the pump from CPU heat in order to prolong its lifetime usage. In addition, combined with the Shunt-Channel Technology (SCT) on the cold plate and the Central Coolant Inlet (CCI) structure inside water block, it can inject the incoming coolant at the hottest spot to prevent heat surges and shorten the coolant flow path, resulting in faster heat transfer and better cooling performance of up to 300 W and 360 W TDP for 120 mm and 240 mm radiator respectively.
Thanks to the precisely engineering technology, the patented Dual-Chamber water block design is able to isolate the pump from CPU heat in order to prolong its lifetime usage. In addition, combined with the Shunt-Channel Technology (SCT) on the cold plate and the Central Coolant Inlet (CCI) structure inside water block, it can inject the incoming coolant at the hottest spot to prevent heat surges and shorten the coolant flow path, resulting in faster heat transfer and better cooling performance of up to 300 W and 360 W TDP for 120 mm and 240 mm radiator respectively.
ASUS ROG Strix X570-I Gaming Motherboard Starts Selling
ASUS started selling its premium Mini-ITX motherboard based on the AMD X570 chipset, the Republic of Gamers (ROG) Strix X570-I Gaming. The board was announced as part of ASUS' X570 motherboard lineup back in July, but is only now reaching selves, with an MSRP of USD $220. The board features an elaborate thermal solution that cools the CPU VRM, the fiesty X570 chipset, and an M.2-2280 SSD over a network of interconnected heatsinks that are ventilated by two 30 mm fans. Despite crippling space constraints, ASUS managed to cram in a 10-phase VRM to power the socket AM4 CPU, which is wired to two DDR4 DIMM slots, an M.2-2280 slot, and the board's sole expansion slot, a PCI-Express 4.0 x16.
Storage connectivity on the ASUS ROG Strix X570-I Gaming includes not one, but two M.2-2280 slots, one wired to the AM4 socket, and the other from the X570 chipset. The two M.2 slots are stacked one on top of the other, with a metal heatspreader between them, pulling heat from the drive below to the board's heatsink network. Four SATA 6 Gbps ports make the rest of the storage connectivity. Networking includes WiFi 6 (802.11ax) and Bluetooth 5.0 from an Intel "Cyclone Peak" AX200 card; and 1 GbE wired Ethernet pulled by an Intel i211-AT chip. The onboard audio solution features a Realtek ALC1200A CODEC with dual OPAMPs.
Storage connectivity on the ASUS ROG Strix X570-I Gaming includes not one, but two M.2-2280 slots, one wired to the AM4 socket, and the other from the X570 chipset. The two M.2 slots are stacked one on top of the other, with a metal heatspreader between them, pulling heat from the drive below to the board's heatsink network. Four SATA 6 Gbps ports make the rest of the storage connectivity. Networking includes WiFi 6 (802.11ax) and Bluetooth 5.0 from an Intel "Cyclone Peak" AX200 card; and 1 GbE wired Ethernet pulled by an Intel i211-AT chip. The onboard audio solution features a Realtek ALC1200A CODEC with dual OPAMPs.
Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT NITRO+ OC Pictured Some More
Sapphire is ready with its premium Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics card, the NITRO+ OC. This card was teased to the web earlier this month, and now we have proper press pics. The RX 5700 XT NITRO+ OC is longer, taller, and thicker than the RX 5700 XT Pulse OC. It appears to feature a different PCB from the Pulse OC, which will feature a stronger VRM setup that pulls power from a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors, to support an increased power-limit, and higher boost frequencies.
The cooler is longer than the PCB, and features an elaborate compound aluminium fin-stack heatsink that's ventilated by three fans, two of which are larger 100 mm, and the central one smaller, around 80 mm. The back-plate only covers the length of the PCB, beyond which it has large openings so the extended portion of the heatsink can vent directly through. Display connectivity appears to include two each of DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0 connectors. Key specs such as clock-speeds are still under the wraps, but the NITRO+ OC is expected to compete with the fastest RX 5700 XT cards out there. It is already up for pre-order on Amazon France for 470€ including taxes.
The cooler is longer than the PCB, and features an elaborate compound aluminium fin-stack heatsink that's ventilated by three fans, two of which are larger 100 mm, and the central one smaller, around 80 mm. The back-plate only covers the length of the PCB, beyond which it has large openings so the extended portion of the heatsink can vent directly through. Display connectivity appears to include two each of DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0 connectors. Key specs such as clock-speeds are still under the wraps, but the NITRO+ OC is expected to compete with the fastest RX 5700 XT cards out there. It is already up for pre-order on Amazon France for 470€ including taxes.
LG Unveils First OLED TVs with NVIDIA G-SYNC Support
LG Electronics (LG) has joined forces with NVIDIA to make gamers' dreams come true, adding support for NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatibility to its stunning 2019 OLED TVs (model 65/55E9, model 77/65/55C9). LG's newest OLED products offer blazing speed and stunning color reproduction, their superior performance and image quality validated through NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatible testing to ensure a smooth and immersive gaming experience without flickering, tearing or stuttering.
With exceptional picture quality, low input lag and an ultra-fast response time, LG OLED TVs have already earned a reputation for delivering an optimized gaming performance. The addition of NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatibility raises the bar once more, guaranteeing even more immersive big-screen PC gaming on the company's industry-leading 4K OLED models, available in 55- to 77-inch screen sizes.
With exceptional picture quality, low input lag and an ultra-fast response time, LG OLED TVs have already earned a reputation for delivering an optimized gaming performance. The addition of NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatibility raises the bar once more, guaranteeing even more immersive big-screen PC gaming on the company's industry-leading 4K OLED models, available in 55- to 77-inch screen sizes.
Monday, September 9th 2019
Today's Reviews
Accessories
Cases
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Monitors
Motherboards
Networking
Notebooks
Corsair RM750 750 W Review
The Corsair RM750 only costs slightly less than the RM750x, and the latter comes with the topnotch NR135L fan and Japanese caps. That said, the RM750 has jaw-dropping efficiency at very light and light loads and is compatible with the new Modern Standby mode in Windows 10, meaning it can wake up the system within five seconds.
XFX Radeon RX 5700 XT Ultra THICC II Review
The XFX Radeon RX 5700 XT Ultra THICC II is one of the highest-clocked Navi custom designs out there. It is cooled by a large triple-slot, dual-fan thermal solution that runs quieter than the AMD reference card and includes idle fan stop. With $440, pricing isn't unreasonable, either.
CORSAIR Releases Hydro X RX-SERIES GPU Water Block for AMD Radeon 5700 XT
If our review of CORSAIR's Hydro X series XG7 GPU water block for the NVIDIA GTX 1080 interested you and made you want to look into their offerings for newer cards, then you may be just as interested in knowing that AMD's latest and greatest in the discrete GPU market gets some Hydro X love too. CORSAIR has added to their custom watercooling product portfolio with the new RX-SERIES GPU block which is compatible with all reference design AMD Radeon RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT offerings. The block has the same feature set as with their other XG7 GPU blocks, with full coverage (GPU, VRM, VRAM), integrated dRGB lighting supported by iCUE, pre-applied thermal pads and paste for easy installation, a full-length aluminium backplate included in the package, and a transparent top coupled with a flow indicator wheel. It costs $149.99 for customers in the USA, and is available immediately as of the time of this post.
Lorne Trottier Acquires Full Ownership of Matrox, to Lead New Era of Tech Innovation
Matrox is excited to announce that Mr. Lorne Trottier, co-founder of Matrox, has acquired 100% ownership of the Matrox group of companies, including its three divisions—Matrox Imaging, Matrox Graphics, and Matrox Video.
"This next phase represents a renewed commitment to our valued customers, suppliers, and business partners, as well as to our 700 dedicated employees worldwide," said Trottier. "At Matrox, our culture is defined by our passion for technological innovation and product development. We maintain the highest degree of corporate responsibility vis-a-vis production quality and industry standards. I am extremely proud of our accomplishments over our 40-plus-year history and would like to thank my co-founder for his contributions."
"This next phase represents a renewed commitment to our valued customers, suppliers, and business partners, as well as to our 700 dedicated employees worldwide," said Trottier. "At Matrox, our culture is defined by our passion for technological innovation and product development. We maintain the highest degree of corporate responsibility vis-a-vis production quality and industry standards. I am extremely proud of our accomplishments over our 40-plus-year history and would like to thank my co-founder for his contributions."
Thermaltake Unveils Level 20 GT ARGB Black Edition Full Tower Chassis
Thermaltake, the leading PC DIY premium brand for Cooling, Gaming Gear, and Enthusiast Memory solutions, is thrilled to announce a new model to the classic Level 20 collection- the Level 20 GT ARGB Black Edition Full Tower Chassis. Like the Level 20 GT ARGB, the chassis comes with two 200 mm preinstalled addressable 5 V ARGB LED fans which can deliver 16.8 million-color RGB illumination.
The new chassis is ready to sync with RGB capable motherboards from ASUS Aura Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light Sync and ASRock Polychrome. The Level 20 GT ARGB Black Edition features a silky matte black finish and four tempered glass panels that serve to elevate the whole look and quality of the chassis. The new Level 20 GT ARGB Black Edition Full Tower Chassis offers users a distinctly modern chassis with a touch of luxury.
The new chassis is ready to sync with RGB capable motherboards from ASUS Aura Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light Sync and ASRock Polychrome. The Level 20 GT ARGB Black Edition features a silky matte black finish and four tempered glass panels that serve to elevate the whole look and quality of the chassis. The new Level 20 GT ARGB Black Edition Full Tower Chassis offers users a distinctly modern chassis with a touch of luxury.
Pinbrawler "Creature In The Well" Out Today on Steam, Xbox One, and Switch
Flight School Studio have released today their unique pinball hack and slash Creature in the Well on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Steam for $14.99 USD. The title is also available for free to Xbox Game Pass subscribers on Windows 10 PC and Xbox One.
As the last remaining BOT-C unit, venture deep into a desert mountain to restore power to an ancient facility, haunted by a desperate Creature. Uncover and upgrade powerful gear in order to free the city of Mirage from a deadly sandstorm.
As the last remaining BOT-C unit, venture deep into a desert mountain to restore power to an ancient facility, haunted by a desperate Creature. Uncover and upgrade powerful gear in order to free the city of Mirage from a deadly sandstorm.
Angelbird Announces CFexpress Cards
Angelbird Technologies, the premier developer of camera-specific media for professional creatives, announces the addition of CFexpress Type B memory cards to their high-performance lineup of AV PRO media solutions.The call for quick adoption of advanced digital video production standards to 6K, 8K and beyond, is being driven by high-profile international broadcasting as well as an increased need for industrial data processing and performance requirements. CFexpress memory media meets the high-speed demands of new technology (media that can write data at a minimum of 400 MB/sec).
It also mirrors the XQD form factor-- allowing select cameras that currently utilize XQD to now also accept CFexpress with a firmware update. But different from XQD, is that the CFexpress adopts the PCIe Gen 3 interface standards promoted by the CompactFlash Association. Angelbird's AV PRO CFX and AV PRO CFX XT offer read/write speeds up to 1700 MB/s and 1400 MB/s. CFexpress memory cards perform at speeds 3.5x faster than CFast technology- the current memory card leader for high-bitrate video production.
