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February 2018
Forum Projects (1 Comments) (link)
 Tuesday, 27-February-2018  19:07:27 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Here's a few cool projects from the forums:



Exodus_AU has a very tidy
custom watercooled PC

Mathuisella is restoring a
1982 Mercedes Benz 300D

Amfibius compared a Canon
camera and lens with a Leica

That's_A_Doozy built and tested
a custom cooling reservoir

Alessiman has some tips for
retro shopping in Osaka, Japan

while Rainey restored
a classic BMX bike



Tuesday Evening Reviews (1 Comments) (link)
 Tuesday, 27-February-2018  18:40:08 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Motherboard & CPU:
Don't Bother with A320 Motherboards, Go for AMD's B350 Instead on TechSpot.
Z370 Motherboard Charts: 7 Models tested - MSI Z370 Gaming M5 on OCAholic.

Storage:
Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SATA III SSD on Tweaktown.
Intel 2/8TB DC P4500 NVMe SSDs on TheSSDReview.
Patriot Burst 240GB 2.5? SATA III SSD on FunkyKit.

Cases:
Phanteks Enthoo Pro Tempered Glass Case on ThinkComputers.
Enermax: Ostrog Lite on Modders-Inc.
Phanteks Eclipse P400S on OCClub.

Portable & Prebuilt:
Galaxy S9 And S9+ Hands-On on HotHardware.
Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 (8th Gen Core) Laptop on Tweaktown.
Acer Predator Triton 700 Gaming Laptop on TechARP.

Input Etc:
Cougar Revenger S Gaming Mouse on NeoSeeker.
Razer Cynosa Chroma keyboard on Vortez.

Misc:
DXRacer Racing Pro R131-NR Gaming Chair on TechPowerUp.
ESP8266 Module Review with ESP8266 Tutorial on OCInside.
CORSAIR Hydro Series H115i PRO RGB Liquid CPU Cooler on MadShrimps.
Jabra Speak 710 Premium Portable Speakerphone on NikKTech.



Monday Afternoon (0 Comments) (link)
 Monday, 26-February-2018  16:36:08 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Samsung have unveiled their Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus high-end phones. The main thing of interest seems to be the new camera setup, and also that it retains the headphone jack, notably missing from Apple's recent offerings. HotHardware have a hands-on review. However, what stands out the most perhaps is Samsung's Dual Aperture f/1.5 - f/2.4 lens on both devices. Rather than a fixed aperture, which is found on just about every other smartphone on the market currently, the Dual Aperture system can automatically adjust to let more light in for low-light shooting, or less light in when the conditions are bright or over-exposed. The goal is to ensure that users take "photos that are crisp and clear anytime, anywhere." GSMArena have published their review too, while Flagger spotted this list of Australian plans. Discussion in this thread.

Significant data breaches in Australia must now be reported to authorities. The scheme, which came into effect on Thursday, requires all government agencies and businesses with annual turnover of more than $3 million to notify individuals if a data breach occurs that is likely to cause “serious harm”. Fines of up to $2.1 million can result if this does not occur.

Microsoft are working on a commercial quantum computer. Before you roll your eyes, quantum may be nearer to reality than you think. “Five years from now, we will have a commercial quantum computer,” says Holmdahl.

HotHardware have a mechanical keyboard roundup. Here at Hot Hardware we have covered our fair share of mechanical keyboards, but today we might be covering the most diverse group of keyboards yet. That might be a bit of a stretch, but what we can say for sure is that we have five vastly different mechanical keyboards that we are going to dig into, type on for days, and if luck has its way, perhaps we'll be able to recommend one or more of them.

TechSpot have a Ryzen 3 2200G overclocking guide, for those on a budget. Today we'll be overclocking AMD's Ryzen 3 2200G to the max with a $20 air cooler from DeepCool called the Gammaxx 200T. Now, you might be questioning the idea of splurging on an aftermarket cooler for a Raven Ridge APU that only costs $100 itself and already ships with the Wraith Stealth heatsink that is sufficient for mild overclocks. However, we've been keen to see how much more can be extracted from the APU when using an upgraded heatsink and whether that works out value-wise.

Meanwhile TweakTown have a Ryzen 1000-series overclocking guide. AMD's Ryzen CPUs have been out for almost a year, and it's now time for us to put out an easy to understand and easy to follow overclocking guide for the CPU. The AM4 platform has matured a lot, and so things are much more stable and overclocking is easier now than ever. AMD offers two ways to overclock their Ryzen CPUs; through the motherboard's UEFI and through AMD's Ryzen Master application. We are going to focus on the UEFI as AMD has done an excellent job of covering how to overclock with their software.

