General Gaming Article |
- Newegg Daily Deals: Mushkin Enhanced Reactor 1TB SSD, WD Black 750GB HDD, and More!
- Chrome Extension Sends Star Wars Spoilers to the Dark Side
- Score an Intel Core i5-5250U NUC for Just $290
- MacKeeper's Lazy Housekeeping Exposed Data of 13 Million Mac Users
- AMD RTG Summit: GPUOpen and Software
- Best Graphics Cards
| Newegg Daily Deals: Mushkin Enhanced Reactor 1TB SSD, WD Black 750GB HDD, and More! Posted: 15 Dec 2015 11:47 AM PST Top Deal: Imagine not having to choose between speed or capacity. Muttering that out loud might have landed you in the crazy house just a few short years ago. And now? Well, you have options like today's top deal for a Mushkin Enhanced Reactor 2.5-inch 1TB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) for $250 with free shipping (normally $310). There's enough space to install a bunch of games while enjoying read and write speeds of up to 560MB/s and 460MB/s, respectively. Other Deals: WD Black 750GB Performance Mobile Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6 Gb/s 16MB Cache 2.5-inch for $52 with free shipping (normally $59 - use coupon code: [ESCKNKS23]) G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory for $60 with free shipping (normally $75) Asus Z97-A/USB 3.1 LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX Intel Motherboard for $128 with free shipping (normally $150 - use coupon code: [EMCKNKS27]) Samsung DVD Writer24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA - OEM for $13 with free shipping (normally $18) |
| Chrome Extension Sends Star Wars Spoilers to the Dark Side Posted: 15 Dec 2015 11:37 AM PST This is the extension you're looking for (maybe) Hype is high for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and if you don't already have a ticket, chances are you're not seeing it on the day of release. That means you'll be susceptible to spoilers on the web. Want to avoid them? You can become a recluse, stocking up on food and supplies ahead of time and avoiding contact with people, the Internet, and pretty much civilization as a whole. Just think, all that time you spent dreaming about going off the grid and living off the land, now's your chance to see if it's a viable way of life, at least until the crowds die down and you get a chance to watch the new Star Wars flick for yourself. If that's too extreme, there's an extension for Google's Chrome browser that aims to help. It's called Force Block and, like it sounds, it blocks web pages that might contain spoilers. Instead of accessing the loose-lipped website that's about to ruin your day, week, or even year by revealing too much about the fate of your favorite Jedi characters (did Luke turn to the Dark Side?), you'll be met with a black background and humorous spoiler warning, like this: The extension uses some kind of "smart pattern detection" to reduce false alarms, and you can add websites to a whitelist. Even so, we found the extension errs on the side of being overzealous. That's not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you're planning on this being a short term solution, perhaps buying you a couple of days until your schedule allows a viewing. Sound like a plan? Then fire up Chrome and go here to install the extension. Otherwise, let us know when you get back on the grid. |
| Score an Intel Core i5-5250U NUC for Just $290 Posted: 15 Dec 2015 10:57 AM PST Last minute gift idea If there's one persistent complaint with Intel's NUC line, it's the price. They're intriguing little devices for general purpose computing tasks, but some users have a hard time accepting the MSRPs, as it seems Intel charges a premium for the small design. If you find yourself shaking your head in agreement, you might find the sale price on Intel's NUC5i5RYK NUC a bit more palatable. The Broadwell-based NUC is selling for $290 on Amazon, which is the lowest price we've seen for this model (fist bump to Legit Reviews for the heads up). Most other vendors are selling the same model for around $350, and some as high as $390, which is what it was going for earlier this year. Unfortunately it still doesn't come with any pre-installed DDR3L RAM, storage (there's an M.2 SATA SSD inside), or operating system, all of which will drive up the final cost. But what you do get is an Intel Core i5-5250U processor with Intel HD Graphics 6000. Other notable features include four USB 3.0 ports, two internal USB 2.0 ports (via header), infrared sensor, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GbE LAN port, mini HDMI 1.4a output, and mini DisplayPort 1.2 output. Here's the link to the discounted NUC, though keep in mind prices tend to fluctuate. While we don't have any inside information on pricing, it'd be surprising it got marked down even further. So, if this on your radar, pounce on it. |
