April 2017

Misc Pics (29 Comments) (link)  Friday, 28-April-2017  14:50:10 (GMT +10) - by Agg Thanks to Scott and Simon this week! Friday Morning Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Friday, 28-April-2017  11:06:58 (GMT +10) - by Agg Motherboard & CPU: Aqua Computer and Rockit Delidding Tools tested on Core i7-7700K on TechPowerUp. AMD Ryzen 5 1600X Overclocked Benchmark Results At 4.1GHz on LegitReviews. AMD Ryzen 5 1400 on TechSpot. Intel Core i7-7700k versus AMD Ryzen 1700X 14 Game CPU Showdown on LegitReviews. Video Cards: Red Devil RX 570 vs. EVGA GTX 1060 3GB Overclocking Showdown on BabelTechReviews. ASUS GeForce GTX 1060 OC 6GB 9Gbps Edition on eTeknix. MSI GTX 1080 Ti Armor 11G on OCClub. Input Etc: GIGABYTE XK700 XTREME Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on FunkyKit. AZIO MK Retro Keyboard on TechPowerUp. Cooling: GIGABYTE Xtreme Gaming XTC700 CPU Cooler on Tweaktown. Scythe Byakko CPU Cooler on ThinkComputers. FSP Windale 6 CPU cooler on TechPowerUp. Portable & Prebuilt: Dell Inspiron 15 7000 (7567) Gaming on PC Perspective. Lenovo IdeaCentre Y710 Cube Gaming PC on Tweaktown. Misc: Windows 10 Creators Update vs. Ubuntu 17.04 Linux Radeon Gaming Performance on Phoronix. Linksys WRT3200ACM AC3200 MU-MIMO Gigabit Wi-Fi Router on NikKTech. be quiet! Pure Base 600 PSU on TechPowerUp. Micron 5100 ECO and MAX SSD on HotHardware. GeIL EVO Forza DDR4-2400 32GB Memory Kit on ThinkComputers. Transcend DrivePro 520 Dashcam on Techgage. Iron Man at Zing Tuggeranong 6th May (1 Comments) (link)  Wednesday, 26-April-2017  14:42:07 (GMT +10) - by Agg Those of you who have been following along with ASIGN_Baz's amazing Building Iron Man in STEEL project now have a chance to see it in the flesh, err, metal! On the 6th of May at Zing Tuggeranong in the ACT, from 12 noon until 3pm, Barry will be demonstrating the suit to raise funds for the Starlight children's foundation. If you don't know what this is all about, check out the thread - it's an amazing project. click for the thread! Intel Optane Memory Reviews (2 Comments) (link)  Wednesday, 26-April-2017  14:04:40 (GMT +10) - by Agg The reviews of Intel's Optane Memory storage accelerator are out. This is a 32GB M.2 SSD which aims to improve the responsiveness of a HDD-based system. I'm still struggling to see who would really benefit from this over other solutions, but here's some reviews which might change my mind: Tech Report PC Perspective Tweaktown HotHardware The SSD Review LegitReviews ArsTechnica AnandTech Discussion continues in this thread in our Storage forum. Wednesday Midday Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Wednesday, 26-April-2017  12:37:32 (GMT +10) - by Agg Motherboard & CPU: BIOSTAR RACING X370GT7 AM4 Motherboard on MadShrimps. AMD’s Ryzen 5 1600X & 1500X Processors on Techgage. MSI Z270 SLI PLUS Motherboard on ThinkComputers. AMD Ryzen R5 1600X 6-Core AM4 Processor on eTeknix. Input Etc: Corsair's K95 RGB Platinum gaming keyboard on TechReport. HyperX's Pulsefire gaming mouse on TechReport. yperX Pulsefire FPS Optical Gaming Mouse on NikKTech. HyperX Pulsefire FPS Gaming Mouse on Tweaktown. Video Cards: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti SC2 with iCX Technology on PCPerspective. AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11G on Tweaktown. MSI GeForce GTX 1060 GAMING X PLUS on Guru3D. Palit GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GameRock Premium 11 GB on TechPowerUp. ASUS RoG STRIX GTX 1080 Ti 11GB on eTeknix. AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11G on Tweaktown. PowerColor Red Devil Golden Sample RX 580 on Vortez. RX580 Crossfire Testing on LanOC. PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 570 4GB on eTeknix. Audio Visual: Sony H.ear Go -- A Speaker with Great Connectivity on HWSecret. Sennheiser AVX-ME2 Set Review – Wireless Clip-On Lavalier Microphone on FunkyKit. Storage: Thecus N2810 Pro 2-Bay NAS on TechPowerUp. Team Group T-FORCE CARDEA M.2 480GB SSD on Guru3D. Furniture: Autonomous SmartDesk 2 standing desk on BabelTech. COUGAR Armor Gaming Chair on BenchmarkReviews. Misc: Fierce PC Imperial Hive prebuilt PC on Vortez. Synology RT2600ac Wireless Router on Tweaktown. ANZAC Day (1 Comments) (link)  Tuesday, 25-April-2017  09:34:17 (GMT +10) - by Agg They shall grow not old As we who are left grow old Age shall not weary them Nor the years condemn At the going down of the sun And in the morning We will remember them Lest We Forget Monday Night (0 Comments) (link)  Monday, 24-April-2017  23:22:15 (GMT +10) - by Agg Several large international vendors have suggested blocking Australian buyers may be an option if the online GST laws go ahead. Under new laws slated to come into effect from July 1, overseas businesses with an annual turnover of $75,000 or more will be required to register with the ATO to collect GST on all goods