LG Launches Optimus F5 Android Smartphone
Subject: General Tech | May 3, 2013 - 11:00 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: smartphone, optimus f5, LG, jelly bean, Android
LG has launched a new Android smartphone with 4G LTE connectivity. The new LG Optimus F5 is available in France now, and will be rolled out worldwide later this month. It measures 126 x 64.5 x 93mm and comes in either glossy white or piano black. Its specifications are not anything surprising, but this is not a new flagship smartphone. Rather, LG is positioning the mobile device as an affordable LTE smartphone.
On the outside, the LG Optimus F5 features a 4.3” IPS qHD display with a resolution of 960x540 (256 PPI). Above the display is a 1.3MP webcam while the rear of the smartphone hosts a 5MP camera with autofocus.
Internally, the LG Optimus F5 is powered by a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC clocked at 1.2GHz, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage. LG is using a beefy 2,150 mAh battery which should give it decent battery life even when connected to 4G LTE networks. The phone also supports microSD cards for expandable storage up to 32GB. The Optimus F5 is running Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean.
The new Optimus F5 smartphone will be available soon in France and worldwide towards the end of May. LG has not yet released specific pricing information, however.
Enermax Power Supplies Are Ready For New Haswell CPU Sleep States
Subject: General Tech | May 3, 2013 - 08:59 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: zero load, PSU, Intel, haswell, enermax, cpu, c6, c5
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Intel’s upcoming Haswell processors would feature new C6 and C7 sleep states that draw as little as 0.05A on the 12V rail. Such low power draw on the 12V rail may cause problems for existing power supplies, which are not accustomed to facilitating such low power draw (especially on the 12V line). In an attempt to clear up a bit of the confusion for its customers, Enermax has put together a list of its mid-range and high-end power supplies that meet the standards required to support the new low-power processor states.
According to the press release (seen below), the Enermax power supplies use so-called Zero Load technology that uses a DC to DC converter to support low wattage power draw. This technology has been in Enermax power supplies since the Revolution85+ series which was launched in 2008. The company claims that the power supplies deliver “rock solid voltages” down to 0W load, which is within the Intel specification of 0.05A for the CPU alone.
The list of compatible Enermax power supplies is as follows:
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Enermax Platimax Series
- Platimax 500W (EPM500AWT)
- Platimax 600W (EPM600AWT)
- Platimax 750W (EPM750AWT)
- Platimax 850W (EPM850EWT)
- Platimax 1000W (EPM1000EWT)
- Platimax 1200W (EPM1200EWT)
- Platimax 1500W (EPM1500EGT)
-
Enermax Revolution87+ Series
- Revolution87+ 550W (ERV550AWT-G)
- Revolution87+ 650W (ERV650AWT-G)
- Revolution87+ 750W (ERV750AWT-G)
- Revolution87+ 850W (ERV850EWT-G)
- Revolution87+ 1000W (ERV1000EWT-G)
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Enermax MaxRevo Series
- MaxRevo 1200W (EMR1200EWT)
- MaxRevo 1350W (EMR1350EWT)
- MaxRevo 1500W (EMR1500EGT)
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Enermax Triathlor Series
- Triathlor 385W (ETA385AWT)
- Triathlor 450W (ETA450AWT)
- Triathlor 550W (ETA550AWT)
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Enermax Revolution85+ Series
- Revolution85+ 850W (ERV850EWT)
- Revolution85+ 920W (ERV920EWT)
- Revolution85+ 950W (ERV950EWT)
- Revolution85+ 1020W (ERV1020EWT)
- Revolution85+ 1050W (ERV1050EWT)
- Revolution85+ 1250W (ERV1250EGT)
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Enermax Modu87+ Series
- Modu87+ 500W (EMG500AWT)
- Modu87+ 600W (EMG600AWT)
- Modu87+ 700W (EMG700AWT)
- Modu87+ 800W (EMG800EWT)
- Modu87+ 900W (EMG900EWT)
-
Enermax Pro87+ Series
- Pro87+ 500W (EPG500AWT)
- Pro87+ 600W (EPG600AWT)
The list includes power supplies from a number of series over the past few years that range from 500W to 1250W. I'm sure between now and the launch of Haswell in the first week of June that other PSU manufacturers will be announcing which models are compatible and which are not. Stay tuned to PC Perspective as more information becomes available!
