Tech News
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Magnesium batteries could be a thing
When I was a kid the hottest thing you could get for your bike were "Mag Wheels". They only had 5 spokes and looks pretty darn cool and have largely been replaced by plastic versions that look similar. Magnesium wheels or "Mags" were also hot on cars too though they quickly fell out of popularity due to safety and price concerns. You see, Magnesium burns and becomes brittle over time due to how they were cast.
Well, it would seem there are other uses for Magnesium and some researchers are looking to it as a safer and more powerful alternative to lithium.
It's still early days for the promise of safer, energy-dense solid-state rechargeable batteries. However, a team of scientists at the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research have just discovered a fast magnesium-ion solid-state conductor that will go a long way towards making non-flammable batteries with more capacity.
I find it interesting that it took "this" (I'm holding up a unit of measure) long for researchers to discover their fast magnesium-ion solid-state conductor and figure out how to turn it into a battery. Then again that was the premise of Iron Man 2 and just look what Tony Stark was able to accomplish.
Of course, all joking aside, safer batteries are a good thing for everyone and will help pave the way to our electrical future.
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Nvidia is Getting Hit Hard with the Crypto Sell Off
This is some pretty crazy news and shows the power of analysts in the industry. One person says "sell" and EVERYONE sells, One person says "buy" and the stock explodes. It must be nice to have that kind of power over the market.
Shares of Nvidia are down 5.30% to $199.71 on Wednesday, as the tech sector at large sells off.
The slide on Wednesday continues Nvidia's fall from the previous day, which came after Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh called an end to the crypto boom for Nvidia and other graphics chip makers. Nvidia's graphics cards are often used by cryptocurrency "miners" to try and speed up their systems, and the company has seen increased demand as cryptocurrencies skyrocket in value.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have hit several major milestones this week, including bitcoin's crossing of $10,000 per coin for the first time ever on Tuesday.As some of you who follow tech stocks may have noticed NVDA was on fire this summer rising up to an all time high and then kept going. Some of that was fueled by the power of Pascal. Pascal is the new GPU architecture that delivers more gaming power per watt than any other GPU in existence.
The reduced power demand appealed to gamers for its smoother gameplay, higher framerates and powerful overclocking. (even though the overclocking was actually just Turbo Boost adjusting clocks to where they "should" have been) Cryptominers were looking to maximize profits by reducing their power consumption and thermal demands and started buying up every GPU they could find.
Shortages created demand which pushed stocks up and made NVDA a very rich company. It will be interesting if the stock will rebound of if this tiny blimp will be their 5 minutes of fame.
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PATRIOT Launches New VIPER LED Series DDR4 Performance Memory
Glamorous LED lighted memory modules offering extreme performance, available in 16GB kits at speeds up to 3600Mhz
Fremont, California - Nov.20th 2017. PATRIOT, a global leader in performance memory, SSDs, gaming peripherals and flash storage solutions today announced its new VIPER LED Series Performance DDR4 Memory. A remarkable LED-lit top decorative lighting and stylish aluminum heat shield design, VIPER LED Series DDR4 Memory is optimized for maximum performance on the Intel 100/200/300 series and AMD 300 series motherboards. VIPER LED Series available in both red and white LED model which light up gaming rig with bright integrated lighting designed to make the gaming rig look as good as it performs.
The modern gaming PC is exposed with many featuring large windows and tempered glass side panels. A perfect complement to these systems is a well-placed lighting scheme which includes LED lights on all of the major components. VIPER LED Series DDR4 Memory is available in both red and white LED lighting configurations with a decorative style and fantastic brightness.
“We have set out to complement a user’s gaming PC by creating a decorative memory kit with LED-Lit top lighting and a stylish aluminum heat spreader. From now on, performance lighted memory will be an important part of any gaming system.” said Roger Shinmoto, PATRIOT’s Vice President of Product Development.
