Tech News
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EVGA Z87 Classified Available Now
At Computex this year I got to see first hand what EVGA had in store for Haswell and Ivy Bridge Extreme. I have already reviewed the X79 Dark and found the board to be the best X79 I have ever used due in part to the upgraded BIOS interface.
EVGA has posted on their official twitter that the Z87 Classified is now available and by the looks of it promises to be the Haswell based motherboard to have for multi-GPU benching.
Welcome to a new class of high performance motherboards that boast 4th Generation Intel® Core™ Processor compatibility. These platforms offer a return to greatness with a completely redesigned GUI BIOS interface, reimagined power VRM that focuses on efficiency, and loaded with features like up to 4-Way SLI, Creative Sound Core3D quad-core audio processor, Intel Gigabit LAN, native SATA 6G/USB 3.0 and more.
Did we also mention that this motherboard is designed for the overclocker? Built from the ground up to give you all the essentials you need for overclocking, with a GUI BIOS that is focused on functionality, brand new software interface for overclocking in the O.S., ultra high quality components, and robust PCI-E 3.0 and memory trace layout.
With any luck I'll be able to show you excatly what this motherboard can do
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AOL shuts down Winamp for good
I caught this story on twitter today and it got me thinking. Every podcast I listen to is either using a web player or is cataloged in my Winamp library. Along the same lines I have used Winamp to rip every CD I own for easy digital storage and at one time I used to subscribe to several Shoutcast servers for music and tech news.
Now that Winamp is going away I won't have any more of that. There might be a chance that someone will pick it up as an open source project but given that AOL paid big bucks for the startup I highly doubt it.
On Wednesday, Ars confirmed the announcement with Geno Yoham, Winamp’s general director since October 2008. He declined immediate comment but said that he would try to arrange a future interview.
Ars wrote an extensive feature on the rise and fall of Winamp in June 2012, detailing AOL’s mismanagement of the property since its dotcom-boom acquisition. As we reported then, Winamp continued to receive updates and make a tiny amount of money for AOL throughout the last 15 years. AOL even released the first Android version in 2010 and a Mac version in 2011.
I guess it will be time to make sure I'm upgraded to the latest version, pay to make sure I have a good key and hope for the best while I wait for the next big thing to come along.
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SilverStone Raven RV04 Computer Case Review @ APH Networks
Out of every case known to be released this is by far the one I have anticipated most. Sadly production of the chassis was delayed so what we had expected to be a killer chassis for the summer became a wait and see.
The SilverStone Raven RV04 features a slick and subtle design, yet on the inside, the motherboard is rotated a full one hundred and eighty degrees for increased airflow efficiency. How well does this chassis hold up to APH Networks standards? Keep reading to find out!
I can only hope that Silverstone has enough of these cases because the form factor is quite good for anyone building a solid enthusiast build.
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Bitcoin is Huge in China, Even Bigger Than Real Money
I would call this the Bitcoin IPO, someone in Congress figured that Bitcoin needed to be legit so they could use the "Silk Road" money, and, well, they made it happen.
Another reason for the explosion to $600 per coin is that a surge in Asia is partly responsible. A Bitcoin conference was held in Singapore last week, and speculation suggests that the subsequent coverage in the Chinese press is responsible for the massive surge. When you get a country with a population of one billion people on board, that’s sure to affect a currency. Another related factor could be that BTC China — the world’s largest volume Bitcoin exchange — received five million dollars in financing, further legitimizing Bitcoin in the public’s eye.
With any luck Bitcoin farmers can now justify their efforts and stop the spread of people who figure they are wasting electricity and make it harder for authorities to track down "grow farms" in the process.
In other news Asrock now has a motherboard dedicated to Bitcoin mining. Its basically a motherboard with seven PCI-Express slots which allows to you to "ribbon connect" video cards and build a pretty rocking GPU SuperComputer.
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Cooler Master Nepton 140XL Liquid CPU Cooler Review
Self contained watercooler have come a long way since the first aquagate that Cooler Master released some 10+ years ago. Now, it seems everyone has one.
Cooler Master has been known for their line of AiO coolers for quite some time now and, even though they’ve got a pretty wide selection already available, they constantly seem to come out with something new. A perfect example of this is seen with their new Nepton Series of liquid CPU coolers where they are 140mm class units, yet they can accomodate 140mm or 120mm fans. Our friends at Cooler Master sent us one of these new Nepton 140XL to throw on the bench and check out.
The Nepton looks to have a larger radiator, bigger hoses and much larger pump assembly. Seems like a good combo!.
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How Does PCI-Express Speed Impact Gaming Performance
Surfing around I found this article that looks at the impact of PCI Express speed and your video card. As some of you know I have the "Multi GPU Index" as a dedicated page in my motherboard reviews that basically maps out the PCI Express layout and suggested GPU configurations.