| MacKeeper's Lazy Housekeeping Exposed Data of 13 Million Mac Users Posted: 15 Dec 2015 10:16 AM PST Really, MacKeeper? Security breaches are annoying but what's even more frustrating is when a company leaves the door wide open to hackers to poke their noses and dig around for personal information. Say hello to MacKeeper. MacKeeper bills itself as a Mac optimization and security solution, though its usefulness is open for debate -- you can find positive reviews and user complaints in the same search. Whatever the case may be, the company didn't do itself any favors when it inadvertently exposed details of 13 million customers. The way it happened is lame enough to earn it coverage here on Maximum PC where Mac content is light at best. "Kromtech [MacKeeper's parent company] is aware of a potential vulnerability in access to our data storage system. We are grateful to the security researcher Chris Vickery who identified this issue without disclosing any technical details for public use," Kromtech stated in a blog post. "We fixed this error within hours of the discovery. Analysis of our data storage system shows only one individual gained access performed by the security researcher himself. We have been in communication with Chris and he has not shared or used the data inappropriately." According to KrebsOnSecurity, Vickery stumbled upon 21GB of MacKeeper user data, which contained usernames, passwords, and other information. Interestingly, Vickery doesn't own a Mac -- he discovered the data just by browsing Shodan, a specialized search engine that indexes pretty much everything connected to the Internet. Vickery had performed a search for database servers that are both open to external connections and don't require authentication. He narrowed it down to incoming connections on port 27101, which is associated with a database management system. "There are a lot of interesting, educating and intriguing things that you can find on Shodan," Vickery told KrebsOnSecurity. "But there's a lot of stuff that should definitely not be out there, and when I come across those I try to notify the owner of the affected database." According to Vickery, Kromtech's explanation was that server misconfiguration introduced a week prior ultimately exposed 13 million accounts, both old and new. However, Vickery says he's skeptical because some of the records he found dated back to November. Kromtech says no credit card or payment information was compromised, as "billing information is not transmitted or stored on any of our servers." |
| AMD RTG Summit: GPUOpen and Software Posted: 15 Dec 2015 06:00 AM PST Open WideLast week we kicked off our coverage of AMD's RTG Summit by reporting all the happenings in the display arena; today's second part (spoiler: AMD is saving the best stuff for part three) is all about opening the doors to open source. This isn't a new thing by any means, but AMD, and RTG in particular, are taking bigger steps to opening up Radeon GPUs for use by developers. GPUOpen: Gaming ComponentsThe headliner for this is a new initiative called GPUOpen, which brings all of these efforts together under one umbrella. At its core, GPUOpen consists of several components. The gaming aspect is perhaps of greatest interest to most of us, and it consists of effects, drivers, tools, and libraries/SDKs. When RTG talks about GPUOpen, they're talking about full source code access to all of these items. Some of them are available already, many will be coming via a GitHub repository in January, and still others may take a bit longer before everything is offered as open source software. To drive home the point on how serious RTG is taking this open source business, it's useful to quickly mention the open source licensing options. Some of the licensing options are more restrictive than others, or at least have the option to be more restrictive. The MIT License that RTG uses is one of the oldest open source licenses, and it basically grants full and unrestricted access to the software. The only caveat is that the MIT License doesn't deal as well with patent/infringement issues. RTG has committed to providing all of the above on their GitHub repository in January 2016, at which point anyone with an interest in graphics software development can contribute to improving and expanding the codebase. And that's perhaps the only real concern: Is RTG doing this because it's really the right thing to do, or are they doing this as a way to reduce expenses and get the community to provide some "free" work? Regardless, we applaud the effort; we just wish AMD would have made this sort of effort several years earlier. After the discussion on the gaming aspect of