LegitReviews toured Corsair's HQ in California. We have seen Corsair grow from a handful of people into a giant company with over eight hundred worldwide employees, so it is quite an amazing sight to see their current headquarters. Corsair has a huge building in the San Francisco Bay Area that is filled out really well with various departments, with two stories of offices and cubicles surrounding various testing, qualification and R&D departments.

FOTW spotted this flight sim company using malware to catch pirates. In a nutshell, FlightSimLabs installed a password dumper onto ALL users’ machines, whether they were pirates or not, but then only activated the password-stealing module when it determined that specific ‘pirate’ serial numbers had been used which matched those on FlightSimLabs’ servers.



Sunday Night Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Sunday, 25-February-2018  23:14:17 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Motherboard & CPU:
GIGABYTE Z370 Aorus Gaming 3 (Intel Z370) Motherboard on Tweaktown.
EVGA Z370 Micro Motherboard on FunkyKit.
GIGABYTE Z370 Aorus Gaming K3 (Intel Z370) Motherboard on Tweaktown.
GPU Compute Performance of the Ryzen 5 2400G on PCPerspective.

Power Supply:
Seasonic PRIME Ultra Titanium 850W on APHNetworks.
Batteroo Boost Battery Life Extender on BigBruin.

Cooling:
Cooler Master MasterAir G100M Low Profile CPU Cooler on FunkyKit.
Enermax T.B. RGB, RGB Lighting 3 Fan Pack on Tweaktown.
DeepCool MF120 Frameless RGB Fan w/ WIFI controller on Guru3D.

Networking:
Netgear Nighthawk X6S Tri-Band Mesh Extender on HotHardware.
Amped Wireless Titan AC1900 Wireless Router on Tweaktown.

Misc:
Axiom TS Mini PC with Raven Ridge on Modders-Inc.
1TB WD Blue 3D SSD (WDS100T2B0A) on TechARP.
Cooler Master MasterMouse MM520 on TechPowerUp.



Misc Pics (22 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 23-February-2018  14:45:33 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Thanks to bennyg and Dan this week!








Friday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 23-February-2018  13:50:20 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Audio Visuals:
Thinksound USP1 Monitor Series In-Ear Headphones on NikKTech.
Creative Sound BlasterX Pro-Gaming H7 Tournament Edition Gaming Headset on Modders-Inc.

Cases:
Corsair Obsidian 500D Premium Mid-Tower on LegitReviews.
Corsair Obsidian 500D Premium Mid-Tower on Tweaktown.
Corsair Obsidian 500D on OCaholic.
Corsair Obsidian 500D on TechPowerUp.
Corsair Obsidian 500D on TechSpot.

Input Etc:
Bloody B945 Optical Gaming Keyboard on TechPowerUp.
Patriot Viper V570 Blackout RGB Laser Gaming Mouse on FunkyKit.
Patriot Viper LED Mouse Pad on FunkyKit.

Storage:
Seagate IronWolf 12TB HDD on Tweaktown.
Samsung SSD 860 PRO Solid State Drive on BenchmarkReviews.
Seagate DJI Fly Drive 2TB on Tweaktown.

Misc:
Razer Blade Stealth & Razer Core V2 laptop on TechSpot.
ECS Z370-Lightsaber motherboard on TechPowerUp.
Reeven NAIA 240 CPU Cooler on Tweaktown.



Wednesday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Wednesday, 21-February-2018  15:00:49 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Storage:
MyDigitalSSD OTG v2 480GB Portable SSD on Tweaktown.
ICY DOCK ICYRaid Dual Bay 3.5" USB 3.0 External RAID Enclosure on NikKTech.
ADATA Gammix S10 512 GB SSD on TechPowerUp.
Silicon Power Bolt B80 USB 3.1 External SSD on MadShrimps.

Input Etc:
Logitech PowerPlay wireless mouse charger on Vortez.
Logitech MX Master 2S mouse on PC Perspective.
orsair Dark Core RGB SE Wireless mouse and MM1000 with Qi charging on Guru3D.
Corsair K68 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard – Cherry MX Red on FunkyKit.

Storage:
BIOSTAR G330 256GB SATA III SSD on Tweaktown.
Samsung SSD 860 Pro vs Samsung SSD 860 Evo on OCInside.

Misc:
Sengled Element Classic BR30 9W Smart LED Floodlight Bulb on BigBruin.
AMD RYZEN 3 2200G and RYZEN 5 2400G on Vortez.
PowerColor Red Devil RX VEGA 56 video card on Vortez.
SVS SB-4000 13.5" 1200W Sealed Box Subwoofer on MissingRemote.
Secretlab TITAN NAPA gaming chair on Tweaktown.



