General Gaming Article |
- Daily Deals 9/21/12: Dell Slim Laptop $400, iPad 3rd Gen $399, and More
- Blueprints: The Maximum PC Recommended Builds (September 2012)
- Verizon CFO Strips 'Unlimited' of Any Meaning, Says It's "Just a Word"
- Details Emerge on Nvidia's GeForce GTX 650 Ti, Could Launch Next Month
- This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar
- AMD Readies New Flagship Radeon HD 8000 Series Graphics Card
| Daily Deals 9/21/12: Dell Slim Laptop $400, iPad 3rd Gen $399, and More Posted: 21 Sep 2012 02:52 PM PDT
Top Deal: If you're looking for a 14" laptop to do some photo editing, today's top deal is right up your alley. Dell's Inspiron 14z Slim 14" Core i3 Aluminum Laptop and Adobe's Elements 9 Bundle are on sale for $399.99 (with free shipping). Considering the package is normally $499.99, that's a solid deal. To snatch it up yourself, use $100 coupon code $0XXM1GP5QSND3. Computing Hardware & Peripherals: Apple iPad 3rd Generation 16GB (refurbished) for $399 with free shipping (normally $499 new or $450 refurbished). Pivos AIOS Full HD Gigabit Media Center (PTGMCART35-US) for $49.99 with free shipping at NewEgg (normally $100). Kingston HyperX 3K 2.5" 240GB SATA 6GB/s SSD (SH103S3/240G) for $149.99 with free shipping (normally $199.99). OCZ Synapse Cache 2.5" 64GB SSD (SYN-25SAT3-64G) for $33.99 with free shipping (normally $60 - use coupon code: HARDOCPX919A). |
| Blueprints: The Maximum PC Recommended Builds (September 2012) Posted: 21 Sep 2012 11:38 AM PDT
These rigs are lab-tested and editor-approved, and we'll update them every month. Feedback is, of course, welcome. Tell us what you think! Blueprints is sponsored by NewEgg.com. All parts selections are made by MaximumPC editors. Note: Updated 9.21.2012 with the builds from the November 2012 magazine issue. Baseline
An unlocked Ivy Bridge quad-core and a kick-ass midrange GPU power this lean, no-compromises gaming PC. Thanks to falling HDD and SSD prices, we're able to get both speed and capacity. On the video side, we were torn this month between the Radeon HD 7850, which has dropped to around $220, the 7870 GHz Edition, which is around $290, and the new GeForce GTX 660 Ti, which outperforms the 7870 GHz Edition in most tests and is $310. We settled on the 660 Ti, but it's a close one: The 7870 GHz Edition and the 7950 would also be good picks. Baseline  Approximate Price: $1,330 Performance
For the performance machine, it's a hard choice between the Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770K and the Sandy Bridge-E Core i7-3820. Both are quad-core CPUs with HyperThreading, but Sandy Bridge-E gives you more of an upgrade path: Ivy Bridge-E will come out next year, and there are always six-core Sandy Bridge-E processors. Depending on your needs, either would be a good choice. Either way, you get plenty of overclocking headroom, a kick-ass GPU, 16GB of DDR3, a Blu-ray burner, SSD, 3TB hard drive, and a sleek case with plenty of expansion opportunities, all for under $1,900. Performance  Approximate Price: $1,870 Budget