sold, including purchases under the current low-value threshold of $1000. Giving evidence before a Senate economics committee in Melbourne on Friday, representatives for eBay, Alibaba and Etsy hit out at the government’s vendor collection model, which would place the burden of tax collection on the platforms. The Goverment's "cyber minister" has suggested that ISPs should take responsibility for stopping malware. He said the government was currently working on its own efforts to "prevent government users visiting sites known to be malicious", and said telcos were similarly responsible for protecting their customers from malware. "Just as we trust banks to hold our money, just as we trust doctors with our health, in a digital age we need to be able to trust telecommunications companies to protect our information from threats,” Tehan said, as reported by the West Australian. ITWire are not impressed with this suggestion. But going after telcos and all the other waffle mentioned by Tehan is a waste of time. It is an attempt to be seen to be doing something when you have no clue as to what that "something" is. TechSpot have a 3-way mechanical RGB KB battle. Over the past couple of weeks I've received mechanical gaming keyboards from Creative and Razer, the Sound BlasterX Vanguard K08 and BlackWidow Chroma V2. To flesh this out into a true three-way battle, we're comparing them against Corsair's K70 RGB Rapidfire, which we rated as the best for gaming in our Best Keyboards article last year. Let's see if this still holds true. Mark Zuckerberg has explained more of his 10 year plan for Facebook. And while this announcement seems pretty innocuous, make no mistake: Facebook is, once again, putting itself into direct competition with Google and Apple, trying to create yet another parallel universe of apps and tools that don’t rely on the smartphones’ own marketplaces. Today's timewaster would have to be Tomb Raider in your browser! Turn your sound down first, warns Boneman. Discussion here. Monday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Monday, 24-April-2017  13:00:19 (GMT +10) - by Agg Audio Visual: Mad Catz F.R.E.Q.9 Wireless Surround Headset on NikKTech. The Edifier S350DB Price, Specifications & Demo speakers on TechARP. Input Etc: Cherry MX Board 6.0 Keyboard on Modders-Inc. GIGABYTE XM300 Gaming Mouse/XMP300 XTREME Gaming Mouse Pad on FunkyKit. Video Cards: MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X Plus 11 Gbps 8 GB on TechPowerUp. PNY GTX 1070 XLR8 OC Gaming 8GB on eTeknix. XFX RX 460 4GB Slim Single on OCClub. Power Supply: SilverStone ST45SF V3.0 450W on APHNetworks. Seasonic PRIME Titanium 850W on APHNetworks. Riotoro Onyx Series Power Supply on PCPerspective. Misc: Hidrate Spark 2.0 Bluetooth Smart Bottle on Tweaktown. Phanteks Enthoo Evolv mATX Tempered Glass case on OCAholic. MSI GT73VR Titan GTX 1070 SLI Gaming Laptop on eTeknix. AMD Ryzen R5 1500X Quad-Core AM4 Processor on eTeknix. Promise Technology Apollo Cloud 2TB on Tweaktown. Misc Pics (35 Comments) (link)  Friday, 21-April-2017  14:40:08 (GMT +10) - by Agg Thanks to mpot and Simon this week! Friday Afternoon (2 Comments) (link)  Friday, 21-April-2017  14:37:49 (GMT +10) - by Agg Hope you had a great Easter break! I was away playing in an inline hockey tournament, so thanks to aftahours and Rezin for keeping the news page moving. :) People are reporting that RX 480s can be flashed to RX 580s - maybe. Essentially, this may allow you to bypass some artificial overclocking limitation with your graphics card, probably by increased voltages on different power states of the card. You should do this at your own risk, and remember, the only guaranteed way of getting an RX 580 is... you guessed it, buying an RX 580. However, this might also give you an extra performance boost, and free performance is always good, right? Discussion towards the end of this thread. Tweaktown check out 5Gbit Ethernet on an ASRock board. Both of these ASRock motherboards carry one of the latest NBase-T controllers, the Aquantia AQC108. ASRock is the only vendor I know of that is offering 5Gbit networking to consumers, and they also made sure that these two motherboards offered three M.2 slots and extra storage options. Modern storage protocols and devices using NAND provide very high transfer speeds. Competitive video gamers will be able to win medals at the 2022 Asian Games, thanks tired. The Olympic Council of Asia announced eSports, the name given to competitive video gaming, will be included as an official medal event in the 2022 competition in Hangzhou. In a statement the council said the inclusion of eSports reflected "the rapid development and popularity of this new form of sports participation among the youth". Phoronix looked at RX 580 Linux performance, and also did some overclocking under Linux. Yesterday I posted the initial Radeon RX 580 Linux