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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Thursday, 01 June 2023 19:05
Cooler Master has had a wide product lineup for years now so it’s rare to come across a PC-related product that they haven’t made, especially something in the PC peripherals market. So I was surprised when they announced the new Cooler Master Storm Controller that they haven’t made a controller in the past. It is right up their alley. Either way, the timing couldn’t be better because the controller I have been using on my PC has been acting up so I’m excited to see what the new Storm Controller is all about. Let’s dive in and see what features it has to offer then check out its performance.
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Category: Storage
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Published: Tuesday, 30 May 2023 09:09
We are just getting used to PCIe Gen 4 SSDs and now PCIe Gen 5 have been trickling out onto the market. For that Crucial has changed up their usual naming which was all focused around their P lineup with the P5 Plus being their highest-end drive. For the new drive, however, they have changed things up to T700 to indicate the new Gen 5 drive. With the specs highlighting rear speeds of up to 12,400 MB/s and write speeds of 11,800 MB/s we are in for another huge performance increase over what we saw with PCIe Gen 4 and especially Gen 3. So today I’m going to dive in and check out the Crucial T700 Pro with and without its heatsink to see what is behind the curtain and then check out their performance including comparing what the cooling can do for you. So let’s dive in!
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Category: Video Cards
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Published: Wednesday, 24 May 2023 09:02
When I think of AMD cards, Sapphire is still the first brand that comes to mind. Much like EVGA did for Nvidia for years. So with today's launch of the Radeon RX 7600, in addition to checking out the reference card which we already have done, I’ve also got the Sapphire RX 7600 Pulse. Their Pulse brand tries to bridge the gap between performance and affordability by cutting out things like RGB lighting. With a focus on 1080p performance, that is the exact mindset needed, so I’m excited to see what the Sapphire RX 7600 Pulse has to offer and to find out how the RX 7600 performs with a slight overclock and a hopefully it has better cooling performance than the reference design. So let’s dive in and see what the RX 7600 Pulse is all about.
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Category: Video Cards
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Published: Wednesday, 24 May 2023 09:01
Yesterday the embargo lifted on the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti and today it hits store shelves, but AMD is hoping that before you consider that you take a look at their new RX 7600. Today the 7600 embargo lifts and we can dive into what it is all about and check out its performance, then it hits store shelves tomorrow. The RX 7600 is targeting the mainstream segment as well which means it is designed for 1080p performance and is priced to match the RTX 4060 which Nvidia announced for a July launch. Mainstream users can finally get excited, the next generation of cards is finally here, and with 64.52% of Steam users on the latest survey still gaming at 1080p that is still by far the largest market. So I’m excited to see how the new RX 7600 performs!
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Category: Video Cards
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Published: Tuesday, 23 May 2023 09:01
With every new generation of video cards, the latest and greatest cards are always exciting. But the truth is most people aren’t gaming at the resolutions needed to justify those cards. The latest Steam hardware survey has just 2.75% of users running a 4K display, 1440p is gaining ground at 12.49% of users. But it is still 1080p that is the most used resolution with an impressive 64.52% of users. That tells us that the power users may benefit from the highest-end cards, but for a while longer a majority of people will be better served with the mid-range of the newer lineup and we are finally starting to get into that with Nvidia’s recent announcement of the RTX 4060 Ti 8GB, RTX 4060 Ti 16GB, and the RTX 4060. The RTX 4060 Ti 16GB and the RTX 4060 are scheduled for release in July, but the RTX 4060 Ti itself will be in stores tomorrow. So today I’m going to dive into the details on the card, check out the design of the Founders Edition card, and then put it to the test to see how it fits in the market right now.
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Category: Storage
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Published: Thursday, 18 May 2023 16:20
Compact M. 2-based external SSDs have been growing in popularity and it’s no wonder why. They max out the performance of USB 3.2 Gen 2 connections with crazy read and write performance, are extremely durable, and their size is a lot better than any hard drive based external option. I’ve had the chance to check out a variety of the options in the past. Alongside of them, some companies make M.2 external enclosures that do all of the same things, but you just add your own drive inside. They are a nice option to use an old SSD or offer you the chance to be able to upgrade later. Viper, the gaming brand of Patriot has had a few including their latest Viper VXD which I’m going to check out today.
