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January 2025 |
Thanks to Matt this week!
     
     
     
     
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Reviews
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Thursday, 30-January-2025 21:18:43 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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And now it's time for RTX 5080 reviews. This is a step below the flagship 5090 and around half the price. But does it improve on the previous generation?
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition on TechPowerUp.
Galax GeForce RTX 5080 1-Click OC on TechPowerUp.
Nvidia RTX 5080 Founders Edition on LanOC.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition on Tweaktown.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition (reference) on Guru3D.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition Review With Copious Benchmarks on HotHardware.
GALAX GeForce RTX 5080 1-Click OC edition on Guru3D.
Also a straggler 5090 review:
MSI GeForce RTX 5090 SUPRIM SOC on ThePCEnthusiast.
Discussion continues in this thread.
Thursday Morning
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Thursday, 30-January-2025 01:41:29 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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There's been quite a lot of hubbub about China's DeepSeek AI over the last couple of days which I won't try to summarise, but I was intrigued by this guide to building a PC to run it at home. Interestingly it doesn't use a GPU, but it does have two EPYC CPUs and 768GB of RAM. Complete hardware + software setup for running Deepseek-R1 locally. The actual model, no distillations, and Q8 quantization for full quality. Total cost, $6,000. (USD) I understand there are smaller versions of the model which you can run on more pedestrian PCs.
Meanwhile our brains apparently process data slower than dial-up. A study published recently in Cell has shown that while the human sensory systems gathers data at roughly 1,000,000,000 bits per second, the inner brain in charge of cognition operates at a rate of a pedestrian 10 bits per second, slower than your dusty old dial-up modem. In the study titled "The Unbearable Slowness of Being," researchers Zheng Jie Yu and Markus Meister posit that this "slowness" is actually purposeful. From the vast information that the human senses absorb every second, the brain sieves down to the important bits, letting through only the important bits.
But soon our slow brains may be on supersonic airliners. The supersonic flight comes eight years after Boom first revealed the XB-1. It’s a small, roughly one-third scale version of the 64-passenger airliner Boom eventually wants to build, which it calls Overture.
Here's a cool photo of some stars - 200 million or so. The massive 42,208 by 9,870-pixel panorama is the largest photomosaic ever created using Hubble Space Telescope observations. The vast mosaic features 200 million stars, which is still just a fraction of the estimated one trillion stars in Andromeda. Spread across 2.5 billion pixels, the mosaic’s details will help scientists learn more about Andromeda’s history, including distant mergers with smaller satellite galaxies.
You could store several copies of that photo on Seagate's upcoming 36TB HDDs. Competitors Toshiba and Western Digital use variations of microwave-assisted magnetic recording (MAMR) to store bits on a recording medium that does not support such small bit areas as HAMR. This means that their disk platters have a lower areal density than Seagate’s HAMR drives, which have now reached 3.6 TB/platter with the company’s ten-platter design. As WD’s capacity tops out at 32 TB and it has an 11-platter design, its areal density is 2.91 TB/platter, 19 percent less than Seagate.
Finally, this prolonged rant from before Christmas, about how everything digital seems just awful lately. In the last year, I’ve spent about 200,000 words on a kind of personal journey where I’ve tried again and again to work out why everything digital feels so broken, and why it seems to keep getting worse, despite what tech’s “brightest” minds might promise. More regularly than not, I’ve found that the answer is fairly simple: the tech industry’s incentives no longer align with the user.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
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Wednesday, 29-January-2025 23:47:14 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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NVIDIA have unveiled their RTX 5090 GPUs, with Founders Edition reference cards and those from add-in manufacturers. This is their new flagship card, on PCI-Express 5.0, with 32GB of DDR7. Here's some reviews from the news box:
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition on TechPowerUp.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition on Tweaktown.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition (reference) on Guru3D.
Nvidia RTX 5090 Founders Edition on LanOC.
GeForce RTX 5090 Performance Review: NVIDIA Remains King Of PC Gaming on HotHardware.
MSI GeForce RTX 5090 Suprim Liquid SOC Review: Fast, Frigid Blackwell on HotHardware.
ASUS ROG GeForce RTX 5090 ASTRAL OC Gaming on Guru3D.
Palit GeForce RTX 5090 GameRock on Guru3D.
Palit GeForce RTX 5090 GameRock on TechPowerUp.
MSI GeForce RTX 5090 Suprim Liquid SOC on TechPowerUp.
MSI GeForce RTX 5090 SUPRIM SOC Review - Supreme Performance on Tweaktown.
MSI GeForce RTX 5090 Suprim SOC on TechPowerUp.
ASUS GeForce RTX 5090 Astral OC Review - Astronomical Premium on TechPowerUp.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 PCI-Express Scaling on TechPowerUp.
NVIDIA RTX Blackwell In-Depth: Exploring The Heart Of GeForce RTX 50 on HotHardware.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 Technical Deep Dive on TechPowerUp.
Wednesday Night Reviews
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Wednesday, 29-January-2025 23:33:50 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Motherboard & CPU:
ASRock Phantom Gaming B850M Riptide WiFi Motherboard on FunkyKit.
Asus ROG Strix X870-A Gaming Wi-Fi on TechPowerUp.
MSI MAG B850 TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI Motherboard on FunkyKit.
Input Etc:
Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on MadShrimps.
MechLands Vibe75 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard on APHNetworks.
Power Supply:
be quiet! Power Zone 2 - 850W High-Efficiency ATX 3.1 Power Supply on Guru3D.
Antec HCG PRO Platinum 1200W ATX 3.1 Power Supply Unit on NikKTech.
Misc:
NVIDIA DLSS 4 Transformer Review - Better Image Quality for Everyone on TechPowerUp.
Thermal Grizzly WireView & WireView Pro GPU Monitoring Tools on NikKTech.
KLEVV URBANE V DDR5-7600 32 GB CL36 memory on TechPowerUp.
Softears Studio4 In-Ear Monitors on TechPowerUp.
Corsair 9000D Airflow Full-Tower Chassis on Tweaktown.
Samsung PM1743 E3.S 15.36TB Enterprise SSD on Tweaktown.
Xiaomi Poco C75 4G Smartphone on NikKTech.
Happy Birthday to meeeee.. here's Retro Misc Pics from April 2012. Enjoy the long weekend!
6th April 2012:
     