Tuesday Afternoon (6 Comments) (link)
 Tuesday, 20-February-2018  17:45:07 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Eighteen months after the anti-piracy site-blocking system was implemented in Australia, the Government is conducting a review to see how effective it's been. Since the legislation came into effect, a number of rights holders have employed the site-blocking mechanism. Roadshow and Foxtel led the charge, successfully applying to have a number of major piracy-linked online services blocked. Since then the pair have successfully sought additional injunctions. Australian music labels have also used the legislation. There are currently two applications for site-blocks before the Federal Court. Roadshow and Hong Kong broadcaster TVB are seeking to block online services used by a number of Android-based set-top boxes.

Intel have confirmed they are working on a discrete GPU and unveiled an early prototype. The company's first 14 nm dGPU prototype, shown as a test-chip at the ISSCC, is a 2-chip solution. The first chip contains two key components, the GPU itself, and a system agent; and the second chip is an FPGA that interfaces with the system bus. The GPU component, as it stands now, is based on Intel's Gen 9 architecture, and features a three execution unit (EU) clusters. Don't derive numbers from this yet, as Intel is only trying to demonstrate a proof of concept.

FOTW meanwhile spotted a report on the many lawsuits Intel have been hit with, over the Meltdown and Spectre exploits. At the bottom of Intel's Form 10-K filing made public on Friday, Intel notes specifically that "As of February 15, 2018, 30 customer class action lawsuits and two securities class action lawsuits have been filed. The customer class action plaintiffs, who purport to represent various classes of end users of our products, generally claim to have been harmed by Intel's actions and/or omissions in connection with the security vulnerabilities and assert a variety of common law and statutory claims seeking monetary damages and equitable relief.

Backblaze have published their 2017 HDD stats. Beginning in April 2013, Backblaze has recorded and saved daily hard drive statistics from the drives in our data centers. Each entry consists of the date, manufacturer, model, serial number, status (operational or failed), and all of the SMART attributes reported by that drive. As of the end of 2017, there are about 88 million entries totaling 23 GB of data. You can download this data from our website if you want to do your own research, but for starters here’s what we found.

If SSDs are more your style, here's an SSD Optimisation Guide for 2018 on TheSSDReview. We need to be very clear though. SSD optimization to most will bring no more than the satisfaction of knowing that your SSD is installed properly and running the best it can. Most will never see the benefits of their work as that blazing fast SSD becomes the norm until you once again find yourself chained to a hard drive based PC of course.

SpaceX have plans for a global satellite internet system. While SpaceX made no official announcement about its secondary payloads, the Federal Communications Commision issued experimental licenses to the company to conduct the mission. The company wants to place 4,425 of these small spacecraft in low-Earth orbit—between 600 and 800 miles above the Earth’s surface—and hopes to officially begin doing so next year.

Meanwhile if you want to keep an eye on Elon Musk's Telsa Roadster as it heads to Mars, here's a website showing you where it is in real-time. The current location is 2,380,872 miles (3,831,644 km, 0.026 AU) from Earth, moving away from Earth at a speed of 7,585 miles/hour (12,207 km/hour, 3.39 km/s). The car is 136,699,127 miles (219,995,988 km, 1.471 AU) from Mars, moving toward the planet at a speed of 43,350 miles/hour (69,765 km/hour, 19.38 km/s). The car is 92,278,648 miles (148,508,135 km, 0.993 AU) from the Sun, moving away from the star at a speed of 1,759 miles/hour (2,831 km/hour, 0.79 km/s).

John Perry Barlow, the founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, passed away recently. It is no exaggeration to say that major parts of the Internet we all know and love today exist and thrive because of Barlow’s vision and leadership. He always saw the Internet as a fundamental place of freedom, where voices long silenced can find an audience and people can connect with others regardless of physical distance.



Tuesday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Tuesday, 20-February-2018  13:01:03 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Audio Visual:
Creative Sound BlasterX Kratos S3 on Guru3D.
HAVIT M9 LED Bluetooth Speaker With Powerbank on NikKTech.

Motherboard & CPU:
AMD Ryzen 3 2200G & Ryzen 5 2400G APU on NeoSeeker.
AMD Ryzen 5 2400G Memory Speed Performance Analysis on PC Perspective.
AMD Ryzen 3 2200G With Radeon Vega 8 Graphics on TechARP.
AMD Ryzen 5 2400G With Radeon RX Vega 11 Graphics on TechARP.
MSI Z370 TOMAHAWK (Intel Z370) Motherboard on Tweaktown.
AMD Raven Ridge 8GB vs. 16GB Reserved Memory Benchmark & Explanation on TechSpot.
AMD Raven Ridge Graphics On Linux vs. Lower-End NVIDIA / AMD GPUs on Phoronix.

