Latest News - Page 2329

CES 2017 - You guys should all know how much of a resolution enthusiast I am, so the news of the HDMI 2.1 specification has me beyond excited.

HDMI 2.1 will support a wide range of resolutions and refresh rates, including 4K 120Hz, 8K 120Hz, and even 10K. Yes, 10K. HDMI 2.1 also includes something called Game Mode VRR, which "features variable refresh rate, which enables a 3D graphics processor to display the image at the moment it is rendered for more fluid and better detailed gameplay, and for reducing or eliminating lag, stutter, and frame tearing".

The 'Game Mode VRR' is an interesting addition, which can be explained as a wide-reaching version of G-Sync and FreeSync. The HDMI Forum says that it'll work on both PCs and consoles, so we definitely need to try that out as soon as we can.

CES 2017 - Dell continues to push display boundaries, teasing their new 32-inch 8K display here at CES. We're talking about a huge 7680x4320 - with the equivalent pixels of 4 x 4K displays, or 16 x 1080p displays - at a cost of $4999.

The new Dell UP3218K is "refined and ready for production" according to The Verge, with next to no bezel and the ability of pivot, tilt, swivel, and height adjustment. Dell is aiming the UP3218K at graphics, design, photo and video professionals.

Pushing the 7680x4320 resolution will be hard, and thankfully - Dell has pushed 60Hz at 8K, not 30Hz that I would've expected. Dell had to work with NVIDIA right up until the last minute to get driver support at 8K, with Product Launch Manager for Displays at Dell, Michael Turner, explaining to PC World: "[8K] is not practical, not yet. When the next round of graphics cards refresh, they'll get to the point where 8K is mass consumable".

CES 2017 - Mention of Project Scorpio was seen at AMD's Vega and Zen CES 2017 booth...is the graphics giant teasing an answer to our predictions?

Following the announcement of its impressive new Ryzen CPUs, AMD just announced its new high-performance, enthusiast-grade Vega GPU architecture at CES 2017, and is currently holding a booth to showcase this new tech to the public. One thing we didn't expect to see at the booth was mention of Microsoft's new "monster" 4K-ready Project Scorpio console.

Japanese games site 4Gamer snapped an interesting picture that mentions Project Scorpio at AMD's CES 2017 booth. Despite what you think, this isn't a 100% confirmation; AMD was showing a stream of its New Horizons Zen CPU announcement video at the booth, and AMD CEO and President Dr. Lisa Su directly discussed Project Scorpio at the event (you can find mention of that here and in the video embedded below). So this could just be a coincidence and nothing to get crazily excited over, or AMD might be teasing what I've been saying all along: Project Scorpio is built using AMD's latest and greatest technology.

CES 2017 - ASUS unveiled the ZenFone AR - the world's first smartphone that is both Tango-enabled and Daydream-ready. The ZenFone AR was developed in close cooperation with Google to deliver the best Tango and Daydream experiences.

ZenFone AR is also the world's first Tango-enabled device to be powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor and world's first smartphone with 8GB of RAM.

The phone has a 5.7-inch WQHD (2560x1440) Super AMOLED display and comes with Android 7.0 Nougat.

CES 2017 - Western Digital announced the Sandisk Ultra MicroSD card that meets the new application performance class set by the SD association.

The 256 GB microSDXC card meets the SD association's SD 5.1 specification A1 class of performance. This 256 GB microSDXC card is also UHS-1 class performance with premium transfer speeds of up to 95 MB/s.

Dinesh Bahal, vice president of product management, Client Solutions Business Unit, Western Digital, said in an official statement:

CES 2017 - Supermicro is mostly known for enterprise grade storage solutions, but the company has been expanding its gaming hardware footprint, and took to CES 2017 in Las Vegas to showcase its latest Supero PC gaming hardware. One of Supermicro's most interesting builds showcased at the event is its new fanless mini-ITX desktop PC.

The Supero SYS-5130DB-IL is a mini-ITX concept build that uses passive cooling for near-silent operation, but also rocks dedicated hardware to ensure decent desktop-grade performance. This fanless desktop PC features Supermicro's own proprietary C7ZB250-CG-ML Mini-ITX motherboard from its Core Gaming lineup alongside a seventh-gen Intel Core i7-7500 CPU and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 video card, technically making it VR-ready.

"Enabling customers to have a budget friendly system that features a mix of all the latest technologies, SYS-5130DB-IL is equipped with C7ZB250-CG-ML motherboard, a feature-rich CSE-DS3A-261B mini-tower chassis, and a 260W power supply."

CES 2017 - Huawei has announced that their Honor 6x smartphone, initially launched in October 2016 only in China, is coming to the US and Europe.

The device is powered by a HiSilicon Kirin 655 processor and comes with 3 or 4GB of RAM and 32 or 64GB of internal storage, which you can expand to 256GB with a microSD. Honor 6x has a dual (12MP + 2MP) camera and a 8 MP selfie cam.

The phone also has a fingerprint sensor, 3340 mAh battery and it comes in three colors - gray, gold and silver.

Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Final Fantasy publisher Square Enix's European account has been hacked, and the would-be ne'er-do-wells are trolling the industry.

Almost an hour ago, Square Enix Europe's Twitter account started spewing ridiculousness to its 70,000+ followers, leading gamers and fans to come to the obvious conclusion: the account has been compromised. The hacking group responsible for the invasion is apparently called the #cyberwolfgang, and the users are currently still in full control over the account.

Just months ago No Man's Sky developer Hello Games had their Twitter account compromised, leading to the damning--if not quite true--statement "No Man's Sky was a mistake" put out for the entire world to see.

CES 2017 - In a move that is so Razer-worthy, the company has revealed Project Ariana, a unique device that essentially opens up a doorway to a scintillating world of color in your gaming space.

RGB lighting is everywhere today; OEMs are slapping LED strips and effects onto RAM, motherboards, fans and even audio headsets. But what if you could add RGB lighting effects into your entire room? Razer's new Project Ariana is the answer to this particular scenario: it's a high-def video projector that uses an ultra-wide fish-eye lens to project Chroma's 16.8 million different colors and lighting effects onto a given space.

The Chroma effects are actually powered by the games you play. Using Razer's Chroma Module API, developers can basically sync up the RGB lighting and effects to the game itself, making Chroma-enabled devices pulse to the rhythm of any specific game sequences. Games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, Overwatch, and Shadow Warrior 2 support the API, and hardware OEMs like Lenovo, Lian-Li, NZXT and Antec have signed up to help make these environments come alive.

CES 2017 - Tesoro today announced that its new Tuned In-Ear Pro headphones will join the company's fleet of gaming hardware and peripherals.

Tesoro's latest In-Ear Pro headphones are made to combine portability with performance, offering 9.2mm dynamic drivers for impressive sound capabilities across iOS, Android, and PC devices. A steel frame ensures the headphones are protected, and the outer edges are magnetic for easy storage. A tangle-free cord ensures you don't spend time fighting knots while on-the-go, and the 3.5mm headphone jack plugs into most devices on the market.

The headphones will be available for $34.99, but no release info was announced. Check below for a breakdown of available features and full specifications.

CES 2017 - ZOTAC has their new GeForce GTX 1080 Mini on display at CES 2017, showing off the super-small, but very powerful graphics card in all its glory.

ZOTAC has used a custom PCB for the GTX 1080 Mini, their awesome cooling technology as always, and a single 8-pin PCIe power connector.

The backplate has small holes that will let some of the heat out and away from the PCB, and the heat sink itself runs off the end of the card - and still, it's small.

CES 2017 - One of the most exciting reveals at CES for me would have to be NVIDIA's tease of 4K gaming displays rocking the deliciously smooth 144Hz refresh rate - and G-Sync, of course.

There are two new models, the first from ASUS in the form of the ROG Swift PG27UQ, while the other is from Acer and their upcoming Predator XB272-HDR. Both of these new 4K 144Hz displays will be released in Q2 2017, with no pricing just yet - but we can be sure they're going to be expensive - and require some beefy GPUs to drive 4K at 144FPS.

Both displays rock the new Quantum Dot technology, with HDR10 support, DP1.4/HDMI 2.0 connectivity, and more. You can be sure that the second these bad boys launch, we'll have them in-house for some serious testing.

CES 2017 - NVIDIA has had quite the CES this year, announcing the world's first HDR gaming displays with G-Sync HDR technology, something it worked with AU Optronics on.

The new G-Sync HDR gaming displays were designed from the ground up for the ultimate in gaming displays, with NVIDIA teasing: "stunning image quality, tear-free and stutter-free G-SYNC smoothness, minimal motion blur, and near-zero input latency, compared to the 22-41ms of latency added by recommended HDR TVs".

Not just that, but the new G-Sync HDR monitors will use Quantum Dot technology, and a full array 384-zone backlight that uses "384 individually-controllable LED backlight zones, light will only be shown when and where it is required, enabling G-SYNC HDR displays to simultaneously produce bright bold colors and deep blacks, reminiscent of the very best plasma displays. Monitors with fewer backlight zones, edge-lit backlight zones, or with only a single global backlight are incapable of matching the contrast and image quality of the new 4K G-SYNC HDR monitors, and with 384 controllable zones we have unparalleled control over the picture, producing the best images you've ever seen on an LCD gaming display".

CES 2017 - AVADirect is aiming at the gaming PC market in a big way this year, continuing their efforts from 2016 - where they pushed into VR gaming PCs and so much more - but now they're teaming with GIGABYTE on a new gaming PC that they're calling the "most advanced" custom gaming PC.

Inside of the new AVA Z270 Scorpio is GIGABYTE's feature-packed Aorus GA-Z270X-GAMING 7 motherboard, which takes the new Kaby Lake family of CPUs - with the Z270 Scorpio system powered by the Core i7-7700K processor. We also have GIGABYTE's on-board TURBO B-Clock Tuning IC that lets you tune clock rates for performance, stability, and more.

