Tech News
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Fractal Design Define Nano S mITX Computer Case Review @ APH Networks
It would seem that "everyone" loves Fractal Design cases -or- Fractal likes to send out samples. Either way I'm not sure I share in the enthusiasm but will agree they look pretty good, even when they are small.
The Fractal Design Define Nano S may be a shrunken Define S, but it proves Fractal Design knows cases, and knows them well.
I've never been a fan of solid front cases but they work well to keep the noise down and with room for watercooling gear you might end up with a European approved silent PC.
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GIGABYTE GA-990X Gaming SLI Review @ Vortez
It is interesting how reviewers get hung up on certain features that are hot in the news. For instance Computex was full of RGB lighting effects and like LED fans back in the old days the fad is making the rounds on everything from fans to motherboards and video cards.
But wouldn't you know it, when a motherboard doesn't have RGB lights it seems to be a cause for concern.
Although missing out on the RGB goodness that has been unveiled by GIGABYTE recently, the latest line of G1 Gaming motherboards for the AM3+ platform introduces various new standards to the ageing chipset including an M2 slot with a 20Gb/s transfer rate, as well as 2x USB 3.1 ports.
The Gigabyte 990FX and 970FX AMD motherboard refresh is not about fancy lights and overclocking but rather giving these boards a much needed upgrade and a good reason to buy AMD processors despite the drawbacks of the platform.
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Asylum Review Block: Solid Chips of Storage
750GB you say? Big chip SSD? El'fasto drive?? Jedi need not these things but computer enthusiasts do.
Seems there was a SSD launch last night of large scale epic proportions.
- Crucial MX300 Limited Edition 750Gb SSD Storage Review @ Hardware Slave
- Limited Edition 750GB Crucial MX300 SSD Review @ Legit Reviews
- Crucial's MX300 SSD reviewed @ TR
- Samsung 750 EVO 500GB SSD review @ Guru3D
- Crucial MX300 SSD Review (750GB) @ The SSD ReviewOne of these days I'll have to pay the Micron factory a visit, it is only just like not far from me.
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Gigabyte Mod 2 Win 30th Anniversary Modding Contest
For the past several years Gigabyte has sponsored several competitions and to celebrate their 30th anniversary they have partnered up with Modders-Inc for a modding compeition where the grand prize winner will recieve a cash prize, a HUGE pile of hardware and their build showcased at the Gigabyte CES Ballroom. If that wasn't enough the winner and one other (2 total) will get a trip to Las Vegas to present their mod and see what CES is all about.
Even I'm excited enough to enter! So watch out a pearl blue casemod may or may not be in the works
BTW this contest is only open to those 18 and up and live in either the US or Canada. There are also three key date ranges to keep in mind.
Design a Concept - 5/27/2016 - 6/27/2016
Build your Mod - 7/1/2016 - 11/14/2016
Grand Finale - 11/18/2016 - 12/19/2016Design a Concept winners will get a special "Build Kit" prize that includes a GIGABYTE motherboard, graphics card, and an EK waterblock!
To commemorate 30 years of Upgrading Your Life, we’re launching a mod contest dedicated to you, our fans!
Submit your build by November 15, 2016 to be entered to WIN an all expense paid flight and lodging for you and a friend to CES 2017 on January 5 - 8, 2017 plus $1,000 in cash and prizes. Second and Third place prizes are also up for grabs. Rules and restrictions apply. See Mod Rules for details.
To help you get started, submit a concept design on how you would design your dream build by June 27, 2016 to be entered to WIN 1 of 3 Build Kits that include a GIGABYTE motherboard, graphics card, and an EK waterblock! Submit hand drawn and/or CAD files. Terms and conditions apply.
We will be giving away prizes and swag exclusively to those of you who sign up throughout the duration of the mod challenge. So sign up, Get building, and you could be the one who WINs the trip of a lifetime!
At the end of the contest, we want to know who you think built the best of the best mod. We’re giving you the chance to decide who WINs our Fan Favorite Build presented by Newegg. Cast your vote and you could also WIN exclusive swag and prizes.Sign up and Complete your mod before November 15, 2016, 11:59pm PST
- Create a Modders Inc. account to start your work log.