     
     
     
13th April 2012:
     
     
     
     
20th April 2012:
     
     
     
     
27th April 2012:
     
     
     
     
Yes, it's that time of year again when we wish Agg a happy birthday, and this year is a special one, being the big 50th.
My first recollection of Aggster is back in 1999/2000, the heady days of lapping Celeron 366's and the Overclockers IRC channel becoming a thing - and since then becoming mates over the years, catching up through OCAU (countless gatherings, a few LANs, BBQs, hangovers and at least two Tarago's of Terror) and of course, catching up outside of OCAU, having travelled together to various places including the Deep South in 2012 (eating amazing BBQ, getting lost, rescuing puppies, almost getting murdered), Japan a couple of times (more food, lots of Hello Kitty, his son getting headbutted by a deer, etc) and attending each other's weddings.
So, happy birthday my friend, may it be a relaxing one, and thank you for turning 50 first, so that I can maintain my youthful demeanor for at least a few more weeks.
(and if I've broken this news post because I haven't done one for ages, please forgive me)
Friday Morning Reviews
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Friday, 24-January-2025 01:37:14 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Video Cards:
ASRock Challenger Arc B570 GPU Review: Battlemage For Even Less on HotHardware.
Intel Arc B570 Graphics Card (ASRock Challenger) on Guru3D.
Sparkle B570 Guardian OC on TechPowerUp.
ASRock Arc B570 Challenger OC on TechPowerUp.
Portable & Prebuilt:
Hands-On Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, S25 Plus And S25 on HotHardware.
OnePlus 13R Review: Value Priced, Flagship Performance And Specs on HotHardware.
Cooling:
ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 360 A-RGB AIO CPU Cooler on NikKTech.
Alphacool Apex 1 CPU Water Block on TechPowerUp.
Tryx Panorama ARGB 360 - an AIO with a panoramic screen on Guru3D.
be quiet! Light Loop 360 mm AIO on TechPowerUp.
Solidigm D7-PS1010 3.84TB Enterprise SSD Review - Best-In-Class on Tweaktown.
Thermaltake TH360 V2 Ultra EX ARGB Sync AIO Liquid Cooler – Snow Edition on FunkyKit.
Audio Visual:
Dough Spectrum Black 4K 32" - an 240Hz OLED Ultra HD Gaming Monitor on Guru3D.
Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 on HotHardware.
ASUS TUF GAMING CAPTURE BOX-4KPRO on ThinkComputers.
PowerColor Alphyn AH10 headset on TechPowerUp.
Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 3 Wireless Gaming Headset on APHNetworks.
Fosi Audio K7 Gaming Desktop DAC/Headphone Amplifier on TechPowerUp.
Input Etc:
Corsair K70 PRO TKL Hall Effect Gaming Keyboard on FunkyKit.
Pwnage StormBreaker Max CF mouse on TechPowerUp.
Power Supply:
NZXT C1500 PSU on TechPowerUp.
Eaton Ellipse ECO 1600 UPS on NikKTech.
Cooler Master X Silent Edge 80 PLUS Platinum 850w ATX 3.0 PSU on Tweaktown.
Storage:
Silicon Power PX10 1TB USB 3.2 Gen 2 External SSD on MadShrimps.
Memblaze PBlaze7 7940 30.72TB Enterprise SSD Review - Massive Capacity & Performance on Tweaktown.
Misc:
Corsair TC500 LUXE Gaming Chair on Tweaktown.
Crucial Pro Overclocking DDR5-6400 2x16GB DDR5 RAM on APHNetworks.
Montech Heritage Pro Review - The Leather Case PC case on TechPowerUp.
ASRock Z890 Lightning WiFi Motherboard on OCInside.
Friday again!
     
