Tech News
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NVIDIA shines a light on lower spec Quadro cards
Published: Tuesday, March 5, 2013 | By: DennisBack in the day (almost 12+ years ago) I was really, REALLY, excited about Quadro video cards. The prospect that such a powerful and specially designed video card made me wonder if it could really enhance the work I was doing.
Back then I was doing a lot of Autocad and 3DStudio and felt that a Quadro card could do much to speed things up. Sadly the cost of such a shining piece of hardware prevented me from trying out the technological marvel. (In retrospect maybe I should have started a review site dedicated high-end workstation hardware.)
These days I spend my free time playing FPS video games and coding ASP.Net and jQuery, neither of which require specialized video hardware beyond a slightly overclocked GTX 670.
Despite all the energy it's been putting into mobile and gaming, NVIDIA hasn't fallen out of love with its professional graphics customers. In fact, it's in the process of trying to rekindle those sparks of romance through the clever use of chocolates, shoulder rubs and fresh additions to its Kepler-based Quadro lineup. We've already seen (and played with) the $2,249 K5000 flagship, but those of us on lower budgets will now be able to snag the K4000, K2000 or K600 as they begin to enter the retail channel.
I do like how they are bringing out a K600 priced at $199, that is until you realize the 192 CUDA cores equal something like a GTX 550Ti in the real world?
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Steelseries Flux Luxury Headset Review @ XSReviews
Published: Tuesday, March 5, 2013 | By: DennisEveryone has a different taste when it comes to headphones. Some people like the in-ear designs *cough* apple */cough* while others (like myself) prefer an over-ear headset for sound awesome-ness. Well, there is a third style on the market that some find to be the best thing since sliced bread and others avoid like the plague, the on-ear headset.
On-ear headphones are very compact and work well if you tend to travel or move about.
Steelseries produce a lot of gaming peripherals. That’s been their focus for a long time. But these days it’s not all about the giant gaming cans with the big boom mic. It’s about mobile phone gaming on the move – which means looking cool while doing so.
While I’m not going to ever look cool wearing any pair of headphones, perhaps the Steelseries Flux can help me out a little bit. Let’s see.Every headset is different and while I personally don't like on-ear designs that doesn't mean they don't serve a purpose and can't be excellent on their own.
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NZXT Phantom 630 Review @ Hardware Canucks
Published: Tuesday, March 5, 2013 | By: DennisThe Phantom has returned.
Will it pwn or will it simply fall by the wayside and disappear into nothingness.
NZXT's Phantom series is both popular and polarizing but there's no denying these cases are also well designed. The latest iteration, the Phantom 630, incorporates the DNA of past designs but does so at a lower price point, making it infinitely more accessible for budget minded gamers.
The Phantom chassis has been one of NZXT's most popular case designs, and for good reason. You deserve the right to at least touch one sometime before your current system dies.
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Intel 8 Series Haswell Motherboards Make a Debut at CeBIT
Published: Tuesday, March 5, 2013 | By: DennisCeBIT: ASRock introduces Haswell Z87/H87/B85 motherboards
There will be a fair amount of CeBIT coverage coming from the European hardware sites so stay tuned, this is only the beginning.
The Intel Haswell processors won't come out for another three months, but ASRock has already unveiled its new LGA1150 motherboards at CeBIT. These are obviously pre-production models, so the final versions could be slightly different.
ASRock Z87 Extreme6
ASRock Z87 Pro4-M
ASRock H87 Pro4Computex will likely have the final production models so it will be interesting to see how they have changed, if they do.
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Asustek, Gigabyte Going Commando at CeBIT 2013
Published: Monday, March 4, 2013 | By: DennisWhile I can be fairly certain that most folks will be proudly wearing their undergarments at CeBIT the folks at Asustek and Gigabyte have decided that going boothless makes more sense than setting up a display on the show floor.
Asustek Computer and Gigabyte Technology will not have any booth at CeBIT 2013, which will be hosted from March 5-9 in Hannover, Germany. The two companies have instead rented conference rooms outside the exhibition center to serve their clients.
Compared to the top-2 motherboard brands, Micro-Star International (MSI) and ASRock are still eager to have a place in the show and have rented booths to showcase their latest products.
Due to Europe's financial crisis and a shift of focus to Mobile World Congress (MWC), the numbers of CeBIT exhibitors and buyers have dropped rapidly in the past few years.
