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August 2023 |
Thursday Morning
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Thursday, 31-August-2023 00:30:41 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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A quick shout-out to MUTMAN, frequent contributor to the news page, who has had a bit of a health scare recently - our thoughts are with you mate.
India recently landed their third lunar mission, the first to explore the South Pole. Hours later, the Pragyaan rover - Pragyaan is the Sanskrit word for wisdom - exited the lander and took its first steps on the Moon. The Indian space agency has been providing regular updates on the rover's findings, the distance it is covering and how it is negotiating the obstacles in its path.
Meanwhile Russia's crashed and was lost nearby. The craft was due to be the first ever to land on the Moon's south pole, but failed after encountering problems as it moved into its pre-landing orbit. It was set to explore a part of the Moon which scientists think could hold frozen water and precious elements. Roscosmos, Russia's state space corporation, said on Sunday morning that it had lost contact with the Luna-25 shortly after 14:57pm (11:57 GMT) on Saturday. Preliminary findings showed that the 800kg lander had "ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon", it said in a statement.
Tony_L sent word that Dell have been fined for dubious discounts on monitors in Australia. According to the ACCC, Dell sold over 5,300 monitors or displays with "overstated discounts" with false information about discounts, total savings, and the % off. Dell has worked with the ACCC throughout the legal process and has apparently provided refunds to affected customers.
Myne_h meanwhile sent word that NVIDIA BIOS modding is back on the menu. You can now play with NVIDIA GeForce graphics card BIOS like it's 2013! Over the last decade, NVIDIA had effectively killed video BIOS modding by introducing BIOS signature checks. With GeForce 900-series "Maxwell," the company added an on-die security processor on all its GPUs, codenamed "Falcon," which among other things, prevents the GPU from booting with unauthorized firmware. OMGVflash by Veii; and NVflashk by Kefinator (forum names), are two independently developed new tools that let you flash almost any video BIOS onto almost any NVIDIA GeForce graphics card, bypassing "unbreakable" barriers NVIDIA put in place, such as BIOS signature checks; and vendor/device checks (cross-flashing). vBIOS signature check bypass works up to RTX 20-series "Turing" based GPUs, letting you modify the BIOS the way you want, while cross-flashing (sub-vendor ID check bypass) works even on the latest RTX 4090 "Ada."
It's 2023 and printers still suck - and some people think it's deliberate. Customers in the proposed class action said HP concealed how its printers enter an "error state" when low on ink, disabling scanning and faxing functions that do not require ink, and forcing them to buy unnecessary, high-margin ink cartridges.
If you're a WinRAR user you should upgrade due to a security issue. The issue's been patched up in the latest version of WinRAR, so as long as you're up-to-date, there's not too much to worry about. WinRAR 6.23 also plugs a hole where a carefully-crafted archive could make the application load the wrong file, which may not be quite as dangerous, but could certainly be confusing.
Wednesday Afternoon Reviews
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Wednesday, 30-August-2023 17:19:37 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Storage:
KIOXIA EXCERIA PRO SSD on Vortez.
Silicon Power UD85 2TB 2280 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD on MadShrimps.
Memory:
ADATA XPG Lancer RGB 32GB DDR5-7200 Memory Kit on FunkyKit.
Patriot Viper Venom RGB DDR5 7400 CL36 2x16 GB on Guru3D.
Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 DDR5-7600 32GB Memory Kit on FunkyKit.
Software:
Immortals of Aveum: FSR 2.2 vs. DLSS 2 vs. DLSS 3 Comparison on TechPowerUp.
Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon Benchmark Test & Performance Analysis on TechPowerUp.
Power Supply:
Corsair SF850L SFX ATX 3.0 80 PLUS Gold PSU on Tweaktown.
be quiet! Straight Power 12 1500W Power Supply Unit on NikKTech.
Misc:
INKBIRD IAM-T1 Smart Indoor Air Quality Monitor on NikKTech.
Cooler Master Hyper 622 Halo Black CPU Air Cooler microphone on Tweaktown.
AVerMedia Live Streamer MIC 350 on ThinkComputers.
