Overclockers Australia!
Make us your homepage. Add us to your bookmarks  
Major Sponsors:

News
Current
News Archive
SEND NEWS!

Site
Articles & Reviews
Forums
Wiki
Podcast
Pix
Search
Contact

Team OCAU
Folding Team
Seti@Home Team
Climate Prediction

Misc
OCAU Sponsors
OCAU IRC
Online Vendors
Motorcycle Club

September 2014
Monday Afternoon Reviews (12 Comments) (link)
 Monday, 29-September-2014  14:31:10 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Aggcave internet still down - Telstra estimating two weeks! Hopefully just saying a long time to cover their behinds and it will actually be sorted sooner. This post brought to you by a combination of phone-wifi-hotspot and shared dialup from a Vista laptop, I kid you not..

Video Cards:
ASUS Strix Edition GeForce GTX 970 on Techgage.
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 980 4GB AMP! Omega Edition on Tweaktown.
Palit GeForce GTX 970 Jetstream on Guru3D.
Palit GTX 970 JetStream 4 GB on TechPowerUp.
ASUS GeForce GTX 980 STRIX on OCAholic.
Nvidia Quadro K5200, K4200 and K2200 Professional Graphics Cards on XbitLabs.
MSI GeForce GTX 980 4GB Twin Frozr V Gaming on Tweaktown.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI on TechPowerUp.
GeForce GTX 970 SLI on Guru3D.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Video Cards in SLI on Tweaktown.

Cooling:
Thermaltake Water 3.0 Ultimate Water Cooling System on ThinkComputers.
Thermaltake NiC L32 Non-Interference CPU Cooler on NikKTech.
Thermaltake Water 3.0 Ultimate 360mm LCS on PureOC.
Alpenfoehn Brocken 2 CPU Cooler on Tweaktown.
Noctua IndustrialPPC Fans on Modders-Inc.
Scythe Mugen Max CPU cooler on OCClub.

Motherboard & CPU:
AMD FX-8370E 95W “Piledriver” Octa-Core Processor on eTeknix.
MSI Z97 MPOWER on Vortez.
MSI Nightblade Z97 on LanOC.
Intel Core i7-4790K and Core i5-4690K Processors on XbitLabs.
ASUS Z97-Deluxe Mainboard on XbitLabs.
ASUS X99 Deluxe on Vortez.
BIOSTAR A68N-5000 Motherboard on MadShrimps.
EVGA X99 Classified Motherboard on PCPerspective.
MSI Z97S SLI PLUS on eTeknix.
MSI Z97 XPOWER AC on MadShrimps.

Input Etc:
Attitude One Rapira Elite Gaming Mouse on TechPowerUp.
Corsair Gaming K70 RGB Mechanical Keyboard on eTeknix.
Corsair Gaming's K70 RGB keyboard on TechReport.
EVGA's Torq X10 mouse on HotHardware.
XTracGear Mouse Surfaces on NeoSeeker.
AORUS Thunder M7 Mouse and P3 Mouse Pad on PureOC.
Attitude One Rapira Elite Laser Gaming Mouse on NikKTech.
Func KB-460 (Cherry MX Blue) Mechanical Keyboard on APHNetworks.

Audio Visual:
Audiofly AF180 In-Ear Monitors Headphone on Tweaktown.
Acer XB280HK 4K G-SYNC Gaming Monitor on HotHardware.
Acer XB280HK 28-in 4K G-Sync Monitor on PCPerspective.
SuperTooth Disco Twin Bluetooth Stereo Speaker on NikKTech.

Storage:
SanDisk Ultra II 240GB SSD on LegitReviews.
Samsung PM853T SSD 960GB on TheSSDReview.
Kingwin EZ-CLONE USB 3.0 to SATA & IDE One Click Clone Adapter on ThinkComputers.
Corsair Voyager Air 2 Wireless Hard Drive on LegitReviews.
Seagate 6TB Enterprise Capacity 3.5 HDD v4 RAID Analysis on Tweaktown.
Transcend SSD370 128GB SSD on LegitReviews.

Portable & Prebuilt:
DOOGEE DAGGER DG550 Smartphone on MadShrimps.
MSI GT70 2PE Dominator Pro Laptop on HWSecrets.
Apple iPhone 6 Plus on TechSpot.

Networking:
Supermicro SSE-X3348TR Layer 3 10G-BaseT Switch on Tweaktown.
Diamond Dual Band Wireless 802.11n Range Extender on NeoSeeker.

Power Supply:
Silverstone Nightjar 520W Passive Modular PSU on eTeknix.
Seasonic Platinum Fanless 520W Modular PSU on eTeknix.

Cases:
Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Full Tower on Modders-Inc.
SilentiumPC Aquarius X90 Pure Black on TechPowerUp.

Misc:
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB 2800MHz Quad Channel DDR4 Memory Kit on eTeknix.
Metro Redux game on OCClub.



Shellshock Bash Vulnerability (0 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 26-September-2014  23:59:25 (GMT +10) - by Agg

I'm sure you've heard by now, but there's been another wide-ranging security issue reported, this time concerning the bash shell found on many Linux-based systems. It's being suggested that this could be an even bigger deal than the recent Heartbleed SSL issue. Australia's CERT have a media release. More info on ABC, BBC, Gizmodo and pretty much everywhere else. Discussion here.


Misc Pics (36 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 26-September-2014  14:18:29 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Far out, now my home internet connection has died. Let's see if this works. Thanks to BM and davo this week!








Thursday Morning (23 Comments) (link)
 Thursday, 25-September-2014  00:47:55 (GMT +10) - by Agg

The current security frenzy extends to the online world in Australia. Spy agency ASIO will be given the power to monitor the entire Australian internet and journalists' ability to write about national security will be curtailed when new legislation – expected to pass in the Senate as early as Wednesday – becomes law, academics, media organisations, lawyers, the Greens party and rights groups fear.

It seems that veteran Australian ISP connect.com.au are going away. As a result we will be closing down connect.com.au at the end of September 2014 and wanted to ensure we notified you of this in order to provide you the time to talk with us in order to identify appropriate alternative services. You can read some of their history on Wikipedia.

ArsTechnica have an interesting article about Soviets rescuing a space station in the 1980's. Meanwhile, India have successfully placed a low-cost spacecraft into orbit around Mars. The mission makes India the first country in Asia to reach Mars, after an attempt by regional rival China failed to leave Earth's orbit in 2011.

I've been away for a couple of days, and it seems the two big stories I missed are a hoax threat against Emma Watson: A threat against actress Emma Watson in response to a gender equality speech she made at the United Nations now appears to have been a viral marketing stunt.

... and iPhones bending. Just a few hours ago, we started hearing reports that a small sampling of iPhone 6 Plus owners have experienced a slight bend to their phone after putting the device in their front pockets. Also, someone in Perth dropped theirs.

Banshee sent word of another update in the Tech Report SSD endurance test. You won't believe how much data can be written to modern SSDs. No, seriously. Our ongoing SSD Endurance Experiment has demonstrated that some consumer-grade drives can withstand over a petabyte of writes before burning out. That's a hyperbole-worthy total for a class of products typically rated to survive only a few hundred terabytes at most.

