General Gaming Article |
- These Ten Lumia Smartphones are First in Line for Windows 10 Mobile
- Microsoft Offers Businesses 90 Day Trial of Windows 10 Enterprise
- Fast Forward: Celebrating Moore’s Law, More or Less
- Maximum PC's Budget Gamer Build, Summer 2015
| These Ten Lumia Smartphones are First in Line for Windows 10 Mobile Posted: 30 Jul 2015 09:04 AM PDT Windows 10 Mobile is coming Microsoft created a bit of confusion yesterday when it laid out a list of Lumia handsets on its Windows 10 Mobile page. There were only 10 phones on the list, which led to speculation that Microsoft was backtracking on a previous promise to roll out upgrades for all Lumia Windows Phone 8 devices. Turns out that's not the case. "This is an initial list of in-market devices to receive the Windows 10 update. It is our ambition to bring Windows 10 to all Lumia devices running Lumia Denim software, noting that some features will vary, based on the hardware specifications," a Microsoft spokesperson told Neowin. The devices Microsoft listed will be the first to receive the upgrade. They include:
You'll notice that popular devices like the Lumia 520, Lumia 630, and Lumia 635 aren't on the list. Those three phones feature less than 1GB of RAM, though don't fret, they're still getting upgraded. Windows 10 Mobile doesn't have an exact release date yet but should start rolling out in November of this year. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Microsoft Offers Businesses 90 Day Trial of Windows 10 Enterprise Posted: 30 Jul 2015 08:45 AM PDT Take Windows 10 for a test ride Microsoft began doling out free upgrades to Windows 10 (see our review) for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users yesterday, a process that is ongoing. You may even be reading this from a Windows 10 PC. However, it's not just home consumers that Microsoft is targeting here. The Redmond giant would love to get enterprises on board, and to help tempt businesses to make the leap, Microsoft is offering a 90-day trial of Windows 10 Enterprise (downloadable here). You can also download Windows 10 Enterprise to kick the tires on home PC -- for instance, a test PC or virtual machine. This would allow you to see what all the fuss about before committing to an upgrade on your Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 rig. If you go that route, take into consideration that Windows 10 Enterprise is a different experience. As CNET points out, many of the apps included in Windows 10 Home and Pro aren't part of the Windows 10 Enterprise package. Mail? Nope. Calendar? Negative. People, Photos, or Cortana? No, no, and no. Heck, the Windows app store isn't even available. That said, you can at least get a feel for Windows 10 with the Enterprise version if you really wanted to. Otherwise, this is a play to get businesses on board. Microsoft is hoping to win them over with features like Device Guard, which gives them the ability to lock down devices to prevent them from running applications from non-trusted developers. "We've really taken the cyberattack landscape and broken it down component by component," said Jim Alkove, corporate VP for enterprise and security Microsoft's Windows and Devices group, according to CIO. Based on lessons Microsoft learned in the past, Alkove also said that the transition process to Windows 10 Enterprise should be an easier one for businesses than when they migrated from Windows XP to Windows 7. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fast Forward: Celebrating Moore’s Law, More or Less Posted: 30 Jul 2015 01:00 AM PDT This article was published in the July 2015 issue of Maximum PC. For more trusted reviews and feature stories, subscribe here. Moore's Law turns 50Now that we're marking the 50th anniversary of Moore's Law, everyone is offering opinions about its history and future. Why shouldn't I join the fray? After all, as a microprocessor analyst, I study the famous law's fruits every working day. Sometimes, especially near anniversaries, reporters call me for a sanity check when doomsayers predict the law is expiring. So what's the truth about Moore's Law? The holy scripture is an article that Fairchild engineer Gordon Moore wrote in the April 19, 1965 issue of Electronics magazine. It was titled: "Cramming More Components Onto Integrated Circuits." It appeared only four years after Fairchild and Texas Instruments introduced the first commercially available planar integrated circuits. Three years after publishing his article, Moore cofounded Intel. If you look up the article on the Internet, you'll probably be disappointed. Nowhere does it mention a "law" as