Input Etc:
Corsair K63 Wireless Keyboard, Dark Core Wireless Mouse & MM1000 Qi Mousepad on Techgage.
Corsair K63 Wireless Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on LegitReviews.
Drevo Joyeuse 96-Key Wireless Mechanical Keyboard on ThinkComputers.
SteelSeries Rival 600 Gaming Mouse on FunkyKit.
HyperX ALLOY Elite Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on NikKTech.

Portable & Prebuilt:
OcUK Oxygen Overclocked System on Vortez.
Fitbit Ionic Smart Fitness Watch on Tweaktown.

Cases:
FSP CMT510 mid-tower on TechPowerUp.
Cooler Master MasterBox Q300P video review on Modders-Inc.

Software:
Kingdom Come: Deliverance Benchmark Performance Analysis on TechPowerUp.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance GPU Performance Review on HardOCP.

Misc:
Noctua NH-L12S CPU Cooler on Tweaktown.
AKRacing Solitude Gaming And Working Chair on NikKTech.
Crucial MX500 SSD on Vortez.



Forum Focus: Retro & Arcade (0 Comments) (link)
 Monday, 19-February-2018  15:47:58 (GMT +10) - by Agg

One of my favourite sub-forums on OCAU is the Retro & Arcade Forum. If you long for the good old days of oddball computer hardware or retro gaming, or love your arcade machines, it's definitely worth a look. Here's a few cool recent projects:




XT Restoration & Re-Build
by matz

Commodore 1084S-D2 repair
by aXLe

IBM 5160 XT Restoration
by iMic

Basic Am386 Build
by iMic

Atari SC1435 Monitor Repair
by aXLe

Pentium III Tualatin Adventures
by badmofo

The Ritron Classic (P133)
by Flamin Joe

Micro Byte PC230
by iMic

Astro City Project
by Revenger

Also the current "Retro Let's Play" is The Legend of Zelda: A link to the Past. Developed by Nintendo EAD, and published by Nintendo originally in Japan on the Super Famicom in late 1991. North America's Super Nintendo Entertainment System would get a localised version in Mid 1992, and the oft-forgotten PAL gamers would have to wait another quarter until late 1992 for their copy. It is currently ranked 11th in HG101's top 47,858 games of all time.


click for the thread!


Finally, here's a few more threads of interest from that forum:
XWVM - X-Wing high def mod
Analogue Super NT
386 Buildlog
Scanline Thread
The Amiga Thread
What retro activity did you get up to today?
What retro console activity did you get up to today?
Where are the retro bargains? List here!



Sunday Morning Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Sunday, 18-February-2018  02:46:33 (GMT +10) - by aftahours

Case/Cooling:
Raijintek THETIS Window Aluminum Case on Modders-Inc
Scythe Grand Kama Cross 3 CPU Cooler on TweakTown
Rosewill RSV-L4000C 4U Mining Case on Computing on Demand

Motherboard:
SuperMicro C7Z370-CG-IW (Intel Z370) Motherboard on TweakTown
Gigabyte X299 Aorus Gaming 7 PRO motherboard on Guru3D
Asus ROG Strix X299-XE Gaming on LanOC Reviews
Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming LGA1151 Motherboard on Madshrimps

Audio:
RHA T20i High Fidelity In-Ear Headphone on Missing Remote
Aukey SK-S1 Bluetooth Speaker on OCInside
Corsair Gaming HS60 Surround Gaming Headset on APH Networks

Storage:
Samsung 860 EVO M.2 SATA3 SSD Review (2TB) on The SSD Review
OWC ThunderBlade V4 4TB on TweakTown
SilverStone TS12C Dual Drive Docking Station on Benchmark Reviews
Apricorn Aegis Fortress 128GB SSD on TweakTown

Misc:
Fantaseal 60 Min 360 Degree Rotary Time Lapse Tripod Mount on FunkyKit
Tile Sport Bluetooth Tracker on Think Computers
Zhiyun Crane 2 Gimbal on TechPowerUp
Kingston Nucleum 7-in-1 Type-C Hub on BabelTech
XPG SPECTRIX D40 RGB DDR4 3000MHz Memory on Modders-Inc
Aorus K9 Optical Mechanical Keyboard on Legit Reviews
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker’s Memory (PS4) on Gaming Nexus



Misc Pics (18 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 16-February-2018  15:30:38 (GMT +10) - by Agg

It's Friday again!








Thursday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Thursday, 15-February-2018  14:37:53 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Motherboard & CPU:
AMD Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 3 2200G CPUs on LegitReviews.
AMD Ryzen 3 2200G + Ryzen 5 2400G Linux CPU Performance on Phoronix.

Storage:
Samsung SSD 860 EVO Solid State Drive on BenchmarkReviews.
Samsung SSD 860 EVO M.2 SATA on HotHardware.
Crucial MX500 500GB SSD on NikKTech.

