General Gaming Article

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• No BS Podcast #200: Epic Videocast Edition
• Intel Reports a $2 Billion Profit During Paul Otellini's Last Full Quarter as CEO
• Cooler Master Seidon 120M Review
• Logitech Leans on Phone Apps to Smarten Up Latest Harmony Remotes
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 Beta Impressions
• Samsung Galaxy S4 Now Available to Pre-Order, Will You Be Getting One?
• Asus Unveils Factory Calibrated PA249Q ProArt Monitor
• NZXT Puts Cooling and Cable Management on the "Grid"
• HP to Embed Leap Motion's 3D Gesture Control Into Select PCs
• Newegg Daily Deals: Acer Aspire Ultrabook, Toshiba Satellite, and More

No BS Podcast #200: Epic Videocast Edition Posted: 16 Apr 2013 04:30 PM PDT Now with video! Today the Maximum PC crew has crossed a huge milestone and present the 200th episode of the No BS Podcast! And because you guys have asked for it, this special episode is also in video format! Yay! In the epic podcast/videocast, Maximum PC Editor and podcast host Josh Norem invites Deputy Editor Gordon Mah Ung, Online Managing Editor Jimmy Thang, and Associate Editor Tom McNamara to discuss a wide variety of topics that include: - The history of the Maximum PC No BS podcast - Our awesome AMD gaming rig giveaway - The Adam Orth always-online Xbox 720 controversy (Update following the podcast: He is no longer with Microsoft) - Razer Edge review - Your reader questions - And rants from Gordon! Let us know what you think of the video format! If you want to catch future episodes, you can: Subscribe on iTunes Fan us on Facebook Tweet us on Twitter Check out our Windows 8 app in Microsoft's app store Email us at maximumpcpodcast@gmail.com Subscribe to our RSS feed Leave us a voicemail at 877-404-1337 x1337 Thanks for listening all these weeks/months/years! We truly appreciate your support! -Maximum PC Staff

Intel Reports a $2 Billion Profit During Paul Otellini's Last Full Quarter as CEO Posted: 16 Apr 2013 03:00 PM PDT The sky didn't fall far for Intel, which met its revenue target for Q1. Analysts can crow all they want about how the PC market is disintegrating, the world's largest semiconductor player still made a killing. We're of course referring to Intel, which today posted first quarter revenue of $12.6 billion, operating income of $2.5 billion, and net income of $2 billion. All of those are down to some extent, but how many businesses would jump at the chance to switch places with Intel? "Amidst market softness, Intel performed well in the first quarter and I'm excited about what lies ahead for the company," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. "We shipped our next generation PC microprocessors, introduced a new family of products for micro-servers and will ship our new tablet and smartphone microprocessors this quarter. We are working with our customers to introduce innovative new products across multiple operating systems. The transition to 14nm technology this year will significantly increase the value provided by Intel architecture and process technology for our customers and in the marketplace." Intel's financial report comes just days after market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) said global PC shipments suffered the worst year-on-year decline since it began tracking the PC market in 1994. And yes, a slowdown in system sales did affect Intel, but not as much some might have thought. The Santa Clara chip maker's PC Client Group revenue totaled $8 billion for the quarter, down 6.6 percent sequentially and down 6 percent year-over year. Meanwhile, Intel's Data Center Group added another $2.6 billion, which is down 6.9 percent sequentially but up 7.5 percent year over year. Intel could have done better, but still, it's not a bad way to go out for Otellini, who plans to retire as chief next month. Intel's Board of Directors hasn't found a replacement yet, but whoever it ends up being, he or she will have the immediate task of navigating Intel back in a positive direction in a market place that's now heavily dominated by mobile devices. So long, Otellni, and thanks for the chips. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Cooler Master Seidon 120M Review Posted: 16 Apr 2013 02:11 PM PDT Won't break the bank or any records With the vast majority of closed-loop water-cooling kits based on either Asetek or CoolIt designs, Cooler Master's in-house-designed Seidon 120M easily stands out from the crowd. At just $70, it's one of the more affordable kits we've seen, too, and though it's not the answer to our cooling prayers, it proves you don't need to spend a lot of money to get a decent water cooler. Cooler Master says that the Teflon tubing on the 120M minimizes water evaporation. Like its competitors, the kit includes all the usual ingredients: a prefilled aluminum radiator with a 12cm fan, a copper contact plate, two tubes to shuttle coolant back and forth, and a pump built directly into the CPU water block. Though the Seidon 120M looks a lot like Asetek-designed coolers, its water block/pump apparatus is noticeably more low-profile than others we've tested. Installing the water cooler was, for the most part, a drama-free affair. The 120M features a universal backplate with pre-attached screws (for use with sockets other than LGA2011). Even the retention clips include pre-attached and easily adjustable screws. We ran into a little trouble differentiating between the AMD and Intel clips, and it would have been nice if they were labeled (either the clips themselves or the bags they came in), because the Intel and AMD parts look confusingly similar. Once we eyeballed the clips next to the sockets to figure out which was which, we had no trouble attaching the clips to the base of the water block and securing them to the backplate, and then mounting that on top of the CPU's heat spreader. Attaching the radiator to the chassis was also a walk in the park, as we used the included screws to mount the fan to the radiator and the radiator to our Level 10 GT chassis. The last step was to simply plug the power cable from the pump into the CPU header, and to connect the 12cm fan's PWM connector to a fan controller. Once installed, the fan was very quiet with Q-Fan enabled in the BIOS, but under a heavy thermal load at 4.2GHz on our Core i7-3960X, it didn't perform much better than a Hyper 212 Evo air cooler. When we ran the system at full speed, however, cooling performance improved dramatically, running six degrees cooler under load but still 1 C hotter than the dual-fan Thermaltake Water2.0 Pro. To its credit though, the Seidon was quieter at full tilt than the Water2.0, which sounded like a wind tunnel. Though the Seidon only comes with one 12cm fan, we added a second Thermaltake fan to test a push-pull configuration and saw a dramatic performance boost, putting it on par with the more-expensive Water2.0 Pro, but sadly its noise output was equally loud. $70, www.coolermaster.com