such—a college professor coined the term "Moore's Law" years later. And you'll have to read very closely to fi nd a precise statement of the That's probably not what you were expecting. Isn't the doubling period 18 months? And isn't it about transistors? Or clock speeds? Or performance? Nope. To begin with, it's not really a law in the scientific sense. It's an astute observation that's not enforced by any physical properties or the Universe Police. In 1965, Moore observed that IC component counts were doubling roughly every 12 months. In 1975, when progress was slowing, Moore stretched the period to 24 months. The widely quoted 18-month cycle is the result of someone else splitting the difference in a dubious attempt to fit the curve to the actual data. Gordon Moore's original chart from his 1965 Electronics article. Tinkering with Moore's Law is common, because the curve doesn't fit the actual data. By any measure, we're way behind the curve. Chips haven't been keeping up with the law for many years. However, Moore's Law is so popular that people don't like hearing the truth. So I reassure them that the law survives in spirit, even if we're not living up to its letter. Another truth is that the law isn't solely about transistors, and it was never about clock speed or performance. It wasn't even about microprocessors, which hadn't been invented when Moore wrote his article in 1965. It was about general IC components, including transistors, capacitors, and resistors. Nowadays, people only count transistors. The omission is partly from ignorance of the law and partly because transistor counts are easier to find than total component counts. On a DRAM chip, every bit cell has one transistor and one capacitor, but how many capacitors are on a processor? Even the chip designers have trouble answering that question. Don't get me wrong. I'm not dissing Moore's Law. It was a brilliant observation that has inspired the semiconductor industry for 50 years. But Moore's 1965 curve is a log-base-two plot that zooms skyward forever. Now it's 2015. It's time to reverse the term's second word to define what I call "Moore's Wall." That's when the steady progress inevitably stops—something that would be very useful to know, for many reasons. Fame awaits the person who plots that curve. Tom Halfhill was formerly a senior editor for Byte magazine and is now an analyst for Microprocessor Report. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maximum PC's Budget Gamer Build, Summer 2015 Posted: 30 Jul 2015 12:00 AM PDT So you want to play PC games, and can't spend your rent money on a rig? Don't worry, we've got your backGamers don't always have a ton of money to spend on a machine, so we designed the Budget Gamer to get the most bang for the buck. Make no mistake, though: This machine would still make a handsome addition as a Steam Machine or HTPC for the seasoned enthusiast. So, what makes this machine a "budget" PC? First, we set out to create a machine with a price target of about $800. Some may note that that's still more than twice the price of an XBox One ($350). But you can't edit photos, write an essay, or upgrade the video card in an XBox One, can you? Didn't think so. In addition, this machine allows you the freedom to pick between Windows, SteamOS, and desktop Linux. As always, we have to give up some features to fit within our budget constraints. That compromise doesn't make a build any less fun, however. Trying to piece together a rig with a budget in mind adds to the challenge. And we like challenges. So, without further ado, here's what we put together:
Prices reflect in-cart prices at time of procurement. Prices and availability are subject to change. The build holds back in a couple of areas and pushes forward in others. Let's take a look at what was running through our heads when we built this compact rig. CPUFor budget builds, we often end up going with AMD CPUs or Intel's Core i3 line. The CPU we went with—the i5-4590—is a little more powerful than an i3 we'd normally enlist. It also isn't the most powerful i5 out there. The i5-4690K would offer more power and overclocking capability, but at our budget point, we had other priorities in mind. One advantage to having a good but relatively modest i5 is that we don't have to worry too much about cooling. With overclocking out of the picture, there's no need for a super-beefy air cooler like the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo, let alone closed-loop water cooler. With our preference for mini-ITX in this build, a beefy cooler simply wouldn't do anyway. The predictable 4590 lets us get away with using (gasp!) a