General Gaming Article |
- Newegg Daily Deals: Samsung 850 Evo 1TB SSD, Intel Compute Stick, and More!
- Asus Adds Two Low Cost 2-in-1 Devices to Transformer Book Line
- Edward Snowden Says Encryption Kills Any Chance of Finding Aliens
- Nvidia Readies Desktop Class GTX 980 GPUs for Gaming Laptops [VIDEO]
- Digital Storm's Drool-Worthy Aventum 3 Gaming PC Is Now Available
- QNAP Intros Industry's First Hybrid NAS with Dual Thunderbolt 2 Ports
- Samsung Announces 950 Pro NVMe M.2 SSDs
- Ten Programs You Should Install on Windows 10
| Newegg Daily Deals: Samsung 850 Evo 1TB SSD, Intel Compute Stick, and More! Posted: 22 Sep 2015 11:28 AM PDT Top Deal: Now is a great time to build a PC. Just ask Mr. Foley. He lives in a van down by the river, which was the best he could do after spending his retirement on a 1TB solid state drive before NAND flash memory pricing plummeted to pedestrian levels. Mr. Foley should have waited. Had he done so, he could have taken advantage of today's top deal for a Samsung 850 Evo 2.5-inch 1TB SSD for $330 with free shipping (normally $370 - use coupon code: [EMCAXNN25]). That works out to $0.33 per gigabyte, and more importantly, it means not having to live in a van down by the river. Other Deals: Asus VN248H-P Black 23.8-inch 5ms IPS Monitor w/ Speakers for $150 with free shipping (normally $170 - use coupon code: [EMCAXNN24]; additional $20 Mail-in rebate) Boxed Intel Compute Stick, Atom, Win 8.1, 32GB for $120 with free shipping (normally $130 - use coupon code: [EMCAXNN28] ; Free 32GB flash drive w/ purchase, limited offer) Crucial BX100 2.5-inch 500GB SATA Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) for $155 with free shipping (normally $165 - use coupon code: [EMCAXNN29]) MSI X99A SLI PLUS LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX Intel Motherboard for $200 with $4 shipping (normally $230 - use coupon code: [EMCAXNN35]) |
| Asus Adds Two Low Cost 2-in-1 Devices to Transformer Book Line Posted: 22 Sep 2015 09:37 AM PDT Affordable hybrids Asus has a couple of new Transformer Book devices that might appeal to users who are interested in a cheaper Surface. Specifically, Asus today announced the Transformer Book T100HA and Flip TP200SA, both of which offer a laptop and tablet experience in a single device. The T100HA sports an Intel Atom x5 Z8500 processor (Cherry Trail) clocked at up to 2.24GHz with 2MB of L2 cache. It also boasts a 10.1-inch WXGA (1280x800) IPS display, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of eMMC storage, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, 5MP rear camera, 2MP front camera, micro USB port, micro HDMI output, microSD card slot, headphone/mic combo jack, USB 3.1 Type-C connector (Gen1, meaning it operates at USB 3.0 speeds), and Windows 10. There's also a USB 2.0 port on the keyboard dock, which connects to the display using neodymium magnets. According to Asus, the T100HA offers all-day battery life of up to 12 hours on a single charge. It can charge to 80 percent capacity in just two hours, resulting in 9.5 hours of battery life, Asus claims. As for the Flip TP200SA, it features a 360-degree flip design that allows the display to fold back onto the keyboard (it's not detachable, in other words). It's a little bigger at 11.6 inches and sports a 1366x768 resolution. Other features include a quad-core Intel Celeron N3050 (Braswell) CPU clocked at up to 2.16GHz with 2MB of L2 cache, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of eMMC storage, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, micro HDMi outpout, microSD card slot, headphone/mic combo jack, USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports (one each), USB 3.1 Type-C (also Gen1), VGA front-facing camera, and Windows 10. Neither of these systems are power houses, but for a general purpose machine and/or for back-to-school chores, there should be sufficient horsepower. At the very least, these are relatively low cost systems -- the T100HA and TP200SA will be available later this month for $299 and $349, respectively. |