Overclocker Pushes An Intel Haswell Core i7-4770K CPU Beyond 7GHz
Subject: Processors | May 3, 2013 - 06:45 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: z87, overclocking, Intel, haswell, core i7 4770k, 7ghz
OCaholic has spotted an interesting entry in the CPU-Z database. According to the site, an overclocker by the handle of “rtiueuiurei” has allegedly managed to push an engineering sample of Intel’s upcoming Haswell Core i7-4770K processor past 7GHz.
If the CPU-Z entry is accurate, the overclocker used a BCLK speed of 91.01 and a multiplier of 77 to achieve a CPU clockspeed of 7012.65MHz. The chip was overclocked on a Z87 motherboard along with a single 2GB G.Skill DDR3 RAM module. Even more surprising than the 7GHz clockspeed is the voltage that the overclocker used to get there: an astounding 2.56V according to CPU-Z.
From the information Intel provided at IDF Beijing, the new 22nm Haswell processors feature an integrated voltage regulator (IVR), and the CPU portion of the chip’s voltage is controlled by the Vccin value. Intel recommends a range of 1.8V to 2.3V for this value, with a maximum of 3V and a default of 1.8V. Therefore, the CPU-Z-reported number may actually be correct. On the other hand, it may also just be a bug in the software due to the unreleased-nature of the Haswell chip.
Voltage questions aside, the frequency alone makes for an impressive overclock, and it seems that the upcoming chips will have decent overclocking potential!
Noctua Releases PWM Controlled NF-A14 140mm Case Fan
Subject: Cases and Cooling | May 3, 2013 - 06:32 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: pwm, noctua, nf-a14, fan
Austrian PC Cooling manufacturer Noctua has released a new fan called the NF-A14. The new fan is PWM controlled and aimed at case or watercooling radiator cooling. The NF-A14 uses a square frame and features higher static pressure than the NF-P13 along with a maximum speed of 1500RPM.
The fan kit comes with the fan itself, mounting screws, a rubber mounting system to reduce vibration, a 30mm extension cable, low-noise adapter, and a 4-pin Y splitter cable that allows two PWM fans to be connected to a single motherboard fan header. The new Noctua NF-A14 comes with a 6 year warranty.
You can find more information on Noctua’s website as well as the full press release after the break.
In other cooling news:
- Passively Cooled GTX 570 SLI Setup @ Bit-Tech.net
- Impactics D1NU1 Passive NUC Case HSF @ FanlessTech
- Noctua NH-L12 CPU HSF Review @ ChipLoco
Podcast #249 - Corsair 350D, Frame Rating in 4K, the Oculus Rift and more!
Subject: General Tech | May 2, 2013 - 02:59 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: podcast, video, Indiegogo, corair, obsidian, 350d, mATX, frame rating, 4k, titan, 7990, 690, Oculus, rift, VR, 3d, amd, amd fx, vishera, hUMA, hsa
PC Perspective Podcast #249 - 05/02/2013
Join us this week as we discuss the Corsair 350D, Frame Rating in 4K, the Oculus Rift and more!
You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.
The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!
- iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
- RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
- MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file
Hosts: Josh Walrath, Allyn Malventano, Scott Michaud and Morry Teitelman
Program length: 1:04:02
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Week in Review:
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0:05:00 Corsair Obsidian 350D Case
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0:10:30 AMD Details hUMA for HSA
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-
News items of interest:
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0:38:30 Oculus Rift hands on testing
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0:44:00 AMD Refreshes FX CPUs
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Ryan: Windows Movie Maker lets you record webcam videos!
