| New 14-inch Razer Blade Comes with Highest Resolution Display Posted: 12 Mar 2014 08:44 PM PDT  An impressive display to accommodate all that power
Razer has revealed the specs and features for its new Razer Blade laptop. The new 14-inch Razer Blade's biggest feature is the 3200x1800 touchscreen display that features 5.76 megapixels. It is a significant upgrade from last year's model that featured a 1600x900 resolution display. According to Razer, the laptop's state-of-the-art IGZO IPS display panel results in a 250 percent increase in contrast ratio over last year's model. The laptop, which is 0.7-inches thin, is powered by a next generation Nvidia GeForce GTX 870M GPU that provides 3GB of dedicated GDDR5 VRAM in conjunction with the laptop's 8GB of DDR3L memory. In addition, it also has a 4th gen Intel Core i7 processor and comes with Windows 8.1 64-bit installed. As for storage, the laptop will come with either a 128, 256, or 512GB SSD. Other features include three USB 3.0 ports, a built-in 2.0MP full-HD camera, Kensington lock interface, and 150-watt power supply. It weighs 4.47 lbs., measures 13.6x0.70x9.3-inches, and has up to six hours of battery life. The Razer Blade's starting price is $2,199. Pre-orders are currently being accepted and it is expected to ship in early April. Follow Sean on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Build a PC: Recommended Builds (March 2014) Posted: 12 Mar 2014 11:44 AM PDT Budget, baseline, and performance PC builds! What time is it? It's time to Build a PC with our Blueprints! This month, we've built three rigs at three approximate price points: Baseline, Performance, and Ultra. Baseline gets you a powerful system for gaming and content creation at 1080p, Performance beefs everything up across the board, and Ultra lets the dogs out. These rigs are lab-tested and editor-approved. Prices listed here reflect print time and may not match the ones you find elsewhere online. In addition, Newegg has jumped on board to offer packaged deals for each of the builds below in an attempt to offer a better overall value. To see these bundle prices, click the "Buy-or-get-more-info-at-Newegg" button at the bottom of each build. Feedback is welcome. Tell us what you think! Note: Make sure you disable any adblocker as it can block some of the prices/links listed below. 
| Ingredients | | Part | Component | Price | | Case | Corsair Vengeance C70 | $110 | | PSU | Corsair RM750 750W | $120 | | Mobo | ASUS Z87-Pro | $185 | | CPU | Intel Core i5-4670K | $220 | | Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO | $30 | | GPU | EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB 02G-P4-3765-KR | $280 | | RAM | 2x 4GB Kingston HyperX Black | $90 | | Optical Drive | Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD Burner | $20 | | SSD | Crucial M500 240GB | $120 | | HDD | Seagate Barracuda 1TB ST1000DM003 | $65 | Total = $1240
| Click here to see the live bundle price:  | You could call this "high-performance entry-level." That's where the workhorse Intel Core i5-4670K CPU and the Asus Z87-Pro mother-board come in. This build previously had a Gigabyte Sniper Z87 board, but we favored the Z87-Pro's additional internal USB 3.0 header and integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. You do lose the Sniper's Creative sound and two PCI slots, so your mileage may vary. The Thermaltake Smart-M 750W power supply also shot up in price, but we found a Corsair RM750 to replace it. This premium PSU is overkill for one Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 (arguably the best value for gamers right now), but is ready to add a second card in the future. 
| Ingredients | | Part | Component | Price | | Case | NZXT Phantom 530 | $130 | | PSU | Corsair HX850 850W | $170 | | Mobo | Asus Sabertooth X79 | $320 | | CPU | Intel Core i7-4820K | $325 | | Cooler | Corsair Hydro H100i | $110 | | GPU | EVGA GeForce GTX 780 03G-P4-3784-KR | $530
| | RAM | 4x 4GB G.SKILL Sniper F3-12800CL9Q-16GBSR | $155 | | Optical Drive | LG WH14NS40 Blu-ray Burner | $58 | | SSD | Samsung 840 Evo 500GB MZ-7TE500BW | $265 | | HDD | Seagate Barracuda 3TB STBD3000100 | $140 | TOTAL = $2203
| Click here to see the live bundle price: | Compared to Intel's Core i5-4670K in the Baseline build, the i7-4820K in this rig is actually slower sometimes, but we wanted an LGA 2011 motherboard. This socket allows up to four video cards without any bottlenecks, while the i5-4670K's LGA 1150 boards can experience bandwidth limitations running just two cards. The Corsair H100i closed-loop liquid cooler is a reliable 240mm unit that can rival a 280mm-based unit. The Seasonic M12II 850W is now a Corsair HX850 850W, because the latter performs about the same but was decidedly cheaper as we went to press. We swapped out the GeForce GTX 780 Ti for a regular 780 since it packs enough punch and helps keep our budget down a bit. 
