Ninjalane News

ASUS X79 Motherboard Preview @ Techgage

Published: Friday, October 28, 2011 - By: Dennis
News Source: Email

Gotta love these previews, all the peeks without the leaks.

At its annual tech summit held a couple of weeks ago, ASUS talked in great detail about what's coming to its X79 mobo line-up. Certain NDA's have not yet lifted, but we can talk about a few of the new things ASUS is introducing, and also take an early look at four of the company's X79 motherboards.

The real question is, out of the X79 boards you have seen, what is your favorite?

Full Board Shot of the Gigabyte X79 UD7 Overclocker

Published: Tuesday, October 25, 2011 - By: Dennis
News Source: Web

Partial photos of this motherboard have been floating around the interwebs since IDF and from what we have seen it looks like a careful meld between the traditional UD7 and styling of the X58A-OC.

Last week we gave you all a sneak preview of our forthcoming G1. Assassin 2 board on our facebook page, today we’ve just uploaded some more X79 series motherboard images. Aside from letting us engage with you in some blatant and gratuitous board-voyeurism, it’s also a cool way for us to introduce you to the whole GIGABYTE X79 family.

I am looking forward to the new X79 line, if its anything like Sandy Bridge with better memory and video performance then it will be the platform to have for high-end gaming and hard-core benching.

Here is the EVGA X79 FTW!

Published: Tuesday, October 25, 2011 - By: Dennis
News Source: Web

OMG this is pretty.

Today we are showing the model that is just one step below; the EVGA X79 FTW! This board is similar to the Classified model, but is standard EATX form factor (not XL-ATX) and 3-way SLI + PhysX capable.

Of course, 100% POSCAP Capacitors, Right Angled 24pin power connector, PCI-E and DIMM disable switches, EVBot support, full UEFI BIOS and onboard Bluetooth are just a few of the new features you can expect to see! Stay tuned for more info.

Fostering Better Heatsinks - Does Zalman really use Composite Heatpipes? @ Frostytech

Published: Tuesday, October 25, 2011 - By: Dennis
News Source: Email

We all know that heatpipes are made differently for different purposes and one of the most efficient types is the sintered design.  Sintering is the process of creating solid shapes from powder and as a heatpipe the process does a great job at moving heats from one end to the other.

Heatpipes are among THE most important components of a modern heatsink, but not all heatpipes are created equal. The problem for consumers is that you can't see what's inside a sealed copper tube embedded in a heatsink. You simply have to trust what the manufacturer says is true, unless you want to destroy a rather expensive heatsink... so Frostytech did just that.

Makes me want to start tearing apart some of my coolers and see what is inside.

Battle of the Radeon HD 6950s @ TR

Published: Friday, October 21, 2011 - By: Dennis
News Source: Email

The only thing wrong with the HD6950 is that AMD decided to rename the flagship GPU only to confuse loyal enthusiasts looking for the top of the line and getting a midrange offering.  However, for those of you "In the Know" you will realize that from a cost/performance perspective you can't go wrong with the HD6950 and were smart to hold out.

Enthusiasts seeking the sweet spot in graphics performance would do well to consider the Radeon HD 6950 1GB. Cards can be snagged for less than $250, and they deliver ample performance at resolutions up to 1080p, making them great choices for the next wave of games.

This is a nice round-up, be sure to check it out.

A Sneak Peek at the New Dual LGA2011 from EVGA

Published: Thursday, October 20, 2011 - By: Dennis
News Source: Web

Brace yourself this is going to hit you in places you never thought possible,

Below we have a sneak peek at the new dual socket LGA 2011 overclocking motherboard from EVGA.  The board has yet to be named officially but we can feel fairly certain it will carry on the Super Record and Classified mongers.

Looking at the motherboard we see a total of seven PCI Express video card slots, dual cpu sockets and what appear to be independent digital PWMs.  The reason for the mismatched memory sockets is unclear though it likely has something to do with total memory support, PCI Express lane allocations or an attempt to space the modules further away from the CPU socket.

Beyond the CPU sockets you'll find the chipset and what appears to be a NF200 chip.  Assuming that to be true you can be assured extremely fast SLI across four independent graphics cards.

Keep in mind that PCI Express lanes are rumored to be part of the CPU, like on the Sandy Bridge.  It is my guess that when dealing with dual processors you'll get to use PCIe lanes from the primary CPU socket and just add processing cores from the secondary.