Audio Visual:
Beyerdynamic MMX 300 Professional Gaming Headset 2nd Gen on HWAsylum.
Sound BlasterX AE-5 Sound Card on Modders-Inc.
ANQ 4031 HDMI Switch (3×1) With Remote Control on FunkyKit.
Patriot Viper V370 RGB 7.1 Surround Gaming Headset on NikKTech.

Video Cards & GPU:
AMD Vega 8 Graphics Performance On Linux With The Ryzen 3 2200G on Phoronix.
External GPU Testing: GTX 1080 in a Box on TechSpot.

Misc:
Alphacool Eiskoffer Professional watercooling build tools on TechPowerUp.
Samsung Gear S3 Frontier smartwatch on OCInside.
Thermaltake Ttesports X Fit (XF100) Gaming Chair on FunkyKit.
In Win Aurora RGB Fans on ThinkComputers.
NZXT H700i Tempered Glass ATX Mid Tower on PC Perspective.



Wednesday Afternoon (8 Comments) (link)
 Wednesday, 14-February-2018  15:47:53 (GMT +10) - by Agg

If you have a DJI drone in Australia, you will have to take a quiz before you can fly it. As of February 14, pilots of DJI drones — the most popular brand in the country — will be required to pass a short "knowledge quiz" about safety in order to fly their machines. The quiz is embedded in a mobile phone app which controls the drone, meaning every DJI pilot will be forced to take the three-minute test, even if they are an experienced operator. There is no limit on the number of times a pilot can attempt the quiz.

Hackers have been using Australian Government websites to mine cryptocurrency. UK security researcher Scott Helme discovered the malicious software on Sunday, which he said was "definitely mining". The compromised website plug-in responsible has now been taken offline. Locally, websites that appear to have been affected include the Queensland Government's legislation website, the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal and the Victorian Parliament. In the UK, websites run by the National Health System, the UK's Student Loans Company and the Northern Powergrid were also impacted.

Speaking of which, some Russian nuclear scientists have tried to use their supercomputer for mining. The centre's press service said: "There has been an unsanctioned attempt to use computer facilities for private purposes including so-called mining." The supercomputer was not supposed to be connected to the internet - to prevent intrusion - and once the scientists attempted to do so, the nuclear centre's security department was alerted. They were handed over to the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Russian news service Mash says.

There are 157 new emojis for 2018. This brings the total number of approved emojis to 2,823. Emoji 11.0 today reached its final form and includes emojis for redheads, curly hair, superheroes, softball, infinity, kangaroo and more. Users can expect to see these new emojis on their phones in the second half of 2018.



Wednesday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Wednesday, 14-February-2018  12:48:42 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Motherboard & CPU:
AMD Ryzen 5 2400G Linux Gaming Benchmarks on Phoronix.
ASRock X299 Extreme4 (Intel X299) Motherboard on Tweaktown.
ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-I Gaming Motherboard on HardOCP.

Cooling:
Silverstone Tundra TD03-SLIM CPU cooler on TechPowerUp.
CRYORIG H7 Quad Lumi CPU Cooler on APHNetworks.

Storage:
Plextor M8V 512GB SATA III SSD on Tweaktown.
MyDigitalSSD SBX M.2 NVMe SSD Review (128GB/256GB/512GB) on TheSSDReview.
ADATA XPG Gammix S10 M.2 NVMe SSD Review (512GB) on TheSSDReview.
Samsung’s Ultra Small, Ultra Fast & Ultra Portable SSD T5 500GB on Techgage.

Input Etc:
Patriot Viper Gaming LED Mouse Pad on ThinkComputers.
Corsair K63 Wireless Bluetooth keyboard and K63 lapboard on Guru3D.
Tesoro Gram SE Spectrum Gaming Keyboard on ThinkComputers.

Portable & Prebuilt:
HP Spectre x360 13 convertible on TechSpot.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Mobile Platform Performance Preview on PCPerspective.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Hot Rod Mobile Chip Benchmarked on HotHardware.

Misc:
ASUS ROG STRIX RX Vega 64 O8G GAMING video card on HardOCP.
SilverStone SFX SX500-G 500W PSU on HardOCP.
HyperX's Cloud Alpha gaming headset on TechReport.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance PC graphics performance Analysis on Guru3D.