Audio Visual and Video Card:
XGIMI HORIZON Pro 4K Smart Home Projector @ NikKTech
Radeon RX 7800 XT And RX 7700 XT @ HotHardware
Cases, Cooling and PSU:
Corsair 2000D Airflow mITX SFF Case @ TweakTown
Thermaltake SWAFAN EX12 RGB Fan @ ThinkComputers
COUGAR DuoFace Pro RGB Mid-Tower Case @ TweakTown
Cooler Master V SFX Platinum 1100W @ LanOC
Keyboard, Mouse, Etc:
ROCCAT Vulcan II Mechanical Keyboard @ aphNetworks
Razer Cobra Pro Wireless Gaming Mouse @ TweakTown
Logitech MX Keys S Combo @ cowcotland
Ducky One3 Aura TKL @ Vortez
G-Wolves HTX 4K @ TechPowerUp
Misc:
eufy RoboVac LR30 Hybrid Plus Robotic Vacuum Cleaner @ NikKTech
gamescom 2023 Video Coverage @ OCinside
Immortals of Aveum Benchmark Test and Performance Analysis @ TechPowerUp
Network:
EnGenius ECW270 WiFi 6 4x4 Outdoor Access Point @ LanOC
Portable & Prebuilt:
Cyberpower PC Ultra 55 4T @ Vortez
Acer Swift Go 16 @ HighPerformanceLaptops
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 @ HighPerformanceLaptops
ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D @ HotHardware
ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 (G733PYV) @ guru3D
Storage:
Addlink S91 2TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD @ guru3D
Synology DiskStation DS223j 2-Bay Home NAS @ TweakTown
Friday again! My plans for this weekend include doing my tax - yay.
     
     
     
     
Tuesday Night Reviews
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Tuesday, 22-August-2023 19:36:07 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Motherboard & CPU:
ASRock Z790 Taichi Lite Motherboard on FunkyKit.
ASRock Z790 Taichi Motherboard on Tweaktown.
Memory:
Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 RGB DDR5-8000 CL38 2x 16 GB on TechPowerUp.
G.Skill Ripjaws S5 DDR5-6400 32GB Dual-Channel Memory Kit on Tweaktown.
Storage:
Samsung 990 PRO HS 2TB SSD Review - Best Gen4 SSD on Tweaktown.
Asustor AS5404T NAS (4x HDD / 4x NVMe) on Guru3D.
Crucial P5 Plus 1TB W/Heatsink on LanOC.
Lexar NM790 4 TB Review - Tons of Fast Storage at a Great Price on TechPowerUp.
Phison E26 Max14um ES 2TB SSD World Exclusive Preview - Fastest in history on Tweaktown.
Portable & Prebuilt:
Lenovo Yoga 9i (2023 Model) 14-inch Laptop on ThinkComputers.
GEEKOM AS 6 "AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX" Mini PC on Tweaktown.
GEEKOM AS 5 "AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX" Mini PC on Tweaktown.
Audio Visual:
SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless Xbox & PC Gaming Headset on MadShrimps.
Genesis Helium 800BT 2.1 Gaming Speakers on NikKTech.
Meze ELITE Open-Back Planar Magnetic Headphones on TechPowerUp.
MSI MAG 274UPF Esports 4K 27-inch Gaming Monitor on Tweaktown.
Quick Look: S.M.S.L SU-1 DAC - Inexpensive, Not Cheap! on TechPowerUp.
Fosi Audio BT30D Pro amp on OCInside.
Tribit FlyBuds C2 earbuds on DVHardware.
Video Cards:
Arc Graphics Updates And PresentMon Tested: Intel Makes Huge Strides on HotHardware.
ASUS Dual Radeon RX 7600 OC Edition on Tweaktown.
AMD Radeon Pro W7900 And W7800 Review: Potent Pro-Vis Graphics Punch on HotHardware.
Power Supply:
DeepCool PX1000G 1000W PCIe 5.0 PSU on FunkyKit.
Seasonic Vertex GX-850 ATX 3.0 and PCIe 5.0 Power Supply on OCInside.
Input Etc:
Razer Cobra Pro mouse on TechPowerUp.