GPUOpen, several developers came out to discuss how they've been able to benefit from working with AMD. The names are familiar for anyone who has followed AMD's Mantle initiative, with Firaxis, Oxide Games, and Rebellion all voicing support. These companies are some of only a few to have released Mantle versions of games (or demos of game engines), but they're not alone. Eidos also showed up, and they discussed how they were able to take the full source code for TressFX and modify it as they saw fit to create a more powerful tool for their game developers. Eidos Labs is a division in the company that works on tools for all developers to use, and in the past we saw the earlier release of TressFX used in Tomb Raider (2013). The new library that Labs has created is called PureHair, and we were shown some live demonstrations of content from both Rise of the Tomb Raider (due out on PC in Q1 2016), Hitman (due March 2016), and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (not slated for release until August 2016) where PureHair is employed. Having complete source code access to the GPU tools and software should help PC game developers to realize a greater level of control than they've previously enjoyed. AMD already started down this path with Mantle, and DX12 and Vulkan will continue that trend. The end goal is to allow console levels of hardware access to achieve greater effects and quality than you might otherwise enjoy, and GPUOpen should also make it easier for console developers to port games from PS4/Xbox One to PC and vice versa. GPUOpen: ComputeWhile the gaming aspects of GPUOpen are certainly cool, the non-gaming elements may prove even more important in the long run. GPUOpen Compute targets the HPC (High Performance Computing) and supercomputing use cases. Nvidia has been dominating this arena with their Tesla hardware for a while, and GTC hopes to sort of level the playing field in the coming years. The "Boltzmann Initiative" is RTG's big push for GPU Compute, bringing a headless 64-bit Linux driver to the market. This was all announced at the SC15 supercomputing conference in November, and as part of this the RTG showed its new HCC compiler that allows developers to directly integrate GPU-specific code into standard C++ programs. As a standards-based compiler, AMD is able to leverage the work of other open source projects, bringing things like color-coded spell checking to the compiler output with no additional effort (i.e., thanks to the open source Clang compiler features). The Boltzmann Initiative should greatly expand the number of developers who can leverage HSA (Heterogeneous System Architecture), and taking it a step further RTG has a tool called HIP that will convert CUDA code into portable C++. Given how many projects are effectively locked in to using CUDA right now, not to mention the difficulties of programming with OpenCL, HIP provides a potential exit strategy. AMDGPU: Improved Linux SupportLast on the list of topics is Linux drivers, which have been something of a sore spot for AMD GPUs for a while. The open source Radeon drivers have certainly improved over the years, but they're still not at the same level as the closed source Catalyst drivers. In the coming months, AMDGPU will be the new single base for all Linux drivers. There will still be two options, one fully open and one with a few closed source elements, but the latter will evolve to being less closed than the existing Catalyst drivers. The benefits of being more open is that the increasingly large Linux market can further integrate Radeon GPU support into various distributions, so that end users won't need to jump through as many hurdles when trying to get their GPU to work properly. In effect, the open source community will be able to update the kernel along with the GPU drivers to keep things working. This might become even more important should SteamOS gain traction, though that's still a ways off. Wrap UpThe bottom line is RTG is serious about working with developers across all markets. AMD GPUs are at the heart of all the major consoles, and they're going to leverage that experience to improve the PC side of things going forward. How this all plays out and the real benefits for end users isn't something we'll see in the next few weeks or even months, however. This is very much a long-term play where the real fruits of RTG's open source labors are going to be years in the making. |
