Tech News
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Intel’s Haswell Could Be Last Interchangeable Microprocessors
Published: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 | By: DennisThis is a developing story that seems to have some serious traction behind it. As you may have noticed Intel has been consolidating their chip offerings by combining features. First it was the memory controller, then PCI Express. The pin process changed from a socket type to Land Grid Arrays and sometime after Haswell LGA will be replaced by BGA.
According to Japanese PC Watch web-site, code-named Haswell microprocessors may be the last desktop chips in LGA packaging, which enabled easy switch of CPUs on mainboards. Starting from Broadwell chips, which are due in 2014, all mainstream desktop processors will be available in BGA packaging, which means that they will have to be soldered to mainboards, something that can be done in relatively sophisticated manufacturing facilities.
Speculation remains around what will happen to the Ultra High-end space. For instance will processors like the LGA 2011 still exist? Right now the interchangeable processor seems like the only way to build servers and graphical workstations leaving the mid-range to be treated like an OEM video card supplier with all-in-one system board offerings.
I'll be watching this story as it very well could kill PC building process unless you're into the enthusiast builds and, have extremely deep pockets.
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ECS A85F2-A Golden FM2 Motherboard Review @ TechwareLabs
Published: Monday, November 26, 2012 | By: DennisI will hand it to the ECS folks. they like it gold. Makes you wonder if one of the old Soltek designers moved over there after the company folded.
Today we are taking a look at the A85F2-A Golden Edition motherboard from ECS. This motherboard offers a long list of features, overclocking potential, and a flashy look. This motherboard has a lot of potential, but read on to see if this will actually be a quality product, or a gold-plated flop.
The review is kinda short but covers the basics, I'll let you decide if this is a board you want or a board you can live without.
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Avexir Core 1600MHz 8GB Kit Review @ Pro-Clockers
Published: Monday, November 26, 2012 | By: DennisJust gonna let the Pro-Clockers tell it.
One memory company that you may or may not have heard of, Avexir, is making a big name for themselves as of late. Avexir has been putting the wealth around the world in the form of their Core series of DDR3. Looking at their Facebook many such individuals have been getting some massive clocks from the kits. Today, we will finally get a chance at using their 1600MHz 8GB kit.
So, I have to wonder, what kind of "massive" overclock can you get from a 1600Mhz kit? The world may never know.
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Firefox 64-bit development quietly ended for Windows
Published: Friday, November 23, 2012 | By: DennisThis article at Techspot has me sad.
Mozilla's reasons to end 64-bit flavors of Firefox are numerous: limited plug-in availability, more frequent hang-ups and performance issues, stability problems due in part to a niche user/developer base, difficulty distinguishing between 32-bit and 64-bit bug reports and a general feeling that 64-bit users are second-class.
All major OS's are 64-bit and most computers you buy now don't even come with a 32-bit OS option. Not sure where they are getting their information but if they are following the Google lead then Firefox may never be native 64-bit
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Happy After Turkey Day - Good Luck with your Holiday Shopping
Published: Friday, November 23, 2012 | By: DennisFor my readers in the US I hope you all had an excellent Thanksgiving and get the following Friday off from work, I didn't.
It would seem that Black Friday started early this year with the grey Thursday and "deals" having been launched up to two weeks in advance. It is almost like the retail outlets are trying to get the drop on everyone by starting their sales early which is like saying "hey lets have Christmas early this year and allow you to open presents for a whole week!"
Back in the day I used to LOVE hitting the stores on Black Friday, not so much to buy stuff but to actually see how the Mall and Big Box Store "should" look. You remember those days right, you know, when people left their homes to buy stuff?
These days Black Friday (and any shopping day until the new year) is an exercise in self control and not to stop you from spending too much, that is what we need. No, the self control is to brave the waves of idiots who are only out because they feel they are somehow saving money and will do whatever they can to get the best deal.
Just ask yourself #whatpocketisthatin??
Good luck with your holiday shopping and just be glad you aren't at work.
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Why a String of Characters Can’t Protect Us Anymore @ Wired
Published: Wednesday, November 21, 2012 | By: DennisThis article is 5 pages long and I would strongly suggest that you read every word because he is spot on.