Click the link below for a full size version.

Gigabyte GTX580 Super Overclock Review @ OC3D

Published: Thursday, October 20, 2011 - By: Dennis
News Source: Email

The Gigabyte SOC series video cards are quite unique in that they follow the standard ATX sizing restrictions and still overclock quite well.  Of course most hardware review sites don't subject their cards to LN2 testing but if you happen to have that itch there is a LN2 button on the card to help you along.

As you can see out of the box it appears to be a fairly standard GTX580. Then you note those clock-speeds and get a feel that something special is going on with the Gigabyte GTX580 SOC. As is often the case though the specifications don't tell the full story. So let's grab a look at the card shall we.

With any luck we'll have one of these cards in the lab just to see how they do under LN2.

Sneak Peak! GIGABYTE X79 G1.Assassin2 Motherboard

Published: Thursday, October 20, 2011 - By: Dennis
News Source: Email

For all of you who loved the the previous Gigabyte G1-Killer motherboards we have a treat for you.

The G1-Killer in LGA2011 clothing. cool smileapprove smile

Surely the most eye-catching feature on the G1.Assassin 2 is the revised and updated ‘Locked and Loaded’ heatsink array. After all, what’s the point of assembling one of the deadliest and fiercest 3D gaming rigs ever, if doesn’t actually look the part?

Be sure to check out the Gigabyte Tech Daily blog for more photos and watch their Facebook page for more sneak peeks.

MSI R6870 Hawk Review @ Madshrimps

Published: Monday, October 17, 2011 - By: Dennis
News Source: Email

It goes without saying that video cards have come a long ways over the past two years from cards that only featured stock VRMs and were nothing more than a reference card with a fancy cooler.  Now days you can still get those stock video cards but you can also get extreme cards like the HD6870 Hawk with upgraded cooling and twice the PWM power for the GPU.

In this review we take a closer look at this AMD based HD6870 video card. With the special built Twin Frozr III Cooler and a 8+2 Phase PWM design this one stands out of the crowd. MSI provides this card with a dual speed fan switch. And for a price around € 180 not even much that more expensive to the regular HD6870's. Even cheaper for a few models.

The bonus of a card like this, beyond the obvious overclocking benefits, is better stability at the "hot clocked" settings and peace of mind that you have something better than anyone else.

GeForceLAN 6: Gaming on the high seas!

Published: Monday, October 17, 2011 - By: Dennis
News Source: Email

Ever wonder what it would be like to have a LAN party on an aircraft carrier?

- GeforceLAN 6 LANing on a boat @ LanOC Reviews

Hey guys sorry for the radio silence yesterday but I will give you guys a quick recap. We will be updating this post with our day to day coverage and also with links to other related coverage. Check back all through the weekend to see whats happening at GeforceLAN 6 on the USS Hornet!

- NVIDIA GeForce LAN Day 1 Coverage @ Hardware Canucks

Earlier in the year NVIDIA announced the latest edition of their GeForce LAN events and PC gamers eagerly grabbed tickets to what promised to be one of North America’s largest LAN parties. Once registration was complete, over 600 people had applied to be part of the 48 hour Bring Your Own Computer LAN.  We've got full opening day coverage here.

CM Storm Sirus 5.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset Review @ Techgage

Published: Monday, October 17, 2011 - By: Dennis
News Source: Email

The nature of 5.1 channel sound is one that requires sound sources to be a certain distance from  your ears.  This distance and the timing of the sound reproduction is what gives your brain the illusion of depth, despite how real it is.

What is difficult, is simulating that when the sound sources are mounted directly on your skull.

Finding a 5.1 gaming headset isn't hard, but finding one that's not riddled with problems is. Many companies have been entering the audio market in this way lately, and Cooler Master proves that it's not about to be left out. With its Sirus, we're given one of the best-looking options to date, so let's see if it lives up to the hype.

Basically there are two ways to simulate 5.1 channel sound from a headphone and Cooler Master did it right.

Thermaltake Toughpower 1500 W @ techPowerUp

Published: Monday, October 17, 2011 - By: Dennis
News Source: Email

Looking for a monster of a PSU?  Need a monster PSU?  1500W is about as big as you can go on 110v.

