Tech News

  • Thermaltake Armor A90 Reviews

    Published: Monday, July 19, 2010 | By: Dennis

    Now this is a little werid, but here we go launching a review of the Thermaltake Armor A90 computer case only to find 2 other reviews of teh same case in our news inbox.  What are the odds?

    - ThermalTake Armor A60 Case Review @ KitGuru
    - Thermaltake Armor A90 @ LanOC Reviews

    The Armor A90 isn't a bad case, but its not badass either, aside from the color.  But if you want the latest black case with bright blue (and clear) LED fans, look no further.

  • ASUS MARS II PCB shots leaked @ Elite Bastards

    Published: Friday, July 16, 2010 | By: Dennis

    So when is a leak a good thing?  I'd say anytime we can see something cool and unexpected.

    My sources within the walls of nVidia tell me that the company has a gag order on showing dual GPU designs to the general public but given the shots of the dual GTX 470 at Computex it would seem to be loosely enforced.

    With that being said here is something cool and unexpected, a dual GPU card direct from ASUS.

    If your Friday is proving to be a little boring, how's this for something to spice things up, courtesy of a trio of images that have just turned up in our mailbox.  The images in question purport to show ASUS' forthcoming MARS II graphics board, and they're extremely interesting to say the least. 

    Despite the poor lighting and bad angle the shots look legit.  At least they aren't ebay quality cellphone shots.

  • Antennagate - It Could Cost Apple $900 Million?

    Published: Wednesday, July 14, 2010 | By: Dennis

    If you have been following any of the iPhone 4 developments over the past few weeks you'll have no doubly heard about lack luster antenna and poor reception in the phone.  Well it would seem that stock speculators are now saying the antenna issues could cost Apple as much as $900 Million in stock loss and repair costs.  WTF?

    That number seems a little high to me, especially since some of that cost is estimated based on a stock drop and the expected warranty repair costs.  (which most companies are insured against)  So despite the obviously paranoid nature of this story, and that is written in an attempt to make it sound like "insider information", I'm sure Apple is going to be just fine.

    Now for the best part (and only reason I started ranting about it to begin with) the title.  "Antennagate"  It would seem that if you want to get people's attention and somehow add a "scandalous" tone to your news report just add "gate" to the end of a word and make up a title.

    For instance:

    "Motherboardgate - exploding caps cost companies millions in RMA and thousands of hours in lost game time"
    "Fermigate - excess heat and lackluster performance are prime to suck nVidia into a black hole"
    "Trafficgate - slight of hand? Or an actual problem?"

  • Gainward GeForce GTX 460 GLH

    Published: Wednesday, July 14, 2010 | By: Dennis

    As some of you may have noticed the GTX 460 was recently made public and most every review featured several directly marketing pages from nVidia.  Not a bad thing but indicates that the timetable to get the review turned around was somewhat "truncated".

    Out of the many we saw, this one from Gainward stood out as being the best of the bunch, this decision has nothing to do with clockspeeds or performance but rather the sexy red PCB and custom cooler with red fan.

    Generally Gainward designs their own PCBs which often pays off with better overclocking and overall performance, however you run the risk of being late to market and generally unloved by loyalists.

    The review is in German but the charts and photos tend to speak for themselves.

  • First-tier motherboard makers launch GeForce GTX 460 cards

    Published: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 | By: Dennis

    We all knew there would be more chips based on the "Fermi" architecture.  The real question is..  Will they be any good?

    The GeForce GTX 460 will come in two versions, 192-bit 768MB memory priced US$199 and 256-bit 1GB memory priced US$299. Most graphics card makers are already selling 768MB version GeForce GTX 460-based cards, while the 1GB versions will start mass shipments on July 26.

    Nvidia is expected to launch the GeForce GTS 455/450 GPU, targeting a US$129-179 price range in August and will launch one more GF100-based GPU in September, targeting the US$100 and below price range.

    The GeForce GTX 460 is equipped with 336 CUDA cores with 56 texture units.

    Given that the 460 runs at the same clock speed as the larger 480 and has some headroom for overclocking, I think the answer will be yes  happy smile

  • Gigabyte 890FXA-UD7 @ Bjorn3D

    Published: Monday, July 12, 2010 | By: Dennis

    Not sure any of you have noticed this but, motherboard reviews tend to come in waves based on the CPU architecture they support.  Typically a chipsets are released shortly after a new processor is announced, however that is not always the case.  In some instances a new board will hit the streets for no apparent reason. 

