Tech News
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SteelSeries QcK XXL Gaming Mousepad Review @ Legit Reviews
Back in the day, hardware review ment more than exciting stuff like top end video cards and super fast storage systems. In fact things were a little more down to earth when external hard drive enclosures were "all the rage" and the latest card reader consumed all of the front page news.
It is good to see that Legit Reviews hasn't forgotten those days with their review of the SteelSeries QcK XXL Gaming Mousepad. The thing is pretty big and likely produced in response to the Aorus Thunder P3 Gaming Mousepad that we reviewed almost a year ago.
I’m sure gamers can relate to at least one experience with a mousepad that isn’t large enough; an annoying and sometimes unpleasant feeling when the mouse goes somewhere it shouldn’t. Fortunately, there are so-called gaming mousepads and they’re actually nice to have. Their characteristic large size offers an ample surface and forgiving space for a gamer’s mouse movements, compared to the more typical mousepad that might be smaller than a dinner plate. What we have for review here is an exaggeration of that end to the need. I’m sure some people have some fair use for the QcK XXL, SteelSeries newest and largest mousepad ever released. Measuring 900 by 400 mm (35.4 by 15.7 in), this nearly 3 foot long cloth surface can fit more than a mouse and keyboard.
Big pads mean big money, makes you wonder if anyone has figured out how to wash them.
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Corsair Obsidian Series 750D Airflow Series Review @ [H]
Big and Badass Black. Seems like a good combo?
It's big. It's black. In fact it's "Obsidian!" Corsair's new 750D computer case is actually all steel and brushed aluminum, not volcanic rock. Corsair's take on the 750D Airflow Series is that it is easy to build in and has all the features you need rather than a plethora of bells and whistles that only look good on a spec sheet.
This has actually been a very popular case for Corsair, very classic styling, good airflow and reasonably priced. Of course, aggressive marketing helps along with a total "fall on your face" from both TT and CM.
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EVGA and K|NGP|N Set New 3DMark World Records
Some big news today from EVGA!
July 29th, 2015 – EVGA has once again raised the bar with three new 3DMark Single Card World Records. Armed with liquid nitrogen cooling, an EVGA X99 motherboard, EVGA high performance Power Supplies, an EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti K|NGP|N graphics card running at over 2GHz and EVGA PrecisionX 16 overclocking software, Vince “K|NGP|N” Lucido was able to reach new heights in 3DMark Fire Strike, Fire Strike Extreme and Fire Strike Ultra presets.
3DMark Fire Strike = 25,233
3DMark Fire Strike Extreme = 13,091
3DMark Fire Strike Ultra = 6,988
These new World Records show EVGA’s commitment to the enthusiast with unparalleled high performance products and software. Learn more about the EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti K|NGP|N graphics card here: http://www.evga.com/articles/00944/EVGA-GeForce-GTX-980-Ti-KINGPIN/
About 3DMark Fire Strike
Fire Strike is a showcase DirectX 11 benchmark designed for today's high-performance gaming PCs. It is one of the most ambitious and technical benchmarks ever, featuring real-time graphics rendered with detail and complexity far beyond what is found in most benchmarks and games today.About EVGA
EVGA is the #1 NVIDIA authorized partner in channel sales throughout North America and UK. Based on the philosophy of intelligent innovation, market knowledge, and the real time operation, EVGA continues to identify the need in the market place and providing the solution to that need. By offering product differentiation, 24/7 tech support, a 90 day Step-Up program, and other customer focused programs, EVGA is a clear leader in all categories: etail, retail, distribution, and system integration. With headquarters in Brea, CA, EVGA’s global coverage includes EVGA GmbH in Munich, EVGA LATAM in Miami, and EVGA Hong Kong. For further information online about EVGA, visit: www.evga.com -
ASRock X99 OC FORMULA/3.1 (Intel LGA 2011-3) @ techPowerUp
OMG, the GOLD!!
Actually AsRock OC motherboards have always been Yellow/Gold so I'm not sure why I am surprised.
ASRock's updated X99 OC FORMULA is here, now called the ASRock OC FORMULA/3.1. Fitted with the latest in USB technology, the ASRock X99 OC FORMULA/3.1 is ASRock's top-level overclocking board built to smash clock records time and again. USB 3.1 isn't everything: we've got SATA Express, Ultra M.2, Xeon, and ECC support - every high-speed item you could ask for when overclocking X99 is here.
The motherboards come packed in foam and "should" still have the conformal coating however, based on the photos I'm not seeing signs of it anymore. I guess the added expense finally caught up to them.
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GIGABYTE X99 SLI Review, Excellence On A Budget! @ Bjorn3d
Budget is everything when it comes to building a PC and what if you can get "Excellence" and not break the budget?
Seems like a good combo.
GIGABYTE has released an entire pack of motherboards based on the Intel X99 chipset: Champion, Gaming, and Super Overclock. And now GIGABYTE has released the X99-SLI board. From the first glance, the board looks to be chock full of enthusiast-level hardware, with lots to offer most end users. To field the board with all that high-end hardware at $250 (NewEgg) , they had to make a few compromises, but based on price/performance, there’s a good bang for the buck factor on the GIGABYTE GA-X99-SLI.
I really like what Gigabyte did with their last round of X99 motherboards. Sure, there could have been some things "done better" but they did get the budget part of the equation sorted.
