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

January 2017
Retro Let's Play - Feb 2017 - Impossible Mission (1984) (2 Comments) (link)
 Tuesday, 31-January-2017  18:13:24 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Our Retro & Arcade forum has grown into quite a busy little sub-community. Elvis has recently started a Retro Let's Play program, which encourages people to dust off classic games and enjoy them again - or for the first time. After a vote, the game chosen for February 2017 is Impossible Mission from 1984.


click for the thread!

Make your way through an underground maze searching for codes to decrypt access to a control room. You have a strict time limit, and time is deducted for player deaths. Dodge killer robots and try not to fall to your death. The biggest challenge of all - puzzle elements are randomly generated, so no two play-throughs are the same!

Sound fun? Head over to the forum to get involved!



Good Game Cancelled (0 Comments) (link)
 Tuesday, 31-January-2017  16:17:38 (GMT +10) - by Agg

The ABC are cancelling the long-running gaming TV show Good Game. Sad news. After the program’s summer break, two of the key presenters of Good Game announced they were leaving to pursue other opportunities. In light of this major setback, and changes in the way audiences are choosing to get their information about gaming, the ABC has decided to end the long and successful run of the show. We plan to continue Spawn Point in a new format. We expect to retain all the remaining Good Game team.

Discussion in this thread.



Tuesday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Tuesday, 31-January-2017  13:22:22 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Cases:
Honbontec Gravity 6 Mid-Tower on Tweaktown.
be quiet! Pure Base 600 Mid-Tower on eTeknix.

Storage:
ADATA SD700 Portable Solid State Drive on ThinkComputers.
GELID ZENTREE SMART DOCKING STATION on Technoyard.
Silicon Power S56 240GB Solid State Drive on eTeknix.

Motherboard & CPU:
MSI Z270 SLI PLUS on LanOC.
Intel Core i7 7700K Linux Benchmarks on Phoronix.

Misc:
Tesoro Zone Balance Gaming Chair on Tweaktown.
Netis WF2375 AC600 Wireless Dual-Band Outdoor AP Router on eTeknix.
Rosewill RK-9000 V2 RGB Keyboard on TechPowerUp.
TUNAI CLIP Bluetooth Audio Receiver on APHNetworks.
LIFX Gen3 Bulbs and LIFX Z Lightstrip SmartHome Lighting on eTeknix.
FSP Twins 500W Redundant PSU on PCPerspective.
MSI CORE FROZR L CPU Cooler on Tweaktown.
HIS RX 460 Slim-iCooler OC 2GB video card on MadShrimps.



Monday Afternoon (2 Comments) (link)
 Monday, 30-January-2017  13:06:06 (GMT +10) - by Agg

HardOCP checked out the Scythe FUMA SCFM-1000 twin tower CPU air cooler, and they reckon it's pretty much the best thing ever. Scythe has a real winner on its hands with the FUMA. It killed it in our testing phases as long as you’re looking to overclock. Stock CPU users need not apply. The performance of the FUMA rivals many of the bigger water coolers in addition to demolishing the smaller All-In-Ones.

Simon sent in this cool article from 2015 about what may be the oldest computer program still being used. Keeping software alive for just a few years without constant updates and overhauls might seem nearly impossible. But some software systems remain in fine fettle decades after their launch.

HotHardware looked at the lowest-powered Kaby Lake variant, Kaby Lake-Y, in a Dell laptop. We would be remiss if we didn't point out that, yes, Intel has done away almost completely with the "Core m" moniker with Kaby Lake, choosing instead to denote the series in the root of the model number, like it does with the U series (as in Core i7-7Y75). However, the company does list lower-end Core m3 variants of Kaby Lake as such, while i5 and i7 higher-end SKUs are only distinguishable with the Y in the root of the model number. Clear as mud right?

GamersNexus report that MSI's M.2 "Heat Shield" seems to actually increase SSD temperatures, not lower them. Ultimately, the point is that there’s just no way this thing is going to do any more than trap heat beneath the M.2 SSD and prevent cool air from accessing the drive. There’s just not enough conduction and spreading potential to make up for the lack of even indirect airflow. We tested MSI’s M.2 “Shield” in a Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon to validate whether the marketing made any sense, and found that, minimally, the shield is poorly executed and should be discarded by any potential owners.

This from Jeremy: Ladyada from Adafruit industries recently did an interview with Bunnie Huang (co creator of the Novena open source laptop). They talk about his past and future projects, and his privacy and freedom advocacy, among other things. It's a really great interview, and something your readers might be interested in.



Sunday Night Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Sunday, 29-January-2017  22:19:23 (GMT +10) - by booj

Motherboards:
MSI Z270 XPower Gaming Titanium on Legit Reviews.
MSI X99A Tomahawk on ThinkComputers.
Gigabyte Aorus Z270X-Gaming K7 on LanOC Reviews.

