General Gaming Article |
- Newegg Daily Deals: MSI GeForce GTX 970, EVGA 850W Modular PSU, and More!
- TigerDirect Clearing Out Inventory with Sitewide Sale, Future Uncertain
- Windows 10 Races Past 200 Million Installs (Unofficially)
- FCC Report Notes Threefold Jump in Average Broadband Speeds Since 2011
- A Phantom, a Motherboard, DDR4 & Acoustic Treatment
- Asus Invites You to Overclock and Chill with Maximus VIII Formula Motherboard
| Newegg Daily Deals: MSI GeForce GTX 970, EVGA 850W Modular PSU, and More! Posted: 30 Dec 2015 11:45 AM PST Top Deal: Now that you've stocked up your library of games through Steam's Winter Sale, it might be time to think about upgrading your GPU. That way you can crank up the eye candy and enjoy all the titles have to offer. Need direction? Check out today's top deal for a MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support G-SYNC Support Video Card for $310 with free shipping (normally $340; additional $20 Mail-in rebate). It's a fast card with a custom cooling solution that moves more air and runs quieter than reference. Other Deals: WD Black 2TB Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6 Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5-inch for $110 with free shipping (normally $120 - use coupon code: [ESCKNPA23]) Acer H6 Series Black 23-inch 5ms (GTG) HDMI Widescreen LED Backlight LED Backlit LCD Monitor, IPS Panel for $130 with $1 shipping (normally $200) EVGA 80 Plus Gold 850 W ECO Mode Fully Modular NVIDIA SLI Ready and Crossfire Support Continuous Power Supply for $130 with free shipping (normally $150; additional $10 Mail-in rebate) Silicon Power 32GB Jewel J80 USB 3.0 Flash Drive, Titanium for $9 with $1 shipping (normally $11 - use coupon code: [EMCKNPA24]) |
| TigerDirect Clearing Out Inventory with Sitewide Sale, Future Uncertain Posted: 30 Dec 2015 10:50 AM PST Out with the old and in with the new? Something strange is happening at TigerDirect, the online retailer that was once owned by Systemax (more on that in a moment). If you head over to TigerDirect's website, you'll notice a sitewide sale with items marked down by up to 50 percent. Adding to the intrigue, the online retailer is making clear that all sales are final with no returns being accepted. This all begs the question, is TigerDirect going out of business? Others around the web have wondered the same thing and attempted to contact TigerDirect for an answer, but haven't heard back. Posing as a customer, we spoke with an online chat representative and noted that several items are now out of stock. We asked if there would be more inventory in the future or if TigerDirect was going out of business. The first rep we spoke with said TigerDirect was not going out of business, that it's simply getting rid of old inventory and will replenish its stock. A second rep wasn't so sure. "Unfortunately, we do not have further information on that matter yet. We are now liquidating our stocks for we are now in transition since TigerDirect has been sold to PCM," a second rep told us. PCM, otherwise known as PCMall, announced in November that it was acquiring certain Business to Business (B2B) assets of Systemax's North American Technology Group (NATG), including the TigerDirect brand, for $14 million in cash. PCM also hired 400 of TigerDirect's employees. "After we absorb the costs of bringing on this sales team, we expect their performance to ramp during 2016, and we expect the acquisition to contribute nicely to our revenue and to be meaningfully accretive to our 2016 bottom line operating results beginning in the second quarter. We should be able to give more color on these wonderful prospects as we integrate this acquisition," said Frank Khulusi, PCM's Chairman and CEO. The press release also revealed that Systemax would close its three remaining retail stores and its NATG distribution center after completing the sale. But as for TigerDirect, it's not clear if PCM will close it down or leverage its brand name recognition, just as Systemax did with its Circuit City and CompUSA acquisitions. PCM might not even know what it's going to do with TigerDirect. If it does, it doesn't appear real keen on sharing that information. So, we'll have to wait and see. As for the sitewide sale, many of the sections are picked over -- you're not going to find a killer deal on a GeForce Titan X. However, there are items like monitors, printers, flash drives, and so forth still available. |
