General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

Maximum PC's Geek Quiz 2013

Posted: 28 May 2013 11:33 AM PDT

geek quizMeasure your nerd knowledge in our 12th annual interactive Geek Quiz!

Since time began, the fittest of any species have found ways to test their mettle in the fiery cauldron of competition. First there was the Olympics, then Jeopardy, and finally – the Maximum PC Geek Quiz. Though you are probably cracking your knuckles, keep in mind that we've designed this timed quiz, not to entertain you, but to destroy you. Yes, those are fighting words. And yes, we mean it. Don't worry – we've made this a fair fight by mixing softballs with knees-to-the-groin-region, so if you're a regular reader of Maximum PC, and don't go running off to your Google mommy, you should come out the other end of this a better man, woman, or child. 

Adata Launches XPG V2 DRAM with Redesigned Heatspreaders

Posted: 28 May 2013 11:03 AM PDT

Adata XPG V2 DRAMFunky or futuristic? You be the judge!

Adata is clearly making a fashion statement with the redesigned heatspreaders it slapped onto its new XPG V2 series of DRAM products designed for 3rd Generation Intel Core processors and the Z87 platform. Exactly which statement is up for debate. Some might view them as funky fresh, others might consider them fugly, but Adata says they were designed with a "futuristic form."

While beauty might be in the eye of the beholder, performance is in the hands of the designer and Adata's binning process. The new modules will come in dual-channel kits of 8GB and 16GB ranging in frequency from 1600MHz to 2800MHz. The highest frequency kits (8GB and 16GB DDR3-2800) will run at CL12-14-14-36 with 1.65V, while the rest are rated slightly tighter at CL11-13-13-35 at either 1.65V or 1.5V, depending on the kit.

Underneath the extruded heatsink on each module is a 2-ounce double-copper PCB (printed circuit board). The chips themselves are "selected through a strict filtering process," Adata says.

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Newegg Daily Deals: Acer 27-inch Monitor, Seagate Barracuda 3TB HDD, and More

Posted: 28 May 2013 10:13 AM PDT

Acer 27-inch MonitorNewegg

Top Deal:

Like the eyes are the windows to your soul, a PC monitor is the portal to the web the everything else you use your system for. Need a new one? Today's top deal is for an Acer 27-inch Widescreen LED Monitor with built-in speakers for $200 with free shipping (normally $320 - use coupon code:[EMCXRVM62]). It has a 6ms response time (GTG), 100,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, and three inputs (VGA, DVI, and HDMI).

Other Deals:

Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache 3.5-inch Internal Hard Drive - Retail Kit for $130 with free shipping (normally $143 - use coupon code:[EMCXRVM35])

Corsair 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory for $50 with free shipping (normally $62 - use coupon code:[EMCXRVM47])

Asus Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card for $135 with free shipping (normally $150 - use coupon code:[EMCXRVM58]; Free Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon with purchase)

Toshiba Canvio Basics 3.0 500GB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive for $60 with free shipping (normally $80 - use coupon code:[EMCXRVM64])

IDC Cuts PC Forecast, Says Users are Content to Use Older Systems

Posted: 28 May 2013 09:02 AM PDT

Old PCPC sales still in a slump.

Perhaps we should start posting more guides on how to squeeze every ounce of performance out of aging PCs, because if International Data Corporation (IDC) is correct in its assumption, then part of the reason for slumping computer sales is that users are "making do with older systems." They've figured out that tablets and smartphones are capable enough for checking social media, surfing the web, and firing off emails, though that doesn't mean the masses have moved on.

The way IDC sees it, PCs are still a relevant computing platform in certain situations, but for the most part, mobile devices have enough pep for day-to-day activities, hence the reluctance to upgrade components or buy new rigs.

"As the market develops, usage patterns and devices are evolving," said Loren Loverde, Program Vice President, Worldwide Quarterly PC Trackers at IDC. "Many users are realizing that everyday computing, such as accessing the web, connecting to social media, sending emails, as well as using a variety of apps, doesn't require a lot of computing power or local storage. Instead, they are putting a premium on access from a variety of smaller devices with longer battery life, an instant-on function, and intuitive touch-centric interfaces. These users have not necessarily given up on PCs as a platform for computing when a more robust environment is needed, but this takes a smaller share of computing time, and users are making do with older systems."

Because of this, IDC downgraded its PC shipment forecast. The research firm now expects worldwide PC shipments to fall by 7.8 percent in 2013 as users "increasingly consider alternatives such as delaying a PC purchase or using tablets and smartphones for more of their computing needs."