| Edward Snowden Says Encryption Kills Any Chance of Finding Aliens Posted: 22 Sep 2015 09:15 AM PDT We may have already made contact The only way E.T. could have phoned home is he didn't use encryption. Otherwise, any communication would have been indistinguishable from cosmic background radiation, assuming the encryption was done right. That's essentially the theory posed by Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who leaked classified documents to the press that detailed the extent of the U.S.government's surveillance efforts, The Guardian reports. Appearing on Neil deGrasse Tyson's StarTalk podcast, Snowden talked about joining the U.S. army after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Later during the conversation, the topic turned to encryption and how it might make it nearly impossible to recognize alien communication. "If you look at encrypted communication, if they are properly encrypted, there is no real way to tell that they are encrypted," Snowden said. "You can't distinguish a properly encrypted communication from random behavior." According to Snowden, the situation is compounded as civilizations become increasingly sophisticated. The way he sees it, there's a very short window for communication to happen, and that's when the development of a society is sending out messages "via the most primitive and most unprotected means." Once that window has passed, messages would be so well encrypted that the recipient -- be it humans or aliens -- wouldn't be able to distinguish them from cosmic microwave background radiation. What a buzzkill! |
| Nvidia Readies Desktop Class GTX 980 GPUs for Gaming Laptops [VIDEO] Posted: 22 Sep 2015 06:40 AM PDT Desktop graphics in a laptop form factor Big things are happening in the gaming laptop market. We're starting to see notebooks with panels that support Nvidia's G-Sync technology, faster storage options (M.2 SATA, for example), and coming soon, true desktop class GPUs. As it stands right now, the fastest mobile GPU available from Nvidia is the GeForce GTX 980M. Though it's called 980M, it's not the same as the desktop GeForce GTX 980. Here's a look at how they compare:
That's about to change. Our own Jimmy Thang met with Nvidia to talk about its plans to shoehorn a desktop class GeForce GTX 980 into gaming laptops. According to Nvidia's figures, these systems are about 35 percent faster than laptops running its mobile GTX 980M GPU. Of course, there's a reason Nvidia separates its desktop and mobile GPUs. Laptops have a limited capacity for cooling. So to deal with that, Nvidia is cherry-picking GTX 980 GPUs for use in laptops, selecting only the ones that are best suited for the application. Nvidia also had to overcome engineering challenges that would allow it to offer a desktop class GTX 980 in a size that's friendly for laptops. The company didn't go into detail on how it pulled it off, though did say that it's using only high-end components and anywhere from four to eight power phases, up from three phases found in today's high-end gaming notebooks. This allows for more power to be supplied to the GPU, which is also more efficient. Compared to regular desktop GTX 980 GPUs, there's only about a five percent performance delta, we're told. Check out these videos for more info: From surround gaming to the world's first virtual reality laptops, we're pretty excited about what Nvidia is doing here. So are several manufacturers—Aorus, Asus, Clevo, and MSI all have plans to build notebooks around Nvidia's GTX 980. MSI will even offer an 18.4-inch laptop with two GTX 980 GPUs running in SLI. Exciting times. |
| Digital Storm's Drool-Worthy Aventum 3 Gaming PC Is Now Available Posted: 22 Sep 2015 06:33 AM PDT A showpiece system Digital Storm gave us a glimpse of its liquid-cooled Aventum 3 PC back at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year. It was then we knew the company had something special on its hands, and now eight months later, it's finally available to purchase. The Aventum 3 isn't just another liquid-cooled system, of which there are many out there. What makes this one different is how it's configured. Digital Storm went out of its way to ensure that buyers can service the machine with little fuss, should they ever need to. To do that, the Aventum 3 uses fixed inlet and outlet ports located on the motherboard. This gives users the the ability to quickly and easily disconnect liquid-cooled hardware without having to tear down the entire cooling system, which is especially helpful for people who aren't experienced with liquid cooling and/or system building in general. There's also a distribution block that routes fluid throughout the system. No modifications are necessary when swapping out and upgrading the liquid-cooled hardware. Rounding out the liquid-cooling scheme is a custom proprietary water block designed by Digital Storm's engineering team and produced by EKWB. Digital Storm also made it easy to upgrade the graphics hardware without having to rewire things each time. That's because of a modular power panel integrated into the chassis itself with plug-and-play power connectors. It looks like an excellent design, though it's not cheap—you can configure and purchase an Aventum 3 today starting at $4,930. For that price, you get an Intel Core i7 6700K CPU, 16GB of DDR4-2666 RAM, Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Ti graphics card with 6GB of GDDR5 memory, 1TB Samsung 850 Pro SSD, 2TB HDD (7,200 RPM), 850W EVGA SuperNova PSU, and Windows 10. That's the "Level 1 - Good" base configuration. There are three more levels to start from (Better, Best, and Ultimate) ranging in price from $5,996 to $10,496. At the top end, a baseline Level 4 - Ultimate setup consists of an Intel Core i7 5960X processor, 32GB of DDR-2666 RAM, three Nvidia Titan X graphics cards (12GB) configured in SLI, 1TB Samsung 850 Evo SSD, 2TB HDD (7,200 RPM), 1,200W Corsair AX PSU, and Windows 10. |
