September 2023

Misc Pics (12 Comments) (link)  Friday, 29-September-2023  13:29:45 (GMT +10) - by Agg I've been away all week representing NSW at the Inline Hockey National Championships. Today is semi-finals day - so here's Retro Misc Pics from October 2010: 1st Oct 2010: 8th Oct 2010: 15th Oct 2010: 22nd Oct 2010: Thursday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Thursday, 28-September-2023  13:56:01 (GMT +10) - by Agg Audio Visual: HyperX Cloud III Gaming Headset on ThinkComputers. thinksound ov21 High-Fidelity Headphones on NikKTech. Unblock Tech – UBOX 10 Pro Max TV Box on FunkyKit. InfiniRay P2 Pro Thermal Camera Review: Infrared Imaging For Smartphones on HotHardware. MSI Immerse GH50 Wireless Gaming Headset on Tweaktown. Video Cards: Gigabyte RX 7600 Gaming OC 8G on LanOC. ASRock Radeon RX 7800 XT Steel Legend on TechPowerUp. Power Supply: MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5 Power Supply Unit on NikKTech. Cooler Master V SFX Platinum 1100W Power Supply on APHNetworks. Cooling: Amazon Basics CPU Cooler on ThinkComputers. Watercool Heatkiller V Pro RTX 4090 Strix/TUF GPU Block on TechPowerUp. Cases: HYTE Y60 ATX Mid-Tower Case on Tweaktown. Montech Air 903 MAX Mid-Tower on Tweaktown. Thermaltake Ceres 300 TG ARGB Snow Computer Case on APHNetworks. Networking: Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Router UDR WiFi6 on Tweaktown. EnGenius FIT6 2x2 Lite Access Point on Guru3D. Software: Star Wars Jedi: Survivor: FSR 2.2 vs. DLSS 2 vs. DLSS 3 Comparison on TechPowerUp. NVIDIA DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction on TechPowerUp. Storage: HP P900 1 TB Portable SSD on TechPowerUp. Crucial X10 Pro Portable 2TB USB SSD on Guru3D. TerraMaster F2-223 SMB NAS on Tweaktown. Icy Dock MB842MP-B ToughArmor on OCInside. Synology DVA1622 Deep Learning NVR on NikKTech. Crucial X9 Pro 2TB Portable SSD on FunkyKit. Kingston XS1000 2 TB on TechPowerUp. Memory: Silicon Power XPOWER Zenith 2x16GB DDR5 5600MHz RGB Memory Kit on MadShrimps. KLEVV Bolt V DDR5-6400 32GB Dual-Channel Memory Kit on Tweaktown. Predator Hermes RGB 32GB DDR5-6800 CL32 Memory Kit on FunkyKit. Corsair Dominator Titanium First Edition DDR5-7200 32GB Dual-Channel Memory Kit on Tweaktown. G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-7200 CL36 2x 24 GB on TechPowerUp. Portable & Prebuilt: Asus ROG Strix SCAR 17 X3D on HighPerformanceLaptops. Beelink SER7 7840HS Mini-PC on TechPowerUp. Gigabyte AERO 16 OLED Review: Solid Performer, Stunning Design on HotHardware. Gigabyte Aero 14 OLED on HighPerformanceLaptops. MAINGEAR MG-1 Silver Gaming PC on Tweaktown. Input Etc: Mountain DisplayPad and MacroPad on ThinkComputers. Darmoshark M3 4K mouse on TechPowerUp. Misc: EcoFlow PowerStream, Powerstation, Solar Installation Guide on FunkyHome. ASRock Z790 Taichi Lite Motherboard on Tweaktown. Monday Night News (6 Comments) (link)  Monday, 25-September-2023  21:57:06 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN Promising to be the most durable battery ever invented, and using NASA trickle down technology is the Nickel-Hydrogen battery. A 90% round trip is impressive if it holds true. “I call it the barbecue test,” Heinemann says. “We take the battery, put it in an open fire, and watch it continue to heat up. What ends up happening is that the pressure above top charge will force the hydrogen back into water. And then we have a release valve designed into the unit so at a predesigned pressure and temperature that will release, and you’ll get a steam vent.” The Verge has Eight things we learned from Intel’s Innovation keynote, here’s the biggest news from Intel’s San Jose event. Intel has wrapped up its annual Innovation event in San Jose, where the chipmaker gave us a glimpse of what’s coming down the pipeline over the next few years. In case you don’t have a spare