     
     
     
Thursday Night Reviews
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Thursday, 16-January-2025 22:24:41 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Nice little 11-hour power outage last night - bring on the solar battery install!
Motherboard & CPU:
ASUS ROG Strix B860-A Gaming Wi-Fi on TechPowerUp.
ASUS ROG Strix B850-F Gaming WiFi on TechPowerUp.
Input Etc:
G-Wolves Hati-S2 8K mouse on TechPowerUp.
Quick Look: Huion Kamvas 16 (Gen 3) Graphics Tablet on TechPowerUp.
MechLands AULA F99 Pro Wireless Mechanical Keyboard on APHNetworks.
ASUS ROG Harpe Ace Extreme - The $250 Mouse on Guru3D.
LAMZU Maya X mouse on TechPowerUp.
Royal Kludge S85 TKL Wireless Mechanical Keyboard on TechPowerUp.
Memory:
KLEVV URBANE V RGB DDR5-7600 32GB Dual-Channel Memory Kit on Tweaktown.
Predator HERA RGB 32GB DDR5-8000 Memory Kit on FunkyKit.
ACER Predator Hera RGB 32GB DDR5 8000MHz CL36 Dual-Channel Kit on NikKTech.
Crucial 32GB (16GBx2) DDR5-6400 CUDIMM Memory Kit on MadShrimps.
Audio Visual:
ThieAudio Origin In-Ear Monitors on TechPowerUp.
Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite In-Ear Monitors on NikKTech.
HEDDphone TWO GT Air Motion Transformer Headphones on TechPowerUp.
Storage:
TEAMGROUP X1 MAX 1TB USB Flash Drive on FunkyKit.
Samsung 990 Pro 1TB SSD Worth It? A 2025 analysis on Guru3D.
DapuStor Haishen5 H5100 3.84TB E1.S Enterprise SSD on Tweaktown.
KLEVV Genuine G560 2TB NVMe M.2 PCIe 5.0 SSD on FunkyKit.
Power Supply:
Lian Li EG1000G Edge 80 PLUS Gold ATX 3.0 PSU on Tweaktown.
Seasonic Focus GX-1000 (2024) ATX 3.0 80 PLUS Gold PSU on Tweaktown.
EcoFlow DELTA 3 Plus on StorageReview.
Cooling:
Noctua NF-A14x25 G2 Series Cooling Fans on APHNetworks.
Gamdias AURA GL360 V2 liquid cooler on TechPowerUp.
Cases:
Endorfy Arx 700 ARGB Mid-Tower Chassis on Tweaktown.
be quiet Light Base 900 FX Full Tower on Guru3D.
Misc:
Creality Ender-3 V3 3D Printer on NikKTech.
SAPPHIRE Nitro+ & Pure AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT 12GB OC video cards on NikKTech.
Ubiquiti UX Express Gateway: Ultimate Travel Router? on StorageReview.
Lenovo ThinkSystem SR630 V4 1U rack server on StorageReview.
Free Broadband Internet Offer
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Monday, 13-January-2025 12:51:06 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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I don't normally post sponsor deals as news but this is an interesting one. Influencing, a media monitoring firm, want to build a network of TV monitoring stations. To do this they need people who have internet connections and TV reception in various regional locations. So they are offering to provide the internet connection for free. For more info, see this thread.
Friday again!
     
