HARDWARE

Gigabyte announced the release of the  AORUS GTX 1070 Gaming Box, a true plug-and-play external graphics solution that was unveiled earlier at Computex 2017. Pre-installed with a high-end GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card, the device can easily transform any Thunderbolt 3-enabled laptop into a powerful gaming battle station.

Ahead of schedule Gigabyte is beginning  shipment of its long awaited X299 AORUS Gaming Motherboards. With the flood gates open, consumers can find these boards at all major retail outlets and online stores.  GIGABYTE previously offered pre-order customers incentives to upgrade and break into the enthusiast segment.

MSI is proud to announce (paper) the latest of its legendary LIGHTNING graphics cards. The new GeForce GTX 1080 Ti LIGHTNING Z combines new tech with features such as TRI-FROZR design with TORX 2.0 Fans, SuperPipe technology and Military Class 4 components.  MSI’s reputation in thermal design is well-known to be excellent. The improved TRI-FROZR design on the GTX 1080 Ti LIGHTNING Z utilizes two 10cm and one 9cm TORX 2.0 Fans combining the advantages of both traditional fan blade and dispersion fan blade, generating huge amounts of airflow while remaining virtually silent. Two 8mm SuperPipes transfer heat much faster to the fins, enabling up to a whopping 700W of heat dissipation.

Hey now, this one slipped right past me as the product is already available since week 1 of May, however Zotac never announced it. Well okay, ZOTAC 'recently' released the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti AMP Extreme Core Edition. The card sits inbetween the AMP and AMP Extreme.  The AMP Extreme Core is clocked at a base frequency of 1607 MHz and can boost to 1721 MHz. The memory clocks in at 11.2 Ghz (effective data-rate).  Climb onto a newer flagship with the ultimate hardware. The ZOTAC GeForce® GTX 1080 Ti is the new flagship gaming graphics card, based on the award-winning NVIDIA Pascal™ architecture. It is packed with an incredible amount of cores and buffed with 11GB of ultra-fast GDDR5X memory, and the sheer force combines to deliver unprecedented gaming performance.

Crucial recently released new versions of the MX300 SSD series, among them there is this huge (in volume size) 2 Terabyte model which we review today. The MX300 series should offer a bit more storage space yet remain more price-competitive at mainstream to high-end class SATA3 performance. You guys likely know it, I've been in the computer industry a LONG time and have noticed that two developments evolve in very fast paces, graphics cards and storage technology. If you look how far and fast we've become with NAND technology you can only acknowledge, it is just amazing. My first HDD storage unit was connected towards a Commodore 64, back in 1984 (!), that unit was SCSI based and could hold a whopping 10 MB of data, it did that (if memory serves me right) at roughly 40 KB/sec in read performance which was blazingly fast at that time and cost me something in the extent and equivalent of 500 USD / EURO. And yes  .. here we are in an era where NVMe SSDs reach 3 GB/sec and SSDs h...

The fans be quiet! have always had pride of place in our comparative fans, and we used (and still use) the Shadow Wings PWM as a reference. We will focus today on two last born of the German manufacturer, the Pure Wings 2, 120mm and 140mm. These two new products are placed in the entry level in the catalog of the brand, and should be followed shortly by two smaller models (80 and 92 mm), which will complement the range. Compared with their elders Silent Wings 2 or Shadow Wings 120mm, both Pure Wings 2 120mm earn two blades (Shadow Wings 140mm Silent Wings 2 already enjoyed rotor blades 9), for a total of 9, which according to their manufacturer should allow them to have better air flow and a high static pressure, while ensuring a low noise level, making them especially recommended for fans and watercooling mounting cooler. We will of course hasten to verify these claims, but in the meantime, know that the 120mm model should deliver a 51.4 CFM air flow (and a static pressure of 1,25m...

On the occasion of Siggraph, Nvidia decided to unveil the high end of its new Quadro family and launches of new models today. The Quadro represent a very important market for Nvidia, which has a more than comfortable position with market shares that revolve around 90%. With these new Quadro, NVIDIA account consolidate this position to face the threat of AMD FirePro offered with a much more aggressive pricing and a more advanced multi-screen support.

AMD has announced a new bundle with Deus Ex: Divided Mankind. It does not concern the graphics cards manufacturer, but its AMD FX processors, versions 6-8 hearts.

Nvidia has also released a new version of its drivers for graphics cards, which are 372.54 WHQL certified. The main novelty of these drivers regarding support for newly announced GeForce 10 mobile .

Cooler Master takes advantage of the summer to introduce a new concept of radiator for processor, MasterLiquid Maker 92. Behind this name hides an integrated water cooling system for Intel processors compatible with socket LGA2011 and LGA115x.

AMD has announced a new bundle with Deus Ex: Divided Mankind. It does not concern the graphics cards manufacturer, but its AMD FX processors, versions 6-8 hearts.

For two years now, SSDs are continuing to democratize. Although their progress in our machines can be some held back by prices of the MLC who remain at high levels, they scored a dramatic increase in speed of PC storage system.

Nvidia advantage of Computex, which will open tomorrow in Taipei to announce a new version of the GF100, the GeForce GTX 465. Zotac, that we thank and will be one of the first to offer the card in France, could send us a review sample on the wire. This happened just hours before leaving for Taiwan but we still have time to run all our benchmarks. However, we have to ignore the noise measurements and thermography, points to which we return when we return.

Revealed at CES, the Noctis 450 ROG is a partnership between NZXT and Asus that adds a bit of ROG flair to an existing NZXT chassis design. This isn't the first time we've seen a collaboration between NZXT and a gaming brand, with Razer also having gotten in on the action with a special edition of the H440. The appeal of cases like this are limited by their very nature, but if you were already planning a ROG build it might do enough to pique your interest. The Asus ROG pricing premium applies to cases just as much as any other product, it would seem, as this version of the Noctis 450 retails for a whopping £60 more than the £120 original. So, what's going on that might possibly make this worth an extra 50 percent investment?

Mere days after the release of its latest graphics card, the  RX 470 , AMD is back with another launch that brings its Polaris architecture to the entry-level. AMD's pitch is that the RX 460 is designed to give ageing systems an upgrade to a cool and efficient card capable of >90fps 1080p gameplay in popular esports titles and of future-proofing them as well with a slew of modern display capabilities and features.  Whereas the RX 470 was based on a cut-down version of the Polaris 10 GPU that powers the RX 480, the RX 460 is using a new, significantly smaller chip known as Polaris 11.

Aorus, for those that don't know, is Gigabyte's brand for premium and flagship products spanning graphics cards, motherboards, and peripherals. This product, then, is one of the highest end GTX 1080 Ti SKUs the company offers (the Xtreme Edition of this card being the absolute top dog). It doesn't have a crazy or overly long name like many such cards, but the design itself is far from subtle. Requiring three expansion slots and spanning 293mm long and 142mm tall, the Aorus GTX 1080 Ti is a real monster. Via advanced custom cooling and a solid overclock, Aorus is clearly looking to impress, as well it should given that it's also asking you for £760 in exchange for the card. 

Memory was one of the first pieces of hardware to be illuminated in a way that was designed to bolster aesthetics and the early efforts of Crucial with its Ballistix Tracers, for example, began a continuing love affair between enthusiasts and LED-equipped DIMMS. Dozens of manufacturers have joined the fray but some of the more elegant products have come from Corsair with its Dominator Platinum and Vengeance LED memory.