In addition, every single module of VIPER LED Series DDR4 Memory is built on a 10-layer PCB, This ensures good signal integrity for stable gaming and overclocking performance. The chips and ICs featured in VIPER LED Series DDR4 Memory are under a strict quality control and sorted to maintain rock-solid reliability and excellent overclocking on Intel 100/200/300 series and AMD 300 series motherboards.
Heat dissipation is one of most significant factors when running a high-performance system. Whether the aluminum material itself or the way how heat spreader designed, VIPER LED Series DDR4 Memory is designed to offer excellent heat dissipation and stable performance. Furthermore, each kit is fully compatible with the latest XMP 2.0 (Extreme Memory Profile), which allows users to easily set their memory speed and timings to get the highest possible performance and working stability.
PATRIOT VIPER LED Series DDR4 Memory is launching with a variety of capacities and frequency to provide users with several options when upgrading or building a new system. PATRIOT VIPER LED Series DDR4 Memory is designed to maximize the performance of every gaming system, available in both 16GB(2x8GB) and 8G(2x4G) capacities with frequencies starting at 2,400MHz to extreme performance speed at 3,600MHz. All VIPER LED memory modules are backed by PATRIOT’s limited lifetime warranty.
VIPER LED Series DDR4 Memory features highlight:
- Series: Viper LED (White and Red LED)
- Edition: Black sides with Silver Viper logo and pattern
- Compatibility: Tested on Intel 100/200/300 series and AMD 300 series motherboards for reliably fast performance
- Feature Overclock: XMP 2.0 support for automatic overclocking
- Aluminum heat spreader with unique and specific design element
- Limited lifetime warranty
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Corsair HS50 Review @ Vortez
It must have been Corsair HS50 launch day or sumpin'. Here is another review from Vortez with a more realistic quote this time.
Low cost headsets are often end up compromising on either comfort, audio quality or its construction. With that in mind, it makes sense that Corsair set their engineers to task to deliver a low-cost no-compromise gaming headset; enter the HS50.
I'm all for cheap headsets but cheap for the sake of being cheap is kinda... cheap. Then again we are a price driven society after all where quality and price are often blurred by brand and exclusivity.
Or, you know maybe I'm just upset that Corsair is exploiting their market segment.
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Corsair HS50 Stereo Gaming Headset Review @ Legit Reviews
Maybe this is the new thing or some sort of strange justification of something costing too much but starting your review with the comment claiming you ignore a very important pricepoint rather pompus IMO.
What worse they turn around to say, oh but wait these headphones from Corsair are only $50 bux so you had better pay attention, cause: Corsair.
The moment I start looking for a headset, I usually bypass anything less than $100, because the typical pricepoint that equates a high level of performance with an outstanding in-game experience is at least $100. At least. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. Corsair has done some great work in appealing to a gamer with not-so-deep pockets that still yearns for a high-quality sound experience. At $49.99 shipped in there different colors, the HS50 STEREO is sure to find itself under many Christmas trees with the recipients being thrilled at the experience they’ll have and the giver being excited about the price. Read on to see how the new Corsair HS50 Stereo Gaming Headset performs!
I cannot speak to the quality of these muffs but the price for the market and if Corsair follows their normal patterns they have some sort of expert standing behind the design saying they conform to some sudo standard to make them better than the $50 dollar set from XYZ company.
For the money, drop $80 on the BlasterX H5 and enjoy your games/movies/p0rn with premier audio quality and full interpolated surround sound.
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AORUS GTX 1080 Gaming Box Review @ ThinkComputers
Its not every day that you run into a website with a broken stylesheet but they are out there. They are annoying and often an oversight and assumption by the designer that "everyone" has their browser maximized. or that "Everyone" is using a mobile device.
Yes, I know "mobile first" but seriously grow up!
Oh. So, lets get back on topic. Aorus has been addicted to bringing you new and exciting ways to bring you full sized gaming computers at a faction of the size. Small boxes like this aren't a huge deal in the States however, overseas space is sometimes a luxury people cannot afford which really limits the size of your gaming computer.
