Tech News
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One Motherboard Maker Explains Why AMD AM4 Boards Are Missing @ Legit Reviews
We are all familiar with hardware shortages. When Skylake launched the 6700K version was in high demand and short supply making it difficult to not only find a processor but also find one at a decent price. The NVIDIA Pascal GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 were both in very short supply after the launch and remained that way for several months.
Normally shortages are a good thing however the impact is not only to the consumer but also to the manufacturer who is depending on sales to make money.
Legit Reviews hits the phone lines to figure out why we can't get our X370 fix.
If you’ve looked at building an AMD Ryzen 7 system you’ll find that the processors are pretty easy to find, but good luck finding a motherboard. Most of the AMD motherboards based on the X370 and B350 chipsets are out of stock and back-ordered. It doesn’t matter what brand you are looking for as ASUS, ASRock, Biostar, Gigabyte, and MSI are all selling out quickly due to the limited quantities available. Over the past 72 hours we’ve reached out to all of the board makers and AMD to see if we can figure out what is going on
It would seem that the gist of the whole situation is that since AMD has been out of the motherboard game for a long time it was difficult for them to get enough chips out in time to meet the manufacturing demands. As some of you may know the fabs that make motherboards are fully scheduled and sometimes need a 6 month lead to ensure that tooling is available and that the staff is properly trained.
Smaller fabs don't have these tight constraints but, the larger ones that make the majority of our hardware aren't always dedicated to making one particular product. One week they might be making motherboards while the next they are building control boards for flat screens.
Give it a month, things will turn around.
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EVGA Z270 Classified K Motherboard Review @ ThinkComputers
One of the best Z270 motherboards I have ever used is the EVGA Z270 Classified K. This is the board I used in the delidding video and has so far been rock solid in both ambient and extreme overclocking.
While the board no longer supports 4-Way SLI it is outfitted with the latest gaming features like Killer Networks ethernet and high quality audio from Creative. Thinkcomputers has a review of the Z270 Classified K that might be worth checking out.
Back in January at CES 2017 EVGA showed us their Z270 motherboard lineup which they launched at the show. This included the Z270 Classified K, Z270 FTWK, and the Z270 Stinger. Today we have the chance to take a look at one of those boards, which is the Z270 Classified K. The Z270 Classified K currently sits as EVGA’s flagship Z270 motherboard and it is jam packed with features! This E-ATX motherboard features Creative Sound Core3D audio, Killer E2500 gaming networking, Thunderbolt 3, U.2 as well as dual M.2 32 Gb/s ports, a 13-phase power delivery system and more! Let’s get this board on the test bench and see what it can do!
Whoa. I sure hope I don't get fined for the littering of Z270 keywords!..
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Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti Launch Day - Titan beware
Last week NVIDIA created a rift in the enthusiast world continuum by releasing the much anticipated GTX 1080 Ti. This is no ordinarily GPU but rather a cut down version of Titan XP that is actually faster, due to some creative overclocking.
Overclocking? Yes, Overclocking. That thing NVIDIA has been trying for years to stop is now a mainstay in the Pascal lineup. Now, if they would only bring back extreme overclocking I think my enthusiast life will be complete.
At least for the summer.
There are a grip of GTX 1080 Ti reviews out there including one from Hardware Asylum!
Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition VIdeo Card Review
Web Reviews
- The NVIDIA GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Review @ Hardware Canucks
- Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics card reviewed
- Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition @ LanOC Reviews
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition 11 GB @ techPowerUp
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Review: The Fastest Gaming Graphics Card Yet
- GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Review (what a lame title, sheesh)There is likely to be way more reviews out there including those from sites that no longer send out press releases. #slackers
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G.SKILL Announces Flare X Series and FORTIS Series DDR4 Memory for AMD Ryzen
Taipei, Taiwan (3 March 2017) - G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, is announcing two new DDR4 memory series, the Flare X series and FORTIS series, designed and tested specifically for the new AMD Ryzen™ processor platform. With a brand new architecture, processor, and chipset from AMD, high performance overclocking memory kits must be validated for optimized compatibility and stability for the new hardware.
