Tech News
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EK Covers the MSI MEG Z390 ACE With a Momentum Monoblock
Published: Monday, July 29, 2019 | By: DennisI'm not sure how I missed this but I am impressed.
Earlier this year I used the MSI Z390 ACE for some extreme overclocking using LN2 on a 9900K. This was an extended project allowing me to clock in excess of 6Ghz over two weeks. The system ran like a champ and allowed me to capture a gold cup in 3DMark 06.
After that I wondered what other extreme stuff I could do with the board and was saddened by the fact that, at the time, I could not watercool the board.
Well. it turns out you can.
EK-Momentum MSI MEG Z390 ACE D-RGB
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. Motherboards that are compatible with this monoblock are the following: MEG Z390 ACE. Designed and engineered in cooperation with MSI®, this monoblock uses the latest generation of EK cooling engine used on the Quantum lineup to ensure the best possible CPU cooling while not reducing flow to other components. This water block directly cools the LGA1151 socket type CPU, as well as the voltage regulation (MOSFET) module. Liquid flows directly over all critical areas, providing the enthusiasts with a great solution for high and stable overclocks. Like with every EK monoblock, EK-Momentum MEG Z390 ACE D-RGB features high flow design and it can be easily used with the system using a weaker water pump or lower pump speed settings as well. The Momentum monoblock also comes with sophisticated D-RGB (addressable) lightning which connects to a standard 3-pin 5V D-RGB header.
This Z390 monoblock also comes with a special cold plate which ensures that the monoblock has better mechanical contact with the IHS of 8th and 9th gen Intel 1151 socket based processors by avoiding raised corners. The result is better thermal transfer. The base of the monoblock is made of nickel-plated electrolytic copper while the top is made of quality acrylic glass material. The nickel plated brass screw-in standoffs are pre-installed and allow for easy installation.
A Digital (addressable) 3-pin 5V D-RGB LED strip is installed in the monoblock that connects to the motherboard’s 3-pin LED header or it can be connected to any other supported 5V 3-pin LED controller. This product is compatible with MSI Mystic Light RGB control software. The arrow marking on the 3-pin LED connector is to be aligned with the +5V marking on the RGB header. -
Logitech G Pro X Gaming Headset @ LanOC Reviews
Published: Sunday, July 28, 2019 | By: DennisOne thing I like about LanOC, is not so much the LAN parties (which are stil good) but that they include a super long description about the review. Check it out!
The pro lineup of mice and keyboards from Logitech has been by far my favorite thing that they have been working on over the last few years. Don’t get me wrong I like a lot of their other products, but the pro products have been a lot more subtle with their styling and clearly more in tune with the enthusiasts that you will find on product specific forums and subreddits. For example, the keyboard enthusiasts hating the “gaming” fonts used on so many keyboards and giving the pro keyboard thin bezels. On the mouse side of things, the enthusiasts on Reddit are extremely vocal about mice needing to be lightweight and aiming for shapes that are similar to classic mouse designs. Well, last year Logitech introduced their pro headset which moved away from the scratchy materials and went with a cleaner styling. Here almost a year and a half later they are introducing their refreshed lineup with the G Pro X Gaming Headset and the G Pro Gaming Headset. Today I’m going to check out the X model and see if it can win me over. I haven’t taken a look at a Logitech headset in a few years, I’m excited to see how the G Pro X performs. Let’s check it out!
To be honest I am a Logitech fan but only so much as desktop speakers and mice. Everything else I have pretty much ignored. Maybe Logitech can help change my mind.
*Hint Hint *Wink Wink to the Logitech marketing department
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Sennheiser GSP 670 @ Vortez
Published: Sunday, July 28, 2019 | By: DennisSennheiser is a common name in high-end headphones with a few gaming products out there with one noteable exception. They are all corded.
Well, the GSP 670 is about to change all that.
The GSP 670 follows the same design focus as the GSP 600, meaning no RGB and while ditching the wires and attempting to make cable management that little bit easier however this doesn't come without downsides, the headset is only compatible with PC & PS4 rather than all consoles however it also features Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity to enable you to connect to smart phones & tablets.
So, the only thing I caught out of that quote is "No RGB?!?" How dare they!!
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Zotac GeForce RTX 2070 Super AMP Extreme @ TechPowerUp
Published: Sunday, July 28, 2019 | By: DennisWhen the "Super" cards started hitting the market something crossed my mind. "How will the name Super fit with the current marketing out there?" For instance. EVGA has the FTW and Classified so now we have
EVGA RTX 20X0 Super Classified
EVGA RTX 20X0 Super FTWOr even better the ASUS cards.