     
     
     
Thursday Night
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Thursday, 9-January-2025 23:15:13 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Catching up on some bits and bobs from the news box.
Firstly, it's 2025, where is my flying car, yada yada. Actually this car doesn't fly but it does charge itself from solar while you drive around, so that's pretty neat. Cruising range is impressive nonetheless: the company claims 400 miles to empty, although the coup de grace has to be the built-in solar panels found on practically every horizontal surface of the main body (even on the dashboard). With the cells rated at 700W of solar collection capacity, the sun can power enough juice for 40 miles per day. Of course, that's under sunny cloudless skies, but imagine not having to ever plug the car in if you live in a mostly sunny locale.
Microsoft has relaxed the Windows 11 requirements, thanks Myne_h. Microsoft's support page for installing Windows 11 on unsupported devices is filled with disclaimers. It starts by warning users that the company doesn't recommend carrying out this action, and that they should be comfortable assuming the risk of running into compatibility issues. More info on the official page here.
But they're also trying to get people to buy a new PC in 2025. The company is making a full court press to sell users on Copilot+ PCs running Windows 11. It’s touting AI features such as Recall, which takes snapshots while the computer is in use so that a user can search for something later. Additionally, the security benefits of Windows 11 are also put front and center. Honestly this bugs me. Has our user experience really changed that much since Windows 7? How much landfill has been generated by forced hardware upgrades to support forced software upgrades which haven't really improved our experience - or which could have just been implemented through software. Personally I spend most of my PC time in a web browser, email client, text editor or spreadsheet. Those things have worked fine for countless generations of PCs and operating systems. Gaming is about the only thing that really needs new beefier hardware. Meeehh.
TechPowerUp have an DDR5 Thermal Testing & Analysis article. In mid 2024 JEDEC finalized the DDR5-8800 standard, with PC Enthusiast memory getting even more performance using additional XMP and EXPO profiles. Lower timings, increased frequency and higher voltages are combined to significantly exceed the current JEDEC standards. With this in mind, it is time to revisit DDR5 operating temperatures and explore some of the different factors that go into the creation of XMP and EXPO memory profiles.
StorageReview wondered how a gaming GPU and a workstation GPU compare. To explore how different desktop architectures handle AI workloads, we approached Dell with a straightforward request: provide us with the most powerful systems in their gaming and workstation families. The goal? To determine how a top-tier gaming desktop optimized for consumer performance compares against a high-end workstation designed for professional-grade tasks when running AI workloads – each with the best NVIDIA GPU in the class.
Another computing pioneer passed away recently - Donald Blitzer, creator of the PLATO system, which paved the way for much of our modern online experience. Many modern concepts in multi-user computing were developed for or matured under PLATO, including forums, message boards, online testing, email, chat rooms, instant messaging, remote screen sharing, multimedia, and multiplayer video games.
Meanwhile here's a video about the oldest running digital computer in America. It wasn’t easy, actually, it was mind numbingly difficult, but this thing is executing code flawlessly. Seriously, there’s not much else I can say, check the video out!
GL.iNet GL-A1300 Slate Plus Gigabit WiFi Router
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Monday, 6-January-2025 23:30:33 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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A quick review today, of the GL.iNet A1300 travel router - more memorably named "Slate Plus". It's a handy little gadget for sharing a WiFi connection, among other things. It's so simple I could operate it while drunk - which turned out to be just as well:
click for the review!
Monday Evening Reviews
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Monday, 6-January-2025 19:20:39 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Input Etc:
Epomaker CIDOO C75 Hall Effect Keyboard on APHNetworks.
SCYROX V8 on TechPowerUp.
Portable & Prebuilt:
Best Laptop Group Test: Australia’s Top 30 Notebooks in January 2025 on SMBTech.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Gen 9 Aura Edition Review: A Sleek Copilot+ 15” Laptop on HotHardware.
Storage:
Orico O7000 1TB SSD Review - Good Performance, Great Value on Tweaktown.
Klevv Genuine G560 2 TB on TechPowerUp.
Video Cards:
Acer Nitro Intel Arc B580 OC 12GB on ThePCEnthusiast.
ASUS Prime GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER OC Review on Tweaktown.
Misc:
be quiet! Light Base 900 DX Computer Case on APHNetworks.
ACER Predator Hera 32GB DDR5-7200 RGB Memory Kit on MadShrimps.
Seasonic VERTEX PX-1200 Azure Dragon Power Supply on NikKTech.
Back to life, back to reality..
     
