Tech News
-
ASUS ROG Maximus XII Extreme @ TechPowerUp
Of the ROG motherboards out there I have always been impressed with the "Extremes" They tend to pack in the most features and have this unique ability to handle LN2 like a boss. As they say there is only one better, the Apex and in the Z490 generation that board has been rather quiet.
ASUS once again delivers with their Maximus line of high-end motherboards. The Maximus XII Extreme represents the best ASUS has to offer: top-tier connectivity, a massive VRM, great aesthetics, and a host of high-end accessories. Is there anything the Maximus XII Extreme does not offer?
The one major thing to note is that the Maximus doesn't have much in the way of expansion. You will find only two video card slots, an OLED screen and 4x PCIe slot, ideally for a sound or capture card.
High-end, yes. Much better than a Micro ATX, not so much.
-
Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27 @ LanOC Reviews
It would seem that Porsche has started expanding. Not only have they started designing boats but have a hand in consumer electronics too.
Porsche Design is a subsidiary of Porsche SE or better known as the company that makes Porsche cars. Porsche Design has been around for 48 years, designing car accessories early on but in the last four years moving also into the electronics markets including working with AOC on a few of their highest-end monitor designs. They have partnered up once again with the PD27 which incorporates a car roll cage like design for the monitor stand with a high-end gaming monitor with a 240Hz refresh rate, Freesync Premium Pro, HDR, and a 1000R curvature for a premium gaming experience. Today I’m going to check out the Agon PD27’s design and performance and see if it lists up to the high pedigree of the Porsche name and its premium price.
This is a curved 27" with HDR support with a very elegant monitor stand. Sadly I see this as the "apple" of the monitor world and only the 50+'ers with Porsche stock or has one in their garage will consider buying one.
But, hey it is a gaming monitor so that has to acount for something.
-
Gigabyte Z490I AORUS Ultra @ TechPowerUp
When it comes to small form factor motherboards you cannot beat the Micro ITX. They are not only super small but super powerful packing full desktop processors, two memory channels, a single expansion slot. Some boards come with M.2 drives and the Aorus Ultra comes with two.
While it might not sound too impressive when you stop and think about it THAT is exactly what anyone actually NEEDs.
The Gigabyte Z490I AORUS Ultra comes with a lot of hardware packed into a small form factor. Among the features are 2.5 Gb/s Ethernet, WiFi 6, dual M.2 slots, and top-tier 90 A power stages. Let's see just how good this SFF Z490 entry from Gigabyte really is!
I do like how the Aorus motherboard features RGB lights even though in most Mini ITX cases there isn't enough room to see the motherboard, much less the RGB. But, the market demands it and Gigabyte delivers.
-
CES 2021: Thermaltake Presents the Next-Gen THOUGHLIQUID ULTRA and TOUGHLIQUID ARGB Sync AIO CPU Liquid Cooler
Equipped with TOUGHFAN 12 and water blocks to ensure the most substantial liquid cooling performance. Smart 2.1" LCD monitor brings unique customization for hardware monitoring and visual amusement
Walnut, California, January 7th, 2021-Thermaltake, the leading PC component brand offering premium solutions for cooling, gaming peripherals, and enthusiast memory, today is proud to announce the TOUGHLIQUID Series, the newest member of the Thermaltake AIO liquid cooler line up. TOUGHLIQUID ULTRA and TOUGHLIQUID ARGB Sync are built using the TOUGHFAN 12 high-performance fans to deliver superior cooling performance and stability for system builders. Offering a variety of models, supporting radiators sizes including 240mm, 280mm and 360mm, equipped with a LED display or RGB on the pump."Intuitive hardware monitoring and advanced personalization are what the THOUGLIQUID ULTRA series brings to the market," said Kenny Lin, the CEO of Thermaltake. "The important information like CPU temperature, frequency, and performance usage can be displayed in real-time on the smart 2.1" LCD monitor. Users can also personalize the display with GIF pictures or with custom RGB lighting modes through our RGB software. Thermaltake is giving PC builders even more customization options with this next-gen AIO watercooler."
