April 2022

Saturday Evening News (6 Comments) (link)  Saturday, 30-April-2022  22:21:41 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is now suggesting it might be 2024 before we’re fully out of the woods. "We believe the overall semiconductor shortage will now drift into 2024, from our earlier estimates in 2023, just because the shortages have now hit equipment and some of those factory ramps will be more challenged” Transparent solar panels could replace windows in the future. To be clear, transparent solar panels sound too good to be true. Turns Out Telephone Wire Could Be 3X Faster Than Consumer Fiber For High Speed Broadband Researchers at the University of Cambridge in the UK claim standard copper telephone wire can deliver broadband speeds much higher than most consumer fiber deployments, and at a lower price to boot. A cryptocurrency platform was recently on the receiving end of one of the biggest distributed denial-of-service attacks ever after threat actors bombarded it with 15.3 million requests. The attack was delivered through HTTPS requests rather than HTTP requests used in the record. Because HTTPS requests are much more compute-intensive than HTTP requests, the latest attack had the potential to put much more strain on the target. Microsoft Edge is getting a built-in VPN powered by Cloudflare. Microsoft Edge’s Secure Network mode will require you to be signed into your Microsoft account, and that’s because the browser keeps track of how much data you’ve used in this mode. EU, US, and 32 other countries just announced a ‘Declaration for the Future of the Internet’. It highlights goals like affordability, net neutrality, and removing illegal content without curtailing free expression — although it offers few specifics for achieving them. Telstra TV are busy looking at 51% of Fetch TV, subject to ACCC approval. Telstra TV based on Roku streaming box technology launched in 2015 with a focus on bringing together a wide range of streaming services for their customers. The reason Telstra is buying a controlling share in Fetch TV is because their deal with Roku expires in 2 years or so. Saturday Afternoon News (7 Comments) (link)  Saturday, 30-April-2022  14:31:16 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN Researchers at Saga University in Japan have developed an ultra-high purity diamond wafer they say can store the same amount of data as 1 billion Blu-ray discs. Ready for some more fun math? Seagate's Exos X20 is one of the largest capacity hard disk drives (HDDs) on the market at 20TB, and it costs USD470. It would take 50,000 of those drives valued at $23.5 million to store the same amount of data as a single diamond wafer. 7-zip security flaw exposes your PC to hackers, giving full admin rights. You can also modify what permissions the hh.exe process can operate at, but for most users just deleting the .chm file from the installation directory is easiest. Edit - An update from wazza - [URL]https://www.cvedetails.com/cve/CVE-2022-29072/ The GPU nightmare might not be over just yet, but every month we get a little bit closer to waking up to a stabilized market. Whether we get all the way there before AMD and NVIDIA begin shipping out next-gen graphics cards remains to be seen, and that presents gamers with any interesting quandary—does it make sens to buy now, or should you wait? If you're interested in knowing how the bits make it from a web server to your web browser, you'll know about the HTTP protocol. There are now 5 versions of HTTP that are widely deployed and accepted on the Internet today - HTTP/0.9, HTTP/1.0, and HTTP/1.1 are roughly compatible with each other, the newer HTTP/2 brings many new features to the protocol but is not backwards-compatible at the protocol level, and the new-shiny HTTP/3 is mostly-compatible with HTTP/2... except it uses a completely different network transport protocol. Qualcomm bought a chipmaking startup called Nuvia in March 2021, and later that year, the company said it would be using Nuvia's talent and technology to create high-performance custom-designed ARM chips to compete with Apple's processor designs. Like Apple's processors, Nuvia's support the ARM instruction set but don't use off-the-shelf ARM Cortex CPU designs. These