AMD Ryzen 3 2200G and Ryzen 5 2400G (2 Comments) (link)
 Tuesday, 13-February-2018  14:04:25 (GMT +10) - by Agg

AMD have unveiled two new affordable APUs, the Raven Ridge-based Ryzen 3 2200G and Ryzen 5 2400G. These combine the Zen CPU and Vega GPU architectures into an all-in-one package that probably won't spell the end of the separate video card, but have pretty amazing performance for onboard graphics. Plenty of reviews out there:

AMD Ryzen 5 2400G And Ryzen 3 2200G on HotHardware.
AMD Ryzen 3 2200G With Radeon Vega 8 Graphics on TechARP.
AMD Ryzen R3 2200G & R5 2400G Raven Ridge APU on Modders-Inc.
Marrying Vega and Zen: The AMD Ryzen 5 2400G on Anandtech.
AMD Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz with Vega 8 Graphics on TechPowerUp.
AMD Ryzen 5 2400G APU on Guru3D.
Ryzen CPU + Vega Graphics on a Chip: AMD Ryzen 5 2400G & Ryzen 3 2200G on TechSpot.
AMD Ryzen 5 2400G With Radeon RX Vega 11 Graphics on TechARP.
AMD Ryzen 5 2400G Mining Performance with NiceHash and XMR-STAK on LegitReviews.
APU-Based 1080p Gaming Becomes A Reality With AMD's Ryzen 5 2400G on Forbes.
AMD Ryzen 5 2400G Mining Performance with NiceHash and XMR-STAK on LegitReviews.
AMD's Ryzen 3 2200G and Ryzen 5 2400G APUs on TechReport.
AMD Ryzen 3 2200G and Ryzen 5 2400G on Tweaktown.
AMD Ryzen 5 2400G 3.6 GHz with Vega 11 Graphics on TechPowerUp.
AMD Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 3 2200G on PCPerspective.

Discussion continues in the AMD Zen thread.



Sunday Midday Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Sunday, 11-February-2018  12:55:13 (GMT +10) - by aftahours

Phone:
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018 (SM-A530F) Smartphone on TechARP
Xiaomi Mi 5X 32GB Smartphone on Madshrimps

Motherboard:
ASUS ROG Maximus X Apex on ocaholic
MSI X399 GAMING PRO CARBON AC (AMD X399) Motherboard on TweakTown

Audio:
KitSound Voice One Alexa Enabled Smart Speaker on Hardware Asylum
Sennheiser GSX 1000 Audio Amplifier on TechPowerUp
HiFiMAN RE800 In-ears on TechPowerUp

Keyboard/Mouse:
G.SKILL RIPJAWS KM570 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on Legit Reviews
Logitech G903 Wireless Mouse on Vortez

Cooling:
Cooler Master MasterAir MA410P CPU Cooler on OCInside
be quiet! Shadow Rock TF 2 CPU Cooler on Guru3D
Corsair H115i Pro Liquid CPU Cooler on ThinkComputers.org
EK-MLC Phoenix 360 AIO CPU & GPU (Radeon Vega) Liquid Cooling on Guru3D

Storage:
Synology DS918+ SMB NAS on TweakTown
WD Blue 3D NAND and SanDisk Ultra 3D 1TB SSD on Legit Reviews
SilverStone ECM22 M.2 to PCIe Expansion Card on Hardware Asylum
Plugable Thunderbolt 3 NVMe SSD on TweakTown
ADATA Gammix S10 m.2 SSD on Benchmark Reviews
ADATA SX950 SSD on Modders-Inc
Crucial MX500 500GB and 1TB SATA SSD on Legit Reviews

Misc:
Corsair T2 Road Warrior Gaming Chair on FunkyKit
Aukey CB-C55 Multiport USB-C Hub on OC Inside
Wulverblade (PC) on BabelTech
Cougar Panzer-G Video Mid-Tower Case on Modders-Inc



Misc Pics (33 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 9-February-2018  14:31:40 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Thanks to Frank and Tim this week!









Photography Gallery (3 Comments) (link)
 Thursday, 8-February-2018  16:40:48 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Here's a quick snapshot of what people are up to in our Photography Gallery forum.






















Thursday Midday (0 Comments) (link)
 Thursday, 8-February-2018  12:14:47 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Intel has some new smart glasses that don't look weird like Google Glass did. There is no camera to creep people out, no button to push, no gesture area to swipe, no glowing LCD screen, no weird arm floating in front of the lens, no speaker, and no microphone (for now). From the outside, the Vaunt glasses look just like eyeglasses. When you’re wearing them, you see a stream of information on what looks like a screen — but it’s actually being projected onto your retina.

A major cybercrime network has been shut down, with an Australian allegedly involved. The Infraud Organisation — founded in 2010 by Ukrainian man Svyatoslav Bondarenko and operated under the slogan "In Fraud We Trust" — used an online forum to buy and sell stolen credit card and bank account numbers, social security numbers and other personal information, the US Justice Department said. Investigators believe the group's nearly 11,000 members targeted more than 4.3 million credit cards, debit cards and bank accounts worldwide, Deputy Assistant Attorney-General David Rybicki said.