It also mirrors the XQD form factor-- allowing select cameras that currently utilize XQD to now also accept CFexpress with a firmware update. But different from XQD, is that the CFexpress adopts the PCIe Gen 3 interface standards promoted by the CompactFlash Association. Angelbird's AV PRO CFX and AV PRO CFX XT offer read/write speeds up to 1700 MB/s and 1400 MB/s. CFexpress memory cards perform at speeds 3.5x faster than CFast technology- the current memory card leader for high-bitrate video production.
GIGABYTE Unveils Aorus Liquid Cooler 240
GIGABYTE today unveiled its first all-in-one closed-loop liquid CPU cooler, with the Aorus Liquid Cooler 240. A star attraction with this cooler is its cylindrical pump-block which has a circular LCD display on top, much like ASUS ROG Ryujin. Unlike the Ryujin, the display is white and takes up color from a circular RGB LED ring surrounding the display, giving it the appearance of a color display. Sleeved coolant tubes connect this block to a 240 mm x 120 mm radiator, which ventilated by a pair of 120 mm fans that have RGB LED illumination.
A single 3-pin addressable RGB connection handles lighting for the entire cooler, while a USB 2.0 header connection interfaces the cooler with GIGABYTE's RGB Fusion software, letting you cycle through its display. The included pair of 120 mm fans feature double ball-bearings, each spin up to 2,500 RPM, pushing 59.25 CFM of air, with a noise output of 18 to 39.5 dBA. The block is made of copper, while the radiator is made of aluminium. Among the CPU socket types supported are AM4, LGA115x, and LGA2066. The block is compatible with the Asetek-standard round AMD TR4 retention module that's part of Threadripper processors' retail package. The company didn't reveal pricing.
A single 3-pin addressable RGB connection handles lighting for the entire cooler, while a USB 2.0 header connection interfaces the cooler with GIGABYTE's RGB Fusion software, letting you cycle through its display. The included pair of 120 mm fans feature double ball-bearings, each spin up to 2,500 RPM, pushing 59.25 CFM of air, with a noise output of 18 to 39.5 dBA. The block is made of copper, while the radiator is made of aluminium. Among the CPU socket types supported are AM4, LGA115x, and LGA2066. The block is compatible with the Asetek-standard round AMD TR4 retention module that's part of Threadripper processors' retail package. The company didn't reveal pricing.
Friday, September 6th 2019
Today's Reviews
Accessories
CPU Coolers
Keyboards
Motherboards
Processors
Gears 5 Benchmark Test & Performance Analysis
Gears 5 is the latest release in the epic game series that used to be an Xbox exclusive. We thoroughly test this Unreal Engine 4 based game on 23 graphics cards at three resolutions, including 4K Ultra HD. Both AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards do very well here.
Samsung Starts Offering First A-Die Based RAM
Samsung's B die has been widely known as a good, high performance variant of DRAM memory, loved by overclockers because of its ability to get to a high frequency with relatively low timings. However, B die has been discontinued and now Samsung started offering its replacement in form of the newly developed A die manufactured in 1z nm (1z class) lithography process. Despite the lack of technical details surrounding the new die type, Hardwareluxx has received a tip from its reader about new RAM offering that incorporates A die memory.
The M378A4G43AB2-CVF, as it is called in the listing, is a 32 GB, single dimm DDR4 RAM with operating speed of 2933 MHz and CL21-21-21 timings. This particular offer isn't something to be excited about as the frequency is good, but the timings are quite high for that speed. Given that we don't know where the A die is targeted at, we can speculate that its current aim is at mid-tier systems, where the mediocre performance is okay and the system isn't suffering (performance wise) because of it. Nonetheless this find is quite interesting as it gives first hints at what can we expect in therms of future A die DRAM offerings. Remember, it took some time for B die as well to get to the level of performance we have today, so it is entirely possible that A die will improve and try to aim for greater performance level than it currently has.
The M378A4G43AB2-CVF, as it is called in the listing, is a 32 GB, single dimm DDR4 RAM with operating speed of 2933 MHz and CL21-21-21 timings. This particular offer isn't something to be excited about as the frequency is good, but the timings are quite high for that speed. Given that we don't know where the A die is targeted at, we can speculate that its current aim is at mid-tier systems, where the mediocre performance is okay and the system isn't suffering (performance wise) because of it. Nonetheless this find is quite interesting as it gives first hints at what can we expect in therms of future A die DRAM offerings. Remember, it took some time for B die as well to get to the level of performance we have today, so it is entirely possible that A die will improve and try to aim for greater performance level than it currently has.
Bitspower Introduces New Mono Block for ASUS Crosshair VIII Hero
Bitspower informed us earlier today that they have a new mono block out for the ASUS Crosshair VIII Hero motherboard based on AMD's X570 chipset. Titled the BP-MBASX570CVIIIH, it features an acrylic top to allow the end user to see through into the cooling engine and the coolant flow in use and a nickel-plated copper coldplate. The latter, as with any mono block, is massive relative to just a CPU water block since it covers the CPU in addition to the critical power delivery section of the motherboard to ensure no thermal throttling, be it direct or indirect.
The direct injection of the coolant over the microfins via the split central-inlet flow design allows for the CPU to be cooled first, before a parallel split through the VRM section and also a flow indicator wheel as seen in the images below. The mono block also has integrated lighting support via Bitspower's digital RGB LEDs, which in turn are compatible with ASUS Aura Sync and onboard LED headers in addition to Bitspower's TouchAqua dRGB controller. Bitspower also teased more mono blocks on the way, with owners of the ASRock X570 Taichi and Gigabyte X570 Auros Master going to see support coming up shortly.
The direct injection of the coolant over the microfins via the split central-inlet flow design allows for the CPU to be cooled first, before a parallel split through the VRM section and also a flow indicator wheel as seen in the images below. The mono block also has integrated lighting support via Bitspower's digital RGB LEDs, which in turn are compatible with ASUS Aura Sync and onboard LED headers in addition to Bitspower's TouchAqua dRGB controller. Bitspower also teased more mono blocks on the way, with owners of the ASRock X570 Taichi and Gigabyte X570 Auros Master going to see support coming up shortly.
NETGEAR Extends WiFi Range and Capacity with Nighthawk WiFi 6 Mesh Extender
NETGEAR, the leading provider of WiFi that power smart homes, today introduced, a world's first, the new Nighthawk AX8 8-Stream WiFi 6 Mesh Extender (EAX80) to address the needs of constrained or limited reach of an existing home WiFi network. Adding the Nighthawk WiFi 6 Mesh extender to a home network extends the range and capacity for more connected devices.
Today the world is a connected one, where much of what we do on a day to day basis depends on connectivity. The good majority of consumer electronic products now require a connection to deliver the features optimally, which is only made possible with a continuous and strong connection with the capacity to handle simultaneous connections. Built for the wireless network challenges of today and the future, the Nighthawk WiFi 6 Extender delivers the maximum capacity, maximum speed and the greatest coverage. With WiFi 6 added to a wireless network, one can now experience broadband connectivity at the furthest corners of the home with blazing-fast performance up to 6 Gbps. The 8-stream WiFi delivers more spatial streams with more available bandwidth and thus less congestion for all the devices connected on the WiFi network.
Today the world is a connected one, where much of what we do on a day to day basis depends on connectivity. The good majority of consumer electronic products now require a connection to deliver the features optimally, which is only made possible with a continuous and strong connection with the capacity to handle simultaneous connections. Built for the wireless network challenges of today and the future, the Nighthawk WiFi 6 Extender delivers the maximum capacity, maximum speed and the greatest coverage. With WiFi 6 added to a wireless network, one can now experience broadband connectivity at the furthest corners of the home with blazing-fast performance up to 6 Gbps. The 8-stream WiFi delivers more spatial streams with more available bandwidth and thus less congestion for all the devices connected on the WiFi network.
BIOSTAR Launches the New X470MH Motherboard
BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, is proud to announce a new addition to its AMD socket AM4 motherboards with the BIOSTAR X470MH. Built for office workers looking to smoothly cruise through their daily tasks without setbacks and for home users looking for a strong and stable platform to run their HTPC, the X470MH is equipped with the latest features the PC industry has to offer while maintaining an affordable price point. And for those looking to push the limit, the X470MH offers overclocking possibilities giving the user the added performance benefit for faster gaming and task management without risking to damage their investment.
The BIOSTAR X470MH, equipped with AMD's X470 chipset and AMD AM4 CPU socket, brings support for AMD's latest 3rd Gen Ryzen 7 nm processors. Built to make your daily computer needs a breeze, the X470MH is a Micro ATX motherboard featuring USB 3.1 Gen1 support (5 Gb/s) providing fast transfer speeds and support to a wide array of peripherals, PCI-e M.2 at 32 Gb/s for increased system responsiveness, as well as HDMI 4K resolution to sooth the eye while watching Netflix or Youtube, and a VGA port for a wider range of monitor compatibility. In addition, the Internet and network connectivity will not be a drag with the onboard Realtek GbE LAN. Overclockers are not left out either with enough room for 2x DDR4 RAM slots which support up to 32 GB and overclocks at 3200 MHz, making multitasking a pleasant experience.
The BIOSTAR X470MH, equipped with AMD's X470 chipset and AMD AM4 CPU socket, brings support for AMD's latest 3rd Gen Ryzen 7 nm processors. Built to make your daily computer needs a breeze, the X470MH is a Micro ATX motherboard featuring USB 3.1 Gen1 support (5 Gb/s) providing fast transfer speeds and support to a wide array of peripherals, PCI-e M.2 at 32 Gb/s for increased system responsiveness, as well as HDMI 4K resolution to sooth the eye while watching Netflix or Youtube, and a VGA port for a wider range of monitor compatibility. In addition, the Internet and network connectivity will not be a drag with the onboard Realtek GbE LAN. Overclockers are not left out either with enough room for 2x DDR4 RAM slots which support up to 32 GB and overclocks at 3200 MHz, making multitasking a pleasant experience.
Inno3D Announces GeForce RTX 2080 Super and RTX 2070 Super Gaming OC X2
INNO3D, a leading manufacturer of pioneering high-end multimedia components and various innovations is excited to announce the new INNO3D GeForce RTX 2080, 2070 SUPER Gaming OC X2. Our R&D team have been working hard in order to have every conceivable version of the SUPER series and we're thrilled to showcase the Gaming OC X2. Boasting two large cooling fans and unique cooling system to enhance the way it's cooled - perfect for all Gaming OC fans who require a little more kick to their cooling. It's also powered by the Turing architecture packed with more oomph thanks to additional cores and higher clocks.
This beautiful design houses two incredibly large 10 cm fans that are super effective yet look like they mean business by delivering powerful performance required for the most demanding games. The cooling system comprise of 4 heatpipes that are 932 mm in length and a huge aluminium heatsink giving a surface area of 383,000 mm². It also has bidirectional air flow, two paths for heat dissipation to perform brilliantly keeping heat at bay, and it manages to do so quietly. It is quiet, effective and cool.
