Tech News
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MSI MEG Z590 ACE Review @ Vortez
Published: Tuesday, May 4, 2021 | By: DennisI remember a time when motherboard makers had a plan, a clear vision and they delivered. Some boards were built for overclocking, some for gaming and some for China. Well, it would seem that most of them have fallen off the wagon and now are walking aimlessly into the cloudy future of the unknown.
I mean, seriously, Thunderbolt 4? Nobody got time for that?!?
Characterised as one of their flagship solutions, MSI have presented us with the MEG Z590 ACE – a high-end model which seeks to supply tech enthusiasts and gamers with some of the finest features on offer for this new platform. One of the most significant of those features being Thunderbolt 4 ports.
One of my recent and much-loved boards from MSI was the Z390 Ace, that board can do anything, overclock to 6+ Ghz for DAYS, loves the cold and never complains about being put back in the box. The board is perfect and, well, you get the idea.
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Gigabyte Z490 AORUS Master Motherboard and Intel Core i9-11900K CPU @ Funky Kit
Published: Monday, May 3, 2021 | By: DennisWhat is this, Rocket Lake on the Z490?? Say it ain't so plucky!!
I really enjoyed reviewing the Z490 AORUS Master. This motherboard worked perfectly with the new 11th gen 11900K. No need in upgrading to a new motherboard. Just update your bios and you are ready to go!
OMG, what a lackluster quote. It is almost like "we know" that very few sites actually post a quote with the web review news so why bother including any helpful text. Well, I do and I demand more!
By the looks of it, the new processor is a drop-in replacement for the "faster" Core i9 10900k giving you fewer cores and the title of "king of the 11th Gen". I might have to try this out. I mean Intel did say they weren’t going to do any more Tick Tock BS so this 100% should not be possible.
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Phanteks Eclipse P200A Performance @ TechPowerUp
Published: Monday, May 3, 2021 | By: DennisI have said many times that the MiniITX motherboard, despite its small size and limited expandability is the future of the PC. Nvidia has taken away multi GPU, crypto "get rich quickers" have taken away GPUs and Storage and the heat bound nature of CPUs has taken away overclocking so, what is left?
Well, the pure essence of what makes a PC, the fun factor.
The Phanteks Eclipse P200A ITX is both the smallest and most affordable product of the Eclipse line. It still features the fine metal mesh and continues to focus on steel as opposed to plastic as a material, but also has a few nifty surprises within, which one would not expect from an enclosure that costs $50 in today's tariff-burdened market.
To help contain all that fun'ness while protecting that single GPU so you can use onboard audio and proper CPU cooling you need a case that is as cool as your motherboard and Phanteks has the solution.
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Thermaltake USA Announces the Availability of TOUGHAIR 510 and TOUGHAIR 310 High-Performance CPU Air Cooler
Published: Sunday, May 2, 2021 | By: DennisCutting-edge vertical tower design with high-performance fan and fin. Delivers cooling performance to hardcore gaming desktops.
Walnut, California- April 26th, 2021-Thermaltake, the leading PC component brand offering premium solutions for cooling, gaming peripherals, and enthusiast memory solutions, is proud to announce the availability of the TOUGHAIR 510 and TOUGHAIR 310 CPU Air Cooler in North America. TOUGHAIR CPU Air Coolers utilize next-gen high static pressure fans leveraging the advanced design concept from TOUGHFAN 12 as well as providing a new level of thermal performance and reliability to the vertical heatsink tower. The dual-fan tower design, TOUGHAIR 510, and the vertical single-fan tower, TOUGHAIR 310, are the smart choices for hardcore gaming systems to guarantee excellent air-cooling performance on the latest Intel and AMD platforms.
"The launch of the TOUGHAIR 510 and TOUGHAIR 310 is the great pride from our engineering team who have created a no-compromise cooler with excellent thermal performance and done our best to deliver what PC enthusiasts are expecting from the products deserving of the name TOUGH.," said Michael Guo, VP at Thermaltake USA.
