| Mother's Day Gadget Gift Guide Posted: 08 May 2013 04:45 PM PDT 
15 tech gadgets that even mom would like It's not easy being a mother, that's something every human on the planet can agree with, regardless of gender. She's the one who put Band-Aids on boo-boos as opposed to dad who would just tell you to man up (again, regardless of gender) and rub some dirt in it. She's the one who sewed up your tattered Star Wars blanket long after it had seen better days, and she's the one who couldn't sit and relax for an evening to watch a recorded movie because you broke the VCR by shoving toys and peanut butter sandwiches inside. Now that we're adults (legally speaking), Mother's Day is a time to atone for all our shenanigans as kids. Taking mom out to dinner is a good start, but what do you get her as a gift? That's where we come in. We've put together a list of 15 gadget gift ideas to show dear old mum that you appreciate her and that it's not so hard to be hip with the latest tech gear. |
| Powercolor Slaps a Passive Cooler to Radeon HD 7850 Graphics Card Posted: 08 May 2013 11:33 AM PDT  Do you hear anything? No? Good!
Looking for a challenge for your next PC build? Try piecing together a quiet system that will hardly let you know it's running without jamming your ear to the side of the case. Not only is it entirely possible to build such a system, but you can build a quiet PC that's still powerful enough to play games, it just takes a little research. One component that could help you along the way is Powercolor's new SCS3 HD7850, a passively cooled Radeon HD 7850 graphics card. The card uses G-shape heat pipes that Powercolor says provide the same cooling effect as dual U-shape heat pipes, but with an enlarged surface. It's also armed with solid copper cooling base that fully covers the GPU and lots of aluminum fins to whisk heat away from the card. Powercolor opted for high quality components to further enhance reliability, such as a Ferrite Core Choke and solid capacitors. As for standard specs, the card's core clockspeed is 850MHz, and its 1GB of GDDR5 memory runs at 1200MHz on a 256-bit bus. Unfortunately there was no mention of price or availability. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Newegg Daily Deals: Death Star Edition Posted: 08 May 2013 11:16 AM PDT |
| BitFenix Expands Prodigy Case Color Options Posted: 08 May 2013 10:46 AM PDT  A colorful mini-ITX case line.
Maybe you already saw that BitFenix offers a mini-ITX case family (Prodigy) and thought to yourself, "Self, if only the darn thing came in green or blue, I'd totally be sold!" If that sounds at all familiar, then (A) you may want to construct an aluminum foil deflector beanie to prevent BitFenix from continuing to read your mind, or (B) think up other ideas you'd like to see BitFenix implement, the company is listening. New to the Prodigy case line today are Vivid Green and Cobalt Blue color options, meaning you have up to six different colors to choose from. The others include Arctic White, Midnight Black, Atomic Orange, and Fire Red. "Of course, these new models come with all the same features that made Prodigy the mini-ITX case of choice for thousands of users around the world," BitFenix says. "From the clean, uncluttered design to the choice materials like FyberFlex Composite and SofTouch™ Surface Treatment, Prodigy Green and Blue users will experience the same BitFenix quality that has brought the original Prodigy to the top of the charts." As a refresher, the Prodigy supports up to five 3.5-inch hard drives or 2.5-inch solid state drives, graphics cards up to 320mm (12.59 inches) in length, and can even accommodate a 240mm radiator (requires removal of the FlexCage). Green and blue Prodigy cases will be available later this month. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Maxthon Adds LAN Transfer Option to Multi-Platform Cloud Browser Posted: 08 May 2013 09:52 AM PDT  Transfer files easily between desktop and mobile devices.
Like underwear, changing your browser every once in awhile can give you a fresh feeling. If you're at that point where you're ready to try something different, Maxthon's Cloud Browser is an option worth investigating. We bring it up because Maxthon let us know it just added a LAN transfer feature that allows users to transfer files of any size from their browser directly to any device on their network. "The addition of LAN transfer will make sizable improvements in users' everyday web experience," said Karl Mattson, VP of International for Maxthon. "Customers with the newest and fastest home Internet services can now move a 1 GB file from one device to another more than five times faster than the alternative 'up-over-and-down' cloud services." It's a pretty neat feature made more useful by the fact that Maxthon's Cloud Browser is available on multiple platforms, including Windows and Android (iOS and Mac coming soon). If you want to kick the brower's tires, you can download it from Maxthon's website. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Zotac Slings an Intel Core i5 Processor Into Pint Sized Zbox Posted: 08 May 2013 09:22 AM PDT  Small form factor (SFF) computing meets up with Ivy Bridge.
When you stop and think about it, the amount of power in some of today's mini PC systems is pretty amazing. Enter Zotac, a company that lives and breathes small form factor (SFF) systems under its Zbox line, which today it infused with an Intel Core i5 3470T processor. It's a respectable desktop part built around Intel's Ivy Bridge architecture with two processing cores clocked at 2.9GHz (3.6GHz via Turbo), 3MB of cache, and a rated max TDP of 35W -- plenty powerful enough for general purpose computing. The Zbox ID89 with the above mentioned processor and ID88 with a Core i3 3220T chip are both the result of user feedback, Zotac claims. "Users demanded the same performance as larger desktop PCs from our Zbox but the small size made it virtually impossible to deliver the same performance as desktop PCs. After many months of engineering and fine tuning, we came up with a solution that enables us to install desktop LGA1155 socket Intel Core i5 and i3 processors without sacrificing size, noise or power consumption that will make our end users very happy," says Carsten Berger, senior director, Zotac International. The choice of processor and price are all that separate the ID89 and ID88, both of which support up to 16GB of DDR3-1600 memory via two SO-DIMM slots. Other features include a single 2.5-inch drive bay, 4-in-1 memory card reader, two GbE LAN ports, built-in WirelessN and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, eSATA, HDMI output, and a DVI port. Both systems are also available in "Plus" SKUs, which come with 4GB of DDR3 memory and a 500GB HDD (5400 RPM) pre-installed. No word yet on how much these or the standard models cost. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| AMD Launches DDR3-2133 Memory Kit, Takes Aim at Gamers Posted: 08 May 2013 08:59 AM PDT  New RAM from AMD doesn't shun Intel users.