TOUGHLIQUID ULTRA series
The TOUGHLIQUID ULTRA comes packed with additional features and upgrades, including the high-performance TOUGHFAN 12 Turbo series radiator fans with an impressive 2,500RPM maximum speed offering stronger airflow for enhanced cooling. This new fan incorporates the 2nd-generation hydraulic bearing and LCP blades for maximum cooling performance and quiet operation. The TOUGHLIQUID ULTRA features a redesigned radiator with more fin surface area for excellent thermal efficiency and is now available in 240mm or 360mm form factors. The integrated water pump comes with a full copper base plate for outstanding heat conductivity and the entire cooler comes pre-refilled for zero maintenance and long-lasting operation.
The water block mounted LCD screen is able to display real-time monitoring of multiple hardware components, lighting effects, and customized GIF files featuring out new TT RGB Plus 2.0 software. Sync up with other TT RGB Plus products to create beautiful lighting effects, across multiple levels, all from our NEW 2.0 Software.
TOUGHLIQUID ARGB Sync
The TOUGHLIQUID ARGB Sync follows in the series designed more budget-friendly, adding some RGB instead of an LCD screen, gain great performance with our high-performance TOUGHFAN 12 radiator fans with 2,000RPM for strong airflow and enhanced radiator cooling. The TOUGHFAN utilized the same fan bearing and blades as the ULTRA series for superior cooling performance and quiet operation. This ARGB Sync Edition also uses the same upgraded radiator with more fin surface area and will be available in 240mm, 280mm, and 360mm form factors.
Six addressable LEDs are embedded in the pump block. Featuring a copper cold plate design and rotatable LED cap with 360° rotational orientation. Built-in controller integrated with the water saves space without the need for an external controller to manage, allowing users to connect and set lighting modes, speeds, and colors. SYNC UP the TOUGHLIQUID ARGB to a variety of 5V+ capable motherboards for easy SYNC and control of the RGB all from one software.
Backed by a limited 2-year warranty, TOUGHLIQUID ULTRA, and TOUGHLIQUID ARGB Sync will be available in the USA and Canada in Q1 2021.
MSRP:
TOUGHLIQUID ULTRA 240: $209.99
TOUGHLIQUID ULTRA 360: $239.99
TOUGHLIQUID ARGB 240 $119.99
TOUGHLIQUID ARGB 280 $129.99
TOUGHLIQUID ARGB 360 $149.99CES 2021 and Thermaltake Expo
While CES 2021 moves to an all-digital experience, Thermaltake will launch their new products by hosting Thermaltake Expo on 1/11/2021 at 10 AM Pacific Standard Time on the YouTube channel. TOUGHLIQUID series, more PC cases, power supplies, and gaming peripherals will be revealed with live demonstrations.Watch Thermaltake Expo at the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/user/Thermaltakereview -
Thermaltake Launches High-performance TOUGHAIR CPU Air Cooler
Next-gen heatsink tower features the hardcore fan for unparalleled cooling performance
Available in topflow, single and dual fan configurationsWalnut, California- January 5th, 2021-Thermaltake, the leading PC component brand offering premium solutions for cooling, gaming peripherals, and enthusiast memory solutions, today is proud to present a new series of TOUGHAIR CPU Air Cooler. he TOUGHAIR CPU Air Cooler is equipped with an advanced Gen.2 hydraulic bearing, LCP fan blades, and anti-vibration mounting system to offer outstanding reliability. The TOUGHAIR CPU Air is available in three configurations, including horizontal tower (110), single (310), and dual fan (510) vertical tower designs supporting exceptional performance on the latest Intel and AMD series processors.
"We are tough when it comes to thermal performance insisting on design without compromise, and from that, the TOUGHAIR CPU Air Cooler was born," said Kenny Lin, the CEO of Thermaltake. "Air cooling is a simple and convenient way to cool your PC, and it is rare to see a new air cooler launch in the market. Thermaltake Engineering team has worked hard to design a new air cooler worthy of the TOUGH name and delivers what PC users are expecting."
