General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

Unlocked Nokia N9 Available in US, Just $690

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 02:57 PM PST

n9Despite officially moving away from a Symbian/MeeGo focus last Spring, Nokia went ahead with its final MeeGo-based device and put of the N9 just a few months ago. Although the device was never supposed to arrive on American shores, unlocked device reseller Expansys has a brand-new Nokia N9 with your name on it, if you roll that way. This doomed device, will set you back $690, but you so get free shipping.

Many users have noted how depressing it is that Nokia appears to have gotten MeeGo right just before abandoning it for Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform. The N9 has almost the same body as the recently announced Lumia 800, but with a slightly larger FWVGA resolution screen. The phone packs in Nokia's signature penta-band 3G HSPA radio, so it will work on both AT&T and T-Mobile in the US. 

Significant updates are unlikely on this device, and the app ecosystem is virtually non-existent. You have to truly respect what the N9 is right now to pick one up, especially for this exorbitant price. Anyone out there tempted?

HTC Edge Superphone Leaked: Quad-Core Tegra 3 Processor

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 02:38 PM PST

htcOn the heels of HTC's recent announcement of the Rezound smartphone for Verizon Wireless, a new device has been leaked that may give any potential phone-buyer a case of cold feet. The HTC Edge is a monster of an Android device with a 720p screen at 4.7-inches, 1GB of RAM, and a crazy Nvidia Tegra 3 processor with four 1.5GHz ARM Cortex-A9 cores. The Rezound only has a dual-core chip.

This is the first quad-core phone to be leaked that we suspect actually exists. The choice of processor is actually very interesting, if accurate. HTC has always used Qualcomm parts in its phones, and the new Krait-based Snapdragons are on the horizon. This could be a sign that Nvidia is really stepping it up to get phone makers on board. No mention of LTE capability was made in the leak, just HSPA+ at this point.

As for software, the Edge is expected to bring a new version of HTC Sense, but it is unclear if it will be based on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. We have to believe so, as the phone is not expected until late Q1 or early Q2 of 2012. Another thing to note, the HTC Edge render shows the phone with buttons, which is a very un-ICS design.

Google+ Pages Rolls Out For Businesses And Brands

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 02:13 PM PST

google plusGoogle has been attempting to quiet discontent over the exclusion of business and brands on the Google+ social network, but no more apologies. Google+ Pages has launched to a small test group, but all users will have the option of creating Pages on Google+ soon. In essence, this isn't much different than what is done on Facebook, but the people behind businesses and brands have all the Google+ tools at their disposal like Circles, hangouts, +1, and a new Direct Connect feature.

Google+ pages will let businesses add users to Circles, and allow users to Circle businesses they love. Similar to Facebook's Like system, Google+ Pages will let user +1 them for a running tally of how popular a business is. TO increase exposure of Google+ Pages, two additions have been made to Google search. The first is straight forward in the form of Pages showing up in search results, which seems like a no-brainer.

The new Direct Connect feature which allows users to get to a business page faster. Just search for "+" and the name of the page, and you will be directed right to it. Now we see clearly why the standard "+" operator was removed recently. Do you think Google+ Pages will be a hit?

Build It: A First-Class Gaming & Media PC for the Living Room

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 01:05 PM PST

Get Gaming on an HTPC

I don't want to watch cable TV. I don't want to use a controller. I just want to watch 3D Blu-rays and frag people with a mouse and keyboard, all on a box that fits on my entertainment center. Is that too much to ask?

We've built our fair share of home theater PCs in the past, with all sorts of different use cases in mind. Our August 2010 HTPC was a stunner built for 3D, with passively cooled GPU, CPU, and PSU, as well as a four-channel CableCard tuner and Blu-ray 3D support. In June 2011, Gordon tried to make a small-form-factor HTPC that could cut out the previous build's bulk (and CableCard) while still supporting Blu-ray 3D. Both of those rigs handled their respective tasks well, but what if I don't care about cable but do care about gaming? This month's task is to create a kick-ass gaming rig in an HTPC form factor—one that can handle modern games, as well as 3D Blu-ray and Dolby TrueHD audio, without sounding like a jet engine.

