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January 2014 |
Thanks to brodsta this week!
     
     
     
     
     
Friday Afternoon Reviews
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Friday, 31-January-2014 13:17:55 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Motherboard & CPU:
ASUS ROG Maximus VI Gene on OCClub.
Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H Motherboard on Modders-Inc.
Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H on LanOC.
ASUS P9D WS Workstation Motherboard on Tweaktown.
ASUS Maximus VI Formula Motherboard on ThinkComputers.
AMD Richland A10-6790K on Vortez.
Storage:
QNAP TurboNAS TS-470 NAS Server on NikKTech.
Plextor M6e PCI Express SSD on HWHeaven.
Kingston DataTraveler Locker+ G3 16GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive on CustomPCReview.
Plextor M5 Pro Xtreme 256GB Solid State Drive on eTeknix.
Cooling:
nPowerTek NPH-1366-140HC Heatsink on Frostytech.
Titan Dragonfly 4 CPU cooler on TechPowerUp.
CRYORIG R1 Ultimate on Vortez.
Enermax ETS-T40 CPU White Cluster & Black Twister Cooler on eTeknix.
Corsair H105 on Guru3D.
DeepCool Gabriel CPU Cooler on PureOC.
Dynatron G556 2U Xeon Server Heatsink on Frostytech.
EK Waterblocks R280X Matrix Edition Full Cover Block on MadShrimps.
Video Cards:
MSI Twin Frozr Gaming GTX 780 OC Edition on OCaholic.
XFX Radeon R9 280X Black Edition on BenchmarkReviews.
Sapphire Radeon R7 260X on Phoronix.
MSI GTX 760 Mini-ITX Gaming 2 GB on TechPowerUp.
EVGA GTX 780 Ti Classified K|ngp|n Edition on HWAsylum.
People with phobias of stepping on Lego might like this. 'Build with Chrome' is a new feature that lets users play with Lego’s colourful toy blocks in their web browsers.
Apple just seem to be selling more and more iPhones, with 51 million sold last quarter up from 47.8 million from the same period the year before. Thanks, IntelInside.
Satoru Iwata, the head of Nintendo, has voluntarily slashed his pay in half after its nine-month profit slumped 30 per cent because of weak demand for its Wii U games console.
As Facebook turns 10, Bloomberg interview Mark Zuckerberg about getting his site through puberty. His social network is used by 1.23 billion people around the world. The company is worth around $135 billion and will probably become the fastest in history to reach $150 billion.
Google have upset the South Koreans by collecting personal data when it was setting up its Street View service, and has been fined US$196,000. The penalty is the first of its kind slapped on a global company in South Korea for violating private info protection laws, when it was building its Street View service.
However, to help pay for it, Google sold Motorola to Lenovo for 2.91 billion. Google believes Lenovo can turn Motorola into "A major player within the Android Ecosystem". Full story here.
This guy apparently had his "@N" twitter username stolen, apparently worth up to $50,000, and Paypal apparently deny providing any payment information to the hacker. PayPal has denied that its customer service representative divulged credit card information over the phone. GoDaddy has admitted partial responsibility for the incidents. Finally, the @N account itself is actually in someone else’s hands, after Twitter made it available after initially deactivating it.
Forum Projects
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Wednesday, 29-January-2014 15:28:58 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Here's some interesting projects from people in the forums:
Wednesday Afternoon
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Wednesday, 29-January-2014 14:15:45 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Time to catch up on some news!
Toshiba have completed their acquisition of OCZ's technology assets. Effective immediately, the Group company will operate independently as OCZ Storage Solutions, a leading provider of high-performance solid state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems.
Almost as if to celebrate, there's a new OCZ SSD using Toshiba memory. The new Vertex 460 being tested is based on the latest revision Barefoot controller and now runs Toshiba NAND flash memory. 120GB and 240GB it seems, with reviews on Guru3D, HWHeaven, TheSSDReview, ThinkComputers, OCaholic, LegitReviews, HotHardware, PCPerspective and Tweaktown.
Apple's Macintosh celebrated its 30th Birthday recently. “The Mac made the computer accessible to the average consumer and so opened the floodgates for a new generation of technology innovations,” said Daniel Kottke, one of the original Macintosh developers. Small, affordable and easy to use, it ushered in a new era of information technology and global cultural change brought forth by technology. It was so good that Bill Gates liked it!
Backblaze recently reported on their experiences with hard drive failures on a massive scale, and made some brand-specific comments. Because Backblaze has a history of openness, many readers expected more details in my previous posts. They asked what drive models work best and which last the longest. Given our experience with over 25,000 drives, they asked which ones are good enough that we would buy them again. In this post, I’ll answer those questions. However, Tweaktown question their methodology. Discussion here.
Phoronix have a 25-Way Open-Source Linux Graphics Card Comparison and a 24-Way AMD Radeon vs. NVIDIA GeForce Linux Graphics Card Comparison. After this weekend carrying out a 25-way open-source Linux graphics driver comparison featuring AMD Radeon, Intel HD Graphics, and NVIDIA GeForce hardware, the tables have now turned to look at nearly the same assortment of hardware but when using the high-performance, proprietary Linux graphics drivers. We've also upped the demanding OpenGL benchmarks used -- including the Source Engine -- as we see how the AMD and NVIDIA binary graphics drivers are doing to start 2014.
Members of our long-running HP Microserver club might be interested in this review of the Gen8 model on SilentPCReview. HP's compact entry level small business server is back with a much anticipated update. The MicroServer Gen8 has a sleeker design than the original, much faster Ivy Bridge based processors, and more extensive server features. What of the noise?
You can now explore the Top Gear track on Google Maps, with a video about it all here. Watch behind the scenes footage as The Stig accompanies Google's Street View car around the Top Gear test track in a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black.
Tuesday Afternoon Reviews
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Tuesday, 28-January-2014 16:31:43 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Motherboard & CPU:
ASRock A88X Extreme6+ on Vortez.
