December 2024

Sunday Night Review Wrap (0 Comments) (link)  Sunday, 29-December-2024  23:23:35 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN Audio Visual: Creative Pebble X Plus 2.1 Speaker System @ NikKTech EIZO FlexScan EV3240X @ TechPowerUp Titan Army P27GR Monitor @ OCinside Alienware AW2725QF Dual Resolution Monitor @ TweakTown Dangbei Atom ALPD Laser Projector @ TechPowerUp DUNU DK3001BD In-Ear Monitors @ TechPowerUp Edifier QR65 Hi-Res Wireless Multimedia Speakers @ NikKTech FiiO BTR17 Portable Bluetooth DAC and Headphones Amplifier @ TechPowerUp Keyboard, Mouse: AQIRYS LYNX Gaming Mouse @ Madshrimps KiiBOOM Loop75 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard @ TechPowerUp Epomaker RT80 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard @ aphNetworks Cherry MX 3.0S Wireless RGB Full Size Mechanical Gaming Keyboard @ NikKTech Montech MKey PRO Wireless Mechanical Keyboard @ TechPowerUp ENDORFY LIV Plus Wireless Gaming Mouse @ Madshrimps Logitech G PRO X SUPERLIGHT 2 DEX Wireless Gaming Mouse @ TweakTown Corsair Virtuoso MAX Wireless headset @ guru3D Endgame Gear XM2w 4K @ TechPowerUp HYTE CNVS Intense Play Mat @ ThinkComputers FL Esports OG98 Tri-Mode Mechanical Keyboard @ TechPowerUp ASUS ROG Harpe Ace Extreme Wireless Gaming Mouse @ TweakTown SteelSeries Apex Pro Gen 3 Gaming Keyboard @ TweakTown LEOBOG Hi75 Mechanical Keyboard @ aphNetworks Ajazz AK820 Max Mechanical Wireless Keyboard @ Madshrimps Case & Cooling: Open Benchtable/Elmor Labs BENCHLAB @ TweakTown Cooler Master MasterFrame 600 @ TechPowerUp CORSAIR Nautilus 360 RS ARGB Liquid @ FunkyKit ASUS ROG Ryujin III 360 ARGB Extreme Liquid @ ThinkComputers Montech HyperFlow 360 ARGB AIO Liquid CPU Cooler @ NikKTech Storage: Corsair MP700 Elite Gen5 SSD @ ThePCEnthusiast Corsair MP700 Elite 2TB SSD @ TweakTown Samsung 990 EVO Plus @ ThePCEnthusiast TeamGroup Z540 PCIe 5.0 SSD and Dark AirFlow SSD Cooler @ Neoseeker Team Group T-FORCE Dark AirFlow I SSD Cooler @ TechPowerUp Kingston NV3 2TB Solid State Drive @ aphNetworks Motherboard, Memory, CPU: MSI MEG Z890 Ace Motherboard @ TweakTown Crucial 32GB (16GBx2) DDR5-5600 SODIMM @ Madshrimps AMD X870E Motherboard Mash-Up @ HotHardware ASRock Z890 LiveMixer WIFI @ cowcotland MSI MPG Z890 Carbon WiFi @ Vortez Kingston FURY Renegade RGB 48GB DDR5-8400 CUDIMM @ FunkyKit ASRock Phantom gaming Z890 NOVA @ guru3D ASRock Arc B580 Steel Legend @ cowcotland PSU: Enermax PlatiGemini 1200 W Platinum ATX 3.1 PSU @ guru3D Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4070 Super Gaming OC 12G @ ThinkComputers MAXSUN Intel Arc B580 iCraft 12G @ guru3D ASRock Steel Legend Intel Arc B580 Graphics Card @ FunkyKit Software & Benchmark: GPU Test System Update for 2025 @ TweakTown NVIDIA DLSS, Reflex, Ray Tracing, Ray Reconstruction @ cowcotland Arrow Lake Retested with Latest 24H2 Updates and New BIO @ TechPowerUp Portable & Prebuilt: Montech MKey PRO Wireless Mechanical Keyboard @ HotHardware Network: Netgear Orbi 970 @ guru3D Misc: FiiO Industrial Park/Factory Tour + Interview with Founder @ TechPowerUp Retro Misc Pics (5 Comments) (link)  Friday, 27-December-2024  15:20:16 (GMT +10) - by Agg Just got back from a cruise and the trip home took forever due to holiday traffic.. so here's Retro Misc Pics from March 2012. Hope you had a great Xmas and have a happy and safe New Year. BTW, people are sharing their Steam Replay 2024 pages - maybe you'll see a new game to occupy you for the holidays. 2nd March 2012: 9th March 2012: 16th March 2012: 23rd March 2012: R.I.P. Gordon Mah Ung (4 Comments) (link)  Tuesday, 24-December-2024  14:54:01 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN Gordon Mah Ung has passed away at 58, from pancreatic cancer :( A hugely popular computing reporter, writer and YouTube personality, his style, deadpan humour, and occasional bursts of outrage will be sorely missed. Gamers Nexus has a tribute clip here. Be Classy Internet Monday Night News (1 Comments) (link)  Monday, 23-December-2024  23:56:15 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN Some news while the boss is on a boat. One Microsoft Way. It's not just the address of Microsoft HQ. "We're implementing logic that determines how often to show a nudge so as not to overwhelm