General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

Newegg Daily Deals: Powercolor PCS+ Radeon R9 380, Asus Z97-A Motherboard, and More!

Posted: 21 Oct 2015 01:13 PM PDT

Powercolor R9 380

Top Deal:

Whoa there player, you're not planning on playing Fallout 4 using integrated graphics, are you? That would be as ill-advised as buying ocean front property in Arizona. A smarter idea is to check out today's top deal for a Powercolor PCS+ Radeon R9 380 Graphics Card or $190 with free shipping (normally $221; additional $20 Mail-in rebate). Not only will it run Fallout 4, it will also run Crysis and pretty much any game you throw at it. Plus it has a fancy cooler to boot!

Other Deals:

Intel NUC5i5RYK, USB 3.0, Supports M.2 SSD card, Intel HD Graphics 6000, Mini HDMI, Mini DisplayPort for $322 with free shipping (normally $357 - use coupon code: [EMCKANA66])

Asus Z97-A LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard for $130 with free shipping (normally $142)

Syba SI-PEX40098 Low Profile SATA 2 Port SATA III RAID PCI-e 2.0 x1 for $15 with free shipping (normally $21 - use coupon code: [EMCKANA24]; additional $5 Mail-in rebate)

Dell Laptop Inspiron i5558-4287BLK Intel Core i3 5015U (2.10 GHz) 4 GB Memory 500 GB HDD Intel HD Graphics 5500 15.6-inch Windows 10 Home 64-Bit for $400 with free shipping (normally $488)

Wireless Adapter for Xbox One Controllers Only Plays Nice with Windows 10

Posted: 21 Oct 2015 12:59 PM PDT

Windows 10 or bust

Xbox One Wireless Adapter

At long last, Microsoft announced that it's begun shipping its Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows to retailers, so you should be able to purchase one soon. Doing so will allow you to use your Xbox One controller with your PC, with a caveat -- you must have Windows 10.

Microsoft hints at the limited OS support in a blog post and says it outright on the adapter's product page.

"This adapter only works with Windows 10 devices," Microsoft states.

You can plug the adapter into any Windows 10 device with a USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 port, be it a laptop, desktop, all-in-one, 2-in-1, convertible, or tablet. You only need one adapter for multiple controllers -- it can handle up to eight controllers, up to four chat headsets, and two stereo headsets.

Whether or not the OS support is arbitrary or not, this is another benefit to running Windows 10, especially if you own an Xbox One console. With Windows 10, you can stream games that are perhaps better suited for controllers, like sports titles, to your Windows 10 PC and not have to mess with a USB cable.

The adapter will sell for $25, or $80 when bundled with an Xbox One wireless controller (both MSRPs).

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Western Digital Confirms Acquisition of SanDisk

Posted: 21 Oct 2015 12:17 PM PDT

Western Digital Announces 48 Percent Increase in Revenues

After rumors surfaced on Tuesday that Western Digital had plans to acquire SanDisk, both companies confirmed the news on Wednesday, reporting that Western Digital will acquire SanDisk for around $19 billion in cash and stock. The move will help secure Western Digital's future as the PC industry shifts away from mechanical disks and towards faster flash-based storage solutions.

"With this transaction, Western Digital will double its addressable market and expand its participation in higher-growth segments," Western Digital said in its announcement. "SanDisk brings a 27-year history of innovation and expertise in NVM, systems solutions and manufacturing. The combination also enables Western Digital to vertically integrate into NAND, securing long-term access to solid state technology at lower cost."

Western Digital indicated that the deal will pull together the patents of both companies, equaling over 15,000 combined (issued and pending). The deal will also produce a "broader set of products and technologies" ranging from hard disk drives to solid-state drives to flash storage products to cloud datacenter storage products. Western Digital will also benefit from SanDisk's 27-year history of working with nonvolatile memory (NVM).

According to Western Digital, Steve Milligan will continue to reign as CEO of the combined companies, which will be headquartered in Irvine, California. Sanjay Mehrotra, president and CEO of SanDisk, will join Western Digital's Board of Directors, the company said.

"This transformational acquisition aligns with our long-term strategy to be an innovative leader in the storage industry by providing compelling, high-quality products with leading technology," said Milligan. "The combined company will be ideally positioned to capture the growth opportunities created by the rapidly evolving storage industry. I'm excited to welcome the SanDisk team as we look to create additional value for all of our stakeholders, including our customers, shareholders, and employees."

Prior to the acquisition, Western Digital and SanDisk teamed up back in 2013 to create a hybrid drive that combines the platter of an HDD with the NAND flash of an SSD. The resulting WD Black SSHD product is a storage solution that consumes very little power, has the capacity of a hard drive, and aims to provide the speed of a SSD. Unfortunately, the small NAND cache ultimately results in performance that's better than a hard drive, but nowhere near the speed of pure SSDs. They do, however, fit rather nicely in thin notebooks.