processor cores have been phenomenally successful in commodity SoCs that power everything from Android phones to smart TVs, and they helped popularize the practice of combining large, high-performance CPU cores and small, high-efficiency CPU cores together in the same design Researchers have developed electric chopsticks to enhance salty taste. Miyashita and his lab have explored various ways that technology can interact with and stimulate human sensory experiences. He's also developed a lickable TV screen that can imitate various food flavours. Misc Pics (13 Comments) (link)  Friday, 29-April-2022  13:31:16 (GMT +10) - by Agg Thanks to Gaz and Ben this week! Thursday Night (2 Comments) (link)  Thursday, 28-April-2022  20:07:18 (GMT +10) - by Agg The ZX Spectrum turned 40 recently. I think the ZX Spectrum might count as the first computer I ever used, because I remember playing Manic Miner on one belonging to a cousin when we visited the UK in the 80's. Over five million of the Z80A-based devices were sold, and its impact cannot be overstated. While over 1.5 million BBC Micros (made by Acorn) may have also been sold during its lifetime, it was the ZX Spectrum that found its way into far more homes across Europe, and its impact continues to resonate in the IT world of today. For more retro goodness see the Retro & Arcade forum. A company in the UK is embedding contactless payment chips into people's hands. If you’re down for a little augmentation and like the idea of becoming a walking wallet, all that’s required is a visit to a Walletmor specialist and install its online banking service on a phone or tablet. Once all the admin is completed, a surgeon (presumably qualified, and not on work experience) will make a skin incision around 7mm long and insert the chip into the palm – specifically, the chunky bit of flesh below the thumb called the ‘thenar,’ if you want to get technical. Hardly new, as Mr Meow-Meow did it back in 2017. Dell are looking at using a new memory module design in some of their laptops. Schnell said that Dell isn’t making the modules and has worked with memory companies as well as Intel on this. In the future, a person with a CAMM-equipped laptop will be able to buy RAM from any third party and install it in the laptop. Yes, initially, Dell will likely be the only place to get CAMM upgrades, but that should change as the standard scales up and is adopted by other PC makers. The new memory modules are also built using commodity DRAMs just like conventional SO-DIMMs. Apple's self-repair program is now available in the USA, and it seems like a good start. And there’s a lot to be excited about in the details Apple announced today: seven years of parts availability, retail sales of tools that only official Apple techs could get before, and free step-by-step visual repair manuals available for everyone on Apple’s site. But as the doors open on this new venue, we’re underwhelmed, and settling back into our usual skepticism. The biggest problem? Apple is doubling down on their parts pairing strategy, enabling only very limited, serial number-authorized repairs. You cannot purchase key parts without a serial number or IMEI. If you use an aftermarket part, there’s an “unable to verify” warning waiting for you. This strategy hamstrings third-party repair with feature loss and scare tactics and could dramatically limit options for recyclers and refurbishers, short-circuiting the circular economy. Telstra have been fined by ACMA over billing errors.. again. The regulator’s latest investigation was launched in 2020, after a prior investigation found the carrier had overcharged more than 10,000 customers around $2.5 million over 12 years. That action also concluded with a formal direction that Telstra comply with billing accuracy rules. In the follow-up investigation, Telstra reported itself to the ACMA, which found another 11,600 customers had received inaccurate bills, including 4400 billed wrongly after the prior direction was issued. The errors occurred between July 2018 and October 2021, and Telstra committed to issuing refunds. Wednesday Night Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Wednesday, 27-April-2022  23:40:18 (GMT +10) - by Agg Portable & Prebuilt: Dell XPS Desktop 8950 