Flare X Rises
Designed for the latest AMD Ryzen processor, the Flare X series DDR4 memory kit marks the return of the legendary G.SKILL Flare series that provided awesome performance in the previous generation of DDR3 memory. Built with carefully selected IC chips specifically tested and validated on the AM4 platform, the Flare X series will provide the best compatibility and stability for systems with the AMD Ryzen CPU.
FORTIS for Gaming
Designed for the best quality, reliability, and compatibility, the G.SKILL FORTIS series is the most ideal and cost effective DDR4 solution for building a performance AM4 gaming system.
AMD-Tuned DDR4-3200MHz CL14 64GB(4x16GB)
Not needing to sacrifice frequency for capacity, G.SKILL's R&D team achieved an impressive overclock on a 64GB (4x16GB) kit to frequencies of DDR4-3200MHz at ultra-low timings of CL14-14-14-34. See below for a validation screenshot for the kit on the ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Hero motherboard and the AMD Ryzen™ 7 1700 processor:
AMD-Tuned DDR4-3466MHz CL16 16GB(2x8GB)
Further pushing the boundaries of 16GB (2x8GB) memory kits on the AM4 platform, G.SKILL tuned it to a blistering fast DDR4-3466MHz CL 16-16-16-36. Tested on the 8-core AMD Ryzen™ 7 1700 processor and ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Hero motherboard, this is the fastest G.SKILL memory kit that's been designed for AMD thus far.
DDR4 Specifications & Availability
The Flare X and FORTIS series will both be available in DDR4-2133MHz and DDR4-2400MHz upon release under various capacity configurations, ranging from 16GB to 64GB. Flare X series will be available in higher memory frequency speeds of DDR4-3200MHz and DDR4-3466MHz. Both Flare X and FORTIS series will be available via G.SKILL worldwide distribution partners in March 2017. Please see the table below for more details.
About G.SKILL
Established in 1989 by PC hardware enthusiasts, G.SKILL specializes in high performance memory, SSD products, and gaming peripherals designed for PC gamers and enthusiasts around the world. Combining technical innovation and rock solid quality through our in-house testing lab and talented R&D team, G.SKILL continues to create record-breaking memory for each generation of hardware and hold the no. 1 brand title in overclocking memory.
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The Truly Ergonomic Mechanical Keyboard @ techPowerUp
The name of this company is a bit of a misnomer when applied to their Ergonomic mechanical keyboard. Looking at the design I can't see how it is really all the ergo, nor comfortable to type on.
Of course, if the company ever sent me one I might be inclined to give it a try and maybe change my mind though, to be honest. I'm still married to my Microsoft Natural Elite and can't imagine typing on anything else.
Even if it was supposed to be better.
The Truly Ergonomic Keyboard in its current revisions 227 and 229 aims to get past the issues that plagued the predecessors to re-establish a loyal customer base. It features all new switches, updated firmware, support for niche keyboard layouts, full programmability and more in a form factor smaller than most keyboards.
The problem I have with their ergo keyboard is the size. TechPowerUp comments on how it is smaller than most which is due to the lack of a 10-key but to be truly ergo I feel it needs to be wider so your hands aren't so close together.
10-key would also be nice but, only because we are used to having one.
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Asustor AS6202T NAS review @ Guru3D
Funny thing, I just got done installing the Asustor AS6204T NAS for a client of mine to replace an aging Dell server that has been running non-stop for the past 13 years. Let’s hope this cutting edge prosumer level NAS can last just as long.
While the NAS installed is the 4-drive version of the one in this review I can tell you that the OS and hardware are identical and even offers a RAM upgrade if you plan to run a good number of web applications from it.
In this review we test the Asustor AS6202T NAS. The AS6202T is more powerful in the sense that it comes with a much stronger processor, more memory and a plethora of features. The 2 in that product name means we'll be testing the 2-bay version of this quad-core processor based NAS with 4 GB of internal RAM memory.
My install featured a three drive RAID-5 using the out of box Asustor NAS OS and configuration. Much to my surprise the install went flawless and so far has been working great without any issue, including a nightly backup to an external USB 3.0 portable hard drive.