Logitech Leans on Phone Apps to Smarten Up Latest Harmony Remotes Posted: 16 Apr 2013 01:02 PM PDT The new Harmony remotes are compatible with more than 225,000 home entertainment devices. Logitech today expanded its universal remote control lineup by introducing the Logitech Harmony Ultimate and Logitech Harmony Smart Control, both of which feature the peripheral maker's Harmony Hub, a puck shaped device that turns RF signals from the remote into IR and Bluetooth commands for your home theater devices. In doing so, users needn't worry about having a clear of line of site to their components and can even hide their AV gear behind cabinet doors. The included Hub also supports Logitech's Harmony Smartphone App to turn your iPhone or Android device into a universal remote control. With it, you can control up to eight devices from anywhere in your home. Logitech's Smartphone App is really the main selling point of the Logitech Smart Control, though for those times when your phone isn't handy or is other indisposed, it also comes with a simple remote to change channels, adjust the volume, and switch to favorite activities. The Logitech Harmony Ultimate has a 2.4-inch touchscreen that responds to touch and swipe commands. It can control up to 15 devices, and new to this generation remote is the ability to program Philips Hue lighting systems and vibration feedback so you know your touch commands were received. If you're new to Logitech's Harmony line, one of the neat things about these remotes is the ability to program activities so that navigating a mess a complicated gear becomes so easy even a Mac user could do it (hey-oh!). For example, hitting the "Watch Blu-ray" activity could be programmed to turn on your TV, turn on your surround sound receiver, turn on your PlayStation 3 console, and switch the input on your receiver to the PS3, in any order you dictate. The Logitech Harmony Ultimate will be available this month for $350 MSRP and the Logitech Harmony Smart Control next month for $130. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 Beta Impressions Posted: 16 Apr 2013 12:28 PM PDT Adobe Photoshop Lr5 Beta Now Available Today Adobe officially lifts the veil on the next version of Lightroom 5.  While still very much a beta product, this is our first chance to take a peek at the new features that await. If you haven't encountered Lightroom before, this is Adobe's combination DAM (Digital Asset Management) and RAW processing application that specifically targets workflow for professional photographers.  If you're a photographer and still using a combination of Photoshop and Adobe Bridge, this application will save your ass. So what's new and cool in Lightroom 5?  We've stated in the past that every time we need Photoshop to accomplish some basic manipulation, it feels like a failure on the part of Lightroom to deliver.  We're pleased to see that Adobe has taken this to heart and supercharged a number of Lightroom's existing tools which we will outline below! Healing Brush Healing Brush:  If you chose to simply click the tool in-place, it functions as before.  If you click and drag the cursor around, you can paint custom shapes to heal non-circular patches.  Another awesome change here is the ability to set the transparency on the correction, so you no longer need to build layers in Photoshop when attempting to merely soften the appearance of flaws, but not remove them entirely.  (A good example would be a portrait photographer who wants to soften a line, but not completely eliminate it.)  If you often heal dust spots in your images, you'll also appreciate an overlay that helps you to locate spots more quickly.  This stands out as one particular operation that previously required Photoshop for more sophisticated operations, and now we can accomplish more right in Lightroom itself. Upright tool (before) Upright tool (after) Upright Tool:  The upright tool automates straightening images.  A new panel on the existing Lens Corrections pane in the develop module offers multiple options for correcting skew, rotation, and other little slips that can happen when photographing subjects by hand.  It offers a fully automated option, and other options for prioritizing vertical lines or horizontal lines.  Our experience with this so far has been pretty good - saving a lot of time over tinkering with the manual sliders in Lightroom, or even worse going out to Photoshop to manually stretch and pull corners into correction.  Again, here's a tool that should save you from depending on Photoshop for all but the most complex corrections. Radial Gradient tool Radial Gradient Tool:  Have you ever wished you could apply an off-center post-crop vignette?  Your prayers have been answered with this little addition.  In fact the name "radial gradient tool" doesn't fully reveal the tool's true capabilities, because it provides all the same controls available to the Graduated Filter tool, so you have control over not just exposure, but also sharpness, contrast, whitebalance, etc.  By default, this tool affects anything outside the selection area, but it can also be inverted to affect anything inside the selection.  In previous versions of Lightroom, you could build this effect manually using the mask brush or graduated filter tools, but this is a more precise and much faster way of achieving the same result. Smart Previews Smart Previews:  We're very excited about this one.  We keep our master catalog on our supercharged desktop computers, but often we have to work on the road.  Shifting all the RAW files to a laptop for transportation can mean a huge data move, but without the RAW files we can't do any meaningful work in the Develop module.  Enter Smart Preview files.  This is an enhanced preview that's based on the DNG's lossy spec.  It's high-res enough to zoom in and judge focus and sharpness, but not so high res that the files are large.  In fact, they move around quite snappily.  The quality is good enough to allow some pretty dramatic exposure adjustments (we're seeing +/- 2 to 3 stops) and full whitebalance control.  We'd even go so far as to suggest that you could produce output good enough for a blog or social media post from Smart Preview files.  Once you're done working on the road, re-import the catalog, and Lightroom is smart enough to apply all of your advanced retouching to the original master RAW files.  Sexy! Video Slideshow:  The cinematographers and hybrid shooters in the crowd will enjoy the ability to mix video and stills into a single slideshow.  You'll also get enhanced color and effects abilities right inside of Lightroom for your video files. Book Module Updates:  A smattering of updates to the Book Module provides additional flexibility in layout and customization controls. All in all, there are a number of great changes coming in Lightroom 5 that will further reduce our dependence on Photoshop, and when working in a volume production environment, that's something we can get behind. Conspicuously left off this list are changes relating to the performance and efficiency of some of the core Lightroom behaviors that we've criticized in the past.  We hesitate to dive too deeply into performance criticism when our tested product is still pre-announcement beta, but we also don't think there's any reason to hope these issues will be addressed before final release of version 5. If you're curious about the new features and would like to tinker with them yourself, the beta is now available for download at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom5/.  Remember, never use beta products on your master files!