ASUS A88X-PRO AMD FM2+ on LegitReviews.
Gigabyte G1 Sniper Z87 (LGA 1150) on eTeknix.
AMD A8-7600 Kaveri APU on TechSpot.
ASRock Fatal1ty B85 (LGA 1150) Killer on eTeknix.
Storage:
Thecus N2560 Network Attached Storage on APHNetworks.
LaCie FUEL 1TB Mobile Storage Device on Tweaktown.
Western Digital Black2 Dual Drive on ThinkComputers.
Western Digital My Passport Ultra 1TB Portable Hard Drive on BigBruin.
Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 64GB Flash Drive on FunkyKit.
Western Digital WD10EZEX 1TB SATA HDD on Phoronix.
Seagate Backup Plus Slim External USB 3.0 2TB Hard Drive on PCStats.
Toshiba PX02SMF020 200GB SAS SSD on NikKTech.
Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD on TechWareLabs.
Audio Visual:
FUNC HS-260 Gaming Headset on Futurelooks.
Func HS-260 Gaming Headset on LanOC.
Func HS-260 Gaming Headset on TechPowerUp.
FUNC HS-260 Gaming Headset on OCClub.
Func HS-260 Gaming Headset on Techgage.
Flir E6 Thermal Infrared Camera on TechWareLabs.
Cooling:
GamerStorm Lucifer CPU Cooler on HWHeaven.
Dynatron G666 2U Xeon Server Heatsink on Frostytech.
Aerocool DS Fans (120mm & 140mm) on FunkyKit.
Gamer Storm Lucifer CPU cooler on OCClub.
Portable & Prebuilt:
Intel Next Unit of Computing (NUC) D54250WYKH on MissingRemote.
HTC One Max 6-Inch Android Smartphone on HotHardware.
HP Chromebook 11 with SlimPort Technology on Tweaktown.
Shuttle XPC Barebone SZ87R6 on MadShrimps.
Input Etc:
Zowie FK mouse on DVHardware.
Attitude One Sturmovik Gaming Keyboard on NikKTech.
Func KB-460 Gaming Keyboard on LanOC.
Cases:
SilverStone ML04 Milo HTPC mATX Case on BenchmarkReviews.
Silverstone Raven RVZ01 Mini-ITX on eTeknix.
BitFenix Phenom Mini-ITX on eTeknix.
Misc:
ASUS R9 280X DirectCU II TOP on PureOC.
XFX XTR 550-Watt 80 PLUS Gold on Tweaktown.
Sunday Afternoon Reviews
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Sunday, 26-January-2014 14:04:48 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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I hope you're having a great Australia Day!
Input Etc:
Feenix Nascita Gaming Mouse on TechPowerUp.
CM Storm MECH Mechanical Keyboard on BenchmarkReviews.
Epic Gear DeziMator keyboard on OCaholic.
Logitech G602 Wireless Gaming Mouse on OCClub.
Logitech G700s Rechargeable Gaming Mouse on OCClub.
Logitech's K400 wireless keyboard and touchpad on TechReport.
Mionix Naos 7000 and Avior 7000 on PureOC.
Audio Visual:
TRITTON PRO+ True 5.1 Surround Headset on NikKTech.
Corsair Vengeance 2100 Wireless Gaming Headset on LegitReviews.
Cases:
Nanoxia Deep Silence 6 Big Tower on PureOC.
Raidmax Agusta on ThinkComputers.
Fractal Design NODE 304 mini-ITX on Techgage.
Portable & Prebuilt:
Wikipad 7inch Gaming Tablet with Controller on HWHeaven.
Dell XPS 15 Touch Screen Laptop on HotHardware.
ZOTAC ZBOX Nano ID68 Plus Mini PC on HWHeaven.
Video Cards:
Gigabyte R9 290X WindForce OC 4GB on eTeknix.
HIS R9 270X IceQ X² Turbo Boost 2GB on eTeknix.
Cooling:
GamerStorm Lucifer CPU Cooler on eTeknix.
Dynatron G199 1U Xeon Server Heatsink on FrostyTech.
Motherboard & CPU:
AMD Kaveri A10 7850K APU Overclocked IGP Gaming & OpenCL Performance on HardCoreWare.
DDR3-2400MHz On AMD's A10 Kaveri With Kingston's HyperX Beast on Phoronix.
Storage:
ADATA DashDrive HD650 External HDD on Tweaktown.
MyDigitalSSD Pocket Vault External SSD on Tweaktown.
Memory:
Patriot Viper 3 16GB 2400MHz Memory Kit on eTeknix.
G.SKILL Ripjaws 8GB 2133MHz DDR3L SO-DIMM Memory Kit on LegitReviews.
Power Supply:
Corsair AX1200i Modular Digital Power Supply on eTeknix.
Xigmatek Vector P700 700-Watt 80 PLUS Gold on Tweaktown.
Corsair CS Series Modular 650W on PCPerspective.
Lepa G1600 Modular Power Supply on eTeknix.
Networking:
Actiontec WCB3000NK01 Wireless and Ethernet Over Coax Adapter Kit on BigBruin.
Buffalo AirStation WZR1750DHP Dual Band AC1750 Wireless Router on Tweaktown.
Thanks to HyRax1, Timbot, and Anthrox this week!
     
     
     
     
     
Thursday Morning Reviews
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Thursday, 23-January-2014 01:22:05 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Motherboard & CPU:
ECS GANK DRONE Z87H3-A3X on PCPerspective.
MSI Z87M Gaming Motherboard on OCClub.
MSI Z87M Gaming motherboard on PCGamers.
Input Etc:
12-Way Gaming Mouse Roundup on LegionHW.
Thermaltake Tt eSPORTS Volos MMO Gaming Mouse on OCClub.
Mionix Naos 7000 Optical Gaming Mouse on Tweaktown.
Cases:
Corsair Obsidian 250D mITX Cube on MadShrimps.
Corsair Obsidian 250D on Guru3D.
Corsair's Obsidian Series 250D on TechReport.
