Tech News

  • DX11 vs DX12 AMD CPU Scaling and Gaming Framerate @ [H]

    This seems like a good thing to know.  I'll be adding DX12 to the video card testing suite just as soon as I get a new video card to test. 

    #nstuff

    One thing that has been on our minds about the new DX12 API is its ability to distribute workloads better on the CPU side. Now that we finally have a couple of new DX12 games that have been released to test, we spend a bit of time getting to bottom of what DX12 might be able to do for you. And a couple sentences on Async Compute.

    There are quite a few games that support DX12 so it will be interesting to see if they really do run better on Win10 than on WIn7.

  • Beat Extreme Temperatures with AVerMedia's New Rugged Video Capture Card

    Mini PCI-E Card Records High-Quality Video in -40°C to 85°C temperatures

    April 12, 2016 – Taipei, Taiwan – AVerMedia today announces the release of another rugged Mini PCI Express capture card that is designed and tested to capture high-quality video in extreme temperatures ranging from -40°C to 85°C (-40°F to 185°F). The brand new CM313BW card is designed to capture video from SDI sources. This card will join AVerMedia's existing wide-temperature cards – the C351W card, which captures video from Composite sources, and the C353W card, which captures from both HDMI and VGA sources.

    This thermally robust product line is specifically designed to provide greater flexibility for rugged industrial applications like industrial automation, in-vehicle operation, military applications, and more.



    Resilient in Extreme Thermal Environments
    Various tasks are often performed in harsh environmental conditions. AVerMedia's new CM313BW card (like our existing C353W and C351W cards) is specifically designed to be thermally resilient for these extreme industrial applications. By being able to function perfectly in a very wide range of temperatures (-40°C ~ 85°C, or -40°F ~ 185°F) these cards ensure reliable and stable high-quality video capturing in extreme temperature conditions.

    Convenient, Compact Form Factor
    The compact form factor of the Mini PCI Express card fits perfectly into small-footprint embedded systems. These cards also consume less power, resulting in a more energy-efficient solution. These AVerMedia cards feature vibration-proof build quality and their locking holes are specifically designed for in-vehicle, military, and industrial applications.

    Hardware H.264 Encoding Reduces Burden on CPUS
    The existing C353W card and the new CM313BW cards come equipped with an advanced, built-in H.264 hardware encoder, enabling the system to encode and maintain high video quality, without impacting the CPU. This feature increases the system’s reliability. As a result, the C353W and CM313BW cards significantly reduce the performance drain on a system's hardware and software, helping the system focus on other important tasks.

    4-channel simultaneous capture
    The existing C351W card features four parallel composite video input interfaces, allowing for more versatility within this compact card. With 4-channel input, the C351W can simultaneously capture up to four video channels at the highest performance levels, for great video quality and efficiency.

    Software tools
    AVerMedia SDK is a feature-rich development toolkit which offers industrial customers a complete set of functional modules to flexibly and efficiently develop vertical applications. AVerMedia SDK constantly updates the latest industrial standards, protocols, and media formats for optimal compatibility and to support cutting-edge technologies. AVerMedia also supports various programming languages for quick and easy application, providing sample source codes.

    For more information please check the product sites:
    C353W - http://www.avermedia.com/professional/product/c353w/overview
    C351W - http://www.avermedia.com/professional/product/c351w/overview
    CM313BW - http://www.avermedia.com/professional/product/cm313bw/overview

    About AVerMedia Technologies
    AVerMedia is the leader in Digital Video and Audio Convergence Technology. Aside from the full line of TV Tuners and gaming recorder products, AVerMedia provides video capture cards, streaming encoders and video systems for consumer and corporate markets. As a leader in innovative manufacturing and environmentally friendly products, AVerMedia is also highly involved in community and social responsibilities. AVerMedia also partners with ODMs for the development of AVerMedia’s technologies for integrated applications.

  • Noctua NH-L9x65 Low Profile Heatsink Review @ Frostytec

    If you are looking for a low profile cooler that actually can handle some heat the L9x65 is one to look at.  I have this heatsink in the Hardware Asylum Podcast machine and so far it is working great.

    Noctua's low profile NH-L9x65 heatsink stands just 64mm tall and has a very compact footprint of only 95x95mm. The NH-L9x65 is designed to cool some fairly intensive Intel sockets, along with the full spectrum of AMD processors and APUs. Compact CPU coolers can be a little tricky to install, but Noctua long ago laid down the framework of an excellent motherboard mounting system,, so the NH-L9x65 is a breeze to work with.

    the L9x65 does have some heat limitations and cannot handle CPUs over 85w.  Basically this means you can run an LGA115x at stock speeds and nothing from the LGA2011 camp.  In the AMD world, pretty much anything FM2+ based.

  • Alchemy 2.0 Sleeving Components & Modular Cables from BitFenix

    (BitFenix Design Lab, April 7th 2016): We wanted to make a difference in the modding world with Alchemy cables and Alchemy cable series helped the modding community immensely. We are now ready to offer you the most customizable sleeving product in the market. Alchemy 2.0 individual wires, Alchemy 2.0 connectors and alchemy 2.0 combs offer extreme customisation with ease of use. All you have to do is plug the wires in any pattern you like and your extension is ready to go.



    Individual Wires
    Alchemy 2.0 Individual wires are manufactured to the highest quality, performance and reliability. 16AWG thick pure copper stranded wires are capable of delivering up to 1500W with minimum resistance, while the new High Current Alloy Terminals minimize the efficiency drop in the extensions.
     
