Tech News

• Ivy Bridge PCI-Express Scaling with HD 7970 and GTX 680 @ techPowerUp

  Published: Monday, May 21, 2012 | By: Dennis

  With the advent of PCI Express 3.0 and Ivy Bridge some people are left wondering if PCIe3.0 is really something you must have or can you slowly move into it as you upgrade.

  TechPowerUp has published a scaling article to discover just that

  Today's latest graphics cards come with support for PCI-Express 3.0, which promises twice the bandwidth, while still being compatible with older motherboards and graphics cards. In our article we analyze differences in PCIe performance on Intel's Ivy Bridge with GeForce GTX 680 and Radeon HD 7970, using 20 games at five resolutions, each at all three PCIe generations and x4, x8 and x16 link width.

  When I created the Multi GPU Index I looked at similar things and tried to determine if a full 16x really mattered or if 8x would be enough.  The results were mixed but indicated that more is better but the technology update from 1.1 to 2.0 was the most important aspect.

  Be sure to check out the vintange photo of an early DFI SLI enabled motherboard with the movable jumper blocks, brings back memories.

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• NL: Review Block - Two Motherboards you must see!!

  Published: Monday, May 21, 2012 | By: Dennis

  Here are a couple of motherboard reviews for you to check out.  The first is an Asus Z68 LGA 1155 motherboard for Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge processors.  I have a similar board in the lab and will be posting a mini writeup in the next couple days.

  The second motherboard is the Gigabyte X79 G1 Assassin 2 for the LGA 2011 super Sandy Bridge extreme.  This board is designed for gaming and comes with the onboard components to support that intention.

  Motherboard Reviews
  - ASUS P8 Z68-V/GEN3 @ LanOC Reviews
  - GIGABYTE G1.Assassin 2 Motherboard Review @ Techgage

  Gaming motherboards were never much for hardcore overclocking but I suspect Gigabyte might start following the ROG model going forward.

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• NZXT Switch 810 Full-Tower Chassis Review @ Techgage

  Published: Friday, May 18, 2012 | By: Dennis

  I have to be honest when I say the NZXT Switch 810 might be the worse chassis I have ever used.  The panels are thin, there is way too much plastic, the top panel vents are difficult to operate and the plastic fan covers use push clips to attach to the main bezels, if you bump these wrong the panels fall off.

  I'm sure NZXT ment well with the design, and some review sites seem to love the chassis but in my opinion they tried a little too hard.

  Techgage on the other hand really enjoyed the case and the points they made were valid.

  From cases to cooling, NZXT has something for everyone - and for every budget. With this review, we're taking a look at the company's Switch 810 full-tower chassis, designed for those who want solid design, big space, effective cooling, and can appreciate other smaller features not often seen on the competition's products.

  Look for a capsule review of this chassis in the next couple of weeks, it could have been done sooner but I wanted to make I used the case for awhile before doing the write up.

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• Poll: Facebook is a fad

  Published: Tuesday, May 15, 2012 | By: Dennis

  I have been telling people this all the time but it would seem people are blinded by their friends and flash games to realize that once the polish wears off things won't be the same.

  Facebook has more 900 million users as it prepares to launch a new IPO this week. But a fair number of people aren't too excited about the popular social network.
  

  Half of the 1,000 people polled by the Associated Press and CNBC called Facebook a passing fad. A majority of those surveyed (51 percent) have a favorable impression of the company, while 23 percent have an unfavorable opinion.

  But in light of the upcoming IPO, the survey focused more on Facebook's value as an investment.

  Until things go south I'll spend some time making sure the Ninjalane Facebook page is up to date as it would seem 900 million people is a great way to spread the word.

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• NL: Revierw Block - GTX 680 VIdeo Cards

  Published: Friday, May 18, 2012 | By: Dennis

  The GTX 680 has been out for awhile and, as of this news posting, the cards are still in short supply.  That doesn't stop hardware sites though.

  Video Card Reviews
  - MSI GTX 680 Twin Frozr III OC 2 GB @ techPowerUp
  - OC3D: Gigabyte GTX680 Windforce Review

  Here we have a couple of custom cards from MSI and Gigabyte, sadly they are both basted on the reference design but do feature custom coolers to keep excess heat under control.

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• GIGABYTE eSports LAN Party

  Published: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 | By: Dennis

  Calling all LAN party eSports enthusiasts!!  

  City of Industry, California, May 14, 2012– GIGABYTE TECHNOLGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced its first North America eSports event, the GIGABYTE eSports LAN (GESL) which will take place on June 15-17th, 2012 at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA. (Better known as Cal Poly Pomona).
  
  GIGABYTE introduced the G1-Killer Series of gaming motherboards with the LGA 1366 Intel X58 platform with unique features like onboard Qualcomm Killer networking and Creative audio. With the latest LGA 1155 Intel 7-series launch, GIGABYTE has added new members to the G1-Killer family, the G1.Sniper 3 and the Micro-ATX form factor G1.Sniper M3. Equipped with the latest Intel Z77 Express Chipset, the G1.Sniper 3 motherboard harnesses the outstanding performance of the new 3rd generation Intel® Core™ processors using an exclusive “All Digital” VRM design. GIGABYTE 3D Power and GIGABYTE 3D BIOS (Dual UEFI) mean that G1.Sniper 3 and G1.Sniper M3 motherboards ensure exceptional power delivery and absolute control. 

  This actually looks like a really fun event to both promote the new Gigabyte G1 Killer Series motherboard and help raise awareness with game developers to build more LAN friendly games.