- Register here with your Modders Inc. work log and personal information.
- Building your Mod and updating it on your Modders Inc. work log.
- Complete your GIGABYTE Profile to make sure you join the contest!
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Phanteks ENTHOO EVOLV ITX Computer Case Review @ [H]
A year or so ago I reviewed the Mini-ITX version of the Enthoo EVOLV and quickly fell in love with the form factor. Sure I took issue with the lack of 5.25" drive bays but on a Mini-ITX system those aren't so important.
Little computer cases have gotten to be big business since the motherboard companies started building enthusiast featured mini-ITX motherboards. Phanteks' new EVOLV ITX case is not so little however as it is keeping in mind that users may want room to build their own water cooling loops or need room for a couple of AIO coolers.
HardOCP is taking a look at the very same case and they seem to like it. I think.
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Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV ATX Tempered Glass Edition @ Custom PC Review
There are several items in an enthusiast PC that stand the upgrade process with one of them in the case. When someone builds a PC or buys one from a place like CyberPower PC you are concerned with the components but spend considerable time making sure the case will hold your gear and still look good.
As they say there is nothing worse than an ugly computer case and is why modding is still very much a real thing. The Phanteks EVOLV is a case you can clearly use for a variety of builds and will eventually be home to one in the Hardware Asylum Labs.
Today we’re taking a look at the latest of the Enthoo EVOLV chassis lineup, the Enthoo EVOLV ATX Tempered Glass, which is a slight variation of the previously released Enthoo EVOLV ATX. As the name suggests, this new variation replaces the aluminum side panels found on the EVOLV ATX with full, tempered glass panels.
Be sure to check out our review of the Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV Tempered Glass Edition. It is quite good.
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Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum @ Bjorn3d
If Microsoft and Intel ran the world, more than they do now, there would be no need for you to use a mouse, In fact this little gem of a pointing device would have never been invented and countless 1000's of gamers and hardware enthusiast would be touching their 4K LCD monitors with their fingers, or "other things" depending on what they are watching.
Logitech and more specifically their Gaming or G line has been constantly evolving over the years to follow the latest in technology when it comes to keyboards, mice, headsets and other peripherals. Only a few weeks ago we had the honor to review the G910 Orion Spark keyboard and today we have the pleasure to test and review their new G502 Proteus Spectrum gaming mouse. So in this review we put this mouse through rigorous testing.
Lucky for us the mouse is still a very important part of any computer system and should remain that way.
At least for a few more weeks.
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The Hardware Asylum Redesign v2.0
When I launched the Hardware Asylum several years ago I was doing much more than rebranding Ninjalane.com, I was upgrading a good portion of the Ninjalane CMS so I could split the older content from the new. As a result I didn’t spend much time on the UI aside from creating “Flame Guy” and creating a basic layout similar to the previous edition.
The intent was to launch the site and gauge market acceptance before spending too much time on making the design unique. Strangely enough, what started out promising quickly went downhill around the same time I stopped giving away custom painted computer cases.
Imagine that?!?
Against popular opinion I do have a vested interest in making Hardware Asylum work and with that I am proud to announce the launch of Hardware Asylum v2.0.
The new website design brings with it a radical departure from what other hardware review sites are doing and I think it will work out well. Traditionally my competitor sites have all taken the “blog” approach when it comes to site design and layout. We can thank the rise of Wordpress and Drupal for making that happen. Before that it was all three column designs thanks in part to PHP Nuke.
Have you noticed the pattern? Yep, the majority of website owners are not web programmers and grab some CMS off the shelf and then higher a reader or local development shop to build a tempate. Because of this most sites follow a 2/3 by 1/3 site layout with two layers of drill-down.
I on the other hand take things to the next level having designed and built my own multi relational CMS and applied that to a Responsive HTML5 site design that I also developed. Pretty much the polar opposite of using Wordpress and/or Drupal
Don’t get me wrong, there isn’t anything wrong with using an off the shelf product, in fact Ninjalane v2 through v4 borrowed heavly from Wordpress themes and followed a similar design pattern because it was popular and easy to maintain. Ninjalane v1 (which was awesome BTW) and Hardware Asylum v2.0 are both unique in that I did something different..