users, but we don't let them permanently opt out of passkey invitations," explained Sangeeta Ranjit, group product manager, and Scott Bingham, principal product manager. Having trouble keeping track of all those streaming subscriptions? Enjoy the irony of Netflix struggling to identify and understand the cost of its AWS estate. The post concludes by revealing Netflix's intention to "move towards proactive approaches via predictive analytics and ML for optimizing usage and detecting anomalies in cost." You read that right: Netflix, one of the most famous users of public cloud, isn't in total control of its cloud spend and needs to get better at detecting anomalies. WD might be close to releasing a HAMR HDD. We have asked both Toshiba and Western Digital for comment on the identity of the second HAMR customer mentioned by Intevac. B&F believes this is likely WD because of its budget and market as well as the fact that it lines up with a timeline it gave previously for volume shipping of the technology. The USA vs China tech war appears to have another target. In August two US lawmakers urged the Biden administration to probe the Chinese router-manufacturer and its affiliates over fears their wi-fi routers could be used in cyberattacks against the US, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The US Commerce, Defense and Justice departments have opened separate probes into the company, with authorities targeting a ban on the sale of TP-Link routers in the US as early as next year, the report said. Intel ex-CEO Pat Gelsinger finds himself in the news, yet again. The lawsuit accuses Pat Gelsinger of mismanagement, misleading disclosures, demanding the return of their compensations and other gains to the company. The plaintiffs seek the entire sum of Gelsinger's $207 million salary that he earned during his tenure, which would then be paid back to Intel. In the first sign of changes to come after the formation of a new industry group, Intel has confirmed it is no longer working on the x86S specification. Intel originally announced its intentions to de-bloat the x86 instruction set by developing a simplified 64-bit mode-only x86S version, publishing a draft specification in May 2023, and then updating it to a 1.2 revision in June of this year. Now, the company says it has officially ended that initiative. Retro Misc Pics (5 Comments) (link)  Friday, 20-December-2024  11:52:15 (GMT +10) - by Agg I'm on a boat, so here's Retro Misc Pics from February 2012. Merry Xmas - hope you have a happy and safe holiday. 3rd Feb 2012: 10th Feb 2012: 17th Feb 2012: 24th Feb 2012: Wednesday Afternoon Reviews (1 Comments) (link)  Wednesday, 18-December-2024  13:24:04 (GMT +10) - by Agg Thanks to MUTMAN for putting these together: Audio Visual: 1MORE SonoFlow Pro Bluetooth Headset @ aphNetworks Acer Predator X39 Monitor @ TweakTown ASUS ZenBeam L2 Portable LED Projector @ ThinkComputers Keyboard, Mouse, Etc: Huion KAMVAS 13 Creative Pen @ NikKTech Corsair M55 Lightweight Wired Gaming Mouse @ FunkyKit WIZMAX CALUX Low Profile Wireless Mechanical Keyboard @ TechPowerUp Epomaker Cypher 21 Wireless Mechanical Number Pad @ aphNetworks Cases and Cooling: ID-Cooling FROZN A620 GDL @ TweakTown Arctic P12 PWM PST A-RGB 120 mm @ TechPowerUp Arctic Freezer 4U-SP5 @ OCinside be quiet! Light Base 600 LX @ TechPowerUp Antec FLUX Pro Full Tower @ TweakTown Storage: Samsung PM1743 E3.S 7.68TB Enterprise SSD @ TweakTown MSI DATAMAG 20Gbps Magnetic Portable SSD @ ThePCEnthusiast Motherboard, Memory, CPU: ASUS TUF Gaming Z890-Pro Wi-Fi @ TweakTown GIGABYTE Z890 AORUS MASTER Review @ Vortez MSI MPG Z890 Carbon WiFi @ ThinkComputers Crucial Pro Series DDR5-6400 32GB @ ThePCEnthusiast PSU: uper Flower LEADEX III GOLD ATX 3.1 850W @ Vortez Eaton Ellipse Pro DIN 1200VA USV @ OCinside Video Card: AsRock Arc B580 Steel Legend @ TechPowerUp ASRock Intel Arc B580 Steel Legend @ TweakTown Sparkle Arc B580 Titan OC @ TechPowerUp Intel Arc B580 Battlemage @ HotHardware Intel ARC B580 Limited Edition @ guru3D Intel Arc B580 @ TechPowerUp Intel Arc B580 GPU @ TweakTown MSI DATAMAG 20Gbps Magnetic Portable SSD @ TechPowerUp Portable & Prebuilt: ASUS Zenbook S 14 (258V) @ guru3D Misc: Woojer Vest 3 High Fidelity Haptic Vest @ HotHardware Tuesday Silicon (0 Comments) (link)  Tuesday, 17-December-2024  20:27:18 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN We've been hearing about the coveted DDR5-10000 milestone ever since DDR5 first burst onto the scene, but as of yet, no company has actually released a memory kit at that speed. It's going to happen, though, and probably soon. The reason is because memory makers have started adopting an on-device clock driver (CKD). Intel's 18A process yields were on the order of 10%. The numbers simply didn't add up; Intel had already reported a defect rate of less than 0.4 defects per square centimeter. As we said back in September, those are quite good yields for bleeding-edge processor fabrication technology. The SoundSlide is a laptop accessory that takes away the need to click. It’s a capacitive touch controller that plugs into a USB Type-C port and lets you control the volume on any Windows, Mac, or Linux laptop by sliding your finger across the surface. LG is bending the rules of physics with its first-ever stretchable display that expands with impressive elasticity and micro-LEDs. The new display is capable of expanding up to 50%, the highest rate of elongation in the industry. Recall was among the first advanced Copilot+ features Microsoft revealed earlier this year, turning the NPU loose on that data to create a searchable database of everything you've done on your PC. It comes off as a bit creepy, even if it could also be very useful in some instances. Desperate for an 9800X3D - "We are working diligently to get as much supply to market as soon as possible, with more processors being shipped every week. We expect availability to get better as shipments ramp throughout the quarter," an AMD representative stated. Saturday Space Bits and Bobs (7 Comments) (link)  Saturday, 14-December-2024  17:09:10 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN NASA Takes A Deep Dive Into Uranus And Solves Gassy Giant's Hidden Secrets. It's been a while since Uranus was probed up close, but old data is proving to be quite valuable in solving a few decades old oddities. The last spacecraft that flew by Uranus was NASA’s Voyager 2 in 1986. A former NASA engineer turned YouTuber has found a round-a-bout way to give people the opportunity to snap a selfie of themselves from space. The satellite will also send an alert to a person when it is above their location on Earth, making it possible to photobomb themselves in their own selfie from space. NASA says a bus-sized asteroid is about to make a close approach, coming within 148,000 miles of Earth. According to the space agency, the asteroid, named 2024 UQ1, measures approximately 32-feet across. ESO’s VLT refuses to be put out to pasture. It is still capable of delivering images such as the one of a dying star some 160,000 light years from Earth. “For the first time, we have succeeded in taking a zoomed-in image of a dying star in a galaxy outside our own Milky Way,” remarked an astrophysicist from Universidad Andrés Bello. And the last one from our General Astro, Cosmo and Space thread. Australia's top meteor shower, the Geminids, will grace our skies again this weekend. The annual shower, which is formed when the Earth moves through the debris of a weird asteroid called 3200 Phaethon, peaks in the early hours of Saturday, December 14. Keen stargazers might also catch some meteors in the early hours of Friday and Sunday if you know where — and most importantly — when to look. Thanks JSmith for the links and post. And if you're in SEQ, forget it this year. Misc Pics (27 Comments) (link)  Friday, 13-December-2024  13:50:10 (GMT +10) - by Agg Ooh, Friday the 13th. Actually the only spooky thing about today is how close Christmas is. Thanks to mpot and metamorphosis this week! Wednesday News Catch-Up (0 Comments) (link)  Wednesday, 11-December-2024  20:14:45 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN Intel CEO, Pat Gelsinger retired abruptly, ending a nearly four-year run. The company on Monday said it named David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus, as interim co-CEOs. The board has formed a search committee to find a permanent successor to Gelsinger, 63 years old, who stepped down Sunday. A Scottish children’s hospital charity