Tech News

  • MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Suprim X @ Guru3D

    When the RTX 3070 Ti Launched so did a number of 3rd party board partner cards.  I got to see the full list and to be honest some of them look like total garbage like they were designed by a 5 year old and nobody bothered to remove the excess crayon.

    I suppose for some that might be a desirable feature and maybe the thought process is that with the limited supply it won't matter what the card looks like as long as someone can buy one.

    Well, despite the garbage out there some cards really do look amazing and this card from MSI is one of them.

    Hot on the heels of the 3080 Ti launch we now can show you the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti performance review for the MSI SUPRIM X edition. This card has been beefed up to the max, with a custom design PCB, components, a massive cooler, a factory tweak and of course, sheer silence.

    Guru3D does a pretty good job so give it a read if you have time.

  • System76 Launch - A Very Well Built, Highly Configurable, Open-Source Keyboard @ Phoronix

    What is this?  an Open Source keyboard??  I hope it works out better than something silly like an open source test bench or open source software they charge you to use.

    Last month System76 launched their Launch Configurable Keyboard. They sent over this new open-source keyboard for some brief testing and I must say the build quality has been top notch and while this is their first keyboard they are bringing to market, with their US manufacturing expertise that began with their Thelio computer cases, it has carried forward with their Launch keyboard. This keyboard is beautifully crafted and among the most durable (and heaviest) keyboards I've used in the past two decades. It reminds me of the IBM Model M from a quality perspective but with its own unique advantages.

    I'm not sure about the double space bar but the rest of this compact super square keyboard looks pretty good.  It even has RGB!!

    Be sure to check out the review for more information.

  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Launch Day

    While extremely cut down the RTX 3070 Ti still delivers some amazing performance that is only matched by the RTX 2080 Ti.  Assuming you can buy one, this will be the card to buy.

    Be sure to check out our review of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition video card and my fancy unboxing video!

    Web Reviews
    Zotac GeForce RTX 3070 Ti AMP Holo @ TechPowerUp
    MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Suprim X @ TechPowerUp
    NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Review: Supercharged Midrange Gaming @ HotHardware

    I'm sure there will be others along with the YT peeps that I don't bother posting. wink smile

  • VIPER GAMING Launches VIPER ELITE II Performance DDR4 Memory

    The VIPER theme heat spreader brings exceptional reliability and performance potential. Now available in single and dual kit configurations with module densities of 4GB/8GB/16GB/32GB and speeds ranging between 2666MHz and 4000MHz.

    FREMONT, CALIFORNIA — June 2nd, 2021 — VIPER, a trademarked gaming brand of PATRIOT and a global leader in performance memory, solid-state drives and flash storage solutions, today is proud to announce the market launch of their VIPER ELITE II DDR4 PERFORMANCE MEMORY. The VIPER ELITE II inherits its successful design from the award-winning ELITE PERFORMANCE MEMORY series and continues to deliver unparalleled stability and overclocking potential to hardware enthusiasts and hardcore gamers. It is customized for the PC builder looking for an RGB-free performance-centric memory solution with a wide range of speeds and capacities.

    "The VIPER ELITE II is a sensible upgrade to our popular and award-winning VIPER ELITE series, and with it, we take everything back to the basics and essentials to how an excellent DRAM module should be built. For the VIPER ELITE II, we have focused on speed, capacity, and stability," said Roger Shinmoto, the Vice President of VIPER. "These memory kits offer many options for gamers or content creators who are looking to escalate their system performance to the next level and still maintain a stealthy look inside their PCs."

    The VIPER ELITE II features a clean and stealthy new heat spreader design to showcase the VIPER brand elements. A military-grade aluminum heatshield wraps up the module to provide outstanding thermal performance and maintain system stability under the heaviest of loads. In addition, each module is built from a 10-layer PCB using only the highest quality hand-tested memory chips and components to ensure that each module meets VIPER's strict quality standards for excellent stability and reliability.

    The VIPER ELITE II fully supports XMP 2.0 for profile-based automatic overclocking and is validated against the latest Intel and AMD motherboard platforms for compatibility.  Backed by a limited lifetime warranty, the VIPER ELITE II is now available in selected global retailers in both single module and dual kits with frequencies of 2666MHz/3200MHz /3600MHz/4000MHz and module densities of 4GB/8GB/16GB/32GB, offering a maximum kit capacity of 64GB (2x32GB).

    FEATURES:    

    • Product line: VIPER ELITE II
    • Edition: Red heatshield with black VIPER signatures
    • Aluminum heat spreader with the unique and specific design element
    • Feature Overclock: XMP 2.0 support for automatic overclocking
    • Compatibility: Tested across the latest Intel/AMD platforms for reliably fast performance
    • Limited lifetime warranty
  • Hardware Asylum Summer Celebration Giveaway with Viper Gaming

    With summer quickly approaching it is time to think about back yard BBQs and how you make your game time better and Viper Gaming is here to help with three great products!

