Tech News
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Artificial Photosynthesis: Like Water for Gasoline
Published: Thursday, March 1, 2012 | By: DennisHarness the power of the sun to do more for you than we have ever imagined. I like that idea but the question is. How?
If you’ve ever sat idling in a tunnel with the car windows rolled down, you know why burning petrochemicals is bad for the environment. Internal combustion engines are woefully inefficient. But suppose the world could run on water and sunshine instead. Sound like unicorns and lollipops? It isn’t.
The article describes the purpose of the research and alludes to the creation of an artificial leaf that will capture natural chemicals and use sunlight to convert those into a usable fuel.
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GIGABYTE Battlefield 3 Cup North America Season 1 Tournament
Published: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 | By: DennisDo you like to play Battlefield 3?? Think you have what it takes to complete with the big boys/girls for top prizes from Gigabyte?
Start forming your teams today because registration is now open!
The tournament will be based on a mix of classic Battlefield 3 maps and Back to Karkand maps. If you think you and your team have the chops to climb the ladder and win the championship, big hardware and cash prizes await you!
On this site, you”ll find information about the rules, standings, fantastic prizes and how to signup! We’ve made it very simple and straight forward for you to enter the tournament, but spaces are limited, so get moving!Think you have what it takes? If you do, then check out the prize pool waiting for the top champions:
- 1st Prize: Eight GV-R797OC-3GD + USD $1600
- 2nd Prize: Eight Unannounced Next-Generation Graphics Cards + USD $800
- 3rd Prize: Eight K8100+M8600 + USD $400
The tournament begins on March 12, 2012, Finals begin on March 31, 2012. Check the site for registration information and official rules.
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Dell Joins Rival HP on Growing List of ARM Server Makers
Published: Tuesday, February 28, 2012 | By: DennisHere is a really great story, which could be a success for what nVidia has done with Tegra even though they were not directly mentioned in the article.
When it come to enterprise servers, information technology folks care less about precisely what architecture of CPUs are going in them, but more about the impact that any architectural shifts might have -- such as computing power, power efficiency, and compatibility.
Here is why this is good, and bad.
- ARM processors tend to sip power while Intel CPUs are often power hungry and one of the reasons why servers are loud and require a crazy amount of cooling.
- ARM systems have been getting more powerful, just look at Tegra 3, it comes with five cores, can play full motion video and FPS video games.
- ARM systems are not subject to Intel patents (yet) so more companies can build the CPUs and thus giving companies like HP, DELL, and nVidia the ability to pad their portfolio and create new markets.
The bad: Unless you count Linux there is really no "server class" OS ready to run on ARM. Not saying that excluding Windows from the ARM market is all that detrimental but you must consider it when pushing for a new hardware product with benefits such as these.
No need to worry though, Microsoft is working on it.
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NLL Review Block - Video Card Trust Edition x4
Published: Tuesday, February 28, 2012 | By: DennisCardfire Round-up
- OC3D: OverKILL-3D ASUS HD7970 Quadfire Madness
- MSI Radeon HD 7950 Twin Frozer III review
- MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III 3072 MB @ techPowerUpWe haven't done many video card reviews as of late but the winds of change are a blowing, my only hope is they aren't blowing smoke in to a place that deserves no smoke.
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Synology DS212 NAS Server Review @ Techgage
Published: Tuesday, February 28, 2012 | By: DennisIt has been awhile since we reviewed a full on NAS box, which is kinda sad considering they offer so much to users without a home network or dedicated file/media server.
It's been a while since we last evaluated a NAS device, so to help kick things back off, we're taking a look at Synology's 2-bay DS212 NAS server. Synology has long offered not only robust hardware, but exceptionally good software, so let's see if that still stands today, as our last look at a Synology product was a full three years ago.
Seems like Techgage feels the same way.
