Tech News
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Creative Sound Blaster Z Sound Card @ techPowerUp
Published: Friday, February 1, 2013 | By: DennisYou don't see many discrete sound cards anymore and my once hardcore belief that you needed one died some time ago. (about the time auzentech stopped targeting hardware sites with their awesome sound cards.)
Creative is still in the game and has really gone to great lengths to showcase their next generation.
Creative's long awaited new line of sound cards is here. Today, we take a thorough look at the new entry-level model called "Sound Blaster Z". The sound card comes equipped with the new Sound Core processor and Creative even bundles it with a decent microphone.I like the shell and window cover on this card. Not only is it read but the whole thing is also backlit!
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Can A New GPU Rejuvenate A 5 Year Old Gaming PC? @ HotHardware
Published: Friday, February 1, 2013 | By: DennisPretty sure the answer to this is. Yes, kinda
Depending on the age and type of video card you have sometimes adding a secondary card is the best move.
New video card launches from AMD and NVIDIA are almost always reviewed on hardware that’s less than 12 months old. That's not an arbitrary decision -- it helps reviewers make certain that GPU performance isn't held back by older CPUs and can be particularly important when evaluating the impact of new interfaces or bus designs. The downside of this policy is that it leaves a gap in product coverage. Gamers with older systems often miss out on whether or not a new graphics card will be a meaningful upgrade for aging systems. That's particularly important as the speed of the desktop replacement cycle has slowed.
Here, we're going to compare the performance impact of upgrading the graphics card on an older system that doesn't have access to any of the substantial performance gains Intel introduced with Nehalem in late 2008. Our upgrade card of choice is an EVGA GeForce GTX 660 SuperClocked with 2GB of RAM:Seems like their idea of an "old gaming pc" is a little skewed.
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MSI 3DMark Challenge @ HWBot
Published: Thursday, January 31, 2013 | By: DennisThe new 3DMark from Futuremark is set to be released on February 4th which also marks the start of the MSI 3DMark Challenge hosted by HWBot.
This competition runs for 30 days and is comprised of a single stage running the Fire Strike benchmark. Fire Strike is the DX11 benchmark designed to test graphics performance meaning that you'll need a monster of a video card to compete (and maybe some LN2)
To enter you'll need to be a HWBot member and own a MSI Z77 motherboard and DX11 compatible graphics card.
For a duration of four weeks, from February 4 to March 3, 2013 Anyone using a MSI motherboards and graphics cards can compete in the most challenging DirectX 11 scene in 3DMark– Fire Strike. The competition will be divided into two parts: the top two challengers using a MSI Z77 MPOWER for the competition with the highest scores will each win great items such as a MSI R7970 Lightning Boost Edition graphics card and a Z77A-GD80 motherboard; the Z77A-GD55 Lucky Draw activity is opened to all challengers using MSI Z77 motherboards.
To enter the Lucky Draw activity, all you have to do is upload your scores before February 10! We believe this will be an extremely fierce competition and expect to see record-breaking performance!Good luck to anyone who enters.
Also be sure to check out Team Ninjalane on HWBot, We're still ranked 6th out of US Based overclocking teams with a great bunch of overclockers dedicated to getting every last MHz.
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New 3DMark Benchmark Gets a Release Date - February 4th
Published: Thursday, January 31, 2013 | By: DennisIt has been almost 2 years since the release of 3DMark 11 and over those two years I have come to really enjoy that software package. Well Futuremark has announced that they will be releasing a new edition of their famous video card benching program called 3DMark.
The benchmark will be available in three editions on the PC, Basic (the free one), Advanced for the PC Enthusiast and Professional for business users. Look for this exciting new benchmark to be launched February 4th. (next Monday!)
The new 3DMark includes everything you need to benchmark your hardware. With three all new tests you can bench everything from smartphones and tablets, to notebooks and home PCs, to the latest high-end, multi-GPU gaming desktops. And it's not just for Windows. With 3DMark you can compare your scores with Android and iOS devices too. It's the most powerful and flexible benchmark we've ever created. www.futuremark.com/3dmark
The latest version of the world's most popular benchmark is simply called 3DMark to reflect its all-round versatility. Not only is this 3DMark the first in the series to offer cross-platform comparisons, it is also the first to test different Direct3D feature levels within one application.3DMark will also be available for IOS and Android so look for those releases soon.
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HEXUS Review: In Win D-Frame
Published: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 | By: DennisI got to see this case (or frame) at CES this year and must say, for an attention grabber it did an excellent job.
Meet the D-Frame. Soon to be shipping from Taiwanese shores, this is the latest unorthodox PC chassis from In Win, a manufacturer who in recent months has developed a taste for the weird and wonderful.