InWin 901: A Story of Tempered Glass on BenchmarkReviews.
Corsair Graphite 230T Windowed Mid Tower Rebel Orange on eTeknix.
Cooler Master Silencio 352 on OCaholic.
NZXT Talk Us Through The New H440 Chassis on eTeknix.
BitFenix Phenom M on TechPowerUp.
Portable & Prebuilt:
Samsung ATIV Book 9 Lite Windows 8 Notebook PC on MegaTechNews.
Acer Aspire R7 Two-in-One Ultrabook on Tweaktown.
Video Cards:
XSPC Razor R9 290/290X on PureOC.
Powercolor R9 280X TurboDuo 3GB on eTeknix.
Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X 4GB on eTeknix.
ASUS R9 290X DirectCU II OC 4 GB on TechPowerUp.
Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti GHZ Edition on Bjorn3D.
MSI GTX780 Ti Twin Frozr Gaming OC on Vortez.
Gigabyte AMD Radeon R9 290X WF OC on MadShrimps.
Storage:
ADATA DashDrive Air AE400 on PureOC.
Kingston SSDNow V300 120GB SATA 3.0 SSD on Phoronix.
VisionTek 120GB mSATA SSD on LegitReviews.
Western Digital Black Gen. 2 (WD4003FZEX) 4 TB Hard Disk Drive on TechARP.
QNAP HS-210 Silent NAS on TechSpot.
ASUSTOR AS-202TE Network Attached Storage on APHNetworks.
Kingston DataTraveler 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive on NikKTech.
Seagate NAS and WD Red HDD DAS RAID Performance Analysis on Tweaktown.
Seagate U-Series 6 80GB on Tweaktown.
Audio Visual:
Seiki Digital SE39UY04 39-inch 4K Ultra HD LED Panel on Tweaktown.
CM Storm Ceres 300 Gaming Headset on Modders-Inc.
AVerMedia Game Capture HD 2 on HWHeaven.
X2 Saturn 5.1 Gaming Headset on FunkyKit.
OZONE Rage 7HX 7.1 Surround Headset on NikKTech.
Memory:
Team Group Vulcan 8GB 2400MHz C10 Memory Kit on eTeknix.
DDR3-800MHz To DDR3-2133MHz Memory Testing With AMD's Kaveri on Phoronix.
Misc:
Silverstone Strider Gold S Series 750W PSU on TechPowerUp.
AT&T Unite Pro 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot on LegitReviews.
DeepCool Lucifer CPU Cooler on ThinkComputers.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag PC game on eTeknix.
Here's some yummy threads from our Geek Recipes forum:
Some CES catchup: Tech Report's big digest, parts one and two from FutureLooks, parts one and two from MegaTechNews, a new Oculus Rift prototype on Tech Report, case mods on ThinkComputers and booth babes on TechWareLabs.
Tweaktown have some tips for improving 3D print quality. In his first installment, Charles shows you how to improve print quality by installing a fan ducted to the hot end.
That kind of thing is important if you are printing chocolate. In a statement, 3D Systems said making printers that print chocolate is a good way to help the relatively new technology go mainstream. Hershey sees it as a great delivery system for its products. This is how Skynet will kill us. By giving us unlimited access to chocolate.
Telescope pioneed John Dobson passed away recently, thanks Skymaster. The long-lived master of sidewalk astronomy died peacefully on January 15th. Emerging from obscurity in 1968, he introduced simple ideas that revolutionized how amateurs make and use large reflecting telescopes.
AMD are doing well in some extreme HWBOT benchmarks. With 820 submissions in the first two weeks of 2014 alone, HWBOT Prime is currently the second most popular benchmark at HWBOT. And that means overclockers from around the world attempt to set top scores. Most of the benchers are active in the 4-core, 6-core, or 8-core categories where we see the AMD FX series doing surprisingly well compared to the Core i7 4k series. On LN2 an FX-8350 at 7.65 GHz is only slightly slower than a Core i7 4930K at 6 GHz.
Mpot sent in this article which brings a new meaning to the phrase get some spam from the fridge. Proofpoint said hackers managed to penetrate home-networking routers, connected multimedia centres, televisions and at least one refrigerator to create a botnet — or platform to deliver malicious spam or phishing emails from a device, usually without the owner's knowledge.
Tensop spotted this video from 2009, about a modem from 1964. Even better than seeing it in a museum, I decide to hook the trusty Model A up and make it talk to something. After some trial and error, I manage to get it to talk to a terminal server at work and use it to connect to a linux box. It's ALIVE! So, 45 years after it's creation, this antique modem gets to send data to and from the modern Internet.
From Bastard Child: Hi guys, that dude that does artwork inside the eye of needles and on pin heads is in melb this wed for a 3 hour exhibit.
Sunday Night Reviews
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Sunday, 19-January-2014 23:50:58 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Audio Visual:
Tt eSPORTS Cronos Gaming Headset on TechwareLabs.
Logitech G35 Gaming Headset on OCaholic.
X2 Aurel Noise Cancelling Headphones on Techgage.
MP4Nation Brainwavz S1 on TechPowerUp.
Motherboard & CPU:
A subjective look at the A8-7600's gaming performance on TechReport.
GIGABYTE Z87X-OC Force (Intel Z87) Motherboard on Tweaktown.
AMD A10-7850K vs. Intel/AMD CPU/APU Comparison on Phoronix.
Asrock Z87 Extreme11/ac on LegionHW.
AMD A10-7850K Kaveri: Windows 8.1 vs. Ubuntu Linux on Phoronix.
AMD Kaveri APU Architecture Overview on BenchmarkReviews.
Storage:
Patriot Spark 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive on NikKTech.
Corsair Flash Voyager GO 32GB micro-USB Flash Drive on LegitReviews.
Asustor AS-302T NAS on ComputingOnDemand.
Portable & Prebuilt:
Lenovo Thinkpad T440s Ultrabook on HotHardware.