AMD on Wednesday announced its new Radeon RG2133 Gamer Series Memory and Radeon RAMDisk 4.1 software. According to AMD, it's RG2133 kit is the only memory on the entire planet that offers both XMP and AMP memory profiles in the same package, so no matter which platform you're rolling with -- Intel or AMD -- you can still benefit from AMD's pre-configured overclocking settings. "AMD Radeon RG2133 Gamer Series Memory is armed with features designed to outperform the competition on any task," said Roman Kyrychynskyi, product director, Graphics Business Unit, AMD. "Designed with multi-platform compatibility in mind, the AMD Radeon RG2133 brings cutting-edge technology, as well as uncompromising quality and compatibility for PC gamers." Marketing spin aside, he RG2133 kit is 16GB (4x4GB) and rated to run at 2133MHz with 10-11-11-30 timings at 1.65V. That's the fastest memory kit AMD currently offers, and like the ones before it, we believe Patriot Memory is the one building the kits. The RG2133 kit costs $155 and comes with a license for AMD's RAMDisk 64GB utility. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| NZXT 'Silently' Launches H630 Ultra-Tower Chassis Posted: 08 May 2013 07:02 AM PDT 
Silence, in this case, is not golden but matte black or glossy white PC chassis maker NZXT on Tuesday announced the release of a new case called the H630. The new H, as the El Monte-based company likes to call it, has been designed to smother the acoustic signature of the beast within. The company is particularly proud of the fact that the NZXT H630, in an industry first, supports up to two 200mm fans in the front and back of the enclosure. As far as liquid cooling solutions are concerned, the new H supports the mounting of 240mm, 280mm and 360mm radiators in both top and front positions. "Fully enclosed in steel and combined with an intelligent vent design to minimize intake noise, the H630 offers a sleek, jaw-dropping design that will leave you and your components speechless," reads the official H630 product page. "Complete with fully modular hard drive cages , a ten-port fan hub and two removable SSD mounts located behind the motherboard tray, the H630 offers comprehensive customization for all enthusiasts." Available in matte black and glossy white colors, the 31-lb ultra tower case sports a $149 price tag and comes with a two-year warranty. Here are the detailed specs: - Size: Ultra Tower
- Drive Bays:, External 5.25" x 2 (Toolless), Internal 3.5"/2.5": 8(2 x 2.5" behind MB) 2 x 3HDD cage, 1 x 2HDD cage (Fully Modular)
- Cooling System: Front 2 x 200 or 2 x 140 or 3 x 120mm ( 1 x 200mm included ), Top 2 x 200 or 2 x 140 or 3 x 120mm, Rear 1 x 140/120mm ( 1 x 140mm included ), Bottom 2 x 140/120mm, HDD Pivot 2 x 140/120mm
- Filters: Front Side(Included), Bottom Front (Included), Bottom Rear(Included)
- Radiator Support: Front 2 x 140 or 3 x 120mm, Top 2 x 140 or 3 x 120mm, Bottom 2 x 140/120, Rear 1 x 140/120mm
- Clearance: CPU Cooler 190mm, VGA Card 354mm, Cable Management 27mm
- Dimensions: 245mm(W) x 547mm(H) x 567mm(D)
- Material: SECC Steel, ABS Plastic
- Motherboard Support: ATX, Micro-ATX, XL-ATX, EATX (347mm x 272mm)
- Expansion Slots: 9
- External Electronics: 1 x Audio/Mic 2 x USB 2.0, 2 x USB 3.0, SD Card Reader With SDHC & SDXC Support, I/O Panel LED On/Off
Image Credit: NZXT Follow Pulkit on Google+ |
| Purported Pictures of Nvidia GTX 780 and GTX 770 Emerge Posted: 07 May 2013 09:52 PM PDT 
The 700-series graphics cards share the same cooling solution The rumored Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 and GTX 770 graphics cards, which were said to be arriving in late May as of last week, have allegedly had their pictures leaked to the Web. The said pictures were posted on a Chinese forum on Monday. Aesthetically, both cards are identical, save for the shoddy engravings of their names. Based on the leaked pictures, both cards seem to share the same NVTTM cooler found on the GTX Titan. But that is where the similarities end. While the GTX 780 is said to be a GK110-based part (known internally as Titan LE), the GTX 770 is rumored to be a slightly higher-clocked variant of the GTX 680 that will be based on the GK104-425 core just like the archetype. According to reports, the GTX 780 will cost somewhere between $699 and $759 and feature a GK110 core with 2496 CUDA cores, 208 TMUs, 40 ROPs, 5GB GDDR5 memory and 384/320-bit memory interface. The GTX 770 is expected to cost around $400 and pack a GK104-425 core with 1536 CUDA cores, 128 TMUs, 32 ROPs, 2GB GDDR5 memory and 256-bit memory interface. Images Courtesy: Chiphell Follow Pulkit on Google+ |