| Posted: 01 Dec 2015 09:44 PM PST Best of the Best: Graphics CardsUpdates to the graphics card market usually run in bunches. AMD releases a new GPU and Nvidia responds, or vice versa, and then we wait for many moons before another major update rolls along. For most people, there's really only one reason you need a fast graphics card these days: gaming. Sure, professionals and supercomputers can use them as well, but here our focus is squarely on pushing pixels in the latest games. It might sound crazy to spend hundreds of dollars on a piece of hardware primarily focused on games, but if you already own a decent PC, it's often less expensive than buying a modern console. Both Nvidia and AMD offer good performance at prices to fit nearly any budget, and we've picked the top cards for four categories. Best Overall Gaming GPUOkay, we know what you're thinking: "Why on earth would you choose the GTX 980 Ti over the GTX Titan X? Isn't the Titan X faster?" You would think so, and in some cases it is, but throughout a large suite of gaming benchmarks, we've never seen more than a three percent difference at reasonable settings (meaning, the cards don't choke on the workload). What's more, there are times when the 980 Ti actually leads by a small amount. It all comes down to TDP, and with both cards targeting 250W and twice the GDDR5 on the Titan X, sometimes the little upstart wins out. So if you want to game at 4K with a single GPU but you're not willing to shell out a grand for the privilege, the 980 Ti saves you money and provides nearly identical performance. That makes it the better graphics card for almost any sane person, and it still has an impressive 6GB GDDR5 with a 384-bit memory interface. If you need more than that, the cards we've tested all overclock like champions, often by more than 20 percent over stock clocks. Prices have also fallen since the 980 Ti launched, to the point where the 980 Ti can be had for as little as $600. The Titan X is still there as a step up if you want it, and owners of that card can rest easy knowing they still have the absolute fastest GPU currently around, but there's no beating the two-pronged performance and price punch of the "smaller" GM200 cards. And if you really want to go all-out, add in another card (or two!) for some eye-searing SLI performance. The 980 Ti has other advantages over the Titan X, as manufacturers are free to deviate from the reference design as they see fit. That means you can find everything from standard dual-slot blower reference cards to monster triple-slot cards with three fans, or even hybrid solutions with factory liquid cooling. Value-added extras like G-Sync support, HDMI 2.0 connectivity, ShadowPlay, and GameStream further sweeten the deal. Until the next round of 14/16nm FinFET cards launch in 2016, GM200 reigns supreme. Best Mainstream Gaming GPUNot willing to spend quite so much money on a graphics card? For the price of a gaming console, or half the price of the 980 Ti, you can step down to the Radeon R9 390. AMD's Fiji cards ultimately couldn't dethrone the GM200, but their old Hawaii cards with some added VRAM and improved clock speeds still pack quite the punch. The 390 takes the existing 290 and doubles the memory, then gooses the RAM clocks from 5GHz to 6GHz for good measure, along with a slight increase in core clocks as well. For less than $300, you can comfortably run most games at 2560x1440 with maxed out settings, and performance is better than Nvidia's competing GTX 970 in nearly every title we've tested. All is not sunshine and roses, however. For one, the R9 390 can guzzle more power than a GTX 980 Ti while providing less performance—GCN simply isn't as efficient as Maxwell. You'll also need both a 6-pin and an 8-pin power connector (or on some cards, two 8-pin connectors), along with plenty of room in your case, as the R9 390 is a very large card. On the other hand, there's none of the 3.5GB shenanigans in the R9 390 that you'd get with a GTX 970; no sir, you get a full 8GB of GDDR5 memory here! And while load power of 250W might sound scary, when you're just surfing the web or doing mundane office tasks, the 390 is within a few watts of most other GPUs. AMD has alternatives to most of Nvidia's features as well, e.g., FreeSync instead of G-Sync, but you do miss out on HDMI 2.0 compatibility. If you're looking for a DX12 card to keep you going until the 14/16nm updates launch, the R9 390 is a great option. Best Entry-Level Gaming GPUWhen we talk about entry-level graphics cards, we have to be clear: We still want good performance at 1080p, and we're willing to pay a bit more for that privilege. If you're willing to drop to medium quality and you don't want to spend more than $100, we have one final pick below; here, we're gunning for high quality 1080p at close to 60FPS. AMD's Graphics Core Next architecture has been immensely successful. Originally launched all the way back in late 2011, even four years later many of those old GPUs remain game worthy. GCN has seen a few updates over the years, however, and the