Dell Venue 8 Pro and Venue 8 Do Windows and Android on HotHardware.
Input Etc:
Mionix Naos 7000 gaming mouse on RBMods.
Genius Energy Mouse on LanOC.
Logitech G600 MMO Gaming Mouse on OCClub.
Cooling:
Cooler Master Glacer 240L AIO Liquid CPU Cooler on Tweaktown.
Zalman LQ320 Liquid Cooling System on Frostytech.
Cooler Master Nepton 280L Liquid Cooling System on Frostytech.
Cases:
Antec Nineteen Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case on NikKTech.
Fractal Design Node 304 Mini-ITX on LegitReviews.
SilverStone Raven RV04 on BenchmarkReviews.
Misc:
Linksys LGS124 24 Port Gigabit Switch on Tweaktown.
ASUS Radeon R9-290 DirectCU II OC video card on Guru3D.
Kingston HyperX Predator 2x4GB DDR3-2800 CL12 1.65V memory on OCaholic.
Thanks to mpot, Andypoo and OG today!
     
     
     
     
     
CPU/APU:
AMD A8 7600 Kaveri APU on Guru3D
AMD A8 7600 Kaveri APU on TechReport
AMD A8-7600 Kaveri APU on PC Perspective
AMD A10-7850K Kaveri on Phoronix
AMD A10-7850K und A10-7700K Kaveri APUs" on TweakPC.de
AMD Kaveri A10 7850K on HCW
AMD Kaveri Arrives: A8-7600 APU" on HotHardware.com
AMD A10-7850K Radeon R7 Graphics Comparison on Phoronix
AMD A10-7850K (Kaveri) APU on HardwareHeaven
Audio:
SteelSeries Siberia Elite Gaming Headset on Benchmark Reviews
SteelSeries H Wireless Gaming Headset on APH Networks
ARCTIC P402 BT Bluetooth Headset on Funky Kit
Storage:
OCZ Vertex 450 SSD on LanOC Reviews
Toshiba Q Series Pro 256GB RAID 0 SSD on TweakTown
Corsair Flash Voyager GO 32GB micro-USB Flash Drive on Legit Reviews
Videocard:
EVGA GTX 780 Ti Classified 3072 MB on techPowerUp
GIGABYTE GTX 780 GHz Edition on Vortez
Sapphire Radeon R7 260X OC on TechwareLabs.com
Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X on LanOC
ASUS R9 270X DirectCU II TOP Video Card on ThinkComputers.org
Asus R9 270X and 280X DirectCU II TOP on PC Perspective
Gaming:
Halo: Spartan Assault (XBO) on Gaming Nexus
Humble Indie Bundle X on OverclockersClub
Laptop/PC etc:
HP Z1 All-in-One Workstation PC on TweakTown
Zotax Zbox Nano AQ01 Plus on Bjorn3D
ROG TYTAN G30 Gaming PC on Ocaholic
StarTech USB 3.0 Dual Video Laptop Docking Station on PC Perspective
XMG C703 Laptop on HardwareHeaven.com
Case:
Cooler Master COSMOS SE Computer Case on Madshrimps
Cooler Master HAF Stacker 935 Case on Legit Reviews
Phanteks Enthoo Primo on OverclockersClub
Nanoxia Deep Silence 4 on techPowerUp
Networking:
NETGEAR ReadyNAS RN104 on HardwareHeaven.com
Tenda W1800R Wireless AC1750 Dual-Band Gigabit Router on NikKTech
Toshiba FlashAir Class10 Wi-Fi SD Card on Madshrimps
PSU:
Super Flower Leadex Gold 1300 W on techPowerUp
Corsair CS650M 650-Watt 80 PLUS Gold Power Supply on TweakTown
Corsair CS450M Power Supply on Legit Reviews
Silverstone Strider Gold S Series 850W on PureOverclock
Storage:
RaidSonic ICY BOX IB-121CL-U3 HDD Docking & Clone Station on NikKTech
Thecus N2310 NAS Server Network Storage on Benchmark Reviews
Intel NUC KIT D54250WYKH on Legit Reviews
Cooling:
Coolermaster Seidon 120V Liquid Cooling System on Frostytech.com
GamerStorm Gabriel Low-Profile CPU Cooler on TweakTown
Zalman LQ315 Liquid Cooling System on Frostytech.com
be quiet! Dark Rock 2 CPU Cooler on TechwareLabs.com
Mouse:
Steelseries Rival Gamer Mouse on Tweak.dk
Mionix Avior 7000 Optical Gaming Mouse on TweakTown
Motherboard:
MSI Z87 MPower Max on ocaholic
ASUS P9X79-E WS Motherboard on PureOverclock
ASUS Rampage IV Black Edition X79 on Guru3D
Misc:
LUXA2 PL1 2800mAh Leather Power Bank Portable Charger on TweakTown
Nokia Lumia 1520 on Techspot
Dell UltraSharp 32 Ultra HD Monitor on TechSpot
Patriot Viper 8GB DDR3-2133 C11 on Funky Kit
Australia - World OC Champions!
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Thursday, 16-January-2014 12:42:37 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Apparently we did well in the cricket recently. But far more important is that Australia won the HWBot Country Cup for 2013, making us the world champions of overclocking!
More info here on GIGABYTE's tech blog. In the end overclockers from Australia triumphed with an emphatic last 4 stage wins but it was not all smooth sailing for the team down under! Germany, France, Indonesia and USA made sure it all went down to the wire and no doubt will set precedent for another huge clash in 2014. Congrats to the team!
Photography Gallery
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Wednesday, 15-January-2014 21:45:15 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Here's a quick snapshot of what people are up to in our Photography Gallery forum.
A man in China has been paralyzed from playing a boxing arcade game while waiting to get his phone fixed. Zhen did go into surgery, but doctors do not think he will recover. His wife and family are unlikely to get compensation from the arcade, The Nanfang adds, because the arcade game did have a written health warning.