NVIDIA recently hade a GAME24 event, with coverage on OCClub and Tweaktown. GAME24 is a 24 hour PC gaming event aimed at bringing gamers together to connect and share the experience of gaming. You could directly participate in the interactive livestream by judging competitions, chatting with developers and celebrities, or uploading your own content. Or better yet, you could attend one of the events in person.

A couple of people sent in this candidate for the worst "hacker" scene of all time from a new show called "Scorpion". All you need to know about the main character is that he's a genius who is "on software," which means he tells people things like "open your email and click the link." He has trouble communicating his emotions because he's a geek who only understands machines, and he has a dusty warehouse space that's shared by a tough hardware expert, a hat-wearing psychology master, and a nerdy "human calculator."



Wednesday Night Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Wednesday, 24-September-2014  21:19:29 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Motherboard & CPU:
Gigabyte X99 SOC Force on OCAholic.
ASUS ROG Rampage V Extreme (Intel X99) on Tweaktown.
EVGA X99 Classified on HWAsylum.

Cooling:
Noctua iPPC and redux Fan Roundup on NeoSeeker.
Thermaltake Water 3.0 Ultimate CPU Cooler on TechWareLabs.

Portable & Prebuilt:
Dell Inspiron 11 3000 Series laptop on MegaTechNews.
Sony Xperia T3 Smartphone on HWSecrets.
Dell Inspiron 11 3000 laptop on HotHardware.
Lenovo Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ on ThinkComputers.
Lenovo ThinkServer RD640 Server on Tweaktown.

Storage:
MX Technology MX-ES Ultra 32GB on OCaholic.
Samsung PM853T 960GB Enterprise SSD on Tweaktown.
Kingston SM2280S3 M.2 SATA SSD 240GB on TheSSDReview.
Team Group Micro SDHC UHS-1 U3 32GB on MadShrimps.

Input Etc:
Cooler Master NovaTouch TKL Keyboard on BenchmarkReviews.
CM Storm NovaTouch TKL Keyboard on LegitReviews.
Cougar 700M Gaming Mouse on OCModShop.
Cooler Master NovaTouch TKL Keyboard on OCClub.
Cooler Master Novatouch TKL keyboard on LanOC.
Cooler Master NovaTouch TKL on Techgage.
Corsair Gaming K70 RGB keyboard on Vortez.
Corsair Vengeance K70 RGB keyboard on OCaholic.
Corsair Gaming K70 RGB on HWHeaven.
Corsair Gaming K70 RGB keyboard on Guru3D.

Power Supply:
Rosewill Fortress 750W on TechPowerUp.
Xilence Performance A Series 730W Non-Modular on eTeknix.

Cases:
Nanoxia Deep Silence 3 on TechPowerUp.
BitFenix Neos Enclosure and Fury 750G PSU on FutureLooks.

Video Cards:
Sapphire Radeon R9 285 Dual-X OC on ThinkComputers.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 GM204 on PCPerspective.
Gigabyte R7 250X OC on NeoSeeker.
Sapphire Radeon R9 285 2GB ITX Compact Overclocked on Tweaktown.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 “Maxwell” on Futurelooks.
Gigabyte G1 Gaming GeForce GTX 980 4GB on eTeknix.
Testing Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 980 4GB Graphics Cards In SLI on eTeknix.

Audio Visual:
Tt eSPORTS VERTO Gaming Headset on NikKTech.



Tuesday Morning Reviews (1 Comments) (link)
 Tuesday, 23-September-2014  00:00:15 (GMT +10) - by aftahours

Cooling:
NZXT Kraken X61 28cm Liquid Cooler on Silent PC Review
Enermax Liqtech 120X AIO Liquid CPU Cooler on Silent PC Review

Storage:
Silicon Power Stream S03 2TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive on Nikktech
QNAP TS-251 High Performance NAS for SOHO and Home Users on Madshrimps
Corsair Force LX 256GB Solid State Drive on eTeknix
Enermax EMK3201 Dual-Bay 2.5-inch HDD/SSD Internal Enclosure on TweakTown
MX Technology ES Ultra 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive on TweakTown
Kingston HyperX Fury 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive on TweakTown
RAIDON Runner GR2660 SSD/HDD RAID Enclosure on The SSD Review
Kingston SM2280S3 M.2 SATA 120 GiB SSD on Hardware Secrets
Kingston HyperX FURY 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive on OCC
Plextor PX-G256M6e M.2 256GB PCIE SSD on Futurelooks
Seagate NAS Two-Bay SOHO NAS on TweakTown

Audio:
Andromedia Supersonic-P Bluetooth Vibration Speaker on TweakTown
V-MODA XS Headphones on APH Networks
LUXA2 GroovyR 360° Micro Wireless Wall Mount Speaker on Thinkcomputers.org
Logitech UE Boom Wireless Bluetooth 360-degree Speaker on TweakTown
Rosewill R-Studio SP-4310BT Bluetooth Wireless 2.1 Speaker on Futurelooks
Sentey Harmoniq Professional Gaming Series Headset on TweakTown

Case:
BitFenix Neos on Techgage
Fractal Design Core 3300 Computer Case on APH Networks

Motherboard:
ASRock D1800B-ITX Motherboard on Hardware Secrets
EVGA X99 Classified (Intel X99) Motherboard on TweakTown
Gigabyte X99 UD4 (LGA 2011-3) Motherboard on eTeknix
BIOSTAR HI-FI Z97WE on Vortez
ASUS X99 Deluxe LGA2011-3 ATX Motherboard on Futurelooks
ASUS Maximus VII Formula on Bjorn3D

Mouse:
Tt eSports Ventus Gaming Mouse on Modders-Inc
ZOWIE FK1 Competitive Gaming Mouse on Nikktech

Misc:
BlueEye Dual HD TV Tuner and Multimedia Player on MikesGear
Mio MiVue 568 Touch Dash Cam on NikkTech
Kingston HyperX Predator 16GB 3000MHz Quad Channel DDR4 Kit on eTeknix
Netgear Nighthawk X6 R8000 AC3200 Wireless Router on TweakTown
Super Flower Leadex Gold 650w PSU on Hardware Heaven
ZTE Grand X Smartphone on Futurelooks



Nvidia 28nm Maxwell Release (0 Comments) (link)
 Monday, 22-September-2014  13:57:38 (GMT +10) - by aftahours

Nvidia have released the GTX 970 and 980, the first cards based on the latest 28nm Maxwell architecture. Discussion in the forums here.

Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 4GB “Maxwell” (28nm) Graphics Card on eTeknix
MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Gaming OC Video Card on TweakTown
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming on Guru3D
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Video Card on Benchmark Reviews
GeForce GTX 980 on Hardware Heaven
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 on Guru3D
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 & 970 Maxwell GPU on Hot Hardware
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 on Neoseeker
NVIDIA GTX 980 on OCC
Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 & GTX 980 on Techspot
Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 and 980 reference cards on Guru3D
NVIDIA GeForce GeForce GTX 980 Maxwell Video Card on Legit Reviews
MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G GPU on Modders-Inc
MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming OC on Guru3D
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 on Techgage
NVIDIA GTX 980 on Vortez
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming on Videocard
GeForce GTX 980 SLI vs GTX 780 SLI at 2560x1440 on TweakTown
Nvidia GTX 980 on LanOC
ASUS Strix GTX 970 OC 4 GB on Techpowerup
EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX 4 GB on Techpowerup
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Video Card on TweakTown
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 SLI on Techpowerup
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4 GB on Techpowerup
Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 and 970 graphics cards on Techreport
Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 970 & GTX 980 on Legion Hardware
Nvidia GTX 980 on Bjorn3D
ASUS GeForce GTX 970 STRIX OC Edition on Ocaholic
Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming on Pure Overclock



Misc Pics (35 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 19-September-2014  14:16:43 (GMT +10) - by Rezin

Thanks to Andrew and mpot this week!









Google Chromecast (9 Comments) (link)
 Thursday, 18-September-2014  16:54:27 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Sciby has checked out Google's Chromecast, which looks like a USB thumb drive but lets you stream all kinds of media to your HDMI-equipped TV.


click for the review!



Interesting Forum Threads (4 Comments) (link)
 Thursday, 18-September-2014  11:53:38 (GMT +10) - by Agg

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.

Gigabyte X99 SOC Force + Xeon E5 1680v3 = WINNING in Overclocking & Hardware.
Gigabyte Z97X-SOC Force + Pentium G3258 Category record in 32M SuperPi in Overclocking & Hardware.
NVIDIA to Pole-vault GTX 800, Name Next Big Parts GTX 970 and GTX 980 in Video Cards & Monitors.
AMD’s Next Gen x86 High Performance Core is Code Named “Zen” in AMD x86 CPUs and chipsets.
Demand for iPhone 6 vs 6+... which did you preorder? in Apple iOS (OS & Devices).
iOS and Android, my journey in Mobile Phones.
Reminder - iOS 8 update out Thursday in Business & Enterprise Computing.
Bloody bloody cryptolocker bloody in Business & Enterprise Computing.
UserBenchmark post up some results in Storage & Backup.
MBPr SSD Shootout: Apple vs OWC vs Transcend in Storage & Backup.
Play for Free trend (not free-to-play) in PC Games.
Your go-to retro time wasters in Retro & Arcade.
Unreleased Duke Nukem discovered in Library of Congress in Retro & Arcade.
Revisiting old titles - how do they hold up? in Retro & Arcade.
Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck moving to Melbourne in Geek Food.
Meat Maiden - Opening Night Review in Geek Food.
Blue Bonnet BBQ - Review in Geek Food.
Giving up coffee in Nutrition.
Myannmar - quick rundown in Holidays & Travel.
Mythbusters - Kari, Grant and Tori leaving the show in Entertainment.



Thursday Morning (3 Comments) (link)
 Thursday, 18-September-2014  11:32:42 (GMT +10) - by Agg

NASA have announced partnerships with Boeing and SpaceX to return manned mission launches to the USA. Currently they rely on the Russian space agency, after the Space Shuttle program was shelved. "Thanks to the leadership of President Obama, the hard work of our NASA and industry teams, and support from Congress, today we are one step closer to launching our astronauts from U.S. soil on American spacecraft and ending the nation’s sole reliance on Russia by 2017. Turning over low-Earth orbit transportation to private industry will also allow NASA to focus on an even more ambitious mission – sending humans to Mars."

There's a new Android security issue. A bug quietly reported on September 1 appears to have grave implications for Android users. Android Browser, the open source, WebKit-based browser that used to be part of the Android Open Source Platform (AOSP), has a flaw that enables malicious sites to inject JavaScript into other sites. Those malicious JavaScripts can in turn read cookies and password fields, submit forms, grab keyboard input, or do practically anything else.

Tech Report look at some clever SSD caching in a new Micron unit. Dubbed dynamic write acceleration (DWA), this switching occurs at the block level. Incoming writes are written in SLC mode before being moved to MLC storage during lulls in activity. All unused NAND is available to this effective write cache, which stretches across both user-accessible storage and overprovisioned area.

FOTW spotted Doom running on a printer. Sometimes, the only way to attract attention to dire warnings about weaknesses in a particular system is to exploit them in a way that can't be ignored. That's what drove Michael Jordon of Context Information Security to make Doom run on a Canon Pixma printer; not because it's cool (although it clearly is) but to demonstrate the inherent insecurities in Canon's wireless printers.

Tweaktown have their Intel Developer Forum coverage posted. Steven visited this year's Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco and saw plenty of cool technology. If you couldn't make the show, get an overview here.

A Chinese city has opened a phone lane, for pedestrians texting and walking. In Chongqing, China, with a degree of seriousness that has yet to be determined, the city authorities have designated a 30 metre (100ft) “cellphone lane” for people who use their phones while walking. “First mobile phone sidewalks in China,” declares a notice next to it. Seems likely to be a joke.

TechSpot have an Intel Z97 Motherboard Roundup. Codenamed 'Wildcat Point', the Z97 chipset brings support for future Broadwell CPUs, along with SATA Express and the M.2 socket. With over 90 designs available right now, picking the right one can be a difficult decision. Hoping to narrow the search down, we have taken seven popular boards and compared them in every way possible.

The word "metadata" has been doing the rounds lately - a Dutch study has shown how much information can be found in it. As author and researcher Door Hans de Zwart of Dutch digital rights foundation Bits of Freedom noted, even recently, on its website, the Dutch Intelligence Agency (AIVD) downplayed the interception of metadata as "a minor infringement of privacy". Thanks to a Dutch man, Ton Siedsma, we now have a glimpse of the type of information that can be squeezed from what officials would have us believe is "just" metadata.



Thursday Morning Reviews (2 Comments) (link)
 Thursday, 18-September-2014  00:57:36 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Audio Visual:
COMPRO TN1600P Cloud Network Camera on NikKTech.
Cammy Camera Monitoring Software Review with the D-Link DCS-930L on Tweaktown.
808 Audio Studio-Precision Tuned Over Ear Headphones on TechnologyX.
Samsung 27" S27B970D Super PLS LED Monitor on ModSynergy.
Kingston HyperX Cloud Headset on APHNetworks.
MP4Nation Brainwavz Delta In-ears on TechPowerUp.
Adesso Xtreme H3 Bluetooth Headphones on ThinkComputers.
Kingston HyperX Cloud Headset on PureOC.
ANDROMEDIA AM Bluetooth Speakers on PureOC.

Cooling:
Noctua NH-D15 Heatpipe Tower CPU Cooler on BigBruin.
Thermaltake Water 3.0 Ultimate on Techgage.
NZXT Kraken All-In-One CPU Cooler Roundup on eTeknix.

