General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

Raspberry Pi Sells Over 5 Million Units to Date

Posted: 17 Feb 2015 04:18 PM PST

Raspberry PiPi 2 sells 500,000 units since launch

It is hard to believe that the Raspberry Pi has been around for three years already. Launched back in 2012, the credit card-sized PC attracted quite a bit of attention due to its $35 price and potential ability to encourage programming with children. Today, it was revealed that over 5 million units of Raspberry Pi have been sold to date. 

"Just confirmed the big news we've all been waiting for: we've now sold more than 5 million Raspberry Pis," a tweet from the official Twitter account for Raspberry Pi stated. The news was followed by another that went on to say, "We think that this means that in just under 3 years, we've gone from zero to being the biggest selling UK computer manufacturer ever. Yowza."

Whether that last statement is true or not, it is safe to say that selling over 5 million units is a very impressive feat. As to how many units for each model was sold, the Raspberry Pi foundation, which spoke to The Verge, said that about 3 million units of the original Raspberry Pi, named Model B, were sold. Meanwhile, the Model B+ sold around 1.5 million since its release back in July 2014, with about 100,000 to 150,000 units sold of the Model A and Model A+ units. As for the Pi 2, which was announced two weeks ago, it accounts for 500,000 of the overall sales.

The foundation went on to say that it estimates that the units sold are split between the PCs being purchased for educational, industrial, and hobbyist use. 

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CyberPower PC Syber Vapor Review

Posted: 17 Feb 2015 02:40 PM PST

A Steam box for the enthusiast

Much like what Alienware did with its Alpha console, CyberPower PC is transforming its Steam Machine into a Windows box (you can thank Valve's delay of its hardware initiative for that). CyberPower PC is branding its new line of PCs under its Syber Vapor line, which is an obvious nod to Valve's "Steam" nomenclature. Unlike the Alienware Alpha, however, there is no proprietary 10-foot UI here. Rather, the Vapor boots directly into Steam's Big Picture Mode. CyberPower PC is billing the Vapor as "the ultimate PC gaming console," and with some minor quibbles aside, we think the company makes a pretty compelling argument. 

Arguably, our biggest issue with the Vapor is that it's... well, pretty big. Don't get us wrong, at 13.8x13.5x3.8 inches it's certainly a lot smaller than most gaming desktop PCs, but unlike Alienware's much smaller Alpha, the Vapor is much too big for backpacks. It wouldn't even fit in our Everki Beacon backpack, to which, as you might remember, we awarded a 9 Kick Ass and praised for being able to carry large 17-inch gaming notebooks. The portability problem is also exacerbated by the Vapor's weight—it's heavy. Whereas the Alpha was a tiny bundle of joy to lug around at 4.5 pounds, the Vapor is likely to strain backs, weighing in at 15 pounds. 

syber vapor review

There are seven LED color schemes to choose from.

While it is a bit larger than Microsoft's Xbox One, it looks more like a console than a PC. The version that we got is white with black trim, but it also comes in an all-black chassis. Even though we like the look of both, we prefer the black and white version a bit more for its contrasting hues. Both color variants offer LED lights on the front, with six colors schemes to choose from via a physical button on top of the case. The colors include red, blue, green, light-green, light-blue, and purple. There's also an option to have the case cycle through all the colors automatically. There's something of a Tron vibe to the chassis, but we kind of like it in this case (no pun intended). You can also turn off the LEDs if they don't appeal to you.

Even though Alienware's Alpha was somewhat modular and allowed you to swap out the storage, RAM, and CPU, that's about all you could change. With the Syber Vapor, it's much less proprietary and just about as modular as any Mini-ITX system. It can take a single full-length graphics card, handle up to 16GB of RAM, and can house a standard SFX PSU up to 800 watts. 

