Tech News

  • Logitech G602 Wireless Gaming Mouse Review @ Techgage

    I have to say that a wireless gaming mouse is never a good thing but it seems that Logitech has made some improvements in that arena.

    The terms “wireless” and “gaming mouse” are rarely juxtaposed, and for good reason: Gamers never want to be caught in a situation where their mice batteries die while in the heat of battle. In this regard, Logitech claims its newest wireless gaming mouse, the G602, is a game-changer. Fortunately, it sent us one to see if we agree.

    Even if it doesn't work well it at least looks good.  Just remember to keep the battery charged.

  • Are there aliens in San Francisco or is it just Google building a datacenter?

    So there is this new barge floating off the cost of San Francisco and has people speculating what it could be.  Of course hungry reporters looking for their next meal have discovered that the owner of the barge is, get this, "A company called By and Large" with no mention as to where they are headquartered.

    This could just be me but didn't that company destory the earth in a movie once?  (kudos if you know what it is from)

    As for how a floating data center would be connected to the internet at large, we’re not entirely sure. A wireless link would be possible, but probably lacking in bandwidth. Unless the barge is very static and heavily anchored (which somewhat defeats the point of a floating data center), a high-bandwidth submarine cable wouldn’t be possible.

    Before long we will have people camping out and selling alien heads claiming that Google captured a space traveler and is working towards building a death ray so they can rule the universe.

  • GTX 780 Ti Available November 7th and Price Drops for all

    I have some great NVIDIA news.

    First up, GeForce GTX!

    GeForce GTX 780 Ti will be available for sale starting on November 7th at a  suggested e-tail price of $699.  With every great GPU launch we usually get price drops on the existing products.  The new suggested e-tail price for GTX 780 is $499 and GTX 770 is $329. These prices will be live in e-tail by 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 29th.

    The GTX 780 Ti will be part of a holiday promotion called "The Way It’s Meant to Be Played Holiday Bundle with SHIELD":

    • Purchase a GTX 780 Ti/780/770 and receive a free copy of Batman: Arkham Origins, Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, plus $100 off a SHIELD purchase.
    • Purchase a GTX 760/660 and receive Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, plus $50 off a SHIELD purchase.

    For those of you following Project SHIELD

    Today, NVIDIA unleashed a massive update to the SHIELD gaming portable which allows thousands of games to benefit from the console-grade controller, brings Android 4.3 Jelly Bean to SHIELD, and introduces other new features including:

    • Console Mode, which turns SHIELD into a portable living room game console. Pair up a Bluetooth controller and sit back on your couch and play Android games, browse the Web, and watch your favorite movies all in native HD at 1080p.
    • NVIDIA GameStream (formally known as PC streaming), is officially launching today and is also Console Mode-ready. So you’ll be able to stream your PC games to – and enjoy them on – the big screen.
    • SHIELD Gamepad Mapper, which allows you to create your own custom controls for thousands of games on Google Play, or use NVIDIA’s default profiles now available for more than a hundred (and counting) top Android games, making everything from “NBA Jam” to “Temple Run” playable on SHIELD’s console-grade controller. The default profiles are automatically downloaded from the cloud so you can just launch your game and play. Full list of NVIDIA default profiles are below the fold.

    This all sounds pretty good and I can't wait to see them in action.  For those of you looking to see some visuals check out the YouTube video.

  • Welcome to the New Ninjalane er Hardware Asylum

    If you have come to this website expecting to see NInjalane.com, don't worry you have come to the right place, just with a different name. 

    Welcome to Hardware Asylum.  I purchased the domain late in 2012 and started laying down plans for a site migration.  As you can see the culmination of those efforts has been realized and with any luck the site will grow and be welcomed by Google into their index.

    A few things you should know about the new website.

    • This is a website run by computer hardware enthusiasts, gaming aficionados and overclockers. We want to make sure you keep coming back so please let us know what you think either by sending an email or posting on our facebook page.
    • The website is divided up into several sections, the main Reviews section has been pre-populated with Ninjalane.com reviews from 2011 forward.  There are over 14 years of review history on that website and it felt bad to move it all.
    • I attend several computer events throughout the year which were normally posted in the Blogs section on NInjalane.com, I'll be working to migrate those over to Hardware Asylum but, in the meantime be sure to check out the Articles section of the website.  It has been pre-populated with Ninjalane.com articles from 2011 forward.
    • The final section of the website is the NInjalane Podcast. (new name pending)  Darren and I have been recording a bi-weekly tech and gaming podcast for the past two years and we urge you all to check it out.  The latest episode can always be viewed from the Podcast index with links to the past episodes along the right.

    You will notice that the Ninjalane Message Forum didn't make the cut for migration.  This was actually the first feature of Ninjalane and with the prevalence of social media and decrease in overall forum activity it was decided that the forum needed to be shut down. 

    However, if there is a need I am not against bringing it back. 

    Be sure to check back in November when I launch the first ever Hardware Asylum Custom Hardware Giveaway.  All proceeds will go towards building up the Facebook following and clearing out my garage.

  • MSI Master Overclocking Arena 2013 live photo coverage @ Hardware.Info

    The MSI MOA this year was plagued with a limited budget that not only impacted the format of the competition but also where it was hosted.  While this may have limited any local foot traffic for those of us outside of Taiwan you wouldn't have known the difference.

