Hardware Asylum CES 2025 Coverage
I would like to thank Yeyian Gaming for helping sponsor Hardware Asylum during CES 2025. The Consumer Electronics Show starts Jan 9th and runs through Jan 12th.
Yeyian Gaming offers an wide range of solutions for the PC gamer including pre-built PCs to fully customized gaming computers with an online configurator. Their builds feature the latest in computer hardware including Intel Ultra, AMD Ryzen 9 and the latest in Nvidia RTX.
Be sure to check them out at https://us.yeyiangaming.com and the Venetian Tower if you'll be attending CES 2025.
Tech News
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PowerColor Radeon RX 470 Red Devil (4GB) @ Custom PC Review
Red Devil! An interesting name for a video card and one that can give you a little clout when talking about your system with friends.
Still, not as cool as the Devil 13 and all of its elusive awesomeness which is something we can talk about at a later day.
When AMD released the Radeon RX 470 in August of last year, high demand coupled with low supply meant that it almost didn’t make much sense thanks to its inflated pricing at the time. However, in the months since, pricing has dropped quite a bit and with recent driver updates, the performance of the...
I wonder if anyone who actually reviewed the old PowerColor Devil 13 still has them? It was something that Darren and I talked about on the Hardware Asylum Podcast where I cited that the cards were limited edition and I felt the whole batch went to hardware sites.
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Kingston SDCAC & SDCA3 UHS-I U3 microSDXC & MobileLite G4 USB 3.0 Card Reader Review @ ModSynergy
Who knew that Kingston made drone parts. In this case 4K cameras? Oh wait, I read that wrong. Kingston memory cards in a 4K drone camera? No, that can't be right. Maybe a Kingston card reader for Kingstone memory cards that are used in a 4K camera attached to a drone?
Ya thats the ticket.
Today we look at three Drone camera accessories from Kingston Technology you may consider when purchasing a 4K capable camera Drone. On the test bench today will be both 64GB Kingston SDCAC & SDCA3 UHS-I U3 SDXC cards, and the Kingston MobileLite G4 USB 3.0 Card Reader.
Good stuff.
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Lian Li’s PC-O11 Dual-Chambered Case Now Available
Latest Tempered Glass Case Mounts Multiple Radiators, Houses Top-Performance Builds
February 8, 2017; Keelung, Taiwan - Lian-Li Industrial Co. Ltd launches the PC-O11: the largest among the latest generation O-series chassis. This case preserves the proportions of a tower rather than cube chassis while managing a dual-chambered layout and fitting conventional ATX PSUs. Unlike its little brother, the PC-O10, this new chassis accommodates several 360mm water cooling radiators in a gorgeous, spacious tempered-glass interior: the PC-O11 is the ultimate glass showcase for top-of-the-line enthusiast builds.
Unbridled Cooling for Hardcore Enthusiasts
The PC-O11 has up to three 360mm water cooling radiator mounts – users can choose to install three 120mm fans or a 360mm radiator on both the top and bottom panels in the main glass chamber. The PC-O11 also includes a removable bracket to prominently mount three 120mm fans or an additional 360mm radiator behind the front glass panel. Users can mount two thick 360mm radiators and a single 240mm radiator without needing to mod the case.
A Showcase for Titanic, High-Performance Builds
The PC-O11 mounts E-ATX and smaller motherboards, with space for VGA cards as long as 430mm on its eight expansion slots. Its main glass chamber accommodates CPU coolers up to 150mm in height. The rear chamber hides ATX PSUs as long as 430mm and two removable drive cages fitting up to four 3.5” and two 2.5” drives or six total 2.5” drives. Users can also opt to mount 2.5” drives more prominently on the many fan mounts throughout the case – five 80mm mounts on the rear panel, two in the glass chamber and three in the PSU chamber, as well as any of the six 120mm mounts on the top and bottom panels.
Optional Accessories, Extras, and Inputs
Similar to the PC-O10, users can purchase an optional accessory to mount two VGA cards vertically using riser cables. The kit replaces the included expansion slot covers and includes a single riser cable. The PC-O11 also includes a removable plate for mounting most water cooling pumps and reservoirs. The front panel includes two USB 3.0 and HD audio ports. The top and bottom panels include removable mesh dust filters covering the primary fan mounts. The drive cages and PSU mount include rubber vibration dampeners to minimize idle noise.
Price and Availability
The PC-O11 is now available at Newegg.com for $229.99
Watch the video introduction: https://youtu.be/PHMun5xiRe0 -
Introducing the Thermalright AXP-100RH and the Silver Arrow ITX-R
Introducing the AXP-100RH and the Silver Arrow ITX-R
With the AXP-100RH we present a slightly higher version of the popular HTPC cooler to match the AXP-100H Muscle. We would also like to use the opportunity to introduce the Silver Arrow ITX-R, which will become available at the beginning of March.