     
     
     
Retro Gaming January 2025
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Thursday, 2-January-2025 16:27:45 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN
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This month's "Retro Let's Play" is Burnin' Rubber from 1982
Some call it Burnin' Rubber, others know it as Bump 'n' Jump. The goal is to drive to the end of a course while knocking enemy vehicles into the sides of the track and jumping over large obstacles such as bodies of water. Ports of this arcade classic can be found on all the home consoles and micros of the day.
On 14 September 2013, John McNeill of Brisbane, Australia claimed the world record with a score of 5,869,264 !
Whatever name you remember it as, it is still as much fun today, as it was in 1982.
Play in your browser for free at archive.org
click for the thread!
Thursday Morning Reviews
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Thursday, 2-January-2025 10:48:55 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Nearly recovered from what I can only assume was a post-cruise dose of COVID.
Audio Visual:
OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite AI Powered 4K PTZ Webcam on NikKTech.
Creative Sound Blaster GS3 Computer Soundbar on APHNetworks.
MSI MPG 322URX QD-OLED 4K 32" Gaming Monitor on FunkyKit.
Maono PD400X Review - Versatile, Capable, Affordable microphone on TechPowerUp.
INTUAURA Lakeview In-Ear Monitors on TechPowerUp.
HIFIMAN Arya Unveiled Headphones on TechPowerUp.
Input Etc:
Arbiter Studio AKITSU mouse on TechPowerUp.
KiiBOOM Loop75 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard on TechPowerUp.
Logitech PRO X SUPERLIGHT 2 DEX Gaming Mouse on ThinkComputers.
ASUS ROG Falchion Ace HFX Hall Effect Keyboard on TechPowerUp.
SteelSeries Apex PRO Gen 3 Gaming Keyboard on MadShrimps.
Portable & Prebuilt:
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold Review: This Folding Phone Is A Winner on HotHardware.
Zotac Zone PC gaming handheld on TechPowerUp.
Power Supply:
Chieftec Polaris Pro 1300w 80 PLUS Platinum ATX 3.0 PSU on Tweaktown.
Seasonic TX-1600 PRIME Noctua Edition PSU on Guru3D.
ENERMAX REVOLUTION D.F.X 1200W ATX 3.0 Power Supply Unit on NikKTech.
Anker Solix FS20 Flexible Solar Panel Installation Guide on FunkyHome.
Storage:
Ugreen DXP2800 NAS on OCInside.
MSI DATAMAG 20Gbps Magnetic Portable SSD on FunkyKit.
Memory:
Kingston FURY Renegade RGB Limited Edition 48GB DDR5-8000 CL36 Memory Kit on FunkyKit.
Crucial 32GB DDR5 6400MHz CL52 CUDIMM Dual-Channel Kit on NikKTech.
Cases:
SilverStone SETA H2M cases on TechPowerUp.
MSI MEG Z890 ACE Motherboard on ThePCEnthusiast.
PNY GeForce RTX 4090 24GB VERTO video card on Tweaktown.
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