| MSI's GeForce GTX 780 Lightning Strikes at Titan for $750 Posted: 29 Aug 2013 03:35 PM PDT  Titan-like performance for less money
Before you go spending a grand or more on Nvidia's GeForce GTX Titan graphics card, you should take a close look at MSI's new GeForce GTX 780 Lightning. This is one hell of a beastly card with MSI's "Triple Force Architecture", dual BIOSes, overclocked specifications, and a 20-phase (16+3+1) power design in case you want to goose clockspeeds even further. It also features MSI's Military Class 4 components. The card itself features a GK110-300-A2 GPU with 2,304 CUDA cores, 192 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. MSI bumped the GPU to 980MHz stock and 1,033MHz boost, up from 863MHz and 900MHz, respectively, from Nvidia's reference design. The 3GB of GDDR5 memory runs at 1,502MHz (6GHz effective) on a 384-bit bus. Even though the card comes factory overclocked, it was built for tweaking. Along with the 20-phase power VRM, you'll find a next generation MOSFET and DrMOS 4, which is a 3-in-1 chip tha delivers more power with less components needed. Toss in the three-fan TriFrozr cooler and you have all the ingredients of a card that "gives you the power to break world records," wccftech.com gushes. 
At $750 MSRP, the MSI GeForce GTX 780 Lightning is the most expensive GTX 780 around. At the same time, reviews on the web have it performing within striking distance of Titan, which sells for $1,000 or more. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| BitFenix Wants You to Hide Your PC Parts in a Shadow Posted: 29 Aug 2013 11:33 AM PDT  Long graphics card can lurk in the Shadow
BitFenix is adding a new case to its lineup that will be available to purchase in the fall. It's the Shadow, and like several other BitFenix enclosures, it features the company's SoftTouch surface treatment. The Shadow is a mid-tower chassis measuring 190mm (W) by 440mm (H) x 506mm (D), or 7.4 inches by 17.3 inches by 19.9 inches with support for ATX, micro ATX, and mini ITX motherboards. The Shadow is supposed to represent a trifecta of style, functionality, and value. It has a magnetic door that hides away three 5.25-inch optical drive bays. On the bottom of the door is an LED accent that can glow blue or red, or you can turn it off with the press of a button on the I/O panel. Other features in the Shadow include support for up to seven 3.5-inch drives, a single 2.5-inch drive bay, USB 3.0 support, and seven PCI slots. The case can fit graphics cards up to 320mm (12.59 inches) in length and CPU coolers up to 165mm (6.49 inches) in height. 
Cooling is handled by four 120mm fan locations, including two in the front, one on the bottom, and one in the rear. Two 120mm Spectre fans come pre-installed. The Shadow will be available in October. No word yet on price. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| AMD, Mixamo Bring Real Time Facial Capture Technology to Unity Developers Posted: 29 Aug 2013 10:58 AM PDT  Standard webcam and AMD APU is all that's needed
AMD on Thursday announced that it's collaborating with Mixamo on the launch of Face Plus, an advanced real-time motion capture and 3D facial animation technology for the Unity game engine. The Face Plus plug-in for Unity allows developers to capture facial expressions through ordinary webcams and then transfer those images onto a 3D character using technology powered by AMD A-Series APUs and GPUs. The technology was developed for devices that support OpenCL 1.1 or newer versions. It captures motion at full camera frame rates, up to 42 frames per second on a system powered by an AMD A10-4600M APU. That represents a 13X performance improvement compared to using CPU processing alone, AMD says. "AMD is impressed with the results Mixamo has achieved in optimizing its technology and is excited not only about the capabilities it brings to Unity developers today, but also the potential it could bring to new consumer applications," said Manju Hegde, corporate vice president, Heterogeneous Solutions at AMD. "Thanks to incredible OpenCL performance, broad availability, and the capability of AMD APU and GPU solutions across PC form factors, Unity developers can enjoy a much more streamlined development process, allowing their creativity to flow with technology so powerful it recedes into the background without interrupting the creative process." Real-time motion capture of facial expressions is already available as a development tool for content creation, but in the future, AMD and Mixamo envision it being used in consumer software applications like video games (animate avatars in real-time) and video conferencing. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| What are the Odds Bill Gates Returns to Microsoft as CEO? Posted: 29 Aug 2013 09:34 AM PDT  Don't bet on it
Microsoft needs a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), that much we know. What we don't know is who will take the baton from Steve Ballmer and run with it. Having announced his retirement, the search is on for a replacement to be named within the next 12 months, and one of the names being tossed about is Bill Gates. Might he actually make a comeback and give this thing another go? "No chance," a senior executive at the company said, according to Business Insider. In no uncertain terms, the news outlet was told there is "no way" Gates assumes his old role no matter what happens in the next 12 months. Of course, stranger things have happened. Steve Jobs came back after a decade-long hiatus and served as CEO of Apple for 36 months. It would have been longer, too, had health issues not cut his time short. Should Gates change his mind, he wouldn't necessarily have to stay on as CEO as long as Jobs did, but could serve as an interim chief long enough to right the ship. "There is no clear candidate with the visionary skills to turn the company around other than Bill Gates," Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff told CNET. "He wouldn't just be a magnet for a new vision, but for a talent pool of leadership." 