Samsung Galaxy S4 Now Available to Pre-Order, Will You Be Getting One? Posted: 16 Apr 2013 11:48 AM PDT At least two wireless carriers have begun offering the Samsung Galaxy S4 in the U.S. Anticipation has been running high for Samsung's Galaxy S4 smartphone, the successor to the wildly popular S3 that's played an instrumental role in capturing mobile market share that might have otherwise gone to Apple. If you've been waiting for your chance to jump, today's the day you can make the leap, provided you're interested in signing up with AT&T or U.S. Cellular for wireless service. The Galaxy S4 is available to pre-order through AT&T starting at $200 for the 16GB model. That price includes a significant discount in exchange for a two-year service agreement. It's available in Frost White and Black Mist, both of which will ship out on April 30. Alternately, U.S. Cellular is offering the same phone with the same color options for the same price, and will toss in Samsung's S View Flip Cover with purchase. The caveat? U.S. Cellular isn't serving a ton of locations with the pre-order. For example, we weren't able to get to an order screen using ZIP codes for San Francisco, Detroit, or Boston, but did get through when searching stock for Beckley, WV (25801). Assuming you live an area where you can pre-order the Galaxy S4, U.S. Cellular says you can expect it to ship in approximately four weeks. Any takers? Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Asus Unveils Factory Calibrated PA249Q ProArt Monitor Posted: 16 Apr 2013 10:54 AM PDT There's no need to fuss with the PA249Q's calibration controls, Asus claims. Most monitors can benefit from a burn-in period and custom calibration, some needing more than others. This is especially true if you require pinpoint color accuracy for photography chores or other professional work, so it's always nice when a company can deliver a panel that's ready to go right out of the box. Such is the claim Asus makes with its new PA249Q ProArt Series display, a professional 24-inch monitor that comes pre-calibrated from the factory "for uncompromised color precision." The PA249Q features a native 1920x1200 resolution with 16:10 aspect ratio, 178-degress viewing angles, and independent six-axis color control. According to Asus, the panel boasts 99 percent Adobe Wide Gamut RGB, 100 percent sRGB, and 120 percent NTSC. Other features include support for 10-bit deep color, 350 cd/m2 brightness, 80,000,000:1 Smart Contrast Ratio, QuickFit Virtual Scale (displays on-screen guidelines for an actual size preview of images prior to printing), Asus Splendid Video Intelligence technology (automatically adjusts display settings for best visual quality), picture-in-picture support, and several connectivity options: DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI-D, D-Sub, and a four-port USB 3.0 hub. No word yet on price or availability. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