Review: Intel 12th Gen Tower Of Power on HotHardware. MSI Crosshair 15 review (B12U) on HighPerformanceLaptops. Audio Visual: PreSonus Revelator USB Microphone on NikKTech. HarmonicDyne Zeus Open-back Over-Ear Headphones on TechPowerUp. Cooling: Deepcool AK400 air cooler on Guru3D. CORSAIR iCUE ELITE CPU Cooler LCD Display Upgrade Kit on MadShrimps. Storage: Silicon Power XPower XS70 SSD on Vortez. MSI Spatium M480 Play 2TB SSD on LanOC. Memory: XPG Lancer RGB DDR5-6000 32GB Dual-Channel Memory Kit on Tweaktown. V-Color Manta XPrism DDR5 6200 CL36 on Guru3D. Kingston FURY BEAST RGB DDR4-3200 16GB Dual-Channel Memory Kit on Tweaktown. Cases: SilverStone SETA H1 on TechPowerUp. Deepcool CK500 WH on Vortez. Misc: Cougar Armor S Royal Gaming Chair on FunkyKit. AMD Radeon RX 6400 video card on TechPowerUp. DeepCool MG510 Wireless Optical Mouse on APHNetworks. MSI MEG Z690 Unify motherboard on TechPowerUp. Gigabyte Ultra Durable 850W Power Supply on HWAsylum. ANZAC Day (10 Comments) (link)  Monday, 25-April-2022  01:17:28 (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 Sunday Night Reviews (1 Comments) (link)  Sunday, 24-April-2022  22:25:52 (GMT +10) - by Agg Cooling: Asus Ryujin II 360 LCS cooler on Guru3D. ASUS ROG Strix XF 120 Fan on FunkyKit. Motherboard & CPU: Intel Core i9-12900KS "Alder Lake" CPU on Tweaktown. MSI MEG Z690 ACE Motherboard on ThinkComputers. Asus ProArt X570-Creator WiFi on LanOC. Supermicro X13SAE Workstation (Intel W680) Motherboard on Tweaktown. Storage: KIOXIA TransMemory U366 128GB USB Flash Drive on MadShrimps. Crucial P5 Plus 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD on NikKTech. Crucial X6 Portable 1TB USB SSD on Guru3D. TerraMaster D5 Thunderbolt 3 on NeoSeeker. T-FORCE CARDEA A440 Pro Special Series 2TB SSD on BabelTechReviews. Cases: Sharkoon TG7M RGB on TechPowerUp. Deepcool CK560 chassis on Guru3D. Sharkoon MS-Z1000 on TechPowerUp. Aqirys Procyon open-air case on TechPowerUp. Raijintek Paean Premium ATX Chassis on FunkyKit. DeepCool AS500 Plus White on TechPowerUp. Cooler Master MasterBox 500 on TechPowerUp. Video Cards: GALAX GeForce RTX 3080 Ti HOF OC Lab Edition on NikKTech. ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 Ti OC Edition Review 2.0 on Tweaktown. Input Etc: ASUS ROG Falchion NX Mechanical Keyboard on APHNetworks. Gamdias Hermes E3 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on FunkyKit. Building a Keyboard 10: Kailh BOX V2, Akko MOD 003, Epomaker Sonic PBT on TechPowerUp. Power Supply: Seasonic Core GX Series 500 W on TechPowerUp. Gigabyte UD850GM Power Supply on FunkyKit. XPG Core Reactor 750W Power Supply Unit on NikKTech. Raijintek Ermis 550B PSU on TechPowerUp. Deepcool PQ1000M (1000W PSU) on Guru3D. Portable & Prebuilt: Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Review: Premium Android, S-Pen Prowess on HotHardware. Origin PC Neuron 4000X Review: Powerful, Clean 12th Gen Gaming PC on HotHardware. ECS LIVA One A300 Barebone on MadShrimps. MSI GE76 Raider Review (Deluxe 12UHS) on HighPerformanceLaptops. Asus Vivobook Pro 15 OLED on HighPerformanceLaptops. Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 Laptop Review: Svelte Stunner on HotHardware. Memory: HP V10 RGB DDR4-3600 CL14 2x 8 GB on TechPowerUp. XPG Lancer RGB DDR5-6000 2x16GB Memory Kit on NeoSeeker. G.Skill TridentZ5 6400 CL32 DDR5 scaling on Guru3D. Software: Forza Horizon 5 Benchmarked: 1080p, 1440p, 4K Test Driven on Tweaktown. GeForce 512.15 Driver Performance Analysis on BabelTechReviews. Misc: Jackery Solar Generator 300 on TechPowerUp. Neatsvor X600Pro Robot Vacuum Cleaner on NikKTech. LETSHUOER S12 Planar In-Ear Monitors on TechPowerUp. noblechairs HERO TX Premium Gaming Chair on NikKTech. Misc Pics (19 Comments) (link)  Friday, 22-April-2022  14:30:56 (GMT +10) - by Agg Thanks to mpot, axe and Branes this week! Monday Night Reviews Pt.2 (0 Comments) (link)  Monday, 18-April-2022  20:49:52 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN The "Worlds Fastest Gaming CPU" title is always going to be a hotly contested claim, and recently AMD released a new CPU that uses an extra 64MB of "3D V-cache". This extra cache sees AMD suggesting the Ryzen 7 5800X3D boasts an even better gaming performance than Intel’s Core i9-12900K desktop