hour and a half to sit down and watch CEO Pat Gelsinger’s keynote, here are some important things we learned. While TweakTown have a couple of articles on recent Intel silicon developments. AMD 3D V-Cache powered Ryzen X3D processors have proved to be excellent performers for PC gaming. However, the 3D stacking of cache is a TSMC packaging technology for chips that AMD has taken advantage of - so it's not proprietary. Intel confirming that it is planning to adopt a similar thing for upcoming CPUs is interesting stuff. Still, Pat Gelsinger added, "We're doing that differently in our composition" ... Microsoft head of Windows and Devices has been pushed overboard. err, I mean is now embarking on the next chapter in his career. Do I dare dream of a Windows 12 that isn't terrible. As you may be aware, he's been a stalwart at the company for a long time - almost two decades in fact - and an ever-present figure at a whole bunch of Windows and Surface launches throughout the years. The timing does seem a little odd, given that Microsoft has big Surface launches coming later this week. So, it's not clear why Panay has revealed his departure now, rather than waiting until next week, after the dust has settled from the 'special event' taking place in New York. Google plan to discontinue the basic HTML version of Gmail in January next year. Like everything they do, it has a limited shelf life. The decision has been criticized by Pratik Patel, who describes himself on Mastodon as "a blind technologist … who finds himself championing #accessibility for fun and necessity." "I know many #blind people who use GMail's HTML view. Not only will they be confused but will be unhappy," he wrote. Patel also noted that Google has made Basic HTML view harder to find in recent months – a change he understands now that the feature has been cancelled. Paint has been part of Windows since time immemorial, and is set to receive a major update, adding support for layers and PNG transparency. The updated Paint borrows some basic layout elements from Photoshop. On the right, you will see a vertical list of the layers in your image. You can hide, merge, duplicate, and delete them on an individual basis. Paint also uses the checkerboard pattern like Photoshop to indicate when an image has a transparent background. The support for transparency also means the eraser tool is getting an upgrade. In past versions of the app, erasing something just replaced it with white. Now, the eraser actually removes pixels so you can see any layers that might be under it. Ben sent in word about a recent change to access of Australian Standards. Free ! There has to be a catch. Reader Room is an initiative by Standards Australia which provides limited, no-fee access to the entire catalogue of Australian Standards for non-commercial purposes Retro Misc Pics (7 Comments) (link)  Friday, 22-September-2023  13:54:30 (GMT +10) - by Agg Currently in mid-roadtrip, so here's Retro Misc Pics from September 2010. Enjoy! 3rd Sep 2010: 10th Sep 2010: 17th Sep 2010: 24th Sep 2010: Friday Morning Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Friday, 22-September-2023  00:01:19 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN Portable, Prebuilt: MSI Katana 15 @ HighPerformanceLaptops Acer TravelMate B5 14 @ HighPerformanceLaptops Ace Magician AMR5 "Ryzen 5800U" Mini PC @ TweakTown Audio Visual: NACON RIG 600 PRO HS @ Neoseeker Corsair Virtuoso Pro @ TechPowerUp Logitech G Pro X 2 LIGHTSPEED Gaming Headset @ LanOC Cases, PSU, Cooling: Cooler Master MasterLiquid 360 Atmos Liquid CPU Cooler @ ThinkComputers Deepcool Assassin IV air cooler @ guru3D ASUS A21 case @ cowcotland edragon MC211 ITX/M-ATX Case @ ThinkComputers SilverStone SETA D1 @ TechPowerUp Cooler Master Qube 500 Flatpack @ cowcotland XPG Core Reactor II 850w ATX 3.0 80 PLUS Gold PSU @ TweakTown Storage: TeamGroup T-Force Z540 2TB SSD @ TweakTown Crucial X10 Pro 2TB Portable SSD @ FunkyKit Synology DS224+ SOHO NAS @ TweakTown Lexar NM710 Gen4 Solid State Drive @ ThinkComputers Video Card: ASRock Radeon RX 7600 Phantom Gaming 8GB OC Graphics Card @ FunkyKit ASUS ROG GeForce RTX 4090 MATRIX @ guru3D ASUS GeForce RTX 4090 Matrix Platinum @ TechPowerUp Misc: Nitro Concepts X1000 Gaming Chair @ NikKTech Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Benchmark Test & Performance Analysis @ TechPowerUp Motherboard, Memory, CPU: Intel Demos Lunar Lake Live @ HotHardware Meteor Lake Architecture @ HotHardware Intel Meteor Lake Technical Deep Dive @ TechPowerUp ASRock B650E Taichi Lite @ Vortez Monday Morning Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Monday, 18-September-2023  00:27:52 (GMT +10) - by Agg Video Cards: ASRock Radeon RX 7800 XT Phantom Gaming OC on Tweaktown. Sapphire Radeon RX 7700 XT Pure on TechPowerUp. ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7700 XT OC Edition on Tweaktown. Audio Visual: Majority Humboldt Internet Radio Music System on NikKTech. INNOCN 39G1R 39" 1440p 165 Hz Gaming Monitor on TechPowerUp. AGON Pro AG276QZD 27" Gaming Monitor on FunkyKit. Input Etc: Logitech G Pro X TKL LIGHTSPEED Gaming Keyboard on LanOC. LAMZU Atlantis 4K mouse on TechPowerUp. Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 mouse on LanOC. Quick Look: Huion Kamvas Pro 13 (2.5K) Graphics Tablet on TechPowerUp. Storage: Crucial P5 Plus 2TB (Heatsink Version) Solid State Drive on APHNetworks. ADATA Legend 970 2TB M.2 PCIe 5.0 x4 SSD on FunkyKit. Crucial T700 Pro Series 4TB Gen5 M.2 SSD on NikKTech. TEAMGROUP Cardea A440 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD on FunkyKit. SSTC Tiger Shark Elite 2 TB Review - PCIe Gen 5 with 12 GB/s on TechPowerUp. Patriot Viper VP4300 Lite 4TB SSD Review - Our New Favorite on Tweaktown. Netac ZX20 1TB USB3.2 Gen2x2 Portable SSD on FunkyKit. Transcend ESD310C 1TB Pen Drive SSD on Tweaktown. Portable & Prebuilt: Minisforum Venus Series NPB5 Mini-PC (Intel i5-13500H) on TechPowerUp. Kamrui AM08 Pro Mini PC Review: Pint-Sized Ryzen Gaming on HotHardware. Review: Beelink GTR7 Pro (Ryzen 9 7940HS) MiniPC on Guru3D. Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra Review: A Gorgeous But Big Slate on HotHardware. Misc Pics (25 Comments) (link)  Friday, 15-September-2023  13:49:06 (GMT +10) - by Agg Friday again! I got a new toy yesterday, a 360 camera.. hoping to have a play with it this weekend. Sunday Salad Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Sunday, 10-September-2023  15:29:35 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN Keyboard and Mouse: Razer BlackWidow V4 75% Mechanical Keyboard @ TweakTown DELUX M800 Pro (3395) @ TechPowerUp Corsair K70 MAX RGB Magnetic Mechanical Keyboard @ TweakTown Case and PSU: THERMALTAKE CTE T500 AIR @ 3cowcotland be quiet! Dark Base Pro 901 Computer Case @ aphNetworks Seasonic PRIME TX-1300 ATX 3.0 Titanium Power Supply Unit @ NikKTech Storage: Lexar NM790 4TB NVMe SSD @ Neoseeker Kingston XS1000 2TB USB 3.2 Gen 2 Portable SSD @ NikKTech Memory and Motherboard: Patriot Viper Venom RGB DDR5-7400 CL36 2x16GB @ Neoseeker ASRock B650E Taichi Lite @ FunkyKit ASRock Z790 LiveMixer Motherboard @ ThinkComputers Software and Benchmark: Starfield: DLSS Community Patch @ TechPowerUp 13900K undervolted VS 13900K VS 7950X VS 7950X3D @ cowcotland Portable and Pre-built: Lenovo Yoga Book 9i @ HotHardware - an interesting new take on the 2 in 1 machine AMD RX7800 & RX7700 GPU Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Sunday, 10-September-2023  15:23:33 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN Will these be the Kings of the value packed mid-range ? Read on to find out. ASUS Radeon RX 7700 XT TUF @ guru3D XFX Radeon RX 7700 XT QICK 