It's an interesting vote of confidence from a man who once called Microsoft a "dinosaur" for "trying to hold onto their past more than trying to create their future." Benioff made those remarks in 2008 before Gates retired. However, he believes Gates is a different person these days. "He could come back with new ways to run the company, let Melinda run the charitable foundation, make changes and identify the next to come, with a clear window of three years," Beinoff proposes. What do you think? Should Gates considering coming out of retirement on an interim basis, or is it time to infuse Microsoft with some fresh blood? Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Digital Storm's HydroLux Cooler Debuts on Gaming Desktops Posted: 29 Aug 2013 09:00 AM PDT  Liquid cooling with a twist
Boutique system builder Digital Storm today introduced its HydroLux desktop cooling solution that combines liquid and air with fully customizable control software. The specialized software monitors your setup for heat fluctuations and adjusts itself accordingly in real time, though you can always take manual control of the situation if you need additional cooling or want to run quiet. "We work hard to differentiate the Digital Storm brand by engineering powerful systems that meet our customer's high performance demands," said Rajeev Kuruppu, Digital Storm's Director of Product Development. "HydroLux delivers on that promise by providing an industry leading cooling solution that can be fully customized to meet each user's unique needs." 
Users also have control over their system's LED lighting through the HydroLux software. For example, you can configure the LEDs to fade to blue as a system cools down and ramp up to red when the temperature rises. The liquid cooler itself has a high flow pump capable of moving as much as 300 gallons of fluid per hour. It also features quick disconnects to make it easier to service or upgrade without having to dismantle the entire cooling system, Digital Storm says. HydroLux cooling setups are available immediately on Digital Storm's systems. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Nvidia May Pull Two More Graphics Cards From Its Hat in 2013 Posted: 29 Aug 2013 08:49 AM PDT  Add "GeForce GTX Titan Ultra" to your holiday wish list (just in case)
Nvidia hasn't said whether or not more video cards are on tap for 2013, but would anyone really be surprised if there were? You shouldn't be. The holiday shopping season is still several months away and rumor has it Nvidia may end the year with a bang by launching a high-end model such as the GeForce GTX 790. The GTX 790 could end up being a Titan Ultra card or it could be a graphics card with dual GK110 GPUs. If it's a dual-GPU, expect a price tag in the neighborhood of $1,000, which is about par for course when dealing with these ultra-high end parts. Obviously not everyone has that kind of money to throw around on a single component, so it's also possible Nvidia will launch some lower end models, including rebranded GK104/106 parts and GK208 entry-level cards, Videocardz.com surmises. As we head into 2014, Videocardz.com claims it was told by a manufacturer that Nvidia will release its Maxwell Series early in the year, which is sooner than expected. "It is expected that GeForce 800 series will arrive in the first quarter of 2014, somewhere between February and March. What it basically means is that the chances for 20nm process are low," Videocardz.com says. "Of course Nvidia could already have first 20nm samples sooner than that, but TSMC will not be ready for mass production till June 2014." Should Maxwell be based on a 20nm process, there would likely be a shortage of cards. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Newegg Daily Deals: Storage Wars Galore Edition Posted: 29 Aug 2013 06:09 AM PDT |