Storage:
Plextor EX1 Portable USB 3.1 Gen 2 SSD on Guru3D.
Seagate BarraCuda Pro ST10000DM0004 10TB Hard Drive on APH Networks.

Power Supplies:
EVGA SuperNOVA 850W G3 on PC Perspective.
Thermaltake Toughpower Grand RGB 850W on Funky Kit.
Thermaltake Smart Pro RGB 850W Bronze on NikKTech.

Audio:
Qualcomm aptX Bluetooth on PC Perspective.
Razer ManO'War 7.1 Gaming Headset on Madshrimps.
iClever IC-BTS07 Bluetooth Speaker on Funky Kit.
OZONE EKHO H80 Origen Pro Gaming Headset on NikKTech.

Cases:
Rosewill Gram Mid-Tower Chassis on TweakTown.
Lian Li PC-J60 B ATX Mid-Tower Chassis on TweakTown.

Misc:
Gamdias Zeus P1 RGB Mouse on Benchmark Reviews.
Tesoro Zone Balance Gaming Chair on Techgage.
EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 Gaming on Hot Hardware.
Synology RT2600ac Wi-Fi Router on Custom PC Review.
NZXT X42, X52, and X62 Liquid CPU Cooler Roundup on Legit Reviews.
Dell Latitude 14 Rugged Extreme 7414 Laptop on TweakTown.



Misc Pics Flashback (30 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 27-January-2017  13:40:57 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Super busy with school holidays, long weekend family duties and (believe it or not) a hockey tournament, so sadly I haven't had time to put together a Misc Pics post this week. So here's a flashback to the early days of Misc Pics, 10 years ago:

January 2007:

       

       


February 2007:

     

     



Australia Day Afternoon (0 Comments) (link)
 Thursday, 26-January-2017  14:22:56 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Hope you're having a great Australia Day! :)

HotHardware have been overclocking Kaby Lake i3 processors. The Core i3-7350K is a dual-core processor, with support for Intel’s Hyper Threading technology, so it can process up to 4 threads simultaneously. As the “K” in the product name denotes, the 7350K has an unlocked multiplier, so it can be overclocked through both multiplier and BCLK manipulation.

I haven't heard much of John Carmack for a while, but it was interesting to hear of his involvement with Oculus and Facebook. The Oculus lawsuit, in the sixth day of a jury trial, relates in part to programmer John Carmack. Well-known for helping to conceive games such as "Quake" and "Doom," Carmack worked for id Software LLC before that company was acquired by ZeniMax. He is now the chief technology officer at Oculus. Zuckerberg denied that Carmack has unfairly used computer code from his previous position. "There is no shared code in what we do," he said.

TomsHardware went out of their way to burn out an SSD. Our Intel SSD 600p 256GB failed on November 9, 2016, after a grueling 42-day battle with Iometer. We tested the same SSD we used for our review. The review tests wrote a total of 7,790GB of data over 88 hours.

Samsung have released the results of their investigation into why the Note 7 phones were exploding - they point the finger squarely at the batteries. The announcement by the company, a day ahead of it reporting its fourth quarter results, had experts from TUV Rheinland, Exponent and UL stating that internal manufacturing and design defects of the batteries, including missing insulating tape in some cases, and not the design of the phones were responsible for the battery issues. There's an explanatory video here too.

HotHardware have a guide to building a retro gamer with a Raspberry Pi. Out of the box, the NES Classic has thirty preloaded classic game titles. That's all well and good, but if you weren’t able to get your hands on one just yet -- like the majority of people -- getting your retro-gaming fix isn't happening any time soon, unless you fork out an unreasonable sum, paying hundreds to scalpers, for a product that retails for $60. But, why not roll your own?

Draxonic sent in these cool swarming robots. Zooids is an open-source open-hardware platform for developing tabletop Swarm User Interfaces, a new class of human-computer interfaces comprised of many autonomous robots that handle both display and interaction. The platform consists of a collection of custom-designed wheeled micro robots, a radio base-station, a highspeed DLP structured light projector for optical tracking, and a software framework for application development and control. More info here.

If you're in Sydney and bored, head to Market City to play with VR and maybe win an MSI laptop. Experience amazing virtual reality (VR) gaming on Level 2, and be in with a chance to WIN your own MSI Gaming Laptop and HTC VIVE – worth over $5,000. Visit Level 2 and tell us in 25 words or less “What does Chinese New Year mean to you?”

Or if you find yourself a bit overwhelmed by Australia Day festivities, perhaps enjoy this soothing timewaster from Dukeymeng.




Wednesday Night Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Wednesday, 25-January-2017  23:50:19 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Motherboard & CPU:
Kaby Lake Z270 Micro-ATX Motherboards on OCAholic.
ASUS ROG STRIX Z270G GAMING Motherboard on Tweaktown.
MSI Z270 GAMING M7 on Guru3D.
ASRock Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming-ITX/ac on Tweaktown.