HotHardware checked out some Corsair All-In-One Coolers. All-in-one liquid coolers are not quite as nice looking or as potentially high-performance as a custom built system that can employ hard line tubing and multi-waterblock arrangements, but they are still a step up from many air coolers and don’t require the same hefty investment. This makes all-in-one liquid coolers very appealing for mid-range gaming setups where maximizing performance per dollar is often the goal. Fortunately for us, Corsair answered the call.

If all the crypto buzz recently has left you scratching your head, you can catch up with this blockchain explained article from TechSpot. Besides simply being the backbone of cryptocurrency exchanges, the most powerful uses of blockchain technology are yet to emerge. It's envisioned by many to become a decentralized, real-time global distributed digital ledger of things for everything from tracking food supplies to managing identities.

Meanwhile HWAsylum ponder the PC landscape's future now that cryptocurrency is a thing. Quite a few gamers are upset with the massive price hikes on video cards due to crypto miners. Some people forget that not long ago PC hardware was in a tough spot thanks in part to, gamers. This is a short editorial exploring that side of PC Hardware.

NASA have made contact with a satellite they had assumed had been dead since 2005. After an amateur astronomer recorded observations of a satellite in high Earth orbit on Jan. 20, 2018, his initial research suggested it was the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) — a NASA mission launched into orbit around Earth on March 25, 2000. Seeking to ascertain whether the signal indeed came from IMAGE, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, coordinated the use of five separate antennas to acquire radio frequency signals from the object.



Falcon Heavy Launch (7 Comments) (link)
 Wednesday, 7-February-2018  14:49:27 (GMT +10) - by Agg

In one of the most amazingly bizarre stunts ever, Elon Musk's SpaceX have launched their Falcon Heavy rocket, the most powerful since the Space Shuttle, placing a payload into an orbit which will ultimately send it to Mars. The payload? Elon's red Tesla Roadster with "Starman", a dummy in a space suit, in the driving seat. For this experimental and uncertain mission, however, he decided on a much smaller and whimsical payload - his old cherry-red Tesla sports car. A space-suited mannequin was strapped in the driver's seat, and the radio set to play David Bowie's classic hit Space Oddity on a loop.

You can even view a live stream of Starman and the Roadster orbiting the Earth. Of course. :) Discussion continues in this thread.



Wednesday Lunchtime Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Wednesday, 7-February-2018  12:19:29 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Input Etc:
Aukey KM-G8 Keyboard on TechPowerUp.
Tesoro GRAM Spectrum Low-Profile Keyboard on BenchmarkReviews.
Cougar Revenger S Optical Gaming Mouse on LegitReviews.
Cooler Master MasterMouse MM530 Gaming Mouse on Tweaktown.
Logitech G703 on Vortez.
Cougar Surpassion Gaming Mouse on NeoSeeker.
Logitech G603 mouse on Vortez.
Corsair K68 RGB keyboard on OCAholic.

Storage:
Western Digital My Passport Wireless SSD Review (2TB) on TheSSDReview.
Samsung 860 Evo SSD on Vortez.

Portable & Prebuilt:
ECS Liva Q Pocket Size PC on Guru3D.
The AVITA LIBER Laptops & IMAGO Smart Mirror Revealed on TechARP.

Cooling:
GamerStorm Baronkase Liquid on TechPowerUp.
DEEPCOOL CAPTAIN 240 EX RGB AIO Liquid CPU Cooler on NikKTech.

Misc:
Ubiquiti Labs AmpliFi Teleport Kit on TechPowerUp.
Antec Performance Series P110 Luce Mid-Tower case on NikKTech.
AMD Ryzen 5 2500U Mobile APU Performance with Raven Ridge on PCPerspective.
Sound Blaster Pro-Gaming H5 Tournament Edition Headset on Modders-Inc.
Patriot Viper LED DDR4-3000 16GB Memory Kit on ThinkComputers.
Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition Benchmarks... So Far on Tweaktown.



Monday Evening (23 Comments) (link)
 Monday, 5-February-2018  18:24:18 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Got a letter in the post today saying the NBN will be connected in the next few months.. woo! Hopefully it'll, you know, not suck.

The winner for the Pay It Forward contest has been announced - and now there's another one where you can win an SSD.

The Australian of the Year for 2018 is Professor Michelle Simmons, a pioneer in quantum computing research. In 2012, Michelle and her team created the world’s first transistor made from a single atom, along with the world’s thinnest wire. At the forefront of what she calls the “space race of the computing era”, Michelle aims to build a quantum computer able to solve problems in minutes that would otherwise take thousands of years.

Intel have announced a new CTO, and a new "Product Assurance & Security Group". In addition to naming the new CTO, Intel confirmed formation of the Product Assurance & Security Group. The PASG will be led by Leslie Culbertson, who has been with Intel since 1979 and most recently she served as senior vice president and director of human resources. The main task of the PASG will be Intel’s “cross-company efforts to continuously improve product security,” but Intel did not elaborate any further.