The high static pressure fan configurations found on THOUGHAIR 510 and THOUGHAIR 310 provide approximately 58.35 CFM @ 2,000 RPM of airflow and features a controllable fan speed between 500 RPM to 2,000 RPM. Each fan is equipped with an advanced Gen.2 hydraulic bearing, LCP-made fan blades, and an anti-vibration mounting system for the best long and silent operation.
The heatsink is built using four direct contacted 4 x Ø 6 mm copper heat pipes with a maximum power handling of 180W TDP, ensuring the CPU's heat will be bringing up to the fins entirely. The heatsink is designed with an optimized asymmetric fin structure to maximize the airflow and minimize air turbulence. Installing the TOUGHAIR 510 and TOUGHAIR 310 is simply easy due to the universal socket design retention system that is fully compatible with all the latest Intel and AMD CPU sockets.
Backed by a Thermaltake limited 2-year warranty, TOUGHAIR 510 and 310 CPU Cooler are now available at major retailers in the USA and Canada.
About Thermaltake
Thermaltake launched in 1999, first specializing in air cooling and successfully debuting the world's first turbine air cooler, the "Golden Orb". Since then, Thermaltake has taken the world by storm and become the leader in computer hardware and peripherals in the DIY PC market. Homing in on their 3 main lines ("Key 3"), Thermaltake delivers seamless cases, power supplies, and cooling products. The "Key 3 Spirit" represents Thermaltake's promise toward its users; the promise to provide products that display "Quality Performance & Reliability." The "Key 3 Spirit" is the foundation for all Thermaltake products and is the reason for Thermaltake's continuous success worldwide. -
Cryptominers scramble for large-capacity SSDs
Published: Monday, April 26, 2021 | By: DennisI normally come up with an elaborate introduction to stories like this but, I think the one from Digitimes is spot on.
The crytopmining fever is sweeping across China where miners are buying out all large-capacity SSDs available on the spot market ahead of the start of trading of the new crypto coin Chia. Supply of SSDs has been constrained by shortage of controller ICs. NAND flash device controller and module supplier Phison Electronics recently has raised its product prices again. Meanwhile, Taiwan's top LCD panel makers, AUO and Innolux, are optimistic about miniLED applications.
Cryptomining demand for large-capacity SSDs surges in China: China-based cryptomining hardware makers are "panic buying" all the available large-capacity SSDs from the spot market, according to industry sources.
And just when you thought the PC is dead you get "niche" flare ups requiring consumer grade hardware that brings the importance of the PC back into the limelight. Sadly, in this case it is the need for fast storage to keep track of the enhanced crypto.
I have said it before and I will say it again. Crypto only has value because a large group of people are driving the demand. When Bitcoin was down ALL of the bitcoin pushers were dead silent on social media however, once it started going up again, they had all become unstoppable chatter boxes urging people to "buy coin" to inflate their holdings.
It is like we have cabbies trying to sell the Brooklyn Bridge all over again.
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VIPER launches the NEW VP4300 PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 2280 SSD
Published: Thursday, April 15, 2021 | By: DennisBuilt on the latest high-speed Innogrit controller. To deliver ultra-fast transfer speeds for workstation PCs and performance gaming laptops. Now available in capacities of 1TB/2TB.
FREMONT, CALIFORNIA — April 15th, 2021 — VIPER™, a trademarked brand of PATRIOT™ and a global leader in performance memory, solid-state drives, and flash storage solutions, is proud to launch its Viper VP4300 PCIe Gen4 x 4 NVME M.2 2280 SSD today. The SSD is built using the latest Innogrit Gen 4x4 high-speed controller-IG5236 and the highest quality DDR4 DRAM cache, which delivers blistering transfer speeds for massive system DATA throughput. The drive provides the 4K Aligned Random-Read and Random-Write up to 800K IOPs and Sequential Read and Write speeds up to 7,400MB/s and 6,800MB/s, respectively. Faster overall performance from system boots to accelerating system responsiveness when loading games or data-intensive applications. The all-new Viper VP4300 is available in capacities of 1TB and 2TB.