benchmarks while now with having more time with this "Polaris Evolved" card I've been able to try out a bit more, like the AMDGPU Linux overclocking support. Here are the ups and downs of overclocking the Radeon graphics card under Linux. Ripley spotted free Starcraft. StarCraft and StarCraft: Brood War are now free. Friday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Friday, 21-April-2017  14:35:41 (GMT +10) - by Agg Input Etc: Cherry MX Board 6.0 Keyboard on Modders-Inc. EpicGear's Defiant modular gaming keyboard on Tech Report. Das Keyboard M50 Pro Gaming Mouse on NikKTech. Roccat Kone EMP Gaming Mouse on BenchmarkReviews. Creative Sound BlasterX Siege M04 Gaming Mouse on MadShrimps. Motherboard & CPU: ASUS RoG Crosshair VI Hero X370 Motherboard on eTeknix. MSI TOMAHAWK B350 on Vortez. ASRock Z270 Taichi on OCInside. Video Cards: Sapphire NITRO+ Radeon RX 580 Limited Edition on LegitReviews. MSI GTX 1080 11Gbps Gaming X+ 8G on LanOC. MSI GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING X PLUS 11 Gbps GDDR5X on Guru3D. Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 570 4GB on eTeknix. GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1060 Mini ITX OC 6GB on eTeknix. Storage: Intel Optane SSD DC P4800X 375GB on PCPerspective. Plextor EX1 128GB USB 3.1 Portable SSD on Tweaktown. Misc: OBT Open Benchtable on PCPerspective. HP Spectre x360 15 ultraportable on HotHardware. iFi Audio nano iDSD LE DAC/amp on TechPowerUp. Thursday Morning Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Thursday, 20-April-2017  05:50:52 (GMT +10) - by aftahours Videocard: XFX RX580 8GB GTS on LanOC AMD Radeon RX 580 PowerColor Red Devil Golden Sample on HardOCP Case: Phanteks EVOLV MATX Micro-Tower Chassis on TweakTown DAN Cases A4-SFX Crowdfunded Mini-ITX Case on PC Perspective Phanteks Eclipse P400 Tempered Glass Edition Case on Hardware Asylum Riotoro CR480 Gaming Case on Benchmark Reviews In Win X-Frame 2.0 Limited Edition Open Air Case on TweakTown Game Max Onyx RGB Tempered Glass Mid-Tower Chassis on eTeknix Portable: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon on Techspot Samsung Galaxy S8 on PCWorld Samsung Galaxy S8 And Galaxy S8+ on Hot Hardware Tunai Clip (BT Audio) on ThinkComputers.org Cooling: Alphacool Eisbaer 280 AIO CPU Liquid Cooler on FunkyKit Cooler Master MasterAir Pro 3 and 4 CPU Cooler on eTeknix Phanteks Glacier 1080 GPU Waterblock on TechPowerUp Misc: ThunderX3 TGC20 Series Gaming Chair on NikKTech Cougar Attack X3 RGB Gaming Keyboard on Vortez Patriot Viper V370 RGB and V361 7.1 Virtual Surround Gaming Headset on FunkyKit Ryzen 5 vs Intel Core i5 on PC World Asus Prime X370-PRO AM4 Motherboard on eTeknix AMD Radeon RX570 & RX580 Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Wednesday, 19-April-2017  15:35:59 (GMT +10) - by aftahours Just under a year has passed since AMD released its Radeon RX 400-series graphics cards, and now the company is back with an improved 14-nm process at its disposal and a new series of Polaris GPUs fabricated on the new tech. Radeon RX 580 and Radeon RX 570 graphics cards on Techreport PowerColor Radeon Red Devil RX 580 8GB Golden Sample on OCC AMD Radeon RX 500 Series on TechARP Sapphire Nitro+ RX580 8GB LE on LanOC Radeon RX 580 8GB on PC Perpsective Sapphire Radeon RX 570 Pulse 4 GB on techPowerUp Sapphire Radeon RX 580 Nitro+ on TweakTown AMD Radeon RX 580 And RX 570 Mainstream GPU on Hot Hardware PowerColor Red Devil RX 570 4GB on BabelTechReviews PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 580 8GB Graphics Card on eTeknix ASUS Radeon RX 580 STRIX on Guru3D Sapphire Radeon RX 570 Nitro+ 4GB on Guru3D MSI Radeon RX 580 Gaming X on Guru3D Sapphire Nitro+ RX 580 8GB on Neoseeker AMD Radeon RX 570 & RX 580 on Anandtech Tuesday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Tuesday, 18-April-2017  13:12:27 (GMT +10) - by aftahours CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1800X, 1700X & 1700 Processors on Techgage AMD Ryzen 5 1500X Overclocked Benchmark Results At 4.2GHz on Legit Reviews Mouse: ASUS ROG Gladius II Gaming Mouse on Vortez Topre Realforce RGB Keyboard (Seasonic) on Guru3D Razer BlackWidow Chroma V2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on Madshrimps Storage: QNAP TVS-473 Network Attached Storage on APH Networks Lexar JumpDrive S57 USB 3.0 Flash Drive on FunkyKit Crucial MX300 525 GB M.2 SSD on OCInside Motherboard: BIOSTAR X370GT7 Motherboard on TweakTown Asus Strix H270F Gaming on LanOC BIOSTAR Z270GT8 Motherboard on TweakTown MSI X370 Xpower Gaming Titanium AM4 Motherboard on Madshrimps Gigabyte Z270X-Gaming 8 Motherboard on PC Perspective Videocard: MSI GS73 STEALTH PRO-009 (GTX 1050 Ti) on techPowerUp Gigabyte Aorus GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB on Hot Hardware Audio: Sennheiser PC 373D Gaming Headset on FunkyKit EpicGear SonorouZ X Advanced Virtual 