Recently Thermaltake has added three new models to the Toughpower series, which are intended for power hungry systems with triple or even four-way SLI or Crossfire configurations. Today our load testers will have some extra work to do since we are going to test a monstrous Toughpower unit with 1500W capacity.

The real question is, how do you test a 1500w PSU? happy smile

Beavis and Butt-Head's Triumphant Return

Published: Sunday, October 16, 2011 - By: Dennis
News Source: Web

For those of you old enough to remember, and enjoy, Beavis and Butt-Head will find this story to be very interesting.

It would appear that Mike Judge's comedy senses have only sharpened over years. This pilot was easily one of the show's funniest, with the hilarious duo attempting to become werewolves so they can "pick up chicks," just like in Twilight. Naturally, it doesn't go as planned, and Beavis and Butt-Head end up getting bitten by a homeless man they mistake for a werewolf. There was an amusing second short as well that revolved around Butt-Head mocking Beavis for crying during a dumb made-for-TV drama. 

I do not know about you, but this could very well be the holy grail of cartoon sequels.  Or it could be painful like watching some of the current South Park episodes, time will tell.  One thing is for sure, I will have my DVR set.

A roadmap for next-generation mobo firmware @ TR

Published: Friday, October 14, 2011 - By: Dennis
News Source: Email

Here is an interesting look at UEFI replacements for the classic BIOS structure found on most modern motherboards.  I like how the author talks about the current Asus UEFI bios layout and claims there is room for improvement.  Of course there is room to improve, that is the nature of these things and since UEFI is more like an actual GUI program that opens up a variety of possibilities.

The BIOS was never that exciting, but its EFI replacement has the potential to make motherboards much sexier than they've ever been before.  We have some rather specific thoughts on what should be incorporated into new firmware, and we're curious to hear what you think, too.

The truth of the matter is (and is something we purposefully didn't address in our reviews) is that UEFI is too new.  I will gladly admit that Asus has the best implementation out of any we have used but when you remove the fancy graphics what you are left with is the standard American Megatrends layout, no changes just out of the box features and layout.  Heck even the menu is the same.  Yes they added some innovation like being able to take screenshots and the EZ layout screen but that only proves they spent more time on making things right.

What I would like to see is some company really pushing the boundaries, break the mold, include some new stuff, change the format, make things point and click or direct entry, don't just wrap pretty pictures around menu selections and call it good, that is what architects do when they attempt to hide bad design it didn't work for them so why would it work for this.

Maybe X79 will bring improvement or maybe it will be the same old stuff with a different color.  So far the rumors claim ALL X79 motherboards will come with UEFI interfaces.  The question will be, does the company draw from what they think people will find comfortable or will they push the boundaries and actually design something good?? 

Time will tell.

This is a good read, be sure to check it out. happy smile

Thermaltake Bigwater 760 Plus Watercooling Review on Technic3D

Published: Monday, October 10, 2011 - By: Dennis
News Source: Email

Thermaltake has it right when it comes to small scale watercoolers, the only question is, how does it perform and can it be used on more than one system quickly and easily?

The Thermaltake Bigwater 760 Plus Cooling-Kit arrived Technic3D. See you in the following Review the new 760 Plus with one 120mm Fan and Single Radiator compared with many other Cooler on a Intel Core i5 2500k CPU

This kit places the pump and res in a spare 5.25" drive bay meaning that hoses will need to be routed to their respective destinations.  Not a bad thing but does limit airflow to the radiator.

I'm thinking that for the effort you need to have pump and res in the drive bays and combine that with an external radiator/fan combo that can be placed anywhere you have a spare 120mm fan.  Of course then you can sell upgrade parts like extra radiators to further enhance your cooling abilities.

oh wait, they do that already happy smile

Antec Kuhler 920 Watercooling kit @ Rbmods

Published: Monday, October 10, 2011 - By: Dennis
News Source: Email

Everyone seems to be getting on this self contained watercooler kick, and who can blame them.  They do a decent job at cooling and remain as quiet as a standard aircooler.  The only thing you have to watch out for is dry hoses that will eventually crack and split liquid all over your chassis parts. (generally speaking)

Today we take a look at the more advanced watercooling kit from Antec, the 920 comes with double fans and a bigger radiator for example.  How much does the performance differ from the 620 kit that we reviewed earlier? Lets find out.

Never would figure Antec to release a watercooler, but diversity seems to be the name of the game these days.