It started back in mid-2012 with the arrival of the unusual open-air X-Frame, and the follow-up arrived soon after in the form of an eye-catching H-Frame constructed from eleven diamond-cut aluminium plates.How many frames do you think they will come out with?
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3 Ways to Keep Your Firefox Healthy
Published: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 | By: DennisI have been a long time Mozilla user. I can honestly say I used Mozilla 1.0 when it was launched and every version of Netscape since its inception. While the previous statement may date me a little, the experience has taught me a few things on how to keep my browser healthy to ensure the fastest and most reliable surfing experience.
Mozilla has posted a quick article with the top 3 things you should do to keep Firefox happy with the most important being to keep your plugins clean. Nothing like upgrading your browser to find that the plugin you like and love no longer works or creates a security concern (read: Java)With every Firefox update, we aim to make Firefox trim and slim and perform at its peak as well. But there are some things that you can do to to keep your browser healthy and running at its best as well.
It only takes a few minutes to keep your Firefox in top shape.It is good to see Firefox working for their users, lets hope the trend continues.
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EVGA GTX 670 FTW Signature 2 2GB @ techPowerUp
Published: Monday, January 28, 2013 | By: DennisWe all know that the GTX 670 can easily be overclocked to match the GTX 680 but it is pretty rare to see this sort of overclock come from the factory.
Unless you are EVGA.
EVGA's new GeForce GTX 670 FTW Signature 2 comes with a brand-new dual-fan cooler which provides a very quiet experience. Performance is also great thanks to an overclock out of the box that matches GTX 680 clock frequencies
The cooler on this card is your standard dual fan unit encased in Classified colors and high flow back plate. Very slick setup and should compliment any gaming rig, large to small, short to tall.
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Swiftech H220 Advanced AiO Liquid CPU Cooler Review @ Hi Tech Legion
Published: Monday, January 28, 2013 | By: DennisThe new hot thing is the All in One watercooler (AiO). You have seen these coolers before and they are designed to be a high performance replacement for the large tower aircooler. Of course you can get these coolers in a variety of different formats but none of them allowed you to remove the hoses and add additional components.
Seems Swifttech has that covered.
Swiftech’s first foray into the AiO market, the H220, makes a profound and definitive statement regarding their expertise and experience in liquid cooling. The Swiftech H220 takes the entire concept of AiO liquid cooling to another level by featuring enthusiast class components combined with the ability to open the loop to add components. Properly offering an open loop is far more involved than the H220’s simple inclusion of 3/8” swivel barb tubing connections, it involves the inclusion of a high head pressure pump capable of reliably keeping the flow going to added radiators and cooling blocks. A copper cooling block offers a very large, nicely polished contact surface. The Swiftech H220’s pump is far meatier than we have seen in AiO offerings, and is PWM controlled with rated speeds of 1200-3000rpm.
Cooler Master had a similar cooler setup on display at CES. It would seem that watercooling is about to make another full circle in the race to chase their tail. First there was the DIY movement and plenty of custom block designs coupled with pond pumps. Next, was the self contained watercooler that brought watercooling to the mainstream and even adopted by Intel. Now, we are seeing a crossover between AiO and DIY.
Who here thinks that is a good idea?
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Funky Kit Review: OCZ Vector 256GB SSD (Indilinx Barefoot 3)
Published: Monday, January 28, 2013 | By: DennisLooks like OCZ is till making super fast SSD drives! GO OCZ!
I am very, very impressed by OCZ's Vector 256GB. It's my new favorite SSD of all time, which is saying something. Highly recommend it if you're in the market for a very fast SSD!
Not sure how to respond to a quote like that. I mean, is that an SSD in your pocket, or are you just happy to get one from OCZ?
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Sound Judgment: Five Gaming Headphones Tested @ HotHardware
Published: Monday, January 28, 2013 | By: DennisAn interesting read, especially considering there is no clear way to review a set of headphones without actually trying them out and basing a decision on personal preference. In this review I think they did a pretty good job with no clear winner, or loser.
What separates a premium headset from a blue light special? It's a combination of things, from well designed drivers to comfy ear cups that kiss the sides of your head with a gentle yet firm caress (we're being melodramatic...a little). And then there's the overall feature-set and premium extras like a noise-cancelling microphone and 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound.
Unfortunately, there's only so much you can discern from a headset's spec sheet, and with so many to choose from, you'd have to invest an obscene amount of time and money auditioning each one. We don't want you to have to do that, so we went and rounded up five high-end headsets from four different manufacturers, including Corsair, Creative Labs, Roccat and Rosewill and the goods posted on the following pages...Keep in mind this is a five way round-up and few 1:1 comparisons.
