Just Delivered: Achieva Shimian 27" 2560x1440p Display
Subject: Displays | June 27, 2012 - 06:15 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: yamakasi, shimian, korean, just delivered, catleap, achieva, 27, 1440p
If you've been paying attention to either the PC Perspective Podcast or This Week in Computer Hardware for the past few weeks, our talk of a new crop of low cost, 2560x1600, 27" monitors rising out of South Korea has been unavoidable.
Well, late last week I decided that it was time I get out of the 1080p era, and into the world of higher resolution displays.
After an impressive shipment time of only 3 days, I recieved a package directly from Seoul this afternoon, and rushed straight to the office to open it and inform PC Perspective readers.
For those of you not in the know, we recieved a tip a few weeks back from a reader about inexpensive 2560x1440 displays popping up on eBay for around $350. Of course this excited the staff at PC Perspective, and we immediately went into research mode, looking for all of the information we could find about these displays. While the initial impressions we saw all over forums were generally positive, we decided to give these displays the real PC Perpsective review treatment.
While the Yamakasi Catleap is the most well known of these monitors, I decided to go with the $315 (Shipped!) Achieva Shiminan, for reasons to be expanded upon later in the full review.
However, before we began our strenuous testing process, I wanted to give the dedicated PC Per readers a sneak peak of such an interesting product. Out of the box, we hooked it up an AMD Radeon 7950 on our GPU testbed, which had no issues at all.
Also, just because the poorly translated eBay listings said it would not work, despite our best inclinations, I plugged this display into my Late 2011 MacBook Air with Intel HD 3000 graphics. Even using the not so reliable Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual Link DVI adapter, my MacBook detected the display with no issue. While I certainly won't be gaming on this machine, the display has been working flawlessly so far.
I know readers must have a million questions about these displays, so feel free to leave them in the comments of this post, and I will try to address them all in the full review coming soon!
Just Delivered: DV Nation RAMRod PC - Sandy Bridge-E, 64GB DDR3, 480GB RevoDrive 3 X2
Subject: Systems, Storage | May 11, 2012 - 04:34 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: x79, sandy bridge-e, RevoDrive 3 X2, ramrod, just delivered, dv nation
Just Delivered is a section of PC Perspective where we share some of the goodies that pass through our labs that may or may not see a review, but are pretty cool none the less.
When you are a little fish in the great big pond of PC builders, you need to do something to stand out from the rest. The people behind DV Nation apparently were well aware of that when entering the system vendor business and offering up SSDs to every single system configuration. Through a new system they are offering, provocatively named the "RAMRod PC", DV Nation provides a pre-built system that has some very unique components and configuration settings.
Built around the Antec Three Hundred Two chassis, the first glance at the RAMRod doesn't really indicate anything special is going on under the hood. But let's take a quick look at the specs:
- Intel Core i7-3820 @ 4.4 GHz
- 64GB DDR3-1600 Memory from G.Skill
- Radeon HD 6990 4GB
- 2x Seagate Momentus XT 750GB Hybrid HDD in RAID-0
- OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480GB PCIE SSD
- RAMCache: SuperSpeed Supercache 8GB on PCIE SSD, 8GB on Momentus
- RAMDisk: 42GB ROMEX Primo rated at 8000 MB/s
- Cost: $5,400
Obviously there is a LOT of storage work going on in the RAMRod and the purpose of the rig is to be the fastest pre-configured storage available anywhere. If you are looking for a cheaper version of this system you can get a base model with 16GB of memory, 10GB RAMDisk, 2GB RAMCache, 240GB PCIe SSD, single standard hard drive and even at GTX 680 for $2999.
Let's take a quick walk around the rest of the system.
Continue reading our preview of the DV Nation RAMRod PC!!
Just Delivered: MAINGEAR SHIFT with 3x Radeon HD 7970 Cards!
Subject: Graphics Cards, Systems | April 7, 2012 - 06:16 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: shift, maingear, just delivered, HD 7970, 7970
Just Delivered is a section of PC Perspective where we share some of the goodies that pass through our labs that may or may not see a review, but are pretty cool none the less.
While we get sent complete system builds from time to time, it's pretty rare when they actually impress me. Because we review and work with the best harware in the business on a daily basis, something unique really has to be there for us to really be wowed. Today we were playing with a custom built MAINGEAR SHIFT machine that did just that.