Keeping the NVMe m.2 SSD thermally stable is essential for maintaining the drive's performance and stability, as every system is different. Motherboards come with integrated coolers, while ITX desktops and performance laptops have limited space.
The Viper VP4300 SSD comes with two heat spreaders to meet all thermal demands: an aluminum heatshield and an extremely thin, single-use, graphene thermal pad, which can be used together or independently in a variety of different system configurations from a full tower desktop to a restricted ITX tower or gaming laptop.
The aluminum and graphene heatshields offer two height profiles and can be used independently or together for superior heat dissipation in any build. The Graphene heatshield is recognized as an ultra-thin and lightweight thermal pad and best used when space is limited, or an integrated heatsink is being used, and best of all users can choose which one to use according to the allowed installation space.
Many traditional NVMe SSDs set performance restrictions that limit Read and Write data transfer speeds to maintain a workable operating temperature. The Viper VP4300 is designed with a cutting-edge Thermal Throttling technology that uses a built-in thermal sensor and firmware to manage the SSD temperature. This will prevent overheating and easily leverage the best performance under a variety of different system tasks.
Backed by VIPER GAMING's 5-year warranty, the Viper VP4300 M.2 SSD is one of the most reliable choices for PC enthusiasts, hardcore gamers, content creators, and animation rendering professionals who require ultra-fast bootup speed and instantaneous access for superior productivity. Joining the Viper VP4100 in the Gen4 x 4 segment, the Viper VP4300 is now expected to be available at suggested major retailers worldwide.
Features Highlights
- Built with the latest Innogrit IG5236 PCIe Gen 4 x 4 NVMe controller to unlock ultra fast sequential Read and Write speeds up to 7.400MB/s and 6,800MB/s.
- Thermal Throttling Technology and built-in thermal sensor to provide additional protection and sustain the best performance under intense workloads.
- Delivers the perfect combination of overall performance, ultra-fast transfer speeds, and enhanced multitasking capabilities.
- Built on a 10-layer PCB to guarantee excellent signal integrity for ultra-stability.
- Two optional heatshields included in the package: Aluminum heatshield x 1, Graphene heatshield x 1
- O/S Supported: Windows® 7*/8.0*/8.1/10 (*May require driver)
- Must be on the latest AMD CPU and Motherboard, at time of release, to obtain optimal Gen4x4 speed. Other platforms will be backward compatible with Gen3x4
Availability:
MSRP: 2TB - $499.99, 1TB - $254.99 -
GIGABYTE Z590 AORUS MASTER Review @ Vortez
Published: Thursday, April 15, 2021 | By: DennisAn interesting thing happened during the Rocket Lake launch. Nobody contacted me to do a review and on top of that I haven't seen many reviews come through my inbox with can only indicate one thing.
Rocket Lake sucks. There have been plenty of records set with the Intel 11 Series processor but they all seem to be memory related which would indicate that the CPU is still heat bound and is likely marking the end of the "Core" era.
In the spotlight today we have the Z590 AORUS MASTER – a stellar offering which strives to leave no stone unturned in regards to features and outright performance. Boasting support for up to 5400MHz DDR4, a plethora of USB 3.2 connectivity and PCIe 4.0, MASTER is really designed for the tech enthusiast who does not have any intention of comprising.
I'll be picking up a 11 Series in the next couple weeks and will chrun through some motherboards but, until then check out thie review from Vortez and see what you think of the Gigabyte Master Z590.
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BIOSTAR Announces the New B550T-SILVER Motherboard
Published: Thursday, April 15, 2021 | By: DennisApril 15th, 2021, Taipei, Taiwan - BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices today, unveils the brand new B550T-SILVER motherboard.