ASUS RTX 20X0 Super Strix
Aorus isn’t’ really impacted much unless you get creative and throw in a random "sports"
.Aorus RTX 20X0 Super Waterforce
However, the best one is from ZOTAC and what was once a powerful “go to” product name has been reduced to a silly phrase that will be joked about at LN2 parties for years to come.
ZOTAC RTX 20X0 Super AMP Extreme
I mean it just rolls off the tongue doesn't it?? Speaking of the Super AMP Extreme, reviewers at the TechPowerUp powerhouse have a review posted and it looks pretty good.
Zotac's RTX 2070 Super AMP Extreme is priced only $10 higher the NVIDIA Founders Edition, yet offers a much better triple-slot, triple-fan cooler, and also includes an overclock out of the box. During gaming the card stays quiet, yet manages to beat Founders Edition temperatures at the same time.
I'm not sure $10 USD is really something to comment about but it does help justify a reason for buying that card over anything else on the market.
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Cooler Master Introduces GS750 Desktop Hub
Published: Tuesday, July 16, 2019 | By: DennisLOS ANGELES, CALIF., JULY 16, 2019 - Cooler Master, a global leader in designing and manufacturing innovative gaming peripherals and computer components, today releases its first desktop hub, a headset stand with built in Qi wireless charging.
“We wanted to make a product that would serve multiple functions while also decluttering your space.” says Bryant Nguyen, Peripheral General Manager.
The GS750 is designed to be a desktop companion. It is equipped with a Qi wireless charging base to conveniently charge mobile phones, wireless mice, or other Qi charging compatible devices without the hassle of cables. The GS750 is armed with two USB 3.0 ports to supplement improved charging power on multiple devices. It features a sleek outlook with a premium and durable aluminum construction along with a rubberized base for a stable display of your headset. Onboard 7.1 surround sound provides full-range stereo on any 3.5mm analog headset creating an immersive, multichannel audio experience. With 13 LEDS, users can completely customize the stand to match any setup all within Cooler Master’s easy-to-use software suite or can choose between pre-installed preset patterns.
The GS750 will be available at select Cooler Master retailers including Amazon and Newegg, respectively for $/€79.99 on August 27, 2019. For more information visit www.coolermaster.com.
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Creative Redefines the Pinnacle of Sound Cards with Sound Blaster AE-9 and Sound Blaster AE-7
Published: Tuesday, July 09, 2019 | By: DennisSound Blaster: 30 Years of Revolutionizing Audio
SINGAPORE - 9 July 2019 - Creative Technology Ltd continues its legacy of revolutionizing audio with the launch of its most advanced PCI-e sound cards ever – the Sound Blaster AE-9 and Sound Blaster AE-7. Built with only the most premium components, and complemented with the latest technologies from Creative, these sound cards are designed to define a new performance standard in this class for the ultimate PC entertainment experience.
Sound Blaster: 30 Years of Revolutionizing Audio
Up till 1989, the only sounds coming out of the PC were mere beeps. The same year, Sound Blaster was born, and PC audio was transformed forever. Since then, over 400 million Sound Blasters have been sold; and the Sound Blaster brand has become synonymous with the term ‘sound card’ and high-quality PC audio - first for gaming, and then movies and music.
With experience and expertise refined over three decades of audio innovation, Sound Blaster has continued to reinvent itself with the development of digital audio processing technologies. Each new innovation served to redefine what the ultimate audio experience really means, such as when it evolved beyond the PC in the form of external sound cards for platforms like gaming and entertainment consoles.
“The Sound Blaster philosophy is simple yet demanding. With every new product, we aim to break new ground in four key areas: technology, performance, function and platform. In our 30th year, we will make greater strides than ever before in redefining the Sound Blaster experience. The AE series, which represents our biggest leap in PCI-e sound card innovation yet, is just the beginning. Later this quarter, we will be introducing our latest addition to the ‘X’ series of multi-channel audio external sound cards; it will be the first Sound Blaster product featuring Super X-Fi, our game-changing and award-winning headphone holography technology. And in the next quarter, we will unveil our latest products under the ‘G’ banner of gaming-focused sound cards with better console compatibility and ease of use than before. Simply put, Sound Blaster makes great sound, and never stops making it sound greater,” said Sim Wong Hoo, CEO of Creative.