  (That last part I made up, but it sounded good )

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• 15 Current Technologies A Child Born Today Will Never Use

  Published: Tuesday, May 15, 2012 | By: Dennis

  My how technology changes and reading this list makes me think back to some of the tech that I used as a kid which is now gone.  Rotary phone? ya forget about it, VCR? Nope got rid of that 10+ ago.  However there are still things around that migh have gone away.  CD player, yep you can buy them and most boom boxes still have them, AM radio, yep, Landline phone, I doubt that will go away any time soon.

  When reading this list I get the impression that we have a fanboy on our hands and while there may be some truth to what they are saying I believe the timeline is off.

  As my newborn son grows to match the size of a mid-tower desktop, a large-screen TV and eventually a server rack, I can’t help but think about all the gadgets he won’t even remember using that were so important to his dad. I’m not talking about long dead-and-buried technologies such as the VHS recorder or the 35mm camera. Rather, I’m thinking about devices and concepts most of us use today that will fall out of mainstream use so soon that he either won’t remember them, or will only have very hazy memories of having lived with them.

  I guess the key here is that he says "mainstream use", still that is no excuse for saying that Microsoft has all the answers.  

  oh, another reaffirming fact? one of their other articles is claiming why you should be using google+, I almost fell out of my chair laughing.

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• NL: Review Block - Cases Coolers and Cards - (5/14/2k12)

  Published: Monday, May 14, 2012 | By: Dennis

  Time for another edition of Cases Coolers and Cards.  In this episode we will be trimming the fat from the inbox and posting some of the reviews fitting the description above.

  With luck google will find this extra text of benefit and you, the reader, can be happy in knowing that I was able to post all of these hardware links for you to click on.  Be sure to check out the Noctua fan and AMP edition video cards. 

  Cases
  - Lian Li PC 100 “The Hammer” @ LanOC Reviews
  - Bitfenix Raider Mid-Tower ATX Chassis Review @ OCIA
  - Cooler Master CM690 II Advanced Case Review @ Quentin Rademaker Dot NL
  
  Coolers
  - Deepcool Frostwin @ PureOverclock
  - Vapor Chamber Cooling via Coolermaster's TPC-812 Heatsink @ Frostytech
  - Xigmatek SD1283 Dark Knight Night Hawk Edition CPU Cooler @ Pro-Clockers
  - DeepCool Ice Wind Pro Heatsink Review @ Frostytech
  - Thermaltake Frio Extreme Cooler Review
  - Noctua NF-F12 PWM Cooling Fan @ Pro-Clockers
  - Thermaltake Frio OCK CPU Cooler Review @ Legit Reviews
  - Thermaltake BigWater 760 Plus CPU Liquid Cooler Review @ NikKTech
  
  Cards
  - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 SLI @ techPowerUp
  - Zotac GeForce GTX680 2GB Review @ HardwareLOOK
  - ZOTAC GeForce GTX 670 AMP! Edition 2 GB @ techPowerUp
  - MSI GTX 680 Twin Frozr Graphics Card Review @ HardwareHeaven
  - Zotac GTX 680 AMP! Review
  - ZOTAC GeForce GTX 680 AMP! Edition 2 GB @ techPowerUp
  - MSI R7970 Lightning / R7870 Hawk review @ Hardware.Info

  More news and reviews to come, I hope.

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• Gigabyte GA-7PESH1 powered by 2x Xeon E5 2690 under real World workloads @ ocaholic

  Published: Monday, May 14, 2012 | By: Dennis

  Unless you are building a custom dual processor workstation or what the power of the EVGA SR Series there is little chance you would ever use (or need) a dual processor system.  Modern processors are just "too" powerful and mobo makers were shy to design the motherboards.

  Because of this many people are unaware that Xeon processors exist nor that they have slighly different specs from the mainstream desktop models.  Are they better? Do they suck? only Intel knows for sure.

  Instead of an enthusiast motherboard, this time we will look at a workstation motherboard. Meanwhile it is not a entry level motherboard, Gigabyte provided us with their latest high end motherboard which features up to 512 GB of DDR3 memory running at 1600 MHz, two 8 core / 16 threads processor, a high end LSI SAS controller and more. This time we will not only review the motherboard but also benchmark this dual Xeon Octocore setup under real world workloads/situations. Feel the power!

  It is nice to see Gigabyte building dual processor systems again, I might have to get one of these for myself.

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• 13 gaming mice review @ Hardware.Info

  Published: Monday, May 14, 2012 | By: Dennis

  This should be a fun read bur reads more like a shopping list 

  To many computer users the mouse is just a necessary little tool for operating their computer. As long as it has two buttons and a wheel and the cursor goes where it's supposed to, most people are satisfied. Gamers are more demanding, however, in terms of comfort, performance, and features. We reviewed 13 gaming mice to find out what's currently out there. 
  
  A decent mouse is crucial for the serious gamer, that is why we are in the habit of regularly doing a round-up of the latest gaming mice. The 13 mice in this comparison test vary quite a bit in price, from £45 to £69. It’s a pretty big difference, which should mean that the performance and features should differ significantly as well. The only way of finding this out for sure is by a thorough test. And that’s exactly what we did.

  Here are the mice they tested,  I have used a few of them before and some I have never heard of in my life.

  A4 Tech XL-747H
  Corsair Vengeance M90
  Cyborg Rat 7
  Epicgear Meduza
  Logitech G9x Laser Mouse
  Mionix Naos 5000
  QPAD OM-75
  Razer Imperator 4G
  Revoltec Fight Mouse Pro Carbon
  Roccat Kone[+]
  Steelseries World of Warcraft MMO Mouse [Legendary] Edition
  TT eSports Theron
  Zowie AM-GS

  Keep mousin'

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