Built to run the latest AMD Ryzen processors on AMD’s B550 single chip architecture, the new B550T-SILVER motherboard from BIOSTAR is truly a masterpiece in design and engineering. With all the essentials for a motherboard of its kind, this Mini-ITX motherboard is versatile for any occasion.
Featuring a 2-DIMM DDR4 RAM configuration that can support up to 64GB of high speed 4933+(OC) RAMs, the B550T-SILVER motherboard works amazingly well for a home or office PC that takes less space yet carries a lot of power at its core.
PCIe 4.0 and Wifi 6 are some of the noticeable features of the B550T-SILVER motherboard powered by BIOSTAR’s signature Digital PWM technology that delivers power throughout the system in a stable and reliable way. Furthermore, PCIe M.2 4.0 provides fast storage solutions with a 16GT/s bit rate and backward compatibility.
The rear I/O of the B550T-SILVER motherboard consists of 6 USB ports consisting of a single USB 3.2 (Gen2) Type-C port, a single USB 3.2 (Gen2) Port and 4 x USB 3.2 (Gen1) ports provided for USB input as well as an additional PS/2 port for users looking to plug in an older mouse or a keyboard depending on user preference.
Furthermore, 2 x WiFi Antenna ports with the capability to run WiFi 6 and a single LAN port powered by Realtek RTL8125B chipset are readily available in the motherboard for faster internet connectivity.
The B550T-SILVER motherboard comes with a single display port as well as an HDMI 2.1 port capable of supporting up to 4K, vivid, crystal clear images. This together with the 3 audio ports powered by the ALC897 chipset is capable of providing the users with an extremely immersive audio and visual experience.
To Conclude, the new B550T-SILVER motherboard brings cutting-edge technology in a small form, highly suitable for gaming and casual content consumption. It is undoubtedly the best choice in the market for that small sleek HTPC build.
Digital PWM
- Increases system efficiency
- Has faster transient performance
- Delivers stable power and reliability
Dr. MOS
- Makes you overclock smoothly
- Improves thermal performance
- Delivers superior efficiency and performance
PCIe 4.0
- Supports a 16GT/s bit rate
- Maintains backward compatibility
- It’s 2X bandwidth than PCIe 3.0
PCIe M.2 4.0
- Delivers lower latency
- Delivers the highest bandwidth 64Gb/s
- It’s 2 times faster than PCIe M.2 3.0
Debug LED
- Informs you on the status of your board or hardware
- Helps you identify any issues going with your board or hardware
WiFi 6 (No Wifi 6 card included)
- Improves network efficiency
- Provides a wider range to increase network capacity
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Patriot Viper VP4300 M.2 PCIE Gen4 x4 2TB SSD @ Funkykit
Published: Thursday, April 15, 2021 | By: DennisWhen it comes to M.2 SSDs you have a choice. You can choose to pick any random old drive and then deal with how to keep the drive cool or you can pick the Patriot VP4300 and get the choice of coolers. You can use one with your motherboard or use the included cooler.
Either way it is a "Win-Win", oh and I suppose the drive is pretty fast too.
So inclusion, the Patriot Viper VP4300 PCIE Gen4 is one of the fastest M.2 NVMe SSD we've tested to date. With super fast read and write speeds, it's ideal for the hardcore enthusiasts whether you're using it for gaming or content creation. For performance alone, the Viper VP4300 gets our Editor's Choice award.
Check out the review at Funky Kit and click on the banner to buy one for yourself. I'd say there is a discount but...
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NVIDIA Announces CPU for Giant AI and High Performance Computing Workloads
Published: Monday, April 12, 2021 | By: Dennis- ‘Grace’ CPU delivers 10x performance leap for systems training giant AI models, using energy-efficient Arm cores
- Swiss Supercomputing Center and US Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory First to Build NVIDIA CPU-Powered Supercomputers
SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GTC -- NVIDIA today announced its first data center CPU, an Arm-based processor that will deliver 10x the performance of today’s fastest servers on the most complex AI and high performance computing workloads.