Lots of sites are checking out AMD's new Kaveri APU that got released at CES 2014. Read more on PC Perspective, Benchmark Reviews, and Tech Report. AMD's next-generation APU packs in a ton of innovation, including updated "Steamroller" CPU cores, GCN graphics, and advanced HSA features. But is it enough to restore AMD's competitiveness in desktop processors?
There's an interesting read here, regarding the death of the personal computer, and how it also might mean the demise of the Web. The gist of the argument is this: as app-happy mobile devices become the primary way we compute, the good old browser becomes irrelevant.
Apparently your mobile phone is dirtier than a public bathroom, which inspired the release of phone sanitzing cases at this year's CES. Barnes said his $50 device uses ultraviolet radiation which "kills the bacteria's DNA, so that they can't live on your phone anymore."
Google has just purchased Nest Labs, the maker of the Nest Learning Thermostat and Protect smoke detector, for $3.2 billion in cash. A combination of Nest's home solutions coupled with Google's language recognition could give Google its strongest path yet into your home.
So how about a flat pack car you can build, apparently in under an hour... introducing the Urban Tabby. The firm behind the project is called OSV, which stands for Open Source Vehicle, meaning anyone can contribute to developing and customising the project.
Very cool video here of an Indonesian Volcano with blue lava. Flowing blue lava can be seen flowing down the volcano and the smoke and steam rising from the blue flames add to the eerie beauty of it all.
Interesting Forum Threads
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Monday, 13-January-2014 22:16:35 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Here's a snapshot of what's going on in some of the forums. You can also find new interesting things you might have missed via the Who's Online page, the New Posts page and the Live forum view. Also try the Today's Posts link (find it on the Quick Links menu) and the handy Who Quoted Me? feature.
Razer - 'Christine' in Overclocking & Hardware.
Radiator experiment - to MOARRAD, or not? in Extreme and Water Cooling.
Edison: PC the size of an SD card in Intel x86 CPUs and chipsets.
What is your main OS? in Windows Operating Systems.
Which desktop are you using right now? in Other Operating Systems.
No Man's Sky - every atom procedural in PC Games.
Rocksmith 2014 in PC Games.
Your oh-s**t moments in Business & Enterprise Computing.
DIY solar panel setup on a budget in Hobby Engineering.
Ultrabooks and casual gaming? (List of games that run on Intel HD GPU) in Portable & SFF.
Netbook vs Tablet for Travel in Portable & SFF.
The Console Living Room - Internet Archive in Retro & Arcade.
elvis' retro gaming log in Retro & Arcade.
We have ignition! ...almost in Science.
Sun about to flip its polarity in Science.
Smallest, Faintest Galaxies of the Ancient Universe Spotted in Science.
Space Travel thread in Science.
Do you chew enough? in Geek Food.
Why Bitcoin is doomed to fail in Career, Education & Finance.
Good example of Speed Differential in Motoring.
"Enough Is Enough: Stop Wasting Money on Vitamin and Mineral Supplements" in Sport, Fitness & Health.
Some CES headlines from Tech-Report: Corsair's twin-port thumb drive has full-size and micro-USB, Micron has DDR4 info for servers and high-end desktops, and Be Quiet have a new CPU cooler which is dark and enormous.
Speaking of TR, ML sends word that their SSD Endurance test has passed the 500TB mark. Every time data is written, the physical structure of the NAND cells degrades. The cells eventually erode to the point where they become unusable, forcing SSDs to poach replacement blocks from their overprovisioned spare areas. This dynamic raises several questions. What happens when drives run out of overprovisioned area? How long does it take? And do they slow down along the way?
Mpot meanwhile spotted this Raspberry Pi tablet project on Makezine. It seems that every day a manufacturer comes out with a new tablet computer. Thinner, lighter, faster, but it seems that they all look about the same and accomplish roughly the same things. When I set out to build my Raspberry Pi tablet I wanted something different. I wanted an all-in-one system that was usable, portable, and Linux based. Additionally, it had to look good. Since I wanted to use it on flights the device couldn’t freak out the TSA or the old lady sitting next to me.
The Obama Administration have extended the life of the ISS out to at least 2024.
Wired have an interesting week in Photography, including a map of the most photographed regions of the world. The map accounts for the top 15,000 most photographed locations in Google’s Panorimo service, where users can submit geotagged photographs for inclusion in Google Earth. New York tops the list, but even a cursory glance shows that Europe is absolutely ablaze with shutter clicks. Locations are viewable down to street level, and are ranked based on the number of shots within a few square miles of the center of a given location.
IBM's Watson is headed for new things, not just winning gameshows. Using natural language capabilities and analytics, Watson processes information akin to how people think, allowing it to quickly analyze and interpret large amounts of data. IBM said it has shrunk Watson to the size of three stacked pizza boxes from its original size of a master bedroom.
Here's a strange one - to find if there are any time travellers on social media, thanks JC. Time travelers on social media beware: you may slip up and post information well ahead of its time. One research study out of Michigan Technological University has sought to uncover undercover travelers who exist among us in our digital present.
On a related note, here's a fun Google Maps Easter Egg. Click the double arrows on the road..
Finally, here's a very cool video of a FPS based on forced perspective. Hard to explain, but check it out!
Monday Night Reviews
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Monday, 13-January-2014 21:21:49 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Cases:
BitFenix Prodigy M on PureOC.
BitFenix Ronin on DVHardware.
Storage:
SuperSSpeed S301 64GB RAID 0 SSD on Tweaktown.
VisionTek Data Fusion PCIe SSD 240GB on LegitReviews.
ADATA DashDrive Air AE800 Wireless HDD on BenchmarkReviews.
QNAP QTS 4.1 SMB Storage Manager Deep Dive on Tweaktown.
Video Cards:
ASUS Radeon R9 290X DirectCU II OC on OCaholic.
PowerColor Radeon R9 270X PCS+ 2GB on Tweaktown.
Power Supply:
Cougar CMX V.3 850W on NikKTech.