chip, which is a very bold statement. Are they right? Read on to find out. AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D @ guru3D AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D @ HotHardware AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D @ TechPowerUp AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D @ arstechnica AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D @ techspot AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D @ techradar AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D @ trustedreviews Monday Night Reviews Pt.1 (1 Comments) (link)  Monday, 18-April-2022  18:47:09 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN Audio Visual: Audeze LCD-5 Headphones @ TechPowerUp Sonos Five @ TechPowerUp Creative Sound Blaster X4 Review @ ThinkComputers Alienware 34" QD-OLED @ HotHardware Sennheiser CX True Wireless Earphones @ TechPowerUp Teufel Real Blue NC @ OCinside Philips Momentum 329M1RV Gaming Monitor @ Funky Kit Cooling: Corsair Icue H115i Elite Capellix on Alder Lake @ Madshrimps.be SilverStone Air Slimmer 120 ARGB Cooling Fan @ APH Networks AQIRYS AQUARIUS 360 AIO CPU Liquid Cooler @ NikKTech DeepCool AK620 Dual Tower Cooler Review @ Hardware Asylum DeepCool AK620 CPU Cooler @ Funky Kit MSI MEG CoreLiquid S280 @ LanOC Reviews Raijintek SCYLLA PRO DIY Water Cooling Kit @ Funky Kit Input Etc: Corsair K70 RGB Pro Mechanical Keyboard @ APH Networks Fnatic BOLT Gaming Mouse @ TechPowerUp Mountain Everest 60 keyboard @ guru3D Mountain Everest 60 Modular Keyboard @ TechPowerUp Mountain Everest 60 Compact Gaming Keyboard @ Madshrimps Mountain Everest Max RGB Gaming Keyboard @ NikKTech Storage: GEIL POLARIS RGB DDR5-5200 32GB @ Funky Kit https:Sabrent DS-UCTB 10-bay SATA @ TweakTown SilverStone EXB02 Internal SAS/SATA Hot Swap Bay @ APH Networks Sabrent Rocket UHS-II SDXC V90 @ TweakTown Colorful Warhalberd CN600 512GB NVMe M.2 2280 SSD @ Neoseeker XPG Atom 30 250GB/1TB Kit @ Neoseeker MSI Spatium M480 Play Gen4 NVMe @ ThinkComputers.org Toshiba N300 4TB NAS HDD @ Madshrimps.be Monday Afternoon News (4 Comments) (link)  Monday, 18-April-2022  17:27:16 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN While mostly about Mac and Retina Display, this article explains pixel density, colour space, refresh rates and all the other technical bits about monitors. It's the only post I've found that accurately explains why I hate resolution scaling - "a blurrier picture, shimmering when scrolling, moire patterns, worse GPU performance, and worse battery life if you're using a laptop. Display scaling also undoes dithering, which can mean gradients aren't as smooth". I bet some of you are reading this on a scaled display. I don't know how you tolerate it. Speaking of displays, OCAU has a retro display resource where elvis explains "a little bit" about old display technology and how it worked and, more importantly, what can we do to continue using older tech on modern displays. The problem: old software and old systems were designed for old displays. Like all things, displays have moved on, and display technology has changed. This affects old computer and old console users alike. DuckDuckGo has made their own web browser for the Mac to go alongside their mobile browser apps. It has a bunch of privacy-centric features baked in like automatically selecting the fewest options in cookie popups (that they reckon blocks 50% of those annoying popups), a built-in password manager, automatically enabling HTTPS, blocking web tracking and stuff like that. A Windows version based on Chromium/Edge is coming soon. Last year Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger boldly declared the chip maker would aggressively pursue Moore's Law "until the periodic table is exhausted." Then during yesterday's ribbon cutting ceremony in Oregon, Gelsinger doubled down on the claim, while also reiterating that the Intel 18A node remains ahead of schedule. Gelsinger credits Moore's observation with setting the pace for innovation in the semiconductor industry, and fittingly, Intel is moving up the manufacturing timeline for its Intel 18A node to the second half of 2024 instead of 2025 as originally planned. HotHardware and TweakTown have further information on the