Motherboard & CPU:
ASUS Z97-A (Intel LGA 1150) on TechPowerUp.
EVGA X99 Classified on LegitReviews.
EVGA X99 Classified on LanOC.
ASUS MAXIMUS VII FORMULA/WATCH DOGS Motherboard on HWSecrets.
GIGABYTE X99 UD5 WIFI (Intel X99) on Tweaktown.
ASRock EP2C612D16FM (Intel C612 and DDR4) Server Motherboard on Tweaktown.
Overview of Supermicro's DDR4 Intel Xeon C612 Server Motherboards on Tweaktown.
ASUS Rampage V Extreme on OCaholic.
ASUS X99-DELUXE on BenchmarkReviews.

Input Etc:
Roccat Ryos MK Pro Mechanical Keyboard on Modders-Inc.
GAMDIAS Hades Extension Laser Gaming Mouse on eTeknix.
XtracGear Carbonic and Ripper Mouse Pads on PureOC.

Portable & Prebuilt:
ZOTAC ZBOX CI320 nano Budget SFF Desktop PC on Tweaktown.
Maingear Pulse 15 3K Gaming Laptop on HotHardware.
Lenovo ThinkServer TD340 Tower Server on Tweaktown.

Memory:
ADATA XPG Z1 DDR4-2400 64GB Quad-Channel Memory Kit on Tweaktown.
Crucial DDR4-2133 32GB Memory Kit on ThinkComputers.

Power Supply:
be quiet! Straight Power 10 CM 800W Semi-Modular PSU on eTeknix.
Antec Edge 650W Modular PSU on eTeknix.
Seasonic Platinum Series SS-1050W XP3 on OCAholic.
Antec EDGE 550W PSU on NikKTech.
XFX TS650 650W Non-Modular PSU on eTeknix.
Sandberg Credit Card 850mAh Powerbank on NikKTech.

Video Cards:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 900 Series Preview on ThinkComputers.
Palit GeForce GTX 750 Ti KalmX on Guru3D.
XFX Radeon R9 285 DD on BenchmarkReviews.
HIS Radeon R9 285 IceQ X2 2GB OC on Tweaktown.

Cases:
In Win D-Frame Mini on OCAholic.
ECS LIVA Mini PC Kit on ThinkComputers.
Corsair Graphite 780T Tower on BenchmarkReviews.
Fractal Design Core 3300 on PCPerspective.
Lian Li PC-V359 Micro-ATX Modular PC Case on LegitReviews.
Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Full-Tower on LegitReviews.
Corsair Graphite Series 780T Full Tower on eTeknix.
BitFenix Phenom Mini-ITX on Tweaktown.
Corsair Graphite 780T on TechPowerUp.

Storage:
Patriot EP Series Micro SD Card (32 GB) on TechnologyX.
ADATA Premier SP610 256GB SSD on Tweaktown.
Toshiba HG6 THNSNJ512GCSU Enterprise SSD on Tweaktown.
Adata's Premier SP610 solid-state drive on TechReport.
Samsung SM843T 480GB Enterprise SSD on Tweaktown.
QNAP TS-451 NAS on TechPowerUp.
SanDisk Ultra II SSD Review (240GB) on TheSSDReview.
SanDisk Ultra 64GB microSD on OCModShop.
Samsung 850 PRO SSD 256GB on OCaholic.

Software:
Five Nights at Freddy's PC game in OCModShop.
Skylanders: Trap Team iOS / Android game on GamingNexus.

Misc:
ASUS RT-AC87U AC2400 Dual-Band Wireless Router on Tweaktown.



Competition Reminder (0 Comments) (link)
 Wednesday, 17-September-2014  15:06:35 (GMT +10) - by Agg

There's a few contests underway in the forums, so check them out if you missed their announcements:

- Thecus are giving away an N2310 2-bay NAS
- PLE are giving away five sets of Sennheiser headphones
- Scorptec are giving away SteelSeries mice and a headset



Tuesday Morning (6 Comments) (link)
 Tuesday, 16-September-2014  00:34:57 (GMT +10) - by Agg

The rumours have been flying, but it's been confirmed now: Microsoft are buying Mojang, who make minecraft, for $2.5B. Microsoft's press release is here. Microsoft Corp. today announced it has reached an agreement to acquire Mojang, the celebrated Stockholm-based game developer, and the company’s iconic “Minecraft” franchise.

Edward Snowden claims that the USA has tapped our cables. A major undersea telecommunications cable that connects Australia and New Zealand to North America has been tapped to allow the United States National Security Agency and its espionage partners to comprehensively harvest Australian and New Zealand internet data.

Here's an interesting one about using Doom to design buildings. The Doom engine is a computer program that can render 2-D blueprints into a 3-D space. Because the engine is open-source, DIRTT was able to adapt it for their own needs--for example, ICE “melts” with other design softwares, including AutoCAD. An engineer or an architect can use ICE to mock up a room, and create a live data set for every aspect of a space, including the electrical engineering, millwork, and piping.



Monday Evening Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Monday, 15-September-2014  19:00:40 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Video Cards:
Sapphire Radeon R9 285 2GB Dual-X in CrossFire on Tweaktown.
Sapphire ITX Compact R9 285 on LanOC.
VisionTek Radeon R9 290 on Tweaktown.

Input Etc:
GAMDIAS ZEUS Laser Gaming Mouse on NikKTech.
COUGAR 700M Mouse and Speed Mouse Pad on OCClub.
CM QuickFire Stealth Mechanical Keyboard on OCModShop.

Storage:
PNY XLR8 120 GiB SSD on HWSecrets.
Angelbird SSD2go Pocket External SSD (512GB) on TheSSDReview.
Angelbird SSD2go Pocket 512GB External SSD on Tweaktown.
SanDisk Ultra II 240GB SSD on Tweaktown.
Silicon Power Blaze B06 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive on NikKTech.

Power Supply:
XFX PRO 1250W Black Edition Modular PSU on eTeknix.
EVGA SuperNOVA 1200 P2 Platinum PSU on PCPerspective.
Nilox SRM-850 on OCAholic.
Sandberg Credit Card 850mAh Powerbank on NikKTech.

Misc:
Metro: Redux Benchmarked, Performance Review game on TechSpot.
UMI C1 Smartphone on MadShrimps.
Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4-3200 16GB Quad-Channel memory on Tweaktown.
TP-Link AV500 powerline networking kit on HWHeaven.



Monday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Monday, 15-September-2014  15:42:36 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Cases:
Corsair Graphite 380T Mini ITX on BenchmarkReviews.
Thermaltake Urban T81 on OCClub.
Corsair Graphite 780T Full-Tower on Tweaktown.
Corsair Graphite 780T on Vortez.
NZXT Phantom 240 Mid-tower on Modders-Inc.
Deepcool Steam Castle Micro ATX on LegitReviews.
DeepCool Steam Castle on TechPowerUp.
Corsair Graphite Series 780T on Guru3D.

Cooling:
Deepcool Maelstrom 120 AIO Liquid CPU Cooler on ThinkComputers.
Alpenfoehn Brocken ECO CPU Cooler on Tweaktown.
NZXT Kraken G10 on OCClub.
SilentiumPC Grandis & Fera 2 CPU Cooler on eTeknix.