7.1 Gaming Headset on FunkyKit Tt eSPORTS CRONOS Riing RGB 7.1 Gaming Headset on Legit Reviews Misc: UBOX 3 – IPTV Box on FunkyKit Egreat A5 4k UHD Media Player on NikKTech HTC U Ultra on Techspot Autonomous SmartDesk 2 on ThinkComputers Be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 XL-ATX Mid-Tower on NikKTech Coolermaster Masterliquid 240 All In One Liquid Cooler on Technoyard Sunday Afternoon (0 Comments) (link)  Sunday, 16-April-2017  15:12:53 (GMT +10) - by aftahours I hope everyone is having a great Easter with their families, and managed to avoid the horrible traffic everywhere! mpot found this article on how prison inmates in the US managed to put together some computers, ran power and network cabling to them and hid them in the ceiling of their cell. The Ohio Inspector General says investigators found an inmate used the computers to steal the identity of another inmate, and then submit credit card applications, and commit tax fraud. They also found inmates used the computers to create security clearance passes that gave them access to restricted areas. Techspot compare the Ryzen 1600 with the 1600x. The Ryzen 5 1600 is an exceptional value. Even compared to more affordable CPUs such as the Core i5-7600K, the new six-core Ryzen chips are a much better buy, regardless of what it is you plan to do with them. 5.9GHz has been squeezed out of a Ryzen 1600X on LN2. More info here. Der8auer ran several popular benchmark programs to see what an LN2 1600X was capable of. He recorded a top stable clock speed of 5.9064GHz with 6C/12T enabled which dethrones the Intel Core i7 5820K from its No. 1 spot. It has been floating around on social media for days, but incase you've missed it, a new solar powered device has been invented can pull water straight from desert air. Full article here. The setup works so well that it pulls 2.8 liters of water out of the air per day for every kilogram of MOF it contained, the Berkeley and MIT team reports today in Science. Some interesting Radeon RX 580 benchmarks have been leaked from Asia. Accompanied by photos, screenshots and a video you'll notice the Radeon RX 580 clocked at 1360 MHz, all info and screenshots can be found on his facebook page. Matt let us know that Vista users are now no longer receiving support. After April 11, 2017, Windows Vista customers will no longer receive new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options, or online technical content updates from Microsoft. On the topic of Windows, Techgage have a bit of information about the Creators Update that Windows 10 users would have received. As most major updates to Windows can bring a bunch of immediate confusion, we’ve put together a little guide to help you gain a good footing with the Creators Update before (or after) it’s installed. An incredible breakthrough in science has now found the reason why your shoelaces come undone. Researchers suggest that two forces blend like an invisible hand to loosen the knot and then tug on the laces until it becomes undone. Sunday Morning Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Sunday, 16-April-2017  11:29:47 (GMT +10) - by aftahours Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury 16GB DDR4-2666 Memory Kit on FunkyKit Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4-3200 16GB Memory Kit on ThinkComputers Audio: EDIFIER S1000DB Multimedia Speaker System on NikKTech Sennheiser GSP 300 Closed Acoustic Gaming Headset on FunkyKit Patriot Viper V361 & V370 Gaming Headsets on Modders-Inc Videocard: ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 Ti AMP! Extreme Edition on TweakTown Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 Mini*8GB on Guru3D Keyboard: Corsair K95 RGB PLATINUM Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on Madshrimps Razer BlackWidow Chroma V2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on Bjorn3D Cougar Attack X3 RGB Keyboard on Neoseeker Motherboard: MSI X370 Krait Gaming Motherboard on TweakTown ASRock Fatal1ty X370 Gaming K4 Motherboard on TweakTown Storage: Plextor M8PeY M.2 with AIC NVMe PCIe SSD on TweakTown Verbatim (99375) 2TB Store 'n' Go Portable USB 3.0 Hard Drive on ModSynergy Drobo 5N2 NAS on ocaholic Lexar Professional 1000x 128GB SDHC/SDXC UHS-II Card on FunkyKit Misc: Corsair Premium Individually Sleeved PSU Cable Kit on TweakTown noblechairs EPIC Series Gaming Chair on techPowerUp ASUS PCE-AC88 AC3100 Wireless PCIe Adapter on TweakTown Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro (SM-C900F) Phablet on Techarp Sound BlasterX Weapons Crate on Hardware Asylum be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 Case on Modders Inc Bitspower Summit EF-X CPU Waterblock on techPowerUp Misc Pics (18 Comments) (link)  Friday, 14-April-2017  14:09:58 (GMT +10) - by Rezin Friday again! Stay safe over the Easter break! Thursday Night (0 Comments) (link)  Thursday, 