| Windows 10 Races Past 200 Million Installs (Unofficially) Posted: 30 Dec 2015 10:08 AM PST Ending the year on a high note The last official count from Microsoft regarding the number of Windows 10 installations came in October. At the time, Microsoft said its latest OS had raced past 110 million installs, an impressive number considering it came out on July 29. And now? Unofficially, the number has jumped to more than 200 million installs. That's according to the folks at WinBeta and their contacts. If accurate, it represents an average of 40 million new installs per month for each of the five months Windows 10 has been available. It's the kind of start Microsoft needed in order to have a shot at seeing its vision through to the end. Microsoft's plan is for Windows 10 to be the last monolithic version of Windows ever, with frequent updates and upgrades in place of brand new Windows builds. To help matters along, Microsoft made Windows 10 a free upgrade to Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 users for the first year. More recently, it's been aggressively pushing the free upgrade route, perhaps being too aggressive in some cases in which it might appear that users don't have a choice in the matter (they do). Why give the OS away for free? Microsoft's goal of selling users on interoperability among gadgets from different device categories and the paid services that tie into them (Office 365, OneDrive, etc) requires a large footprint. It also attracts developers to the fold. Or if going the conspiracy theory route, it gives Microsoft a larger spying platform and/or puts users in a walled garden. Ultimately, Microsoft hopes to have 1 billion devices running Windows 10 within the first three years. |
| FCC Report Notes Threefold Jump in Average Broadband Speeds Since 2011 Posted: 30 Dec 2015 09:44 AM PST Broadband speeds on the rise The United States hasn't caught up with countries like France, Canada, Germany, and Japan in average broadboad speeds, but things are at least moving in the right direction, the latest report by the Federal Communications Commission suggests. According to the latest version of the FCC's ongoing nationwide performance study of fixed broadband services -- the fifth of its kind -- the average download speed in the U.S. has grown more than threefold in a three-year period, going from less than 10Mbps in 2011 to just over 30Mbps in September 2014. Advertised maximum speeds have also been rising at a steady clip.The average max in 2014 was 72Mbps, up 94 percent from the 37.2Mbps average a year prior, the FCC says. Much of that is due to the deployment DOCSIS 3. Cable subscribers have the most to brag about. Cable ISPs increased their maximum download speeds from 12-20Mbps in March 2011 to 50-105Mbps in September 2014. Meanwhile, DSL providers have remained stagnant since 2011 with most offering maximum downloads speeds of 12Mbps or less. Despite the disappointing DSL results and the U.S. ranking 25 out of 39 nations in 2013 (yes, the FCC's data is kind of all over the place), the FCC is optimistic about the advancements being made in broadband. One of the highlights is that actual speeds experienced by most broadband subscribers (save for DSL) are pretty close to or even exceed what's being advertised. "Today's report confirms that advances in network technology are yielding significant improvements in broadband speeds and quality," said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler (PDF). "Faster, better broadband will unleash new innovations and new services to improve the lives of the American people. This comprehensive assessment of broadband performance helps to keep consumers informed and hold ISPs accountable." Consumers are definitely showing an interest in faster speeds. Only a small percentage of participating panelists in the FCC's study who subscribed to 15-30Mbps broadband in 2013 ended up downgrading the following year, while the rest migrated to higher service tiers. |
| A Phantom, a Motherboard, DDR4 & Acoustic Treatment Posted: 30 Dec 2015 12:00 AM PST In the world of the tech-lusting enthusiast, there's never a shortage of stuff you can long for. When you splurge on one piece of gear, you just can't help but want another. So, what's got my juices flowing this week? Check it out. The PhantomI consider myself quite an audio nut. I don't know if I would outright say that I'm an audiophile but I do appreciate quality audio equipment, and my ears know when I'm listening to quality hardware. Then there's the snake-oil issue. Things like $3,500 USB cables, with outrageous claims and even more unbelievable "reviews" about them. Thankfully, I don't fall in the gullible category. Things for me have to be a bit more... reasonable. Which is why there's something to be said for the possibility of replacing a sound setup that could run you over $10,000 with something much less expensive that produces much more. The company is a bit obscure in the mainstream, but in the high-end audio world, Devialet is well known. Based in France, it has a knack for quite literally changing perceived notions of what audio components should be. Which is why when Devialet announced the Phantom speaker, it literally pulled the rug out from under the audio world. The Phantom is unlike any other speaker system ever made. It's a hermetically sealed system that looks something straight out of a sci-fi movie. The unit weighs roughly 26 pounds and delivers what Devialet calls "implosive sound." What does that mean?  