So let it be written, so let it be done! We promised you a sub-$1,000 budget machine to alternate with our $3,000-plus Ultra configuration, and here it is! Our Budget box is the machine we need, not the machine we deserve. It has an inexpensive, overclockable Phenom II X4 chip and a modern motherboard that supports USB 3.0 and 6Gb/s SATA—albeit with only one x16 PCIe slot. For just over $600, we don't get a fancy SSD, classy chassis, or a Blu-ray drive, but at least we have a 1TB 7,200rpm boot drive, 4GB of RAM, and a modern DirectX 11 GPU, the Radeon HD 7770. If you have a little more scratch, you can easily swap the Phenom II CPU for a faster Bulldozer or "Vishera" chip when that comes out, get a faster GPU, expand your RAM, get an aftermarket cooler for overclocking, or a fancier case and beefier PSU—whatever your heart desires. But this Budget box is enough to get you started with enthusiast computing without dipping into your college fund. Budget  Approximate Price: $610 |
| Verizon CFO Strips 'Unlimited' of Any Meaning, Says It's "Just a Word" Posted: 21 Sep 2012 11:23 AM PDT
Um, actually it does. We double-checked with Merriam-Webster just to make sure, and sure enough, it's in there with not one, but three definitions. One of them defines unlimited as "boundless, infinite." It's not totally fair to take Fran Shammo's statement literally, but no matter how you slice it, it's a poor choice of words on a sensitive topic. The trend in wireless is, for the most part, away from unlimited data plans and towards shared caps. At least that's what AT&T and Verizon have done. Shammo's statement came during a Goldman Sachs conference in New York (you can view the webcast or read a PDF transcript on Verizon's website), and what he was trying to convey is how popular his company's Share Everything plans have become. "We have more people going to shared than we actually anticipated. Adn the thing that really surprised us is we have a lot of people coming off unlimited to go to shared," Shammo said. "So what customers are understanding and through our good sales routine is once you explain to a customer their usage on a monthly basis, unlimited is just a word, it doesn't really mean anything and that people don't really -- I think a lot of consumers think they consume a lot more data than they really do. So that whole unlimited thing I thing I think is going by the wayside and they see the benefit of going to the shared." His comments make more sense when put into context, but at the same time, he fails to mention that customers don't have a choice in the matter when upgrading. Not a good choice, anyway. If you were to pick up the new iPhone 5, for example, you could keep your existing unlimited data plan, but only if you pay full price for the handset ($649 for the 16GB model). If you want the subsidized pricing ($199 for 16GB), you have to commit to two years of Share Everything. In that way, the numbers are surely skewed. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook
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| Details Emerge on Nvidia's GeForce GTX 650 Ti, Could Launch Next Month Posted: 21 Sep 2012 10:34 AM PDT
We've rounded up the rumored info that's floating around the Web, and here's the gist of it. The GTX 650 Ti is being built around Nvidia's GK106 GPU, which is a 28nm slice of silicon that, in this instance, has an entire Graphics Processing Core (GPC) disabled, effectively reducing the CUDA core count to 576 (down from 970 on the GTX 660). The TMU (Texture Mapping Unit) count is reduced to 48 (from 80), and ROPs will be the same as the GTX 660 (24). There's some conflicting information about the size of the memory bus. Some sites are reporting 192-bit, while others are saying it will be 128-bit. Finally, look for for the GPU to run at 960MHz (base, with no boost) and the memory at 1,350MHz (5,400MHz effective).