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Gigabyte's X99-Gaming 5P motherboard reviewed @ TechReport
It would seem that some people have actually paid attention to the Multi GPU Index and even started including some of the aspects in their reviews.
Gigabyte's X99-Gaming 5P gives buyers a full-featured Haswell-E board with a gaming twist. We dug into its features and ran it through our testing gauntlet to figure out what makes this premium motherboard tick.
I have to say say TR has some of the strangest emails when it comes to sending out press notifications. Everything is possessive, not that there is anything wrong with that.
btw, check out our review of the Gigabyte X99 Gaming 5P for comparison purposes. I'm pretty sure we attained a higher overclock though the testing suite and without any special cooling.
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Desktop Boradwell Is Here
With Skylake just around the corner you have to wonder if Intel was ever going to release that "tick" for the Z97 chipset. Namely Broadwell.
As some of you know Broadwell was designed to be a mobile chip, low power but with decent performance however, the big claim to fame was the integrated iris Pro Graphics.
Web Reviews
- Intel takes the integrated graphics crown on the desktop: Broadwell Core i7 5775C review @Hardware.Info
- Comparing The Power/Performance Of A NetBurst Celeron & Pentium 4 To Broadwell's Core i7 5775C @ Phoronix
- Intel Core i7 5775C: Once Going, This Broadwell CPU Is Great On Linux @ Phoronix
- Intel "Broadwell" Core i7 5775C Review @HiTech Legion
- Open-Source Linux Graphics: A10-7870K Godavari vs. i7-4790K Haswell vs. i7-5775C Broadwell @ Phoronix
- Intel Broadwell-E Core i7 5775C processor review @ Guru3D
- Intel Core i7-5775C @ LanOC ReviewsI got a chance to see Broadwell in action during Computex, most notably how well the processor could overclock. Sadly, the chip had a hard limit which was well within the "air cooled" range so needless to say Haswell is still holds the OC crown.
At least for a few more weeks.
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Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 3666Mhz Retail Kits Available
I caught a post to these bad boys in my news stream this morning. It would appear that the first retail kits of DDR with XMP profiles up to 3666Mhz are now available!.
Some of the important features would include:
Hand Screened Performance IC's
Using best of the best IC's available leads to highly overclockable memory
DHX cooling
Patented technology pulls performance-robbing heat away from the modules and allows Dominator memory to run at a cooler temperature.
Customizable light bar
Customize the look and feel of your memory with upgradable light bars and Dominator Airflow LED fan.
Performance and Compatibility
Dominator Platinum DDR4 is optimized and compatibility tested for the latest Intel X99 Series motherboards and offers higher frequencies, greater bandwidth, and lower power consumption.
XMP 2.0 support for trouble-free automatic overclocking.
Corsair Link compatibility
The Corsair Link Digital connector allows you to monitor your memory's temperature for an optimal combination of performance and stability.There are a couple of "unwritten" requirements including CPU quality and the orange across the top of the heatspreader indicating Gigabyte OC. Of course, they will likely work in any motherboard including X99 and Skylake you just wont be able to set XMP.
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Asylum Review Block: Radeon Fury Road
I'm sitting here looking at a Mad Max: Fury Road poster and wondering how that relates to the AMD Radeon Fury and I think "Overpowered with Unrealistic Results" draws a nice parallel but, hey I could be wrong.
Web Reviews
- HIS Radeon R9 380 IceQ X² OC 2 GB GDDR5 Review @ Hardware-Mag.de
- Sapphire Radeon R9 Fury Tri-X OC Review @ HardwareSlave
- HIS Radeon R9 390X IceQ X2 Video Card Review - Most Unique 390X So Far
- HIS Radeon R9 390X IceQ X2 OC 8GB Video Card Review @ Madshrimps
- Sapphire Tri-X Radeon R9 Fury Review @ Modders-Inc
- ASUS Radeon R9 Fury STRIX review @ Guru3D
- ASUS Radeon R9 Fury STRIX 4 GB @ techPowerUp
- Asus' Strix Radeon R9 Fury graphics card reviewed @ Some Tech Place
- AMD Radeon R9 Fury Review: Fiji On Air Tested @ HotHardware
- MSI Radeon R9 390X GAMING 8G Overclocking Review @ [H]Eventually we will be less "Fury" and have a Fury one of our own, though until then Fury On!
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Where is the YouTube for Podcasts? - Good Question
This is a pretty good editorial about how difficult it is to get people to find a podcast and some of the trouble associated with it and she pretty much hits every issue including the free for all YouTube that allows people to make money without spending "anything" to the audio equivalent Soundcloud which does a horrible job and promoting and charges you for the inconvenience.
I’m not about to argue that a direct translation of YouTube is the solution to the podcast platform problem. There are a lot of problems with YouTube’s model. But a comparison between audio and video platforms is useful in highlighting how far podcast platforms are behind other digital mediums.
The obvious is the attention span of 90% of internet users. Websites need to grab the attention of a visitor in 3 seconds or less and YouTube caters to a generation who grew up in front of a television. It is unfortunate but Internet users are reluctant to learn anymore and unless their answer is in the top 5 results on google you might as well not exist.
I do hope the Podcast situation improves. iTunes is the defacto standard which was created 10+ years ago and hasn't changed much over the years. There is lots Apple could do to improve the situation and sadly any 3rd party uses iTunes as a basis for their solution. The future doesn't look good for Podcasting but I am hopeful that something will come around.
