Latest News - Page 2430

Computex 2016 - In Win showed off a trio of new monstrous enthusiast-grade 80 Plus Platinum 1065W power supplies in its Signature S-Series lineup.

In Win's new triad of behemoth 80 Plus Platinum 1065W PSUs consist of the Signature-S Series SI, SII, and SIII, all of which sport the "industry's first" 165mm Silent Fan for optimum heat mitigation.The entire Signature-S series is fully modular, with up to 92% power efficiency and a mean time between failure rate of over 100,000 hours. The line also features "4 Timed Extra Power Modes" that allow users to pull in more juice at the expense of switching efficiency.

In Win's new PSUs all sport stylish grills over the 165mm Silent Fans, with the SI rocking a brushed red plate, the SII with a stylish gold grill, and the SIII with aluminum. Side windows show off the PSU's LED-lit capacitors.

UPDATE: EVGA's Jacob Freeman says that the RGB high-bandwidth SLI bridges are "2-way only" and are expected to release in mid-June. Here's another shot of the lineup.

Computex 2016 - EVGA revealed three new RGB high-bandwidth SLI bridges for NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 10-series video cards, allowing users to add a bit pizzazz and style to their new EVGA-branded GTX 1080 cards.

EVGA's new 2-way HB SLI bridges sport full RGB illumination that can sync up with the RGB colors on EVGA's new GeForce GTX 1080 FTW and EVGA GTX 1080 Classified video cards, adding quite a bit of stylish flair to any enthusiast build. The new high-bandwidth SLI bridges come in three different sizes for various configurations: 1U (small size with no gap between the cards), 2U (medium-sized with a one-slot gap between the cards), and 3U (longer with a two-slot gap between the cards).

Leaked Halo Wars 2 box art gives us a taste of what to expect from Creative Assembly's RTS sequel.

Key art for Halo Wars 2 has surfaced online thanks to Twitter user @lifelower, unearthing a bunch of clues on what the RTS game will offer. Halo fans were quick to notice the looming Ark in the background and the Brute army, which hints at a post-Halo 3 timeframe. The Ark looks like it's been fired, and even the Scarabs are stylized in Brute color schemes, hinting the game will take place in a fresh timeline. Some speculate Halo Wars 2 could take place in a post-Halo 5 timeline, but the Mark IV Spartans seem out of place.

Microsoft is expected to showcase the new Halo Wars 2 RTS at E3, and a playable demo will be at the show. We'll be sure to update you when more details come to light, but for now we know one thing for sure: Halo Wars 2 looks absolutely awesome.

With only a few superhero licenses to call their own, Twentieth Century Fox's admiral reboot of the 'Fantastic Four' franchise was a fantastic flop last year - grossing just $167 million woldwide - or roughly half what the slightly-less-terrible original film grossed back in 2005. But where did it go oh so wrong?

Speaking to the Happy Sad Confused radio show, Producer Simon Kinberg attempted to explain what went wrong in a semi apology to fans. "I don't think that there is, in any movie that doesn't work, a single decision that is the reason the movie doesn't work.. I think there were many, many decisions we made along the way that led to a movie that people didn't like and a movie that I would do differently next time." which sounds like a fairly reasonable response to a film that failed to recoup its production costs.

Kinberg went on to explain the very costly lesson learned, "I think the biggest takeaway for me -- and there were many takeaways, and this could be a whole other segment -- is that the tone of the movie, while interesting, ran counter to the DNA of the source material. The source material of Fantastic Four is bright, optimistic, poppy in tone. There's sort of a plucky spirit to those characters and we made a darker sort of body horror version of Fantastic Four, which again, even as I say it now, sounds really interesting and cerebrally ambitious... but it's Fantastic Four. So it's a lesson that I would learn not just for Fantastic Four but for any movie going forward is to be true to the material."

It's no surprise that the eagerly awaited 'Star Wars' spin-off 'Rogue One' is undergoing reshoots ahead of its December theatrical release - they were always planned and budgeted, but the true extent of how much will be re-shot has been revealed - and they're expected to be huge.

As reported by 'The Hollywood Reporter', Disney executives reacted less than positively to an assembly screening from a few weeks ago, with comments criticising the tone which jarred with with what audiences have come to expect from a 'Star Wars' film. According to well-regarded 'Star Wars' rumour blog 'Making Star Wars', as much as 40% of the film is expected to be re-filmed, with 32 sets to be recreated and crew working 6 days a week for 6 weeks.

Despite that, the source reveals that the mood is upbeat and the desire to make an even better film is strong. I guess we'll find out when 'Rogue One' hits cinemas in December worldwide.