    It has been a while since I played with a top end AMD CPU. Sure I've played with a few AMD CPUs here and there, but they were mainstream CPUs and not AMD top end counter parts. Even then, I was limited to what I could do because they were not my personal CPU. Well, my dad picked himself up an AMD 1055T Thuban six core CPU, and I happened to have one of Gigabyte's flagship motherboard, the 890FXA-UD7

    The UD7 series is a higher end motherboard that features an upgraded heatsink with integrated waterblock and several other items designed to help with overclocking.  Of course AMD FX chipsets have never run that hot, but when it comes to overclocking every little bit helps.

  • Asus Ares Video Card Review Round-up

    Published: Friday, July 9, 2010 | By: Dennis

    The one thing that all hardware enthusiast love to see is things pushed to the limits.  Some prefer to be hardware tuners and mod up their gear, while others take a mainstream approach and rely on the manufacture to give them something amazing.

    It would seem that Asus is the latest to release a lavish and enthusiast friendly product simply called the Asus Ares.  This card is really nothing more than a HD 5970 with twice the ram and slightly higher clock speed.  Sounds like the perfect video card right? If you've got 1200 bux to spend, it might be.

    Here are some reviews from around the web

    - OC3D: ASUS Ares Review
    - ASUS ARES 4 GB @ techPowerUp
    - ASUS ARES CrossFire @ techPowerUp
    - ASUS ARES 4GB Limited Edition Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews
    - ASUS ARES 4GB Limited Edition Graphics Card @ HardwareHeaven
    - ASUS ROG ARES: God of War graphics card unleashed @ Hexus
    - Asus ARES Dual Radeon HD 5870 4GB Review @ HotHardware

    So do you think this card is worth 1200 bones? Sound off in the Ninjalane Message Forum

  • NL: Review Block - Video Cards

    Published: Wednesday, July 7, 2010 | By: Dennis

    Sometimes the best way to learn about a bunch of video cards is all at once.

    ATI Cards
    - ASUS ARES Review @ Guru3D
    - OC3D: HIS Radeon HD 5550 1GB GDDR3 Review
    - Sapphire HD 5850 Toxic 2GB Graphic Card Review @ Technic3D
    - Sapphire HD5670 Ultimate Edition CrossFire X Review @ KitGuru

    nVidia Card
    - PNY GeForce GTX 465 XLR8 Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews
    - Asus ENGTX465 (GTX-465) Voltage Tweak Edition @ Bjorn3D
    - Zotac GeForce GTX 465 Video Card Review @ t-break (rumor has it Zotac doesn't send out review samples *roll*)
    - ASUS GeForce GTX 465: A Step Down @ InsideHW
    - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 470 OC Edition Review @ Hardware Canucks

    More video card goodness to come.

  • Foxconn Inferno Katana GTI Review @ TweakPC

    Published: Wednesday, July 7, 2010 | By: Dennis

    TweakPC.de has posted a short review of a Foxconn motherboard that almost never was, the Quantum Force Inferno Katana.  Foxconn has been pretty quiet lately in regards to new motherboard developments but sources tell us a new board is coming soon based on the Intel P67.

    There are some interesting mainboards with P55 chipset. One of them is the Foxconn Inferno Katana GTI.

    Be sure to check out our articles and reviews of the Inferno Katana and how large rumor sites destoryed the hopes and dreams of a small channel division of Foxconn.

    (well not really, but they did cause a stir and ultimately damaged the reputation of the otherwise healthy and innovative channel sales division of Hon Hai).

  • Cooler Master Storm Scourt Case Review @ BURNED iN

    Published: Wednesday, July 7, 2010 | By: Dennis

    The Cooler Master Storm series is one of the few premier gaming brands to encompass high quality chassis and peripherals under the same umbrella and keep a common theme across them all.  

    Burned in has posted their review of the Storm Scout, as some of you know the Scout happens to be one of the smaller gaming cases in the Storm line-up designed for LanParty gaming and portability.  As many of you know carrying a large case to and from a LanParty and quickly turn disastrous so to address this Cooler Master made the Scout slightly smaller and included convenient carrying handles.  

    Be sure to check out our review of the Cooler Master Storm Scout, its a rather old review but still relevent.