IDC says the updated forecast takes into consideration the significant drop in volume during the first quarter. We're still talking about hundreds of millions of PCs, mind you -- 321.9 million in 2013, to be exact. By 2017, that number will jump to 333.4 million, still shy of the 349.2 million shipped in 2012 but hardly indicative of a lethargic market.

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Former AMD Exec Values Xbox One Deal at $3 Billion

Posted: 28 May 2013 07:45 AM PDT

Xbox One CloseupAMD sticks its hands in the next generation console cookie jar.

Make no mistake, AMD is a survivor. Save for the short-lived glory days of the Athlon 64, it seems AMD has always been a step or three behind Intel in performance, and there haven't been many quarterly financial reports to get excited about. Yet AMD keeps grinding, finding ways to survive in a cutthroat industry in part by branching out into side markets, like graphics and consoles. In terms of the latter, AMD's multi-year deal with Microsoft to supply APUs for the upcoming Xbox One console is believed to be in the neighborhood of $3 billion.

Former AMD employee Bob Feldstein posted the figure on his LinkedIn account, noting that his "involvement [with the Xbox One deal] was focused on business management and supply agreement negotiations," which entailed coordinating various teams within AMD and setting up regular customer meetings with leadership teams. Feldstein now works at Nvidia.

It's an impressive win for AMD, which also secured a deal to supply a semi-custom APU for Sony's upcoming PlayStation 4 console and is currently providing graphics chips for Nintendo's Wii U system.

As to the Xbox One, it features a 64-bit architecture, 8GB of RAM, 500GB hard drive, and a Blu-ray drive.

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Intel: Haswell Will Deliver 50 Percent More Battery Life in Laptops

Posted: 28 May 2013 05:57 AM PDT

Intel Haswell

Company touts energy efficiency and graphics performance ahead of Haswell launch

The arrival of the next generation of Intel Core processors is drawing near and, as you would expect, the chipmaker is busy drawing the world's attention to all that is worth highlighting about its upcoming "Haswell" (codename) chips. The company most recently talked up the 22nm chips it is widely expected to launch early next month at a media briefing it hosted last week.

Almost all the talk about Intel's Haswell microarchitecture has, until this point, centered on its improved integrated graphics part and vastly reduced energy appetite, and this event was no different.

Per Rani Borkar, corporate vice president and general manager of the Intel Architecture Group, Haswell-based laptops will be 50 percent more power efficient as their Ivy Bridge-powered predecessors during normal operations, last up to 20 times more while in idle or standby mode, and still manage to be way more powerful than "content consumption" devices.

Improving the performance of its chips' integrated graphics is another key area where Intel seems to have put in a  lot of work. This has, according to Borkar, resulted in an integrated graphics solution that delivers double the performance of Ivy Bridge-powered laptops and thrice that of Ivy Bridge-based desktops.

If Haswell is as good as is being claimed by Intel then this is undoubtedly the best opportunity Ultrabooks have of accomplishing what they were originally supposed to do: to bring the ongoing rally in tablet sales to a screeching halt.

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Gigabyte Throws Small and Sleek "BRIX" Into Mini PC Waters

Posted: 28 May 2013 05:56 AM PDT

Gigabyte BRIXSmall form factor (SFF) PCs have been around for a long while, but now we're starting to see ultra compact systems with powerful components emerge into the market place. Enter Gigabyte and its new BRIX desktop, a square-shaped PC that fits in the palm of your hand just like Intel's Next Unit of Computing (NUC) device, it sports a stylish glass surface mounted on an anthracite aluminum frame.

"The BRIX lays down a new standard in terms of compact form factor, connectivity and performance, making it suitable for a broad range of applications in the home, office and commercial spaces," commented Henry Kao, Vice President of Gigabyte Motherboard Business Unit. "The BRIX demonstrates how we can leverage our exceptional R&D and manufacturing prowess to create new and exciting PC products that defy convention."

There are four different CPU configurations to choose from. The highest-end option is the GB-XM1-3537 model, which features an Intel Core i7 3537U dual-core processor clocked at 2GHz (3.1GHz Turbo) with 4MB of smart cache and Hyper Threading support.

Gigabyte BRIX Ports

All models ship with two SO-DIMM DDR3 memory slots with support for up 16GB of RAM (1333/1600MHz), mSATA slot, half-size mini-PCIe slot (occupied by a Wi-Fi card), a single USB 3.0 port, mini DisplayPort, HDMI output, LAN port, Kensington lock slot, and a VESA bracket in case you want to mount the system behind your monitor.

No word yet on price or availability.

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