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Crucial MX300 Limited Edition 750GB SSD Review @ ModSynergy.com
The cost of a storage option has always been a deciding factor and is something that has really been taken for granted. For instance there was a time when a 500MB (yes megabyte) hard drive might have cost over $500 USD and has technology has improved we can get larger drives for less money.
This was an easy progression to monitor and eventually things became so affordable that many enthusiasts didn't care about storage aside from making it fast.
Fast forward to the launch of SSDs. Here we have a super fast storage technology and an effective reset on price, so much in fact that many "young" users complained about the cost not knowing why it was priced that way. Much like with system memory there is a limit to the storage density of a SSD and is something that 3D NAND is designed to address.
Crucial, a brand name from top five semiconductor company Micron Technology Inc, becomes the second company (in partnership with Intel) to develop and offer 3D NAND technology inside a Solid State Drive. Read our thoughts on the Crucial MX300 750GB SSD.
Be sure to check out my review of the Crucial MX300 750GB SSD. The drive is really good and marks a stepping stone to a viable replacement to rotational drives.
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AMD Ryzen Launch Day - Ryzen 7 1800X and Others
A few days ago I speculated about what Ryzen would actually be. If you are curious about my thoughts be sure to check out my news posting on the subject. Of course with that being said Ryzen has launched and there are a good number of reviews out there. Sadly, None from Hardware Asylum, at least yet.
I'm not the only one who wasn't able to get a launch review ready. Our friends over at Techgage had issues getting their Ryzen sample in before heading out to GDC to witness the GTX 1080 Ti launch (which I think is better). So while they work to get performance numbers they posted a technology article instead.
A Quick Look At AMD’s Ryzen CPU Launch @ Techgage
I'm not going to say it is the best article on Ryzen, but it is the best article I have read since getting up this morning.
After having my morning Pepsi I checked out FB and noticed a post from one of the HWBOT mods claiming that Ryzen benchmarks have been posted. Knowing that FB comments are always the best source of what people "really" think I gave them a look and this one stood out.
They look really good under LN2, but air/water... NOT good..
I'm not sure what that actually means but. it has to be true right? Well, lets check some of the web reviews and see what the professionals have to say.
Web Reviews
- AMD Ryzen 7 1800X processor review
- AMD's Ryzen 7 1800X, Ryzen 7 1700X, and Ryzen 7 1700 CPUs reviewed
- AMD Ryzen 7 1800X CPU Review: The Wait is Over at Modders-Inc
- AMD Ryzen 7 1800X, 1700X, And 1700 Reviews And Benchmarks: Zen Brings The Fight Back To Intel
- AMD Ryzen 7 1800X, 1700X and 1700 Processor Review @ Legit Reviews (seems legit)
- Gigabyte AB350 Gaming 3 @ LanOC Reviews
- AMD Ryzen 7 1800X Linux Benchmarks @ Phoronix
- AMD Ryzen 7 CPUs @ LanOC Reviews
- AMD Ryzen 7 1800X Review @ Vortez
- The AMD Ryzen 7 1800X Performance Review @ Hardware Canucks (Whoa they included a "the" *damn that is slick)Well that is the list, at least what was sent to the Hardwre Asylum news inbox. For overclocking results be sure to check out HWBOT.org, they are currently the defacto source for overclocking scores sorted by hardware type and a pretty good indication as to what you can expect, at least in terms of overclocking.
I'll be working on getting some Ryzen stuff in the Hardware Asylum Labs soon so, until then, I guess. wait? ya seems like an appropriate response.
Take care
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NVIDIA Launches GTX 1080 Ti before GDC - And it is good
We all knew this day would happen, the mighty Ti has landed and it should be good. Of course anyone who has paid any sort of attention will know how NVIDIA does things as they did the exact same thing with GTX 780 and GTX 980.
According to reports the new Pascal based GTX 1080 Ti will sit between the Titan X and GTX 1080 in terms of intended performance however will have the same number of CUDA cores with less ROP pixels per clock . That will lower overall computational performance which is then made up for with a 1600Mhz boost clock and suspected 2000Mhz OC performance. All Pascal based cards all top out around 2000Mhz so that is really no surprise.