has introduced a gamer in residence for young patients in Glasgow. The new job involves visiting children to play video games with them, preventing boredom and providing some light relief. Steven Mair, who was appointed by the Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity, says gaming has already provided huge benefits to the patients. Microsoft will charge Windows 10 users $30 per year for security updates. The ESU program enables users to receive essential monthly security patches after October 14, 2025, ensuring that systems remain protected from evolving cyber threats. This new subscription will also include consumers on personal devices. A trend on Reddit that sees Londoners giving false restaurant recommendations in order to keep their favorites clear of tourists and social media influencers highlights the inherent flaws of Google Search’s reliance on Reddit and Google's AI Overview. After a couple of recent social media posts, which claimed Microsoft was training AI on user’s Word and Excel data sent users into a frenzy, Microsoft has responded. According to the software giant, it was all just a big misunderstanding, much like an incident with Adobe earlier this year. Diamond Battery breakthrough can power devices for thousands of years. The battery can provide a huge amount of power. It's very exciting, because the new diamond battery technology can provide this power for, without exaggeration, thousands of years. Since the launch of the Steam Deck, PC handheld devices have become a hot segment in the gaming market. Though, the only one capable of officially running SteamOS has been Valve’s device. However, it appears as if this might not be the case for much longer. News Bytes (0 Comments) (link)  Tuesday, 10-December-2024  22:55:17 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN Some recent articles with a close to home flavour. Even though most of today's aircraft rely heavily on GPS for navigation, the technology is far from infallible. That's why an alternative system is in the works, which may soon allow planes to navigate by "reading the fingerprint" of the terrain they're flying over. Colossal released a progress report on the work involved in resurrecting the thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger, which went extinct when the last known survivor died in a zoo in 1936. Marsupial biology has some features that may make de-extinction somewhat easier. The Federal government is announcing details of its landmark review of Australia’s research and development performance to help power economic growth. We are releasing Terms of Reference for the Strategic Examination of R&D announced at the last budget. Boost Mobile services the prepaid mobile market and, in contrast to other MVNOs, operates on Telstra's entire mobile network while others utilise just its wholesale network. iTnews understands that Telstra paid roughly $100 million all-cash for Boost. Australia’s first standalone Cybersecurity Bill has passed into law, introducing a mandatory ransomware reporting regime and protections for businesses that cooperate with authorities in the aftermath of a cyber-attack. The Cyber Security Bill, which also introduces mandatory security standards for Internet of Things devices, passed the Senate after a short debate on Monday with bipartisan support. Electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid vehicle owners in Australia could soon use their cars to power their own homes, with the federal government finally announcing vehicle-to-grid charging will be approved for use locally by 2025. Monday Morning Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Monday, 9-December-2024  01:42:37 (GMT +10) - by Agg Motherboard & CPU: GIGABYTE Z890 AORUS Pro Ice Motherboard on Tweaktown. ASRock X870 STEEL LEGEND WIFI on Guru3D. Aorus X870 Elite WiFi 7 Motherboard on HWAsylum. MSI Z890 MPG Carbon WIFI Motherboard on Guru3D. ASRock Z890 Taichi Lite Motherboard on Tweaktown. ASrock Z890 TAICHI on Vortez. Memory: XPG LANCER RGB 32GB DDR5 7200MHz CL34 Dual-Channel Kit on NikKTech. Silicon Power XPOWER Pulse 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5-6000 Gaming Kit on MadShrimps. Essencore KLEVV CRAS V RGB ROG Edition 48GB DDR5-7200 Memory Kit