Critics weren't kind and fans were disappointed, but can another 30 minutes of footage save 'Batman v Superman'? I guess we'll find out next month when Warner Bros. drops an extended version of the superhero epic - but some interesting snippets in the newly release trailer give hope.

With around 30 minutes of additional content adding up to a butt-numbing 3 hours, the 'Batman v Superman' directors cut is widely expected to give the often chaotic editing and pace of the theatrical cut new focus. The film ended up grossing a very respectable $870 million worldwide, but which was far less than studio expectations - as well as competition such as 'Captain America: Civil War' whichamassed a $1.1b haul.

'Batman v Superman: The Ultimate Edition' hits 4K UltraHD, Blu-ray, DVD and digital from next month.

UPDATE: The Aorus X7 Pro actually features dual GeForce GTX 970M in SLI, not dual GTX 1080M, and the 17-inch display runs at 3K 120Hz, not 4K 120Hz. A GIGABYTE representative reached out to us to confirm the specs, and apologies for the mix up--we were going off of reports from another source.

Computex 2016 - The new Aorus X7 Pro laptop will be an insane performance powerhouse, packing in what could be dual GTX 1080M's in SLI to power a beefy 4K display at 120Hz.

The Aorus X7 Pro (not to be confused with the VR Ready Aorus X7 DT) will likely be one of the mindbendingly powerful laptops on the market, sporting dual NVIDIA video cards in SLI and a 17.3-inch 3840 x 2160 resolution display at 120Hz with a 5ms response time. Aorus hasn't officially unveiled video card specs for the X7 Pro because they can't yet name the "new-generation NVIDIA GPU" that will power the laptop. Since NVIDIA hasn't announced their new Pascal-based mobile GeForce GTX 1080M just yet, we're betting the X7 Pro uses dual GeForce GTX 1080M's. This isn't the first time we heard about Pascal mobile GPUs at Computex - MSI reps hinted to TweakTown that the new MSI G65 Vortex would leverage dual GTX 1080M's in SLI.

Computex 2016 - GIGABYTE has revealed its new Aero 14 laptop, a slim notebook that merges the utility and performance of an Ultrabook with the explosive, high-octane precision of a gaming rig. With the Aero 14, consumers no longer have to sacrifice performance for mobility.

Although GIGABYTE's new Aero 14 is just 19.9mm thick, it packs a serious hardware punch. The Aero 14 rocks a 14" QHD IPS display at 2560 x 1440 resolution, and is powered by a discrete GeForce GTX 970M under the hood for higher-end notebook gaming. An Intel quad-core i7 H-series CPU alongside up to 32GB of DDR4-2133MHz RAM (2x 16GB modules) ensures optimum Ultrabook-level performance. Two onboard M.2 SSDs provides blazing fast bootups and data transfer rates. The Aero 14 can also output video on up to two 4K displays at up to 60Hz via HDMI 2.0 and Mini-DisplayPort.

When outfitted with higher-end components like these, Ultrabooks tend to trade off performance for battery life. GIGABYTE promises users won't have to worry about battery life with the portable Aero 14--the laptop sports a massive 94.24Wh battery that will last up to an entire day when running "resource-demanding applications."

When the Nintendo NX launches in March 2017, it will feature VR support in some fashion, likely with a Nintendo-branded smartphone-powered VR headset.

Nintendo's next-generation NX console was delayed to 2017 so that the Japanese console-maker could add in VR support, according to reports from DigiTimes. Sources from the console's "related upstream supply chain" told the publication that Nintendo plans to add in full VR functionality to the NX, further adding the NX will be a combination Wii U-like gamepad with mobile 3DS-like capabilities.

"The device features a 5- to 7-inch display, controller and joystick for users to play as a mobile gaming product, but it is also able to connect to a TV for users to play as a video game system," the sources told Digitimes. "Nintendo is now planning to add VR function to the device to satisfy the popular trend in the gaming market."

Computex 2016 - MSI has launched its new AEGIS and AEGIS X barebones PC systems, providing a stylish and performance-driven DIY solution for high-end gaming and VR.

With MSI's new AEGIS and AEGIS X barebones PCs, gamers can pack in potent, enthusiast-grade desktop PC hardware in a compact design that's perfect for LAN parties. The AEGIS duo can house full-sized powerhouse video cards like NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 1080, with support for Intel's 6th Gen Skylake CPUs and an onboard 600W 80 Plus Silver PSU. Up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM can be slotted into the onboard motherboards, with room for two NVMe PCIE-E SSD's in Super RAID 4 configuration to enable blistering-fast data speeds of up to 3300MB/s. MSI's new Silent Storm Cooling 2 thermal system ensures "exceptional cooling and silence even under the most stressful battles" with two separate intake chambers that cool individual components.