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Jeremy: anti-pick - hotels that don't offer a RJ45 jack in the rooms!
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Morry: Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon
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1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
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Closing/outro
Deal for May 2nd - Samsung Galaxy S4 [AT&T] @ $168
Subject: General Tech | May 2, 2013 - 01:23 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: deals
Are you in the same boat as Howard Hughes and can't stand the thought of touching anything? Samsung's new Galaxy S4 is right up your alley then, as you don't even have to touch the screen to use the phone, simply gesturing near the screen works just as well as touching it. Not only that but you can benefit from the long list of new features integrated with the new Galaxy, for less than you would otherwise pay.
Samsung Galaxy S4 [AT&T]
Amazon now offers for the Samsung Galaxy S4 Smartphone for AT&T starting at just $168 with free shipping (2-4 weeks). Requires new or upgrading two year contract. Available in White Frost (pictured) and Black Myst. You save about $32 off the retail price.
Corsair Clarifies Upcoming Investment Deal With Francisco Partners
Subject: General Tech | May 2, 2013 - 01:04 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: private equity, investments, corsair
Corsair recently reached out to the technology community to clarify the news of a new investor interested in the company. It turns out that Corsair is in talks with a private equity firm called Francisco Partners. The PC peripherals company wants to expand by making strategic acquisitions of smaller companies in the gaming and audio industry. In order to do that, Corsair needs cash, and without going public, one way to get that is to go with a private equity firm.
Although it will not be official for a couple of weeks, according to Corsair, Francisco Partners will invest as much as $75 million in Corsair and become a shareholder in the privately-held company. The deal is simply a monetary one, with Francisco Partners providing needed cash in exchange for a share of the company. No management changes are planned, and the new investor will not become the majority shareholder according to Corsair.
Corsair recently acquired both gaming peripheral company Raptor Gaming and Simple Audio, a company that provides multi-room streaming audio solutions. Corsair plans to further aggressively pursue the gaming and music/audio markets in addition to its existing case, power supply, fan, and other PC peripheral lineups aimed at enthusiasts. I'm excited to see where Corsair goes from here as it grows and diversifies its business and product lines.
Microsoft Rumored To Be Working On Cloud-Based "Mohoro" Windows Desktop Service
Subject: General Tech | May 2, 2013 - 05:07 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: windows, thin client, remote desktop, mohoro, microsoft, cloud computing, azure
Microsoft may be working on its own cloud-based desktop service according to sources speaking with ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley. The rumored service codenamed “Mohoro” would build the Windows desktop SaaS (Software as a Service) solution on top of the company’s Windows Azure cloud computing platform. With Mohoro, Microsoft would provide Azure virtual machines running the Windows operating system. Users would then be able to remote into the desktop on any Internet connected computer or mobile device (with remote desktop support) and get access to their own desktop and applications.
The Windows desktop... coming soon to a cloud near you?
Windows Azure users can already run virtual machines with Linux or Windows OSes, but in the case of Windows Microsoft only allows server versions to be run. Incensing restrictions prevent users from loading consumer operating systems such as Windows XP, 7 or 8 onto the virtual machines. The rumored Mohoro service would apparently relax the licensing restrictions and allow businesses or consumers to deploy client operating systems running on the Azure VMs. It would basically take the need for enterprises to run their own hardware and move it to “the cloud” behind a Microsoft-run subscription service.
It is an interesting idea that I could see universities and businesses looking into. The Azure platform is actually pretty good, from what little testing I've done on it. However, I think that for many consumers a local install is preferable. Although syncing applications and files can be a pain if you have multiple machines, you retain control of your data and are not bound to needing an always-on Internet connection to access that data and run applications. Further, latency issues and bandwidth caps with home Internet connections make a paid-for Azure desktop less appealing to home users. I think Microsoft would have a hard-enough time selling users a subsciption for a local/traditional Windows installation, much less a subscription for an OS requiring an always-on Internet connection to use their computer.
