General Gaming Article |
- A Week with Logitech's MX Master
- How To Set Up Software RAID 0 for Windows and Linux
- U.S. Sees 10Mbps Jump in Average Broadband Speed
- Newegg Daily Deals: Creative Sound Blaster Inferno Headset, Asus 23.6-Inch Monitor, and More!
- EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Hybrid Gets Wet and Wild with Maxwell
- Microsoft Decides Against Sharing Rendering Engines Between Project Spartan and IE11
- Logitech Arms MX Master Wireless Mouse with a Darkfield Laser
| A Week with Logitech's MX Master Posted: 25 Mar 2015 03:05 PM PDT This mouse is as subtly handsome as it is preciseLast week, Logitech stopped by the Maximum PC office to show off its new mouse, the MX Master. The device looked pretty compelling, as did the short promo video, but we looked forward to using the mouse to see how it really fared.
The Logtech MX Master and unifying reciever. First off, this mouse isn't built for gaming. The lack of glowing LEDs that you could signal an aircraft with—and the fact it's wireless—separates it from conventional gaming gear. Instead, the mouse sports a smooth black surface that is actually really nice to rest your palm on. The black matte surface is accented by a very subtle brown-ish bronze bit of plastic that runs from left to right around the back and covers the bottom. While this mouse could be used in games that don't require ultra-fast response times, it's primarily made for design and engineering professionals. It feels very precise and smooth, and we imagine that working in AutoCAD would be a pleasure. While tooling around on the web and doing some basic cropping in Photoshop, we never felt that we were fighting with the mouse to get the cursor to be exactly where we wanted it to be. What we really love about this thing is the wheel. The MX Master's wheel is a standard line-by-line click wheel and again, feels very precise. But give the wheel a good flick of the middle finger, and it free-spins until it slows down enough that the "clutch" catches the wheel and returns it to "line-by-line" mode.
The top of the MX Master is simple and effective. Clicks feel precise and deliberate. To give you a good idea of just how free it spins, we loaded up Twitter and gave the wheel a good spin down the page. Twitter was able to lazy-load tweets at the bottom of the browser fully six times before the wheel stopped. It's actually really fun to use. Logitech calls this "Smart Shift," and it does feel pretty intelligent. The threshold at which the wheel free-spins can be set in the Logitech software. You can also switch the mouse between "fixed" mode or "Smart Shift" with a middle button just behind the wheel. The other thing that we think makes this a great working mouse is the ability to pair it to three different computers. The mouse pairs with Logitech's standard unifying receiver, but also pairs with Bluetooth-enabled computers. There's a little button on the bottom that allows you to switch channels, each corresponding to a different pairing. We used the first channel to connect to our workstation and the second to connect to our Linux laptop via Bluetooth. For sysadmins or creative professionals who have more than one machine at their desk, this is great. It also means that you can use it at work, and take it home without fearing that you'll lose the unifying receiver.
The bottom of the mouse is what you'd expect, except for the channel selector near the rear. The MX Master's thumb button is also quite subtle: it's part of the molded matte black surface, directly below the thumb. The thumb click is silent, and brings up the Windows' window switcher (like Alt+Tab) by default. For Macbook users, the thumb button is supposed to simulate a three-finger swipe gesture on the track pad. There is also a scroll wheel and two side buttons for your thumb to get more of a workout, though the two buttons default to browser forward and back functions. Of course, all of the buttons can be customized in Logitech's software, but the default assignments feel pretty well thought out. The mouse charges via a microUSB port at its nose, where you'd expect a cable to be if the mouse were wired. You can use the mouse while charging, but it's still wireless; the USB cable isn't sending any data. Three inconspicuous green LEDs show charge progress.
Three small LEDs let you know the mouse is charging. Nothing flashy here. We haven't played any games with the MX Master just yet, but so far we're impressed with build quality and attention to details that people who work on computers all day can really appreciate. The laser is supposed to work on glass too, but we are working with a wood laminate desk, so we'll just have to take Logitech's word on that for now. Again, this mouse is geared for professionals, and is priced at $100. If you can get your company to pay for it or write it off on your taxes, this mouse is worth a look. |
| How To Set Up Software RAID 0 for Windows and Linux Posted: 25 Mar 2015 01:50 PM PDT Up your speed by linking two or more drives in RAID 0For serious PC builders, speed is the name of the game. Too often, storage becomes a bottleneck that holds back even the beefiest CPU. Even with the advent of SSDs, leveraging a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) can drastically reduce boot and loading times. RAID 0 is the easiest way to get more speed out of two or more drives, and lets you use a pretty cool acronym to boot.