This beautiful design houses two incredibly large 10 cm fans that are super effective yet look like they mean business by delivering powerful performance required for the most demanding games. The cooling system comprise of 4 heatpipes that are 932 mm in length and a huge aluminium heatsink giving a surface area of 383,000 mm². It also has bidirectional air flow, two paths for heat dissipation to perform brilliantly keeping heat at bay, and it manages to do so quietly. It is quiet, effective and cool.
Thermaltake Launches TOUGHRAM RGB DDR4 Memory Series
Thermaltake, the leading PC DIY premium brand for Cooling, Gaming Gear and Enthusiast Memory solutions, today announced the release of the Thermaltake TOUGHRAM RGB DDR4 Memory Series, comes with the frequencies of 3,600 MHz, 3,200 MHz and 3,000 MHz 8x 2 GB modules. As the first Thermaltake gaming memory product, it aims to deliver outstanding performance for gaming enthusiasts.
Featuring 10-layer PCB construction for enhanced overclocking performance and stability, the TOUGHRAM RGB boasts to have the highest quality of components including tightly-selected memory chips, 2 oz copper PCB for enhanced electricity conduction, and 10μ gold fingers for high resistance to ensure the ultimate gaming performance. Meanwhile, the TOUGHRAM RGB memory can be controlled by the TOUGHRAM RGB software which can simply monitor the real-time temperature, frequency and performance.
Featuring 10-layer PCB construction for enhanced overclocking performance and stability, the TOUGHRAM RGB boasts to have the highest quality of components including tightly-selected memory chips, 2 oz copper PCB for enhanced electricity conduction, and 10μ gold fingers for high resistance to ensure the ultimate gaming performance. Meanwhile, the TOUGHRAM RGB memory can be controlled by the TOUGHRAM RGB software which can simply monitor the real-time temperature, frequency and performance.
NETGEAR Debuts Orbi WiFi 6 Mesh System
NETGEAR, Inc., the leading provider of mesh WiFi systems that power smart homes, today announced the worldwide release of Orbi WiFi 6 Mesh System an innovative solution that delivers a new standard for wireless networks.
This next generation Orbi Mesh WiFi System is designed for the connected world of today and the future. Households now have a multitude of always-on and always-connected smart home devices many of which are running high-bandwidth applications like streaming 4K/8K Ultimate HD connections across multiple screens. The Orbi WiFi 6 mesh system has the capacity to support the traffic generated by the multitude of connected devices that are in the home today and for years to come. Similar to the difference experienced between driving on a congested four-lane highway compared to that of a sixteen-lane superhighway, WiFi 6 provides more streams so there is an increased capacity for more traffic ensuring that the fastest high-speed WiFi connected devices are not stalled by the slower ones.
This next generation Orbi Mesh WiFi System is designed for the connected world of today and the future. Households now have a multitude of always-on and always-connected smart home devices many of which are running high-bandwidth applications like streaming 4K/8K Ultimate HD connections across multiple screens. The Orbi WiFi 6 mesh system has the capacity to support the traffic generated by the multitude of connected devices that are in the home today and for years to come. Similar to the difference experienced between driving on a congested four-lane highway compared to that of a sixteen-lane superhighway, WiFi 6 provides more streams so there is an increased capacity for more traffic ensuring that the fastest high-speed WiFi connected devices are not stalled by the slower ones.
Intel Sourgrapes AMD's Creator Performance Leadership with Laughably Dubious Data
Intel as part of its IFA Berlin client-segment presentation resorted to some very juvenile marketing tactics, inviting criticism from noted PC enthusiast Der8auer. Intel scampered to reclaim its market position in the PC gaming space with the announcement of the Core i9-9900KS 8-core processor, which armed with a 5.00 GHz all-core Turbo Boost frequency, is expected to cement the company's gaming performance leadership. The company didn't leave it at that, and went on to attack AMD's creator performance leadership.
Der8auer observed something curious about a few slides in particular that Intel used to discredit AMD's high-end desktop processors, relating to its Creator performance as tested in Maxon Cinema 4D's benchmark program, Cinebench. Intel claimed that AMD cannot use Cinebench data to represent "real-world" performance as "only 0.22 percent" of users polled by Intel's "Software Improvement Program" respondents use Maxon Cinema 4D. And who are these respondents? Close to 11 million of them, _all_ of whom are notebook and tablet users, and a majority of whom have Software Improvement Program part of OEM bloatware. This, according to Der8auer, is fundamentally dishonest on Intel's part as Maxon Cinema 4D is less likely to be used on portable computers, and more likely on premium desktops or HEDTs. You can watch Der8auer's vlog here (English) or here (German).
The complete slide-deck follows.
Der8auer observed something curious about a few slides in particular that Intel used to discredit AMD's high-end desktop processors, relating to its Creator performance as tested in Maxon Cinema 4D's benchmark program, Cinebench. Intel claimed that AMD cannot use Cinebench data to represent "real-world" performance as "only 0.22 percent" of users polled by Intel's "Software Improvement Program" respondents use Maxon Cinema 4D. And who are these respondents? Close to 11 million of them, _all_ of whom are notebook and tablet users, and a majority of whom have Software Improvement Program part of OEM bloatware. This, according to Der8auer, is fundamentally dishonest on Intel's part as Maxon Cinema 4D is less likely to be used on portable computers, and more likely on premium desktops or HEDTs. You can watch Der8auer's vlog here (English) or here (German).
Thursday, September 5th 2019
Today's Reviews
Cases
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Keyboards
Multimedia
Networking
Nitro Concepts S300 EX Gaming Chair Review
In a nutshell, the Nitro Concepts S300 EX is a well-constructed and comfortable gaming chair that's quite affordable. The option to choose from a variety of colors is also nice, as is the soft PU cover. Thanks to its steel frame it should very durable, too.
Phanteks Announces the AMP Series Modular Power Supplies
Phanteks today announced their new mainstream power supplies product line, the AMP series. Powered by Seasonic, the new AMP series 80 PLUS Gold comes in 750 W, 650 W, 550 W and is fully modular. The high efficiency and compact design of the AMP series provide up to 750 watts in a 140 mm housing and comes with modular, black, flat power cables to make installation easy and clean.
The AMP series features a Hybrid Silent Fan Control that achieves optimal cooling with temperature-controlled fan speed and fan-less mode for silent performance. The AMP series is also Revolt Pro Link certified providing 100% compatibility, reliability, and stability to work directly with the Revolt Pro expandable PSU allowing you to power more. Do more with the new AMP series power supplies and stay worry-free with the 10-year warranty.
The AMP series features a Hybrid Silent Fan Control that achieves optimal cooling with temperature-controlled fan speed and fan-less mode for silent performance. The AMP series is also Revolt Pro Link certified providing 100% compatibility, reliability, and stability to work directly with the Revolt Pro expandable PSU allowing you to power more. Do more with the new AMP series power supplies and stay worry-free with the 10-year warranty.
Alphacool Introduces RX5700 Aurora Waterblock, Aurora Plexi X4 DRAM Water Cooler
Alphacool today introduced two new products to their Aurora lineup. The first is a waterblock that has been especially designed for the RX5700 graphics card. The waterblock features a nickel-plated base and a Radeon RX illuminated logo. It has been designed with a thinner 1 mm heat conduction pads for better performance, and the full copper cooling block has also had a 1 mm shave in materials for better performance.
Concurrently, Alphacool also announced a cooling solution for your system's RAM. The Aurora Plexi can support up to four memory modules., and adds a stop to your watercooling system's flow that removes heat from your operating DRAM. The material is the usual nickel-plated copper, and the Aurora Plexi features compatibility with Alphacool's D-RAM cooling modules. The RX5700 Aurora waterblock will be available for €109.95, while the Aurora Plexi DDR cooling kit will go for €54.95.
Concurrently, Alphacool also announced a cooling solution for your system's RAM. The Aurora Plexi can support up to four memory modules., and adds a stop to your watercooling system's flow that removes heat from your operating DRAM. The material is the usual nickel-plated copper, and the Aurora Plexi features compatibility with Alphacool's D-RAM cooling modules. The RX5700 Aurora waterblock will be available for €109.95, while the Aurora Plexi DDR cooling kit will go for €54.95.
Sennheiser Introduces new MOMENTUM Wireless- A Third Generation of Superior Sound
Sennheiser's premium MOMENTUM headphone range enters its third generation, with the launch of the new MOMENTUM Wireless at IFA 2019. The headphones are the latest addition to the audio specialist's iconic range that offers superior sound, a modern design aesthetic, cutting-edge technology, and a touch of handcrafted indulgence to every moment. Thanks to Auto On/Off and Smart Pause features, the new MOMENTUM Wireless headphones start up instantly when unfolded, and sense when put on or taken off to pause and resume playback, ensuring a world of uncompromised sound is just a heartbeat away. Designed to be supremely comfortable for all-day listening sessions, they feature genuine sheep leather and soft padding on the earpads and headband. Active Noise Cancellation and a Transparent Hearing function allow listeners to experience their audio on their terms, by either blocking out the world or staying aware of their environment. One-touch voice assistant access lets them stay connected on the move.
"Our MOMENTUM range has been synonymous with a unique blend of superior sound quality, progressive technology and remarkable craftsmanship, and with the third generation, we are bringing this contemporary classic into the always-on, connected age," said Stephane Hareau, Global Head of Products Consumer at Sennheiser. "The new MOMENTUM Wireless is a smart headphone that gives you fast, effortless control: whether enjoying entertainment or making calls, escaping it all or staying connected - it anticipates your needs and lets you interact intuitively and instantly," added Sebastian Rodens, Product Manager at Sennheiser.
"Our MOMENTUM range has been synonymous with a unique blend of superior sound quality, progressive technology and remarkable craftsmanship, and with the third generation, we are bringing this contemporary classic into the always-on, connected age," said Stephane Hareau, Global Head of Products Consumer at Sennheiser. "The new MOMENTUM Wireless is a smart headphone that gives you fast, effortless control: whether enjoying entertainment or making calls, escaping it all or staying connected - it anticipates your needs and lets you interact intuitively and instantly," added Sebastian Rodens, Product Manager at Sennheiser.
Overwatch Legendary Edition Arrives on Nintendo Switch on October 15th
The world could always use more heroes-and starting October 15, Nintendo Switch players will be able to join more than 40 million players from around the globe in the fight for the future with the arrival of Overwatch Legendary Edition.
Overwatch Legendary Edition puts the definitive version of Blizzard Entertainment's acclaimed team shooter in Nintendo Switch owners' hands, complete with the latest content and gameplay updates. Players will select from a roster of 31 vibrant heroes as they face off in a variety of casual and competitive multiplayer modes and battle over map objectives in 28 different locations around the earth (and on the moon).
Overwatch Legendary Edition puts the definitive version of Blizzard Entertainment's acclaimed team shooter in Nintendo Switch owners' hands, complete with the latest content and gameplay updates. Players will select from a roster of 31 vibrant heroes as they face off in a variety of casual and competitive multiplayer modes and battle over map objectives in 28 different locations around the earth (and on the moon).
