General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

1TB Western Digital VelociRaptor Review

Posted: 05 Jun 2012 04:51 PM PDT

Western Digital releases a new Raptor drive every couple of years, and each time the performance and capacity increase while the price for the highest-capacity model stays around $300. This year's iteration finally breaks 1TB, but the VelociRaptor remains caught between increasingly fast 7,200rpm drives and increasingly capacious SSDs. Is it the best of both worlds, or the worst?

Like the previous two generations of VelociRaptor, the WD1000DHTZ is a 2.5-inch drive spinning at 10,000rpm, mounted on an "IcePak" cooler/3.5-inch drive adapter. The latest version has 64MB of cache (up from 32MB) and up to 1TB of storage (up from a maximum of 600GB). Despite its 2.5-inch form factor, it won't fit in a laptop—the drive is far too thick and power hungry. So far, so unsurprising.

It's the fastest consumer hard drive on the market, but not by much.

When we ran the newest VelociRaptor through our benchmarks, it shone, with average read speeds of 162MB/s and average writes of 161MB/s—the fastest we've ever seen from a consumer-oriented hard drive. Its 7ms random-access times are less than half those of the fastest 7,200rpm drive we've tested, and similar to last generation's VelociRaptor. Its PCMark Vantage and PCMark 7 storage subscores are also faster than any standard 3.5-inch drive we've tested. That's the good news.

The bad news is that the 1TB VelociRaptor is in a tough spot. Seagate's three-platter 3TB Barracuda has average read and write speeds of over 150MB/s, and it's half the price of the VelociRaptor for three times the storage (albeit with random access speeds that are twice as slow). On the other hand, $320 will get you a good 256GB SSD, which destroys the VelociRaptor in every metric except capacity—and, WD claims, reliability.

WD isn't aiming the VelociRaptor at gamers as much as it has in previous generations. Instead, it's focusing on content creators who need strong sustained write performance—something SSDs still don't excel at, and where their limited capacities and NAND lifespan concerns are a hindrance.

For those users, and folks who want a simple high-performance, single-drive solution for their desktop, the VelociRaptor makes a lot of sense. For those who don't need the fast random-access times, a 3TB 7,200rpm drive will work nearly as well, and those who don't need the capacity or the sustained writes will prefer an SSD. That's without even considering hybrids, which offer SSD-like "feel" by copying the most frequently accessed data to NAND flash, but only offer their speed-boosting benefits when accessing that data.

Is there still room in the market for the VelociRaptor? WD thinks (and hopes) so. For many users, the VelociRaptor offers a decent compromise between SSDs and 7,200rpm drives—though the price might rankle.

Corsair Claims AX1200i Digital ATX Power Supply is World's Most Advanced PSU

Posted: 05 Jun 2012 09:12 AM PDT

Many PC users take their power supply for granted. As long as the system turns on and stays on, then what's the difference, right? Wrong. Lower quality PSUs can lead to stability issues, put a damper on your overclocking efforts, and in a worst case scenario, go up in smoke (literally -- we've seen it happen). Corsair is generally considered one of the 'good guys' in the PSU market, and the company's new AX1200i DSP-based unit is the world's most advanced modular power supply -- just ask them.

"Corsair has earned a reputation as one of world's best providers of enthusiast PSUs, and with the AX1200i, we have raised the technology and performance bar far above anything the market has seen," said Ruben Mookerjee, VP and General Manager of the Components Business Unit at Corsair. "By designing the first DSP-based enthusiast PSU and integrating our unique Corsair Link technology, we can offer enthusiasts a PSU with a matchless combination of performance and customizable features."

By using digitally controlled power circuitry, Corsair claims its AX1200i delivers "incredibly stable voltages, and exceptionally low ripple and noise." The AX1200i is 80 Plus Platinum certified, meaning it delivers up to 92 percent energy efficiency under real-world loads, and features a single, beefy +12V rail design.

The downside? Price, as you might have guessed. Corsair's asking $350 MSRP for this unit.

Image Credit: Corsair

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Gorilla Glass Maker Constructs Flexible 'Willow' Glass

Posted: 05 Jun 2012 08:29 AM PDT

Corning is best known for its ultra durable, scratch resistant Gorilla Glass found on a number of handheld and mobile device applications, but has now developed a type of ultra slim glass that can wrap around objects, opening the door to a world of possibilities. The flexible glass, called Willow Glass, is ultra-slim and ultimately ahead of its time, but according to Corning, it can still be used for increasingly thin devices while the world waits for bendable gadgets.

"Displays become more pervasive each day and manufacturers strive to make both portable devices and larger displays thinner. Corning Willow Glass provides the substrate performance to maintain device quality in a thin and light form factor," said Dr. Dipak Chowdhury, division vice president and Willow Glass program director. "Currently manufacturing in a sheet-to-sheet process, we expect Corning Willow Glass to eventually allow customers to switch to high-throughput, efficient roll-to-roll processing, a long-awaited industry milestone."

