Hardware News and Reviews

E3 2017 - Game Announcements

GI have a great roundup of all of the industry gaming launch dates from E3 2017 in a single list - worth a read to see what is coming in the next year or two:

Whether you're on the show-floor or watching from a distance, E3 week can be an overwhelming experience: dozens of publishers with hundreds of games, all jostling for position and hungry for your attention.

For most people, though, the press conferences that kick the whole thing off are a focal point, providing a blueprint for the next year or more of the (for the most part) console business. This year, to make sure that nothing escapes your notice, we've compiled a list of every game showcased announced or dated at the E3 conferences this year. You'll find the games organised by their publisher or, in the case of indie games, the host of the conference in which they featured.
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Read the list here:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-06-23-e3-2017-every-announcement-and-release-date
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by Ian, Jun 27, 2017 at 11:34 AM

HDR and video games

ArsTechnical have an interesting article on their impressions of HDR gaming, since there was a distinct lack of HDR showcases at E3:

I expected either of the console makers to use E3 as an opportunity to declare very loudly that their pricier "upgrade" consoles could combine 4K and HDR in ways that their standard consoles cannot. The above video shows off how little they did so. For starters, Microsoft's booth had zeropanels set up to show off an HDR-versus-SDR comparison. I wound up asking a total of nine representatives, including game developers from two Microsoft-affiliated studios and a group of American PR staffers. None of them was sure which, if any, of the screens at Microsoft's E3 booth had HDR-10 turned on.
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Read the rest here:
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017...s-leaves-e3-with-more-questions-than-answers/
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by Ian, Jun 21, 2017 at 11:32 AM

Microsoft Surface Pro (2017) Review

Anandtech take a look at the latest edition of the Microsoft Surface tablet, an increasingly popular choice for high-end portable computing:

The Microsoft Surface Pro has undeniably carved out a new segment in the PC space. But what was once a powerful, but heavy, thick, and unwieldly tablet when it was first launched, has become a thin, light, and even more powerful tablet in the following years. It was really the launch of the Surface Pro 3 that finally changed Microsoft’s fortunes in the hardware game. This was the first Surface Pro that was able to bring the weight and thickness into check, and the 3:2 aspect ratio screen was a revelation in this product category where 16:9 or 16:10 displays were really all that was offered in the Windows world.

In October 2015, Microsoft launched the refreshed Surface Pro 4 which was a bigger improvement than you would have guessed. The overall dimensions and look of the tablet were similar to the Pro 3, but the display was a big step forward, offering 267 pixels per inch, and outstanding color reproduction. The new keyboard launched with the Surface Pro 4 was really one of the biggest highlights though, offering an edge to edge keyboard with island keys, and a far more useable trackpad as well.
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Read the review here:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/11538/the-microsoft-surface-pro-2017-review-evolution
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by Ian, Jun 19, 2017

Corsair TX-M Series 750W PSU Review

PC Perspective have a review of the Corsair TX-M Series 750W PSU, which comes with an impressive 7-year warranty:

Corsair recently refreshed their TX Series power supplies which now include four new models: the TX550M, TX650M, TX750M, and TX850M. The new TX-M Series sits right in the middle of Corsair’s PC power supply lineup and was designed to offer efficient operation and easy installation. Corsair states the TX-M Series power supplies provide industrial build quality, 80 Plus Gold efficiency, extremely tight voltages and come with a semi-modular cable set. In addition, the TX-M Series power supplies use a compact chassis measuring only 140mm deep and come backed by a 7-year warranty.
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Read the rest here:
https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Cases-and-Cooling/Corsair-TX-M-Series-750W-Power-Supply-Review
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by Ian, Jun 15, 2017

Cooler Master MasterKeys PBT Review

ThinkComputers check out two Cooler Master MasterKeys PBT keyboards, where the main feature is that the keys are made from a tougher plastic that will resist loosing texture over time:

We took a look at Cooler Master’s MasterKeys Pro lineup of gaming keyboards about 3 months ago. These were the new generation of gaming keyboards from Cooler Master and we liked them quite a lot. We were wondering when the MasterKeys keyboards we saw at CES in January with the very unique keycaps were coming out, well today is the day. These new keyboards are of course the Cooler Master MasterKeys PBT Keyboards. The main difference between these keyboards and the ones in the MasterKeys Pro lineup is that they come with high-quality keycaps made of PBT plastic, rather than the traditional ABS plastic used in almost all keycaps on the market. This gives them a very unique feel and they are able to maintain their texture over a longer period of time. Today we have both the MasterKeys PBT S and MasterKeys PBT L decks, so let’s see what they can do!
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Read the review here:
http://www.thinkcomputers.org/cooler-master-masterkeys-pbt-keyboards-review/
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by Ian, Jun 13, 2017