Based on what we've read, the GTX 650 Ti is (unofficially) scheduled to launch on October 9 and expect to retail for around $169 to $189, a price that pits it against AMD's Radeon HD 7850. |
| This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar Posted: 21 Sep 2012 08:47 AM PDT We've been working hard on our ultra in-depth iPhone 5 review and will have you something to read on that very very soon. But in the meantime, check out all the other awesome gear we've been playing with in the last seven days! Hands on: iPod touch 5th Generation review It's been a couple of years since we saw a new iPod touch. The smartphone invasion, combined with the success of Spotify and other streaming services has very much put a stop to the popularity of dedicated music players. But that hasn't stopped Apple refreshing both the iPod touch, which now comes in multiple colours, and the iPod nano. The touch we have here packs the same A5 dual-core chip as we've seen in the iPhone 4S which means it's faster and much more graphically capable than previous models. It's definitely a worthy upgrade for owners of previous iPod touch models that want to take full advantage of iOS 6's new features. Apple's fifth-gen iPod touch can be preordered at www.apple.com: $299 (249) for 32GB and $399 (£329) for 64GB, and it ships in October. All things considered, the Canon EOS 6D looks like a pretty decent DSLR, with the Wi-Fi and GPS technology being nice bonuses for the average photographer. At 20.2MP, the resolution is not a great deal more than that offered by Canon's APS-C format DSLRs, but there should be a significant image quality advantage. You'll also be happy that the Canon EOS 6D uses SD format cards rather than CF, but we wonder whether this could be a limiting factor for video shooting. Priced at £1,799/$2,099 body only or £2,519.99/$2,899 with an EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM kit lens, the Canon EOS 6D is appreciably more affordable than the Nikon D600. But the figure still feels a little on the high side for a camera aimed at enthusiast photographers, and many will wait a few months for the price to come down. Hands on: Olympus PEN Lite E-PL5 As before, the new Olympus PEN Lite E-PL5 is smaller than the Olympus PEN, but bigger than the Olympus PEN Mini E-PM2. The compact system camera also accepts interchangeable grips that are fixed onto the body by a chunky screw, and boasts a touchscreen. Like the Olympus PEN Lite E-PL3 that it replaces, the Olympus PEN Lite E-PL5 has a tilting screen, but this 3-inch device is now touch-sensitive. The touch sensitivity doesn't extend to making menu selections, but it functions with the Live Guide that helps novices change settings. The Olympus PEN Lite E-PL5's interchangeable grips are an option we have seen before with the Olympus PEN, and its a great idea that enables you to find the grip that suits you. This, and the tilting LCD screen, makes the Olympus PEN Lite E-PL5 a more versatile camera. Is the LG Optimus G the phone of the year? It's too early to say, for a number of reasons: the first being that we won't see it in the US until later in 2012 and may never see it on European shores at all. Then there's the issue of price, or lack of one. While LG usually undercuts its competitors, it will need to do so pretty strongly here to make sure it stands out of the throng of top-end smartphones available today. It's a well-designed handset with plenty of interesting features we can't wait to get our teeth into, as well as more grunt than most other phones out there. We're not sure it will be the phone to propel LG back to the front (there needs to be a phone that takes the user by surprise with a new UI or fantastic design to achieve that) but it's one of the best the Lucky Group have come up with in a long while. Hands on: HTC Windows Phone 8X review What we can say so far is that we're fans of the new design HTC has brought to the table, and as long as the on-screen performance matches the quality of the body, the HTC Windows Phone 8X is shaping up to be quite a device. Cameras Hands on: Sony Alpha a99 review Hands on: Panasonic GH3 review Hands on: Olympus PEN Mini E-PM2 review Hands on: Canon PowerShot S110 review Hands on: Canon PowerShot SX50 HS review Hands on: Canon PowerShot G15 review Disk Drives Graphics Cards Gigabyte GTX 660 Ti Superclocked review Headphones Mobile phones Hands on: HTC Windows Phone 8X review Hands on: HTC Windows Phone 8S review Hands on: Motorola Razr i review Motherboards Operating systems Tablets |
| AMD Readies New Flagship Radeon HD 8000 Series Graphics Card Posted: 21 Sep 2012 08:13 AM PDT
A leaked slide tipping AMD's next generation "Tenerife" GPU found its way to the Web (funny how that always happens), and it's a beast. As part of AMD's Sea Island based HD 8000 Series, the Tenerife part is a power user card that will dethrone the HD 7970. We'll go ahead and call it HD 8970, with the understanding that this isn't the official name (yet). The proposed 8970 card is said to have 2,304 Stream Processors, 128 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. Clockspeeds are unknown, but it will be capable of more than 4.5 TFLOPS of processing power and 20 percent more compute performance than the current flagship part.
Other features include 3GB of GDDR5 memory racing along at 6GHz on a 384-bit bus, two mini DisplayPorts, an HDMI port, and DVI connectivity. TPD will be 250W. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook
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Whether you camped out in line and picked up an iPhone 5 this morning or upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy S III instead (or any other smartphone), the stakes are the same for 
If you fancy yourself an 
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