In addition to the acquisition news, SanDisk said on Wednesday that it plans to continue its joint NAND venture with Toshiba, which has been ongoing over the last 15 years. The two companies said on Tuesday that they began installing equipment in the New Fab 2 facility at Yokkaichi Operations, where they will jointly manufacture 3D flash memory starting in 1Q 2016.

Western Digital said that the transaction is expected to close in Q3 2016. The deal also needs to be approved by SanDisk shareholders.

Optical Drive Cartel That Targeted HP and Dell Faces $132 Million Fine in Europe

Posted: 21 Oct 2015 11:35 AM PDT

Delayed justice

Sony ODD

Eight optical drive makers will split a collective fine of €116 million (around $131.7 million in U.S. currency) for colluding to drive up ODD prices to HP and Dell a decade ago.

The Commission said its investigation found that companies participating in the ODD cartel "organized a network of parallel bilateral contacts that pursued a single plan to avoid aggressive competition in procurement tenders organized by Dell and HP." Or in plain English, they screwed the two OEMs and system buyers over through a price fixing scheme for optical drives.

"Millions of EU citizens use devices integrating optical disc drives all the time, for example when storing their favourite pictures on a disc. Keeping these markets competitive is important. Today's decision demonstrates once again that cartelists cannot escape fines just by holding their meetings in cinemas and car parks outside Europe, while selling their products in Europe," Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said in a statement.

The eight companies named include Philips, Lite-On, their joint venture Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions, Hitachi-LG Data Storage, Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology, Sony, Sony Optiarc, and Quanta Storage.

Philips, Lite-On, and their joint venture received immunity from the group fine for spilling their guts about the cartel to antitrust authorities.

The cartel operated between June 2004 and November 2008. During that time, those involved took measures to avoid being caught, such as face-to-face meetings in places like parking lots, cinemas, and other areas where they wouldn't easily be spotted. They also tried to conceal their arrangement by using abbreviations and generic names in internal correspondence.

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Microsoft Adds $200 Nvidia GPU Option to Entry Level Surface Book

Posted: 21 Oct 2015 10:00 AM PDT

Keeping it discrete

Surface Book

Microsoft wants to ensure there's a Surface Book option for everyone, so the Redmond outfit went and added two new models, including a entry-level option with a discrete GPU.

That one runs $1,699, which is $200 higher than the base model with integrated graphics. Other than the graphics, both laptops share the same specs, including an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of solid state storage.

Prior to this addition, the least expensive Surface Book with an Nvidia GPU inside was the $1,899 model, which also includes a Core i5 processor and 8GB of RAM, but twice the storage at 256GB. That meant paying a $400 premium over the base model to step up to a discrete GPU.

Microsoft also added a new Surface Book model at the top end that has 1TB of storage. We knew it was in the cards because Microsoft mentioned it on a separate micro-site designed to help potential buyers select an appropriate model, but at the time it wasn't listed as a pre-order option on the Surface Book portal. Now it is.

In addition to 1TB of storage, the flagship Surface Book configuration tackles productivity chores with an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and discrete graphics. However, that kind of setup commands a hefty $3,199, which is more than many high-end gaming laptops. It's not really fair to compare the Surface Book to a gaming notebook since they're not in the same category, but the price tag makes it difficult not to.

Name That GPU

We still don't have concrete details on the specific GPU Nvidia is providing for the Surface Book, though according to PCWorld, it's a Maxwell-based chip with 1GB of GDDR5 memory.

A little more recently, a user who claims to work at the Microsoft Store some vitals plucked from Nvidia's control panel to Reddit. Based on what he discovered, it looks like the GPU is a custom GeForce 940M part.

GPU CUDA Cores Memory Bandwidth Bus Core Clock
950M 640 64 GB/s 128-bit 914-993 MHz
Surface Book 384 40.08 GB/s 64-bit 954 MHz
940M 384 28.8 GB/s 64-bit 928-1029 MHz
920M 384 14.4 GB/s 64-bit 954 MHz

That's certainly better than integrated graphics, but not exactly a gaming powerhouse by any stretch, especially at the Surface Book's native resolution.

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Technolust: Tesla Model S, Sony RX100 IV, and Steelcase Gesture

Posted: 21 Oct 2015 12:00 AM PDT

An amazing electric car, the best pocket camera, and the most comfy office chair

Tesla Model S

TeslaModelS

My dream chariot.