Sound Blaster AE-9: In a Class of Its Own
Sound Blaster AE-9 is Creative’s flagship PCI-e sound card, and it more than delivers on its promise to gratify the needs of pro-gamers and pro-audio users. It uses audiophile-grade components such as the top-of-the-range ESS 9038 SABRE-class reference DAC that delivers up to 129 dB DNR, PCM 32-bit 384 kHz sampling, DSD64 playback of lossless audio with ultra-low distortion and jitter elimination, and boasts Nichicon Fine-Gold capacitors, WIMA film/foil audio capacitors and swappable op-amps.
What really makes Sound Blaster AE-9 stand out against the competition is its CleanLineTM Technology, a new breakthrough in filtering a microphone path for clear and uncompromised voice communication. This latest technology features specially-designed circuitry and components which eliminates voltage rail issues and isolates unwanted noise caused by power supply ripple from high-performance GPUs. Sound Blaster AE-9 is the first ever to integrate this technology in its core, allowing users to forgo the need for a desktop mixer while still enjoying the benefits of having one.
Sound Blaster AE-7: Next-in-line, Yet Still an Audio Beast
It may seem to sport slightly ‘lesser’ specs compared to the Sound Blaster AE-9, yet Sound Blaster AE-7 is very much a powerful sound card in its own right, being equipped with a hi-res ESS SABRE-class 9018 DAC that boasts up to 127 dB DNR, with 32-bit 384 kHz sampling and DSD64 playback. Audio clarity is the order of the day, with a THD of 0.0001% which represents an upgrade over its predecessor Sound BlasterX AE-5, and also the competition. At its price point, Sound Blaster AE-7 presents an excellent value proposition.
Common Features for Sound Blaster AE-9 and Sound Blaster AE-7The Best Sound Blaster Processing Yet
Enjoy the full spectrum of Sound Blaster audio customization and enhanced audio realism with immersive 5.1 and 7.1 surround virtualization along with Dolby Digital Live encoding and DTS Connect encoding.
Award-winning Headphone Amplification
The custom-designed, award-winning fully discrete Xamp headphone amplifier with push-pull design ensures each audio channel is individually amplified to deliver a whole new level of pristine audio fidelity in an authentic, unaltered lossless model.
All-new Audio Control Module (ACM)
Both sound cards feature ACMs built with user-friendliness in mind. Sound Blaster AE-9’s ACM stands out with a display unit for direct and easy volume control, a headphone selector switch supporting different types of headphone impedance, a multi-function microphone input port with +48V Phantom power and a built-in amplifier.
New and Streamlined Software Interface
The newly designed Sound Blaster Command software sports a revamped user-friendly interface which drives Creative’s signature Sound Blaster Acoustic Engine through achieving more audio control customizations with lesser clicks.
Upgrade Promo for Sound Blaster Users
As a gesture of appreciation for their support over the last 30 years, Creative is offering an exclusive promotion to its fans – the opportunity to upgrade from their old sound cards with an attractive 15% discount off the latest Sound Blaster products. This promotion will be valid for all upcoming Sound Blaster products launched between now and the end of the year. For more information, visit creative.com/upgrade.
Pricing and Availability
Sound Blaster AE-9 (on pre-order) and Sound Blaster AE-7 are priced at USD349.99 and USD229.99 respectively, and are available at Creative.com.
For more information, visit creative.com/SBAE9 and creative.com/SBAE7.
About Creative
Creative is a worldwide leader in digital entertainment products. Famous for its Sound Blaster® sound cards and for driving the multimedia revolution – with over 400 million sold - Creative drives digital entertainment with cutting-edge audio solutions that include premium wireless speakers, wireless headphones, powerful audiophile-grade digital amplifiers and next-generation home-theatre systems. Aiming at the new mobile networked generation by bridging the worlds of the computer, smartphones, and tablets, Creative continues to reinvent the Sound Blaster, with its ground-breaking Sound Blaster Roar series and USB-audio class of products such as the Sound Blaster X7.
In 2016, Creative unveiled the X-Fi Sonic Carrier: a brand-new concept in hi-res audio and video delivery for home entertainment. This technology powerhouse dubbed ‘the soundbar of the gods' personifies the Audio of Tomorrow.
In 2018, Creative launched an all-new game-changing technology for headphones called Super X-Fi® Headphone Holography. This technology uses computational audio to recreate the listening experience of a high-end multi-speaker system in a professional studio, and delivers the same expansive experience - with the same original depth, detail, realism, and spaciousness - in headphones. Super X-Fi further uses Artificial Intelligence to compute a custom audio profile based on a person's unique anthropometry. Super X-Fi has won multiple accolades worldwide, including an unprecedented 15 awards at CES 2019. -
SilverStone Strider Platinum ST1000-PTS 1000W Power Supply Review @ APH Networks
Published: Monday, July 08, 2019 | By: DennisOn great thing about technology is that once you figure out how to do something better everyone benefits. SilverStone showed this PSU at CES and Computex and it is the worlds smallest 1000W PSU.