| Ingredients | | Part | Component | Price | | Case | Corsair Obsidian 900D | $320 | | PSU | Thermaltake Toughpower Grand TPG-1200M 1200w | $250 | | Mobo | Asus X79 Deluxe | $340 | | CPU | Intel Core i7-4930K | $580 | | Cooler | Corsair Hydro H110 | $95 | | GPU | 2x EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 03G-P4-2884-KR | $1440
| | RAM | 4x 4GB G.SKILL Sniper F3-12800CL9Q-16GBSR | $155 | | Optical Drive | LG WH14NS40 Blu-ray Burner | $58 | | SSD | Samsung 840 Evo 1TB MZ-7TE1T0BW | $510 | | HDD | Seagate Barracuda 3TB STBD3000100 | $140 | TOTAL = $3888
| Click here to see the live bundle price: | The Corsair H110 isn't the fanciest or most expensive closed-loop liquid cooler out there, but it's powerful and uncomplicated. Other than that, the Ultra remains largely unchanged from our last build. Its hexa-core Core i7-4930K is a beast, the Asus X79 Deluxe motherboard is high-octane and packed with features, and the GTX 780 Ti is rocket-fueled. The Corsair Obsidian 900D case is cavernous and sturdy, and the high-grade 1250-watt XFX ProSeries power supply should handle three high-end video cards without breaking a sweat. We could shave about $100 off and go with a 960GB Crucial M500 solid-state drive, but we have the budget to justify the Samsung 840 Evo's caching features. If you want to try something a little different, the Cooler Master Glacer 240L is also an interesting 240mm water cooler. Unlike other integrated units, the Glacer has detachable tubes. That makes the tubes, the radiator and the pump replaceable, and you can add more tubing to expand your cooling to video cards and additional radiators and pumps. It's also an impressive performer in its own right. The problem is that it can be hard to find one in stock. |
| Nvidia Announces New GeForce Game Bundles with Select GPUs Posted: 12 Mar 2014 11:34 AM PDT  Score Daylight or $150 of in-game currency
Winter is almost over, though depending on where you live (like the midwest), you might not know it by the amount of snow that sits unmelted outside. Nevertheless, Nvidia is ready to welcome the spring season by offering two fresh game bundles with the purchase of select GeForce GTX desktop graphics cards and GeForce GTX-powered laptops. One of the freebie offerings is a downloadable code for Daylight, the first game built around the Unreal Engine 4. To qualify for Daylight, you'll need to purchase a qualifying GPU, among which are the GeForce GTX Titan, 780 Ti, 780, 770, 760, 690, 680, 670, 660 Ti, and 650. If you pick one up from a participating vendor, you'll receive a redemption code, which you can activate beginning April 8, 2014 (the day the game launches). Nvidia's other bundle is $150 ($50 per title) of of in-game currency for three free-to-play games: Warface, Heroes of Newerth, and Path of Exile. The in-game bounty will be given to gamers who purchase a GeForce GTX 650, 650 Ti, 750, or 750 Ti graphics card, or select GTX 700M/800M-based notebooks. You can find a full list of participating vendors by going here or here. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| LEPA Brings Big Wattage to MaxPlatinum Power Supply Series Posted: 12 Mar 2014 10:23 AM PDT  For when 1,000W just isn't enough
LEPA isn't a name you hear that often, though if you subscribe to Maximum PC magazine and/or frequently visit our website, you may recal we equipped last year's Dream Machine with a LEPA G1600-MA power supply. That was a beastly PSU, though LEPA's new MaxPlatinum PSU line has a model that trumps it. It's the P1700-MA-EU, and as you might have surmised, it's a 1,700W model with a peak rating of 1,800W! The P1700-MA-EU is one of three new PSUs LEPA just unveiled, the other two being the P1050-MA (1,050W) and P1375MA (1,375W). LEPA says the two 'smaller' models are 80 Plus Platinum certified, while all three deliver up to 93 percent efficiency. As with the model we used in our Dream Machine, all three MaxPlatinum PSUs are fully modular with flat cables, which can make installation easier when you're working in tight confines (and neater when you have a giant chassis with lots of space). They also feature multiple +12V rails -- half a dozen on the 1375 and 1700 models, and four on the 1050 PSU. Unfortunately the 1700W model is only available overseas (boo!), though the other two PSUs will be available worldwide. No word yet on price. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Nvidia Envisions Longer Lasting Gaming Laptops with 800M Series GPUs Posted: 12 Mar 2014 09:56 AM PDT  A top to bottom GPU refresh