The AEGIS X is fully optimized for hardcore VR and gaming performance, sporting one-touch overclocking with the Dragon OC button. The AEGIS X also rocks a liquid cooling solution to keep thermals at bay, with a full Z170 motherboard that fits Intel K-series CPUs (up to a Core i7-6700K) along with 32GB DDR4 RAM support. A front-facing HDMI-out pass through port enables easy VR headset hookups.

Samsung recently highlighted the fact that they've captured 1 million Gear VR users, and it looks like they want to snag even more with a Father's Day-themed promotion that lets new Galaxy S6 users in on the free virtual reality fun.

When Samsung launched the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge phones, it coupled it with a tantalizing freebie: an Oculus-powered VR headset. Now through June 19, they're dramatically expanding that promotion to let a wider range of mobile phone consumers in on the action. The promo still includes the Galaxy S7 phones, but It now encompasses the Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6, and the Galaxy Note 5.

The offer is valid for a huge variety of retailers and carriers, and apparently the promo also includes a $150 "VR Content Experience."

To celebrate this week's release of 'Zoolander 2' on Blu-ray HD and DVD, we have ten Blu-ray copies to give away thanks to our friends at Universal Sony Home Entertainment.

Derek Zoolander is back and better looking than ever in this outrageously funny sequel to the smash hit. Derek and Hansel were once top male supermodels, now reunited to uncover an international conspiracy against the world's most beautiful people.

To go into the running to win a prize, simply answer the following question in 50 words or less:

Computex 2016 -- MSI's aptly named Backpack PC enables portable VR experiences and removes that pesky cable from the floor. It may not be an exercise in practicality, but it is a bold glimpse into the near future.

I feel like VR backpacks are the punchline to so many jokes in the industry right now. After all, as much as I may love and believe in virtual reality, it's not necessarily a widely adopted technology. Yet. So you'd think a custom hard shell backpack stuffed with a specialized, battery-powered PC might be about as niche as things come right now. You'd be right.

However, I really think specialized system mods like this might inspire VR game developers to push the envelope even further, especially in the realm of arcade-level multiplayer experiences at home. VR LAN party, anyone?

Computex 2016 - Intel exec Navin Shenoy confirmed that Intel's 14nm 7th-gen Kaby Lake Core CPU will enter production later this quarter, with an eventual release in 2016.

"I'm excited to tell you that two new products will be coming from Intel later this year: Apollo Lake for the value and entry-level PC, 2-in-1 and tablet, and the 7th Generation Core, formally codenamed Kaby Lake, will be coming later this year. We have over 400 designs coming to market on the Seventh Gen Core, and you can expect lots of innovations from our OEM partners bringing this product to market," said Intel's General Manager of Intel's Client Computing Group Navin Shenoy said during Intel's Computex 2016 keynote.

With the seventh-generation Kaby Lake chip series, Intel has broken its tick-tock cadence for the first time in the last decade, opting instead for the new "process, architecture, optimization" model. Kaby Lake--and the new low-power, entry-level Apollo Lake--will use the same 14nm process node as Skylake and Broadwell-E, but will feature significant microarchitecture tweaks and optimizations. Intel also announced Kaby Lake will natively support USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt 3, with higher-end chips maxing out at 95W TDP.

Computex 2016 - Biostar reveals new Z170 Standard ATX and B150 Micro-ATX motherboards in its performance Racing lineup.

Biostar's new Racing Z170GT8 motherboard sports an LGA1151 socket for Intel's Z170 Skylake processors with support for up to 4x DDR4 3200MHz RAM modules. Video slots include 2x HDMI, a DVI-D, and a VGA port--no DisplayPort options seem present. Expansion slots include 4x PCI-E x16 3.0 slots, 3x PCI-E x1 3.0, a single M.2 slot capped at 32gb/s, and a U.2 slot capped at a similar 32Gb/s. As for peripheral slots and storage, the Z170GT8 rocks 7 USB 3.0 slots, a single USB Type-C port, 4x USB 2.0 ports, and 3x SATA Express at 16Gb/s. The board also supports Vivid LED DJ lighting options.

Biostar's Micro-ATX motherboard, the Racing B150GT3, is built on the B150 chipset with 4x DIMM lanes that support up to DDR4-2133 RAM. Expansion slots include 2x PCI-E x16 3.0, 2X PCI-E x1 3.0, and a single M.2 32GB/s slot for 3D NAND SSDs. A single DVI-D and HDMI port offer limited video output, and users have 6x SATA3 ports for storage. USB slots include 6x USB 3.0 and 6x USB 2.0 ports for peripherals. Like its bigger Z170 brother, the Racing B150GT3 supports LED color effects.