ADATA Unveils Double Capacity DDR4-2666 U-DIMM and SO-DIMM Modules
ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules, NAND Flash products, and mobile accessories is pleased to announce new capacity 32 GB per DIMM of ADATA DDR4-2666 U-DIMM and DDR4-2666 SO-DIMM modules.
Made with the latest advancements in soldering and manufacturing, the ADATA DDR4-2666 U-DIMM and SO-DIMM 32GBwith a single slot has tested and provided excellent performance and support the latest Intel and AMD platforms.U-DIMM 32 GB will give discerning users, such as gamers and graphics professionals, the ability to break the memory limitations of two-slot platforms. For general laptop users, ADATA offers DDR4-2666 SO-DIMM 32 GB.
As with all ADATA memory modules, these modules and their components are produced and tested via a rigorous quality control process to ensure rapid performance and stable operation. Also, they meet strict JEDEC and RoHS standards to guarantee compatibility, stability, and environmentally friendliness and come backed by a lifetime warranty for maximum assurance.
Made with the latest advancements in soldering and manufacturing, the ADATA DDR4-2666 U-DIMM and SO-DIMM 32GBwith a single slot has tested and provided excellent performance and support the latest Intel and AMD platforms.U-DIMM 32 GB will give discerning users, such as gamers and graphics professionals, the ability to break the memory limitations of two-slot platforms. For general laptop users, ADATA offers DDR4-2666 SO-DIMM 32 GB.
As with all ADATA memory modules, these modules and their components are produced and tested via a rigorous quality control process to ensure rapid performance and stable operation. Also, they meet strict JEDEC and RoHS standards to guarantee compatibility, stability, and environmentally friendliness and come backed by a lifetime warranty for maximum assurance.
LG Announces UltraGear IPS 1 ms Lineup with NVIDIA G-SYNC
At IFA 2019, Europeans will get their first look at LG Electronics' (LG) expanded lineup of UltraGear 1 millisecond IPS NVIDIA G-SYNC gaming monitors designed specifically with serious gamers in mind. The latest addition to LG's industry-leading lineup of ultra-fast IPS gaming displays will be unveiled for the first time in Berlin from September 6-11 followed by commercial availability in the fourth quarter in key markets of Europe and North America.
All LG UltraGear monitors are fine-tuned to deliver an exhilarating gaming experience with their incredible picture quality now matched by astonishing response times. The newest UltraGear 1ms IPS Gray-to-Gray (GTG) monitor (model 27GN750) boasts the fastest refresh rate (240Hz) in the lineup, delivering the speed essential for victory in today's fast-paced games.
All LG UltraGear monitors are fine-tuned to deliver an exhilarating gaming experience with their incredible picture quality now matched by astonishing response times. The newest UltraGear 1ms IPS Gray-to-Gray (GTG) monitor (model 27GN750) boasts the fastest refresh rate (240Hz) in the lineup, delivering the speed essential for victory in today's fast-paced games.
Acer Announces Nitro XV3 Line of PC Gaming Monitors
Acer unveiled a new series of Nitro gaming monitors, designed to bring games to life. The new Acer Nitro XV3 series features four new monitors for gamers that deliver extremely high refresh rates and high resolution, providing outstanding casual gameplay at affordable prices.
NVIDIA G-SYNC compatible, the new Nitro monitors enable Variable Refresh Rates (VRR) by default when connected to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10-Series and GeForce RTX 20-Series graphics cards to support dynamic refresh rates, eliminating screen tearing and minimizing lag. These new IPS[1] monitors also feature Adaptive-Sync technology to satisfy gamers' need for high resolution gaming through a blisteringly fast response time of up to 1 ms and Visual Response Boost (VRB) for smooth, tear-free gameplay.
NVIDIA G-SYNC compatible, the new Nitro monitors enable Variable Refresh Rates (VRR) by default when connected to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10-Series and GeForce RTX 20-Series graphics cards to support dynamic refresh rates, eliminating screen tearing and minimizing lag. These new IPS[1] monitors also feature Adaptive-Sync technology to satisfy gamers' need for high resolution gaming through a blisteringly fast response time of up to 1 ms and Visual Response Boost (VRB) for smooth, tear-free gameplay.
ASRock Officially Launches the X570 AQUA Motherboard - Only 999 Units Produced
ASRock is pleased to announce a very special product launch: the new X570 AQUA motherboard, which is already highly anticipated for its unprecedented features and performance.
The X570 AQUA is the only completely water-cooled X570 motherboard - its unique all-copper cooling block covers the CPU, VRM and X570 Chipset to provide unbelievable performance and stability. This exclusive product is being manufactured in a very limited production run of just 999 boards and made available on a first come first served basis. X570 AQUA is the ultimate selection for the AMD X570 chipset and Ryzen 3000 series desktop processors - to be enjoyed only by a select few worldwide. With the top choice CPU for DIY PC enthusiasts - AMD Ryzen 3000 series processors paired with ASRock's super high-end X570 AQUA motherboard will definitely be your ideal partner.
The X570 AQUA is the only completely water-cooled X570 motherboard - its unique all-copper cooling block covers the CPU, VRM and X570 Chipset to provide unbelievable performance and stability. This exclusive product is being manufactured in a very limited production run of just 999 boards and made available on a first come first served basis. X570 AQUA is the ultimate selection for the AMD X570 chipset and Ryzen 3000 series desktop processors - to be enjoyed only by a select few worldwide. With the top choice CPU for DIY PC enthusiasts - AMD Ryzen 3000 series processors paired with ASRock's super high-end X570 AQUA motherboard will definitely be your ideal partner.
Intel to Increase Cores-to-the-Dollar Across the Board with Cascade Lake-X?
Intel is preparing to increase core-counts across the board with its upcoming Core X "Cascade Lake-X" HEDT processor family, launching next month. The first indication of this comes from an Intel slide that claims a 1.74 to 2.09x increase in performance-per-Dollar over "Skylake-X." The "Cascade Lake" microarchitecture already made its debut in the enterprise market as Intel's 2nd generation Xeon Scalable processors, and its IPC is similar clock-to-clock, to its predecessor (Skylake).
If Intel is claiming such performance-per-Dollar increases, it only points to a significant increase in core counts to the Dollar (think 16-core at $999, 28-core at $1999, etc.). Adding value to these chips are certain new AI accelerating instruction sets, such as DLBoost, support for Optane DC Persistent Memory, increased memory clock-speeds, and higher CPU clocks across the board compared to the Core X 9000-series. The Core X "Cascade Lake-X" processor family debuts this October.
If Intel is claiming such performance-per-Dollar increases, it only points to a significant increase in core counts to the Dollar (think 16-core at $999, 28-core at $1999, etc.). Adding value to these chips are certain new AI accelerating instruction sets, such as DLBoost, support for Optane DC Persistent Memory, increased memory clock-speeds, and higher CPU clocks across the board compared to the Core X 9000-series. The Core X "Cascade Lake-X" processor family debuts this October.
Intel Core i9-9900KS to be Available from October
Intel's panic response to the 3rd generation Ryzen processor series, the Core i9-9900KS, will be generally available in October. The company will extensively market it as the best processor money can buy for gaming, and the specs to support that claim are formidable - 8-core/16-thread, with an all-core Turbo Boost frequency of 5.00 GHz. Intel will also actively publicize the growing clamor against real-world boost frequencies of 3rd gen Ryzen processors falling short of what's advertised, as detailed in the slide below. "5 GHz means 5 GHz" could be a prominent catchphrase of the chip's marketing, highlighting the all-core boost clocks. This chip is based on the existing 14 nm++ "Coffee Lake Refresh" silicon, but is likely its topmost bin.
Intel didn't, however, specify the TDP or pricing of the processor. The TDP is bound to be higher than that of the i9-9900K, as it would take a lot more power to sustain 5.00 GHz across all 8 cores. Intel may also try to retake the $499 price-point. The company may time the launch of this chip to closely follow AMD's flagship Ryzen 9 3950X 16-core/32-thread processor launch, which is due later this month. Intel's performance numbers for the i9-9900KS focus squarely on gaming and applications relevant to home users or PC enthusiasts. The i9-9900KS ships in a similar-looking acrylic case as the i9-9900K, with "Special Edition" branding on the front face. The retail package continues to lack a cooling solution.
Intel didn't, however, specify the TDP or pricing of the processor. The TDP is bound to be higher than that of the i9-9900K, as it would take a lot more power to sustain 5.00 GHz across all 8 cores. Intel may also try to retake the $499 price-point. The company may time the launch of this chip to closely follow AMD's flagship Ryzen 9 3950X 16-core/32-thread processor launch, which is due later this month. Intel's performance numbers for the i9-9900KS focus squarely on gaming and applications relevant to home users or PC enthusiasts. The i9-9900KS ships in a similar-looking acrylic case as the i9-9900K, with "Special Edition" branding on the front face. The retail package continues to lack a cooling solution.
Wednesday, September 4th 2019
Today's Reviews
CPU Coolers
Desktop PC
Graphics Cards
Harddisks
Notebooks
Processors
MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Review
MSI's GeForce RTX 2070 Super Gaming X is a factory overclocked custom-design that's priced only $10 higher than the Founders Edition. It is cooled by a large triple-slot, dual-fan heatsink that has fan-stop and runs cooler and much quieter than the NVIDIA Founders Edition.
Control Benchmark Test & RTX Performance Analysis
Control by Remedy Games is an open-world third-person shooter set in a building. Besides the interesting setting, graphics are great, and the game has support for multiple NVIDIA RTX raytracing technologies, probably making this the first game where RTX is really worth it.
XIGMATEK Aquarius Plus is a Broad Mid-tower Case with Glasshouse on Two Sides
XIGMATEK today rolled out the Aquarius Plus, a "plus-sized" mid-tower that's vertically partitioned a la Corsair Carbide Air 540. The narrower right-side partition holds the PSU bay and a two each of 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drive bays, while the left-side partition holds a motherboard tray with room for graphics cards up to 36 cm in length, and CPU coolers up to 16 cm in height. Tempered glass makes up not just the left side panel, but also the front. The two glass panels are contiguous at the case's front-left corner. The case comes in two variants based on the color of the sheet metal - matte black and white.
The XIGMATEK Aquarius Plus has a staggering ten 120 mm fan mounts, three along the motherboard tray towards the front, which guide air out through the right-side chamber and out of vents along the right side panel; three bottom intakes, three top exhausts (with a dust filter), and a rear exhaust. You can hence mount up to three 360 mm x 120 mm radiators. XIGMATEK appears to be including seven RGB LED-illuminated 120 mm fans with this case. Front panel connectivity is located along the top, and includes two USB 3.1 type-A ports, one USB 2.0/1.1 port, and HDA jacks. The case measures 415 mm x 280 mm x 427 mm (LxWxH). The company didn't reveal pricing.