The new design is pretty straight forward and instead of doing a listing drill-down I have decided to take a “news article” approach where items on the page decrease in importance the further down the page you go. For instance at the top of the homepage you will find large chicklets showing the latest articles and reviews followed by an icon list of popular categories and the next four articles.
Below that is a dedicated section for the Hardware Asylum Podcast, which is also awesome, be sure to give it a listen.
At the bottom of the homepage is a small section dedicated to Hardware News. This section used to dominate the homepage and while I felt it was relevant at the time the truth is google cares very little about “news” and tech sites are very reluctant to share reviews from competing websites so why bother. Funny story, back in the day I stopped sending news to “certain” sites because of the liberties they took with my content and I suspect it was the start of the downward spiral. (read: steal most if it, re-write it slightly and post it as their own with a very small “source” link at the bottom. Not Cool)
But, I digress. The news section is simply a list of articles that links directly to the full story.
The secondary index pages (Reviews Articles Builds) remain about the same with the addition of a unique version of the carousel found on the homepage. The rest of the pages I felt worked well so I left them alone.
With that said I will be making a few tweaks to the design over the next several months to help pretty up some of the pages and adjust the content filtering. With any luck you may finally see similar reviews in the side bar instead of “tech news” that nobody cares about.
As always if you have any questions, concerns, praises or hate mail send them my way. My contact information can be found on this website and handful of social sites I try to keep updated. Take care and enjoy the website update.
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GIGABYTE Launches New X99 and 100 Series Designare Motherboards
City of Industry, California, June 3rd 2016 – GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards is proud to announce today its new X99-Designare EX and Z170X-Designare motherboards based on the Intel X99 and Z170 chipsets with support for Intel’s 5th and, current, 6th Gen. Core processor, respectively. Intended to help the designers bring their projects to reality, the Designare motherboards offer a blend of the latest technologies that will ensure creativity is never placed on hold.
Today’s content creators require finely tuned computers that can produce results fast and efficiently, and with the release of the Designare Motherboards, GIGABYTE provides motherboards that meet the needs of these content creators with the right mix of features. With support for DDR4, better compatibility with Intel’s 750 series NVMe SSDs, as well as support for USB 3.1 over USB Type-C, the new Designare motherboards are an ideal choice for high performance PCs that will meet the needs of today’s digital artists and engineers.
"We understand that the 3D modelers, engineers, and content creators of this world require the most advanced technology they can get their hands on to help create a better world,” commented Henry Kao, Vice President of GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. “With the X99-Designare EX and the Z170X-Designare, we’ve put together a combination of innovative features which results in a product that truly let the creative minds bring their projects to reality.”’
GIGABYTE X99-Designare EX
With support for a 10-core processor it is clear that the X99-Designare EX means business. With killer new looks, support for Intel’s 2.5” 750 series NVMe SSDs, dual Intel LAN, and the best 3-way SLI/CrossFire multi-graphics support; the Designare motherboard is a considerable asset for anyone needing that edge to set them apart. With 8-Dimm slots XMP is crucial to getting the most out of your system. GIGABYTE’s X99 Designare is able to operate with XMP on G.Skill’s, F4-3600C15Q2-64GTZKB, modules at 3600MHz. With this ability it doesn’t take a pro-overclocker to get the most speed out of your X99-Designare EX Motherboard.
GIGABYTE Z170X-Designare
With the Z170 series at its peak, GIGABYTE releases a new motherboard that answers the needs of today’s content creators. The Z170X-Designare includes support for Power Delivery 2.0 which supports 100W of power via its Intel powered USB Type-C port. By incorporating dual Intel LANs with cFosSpeed software users can leverage high-speed internet access to stay up-to-date and ready to tackle the most challenging tasks.