Audio Visual:
Tt eSPORTS Verto Gaming Headset on Tweaktown.
Plantronics RIG Surround Gaming Headset on LegitReview.
Mionix NASH 20 Stereo Gaming Headset on NikKTech.

Motherboard & CPU:
ASUS Rampage V Extreme (LGA 2011-3) on eTeknix.
Overview of GIGABYTE's DDR4 Intel Xeon C612 Server Motherboards on Tweaktown.
MSI X99S GAMING 9 AC (Intel X99) Motherboard on Tweaktown.



Thecus N2310 Contest (3 Comments) (link)
 Monday, 15-September-2014  01:45:31 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Another competition! It's becoming hard to keep track. This time, you can win a 2-drive NAS from Thecus:


click for the thread!



Sunday Morning (5 Comments) (link)
 Sunday, 14-September-2014  01:01:17 (GMT +10) - by Agg

A few people pointed out that it's eBay Australia's 15th birthday, and you can get things cheaper today and tomorrow. As part of saying thankyou to buyers and sellers, there will be 15% off site wide, completely funded by eBay. Max discount $100, $50 minimum spend, 3 transactions per person.

Google says we shouldn't worry about the recent password leak. “We found that less than 2% of the username and password combinations might have worked, and our automated anti-hijacking systems would have blocked many of those login attempts. We’ve protected the affected accounts and have required those users to reset their passwords.” There's also some concerns about the "isleaked" site some people are recommending to check addresses. Why could this be? Because isleaked.com was registered on the 8th, 2 days before the story broke anywhere else. It may be fine, but I'm always suspicious of those "enter your email" sites - which is why I didn't link it on the news page.

Boingboing report on some slightly alarming comments from the BBC. BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the UK public broadcaster, has told an Australian government proceeding that people who use VPNs a lot should be assumed to be engaged in piracy, that ISPs should surveil their users, that websites should be censored by Chinese-style national firewalls, and that the families of people accused of watching TV the wrong way should be disconnected from the Internet.

RAAF fans will enjoy this video sent in by Sciby, showcasing our Hornets. The Royal Australian Air Force has had a proud tradition of Hornet flying since 1984. Now operating both F/A-18A+ and F/A-18F variants, the land down under is most definitely Hornet country.



Misc Pics (39 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 12-September-2014  14:26:24 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Current Agg Flu Status: NO FLU. Be sure to tune in again next week!









Win Sennheiser Headphones from PLE! (5 Comments) (link)
 Thursday, 11-September-2014  17:31:51 (GMT +10) - by Agg

To celebrate the opening of their new Melbourne store, PLE are giving away five sets of Sennheiser headphones! To make this one a bit more fun, you have to come up with a short poem using only words beginning with P, L or E. After a couple of weeks I'll pick my favourites and you'll score the goodies..


click for the thread!



Thursday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Thursday, 11-September-2014  16:58:54 (GMT +10) - by Agg

CPU & Motherboard:
Core i5-4670S and Core i5-4670T Processors on XbitLabs.
Gigabyte GA-X99-SOC Force LN2 Motherboard w/ Special LGA2011-v3 CPU Socket on LegitReviews.
GIGABYTE Z97X Gaming G1 Black Edition on Tweaktown.
Gigabyte GA-Z87N-WIFI Mini-ITX on BenchmarkReviews.
Intel Core i7 5960X Haswell-E On Linux on Phoronix.

Video Cards:
AMD FirePro W9100 Professional Graphics Card on XbitLabs.
Radeon R9-285 (Sapphire Compact and PowerColor OC) on HotHardware.
Sapphire R9 285 2GB ITX Compact OC Edition on eTeknix.
ASUS Radeon R7 250X on Techgage.
MSI X99S XPOWER AC (LGA 2011-3) on eTeknix.

Storage:
Crucial MX100 SSD on XbitLabs.
WD Red 6TB and 1TB HDDs on SilentPCReview.
Plextor M6 Pro SSD on Guru3D.
Corsair Force Series LX 512GB SSD on Tweaktown.
QNAP TurboNAS TS-451 NAS Server on NikKTech.
Synology DiskStaion DS115j on LegionHW.

Power Supply:
Silverstone SX600-G: SFX 80+ Gold PSU on SilentPCReview.
TYLT Energi 5K Battery Pack Mobile Travel Charger on Tweaktown.
Thermaltake Toughpower DPS G 1050W 80 PLUS Gold PSU on Tweaktown.
XFX XTS 460W Passive Fully Modular PSU on eTeknix.

Input Etc:
Steelseries Sensei Wireless mouse on OCAholic.
Tt eSPORTS Poseidon ZX Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on XbitLabs.
Zowie FK1 Gaming Mouse on eTeknix.
Cougar 700M Mouse on HWHeaven.
Cougar 700M and SPEED-L mouse and pad on OCaholic.



Thursday Morning (4 Comments) (link)
 Thursday, 11-September-2014  01:06:50 (GMT +10) - by Agg

A few people sent word of another data leak, this time 5 million Google accounts and two Russian mail services. Both companies said that an overwhelming majority of the accounts listed were either obsolete, suspended for suspicious behavior or non-existent. They insisted that their own databases were not compromised and suggested that the leaked data was accumulated over years through phishing and other forms of hacking attacks on users.

Apple released the iPhone 6, 6 Plus and a Watch last night, with details on Tech Report, TechRadar and MacRumours. Today's major media event saw the unveiling of two new iPhones, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus. Along with larger screens and a completely new iPad-style design with an ultra thin body and rounded corners, the two new phones offer faster processors, better cameras, and NFC integration with Apple's new ApplePay payment system. Discussion here, and of course there's always this kind of comparison from Android fans. :)

The Intel Developer Forum is also underway, with info on upcoming "Skylake" and 14-nm Broadwell chips - coverage on Techreport, HotHardware (and benchmarks here) and LegitReviews. At its developer forum today in San Francisco, Intel confirmed that its 14-nm Broadwell chips will be shipping not just as Core M, but also as Core i3, i5, and i7 processors early next year. Interestingly, the firm then revealed that its next-generation CPU architecture, code-named Skylake, will be going into production in the second half of the same calendar year.

Community television will be off the air in a year or so. Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull today announced that community stations would only be licensed until the end of 2015. After that, they would not be granted access to broadcast spectrum and Mr Turnbull suggested they use the internet instead.