Audio Visual:
Creative Sound BlasterX Katana on Vortez.
TUNAI Firefly Bluetooth Music Receiver on FunkyKit.

Video Cards:
MSI GeForce GTX 1070 QuickSilver 8G on Tweaktown.
OCC's Top 3 Video Cards of 2016 on OCClub.

Cases:
Lian Li PC-K6S on ThinkComputers.
NZXT S340 Elite Mid-Tower Chassis on Tweaktown.

Storage:
Zotac Premium Edition SSD 240GB on FunkyKit.
TerraMaster F2-220 2-Bay NAS on ThinkComputers.
ASUSTOR AS3102T 2 BAY NETWORK ATTACHED STORAGE on TechnoYard.
Kingston SSDNow DC400 480GB SSD on NikKTech.

Input Etc:
Corsair K95 RGB Platinum Mechanical Keyboard on Tweaktown.
Corsair K95 RGB Platinum Mechanical Keyboard on TechSpot.
Cougar ATTACK X3 RGB Gaming Keyboard on MadShrimps.
Corsair K95 Platinum Keyboard on TechPowerUp.
Corsair K95 RGB Platinum keyboard on LanOC.
Corsair MM800 RGB Polaris Mousing Surface on APHNetworks.

Cooling:
Alphacool Eisbaer 360 Liquid CPU Cooling System on NikKTech.
Bitspower GPU Waterblock Acrylic (Clear) for the ZOTAC GTX 1080/1070 AMP Extreme on FunkyKit.

Misc:
Resident Evil 7 : PC graphics performance benchmark review on Guru3D.
Google Pixel Smartphone on HWSecrets.
Thermaltake Smart Pro RGB 850W PSU on FunkyKit.



Monday Morning Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Monday, 23-January-2017  01:34:29 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Motherboard & CPU:
ASRock X99 Taichi Motherboard on FunkyKit.
Intel Kabylake: Windows 10 vs. Linux OpenGL Performance on Phoronix.
MSI GT62VR 7RE Dominator Pro Kaby Lake First Look on eTeknix.
Motherboard Charts: 24 Models tested - MSI Z270 XPower Gaming Titanium on OCAholic.

Storage:
Thecus N4810 4-Bay SMB and Enthusiast NAS on eTeknix.
Noontec TerraMaster D4-310 4-Bay USB Type-C DAS on eTeknix.

Input Etc:
Roccat Kone EMP Gaming Mouse on TechPowerUp.
Cooler Master MasterKeys Pro L Mechanical Keyboard on APHNetworks.
Creative Sound BlasterX Siege M04 Gaming Mouse on eTeknix.
Fnatic Gear Clutch G1 mouse on LanOC.

Audio Visual:
The Samsung CFG70 Curved Quantum Dot Monitor Revealed on TechARP.
Razer Kraken Pro V2 eSports Gaming Headset on eTeknix.
Turtle Beach Multi-Format Stream Mic on eTeknix.

Portable & Prebuilt:
Meizu Pro 6 Plus smartphone on TechSpot.
Google Pixel XL Vs. Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge: 6 Weeks With Android Nougat Purity on HotHardware.

Misc:
ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1060 video card on Vortez.
Crono PS350N on HWInsights.
Phanteks Eclipse P400 Tempered Glass Chassis on FunkyKit.
TP-Link Smart Home LB130 Bulb and HS200 Switch on Tweaktown.



Misc Pics (23 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 20-January-2017  14:58:43 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Thanks to Merlin and Psychobunny this week!








Friday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 20-January-2017  14:56:17 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Motherboard & CPU:
AMD FX-9590 8-Core CPU on LegitReviews.
SuperMicro C7Z270-CG server board on Guru3D.
SuperMicro C7Z270-CG Z270 LGA1151 on MadShrimps.
ASRock Z270 Killer SLI Intel LGA 1151 on OCInside.

Audio Visual:
TomTom Bandit 4K GPS WiFi Action Camera on ModSynergy.
Razer Kraken Pro V2 Gaming Headset on CustomPCReview.
ROCCAT Cross Multi-platform Over-ear Stereo Gaming Headset on MadShrimps.
Diamond Multimedia Game Caster HD GC1500 on FunkyKit.

Cases:
Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Tempered Glass Edition on NikKTech.
Jonsbo UMX4 on TechPowerUp.
Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 3 on OCAholic.
be quiet! Pure Base 600 on Guru3D.

Input Etc:
SteelSeries' Apex M500 keyboard on TechReport.
Vortex CORE Keyboard on TechPowerUp.
Corsair Scimitar Pro Gaming Mouse on BenchmarkReviews.

Software:
Fedora vs. Ubuntu vs. openSUSE vs. Clear Linux For Intel Steam Linux on Phoronix.
Watch_Dogs 2 Performance Analysis on OCClub.