newly opened 3 Billion dollar facility. Intel today cut the ribbon on a massive expansion to its leading-edge D1X factory located in Hillsboro, Oregon. It also announced a new name for the nearly 500-acre campus. Previously called Ronler Acres, this cutting edge development chip fab has now been anointed Gordon Moore Park at Ronler Acres in honor of Intel co-founder Gordon Moore and his 1965 prediction that famously became known as Moore's Law. It’s been a little over two months since Cruise started letting the people of San Francisco catch rides on its driverless robotaxis, and one of its cars already had a run-in with police. In a video originally posted to Instagram last weekend, the user captures the awkward — and somewhat comical — interaction between the San Francisco Police Department and the autonomous vehicle after it’s pulled over for not having its lights on. Not strictly tech news, but certainly not possible without todays high tech tools, MIT scientists have developed a new regenerative drug that promises to reverse hearing loss. What ?? Forum member Lei has an interesting thread on their new Huawei Kunpeng 920 ARM workstation build. Basically it is a 8-core 2.6Ghz ARMv8.2 Hi1620 (Kunpeng 920) board with 4x DDR4 RAM slots, 1x PCI-E 3.0 x16, 1x PCI-E x8, 1x PCI-E x1, 4x M.2 slots, 1x 10GbE and 1x 1GbE. Retro Misc Pics (24 Comments) (link)  Friday, 15-April-2022  14:50:38 (GMT +10) - by Agg Hope you're having a good Easter break! I am away from the AggCave, so here's Retro Misc Pics from November 2009. Apologies as ever if the humour is a little more spicy or dated than we would post nowadays.. 6th Nov 2009: 13th Nov 2009: 20th Nov 2009: 27th November 2009: Sunday Night Reviews (1 Comments) (link)  Sunday, 10-April-2022  20:56:29 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN Motherboard, Memory & CPU: DDR4 vs. DDR5: The Best Memory for PC Gaming @ techspot ASRock Z690 Phantom Gaming Velocita @ TechPowerUp R7 5800X3D A Decisive Victory Over i9-12900KS - Early Gaming Benchmark @ HotHardware Thermaltake TOUGHRAM RC DDR5-4800 32GB @ Funky Kit ASUS ROG Z690 Maximus Extreme Glacial Motherboard Review @ TweakTown Kingston Fury Beast DDR5-5200 32GB Memory Kit Review @ ThinkComputers.org Neo Forza Faye DDR4-4600MHz 32GB @ Bjorn3d.com ASRock Z690 Taichi Motherboard Review @ ThinkComputers.org HP V10 RGB 16GB DDR4-3600 CL14 Memory @ Funky Kit G.SKILL Trident Z5 DDR5-6400 CL32 2x 16 GB @ TechPowerUp AMD Budget-Friendly Ryzen Dedicated Servers @ Phoronix Video Cards: EVGA XR1 lite @ TechPowerUp MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Ti SUPRIM X: Overclocking (OC) @ TweakTown Intel Launches First Arc GPUs For Mobile, Details Architecture & Features @ Techgage Intel Arc Alchemist Mobile GPUs @ HotWardware ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3050 OC Edition @ TweakTown ASUS ROG Strix LC GeForce RTX 3090 Ti OC Edition @ TweakTown Ghostwire Tokyo: DLSS vs. TSR vs. FSR Comparison @ TechPowerUp Ghostwire: Tokyo Performance (DLSS & IQ) @ BabelTechReviews Cases: SilverStone SUGO 16 @ TechPowerUp Cooler Master HAF 500 @ Bjorn3d.com Audio Visual: Eve Spectrum 4K Monitor Review @ techspot Monolith by Monoprice M1070C Planar Headphones @ TechPowerUp ThieAudio V16 Divinity In-Ear Monitors @ TechPowerUp IAIAI TMA-2 HD Modular Headphones @ TweakTown Mobile Pixels DUEX Max Monitor @ TechPowerUp DUNU TITAN S In-Ear Monitors @ TechPowerUp Samsung's M8 monitor @ Arstechnica Portable & Prebuilt: Aorus 17 @ HighPerformanceLaptops HP Omen 16.1 @ HighPerformanceLaptops ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 @ HotHardware Input Etc: DeepCool KG722 Mechanical Keyboard @ APH Networks SteelSeries Prime Mini Wireless @ TechPowerUp Gamdias Hermes E4 3-in-1 Gaming Combo @ ThinkComputers.org Genesis Lith 400 RGB Silent Programmable Keyboard @ FunkyKit DeepCool KG722 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard @ FunkyKit Xtrfy M4 Wireless Gaming Mouse @ TechPowerUp Cooling: Alphacool Eisbaer Aurora 360 HPE AIO Cooler @ TechPowerUp ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 420 A-RGB AIO CPU Cooler @ NikKTech CM MasterLiquid PL360 Flux Liquid CPU Cooler @ ThinkComputers.org Noctua NH-P1 Passive CPU Cooler @ ThinkComputers.org Storage: Datalocker Sentry K350 