Would you use an Azure-powered desktop as your main OS?
EFF Report Outlines Which Companies Stand Up For Users' Data Privacy Rights
Subject: General Tech | May 2, 2013 - 02:01 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: Privacy, eff, data privacy, consumer rights
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) released its annual Who Has Your Back report, which highlights Internet companies that (do or do not) defend user’s online privacy rights. The EFF looks at the policies and actions of several major Internet companies, including ISPs, cloud storage, email, and social networks (among others). The companies are graded on various criteria such as whether the companies require a subpoena or warrant before releasing information, lobby congress for stricter data privacy laws, and defend their users’ privacy rights in court.
This year, the EFF found some surprising results. Google is no longer the leader of the pack due to no longer providing transparent data requests to users on the same level that it did in the past. Twitter and ISP Sonic.net are actually the top ranked companies. In a less surprising twist, Verizon is actually the worst company of the bunch along with MySpace with failing grades in each category! And that is just the tip of the spear, with companies like Apple and AT&T being worse than I thought and Foursquare and WordPress doing better than I expected.
Data privacy is of supreme importance, and i hope that these EFF reports prod all companies to do better (and note the companies that are doing right by their users). It is definitely worth a read. You can find the full report in PDF form here.
Do you use any of these services, and are you happy with their data privacy efforts?
The Intel HD Graphics are joined by Iris
Intel gets a bad wrap on the graphics front. Much of it is warranted but a lot of it is really just poor marketing about the technologies and features they implement and improve on. When AMD or NVIDIA update a driver or fix a bug or bring a new gaming feature to the table, they are sure that every single PC hardware based website knows about and thus, that as many PC gamers as possible know about it. The same cannot be said about Intel though - they are much more understated when it comes to trumpeting their own horn. Maybe that's because they are afraid of being called out on some aspects or that they have a little bit of performance envy compared to the discrete options on the market.
Today might be the start of something new from the company though - a bigger focus on the graphics technology in Intel processors. More than a month before the official unveiling of the Haswell processors publicly, Intel is opening up about SOME of the changes coming to the Haswell-based graphics products.
We first learned about the changes to Intel's Haswell graphics architecture way back in September of 2012 at the Intel Developer Forum. It was revealed then that the GT3 design would essentially double theoretical output over the currently existing GT2 design found in Ivy Bridge. GT2 will continue to exist (though slightly updated) on Haswell and only some versions of Haswell will actually see updates to the higher-performing GT3 options.
In 2009 Intel announced a drive to increase graphics performance generation to generation at an exceptional level. Not long after they released the Sandy Bridge CPU and the most significant performance increase in processor graphics ever. Ivy Bridge followed after with a nice increase in graphics capability but not nearly as dramatic as the SNB jump. Now, according to this graphic, the graphics capability of Haswell will be as much as 75x better than the chipset-based graphics from 2006. The real question is what variants of Haswell will have that performance level...
I should note right away that even though we are showing you general performance data on graphics, we still don't have all the details on what SKUs will have what features on the mobile and desktop lineups. Intel appears to be trying to give us as much information as possible without really giving us any information.
Possible power supply issues for Intel Haswell CPUs
Subject: Cases and Cooling, Processors | May 1, 2013 - 03:07 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: power supply, Intel, idle, haswell, c7, c6
I came across an interesting news story posted by The Tech Report this morning that dives into the possibility of problems with Intel's upcoming Haswell processors and currently available power supplies. Apparently, the new C6 and C7 idle power states that give the new Haswell architecture benefits for low power scenarios place a requirement of receiving a 0.05 amps load on the 12V2 rail. (That's just 50 milliamps!) Without that capability, the system can exhibit unstable behavior and a quick look at the power supply selector on Intel's own website is only listing a couple dozen that support the feature.
