Fractal Design's Node 304 White Mini-ITX Case Is Coming In July

Subject: General Tech | May 22, 2013 - 06:27 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: fractal design, mini-itx, case, Node 304

Fractal Design is launching a new version of its existing Node 304 computer chassis. The new Node 304 White comes in white and supports Mini-ITX motherboards. The case measures 250 x 210 x 374mm and weighs 4.9kg.

The Node 304 is constructed of aluminum and has a white painted exterior. There are two mesh air vents on either side of the case as well as two 92mm Silent Series R2 fans working as front intakes behind filters to keep dust out of the case. Front IO includes two USB 3.0 ports and two audio jacks. The rear of the case features two expansion slots, a space for an ATX power supply, and a single 140mm Silent Series R2 exhaust fan.

Internally, the Node 304 White can fit standard ATX power supplies, a Mini-ITX motherboard, and up to six 3.5" or 2.5" hard drives. Alternatively, with two of the hard drive mounts removed, the case can accommodate graphics cards up to 310mm in length.

It is a minimalist design,but one that works well. Airflow should not be a problem even for high-end components, and the inclusion of the three fans, filters, and a fan controller is nice to see. The case will be available in July with an MSRP of $89.90 in the US and 69.90 EURO in Europe.

Seagate Barracuda 2TB SATA 6G Hard Drive for $91

Subject: General Tech | May 22, 2013 - 10:22 AM | PCPer Staff
Tagged: deals

Hard drives; we all need them.  And some of us need BIG ones.  Today's deal offers up a 2TB Seagate Barracuda SATA 6G hard drive for $91 with FREE shipping.

Also, if you select it via the drop down box, you can get the 4TB Seagate ST4000DM000 for $149 with FREE shipping.

Seagate 2TB Barracuda SATA 6G - $91 with FREE shipping!

You know that thing you trust to accept untrusted data...

Subject: Editorial, General Tech | May 22, 2013 - 01:53 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: antivirus, antimalware

They might be a good means of guarding you from momentary lapses of judgment, but security is not equivalent to antivirus packages. You always need to consider how much your system is exposed to untrusted and even unsolicited data. Any software which accepts untrusted data has some surface with potential vulnerability to attack.

This, inherently, includes software which accepts data to scan it for malware.

Last week was host to Patch Tuesday, and one of its many updates fixed a vulnerability in Microsoft's Malware Protection Engine (MPE). The affected code is only present in applications which run the 64-bit version of the engine. For home users, these applications are: Microsoft Security Essentials (x86-64), Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool (x86-64), and all varieties of Windows Defender (x86-64). For enterprise users, MPE is also a part of Forefront and Endpoint applications and suites.

Despite the irony, I will not beat up on Microsoft. As far as I know, these vulnerabilities are semi-frequently patched in basically any antimalware application. At the very least, Microsoft declares and remedies problems with reasonable and appropriate policies; they could have just as easily buried this fix and pushed it out silently or worse, wait until it becomes actively exploited in the wild and even beyond.

But, and I realize I am repeating myself at this point, the biggest takeaway from this news: you cannot let the mere presence of antivirus suites permit you to be complacent. No scanner will detect everything, and some might even be the way in.

Thermaltake Announces Haswell-Compatible Power Supplies

Subject: Cases and Cooling | May 21, 2013 - 11:52 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: be quiet, Power Supplies, haswell, Intel, c6, c7

In addition to Be Quiet!, Thermaltake has announced its own list of Haswell-compatible PSUs. The majority of high end Thermaltake power supplies will work with Haswell and its new sleep states. Further, all of the current generation high-end and mid-range Thermaltake power supplies are compatible with the new CPUs.

Power supplies in the Toughpower, EVO, and Smart M family are compatible with Haswell. Specifically, the chart below details which specifc models are compatible with Haswell and the new C6 and C7 low power sleep states.