The structure of the Phantom is extremely rigid. There are two low-frequency "drivers" that flank the sides of the giant pill, but I wouldn't even call them drivers in the traditional sense. The bass modules contain negative pressure within the driver enclosure to "pull" back the drivers, which require quite of bit of power to operate. The negative pressure improves the movement response of the drivers significantly, allowing them to oscillate extremely fast, and extremely precisely. This enables the Phantom to deliver incredibly tight bass. The Phantom will respond, with pleasure, down to 16Hz, which is lower than your typical subwoofer can ever dream of going. The base Phantom delivers 750 watts RMS power at 99 dB, and the Silver Phantom makes you truly feel its nuclear-like performance with 3,000 watts at 105 dB. In case you were wondering, this is loud. And when playing loud, the Phantom, thanks to its technology, produces no perceivable distortion.  There's a lot of pseudo science, snake oil, and marketing in the audio world. The Phantom, though, is entirely based on real science and engineering, which makes me appreciate what it can do even more. If you have a hi-fi store somewhere near where you live and they have the Phantom available for demo, go check it out. So what can I do with the Phantom that I can't do now?Well, I could replace obscene amounts of audio equipment that cost ridiculous amounts of money with a Phantom. For movies, though, the Phantom has lag, so until Devialet improves this with an update, the Phantom is more suited to just music. The base Phantom costs $1,990, which is very reasonable for what it's capable of and what it sounds like. For true stereo operation, you'll have to get two Phantoms and use Devialet's Dialog module, but trust me when I say just one will give you immense audio jollies. I won't go into details about its incredible sound here though--you'll just have to listen to one for yourself. I'd go out on a limb, though, and say that anyone who's ever listened to a Phantom walked away with a Joker-like grin on their face. Mother of motherboardsMotherboards these days are commodity products. There are so many to choose from, and every manufacturer is slapping on every feature they can think of. Everything from "premium audio" DACs to RGB lighting. I suppose in a market so packed with offerings, you have to differentiate yourself somehow. Which is why my favorite motherboard is ASUS's X99 E-WS. Those who have used ASUS's WS line know that this is a no-nonsense line of motherboards. There are no run-of-the-mill components here, just pure quality and a raw focus on stability. The X99 E-WS from ASUS is one such board. Just one look at it tells you that this mobo means serious business. It's weird to call a motherboard beautiful, but that's what I would call the X99 E-WS. There's no fancy blocky heatsinks, just ones that really work. There's no RGB lighting, just components that keep on beating during the most stressful situations. ASUS tests and validates its WS series rigorously. There are a lot of extra steps taken with this series to ensure that a system is always running at peak performance and stability. We hope to get one in for a detailed look. So what can I do with the ASUS X99 E-WS that I can't do already?Right now, I use the X99 M-WS from ASUS, which is the micro-ATX version of the same board. It's small and works well for me. But if I wanted to do, say, triple-SLI, I'd have to go for the E-WS. It has seven x16 slots, four of which are full x16. The rest are x8 slots. The X99 E-WS also has 8 DIMM slots instead of the 4 on my M-WS, which would allow me to go up to a mind numbing 128GB of RAM. M.2 NVMe support? Check. Ten rear USB 3.0 ports? Check. And you even get dual Intel 1GbE ports, not the Realtek stuff. DDR4 DominationWhat goes perfectly with the ASUS X99 E-WS? My pick would be Corsair's Dominator Platinum DDR4 2800MHz DIMMs. I've always been a big fan of memory modules from Corsair. In the recent years, I've used modules from Kingston's HyperX line, which are fantastic, as well as Samsung's legendary "green" DDR3 ultra low-profile sticks, but I'm leaning now toward the Dominator Platinums because well, they just look so good.  Besides using high-quality chips, the Doms are very well made and go well with essentially any motherboard. Crafty modders have taken it upon themselves to remove the metallic head-piece from the Dominators and re-anodized them in other fantastic colors. For me, I'll stick with the silver as it works really well with the X99 E-WS. Perhaps gunmetal would be nice, too. Corsair: hint! Critical specs include:
