Tech News
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GeForceLAN 6: Gaming on the high seas!
Published: Monday, October 17, 2011 | By: DennisEver wonder what it would be like to have a LAN party on an aircraft carrier?
- GeforceLAN 6 LANing on a boat @ LanOC Reviews
Hey guys sorry for the radio silence yesterday but I will give you guys a quick recap. We will be updating this post with our day to day coverage and also with links to other related coverage. Check back all through the weekend to see whats happening at GeforceLAN 6 on the USS Hornet!
- NVIDIA GeForce LAN Day 1 Coverage @ Hardware Canucks
Earlier in the year NVIDIA announced the latest edition of their GeForce LAN events and PC gamers eagerly grabbed tickets to what promised to be one of North America’s largest LAN parties. Once registration was complete, over 600 people had applied to be part of the 48 hour Bring Your Own Computer LAN. We've got full opening day coverage here.
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CM Storm Sirus 5.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset Review @ Techgage
Published: Monday, October 17, 2011 | By: DennisThe nature of 5.1 channel sound is one that requires sound sources to be a certain distance from your ears. This distance and the timing of the sound reproduction is what gives your brain the illusion of depth, despite how real it is.
What is difficult, is simulating that when the sound sources are mounted directly on your skull.
Finding a 5.1 gaming headset isn't hard, but finding one that's not riddled with problems is. Many companies have been entering the audio market in this way lately, and Cooler Master proves that it's not about to be left out. With its Sirus, we're given one of the best-looking options to date, so let's see if it lives up to the hype.
Basically there are two ways to simulate 5.1 channel sound from a headphone and Cooler Master did it right.
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Thermaltake Toughpower 1500 W @ techPowerUp
Published: Monday, October 17, 2011 | By: DennisLooking for a monster of a PSU? Need a monster PSU? 1500W is about as big as you can go on 110v.
Recently Thermaltake has added three new models to the Toughpower series, which are intended for power hungry systems with triple or even four-way SLI or Crossfire configurations. Today our load testers will have some extra work to do since we are going to test a monstrous Toughpower unit with 1500W capacity.
The real question is, how do you test a 1500w PSU?
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Beavis and Butt-Head's Triumphant Return
Published: Sunday, October 16, 2011 | By: DennisFor those of you old enough to remember, and enjoy, Beavis and Butt-Head will find this story to be very interesting.
It would appear that Mike Judge's comedy senses have only sharpened over years. This pilot was easily one of the show's funniest, with the hilarious duo attempting to become werewolves so they can "pick up chicks," just like in Twilight. Naturally, it doesn't go as planned, and Beavis and Butt-Head end up getting bitten by a homeless man they mistake for a werewolf. There was an amusing second short as well that revolved around Butt-Head mocking Beavis for crying during a dumb made-for-TV drama.
I do not know about you, but this could very well be the holy grail of cartoon sequels. Or it could be painful like watching some of the current South Park episodes, time will tell. One thing is for sure, I will have my DVR set.
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A roadmap for next-generation mobo firmware @ TR
Published: Friday, October 14, 2011 | By: DennisHere is an interesting look at UEFI replacements for the classic BIOS structure found on most modern motherboards. I like how the author talks about the current Asus UEFI bios layout and claims there is room for improvement. Of course there is room to improve, that is the nature of these things and since UEFI is more like an actual GUI program that opens up a variety of possibilities.
The BIOS was never that exciting, but its EFI replacement has the potential to make motherboards much sexier than they've ever been before. We have some rather specific thoughts on what should be incorporated into new firmware, and we're curious to hear what you think, too.
The truth of the matter is (and is something we purposefully didn't address in our reviews) is that UEFI is too new. I will gladly admit that Asus has the best implementation out of any we have used but when you remove the fancy graphics what you are left with is the standard American Megatrends layout, no changes just out of the box features and layout. Heck even the menu is the same. Yes they added some innovation like being able to take screenshots and the EZ layout screen but that only proves they spent more time on making things right.
What I would like to see is some company really pushing the boundaries, break the mold, include some new stuff, change the format, make things point and click or direct entry, don't just wrap pretty pictures around menu selections and call it good, that is what architects do when they attempt to hide bad design it didn't work for them so why would it work for this.
Maybe X79 will bring improvement or maybe it will be the same old stuff with a different color. So far the rumors claim ALL X79 motherboards will come with UEFI interfaces. The question will be, does the company draw from what they think people will find comfortable or will they push the boundaries and actually design something good??
Time will tell.
This is a good read, be sure to check it out.