The Right Tools for the Job

When building a PC for the living room, the first thing to consider is the chassis. After testing many cases, including Lian Li's PC-P50 and Silverstone's oldie-but-goodie CW02, I settled on the Silverstone GD06, a microATX case with three 12cm cooling fans, front-panel USB 3.0 ports (with internal header!), and two hot-swap SATA bays. The other cases were roomier, but I wanted to keep the footprint as small as possible.

The videocard needs to be able to handle Blu-ray 3D and support HDMI 1.4a for true lossless HD audio. That's the easy part. It also has to have the power to play today's games, and the GTX 560Ti has that. MSI's Twin Frozr II version is speedy, factory-overclocked, quiet, and doesn't draw a lot of power. For Blu-ray playback, we're hitting up an old favorite: Plextor's PX320-SA.


The GD06's front panel latches when not in use to prevent miscreants from waltzing off with your drives.

We're not crippling this rig with an Atom or Fusion board. Asus's Maximus IV Gene-Z combines a powerful Z68 gaming platform with easy overclocking, two PCIe x16 slots, onboard 6Gb/s SATA, and X-Fi-branded onboard audio using Realtek codecs. Intel's Core i5-2500K brings four unlocked processors at 3.3GHz.

I picked a speedy 6Gb/s SATA SSD for an OS drive, and a large-capacity drive for media storage. The case's front hot-swap SATA bays make it easy to add more storage later.

Ingredients
Case Silverstone GD06 $130
PSU Silverstone Strider Essential ST70F-E 700W $85
Motherboard Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z $180
CPU Intel 3.3GHz Core i5-2500k $220
Cooling Stock Intel Cooler $0
GPU MSI Twin Frozr II GTX 560 Ti $240
RAM 2x 4GB Corsair Dominator DDR3/1600 $100
Optical Drive Blu-ray Combo Drive Plextor PX-B320SA $110
SSD 120GB Corsair Force GT $220
HDD 3TB WD Caviar Green $115
OS Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (OEM) $100
Total   $1,500

Step 1: Prep the Case

Remove the three screws securing the top cover of the GD06, then slide the cover off of the case. Unlock and open the front-panel bezel. Take out the four little screws securing the optical drive bay, and remove the bay. Do the same with the four screws holding the HDD trays. Lift out the bays and set them aside (image below).

Step 2: Install the PSU

Stick the four rubber feet that ship with the case onto the underside of the PSU (the side with the intake fan). Mount the PSU with the fan pointing to the bottom of the case.

Step 3: Install the CPU, Cooler, and RAM

Open the CPU gate and remove the plastic socket protector. Align the CPU with the socket and gently lower it into place (image below, left). Lower the gate and secure the CPU. Since we're using the stock cooler, all you have to do is remove the plastic cover, make sure the stock thermal pads are in place, and align the four posts on the heatsink with the mounting holes in the motherboard. Press down firmly on two opposite pins at a time until you hear a firm click, then repeat for the other two pins (image below, right). Make sure the cooler is firmly attached; it shouldn't wobble. Connect the CPU fan to the CPU_FAN header. Mount the RAM in either the red slots or the black slots.

   

Step 4: Mount the Motherboard

Install the motherboard I/O shield in the case, then put a motherboard standoff into the rightmost center hole (when viewed from the rear of the case)—this is the only standoff you need for microATX that isn't preinstalled in the chassis. Slide the motherboard into the case (image below), aligning the I/O ports with the I/O shield, and screw the motherboard screws into the standoffs.

Step 5: Connect Cables

The trickiest part of this build is the wiring. As you perform each step, keep the next steps in mind. Plan ahead and make sure to coil excess cable and secure it to tiedowns when possible.

   

Connect one end of a black SATA cable to one of the four gray SATA ports on the motherboard. Connect the PSU's 24-pin ATX power connector to the board. Run the 8-pin ATX power cable along the bottom edge of the motherboard, and then up behind the I/O ports to the AUX input (image above, left). Set aside a SATA power cable, the dual-6-pin PCI Express power cable, and a 4-pin Molex power cable, and tie the remaining PCI Express and SATA power cables down in front of the motherboard (image above, right) using the cable ties included with the case.