Encrypted USB Drive @ TechPowerUp Patriot P400 1TB Solid State Drive @ APH Networks KIOXIA EXCERIA PRO 2 TB SSD @ CowLand HP SSD FX900 Pro 2TB SSD @ TweakTown DirectStorage on Windows 11 @ TweakTown Misc: Motorized Gaming Bed @ HotHardware TRENDnet 5-port Unmanaged 10G Switch (TEG-S750) @ guru3d AVM FRITZ!Box 6850 LTE Wireless Modem Router @ NikKTech Sabrent 10W qi Wireless Fast Charging Pad @ Madshrimps.be ASUS TUF Gaming AX5400 WiFi 6 Gaming Router @ FunkyKit Arozzi Primo PU Premium Gaming Chair @ NikKTech Saturday Night News (9 Comments) (link)  Saturday, 9-April-2022  22:20:06 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN Solar panels may be able to generate electricity at night with this new technology. There's actually light going out [from the solar panel], and we use that to generate electricity at night. The photons going out into the night sky actually cool down the solar cell. There may be Precious Gems in Uranus. Uranus is capable of making it rain diamonds, and that's no joke. Along with Neptune, the two planets, referred to as ice giants, have temperatures and pressures that are so excessive it causes intense physical reactions. Teaching robots to make pizza could advance AI and out pizza the hut. This is because dough is a deformable object that can change shape in a multitude of ways as it is being prepared. For a robot, this process can be extremely difficult. VLC exploited by hackers in a long running malware campaign. DLL side-loading, as it's called, can be used to turn an otherwise-innocuous application into a malware delivery device. That's exactly what hackers from the "Cicada" group have been doing to poor old VLC Media Player since the middle of last year. Why internet, why ? A password phishing site that can trick even savvy users. BitB, short for "browser in the browser." It uses a fake browser window inside a real browser window to spoof an OAuth page. Instead of having to create an account on the new site, visitors can use an account that they already have—and the magic of OAuth does the rest. At least high tech is being used for good somewhere. We've all made the mistake of leaving a container of ice cream on the kitchen counter for a bit too long. Sure, you can refreeze the half-melted treat, but you may find that the texture is far more crunchy than delectably creamy afterward. The culprit is overly large ice crystals. Gough Lui took the opportunity to do some side-by-side comparisons of encoder quality and do some bitrate analysis knowing that the source material is (essentially) controlled with the exception of watermarks and commercial breaks. The recent rains have been devastating to quite a few people living in flooded regions along the East coast of Australia. It has become such a notable natural disaster that the commercial television networks banded together to run a telethon style event called “Australia Unites: Australian Red Cross Flood Appeal” Stephen Wilhite, creator of the GIF, has died. It’s pronounced ‘jif’ Misc Pics (23 Comments) (link)  Friday, 8-April-2022  15:26:14 (GMT +10) - by Agg Happy Birthday to my nephew and godson Jared! Retro Gaming April 2022 (4 Comments) (link)  Thursday, 7-April-2022  01:09:57 (GMT +10) - by Agg This month's "Retro Let's Play" is Left 4 Dead 2, which surely only just scrapes into "Retro" having been released in 2009. Wait, that was 13 years ago now. Alrighty then. The story starts around noon in Savannah, Georgia, when the Green Flue, commonly known as "The Infection" has taken hold, the last rescue helicopter leaves the building, the four unlucky Survivors climb up the hotel to find out that they are just a couple of seconds too late, watching their chances of escape fly away. With this newfound predicament, the group decide to go to a mall where it is said that another evacuation center is still in operation. click for the thread! Meanwhile this month's "Retro Racing" game is Extreme G N64 from 1997. Extreme-G is a futuristic racing video game developed by Probe Entertainment and published by Acclaim Entertainment, featuring an original trance soundtrack. It was released for the Nintendo 64 in 1997, and was released in Japan on May 29, 1998. Despite the crowded field of Nintendo 64 racing games, Extreme-G was met with moderately positive reviews and was a commercial success. A sequel, Extreme-G 2, was released in 1998, followed by two additional games: Extreme-G 3 and XGRA: Extreme G Racing Association. click for the thread! Wednesday Night Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Wednesday, 6-April-2022  22:19:51 (GMT +10) - by Agg Motherboard & CPU: Intel Core i9-12900KS Review - The Best Just Got Better on TechPowerUp. EVGA Z690 CLASSIFIED LGA1700 Motherboard on MadShrimps. Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Ultra (DDR5) Motherboard on FunkyKit. ASRock Z690 Aqua OC Motherboard on Tweaktown. AMD Ryzen 5 4500 on LanOC. AMD Spring CPU Refresh: Ryzen 7 5700X And An Affordable Ryzen 5 Trio Tested on HotHardware. ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Apex Motherboard on Tweaktown. Video Cards: ASUS GeForce RTX 3090 Ti TUF Gaming OC on Guru3D. Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Gaming OC on Guru3D. ASUS ROG Strix LC GeForce RTX 3090 Ti: Overclocking on Tweaktown. Audio Visual: UPERFECT 17.3 Inch HDR Portable Monitor on NikKTech. SPC Gear VIRO Infra headset on TechPowerUp. Quick Look: Mobile Pixels DUEX Plus Monitor on TechPowerUp. SpotCam Pano 2 Camera Review and Installation Guide on FunkyKit. Astell&Kern AK ZERO1 In-Ear Monitors on TechPowerUp. Portable & Prebuilt: Aorus 17 Alder Lake Gaming Laptop on TechPowerUp. OnePlus 10 Pro Review: A Solid Android Flagship With Innovative Cameras on HotHardware. HP Victus 16 on HighPerformanceLaptops. Acer TravelMate Spin on HighPerformanceLaptops. Input Etc: DeepCool KG722 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on FunkyKit. Thrustmaster T.Flight Full Kit X HOTAS on NikKTech. NZXT Function MiniTKL and Function Custom Keyboard on OCInside. ASUS TUF Gaming M4 Air Gaming Mouse on FunkyKit. Software: Cyberpunk 2077 Benchmarked, Again: This Time, With Ray Tracing + DLSS on Tweaktown. French Touch VR Games Bundle on NeoSeeker. NVIDIA Resizable BAR Performance Revisited on BabelTechReviews. Cooling: CORSAIR Hydro X Series XD7 RGB Pump/Reservoir Combo on TechPowerUp. Thermaltake Floe RC Ultra 240 CPU & Memory AIO Liquid Cooler on FunkyKit. Deepcool AK400 air cooler on Vortez. CORSAIR Hydro X Series XH303i RGB PRO? Water Cooling Kit on TechPowerUp. Storage: XPG Atom 30 250GB/1TB Kit Solid State Drives on APHNetworks. Lexar NM620 M.2 2280 1TB SSD on NeoSeeker. SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD V2 4TB on LanOC. MSI Spatium M480 Play 2 TB on TechPowerUp. MSI Spatium M480 Play 2TB SSD Review - PS5 Perfection on Tweaktown. Kioxia Exceria Pro 2 TB M.2 NVMe SSD on TechPowerUp. MSI Spatium M480 PLAY 2TB NVMe SSD on Guru3D. Misc: Dreame H11 Max Wet & Dry Cordless Vacuum on NikKTech. Arenti VBELL 1 Smart Wi-Fi Video Doorbell on NikKTech. mR_CaESaR's Arcade Projects (2 Comments) (link)  Tuesday, 5-April-2022  21:48:07 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN OCAU's thriving Retro & Arcade Forum is home to many spectacular refurbishments and rebuilds of gear from the yesteryear's. I've previously posted about Adicakes Retro Refurbishments and now we have another Retro Resto thread. Each pic is a thread ! mR_CaESaR likes arcade cabinets. Arcade Projects click for the thread ! Sega Aero City click for the thread ! Sega Rally Cab to PC Conversion click for the thread ! Sega Universal Upright conversion click for the thread ! Namco Noir Clean Up click for the thread ! Another Astro City Project click for the thread ! Sega Blast Cities click for the thread ! OCAU Merchandise (67 Comments) (link)  Sunday, 3-April-2022  15:50:03 (GMT +10) - by Agg It's been a while since I've reminded you that we have OCAU Merchandise over on RedBubble. There's various goodies in there, including our 20th Anniversary mugs: Click for the product page! Misc Pics (43 Comments) (link)  Friday, 1-April-2022  12:17:24 (GMT +10) - by Agg April Fools, obviously. :) Here's the real Misc Pics for this week. There is no OCAU Premium subscriber service, and eagle-eyed readers will recall we used the same April Fools back in 2016. Thanks to MUTMAN and Simon this week! Misc Pics (25 Comments) (link)  Friday, 1-April-2022  10:28:37 (GMT +10) - by Agg Early this week!

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