NZXT Puts Cooling and Cable Management on the "Grid" Posted: 16 Apr 2013 09:57 AM PDT NZXT's Grid is an affordable 10-port fan hub with a twist. Anyone can be a master at cable management, it just takes a little patience, planning, and careful execution. That doesn't mean it's easy. Some of today's cases come with more fan mounts than you have fingers to count, and if you take advantage of all that air cooling potential, cable management can quickly get out of hand. That's where NZXT's new Grid 10-port fan hub comes into play. The Grid is a fully enclosed, low-profile box that lets you install up to 10 fans in virtually any location. It comes with a 200mm Molex to 3-pin power adapter, 200mm 3-pin female-to-female adapter, two 200mm 3-pin male-to-female extensions, and five black zip ties. "When NZXT introduced the integrated fan hub to its Switch 810 and Phantom 630 cases, it raised the bar for the entire industry in terms of cable management capabilities. Now, NZXT brings its versatile fan hub to the mass market with a streamlined, sleek design," NZXT says. "Capable of powering up to ten fans, the NZXT Grid lets you saturate your case with fans while maintaining superb cable management. With white LED indicator lights and included fan extension cables, the Grid ensures the inside of your case looks just as good as the outside." That's really all there is to it. There's something to be said for simplicity, and equally enticing is the price tag, which is just $12 MSRP. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

HP to Embed Leap Motion's 3D Gesture Control Into Select PCs Posted: 16 Apr 2013 09:28 AM PDT Let the inevitable comparisons to Minority Report begin. How many technologies have you heard being compared to Minority Report style computing? More than you can count on one hand, most likely, and we have yet another candidate in Leap Motion with its 3D motion control technology. Hewlett-Packard (HP) will attempt to bring Leap Motion's technology to the mainstream by embedding it into select products as part of a new collaboration between these two companies. "Customers want to go to the next level when creating and interacting with digital content," said Ron Coughlin, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer PCs at HP. "Leap Motion's groundbreaking 3D motion control combined with HP technology and amazing developer apps will create incredible user experiences." The bulk of those user experiences Coughlin references aren't yet known, though the companies did announce that certain HP systems will come pre-loaded with Airspace, Leap Motion's application store. Airspace is home to a variety of software across gaming, music, education, art, productivity, and other categories. So, what exactly is Leap Motion's technology? Through the use of an external controller (which is what will be embedded into select HP systems), Leap Motion is able to create an interactive three-dimensional space that's 8 cubic feet. Leap Motion claims it can track all 10 fingers up to 1/100th of a millimeter, making it up to 200 times more sensitive than existing motion-control technology. On paper, the technology seems limited only by what by developers can conceive. You can reach out and pick up virtual objects and pretty much interact as you normally would in the real world, only now your movement's being picked up by a highly sensitive controller that can tell an index finger apart from a pinky or thumb. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Newegg Daily Deals: Acer Aspire Ultrabook, Toshiba Satellite, and More Posted: 16 Apr 2013 08:37 AM PDT   Top Deal: Ultrabooks are all the rage, but what's with all the low performance models out there? If you're looking for a high-end model, Newegg is offering an Acer Aspire S7-391-9427 13.3" Touchscreen Ultrabook for $1,540 with free shipping (normally $1,650 - receive $100 Newegg promotional gift card with purchase). Sleek and sexy, the display also opens up 180 degrees to lay flat. Other Deals: Toshiba Satellite U945-S4140 14" Ultrabook for $680 with shipping for $6 (normally $750 - receive $50 Newegg promotional gift card with purchase) Sony Vaio T Series SVT14122CXS 14" Ultrabook for $600 with free shipping (normally $700 - receive $50 Newegg promotional gift card with purchase) Acer Aspire S3-391-6423 13.3" Ultrabook for $650 with shipping for $5 (normally $700 - receive $50 Newegg promotional gift card with purchase) Dell Inspiron i15z-1240sLV 15.6" Ultrabook for $670 with shipping for $8 (normally $700 - receive $50 Newegg promotional gift card with purchase)

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