Coil the front-panel connectors until they're just long enough to reach the pins, then connect them to the motherboard's pinout. Install the pinout onto the board (image above). Tie down the excess cable. Attach the front-panel audio and USB 3.0 headers, pulling excess cable below the optical drive bay. Plug the system fans into fan headers on the motherboard.

Step 6: Install the GPU

Remove the two PCI expansion slot covers closest to the I/O ports and install the GPU, making sure to run the ATX auxiliary power cable beneath it. Plug the two PCI-E 6-pin plugs into the ports on the end of the card (image below).

Step 7: Install the Drives

Attach the SSD to the underside of the hard drive bracket using the four SSD screws (image below, left). Plug a 6Gb/s SATA cable into the SSD. Plug the two SATA cables from the hot-swap bays to two of the mobo's gray SATA ports, and attach the other end of the SATA cable from the SSD into one of the red ports.

   

Attach the two 4-pin Molex connectors from the hot-swap bays to two of the 4-pin connectors from the PSU (image above, right). Attach the end SATA data connector from the cable you moved over earlier. Replace the hard drive tray and reattach the four screws that hold it in place. Slide your mass storage drive into one of the hot-swap bays and close the door.

Step 8: Install the Blu-ray Drive

Attach the optical drive to the optical drive tray (image below), making sure the mounting holes on the drive are aligned with the front set of mounting holes on the tray. Attach with four optical-drive mounting screws and plug in the SATA power and SATA data cables you previously routed to the area. Reinstall the drive bay using the four screws you removed in Step 1.

Step 9: Wrap it Up

Slot the storage drive into one of the front hot-swap bays, and then replace the case's top cover. Install OS and drivers, and away you go!

It's Got Game!

I worried that an actively cooled gaming rig in an HTPC chassis would be too noisy, especially compared to passively cooled rigs like our August 2011 machine. But all builds involve compromises, and I wasn't willing to give up gaming performance in exchange for a few decibels. Fortunately, the GD06's fans are pretty quiet, and MSI's Twin Frozr II cooler makes the GTX 560 Ti run quietly, as well. The rig only really got loud when I was installing driver updates from the optical drive. The drive runs much more quietly when playing a movie.

And to my relief, the system is pretty speedy. Our zero-point machine is an aging-but-still-powerful overclocked Core i7-920 with a dual-GPU videocard. The Sandy Bridge processor and GTX 560 Ti helped the gaming HTPC hold its own reasonably well in the benchmarks despite a stock-clocked processor sans Hyper-Threading.


The tight quarters of the GD06 don't leave much room for a fancy wiring job, but the positive air pressure generated by its three 12cm intake fans ensures that the components stay cool.

The rig plays 3D Blu-ray and offers a protected Dolby TrueHD audio path via the videocard's 1.4a-compatible Mini HDMI port—essential elements in a home theater PC. If you must have cable, you can drop in Ceton's InfiniTV tuner and a CableCard. If you must have a dedicated soundcard, you can add in one of those. If you're really crazy, you can add both. I prefer to go without either and save the $650. I still have access to Netflix, Hulu Plus, and anything I can stream over my home network.

It's also great for games. Some of us like gaming on a giant screen, and we want to use a mouse and keyboard when we do. And now we can, with a box that's far more powerful than any console.

If you're curious about the rest of an HTPC setup—recommended remotes, peripherals, sound systems, TVs, and more—check out our guide to the Ultimate 3D HTPC from last year. The peripheral recommendations still stand, though 3D-compatible TVs have only gotten easier to come by.

There's more than one way to skin a cat (eww), and my gaming HTPC isn't the same as yours. What would you change? What essential part did I miss? What totally unnecessary expense did I incur? Email your critiques, build suggestions, and more to comments@maximumpc.com!