Storage:
SilverStone TS231U-C Two-Bay USB-C DAS on Tweaktown.
MyDigitalSSD BPX M.2 NVMe 480GB SSD on LegitReviews.
WD Blue SSD on HotHardware.

Portable & Prebuilt:
The Neffos X1 Max & Neffos X1 Hands-On Preview on TechARP.
Everything About Lenovo Phab2 Pro on HWSecrets.
Origin Chronos Small Form Factor Gaming PC on Tweaktown.
Lenovo ThinkStation P410 Professional Workstation on Tweaktown.
MIFCOM Battlebox: High-End with Intel and NVIDIA on OCAholic.

Power Supply:
NewerTech NuPower 60W USB-C Power Adapter on BigBruin.
APC Back-UPS Pro 900 on PCReview.

Misc:
Kingston HyperX Savage 16GB DDR4-3000 Memory Kit on FunkyKit.
GIGABYTE GTX 1050 Ti OC video card on Vortez.
Thermaltake Pacific W4 RGB CPU Water Block on FunkyKit.



ADATA Ultimate SU800 256GB SSD (5 Comments) (link)
 Wednesday, 18-January-2017  12:33:20 (GMT +10) - by Agg

I've taken a quick look at a new SSD from ADATA - the "Ultimate SU800". It's one of the first drives to bring 3D NAND to market:


click for the review!



Tuesday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Tuesday, 17-January-2017  13:44:53 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Cooling:
XFX Hard Swap LED Fans on LanOC.
Cooler Master MasterNotepal Maker Cooling Pad on MadShrimps.

Storage:
KingFast P600 120GB Portable SSD on MadShrimps.
Corsair Force MP500 480GB M.2 NVMe SSD on LegitReviews.
Intel DC P3520 2TB Enterprise PCIe NVMe SSD on Tweaktown.
Toshiba OCZ TL100 240GB Solid State Drive on APHNetworks.

Audio Visual:
Audioengine HD3 Premium Powered Desktop Speakers on CustomPCReview.
Sennheiser GSX 1000 amplifier on Vortez.

Input Etc:
Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum Gaming Mouse on TechARP.
ROCCAT Suora FX Mechanical Keyboard on APHNetworks.
Corsair Scimitar Pro RGB mouse on OCAholic.

Crucial Ballistix Elite 3200 MHz DDR4 16 GB memory on TechPowerUp.
Seasonic PRIME Titanium Series Power Supplies on PCPerspective.
Antec GX1200 Chassis on FunkyKit.

Misc:
Ring Pro Doorbell on TechnologyX.
Amazon Echo on TechnologyX.
Canary Smart Home Security Device on NikKTech.
Oculus Rift VR Benching on BabelTechReviews.



Monday Afternoon (5 Comments) (link)
 Monday, 16-January-2017  17:16:17 (GMT +10) - by Agg

A few places are reporting a USB exploit in Intel Skylake and Kaby Lake systems. This vulnerability allows attackers to bypass security mechanisms by using a debugging interface exploit, which allows attackers to install malicious code, rewrite firmware and even rewrite your system's BIOS. This bug affects any system with a Skylake CPU that has a debugging interface that is accessible via USB 3.0. What is most scary about this exploit is that it is currently undetectable using existing security tools. I'll chase up some more details for the next news post.

The FTC are suing D-Link for poor network security. The FTC is back again, this time suing D-Link for routers and video cameras that the company claimed were "easy to secure" and delivered "advanced network security," yet were about as secure as a kitten-guarded pillow fort. Like Asus, D-Link's hardware also frequently ships with easily-guessed default login credentials.

OCClub have a GTX 1070 Overclocking Guide. Now, start the Unigine Heaven benchmark in windowed mode so you can change the frequency while it is running. I generally use the Heaven benchmark as it's easy to run in windowed mode and artifacts are noticeable. Start with 100MHz OC and apply, then watch for any artifacts in the textures. These may be seen as flashing green, pink, or black textures. If none are present, push it up another 100MHz. Continue this until 400MHz.

HWSecrets report on the major companies at CES 2017, while ThinkComputers cover the case mods and builds seen there. CES is always a great place to find amazing PC Mods and Builds. CES is a place for many companies to showcase their new products and what better way to get attention to those products than to have them inside of a great mod or build. PC Modding has never been bigger and many companies actually commission modders to create builds for CES.



Saturday Evening Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Saturday, 14-January-2017  17:31:15 (GMT +10) - by booj

Motherboards:
ASRock Z270 Gaming K6 Fatal1ty on Guru3D.
ASRock Z270 Extreme4 on TweakTown.
MSI Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon on Neoseeker.

Graphics Cards:
XFX RX 460 4GB Slim on LanOC Reviews.
XFX RX 480 8GB Hard Swap XXX on LanOC Reviews.