TOUGHAIR 110/310/510 CPU Air Cooler
The TOUGHAIR CPU Air Coolers come in three different models: 110, 310, and 510. The 110 is a horizontal tower design offering a low-profile design for smaller system builds. The 310 and 510 are vertical tower designs featuring single and dual fan configurations. Cooling these heatsink designs pushing 58.35 CFM @ 2,000 RPM. Each TOUGHFAN 12 offered a controllable fan speed between 500 RPM and 2,000 RPM and built using an advanced Gen.2 hydraulic bearing for long and silent operation.TOUGHAIR CPU Air Coolers are built using four direct contacted 4 x Ø6 mm copper heat pipes with a maximum power handling of 180W TDP. Each cooler features an optimized fin structure for increased air intake and direct contact heat pipes. The universal socket design of the TOUGHAIR makes installation easy, and its retention system is fully compatible with all the latest Intel and AMD CPU sockets.
Backed by a limited 2-year warranty, TOUGHAIR CPU Air Coolers will be available in the USA and Canada in Q1 2021.
-
Happy New Year 2021 from Hardware Asylum
Myself and everyone here at Hardware Asylum would like to wish you a Happy New Year. The world is a changed place by now everyone knows about the 2020 Pandemic and what it did to the world economy. As a result, world travel has come to a halt and lockdowns prevented people from attending work, school and friends. Despite the global trouble operations at Hardware Asylum continued and for the second time ever, the podcast was recorded “virtually” with video editions giving listeners a slightly different look into what it takes to plan and record content.
One thing that did change was computer hardware. The spring time lockdown prevented shipments of components and created worldwide shortages of everything from cases and coolers to video cards and processors. I spent several days attempting to buy a Threadripper 3 only to later find out the processor was overhyped and under preformed. The new NVIDIA RTX 30 Series was handled poorly and while I think there were alternative motives behind this the massive price drop and filtered benchmark numbers caused demand to skyrocket.
Overall, this is not a bad thing for NVIDIA or the Crypto Miners who bought up the available cards. It just makes things difficult for the rest of us.
Welcome to 2021, I hope this year serves you well and, if you voted for Pedro, then shame on you. (read my post from last year to know why)
It will be weird to skip CES this year. Due to the “situation” the show has gone 100% virtual and I decided to just send emails off to my mfg partners asking again for their support.
Happy New Year
-
VIPER GAMING by PATRIOT launches high capacity VIPER STEEL RGB memory modules and kits
Award-winning VIPER STEEL DDR4 memory forged with new RGB Illumination, 3200MHz - 3600MHz kits available in various capacities from 8GB to 64GB
FREMONT, CALIFORNIA — December 17th, 2020 — VIPER GAMING by PATRIOT™, a trademarked brand of PATRIOT and a global leader in performance memory, solid-state drives, and flash storage solutions, today is pleased to announce the launch of its new VIPER STEEL RGB series DDR4 high-performance memory. The VIPER STEEL RGB series evolved from the award-winning VIPER STEEL series memory and now comes equipped with spectacular RGB illumination and dedicated to bringing desktop DRAM RGB lighting design to a whole new level. The VIPER STEEL RGB series memory kits are currently available at speeds 3200MHz and 3600MHz with the largest capacity of 64GB (2x32GB) kit. All modules are hand-tested and optimized across the latest Intel and AMD Ryzen platforms to deliver excellent stability and a visual feast of RGB lighting to PC enthusiasts and water-cooled PC modders.
For better thermal dissipation and distinctive appearance, the VIPER STEEL RGB series DDR4 memory features a redesigned heatshield comprised of high-quality aluminum coated in a pearlescent black paint and a scratch-proof finish. The lightbar embedded on the top of the heatshield brings 5 impressive multi-zones of RGB to the memory module. It fully supports the latest ASUS Aura Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion 2.0, MSI Mystic Light Sync, ASROCK Polychrome Sync RGB Motherboard RGB applications.