This table from VR-Zone, the source of the information initially, shows the difference between the requirements for 3rd (Ivy Bridge) and 4th generation (Haswell) processors. The shift is an order of magnitude and is quite a dramatic change for PSU vendors. Users of Corsair power supplies will be glad to know that among those listed with support on the Intel website linked above were mostly Corsair units!
A potential side effect of this problem might be that motherboard vendors simply disable those sleep states by default. I don't imagine that will be a problem for PC builders anyway since most desktop users aren't really worried about the extremely small differences in power consumption they offer. For mobile users and upcoming Haswell notebook designs the increase in battery life is crucial though and Intel has surely been monitoring those power supplies closely.
I asked our in-house power supply guru, Lee Garbutt, who is responsible for all of the awesome power supply reviews on pcper.com, what he thought about this issue. He thinks the reason more power supplies don't support it already is for power efficiency concerns:
Most all PSUs have traditionally required "some load" on the various outputs to attain good voltage regulation and/or not shut down. Not very many PSUs are designed yet to operate with no load, especially on the critical +12V output. One of the reasons for this is efficiency. Its harder to design a PSU to operate correctly with a very low load AND to deliver high efficiency. It would be easy just to add some bleed resistance across the DC outputs to always have a minimal load to keep voltage regulation under control but then that lowers efficiency.
A Duke Nukem obsession like no other
Subject: General Tech | May 1, 2013 - 03:03 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: gaming, mod, duke nukem, obsessive
You might think you expressed your disappointment about the pile of garbage that was Duke Nukem Forever by posting scathing reviews online, but you have nothing on these modders who attempted to create the Duke we were all promised by modding Duke Nukem 3D. If you still have the DN3D kicking around, or at least the DUKE3D.GRP file you can head to ModDB and download a 30MB mod which will expand Las Vegas far beyond the original game. Don't expect miracles, they can only reuse existing assets but they certainly impressed Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN who posted a trailer-ish movie of the mod in action.
"A group of modders have been busily attempting to rewrite history – by recreating the game that 2001 trailer suggested in good old Duke Nukem 3D. Given they suffered a degree of 3D Realms-esque hubris in their struggle to finish the thing, are these the first Method Developers?"
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Hurrah! – Defense Grid 2 Funded By Secret Investor @ Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN
- New GTA V trailer details the lives of the three protagonists @ HEXUS
- Impressions: Neverwinter @ Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN
- BioShock Infinite PC @ eTeknix
- Chapter & Verse Of Space Hulk @ Rock, PAper, ShHOTGUN
- God of War: Ascension PlayStation 3 @ eTeknix
- Injustice: Gods Among Us Xbox 360 @ Tweaktown
A sneak peek at Gigabyte's upcoming audio for the Sniper5 series
Subject: General Tech | May 1, 2013 - 02:19 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: gigabyte, G1.Sniper 5, G1.Sniper 5M, AMP-UP Audio
Slow but surely teases of the next generation of motherboards for Intel processors are showing up, such as Tweaktown's preview here. You don't get to see much of the board its self but you do have a chance to learn about the new AMP-UP audio that will be featured on these motherboards. This will be a removable OP-AMP paired with Creative's Sound Core3D to bring high end audio performance to your onboard audio. It will be removable so that audiophiles can choose their favourite OP-AMP to install if they prefer it to the one included. Take a peek right here.