319 @ guru3D Sapphire PULSE AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT @ TweakTown Radeon RX 7800 XT And 7700 XT @ HotHardware XFX QICK 319 RX 7700 XT Black @ LanOC XFX Radeon RX 7700 XT Qick 319 @ TechPowerUp ASRock Radeon RX 7800 XT Phantom Gaming @ TechPowerUp Sapphire Radeon RX 7800 XT Nitro+ @ TechPowerUp Sapphire Radeon RX 7700 XT Pulse @ TechPowerUp PowerColor Radeon RX 7800 XT Hellhound @ TechPowerUp AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT @ TechPowerUp Sapphire RX 7700 XT Pulse @ LanOC XFX Radeon RX 7800 XT Merc 319 @ TechPowerUp ASUS Radeon RX 7700 XT TUF @ TechPowerUp Radeon RX 7700 XT @ guru3D Radeon RX 7800 XT reference @ guru3D XFX Radeon RX 7800 XT MERC 319 @ guru3D ASUS Radeon RX 7800 XT TUF @ guru3D Sapphire Radeon RX 7800 XT Nitro+ @ guru3D XFX Merc 319 7800 XT Black @ LanOC AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT @ LanOC AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT @ TweakTown ASUS Radeon RX 7800 XT TUF @ TechPowerUp Misc Pics (31 Comments) (link)  Friday, 8-September-2023  14:43:21 (GMT +10) - by Agg Thanks to Tony_L this week! Second-last one might be NSFW, I guess.. Wednesday Night News (8 Comments) (link)  Wednesday, 6-September-2023  20:58:25 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN In the 1964 film Goldfinger Bond investigates the gold smuggling magnate, Auric Goldfinger. I think Auric would have liked this as his mouse. While the "standard" Viper Signature Mini retails for $280, this bling version likely slaps a golden mold over the existing magnesium alloy chassis. This adds weight and reduced grip, but honestly, whoever ends up with this mouse is probably more concerned about how it matches the rest of their gold-threaded curtains, golden toilet, and other kitschy deco, than their actual gaming prowess. Curiously, one of the pictures that shows the mouse in an equally special storage case has a blurred-out plaque. Back when MicroSoft released Windows 95 they also introduced us to "PowerToys". It was a way for their engineering teams to test prototype features. After XP PowerToys took a little break, but was given another shot at fame in 2019. The most recent toy is "Crop and Lock" and is kinda cool and even useful for me at work. Crop and Lock, available for both Windows 11 and Windows 10 (19041) or newer, has two modes — a non-interactive Thumbnail crop that’s essentially a live feed of the area you select that updates with the page, and a “Reparent” mode that Microsoft writes is more interactive, but could have compatibility issues with some apps. Arrrrr MicroSoft. With one hand you give, the other you take. Luckily NotePad++ is a thing. An awesome thing. Microsoft is no longer updating WordPad and plans to remove the word processor from a future release of Windows. The software giant will instead recommend Microsoft Word, its paid word processor that has always been far more feature rich than the basic WordPad app that has shipped as part of Windows since Windows 95. Dropping months of pay on a GPU to have it burn up due to a poorly design and implemented connector might not be a thing any more, and it probably shouldn't have ever been a thing, but here we are. What if you just removed the connectors entirely, though? The idea is that, instead of plugging a bunch of bulky wire bundles into your graphics card, totally trashing the aesthetics of your build, you instead slot a second connector on the card into a small slot toward the front of the board that then supplies the power. This connector concept is called "GC-HPWR", and ASUS already has working prototype graphics cards and motherboards using it. I've been wanting to write 'something' about AI for sometime now but lack the time (and knowledge), maybe I could ask AI to write it for me ? Must be a buck or two in AI if its any good. Fascination