    The MOA this year occurred over the course of two days and followed a similar format to previous years.  Three benchmarks with the best improvement of score winning that stage but, as we have seen just because you win a stage doesn't mean you'll win the competition.

    Hardware.Info appears to have been one of the invited media and has a pretty good photo log of the event.

    We’re doing live coverage of MSI’s Master Overclocking Arena 2013 overclocking event today. 16 overclockers from all over the world compete in three benchmarks; SuperPi 32M, Cinebench 11.5 and 3DMark Fire Strike. We’ll updating the link below all day long with new pictures.

    --snip--

    Unfortunately one overclocker has to quit the competition before the end. Italian OC-guru Giorgioprimo already had bad luck in the morning, sacrifing his first MPower board. Halfway the Fire Strike session his second board also crashed. And there's more: Mikecdm's Samsung based Lightning card died during the competition.

    Darren and I will be discussing the MOA on the next Podcast so stay tuned.

  • AMD benchmarks show R9 290X faster than GTX 780

    This might be "old news" for the AMD fans out there but last week at the NVidia event in Montreal there were rumors floating around that AMD had set up shop nearby and that NVidia reps were camped out watching to see who (of their invited media) actually went to go see them.

    We all know that companies take advantage of media coverage when they can and even make up creative ways to invite them that doesn't come off as morally disrespectful, however wrong it may be.

    Journalists (including TR's Scott Wasson) are gathered in Montreal this week for an Nvidia event. It so happens that AMD is right next door to the Nvidia venue, armed with one of its upcoming Radeon R9 290X graphics cards—and it's taken the opportunity to release some internal benchmarks comparing that card to Nvidia's GeForce GTX 780.

    I wasn't suprised to hear that AMD was in the area during the NVidia event, they tend to bogart time during the IDF and yet when they host a private media showing in Hawaii does Intel or NVidia butt in?

    I'm not sure, seems they never invite me to those kinds of parties.

  • nVidia Announces the GTX 780 Ti R290X Killer

    nVidia is having a little "event" in Canada this week and today marks the second day of announcements including a new GPU.  Most folks farming for traffic said it wasn't going to happen while others would string you along saying "we swore we wouldn't tell".  Either way the rumormill was correct and we indeed have a new GPU.

    Enter the GTX 780 Ti

    Today in Montreal, NVIDIA announced they will be releasing the GTX 780 Ti in mid-November (it will be a hard launch).  This card is meant to compete and potentially one-up AMD’s upcoming R9 290X in a big way.  It is supposed to be quiet, run cool and provide a ton of performance.

    Of course the news is just breaking so details are sparse but according to nVidia "this is the fastest GPU we have ever produced" which would indicate it is faster than Titan.  

    Personally I think its just a Titan core on a retail card but with the 780 name badge it will likely be limited to 3-way SLI and generally cost too much for anyone to care.  

    More to come.

  • Pink is the new Black by Enermax

    In the early days of computer chassis design everything was beige because beige was a neutral color that went with almost everything, it is also where the phrase "the beige box" came from.  Modding changed the landscape somewhat and introduced a rainbow of colors applied to a variety of cases from mild customs to inexpensive pre-mods.  They all had something to offer and usually in a color that suited your tastes.

    Of those colors you don't normally see Pink, and when you do its usually in conjunction with a cartoon or part of a custom mod done by an end user.  That is, until now.

    Enermax has released the new Ostrog Pink chassis which is pretty much your standard mid tower chassis featuring a soft Pink exterior and glossy white center.  USB and power controls are located at the top, it comes with a removable HDD cage for longer graphics cards and features a varity of filters and screwless ODD kits (the 5.25 drive bays).

    Pink may not be the color of the hardcore gamer and color matched components may be difficult to source but any fan of pink, ladies included, may find this case the perfect alternative to modding a chassis themselves.

  • SilverStone Tundra TD02 & TD03 Review @ Hardware Canucks

    When is a cooler, *not* a cooler? Well, I'm not sure such a thing exists.  In fact the new Tundra chillers from Silverstone are quite good though feature some interesting design decisions.

    With the Tundra TD02 and TD03, SilverStone has officially entered the water cooling market with two extremely competitive all in ones.  They compete well against the likes of Corsair's H100 series and NZXT's Krakens.

    There is only so much  you can do with an AIO watercooler before you run into bottlenecks either in pump power, radiator size, fan speed and even the diameter of the hoses can impact performance.

  • Cooler Master HAF Stacker 935 @ Modders-Inc

    The nice thing about being part of the "trusted" hardware media is that you get to see the genesis of products from their first concepts to the pre-launch displays.  The Cooler Master HAF Stacker is one such case that I first saw at CES.

    To be honest I wasn't really a fan of the design but it has potential, especially in the modding community.

    I think we have all thought at one time or another that if we could just build a case that we wanted it would bee so cool. Or not having to cram in all your hardware, water cooling setup, hard drives and all the wires and cables that go with it. Cooler Master must have been thinking the same thing and came up with a totally new idea for the computer case market. The Cooler Master HAF Stacker 935 is like nothing you have every seen before.

    Now for the real question, why didn't we get one for review??