The XIGMATEK Aquarius Plus has a staggering ten 120 mm fan mounts, three along the motherboard tray towards the front, which guide air out through the right-side chamber and out of vents along the right side panel; three bottom intakes, three top exhausts (with a dust filter), and a rear exhaust. You can hence mount up to three 360 mm x 120 mm radiators. XIGMATEK appears to be including seven RGB LED-illuminated 120 mm fans with this case. Front panel connectivity is located along the top, and includes two USB 3.1 type-A ports, one USB 2.0/1.1 port, and HDA jacks. The case measures 415 mm x 280 mm x 427 mm (LxWxH). The company didn't reveal pricing.
Thermalright Rolls Out the True Spirit 90M Rev B CPU Cooler
Thermalright today rolled out the True Spirit 90M Rev B CPU cooler. A major update to the True Spirit 90M Rev A from 2013, the Rev B comes with four 6 mm-thick heat-pipes instead of three. The aluminium fin-stack pushed slightly further to the left and top to free up more clearance near the motherboard's memory area and the M.2 slot closest to the CPU socket. It also has an updated aesthetic (different fan colors). Support is added for some of the newer CPU sockets, such as AM4.
Interestingly, the thermal load capacity between the two revisions remains unchanged at 120 Watts. Measuring 102 mm x 50 mm x 125 mm (WxDxH), the cooler weighs 365 g, which is in fact 22 g lighter than the Rev A. The fan takes in 4-pin PWM input, spins between 800 to 2,000 RPM, and pushes up to 39.36 CFM of air, with a noise output of 27 dBA. The True Spirit 90M Rev B replaces the Rev A at its $29 price.
Interestingly, the thermal load capacity between the two revisions remains unchanged at 120 Watts. Measuring 102 mm x 50 mm x 125 mm (WxDxH), the cooler weighs 365 g, which is in fact 22 g lighter than the Rev A. The fan takes in 4-pin PWM input, spins between 800 to 2,000 RPM, and pushes up to 39.36 CFM of air, with a noise output of 27 dBA. The True Spirit 90M Rev B replaces the Rev A at its $29 price.
AMD Releases Radeon Software Adrenalin 19.9.1 Drivers
AMD today posted the latest version of Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition drivers. Version 19.9.1 beta comes with day-one optimization for "Gears 5," with up to 5 percent performance improvement in the DirectX 12 mode. It also expands the Vulkan API feature-set with four new extensions, "VK_AMD_device_coherent_memory," "VK_EXT_calibrated_timestamps," "VK_EXT_line_rasterization," and "VK_EXT_shader_demote_to_helper_invocation." Lastly, the drivers address a bug that causes GIGABYTE RGB Fusion 2.0 software to hang the system on graphics cards based on RX 5700-series GPUs. Grab the drivers from the link below.
DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 19.9.1 beta
The change-log follows.
DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 19.9.1 beta
Audio-Technica Introduces Its Truly Wireless ATH-CKS5TW and Its ATH-CK3TW Headphones at IFA 2019
At IFA 2019 Audio-Technica is introducing its ATH-CKS5TW and its ATH-CK3TW truly wireless in-ear headphones, which eliminate all connecting wires for the ultimate in comfort and on-the-go listening convenience. Both models combine Audio-Technica's 57 years of audio engineering expertise with compact, lightweight designs, long-lasting battery life, Bluetooth 5.0 wireless technology and outstanding audio quality.
The ATH-CKS5TW and ATH-CK3TW both feature a new Auto Power On/Off feature that automatically turns the headphones on and connects to a paired smartphone, portable digital audio player or other compatible device when they're removed from their case. Both models will also turn off automatically when placed back in their case. Both headphones are charged via an included USB-C connection and the cases feature LED battery status indicators.
The ATH-CKS5TW and ATH-CK3TW both feature a new Auto Power On/Off feature that automatically turns the headphones on and connects to a paired smartphone, portable digital audio player or other compatible device when they're removed from their case. Both models will also turn off automatically when placed back in their case. Both headphones are charged via an included USB-C connection and the cases feature LED battery status indicators.
G.Skill Releases 64GB (8GBx8) Memory Kits in DDR4-4300 CL19 & DDR4-4000 CL16
G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, is excited to announce high-frequency, high-capacity memory kit specifications to the G.SKILL Trident Z Royal series at DDR4-4300 MHz CL19-19-19-39 and DDR4-4000 MHz CL16-18-18-38, both in kit capacity of 64 GB (8x 8 GB) and 32 GB (4x8GB). Once again, these extraordinary G.SKILL Trident Z Royal memory kits are built with high performance Samsung B-die components.
As an excellent choice for tasks that require both high-capacity and extreme speed memory, the high-performance DDR4-4300 MHz CL19-19-19-39 64 GB (8x 8 GB) is shown in the stress test screenshot below, validated on the latest ASUS ROG Rampage VI Extreme Encore motherboard and the Intel Core i9-9820X processor. This is the perfect memory solution for building an all-powerful workstation for various content creation workloads, including 3D rendering and multimedia editing.
As an excellent choice for tasks that require both high-capacity and extreme speed memory, the high-performance DDR4-4300 MHz CL19-19-19-39 64 GB (8x 8 GB) is shown in the stress test screenshot below, validated on the latest ASUS ROG Rampage VI Extreme Encore motherboard and the Intel Core i9-9820X processor. This is the perfect memory solution for building an all-powerful workstation for various content creation workloads, including 3D rendering and multimedia editing.
VESA Updates DisplayHDR Standard with Tighter Specifications and New DisplayHDR 1400 Performance Level
The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA ) today announced that it has published the first major update to its widely adopted High-Performance Monitor and Display Compliance Test Specification (DisplayHDR), which is the display industry's first fully open standard specifying high dynamic range (HDR) quality. The updated spec, DisplayHDR version 1.1, includes tighter performance requirements, including for luminance and color gamut, as well as new test requirements, such as for active dimming, to address recent advances in HDR technology. Companies can begin certifying their display products under the new DisplayHDR 1.1 spec today. In addition, VESA will continue to allow products to be certified under the previous DisplayHDR 1.0 spec through the end of May 2020 in order to allow for products already in development that have been designed to meet the original spec, which was published in November 2017.
Western Digital to Deliver 18TB CMR and 20TB SMR HDDs in the First Half of 2020
Addressing the TCO requirements of data center customers, Western Digital announced its nine-disk mechanical platform, which includes energy-assisted recording technology and maintains the company's areal density leadership while delivering the highest capacity available. The company will sample the 18 TB Ultrastar DC HC550 CMR HDD and the 20 TB Ultrastar DC HC650 SMR HDD to select customers by the end of 2019 with production ramp expected in the first half of 2020.
This rapid ramp and availability of the 20 TB SMR drive following a technology preview in June 2019, supports a growing ecosystem and the continued industry adoption of SMR. Western Digital estimates that 50 percent of its HDD exabytes shipped will be on SMR by 2023. "At Dropbox, we are constantly looking for ways to improve efficiency and power in our data centers," said Akhil Gupta, vice president of engineering at Dropbox. "We're excited to see SMR drives reach a 20 TB capacity point, which will enable us to power collaboration and deliver long-term value to our customers."
This rapid ramp and availability of the 20 TB SMR drive following a technology preview in June 2019, supports a growing ecosystem and the continued industry adoption of SMR. Western Digital estimates that 50 percent of its HDD exabytes shipped will be on SMR by 2023. "At Dropbox, we are constantly looking for ways to improve efficiency and power in our data centers," said Akhil Gupta, vice president of engineering at Dropbox. "We're excited to see SMR drives reach a 20 TB capacity point, which will enable us to power collaboration and deliver long-term value to our customers."
Logitech Announces the MX Master 3 and MX Keys
Logitech announced the Logitech MX Master 3 and Logitech MX Keys, the latest additions to the premium performance Master Series. Each device is incredibly advanced on its own, but even better together. The mouse and keyboard enable powerful and reliable performance that transform the way you work. Engineered and crafted in Switzerland, the MX Master 3 offers ultrafast and ultraprecise scrolling with the all-new MagSpeed Scroll Wheel. Driven by electromagnets, MX Master 3 allows you to silently scroll through thousands of lines in seconds. MX Keys, with Perfect Stroke technology, delivers the best tactile low-profile typing experience on a Logitech keyboard.
"Our newest flagship products are designed for advanced users, such as software developers, engineers or designers, who want to be more productive and need to interact with their digital content at the speed of thought," said Delphine Donne-Crock, general manager of creativity and productivity at Logitech. "The MX Master 3 MagSpeed Scroll Wheel is our fastest, quietest and most advanced scrolling wheel to date, and MX Keys brings you the most comfortable low-profile typing experience we can provide so you can work as long as you want. When used together, these premium performance tools deliver the ultimate solution to your desktop."
"Our newest flagship products are designed for advanced users, such as software developers, engineers or designers, who want to be more productive and need to interact with their digital content at the speed of thought," said Delphine Donne-Crock, general manager of creativity and productivity at Logitech. "The MX Master 3 MagSpeed Scroll Wheel is our fastest, quietest and most advanced scrolling wheel to date, and MX Keys brings you the most comfortable low-profile typing experience we can provide so you can work as long as you want. When used together, these premium performance tools deliver the ultimate solution to your desktop."
NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 Powers World's Fastest Laptop - ASUS ProArt StudioBook One
NVIDIA and ASUS today announced that the Quadro RTX 6000 GPU will power the world's fastest laptop, the ASUS ProArt StudioBook One, which joins 11 other new RTX Studio systems, launched just in time for IFA, the world's largest electronics conference, bringing the total number of RTX Studio systems to 39.
The Quadro RTX 6000 at the heart of the ProArt StudioBook One enables creatives and other innovators to tap into the power of a high-end deskside workstation without being chained to their desks. Wherever their work takes them, professionals can harness the RTX Studio-based system to handle massive datasets and accelerate compute-intensive workflows, such as creating 3D animations, rendering photoreal product designs, editing 8K video, visualizing volumetric geophysical datasets and conducting walk-throughs of photoreal building designs in VR.
The Quadro RTX 6000 at the heart of the ProArt StudioBook One enables creatives and other innovators to tap into the power of a high-end deskside workstation without being chained to their desks. Wherever their work takes them, professionals can harness the RTX Studio-based system to handle massive datasets and accelerate compute-intensive workflows, such as creating 3D animations, rendering photoreal product designs, editing 8K video, visualizing volumetric geophysical datasets and conducting walk-throughs of photoreal building designs in VR.
Razer unveils the World's First Gaming Ultrabook - Razer Blade Stealth 13
Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced their new Razer Blade Stealth 13 with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphics - the World's First Gaming Ultrabook. Powered by Intel's new 10th generation processor, the new Razer Blade Stealth 13 delivers true gaming performance packed into an amazingly thin 15 mm chassis weighing only 1.3 kg.
"Razer is constantly pushing the boundaries of what's possible, by designing laptops that utilize the most powerful components in the smallest chassis" says Brad Wildes, Senior Vice President of Razer's Systems Division. "We did it with our original Razer Blade, which led the trend of slim gaming systems, and now we're doing it again with our Blade Stealth, pioneering a new market for powerful, small-footprint laptops."