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ASUS Maximux IV Extreme Motherboard Review @ OCIA
Published: Tuesday, February 28, 2012 | By: DennisThis is one of the great motherboards designed for the Sandy Bridge platform, it offers the user great control over the system and even features switches designed for LN2 overclocking. (Assuming your chip can handle the cold)
Today we are taking a look at a board from the latter series, the ASUS Maximus IV Extreme, a P67 B3 Revision board that throws caution to the wind by including virtually every bell and whistle one could desire. This board is specifically designed for Intel 2nd Generation Core CPU overclocking and supports Nvidia SLI and ATI CrossFire X multi-GPU configurations in addition to a treasure trove of ROG-specific features and applications.
Be sure to check out our review of the Asus Maximus IV Extreme, you might find something you didn't know.
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NL: Review Block - 2/28/2012
Published: Tuesday, February 28, 2012 | By: DennisNew review block covering Cases and Coolers. Got some good stuff in there.
Cases
- NZXT Switch 810 Hybrid Full Tower @ Pro-Clockers
- Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition Review @ circuitREMIX
Coolers
- Swiftech Apogee HD @ PureOverclock
- NZXT HAVIK 140 CPU Cooler Review @ Bigbruin
- ARCTIC's Freezer 13 PRO and Freezer i30 CPU Coolers @ circuitREMIX
- Noctua's DH-14: Air Cooling Keeps Up With Liquid?
- SilenX Effizio EFZ-120HA5 Performance CPU Cooler @ Pro-Clockers
- Coolermaster Gemini II SF524 Cooler Review @ HardwareLOOK
- Phobya Shrouds Review on Technic3D
- SilenX EFZ-120HA5 CPU Cooler @ Bjorn3DMore to come.
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ASUS Rampage IV Formula BF3 Edition @ Hardwareoverclock
Published: Friday, February 24, 2012 | By: DennisHave you been dr00ling over the Rampage iV Extreme but get lightheaded when you look at the pricetag? Maybe the Rampage IV Formula is more to your liking.
Mit dem Sockel 2011 bieten die neuen Boards jede Menge Features, die für die neuen Prozessoren notwendig sind. So ist das Board vom Aufbau völlig neu. Das Speicher Interface wurde wieder geändert, auf Quad Channel. Dies soll das Tripple Channel Interface des Sockel 1366 ablösen und noch ein wenig an Leistung zulegen. Natürlich ist diese Steigerung mit einem enormen Platzaufwand verbunden, da die Speicher-Bänke jetzt links und rechts vom Sockel sitzen.
I'll be honest here and say I have no idea what I just quoted but the pictures look good.
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Gigabyte 7950 Windforce @ PureOverclock
Published: Friday, February 24, 2012 | By: DennisIt is no secret that the HD7970 has caught the eye of the enthusiast even though it has gotten a lack luster response from nVidia. I plan to get one and any self respecting overclocker should do as well.
We're looking at the Gigabyte HD 7950 today, it's a ramped-up version of the AMD design, coming with a customized air cooler called the Windforce. As we've seen in the past from Gigabyte, excellent cooling is characteristic of this Windforce design, so we hope that trend continues with this new card. We know the 7970 is a perfomance monster, but what about this 7950? Is it strong enough to fend off the GTX 580? Framerates tell some of the story, but what about temperatures? Power consumption? Gaming value? Let's take a closer look at the Gigabyte 7950 and answer those questions for you.
Windforce is to Gigabyte as the Twin Frozr is to MSI, and I'm gonna say they prolly cool about the same and both suffer from "fan to close to cool" syndrome.
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NL: Review Block - 2/24/2012
Published: Friday, February 24, 2012 | By: DennisI'm calling this the dead server edition, not sure exactly why.
Memory
- G.Skill Ares 2133 MHz CL9 Quad Channel 16 GB @ ocaholic
- Kingston HyperX Genesis DDR3-1600 8GB Dual Channel Memory Kit Review @ ThinkComputers
- Kingston HyperX Red 8GB DDR3-1600 @ PureOverclock
Coolers
- Coolermaster Hyper 612 PWM Heatsink Review
- Coolermaster Hyper 612S CPU Cooler Review @ HardwareLOOK
- Corsair Hydro Series H100 Liquid CPU Cooler Review @ circuitREMIX
Cases
- Silvestone DC01 Data Center NAS unit reviewed in MetkuStay tuned, more to come.