My commute is worse than most. I live in San Jose and have, up until this point, had to commute to our office in South San Francisco. For those unfamiliar with the Bay Area, that's roughly a 100-mile round trip! Normally, I take the train into work, but with our office moving into San Francisco proper (the far side of San Francisco from my direction, I might add), I'd have to bring a bike on to the train and then bike four miles round trip each day just to get to work and back to the train station. When you factor in rain (hey, it could happen in California!) and crazy San Francisco drivers that like to hit bikers, I'm not really looking forward to the commute.

What does the Tesla Model S get me that I'm missing now?

Of course, all of this would be solved if I were to have a Tesla Model S, however, as it can go well over 200 miles on a single charge. Sure, I'd have to scramble for parking in the morning as trying to find an empty parking spot in the city can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack (seriously, can someone make a find-me-the-nearest parking spot app already?), but a Tesla Model S would greatly reduce my transportation costs. Public transit and gas prices in California aren't cheap, my friends.

The nice thing about driving a Tesla in the Bay Area is that there are a ton of car-charging stations. In addition, as the car completely electric, it is, IMO, better for the environment than a gas-guzzling vehicle.

Also, the Model S is just sexy as hell if you ask me. I've got a 2008 Nissan Sentra right now, which has served me relatively well up until this point, but I'd trade it in a heartbeat if I could experience the Tesla's "Insane" mode every day, which takes you from zero to 60 miles per hour in 3.1 seconds. Vroom vroom!

I also love that the Tesla Model S can charge faster than other electric vehicles. While it may take a Nissan Leaf several hours to juice up, the Tesla Supercharger can charge a Model S halfway in just 20 minutes. I also like the innovations that Tesla is making in the driver assist space. The company's also working on a robot arm that will charge your vehicle for you, which is great when the inevitable self-driving car movement happens. With all those reasons in mind, it's easy for me to place the Tesla Model S on top of my Technolust list this week.

Sony RX100 Mark IV

SonyRX100 2

The Sony RX100 Mark IV, with its beautiful Zeiss lens.

If you've been following Maximum PC's coverage for a while, then you'll know that I'm the publication's point man when it comes to shooting photo galleries and conducting event video interviews. I'd like to think that I've been able to snap some great pics over the years, and that's largely in part due to my Sony RX100. To me, it's hands-down the best pocket camera in the world. With Sony recently releasing Mark IV in its RX100 line, I've got my eyes set on this beast of a little camera.

What does the Sony RX100 mark IV get me that I'm missing now?

What's new about this iteration? For starters, it's a 20.1MP camera, which is crazy for a camera this compact and portable. It can also shoot 4K and super slow-motion at up to 960 fps, which is 40x the frame count of standard movies. My current camera doesn't shoot high framerate, which is a shame, because I've become a big fan of silky-smooth slow-motion video.

While it may not look as fancy as a DSLR, it rivals many DSLRs in picture quality at a fraction of the size and weight, which means I wouldn't have to lug around big DSLRs nearly as much. It also offers the freedom and flexibility to adjust just about everything you'd want to adjust on a camera: ISO, aperture, shutter, and more. And in case you're feeling lazy, it's got some intelligent auto modes that can (sometimes) make you look like a professional photographer. I can really picture myself with this camera!

Steelcase Gesture

SteelcaseGesture

If you've got to sit all day, it's good if your chair is a throne.

While I try to live an active lifestyle, the fact of the matter is that I spend most of my day sitting down. The current office-style chair that I use at home is a no-name hand-me-down that an old housemate left when he moved out. One issue that I have with it is that it seems to slowly seep downward throughout the day, which forces me to pull up on the lever to raise the seat at least once a day. Other than that, it adequately does its job of keeping my buttocks off the ground. But if money were no object, adequate wouldn't cut it.

If I'm going to be sitting all day, my butt's going to want the most comfy office chair it can get its cheeks on. With that said, I'd love to get my bum on the Steelcase Gesture. Not long ago, our sister site PC Gamer recommended it as their favorite high-end gaming chair.

What does the Steelcase Gesture get me that I'm missing now?

While the chair is super expensive at roughly a grand, it offers some sweet-ass (pun intended) perks. The Gesture's backrest and seat adjust to how you move around in the chair. The backrest even tilts in and out as it moves backward.

I don't have the best posture in the world, but according to PC Gamer, this chair corrects some of those issues. It may be pricey, but if it gives your back a couple more years, perhaps it's worth the investment. You also get a lifetime warranty with the high price tag, which is greatly appreciated. Another bonus is that it allows you to adjust the armrests in multiple directions. You can raise, lower, or even angle them. This is great considering the human body comes in all different shapes and sizes.

Finally, having briefly sat in the chair, I can say that it's ultra comfy—a throne worthy of a king.

So, what are you Technolusting after? Tell us in the comments!
Posted by Shri Krishna

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