Tonga architecture at the heart of the R9 380 is nearly the latest revision—Fiji has a few extras, but nothing critical. Now sporting 4GB VRAM (avoid the 2GB VRAM models!), Tonga is more than capable of playing games at 1080p, and more importantly, it's almost always faster than Nvidia's competing GTX 960, and it easily bests the GTX 950. Fundamentally, R9 380 delivers nearly the same experience as the original GCN card, the HD 7970 (you can compare performance in our R9 380X review). That was a $550 card four years ago, so spending $180 for the same performance today—slightly higher in most cases, and with substantially lower power draw and noise levels—strikes us as great progress. Note that this isn't the fully enabled Tonga chip (that's the R9 380X), but you're only missing out on the last five percent or so of performance, and you're saving nearly twenty percent. Meanwhile, the R9 380 bests the GTX 950 by 30 percent on average while leading by as much as 60 percent in games like Shadow of Mordor, all while costing 20 percent more, giving it the net victory. Having twice as much memory is also more forward looking, though the GTX 960 at least is available in 4GB trim as well. Best Ultra Budget Gaming GPUWe know where you're coming from: $600 for a graphics card is fantasy land, $300 is way too much, and even $180 would break the bank. How about something closer to $100? Why yes, we can go that low. To be clear, there's compromise involved. You're not going to be gunning for 1080p at high quality at this price point, but 1080p at medium quality should be doable in most games, or you can dig into your backlog of games and play titles from a few years ago at higher quality settings. There's some good news, however, like the fact that the MSI GTX 750 Ti we've selected doesn't require any form of external power. If you have a PCIe x16 slot on your system, you should be able to plop in the 750 Ti and start gaming. The card pulls all of its whopping sub-75W power over the PCIe slot, which means cooling isn't much of a problem either. We're aiming pretty far down the totem pole at this point, so where the top card has 2880 CUDA cores and an entry-level GTX 950 still packs 768 cores, the 750 Ti only has 640 cores. These are Maxwell 1.0 cores as well (GM107 if you prefer), which means you lose some of the newer features like lossless delta color compression. It's still technically a DX12 part, but we're skeptical that will prove of much use on these cards. Thankfully, it's going to be way faster than any integrated graphics chip, and you get all of this along with 2GB GDDR5 memory for $112. If you're hoping to go under $100, we have to advise caution. Yes, there are cards available, but many of them start cutting so many features that you're only going to end up slightly faster than a modern APU like AMD's A10-7800. Maybe you have an older CPU, though, in which case you could pick up something like a GT 740 1GB or R7 240 2GB, but at that point you're really scraping the bottom of the barrel. Do yourself a favor and try to save up for at least a $100-class graphics card. The Road AheadThese are some great graphics cards and we have no qualms recommending them, but new technology is always just around the corner. And that corner right now is looking like Q1/Q2 2016, when we'll see the first 14nm and 16nm FinFET GPUs produced. Why should that matter? A short bit of history and some physics will help us out. Our current GPUs are all being made using TSMC's 28nm process technology. In the past, every two years or so we'd see a shrink that would help improve performance by allowing for more transistors within the same space along with improving power and clock speeds. Two years ago, TSMC hit 20nm, but it was a process geared more towards smartphones than GPUs, and it was late. Apparently it was so underwhelming that both AMD and Nvidia decided to stick with 28nm and wait for the next process node. That node is coming via GlobalFoundries (14nm) and TSMC (16nm) in 2016, and it's not just a process shrink as it will also add FinFET. Intel did this at 22nm and gave us 65W desktop Ivy Bridge with some impressive performance, but it's taken longer for other chip foundries to make the switch. The short summary is that the combination of a 1.5X process node jump and FinFET could very possibly double graphics performance at every price point next year. So if you're willing to play the waiting game for a bit longer, the move to 14/16nm FinFET in 2016 will likely give us the biggest single jump in graphics performance that we've seen in more than a decade. Even if you don't grab a newer part, it should also push prices down quite a bit on existing GPUs. |
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