Tuesday Afternoon Reviews (2 Comments) (link)
 Tuesday, 9-September-2014  16:41:40 (GMT +10) - by aftahours

CPU:
Intel 18-Core Haswell-EP Xeon E5 v3 on Hot Hardware
Intel Xeon E5 Version 3 on Anandtech
Intel Haswell-EP Xeon E5-2600 v3 Server Family Processor on TweakTown
Intel Core i7-5960X Haswell-E on Techspot
Intel Xeon E5-2687W v3 on Tech Report

Case:
Cooltek W2 on Ocaholic
Fractal Core 1100 Computer Case on Madshrimps
Thermaltake Commander G41 Mid-Tower Case on ThinkComputers.org

Videocard:
Sapphire DUAL-X OC R9-285 on Vortez
PowerColor Radeon R9 285 TurboDuo 2GB on Custom PC Review
PowerColor R9 285 Turbo Duo on OCC
Sapphire ITX Compact R9 285 OC on OCC
PowerColor R9 285 TurboDuo on Neoseeker
AMD FirePro W9100 Professional Graphics Card on XbitLabs

Audio:
LUXA2 GroovyR Micro Wireless Bluetooth Speaker on Bigbruin
Shogun Bros Ensense Commander Series Pro Gaming Headset on eTeknix
Gamdias Hephaestus Gaming Headset (GHS2000) on TechwareLabs

Storage:
Plextor M6 PRO 256GB Solid State Drive on eTeknix
OWC Envoy Pro EX 240GB Portable USB 3.0 SSD on TweakTown
Samsung Pro 64GB SD and microSD Memory Cards on TweakTown
Crucial MX100 SSD on XbitLabs

RAM:
G.Skill 16GB 2400MHz RipJaws 4 Quad Channel DDR4 Memory Kit on eTeknix
G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 16GB DDR4 3000 MHz Memory Kit on Legit Reviews
G.Skill TridentX PC3-12800 16GB Dual-Channel Memory Kit on TWeakTown

Case:
Cooltek W2 on Ocaholic
Fractal Core 1100 Computer Case on Madshrimps
Thermaltake Commander G41 Mid-Tower Case on ThinkComputers.org

PSU:
Silverstone SX600-G on Silent PC Review
Corsair HXi Series 1000W on Tech Powerup

Misc:
TYLT Energi 5K Battery Pack Mobile Travel Charger on TweakTown
ASRock D1800M Motherboard on Hardware Secrets
EK WaterBlocks EK-KIT L360 Water-Cooling Kit on NikKTech
Genius MX Gaming Gila Mouse on PureOverclock



Forum Projects (1 Comments) (link)
 Monday, 8-September-2014  21:36:47 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Catching up on reviews and projects from people in the forums:


shOOter--- made a cool
electronics workstation

windwithme reviewed the
SanDisk Extreme PRO SSD

slipperyskip has a new
powerful mini-PC project


Xipher renovated
a laundry

Butcher9_9 converted a
Power Mac G5 to ATX

Amfibius has finished
an earlier boat project



Monday Afternoon (5 Comments) (link)
 Monday, 8-September-2014  16:33:22 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Electronic Frontiers Australia have prepared their copyright infringement submission to the Attorney-General's department. Our primary points are: 1. there has been no convincing, independent evidence presented that demonstrates that online copyright infringement is any more prevalent in Australia than in comparable countries. 2. the proposals contained in the Department's Discussion Paper (excluding the extension of the safe harbour provisions, which we support) are unlikely to be effective in reducing the rate of online copyright infringement in Australia. On the contrary, they are likely to increase costs for consumers, increase business uncertainty and risk, and will burden the courts with ultimately futile attempts to block overseas websites. 3. the proposals for website blocking and extensions of authorisation liability pose a significant threat to privacy and free speech.

iiNet have submitted theirs as well. Service provider iiNet has used the opportunity to set the record straight on a number of “facts” wielded by rights holders. Published today, the 27-page paper covers a range of issues, including privacy concerns, data retention plans and the effectiveness of the graduated response, as well as the contentious idea of blocking repeat offenders.

New Zealand's internet was brought to a halt over the weekend due to celebrity image malware. New Zealanders keen to view hacked photos of naked celebrities are being blamed for a nationwide internet meltdown involving the country's main provider.

Meanwhile Simon Hackett has a plan to make the NBN less worse. Although the Internode founder hasn't abandoned his belief in the value of FTTP, he says his main concern is "that there should be a better network".

Intel revealed some info about their upcoming Core M processors, with coverage on TechReport, HotHardware and ZDNet. At IFA Berlin today, Intel revealed some new information about its upcoming Core M processors. We've heard about these chips before, but this is the first time Intel has provided specs and performance data for them. It's also the company's first time sharing a labeled shot of the Core M's Broadwell-Y die.

TechSpot look into larger, more productive tablets. The common refrain has been that tablets are for consumption and that laptops are for productivity, and never the twain shall meet. But it's a different world today, and now Apple and Google want to cross that bridge, too, into Microsoft territory. Apple with the iPad Pro, and Google with the new Nexus.

It turns out Steve Ballmer created the text for the blue screen of death. This week a veteran Microsoft developer and principal software engineer, Raymond Chen, revealed for the first time that Steve Ballmer was responsible for crafting perhaps the most iconic failure message of all time -- the instructional text that appeared when you pressed or CTRL+ALT+DEL or if a system failure transported you to this unfortunate place.



Sunday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Sunday, 7-September-2014  13:19:48 (GMT +10) - by aftahours

CPU:
AMD FX-8370e on Vortez
Intel Core i7-5960X Extreme on Benchmark Reviews
Intel i7-5960X on Techgage
AMD FX Refresh FX-8370 FX-8370e FX-9370 and FX-9590 on LanOC
Intel Core i5-4670S and Core i5-4670T on XBit Labs

Mouse:
COUGAR 700M Gaming Mouse on Vortez
EVGA TORQ X10 Carbon Gaming Mouse on Hardware Asylum

Motherboard:
Asus X99-DELUXE Motherboard on Benchmark Reviews
Gigabyte X99 Gaming 5 (LGA 2011-3) Motherboard on eTeknix
Asus ROG Maximus VII Formula Motherboard on Pure Overclock
Asus X99 Deluxe (Intel X99) Motherboard on TweakTown
Asus X99-Deluxe Motherboard on PC Perspective
EVGA X99 Micro Motherboard on Think Computers

Videocard:
MSI R9 280X Gaming 3G GPU on Modders-Inc
Sapphire R7 260X OC 1GB Graphics Card on eTeknix
PowerColor Radeon R9 285 TurboDuo on Guru3D
HIS Radeon R7 260X iCooler 2GB Video Card on TweakTown
AMD FirePro W9100 Professional Graphics Card on Xbit Labs

Storage:
Plextor M6S 256GB Solid State Drive on eTeknix
Synology DS115J NAS on Hardware Heaven
Silicon Power Armor A60 2TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive on NikKTech
HGST Ultrastar He6 6TB SAS HDD on NikKTech
Toshiba THNSNJ480PCS3 HK3R Enterprise SSD on TweakTown
Raidon Runner GR2660 RAID Storage Enclosure on TweakTown
Samsung EVO 32GB and 64GB MicroSD Memory Cards on TweakTown
Vantec NexStar HX USB 3.0 Edition External Storage Enclosure on TweakTown
Corsair Force LX 256GB and 512GB on PC Perspective
Crucial MX100 256 GB on TechPowerup
Spyrus WorkSafe Pro WTG Secure Flash Drive on The SSD Review
Crucial MX100 SSD on Xbit Labs