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Category: PC Cases
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Published: Tuesday, 16 May 2023 10:25
For those of you who have been around for a while, you will most likely know that I have had a thing for small form factor builds going back before small form factor builds were a thing. We did our Lunchbox build series starting 14 years ago when we were building in a Shuttle. The options for compact builds with video cards have improved significantly over the years and a few companies have played big roles in that including Fractal with their Node 202 which helped bring the “console” form factor into the mainstream with a reasonably priced case option. Well, the Fractal Ridge is the first time that Fractal has been back to that form factor and while I am late to the party, I’m excited to see what they have changed. Especially now with PCIe 4.0 risers being available which address compatibility issues that some people ran into. So let's dive into the Ridge and see what it is all about and build a system in it to get the full experience.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Thursday, 11 May 2023 08:45
With the Intel launch being stacked up so close with AMDs CPU launch as well as GPU launches from AMD and Nvidia as well late last year I didn’t get the chance to check out too much more as far as any of the other new LGA motherboards. This is especially true with some of the other chipsets and ITX boards. So with a little time this spring, I thought why not check some out and MSIs MPG B760I Edge WiFi fit the bill perfectly. We can check out the B760 and also check out an ITX board, perfect for a compact LAN-friendly build. So today I’m going to see what features MSI has given the board, check out its BIOS and performance, then see how it fits in the market price wise. So let’s dive in and see what it is all about.
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Category: Other
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Published: Tuesday, 09 May 2023 09:41
It's been interesting to see Anker slowly move into the off-grid market with their Anker Powerhouse lineup which goes well beyond what a small battery backup is capable of as far as power storage and even includes AC outlets and capable solar charging as well. This is perfect for people who are camping but I would also lump in people with large properties/farms where getting power everywhere isn’t possible and also people in the trades which may not have power available where they are working. Anker’s latest product falls into this same category, their EverFrost Powered Coolers integrate large battery capacity into a powered cooler to keep things cool or frozen for up to 42 hours depending on the size you go with. With summer coming up I can’t think of a better time to be able to put one to use, so today I’m going to check out the new EverFrost Powered Cooler 40 which is the 43L capacity to see what it is all about.
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Category: Cooling Hardware
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Published: Friday, 05 May 2023 09:57
We've been working with Noctua for 10 years now and while they have been really consistent with the product lineup they still manage to innovate and surprise us with new products. That has been especially true in the past year where they've introduced a fanless heatsink and a variety of different accessories going as far as even bringing out their own screwdrivers as well as new small form factor coolers like the NH-L9a-AM5 for AM5 chipsets. Frankly, it's been hard to keep up, but I wanted to take a little time and check out what Noctua has been up to this past year and catch up a little bit. So today we're going to check out both NH-L9a-AM5 coolers, NH-P1 fanless heat sink, their inlet spacers and gaskets, the amp thermal paste guard, and new screwdrivers to see what everything is all about.
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Category: Smart Home
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Published: Wednesday, 03 May 2023 09:29
This past January I took a look at eufy security's new eufy Security Video Smart Lock which integrated video doorbell features with a smart lock and I was really happy with the device but sadly it didn’t fit our unique front door so it was put to use on our detached garage. Being able to come and go through the garage with just a fingerprint or a code has been great but it has made one thing really obvious, we need the same setup on the back door of the house so we can come and go while keeping things locked up and never having to get our keys out. An integrated doorbell or video camera wasn’t needed so I set my eyes on the E130 Smart Lock Touch which has the fingerprint sensor and keypad at a much lower price. I’ve finally done it and today I’m going to check out the E130 to see what is different about it and find out if it's worth getting if you want to come and go easily from the house this summer.
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Category: Games
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Published: Tuesday, 02 May 2023 00:38
Nvidia’s 4000 Series of cards has seen big performance increases, especially the RTX 4090 flagship card but you do pay a premium for them. Nvidia makes up for that when it comes to ray tracing performance and especially with DLSS which the 4000 Series cards are the only way you can get DLSS 3. DLSS 3 has improved on the already popular tech and with frame generation it offers huge performance improvements on the games that support it. That game list has been growing quickly and the latest is Redfall. Redfall is the latest game from Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda. Arkane Studios is known for the Dishonored series and Prey. Redfall is a first-person shooter with single-player and four-player co-op and is based around vampires who have blacked out the sun and cut the citizens off from the outside world. I’ve been playing it some over the weekend ahead of the launch and wanted to check out how DLSS 3 performs on the game so I put it to the test on the new cards.
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Category: Pc-hardware
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Published: Thursday, 27 April 2023 07:07
In recent years, for a lot of people, one of the biggest go-to suggestions for memory has been the G.Skill brand. They have been reliable, had great compatibility, have a lifetime warranty, and are almost always a reasonable option price-wise. Sadly we haven’t had too many in the office for review other than a few kits sent alongside launch kits. With DDR5 gaining traction and pricing coming down I’m excited to get a look at a kit that G.Skill sent over which is their Ripjaws S5 kit, and the model they sent over is the 6400 MT/s 2x16GB kit. Today I’m going to check out what the Ripjaw S5 kit has going on and then put it through a few tests to see how it performs then we can find out how it fits in the market price-wise. So let’s dive in!
