Tech News
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AMD R9 290 Launch Day
We have already seen the launch of the R9 290X and even reviewed an R9 270X which begs the question. "What will fill the middle ground?"
It would seem that the R9 290 (notice no "X") will fit the bill nicely and, with a last minute drive update, comes with enough power to take on the GTX 780. *shudder*
Web Reviews
- AMD Radeon R9 290 review: cheaper Hawaii vs. GTX 780
- AMD Radeon R9-290 and 290 Crossfire reviews
- AMD Radeon R9 290 Review: Hawaii Just Got Cheaper @ HotHardware
- AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews
- AMD's Radeon R9 290 graphics card reviewed
- AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB Review @ Hardware Canucks
- AMD Radeon R9 290 Graphics Card Launch Review @ HardwareHeaven
- AMD Radeon R9 290 4 GB @ techPowerUpI'm pretty sure a R9 290(X) killer is coming along, sadly since AMD finds my site offensive they have opted *not* to send me a sample and at 600 bones I don't want to afford a substandard GPU.
That is until the MSI Lightning edition comes around, it should clock like crazy!
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EA Scraps Upcoming Command and Conquer Game
I was talking with a friend about Battlefield 4 and we got on the subject of "crap game" Basically the conclusion of our discussion was that we are both totally burned on COD (Call of Duty) because it was basically the same game over and over. For me I loved COD 4 and both of the Modern Warfare games to follow but Black Ops ruined the franchise for me. Along the same lines I loved Battlefield 2 and I was expecting nothing less when Battlefield 3 came out.
Oh was I wrong. Yes, I know Battlefield is a "multiplayer" game but under that assumption why bother including in a single player aspect?? Anyhow the reason I bring this up is because for Battlefield 3 I got an Alpha and Beta invite and was given an opportunity to voice some feedback about the game. Sadly since they only offered a single multiplayer map and matchmaking was crap I wasn't able say much about the game that wasn’t already voice by someone else. The real sad thing is based on my retail experience, DICE didn't change much either.
Maybe that is because the game was "solid" in their eyes or maybe they didn't have the right people playing the Alpha like they did with Command and Conquer.
Part of being in a creative team is the understanding that not all of your choices are going to work out. In this case, we shifted the game away from campaign mode and built an economy-based, multiplayer experience. Your feedback from the alpha trial is clear: We are not making the game you want to play. That is why, after much difficult deliberation, we have decided to cease production of this version of the game. Although we deeply respect the great work done by our talented team, ultimately it’s about getting you the game you expect and deserve.
Over the next 10 days we will be refunding any and all money spent in the alpha. If you have a question about your refund, please contact help.ea.com.Now, ^^ THAT ^^ isn't something you never hear a game development studio say and it took some balls that is for sure.
Oh and back to Battlefield 4, I might buy it but only when it is on sale and if it comes with the expansions. Of course if EA wants to push a key to my Origin account I'll be glad to give it a go and I might even write about it.
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A Deuce of SSD Goodness from Custom PC Review
Whoa check this out, Two SSD reviews at Custom PC Review!
- PNY XLR8 Pro 240GB SSD @ Custom PC Review
- Toshiba Q Series Pro 256GB SSD (HDTS325XZSTA)’Toshibas competing product comes in the form of the Toshiba Q Series Pro, which we’ll be reviewing today. Toshiba appears to have modeled their SSD lineup off of Samsung’s highly successful 840 Series with Toshiba releasing their latest Q Series and the Q Series Pro SSDs. The Toshiba Q Series Pro offers greater performance in comparison to its vanilla sibling
I'm no SSD expert but Toshiba has been rather popular in custom pcs for the past several months. Call me a Crucial snob but of the SSDs I have I like my "M" drive the most.
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In Win GRone @ techPowerUp
Can you argue with a chassis that has a "disarming price?"
The In Win GRone is a menacing-looking chassis at a disarming price, filled to the rim with features. Available in two cool color choices, the stylish chassis leaves little to be desired.
The thing about computer cases these days is you can get just about everything and still not get what you want. Personally I would much rather see expansion bay covers that blend into the front panel. Very few cases actually do that anymore. I also want to see proper cooling in a chassis instead of just bigger fans. Finally I want to see the death of external drive docks. (Sadly seems China likes the drive dock so fat chance of that happening)
Nice case btw, worth a check for the photos if anything.
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Gigabyte Z87X-OC Force review: extreme overclocking board even more extreme?
Some people don't know this but Gigabyte released two orange Z87 OC motherboards in this last round. The first was a trimmed down version designed for CPU and Memory overclocking while the other is a fully featured motherboard with an onboard PLX chip for proper 4-way GPU support.
Which one is better? Well, it would depend on who you ask.
The main difference is that the Z87X-OC Force is equipped with a PLX PEX8747 chip that can double the 16 PCI-Express 3.0 lanes from the CPU. Because of that, the four orange PCI-Express slots can be configured 16/0/16/0, 16/0/8/8 and 8/8/8/8 which supports 4-way SLI and 4-way Crossfire. The black PCI-Express x16 slot is directly connected to the CPU, so if you have one video card you want to overclock you have 0 extra latency. It's a clever solution we've seen before with MSI and ASRock.
There are actually quite a few differences between the boards and I really need to get off my duff and write an article about them.
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Logitech G602 Wireless Gaming Mouse Review @ Techgage
I have to say that a wireless gaming mouse is never a good thing but it seems that Logitech has made some improvements in that arena.
The terms “wireless” and “gaming mouse” are rarely juxtaposed, and for good reason: Gamers never want to be caught in a situation where their mice batteries die while in the heat of battle. In this regard, Logitech claims its newest wireless gaming mouse, the G602, is a game-changer. Fortunately, it sent us one to see if we agree.
