Tech News
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GIGABYTE Launch First AMD Gaming Motherboard: G1.Sniper A88X
Published: Monday, August 19, 2013 | By: DennisPacks Exclusive GIGABYTE Audio Features: USB DAC-UP and Gain Boost
City of Industry, California, August 16, 2013 – GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced its new FM2+ motherboards including the newest addition to its G1-Killer range of gaming motherboards, the GIGABYTE G1.Sniper A88X. Debuting two exclusive audio features including GIGABYTE USB DAC-UP, an exclusive feature optimized for users employing a Digital-to-Analog Converter, and Gain Boost which provides high gain output for advanced headphones and speakers, the GIGABYTE G1.Sniper A88X provides the highest caliber onboard audio experience for discerning audiophiles.
“We’ve had a lot of customer interest in expanding our G1-Killer gaming motherboard range to include an AMD platform model.” commented Henry Kao, Vice President of GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. ”By also developing unique audio features that make a real difference to the overall experience, we’re confident this board will be a real hit with gamers and audiophiles alike.”
GIGABYTE G1.Sniper A88X: Ready for Kaveri on AMD Socket FM2+
The GIGABYTE G1.Sniper A88X motherboard features the new FM2+ APU socket, and is designed to get the most from forthcoming ‘Kaveri’ AMD APUs, while preserving compatibility for current AMD FM2 ‘Trinity’ and ‘Richland’ APUs.
FM2+ AMD APUs offer native support for 8 GT/s PCI Express gen 3.0 as well as DX11.1 support, integrating the high performance ‘Steamroller’ core. AMD socket FM2+ APUs also offer native support for 4K resolution displays on HDMI and DisplayPort.
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ASUS Maximus VI Hero Z87 Motherboard Review
Published: Monday, August 19, 2013 | By: DennisOh my Hero!
The Z87 series keeps on trucking along and with this ASUS offers yet another ROG piece to the game with the newly released Maximus VI HERO. The Hero looks very much like a Formula from the Z77 line but without the WiFi or the Liquid cooled VRM and knowing now all of the different models available through the ROG line I am very interested in the innovations included in this board and where exactly it falls into the stack in terms of ROG Z87?s.
You know every time I see this name I think the motherboard is supposed to be MicroATX in size and carrying a sword while walking in winged shoes. Imagine my surprise to find a full sized motherboard supporting the latest Haswell based processors.
But, only the K brand since if you buy a Hero you will want to champion games and benchmark scores for all time.
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The desktop PC needs a makeover @ TR
Published: Monday, August 19, 2013 | By: DennisCyril Kowaliski is at it again and this time attacking how large his PC is.
My PC is full of air and unoccupied slots and bays. I have four 5.25" optical drive bays that I don't use. The top one houses a DVD burner, but I can't remember the last time I stuck a disc in it. I moved to Canada over three years ago, and I'm positive that I've never purchased a blank DVD in this country.
I'm going to go out on a limb and simply agree with Cyril's views. (most of them) Yes, the modern PC is too large and the modern case has too many drive bays, too many expansion slots and often come with external hot-swap docks. None of this stuff we need however there was that one guy in some "other" country, lets say China, that claimed it was needed.
Looking back at my Antec SX635 (that I still use) you will see the epitome of the perfect mid-tower chassis. it is compact, fits a full sized motherboard and comes with 5 drive bays. The problem is the case doesn't cool well so to solve the problem I added some larger fans. 92mm was the biggest that would fit and sadly the blowhole fan had to be removed because my Corsair HX850 was too long. At idle the case is quiet however when I game the fans have to activate because my GTX 670 and Core i7 980X generate too much heat.
Heat is the main reason computer cases have gotten big. People complain that their PC's are too loud and the only way to solve that is to increase the airspace and install large slow moving fans. Cases like the Silverstone Temjin TJ08-E Evolution are a perfect example of how this can be done but they don't sell well in high volume regions that are more concerned with what you get than what you really need.
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The desktop PC needs a makeover @ TR
Published: Monday, August 19, 2013 | By: DennisCyril Kowaliski is at it again and this time attacking how large his PC is.
