Tech News
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NL: PC Game Reviews Roundup
Published: Thursday, February 11, 2010 | By: WillWell the time is up on use to start checking out the new cool games coming for the PC. Here is a couple that just hits the spot for us at Ninjalane.
Aliens vs Predator (Preview) @ GamingHeaven
"We here at GamingHeaven can remember back to far flung days when the original Aliens Versus Predator was a reason to purchase the largely forgotten Atari Jaguar. Since then each version has looked to ramp up the atmosphere, authenticity and action of a crossover franchise that is for many a mash-up of 80s nostalgia taken to a glorious extreme."
"Follow-up to BioShock, 2K Games' critically acclaimed and commercially successful 2007 release, BioShock 2 is a first-person shooter set in the fictional underwater city of Rapture. As in the original game, BioShock 2 features a blend of fast-paced action, exploration and puzzle-solving as players follow varying paths through the overarching storyline based on the decisions that they are forced to make at various points in the game. In addition to a further fleshing out of the franchise's storyline, players can look forward to new characters, game mechanics, weapons, locations and a series first, multiplayer game options. See you this and more in the following Review from Technic3D."
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Important Reminder Regarding Expiration of the Windows 7 RC
Published: Thursday, February 11, 2010 | By: WillIt is getting closer to the end for us using the Windows 7 RC1. It is time to just bite the bullet, and pick up the full version since we know everyone is going to anyway. This is your first warning.
On February 15th, people still running the Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) will receive a notification reminding them that starting March 1st, 2010, their PC will begin experiencing bi-hourly shutdowns. These shutdowns will continue through June 1st, 2010.
On June 1st, 2010, a non-genuine experience is triggered where your wallpaper is removed and "This copy of Windows is not genuine" will be displayed in the lower right corner above the taskbar. This means your PC will no longer be able to obtain optional updates or downloads that require genuine Windows validation.Shutdown every two hours.
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EVGA Agents: The Case of the Missing RAID - Part 1
Published: Tuesday, February 9, 2010 | By: DennisCaught this on Twitter today, seems there has been a theft at EVGA HQ so they called in the agents to track down and recover what had been stolen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu5mAGU_CIU
(sorry can't embed videos in the news just quite yet)
Be sure to follow us on Twitter, its not updated all that much but there is some good info on there at times.
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NL: Review Block - Misc Goodies
Published: Tuesday, February 9, 2010 | By: DennisHere are a few reviews from around the web to get you started
Cooling
- Thor's Hammer CPU Cooler Review @ Real World Labs
- Thermaltake SpinQ VT CPU Cooler Review @ Hardware Secrets
- Spire TherMax Pro CPU Cooler Review @ Tech-ReviewsGames
- Dark Void - PC @ LanOC ReviewsVideo Cards
- Sapphire HD5750 Vapor-X Reviewed in Metku
- World-Exclusive: Powercolor HD 5870 PCS+ @ techPowerUp
- ATI Radeon 5450 Media PC Graphics Card Review @ OverclockersHQMemory
- Mushkin PC3-12800 6GB Kit @ RbmodsAnd that is all for now.
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NL: Review Block - Chassis
Published: Tuesday, February 9, 2010 | By: DennisComputer cases come in all shapes and sizes. Some look like ass, some are total ass, some are super pimp, while others rock the house. The one thing ALL cases have in common, cost for performance ratio. Simply put, the better the case, the more it costs.
Gone are the times when you could buy a decent case and later mod it up to meet your needs, these days cases come pre-modded or are designed after popular mods from the community, so picking the right one is a challenge.
Here are some reviews from around the web. See if you can figure out which ones are good and which ones are not.
- Thermaltake Lanbox VF1000BWS Case Review @ Tweaknews
- SilverStone Grandia GD04 Case Review @ Motherboards
- Thermaltake Element V Full Tower @ Pro-Clockers
- NZXT Beta Evo Midi-Tower Review on Technic3D
- Antec Nine Hundred Two Ultimate Gaming Case Review @ Legit Reviews
- NZXT Hades Case Review @ Overclockers Online
- NZXT Hades PC Case @ TweakPC
- Cooler Master ATCS 840 Case @ TechwareLabs
- SilverStone Grandia GD05 HTPC Case Review @ OCIA
- XClio Nighthawk Case @ RbmodsMore news to come
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NL: Review Block - Radeon HD5570 Video Card
Published: Tuesday, February 9, 2010 | By: DennisATI has been really pushing the product launches lately in the span of a month we have seen at least 3 new cards hit the market, and 2 of them within a week. It's all we can do to keep up, but how does that affect the consumer??