Cooler Master GXII 650W on LanOC.
Audio Visual:
A.M.P Pulse Wireless Mobile Headphones on NikKTech.
Razer Kraken Forged Edition Gaming Headset on HWHeaven.
Misc:
CORSAIR Hydro Series H105 CPU Cooler on MadShrimps.
ASUS Rampage IV Black Edition Motherboard on Bjorn3D.
Audio:
Edifier e1100 Predator 2.1 Speakers on PureOverclock
X2 Saturn 5.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset on HardwareHeaven.com
Corsair Vengeance 1400 & 2100 on Vortez
Case:
Thermaltake Urban S41 Windowed Mid-Tower on NikKTech
Thermaltake Armor A30i Speed Edition Gaming Cube Chassis on TweakTown
NZXT Phantom 530 Case on Hardware Secrets
BitFenix Ronin Case on Hardware Secrets
Cyberpower Ultra Fusion on Vortez
Videocard:
Gigabyte Radeon R9-290X WindForce 3X OC on Guru3D
MSI GTX 780 Ti Gaming 3 GB on techPowerUp
Sapphire Radeon R9 290 4GB in CrossFire on TweakTown
ASUS GeForce GTX 780 Ti DirectCU II OC on ocaholic
PowerColor Radeon R9 280X TurboDuo OC on ocaholic
Gigabyte Radeon R9 290X OC and R9 290 OC on Techspot
ASUS GeForce GTX 780 Poseidon Platinum (air) on ocaholic
Palit GTX 780 Ti JetStream on Legion Hardware
Cooling:
Prolimatech Lynx on ocaholic
Noctua NH-U12S Heatsink on Frostytech
Enermax TwisterOdiO 16 Notebook Cooler on Madshrimps
Zalman LQ310 Liquid Cooling System on Frostytech
Antec Kuhler H2O 1250 AIO CPU Cooler on TweakTown
Scythe Mugen 4 Heatsink on Frostytech
Noctua NH-U12S & NH-U14S CPU Cooler on Neoseeker
Storage:
Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLHX on Phoronix
Silicon Power Sky Share S10 Wi-Fi 16GB SD Card on Madshrimps
QNAP TS-470 NAS Server on Benchmark Reviews
Samsung 840 EVO 128GB mSATA SSD on TweakTown
Comay BladeDrive G24 480GB PCIe SSD on TweakTown
OCZ Vertex 450 on OCC
Kingston DataTraveler Vault Privacy 3.0 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive on APH Networks
iStarUSA BPU-124DE-SS SATA/SAS 6Gb/s Hot-Swap Cage on NikKTech
Keyboard/Mouse:
Mionix Avior 7000 gaming mouse on Rbmods
Func KB-460 Backlit Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on TweakTown
Misc:
EVGA Z87 FTW Motherboard on HCW
Synology DS214play on techPowerUp
Alienware 18 Laptop on HardwareHeaven
Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness (PS3) on Gaming Nexus
Zetta*Z15*HD*Security*Camcorder on NikKTech
Corsair RM650 Watt Gold PSU on Guru3D
Forza 5 on Gaming Nexus
Friday again!
     
     
     
     
     
John McAfee is apparently glad that Intel are dropping his name from their products. Last June, McAfee appeared in a profanity-laced video attacking the quality of the software produced by the company, which he founded in the late 1980s. He said he frequently gets emails from customers who complain that it degrades the performance of their computers and is difficult to remove.
mpot spotted this interesting project where someone built their own open-source laptop. Building your own laptop makes about as much sense as retrofitting a Honda Civic with a 1000hp motor, but the lack of practicality never stopped the latter activity, nor ours.
There's an interesting article posted on The Verge about PlayStation Now and how it could be the future of gaming. PlayStation Now lets you stream PlayStation 3 games over the internet to almost any device imaginable, from Sony TVs and the PS Vita to smartphones and tablets.
Apparently a Melbourne schoolboy 'hacked' Public Transport Victoria's site recently. "I was actually looking for the cost of Boxing Day tickets and Christmas Day tickets and found an error on the website," Rogers told the ABC.
Nvidia has now responded to AMD's "free sync" demo at CES 2014 saying desktop displays are different, and they may not support the variable refresh rate tech behind AMD's solution—at least not yet.
Here comes modular PC's, and no real surprise who brought their concept to CES 2014; Razer presents Project Christine. According to Razer, the PC's inherent modularity has "remained underexploited by the vast majority of general consumers for more than 30 years."
Radeon's 290 series cards are beginning to get their much needed additional cooling with PowerColour giving them a triple slot, five heat pipe, two aluminum fin array, and three 80-mm fan design. I'm sure it can't be as loud as a single FOP38. PowerColor claims this cooler design lowers temperatures by 24% and reduces noise levels by 17% compared to the stock AMD solution.
For more CES 2014 coverage, head over to PC Perspective, Tech Report, Tech Radar, and Engadget.
Forum Projects
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Thursday, 9-January-2014 22:06:36 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Here's some interesting projects and reviews from people in the forums:
PC Perspective have installed an NVIDIA G-Sync DIY upgrade kit to an Asus LCD, creating some silky smooth 120 FPS gaming. If you're going from 60 Hz panels, there is a *huge* drop in latency and a corresponding increase in fluidity when gaming at 120+ Hz refresh rates, especially if the game FPS sits that high in the range.
AMD have demonstrated their version of G-Sync at CES2014. AMD doesn't want to charge for this technology since it’s already a part of a spec that it has implemented (and shouldn't require a hardware change to those panels that support the spec), hence the current working name “FreeSync”. Additional information here on Tech Report.
NVIDIA has announced its Tegra K1 SoC at CES 2014. This next-generation SoC features dual Denver CPU cores clocked at up to 2.5GHz. With today’s announcement of the Tegra K1, previously known as Logan or Tegra 5, NVIDIA hopes to once again spark a fire under partners and developers, showing them that NVIDIA’s dominance in the graphics fields of the PC has clear benefits to the mobile segment as well. More info here, here and here.