"The NDA is starting to come off the 4th Generation Intel Core series and today we'll show you what to expect from GIGABYTE in its new AMP-UP audio feature on the G1.Sniper 5 and G1.Sniper M5."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Microsoft Exchange rival Icewarp says selling Linux to Windows customers is easy @ The Inquirer
- Samsung making 20nm 4Gb LPDDR3 DRAM for mobile devices @ DigiTimes
- Is it me or did cloud marketing suddenly get really weird? @ The Register
- Intel LANFest SoCal 2013 – Local Gaming & Fun @ Legit Reviews
- Kitguru MEGA graphics card giveaway
- Noctua Joint Giveaway - NH-D14/NH-U14S/NH-U12S Up For Grabs Globally @ NikKTech
Deal for May 1st - Roku 2 XD 1080p Streaming Player (Refurbished) @ $60
Subject: General Tech | May 1, 2013 - 02:05 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: deals
If you are looking for a very inexpensive way to stream HD video the Roku 2 is a great choice as it offers flexibility and an easy to use interface. The only better deal would be to pick up a Roku 2 at $20 off the retail price, which is exactly what the deal for today is. There are quite a few units available but you might not want to spend too much time debating the purchase as they are not unlimited.
Roku 2 XD 1080p Streaming Player (Refurbished)
Groupon is offering refurbished Roku 2 XD 1080p Streaming Player for $59.99 with free shipping. That's 25% off the price of brand new model and backed by 90-day limited warranty.
Our first thoughts and impressions
Since first hearing about the Kickstarter project that raised nearly 2.5 million dollars from over 9,500 contributors, I have eagerly been awaiting the arrival of my Oculus Rift development kit. Not because I plan on quitting the hardware review business to start working on a new 3D, VR-ready gaming project but just because as a technology enthusiast I need to see the new, fun gadgets and what they might mean for the future of gaming.
I have read other user's accounts of their time with the Oculus Rift, including a great write up in a Q&A form Ben Kuchera over at Penny Arcade Report, but I needed my own hands-on time with the consumer-oriented VR (virtual reality) product. Having tried it for very short periods of time at both Quakecon 2012 and CES 2013 (less than 5 minutes) I wanted to see how it performed and more importantly, how my body reacted to it.
I don't consider myself a person that gets motion sick. Really, I don't. I fly all the time, sit in the back of busses, ride roller coasters, watch 3D movies and play fast-paced PC games on large screens. The only instances I tend to get any kind of unease with motion is on what I call "roundy-round" rides, the kind that simply go in circles over and over. Think about something like this, The Scrambler, or the Teacups at Disney World. How would I react to time with the Oculus Rift, this was my biggest fear...
For now I don't want to get into the politics of the Rift, how John Carmack was initially a huge proponent of the project then backed off on how close we might be the higher-quality consumer version of the device. We'll cover those aspects in a future story. For now I only had time for some first impressions.
Watch the video above for a walk through of the development kit as well as some of the demos, as best can be demonstrated in a 2D plane!
Continue on to the full story for some photos and my final FIRST impressions of the Oculus Rift!
Good effort goes a long way
The wait has been long and anxious for Heart of the Swarm, the expansion to 2010's StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty. Blizzard originally hinted at a very rapid release schedule which did not exactly come to fruition. The nearly three years of development time for Heart of the Swarm is longer than a single studio spends on a full Call of Duty title; although, one could make a very credible argument that a Blizzard expansion requires more effort to create than said complete Call of Duty title.
But as Duke Nukem Forever demonstrated, a long time in development does not guarantee a fully baked product coming out the other end.
Blizzard games have always been highly entertaining albeit without deep artistic substance; their games are not first on the list for a university literature syllabus. But, there is a lot of room in life for engaging entertainment. In terms of the PC, Blizzard has always been one of the leading developers for the platform; they know how to deliver an exceptional PC experience if they choose to.
AMD Planning APU13 Developer Summit In San Jose, California
Subject: General Tech | May 1, 2013 - 07:08 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: hUMA, hsa, apu13, APU, amd, AFDS
AMD announced its third annual Developer Summit last week. Dubbed “APU13,” the upcoming summit is the AMD equivalent to NVIDIA’s GTC and is an annual event that brings together industry analysts, researchers, programmers, academics, and software/hardware companies pursuing heterogeneous computing technologies.