- ATI Radeon HD 5570 - Sub-$100 HTPC & Gaming Solution @ Techgage
- Sapphire Radeon HD5570 1GB DDR3 Single & Crossfire Review @ Hardware Canucks
- Sapphire Radeon HD 5570 1GB video card review @ Elite BastardsHowever this turns out I would put my money on nVidia.
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GIGABYTE SATA 6G Update - RAID 0 Just How We Like It
Published: Monday, February 8, 2010 | By: WillHere is a neat little article with RAID 0 and SATA 6G to take note on.Looks like Gigabyte is putting on there thinking caps to make the best performing SATA 6G RAID 0 solution for its users.
"When we tested the ASUS P55 and GIGABYTE P55 boards with USB 3.0 and SATA 6G, we found some interesting numbers when using the GIGABYTE P55A-UD4P in RAID 0. For the most part we didn't see much of an improvement when going from a single to a dual drive configuration with RAID 0. GIGABYTE also noticed the same issue and quickly went to work with Marvell to find a solution.
When enthusiasts choose to pair a set of drives in RAID 0, they are looking to nearly double their performance. RAID 0 offers many a quick and inexpensive way to get solid performance gains out of the slowest component or subsystem in their computer. Simply put, when your hard storage system is running faster, your entire machine feels more responsive and appears to be faster."Looks like Gigabyte has something over Asus once again.
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G.Skill Pi Series DDR3-2200 and Eco DDR3-1600 Review @ HardwareHeaven
Published: Monday, February 8, 2010 | By: WillHere is a sweet looking set of RAM from GSkill that has some very awesome setting for getting to such high speed. Check out the review to see what I am talking about.
"Today we have two sets of memory from G.Skill on our test bench, the high performane Pi series DDR3-2200 and a 1.35v set from the Eco series running at DDR3-1600."
Pretty impressive stuff there.
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Sapphire Radeon HD 5450 Review
Published: Thursday, February 4, 2010 | By: WillThe new Sapphire Radeon 5450 has just arrived and we are testing it right now. So we wanted to let everyone know the review is coming. Till then enjoy the pic.
1. Microsoft DirectX 11 Support
2. ATI Eyefinity Technology, support up to 3 displays. *
3. ATI Stream technology**
4. 40nm Process Technology
5. PCI Express® 2.1 support
6. Microsoft Windows 7® Support
7. Enhanced Anisotropic Filtering
8. Accelerated Video Transcoding**
9. Display Flexibility
10. HDMI 1.3
11. Dolby® TrueHD and DTSHD Master AudioTM Support
12. ATI PowerPlay ™ Technology***
13. ATI Avivo™ Technology Enhanced Unified Video Decoder 2 (UVD 2)***
14. Supports OpenGL 3.2 ****
15. ATI CrossFireX™ multi-GPU technology*****We are very sure you HTPC guys are looking hard at this card.
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NL: Monster Sized Air Cooled Heatsinks
Published: Wednesday, February 3, 2010 | By: WillHere is a couple monster sized heatsinks for all your air cooling needs. Even though Ninjalane will be the first to tell you to just go watercooled.
Noctua NH-D14 Dual Fan CPU Cooler @ Pro-Clockers
"Before I re-write the About Us page for Noctua let's get into why we are here today. Noctua was generous enough to send other their latest cooler, NH-D14. The D14 as we will call it is the largest cooler we have seen from Noctua to date. This new cooler weighs in at 1240 grams with two fans attached. This alone is scary enough but due to the SecuFirm 2 mounting system weight should be the last issue on your mind. Lets get into the review before I reveal anymore secrets on the D14."
Thermalright Venomous X CPU Cooler @ PCShopTalk
"After the fall of the old king of air cooling, the TRUE, some manufacturers have succeeded to make better and better heatsinks, with different shapes and sizes. All concurrence was ripped apart when Noctua have presented their NH-D14 heatsink. Thermalright, which developed one of the best heatsinks for a really long time had to catch up. In this review we will see if we will have a new king of air cooling or a huge dissapointment."