Fallout 4 VR and Doom VR Trailers

Bethesda have confirmed that Fallout 4 and Doom are both getting some VR makeover treatment, with the games being re-launched with full VR support. This will be one of the first AAA launches for a VR headset. Check out the amazing trailers:

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by Ian, Jun 12, 2017

G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32GB DDR4-3600

TomsHardware check out some G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32GB DDR4-3600 RAM, which rates highly in competitive benchmarks and features some (gimmicky) RGB LEDS:

I’m not much for long product names, but Trident Z RGB doesn’t seem too excessive. Add the DDR4-3600 to it, and it’s getting slightly lengthy. Oh, and there’s the CAS 16 rating. Fortunately, G.Skill makes its model numbers a little easier to read than many of its competitors, as the “4” stands for DDR4, 3600 is the data rate, C16 is the latency, the Q means quad-DIMM, 32 is the gigabytes of capacity, and GTZ is the style. Unfortunately, R stands for RGB on its black-and-gray heat spreaders, where G.Skill uses the same letter on other modules to donate the color red. And with that, model F4-3600C16Q-32GTZR is born.
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Read the article here:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gskill-trident-z-rgb-32gb-ddr4-3600,review-33915.html
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by Ian, Jun 9, 2017

Corsair TX750M PSU

Tom's Hardware have been testing out the Corsair TX750M PSU this week, and here's a snippet from their review:

The TX750M is 80 PLUS Gold-certified, and it also carries ETA-B and LAMBDA-A certifications for efficiency and output noise, respectively. Under a continuous full-load output, the PSU's maximum operating temperature is 50°C, and it includes all of the protection features we'd expect.

Cooling is handled by a 120mm fan with rifle bearings. We would prefer if Corsair used a larger fan, but the PSU's physical dimensions must have prohibited this. There is no semi-passive mode, which some enthusiasts might miss. However, if the fan profile is tuned correctly, that shouldn't be a problem.

A seven-year warranty is lengthy for this category. Brands like Corsair continue surprising us with longer coverage, going so far as to protect the highest-end PSUs with 10-year warranties. Seasonic trumps the rest, though, arming its Prime series with a 12-year guarantee.
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Read more here.
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by Becky, May 31, 2017

Team Group T-Force DARK ROG 3000 MHz DDR4

Tech Power Up have had the Team Group T-Force DARK ROG 3000 MHz DDR4 memory on their test bench this week - here's a snippet from their review:

At the end of the day, these are just memory modules, which in an of itself isn't all that exciting. Yet somehow, I feel really excited about these sticks. You get the high-end Samsung ICs under the hood, a decent 8-layer PCB, good automatic profiling, and considerable overhead to overclock, all while looking good without stuffing LEDs into weird places. Team Group has really stepped up their game here; I wonder if any of the other brands will do so as well and offer dual profiling in their sticks? That's something that would immensely please me for sure. Yet if they don't, you can count on the T-Force DARK ROG sticks to give you what you want.
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Read more here.
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by Becky, May 30, 2017

Asus Strix RX 570 Graphics Card

Lan OC have been checking out the Asus Strix RX 570 Graphics Card - here's a snippet from their review:

Well the Strix RX 570 isn’t the first RX 570 that has come into the office but it is the first Asus video card that we have had in a while. Today I want to check out what Asus is doing to set themselves apart from everyone else, compare the performance of this card to the XFX 570 as well as the rest of the competition, and see how it compares in value. I’ve been impressed with the Asus Strix styling on motherboards recently and it looks like some of that has carried over to the GPU market so it should rate high but the only way to find out is to get to it so let's do that.
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Read more here.
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by Becky, May 26, 2017

Latest Threads

E3 2017 - Game Announcements
Ian posted Jun 27, 2017 at 11:34 AM
HDR and video games
Ian posted Jun 21, 2017 at 11:32 AM
Microsoft Surface Pro (2017) Review
Ian posted Jun 19, 2017
Corsair TX-M Series 750W PSU Review
Ian posted Jun 15, 2017
Cooler Master MasterKeys PBT Review
Ian posted Jun 13, 2017
Fallout 4 VR and Doom VR Trailers
Ian posted Jun 12, 2017
G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32GB DDR4-3600
Ian posted Jun 9, 2017
Corsair TX750M PSU
Becky posted May 31, 2017
Team Group T-Force DARK ROG 3000 MHz DDR4
Becky posted May 30, 2017
Asus Strix RX 570 Graphics Card
Becky posted May 26, 2017

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