Intel have announced Edison, a 22nm dual-core PC the size of an SD card. The tiny computer is built on the company's 22nm transistor technology, runs Linux and has built-in WiFi and Bluetooth modules. What's more, the tiny machine can connect to its own app store.
Transformer Book Duet is the name of Asus' new detachable tablet announced at CES 2014, sporting a Android/Windows 8 OS configuration, with only a 4 second 'seamless' switch time. Virtualization isn't involved; the system is neither Android running on Windows nor Windows running on Android. Asus claims almost zero overhead, so both OSes should be able to harness the full power of the underlying hardware.
Valve released the current list of hardware vendors for their Steam Machines. Those 13 Steam machines come from 13 different vendors, including Gigabyte, Zotac, Alienware, Falcon Northwest, Digital Storm, iBuypower, CyberPowerPC, Origin, Alternate, Next, Scan, Materiel, and Webhallen.
Tweaktown have a play with the ASRock's Fatal1ty native PCIe x2 m.2 storage ability. The socket is right on the motherboard, between two PCIe slots normally used for video card, and you don't need an adapter. Full article here
TechGage have a roundup posted of CES 2014 so far, and will be continually updating the page throughout the week.
Monday Night Reviews
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Monday, 6-January-2014 22:25:47 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Cooling:
Noctua NH-U14S CPU cooler on OCClub.
Scythe Ashura CPU cooler on TechPowerUp.
NZXT Kraken G10 GPU Bracket on Techgage.
Corsair Hydro Series H75 Liquid AIO CPU Cooler on Tweaktown.
Antec Kuhler H2O 950 AIO CPU Cooler on PureOC.
Motherboard & CPU:
Asrock Z87 Extreme11/ac on TechSpot.
Intel Core i7-4960X Ivy Bridge-E on Vortez.
GIGABYTE G1.Sniper 5 Z87 on PCPerspective.
ASUS VANGUARD B85 on HWSecrets.
GIGABYTE G1-Killer Sniper 5 Z87 Gaming on Futurelooks.
Case:
Lian Li Q27 Mini-ITX on Bjorn3D.
Cooler Master N200 microATX on NeoSeeker.
Video Cards:
ASUS R9 290X DirectCU II and Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X on LegitReviews.
Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 2GB TOXIC Video Cards in CrossFire on Tweaktown.
PowerColor PCS+ R9 270X on LanOC.
Input Etc:
Roccat Kone XTD Gaming Mouse on HWAsylum.
Mionix NAOS 8200 High Performance Gaming Mouse on NikKTech.
CM Storm Havoc Gaming Mouse on TechPowerUp.
Roccat Gaming Gear Trio on HWAsylum.
Storage:
KingSpec SATA M.2 NGFF Ultrabook SSD 128GB on TheSSDReview.
Western Digital My Cloud 2TB NAS on LegitReviews.
Intel 530 240GB SSD on Tweaktown.
Seagate 600 Pro 200GB Enterprise SSD on CustomPCReview.
Audio Visual:
Sennheiser U320 Multi-Platform Gaming Headset on TechnologyX.
Corsair Raptor HS30 Gaming Headset on BenchmarkReviews.
Misc:
Corsair Vengeance Pro Series 2x4GB DDR3-2933 CL12 1.65V memory on OCaholic.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag game on BenchmarkReviews.
Samsung NP915S3G-K01 13.3" Touch Screen Notebook on PCStats.
Sharks within half a mile from Western Australian beaches will now automatically send a tweet out alerting you to their presence. How considerate, unless you are perhaps already in the surf.
The Sun has marked the midpoint of its Solar Cycle 24 by reversing its polarity, or "flipping upside down". At the height of each magnetic flip, the sun goes through periods of more solar activity, during which there are more sunspots, and more eruptive events such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections.
China's Lunar Rover, Yutu, has landed and commenced its journey exploring the moon, and sent this picture back to earth.
There has been some extensive testing of SSDs and some surprising results when it comes to reliability after power failures, with Intel SSDs once again coming up as the clear winner.
More detail has been released regarding NSA's surveillance capabilities. Alongside pre-packaged exploits that allowed control over iOS devices and any phone communicating through GSM, Appelbaum detailed a device that targets computers through packet injection, seeding exploits from up to 8 miles away.
Snapchat has promised to improve their security with their latest app update after the usernames and mobile numbers of 4.6 million users found their way onto the Web this week. Full story here. Somehow I think it was more the Snaps they were after.
With CES 2014 just a few days away, CNET have a preview on what we might expect at the event. Wearables, UHDTVs and tablets making the main headlines.
There are rumours that the next iPhone is going to be called iPhone Air, embracing a slimmer 6mm thickness, however not changing cosmetically from the iPhone 5S.
2014. Still no flying car. :(
     
     
     
     
Friday Afternoon
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Friday, 3-January-2014 13:17:06 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Allrighty then, let's see if we can start catching up on news from the break.
IntelInside sent in lots of stuff - firstly this Wired article about Cyanogen, a mobile phone OS that doesn't care what phone it's on. That may sound like sound like an extreme undertaking, and, well, it is. Not everyone has the skills or the desire or the time to fashion their own mobile operating system. But Kondik believes that many people are looking for a simpler way of customizing the software on their phones, and that’s why he co-founded a company that seeks to bring Cyanogen to masses.
Iron Maiden have been tracking down pirates - to decide where to play concerts. Musicmetric suggests that the file-sharing data helped Iron Maiden turn these pirates into paying customers, simply by heading over there and playing for them. It’s impossible to download the true experience of a live concert, so the chances are high that several pirates will turn up.
Apple have been required to adopt a new refund policy in Australia thanks to our consumer laws. Apple misled consumers into thinking they were entitled to less recourse than the new Australian consumer law prescribes, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) found. Apple and its suppliers told Australian consumers they were only entitled to what Apple wanted to offer them when products failed, rather than what they should have been entitled to under Australia's new consumer laws.