ROCCAT Vulcan II Mini Air Wireless Mechanical Keyboard on APHNetworks.
AQIRYS MIRA Gaming Keyboard on MadShrimps.
Razer Basilisk V3 X Hyperspeed mouse on TechPowerUp.
Melgeek Modern97 Mechanical Keyboard on ThinkComputers.
Furniture:
Sharkoon SKILLER SGS40 Gaming Chair on NikKTech.
ASUS ROG Destrier Ergo Gaming Chair on Guru3D.
Misc:
Atlas Fallen Benchmark Test & Performance Analysis on ThinkComputers.
Thermaltake Core P3 TG Pro cases on LanOC.
DeepCool AK400 Digital CPU Cooler on APHNetworks.
Friday again!
     
     
     
     
Friday Afternoon
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Friday, 18-August-2023 13:37:17 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Bram Moolenaar of (among other things) VIM editor fame has passed away. Bram dedicated a large part of his life to VIM and he was very proud of the VIM community that you are all part of. Discussion here.
I don't normally post leaks but this one of the 96-core Threadripper seems noteworthy if accurate. In terms of performance, the CPU scored 2095 points within the single-core tests which is around the same ballpark as a 5.1 GHz clocked Ryzen 7000 CPU but the multi-core performance is simply mindblowing. The chip scored a monumental 81,408 points within the multi-threaded benchmark which is a massive 70% gain over the fastest Threadripper Pro 5995WX which was overclocked to 4.35 GHz across all cores using a custom water-cooled setup which scored 48,025 points.
Tom sent word that Disney aren't going to release DVDs or Blu-Rays in Australia anymore. Disney will no longer be releasing DVDs or Blu-ray in Australia, striking a major blow against physical media. Despite putting their theatrical content on their streaming service Disney+ after running in cinemas, Disney has continued to release physical media for all their films. This has allowed fans of Disney to keep physical collections of their favorite films without having to rely on streaming services.
A huge online archive of Leonardo Da Vinci material has been made available. Spanning about 6,000 pages, these collected notes can now be explored through an online experience, aptly called Inside A Genius Mind, which was created by a fascinating collaboration of AI technology and human scholarship. View it here.
Retro Gaming August 2023
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Thursday, 17-August-2023 19:34:47 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN
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This month's "Retro Let's Play" for August is Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis from 1992. The great archaeologist and adventurer has to solve a grand mystery once again, aided by his trusty whip, his sharp wit, and his courage. A man who calls himself Mr. Smith is interested in a certain ancient statue. When the unsuspecting Indy hands it over to the client, he finds out that Mr. Smith is in fact a colonel in the Nazi army! A young woman who had once worked together with Indy, the pretty red-haired Sophia, tells him the whole thing must have a connection with the legendary lost continent Atlantis...
click for the thread!
Meanwhile this month's "Retro Racing" game is Gran Turismo from 1997. The first game in the Gran Turismo series, you can choose between the arcade version (featuring classic cars such as Corvettes and Aston Martins) or the simulation. The simulation starts you on an entire racing career starting with a cheap used car and average tracks. As you win races, acquire money, and earn advanced licenses, you are able to buy better cars and race in more competitive matches right up to the GT World Cup. The game features more than 140 cars and 11 detailed tracks.
click for the thread!
Muchas Gracias JSmith. A big double effort this month. Cheers.
Monday Night Reviews
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Monday, 14-August-2023 22:33:39 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Video Cards:
SAPPHIRE Pulse AMD Radeon RX 7600 8GB OC on NikKTech.
ASRock Radeon RX 7600 Phantom Gaming 8GB OC on Tweaktown.
SPARKLE Intel Arc A750 TITAN OC Edition on Tweaktown.
ASUS GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Dual OC on TechPowerUp.
Audio Visual:
VIVIDSTORM S ALR Motorized Tension Floor Rising Obsidian Projector Screen on NikKTech.
MOONDROP Solis 2 In-Ear Monitors on TechPowerUp.
Corsair HS80 Max Wireless Headset on Guru3D.