with ChatGPT is growing so rapidly that OpenAI, the company behind the generative artificial intelligence technology, is reportedly on track to generate more than $1 billion in revenue. OpenAI makes money two ways: licensing its technology to corporate clients and via individual subscriptions. In a report as of March, between 1 million and 2 million subscribers were paying the company $20 per month to access the most recent model of the chatbot. Wednesday Night Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Wednesday, 6-September-2023  20:21:51 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN Audio Visual: Corsair HS80 Max Wireless @ cowcotland FiiO M11S Portable High Resolution Music Player @ NikKTech Yeyian SIGURD 2503 23.8 Inch FHD Curved Gaming Monitor @ NikKTech Status Between 3ANC TWS Earphones @ TechPowerUp Keyboard, Mouse, Etc: G-Wolves HSK Pro 4K @ TechPowerUp Mountain Everest 60 Gaming Keyboard @ ThinkComputers Epomaker Shadow-X Wireless Mechanical Keyboard @ TechPowerUp Cases and Cooling: XPG Valor Mesh Mid-Tower ATX Case @ TweakTown Aqirys Sargas @ TechPowerUp Noctua NH-D12L CPU Air Cooler @ TweakTown SHADOW BASE 800 FX : E-ATX @ cowcotland SilverStone MILO 12 mITX SFF Case @ TweakTown Storage: Netac NV7000-t 1TB Solid State Drive @ aphNetworks Crucial X9 Pro and X10 Pro Portable SSDs @ LanOC Kingston XS1000 2TB SSD @ TweakTown Kingston XS1000 2TB Portable SSD @ FunkyKit Lexar NM710 1TB Solid State Drive @ aphNetworks Lexar NM790 2TB PCIe Gen4x4 M.2 SSD @ FunkyKit PSU: DeepCool PX1000G 1000-watt 80 PLUS Gold ATX 3.0 @ TweakTown Software and Benchmark: Starfield: FSR 2.2 @ TechPowerUp i7-13700T unlocked versus i7-13700 versus i7-13700K @ cowcotland Portable & Prebuilt: Alienware M18 R1 Gaming Laptop @ TweakTown MINISFORUM Venus NPB5 Core i5-13500H Mini PC @ guru3D Laptop Accessories at IFA 2023 @ HighPerformanceLaptops Ace Magician AM08 Pro Mini PC @ guru3D Ace Magician AM06PRO @ HotHardware Network: Linksys Atlas Pro 6 Dual-Band AX5400 Mesh WiFi 6 @ Madshrimps Misc: Intel Tech Tour Malaysia: Behind The Scenes @ HotHardware Retro Gaming September 2023 (0 Comments) (link)  Sunday, 3-September-2023  13:23:45 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN This month's "Retro Let's Play" for September is Dark Souls. Dark Souls is a fantasy action RPG and spiritual successor to its older sibling - Demon's Souls. Souls is a series of action role-playing games and it began with the release of Dark Souls and has seen two sequels. The series has received critical acclaim, with its high level of difficulty being among its most discussed aspects, while the first Dark Souls is often cited as one of the greatest games of all time. By 2022, the series had shipped over 33 million copies. Sounds like it's time to jump in and see what all the hype is. click for the thread! Meanwhile this month's "Retro Racing" game is Rock n' Roll Racing from 1993. Featuring more ROCK per pixel than any other racing game, this married Megadriverized electro versions of Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Steppenwolf to blow-'em'up 4x4 racing. There was also a villain called Butcher Icebone, which surely ranks alongside Snake Pliskin as the Best Name of All Time. Rock ‘n Roll Racing is an arcade combat racing game. Combat plays a heavy role in the game, as each car has a frontal weapon, such as a laser or missile, and a drop weapon, such as spikes or mines. As you complete races, you get more money to upgrade your car. The soundtrack features famous rock tracks such as “Born to Be Wild, “Bad to the Bone,” “The Peter Gunn Theme,” “Highway Star” and “Paranoid.” click for the thread! Misc Pics (37 Comments) (link)  Friday, 1-September-2023  13:49:42 (GMT +10) - by Agg Friday again! Be aware the second one may be NSFW..

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