    These high performance cables are sleeved with an ultra-dense sleeve that it moulded to the wire through a heat-shrinkless sleeving process. Thus the sleeve does not move and come off when pulled, making them extremely durable. Alchemy 2.0 Individual cables are very flexible but strong allowing you to get small bends and keep the cables aligned

    Connectors
    Precision moulded Alchemy 2.0 connectors are manufactured with special rubber to make sure of perfect fitting extensions. Certified by CUL and TUV these connectors are manufactured to comply with safety standards giving you peace of mind. Alchemy 2.0 connectors can operate in a wide range of temperatures from -10 to 150 °C.

    Combs
    BitFenix Alchemy Cable comb offer a premium user friendly and a unique SoftHold™ protection for an unparalleled look. These premium cable comb features to fit with a 4mm thick cables and to hold perfectly. In addition, the SoftHold™ protection design can prevent damage to the sleeve and hold the wire. These higly flexible cable combs can be cut into different sizes to fit various cables.

    For more information on Alchemy 2.0 Sleeving Components & Modular Cables, go to:
    http://www.bitfenix.com

  • GIGABYTE Z170X Gaming 6 LGA 1151 Motherboard Review @ [H]

    There is no short supply of high-end gaming motherboards and the Z170X G1 Gaming series and I have a rather jaded history.  There may never be a Hardware Asylum review of this motherboard but you can check out what HardOCP thought of it.

    GIGABYTE is back with its $165 Z170X Gaming 6 motherboard today. It’s a full featured motherboard that won’t break the bank and has a lot to offer. While many enthusiasts need what is considered high end, there are a lot of enthusiasts just looking for something that will get the job done with a few extra bells and whistles.

    A motherboard very similar to Z170X G1 Gaming boards is the Z170X SOC Force.  It comes with many of the same features but has been tweaked a bit to better support overclocking

  • Noctua NH-D15S @ techPowerUp

    When it comes to large heatsinks a few companies come to mind and of those there is only one who builds them with the sole purpose of being the best cooler money can buy. 

    Noctua

    techPowerUp takes a look at the D15S which is a dual tower cooler with unique cuts to allow proper memory access in high-performance systems.

    With a simple design change, Noctua has reinvented the NH-D15. The new NH-D15S has that same awful color scheme, but now features better memory and expansion-slot clearance, all thanks to its new asymmetrical design.

    I find it interesting that most reviewers comment about the color scheme and yet gloss over the excellent mounting system and amazing performance.  Thing is the color is how you know they are good, even if they cannot "match" anything currently on the market.

  • Anfi-Tec drei cpu water block @ HardwareOverclock

    But, we forgot about Drei??  Oh wait

    This looks like a really good CPU block with some ornate style and microfin cold plate.  It is only a two barb design but, that seems to be how they are these days.

    HardwareOverclock.com has just posted another review. Last week we have taken a look at the Anfi-Tec „drei“ cpu water block. From overclocker, for overclocker, this is the philosophy of Anfitec, the German water cooler manufacturer.

    As I get back into watercooling I have found that most of the old technology has been replaced but the designs are basically the same and that is what surprised me the most.  I figured by now things would be wildly different by now.

    The article isn't in English but the photos are universal.

  • A One Year Redux On The Basement Computer Room For Benchmarking 50+ Systems Daily @ Phoronix

    I find build articles showing massive transformations to be rather interesting.  Sure, we can all build custom computers or DIY water loops until our fingers fall off but putting together a full home theater or server room in your basement is 98% fresh in my book.

    Phoronix has an interesting article posted about how they built a testing room in their basement and even redirected the exhaust heat to keep the home warm in the winter.

    It was just over one year ago that I wrote about turning a basement into a big Linux server room (and then the six month redux). With having just finished tiling the floor and making some other modifications, here is a one-year look at the project where there are more than fifty systems running Linux/open-source benchmarks daily as part of Phoronix, OpenBenchmarking.org, and LinuxBenchmarking.com, among other Phoronix Media efforts for enriching the Linux hardware experience.

    I used to do similar articles back when the Ninjalane Labs was new.  Maybe it is time for a remodel. happy smile

  • Intel Leaks Core i7-6950X Extreme Edition On Company Website @ TechPowerUp

    Many of us knew that the next generation of LGA2011v3 processors would be built on Broadwell however it was anyone's guess as to how fast the processor would be or how many cores it might have.

    It would seem that Intel has helped us with that.

    Intel over the weekend, leaked its upcoming Core i7-6950X processor in the change-log of its latest Management Engine software, on the company's Support website. In its CPU support list, the entry for "Intel Core i7-6950X Processor Extreme Edition" stands out. It also leaks two key specifications - 25 MB of L3 cache, and a clock speed of up to 3.50 GHz. The Core i7-6800 and i7-6900 series are a family of six-, eight-, and ten-core processors based on the 14 nm "Broadwell-E" silicon, and built in the LGA2011v3 package, compatible with existing Intel X99 Express chipset motherboards, with BIOS updates.

    I am super excited for the next X99 processor release.  Not so much for the 10 core processors but rather to see what companies will be doing with the X99 platform.  I'm sure we will see a bunch of familiar faces like the X99 Godlike Carbon edition and hopefully something X99 and "Dark" from EVGA.

  • HyperX Cloud Revolver Review @ Vortez

    Not much to be said here,  The Cloud headsets from HyperX are BOMB Awesome.

    Or something like that which == good.

    The HyperX team have been working hard to deliver a next-gen premium headset that can better the Cloud. This in one sense is a very difficult task and is something many other brands have been working to do also. A litter earlier this year, word got out that HyperX were working on a ground-up designed headset named the 'Cloud Revolver'. Though clearly different to the Cloud in aesthetics, HyperX wanted to create a studio-grade gaming headset with a wide soundstage that can give a higher level of detail for gaming.

    We tried out a set of Cloud 2 headphones on the Hardware Asylum Podcast.  You might want to check it out.