The following companies have also listed Haswell-compatible power supplies:

• Be Quiet!
• Corsair
• Enermax
• Seasonic

German PSU Manufacturer Be Quiet! Lists Its Haswell-Ready Power Supplies

Subject: Cases and Cooling | May 21, 2013 - 10:50 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: sleep state, PSU, Power Supplies, haswell, c7, c6, be quiet

Be quiet!, a power supply manufacturer based in Germany, has announced that almost all of its recent power supply lineups are fully compatible with Intel's upcoming Haswell processors. The PC Perspective team has talked in-depth about the new C6 and C7 sleep states used by Haswell CPUs. However, for the uninitiated, the new Intel processors have two new low power sleep states. The lowest state, C7, draws as little as 0.05A from the 12V PSU rail. That is a good thing, but not all power supplies will be compatible with the new sleep states as such low load on the 12V rail was not a concern when the PSUs were designed and manufactured. Notably, even incompatible power supplies will still work in Haswell systems, but those computers will not be able to enter the lower-power C6 and/or C7 sleep states.

There is good news for users of Be Quiet! Power supplies, however. The following power supplies are fully compatible with Haswell and the new sleep states:

• Dark Power Pro 10 Series (all models)
• Straight Power E9 Series (all models)
• Pure Power L8 Series (all models)
• System Power 7 Series (all models)
• Pure Power L7 Series (the 630W and 730W models only)

Older Be Quiet! power supplies will still work in Haswell systems, but use of the lowest power C7 state is not recommended. Fortunately, most desktop users can live without the new low power states (which, while nice to have, the new sleep states are more beneficial to laptop users).

As the launch of Haswell approaches, more and more PSU manufacturers are releasing compatibility information. So far, the following companies have put together compatibility lists.

• Corsair
• Enermax
• Seasonic

HP Slate 7 Android Jelly Bean Tablet for $169

Subject: General Tech | May 21, 2013 - 10:12 PM | PCPer Staff
Tagged: deals

If you are on the look out for a low cost Android tablet in the 7-in form factor, we have a great deal for you this afternoon.  HP's latest Slate 7 offering, powered by a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 SoC running at 1.6 GHz, brings the price down even lower with our deal; you can pick it up for just $169 with FREE shipping.

HP Slate 7 Android Tablet for $169!

HGST Develops 1.5TB 2.5" Mobile Drive With 500GB Platter Tech

Subject: Storage | May 21, 2013 - 10:01 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: hgst, western digital, 500GB platter, 1.5tb drive, mobile hard drive

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST, which is now owned by Western Digital) has developed a new 2.5” mobile hard drive called the Travelstar 5K1500. The hard drive uses three 500GB platter drives for a total capacity of 1.5TB. HGST claims that the drive is the highest capacity 9.5mm mobile drive on the market. Additionally, the company has stated that the new drive is faster than its existing two-platter hard drives according to the PCMark Vantage and PCMark 7 benchmark suites.

The 1.5TB Travelstar 5K1500 is a 5400 RPM hard drive with 32MB of on-board cache, a 6Gbps SATA III interface, and shock protection features.

The new mobile drive will be used in external hard drives, all-in-one systems, and notebooks where storage space is valued more than pure performance. It will be available sometime in June for an as-yet-unannounced price point. Another version of the Travelstar 5K1500 that offers automatic encryption of data will be available in Q3 2013.

MSI Launches GX70 and GX60 Gaming Notebooks Powered By AMD Richland APUs

Subject: Systems | May 21, 2013 - 08:21 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: Richland, msi, gx70, gx60, gaming notebook, gaming, APU, amd

MSI announced two new gaming notebooks powered by AMD's latest Richland APUs today called the GX70 and GX60. Both gaming notebooks use AMD A10-5750M processors, a discrete AMD graphics card, 8GB of RAM, and a 750GB (7200 RPM) hard drive. Other shared specifications include a Killer E2200 NIC, Blu-ray drive, THX certified speakers, a headphone amp, and a large 9-cell battery.

The GX70 is the largest of the two gaming notebooks at 8.6 pounds and packing a 17.3” display. The GX70 uses the A10-5750M APU and a Radeon 8970M discrete mobile GPU to deliver gaming performance to the 1080p display. The system is also capable of outputting to multiple displays over HDMI and supports AMD's Eyefinity 3D technology. On the outside, the MSI GX70 features a 17.3” 1920 x 1080p display with an anti-reflective coating as well as a SteelSeries gaming keyboard.