When I started the "Multi GPU Index" the intent was to settle the question on where users should install their video cards and rank motherboards based on expansion slot layout and PCI Express bandwidth. Those calculations were based on PCI Express bandwidth and the question came up, "is the Multi GPU Index still valid?"
The short answer is, yes. Despite the bandwidth increases with PCI Express 3.0 I still use the 2.0 standard to do the calculation. This makes things easier and puts more focus on overall layout then pure bandwidth.
Many hardware sites (such as TechPowerUp and AnandTech) have shown in the past that most video cards do not show any performance decrease by running in x8 mode and cannot utilize the larger bandwidth provided by the latest Gen3 specification. However, video cards are getting faster and faster so we felt it was worth revisiting to find out if the fastest video cards available still do not have any performance advantage running at PCI-E x16 Gen3 versus PCI-E x8 Gen2. In addition, multiple GPU setups has not been throughly tested and with the gaining popularity of 4k displays, we felt it was important to see if the PCI-E revision/speed would affect a dual GPU setup at the much more demanding 4k resolution.
PCI Express 3.0 has the benefit of bandwidth and the only reason their 16x vs 8x tests are valid is because current games no longer saturate the buss. This is why AMD was able to ditch the Crossfire connection on the R9 290X and why future versions of GPU hardware will likely follow suit. It is an exciting time for hardware enthusiasts and I can't wait to see real world 4K results.
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Galaxy Overclocking Carnival Hosted in China
This page is all in Chinese but it speaks of an overclocking competition sponsored by Galaxy. Some of you may remember that I posted some really awesome video cards from Galaxy in a product line called the "Hall of Fame". These are China only cards and resemble what MSI has been doing with the Lightning.
????????????,????? GALAXY ?????? GPU Party ???,??????????????????????????, GALAXY ?? 12 ? 14- 15 ????????????? GPU Party ?????, ??????????????????????? ??????,? GPU Party ????????????????????
Pretty sure I have no idea what that says but it goes a little something like
"In an effort to promote the games and overclocking activities, graphics card vendors GALAXY GPU Party will hold annual carnival, and has worked in Beijing and Guangzhou held the annual session of the event. This year, GALAXY will be held December 14 - 15, 2011 moved to the economic prosperity of Shanghai held GPU Party Carnival activities, but also to invite more than twenty different countries and regions worldwide professional games and overclocking players participating, let GPU Party Carnival further sublimated into "international level "events." ~Google translate
This should be an awesome event
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Funky Kit Review: Noctua NH-U12S Cooler & NF-F12 Fan
Everyone loves a good Noctua cooler. They look great, run silent and generally have the best installation hardware in the industry. If only they overclocked better we would have a quadfecta!
If the saying "there's a different version for everyone," is actually true, then Noctua is a prime example. What we have today is essentially a smaller counterpart to the NH-U14S which, if you'll recall my review on it, is probably a good sign. The U14S really impressed me with not just cooling and noise levels but extra features and pricing as well. So, we're going to see if this heatsink can hold a candle to its predecessor. This is the U12S.
I reviewed the larger NH-U14S not to long ago. you can see the results here.
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Internet Explorer chief steps aside
In more interesting news there was a twitter post out of Redmond indicating that Joe Belfiore is taking over IE development. Which also means that the one person who actually improved a Microsoft product is moving on to something different.
Internet Explorer will now be led by Joe Belfiore, who already runs the Windows Phone design team.
This isn't uncommon in the corporate world but you have to wonder why they didn't pass the reins on to someone on the team. At least then it would be headed up by someone who might actually know something about the project. Instead they gave the team to the guy heading up Windows Phone development.
*rant* This is what I hate about big business, I know they need to keep a cost structure to stay profitable but, when you have many hardworking people on a team why not give them a chance to rise up and become more than a programmer or more than an a coffee gett'r. Instead the business does what it can to keep people locked into their positions on a semi fixed salary so they can stay on budget.
#oversimplification I know but, still pisses me off.
'80's movies taught us that the only way to get ahead is to start in the mail room and work your way up, sleep with the right people and be in the right place at the right time. It boils down to going after what you want and taking a chance. The reality is things are a little more complex and one wrong move can destory everything. */rant*
If I was into speculation I'd say that the MS execs are going to put IE on autopilot and figure it is already as good as it is going to get.
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Meteorite impacts create time capsules of what they destory
I was surfin Ars today and stumbled across this interesting article that talks about how when a meteorite impacts the earth it creates glass crystals that encase any nearby organic matter. It seems a little farfetched but has been proven based on the article.
What this means is that we now have another way to look into the past and see things the way they were like how the earth was right before the dinos became oil or when mars had an atmosphere.
The only problem is, these crystals are extremely small and after millions of years they can get broken, stolen or consumed by other animals in the area.