13-April-2017  22:18:08 (GMT +10) - by Agg Today is d-day for ISP data retention in Australia - but it can't be used for civil cases. The deadline for companies to comply with the retention scheme is today, but close to $130 million in grants allocated by the Federal Government to help providers comply with the requirements were not finalised until September last year. But some telecommunication companies are calling for another grace period to comply with the new laws. Privacy advocates are calling today get a VPN day. Discussion continues in this thread. There's a new GPU benchmark in town, called Unigine Superposition. Phoronix and Tweaktown checked it out. In looking to set a new standard for jaw-dropping graphics and preparing to torture current Pascal and Polaris graphics cards as well as future Volta and Vega hardware, Unigine Corp today is releasing Unigine Superposition 1.0. Unigine Superposition is one godly GPU benchmark and is a beauty to watch. Discussion here. TPG continue to expand, setting their sights on their own mobile network. The telco paid $1.26 billion - well over the reserve price - for 20 MHz of digital dividend spectrum at an auction held by the federal government. It has now revealed it will spend a further $600 million on “network rollout capital expenditure over a three-year period”. The Ryzen 5 Reviews are out! (0 Comments) (link)  Wednesday, 12-April-2017  14:00:27 (GMT +10) - by aftahours The Ryzen 5 1600X is AMD's flagship Ryzen 5 processor model. It comes at an affordable US$250, with a base clock of 3.6 GHz. Thanks to AMD XFR it will boost up to 4.1 GHz, which helps gain single-threaded performance over Intel's offerings. AMD Ryzen 5 1600X 3.6 GHz on techPowerUp AMD Ryzen 5 1600X & 1500X on Techspot AMD Ryzen 5 1600X Processor on Madshrimps AMD Ryzen 5 1500X Processor on Madshrimps AMD Ryzen 5 1600X and 1500X CPU on TweakTown AMD Ryzen 5 1600X & 1500X CPU on Neoseeker AMD Ryzen 5 1600X And 1500X Processor on Hot Hardware AMD Ryzen 5 CPUs on LanOC AMD Ryzen 5 1600X and 1500X Processor on Legit Reviews AMD R5 1600X 6-Core and R5 1500X 4-Core AM4 CPU on Modders Inc AMD Ryzen 5 1500X and 1600X on Guru3D AMD's Ryzen 5 1600X and Ryzen 5 1500X CPUs on Tech Report AMD Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5 GHz on techPowerUp AMD Ryzen 5 1600X & 1500X Processor on OCC Ryzen 5 Review: 1600X and 1500X on PC Perspective AMD Ryzen 5 1400 & 1600 on Vortez Discussion about the Ryzen CPUs in our forums here. Tuesday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Tuesday, 11-April-2017  14:32:47 (GMT +10) - by aftahours Keyboard/Mouse: Corsair Sabre RGB Gaming Mouse on Benchmark Reviews Tesoro Excalibur SE Spectrum Mechanical Keyboard on TweakTown Corsair Gaming K63 Compact Mechanical Keyboard on Bjorn3D Genius Scorpion M8-610 Gaming Mouse on FunkyKit Corsair Gaming K63 Compact Mechanical Keyboard on Bjorn3D Storage: WD Blue 1,000 GiB SSD on Hardware Secrets Kingston Ultimate GT 2TB Flash Drive on THe SSD Review ADATA XPG SX8000 PCIe M.2 Solid State Drive on ThinkComputers.org Videocard: AORUS GTX 1080 Ti XTREME Edition on Vortez EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 SC2 Gaming iCX on Bjorn3D Games: Aaero (Xbox) on Gaming Nexus Mass Effect: Andromeda (PS4) on TweakTown Case: Cooler Master MasterBox 5t on Bjorn3D SilverStone Milo ML09 mITX Computer Case on APH Networks Lian Li PC-Q17 WX Mini-ITX Aluminum Enclosure on PC Perspective Motherboard: ASRock Z270 SuperCarrier Motherboard on TweakTown ASRock X370 Gaming Professional Fatal1ty on Guru3D Misc: Hykso’s Punch Tracker on Hot Hardware CalDigit TS3 Lite Thunderbolt Station 3 Docking Station on TweakTown LG G6 Mobile Phone on Hot Hardware AMD RYZEN 7 Trifecta on Bjorn3D Asus ROG Swift PG258Q Monitor on Techspot Corsair Hydro Series H110i 280mm Liquid Cooler on Madshrimps Tuesday Morning (0 Comments) (link)  Tuesday, 11-April-2017  00:25:27 (GMT +10) - by Agg If you were one of the many who lashed out on a GTX 1080 Ti, you might be annoyed to see it trumped by the new Titan Xp. Wait, can we still say "trumped"? Hrm. Not content to let the original Titan X Pascal languish after the launch of the GTX 1080 Ti, Nvidia has fully unleashed the GP102 GPU under the hood of that card and upgraded the Xp with 12GB of 11.4 GT/s GDDR5X memory. More on Kotaku and HotHardware. Back before web forums, we old nerds hung out on Bulletin Board Systems - and ArsTechnica have resurrected one. Today, many can be forgiven for thinking that the digital communications revolution kicked off during the mid-1990s, when there was simply an explosion of media and consumer interest in the World Wide Web. Just a decade earlier, however, the future was now for the hundreds of thousands of users already using home computers to communicate with others over the telephone network. The online culture of the 1980s was defined by the pervasiveness