    Up for grabs are the following.

    1. Viper Gaming V380 RGB Virtual 7.1 Gaming Headset x 1pc 
    2. Viper Gaming V765 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard x 1pc
    3. Viper Gaming V570 Blackout Edition Gaming Mouse x 1pc

    Contest ends June 30th, 2021 at 11:59 PM PST and a Total 3 winners will be announced on July 1st, 2021.

    Follow the instructions below to enter and good luck!

    Hardware Asylum Summer Celebration with Viper Gaming

  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Launch Day

    When the RTX 30-Series there was a card born inside that would sit between the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 (Titan).  This card would have the power to reshape the world and change the world however it saw fit.  This Super Ti graphics card has become a reality and it is good.

    Be sure to check out our review of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition Graphics Card and/or check out some of these reviews from around the web.

    Web Reviews
    EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti FTW3 Ultra @ TechPowerUp
    Zotac GeForce RTX 3080 Ti AMP HoloBlack @ TechPowerUp
    ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 Ti STRIX LC Liquid Cooled @ TechPowerUp
    NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Review: Amped-Up Ampere For Gamers @ HotHardware
    NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition Review @ TweakTown
    NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Gaming Performance At 4K @ TechGage
    GeForce RTX 3080 Ti reviews at Guru3D
    Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition @ LanOC Reviews

    If the NVIDIA announcement is true there will be another Ti in a couple days so stay tuned!

  • It’s Time for Ti: NVIDIA Introduces Gaming Flagship — the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

    1.5x Faster Than Previous Gen, Availability Begins June 3; Equally Impressive RTX 3070 Ti Available Next Week

    SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 31, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NVIDIA today unveiled two additions to the GeForce RTX™ family — the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070 Ti — available soon from its global network of GeForce partners. The new flagship gaming GPU of the GeForce RTX family, the RTX 3080 Ti will be available worldwide June 3 starting at $1,199, with the RTX 3070 Ti available next week starting at $599.

    While previous-generation GPUs tackled the ambitious games of their era, contemporary games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Watch Dogs: Legion have elevated realism — and increased overall demands of modern graphics cards.

    Powered by the NVIDIA Ampere architecture, the RTX 3080 Ti delivers an incredible leap in performance and fidelity with acclaimed features such as ray tracing, NVIDIA DLSS performance-boosting AI, NVIDIA Reflex latency-reduction, NVIDIA Broadcast streaming features and additional memory that allows it to speed through the most popular creator applications as well.

    “With RTX such a huge success, gamers and creators will be thrilled with the performance and features the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti offers,” said Jeff Fisher, senior vice president of the GeForce business unit at NVIDIA. “As the new flagship to the RTX family, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the ultimate upgrade for GPU enthusiasts of any generation.”

    Unsurpassed Performance
    Across a variety of ray-traced and rasterized DirectX and Vulkan titles, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is a gaming powerhouse that also brings lower latency for better responsiveness and a competitive edge to the games millions of people are playing today.

    For gamers still rocking the well-loved GTX 1080 Ti, the RTX 3080 Ti is 2x faster in traditional rasterization and much faster with ray tracing and other cutting-edge gaming features enabled.

    The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is just as impressive in its price class, delivering 1.5x more performance over the GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER and 2x the frames per second over the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti, which launched in 2017.

    Watch the first 4K ray-tracing gameplay footage featuring DOOM Eternal running on a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti.

    Perfect for Creators, Too
    The world’s 45 million-plus creative professionals demand more from their hardware than ever, so GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPUs deliver amped up levels of creative performance as well.

    Backed by the NVIDIA Studio platform and powered with 12GB of GDDR6X(1) memory for creative applications, RTX is accelerating the No. 1 photography application — Adobe Photoshop; the No. 1 video editing application — Adobe Premiere Pro; the No. 1 broadcast application — OBS; and every major 3D renderer. There are now over 70 content creation applications that support RTX-accelerated ray tracing, DLSS or AI features.

    NVIDIA DLSS: The AI Gift That Gamers Love
    AI is revolutionizing gaming — from in-game physics and animation simulation to real-time rendering and AI-assisted broadcasting features. Powered by dedicated AI processors on GeForce RTX GPUs called Tensor Cores, NVIDIA DLSS boosts frame rates while generating beautiful, crisp game images and it gives gamers the performance headroom to maximize ray-tracing settings and increase output resolutions.

    Adoption of DLSS technology has been swift, and the game title count is set to increase quickly with support in the world’s leading licensed game engines, Unreal Engine and Unity Engine. The all-star lineup of gaming franchises that use DLSS to deliver a new level of graphics includes Battlefield, Call of Duty, Cyberpunk, Fortnite, Minecraft, Tomb Raider and many more.