There's a few articles looking back and looking forward, so here they are: Techspot have the Best in Tech of 2013, the Top Tech Stories of 2013, their Mobile Tech Predictions for 2014 and some Infamous Tech Predictions and Quotes. Mpot meanwhile spotted the Biggest Flops in 2013.
LegionHW have a 4-way 128GB flash drive roundup. Today we are checking out four flash drives that have enough room to store roughly 13,539 photos at 24MP, 30,464 mp3 files or 243 feature length films in mpeg format. Thanks to their generous 128GB capacity and USB 3.0 interface, these tiny flash drives make moving large volumes of data quick and easy.
From Callan: "Bunny" is always interesting to follow - right back to his hack that cracked open the original XBOX. In this article he covers what is inside SDCards, and approaches to hack them, gaining execute access to the ARM or i8051-based microprocesors contained inside. Who'd have thunk it!
Anandtech have posted their thoughts on the new Mac Pro. Given how power limited everything else, it’s no surprise that Apple focuses so heavily on the new Mac Pro’s thermal core. It’s single, unified heatsink that is directly responsible for cooling the three major processors in the new Mac Pro: CPU and two GPUs. The thermal core is in the shape of a triangular prism, with each lateral surface attaching directly to one of the three processors.
Cragv sent in this flashback. This was published on OCAU's news page on Thursday, 9-September-2010 02:59:22 (GMT +10), However, it's 'doing the rounds' again online (Reddit, Slashdot, etc.). While the article is a surprisingly accurate anti-prediction, the final paragraph did actually stand out to me. It reads: While the Internet beckons brightly, seductively flashing an icon of knowledge-as-power, this nonplace lures us to surrender our time on earth. A poor substitute it is, this virtual reality where frustration is legion and where—in the holy names of Education and Progress—important aspects of human interactions are relentlessly devalued. I wonder whether this is changing or whether things are still the same almost 20 years later.
Friday Midday Reviews
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Friday, 3-January-2014 12:22:25 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Storage:
Kingston SSDNow KC300 240GB SSD Upgrade Kit on NikKTech.
VisionTek Go Drive SSD Review (240GB) on TechnologyX.
Western Digital Black2 Dual Drive Review (1TB HDD/120GB SSD) on TheSSDReview.
Samsung 840 EVO mSATA SSD Review (500GB) on TechnologyX.
SanDisk Optimus Eco Enterprise SAS SSD on Tweaktown.
Audio Visual:
Hands On with Dell's 27-inch P2714T Touch Monitor on HotHardware.
Corsair Raptor HS30 and HS40 Gaming Headsets on LegitReviews.
Fanny Wang Inner-Ear HD WangBuds on TechnologyX.
Cooling:
Noctua NH-U12S CPU Cooler on BenchmarkReviews.
be quiet! Shadow Rock TOPFLOW Silent CPU Cooler on HardCoreWare.
Video Cards:
ASUS Radeon R9 270X DirectCU II TOP 2GB on Tweaktown.
Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Tri-X 4GB on PCPerspective.
Misc:
G.SKILL Ripjaws 1866MHz 8GB DDR3L SO-DIMM Memory Kit on LegitReviews.
Silverstone Raven Z RVZ01 Mini-ITX Case - The Steam Machine Chassis on PCPerspective.
Gigabyte Z87-UD3H motherboard on OCaholic.
be quiet! Power Zone 1000W PSU on TechPowerUp.
Thursday Morning Reviews
(0 Comments)
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Thursday, 2-January-2014 01:58:38 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Storage:
Samsung 840 EVO 1TB mSATA SSD on Tweaktown.
Angelbird SSD2go Pro 640GB External SSD on Tweaktown.
Strontium Nitro 64GB SDXC Memory Card on Tweaktown.
ADATA DashDrive HV620 2.5? 1TB External Hard Drive on eTeknix.
Samsung 840 EVO mSATA SSD on TheSSDReview.
Transcend Jetflash 760 and 810 32GB on PureOC.
Motherboard & CPU:
ASUS Sabertooth Z87 on OCaholic.
ASUS A88X-PRO (FM2+) on eTeknix.
MSI Z87M Gaming Micro ATX on Bjorn3D.
Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H on HardCoreWare.
ASUS M5A99FX Pro R2.0 on OCClub.
Input Etc:
Tt eSPORTS MEKA G-Unit Red Switch Mechanical Keyboard on Techgage.
Func KB-460 Mechanical Keyboard on APHNetworks.
Mad Catz S.T.R.I.K.E. 3 Gaming Keyboard on HWHeaven.
CM Storm Pulse-R Headset, Reaper Mouse and Mech Keyboard on HWHeaven.
Gigabyte Aivia Osmium Cherry Brown Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on Bjorn3D.
Func KB-460 keyboard on Bjorn3D.
Video Cards:
HIS R7 240 iCooler Boost Clock 2GB GDDR3 on MadShrimps.
Radeon R9 290X overclocked and benchmarked at 4K on Tweaktown.
HIS R9 280X IceQ x2 Turbo on Vortez.
Zotac GeForce GTX 780 Ti AMP! on Bjorn3D.
Powercolor Radeon R9-290X on Bjorn3D.
Audio Visual:
TDK A33 Wireless Weatherproof Speaker on NikKTech.
GIGABYTE Brix Projector on LegitReviews.
SteelSeries Siberia Elite Gaming Headset on NikKTech.
Cases:
BitFenix Ronin Midi-Tower on MadShrimps.
Cooler Master Elite 130 on BenchmarkReviews.
Software:
Roccat Power-Grid remote-control SW on OCaholic.
Amphitheater BT2 game on GamingNexus.
Misc:
StarTech ST1000SPEX42 Quad Port Gigabit NIC on Tweaktown.
EVGA Tegra Note 7 Android 4.3 Tablet on HotHardware.
FSP AURUM S 600W PSU on APHNetworks.
Phanteks PH-TC12DX CPU Cooler on PCPerspective.
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