of bulletin board systems (BBS), expensive telephone bills, and the dulcet tones of a 1200 baud connection (or 2400, if you were very lucky). FunkyKit had a fun time at Maker Faire HK 2017, with day 1 and day 2 coverage. We had as a wonderful day at the Maker Faire HK 2017 … The weather was hot and humid, but that didn’t deter Team Funky Kit from hosting the booth and having a great time with the crowds! We showcased our Project MakeMeCooler Doraemon PC build (a Cooler Master sponsored project), Ice Stream 2, as well as our latest Asus ROG Maximus XI Hero test rig. TechSpot wonder if Ryzen performs better with AMD GPUs. Since our initial review we've been looking at Ryzen from a few different angles. But there's a rumor going around that Ryzen's gaming performance is better than we think... if you use a Radeon GPU. Curious to see if there is any truth to the story, we put together a test designed to eliminate GPU bottlenecks and see what happens. LegitReviews meanwhile checked out the balanced power plan for Ryzen systems. Earlier this morning we were surprised with an e-mail from AMD offering a preview of a new Ryzen Balanced power plan for Windows that is said to improve performance on Ryzen processors. We pushed some of the things we were working on today off the agenda and started testing the new Ryzen Power Plan to see what performance gains were to be had. Sunday Morning Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Sunday, 9-April-2017  08:26:01 (GMT +10) - by aftahours Keyboard/Mouse: CORSAIR K95 RGB Platinum Mechanical Keyboard on NikKTech AZIO Armato Mechanical Keyboard on APH Networks Roccat Suora FX Keyboard on techPowerUp EpicGear's Morpha X Modular Gaming Mouse on TechReport Rosewill RK-9300 Keyboard on LanOC Tesoro Excalibur SE Spectrum on Anandtech Cooling: Alphacool Eisblock XPX CPU Waterblock on PC Perspective Cryorig C1 Low Profile CPU Cooler on FunkyKit Videocard: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 SuperClocked 2 (with iCX) on TweakTown Gigabyte Aorus GTX 1080 Ti Xtreme Edition 11G on Guru3D MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X 11G on TweakTown ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 Mini on TweakTown Case: Jonsbo QT-03 ATX Case on ocaholic X2 i5 Compact Chassis on techPowerUp Misc: Zooz ZEN06 Z-Wave Plus Smart Plug on BigBruin Amped Wireless Athena R2 AC2600 Router on TweakTown Ballistix Sport 32GB DDR4-2666 Dual Channel Memory Kit on FunkyKit Asus ROG Crosshair VI Hero Motherboard on ThinkComputers.org HyperX Cloud Revolver S Headset on Techspot Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming Laptop on Hot Hardware Misc Pics (22 Comments) (link)  Friday, 7-April-2017  14:29:53 (GMT +10) - by Agg Friday again! A couple on the last line might be NSFW, I guess.. Ironfest (5 Comments) (link)  Friday, 7-April-2017  11:40:05 (GMT +10) - by Agg If you're planning to head to Ironfest this year, buy your tickets online in advance and you might win yourself a fancy outfit from (possibly NSFW) Gallery Serpentine. Ironfest 2017 titled ‘Lost World’ will take place over the weekend of April 22 & 23 at the Lithgow Showground, with a preview on Friday 21 April. Hrs: Fri 15:00hrs – 18:00hrs, Sat 0900hrs – 17:00hrs, Sun 09:00hrs – 17:00hrs. click for more info! While I'm talking about events, Adam sent word that there's a Hak5 meetup tonight in Sydney. There don't seem to be many details yet, but stay tuned to their twitter, I guess. Final edit: SamBolo mentioned that the Sydney Brick Show is on April 22 and 23 also. That's lego bricks not house bricks. :) Forum Projects (1 Comments) (link)  Thursday, 6-April-2017  16:44:53 (GMT +10) - by Agg Catching up on a few more projects from 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. mAJORD checked out the A12-9800 APU samus reviewed the Sandisk Extreme PRO 128GB Ratzz is making a His n' Hers Desk pRiCLe is playing with VORON 3D Printer PrawnBoy is working on a R33 GTST Skyline project and DrFrag has a custom "one PC in four cases" project Thursday Afternoon (1 Comments) (link)  Thursday, 6-April-2017  16:21:23 (GMT +10) - by Agg OCInside have been modding an AIO cooler. In the first part of the AIO water cooling mod series, we would like to show you today at OCinside.de how an Arctic Cooling Hybrid II 120 graphics card cooler can be transformed to a CPU cooler and how to refill the AIO water cooling system, renew the tubes and prepare for future extensions like custom loop. We explain how to do that step by step in the following Arctic Accelero Hybrid II All in One liquid cooler mod guide. Apple are re-thinking the controversial Mac Pro, after its oddball "trashcan" design met a mixed reception. Apple says that the current Mac Pro's design ended up being too thermally limited and inflexible. In particular, it wouldn't be possible to redesign that system around a single powerful GPU instead of