My PC is full of air and unoccupied slots and bays. I have four 5.25" optical drive bays that I don't use. The top one houses a DVD burner, but I can't remember the last time I stuck a disc in it. I moved to Canada over three years ago, and I'm positive that I've never purchased a blank DVD in this country.
I'm going to go out on a limb and simply agree with Cyril's views. (most of them) Yes, the modern PC is too large and the modern case has too many drive bays, too many expansion slots and often come with external hot-swap docks. None of this stuff we need however there was that one guy in some "other" country, lets say China, that claimed it was needed.
Looking back at my Antec SX635 (that I still use) you will see the epitome of the perfect mid-tower chassis. it is compact, fits a full sized motherboard and comes with 5 drive bays. The problem is the case doesn't cool well so to solve the problem I added some larger fans. 92mm was the biggest that would fit and sadly the blowhole fan had to be removed because my Corsair HX850 was too long. At idle the case is quiet however when I game the fans have to activate because my GTX 670 and Core i7 980X generate too much heat.
Heat is the main reason computer cases have gotten big. People complain that their PC's are too loud and the only way to solve that is to increase the airspace and install large slow moving fans. Cases like the Silverstone Temjin TJ08-E Evolution are a perfect example of how this can be done but they don't sell well in high volume regions that are more concerned with what you get than what you really need.
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COUGAR Dual-X LED Fans (140 & 120mm) Review @ Techgage
Published: Monday, August 19, 2013 | By: DennisI have never really liked reviewing fans but I have done a few and of the fans I have looked at the Noctua NF-F12 and Silverstone Air Penetrator AP182 are by far the coolest fans in existance.
Several casemodders swear by the Cougar brand and swear they are the best thing since moving air was invented. I'm not sure I agree with them.
Are you a fan of cooling efficiency, bling, and especially the two combined? If so, COUGAR’s CFD Dual-X LED fans are worth checking out. Ideally spec’d as fans to line the interior of your chassis, only part of the CFD series’ goal is to keep things cool. The other half is to make your PC stand out, both with its bright LEDs and aggressive design.
The lights are cool and the fins under the fan blades should help on some level.
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Pay what you want for epic games on Origin
Published: Thursday, August 15, 2013 | By: DennisIn case you haven't noticed my Podcast co-host Darren is quite the gamer and loves getting deals on new games. As you can imagine he has been quite supportable of the Humble Bundle where the company will offer up A and Indie class game titles at a fraction of their retail price with all of the proceeds going to charity.
Oh, and by "fraction" I mean you get to name your own price. If you want to spend a dollar you can do that. Of course since this is for charity they have suggested donations and request that you give what you think is fair.
The latest Humble Bundle features triple A titles from EA and as of this news posting has netted in over 4 million dollars!!
Pay what you want. On their own, all these mind-blowing titles would cost about $215, but we're letting you name your price! Pay any price to get soundtracks for The Sims 3 and Battlefield 3. A purchase of $1 or more gets you Origin* keys for all the games, and you can also get Steam keys for Dead Space, Crysis 2 Maximum Edition, Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box, Medal of Honor, and Mirror's Edge! Beat the average to also get The Sims 3, two expansion packs in The Sims 3 Starter Pack, and Battlefield 3.
I'm on board for Crysis 2 and might try out Dead Space. My Battlefield 3 key now has me with 3 copies but nobody says I have to use them.
The Humble Origin Bundle expires Aug 27th so if you're going to take advantage of this great deal, you need to act fast. -
Gamers May Save the PC Market
Published: Wednesday, August 14, 2013 | By: DennisThe TechReport crew talked about this article on their latest podcast and it really got me thinking. If you think about the US PC Market the trend is moving towards mobile and tablet devices which is causing the of PCs and Laptops to dwindle. Hardware Enthusiasts and Gamers often strive to have the latest and greatest hardware which is something that Laptops and Tablets cannot deliver.
Knowing that and factoring in that hardware makers often make no profit ($0 dollars over R&D costs) on flagship and high-end hardware. You have to wonder if the sale of high-end gaming gear and custom PCs is really a long term solution or just a stop gap before the Microsoft and Intel driven mobile world takes over.