Meanwhile, the MSI GX60 is a 15-inch notebook that weighs 7.7 pounds. This gaming notebook uses an AMD A10-5750M APU and a Radeon 7970M mobile discrete GPU. Further, the GX60 has a 15.6” 1080p anti-reflective display and SteelSeries gaming keyboard.

MSI claims that the new AMD Richland APUs will give its gaming notebooks much better battery life. The new GX70 and GX60 will have up to 40% better graphical performance compared to previous generations thanks to the new APUs and discrete cards. According to MSI VP of Sales Andy Tung, “the GX70 and GX60 deliver the ultimate sensory experience for both professional and amateur gamers.” More information on the new gaming notebooks can be found on this MSI press release.

Xbox One announced, the games: not so much.

Subject: Editorial, General Tech, Graphics Cards, Processors, Systems | May 21, 2013 - 05:26 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: xbox one, xbox

Almost exactly three months have passed since Sony announced the Playstation 4 and just three weeks remain until E3. Ahead of the event, Microsoft unveiled their new Xbox console: The Xbox One. Being so close to E3, they are saving the majority of games until that time. For now, it is the box itself as well as its non-gaming functionality.

First and foremost, the raw specifications:

• AMD APU (5 billion transistors, 8 core, on-die eSRAM)
• 8GB RAM
• 500GB Storage, Bluray reader
• USB 3.0, 802.11n, HDMI out, HDMI in

The hardware is a definite win for AMD. The Xbox One is based upon an APU which is quite comparable to what the PS4 will offer. Unlike previous generations, there will not be too much differentiation based on available performance; I would not expect to see much of a fork in terms of splitscreen and other performance-sensitive features.

A new version of the Kinect sensor will also be present with all units which developers can depend upon. Technically speaking, the camera is higher resolution and more wide-angle; up to six skeletons can be tracked with joints able to rotate rather than just hinge. Microsoft is finally also permitting developers to use the Kinect along with a standard controller to, as they imagine, allow a user to raise their controller to block with a shield. That is the hope, but near the launch of the original Kinect, Microsoft filed a patent to allow sign language recognition: has not happened yet. Who knows whether the device will be successfully integrated into gaming applications.

Of course Microsoft is known most for system software, and the Xbox runs three lightweight operating environments. In Windows 8, you have the Modern interface which runs WinRT applications and you have the desktop app which is x86 compatible.

The Xbox One borrows more than a little from this model.

The home screen, which I am tempted to call the Start Screen, for the console has a very familiar tiled interface. They are not identical to Windows but they are definitely consistent. This interface allows for access to Internet Explorer and an assortment of apps. These apps can be pinned to the side of the screen, identical to Windows 8 modern app. I am expecting there to be "a lot of crossover" (to say the least) between this and the Windows Store; I would not be surprised if it is basically the same API. This works both when viewing entertainment content as well as within a game.

These three operating systems run at the same time. The main operating system is basically a Hyper-V environment which runs the two other operating systems simultaneously in sort-of virtual machines. These operating systems can be layered with low latency, since all you are doing is compositing them in a different order.

Lastly, they made reference to Xbox Live, go figure. Microsoft is seriously increasing their server capacity and expects developers to utilize Azure infrastructure to offload "latency-insensitive" computation for games. While Microsoft promises that you can play games offline, this obviously does not apply to features (or whole games) which rely upon the back-end infrastructure.

And yes, I know you will all beat up on me if I do not mention the SimCity debacle. Maxis claimed that much of the game requires an online connection due to the complicated server requirements; after a crack allowed offline functionality, it was clear that the game mostly operates fine on a local client. How much will the Xbox Live cloud service offload? Who knows, but that is at least their official word.

Now to tie up some loose ends. The Xbox One will not be backwards compatible with Xbox 360 games although that is no surprise. Also, Microsoft says they are allowing users to resell and lend games. That said, games will be installed and not require the disc, from what I have heard. Apart from the concerns about how much you can run on a single 500GB drive, once the game is installed rumor has it that if you load it elsewhere (the rumor is even more unclear about whether "elsewhere" counts accounts or machines) you will need to pay a fee to Microsoft. In other words? Basically not a used game.

Well, that has it. You can be sure we will add more as information comes forth. Comment away!