AVADirect will let you customize the AVA Z270 Scorpio with NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1080, up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM, and a slew of storage options. The components are placed into the system with a "showroom quality appearance", which is clearly visible from the images you can see here.

While Sony released the very first OLED TV back in 2008; an 11 inch display which sold for $2,500USD, the company abandoned the field to rivals such as LG who went on to solve some of the large scale manufacturing issues. But at CES this week, Sony have announced they're back - and in a big way.

Branded under the Bravia TV line, the A1E series will be available in 55, 65 and 77 inch sizes and will feature 4K resolution, Dolby Vision and base HDR-10 standard, multiple HDMI 2.1 ports and Android TV built in. While Sony aren't producing the panel themselves, the unit will benefit from Sony's experience in image processing and will be built on what they're calling the '4K HDR processor X1™ Extreme'.

Sony's OLED models are expected to roll out sometime mid-year.

CES 2017 - It's not CES without Razer teasing something incredible, and that's what has happened yet again with something they're calling Project Valerie.

Razer's new laptop prototype a lot thicker than we're used to, but it features 3 freakin' displays - yes, not 1 - but 3 displays. Project Valerie has a standard 17-inch display flanked by two more displays, with Razer able to tout Project Valerie is "the world's first portable laptop with three built-in monitors".

The two additional 17-inch displays pop out from the main display, with something that Razer calls "an automated deployment mechanism", where they snap into place without much hassle.

CES 2017 - NVIDIA has unveiled the next step in their living room take over with the new Shield, with 4K streaming capabilities, HDR support, and even Google Assistant built-in.

Right now, Google Assistant isn't everywhere - but I use it on my Google Pixel smartphone and it's awesome. On top of that,the new Shield can access 4K content from the likes of Netflix, Google Play Movies, and Vudu. There's also support for Amazon Video in 4K HDR, which isn't widespread on Android TV devices. Better yet, NVIDIA said that the current-gen Shield devices will receive these features later this month.

As for the Google Assistant side of the Shield TV, NVIDIA has unveiled NVIDIA Spot - a new Amazon Echo/Google Home-like device that can be placed anywhere, and is capable of voice commands. It requires Shield TV to work, with NVIDIA throwing in integration into the SmartThings smart home hub, which allows you to control various smart home appliances.

CES 2017 - Samsung is entering the battlefield of gaming notebooks with its first-ever performance laptop lineup, the Odyssey.

Samsung's Odyssey line consists of two models that are strikingly similar to the other gaming laptops we've seen unveiled at CES--a model with a 15.6-inch 1920 x 1080 display, and a premium version with a 17.3-inch FHD display. Much like the fleet of new gaming laptops, Samsung's Odyssey notebooks are customizable as far as specs, and leverage various grades of hardware including up to an Intel Core i7 Kaby Lake CPU, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10 series video cards, 64GB of DDR4-2400 RAM, dual storage including a 512GB PCIe SSD and a 1TB HDD.

Also like other OEM lineups, the 15.6-inch Samsung Odyssey will be limited in specs and other features. In fact, the 15.6-inch model features an on board NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 series GPU (2GB GDDR5 VRAM by default, upgradable to 4GB). The premium Odyssey's GPU has yet to be confirmed, but trends indicate it could rock a GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB of GDDR5 VRAM.

CES 2017 - Western Digital today announced its new line of PCIe Gen3 M.2 NVMe SSDs, the WD_BLACK series.

The WD_BLACK SSDs are built on the PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 2280 socket and use the NVMe spec to hit high-end transfers of up to 8Gb/s and keep the actual storage footprint at a minimum. WD_BLACK SSDs come in 256GB and 512GB capacities, and feature enhanced reliability with a Mean Time To Failure (MTTF) rating of 1.75M hours.

As far as performance, the 512GB WD_BLACK SSD trumps the lower model with 2,050 MB/sec read and 800 MB/sec write speeds, whereas the 256GB flavor features 2,050 MB/sec reads and 700 MB/sec write speeds. The series' 4KB random read speeds are rated at 170K IOPS, with the 4KB random writes hit 130 IOPS (256GB) and 134K (512GB).

CES 2017 - PC cases are all about utility, of course, but it always helps to have some eye-catching style in a rig (and we're not talking about just adding tons of glowing RGBs to every component). That's where Deepcool's latest Quadstellar chassis comes into play.

The Deepcool Quadstellar is an upgrade to the company's Tristellar ITX case, and features a whole extra cell to house more components. The chassis puts that extra space to good use, featuring a full ATX motherboard and room for four dual-slot video cards. You can also pack in up to nine 3.5-inch HDDs, or twelve 2.5 HDDs along with a cooling solution.

But what about cooling? You'd think case's design--which resembles a Portal cube or even IGN's official symbol--would constrain your cooling setup. Never fear: the Quadstellar can sport a radiator up to 360mm in length at the front, and a 240mm radiator at the bottom. The front intake also opens up automatically once the internal case temps hit a certain threshold, thereby pulling in fresh cool air.