Nvidia today splashed the mobile market with more than half a dozen new GPUs comprising the company's GeForce GTX 800M Series. This is a top to bottom release, meaning the new GPUs range from entry-level (GeForce 830M) all the way up to what Nvidia claims is the fastest mobile graphics chip in the world, the GeForce GTX 880M. The new releases join Nvidia's already available 820M GPU. According to Nvidia, the new GPUs are 30 percent, 40 percent, and even 60 percent (in some cases) faster than its previous generation of mobile GPUs, and none more burly than the 880M. Nvidia's flagship part is based on Kepler (not Maxwell) and features 1,536 CUDA cores and 128 TMUs. It has a core clockspeed of 954MHz and supports up to 4GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 5,000MHz (effective) on a 256-bit memory bus. This release isn't solely focused on speed, however, as Nvidia points out that its Battery Boost technology is one of several new feature additions. This one in particular is supposed to be able to deliver up to twice the gaming battery life when enabled. "Here's how it works: instead of your notebook pushing every component to its max, Battery Boost targets a user defined frame rate, such as 30 FPS. The driver level governor takes over from there, and operates all your system components, including CPU, GPU, and memory at peak efficiency, while maintaining a smooth, playable experience," Nvidia explains in a blog post. More details on the GeForce 830M, 840M, GTX 850M, GTX 860M, GTX 870M, and GTX 880M are available on Nvidia's website. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| MSI Announces GT Dominator and GE Apache Gaming Laptops Posted: 12 Mar 2014 09:23 AM PDT  A pair of gaming laptops wielding Nvidia GeForce 800M series GPUs
It never takes long for system builders to release products based around new hardware releases, and with Nvidia having just launched its GTX 800M series of GPUs, you can expect to see a handful of new gaming laptops over the next several days. To kick things off, MSI today unveiled a pair of well-equipped gaming laptops configured with Nvidia's latest silicon. They include the 16-inch GE Apache and 17-inch GT Dominator. The GE Apache comes configured with either a GeForce GTX 850M or 860M GPU, while the larger GT Dominator offers GTX 870M and 880M GPU options. Both systems feature Intel Core i7 Haswell hardware inside, along with Killer LAN networking, SteelSeries backlit keyboard, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Super RAID 2 technology (allows users to combine three mSATA SSDs for read speeds of up to 1,500MB/s), and more. MSI's new gaming laptops also incorporate XSplit Gamecaster, a software solution that automatically detects the best streaming settings for the notebook and ISP. XSplit Gamecaster allows gamers to add, resize, and position a webcam feed, draw on screen, and modify videos. The GT Dominator and GE Apache are available starting at $1,500 and $1,300, respectively. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Lacie Lays Claim to World's Fastest Portable Hard Drive Posted: 12 Mar 2014 08:24 AM PDT  Little Big Disk boasts transfers of up to 1,375MB/s
With content creators now making 4K videos, high-speed storage solutions are fast becoming a necessity. That shouldn't be a problem for Lacie's new Little Big Disk. Lacie, which is owned by Seagate, says its Little Big Disk is the world's fastest portable storage solution ever, and with speeds of up to 1,375MB/s, it would be hard to argue against that claim. Of course, to be in the neighborhood of those speeds, you'll need to take advantage of the drive's Thunderbolt 2 port. Inside the Little Big Drive are a pair of 500GB PCI-E Gen 2 solid state drives pre-configured in RAID 0 (RAID 1 and JBOD are also supported). In addition to 1,375MB/s read performance, the Little Big Drive can write data at up to 1,180MB/s. Performance is even better if you daisy chain two of them together. "Professionals can daisy chain up to five LaCie Little Big Disks plus a 4K display, and connect them to a computer via a single cable," Lacie says. "Now it's possible to create a plug–and–play 4K video editing environment that delivers scalable capacity, incredible speed and convenience to workflows." To keep heat and noise from becoming a problem, Lacie added two heat-dissipating aluminum plates and a larger thermoregulated fan that only turns on when necessary. What's not little about the Little Big Drive is the price -- it carries an MSRP of $1,299 and is available now direct from Lacie. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Newegg Daily Deals: Samsung 840 Evo 500GB SSD, Intel Core i5 4670K, and More! Posted: 12 Mar 2014 07:13 AM PDT |