In our test rig, we used a pair of Samsung 840EVOs with the latest firmware. RAID has several "levels" that use drives in different ways. Level 0 (RAID 0) spreads or "stripes" data between two or more drives. The problem with striping data across drives is that when things go wrong, they go really wrong: If a single hard drive in a RAID 0 array fails and cannot be recovered, the entire RAID array is lost. On the plus side, RAID 0 combines the drives into a single larger logical drive with a capacity that is the sum of all the drives in the array. We found in our test rig that write cache stacked as well, which resulted in faster writing for large files. The data stored on the drives are read or written simultaneously, resulting in greatly reduced access times. There are three ways to implement RAID: hardware, software, and FakeRAID. Hardware RAID is faster, but it's also more expensive due to the need for specialized hardware. Software and FakeRAID use the CPU in lieu of a dedicated RAID chip. Creating a software RAID array in operating system software is the easiest way to go. Windows 8 comes with everything you need to use software RAID, while the Linux package "mdadm" is listed in most standard repositories. The problem with software RAID is that it only exists in the OS it was created in. Linux can't see a RAID array created in Windows and vice versa. If you're dual booting both Linux and Windows and need access to the array from both operating systems, use FakeRAID. Otherwise, stick to software. Prepare your hardwareTo ensure the best RAID performance, use identical drives with the same firmware. Mixing drive makes and models may work, but will result in faster drives being slowed down to match the slowest drive in the array. Don't mix SSDs and mechanical drives in a RAID array; the SSD is faster on its own. RAID 0 doesn't protect you from drive failure, so use new drives whenever possible. When connecting your drives, make sure they're all using the same SATA version as well. Before a drive can be used in a RAID array, it must be clear of filesystems and partitions. If you're using old drives, make sure you get everything of value off of them first. You can remove any partitions with Disk Management on Windows or "gparted" on Linux. If you're using FakeRAID, the motherboard's RAID utility should warn you before it wipes partition tables and the filesystems on them. In your operating system, you'll need to have elevated permissions to create a RAID array. For Windows, you'll need to be an Administrator. In Linux, you'll need either the root password or sudo access. If you want to use FakeRAID, make sure your motherboard supports it. Be warned though: Installing an OS on top of a RAID 0 array can be really risky if your system data is critical. Windows: storage spacesCreating a software RAID 0 array on Windows is really easy, and relatively painless. The thing is, Microsoft doesn't call it RAID in Windows 8, opting for "storage spaces" and "storage pools" instead. Hit Win+S and search for "storage spaces" and open the utility. Next, click Create a new pool and storage space. You'll be prompted for administrator access. Click Yes to continue.
Windows 8's built-in RAID software goes by the name "Storage Spaces." You'll be greeted by a windows showing all the unformatted disks that can be used. Select all the disks you want in the array and click Create pool.
To create a storage pool in Windows 8, the disks need to be unformatted. Next, give the pool a name and drive letter. The name will appear as the drive label. Select NTFS as the filesystem. For Resiliency type, select Simple (no resiliency). This is the equivalent to RAID0. When you're ready, click Create storage space to create the array.
While a simple storage space technically only requires one hard disk, you need at least two for it to be a true RAID setup. If you want to remove a RAID array for any reason, simply click Delete next to the storage space you want to remove. To remove the pool, remove all of the storage spaces in it first.
When you're all done, you'll be able to manage your storage spaces, check capacity, and monitor usage. See? Told you it was easy. Next up, we're going to cover creating RAID 0 arrays in Linux and in FakeRAID.