The Syber Vapor boots directly into Steam Big Picture Mode

While CyberPower PC comes with a wireless controller, instead of going with the wireless Xbox 360 controller (like the Alienware Alpha), the Vapor includes a Logitech F710 gamepad. The button layout is similar to Microsoft's equivalent, but the shape of the controller feels similar to Sony's Dual Shock offering, in that there are dual sticks toward the bottom-middle of the controller. The F710 works OK, but we prefer the Xbox 360 controller, as it contours better to our hands. The F710 isn't the only peripheral that CyberPower PC included with our unit, however. While some of the more affordable models in the Vapor line include a wireless mini QWERTY keyboard, our system came with Logitech's K400 wireless keyboard. The K400 has a little touchpad to the right of the keys, so you can mouse around. CyberPower PC opted to include this because, unlike Alienware, it didn't program its controller to emulate a mouse-and-keyboard setup. While we would have really appreciated this feature, and feel it's sort of a cheap shortcut on CyberPower PC's part, the inclusion of the K400 keyboard does open up the system as both a Steam box and a full-fledged Windows PC (You can get to the Windows desktop by exiting Steam). Whereas it was a bit of a chore having to rely solely on a wireless Xbox 360 gamepad to control the Alpha, the Vapor's included K400 does go a long way to mitigate annoying installation pop-ups in Steam Big Picture Mode. On a related note, as hard as Valve has worked on BPM, it still has some issues to iron out. 

Vapor PC

The case also comes in black.

When it came to our Vapor's specs, we had little to complain about. While there are a couple of different configurations to choose from, CyberPower PC sent us its super-decked-out SKU, which includes components such as Intel's 4GHz quad-core i7-4790K CPU coupled with Zalman's CNPS8900 Quiet CPU cooler, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 980, and 8GB of Corsair Vengeance lower-power DDR3 RAM clocked at 2,133MHz. All of this is sitting on top of an MSI Z97I AC Mini-ITX mobo and has a 450-watt Silverstone ST45SF-G SFX PSU. And for storage, our Vapor has a 120GB Kingston SSD and a 1TB 2.5-inch 7,200rpm HDD. All in all, this is nearly as much computer power as CyberPower PC can cram into this box. The cost of our unit? At the time of print, our particular SKU retails for $1,638 and while that certainly prices it well beyond the consoles, it's actually quite a bargain. As a matter of fact, when we searched for all the individual components on Newegg to try and replicate the build ourselves, the total tab came out to be $1,807. So, you're easily saving over $150 here, and you're getting CyberPower PC's one-year warranty on top of that. That's some OEM voodoo right there.

To see how it compares to a full-tower DIY system with the same components, we look at the desktop featured in the cover story of our February 2015 issue, which conveniently has the same CPU and GPU. As would be expected, the bigger chassis allowed our desktop to perform slightly better overall, with the Vapor trailing behind one to five percent in our graphics tests. The only graphics benchmark where the Vapor was actually able to outperform our desktop equivalent was in Batman: Arkham Origins, but we suspect it's because of the newer GeForce drivers we've got running compared to the build we originally set up for the February issue. As a gaming machine, our Vapor is a beast and should be able to max out any game you throw at it with smooth framerates. If anything, our unit is overkill for 1080P, with the upside being that it's a bit more "future proof." One of our complaints about Alienware's Alpha is that it didn't support GeForce Optimal Playable Settings, which is great for console noobs who don't want to finagle with adjusting graphics settings. With our Vapor, users can simply set everything to max. It's a brute-force way of tackling a complex problem, but hey, in this case, it works.

k400 keyboard

Our Syber Vapor came with Logitech's K400 wireless keyboard

When it came to the CPU benchmarks, the Vapor trailed the desktop by 5 to 10 percent, but we suspect that mostly has to do with our desktop's Kraken X61, which is a great CPU liquid cooler. The Vapor is definitely running high-end desktop parts, but its form factor tames its components ever so slightly. But let's be honest here, a 4790K is overkill for gaming today.

Considering the Vapor is meant to connect to your HDTV, all of the power in this box is moot if the user experience isn't good. Because the Vapor runs Windows 8.1, users will have to go through the annoying Windows 8.1 setup process. Once we got that out of the way, we noticed that the Vapor scaled perfectly to our 1080p Samsung HDTV over HDMI. We couldn't say the same about the Alienware Alpha, which required us to rejigger our display to fit the confines of the screen. Unfortunately, some games like SpeedRunners boot up in windowed mode, which takes you out of the illusion that you're playing on a console. And speaking of booting, the startup process took 16 seconds to get to Windows, but then the Vapor automatically boots into Steam Big Picture Mode after that and kicks up the timer to 30 seconds overall. That's not super-fast, but it's much faster than the Alienware Alpha, which takes more than three times as long to boot. We have to say that we really missed being able to use the gamepad to emulate the mouse and keyboard, however, as that did work for Alienware's box in a pinch. Really, who wants to go looking for their wireless keyboard whenever you're playing a Steam game with only partial controller support? One thing that we really liked about the experience, however, is that our Vapor ran very quietly under load. 