The card will feature a 220w TDP and 352 Bit memory interface (WTF?) and 11GB of GDDR5X Micron memory. For anyone waiting to get their GTX 1080 this might also be the perfect time considering that NVIDIA Is also lowering the price of the 1080 down to $499 and will price the GTX 1080 Ti at around $699.
Of course the best part and the part I got wrong in my speculation is that the new GTX 1080 Ti FE cards will be available next week and with any luck the custom boards will also be launched around the same time.
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CyberPowerPC Debuts AMD Ryzen Series of Fully-Customizable Gaming Enthusiast Rigs
CITY OF INDUSTRY, CA (February 22, 2017)—CyberPower Inc., www.cyberpowerpc.com, a global manufacturer of custom gaming PCs, gaming laptops, and performance workstations, today announced the pre-sale of a new series of enthusiastic gaming PCs based on the AMD Ryzen CPU and AM4 platform, which features advanced overclocking and more PCI Express lanes for handling high-bandwidth, immersive computing.
CyberPowerPC Ryzen based gaming PCs come in a multitude of flavors and offerings, including a Virtual Reality-ready system, refreshes to its current award winning Gamer Dragon, as well as high performance machines in the new Gamer Master Series and Hyper Liquid series. All Ryzen equipped systems will be fully customizable.
AMD’s latest Ryzen CPU requires new motherboard chipset based on the AM4 platform. CyberPowerPC Ryzen system will feature the AMD Ryzen 7 series CPUs which features 8-Core CPU/16 threads and AMD X370 chipset Motherboards. The X370 chipset delivers ultimate graphics card bandwidth with its support for multi-GPUs. The chipset also supports both, CFX (CrossFire) and SLI. Other notable features include dual-channel DDR4 memory support; NVMe, which allows a solid-state drive (SSD) to make effective use of the high-speed PCIe 3.0 bus; support for M.2 SATA devices and USB 3.1 Gen 1 and Gen 2 compatibility.
For a limited time during CyberPowerPC’s Ryzen pre-sale event, all Ryzen equipped computers are bundled with the Corsair Hydro Series H60 liquid cooling as a free upgrade, which features a new split-flow manifold that delivers coolant directly to the center of the cold plate — the core area of the CPU which generates the most heat. The Corsair H60 comes pre-filled, and never needs refilling or priming.
The series includes the following base configurations:
AMD Ryzen 7 Configurator – Starting $983
- AMD Ryzen 7 1700 8-Core CPU
- AMD X370 Killer SLI Motherboard
- AMD RX 470 4GB Graphics Card
- Corsair H60 Liquid Cooling
- 8GB (4GBx2) DDR4
- 1TB 7200 RPM HDD
- NZXT Source 340 Elite Mid Tower Gaming Case
- 600 W PSU
Gamer Dragon – Starting $1097
- AMD Ryzen 7 1700X 8 Core CPU
- AMD X370 Killer SLI Motherboard
- AMD RX 470 4GB Graphics Card
- Corsair H60 Liquid Cooling
- 8GB (4GBx2) DDR4
- 1TB 7200 RPM HDD
- Raidmax Viper II Mid Tower Gaming Case
- 600 W PSU
VR Ready Deal Syber M GTX 1060 – starting $1159
- AMD Ryzen 7 1700 8 Core CPU
- AMD X370 Killer SLI Motherboard
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB
- Corsair H60 Liquid Cooling
- 8GB (4GBx2) DDR4
- 120GB SSD + 1TB 7200 RPM HDD
- Syber M Mid Tower Gaming Case
- 600 W PSU
Hyper Liquid Ryzen X Starting $2399
- AMD Ryzen 7 1800X 8 Core CPU
- AMD X370 Killer SLI Motherboard
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB
- Custom CyberPowerPC Hydro II D5 Liquid Cooling Kit
- 16GB (4GBx4) DDR4 Memory
- 512GB M.2 SSD + 3TB HDD
- In Win 303 White Mid Tower Gaming Case
- 1000W 80+ PSU
All CyberPowerPC Ryzen-based gaming PC’s can be custom configured with a number of hardware options, including high-performance gaming memory, solid state drives, graphics cards, and gaming peripherals. Fully-assembled systems include a 3-year limited warranty and lifetime tech support via chat, email or telephone.