Thin and light laptops are great! Carrying them around is super easy, they have a super-long battery life, and are more than powerful enough for most tasks. But when it comes to serious gaming a thin and light laptop just won’t cut it. Most people have a nice Ultrabook and then when they get home they have a full-blown gaming PC. Well AORUS wants you to game on your Ultrabook and they have just the device to do so, their GTX 1080 Gaming Box. It is an external box that houses a desktop-class GeForce GTX 1080 and it connects to your PC with a single cable via Thunderbolt 3 (Type-C). So when you need to be on the go you have your thin and light laptop, but when you get home you just plug in 1 cable and you have the power of a desktop-class graphics card. Let’s jump in and see what this gaming box is all about.
I'm not a fan of gaming laptops, they are often heavy and actually larger than you might expect. Likewise smaller laptops often lack the power to play current AAA gaming titles which begs the question. Gaming Console or PC.
Of course you say PC but if you only have room for a gaming console then maybe it is time to look at something like the Aorus Gaming Box.
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XSPC RayStorm Neo CPU Water Block @ TechPowerUp
I'm a fan of XSPC watercooling gear and while I buy plenty of there components I have avoided the waterblocks and compression fittings. Why? they just look damn strange.
The RayStorm Neo is XSPC taking their flagship RayStorm Pro block and applying a new look to it. Featuring a polished acrylic top, chrome-plated aluminum brackets, and included RGB LEDs with controller, the Neo offers an option to those who want more than a matte/metal top block. Add in a precise installation mechanism and good performance alike and this is a block well worthy of consideration in the sub-$80 market.
The RayStorm blocks look pretty good. they feature a dual barb microchannel design with an accelerator plate to add back pressure and to increase coolant speed. Back in the day I would have been super critical about how water flows though a waterblock and questioned simple block designs like the RayStorm Neo. However, it seems that enthusiasts are not concerned with that anymore and have settled for whatever a company is willing to produce.
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NZXT H700i Mid Tower Chassis review @ Guru3D
Words like "Impressive" and "accent" really make me want to... ya click the link to find out more. The NZXT H700i has a very "How can we be like Corsair but, Not get in trouble" kind of name.
The new H700i is an advanced series from NZXT, it's a mid-tower with very nice looks, spiffy RGB LED and fan control through a CAM controller. With a new tempered glass side panel, and LED accent lighting the chassis is impressive.
Thing is, the case looks like a copy of a classic InWin design with all of the good stuff removed. And, what is with the crazy strap going down the middle?? It all makes you wonder about case designs these days.
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BitFenix Aurora @ TechPowerUp
Ever have that feeling that your chassis is just too fat. I'm not talking casual chub due to consuming two more more nVidia or AMD based video cards with a full water loop but, rather that the case is just too wide.
#wideload
Well if you are having the problem of a case that is just too wide for your liking then BitFenix has the solution with the BitFenix Aurora and its slimming front bezel design.
The Bitfenix Aurora packs dual 280 mm liquid-cooling support, a bracket for reservoirs, an Aura-compatible RGB controller, and glass side panels into one case. We take it for a spin to make it glow in all its colors and take a closer look to see if it manages to shine even in deep space.
All jokes aside the case looks pretty good. It features a full tempered glass side panel and front bezel that looks like it should be the carrying handle. But, you know anything to dress up an otherwise worthless panel on a modern computer case lacking external drive bays.
You'll have to check out the review to know what I mean.
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TUNAI Drum Earphones Review @ APH Networks
Ok so this might be the shortest quote for a product review that I have seen in awhile.
The TUNAI Drum offers a decent listening experience if heavy bass is your thing and heavy bass is all you care about.
TUNAI is a Taiwanese company that made their mark developing connectivity devices. Like ways to connect your phone to your car or your phone to a set of headphones all using BlueTooth. Given their experience building wireless audio devices it seemed only natural for them to branch in the other half of the audio world, sound reproduction. aka speakers.
Their first venture is a set of ear buds / earphones called Drum.
Drum is designed to deliver a wider sound spectrum than normal earphones by expanding the frequency range to include more bass and crisper highs.