"Razer is constantly pushing the boundaries of what's possible, by designing laptops that utilize the most powerful components in the smallest chassis" says Brad Wildes, Senior Vice President of Razer's Systems Division. "We did it with our original Razer Blade, which led the trend of slim gaming systems, and now we're doing it again with our Blade Stealth, pioneering a new market for powerful, small-footprint laptops."
TP-Link Launches the Wi-Fi 6 Router Archer AX50 Powered by Intel Technology
TP-Link, a leading global provider of consumer and business networking products, today announced its revolutionary AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 router—Archer AX50. Targeted at the mainstream and equipped with the Intel Home Wi-Fi Chipset, Archer AX50 will deliver a premium Wi-Fi 6 Gig+ experience to more families at an affordable price point. Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) is expected to be the most significant leap in Wi-Fi technology, developed in response to the ever growing demands on home Wi-Fi. With Intel's Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) technology, Archer AX50 is capable of delivering a huge boost in speed and total capacity by utilizing a cutting-edge Wi-Fi 6 foundation.
Mainstream adoption of Wi-Fi 6 is growing with the introduction of more and more AX clients. Archer AX50 is estimated to be a major router product to hit the mass market. "Intel was the first to introduce Wi-Fi 6 for the PC and multiple PCs are now being introduced with the technology worldwide. Embedded with Intel's Wi-Fi 6 technology, TP-Link Archer AX50 can deliver Gig+ speeds to new PCs with Intel Wi-Fi 6 Gig+," said Pingji Li, VP & GM of TP-Link Networking BU. "Intel is devoted to bringing Wi-Fi 6 Gig+ to more people for a better experience. The close collaboration with Intel helps TP-Link as we continuously strive for better connectivity, anywhere, at any time, for more people to deliver better experiences."
Mainstream adoption of Wi-Fi 6 is growing with the introduction of more and more AX clients. Archer AX50 is estimated to be a major router product to hit the mass market. "Intel was the first to introduce Wi-Fi 6 for the PC and multiple PCs are now being introduced with the technology worldwide. Embedded with Intel's Wi-Fi 6 technology, TP-Link Archer AX50 can deliver Gig+ speeds to new PCs with Intel Wi-Fi 6 Gig+," said Pingji Li, VP & GM of TP-Link Networking BU. "Intel is devoted to bringing Wi-Fi 6 Gig+ to more people for a better experience. The close collaboration with Intel helps TP-Link as we continuously strive for better connectivity, anywhere, at any time, for more people to deliver better experiences."
Control Can Use Up to 18.5GB of Video Memory
"Control" by Remedy is the season's hottest AAA release, not just because it's an above-average story-driven action RPG, but also because it's an eye candy-shop. With the ability to use NVIDIA RTX real-time raytracing across a multitude of features, the game is particularly heavy on graphics hardware. Tweaktown tested the game's stability at extremely high display resolutions, including 8K, and found that the game can use up to 18.5 GB of video memory, when running in DirectX 12 with RTX enabled. There's only one client-segment graphics card capable of that much memory, the $2,499 NVIDIA TITAN RTX, which ships with 24 GB of GDDR6 memory. Its nearest client-segment neighbor is the AMD Radeon VII, but it only packs 16 GB of HBM2.
When a game needs more video memory than your graphics card has, Windows has an elaborate memory management system that sheds some of that memory onto your system's main memory, and the swap file progressively (at reduced performance, of course). Video memory usage drops like a rock between 8K and 4K UHD (which is 1/4th the pixels as 8K). With all RTX features enabled and other settings maxed out, "Control" only uses 8.1 GB of video memory. What this also means is that video cards with just 8 GB of memory are beginning fall short of what it takes to game at 4K. The $699 GeForce RTX 2080 Super only has 8 GB. The RTX 2080 Ti, with its 11 GB of memory has plenty of headroom and muscle. Find other interesting observations in the source link below.
When a game needs more video memory than your graphics card has, Windows has an elaborate memory management system that sheds some of that memory onto your system's main memory, and the swap file progressively (at reduced performance, of course). Video memory usage drops like a rock between 8K and 4K UHD (which is 1/4th the pixels as 8K). With all RTX features enabled and other settings maxed out, "Control" only uses 8.1 GB of video memory. What this also means is that video cards with just 8 GB of memory are beginning fall short of what it takes to game at 4K. The $699 GeForce RTX 2080 Super only has 8 GB. The RTX 2080 Ti, with its 11 GB of memory has plenty of headroom and muscle. Find other interesting observations in the source link below.
Tuesday, September 3rd 2019
Today's Reviews
Desktop PC
Graphics Cards
Keyboards
Memory
Motherboards
Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL Review
The Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL is the next chassis in collaboration with Der8auer and represents a larger variant of the original O11 Dynamic not only allowing for more storage and cooling but also the change to sprinkle in a slew of functional and cosmetic additions.
SteelSeries Launches First Four-In-One Wireless Headset for Nintendo Switch, PS4, PC and Mobile
SteelSeries, the makers of the most award-winning headset line in history, today announces the newest member of the Arctis family, the Arctis 1 Wireless. The Arctis 1 Wireless features the new slimmed down body of the Arctis 1, but connects via a small USB-C dongle for a true lossless and low latency connection across Nintendo Switch, PS4, PC and mobile.
The Arctis 1 Wireless is the ultimate 4-in-1 wireless headset. Through a small USB-C dongle, it features SteelSeries' lossless 2.4 GHz wireless technology for ultra-low latency wireless on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4 and Android. This allows users to easily take the same console or PC experience on-the-go on Nintendo Switch or Android devices.
The Arctis 1 Wireless is the ultimate 4-in-1 wireless headset. Through a small USB-C dongle, it features SteelSeries' lossless 2.4 GHz wireless technology for ultra-low latency wireless on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4 and Android. This allows users to easily take the same console or PC experience on-the-go on Nintendo Switch or Android devices.
AMD Issues Statement on Low Ryzen 3000 Boost Clocks, BIOS Update Soon
After AMD's Ryzen 3rd generation launch many users have reported that they are not seeing the advertised boost clocks that AMD promises in their specifications. This has been an ongoing issue, with various tweaks tried, with limited success. This lead to serious allegations about "false advertising", and all AMD had to say up to this point was that these clocks are "up to".
AMD has now issued a statement regarding these lower than expected clock frequencies on Zen 2 processors, and it looks like there is indeed an underlying BIOS issue that's responsible. Let's hope that this new firmware gets released quickly and is able to restore faith in AMD's otherwise excellent track-record.
AMD has now issued a statement regarding these lower than expected clock frequencies on Zen 2 processors, and it looks like there is indeed an underlying BIOS issue that's responsible. Let's hope that this new firmware gets released quickly and is able to restore faith in AMD's otherwise excellent track-record.
HyperX Now Shipping the Cloud Orbit and Cloud Orbit S Gaming Headsets
HyperX, a gaming division of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., today announced the release of HyperX Cloud Orbit and Cloud Orbit S gaming headsets. Both headsets feature 100 mm Audeze planar magnetic drivers and offer Waves Nx 3D audio. The premium Cloud Orbit S headset includes Waves Nx head tracking technology to create a 3D audio experience while tracking head movements 1000 times a second. Gamers looking for affordable audiophile quality sound will find Cloud Orbit headsets deliver high resolution audio while gaming or listening to music. For audiophiles comparing similar headsets with planar drivers that typically cost thousands of dollars, Cloud Orbit is a premium headset that delivers audio quality audio at an attractive price under $300.
Both the Cloud Orbit and Cloud Orbit S headsets utilize 100 mm planar magnetic drivers and 3D audio technology to provide clear, realistic audio while creating an enhanced sound localization in a three-dimensional sound space. These Cloud Orbit headsets offer integrated audio controls located on the earcup to easily toggle features including HyperX custom-tuned 7.1 surround sound with a touch of a button. They also offer advanced audio customization to easily calibrate 3D audio settings to individual user measurements, customizable room ambiance, and built-in preset EQ profiles.
Both the Cloud Orbit and Cloud Orbit S headsets utilize 100 mm planar magnetic drivers and 3D audio technology to provide clear, realistic audio while creating an enhanced sound localization in a three-dimensional sound space. These Cloud Orbit headsets offer integrated audio controls located on the earcup to easily toggle features including HyperX custom-tuned 7.1 surround sound with a touch of a button. They also offer advanced audio customization to easily calibrate 3D audio settings to individual user measurements, customizable room ambiance, and built-in preset EQ profiles.
Primate Labs Introduces GeekBench 5, Drops 32-bit Support
Primate Labs, developers of the ubiquitous benchmarking application GeekBench, have announced the release of version 5 of the software. The new version brings numerous changes, and one of the most important (since if affects compatibility) is that it will only be distributed in a 64-bit version. Some under the hood changes include additions to the CPU benchmark tests (including machine learning, augmented reality, and computational photography) as well as increases in the memory footprint for tests so as to better gauge impacts of your memory subsystem on your system's performance. Also introduced are different threading models for CPU benchmarking, allowing for changes in workload attribution and the corresponding impact on CPU performance.
On the Compute side of things, GeekBench 5 now supports the Vulkan API, which joins CUDA, Metal, and OpenCL. GPU-accelerated compute for computer vision tasks such as Stereo Matching, and augmented reality tasks such as Feature Matching are also available. For iOS users, there is now a Dark Mode for the results interface. GeekBench 5 is available now, 50% off, on Primate Labs' store.
On the Compute side of things, GeekBench 5 now supports the Vulkan API, which joins CUDA, Metal, and OpenCL. GPU-accelerated compute for computer vision tasks such as Stereo Matching, and augmented reality tasks such as Feature Matching are also available. For iOS users, there is now a Dark Mode for the results interface. GeekBench 5 is available now, 50% off, on Primate Labs' store.
USB-IF Announces Publication of USB4 Specification
USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), the support organization for the advancement and adoption of USB technology, today announced the publication of the USB4 specification, a major update to deliver the next-generation USB architecture that complements and builds upon the existing USB 3.2 and USB 2.0 architectures. The USB4 architecture is based on the Thunderbolt protocol specification recently contributed by Intel Corporation to the USB Promoter Group. It doubles the maximum aggregate bandwidth of USB and enables multiple simultaneous data and display protocols.
The development of the USB4 specification was first announced in March 2019 by the USB Promoter Group. It is now officially published by USB-IF and available for download here.
The development of the USB4 specification was first announced in March 2019 by the USB Promoter Group. It is now officially published by USB-IF and available for download here.
AOC Launches the CQ27G1 Monitor: 27" VA, 2560 x 1440, 144Hz, 1 ms, FreeSync for $279
AOC has added to their CQ lineup of gaming monitors with a 27" option. The CQ27G1 features a 27", curved diagonal (1800R). The VA panel has a 2560 x 1440 pixel density, a 144 Hz refresh rate with 1 ms response time, and FreeSync support (of which the ranges haven't been disclosed). The 250 nits peak brightness won't win any awards, and might be an issue in direct sunlight scenarios, but will be adequate in most situations. The 3000:1 contrast ratio isn't anything to write home about, but it isn't terrible, either.