Full NVMe Compatibility
GIGABYTE’s Z170X-Designare and X99-Designare EX motherboards offers the industry’s best compatibility in terms of NVMe storage for users who demand high capacity and seek the best performance. With an onboard U.2 port, support for a M.2 to U.2 card, and compatibility for PCIe drives, GIGABYTE offers three different ways to benefit from the performance boost offered by Intel’s 750 Series NVMe SSDs. In addition, the Z170X-Designare’s unique layout allows for support of up to three Intel 750 Series NVMe SSDs which can be configured in RAID 0 for record speeds of up to 3.6 GB/s (Sequential Read), making GIGABYTE the obvious choice for the ultimate PC.
Best 3-Way SLI/ CrossFire Multi-Graphics
Multi-graphics configurations offer better graphics performance to engineers and digital artists who run GPU demanding programs. In addition, GIGABYTE’s engineers spent time researching and developing the X99-Designare EX PCIe slot design to ensure that the spacing between the graphics cards allow for maximum airflow and at the same time prevent overheating which may cause the GPU to throttle.
Dual Intel GbE LAN with cFosSpeed
The Dual Intel Gigabit LAN with cFosSpeed features advanced technologies to help deliver better network responsiveness in crowded LAN environments and optimization to improve network performance for specific applications. Having a dual LAN configuration is a considerable asset in large offices where the data may only be available on a central network, or even in a small office / home office (SOHO) where access to data is time critical and backups are running constantly. For designers a dual LAN setup allows them to share resources in a network drive and at the same time connect to a remote server to upload their projects and files for storage.
Renewed Blue Color Scheme and Ambient Surround LED
To celebrate its 30th anniversary, GIGABYTE renews the iconic blue color scheme, for which the company is renowned for, on its Z170 and flagship X99-Designare EX Motherboard. In addition, GIGABYTE features a pin header for LED strips to let the user have control on how to light up their computer case while staying in sync with the motherboard. The GIGABYTE Ambient LED application lets you control both the LED strips, onboard LEDs lighting modes, and colors giving you the ability to show your powerful machine in style.
For more details on the GIGABYTE X99-Designare EX motherboard:
http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5812#ov
For more details on the GIGABYTE Z170X-Designare motherboard:
http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5811#ov
To learn more about GIGABYTE:
http://www.gigabyte.us -
Streacom DB4 MiniITX BiSymmetrical Aluminum Case
Introducing the DB4, our most ambitious fanless case to date, featuring a bisymmetrical design that is uniquely bold and blurs the lines between technology and art.
With the DB4 we set out to not only redefine what a PC case could look like, but the performance and compatibility achievable from a fanless solution. Every element of this case subtly screams premium, from the 13mm thick extruded aluminium side panels to the precision CNC’d internal frame, all perfectly blended together with our characteristically understated design tone.
The identical sides of the case serve both as the striking monolithic exterior and the convection surface (or heat sink) for component cooling and is the basis of its fanless operation. The challenge was to create an efficient heat sink that didn’t look industrial, one that would actually be integral to the sleek exterior, and the result speaks for itself. Each side can handle 65W of heat dissipation and can be coupled to provide 120W of total CPU cooling.
Beyond simply looking impressive, the DB4 solves one of the biggest complexities of building a fanless case. Traditionally motherboard choice is limited and alternative heat pipes might be required depending on layout, but the DB4 rewrites the rules. With both the motherboard and side panels being parallel, the heat pipes run perpendicular, away from any components and in combination with the flexibility of the universal bracket, means that virtually all ITX motherboard are compatible with the case.
Our existing CPU mount has also been re-engineered to be adjustable and universally compatible with any socket. It now features a copper shim interface between the IHC and heat pipes which creates a more efficient all copper thermal path to the heat sink, greatly improving cooling performance. To make assembly easier, all the side panels are removable, as is the motherboard tray, leaving an open frame with plenty of accessibility.
Building on the innovation of our F12C, components are fitted using a universal bracket system that supports, drives, heat sink mounts and the ZF240, allowing components to be mounted anywhere along the frame of the case, delivering a truly modular and flexible layout.
The DB4 measures 260 x 260 x 270mm but still manages to accommodate an ITX motherboard, a dual slot full height PCI card (max 200mm), up to 5 x 3.5” or 12 x 2.5” drives (lots of combinations in between), and can be powered by our Nano or ZeroFlex PSU solutions.
Full specifications are on the DB4 product page.