MSI plans to showcase its latest gaming and high-end motherboards such as X79A-GD45 Plus at the show and will also display its new Twin Frozr graphics cards.While the companies have cited the financial crisis and MWC I am of the opinion that cost and liability have something to do with their decision. We all know about product theft at CeBIT and how much it costs to pay for and setup a booth so it makes sense to have a hotel suite available. It is a private setting, costs less and no fear of hardware walking off, at least right away.
I wonder if they will be doing the same thing at Computex?
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NL: Review Block: Cases and Coolers - Episode Ongoing
Published: Friday, March 1, 2013 | By: DennisIn this episode of Cases and Coolers we check out some of the latest reviews from around the web including some, Cases and Coolers
Cases
- Fractal Design Define R4 @ LanOC Reviews
- NZXT Phantom 630 @ PureOverclock
- Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 Case Review @ Hardware Secrets
- Xigmatek Gigas Aluminium Case Review
- Silverstone Raven 3 @ LanOC Reviews
- Funky Kit Review: Thermaltake Armor Revo Full-Tower Chassis
- Lian Li PC-7HX @ LanOC Reviews
- Nanoxia Deep Silence 2 Case Review @ Hardware Secrets
- Cooler Master HAF XB LAN Box Review at Modders-Inc
Coolers
- Noctua Low Profile Heatsinks @ Bjorn3D
- Corsair H110 CPU Cooler Review @ Hardware Secrets
- Corsair H90 review
- Corsair H90 and H110 CPU Cooler Review @ Hi Tech Legion
- Noctua NH-L9a Low Profile AMD CPU Cooler Review @ Bigbruin
- Cooler Master Seidon 240M CPU Cooler Review @ Hardware CanucksKeeping cool is one of the most important things you can do for your computer, invest in a good one. Happy Cooling!
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DeepCool IceBlade Pro V2.0 Heatsink Review @ Frostytech
Published: Friday, March 1, 2013 | By: DennisHey look here, its a CM Hyper 212 with better mounting hardware!
Deepcool's IceBlade Pro V2.0 heatsink stands 161mm tall and weighs a solid 981 grams. At the heart of this boxy heatsink are four 8mm diameter copper heatpipes, nickel plated along with everything else, including the aluminum fins. The heatpipes are exposed at the base to make direct contact with the processor and ideally, reduce thermal joint resistance.
Not a direct 1:1 to the Hyper 212 I reviewed but it looks "very" similar when it comes to the basic feature set. The cooler I linked to is the Plus edition they released with core contact heatpipes. There was considerable space between the pipes and massive gaps that would suck up your thermal paste.
The cooler was ok but I hated the mounting hardware, (and still do).
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Dremel 8200 12V MAX Lithium Ion Cordless Rotary Tool Review @ ModSynergy
Published: Friday, March 1, 2013 | By: DennisHere is something every modder should have, A Dremel tool.
Dremel has given us the opportunity to share with you how far they have come these eight years with one of their newest additions, the Dremel 8200. The 8200 makes use of 12V Lithium-Ion battery technology instead of old NIMH. Everything Dremel has learned has been tweaked many times over and has been implemented into the 8200 and its accessories. Read on to see if the Dremel 8200 is worth your hard earned money.
Personally I never go battery operated when it comes to rotary tools, they tend to be weak and if you don't use them all the time the battery will be dead. I also tend to use mine for hours on end and knowing I have constant power is rather important.
Looking over the list of changes the new Lithium-ion edition might be worth checking out.
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NL: Review Block: Coolers Cases and a mousepad
Published: Tuesday, February 26, 2013 | By: DennisJust a quick review block
Coolers
- Noctua NH-L9i Cooler Review on Technic3D
- NZXT Respire T40 @ PureOverclock
- Coolink Corator DS LGA2011 @ techPowerUp
Chassis
- SilverStone Sugo SG09 @ Phoronix
- LIAN LI PC-Q02 Mini-ITX Case at Modders-Inc
Accessories
- Func MS-3 Mouse and Surface 1030XL Mousepad Review @ Hi Tech Legion -
MSI R7970 Lightning Boost Edition review: fastest HD 7970 yet
Published: Tuesday, February 26, 2013 | By: DennisI do love this card, its too bad the GTX 680 edition got snubbed.
It's too bad that the Boost Edition doesn't overclock better than last year’s Lightning with its standard cooler despite the different chip. The limit is again 1240 MHz for the GPU and 1780 MHz for the memory. ASUS proved with the Matrix HD7970 Platinum that a more heavy-duty cooler and a few other tricks can take it further. If you plan on overclocking with just the standard cooler, then that Matrix HD7970 Platinum is a better choice in our opinion, and both cards cost about the same.
The card works very well under LN2 and is the current go-to product when you want to break records.