Storage:
Intel SSD DC P3520 Series NVMe PCIe Enterprise SSD on Hot Hardware.
MyDigitalSSD Boost 1TB USB 3.1 Gen 2 Portable SSD on TweakTown.
1TB WD Blue SSD (WDS100T1B0A) on TechARP.
G-Technology G-Drive SSD Slim USB-C on TweakTown.
Patriot Hellfire 480GB NVMe SSD on The Tech Report.
Vantec NexStar TX Enclosure and Dual-Bay Dock on TweakTown.
Mushkin Atom 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive on Funky Kit.

Cooling:
CRYORIG A80 all-in-one on techPowerUp.
Cooler Master MasterLiquid Maker 92 CPU Cooler on PC Perspective.
Hardware Labs Black Ice Nemesis GTR 360 Radiator on techPowerUp.

Networking:
Linksys WRT3200ACM Smart Wi-Fi Router on TweakTown.
Netgear Nighthawk X10 Wireless AD7200 Router on Hot Hardware.

Input etc:
Corsair Scimitar PRO RGB Optical MOBA/MMO Gaming Mouse on Madshrimps.
ROCCAT Skeltr Gaming Keyboard on Funky Kit.

Misc:
SoundPEATS Q11 Sport Bluetooth Headphones on NikKTech.



Misc Pics (24 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 13-January-2017  14:28:24 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Thanks to danstoejam and t1mbot this week!








Interesting Forum Threads (0 Comments) (link)
 Wednesday, 11-January-2017  16:07:19 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Here's a snapshot of what people are up to in the forums. Remember that OCAU has official Twitter, Facebook and Google+ pages - if you can follow or like us on those, it helps us keep you up to date.

Distant PC - Remote Control PC Starter in Overclocking & Hardware.
Kaby Lake/Skylake Overclocking, Info, Delid Guide and Owners thread in Intel Hardware.
AM4, 9xxx APU, and Ryzen Information Thread in AMD Hardware.
Arduino Beginner in Electronics & Electrics.
NSW - Tank (yep, 52 ton) guy looking for some assistance in Electronics & Electrics.
How hard is it for someone to crack a google password? in Networking, Telephony & Internet.
Complicated Parallel loop, need opinions in Extreme and Water Cooling.
6 SSD RAID 0 with Icy Dock ExpressCage MB326SP-B in Storage & Backup.
A parity/ecc program for photo storage? in Storage & Backup.
Next gen filesystems (ZFS, BtrFS, ReFS, APFS, etc) in Storage & Backup.
Ok who broke rsync at the ATO? in Business & Enterprise Computing.
Migrating from Hosted Exchange to O365? Built-in or Third Party? in Business & Enterprise Computing.
Retro Let's Play: FAQ inRetro & Arcade.
Scanline thread in Retro & Arcade.
Sonic's "Museum" - a PC from each generation - advice/suggestions needed! in Retro & Arcade.
Pointless Holiday Trivia in Holidays & Travel.
Around The World 2017 - Business Class on Frequent Flyer Points in Holidays & Travel.
MOVIE - Blade Runner 2049 (2017) in Entertainment.
TV - The Grand Tour in Entertainment.
Self-driving cars in Motoring.
All gamed out - age 32 in The Pub.
2017 self sacrifice poll in The Pub.
Haiku 2: Wordtastic Boogaloo - Aussie Edition in The Pub.



Wednesday Afternoon (0 Comments) (link)
 Wednesday, 11-January-2017  15:09:40 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Yahoo's slow decline seems to have reached its inevitable conclusion, with Verizon buying it, changing its name to Altaba and getting rid of the CEO. After her company officially sells to Verizon, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is stepping down from the board. It's been in the headlines for months that Yahoo is selling itself to the telecom giant for $4.8 billion. But actually, it's a little more complicated than that. Not all of the company is being sold, just Yahoo's consumer web business, which includes Yahoo Mail and Sports. Now the leftovers of the company after the Verizon sale have an official name: Altaba. Yahoo announced the news in an SEC filing on Monday.

With CES over, there's the usual "Best Of" coverage, from TechSpot and HotHardware. WindowsCentral meanwhile found the dumbest stuff. Tech Report have a news recap as well. Well, CES 2017 is over. We don't know if you were busy last week, but things were pretty crazy here at TR HQ. We doubled down on CES coverage and did our best to take a good look at all the hardware news that poured out from the show. Check out our full coverage below.

Also from CES, news that Razor's three-screen laptop prototypes have been stolen. Razer said the laptops had gone missing from its booth at the tech show on Sunday. The incident was being taken "very seriously", said chief executive Min-Liang Tan. A Razer spokesman said it was offering $25,000 (£20,600) for any "original information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction" of those allegedly involved in the crime.