the two more modest graphics cards it currently ships with; the side of the system that housed the GPU would just get too hot. Workloads that benefitted from two GPUs "didn't materialize to fit that as broadly as [Apple] hoped," meaning that many Pro workloads just didn't benefit as much from two GPUs as they would from, say, one big GPU or multiple processors. More info here. Here's a new electronics cooling technology from Duke University. Engineers have developed a technology to cool hotspots in high-performance electronics using the same physical phenomenon that cleans the wings of cicadas. When water droplets merge, the reduction in surface area causes the release of a small amount of energy. So long as the surface beneath is hydrophobic enough to repel water, this energy is sufficient to make the merged droplet jump away. Tim Berners-Lee has received the ACM A. M. Turing Award for 2016, for his pioneering efforts including inventing the World Wide Web. The ACM Turing Award, often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of Computing,” carries a $1 million prize, with financial support provided by Google, Inc. It is named for Alan M. Turing, the British mathematician who articulated the mathematical foundation and limits of computing. If you're concerned about ransomware, this report may be good news. The platform nomoreransom.org is now available in 14 languages and contains 40 free decryption tools. Since our last report in December, more than 10 000 victims from all over the world have been able to decrypt their affected devices thanks to the tools made available free of charge on the platform. Thursday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Thursday, 6-April-2017  13:09:23 (GMT +10) - by Agg Video Cards: GTX 980 Ti SLI vs. GTX 1080 Ti SLI on AMD Ryzen 7 1800X on Tweaktown. NVIDIA Pascal Quadro Roundup - P2000, P3000, P5000 Tested on PCPerspective. Gigabyte Aorus GTX 1080 Ti Xtreme Gaming 11 GB on TechPowerUp. Motherboard & CPU: Core i7-7700K CPU by Intel on HWSecrets. MSI X370 XPower Gaming Titanium on Guru3D. Audio Visual: Logitech Circle 1080p Security Camera on Tweaktown. Avermedia Live Gamer Extreme on FunkyKit. Cases: Cooler Master Mastercase Maker 5T on FunkyKit. Corsair Crystal 460X RGB Compact on BenchmarkReviews. DeepCool GENOME II on Modders-Inc. Misc: Wiko U Feel Prime Smartphone on TechARP. G.Skill Flare X 3200 MHz (AMD Ryzen) memory on Guru3D. Alphacool EISWAND 360 External Water Cooling Kit on NikKTech. Tesoro Excalibur SE Spectrum Gaming Keyboard on ThinkComputers. FinalMouse Scream One Second Edition on TechPowerUp. Apricorn Aegis Secure Key 3z and Configurator on Tweaktown. Mass Effect: Andromeda – Missed Opportunities, But Still Mass Effect on Techgage. Tuesday Afternoon (1 Comments) (link)  Tuesday, 4-April-2017  14:54:15 (GMT +10) - by Agg If you use the LastPass password manager, you should update to the latest version which patches a major security issue. How bad could it be? The bug could have let hackers breach your account, taking your passwords and changing things in your account. The vulnerability was in the LastPass browser extension, a service that can auto-fill usernames and passwords into log-in pages. Late Friday, the company said the problem was fixed. Now, users should make sure they're using the most up-to-date version of the security software. Former NBN boss Mike Quigley has detailed his thoughts on how the NBN went wrong. In a detailed interview with iTWire, Mike Quigley refrained from mentioning names. But he was quite categorical in his assertions – and if anyone should know, then he should. Quigley also said that the network would have to be upgraded after completion, at a cost of many billions of dollars. He said there was no practical way to turn back the clock now, and that he was not surprised that the NBN Co was not committing to stopping the FttN rollout and replacing it with FttDP. Meanwhile SMH have a guide to getting ready for NBN if the rollout is heading to your area. Once you know when the NBN will arrive check with your current provider to see what line speeds are available. After that, shop around. If you've been with the same provider for a long time you may be stuck on a legacy contract that isn't even offered anymore, which could mean you are paying too much. TechPowerUp have an AMD Ryzen Memory Analysis using 20 apps and 17 games. We take a close look at memory performance on AMD Ryzen, using G.SKILL's Flare X modules which are optimized for the new platform. Our testing includes memory frequencies ranging from 2133 MHz all the way to 3200 MHz, with timings from CL14 to CL18. All games are tested at highest settings in realistic resolutions used by gamers today: 1080p, 1440p and 4K. So Outlast 2 is not banned in Australia, it turns out. According to the studio, the original submission to the Classification Board contained “the final game code and a video file for reference taken from an Alpha version of the game”. It’s standard practice to include videos like this, because – obviously – the Board cannot sit down and play through an entire video game before making a decision. However, in this case, the video was from an older build, and its content was “not representative of the final game”. NeoSeeker report on GDC 2017 and NVIDIA Editor's Day. The 2017 Game Developers Conference ran from Monday, February 27th to Friday March 3rd, in San Francisco California. Essentially GDC is heavily involved with anything to do with games – from the people who help create them to the hardware that runs them, interacts with them, and so on. This game industry event is where the people behind the games you've enjoyed discuss and share their thoughts and feelings on the past, present and of course future of interactive gaming. Tech Report have quite a technical article on Intel's fabrication processes. At its Technology and Manufacturing Day event in San Francisco this week, Intel delivered a stern rebuke to the growing chorus of questioners asking whether it's lost its process-technology lead. The company brought several luminaries from its manufacturing division on stage to talk about how its 14-nm process technology compares to its competitors' 16-nm, 14-nm, and 10-nm offerings. It also offered some projections about how its upcoming 10-nm process will stack up. If you're aged between 40 and 74, are an Australian citizen and have never been diagnosed with cancer, consider taking part in the Cancer Council's Australian Breakthrough Cancer Study. We need 50,000 Australians to help us discover new ways of preventing cancer. Taking part is easy. Tuesday Midday Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Tuesday, 4-April-2017  11:58:54 (GMT +10) - by Agg Motherboard & CPU: ASUS Strix Z270E Gaming Motherboard on PCPerspective. AMD Ryzen 7 1700X on Vortez. Input Etc: XCELLON KU-MB100B Wired Backlit Keyboard on ModSynergy. COUGAR Attack X3 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on NikKTech. EpicGear Morpha X Modular Gaming Mouse on ThinkComputers. Video Cards: MSI GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X 11 GB on TechPowerUp. The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 Ti AMP Cards Revealed on TechARP. Cases: Streacom BC1 Open Benchtable Chassis on FunkyKit. Tesseract SW by DeepCool on Modders-Inc. Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 6 on Guru3D. SilverStone Redline RL06 Pro on APHNetworks. Misc: Edimax AC600 Wireless Dual-Band Mini USB Adapter on FunkyKit. Sennheiser GSP 300 headset on LanOC. Patriot Memory LX 256GB microSDXC Memory Card on Tweaktown. Sunday Night Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Sunday, 2-April-2017  23:01:33 (GMT +10) - by Agg Cooling: NZXT Kraken X62 Liquid CPU Cooler on Tweaktown. Deepcool Captain 240 EX White Liquid Cooler on MadShrimps. Noctua NH-D15 SE-AM4 Cooler on FunkyKit. Portable & Prebuilt: LG G6 phone on PCWorld. Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 phone on PCWorld. Oppo R9s Plus phone on PCWorld. Video Cards: ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1080 Ti on Guru3D. GeForce GTX 1080 Ti FCAT Frametime Analysis on Guru3D. MSI GT83VR Titan SLI on TechSpot. Galax Geforce GTX 1060 OC 6GB on TechnoYard. MSI GTX 1080 Ti GAMING X on Guru3D. AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Edition 8G on Tweaktown. Power Supply: Kolink Continuum 1200 W on TechPowerUp. 10,000 mAh Giants - The Oukitel K10000 Max & Pro Preview on TechARP. Audio Visual: Creative Sound BlasterX Vanguard K08 on Vortez. Tunai CLIP Wireless Headphone Adapter on FunkyKit. Samsung 2017 QLED Q7 TV on PCWorld. Misc: Amped Wireless ALLY Plus Whole Home Smart Wi-Fi System on BigBruin. Cougar Minos X3 gaming mouse on NeoSeeker. Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 6 case on APHNetworks. Gigabyte GA-Z270X-Ultra Gaming LGA1151 Motherboard on MadShrimps. ICY DOCK ICYCube Quad Bay 2.5" & 3.5" SATA External HDD Enclosure on NikKTech. Pac Man on Google Maps (0 Comments) (link)  Sunday, 2-April-2017  14:23:29 (GMT +10) - by Agg A few people pointed out that for April Fools (which is still in effect in the USA), Google Maps have made a PacMan Game in Google Maps. Didn't they do something similar a few years ago? Anyway, it's good retro fun. Other April Fools gags are being discussed in this thread. Confused? :) (0 Comments) (link)  Saturday, 1-April-2017  01:11:20 (GMT +10) - by Agg If you just saw something confusing involving the forums, it was partly an April Fools prank and partly part of our continued testing of xenForo as a future platform for our forums. But it's all back to normal now. If you DO want to play around with our xenForo test site, you can do so here. Have fun!

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