What can I do with the Corsair Dominator Platinums that I can't do now?Maximum PC used these modules in our Dream Machine 2015, which says a lot about our confidence in Corsair's memory. For me, I'd go for the full 128GB kit. Unfortunately, that means it's going to be pricey. How much? You can snatch up the 128GB pack from Corsair for an eye-watering $1,265. That 128GB pack can't really help me do anything more than I am doing right now, to be honest. I already have 64GB of RAM. Although I do use up a good chunk of that reserve, I highly doubt I'll need 128GB anytime soon. But honestly, excess is sometimes just simply fun. Bonus: Acoustic Room TreatmentCircling back to audio nirvana, there's one thing every serious audio monitor user should have in their room: acoustic room treatment. Room acoustics heavily impact what you actually hear. If you're in an untreated room and feel like you're listening to accurate audio, think again. Reflections, flutter, and room resonance all play a part in coloring what your ears hear. To get accurate audio, you'll want to treat your room. We find that a lot of home studios only go with foam absorbers. While this is typically a decent start, it's a long way from creating an ideal listening environment. You'll want to use phase-coherent diffusers along with absorbers, or products that do both. If you want to start on this path, there's no better place to look than Acoustic Surfaces. The company makes amazing acoustic treatment products for professional studios, theater, and auditorium installations.  What can acoustic room treatment do for me that I don't have now?Better audio, basically. Again, you'll want to use a combination of absorbers and diffusers. If you want to go all out and you have the space, installing ceiling panels (called clouds) and bass traps in your corners will improve your audio experience further. Acoustic Surfaces also has a full range of other acoustic treatment products. If you have equipment in your studio or room that produces fan noise, you'll find the company's echo eliminator pads a revelation. I have a rack of servers in my studio and was desperate to silence them, and moving them out of the room wasn't an option. Installing the pads was super easy by way of a couple of 3M Command double-sided mounting stickers, and the results have been really impressive. I was skeptical at first of the difference I would hear, but now I'm a true believer. I'll cover more about acoustic room treatment in an upcoming feature story. |
| Asus Invites You to Overclock and Chill with Maximus VIII Formula Motherboard Posted: 29 Dec 2015 11:00 AM PST Let the liquid cooling begin Asus ROG just added another high end motherboard for Skylake builds to its lineup, the Maximus VIII Formula. Based on Intel'z Z170 Express chipset, this ATX motherboard sports an LGA 1151 socket, four DIMM slots supporting up to 64GB of DDR4-3733 (OC) RAM, and exclusive CrossChill EK cooling. The folks at Asus partnered with EK Water Blocks to develop the CrossChill EK, a hybrid cooling block that offers air or liquid cooling for up to a 23C temperature reduction. It consists of a copper channel with standard G1/4-inch thread fittings, giving it compatibility with many existing liquid-cooling setups. Based on the press photos we've seen, it's a mean looking board with ROG armor, precision laser engraving, and 28 integrated LEDs for bling. Beneath all that bling is a top-tier feature-seet consisting of three PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots, three PCI-E 2.0 x1 slots, U.2 and M.2 sockets for fast storage options, two SATA Express ports, eight SATA 6Gbps ports, GbE LAN, a pair of USB 3.1 (one Type-A and one Type-C) ports, ten USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, ROG SupremeFX 2015 8-channel HD audio, integrated 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and the list goes on. This is a board that you buy with the intent of overclocking (it's not required, of course), which if you're feeling lazy can be done with a click of a button. Asus claims that its 5-way optimization scheme will squeeze the most performance while balancing efficiency if going that route. Asus didn't say when its ROG Maximus VIII Formula will be available or for how much, but in vague terms, we suspect it will arrive soon and cost a lot of pretty pennies. |
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