In previous years, the AMD Developer Summit has been the launchpad for C++ AMP and the HSA Foundation. This year’s Summit will continue that trend towards heterogeneous computing as well as look back over the year and provide updates on where the various HSA member companies are at as far as goals to move towards standards-based heterogenous computing.
In addition to keynote speeches from AMD and some of its partners, expect a great deal of presentations and workshops from researchers and programmers that are working on new programming models and hardware solutions to efficiently use CPU and GPU processors. More information on hUMA is one of the likely topics, for example. Discussion about upcoming hardware, process nodes, and products may also be on the table so far as it relates to the HSA theme. Considering the summit is called “APU13,” I also expect that AMD will reveal additional details on the company’s Kaveri APU as well as a look into its future product road map.
AMD is currently asking for presentation proposals from researchers in a number of HSA and technology-related fields including heterogeneous computing, cloud computing, web technologies, programming languages, gaming and graphics technologies, and software security. The lineup of presenters for the summit is still being worked out, and proposal papers will be accepted until May 10th with the winners being notified over the summer.
In all, AMD’s APU13 should be an exciting and intellectual event. Last year’s AMD Fusion Developer Summit (AFDS) was an interesting and fun event to cover, and I hope that APU13 will keep up the same momentum and interest in heterogeneous computing that AFDS started.
Zotac Announces Overclocked GTX TITAN AMP! Edition Graphics Card
Subject: Graphics Cards | May 1, 2013 - 05:41 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: zotac, nvidia, gtx titan, AMP!
Zotac has announced a new GTX TITAN graphics card that will fall under the company’s AMP! Edition branding. This new Titan graphics card will feature factory overclocks on both the GPU and GDDR5 memory. However, due to NVIDIA’s restrictions, the Zotac GeForce GTX TITAN AMP! Edition does not feature a custom cooler or PCB.
The Zotac TITAN AMP! Edition card features a single GK110 GPU with 2,688 CUDA cores clocked at 902MHz base and 954MHz boost. That is a healthy boost over the reference TITAN’s 836MHz base and 876MHz boost clock speeds. Further, while Zotac’s take on the TITAN continues the reference specification’s 6GB of GDDR5 memory, it is impressively overclocked to 6,608Mhz (especially since Zotac has not changed the cooler). The GPU clocks might be able to be replicated by many of the reference cards though. For example, Ryan managed to get his card up to 992MHz boost in his review of the NVIDIA GTX TITAN.
The card has two DL-DVI, one HDMI, and one DisplayPort video output(s). The cooler, PCB, and PCI-E power specifications are still the same as the reference design. You can find more details on the heatsink in the TITAN review. Not allowing vendors to use custom coolers is disappointing and possibly limiting the factory GPU overclocks that they are able/willing to offer and support, but within that restriction the Zotac AMP! Edition looks to be a decent card so long as the (not yet announced) price premium over the $999 NVIDIA reference card is minimal.
Our 4K Testing Methods
You may have recently seen a story and video on PC Perspective about a new TV that made its way into the office. Of particular interest is the fact that the SEIKI SE50UY04 50-in TV is a 4K television; it has a native resolution of 3840x2160. For those that are unfamiliar with the new upcoming TV and display standards, 3840x2160 is exactly four times the resolution of current 1080p TVs and displays. Oh, and this TV only cost us $1300.
In that short preview we validated that both NVIDIA and AMD current generation graphics cards support output to this TV at 3840x2160 using an HDMI cable. You might be surprised to find that HDMI 1.4 can support 4K resolutions, but it can do so only at 30 Hz (60 Hz 4K TVs won't be available until 2014 most likely), half the refresh rate of most TVs and monitors at 60 Hz. That doesn't mean we are limited to 30 FPS of performance though, far from it. As you'll see in our testing on the coming pages we were able to push out much higher frame rates using some very high end graphics solutions.