RAM:
Crucial 32GB 2133MHz Quad Channel DDR4 Memory Kit on eTeknix
Kingston HyperX Predator DDR4 16GB 3000MHz Memory Kit on Legit Reviews
G.Skill Ripjaws4 DDR4-3000 16GB Quad-Channel Memory Kit on TweakTown

PSU:
Antec High Current Pro Platinum 850W Modular PSU on eTeknix
DeepCool Quanta DQ1250 1250W Power Supply on NikKTech

Case:
Antec ISK600 Case on Ocaholic
Corsair Graphite 380T on Ocaholic
Fractal Design Core Series 3300 Mid-Tower Chassis on TweakTown
Corsair Carbide Series Air 240 Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX Chassis on TweakTown

Cooling:
NZXT Kraken X31 Liquid Cooler on Neoseeker
Alpenfoehn Himalaya II CPU Cooler on TweakTown
SilverStone Tundra TD02 AIO Liquid CPU Cooler on Techgage

Misc:
Shuttle Barebone XS35V4 on Madshrimps
SilverStone EB01-E and EB03 DAC/Headphone Amplifier on APH Networks



Misc Pics (33 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 5-September-2014  14:28:47 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Friday again! Scroll down one story for a Scorptec contest, too.









Scorptec and SteelSeries Contest! (0 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 5-September-2014  13:10:53 (GMT +10) - by Agg

OCAU Major Sponsor Scorptec and Steelseries are giving away some gaming goodies - and all you have to do is tell them what makes you worthy:


click for the thread!



Friday Midday (5 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 5-September-2014  12:08:25 (GMT +10) - by Agg

A small asteroid will pass very close to Earth on Sunday - about one tenth the distance to the moon. A small asteroid, designated 2014 RC, will safely pass very close to Earth on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014. At the time of closest approach, based on current calculations to be about 2:18 p.m. EDT (11:18 a.m. PDT / 18:18 UTC), the asteroid will be roughly over New Zealand. From its reflected brightness, astronomers estimate that the asteroid is about 60 feet (20 meters) in size. Worryingly, it was only spotted on August 31st, which wouldn't have given Bruce Willis much time to save us all.

Apple have insisted the recent celebrity image leaks are not due to a technical issue with iCloud, but are simply due to username/password compromises. None of the cases we have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple’s systems including iCloud® or Find my iPhone. We are continuing to work with law enforcement to help identify the criminals involved.

It's bad timing though, with the iPhone 6 launch only a few days away. With less than a week until the launch of the iPhone 6 the buzz around Apple has reached fever pitch. The pace of traditional and social media traffic around its release is almost congesting the digital superhighway as supporters and detractors trawl through its possible features to determine how it will affect the company's sales revenue and potentially alter the competitive landscape.

Still, it doesn't seem to be affecting the hardcore fan base, with people lining up for new products even though they don't know what they are yet! Moon and Jason Ray have been camping out since Monday — though news of the latest Apple products is still six days away. They’ve laid in provisions for the long haul, purchasing thermal sleeping bags, an air mattress, folding chairs, a tarp, umbrellas and a solar battery charger.

BusinessInsider have a summary of the photo leaks story to date. But the truth is far more disturbing: The leaked celebrity photos don’t originate from a single hack, but instead from a collector who gradually added to his collection over months before suddenly deciding to post them online. This is the story of that collector, who goes by the screenname “OriginalGuy.”

Anyway, all that behind us, there's a big new Minecraft update, with sheep meat, among other things. Of course, new meat types is far from the only thing added in the Bountiful Update which, clocking in at ten+ months, is the longest-developed update the game has seen so far. There are several new block types, two new enemy mobs: the underwater Guardian and the teleporting Endermite, a new dungeon called the Ocean Monument, and a lot of additional features for the game's scripting engine, which lets mapmakers do much more with an unmodded Minecraft—like last week's Simburbia, for example.

SiliconAngel is concerned that the HemaImager Kickstarter doesn't look like it will reach its funding goal. Personally I would have thought something like this, at this price point, would be a must-have for any computer tech, and particularly enthusiasts serious about overclocking and customisation to help identify trouble heat spots. It would also be very useful for automotive tinkerers and anyone keen to improve the thermal efficiency of their homes.

A few people sent in this video about the revolutionary technology behind the new Ikea catalog. It'll never catch on.



Thursday Afternoon Reviews #2 (0 Comments) (link)
 Thursday, 4-September-2014  15:41:36 (GMT +10) - by aftahours

CPU:
Intel Core i7-5960X Haswell-E LGA2011-V3 Processor on Futurelooks
Intel Core i7 4790K Devils Canyon CPU on Techware Labs

Motherboard:
EVGA X99 Classified on Ocaholic
Gigabyte X99-UD4 on Ocaholic

Keyboard/Mouse:
Tesoro Gandiva H1L Gaming Mouse on Vortez
Tesoro Tizona G2N Elite and G2N-P Elite Mechanical Keyboard on APH Networks
CM Storm Devastator on TechnologyX

Storage:
Plextor M6M 128GB mSATA Solid State Drive on eTeknix
MyDigitalSSD Super Cache 2 128GB SATA III M.2 Drive on Legit Reviews
WD My Passport Wireless 1TB Storage Drive on Legit Reviews
Samsung XP941 256GB Ultra M.2 PCIe SSD on TweakTown
Crucial MX100 512GB Two-Drive SSD RAID on TweakTown
WD My Passport Wireless on Techgage
Western Digital My Passport Wireless on PC Perspective
Western Digital My Passport Ultra on Techware Labs

Case:
Akasa Euler Mini-ITX Thin Fanless Chassis on eTeknix
Thermaltake Core V1 Mini-ITX SFF Chassis on TweakTown
Corsair Graphite 380T Computer Case on Madshrimps
Aerocool DS Cube on Tech Powerup

PSU:
XFX PRO 650W XXX Edition Semi-Modular Power Supply on eTeknix
Antec EDGE 650W 80 PLUS Gold Power Supply on TweakTown

Cooling:
SilentiumPC Gradis XE1236 CPU Cooler on NikKTech
Alpenfoehn Sella CPU Cooler on TweakTown
Scythe Mugen MAX CPU Cooler on ThinkComputers.org

Gaming Desktops:
Ironside Computers Minion Budget Gaming PC on TweakTown
Digital Storm Bolt 2 SFF Gaming Desktop PC on TweakTown

Misc:
Samsung Chromebook on Hardware Secrets
Nokia Lumia 930 Smartphone on Techspot



Thursday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Thursday, 4-September-2014  13:56:03 (GMT +10) - by aftahours

The newest installment of AMD FX CPUs is finally upon us. September 2014 marks the release of the a few new FX CPUs, including the FX-8370, the FX-8370E, and the FX-8320E.
Read more at Benchmark Reviews and more FX8370E Reviews below.