To keep pricing as low as it is, AOC wisely decided to cut the speakers and USB hub from this monitor, and reduced connectivity options. Available are 1x DisplayPort, 2x HDMI 2.0, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The stand features height (±130 mm), tilt (-4° ~ +21.5°), and swivel (±34°) adjustments, and 100 x 100 VESA mounting holes. The AOC CQ27G1 will be available from the usual parties for $279, which seems a legitimate ask for such a monitor.
To keep pricing as low as it is, AOC wisely decided to cut the speakers and USB hub from this monitor, and reduced connectivity options. Available are 1x DisplayPort, 2x HDMI 2.0, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The stand features height (±130 mm), tilt (-4° ~ +21.5°), and swivel (±34°) adjustments, and 100 x 100 VESA mounting holes. The AOC CQ27G1 will be available from the usual parties for $279, which seems a legitimate ask for such a monitor.
Sapphire Teases RX 5700 XT NITRO Graphics Card
Sapphire China has let out a partial teaser of their upcoming RX 5700 XT NITRO graphics card, which is nearing release and has apparently been finalized. The design shows a slightly longer graphics card than we're used to from Sapphire in recent generation (based on 8-pin port placement and component ratio in the provided image).
The card will seemingly sport a silver-based finish (and what looks like black details in the fan area), and features an RGB "SAPPHIRE" detail on the side, as well as what looks like an RGB strip alongside the PCB. From the image, it seems Sapphire will be using a triple fan cooling solution on this one. Being set in the NITRO series, it's currently unknown if this will be a NITRO or NITRO+ product.
The card will seemingly sport a silver-based finish (and what looks like black details in the fan area), and features an RGB "SAPPHIRE" detail on the side, as well as what looks like an RGB strip alongside the PCB. From the image, it seems Sapphire will be using a triple fan cooling solution on this one. Being set in the NITRO series, it's currently unknown if this will be a NITRO or NITRO+ product.
New Wacom MobileStudio Pro Provides the Power Creative Professionals Need to Work Without Boundaries
Wacom announces the new Wacom MobileStudio Pro 16 to update its important category of high-end mobile creative pen computers to meet the growing demands of creative professionals. It gives artists, designers and engineers the power they need to run full versions of even the heaviest creative software applications and the freedom to work and create anywhere - on location, with clients, in art and design schools, while travelling, between projects and studios or simply as a standalone all-in-one solution to replace a desktop computer. Just like the Wacom Cintiq Pro pen displays and the Wacom Intuos Pro pen tablets, the Wacom MobileStudio Pro is part of Wacom's dedicated product line for creative professionals, who expect the best performance, pen precision, power and flexibility in the creative tools they use.
LGA 4189 is the Latest Socket for Intel's Next Generation of Xeon CPUs
TE Connectivity, the maker of various kinds of connectivity solutions for computer systems, has released its latest iteration of the LGA socket for the next generation of Xeon Scalable CPUs. Being validated by Intel, the LGA 4189-4 and LGA 4189-5 are going to power the next generation of 10 nm Xeon CPUs, based on the Ice Lake architecture, and up to 56-core 2nd generation Xeon Scalable CPUs. While there are two models of the socket, TE Connectivity didn't reveal what the differences are between them. Socket P4 (LGA 4189-4) and P5 (LGA 4189-5) also feature exactly the same pin count, 0.9906 mm hex pitch and 2.7 mm SP height, so we can only speculate that the "4" or "5" in the revision is supposed to indicate details like higher power delivery capability or support for Ice Lake CPUs.
In addition to providing a new socket for Ice Lake, these sockets have support for PCI-Express Gen 4.0 and eight-channel memory (supported memory configurations are vendor dependent), meaning that we are getting two more memory channels than previous Xeon CPUs with a faster and newer PCIe standard.
In addition to providing a new socket for Ice Lake, these sockets have support for PCI-Express Gen 4.0 and eight-channel memory (supported memory configurations are vendor dependent), meaning that we are getting two more memory channels than previous Xeon CPUs with a faster and newer PCIe standard.
QNAP Introduces QXG-10G2T-107, a Dual-port 5-Speed 10GBASE-T NIC
QNAP Systems, Inc. today introduced the new QXG-10G2T-107, a dual-port PCI Express (PCIe) 10GBASE-T/NBASE-T NIC that supports 5 network speeds. It can be installed in a compatible QNAP NAS or a Windows /Linux PC with PCIe 2.0 x4 slots, providing organizations or individuals with a flexible and economical 10 GbE network connectivity solution.
The QXG-10G2T-107 uses the Aquantia AQtion AQC107S Ethernet controller that supports 10/5/2.5/1 Gbps and 100 Mbps network speeds. The RJ45 connector design also allows users to use existing cables. Transmission speeds can reach up to 5 Gbps when using CAT-5e cables, or up to 10 Gbps when using CAT 6 (or advanced versions) cables, unleashing the full potential of the QXG-10G2T-107.
The QXG-10G2T-107 uses the Aquantia AQtion AQC107S Ethernet controller that supports 10/5/2.5/1 Gbps and 100 Mbps network speeds. The RJ45 connector design also allows users to use existing cables. Transmission speeds can reach up to 5 Gbps when using CAT-5e cables, or up to 10 Gbps when using CAT 6 (or advanced versions) cables, unleashing the full potential of the QXG-10G2T-107.
Be Quiet! Unveils the Pure Base 500 Case
be quiet!, the market leader in PC power supplies in Germany since 2007, announces Pure Base 500, an ATX PC chassis for price-conscious PC builders. Despite its compact dimensions, the new case has enough room for powerful hardware and packs attractive features, like an interchangeable top cover and a mounting bracket designed to hold up to two 2.5" SSDs in the main chamber. Pure Base 500 is the first mass-produced case from be quiet! that comes in three base colors: black, metallic gray and white.
Out of the box, Pure Base 500 is set up with a magnetically attached, sound-insulated top cover, featuring air-exchange vents towards its rear section. Pure Base 500 also includes an alternative, highly air-permeable top cover designed to decrease temperatures for water cooled builds using a radiator installed in the case's top. Radiators installed in the top section can be 120 or 240 millimeters long, while the front holds radiators with a length of 120, 140, 240, 280 or even 360 millimeters. Pure Base 500 is shipped with two preinstalled Pure Wings 2 140 mm fans with a maximum speed of 900 RPM.
Out of the box, Pure Base 500 is set up with a magnetically attached, sound-insulated top cover, featuring air-exchange vents towards its rear section. Pure Base 500 also includes an alternative, highly air-permeable top cover designed to decrease temperatures for water cooled builds using a radiator installed in the case's top. Radiators installed in the top section can be 120 or 240 millimeters long, while the front holds radiators with a length of 120, 140, 240, 280 or even 360 millimeters. Pure Base 500 is shipped with two preinstalled Pure Wings 2 140 mm fans with a maximum speed of 900 RPM.
Enermax Introduces a New ETS-T50 AXE ARGB CPU Cooler Variant
ENERMAX, a leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance PC hardware products, adds an addressable RGB version into ETS-T50 AXE lineup. The extended product series is called ETS-T50 AXE ARGB, which can support the cooling performance of 230 W+ TDP and is designed to display fascinating addressable RGB lighting effects by synchronizing with ASUS Aura, ASRock Polychrome, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion and MSI Mystic Light Sync.
The exclusive plug & play function further enables ETS-T50 AXE ARGB to display luminous rainbow RGB lighting effect by simply connecting the PWM power cable. Available in black and white colors, ETS-T50 AXE ARGB is compatible with both Intel and AMD CPU sockets (except socket TR4/SP3).
The exclusive plug & play function further enables ETS-T50 AXE ARGB to display luminous rainbow RGB lighting effect by simply connecting the PWM power cable. Available in black and white colors, ETS-T50 AXE ARGB is compatible with both Intel and AMD CPU sockets (except socket TR4/SP3).
Ubisoft's UPlay+ Goes Live, September Month Free
Ubisoft's games SaaS (software as a service) subscription platform, UPlay+, has gone live in select markets, such as the UK. The month of September is completely free, and is charged £12.99 per month thereafter. Unlike Origin Access, UPlay+ isn't tiered, and you get full access to over 100 AAA titles from Ubisoft, including their premium editions and DLCs. UPlay+ subscribers also become eligible to early-access beta access to upcoming games. You also get SaaS essentials such as the ability to cancel your subscription at any time, and renew it later (along with your data intact). There's a catch to the September FFA - you need to provide your credit card details upfront, which UPlay authenticates with a £1 reversible charge. On October 1, the first charge for £12.99 takes place, and your subscription rolls on. Reddit members have reported teething troubles with the payment gateway such as failed credit card charges.
Yangtze Memory Begins Mass-production of 64-layer 3D NAND Flash Memory
Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC), a Chinese state-backed semiconductor company founded in 2016 as part of the Chinese Government's tech-independence push, has commenced mass-production of 64-layer 3D NAND flash memory chips, at a rate of 100,000 to 150,000 wafers per month leading into 2020. The 64-layer 3D NAND chips are based on YMTC's "in-house" Xtracking architecture. The company is already developing a 128-layer 3D NAND flash chip, and is skipping 96-layer along the way.
YMTC's capacity will be augmented by a new fab being built by its parent company, Tsinghua Unigroup. Tsinghua is a state-owned company which holds a controlling 51 percent stake in YMTC, and is a beneficiary of China's National Semiconductor Industry Investment Fund. When it goes online in 2021-22, the new Tsinghua fab, located in Chengdu, will augment YMTC's capacity by an additional 100,000 12-inch wafers per month. Its existing fab in Nanjing will also receive a capacity expansion.
YMTC's capacity will be augmented by a new fab being built by its parent company, Tsinghua Unigroup. Tsinghua is a state-owned company which holds a controlling 51 percent stake in YMTC, and is a beneficiary of China's National Semiconductor Industry Investment Fund. When it goes online in 2021-22, the new Tsinghua fab, located in Chengdu, will augment YMTC's capacity by an additional 100,000 12-inch wafers per month. Its existing fab in Nanjing will also receive a capacity expansion.
AMD "Renoir" APU to Support LPDDR4X Memory and New Display Engine
AMD's next-generation "Renoir" APU, which succeeds the company's 12 nm "Picasso," will be the company's truly next-generation chip to feature an integrated graphics solution. It's unclear as of now, if the chip will be based on a monolithic die, or if it will be a multi-chip module of a 7 nm "Zen 2" chiplet paired with an enlarged I/O controller die that has the iGPU. We're getting confirmation on two key specs - one, that the iGPU will be based on the older "Vega" graphics architecture, albeit with an updated display engine to support the latest display standards; and two, that the processor's memory controller will support the latest LPDDR4X memory standard, at speeds of up to 4266 MHz DDR. In comparison, Intel's "Ice Lake-U" chip supports LPDDX4X up to 3733 MHz.
Code-lines pointing toward "Vega" graphics with an updated display controller mention the new DCN 2.1, found in AMD's new "Navi 10" GPU. This controller supports resolutions of up to 8K, DSC 1.2a, and new resolutions of 4K up to 240 Hz and 8K 60 Hz over a single cable, along with 30 bits per pixel color. The multimedia engine is also suitably updated to VCN 2.1 standard, and provides hardware-accelerated decoding for some of the newer video formats, such as VP9 and H.265 at up to 90 fps at 4K, and 8K up to 24 fps, and H.264 up to 150 fps at 4K. There's no word on when "Renoir" comes out, but a 2020 International CES unveil is likely.