Outbound Phone Call Support Coming to Hangouts (Within Gmail Interface) Soon

Subject: General Tech | May 20, 2013 - 03:42 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: google voice, google talk, google hangouts, google

One of the neat features of the chat application built into the Gmail web interface is the ability to receive and place phone calls to and from your Google Voice number. And unlike the Google Voice interface, calls placed using the Gmail Talk chat widget are completely free.

Unfortunately, the new Hangouts replacement (currently not mandatory) brought over from Google + does not support the calling features of Google Talk. As such, users wanting to call phones and not just video chat with other Google + users will need to stick with the old Google Talk chat or use Google Voice and pay for outbound calls.

The good news is that the phone call features will be rolled into the new Hangouts feature eventually. According to Google employee Nikhyl Singhal, “outbound/inbound calls will soon be available.” He also indicated that future versions of Hangouts will further integrate the feature set of Google Voice (which likely refers to SMS). Unless you particularly want video chatting, I would recommend sticking with Google Talk until the new version of Hangouts is more fleshed out.

Deal for May 20th - Dell UltraSharp U2413 1920 x 1200 24" IPS @ $499

Subject: General Tech | May 20, 2013 - 02:48 PM | PCPer Staff
Tagged:

Dell's UltraSharp U2413 1920 x 1200 24" IPS claims a 6ms response time which makes it suitable for gaming, as well as offering superior colour support.  As it is a new model it supports HDMI, DisplayPort 1.2, DVI-D and mini DisplayPort inputs as well as acting as a 4-port USB 3.0 hub.

Dell UltraSharp U2413 1920 x 1200 24" IPS Monitor (2013 model)
Dell Works is offering newest 24-inch UltraSharp U2413 Monitor (2013 model) for $499.99 with FREE shipping. Use $100 instant savings to get final price. Backed by 3-Year Advanced Exchange Service and Premium Panel Guarantee.

JPR Releases Q1 2013 GPU Market Share Numbers, Good News for NVIDIA

Subject: Graphics Cards | May 20, 2013 - 12:54 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: VIA, Q1 2013, nvidia, jpr, Intel, gpu market share, amd

Market analytics firm Jon Peddie Research recently released estimated market share and GPU shipment numbers from Q1 2013. The report includes information on AMD, NVIDIA, Intel, and Via and covered IGPs, processor graphics, and discrete GPUs included in desktop and mobile systems powered by X86 hardware. The report includes x86 tablets but otherwise does not factor in GPUs used in ARM devices like NVIDIA's Tegra chips. Year over Year, the PC market is down 12.6% and the GPU market declined by 12.9%. It is not all bad news for the PC market and discrete GPU makers, however. GPUs through 2016 are expected to exhibit a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.6% with as many as 394 million discrete GPUs shipped in 2016 alone.

In Q1 2013, the PC market is down 13.7% versus last quarter (Q4 2012) but the GPU market only declined 3.2%. This discrepency is explained as the result of people adding multiple GPUs to a single PC system, including adding a single discrete card to a system that already has processor graphics or an APU. By the end of Q1 2013, Intel holds 61.8% market share followed by AMD in second place with 20.2% and NVIDIA with 18%. Notably VIA is out of the game with 0.0% market share.

In terms of GPU shipments, NVIDIA had a relatively good first quarter of this year with an increase of 7.6% for notebook GPUs and desktop GPU shipments that remained flat. Overall, NVIDIA saw an increase in PC graphics shipments of 3.6%. On the other hand, x86 CPU giant Intel saw desktop and notebook GPUs slip by 3% and 6.3% respectively. Overall, that amounts to PC graphics shipments that fell by 5.3%. In between NVIDIA and Intel, AMD moved 30% more desktop chips (including APUs) versus Q4 2012. Meanwhile, Notebook chips (including APUs) fell by 7.3%. AMD's overall PC graphics shipments fell by 0.3%.

In all, this is decent news for the PC market as it shows that there is still interest in desktop GPUs. The PC market itself is declining and taking the GPU market with it, but it is far from the death of the desktop PC. It is interesting that NVIDIA (which announced Q1'13 revenue of $954.7 million) managed to push more chips while AMD and Intel were on the decline since NVIDIA doesn't have a x86 CPU with integrated graphics. I'm looking forward to seeing where NVIDIA stands as far as the mobile GPU market which does include ARM-powered products.