If you want big power and small size, the SilverStone Strider Platinum ST1000-PTS 1000W is the only power supply in the market that achieves both -- and a decent one at that.
Around the time that 4-way SLI hit the mainstream so did more powerful PSUs. And, they had to be to deliver enough power to run four monster GPUs. This land rush to build a more powerful PSU brought with it a form factor increase and the advent of the 80 Plus power rating.
Fast forward several years and we have 80+ Platinum Power Supplies and finally the first form factor shrink for a 1000W+ PSU since they first hit the market so many years ago.
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AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and Ryzen 9 3900X @ LanOC Reviews
Published: Monday, July 08, 2019 | By: DennisIt won't take anyone long to find a review of the new Ryzen 3700X and 3900X including many of the standard hardware review outlets.
It doesn’t feel like its been over two years now but back in March of 2017 AMD introduced their Ryzen CPUs and without a doubt changed the entire PC market. Things were stagnant in just about every PC market, but especially in the CPU market and the introduction of Ryzen quickly changed things. Before that time the mainstream CPU market got its yearly refreshed quad-core CPU and that was about it. Now today AMD is releasing a mainstream CPU with 12 cores and 24 threads and their low-end APUs are rocking 4 cores. Its been a wild ride and it has had Intel on the defensive. Well today's the day we finally get to take a closer look at the new lineup and AMD sent over the Ryzen 9 3900X and the Ryzen 7 3700X for me to check out. Before I do that I want to dive into the new 3rd generation of Ryzen and the Zen 2 architecture that is powering it. Then from there, we can see how both CPUs perform. Let's go!
Sadly, I am sad to say that I sadly didn't get included
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PCI-Express 4.0 Performance Scaling with Radeon RX 5700 XT @ TechPowerUp
Published: Sunday, July 07, 2019 | By: DennisWith the launch of Zen 2 we also get our first look at PCI Express 4.0 and heaps more bandwidth. The question is. What can you use all that bandwidth for?
Games of course!
PCI-Express 4.0 has been one of the main new features prominently brandished on the product boxes of both the 3rd generation Ryzen desktop processors, and Radeon RX 5700 series graphics cards. We examine the performance impact of running these cards on older generations of PCIe.
A good indication that we have an increase in performance is to do an Apples to Apples test taking the faster component and using it with slower hardware. That will give you a good benchmark to compare against and with how much faster PCI Express 4.0 is it would be interesting to see exactly how it will benefit you.
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Ryzen 3900X & Ryzen 3700X Review @ Bjorn3d
Published: Sunday, July 07, 2019 | By: DennisWhen I was at Computex 2019 I had attended the opening ceremonies where Dr Lisa Su addressed the crowd with news of a 3rd generation Ryzen CPU. As Darren and I have talked on the Hardware Asylum Podcast the new 'Zen processors are rumored to be faster than the Intel parts and in the instance of teh 12-Core Ryzen 9 3900X it was faster than the $1200 12-Core Intel Core i9 9920X.
Well, it would seem that the reviews have started coming in. Lets see what they say.
The King is Dead, Long Live the King! – Ryzen 3900X & Ryzen 3700X Review
The wait for Zen 2 is over and Ryzen 3000 is here! I know I’m kinda spoiling the result by announcing the new king is here, but I don’t think anyone will be surprised with the results we will see today. AMD announced the new Ryzen 3000 series including the two CPUs we have today, the Ryzen 9 3900X and the Ryzen 7 3700X. A short while ago and when AMD demo’d the new Zen 2 based CPU via a Cinebench run head to head and beating the 8700K, I knew we would be in store for something special. How special, I was not sure and while I know, I can tell you that the mainstream king CPU the Core i9 9900K has been usurped.
I really simplified that but I hope you get the point. The CPU wars have been heating up since Zen initially launched a few years back and AMD has been slowly chiseling away at Intel’s market share primarily, but also their performance lead as well. This has been a rather quick progression but in small steps as Ryzen 1st gen and second gen used the initial Zen, then Zen+ which was a more refined version of the initial ZEN core. Now we have Zen 2 which is slated to flip the CPU market on its head if AMD’s initial claims were to be believed. And now its time to dig in and follow the path of what the new platform has to offer and what it can do.Seems they are impressed.