HIFIMAN HE1000 Stealth Open-Back Headphones on TechPowerUp.
Nebula Capsule 3 Laser on LanOC.
Razer Hammerhead Pro HyperSpeed Review: Sleek ANC Gaming Earbuds on HotHardware.
Monster DNA Fit Wireless Earbuds on ThinkComputers.
Cases:
Antec Performance 1 FT Computer Case on APHNetworks.
Phanteks NV7 Full Tower on Tweaktown.
Cooling:
DeepCool Assassin IV CPU Air Cooler on Tweaktown.
Scythe Kotetsu Mark 3 CPU Air Cooler on Tweaktown.
Storage:
Crucial T700 Pro Series 2TB Gen5 M.2 SSD on NIkKTech.
ADATA XPG GAMMIX S70 Blade 2TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD on FunkyKit.
Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB on TechPowerUp.
Input Etc:
Corsair K70 MAX keyboard on Guru3D.
Montech MKey Freedom Mechanical Keyboard on Tweaktown.
Memory:
Colorful CVN ICICLE DDR5-6600 CL34 2x 16GB on TechPowerUp.
Portable & Prebuilt:
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 And Z Fold5 Review: The Folding Phones To Beat on HotHardware.
Dell XPS 17 (9730) Review: A High-Performance, Gorgeous Laptop on HotHardware.
HP Pavilion X360 14 on HighPerformanceLaptops.
Asus Vivobook S 14 on HighPerformanceLaptops.
Geekom Mini IT12 Mini PC w/ Core i7-1260P on Guru3D.
Friday again! Something random I discovered this week: if you have a folder open in explorer, and type "cmd" into the address bar, you get a cmd prompt already cd'd to that directory. Handy.
     
     
     
     
Audio Visual:
HyperX Cloud III Gaming Headset @ TweakTown
Dangbei Mars 1080P Full HD Projector @ Neoseeker
Fosi Audio DS1 @ cowcotland
MOONDROP CHU 2 Budget In-Ear Monitors @ TechPowerUp
Benchmark:
Baldur's Gate 3 Benchmark Test & Performance Analysis @ TechPowerUp
Case & Cooling:
DeepCool AK620 Digital CPU Cooler @ aphNetworks
Cooler Master MasterBox TD500 Mesh V2 Case @ ThinkComputers
Keyboard, Mouse, Etc:
i-Rocks K71R Rechargeable Wireless Mechanical Keyboard @ Madshrimps
VGN Dragonfly F1 Pro Max @ TechPowerUp
CHERRY KW X ULP Office Mechanical Keyboard @ Madshrimps
Montech MKey TKL Mechanical Keyboard @ TechPowerUp
Misc:
Dreo PolyFan 513S Air Circulator Fan @ LanOC
Cougar Royal 150 Desk @ FunkyKit
Motherboard, Memory, CPU:
ASRock Z790 PG-ITX TB4 Motherboard @ TweakTown
XPG Lancer RGB DDR5-7200 CL34 2x 16 GB @ TechPowerUp
Portable & Prebuilt:
Google Pixel Fold @ HotHardware
PSU:
MSI MEG AI1300P PCIe5 Power Supply Unit @ NikKTech
FSP Hydro PTM Pro 1200W ATX 3.0 PSU @ FunkyKit
be quiet! Dark Power Pro 13 1300W Power Supply @ aphNetworks
FSP Hydro Ti Pro 1000W PSU @ guru3D
Storage:
Netac ZX20 1TB USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Portable SSD @ NikKTech
SSD NVMe LEXAR NM790 @ cowcotland
Crucial P5 Plus SSD w/ heatsink 2TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD @ guru3D
ADATA Legend 970 2 TB @ TechPowerUp
Patriot Viper VP4300 Lite 2TB SSD @ TweakTown
Solidigm D5-P5336 SSD @ HotHardware
Solidigm D5-P5336 Size Matters @ TweakTown
Patriot Viper VP4300 Lite 2TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD @ FunkyKit
Netac NV7000-T 2 TB @ TechPowerUp
Video Card:
Gainward GeForce RTX 4080 Phantom 16GB @ NikKTech
AMD Radeon Pro W7600 And W7500 @ HotHardware
Thanks to Kon and Lou this week!