ECS Z87 Motherboard Series Preview

Subject: Motherboards | May 18, 2013 - 03:19 PM | Morry Teitelman
Tagged: Z87H3-A3, Z87H3-A2, z87, ECS

ECS unveiled their plans for the next generation of Intel 8-series chipsets and 4th Generation Intel® Core processor family.  These motherboards will be released in Q2 2013 and are categorized into four lines:

• Unnamed series - optimized for gaming and high performance processing
• Pro series - optimized for power computing
• Deluxe series - optimized for small office and home
• Essentials series - optimized for home and multi-media

ECS motherboard lines
Courtesy of ECS

Continue reading our preview of the ECS Z87 motherboard lineup!

Alienware m14x r2 14-in GeForce GT 650M Gaming Laptop for $1308

Subject: Editorial | May 17, 2013 - 10:36 AM | PCPer Staff
Tagged: deals

We often get asked about our favorite gaming notebooks and despite the somewhat aged styling, we still think Alienware makes some of the best.  Today's deal offers up the small M14x R2 with a 1600x900 screen, Core i7-3630QM quad-core processors, GeForce GT 650M discrete graphics and 16GB of DDR3 memroy.  The $1308 price is a nice $300+ discount over the normal price!

Alienware m14x r2 14" Core i7 900p Gaming Laptop w/GeForce GT 650M, 16GB RAM, 32GB SSD

IE10 is the safest web browser in one way; checkmate!

Subject: Editorial, General Tech | May 16, 2013 - 03:45 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: web browser, Malware, IE10

If you consider your browser security based solely on whether it will allow you to manually download a malicious executable: IE10 is the best browser ever!

Rod Trent over at Windows IT Pro seems to believe this when NSS labs released their report, "Socially Engineered Malware Blocking". In this report, Internet Explorer blocked the user from downloading nearly all known malware (clarification: all known malware within the test). Google Chrome came in second place with a little less than 17% fail rate and the other browsers were quite far behind with approximately a 90% failure rate.

Based on that one metric alone, Rod Trent used a cutesy chess image to proclaim IE the... king... of the hill. Not only that, he suggests Safari, Opera, and Firefox consider "shuttering their doors." After about a decade of Internet Explorer suffering from countless different and unique vectors of exploitation, now is the time to proclaim a victor for attacks which require explicit user action?

Buckle in, readers, it's a rant.

Firstly, this reminds me a little bit of Microsoft Security Essentials. Personally, I use it, because it provides enough protection for me. Unlike its competitors, MSE has next to no false positives because almost ignores zero-day exploits. The AV package drew criticism from lab tests which test zero-day exploits. Microsoft Security Essentials was ranked second-worst by this metric.

Well, time to shutter your doors Micr... oh wait Rod Trent lauded it as award-winning. Huh...

But while we are on the topic of false positives, how do you weigh those in your grading of a browser? According to the report, and common sense, achieving pure success in this metric is dead simple if you permit your browser to simply block every download, good or bad.

If a 100% false positive acceptance rate is acceptable, it is trivial to protect users from all malicious download. With just a few lines of code, Firefox, Safari, and Opera could displace Internet Explorer and Chrome as the leaders of protection against socially engineered malware. However, describing every download as "malicious" would break the internet. Finding a balance between accuracy and safety is the challenge for browsers at the front of protection technology.

-NSS Labs, "Socially Engineered Malware Blocking"

A browser that is capable of blocking malware without blocking legitimate content would certainly be applause-worthy. I guess time will tell whether Internet Explorer 10 is able to walk the balance, or whether it will just be a nuisance like the first implementations of UAC.

OK, Google did actually release exactly one native Windows application at Google I/O: It's called Android Studio, an application that helps developers create apps that run on Android, Google’s answer to Windows. But don’t worry, Microsoft fans: Internet Explorer (IE) flags the Android Studio download as potential malware.

-Paul Thurrott, Windows IT Pro

Ah crap... that was quick.

Now to be fair, Internet Explorer 10 and later have been doing things right. I am glad to see Microsoft support standards and push for an open web after so many years. This feature helps protect users from their own complacency.

Still, be careful when you call checkmate: some places may forfeit your credibility.