    NVIDIA Reflex and Broadcast: The Ultimate Play
    NVIDIA Reflex technology reduces system latency (or input lag), making games more responsive and giving players in competitive multiplayer titles an edge over the opposition. In fact, 12 out of the top 15 most played competitive shooters now support Reflex, including Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Call of Duty: Warzone, Fortnite, Overwatch, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege and Valorant, and it is coming soon to Escape from Tarkov and Crossfire.

    NVIDIA Broadcast is a suite of audio and video AI enhancements, including virtual backgrounds, motion capture and advanced noise removal, that users can apply to chats, Skype calls and video conferences.

    Where to Buy
    The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti will be available on June 3 starting at $1,199, with the RTX 3070 Ti available on June 10 starting at $599. Both GPUs will be available for purchase as custom boards — including stock-clocked and factory-overclocked models — from leading add-in card providers, including ASUS, Colorful, EVGA, Gainward, Galax, GIGABYTE, Inno3D, MSI, Palit, PNY, Zotac and other regional providers around the world.

    Limited-edition NVIDIA Founders Edition boards will also be available. Look for GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPUs at major retailers and etailers, as well as in gaming systems from major manufacturers and leading system builders worldwide.

  • Thermaltake ARGENT K5 RGB Mechanical Keyboard Review @ APH Networks

    Thermaltake recently launched a new line of gaming components they call Argent.  No, this isn't a Doom reference or will open up a portal to hell but, it should help you translate your physical input into tangible results when playing Doom (or any other computer related activity).

    The Thermaltake ARGENT K5 RGB is a unique gaming keyboard that pairs clean looks with great performance.

    Call me crazy but, I kinda like the design.  You can clearly see the business end with the party part with a solid color change between them.  The RGB seems to be a little over the top but, that is the name of the game these days and until gamers in China start saying "no" to RGB it will only be getting worse.  wink smile

  • GeIL Ready to Launch the Next Generation DDR5 RGB High-Performance Gaming Memory

    Capacities ranging from 16GB (16GB x1) up to 128GB (32GB x4)

    Taipei, Taiwan – May 19th, 2021 – GeIL, Golden Emperor International Ltd. – one of the world's leading PC component manufacturers, is proud to announce the next-generation DDR5 RGB high-performance gaming memory, Polaris RGB, is ready for the upcoming DDR5 platform. The GeIL Polaris RGB Gaming Memory will be available in Q4, 2021, with capacities ranging from 16GB (16GB x1) up to 128GB (32GB x4).

    It has been seven years since DDR4 launched into the market, and GeIL has put countless hours into developing the new DDR5 memory modules. And in doing so, GeIL has designed the Polaris RGB to provide RGB illuminated high-performance DDR5 gaming memory and has been working closely with motherboard makers to guarantee the best compatibility and reliability among the latest Intel and AMD motherboards.

    The GeIL Polaris RGB DDR5 Gaming Memory is designed to deliver unprecedented performance through larger capacities, enhanced speeds, and broader bandwidth per processor core. Increasing system performance and efficiency is the cornerstone of any new memory generation, and GeIL is dedicated to offering a better enthusiastic extension and exceptional overclocking potential to its customers. The new DDR5 memory incorporates the latest DDR5 PMIC (Power Management IC) architecture design for smart voltage and power management, allowing a more comprehensive range in voltage adjustment and tweaking.  This embedded PMIC and module design are sure to boost the overall performance, stability, and overclocking potential dramatically. 

    The GeIL DDR5 memory specification starts at 4800MHz with the sub-timing latencies of CL40-40-40 at 1.1 volts. The overclocking products are also under development, including 6000MHz CL32-36-36, 6400MHz CL32-36-36, 6800MHz CL36-44-44, and 7200MHz CL36-44-44, and will be available with non-RGB product versions at the same time.

    GeIL has been the brand name representing gamers and computer hardware enthusiasts. The upcoming DDR5 memory is a culmination of that knowledge and is inviting gamers and hardcore users to look before the global market launch.

  • Watercool Heatkiller Rad 360-S @ TechPowerUp

    I have been using Heatkiller waterblocks for years finding them to be some of the BEST waterblocks you can buy both from performance and usability.  However, in all my time bulding water loops I never noticed that Heatkiller made radiators.  I usually pick a Black Ice rad and call it a day.

    Watercool makes a much awaited debut with the release of the all-new Heatkiller radiators. We take a look at the Heatkiller Rad 360-S here, published alongside the thicker Heatkiller Rad 360-L. Both come in multiple color finishes, excellent build quality, and increased case compatibility!

    According to the review, either the Watercool Radiators are "new" or TechPowerUp has never reviewed one before.  Either one seems reasonable. happy smile

    The new rad looks amazing and might be worth checking out!