The SHIFT is the company's flagship product line that starts out with an $1800+ price tag, so you know you are getting top of the line components. Our test system includes a Core i7-3960X Sandy Bridge-E processor as well as a trio of Radeon HD 7970 cards from AMD. That's right, three.
The internals are lit by a white LED and the black/red color pattern of the graphics cards is continued with the inclusion of matching Corsair DDR3 memory to the tune of 16GB and the MAINGEAR EPIC 180 self-containted water cooler.
Corsair's AX1200 watt power supply is included in the build and it is necessary! During our testing so far we found the PC could draw as much as 1050 watts from the wall while running 3DMark11.
Another exclusive feature for the MAINGEAR systems is the EPIC Audio system that adds studio quality audio headphone output and microphone input. The licensed Aphex technology is touted by the company as being really impressive and I am looking forward to giving it a try this week.
With our time with the SHIFT so far, the build quality has been impressive, the lack of crapware on the system is a welcome change and the performance is simply astounding as we expected with a SNB-E CPU and triple HD 7970s in CrossFireX.
Expect more very soon!
Just Delivered: MSI Z77A-GD65 Motherboard Preview
Subject: Motherboards, Processors, Chipsets | February 29, 2012 - 12:03 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: just delivered, z77a-gd65, Z77, sandy bridge, msi, Ivy Bridge, Intel
In preparation for Intel's 3rd generation of Intel Core microprocessor architecture (can you see we are dancing around things already), MSI has started showing a new line of motherboards. While at CES in January we saw the Z77A-GD65 option that will be available soon and offers some interesting new specs and features.
The Z77A-GD65 sports Military Class III components as well as support for a host of new items including PCI Express 3.0 and USB 3.0. While we can't share much more than that in terms of details I thought it might be worth showing off a few shots of the upcoming motherboard from our friends at MSI.
See more photos of the MSI Z77A-GD65!!
Just Delivered: Corsair Vengeance K90, K60, M90, M60 Keyboards and Mice
Subject: General Tech | February 24, 2012 - 06:46 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: vengeance, mouse, m90, m60, keyboard, k90, k60, just delivered, hid, corsair
Just Delivered is a section of PC Perspective where we share some of the goodies that pass through our labs that may or may not see a review, but are pretty cool none the less.
Corsair does just about everything now - memory modules, power supplies, cases, SSDs, headphones, speakers, water coolers, functional LED umbrellas and now keyboards and mice. And just like we have seen when Corsair entered new markets previously, they took their time to do it right. The Vengeance line of keyboards and mice offer two dedicated series for gamers of different persuasions: the K90 and M90 for MMO players and the K60 and M60 for predominantly FPS users.
The new keyboards consist MOSTLY of Cherry MX Red switches (which you can read more about here in our recent Rosewill keyboard roundup) and are generally very well built. The mice have adjustable DPIs, lights and lots of button. What follows is a pictorial preview of these gorgeous devices before our review sometime in the near future! Enjoy!!
The K60 comes with a removable left hand rest for your frequent gaming as well as replaceable WASD keys that have a rubber texture to them and are slightly angled to keep your fingers from slipping out during those INTENSE gaming moments.
Corsair tends to think of the customer first so they were sure to include a tool to remove the keys rather than telling you to use a flat head screwdriver from your garage.
One of my favorite features is the Windows button disable key up there to prevent you from accidently hitting that during gameplay.
See a lot more photos of these devices in our full post!!
Just Delivered: Eaton 3S 750VA / 450 watt Battery Backup UPS
Subject: General Tech | December 6, 2011 - 01:37 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: battery, ups, eaton, 3s, just delivered
Just Delivered is a new section of PC Perspective where we share some of the goodies that pass through our labs that may or may not see a review, but are pretty cool none the less.
Sometimes computer technology isn't sexy - but you need it anyway. Just look at items like optical drives (debatable), floppy discs and ZIP drives? Amiright? An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is just one of those items. You might not want to think about it, but you should have one, even for gamers and general PC users.
Ever been working on a school document or maybe even a really detailed rage post on your favorite forum and had the power flicker and your PC reset, losing hours and hours of work you put into telling that moron why your GPU was better? If so, or if you can imagine the frustration, then you know why having even just a few minutes of battery time on a desktop computer can be critical.