The result of more than 10,000 engineering years of work, the NVIDIA Grace™ CPU is designed to address the computing requirements for the world’s most advanced applications — including natural language processing, recommender systems and AI supercomputing — that analyze enormous datasets requiring both ultra-fast compute performance and massive memory. It combines energy-efficient Arm CPU cores with an innovative low-power memory subsystem to deliver high performance with great efficiency.
“Leading-edge AI and data science are pushing today’s computer architecture beyond its limits – processing unthinkable amounts of data,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “Using licensed Arm IP, NVIDIA has designed Grace as a CPU specifically for giant-scale AI and HPC. Coupled with the GPU and DPU, Grace gives us the third foundational technology for computing, and the ability to re-architect the data center to advance AI. NVIDIA is now a three-chip company.”
Grace is a highly specialized processor targeting workloads such as training next-generation NLP models that have more than 1 trillion parameters. When tightly coupled with NVIDIA GPUs, a Grace CPU-based system will deliver 10x faster performance than today’s state-of-the-art NVIDIA DGX™-based systems, which run on x86 CPUs.
While the vast majority of data centers are expected to be served by existing CPUs, Grace — named for Grace Hopper, the U.S. computer-programming pioneer — will serve a niche segment of computing.
The Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory are the first to announce plans to build Grace-powered supercomputers in support of national scientific research efforts.
NVIDIA is introducing Grace as the volume of data and size of AI models are growing exponentially. Today’s largest AI models include billions of parameters and are doubling every two-and-a-half months. Training them requires a new CPU that can be tightly coupled with a GPU to eliminate system bottlenecks.
NVIDIA built Grace by leveraging the incredible flexibility of Arm’s data center architecture. By introducing a new server-class CPU, NVIDIA is advancing the goal of technology diversity in AI and HPC communities, where choice is key to delivering the innovation needed to solve the world’s most pressing problems.
“As the world’s most widely licensed processor architecture, Arm drives innovation in incredible new ways every day,” said Arm CEO Simon Segars. “NVIDIA’s introduction of the Grace data center CPU illustrates clearly how Arm’s licensing model enables an important invention, one that will further support the incredible work of AI researchers and scientists everywhere.”
Grace’s First Adopters Push Limits of Science and AI
CSCS and Los Alamos National Laboratory both plan to bring Grace-powered supercomputers, built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, online in 2023.”NVIDIA’s novel Grace CPU allows us to converge AI technologies and classic supercomputing for solving some of the hardest problems in computational science,” said CSCS Director Prof. Thomas Schulthess. “We are excited to make the new NVIDIA CPU available for our users in Switzerland and globally for processing and analyzing massive and complex scientific datasets.”
“With an innovative balance of memory bandwidth and capacity, this next-generation system will shape our institution’s computing strategy,” said Thom Mason, director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. “Thanks to NVIDIA’s new Grace CPU, we’ll be able to deliver advanced scientific research using high-fidelity 3D simulations and analytics with datasets that are larger than previously possible.”
Delivering Breakthrough Performance
Underlying Grace’s performance is fourth-generation NVIDIA NVLink® interconnect technology, which provides a record 900 GB/s connection between Grace and NVIDIA GPUs to enable 30x higher aggregate bandwidth compared to today’s leading servers.Grace will also utilize an innovative LPDDR5x memory subsystem that will deliver twice the bandwidth and 10x better energy efficiency compared with DDR4 memory. In addition, the new architecture provides unified cache coherence with a single memory address space, combining system and HBM GPU memory to simplify programmability.
Grace will be supported by the NVIDIA HPC software development kit and the full suite of CUDA® and CUDA-X™ libraries, which accelerate more than 2,000 GPU applications, speeding discoveries for scientists and researchers working on the world’s most important challenges.
Availability is expected in the beginning of 2023.