Logitech F710

CyberPower includes Logitech's F710 wireless controller

We had some relatively small minor issues with the build quality. The unit we tested was actually our second unit; the first unit we received was dead on arrival. But hey, that stuff happens every now and then. The replacement unit reviewed here had its top lid pretty much fall off out of the box; its single screw wasn't secured all the way. We tightened it easily enough, but then when we placed the Vapor flat on its side (which is one of the ways you can orient the box), one of the rubber feet came off (there was enough adhesive on it to stick it back in place). Little issues like these make us question CyberPower PC's assembly line.

The Syber Vapor certainly isn't perfect, and neither is Steam's Big Picture Mode, but as a Mini-ITX gaming PC, it rocks, especially for the price. At this point, you literally cannot beat its price if you tried to DIY. In addition, it's got enough horsepower to eat any 1080p game you throw at it. Yes, it's relatively big and heavy, and a part of us would have preferred a smaller, cheaper, and more portable unit with a short GTX 970, but as it stands, this is still one pretty kick ass gaming PC. 

Syber Vapor Specs

syber vapor specs

Syber Vapor Benchmarks

syber vapor benchmarks

Our full-tower desktop PC uses an Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 and an Intel Core i7-4970K CPU. 

Newegg Daily Deals: Intel Core i7 4790 Haswell, Samsung 850 Pro 512GB SSD, and More!

Posted: 17 Feb 2015 10:11 AM PST

Intel Core i7 4790 Haswellnewegg logo

Top Deal:

Rumor has it that Intel is delaying Skylake until the end of August, but if you're not wanting to wait that long (or longer) to build a new system, there's no shame in sticking with Haswell -- it's far from chopped liver. Sound like a plan? If so, check out today's top deal for an Intel Core i7 4790 Haswell CPU for $290 with free shipping (normally $310 - use coupon code: [EMCANKV24]). This quad-core part runs at 3.6GHz to 4GHz and and has 8MB of L3 cache.

Other Deals:

Samsung 850 Pro Series 2.5-inch 512GB 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) for $280 with $3 shipping (normally $300 - use coupon code: [EMCANKV23])

Western Digital RE 4TB 7200 RPM 3.5-inch Enterprise Internal Hard Drive for $245 with free shipping (normally $255 - use coupon code: [ESCANKV28])

G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2x4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory for $55 with free shipping (normally $60 - use coupon code: [EMCANKV98])

Asus GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card for $140 with free shipping (normally $150 - use coupon code: [EMCANKV29]; additional $20 Mail-in rebate)

Asus Rolls Out Shortened GeForce GTX 960 for Mini ITX Builds

Posted: 17 Feb 2015 09:53 AM PST

Asus GeForce GTX 960 MiniGet ready to see more of these

One thing I've noticed over the last few months is an increased focus on mini ITX builds. New cases like In Win's funky D-Frame Mini and Corsair's LAN-friendly Graphite Series 380T underscore a growing desire to build high-end systems with smaller footprints, but what about the parts that go inside them? It's mostly an issue with graphics cards, and while some mini ITX cases can accept full-length cards, others don't have the space. For those that fall into the latter category, Asus just expanded its mini ITX graphics card line with a shortened version of the GeForce GTX 960.

The Asus GeForce GTX 960 Mini (GTX960-MOC-2GD5) is part of the company's Mini Series. It's a performance part built on a compact 17cm PCB. It's also factory overclocked with a GPU that's goosed to 1190MHz base and 1253MHz boost, up from 1126MHz and 1178MHz, respectively. The 2GB of GDDR5 runs at reference -- 7GHz effective.

It's a full-height card that takes up two slots with a single "CoolTech" fan with both top-flow and lateral-flow fins. Other features include a single 6-pin PCI Express power connector, solid brushed aluminum backplate, and display outputs that consist of dual-link DVI, HDMI 2.0, and three DisplayPort 1.2 (x3).

No word yet on pricing or availability, though this isn't the only higher end mini ITX graphics card on the block. Asus also offers a shortened version of the GeForce GTX 970 that streets for a little under $360 shipped, as does Gigabyte (streets for around $334 shipped).