Corning says its Willow Glass is specially formulated to perform exceptionally well for electronic components like touch sensors, leveraging glass's natural hermetic properties as a seal for OLED and other moisture and oxygen-sensitive technologies.

Willow Glass can be processed at up to 500 degrees Celsius, which enables a roll-to-roll process similar to how newsprint is created, Corning says.

Image Credit: Corning

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Netflix Lays Foundation for Future Growth with Open Connect Content Delivery Network

Posted: 05 Jun 2012 08:06 AM PDT

As Netflix tells it, the company's streaming subscribers all around the globe are collectively watching a billion hours of movies and TV shows each month. Serving up that amount of content takes some serious bandwidth, and up to this point, Netflix has been relying on third party content delivery networks (CDNs) to pipe petabytes of data to ISPs like Comcast, Charter, and others, who in turn deliver the video to home PCs and living room HDTVs. Now Netflix has its own CDN to play with.

It's called Open Connect, a single-purpose Netflix CDN the streaming provider established to cut costs as the company continues to grow in size.

"The world's other major Internet video provider, YouTube, has long had its own content delivery network. Given our size and growth, it now makes economic sense for Netflix to have one as well," Ken Florence, VP of Content Delivery at Netflix, explained in a blog post. "We'll continue to work with our commercial CDN partners for the next few years, but eventually most of our data will be served by Open Connect."

As constructed, Netflix claims about 5 percent of its data is being served by Open Connect. The rest is handled by third parties, the biggest distributor being Level 3, though some traffic also flows through Akamai. Shares of the latter were down following Netflix's announcement.

Image Credit: Netflix

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Patriot Memory Releases Viper 3 RAM for Power Users

Posted: 05 Jun 2012 07:40 AM PDT

Computer memory might not be the sexy subject it once was back when your choice of RAM could make or break even a simple overclock, but if you're a power user looking to squeeze the most amount performance out of your system, memory still matters. It's those types of users Patriot Memory hopes to attract with its new Viper 3 memory series, purportedly engineered specifically for "the most demanding computing environments."

There are four color options to choose from, each of which has implications beyond aesthetics. The Viper 3 in Jungle Green, for example, is an eco-friendly series available in 1600MHz and 1866MHz frequencies. Sapphire Blue kits are Intel XMP 1.3 Certified and ship in 1600MHz, 1866MHz, and 2133MHz kits. Finally, the Black Mamba and Venom Red kits are both top of the line options that ship in the same frequencies as the Sapphire Blue and take aim at the 'high performance' crowd.

All Venom 3 kits are available in dual- and quad-channel configurations, up to 32GB and in single 4GB and 8GB DIMMs. The kits will ship in July, though Patriot Memory didn't disclose any MSRPs.

Image Credit: Patriot Memory

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Toshiba Infuses Portégé Z with Ivy Bridge, Unveils Satellite U Series Ultrabooks

Posted: 05 Jun 2012 07:25 AM PDT

Toshiba is one of the many companies using the Computex convention to unveil new Ultrabook models, and is hitting the form factor hard with two new models from the the company's freshly minted Satellite U Series, along with a sweet upgrade to its existing Portégé Z, which will now come equipped with 3rd Generation Intel Core processors (Ivy Bridge). One of the new Ultrabooks -- the Satellite U845W -- also happens to be the world's first to feature a 21:9 cinematic display, Toshiba claims.

The U845W sports a 14.4-inch ultrawide HD TruBrite display with a 1792x768 resolution. It's an odd resolution for day to day computing, but "ideally suited for movie buffs looking to enjoy 2:35:1 movies in their original format -- without black bars comonly seen on most laptop displays," Toshiba points out.

Ohter specs include Ivy Bridge processor options, 500GB hard drive with 32GB solid state drive (or just a 256GB SSD), up to 8GB of DDR3 memory, three USB 3.0 ports, HDMI output, GbE LAN, memory card slot, and other odds and ends. The U845 is similarly spec'd, but with a more standard 1366x768 resolution, 16GB or 32GB supplementary SSD options, up to 6GB of DDR3 memory, and a single USB 3.0 port (plus two USB 2.0 ports).

The Satellite U845W will available on July 15 starting at $1,000, the U845 on June 24 starting at $750, and the Ivy Bridge infused Portégé Z on June 24 for $900.

Image Credit: Toshiba

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Dell Launches Inspiron 14z Ultrabook, 'Fashionable' Inspiron 15R and 17R Laptops

Posted: 05 Jun 2012 06:53 AM PDT

The very last thing in the world students heading out into summer vacation want to think about right now is the fact they'll have to go back to school in a few months. Parents, however, know the back-to-school season is coming, and they're the ones Dell is pitching its "tailored line-up of Inspiron laptops" to, including Dell's first Inspiron Ultrabook model, the 14z.

Dell's 14z rolls off the lot with a Core i3 processor, though you can upgrade to a Core i5 or Core i7 Ivy Bridge processor before driving it home. It's only Dell's second Ultrabook model, joining the XPS 13, and it sports a brushed aluminum finish in Moon Silver or (later this summer) Fire Red. A baseline build weighs 4.12 pounds and measures 0.83 inches at its chunkiest point. And if that's too big, Dell also announced a 13-inch version (13z) that weighs 3.81 pounds. Pricing starts at $700 for the 14z and $600 for the 13z.