Why do kids like Dictate do it? Mostly just for lulz: to fuck shit up and watch it burn. One favorite goal is merely to piss off people by posting racist or otherwise offensive messages on their personal accounts. As Dictate explains, “Racism invokes a funnier reaction in people. Hacking, people don’t care too much. When we jacked @jennarose3xo”—aka Jenna Rose, an unfortunate teen singer whose videos got widely hate-watched in 2010—”I got no reaction from just tweeting that I jacked her stuff. We got a reaction when we uploaded a video of some black guys and pretended to be them.” Apparently, sociopathy sells.
A lot of these kids came out of the Xbox hacking scene, where the networked competition of gamers encouraged kids to learn cheats to get what they wanted. In particular they developed techniques to steal so-called OG (original gamer) tags—the simple ones, like Dictate instead of Dictate27098—from the people who’d claimed them firstEventually there will be better ways to prove who you are followed by more advanced ways to steal them, it would seem sometimes the old ways are best. The bottom line is you are you until someone decides they like what you have, after that, there is nothing.
Kinda poetic don't you think?
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NL: Review Block - Cards, Cases and Coolers - Watch out the CCC!
Published: Wednesday, November 21, 2012 | By: DennisVideo Cards (the pretty stuff)
- PowerColor DEVIL13 HD7990 Video Card Review @ [H]
- HIS Radeon HD 7970 X Turbo 3 GB @ techPowerUp
- HIS 7750 IceQ X Turbo @ PureOverclock
Cases (the girl stuff)
- Cooler Master Storm Stryker Review @ Hardware Canucks
- Fractal Design Node 304 Computer Case Review @ Hi Tech Legion
- Fractal Design Node 304 Case Review @ Hardware Secrets
- Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 Midi Tower Review @ NikKTech
- Fractal Design Define R4 Video Review at HardwareHeaven
Coolers (the 50's stuff)
- Cooler Master TPC 812 CPU Cooler Review @ APH Networks
- Phanteks PH-TC90LS Low Profile CPU Cooler @ PureOverclockMore news on the way, assuming you can stop playing Black Ops II for 30 seconds. Oh wait, thats right you beat the game already.
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MSI FM2-A85XA-G65 Review @ HCW
Published: Wednesday, November 21, 2012 | By: DennisI cannot remember the last time I reviewed an AMD enabled system. Looking thru the Ninjalane archives I know the last board I touched as the ASUS Crosshair V. The board was solid but my processor was lacking power and precision.
It would seem that Trinity is the new face of AMD and promises to deliver where the Althon XP left off.
Kinda.
The FM2-A85XA-G65 is MSI's first attempt at a fully digital PWM phase controller, and the results are pretty interesting! We take a deep look at the MSI FM2-A85XA-G65's components, overclocking, and peripheral performance.
We know that Trinity loves to overclock just like Bulldozer and the other Hex cores but does it justify making a panda cry?
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Silverstone Zeus 1350 W @ techPowerUp
Published: Wednesday, November 21, 2012 | By: DennisAssuming for a second that 220v power was common in the American household AND that you were never satisfied anything out of the box you may be asking yourself, "How can I get more Power!"
Silverstone has the answer.
Silverstone decided to bring back their top of the line power supply series named after the "Father of Gods and men". The new Zeus ZM1350 is currently the flagship of Silverstone's PSU offerings, and it promises top of the line performance with 1350W continuous power at 50?C
Truth be told you can run this PSU on American power (110v) but you won't get much more than 1200w from it. So either pull an extension from your dryer or move to Europe.
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Prolimatech MK-26 Review @ XSReviews
Published: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 | By: DennisIts not every day that you find aftermarket GPU coolers, yes that's right, for your video card.
Given the advent of hot-clocked cards you can tweak you need a cooling solution that can keep up, especially when the stocker is designed for sound performance and could care less about heat.
Today we’re looking at the Prolimatech MK-26, Prolimatech’s second GPU cooler. Prolimatech are renowned for supreme quality products and supreme performance. The MK-26 is designed to use two 140mm or two 120mm fans and is compatible almost every current GPU on the market.
Prolimatech is well known in the CPU world and it would seem logical that what is good for the 130w processor can't be all bad for the 50w video card, or can it?