The AXP-100RH has been designed for users who are looking for maximum cooling capacity at minimal dimensions. The adjustment in height became necessary to match the higher VRM cooler of the most recent ASUS “Republic of Gamers” MAXIMUS motherboard series.
The black and red design of the original AXP-100R was meant as a homage to the “Republic of Gamers” series. In order to use the cooler on the new Mini-ITX motherboards, the height was increased by 7 mm. With its 51 mm (65 mm with the fan), it is the perfect cooler for compact home theater/multimedia systems or minimalistic work stations with a limited height.
The AXP-100RH is equipped with six 6 mm heatpipes, finished with high-end heatpipe caps. The cooler uses the well-known T-shaped “down draft” design, in which the air flow is directed perpendicular to the mainboard, which allows the cooling of the surrounding motherboard components at the same time. Included is the well-known TY 100R fan.
The included „Enhanced Fan Mount“ of the AXP-100RH allows maximum flexibility when installing fan, in order to make best use of the available space in HTC-cases. In addition, the “Enhanced Fan Mount” allows the easy installation of larger fans with 120 mm mounting holes (like the TY 147B) on the cooler.
The Silver Arrow ITX-R succeeds the Silver Arrow ITX and is much more compact than its predecessor. The twin-tower cooler impresses with its reduced dimensions and fits in a lot more Mini-ITX cases, but will also excel on Micro-ATX or ATX systems.
An eye catcher is without a doubt the black high-gloss nickel plating of the heatsink, which in combination with the black and red TY-129 fan underlines the high-quality processing. The fan is installed between the two cooling towers, in order to avoid collisions with RAM modules or VRM coolers.
The cooler comes with six powerful 6 mm copper heatpipes. They are tightly integrated into the nickel-plated cooper base, to allow the most effective heat dissipation. The included TY 129 PWM-fan rotates between 300 and 1,300 rpm. This means during standard operation the fan is virtually unnoticeable from the outside. The air flow of the silent optimized fans ranges from 21.9 and 94.8 m³/h, at a noise level between 21 and 33 dB(A).
The AXP-100RH and the Silver Arrow ITX-R come with the latest universal mounting kit, which allows the installation of the cooler on all current Intel- and AMD-CPU’s. Both coolers are explicitly compatible to the new AM4 processors from AMD.
The AXP-100RH is now available in stores; the Silver Arrow ITX-R will be available from the beginning of March. The MSRP of both models can be found below among the specifications at the end of this press release.
Specifications Silver Arrow ITX-R- Length: 153 mm (m. Lüfter)
- Width: 103 mm (m. Lüfter)
- Height: 150 mm (m. Lüfter)
- Weight: 660 g (m. Lüfter)
- Fan dimensions: 130 x 130 x 25 mm
- Material: Hybrid
- Fan speed: 300 - 1,300 rpm
- Airflow: 21.9 - 94.8 m³/h
- Noise: 21 - 33 dB(A)
- Connector: 4 Pin PWM
- Heatpipes: 6 x 6 mm
- Max. cooling capacity: 280 Watt
- Code: 814256001175
- Order number: 100700417
- Manufacturer number: Silver Arrow ITX-R
- MSRP: 74.99€ incl. 19% VAT
Product pictures can be downloaded here. -
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 AORUS 8G Xtreme review
The next big eSports gaming brand is here complete with triple fan heatsinks, RGB lighting and a name you can bring home to your mother.
We review the new GeForce GTX 1080 AORUS Xtreme 8G from Gigabyte, and heck yeah this is not your regular one. Meet the all custom, cooled and tweaked Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 AORUS Xtreme Edition. We'll heck out the new 8 GB beast fitted with a massive and impressive three slot cooler, extra RGB LED functionality and sexy clock frequencies.
I'm not sure about sexy clock frequencies but the cooler design is spot on.
Maybe I'll get one for review before the next big chip gets released. Only 4 months till Computex afterall.
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MSI X99A Tomahawk Motherboard Review @ ThinkComputers
There are some really cool motherboards out there and in the X99 generation I have been able to review boards from EVGA, MSI and Gigabyte and while I love what Gigabyte does my favorates boil down to the EVGA X99 Classified, MSI X99A Godlike, and MSI X99A Tomahawk.
Why so much MSI? Simply put, good package with some great features. Oh and tasteful RGB lighting.
MSI introduced their Arsenal Gaming line not to long ago. The way it sits in their product stack is that you have Enthusiast Gaming, Performance Gaming, Arsenal Gaming, and then their Pro Series. Arsenal Gaming is positioned to give users many great gaming features, but at a good price as well. Today we are checking out the X99A Tomahawk, which offers a nice matte black PCB with black and grey accents. The board has three PCI-Express 3.0 x4 slots, an M.2 32 GB/s slot, a U.2 32 GB/s port, dual Intel LAN ports, USB 3.2 gen 2, and MSI’s Audio Boost 3. Does the X99A Tomahawk have what it takes to make it into your X99 build? Read on as we take a look…
Seems the ThinkComputers grew lkes it as well.