There's free WiFi coming to Sydney buses, but people are concerned about privacy. “At this stage, the trial is ongoing and the outcome of the trial will determine any further roll-out to the rest of the transport network,” the spokesperson said. Buses equipped with the Catch technology are understood to be operating out of the Ryde, Waverley, Leichhardt and North Sydney depots. However, they are not designated to particular routes, meaning passengers across Sydney's bus network could have an opportunity to trial Catch, should they choose to do so.

MongoDB users should be aware of a new ransomware attack in the wild - thanks Skymaster. The attackers didn’t need to bother with malware to gain access to the database or the information saved within—the door was wide open since these MongoDB installations used the default configuration, which allowed unauthenticated connections via port 27017. These databases were fully accessible from the internet, and anyone connecting via that port had full administrator rights to read, create, update, and delete records. Ouch.

LG are going all-in on WiFi for home gadgets, thanks metamorphosis. Now that phenomenon is reaching its logical endpoint: during the company's CES press conference today, LG marketing VP David VanderWaal says that "starting this year" all of LG's home appliances will feature "advanced Wi-Fi connectivity." One of the flagship appliances that will make good on this promise is the Smart Instaview Refrigerator, a webOS-powered Internet-connected fridge that among other things supports integration with Amazon's Alexa service.

That's all fine, until voice control goes haywire. A San Diego TV station sparked complaints this week – after an on-air report about a girl who ordered a dollhouse via her parents' Amazon Echo caused Echoes in viewers' homes to also attempt to order dollhouses. What kind of system just orders something without confirming the price?



Wednesday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Wednesday, 11-January-2017  14:38:16 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Motherboard & CPU:
Intel Core i3-7350K Processor on LegitReviews.
ASUS ROG Maximus IX Hero on Vortez.
ASRock Z270 Extreme4 on HWSecrets.
MSI Z270 Gaming M7 on Tweaktown.
ASUS Prime Z270-A Launch Preview on PCPerspective.
AORUS Gigabyte Z270X - Gaming 7 on HWSecrets.

Portable & Prebuilt:
BIOSTAR RACING P1 SFF PC on Tweaktown.
Vernee Apollo Lite Smartphone OCInside.
The OPPO R9s Specifications & Hands-On Preview smartphone on TechARP.

Input Etc:
Cooler Master MasterMouse S on Vortez.
Kingston HyperX Alloy FPS Mechanical Keyboard on APHNetworks.

Cases:
NZXT Kraken 62 on Guru3D.
Nanoxia Project S ATX HTPC on Tweaktown.

Storage:
Samsung 960 PRO NVMe SSD on BenchmarkReviews.
Mushkin Reactor 512GB SSD on FunkyKit.

Misc:
D-Link DCS-5030L PTZ Wi-Fi Camera on Tweaktown.
G.Skill Trident Z 3200 MHz C14 32 GB memory on TechPowerUp.
Watch_Dogs 2 game on OCClub.



Monday Midday Reviews (2 Comments) (link)
 Monday, 9-January-2017  11:56:51 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Motherboard & CPU:
Gigabyte Z270X GAMING 5 motherboard on Guru3D.
26-Way Intel/AMD CPU System Comparison With Ubuntu 16.10 + Linux 4.10 Kernel on Phoronix.
AMD Details AM4 Chipsets and Upcoming Motherboards on PCPerspective.

Video Cards:
The Complete AMD Vega GPU Architecture Tech Report on TechARP.
The AMD Radeon FreeSync 2 Tech Report on TechARP.

Portable & Prebuilt:
ASRock DeskMini 110 Mini-PC on HWSecrets.
The OPPO R9s Launch & Presentation on TechARP.
The 2017 Samsung Galaxy A Series Launch Coverage on TechARP.

Power Supply:
SilverStone SST-ST45SF 450W SFX on NikKTech.
CM V650 power supply on HWInsights.

Misc:
Mad Catz S.T.R.I.K.E. M Wireless Keyboard on MadShrimps.
ROCCAT Nyth Gaming Mouse on FunkyKit.
Phanteks Eclipse P400S Tempered Glass Edition case on APHNetworks.



Misc Pics (26 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 6-January-2017  14:28:49 (GMT +10) - by Agg

2017! Welcome.. to the futuuurrreeee!








Friday Afternoon (7 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 6-January-2017  13:52:15 (GMT +10) - by Agg

CES is underway in Las Vegas, and as usual there are lots of new product announcements. One of the big ones is AMD's Radeon Vega GPU architecture. But, to quote PC Perspective: Let’s be clear: today does not mark the release of the Vega GPU or products based on Vega. In reality, we don’t even know enough to make highly educated guesses about the performance without more details on the specific implementations. That being said, the information released by AMD today is interesting and shows that Vega will be much more than simply an increase in shader count over Polaris. More coverage on Tweaktown, Guru3D, Tech ARP, Tech Report, HotHardware and TechPowerUp. Discussion here.

