Tech News
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NL: Review Block - Mobos and Cards
Published: Sunday, May 16, 2010 | By: DennisNormally I would talk a little more about the motherboard reviews, however it seems we have a bunch so let's check out the list.
Motherboards
- Biostar TA890GXE AMD 890GX Motherboard Review @ PCSTATS
- Asrock X58 Extreme3 Review @ OC3D - (who says "cut the mustard" anymore?, doesn't that shit come in a bottle now?)
- ASUS Maximus III Extreme @ ocaholic
- ASUS Crosshair IV Formula Motherboard @ TechwareLabsVideo Cards
- iXBT Labs Review: HIS Radeon HD 5570 Graphics Card
- GIGABYTE Radeon HD 5870 1GB Super Overclock Video Card
- Sapphire HD5850 Toxic Reviewed in Metku
- GeForce GTX 470 2 and 3-way SLI reviewStay tuned for more, shouldn't have any more "phj34r mi l4k of n3ws" days anytime soon.
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Cooler Master HAF 932 AMD Edition Case Review @ Tweaknews
Published: Sunday, May 16, 2010 | By: DennisWhat makes a case an AMD edition? The color Red of course
Hardcore AMD aficionados should find Cooler Master's limited edition HAF 932 chassis hard to resist, and with good reason. Thanks to its front panel treatment and side window graphic, this chassis has a very distinctive look and brings with it the proven performance and features of the very popular original HAF 932.
Of course you could always paint your HAF and have it reflect whoever you happen to support.
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KFA2 (Galaxy) GeForce GTX 470 review @ Guru3D
Published: Sunday, May 16, 2010 | By: DennisCustom is the name of the game when it comes to "aftermarket" computer components, I mean who wants to pay extra for a reference design product?
Galaxy has been known for their custom and tweaked card designs which is something they likely have up from the super awesome video card company they bought, Gainward. Sadly Gainward products are no longer on the international market.Some AIBs out there figured that they can design a better solution then what NVIDIA is offering. As such we slowly started seeing announcements from names like Plait, Galaxy and others recently that as stated where working on custom PCBs and customized coolers to make the GeForce GTX series 400 much more attractive products.
The most extreme example definitely comes from the premises of Galaxy Technology, they have released a new series graphics card under the label KFA2 (Karte For Action 2). KFA2 is Galaxy's premium line of graphics cards, keep an eye and an ear out for that as this really will be an interesting brand. We test their jet-fighter styled GeForce GTX 470, and OMG we are impressed.
I wouldn't call this card a "fighter jet" unless it was a jet from Quake 4 or the mind of someone who has never seen a plane in their life. Regardless the custom heatsink shroud does look pretty cool. -
VGA Cooler Roundup Part 1 @ Real World Labs
Published: Sunday, May 16, 2010 | By: DennisHow does 10 pages of VGA card roundup with excessive white space sound to you?? If the answer is yes then check out the Real World Labs VGA Cooler Roundup (say that 10 times fast)
In part 1 out of our 2 part VGA Cooler Roundup we are taking a look at six of the best aftermarket VGA coolers designed to cool the hottest video cards ever produced. So if you want lower temperatures, noise levels or you just want to push your card to the limit then there is probably a product in this article for you.
Can't wait.
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NL: Review Block - Some Hot Coolers
Published: Sunday, May 16, 2010 | By: DennisViperlair has posted a review of the Noctua NH-D14 Heatsink. This is clearly a monster of a cooling device, but as well all know surface area is king in the aircooling world. The Noctra unit has the added benefit of also being rather quiet.
We recently reviewed the Noctua NH-D14, while we clearly don't have as many photos in our review we did prove it could handle a fair amount of heatload and remain quiet while doing so.
Quite a few sites have done reviews of the Venomous X and rather liked the performance and styling. The cooler is your standard nickel plated 6 heatpipe design crammed into a single dual fan cooling tower.