I should point out that I am not a TV reviewer and I don't claim to be one, so I'll leave the technical merits of the monitor itself to others. Instead I will only report on my experiences with it while using Windows and playing games - it's pretty freaking awesome. The only downside I have found in my time with the TV as a gaming monitor thus far is with the 30 Hz refresh rate and Vsync disabled situations. Because you are seeing fewer screen refreshes over the same amount of time than you would with a 60 Hz panel, all else being equal, you are getting twice as many "frames" of the game being pushed to the monitor each refresh cycle. This means that the horizontal tearing associated with Vsync will likely be more apparent than it would otherwise.
I would likely recommend enabling Vsync for a tear-free experience on this TV once you are happy with performance levels, but obviously for our testing we wanted to keep it off to gauge performance of these graphics cards.
Continue reading our results from testing 4K 3840x2160 gaming on high end graphics cards!!
AMD Releases FX CPU Refreshes
Subject: Processors | April 30, 2013 - 02:04 PM | Josh Walrath
Tagged: amd, FX, vishera, bulldozer, FX-6350, FX-4350, FX-6300, FX-4300, 32 nm, SOI, Beloved
Today AMD has released two new processors that address the AM3+ market. The FX-6350 and FX-4350 are two new refreshes of the quad and hex core lineup of processors. Currently the FX-8350 is still the fastest of the breed, and there is no update for that particular number yet. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but there are those of us who are still awaiting the arrival of the rumored “Centurion”.
These parts are 125 watt TDP units, which are up from their 95 watt predecessors. The FX-6350 runs at 3.9 GHz with a 4.2 GHz boost clock. This is up 300 MHz stock and 100 MHz boost from the previous 95 watt FX-6300. The FX-4350 runs at 3.9 GHz with a 4.3 GHz boost clock. This is 100 MHz stock and 300 MHz boost above that of the FX-4300. What is of greater interest here is that the L3 cache goes from 4 MB on the 4300 to 8 MB on the 4350. This little fact looks to be the reason why the FX-4350 is now a 125 watt TDP part.
It has been some two years since AMD started shipping 32 nm PD-SOI/HKMG products to the market, and it certainly seems as though spinning off GLOBALFOUNDRIES has essentially stopped the push to implement new features into a process node throughout the years. As many may remember, AMD was somewhat famous for injecting new process technology into current nodes to improve performance, yields, and power characteristics in “baby steps” type fashion instead of leaving the node as is and making a huge jump with the next node. Vishera has been out for some 7 months now and we have not really seen any major improvement in regards to performance and power characteristics. I am sure that yields and bins have improved, but the bottom line is that this is only a minor refresh and AMD raised TDPs to 125 watts for these particular parts.
The FX-6350 is again a three module part containing six cores. Each module features 2 MB of L2 cache for a total of 6 MB L2 and the entire chip features 8 MB of L3 cache. The FX-4350 is a two module chip with four cores. The modules again feature the same 2 MB of L2 cache for a total of 4 MB active on the chip with the above mentioned 8 MB of L3 cache that is double what the FX-4300 featured.
Perhaps soon we will see updates on FM2 with the Richland series of desktop processors, but for now this refresh is all AMD has at the moment. These are nice upgrades to the line. The FX-6350 does cost the same as the FX-6300, but the thinking behind that is that the 6300 is more “energy efficient”. We have seen in the past that AMD (and Intel for that matter) does put a premium on lower wattage parts in a lineup. The FX-4350 is $10 more expensive than the 4300. It looks as though the FX-6350 is in stock at multiple outlets but the 4350 has yet to show up.
These will fit in any modern AM3+ motherboard with the latest BIOS installed. While not an incredibly exciting release from AMD, it at least shows that they continue to address their primary markets. AMD is in a very interesting place, and it looks like Rory Read is busy getting the house in order. Now we just have to see if they can curve back their cost structure enough to make the company more financially stable. Indications are good so far, but AMD has a long ways to go. But hey, at least according to AMD the FX series is beloved!
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