Also from AMD, more info on their Ryzen CPU platform and the AM4 socket. From PC World: Both Ryzen and all of AMD’s other new APUs fit into the same motherboard socket, AM4. (Hallelujah!) But those AM4 motherboards won’t all use the same chipset: A more affordable APU system might pair with a motherboard that has modest features, whereas a Ryzen-based PC is likely to require more robust technologies. To that end, AMD’s releasing the X300 and X370 desktop chipsets for Ryzen systems. Tech Report have more info on the new offerings and looked in detail at Gigabyte's AM4 boards.

This is turning into an AMD-heavy post, but there's also new info about FreeSync 2, their new display technology standard. From Tech Report's coverage: To meet those high standards for ease of use, dynamic range, color reproduction, and input lag, AMD says FreeSync 2 monitors will have to support HDR and wide color gamuts by default, and they'll have to undergo a strict certification process. FreeSync 2 displays will also be required to have Low Framerate Compensation capability. Because of those stricter implementation requirements, FreeSync 2 won't replace the original FreeSync. More from Tweaktown, PC Perspective, TechARP and HotHardware.

Not to ignore Intel - they have a cool credit-card sized compute platform. The Intel Compute Card has all the elements of a full computer, including Intel SoC, memory, storage and wireless connectivity with flexible I/O options so hardware manufacturers can optimize for their particular solutions – from interactive refrigerators and smart kiosks to security cameras and IoT gateways. Device makers simply design a standard Intel Compute Card slot into their device and then utilize the best Intel Compute Card for their performance and price needs.

Razer meanwhile have a laptop with 3 screens. Each screen measures 17.3 inches with 4K resolution -- that's 12k total (11520 x 2160) viewing space. They slide out from the central lid chassis under their own power and autonomously position themselves to create a full 180-degree viewing area, powered by NVIDIA's Surround View technology, which enables programs to spread a single image across multiple monitors. All of the computer's wiring is internal so you won't have to worry about snagging power cords as the screens deploy.

Tweaktown look at using a NAS for surveillance. For as long as I have been reviewing NAS products, one thing I never really fooled around with was "Surveillance Station." Nearly every vendor has their version of it, included either as an app, sometimes preinstalled, and others just set it up as a recommended package. About a month ago, Synology contacted me and let me know they had put together a package they call their surveillance bundle; this includes cameras from Amcrest, IronWolf drives from Seagate, and a mid-range NAS solution, the DS416j.

French workers have won the right to disconnect - and ignore work emails outside work hours. On 1 January, an employment law will enter into force that obliges organisations with more than 50 workers to start negotiations to define the rights of employees to ignore their smartphones. Overuse of digital devices has been blamed for everything from burnout to sleeplessness as well as relationship problems, with many employees uncertain of when they can switch off.

But while you are at work, standing desks seem to be a popular choice - TechSpot have a starter guide, to get you up and, err, standing. It can be easy to talk yourself out of standing at a computer desk. Besides parting with your favorite chair, the price of most adjustable models can discourage many. Read on for a practical outlook on what you can expect from your first standing desk, whether you're building something yourself or having one shipped to your door.

Meanwhile, Australia continues to slide down the rankings in broadband speed. According to consumer site Finder.com.au, Australia fell four places year-on-year during the third quarter of 2016 in Akamai’s quarterly broadband rankings. This now places the nation behind Kenya, Romania and Thailand.



Friday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 6-January-2017  13:51:32 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Motherboard & CPU:
GIGABYTE AORUS Z270X-Gaming 9 on Vortez.
ASUS Z270E STRIX Gaming on OCAholic.
ASRock Z270 Extreme4 (with Kaby Lake) on TechPowerUp.
ASUS TUF Z270 Mark I Motherboard on Guru3D.

Storage:
OWC miniStack 2TB USB 3.1 Gen 1 External Storage on Tweaktown.
QNAP TS-531X High-performance 5-bay NAS on MadShrimps.
Crucial MX300 Limited Edition 750GB 2.5" SSD on ModSynergy.

Cooling:
EKWB EK-XLC Predator 280 Pre-filled CPU Xpandable Liquid Cooling System on NikKTech.
Scythe Mugen 5 CPU Cooler on Modders-Inc.

Input Etc:
Corsair Scimitar PRO RGB mouse on Vortez.
Corsair Gaming SCIMITAR PRO RGB game mouse on Guru3D.

Misc:
Crucial Ballistix Tactical 32GB DDR4-3000 Memory Kit on FunkyKit.
Dell XPS 27 7760 All-In-One PC Review: 4K IPS Touch And Wired For Sound on HotHardware.
Sennheiser GSP 350 headset on Vortez.