| QNAP Intros Industry's First Hybrid NAS with Dual Thunderbolt 2 Ports Posted: 22 Sep 2015 03:00 AM PDT One of the best just got better We had a chance to put QNAP's TVS-871 NAS box through its paces a couple of months ago (see our review) and came away impressed with its overall feature-set and performance. We also knew there was an update coming in the form of the TVS-871T, supposedly the industry's first hybrid NAS/DAS/iSCSI IP-SAN solution with dual Thunderbolt 2 connectivity, which we're told is now shipping. To recap, the TVS-871T is an eight-bay NAS box that supports up to 64 terabytes of hot-swappable storage with transfers speeds of up to 20Gb/s. If that's not enough storage for your backup needs, you can expand the TVS-871T with QNAP's TX expansion unit series for a total of up to 448TB of raw storage. The potential for large amounts of storage backup isn't the only thing that's beastly about this NAS box, so are the hardware specs. There are two models available -- the TVS-871T-i7-16G with an Intel Core i7-4790S quad-core processor and the TVS-871T-i5-16G with an Intel Core i5-4590S quad-core CPU. Both models also boast 16GB of DDR3 RAM, two Thunderbolt 2 ports, and 10GbE ports. There's a large divide between a NAS box like the TVS-871T and budget NAS units built around Intel's Atom hardware. However, it's not all about the CPU, RAM, and storage capacity -- QNAP is really pushing the built-in Thunderbolt connectivity and and the all-around functionality for content creators. QNAP's pitch to photographers and video professionals working with 4K Ultra HD video streams is that the TVS-871T is a single storage device capable of handling the entire storage job, not just part of it. "Today 4K video editors must ingest the raw video on high-performance direct-attached RAID storage and edit there, then export edited content out to a NAS or other storage with cloud access for client sharing, and then yet another device for archiving once the project is completed," QNAP says. All of those tasks (and more) can be performed on the TVS-871T. It also comes with a dedicated private cloud for easy remote access, file sharing, and advanced virtualization features so you can use the NAS box as a standalone PC. "The TVS-871T is really a ground-breaking innovation for video professionals," said Erick Oliveros, Marketing Manager for QNAP. "We've made it possible for video professionals to simplify their workflow, cut costs by eliminating redundant storage, and collaborate like never before. The TVS-871T delivers unparalleled performance, connectivity, flexibility and is going to be absolutely delightful for the video production industry." QNAP's QTS 4.2 management software comes pre-installed on the TVS-871T, as do several accompanying apps. The TVS-871T is now shipping in the U.S. and Canada, though you'll have to contact QNAP (or its reseller partners) or a price quote. |
| Samsung Announces 950 Pro NVMe M.2 SSDs Posted: 22 Sep 2015 02:32 AM PDT Coming next month in 256GB and 512GB flavorsSamsung is joining the NVMe M.2 solid-state drive movement, with its newly announced 950 Pro PCIe SSD. The Korean tech giant made the announcement at its annual SSD Summit in Seoul earlier this morning. The 950 Pro will launch in October in 256GB and 512GB variants. In addition to the 950 Pro announcement, Samsung also revealed that it will release 4TB traditional SATA SSDs in "early" 2016. This is impressive considering the company only released its 2TB 850 Pro SSDs a few weeks ago. Samsung also continues its use of 3D Nand technology—the process by which it stacks cells above cells to get higher density—which the company calls V-Nand. For the uninitiated, non-volatile memory express (NVMe) replaces the AHCI storage protocol. AHCI was never optimized for storage performance, and is ultimately the performance bottleneck for storage today. Samsung believes that with modern CPUs, motherboard BIOSs, and Windows 10, that now is the ideal time for the company to break into the NVMe storage space. The Samsung 950 Pro will work over the PCIe 3.0 interface, feature the company's UBX