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Category: Networking
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Published: Tuesday, 25 April 2023 11:07
I’ve had the chance to check out a variety of products from EnGenius and have been happy enough with them to implement them into my own network from their switches to inside and outside access points. But Engenius has been clear about their EnGenius Cloud lineup from the start, that lineup is focused on enterprise or medium-sized businesses and their pricing has also reflected that. They did however recently introduce a new lineup that they call the EnGenius Fit which targets small businesses and high-end home networks. This has been a growing market and it is exciting to see because the new Fit lineup takes a lot of what we have seen with other EnGenius products but with the small business and enthusiast focus the pricing is more in line with competitors like the Ubiquiti Unifi and Link Omada lineups. The EnGenius Fit lineup can be cloud-based or managed locally and is subscription free as well. So I’m excited to see what the new lineup is all about by checking out the EWS377-FIT, their WiFi 6 4x4 indoor AP.
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Category: Pc-hardware
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Published: Thursday, 20 April 2023 12:23
With the initial launch of DDR5, the main kit you could find and what was also sent out from Intel in their launch kits was the 4800 MT/s kit from Crucial. While it isn’t a crazy overclocked kit with crazy looking heatspreaders, it was a simple kit that got the job done. Well, Crucial has expanded that lineup recently with 5200 MT/s and 5600 MT/s kits. They have the same simple styling but have stepped up the speeds while also offering a variety of densities. Today I’m going to check out both speeds in 16GB densities with 2 x 32GB kits to see how they compare with the original 4800 MT/s kit so let's dive in and check them out.
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Category: Mobile
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Published: Tuesday, 18 April 2023 22:27
I'm late to the game as far as the Steam Deck goes. I originally had one pre-ordered but canceled it last minute because I wasn't sure that my wife and I would put it to use. We'll the recent anniversary sale was enough to push us over the edge and pick one up. Being a little late to the party, however, means there are a lot more accessories available. Today I'm going to check out a few Steam Deck accessories to find out if any are must-have pickups for your new Steam Deck purchase or an upgrade ahead of summer where you might be traveling.
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Category: Video Cards
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Published: Thursday, 13 April 2023 09:01
Well, today is the day, RTX 4070s have hit the stores and yesterday Nvidia took the wraps off of their stocked clocked RTX 4070s that sell at the $599 MSRP. Of course that doesn’t include any of the overclocked cards and luckily today we have the RTX 4070 Amp Airo from Zotac which has their unique Airo cooler design which is significantly larger than the Nvidia RTX 4070 Founders Edition and also has an overclock. I haven’t had the chance to check out any Zotac cards this generation and I’ve never seen the Airo design in person so today I’m going to take a closer look at the design and then put it through our test suite to see how it performs, especially focusing on power, cooling, and noise where aftermarket cards can make the biggest difference.
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Category: Video Cards
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Published: Wednesday, 12 April 2023 13:36
The Nvidia Founders Edition isn’t the only base MSRP option out on the market. In fact, it is only available in a few places to buy and is often harder to come by than the MSRP options from everyone else. A good example is the MSI RTX 4070 Ventus 3X 12G which is also a $599 option. MSI has gone a different direction from Nvidia’s card, the Ventus has the same clock speed but it is larger and has three fans, not two. Today I’m going to check out the MSI RTX 4070 Ventus 3X 12G and see how the different direction changes the card performance and to see if the Ventus is a good option for those looking for an RTX 4070 at the entry price.
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Category: Video Cards
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Published: Wednesday, 12 April 2023 13:07
I know at least for my wife and myself, when shopping for our PC upgrades the highest-end cards are typically out of our budget and frankly that is fine because with our monitors we are also not normally gaming at 4k where those cards are needed. That’s why when new generations of cards start getting down into the middle of the product stack things start to get exciting and with tomorrow's launch of the Nvidia RTX 4070 we are starting to get into that range. So today I’m excited to check out the RTX 4070 Founders Edition to see how Nvidia’s new GPU performs. Before doing that I will dig into the specs to see what it has going on and then take a closer look at the card itself. So let’s dive in!
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Category: Cooling Hardware
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Published: Friday, 07 April 2023 11:26
Lian Li hit the nail on the head when they brought out their Uni Fan line of fans and they have also done a good job of expanding the lineup with a few variations. They have even started to improve on their original designs with fans like the Uni Fan SL V2 and today they are announcing the Uni Fan AL V2 which brings a lot of those same features to the AL series and today I’m going to take a closer look. I have a chance to check out the new SL V2 design when they were launched this holiday season so I’m excited to get a first look at the V2 changes and see how Lian Li has improved on the already popular design.
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