IDC Insights Research dropped some doom and gloom earlier this year, reporting that Q1 2013 PC shipments were down a drastic 13.9% globally, compared to the same period in 2012. This represented the worst decline in the US since 2006, despite Windows 8 and some inspired hardware to accompany it from the likes of Lenovo, ASUS, and Dell DELL Apparently no one told PC gamers about this decline, as a new report from Jon Peddie Research illustrates.
I had a "over drinks" discussion during CES about the future of hardware review sites and flat out said there is no future for hardware review as we know it. Simply put we all need to adapt or die. The reason being that mid and low end hardware is what makes money and the high-end flagship products are only built for marketing. So, without mid level sales there are no high-end products, and if high-end products remain the prices will go thru the roof.
I really hope the market doesn't come this that and its up to the consumers to demand change. Sadly everyone with this power has their heads buried in their ipads.
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Gamers May Save the PC Market
Published: Wednesday, August 14, 2013 | By: DennisThe TechReport crew talked about this article on their latest podcast and it really got me thinking. If you think about the US PC Market the trend is moving towards mobile and tablet devices which is causing the of PCs and Laptops to dwindle. Hardware Enthusiasts and Gamers often strive to have the latest and greatest hardware which is something that Laptops and Tablets cannot deliver.
Knowing that and factoring in that hardware makers often make no profit ($0 dollars over R&D costs) on flagship and high-end hardware. You have to wonder if the sale of high-end gaming gear and custom PCs is really a long term solution or just a stop gap before the Microsoft and Intel driven mobile world takes over.
IDC Insights Research dropped some doom and gloom earlier this year, reporting that Q1 2013 PC shipments were down a drastic 13.9% globally, compared to the same period in 2012. This represented the worst decline in the US since 2006, despite Windows 8 and some inspired hardware to accompany it from the likes of Lenovo, ASUS, and Dell DELL Apparently no one told PC gamers about this decline, as a new report from Jon Peddie Research illustrates.
I had a "over drinks" discussion during CES about the future of hardware review sites and flat out said there is no future for hardware review as we know it. Simply put we all need to adapt or die. The reason being that mid and low end hardware is what makes money and the high-end flagship products are only built for marketing. So, without mid level sales there are no high-end products, and if high-end products remain the prices will go thru the roof.
I really hope the market doesn't come this that and its up to the consumers to demand change. Sadly everyone with this power has their heads buried in their ipads.
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Zotac GTX 780 AMP! Review at HardwareHeaven
Published: Wednesday, August 14, 2013 | By: DennisZotac is an interesting company, on one hand they have these super cool, super small MiniITX motherboards that simulate a system on a chip (board in this case) that sell extremely well in the States. On the other hand they have these super cool, semi awesome video cards that simulate all that is good in a video card and you would be hard pressed to get one from a US based e-tailer.
Today ZOTAC launch their take on a custom cooled 780 with a significant overclock applied at the factory; over 1000MHz base. We will compare it to an existing "super overclock" edition as well as taking a 7970 GHz Edition, water-cooling it and overclocking well past retail overclocked models to see how it compares in game such as Crysis 3 and Metro: Last Light.
The AMP! edition GPU isn't much more than a reference GTX 780 with a fancy cooler with a few extra Mhz extracted from the GPU. The real gem would be the Extreme Edition cards that appear to be a "China Only" distribution.
One of those cards in GTX 780 clothing would rival the Classified and Lightning cards for sure.
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ZOTAC GeForce GTX 680 Extreme Edition Pictured
Published: Wednesday, April 4, 2012 | By: DennisZotac has been one of the minor players in the GPU market, at least in the US, but its nice to see they are expanding their product line to include some custom PCB designs. I followed this story from HWBot to TPU only to notice that the images were taken from EXPreview.
ZOTAC is flexing its engineering muscle. First, it was talk of a 2 GHz GeForce GTX 680 by one of its senior executives, and now this, ZOTAC GeForce GTX 680 Extreme Edition. Pictured below, the card's design is reminiscent of the crazy engineering endeavors ZOTAC China undertakes, to come up with some extremely powerful designs, which seldom get out of the APAC region (to EMEAI and NA regions).
I do have some friends at Zotac and while they haven't supported this site in the past I think that may change in the future.