Even if it doesn't work well it at least looks good. Just remember to keep the battery charged.
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Are there aliens in San Francisco or is it just Google building a datacenter?
So there is this new barge floating off the cost of San Francisco and has people speculating what it could be. Of course hungry reporters looking for their next meal have discovered that the owner of the barge is, get this, "A company called By and Large" with no mention as to where they are headquartered.
This could just be me but didn't that company destory the earth in a movie once? (kudos if you know what it is from)
As for how a floating data center would be connected to the internet at large, we’re not entirely sure. A wireless link would be possible, but probably lacking in bandwidth. Unless the barge is very static and heavily anchored (which somewhat defeats the point of a floating data center), a high-bandwidth submarine cable wouldn’t be possible.
Before long we will have people camping out and selling alien heads claiming that Google captured a space traveler and is working towards building a death ray so they can rule the universe.
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GTX 780 Ti Available November 7th and Price Drops for all
I have some great NVIDIA news.
First up, GeForce GTX!
GeForce GTX 780 Ti will be available for sale starting on November 7th at a suggested e-tail price of $699. With every great GPU launch we usually get price drops on the existing products. The new suggested e-tail price for GTX 780 is $499 and GTX 770 is $329. These prices will be live in e-tail by 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 29th.
The GTX 780 Ti will be part of a holiday promotion called "The Way It’s Meant to Be Played Holiday Bundle with SHIELD":
- Purchase a GTX 780 Ti/780/770 and receive a free copy of Batman: Arkham Origins, Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, plus $100 off a SHIELD purchase.
- Purchase a GTX 760/660 and receive Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, plus $50 off a SHIELD purchase.
For those of you following Project SHIELD
Today, NVIDIA unleashed a massive update to the SHIELD gaming portable which allows thousands of games to benefit from the console-grade controller, brings Android 4.3 Jelly Bean to SHIELD, and introduces other new features including:
- Console Mode, which turns SHIELD into a portable living room game console. Pair up a Bluetooth controller and sit back on your couch and play Android games, browse the Web, and watch your favorite movies all in native HD at 1080p.
- NVIDIA GameStream (formally known as PC streaming), is officially launching today and is also Console Mode-ready. So you’ll be able to stream your PC games to – and enjoy them on – the big screen.
- SHIELD Gamepad Mapper, which allows you to create your own custom controls for thousands of games on Google Play, or use NVIDIA’s default profiles now available for more than a hundred (and counting) top Android games, making everything from “NBA Jam” to “Temple Run” playable on SHIELD’s console-grade controller. The default profiles are automatically downloaded from the cloud so you can just launch your game and play. Full list of NVIDIA default profiles are below the fold.
This all sounds pretty good and I can't wait to see them in action. For those of you looking to see some visuals check out the YouTube video.
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Welcome to the New Ninjalane er Hardware Asylum
If you have come to this website expecting to see NInjalane.com, don't worry you have come to the right place, just with a different name.
Welcome to Hardware Asylum. I purchased the domain late in 2012 and started laying down plans for a site migration. As you can see the culmination of those efforts has been realized and with any luck the site will grow and be welcomed by Google into their index.
A few things you should know about the new website.
- This is a website run by computer hardware enthusiasts, gaming aficionados and overclockers. We want to make sure you keep coming back so please let us know what you think either by sending an email or posting on our facebook page.
- The website is divided up into several sections, the main Reviews section has been pre-populated with Ninjalane.com reviews from 2011 forward. There are over 14 years of review history on that website and it felt bad to move it all.
- I attend several computer events throughout the year which were normally posted in the Blogs section on NInjalane.com, I'll be working to migrate those over to Hardware Asylum but, in the meantime be sure to check out the Articles section of the website. It has been pre-populated with Ninjalane.com articles from 2011 forward.
- The final section of the website is the NInjalane Podcast. (new name pending) Darren and I have been recording a bi-weekly tech and gaming podcast for the past two years and we urge you all to check it out. The latest episode can always be viewed from the Podcast index with links to the past episodes along the right.
You will notice that the Ninjalane Message Forum didn't make the cut for migration. This was actually the first feature of Ninjalane and with the prevalence of social media and decrease in overall forum activity it was decided that the forum needed to be shut down.
However, if there is a need I am not against bringing it back.
Be sure to check back in November when I launch the first ever Hardware Asylum Custom Hardware Giveaway. All proceeds will go towards building up the Facebook following and clearing out my garage.
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MSI Master Overclocking Arena 2013 live photo coverage @ Hardware.Info
The MSI MOA this year was plagued with a limited budget that not only impacted the format of the competition but also where it was hosted. While this may have limited any local foot traffic for those of us outside of Taiwan you wouldn't have known the difference.
The MOA this year occurred over the course of two days and followed a similar format to previous years. Three benchmarks with the best improvement of score winning that stage but, as we have seen just because you win a stage doesn't mean you'll win the competition.
Hardware.Info appears to have been one of the invited media and has a pretty good photo log of the event.
We’re doing live coverage of MSI’s Master Overclocking Arena 2013 overclocking event today. 16 overclockers from all over the world compete in three benchmarks; SuperPi 32M, Cinebench 11.5 and 3DMark Fire Strike. We’ll updating the link below all day long with new pictures.
--snip--
Unfortunately one overclocker has to quit the competition before the end. Italian OC-guru Giorgioprimo already had bad luck in the morning, sacrifing his first MPower board. Halfway the Fire Strike session his second board also crashed. And there's more: Mikecdm's Samsung based Lightning card died during the competition.Darren and I will be discussing the MOA on the next Podcast so stay tuned.