In our review of the Venomous X we noted that the mounting hardware is a little mechanical but offers you the ability to dial in your heatsink pressure as you see fit.
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The State of DirectX 11 - Image Quality & Performance @ HotHardware
Published: Thursday, May 13, 2010 | By: WillBeing a huge fan of Windows 7 I cannot think of a way that DirectX 11 is not shaping up to be what the hype has been. It also might be to soon to take a check list of features and say they are sub par or dead on the money, but let's read this to see.
In terms of technology, DirectX 11 isn't the API defining, behind-the-scenes reboot that DirectX 10 was. It's an incremental update, much in the same way that Windows 7 is an update of Vista. At the end of the day, DirectX 11 is basically just DirectX 10 with a bunch of new features stuck on. However, we'd speculate that DirectX 11 should have a much larger impact on the end-user experience than DirectX 10 did because it brings several new features to the table that will make creating advanced graphical effects seldom seen in past games, much easier.
Some critics have said that Windows 7 is everything that Vista was supposed to be. But is DirectX 11 everything DirectX 10 was hyped up to be? We couldn't let such a loaded question go unanswered, even if we did pose it ourselves. Now that DirectX 11 hardware is readily available and compatible games are on the shelves, it's high time we took stock of what DirectX 11 has to offer to the end-user...I honestly think that DirectX 11 has so much more just waiting to happen.
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Steam On a Mac!
Published: Thursday, May 13, 2010 | By: WillWell the day has finally come, and chicken little might be right about the sky falling. Mac has finally gotten a real gaming community from none other than Steam. So the days of making fun of Mac users for not having the ability to play real games is over.
"Steam has been a service exclusively for PC users since we launched it in 2004. For the first time we and our partners are bringing it to another platform. It's been a ton of work, but the Mac is great for the same reason the PC is great - they are both open systems that let gamers and game developers be as close as possible."
Don't worry Windows fans we can still make fun of them.
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Gigabyte attacks Asus on Intel mainboard pricing
Published: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 | By: WillHere is some good news for all of us enthusiasts with tight wallets. Looks like Gigabyte might give us everything we want out of a motherboard and a lower price. Can't really complain about that.
"Word from the channel has reached KitGuru that Gigabyte is keen to increase its share of the Intel mainboard space for 2010, and it's prepared to get aggressive on price to make it happen."
Waiting for the Asus response.
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Playboy to have the first 3D centerfold
Published: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 | By: Dennis3D is the new thing it seems. First we have nVidia 3D Vision hitting the scene as the first "active" 3D experence which was just enough hype to get the TV makers onboard to start marketing flat panel displays designed to show 3D images.
Of course to view anything in 3D you need to have the special glasses since your eyes cannot provide depth to a 2D image without a little help (for obvious reasons)
CHICAGO, May 11 (Reuters) - Playboy magazine, a pioneer in featuring photographs of naked women on its pages, said on Tuesday its June issue's 3-D centerfold will be an eye-popping collectible.
It was an idea the Playboy Enterprises' (PLA.N) founder Hugh Hefner says he had a half-century ago when he created the monthly, but couldn't afford.
Playboy's Playmate of the Year, Hope Dworaczyk, can be seen like no centerfold has been seen before. Her offering of a glass of wine appears to come off the page, along with the rest of her.
I think for the first time since I was in HIgh School I'm gonna hit the newsstands and buy me a Playboy
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AMD Phenom II X6 1090T OC Scaling With Voltage/Cooling @ Madshrimps
Published: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 | By: WillI am glued to this article just by the questions asked. Plus the new six cored beast from AMD just might be the one to bring some hardcore enthusiast back to AMD. So let's read and see what it happens.
"Does it, just like the Deneb, scale with voltage? Does it scale with temperature? Can we reach unseen heights in raw frequency? These are just a few of the questions we want to tackle in this article."
This is killing me gotta go read it.