stock heatsink and fan, which is perfectly adequate in this situation. For the AMD fans who may wonder why we went with Intel this round, it's due to the power. We tried to go with a smaller power requirement to save money both for the build, and for the utility bill. Additionally, AMD processors do tend to put out a little more heat, and in the cramped space, air flow is a severe challenge. There's no room for an after-market cooler in our chosen case, so the i5 has to do. GPUFor the video card, we went with EVGA's implementation of the GTX 960. This particular model, the 04G-P4-3962-KR, is a short model, which is perfect for mini-ITX builds. The GTX 960 places this build far behind our ridiculously powerful zero point, but still fares well in 1080p gaming. For most games, at respectable settings, the GTX 960 will serve you well. In this build, the $220 price tag for the GPU put us just over half of our target budget, when combined with the $200 CPU. That means compromise in other places, but we were still able to squeeze some performance juice from other areas. MotherboardAsus's Z97I-Plus was a good choice for us in this build, even if the board was a bit pricey considering we had less than $400 left in our target budget. The BIOS on this board allows for overclocking and has the standard tweaking and configuration features you'd expect from a performance board. It also comes with a mini-PCIe slot preloaded with a 802.11ac Wi-Fi card. For those who plan on using this itty-bitty rig in the living room, the 802.11ac is a welcome feature. The antenna is kind of neat too: It has a magnetic base, so once you mount the antenna to the case or another metal surface, it won't move until you want it to. Everything ElseOne big thing some builders may notice is the lack of an SSD, and this was intentional. With this slim budget, we had already spent the majority of our funds on the CPU, GPU, and mobo. As a result, we were left with a choice between an SSD's speed or an HDD's capacity. We went with capacity. For an HDD, the WD Black is plenty speedy. There is a noticeable speed difference from stepping down from an SSD. If you've got a spare $100, we'd definitely recommend picking up a small-capacity SSD for the OS and a game or two. The PSU comes from Newegg's house brand, Rosewill. If you've ever shopped at Costco, Rosewill is to Newegg what Kirkland Signature is to Costco. Don't let the store-brand fool you: Rosewill makes some solid components, and this PSU is 80 Plus Gold certified for power efficiency. While its not as long as EVGA's five- or 10-year warranties of the SuperNOVA line of PSUs, Rosewill's three-year warranty gives us plenty of peace of mind to go with this 500W PSU. As far as RAM goes, we went with 8GB of Corsair's Vengeance line. It's pretty standard at 1,600MHz, but we went with this over typically inexpensive G.Skill because of the lower price for the same speed, capacity and timings. Speaking of the case, the Cooler Master Elite 110 is a compact, no-BS case that works well, even if it is more of a challenge to build into. With out GPU, there's still room for two HDDs up top and an SSD or two on the side, if you like. If we had to choose though, we'd stick an SSD up top and forgo another HDD so that the GPU gets as much air is possible. Space is already tight in this chassis. The tight space allows for a really small form factor, and an unassuming front only features the glow of the Cooler Master logo, which doubles as the power button. Front USB connections and a reset switch are on the side, making the case subdued enough for the entertainment center. BenchmarksSo, how did this PC fare in our array of benchmarks? We pit it against our desktop zero-point PC, which uses a 5960X CPU, three GTX 980s, and 16GBs of RAM. And it's safe to say, the zero point left this machine in the dust. The i5 couldn't keep up with the 5960X in multi-threaded benchmarks, nor could the GTX 960 put up a fight with the trio of GTX 980s. On the other hand, benchmarks indicate that gaming at 1080p should be well within playable range, which was the aim of the build anyway. Outside of the graphics benches, the little quad-core did quite well in the computational tasks in ProShow Producer and Stitch. Both of these benchmarks are single-threaded, so the stock-clocked 5960X wasn't a whole lot faster in those applications. Video encoding in the X.264 benchmark really makes use of all the cores. Since the i5 has half of the cores of the zero point's i7, there's no wonder that the Budget Gamer's performance was about half in the benchmark. |
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