In addition to Ultrabooks, Dell today rolled out new Inspiron 15R and 17R laptops with high definition displays and a variety of processor, memory, and storage options. They also feature optional color SWITCH lids, Intel Wireless Display technology, and Waves MaxxAudio 3 sound processing. Special Edition versions up the ante with Full HD displays, Blu-ray options, Skullcandy speakers, and Nvidia graphics options (17R). Pricing starts at $550 for the 15R ($900 for the Special Edition) and $600 for the 17R ($1,300 for Special Edition).

Image Credit: Dell

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Qualcomm Looks to Extend Snapdragon S4 Platform to HDTVs, Windows 8

Posted: 05 Jun 2012 06:27 AM PDT

Samsung's Galaxy S III smartphone, which is scheduled to launch in the U.S. later this month, is the newest device to rock Qualcomm's dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, but it surely won't be the last. Qualcomm is eying bigger (literally) and better (arguably) things, likes high definition TVs, tablet PCs, and stationary computing devices running Windows 8. They're all on Qualcomm's radar.

Qualcomm's updated Snapdragon S4 portfolio now includes four processing classes: S4 Prime, S4 Pro, S4 Plus, and S4 Play. According to a press release our friends at Endgadget procured, S4 Prime processors will power the next wave of enhanced smart TV platforms. These will be 1.5GHz quad-core CPUs based on Qualcomm's Krait micro-architecture, supplemented with Adreno 320 graphics.

S4 Pro processors will also feature Adreno 320 graphics and support higher resolution displays. Two processors will comprise the Pro line -- APQ8064 and MSM8960T (the Pro version of MSM8960) -- both of which will take aim at Windows.

Next on the list is S4 Plus, a line dedicated to basic smartphones on up to high-end handsets and tablets. The most fleshed out of all four categories, the S4 Plus line includes almost a dozen processors, including MSM8960, APQ8060A, MSM8660A, MSM8260A, APQ8030, MSM8930, MSM8630, MSM8230, MSM8627, and MSM8227.

Finally, the S4 Play tier specifically targets high-volume smartphones with dual-core 1.2GHz CPUs coupled with the Adreno 203 GPU. An integrated 3G radio will also come standard.

Image Credit: Qualcomm

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Sony, HTC Unlikely Allies; Both to Push PlayStation Certified Program

Posted: 05 Jun 2012 06:04 AM PDT

Mobile gaming apparently lends itself to strange bedfellows, like HTC reportedly signing on to promote Sony's PlayStation Certified program. And in doing so, HTC finds itself as the only non-Sony entity to secure certification, which it will use to its advantage in the mobile handset market, or at least attempt to. It's not as though companies are beating down Sony's door for a PlayStation Certified stamp of approval.

Nevertheless, CNet reports HTC is Sony's newest ally, further reinforcing that the handset maker isn't afraid to branch out of its comfort zone, like focusing on audio with a Beats license. As for gaming, HTC's One series of smartphones will introduce PlayStation certification to HTC's fold, giving owners of those devices the ability to download and play games from Sony's PlayStation Store.

While nothing has been announced, it's conceivable HTC could launch a gaming-centric smartphone with built in game controls. The challenge for HTC is to make sure such a device doesn't follow the same fate as the poorly received Xperia Play.

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Lenovo Ideapad U310 and U410 Ultrabooks Now Available

Posted: 05 Jun 2012 04:15 AM PDT

There's no dearth of choices for those currently in the market for an ultrabook. Thanks to Intel's massive push and the positive response it has received from PC vendors, the ultrabook family is adding new members at a rapid rate. The ultrabook family's rapid expansion continues this week as well with the launch of the IdeaPad U310 and U410 by Lenovo.

Unveiled at CES earlier this year, the IdeaPad U310 and U410 start at $749 and $799, respectively. Both these ultra-thin and -light laptops can be configured with the latest Core i3, i5, or i7 processors. Measuring just 0.7-inch thick and weighing 3.74lbs, the U310 packs a 13.3-inch 1,366x768 pixel display, integrated graphics, up to 4GB DDR3 memory and up to 500GB of hard drive storage (32GB SSD cache optional). The slightly thicker and heavier (0.83-inch and 4.18lbs ) U410 sports a 14-inch, 1,366x768 pixel display and can be configured with NVIDIA GeForce 610M graphics, up to 8GB DDR3 memory, and up to 1TB of hard drive storage with 32GB SSD cache. Further, both ultrabooks feature Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports, HDMI output, 2-in-1 card reader, and a built-in 720p HD webcam.

While these two ultrabooks officially went on sale Monday, their availability is fairly limited at the moment. But later this week, both of them will be available on Lenovo's website. As for their general retail availability, Lenovo expects both models to become available via major retailers across the world later this month.
Posted by Shri Krishna

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