Benchmarks
Zero Point PC Gaming HTPC
Vegas Pro 9 (sec) 3,049 3,411 (-11%)
Lightroom 2.6 (sec) 356 312
Proshow 4 (sec) 1,112 986
Reference 1.6 (sec) 2,113 2,258 (-6%)
STALKER (fps) 42.0 34.1 (-19%)
Far Cry 2 (fps) 114.4 91.9 (-20%)

Our current desktop test bed consists of a quad-core 2.66GHz Core i7-920 overclocked to 3.5GHz, 6GB of Corsair DDR3/1333 overclocked to 1,750MHz, on a Gigabyte X58 motherboard. We are running an ATI Radeon HD 5970 graphics card, a 160GB Intel X25-M SSD, and 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate.

Just What Exactly is EVGA's GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2Win Card, Anyway?

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 11:54 AM PST

There are multiple correct answers to our question above, one of them being, "A massive 16-syllable graphics card, if counting EVGA into the equation (and 12 syllables if not)." But more than a long-winded name, the 560 Ti 2Win edition is a dual-GPU graphics card EVGA claims is 30 percent faster than a single GTX 580, and supports 3D surround to boot.

Packed underneath the three-fan cooling shroud are two GTX 560 Ti GPUs that, according to EVGA's own internal benchmarking, are capable of posting a score of nearly 8,000 in Futuremark's 3DMark 11 benchmark (EVGA's testbed consisted of an Intel 975 processor, EVGA X58 Classified motherboard, 3GB of DDR3 memory, and Windows 7).

The two GPUs are clocked at 850MHz, the shader clockspeed is 1700MHz, and the memory clockspeed is 4008MHz. It has three DVI ports for Nvidia 3D Surround plus a mini HDMI output.

Price and availability? EVGA is selling the card for $520 with a free copy of 3DMark 11 Advanced Edition thrown in. Not too bad if it's really faster than a GTX 580, which streets for around $490 and up (before rebates).

Image Credit: EVGA

OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 Max IOPS Edition is a Silly Fast Drive for Multithreaded Applications

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 11:36 AM PST

OCZ's new RevoDrive 3 X2 Max IOPS solid state drive should come with a warning label that reads: Warning, may cause whiplash, extreme giddiness, and feelings of euphoria -- these feelings will not subside. No such warning exists on OCZ's latest RevoDrive line, but that's how we'd market a PCI Express SSD capable of the silly fast numbers OCZ plastered on the spec sheet.

Let's start with the X2 (OCZ also announced a 'regular' RevoDrive 3 Max IOPS edition SSD). The X2 is a workstation-class storage device available in 240GB, 480GB, and 960GB capacities and rated for up to 245,000 random write 4KB (aligned) IOPS. Only the 240GB model is rated lower, and that one's capable of a more than respectable 230,000 IOPS.

The 960GB model also boasts read and write speeds of up to 1900MB/s and 1725MB/s, respectively, while the 240GB and 480GB offer the same reads and only slightly lower writes (1700MB/s). All three are full height PCI-E cards with MLC NAND flash memory, 128-bit and 256-bit AES encryption, and OCZ's proprietary Virtualized Controller Architecture (VCA) 2.0 flash virtualization layer.

If you don't need quite that much speed or upper end capacity, the non-X2 version is available in 120GB, 240GB, and 480GB capacities. These drives come rated at up to 140,000 IOPS (135,000 IOPS on the 120GB) and read and write speeds up to 1025MB/s and 950MB/s on the 480GB, 1000MB/s and 950MB/s on the 240GB, and 1000MB/s and 900MB/s on the 120GB.

No word on price or availability.

OCZ RevoDrive 3 Max IOPS Product Page
OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 Max IOPS Product Page

Image Credit: OCZ

Chrome Web App of the Week: Guinness World Records - Record Player

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 11:28 AM PST

guinessBefore 1954, no one could say with any authority how many hotdogs a human being could consume in one five minute sitting. This, we're sure you'll agree, was unacceptable. Were it not for a friendly argument between the managing director the Guinness Breweries and one of his hunting buddies in 1951, we still might not have any solid data on the issue today. Fortunately for time wasters and bet placers around the globe, the failure to resolve that argument 60 years ago led to the creation of The Guinness Book of World Records. Thanks to Guinness World Records-Record Player, our Chrome Web App of the Week, computer users don't have to read about new records being made or discover that old ones have been broken. Instead, they can turn to the internet and watch all the action in glorious color. 