controller, use the company's second generation MLC V-Nand 32-layer 128Gb die, and low power DDR3 DRAM. The company went with the M.2 form factor because it believes that it will continue to be more widely adopted across motherboards and will allow for easy integration into thin form factors, such as notebooks. While enthusiasts may scoff at the storage capacity of the 950 Pro, Samsung did reveal that a 1TB NVMe solution will make its way to market in early 2016, when the company transitions over to a 48-layer V-Nand die. In terms of comparative performance, NVMe can handle 64,000 queues as compared to AHCI's single queue. Samsung says the 950 Pro will be able to reach read speeds up to 2,500MB/s and write speeds up to 1,500MB/s. So that's roughly a 4.5x and 2.8x improvement over a 850 Pro SSD, respectively. Samsung says that the 950 Pro will be able to read up to 300K IOPs and write up to 110K IOPs. In a synthetic benchmark, Samsung cited roughly double performance over an 850 Pro in PCMark 7 and nearly triple the performance in PCMark Vantage. When the 950 Pro launches next month, it will come with Samsung's five-year warranty. In terms of longevity, Samsung is guaranteeing 200TB life out of the 256GB drive and 400TB out of the 512GB drive. The drives will retail for $200 and $350, respectively. Expect a full review from us in the near future. In the meantime, check out some of Samsung's own internal benchmarks below! |
| Ten Programs You Should Install on Windows 10 Posted: 22 Sep 2015 12:00 AM PDT Ten ideal programs for your new Windows 10 installNow that Windows 10 is out and about, eating away at Windows 7's market share like a tasty pizza pie, what do you want to do with the new OS? Why, install new software, of course! We're not talking about games, but rather tools that you'll likely need to get the best performance out of your freshly installed OS. This list of tools is ideal for those who formatted and installed Windows 10 from scratch, and for those who elected to take the upgrade route. Additionally, everything listed here is free, so there's no financial risks to take. BROWSERThe first item you should probably download and install is a web browser you know and trust. We're not saying that you should avoid using Microsoft's new, built-in browser (Edge). However, browsing solutions like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox have been around for quite a while and chances are that you have loads of bookmarks. Because of this, you're highly familiar with these browsers and you know their capabilities. You've also likely connected your desktop browser to a mobile version so that your bookmarks are accessible from any device. That said, install your favorite browser while you get to know Microsoft Edge, although you won't get the multi-device experience given that Edge is only offered on Windows 10 and soon the Xbox One. DAEMON TOOLSDon't have an optical drive installed in your rig or laptop? No problem. That's where Daemon Tools comes into play. Simply put, this software creates a virtual drive and also allows the user to "mount" image files such as an ISO or MDS. There are a number of versions listed on the Daemon Tools website, including Daemon Tools Lite 10, which is free to use. "You can choose a free app to create, store, mount images, and pay for additional pro features you really need or get a Full Pack of tools at half price," the developer says. Users of the "Lite" tool can create or mount an image file. The latest version, 10.1.0, supports Windows XP, includes minor UI improvements, supports additional languages, and USB sharing via iSCSI Initiator. CCLEANERThis PC optimization tool, developed by Piriform, has been around for quite a while. There's a free version, a $25 "Professional" version (tagged as Most Popular) and a $40 "Professional Plus" version (tagged as Best Value). The free version promises to speed up your computer while it keeps your privacy on the Internet in check. If you choose the Professional version, you'll get premium technical support, automatic updates, and real-time monitoring. The Professional Plus adds a disk fragmentation tool and file recovery. No matter which version you choose, CCleaner is designed to clean your PC by getting rid of temporary Internet files, deleting invalid entries in the Windows Registry, removing unwanted programs from Startup, and more. APACHE OPENOFFICEThis is an open-source office suite that's provided free of charge under the Apache 2.0 License. Apache states that OpenOffice stores all data in an international open standard format and is capable of saving and reading files in formats used by competing office suites. This office-focused bundle includes Writer (word