Thursday Morning Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Thursday, 5-January-2017  10:09:35 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Motherboard & CPU:
Intel Kaby Lake Core i7-7700K CPU on MadShrimps.
AORUS Z270X-Gaming 9 Motherboard on Tweaktown.
MSI Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon Preview on OCAholic.
Intel Core i7-7700K and Intel i5-7600K Kaby Lake Announced on HWSpot.
MSI Z270 XPOWER GAMING Titanium on Guru3D.
MSI Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon on NeoSeeker.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Preview - Semi-custom Kryo 280, Adreno 540, 10nm FinFET on PCPerspective.
Intel Kaby Lake i7-7700K & i5-7600K Review on HWCanucks.
Intel Core i7-7700K vs 6700K: 22 Games, RX 480 & GTX 1080 on TechPowerUp.
Three Intel Z270 Platform Benchmarks That You Don’t Want To Miss on LegitReviews.
Intel Core i7-7700K (91W): New Out-of-the-box Performance Champion on Anandtech.

Misc:
EZVIZ Mini Plus HD 1080p WiFi Home Security Camera on BigBruin.
MJX Bugs 3 Drone on ModSynergy.
Roccat Skeltr Smart Keyboard on BenchmarkReviews.
ADATA XPG SX930 - 240GB SSD on FunkyKit.
Rosewill Himars case on TechPowerUp.
Nvidia unveils its GTX 1050 and GTX 1050 Ti for laptops on TechReport.



Intel Kaby Lake processor and Z270 Motherboard reviews (2 Comments) (link)
 Wednesday, 4-January-2017  07:57:57 (GMT +10) - by booj

This morning sees the launch of Intel's new 7th generation Core Processors and accompanying Z270 motherboards. Here's a list of reviews to check out with your morning coffee.

Processor reviews

Intel Core i7-7700K on Anandtech.
Intel Core i7-7700K & Core i5-7600K on Techspot.
Intel's Core i7-7700K 'Kaby Lake' CPU on The Tech Report.
Intel Core i7-7700K on PC Perspective.
Intel Kaby Lake Core i5-7600K & Core i7-7700K on Vortez.
Intel 7th Generation Core i7 7700K on OCC.
Intel Core i7-7700K “Kaby Lake” Processor on ThinkComputers.
Intel Kaby Lake Core i7-7700K Performance & Z270 Chipset Overview on Techgage.
Intel "Kaby Lake" 7700K CPU on TweakTown.
Intel Core i7-7700K Processor on Legit Reviews.
Intel Core i7-7700K And Z270 Chipset on Hot Hardware.
Core i5 7600K processor on Guru3D.
Core i7 7700K processor on Guru3D.

Motherboards:

ASRock Z270 Extreme 4 on Guru3D.

ASUS ROG Maximus IX Formula on TweakTown.
ASUS ROG Maximus IX Formula on Guru3D.
ASUS Prime Z270-A on Legit Reviews.
ASUS ROG STRIX Z270F Gaming on Vortez.

GIGABYTE AORUS Z270X-Gaming 7 on Vortez.
Gigabyte Aorus Z270X Gaming 5 on Hardware Asylum.
Gigabyte AORUS Z270X-Gaming 5 on Modders-Inc.
Gigabyte Aorus Z270X-Gaming 9 on Legit Reviews.
GIGABYTE AORUS Z270X-Gaming 5 on The Tech Report.
Gigabyte GA-Z270X Gaming 7 on Guru3D.

MSI Z270 GAMING PRO Carbon on Vortez.
MSI Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon on The Tech Report.
MSI Z270 GAMING Pro Carbon on Guru3D.

Discussion continues in this thread in our Intel x86 forum.



Tuesday Morning Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Tuesday, 3-January-2017  06:20:16 (GMT +10) - by booj

Storage:
Corsair Force MP500 480GB SSD on Techspot.
ADATA Ultimate SU800 SATA III SSD on Tweaktown.
Crucial MX300 1050GB M.2 SSD on Funky Kit.

Input etc:
Razer Deathadder Elite on LanOC Reviews.
Corsair Harpoon RGB Gaming Mouse on Funky Kit.
Cherry MX-Board 3.0 Keyboard on Modders-Inc.

Notebooks & Portables:
Lenovo IdeaCentre RE Gaming Desktop And IdeaPad Y900 Gaming Notebook on Hot Hardware.
Lenovo Yoga 910 (Intel Kaby Lake) 2-in-1 Laptop on TweakTown.

Mini PCs:
BIOSTAR RACING P1 Mini-PC on techPowerUp.
Shuttle NC02U w/ Intel Celeron 3855U on techPowerUp.

Cooling:
NZXT Kraken X52 Liquid CPU Cooler on ThinkComputers.
NZXT Kraken X52 Closed Loop Water Cooler on APH Networks.

Misc:
Trackimo Car/Marine GPS Tracker on NikKTech.
ASUS Maximus VIII Impact Motherboard on PC Perspective.
Amped Wireless Apollo Pro Long Range HD Camera on TweakTown.
Cougar IMMERSA Stereo Gaming Headset on Madshrimps.
SilverStone ARM23BS Monitor Stand on APH Networks.
Amazon Echo Dot on Hardware Secrets.




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!