Code-lines pointing toward "Vega" graphics with an updated display controller mention the new DCN 2.1, found in AMD's new "Navi 10" GPU. This controller supports resolutions of up to 8K, DSC 1.2a, and new resolutions of 4K up to 240 Hz and 8K 60 Hz over a single cable, along with 30 bits per pixel color. The multimedia engine is also suitably updated to VCN 2.1 standard, and provides hardware-accelerated decoding for some of the newer video formats, such as VP9 and H.265 at up to 90 fps at 4K, and 8K up to 24 fps, and H.264 up to 150 fps at 4K. There's no word on when "Renoir" comes out, but a 2020 International CES unveil is likely.
Monday, September 2nd 2019
Today's Reviews
Accessories
Cases
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Headphones
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Motherboards
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ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming X Review
The top board from ASRock's excellent Phantom Gaming line, the X570 Phantom Gaming X brings the signature 2.5 Gb/s Phantom Gaming LAN as well as a powerful VRM, excellent RGB lighting, and even a metal backplate! This is the most affordable of the high-end mainstream boards, so how does it stack up to the competition?
ASRock Radeon RX 5700 XT Taichi OC+ Pictured
ASRock is ready with its flagship Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics card, which is among its first fully in-house graphics card designs. The Radeon RX 5700 XT Taichi features a board design that was teased at the 2019 Computex show as a high-end graphics card cooling solution concept. It's since been mated with a custom-design RX 5700 XT PCB. The card features a triple-slot cooling solution with an aluminium fin-stack heatsink, and a cooler shroud that holds three fans. The smaller central fan features an RGB LED embellishment. A tiny LED segment display along the top of the cooler appears to display real-time monitoring. ASRock's signature Taichi gearwheel aesthetic carries over not just to the cooler, but also its backplate.
The PCB is noticeably taller than the AMD reference PCB, pulls power from a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors, offers dual-BIOS with a toggle between an "OC BIOS" and a "Silent BIOS," an LED lighting master control switch, and possibly a strong VRM solution to keep the juices flowing to "Navi." The clock-speeds of the card are still under the wraps, but it's likely that only the OC BIOS features factory-overclocked speeds, while the Silent BIOS ticks at reference clock speeds to favor an aggressive fan-control. Both BIOSes could offer idle fan-stop. The display connectivity is particularly interesting - four DisplayPorts, and two HDMI connectors, all along the rear I/O. There's no word on the availability, but at least the box-art proves this card isn't a tradeshow unicorn.
The PCB is noticeably taller than the AMD reference PCB, pulls power from a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors, offers dual-BIOS with a toggle between an "OC BIOS" and a "Silent BIOS," an LED lighting master control switch, and possibly a strong VRM solution to keep the juices flowing to "Navi." The clock-speeds of the card are still under the wraps, but it's likely that only the OC BIOS features factory-overclocked speeds, while the Silent BIOS ticks at reference clock speeds to favor an aggressive fan-control. Both BIOSes could offer idle fan-stop. The display connectivity is particularly interesting - four DisplayPorts, and two HDMI connectors, all along the rear I/O. There's no word on the availability, but at least the box-art proves this card isn't a tradeshow unicorn.
Antec Announces Striker Open Air Chassis
Antec, leading provider of high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself market, shows off a new angle of innovation: the new open-frame Mini-Tower "Striker" is now commercially available at MSRP USD$ 249.99 in US.
Striker is designed for custom water-cooling enthusiasts. Characterized by its irregular shape, unique form and innovative structure, Striker is the first open case featuring a front-placed VGA design, ITX form factor and bold styling. Shaped into a spectacular open-air frame, Striker measures 420 mm x 230 mm x 410 mm and comes with a front GPU mount. Located on the right side, the front access includes a Type-C 3.1, 2x USB 3.0 ports, HD Audio and power button.
Striker is designed for custom water-cooling enthusiasts. Characterized by its irregular shape, unique form and innovative structure, Striker is the first open case featuring a front-placed VGA design, ITX form factor and bold styling. Shaped into a spectacular open-air frame, Striker measures 420 mm x 230 mm x 410 mm and comes with a front GPU mount. Located on the right side, the front access includes a Type-C 3.1, 2x USB 3.0 ports, HD Audio and power button.
EK Water Blocks Unveils EK-Momentum MSI Z390 MEG Godlike D-RGB Monoblocks
EK Water Blocks, European premium liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is releasing an Intel LGA1151 socket based monoblock belonging to the Quantum Line of products, the EK-Momentum MEG Z390 Godlike. This monoblock is engineered specifically for the MSI MEG Z390 GODLIKE motherboard. The addressable D-RGB LED in the monoblock is compatible with Mystic Light Infinity RGB control, thus offering a full lighting customization experience for every single diode at any given time.
This is a complete all-in-one (CPU and motherboard) liquid cooling solution for motherboards that supports the 8th and 9th generation of Intel Core processors. The monoblock is compatible with the MSI MEG Z390 GODLIKE motherboard.
This is a complete all-in-one (CPU and motherboard) liquid cooling solution for motherboards that supports the 8th and 9th generation of Intel Core processors. The monoblock is compatible with the MSI MEG Z390 GODLIKE motherboard.
India First Country to Deploy AI Machine Learning to Fight Income Tax Evasion
India is building a large AI machine learning data-center that can crunch through trillions of financial transactions per hour to process income tax returns of India's billion-strong income tax assessee base. India's Income Tax Department has relied on human tax assessment officers that are randomly selected by a computer to assess tax returned filed by individuals, in an increasingly inefficient system that's prone to both evasion and corruption. India has already been using machine learning since 2017 to fish out cases of tax-evasion for further human scrutiny. The AI now replaces human assessment officers, relegating them up an escalation matrix.
The AI/ML assessment system is a logical next step to two big policy decisions the Indian government has taken in recent years: one of 100% data-localization by foreign entities conducting commerce in India; and getting India's vast population to use electronic payment instruments, away from paper-money, by de-monetizing high-value currency, and replacing it with a scarce supply of newer bank-notes that effectively force people to use electronic instruments. Contributing to these efforts are some of the lowest 4G mobile data prices in the world (as low as $1.50 for 40 GB of 4G LTE data), and low-cost smartphone handsets. It's also free to open a basic bank account with no minimum balance requirements.
The AI/ML assessment system is a logical next step to two big policy decisions the Indian government has taken in recent years: one of 100% data-localization by foreign entities conducting commerce in India; and getting India's vast population to use electronic payment instruments, away from paper-money, by de-monetizing high-value currency, and replacing it with a scarce supply of newer bank-notes that effectively force people to use electronic instruments. Contributing to these efforts are some of the lowest 4G mobile data prices in the world (as low as $1.50 for 40 GB of 4G LTE data), and low-cost smartphone handsets. It's also free to open a basic bank account with no minimum balance requirements.
Der8auer: Only Small Percentage of 3rd Gen Ryzen CPUs Hit Their Advertised Speeds
World famous overclocker Der8auer published his survey of boost clocks found on 3rd generation Ryzen CPUs. Collecting data from almost 3,000 entries from people around the world, he has found out that a majority of the 3000 series Ryzen CPUs are not hitting their advertised boost speeds. Perhaps one of the worst results from the entire survey are for the 12-core Ryzen 9 3900X, for which only 5.6% of entries reported have managed to reach the boost speeds AMD advertises. However, the situation is better for lower-end SKUs, with about half of the Ryzen 5 3600 results showing that their CPU is boosting correctly and within advertised numbers.
Der8auer carefully selected the results that went into the survey, where he discarded any numbers that used either specialized cooling like water chillers, Precision Boost Overdrive - PBO or the results which were submitted by "fanboys" who wanted to game the result. Testing was purely scientific using Cinebench R15 and clock speeds were recorded using HWinfo (which got recommendation from AMD), so he could get as precise data as possible.
Der8auer carefully selected the results that went into the survey, where he discarded any numbers that used either specialized cooling like water chillers, Precision Boost Overdrive - PBO or the results which were submitted by "fanboys" who wanted to game the result. Testing was purely scientific using Cinebench R15 and clock speeds were recorded using HWinfo (which got recommendation from AMD), so he could get as precise data as possible.
MSI Rolls Out MAG Optix G27C4 1500R Curved Monitor with 165Hz Refresh Rate
MSI today rolled out the MAG Optix G27C4 27-inch curved gaming monitor. With a more acute curvature of 1500R (compared to the prevelant 1800R monitors), the Optix G27C4 boasts of 165 Hz refresh-rate and support for AMD FreeSync. The Samsung-sourced VA panel offers Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution, 1 ms response-times, 178°/178° viewing-angles, and an anti-glare surface treatment. Display inputs include DisplayPort 1.2a (needed for FreeSync), and two HDMI 1.4a ports. The panel also offers blue-light reduction, and flicker-free LED backlighting. Measuring 611.5 mm × 225.4 mm × 457.9 mm (WxDxH), the monitor weighs around 5.4 kg. The company didn't reveal pricing.
Intel Releases Graphics Drivers with Integer Upscaling - Only Available on Ice Lake
Intel over the weekend posted Graphics Software 25.20.100.7155, which delivers the much touted integer upscaling feature, branded as "Retro Scaling" by the company. The feature is a global toggle in the Graphics Command Center, which when enabled, upscales low-resolution retro games in a nearest-neighbor pixel multiplication model that looks better, when compared to classic bilinear upscaling, which alters the color data of multiplied pixels, causing the upscaled image to look blurry. This is a godsend for those playing old games on emulators, or even some of the newer indie games that retain a retro aesthetic.
Here's the catch - the feature is only available for Intel's Gen11 iGPU, found in the company's 10 nm "Ice Lake" processors. Intel currently ships "Ice Lake" only in its low-voltage and very low z-height packages, targeting notebooks and convertibles. The older Gen9.5 GPUs don't get access to the feature. The only other company with such a feature is NVIDIA, and even it restricts integer upscaling to only its latest "Turing" GPUs. Both NVIDIA and Intel leverage programmable scaling filters, instead of taking the programmable shader route. Intel is marking the feature as "beta" for now. Grab the drivers from the link below.
DOWNLOAD: Intel Graphics Software 25.20.100.7155 DCH
Here's the catch - the feature is only available for Intel's Gen11 iGPU, found in the company's 10 nm "Ice Lake" processors. Intel currently ships "Ice Lake" only in its low-voltage and very low z-height packages, targeting notebooks and convertibles. The older Gen9.5 GPUs don't get access to the feature. The only other company with such a feature is NVIDIA, and even it restricts integer upscaling to only its latest "Turing" GPUs. Both NVIDIA and Intel leverage programmable scaling filters, instead of taking the programmable shader route. Intel is marking the feature as "beta" for now. Grab the drivers from the link below.
DOWNLOAD: Intel Graphics Software 25.20.100.7155 DCH
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