processor), Calc (spreadsheet editor), Impress (slideshow creator), Draw (artwork creator), Base (database editor), and Math (an equation editor). That said, this suite is jam-packed with features and the result of "over twenty years of software engineering." If you don't want to spend hard-earned bucks on Microsoft's latest Office suite, OpenOffice is a terrific alternative that's competitive and extremely easy to use. The latest version, as of this article, is OpenOffice 4.1.1, which was released to fix "critical issues." SKYPEThis communications tool was launched back in 2003, believe it or not, combining VoIP calling with instant messaging. The big selling point is that Skype users can call other Skype users for free, and it's great if a team scattered across the United States needs to come together and bash out great ideas without everyone needing to meet at the office. Microsoft acquired Skype back in 2011 for a crazy $8.5 billion, and now we see the service seemingly popping up everywhere, including the Xbox One console and Outlook.com. Customers who subscribe to Office 365 get 60 minutes of Skype calling, meaning users can call non-Skype members on mobile and landlines. Skype users can even share files, share their screen, and more. GIMPNeed an image-editing tool that doesn't require you sell organs or take out a bank loan? The GNU Image Manipulation Program, aka GIMP, is the ideal solution for Windows 10. It's a free tool that allows users to create layered artwork, fix photos, change the format of an image, and so on. It's a powerful package that rivals Photoshop and is even built to accept extensions and plugins. According to the GIMP website, the software also includes a scripting interface that "allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted." GIMP includes a full suite of painting tools, animation editing tools, and tons more that should tickle the fancy of any digital artist, photographer, or general consumer. SPYBOT – SEARCH & DESTROYThis malware detection solution has been around since 2000, originally developed by German software engineer Patrick Michael Kolla and later picked up by Safer Networking, Ltd. There are three variants up for grabs: a free version, a $14 Home version, and a $26 Professional version. The free version scans for malware and nasty rootkits, and removes the menacing software. Spybot also provides startup tools, blocks known malicious websites, and protects the user from unlisted malicious websites and cookies by providing a proxy. The Home version is a bit more feature-packed, adding full anti-virus protection, live protection, and more. The Professional edition offers everything Safer Networking can offer, such as scanning iPhone apps, registry repair, a secure file shredder, and so on. FILE SHREDDERWant to get rid of files on your hard drive without the possibility of recovery? File Shredder may be the solution you're looking for, a free tool that's offered under the GNU/GPL General Public License. According to the developer, this software will "erase" files by writing a "random series of binary data" multiple times in a single spot so that the original file is no longer accessible. Users can choose between five different shredding algorithms, which vary in strength. There's also a Disk Wiper feature that will scrub unused disk space and an option to toggle on Windows Shell integration. File Shredder is a very small program that works on Windows 10 and older. 7-ZIPDon't want to spend the money on software that opens ZIP and RAR files? Take a look at 7-zip, a free open-source archive tool that mostly falls under the GNU LGPL license (unRAR code is supported under a mixed license, the webpage says). According to the developer, 7-Zip provides a Zip/GZIP compression ratio that's better than WinZip, a premium archive handler that has a starting price of $30. 7-Zip also integrates into Windows Shell, has "strong" AES-256 encryption (ZIP and 7z formats), provides a file manager, and is even offered in numerous languages. Unpacking formats include RAR, FAT, ISO, CAB, TAR, GZIP, and loads more. VLC MEDIA PLAYERAs the name states, VLC is a media player that's offered for free on a number of platforms including Windows, Mac OS X, various Linux builds, and mobile platforms such as Apple's iOS and Google's Android. The developer says that VLC will play just about anything you can throw at it without having to install a codec, including MP3, DivX, MPEG-2, H.264, and more. The software also plays media on DVDs, VCDs, audio CDs, and supports many streaming protocols. The latest version for the Windows platform is v2.2.1 and weighs in at a mere 28MB. |
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