No matter whether you're looking to resolve an argument over the mundane, be entertained, or waste your time in style, Guinness World Records has got you covered. Videos can be browsed individually, or searched by date, category or what's most popular with other users of the web app. Each video comes along with commentary on what world record it chronicles, as well as a paragraph's worth of commentary about what you're about to watch.

If you stumble across a video that you feel the need to share, the app even provides Twitter and Facebook integration, making it easy to get the word out to your friends and followers. 

Be sure to check back every Monday for another edition of Maximum PC's Chrome Web App of the Week. 

 

Best Buy Shuts Down UK Big Box Stores

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 11:22 AM PST

Best Buy may be the big box electronics retailer of choice in the US, but it hasn't been quite as successful on the other side of the pond – at least not as Americans know it. In fact, Best Buy Europe is built primarily around "small box" phone-based technology stores and only launched its familiar big box-format UK flagship stores in April 2010. They should've stuck to what they knew; today, Best Buy announced that was closing all 11 of the big-box stores it opened in the UK in order to focus on the small picture.

The company hopes to shift the 1,100 workers affected by the change into the small box stores, a Best Buy spokesman told ZDNet. Best Buy Europe is a 50/50 joint venture between Best Buy and Carphone Warehouse and is the number-one mobile phone retailer in Europe thanks to its 2,500 "Carphone Warehouse" and "Phone House" small box stores. With the closure of the big box stores, Best Buy Europe plans on expanding the capabilities of the small box stores and convert them into their "Wireless World" format, which focuses on all aspects of mobile technology – such as tablets – rather than phones alone.

Meanwhile, back in North America, Best Buy bought out Carphone Warehouse's 50 percent share in the Best Buy Mobile brand. It sure is complicated jig those multinational corporations dance!

Strong Game Portfolio Push Game Sales 14 Percent in October, Says Wedbush

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 11:07 AM PST

If Wedbush's Michael Pachter has the numbers right, then game sales in the U.S. shot way up in October and will tally $690 million once his firm crunches all the digits. That's a 14 percent jump in year-over-year sales compared to the $605 million game makers collected one year prior, and it's because of titles like Battlefield 3, Batman: Arkham City, and NBA 2K12.

According to Pachter, Battlefield 3 played a particularly big role and is the reason Electronic Arts is expected to notch $230 million in game revenue in October all by itself, CNet reports. These numbers bode well for the game industry, as do upcoming titles like Skyrim, GTA V, and Modern Warfare 3. In fact, Pacther called the game lineup for October and November this year "one of the strongest in history," Gamastura said.

While software sales are up, sales of Nintendo's game console are way down. Pachter believes Nintendo only moved 180,000 Wii consoles in October, a drop of 22 percent year-over-year, and well below that of Microsoft's Xbox 360 sales (350,000 units, up 8 percent) and Sony's PS3 (265,000 units, up 6 percent).

Firefox 8 Available For Download

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 10:49 AM PST

Ancient people used the sun to calculate the passing of time. That isn't necessarily the most accurate time-keeping method around now – especially with the whole daylight savings time thing – but fortunately, us modern types have something just as reliable to keep track of the days: Firefox's new rapid-release schedule. Six weeks after Firefox 7 launched, Firefox 8 is now available for download – but you'll need to scrounge around a bit for it.

That's because the official download page on the Firefox website still points to a version 7 download. Expect that to be changed tomorrow (November 8), the official six-week anniversary date of the release of Firefox 7. For now, early adopters can download Firefox 8 from Firefox's FTP release page, although the 64-bit Windows version has yet to be uploaded. So what can you expect from the new iteration? Well, perhaps most importantly it will put a halt to third-party programs installing Firefox add-ons without explicit user authorization, as we've already covered. Additionally, Twitter has been added to the search bar options. There's also the standard bug fixes and minor improvements.

If you're in the United States, you'll want to nab the "en-US" version for your chosen operating system, by the way. Or just wait for tomorrow, when -- as we said -- the official download page will likely be changed over to Firefox 8.
Posted by Shri Krishna

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