We recently picked up the Eaton 3S battery backup which you can find online for as little as $70 - quite a steal for the peace of mind you'll get for having it. Yes, if you are gaming on a PC using more than 450 watts when the power outage occurs, you are probably screwed. If you are doing basically anything else, almost any desktop configuration should be good to go.
The Eaton 3S 750VA model includes 5 outlets for battery backup and 5 more that are surge protection only. The power button light changes colors depending on the units status and is a very basic indicator of your current power situation.
The 3S has network surge protection as well as a USB port to connect tor your PC should you wish to use the Eaton Intelligent Power Protector software that enables features like graceful shutdown (if you are away from your PC when the power outage occurs). You don't have to use that software though, and the unit will operate on a completely plug-and-play fashion using Windows, Mac or Linux integrated power management software.
The unit can be wall mounted which is nice if you have limited floor space.
The battery in the unit is user replaceable which is a nice change of pace and could lower your maintenance costs down the road for this UPS. Eaton actually offers a 3-year warranty on both the unit AND THE BATTERY; something that other companies like APC do not (as I have first had experience with).
The amount of runtime you will get with a UPS like this will obviously vary based on your hardware setup and while Eaton estimates "between 10 and 30 minutes" I would wager it would be slightly less than that for our readers. Still, a few minutes is better than NO minutes so consider this Just Delivered to double as a PC Perspective PSA.
Just Delivered: 64GB of Corsair DDR3 - Ready for Sandy Bridge-E!!
Subject: Processors, Chipsets, Memory | November 7, 2011 - 03:07 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: corsair, vengeance, sandy bridge-e, just delivered
Just Delivered is a new section of PC Perspective where we share some of the goodies that pass through our labs that may or may not see a review, but are pretty cool none the less.
Sometimes we receive interesting packages in the mail and when we get things from Corsair, we tend to pay attention. Oddly, I had not seen a box quite this size before. What comes from Corsair in the shape of a cube?
As it turns out, it was four 16GB DDR3 memory kits, preparing our team for the upcoming Sandy Bridge-E platform reviews!
Each kit includes 4 modules, getting us ready for the quad-channel memory controller on the upcoming Intel CPU. Corsair included both Vengeance and Vengeance LP kits for us, offering an option is lower profile for potentially larger heatsinks.
For motherboards that will ship with 8 DIMM slots, this allows us to test configurations as high as 32GB!! We are going to be covering all of these bases for you in the coming weeks before launch but don't worry - we are going test the standard 4 x 2GB configurations as well. :)
Just Delivered: ASUS ROG MATRIX GeForce GTX 580 1.5GB Graphics Card
Subject: Graphics Cards | July 1, 2011 - 03:03 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: ROG, matrix, just delivered, GTX 580, asus
Just Delivered is a section of PC Perspective where we share some of the goodies that pass through our labs that may or may not see a review, but are pretty cool none the less.
We like big graphics cards and we can't deny...when the FedEx guy shows up with a great big box and....okay, sorry about that. But it is true, we definitely love it when new GPUs find their way to our testing facilities. Today is no different as the delivery guy dropped off a box that gave us the ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) MATRIX GTX 580 1.5GB.
We first saw this card at Computex in June and we are without a doubt preparing a full review of it in the next week or so, but we wanted to show it off right away - after all, we like to share the goodies that make their way to PC Perspective as often as we can. At first glance you can easily tell that the ROG MATRIX GTX 580 is more than just your standard 580-based solution - it takes up three slots with its large cooler and uses dual 8-pin power connectors rather than an 8-pin and 6-pin combination.
It has some very unique options including buttons directly on the PCB that instantly put the fan at the full 100% speed and + and - keys for increasing and decreasing the GPU clock rate without the need to go into software. Pretty damn cool!
There are voltage measurement positions on the PCB and a Safe Mode button to instantly revert back to the standard clock rates if you have pushed the card too far - this will make things much easier for those overclockers that push things well past reasonable limits.
The cooler is GARGANTUAN but keeps the temperatures reasonable while the card runs on a 19-phase PCB.
ASUS MATRIX GTX 580 - Reference GTX 580 - ASUS ARES
This probably won't beat out the Radeon HD 6990 for the fastest graphic card around but we are thoroughly expecting to be impressed in our full review.
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