Each of the VIPER STEEL RGB series memory kit modules has been strictly screened and is built on a ten-layer PCB with the best-quality components. The DRAM modules have been optimized separately across the latest Intel and AMD Ryzen platforms to deliver extreme performance with utmost signal quality and reliability. This series is available in single 8GB/16GB/32GB modules or dual module kits with a maximum 64GB(32x2) capacity and in frequencies between 3200MHz and 3600MHz. With the benefit of XMP 2.0 automatic overclock(OC) settings, the VIPER STEEL RGB series memory kit preserves potential headroom for additional overclocking performance and tuning. Backed by a PATRIOT limited lifetime warranty, the VIPER STEEL RGB series is tailor-made for hardcore gamers, case modders, and overclockers and is now available at major US retailers.
“We’re thrilled to launch our popular demand of VIPER STEEL RGB PERFORMANCE MEMORY for those enthusiasts who are obsessed with maximizing hardware performance” said Roger Shinmoto, Vice President of Patriot and Viper Gaming.
Features:
- Series: Viper Steel RGB
- Edition: Black headshield sides with golden Viper logo / Lightbar top
- Aluminum heat spreader with golden Viper logo design element
- RGB Sync up with ASUS/ASRock/MSI/Gigabyte motherboard app
- Feature Overclock: XMP 2.0 support for automatic overclocking
- Compatibility: Tested across the latest Intel/AMD platforms
- Limited lifetime warranty
-
Funky Kit Review - HyperX Fury RGB 64GB DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory Kit
The Fury is here, phj34r the phury!!
The HyperX Fury RGB 64GB DDR4-3600 are an amazing memory kit for gamers and computer enthusiasts. It combines all the best features for the most demanding of users. HyperX once again delivers high quality, high performance, and outstanding compatibility. Those who are into overclocking will also be satisfied with Fury's great overclocking ability.
As many of us know there are several factors that influence system performance and while most reddit reading gamers will say Video Card I am here to say that the subsystem is the most important part.
Think of it this way. You are sitting in a chair, your hands and feet are bound and someone throws the chair into a 200ft deep pool. You would love to get out of the water before you drown but there is something stopping you.
This metaphor is basically your video card using the crack you have been reading on reddit. Bottom line, processor, memory and motherboard. Three components together that can break these rusty chains.
-
AORUS RTX 3080 Master Review @ Vortez
Ok, so when I post reviews from other websites I do so with the following intent.
- To share what other sites are doing and help hardware enthusiasts find products to read about
- According to google I'm doing the worse thing ever and they tend to punish websites to the fullest extent of "their" law by refusing to index sites that post links to other websites and then bury the content they have indexed to that nobody will ever find it. While I see no harm in posting a link to another website it seems scammers figured out how to make money from it and thus hurting everyone. #ruinitforeveryone
- Get a chuckle out of the "quotes" that sites send out. You can sometimes feel their enthusiasm by the quotes they send
- Miskpell certain words to see if anyone will ever write in to complain.
I have a love hate relationship with Aorus, they make some good stuff but, have this internal power struggle preventing them from actually making the company better.
Today we’re set to take a look at what AORUS has to offer with their RTX 3080 Master. This graphics card is quite easily one of the biggest we’ve ever encountered.
And here we have that quote. It is like they want to do good but are scared that nobody will pay attention. I mean where is the hook to prompt people to click the link??
I might suggest giving them a click just to show some love.
-
ASRock Radeon RX 6800 XT Taichi X @ TechPowerUp
I will admit that I haven't followed the AMD Radeon RX releases much. They are pretty good cards but have typically run hotter than you would expect and, for the most part, are never in stock and companies rarely send them out for review.
Despite this, AMD fans love them some Radeon and thus a cult following is born.
The ASRock Radeon RX 6800 XT Taichi X comes with three 8-pin power inputs, which brings the card's maximum board power to 525 W. The cooler is a big triple-slot, triple-fan monstrosity that achieves excellent temperatures, better than any other RX 6800 XT custom design so far.
Funny thing, I forgot that ASRock made video cards. I wonder why that is.
Oh ya..