Tesla and the South Australian Government are planning to create a giant distributed power plant by installing 50,000 residential solar and battery systems. Tesla said in a statement to AFP that the virtual power plant would have 250 megawatts of solar energy and 650 megawatt hours of battery storage. "At key moments, the virtual power plant could provide as much capacity as a large gas turbine or coal power plant," the company added. Australia is one of the world's largest producers of coal and gas but the South Australian blackout raised questions about its energy security.

TechSpot have a CPU comparison using the benchmark from the upcoming game Final Fantasy 15. The reason we want to look at CPU performance first is because the game is extremely CPU intensive, far more so than we were expecting. Developer Square Enix recommends gamers pack at least a Core i7-3770 or FX-8350, that’s significantly more firepower from Intel, but we’ll look into that shortly.

eBay is dropping PayPal as its primary payment partner. That's a lot of Ps. Meanwhile, one of the bright sparks in US markets overnight was eBay, which saw its share price surge 13.8 per cent. This was after the e-commerce giant announced strong quarterly results, and its upcoming split from long-term partner PayPal. eBay will instead use little-known Dutch payments company Adyen as its main payments partner. Adyen is an online payments startup which provides back end payment services like point-of-sales (POS) systems and credit card processing. It also boasts a huge clientele including the likes of Facebook, Spotify, Netflix, Uber, Groupon and LinkedIn.

The Federal Government has finally responded to the 2016 inquiry into the video games industry, and people are not impressed. Out of the 8 recommendations made by the Senate, the Government "noted" 5 of them, "did not support" 2 of them, and while it "did support" 1 of them (on encouraging the uptake of serious games), it believed the industry should pursue this and NOT the government. So, all-in-all, there was not one single recommendation that the Government actually supported.



Monday Morning Reviews (3 Comments) (link)
 Monday, 5-February-2018  11:22:54 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Motherboard & CPU:
ASRock DeskMini GTX1080 (Intel Z370) SFFPC on Tweaktown.
ASRock Fatal1ty Z370 Professional Gaming i7 (Intel Z370) on Tweaktown.
Intel Atom C3950 + Tyan Tempest S3227 on Phoronix.

Cases:
SilverStone Primera PM02 on APHNetworks.
Thermaltake Core G21 & View 21 Glass Edition on HardOCP.

Input Etc:
Tecware Phantom RGB Mechanical Keyboard on TechARP.
Logitech MX Master 2S Wireless Mouse on NikKTech.

Memory:
G.SKILL Ripjaws 2666 MHz DDR4 SO-DIMM on TechPowerUp.

Storage:
Intel SSD DC P4600 NVMe PCIe on HotHardware.
Apacer Z280 240GB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD on Tweaktown.
Thermaltake H200 Internal USB Hub on FunkyKit.



Misc Pics (20 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 2-February-2018  15:01:44 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Thanks to BFM and Axe this week!








Friday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
 Friday, 2-February-2018  15:01:16 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Motherboard & CPU:
ASUS MAXIMUS IX CODE on TechPowerUp.
Z370 Motherboard Charts: 6 Models tested - ASUS ROG Maximus X Apex on OCAholic.

Audio Visual:
HyperX Cloud Alpha Pro Gaming Headset on NeoSeeker.
Cougar Phontum Gaming Headset on Guru3D.
AOC Agon AG271QX Monitor on OCInside.
Unblock Tech – UBOX 4 TV Box on FunkyKit.
HyperX Cloud Alpha Gaming Headset on ThinkComputers.

Input Etc:
HyperX Alloy FPS Pro Mechanical Keyboard on TechARP.
Tt eSPORTS Nemesis Switch RGB Mouse on BenchmarkReviews.
Zowie EC-B Series mouse on TechPowerUp.

Storage:
OWC Mercury Helios 3 TB3 Expansion Chassis on TheSSDReview.
Crucial BX300 240GB SATA III SSD on Tweaktown.
Crucial BX300 480GB SSD on LegitReviews.
Toshiba TransMemory U364 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive on MadShrimps.

Misc:
Ecolink Firefighter Z-Wave Plus Smoke and CO Audio Detector on BigBruin.



Retro Let's Play: Tomb Raider (1996) (0 Comments) (link)
 Thursday, 1-February-2018  16:59:36 (GMT +10) - by Agg

OCAU's "Retro Let's Play" for early February is the classic "Tomb Raider". Developed by British development house Core Design, and published by Eidos Interactive (now Square Enix Europe) on October 25, 1996, simultaneously for the Sega Saturn, Sony Playstation and x86/PC/MS-DOS. "Tomb Raider" currently sits at number 9 in HG101's top 47,858 games of all time. You can play this one in your browser, too.


click for the thread!




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