These are great options for higher-end PC console builds and cases like the Phantom One, and as the segment continues to gain steam, I suspect we'll see even more shortened graphics cards.

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Standalone Phantom One Case Gets a Reward Tier on Kickstarter

Posted: 17 Feb 2015 08:07 AM PST

Phantom One CaseYou asked for it, they listened

With just 15 days left and only $210 pledged so far towards its $50,000 goal on Kickstarter, we don't know if One Technology's Phantom One system will gain enough momentum to be successfully funded, but give credit to the team behind the project. When we first reported about the Phantom One, the general consensus was that it costs too much, so One Technology dropped the price by $250. There's also been quite a few requests to sell the unique cases by themselves, and guess what? Phantom One's standalone case will be added as a reward tier sometime today.

Quick refresher if you missed our past coverage -- the Phantom One is a small form factor system that's about the size of a six pack of bottled beer. There are two versions, one that comes in a sleek black case and other other in a bamboo case, the latter of which is supposedly the first of its kind.

Specs include an Intel Core i7 4790K CPU, Asus Z97i-Plus motherboard with Wi-Fi, 16GB of RAM, a shortened version of the GeForce GTX 970 graphics card, 128GB solid state drive, 1TB hard drive, 450W power supply, and Windows 7 64-bit.

For many onlookers, the case design is the real treat here, particularly the bamboo version. The entire shell is made of bamboo, with each piece cut from a single sheet to maintain the same grain and seamless flow.

Originally the team didn't want to offer just the case because they didn't think they could keep up with demand if they received a ton of orders, as each case takes over three hours on a precision laser cutter and CNC mill to make. Technology One was also concerned that price would be a factor -- in addition to the case itself, there's a unique $100 PCI-E riser ribbon that inflates the cost.

Nevertheless, they're giving it a shot as a reward tier, we were told in an email. It will go up sometime today for a cost of $299. There won't be any of the aforementioned components, though it will come with the special PCI-E riser ribbon.

The page hasn't been updated at the time of this writing, but if you're interested, you can check for it throughout the day by clicking here.

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Signs Point to NSA Embedding Spy Software in Consumer Hard Drives

Posted: 17 Feb 2015 05:54 AM PST

HDDLook who's watching

Security outfit Kaspersky Lab has found evidence that the National Security Agency (NSA) may be implanting highly sophisticated malware into the firmware of consumer hard drives where it's not easily detected or removed. Kaspersky's report found custom payloads residing in HDDs from several major brands such as Western Digital, HGST, Seagate, Maxtor, Hitachi, and Toshiba.

The report, which was first discovered by Reuters, also mentioned companies like OCZ, Micron, Corsair, Mushkin, OWC, and Samsung, which may suggest that custom payloads are also present in solid state drives. That would make sense, considering the rise in popularity of SSDs, especially as agencies that might be targets for spying upgrade to newer systems.

Kaspersky isn't pointing the finger at the NSA and instead ties the exploit to a group it refers to as Equation, "a highly sophisticated threat actor that has been engaged in multiple CNE (computer network exploitation) operations dating back to 2001, and perhaps as early as 1996."

According to Kaspersky, the Equation group is one of the most sophisticated cyber attack groups on the planet. It has a penchant for encryption algorithms and obfuscation strategies and routinely uses sophisticated methods throughout its various operations.

Some of the exploits used by Equation are the same or similar to that of the Stuxnet developers. Due to this, Kaspersky says it's likely they're either the same actors or are working closely together, hence the widespread speculation that this is the NSA's doing.

As laid out in the report, the process by which targets are spied on is complex and interesting. In many cases, it begins with an implant Kaspersky calls DoubleFantasy. The implant confirms if a victim is interesting, and if so, the malware is upgraded to the EquationDrug, one of the group's most complex espionage platforms, or GrayFish, which is a later version.

"GrayFish is the most modern and sophisticated malware implant from the Equation group. It is designed to provide an effective (almost 'invisible') persistence mechanism, hidden storage and malicious command execution inside the Windows operating system," Kaspersky explains.

If Kaspersky's information is accurate, it brings the NSA's spying program to a whole new level, as it would have access to the majority of the world's PCs.

You can read the full report here (PDF),

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