     
     
     
     
Kevin Mitnick, one of the most famous hackers in the history of cybersecurity, died last month. “I was an old-school hacker, doing it for intellectual curiosity,” Mitnick told Wired magazine in a 2008 interview. But federal authorities were so concerned about his capabilities that when he was incarcerated again in 1995, Mitnick told CNN he was held in solitary confinement for a time out of concern that even proximity to a telephone could allow him to continue hacking. I remember reading Takedown, the story of his arrest, many years ago. There's even an (ancient) website with more details.
Speaking of books, I notice there's a new audiobook by John Romero of DooM fame. Told in remarkable detail, a byproduct of his hyperthymesia, Romero recounts his storied career—from his early days submitting Apple II code to computer magazines and sneaking computers out of the back door of his day job to do programming projects at night in his garage to a high-profile falling out with his id Software cofounder John Carmack, as well as his continued role in the gaming industry today as the managing director of Romero Games Ltd. Romero always seemed more of a character but for me the more interesting book about DooM would be by John Carmack.
If you were sad about Intel's NUC line going away, be happy that ASUS are taking it over. Under the proposed agreement, ASUS will receive a non-exclusive license to Intel’s NUC systems product line designs, enabling it to manufacture and sell 10th to 13th Gen NUC systems products and develop future designs. This will enable ASUS to provide product and support continuity for Intel NUC systems customers. ASUS will establish a new business unit called ASUS NUC BU.
I'm not quite sure how this article from October 2022 ended up in my news file, but given it's about memorable overclocking CPUs it's worth a look. I've owned a few on that list, but there's definitely one notable absence I can think of, with ties to OCAU's origins. Enthusiasts have been pushing the limits of silicon for as long as microprocessors have existed. Early overclocking endeavors involved soldering and replacing crystal clock oscillators, but that practice quickly evolved into changing system bus speeds via motherboard DIP switches and jumpers.
Seagate have launched HAMR Hard Drives which will allow capacities of 32TB and beyond. HAMR's been a long time coming. Seagate's been talking about the technology since around 2002, and started doing test prodcution in 2018, but it's only now making its way to market some 21 years after conception. Seagate expects standard perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) and shingled magnetic recording (SMR) drives to stay on the market for some time, but it'll be HAMR drives that offer the really high capacity which makes the hyperscale cloud operator guys drool.
Lately I've been playing with Arduino again, with my 16yo son and I working through some inventr.io kits (not a sponsored link). They're fun and reminded me of my Arduino review from a few years ago, as well as the OCAU thread.
MUTMAN sent in today's timewaster.. for fans of reactoridle and factoryidle there's now cityidle. I can only apologise.
Tuesday Night Reviews
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Tuesday, 1-August-2023 22:06:58 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Cooling:
Thermaltake TOUGHFAN 12 Pro 120 mm Fan on TechPowerUp.
ARCTIC Summair Plus USB Fan on APHNetworks.
Storage:
WD Blue SN580 1 TB on TechPowerUp.
Memblaze P7946 6.4TB SSD Review - The Gen5 Contender from China on Tweaktown.
Sabrent Rocket Nano v2 2 TB on TechPowerUp.
Crucial P5 Plus 2TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD on FunkyKit.
Input Etc:
DROP + The Lord of the Rings ENTR Keyboard on Tweaktown.
ROG Raikiri Pro game controller on LanOC.
G.SKILL KM250 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on ThinkComputers.
Software:
Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart Benchmark Test & Performance Analysis on TechPowerUp.
Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart: DLSS vs FSR vs XeSS Comparison on TechPowerUp.
Misc:
VEVOR SH-C22 Bluetooth Car Refrigerator on NikKTech.
V-Color ROG Manta XSky RGB DDR5 7000 CL36 32 GB on Guru3D.
be quiet! Dark Power Pro 13 1600w ATX 3.0 80 PLUS Titanium PSU on Tweaktown.
Creative Zen Air True Wireless In-Ear Headphones with ANC on MadShrimps.
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