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Creative Sound BlasterX Katana Review @ Vortez
One of the cool products I personally saw at CES 2017 was the Katana sound bar from Creative. Big sound from a small package with many iRoar features built in.
Soundbars are a popular choice among many people looking for a high quality speaker system that is also compact. As a sub-market, gamers end up having to wade through the many offerings out there in the wide world, yet may be unsure of what it is they want or need. So the 'gaming' soundbar became a thing. Our first outing with such a product was with the Razer Leviathan, and now we get to take a look at the Sound BlasterX Katana from Creative.
The thing with sound bars is not so much how good or bad they sound but the form factor and how it works with your PC setup. Some of us have dual and triple monitors and might want more sound separation.
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This Company Went From 'Game Over' to Gaming Industry Power Player
They say it is all about finding your niche or, in the case of PC hardware you need to diversify and capitolize on the markets that are making money. Gaming and enthusiast PCs are hot right now so why not take advantage.
To understand how the company made its pivot, first let's look at its trajectory. MSI was founded in 1986 with a focus on designing and manufacturing motherboards for computers. Having gone public two years later, the company's next big moves came in 2003 and 2008 when it began selling branded notebooks and netbooks, respectively. At its height during those years, MSI's revenue hit $3.1 billion (U.S. dollars) in 2008.
When I started Ninjalane.com MSI wasn't a huge player in the motherboard market, they had products out there but nothing really stood out and then, overnight it seems, MSI changed and created silos of specialization. Of course, I cared more about the OC line then gaming but that started a trend that has steamrolled ever since.
Unlike consumer PC owners, customers in the gaming world typically demand high-performance devices to help enhance their game play--and they're willing to pay extra for them. While sales of traditional PCs have been slow or trending downward, high-end gaming PC sales are thriving. Specifically, the global gaming hardware market continues to grow and is expected to reach $140 billion by 2019. That's billion, with a "b."
Interest in gaming hardware has been driven in part by the immense global popularity of eSports. With major events including the International and the League of Legends World Championship, revenues from the eSports industry were expected to reach almost $500 million last year, up more than 50 percent from 2015.This is a key part of the entrepreneur.com article, It will be the enthusaists that dominate the custom PC market and is something I have said time and time again. Personally I'm looking forward to the future of the PC, even if Intel and Microsoft want to kill it off.
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Throwback Time: Chaintech Zenith ZNF3-150 Motherboard
Back in the early 2000’s AMD was on top of the performance world with a very highly sought after CPU that was not only inexpensive but, fast and loved to overclock. This trifecta was further enhanced by NVidia and their launch into building chipsets along with top notch GPUs.
To enhance performance and make motherboard production cheaper AMD launched the Athlon64 processor platform and things have changed forever. The new processor combined a CPU with a Memory Controller allowing for better performance and lower latency. It also allowed companies like NVidia to develop single chip motherboard solutions and concentrate on connectivity over raw performance.
In this Throwback Thursday I give you the Chaintech Zenith ZNF3-150. This is an NVidia based motherboard using the new nForce3 chipset designed for Athlon64 754pin processors.
As you can see the motherboard is very colorful with bright orange expansion slots, purple caps and a very large VRM cooler that is not only covered in a gold shield but features an actively cooled heatsink called RadEX. The small fan vented out the back of the I/O panel and seemed excessive at the time considering it was only 4 phases. Of course to keep with the gold theme a small decorative cover can be found on the MCP heatsink and all of the I/O sockets are covered in gold as well.
At the bottom of the motherboard you’ll find a short expansion socket which is a dedicated audio port for the CMC (Chaintech Multimedia Card). This was a genius onboard audio solution which was way ahead of its time.
The Chaintech Zenith ZNF3-150 might not have been a very popular motherboard of the era but remains as one of the few boards to really push the limit and deliver a complete solution instead of just a bare motherboard.
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BitFenix Shogun Chassis Review
Shogun is the master.
Sorry, couldn't resist. Extra points if you know what movie that is from and even more points if you have ever watched it.
We review one of the better looking chassis I have seen in a while, the new BitFenix Shogun, a product series that is designed for the enthusiast crowd, loaded with features and really nice looks. Yes, with nice aesthetics and yes, it has been fitted with tempered glass. And that does make this chassis look very special. Wanna have a peek?
Personally I'm like, uhh meh for the Shogun. It is def not the master of all computer cases. Granted, that's a worst-case scenario. The meh might in fact be very localised and limited to merely our own galaxy.
Oh snap, another movie quote!, this time one about things being bad!