Linux: Excuse me, mdadmCreating a software RAID in Linux is faster than Windows because it only requires a couple of console commands. In our example, we booted from a live Ubuntu 14.04 LTS USB stick. First, you need to download and install mdadm from your package manager. In Ubuntu, use aptitude to install the program: sudo apt-get install mdadm Once mdadm is installed, you can create your array by typing the following command as root or using sudo: mdadm --create /dev/mdX --level=0 --raid-devices=[number of drives] [drive name] [drive name] [etc] The above command will vary based on the size of your array, and how you'd like to name it. RAID devices are generally named /dev/mdX where X is the index of the array. Drive names must be valid Linux device paths, e.g., /dev/sda or /dev/disk/by-uuid/[UUID]. In our example, we used the following: mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=0 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sda /dev/sdb To take apart the RAID array, use the following commands: umount -l /dev/mdX Using onboard FakeRAIDOnboard FakeRAID is harder to set up, but is your only real choice if you want your RAID array to be accessible to both Windows and Linux. It also offers the advantage of letting you install Windows 8 on top of it. Linux can the installed on a FakeRAID array as well, but requires use of the dmraid driver. Once your drives are physically installed, boot into your BIOS by tapping the key prompted on startup. The message will say "Press DEL to enter Setup…" or something similar. Once you're in your BIOS, look for an option called "SATA mode." This option is in different places for each motherboard manufacturer, so refer to your user manual if you can't find it. Once you've found the setting, change the setting to RAID. This will let your onboard RAID software know that there are possible RAID devices to be started. When you're done, save and reboot. On the next boot, you have to get into the RAID software to set up your arrays. If you have Intel RAID onboard, you should be prompted to hit CTRL+I to start the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) RAID software. Software varies by vendor, so consult your motherboard manual on entering the RAID utility. In the RST menu, you should see some options and a list of hard drives on your system. Select Create RAID Volume.
Any disks attached via SATA in RAID mode will show up in Intel RST. Disks that aren't included in an array will be shown as a "Non-Raid Disk." On the next screen, give the RAID array a name and hit Enter. In the next field, use the up and down arrow keys to select the RAID level labeled RAID 0 (Stripe) and hit Enter again. In the next field, you can set the size of the striped data, but the default size should work just fine. Hit Enter to save the strip size and capacity to their default values and hit Enter again to create the volume. Confirm that you're OK with wiping everything off the disks in your array by typing "Y."
Creating a RAID volume in Intel's RST software is pretty straightforward. Back on the home screen, you will see a RAID volume, with the status of the disks used in the array changed from "Non-RAID disk" to "Member Disk." Use the down arrow to select Exit to save and exit the software.
When you return to RST's main screen, you'll see that the drives will have been added as members to the RAID array. You can also remove disks from the array or delete the array altogether. On the next boot, your FakeRAID array will appear as a single volume to the operating system. Additionally, RST will display the status of your RAID disks during the boot process, before the operating system loads. From there, you can partition and format the RAID array as you would any other disk. Setting up RAID 0 is a little more work than just slapping in some hard drives and booting up, but the speed benefits are undeniable. |
| U.S. Sees 10Mbps Jump in Average Broadband Speed Posted: 25 Mar 2015 01:05 PM PDT
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| Newegg Daily Deals: Creative Sound Blaster Inferno Headset, Asus 23.6-Inch Monitor, and More! Posted: 25 Mar 2015 12:32 PM PDT
Top Deal: Gaming into the late hours of the night? That might not always be appreciated by your significant other, roommate, or kids. Do them a solid and trade those banging speakers for a headset. Need help? Check out today's top deal for a Creative Sound Blaster Inferno Circumaural Gaming Headset for $40 with free shipping (normally $50). It boasts 40mm full spectrum drivers, inline controls, and a detachable noise canceling boom microphone. Other Deals: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Classified ACX 2.0 4GB Video Card for $680 with free shipping (normally $700) MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GD5T OC Video Card for $195 with free shipping (normally $205; Free game witcher 3: wild hunt with purchase, limited offer) Asus GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card for $150 with free shipping (normally $180; additional $30 Mail-in rebate) Asus VS247H-P Black 23.6-inch 2ms Monitor for $160 with $1 shipping (normally $180; additional $20 Mail-in rebate) |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Hybrid Gets Wet and Wild with Maxwell Posted: 25 Mar 2015 12:03 PM PDT
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| Microsoft Decides Against Sharing Rendering Engines Between Project Spartan and IE11 Posted: 25 Mar 2015 09:36 AM PDT
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| Logitech Arms MX Master Wireless Mouse with a Darkfield Laser Posted: 25 Mar 2015 08:09 AM PDT
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