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AMD FX "Bulldozer" Launch Day
Published: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 | By: DennisA new processor from that company you love to hate, yes this is from none other than AMD. By the looks of things this is the 8 core edition and seems to be the hot thing right now.
- AMD FX-8150 CPU: Bulldozer @ Bjorn3D
- AMD FX 8150 processor review
- OC3D: AMD FX8150 CPU Review
- AMD's FX-8150 'Bulldozer' processor reviewed at TR
- AMD FX-8150 Bulldozer CPU Review @ Madshrimps
- AMD FX-8150 Bulldozer 8 Core CPU Review @ TechwareLabs
- AMD Bulldozer FX-8150 @ PureOverclock
- AMD FX-8150 (AM3+) 3.6GHz Bulldozer CPU Review
- AMD FX-8150 Processor Review - Bulldozer Arrives @ Legit Review
- AMD FX-8150 8-Core Processor Review: Bulldozer Has Landed @ HotHardware
- AMD Bulldozer FX-8150 Processor Review @ Hardware Canucks
- AMD FX-8150 Black Edition Processor Launch Review vs Intel Core i7-2600K @ HardwareHeaven
- AMD FX 8150 Black Edition 8-Core Review (with Gigabyte 990FXA-UD7) -
NL: Review Block - Cases and Cooling
Published: Monday, October 10, 2011 | By: DennisSeems like a good week for Cases and Cooling
Cases
- Corsair Carbide 400R System Enclosure Reviewed in Metku.net
- Lian Li PC-U6 @ techPowerUp
- SilverStone TS07 USB 3.0 External Drive Enclosure Review @ MissingRemote
- Thermaltake Chaser MK-1 Full-Tower Chassis Review @ Techgage
Cooling
- Alpenfoehn Triglav CPU Cooler Review on Technic3D
- NZXT Sentry Mesh Fan Controller @ TechwareLabs
- Corsair H100 Liquid CPU Cooler vs Corsair H80 and Antec H2O 920 Review @ HardwareHeaven
- Corsair Hydro Series H80 Liquid CPU Cooler Review @ Hardware Cancuks
- Corsair Hydro Series H100 CPU Water Cooling Kit Review @ Legit Reviews
- Corsair H100 review
Stay Frosty
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Thermaltake Bigwater 760 Plus Watercooling Review on Technic3D
Published: Monday, October 10, 2011 | By: DennisThermaltake has it right when it comes to small scale watercoolers, the only question is, how does it perform and can it be used on more than one system quickly and easily?
The Thermaltake Bigwater 760 Plus Cooling-Kit arrived Technic3D. See you in the following Review the new 760 Plus with one 120mm Fan and Single Radiator compared with many other Cooler on a Intel Core i5 2500k CPU
This kit places the pump and res in a spare 5.25" drive bay meaning that hoses will need to be routed to their respective destinations. Not a bad thing but does limit airflow to the radiator.
I'm thinking that for the effort you need to have pump and res in the drive bays and combine that with an external radiator/fan combo that can be placed anywhere you have a spare 120mm fan. Of course then you can sell upgrade parts like extra radiators to further enhance your cooling abilities.
oh wait, they do that already
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Antec Kuhler 920 Watercooling kit @ Rbmods
Published: Monday, October 10, 2011 | By: DennisEveryone seems to be getting on this self contained watercooler kick, and who can blame them. They do a decent job at cooling and remain as quiet as a standard aircooler. The only thing you have to watch out for is dry hoses that will eventually crack and split liquid all over your chassis parts. (generally speaking)
Today we take a look at the more advanced watercooling kit from Antec, the 920 comes with double fans and a bigger radiator for example. How much does the performance differ from the 620 kit that we reviewed earlier? Lets find out.
Never would figure Antec to release a watercooler, but diversity seems to be the name of the game these days.
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Congrats Team Romania Lab 501 for Winning MOA 2011
Published: Friday, October 7, 2011 | By: DennisLab 501 locked up another victory in overclocking compeititions after posting a massive 11796 3DMark 11 score and near perfect SuperPi 32m time of 6m 16.031 on a 2600k with a locked mulit at 50x.
Sadly the American teams of "Team OCAlliance" and "Team Over the Edge" came in spots 7 and 8 respectively due in part to the combined scores of the three benchmarks and not placing high in the rankings.
I spent the evening watching most of the competition (up until 3DMark 2001) and was very pleased with the format and coverage, of course there is more that could be done to enhance the experience but sometimes just watching from afar is good enough.
The last two US teams, "Team Last Minute" and "Team Pure" had a terrible time in the ranks which is likely due to poor processors or system issues.