on FunkyKit. Crucial Pro DDR5-5600 CL46 64 GB on TechPowerUp. Input Etc: Hitscan Hyperlight ambidextrous mouse on TechPowerUp. Epomaker RT65 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard on APHNetworks. HYTE Keeb TKL Mechanical Keyboard on TechPowerUp. Epomaker TH40 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard on APHNetworks. LUMINKEY Magger68 Pro HE Gaming Keyboard on TechPowerUp. Glorious Model O 2 Mini Wireless on TechPowerUp. Epomaker x AULA F65 Mechanical Wireless Keyboard on MadShrimps. Corsair K70 CORE TKL RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on FunkyKit. Storage: TeamGroup PD20M Mag Portable SSD on Neoseeker. Klevv CRAS C925 2TB SSD on Tweaktown. TeamGroup T-CREATE Classic C47 2TB NVMe M.2 PCIE 4.0 x4 SSD on FunkyKit. Cooling: Noctua NH-L12Sx77 & NH-L9x65 chromax.black CPU Coolers on NikKTech. Scythe Mugen 6 DBE (Dual Fan Black Edition) CPU Cooler on ThinkComputers. DeepCool Assassin IV VC Vision - CPU Cooler with LCD Display on Guru3D. Noctua Home Lineup fans on LanOC. Power Supply: Seasonic FOCUS GX ATX 3.0 850 W PSU on TechPowerUp. ASRock Steel Legend SL-850G 850W on FunkyKit. Audio Visual: HIFIMAN HE1000 Unveiled Planar Magnetic Headphones on TechPowerUp. Craft Ears Omnium Universal In-Ear Monitors on TechPowerUp. xDuoo XD05T Portable DAC and Tube Amplifier on TechPowerUp. Corsair Xeneon 34WQHD240-C 34-inch Ultrawide OLED Gaming Monitor on Tweaktown. FiiO FT1 Closed-Back Dynamic Driver Headphones on TechPowerUp. UPERFECT UGame K118 portable gaming monitor on TechPowerUp. iFi audio NEO iDSD 2 Ultra Res DAC & Headphone Amplifier on NikKTech. Creative Pebble X Plus Desktop Computer Speakers on APHNetworks. FiFine M9 Dual Wireless Lavalier Microphone on ThinkComputers. Ubiquiti Cameras – AI Series on StorageReview. Video Cards: MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER 16G GAMING X SLIM on FunkyKit. Sparkle Arc A770 ROC on TechPowerUp. Portable & Prebuilt: Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition laptop on SMBtech. MSI Creator 16 AI Studio A1VHG laptop on SMBtech. Aftershock PC Nimbus (7800X3D + RTX 4070 SUPER) Gaming PC on Tweaktown. Lenovo ThinkCentre Neo Ultra on StorageReview. Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Tiny on StorageReview. Cases: ssupd Xhuttle case on TechPowerUp. Geometic Future Model 5 on TechPowerUp. FSP M580 Plus on TechPowerUp. APNX V1-W Dual Chamber Mid-Tower on Tweaktown. Chieftec APEX E-ATX Chassis on Tweaktown. Thermaltake The Tower 600 on TechPowerUp. ENDORFY Arx 700 ARGB PC Case on NikKTech. Misc Pics (19 Comments) (link)  Friday, 6-December-2024  14:51:47 (GMT +10) - by Agg Ugh, internet issues. Working now. Videogame exhibition is looking for your best case mods (1 Comments) (link)  Wednesday, 4-December-2024  17:22:37 (GMT +10) - by Agg Here's a request from ACMI: ACMI - Australia’s natural museum of screen culture based in Melbourne - is developing a major videogames exhibition for 2025. They are looking for early examples of case mods. Do you still have a case from late 90’s/ 2000’s that could be displayed? Did you organised or attended LAN parties in early 2000’s, and have promotional material or photographs from the events? Interested in participating in the exhibition? Learn more and submit your photos via this thread! Retro Gaming November 2024 (16 Comments) (link)  Sunday, 1-December-2024  21:40:50 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN This month's "Retro Let's Play" for November is Unreal Tournament 99 from 1999 Unreal Tournament 1999, commonly known as UT99, is one of the most iconic and influential first-person shooters in gaming history. UT99 was released on November 30, 1999, for Microsoft Windows, and later for Mac OS, Linux, and other platforms including Sega Dreamcast. UT99 became an instant classic and remains a favourite amongst loyal fans worldwide over 25 years later. The game is highly customisable through the use of downloadable Maps, Mutators, Voice Packs, HD textures and more, which allow you to change up gameplay significantly. The use of custom taunts (voice packs) to mock those whose virtual brains you have just blown out is a favourite feature for many. click for the thread!

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