AMD FX-8370 & FX-8370E Processors on PureOverclock
AMD FX 8370 & FX 8370E on OCC
AMD FX-8370 and FX-8370E Processors on Modders-Inc
AMD FX 8370 and 8370E processor on Guru3D
AMD FX-8370 and FX-8370E 8-Core CPU on Hot Hardware
AMD FX 8370 & FX 8370E on Neoseeker
AMD FX-8370 / FX-8370E Linux Performance on Phoronix
AMD 2014 FX Refresh- FX-9590, FX-8370, and FX-8370e on PC Perspective
AMD FX-8370E processor on Techreport

Today AMD launches the Radeon R9 285, based on their brand-new Tonga GPU, which replaces Tahiti, promising to be faster and more power efficient. Sapphire's board comes with a custom cooler and is overclocked out of the box for some extra performance. Read more at Tech Powerup and more R9-285 Reviews below.

Sapphire Dual-X AMD R9 285 “Tonga” 2GB Graphics Card on eTeknix
AMD Radeon R9-285 on Guru3D
Radeon R9-285 on Hardware Heaven
AMD Radeon R9 285 on Hot Hardware
Sapphire Radeon R9 285 2GB Dual-X OC Video Card on TweakTown
MSI Radeon R9 285 Twin Frozr IV on TechGage
AMD Radeon R9 285 2GB Graphics Card on PC Perspective
AMD Radeon R9 285 on Legion Hardware
AMD Radeon R9 285 on Techspot
AMD Radeon R9 285 graphics card on Tech Report



Geek Food (1 Comments) (link)
 Tuesday, 2-September-2014  23:04:09 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Here's some yummy threads from our Geek Recipes forum:


Gingered Dutch Apple Cake
by 303-Acid

Beef & Guinness Pie
by BlueRaven

Potato, Cheese & Chive Pancake
by 303-Acid


Mac and Cheese
by sgtraven

Mushroom Rosemary Pizza
by ilsan

Peanut Butter Cookies
by Huggy Bear64



Tuesday Evening (7 Comments) (link)
 Tuesday, 2-September-2014  18:01:52 (GMT +10) - by Agg

I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that a lot of naked celebrity photos have been leaked onto the internet over the last day or so, but the technical aspects of it are quite interesting. It seems to be pretty universally agreed that an iCloud issue is at fault, but exactly who is behind it remains unclear. Discussion in this thread.

Speaking of Apple, it seems that's where Anand Lal Shimpi is headed, thanks scarletxfi. An Apple rep confirmed that the company was hiring Shimpi, but wouldn’t provide any other details. Last night, via a post on the site he founded in 1997, Shimpi said he was “officially retiring from the tech publishing world,” but didn’t say what he was doing next. “I won’t stay idle forever. There are a bunch of challenges out there :)”, he wrote.

A national PC repair group has gone into administration, thanks Mike. CRN spoke to three sub-agents of NCSS with operations in Queensland and NSW who said they are owed money, including Paul Chiari of FNQ Computers in Atherton, Queensland. He said the company has worked with NCSS for at least 10 years.

Left 4 Dead 2 has been reclassified as R18+ in Australia. The original game was refused classification and then censored to within an inch of its life before being released as MA15+ in Australia. It's now passed through the Board's scrutiny process again, and made it out unscathed.



Tuesday Afternoon Reviews (1 Comments) (link)
 Tuesday, 2-September-2014  15:07:40 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Storage:
Samsung 850 Pro 512GB SSD on Tweaktown.
Transcend SSD370 SSD 256GB on TheSSDReview.
Samsung 850 Pro 512GB SSD on NikKTech.
Corsair Flash Voyager GTX USB 3.0 128GB Flash Drive on MadShrimps.

Motherboard & CPU:
Intel Core i7 5960X on NeoSeeker.
MSI X99S GAMING 9 AC on Vortez.

Input Etc:
Func KB-460 Keyboard on TechnologyX.
Tesoro Tizona G2N Elite Keyboard on PureOC.
Keyed Up Labs KUL ES-87 Tenkeyless Mechanical Keyboard on Tweaktown.

Memory:
G.Skill Ares 8GB 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit on eTeknix.
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4-2800 Quad-Channel Memory Kit on Tweaktown.

Power Supply:
EVGA SuperNOVA G2 1600W on TechPowerUp.
Super Flower Golden Silent 500W Semi-Modular Passive on eTeknix.

Audio Visual:
Tt eSPORTS Verto Gaming Headset on ThinkComputers.
ASUS Xonar Essence STX II 7.1 sound card on Vortez.

Misc:
Belkin OmniView Secure 4-Port Business-Class KVM on Tweaktown.



Monday Night (3 Comments) (link)
 Monday, 1-September-2014  21:10:33 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Anand Lal Shimpi, of AnandTech fame, is retiring from tech publishing at the grand old age of 32. But after 17.5 years of digging, testing, analyzing and writing about the most interesting stuff in tech, it’s time for a change. This will be the last thing I write on AnandTech as I am officially retiring from the tech publishing world. The strangest part for me is I still think of Anand as a kid, and now he's a bald beardy dude! :) His site has always been of the highest quality in the industry and I hope he does well in whatever he next focuses on.

w0ng sent in this NYT article about the big-money world of E-Sports. Except on this sunny day in July, every attack and counterattack by a five-person team set off an eruption of cheers — from the more than 11,000 spectators crammed into this city’s basketball arena. The contestants were gunning for a big piece of the $11 million in total prize money, the most ever at a games tournament.

IntelInside spotted another "40 job applications a month" app. Even before the government considers dropping its plans, out-of-work Australians worried about the prospect of having to apply for 40 jobs a month to keep their unemployment benefits can breathe a little easier as software developers race to build apps to automate the process.

AFR have an article about iiNet. iiNet is the little Perth internet company that could. Born from the garage of founder Michael Malone’s parents in 1993, it has fought off global titans like Telstra and SingTel-Optus to earn its reputation as a leading national provider of broadband services. But its senior leadership team dream bigger and internally the informal goal of the company’s top brass is to make iiNet Australia’s second-largest telecommunications provider over the next five years.

The copyright reform debate continues, with the Communications Alliance putting forward a proposal in response to the Government's discussion paper. Australia’s telecommunications industry body has signalled its willingness to negotiate on a three strikes approach to copyright infringement despite being ‘unconvinced’ it will work, while outlining an alternative model and calling on rights holders to play their part to reduce piracy.

Tweaktown have a buyer's guide to Intel X99 Motherboards and DDR4 Memory. A handy guide for the Intel X99 platform based on products ready and shipping right now. Check out the selection of motherboards and DDR4 memory options!




Advertisement:

All original content copyright James Rolfe.
All rights reserved. No reproduction allowed without written permission.
Interested in advertising on OCAU? Contact us for info.

Hosted by Micron21!
Advertisement:

Recent Content


Mini Server Rack
Gashapon



SpaceX Starlink



T-Force Cardea
Zero Z330 NVMe SSD



Team Group T-Force
Vulcan G SSD



Synology DS720+ NAS



Raspberry Pi 4
Model B 8GB



Retro Extreme!