Computex 2016 -- TweakTown has learned that MSI's cylindrical Vortex G65 gaming PC is about to get a refresh that rocks a pair of NVIDIA's mobile Pascal video cards in SLI, suggesting that the 1080m and 1070m reveals are right around the corner.

When MSI debuted the Mac Pro-inspired Vortex G65 earlier this year, its high-end model rocked a powerful GTX 980 SLI configuration. Not 980m, but desktop class 980 MXM format GPUs. But as I perused MSI's booth at Computex today, I noticed something curious. When MSI first announced the system, the info card obviously said something to the effect of "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 900 series." This info card said "NVIDIA latest generation video card (SLI)."

When I asked an MSI representative on the show floor if they were planning an upgrade, he very heavily implied (along with a joke about non-disclosure agreements) that the demo model not hooked up to any monitors contained NVIDIA's mobile GeForce 1080 card in SLI, though it wasn't clear whether these would be the proper mobile variant or an MXM format like the 980 used in their prior model. I asked him if he'd be willing to open up the G65 and he politely declined.

Computex 2016 - Micron has just revealed a new 3D NAND-powered 2TB SSD duo aimed at supercharging workstations with high-performance, low-power consumption storage.

Micron's blazing-fast SSD duo consists of the cost-competitive Micro 1100 SATA and the high-end Micron 2100 PCIe NVMe solid state drives. The Micron 1100 SSD sports the industry's highest capacity TLC 3D NAND storage at 2TB that takes "power to the min and capacity to the max." The 1100 series SSD is specifically designed to supercharge general applications with ultra-fast speeds, providing instantaneous data access, program loads, and incredibly speedy boot times. To give you an idea how fast the Micron 1100 SSD is, it performs random operations up to 900 times faster than traditional HDDs and features low-power states to make it 98% more power efficient.

The Micron 2100 SSD is the company's first PCIe NVMe SSD, and unlocks a "new dimension of storage with lower latency and unbridled performance for demanding workloads." The Micron 2100's NVMe form factor significantly broadens data bandwidth, with up to four times the bandwidth of SATA SSDs, ultimately reducing data lag and bottlenecks for high-end gaming. The NVMe protocol enables the 2100 to deliver a staggering 1900X faster reads than everyday HDDs.

Computex 2016 - ASUS showed off a very cool modular PC design at Computex today that allows the user to customize all kinds of things while keeping their setup tidy in the process.

Interestingly, it lets you choose between different IO panels; SSD bays work like NAS bays in that you can easily insert the SSD (almost like a Nintendo cartridge for you 80s/90s kids), and there's not much in the way of cables as the design utilizes a special server-style PSU.

ASUS says it wants to make this a new form factor. To that end, it will attempt to open source what it needs to in order to let other vendors follow suit.

Microsoft is keen on selling as many current-gen Xbox One consoles as it can, signaling a major Xbox hardware revision announcements at E3 2016.

The Xbox One's price tag has been slashed to $299 (again), and a huge portion of the console bundles have been slashed by $50. Redmond says this is a "temporary" reduction, but retailers are matching the price, hinting its a new permanent drop for the Xbox One. With this move, Microsoft is giving us a resoundingly clear signal: new Xbox hardware is coming, and Microsoft knows no one will buy current-gen hardware once the new Xbox consoles are announced.

Reports indicate Microsoft is working on a powerful 4K-ready Xbox Scorpio that's 1.5 times powerful than Sony's new PlayStation 4K model, and 4 times as powerful as the current Xbox One. Microsoft will also unveil the Xbox Mini at E3 2016, 40% smaller console with possible 4K video playback. We'll also see two Xbox streaming devices--a Chromecast-like Xbox stick, and a Shield TV-like set-top box that will likely stream games from Xbox Ones or Windows 10 PCs.

Computex 2016 - After revealing the $199 VR-ready Radeon RX 480 and the Summit Ridge Zen silicon at Computex, AMD revealed its latest 7th-generation Bristol Ridge and Stony Ridge APUs with massive improvements in CPU and GPU performance and power efficiency.

AMD's new 7th-generation APU lineup is a medley of processors separated in performance tiers across two product families: Bristol Ridge for higher-end gaming and performance, and Stony Ridge for everyday and entry-level use. The APUs range from the lower-end 2.8GHz A6-9210 to the performance-grade 3.7GHz 7th-gen FX 9830P. AMD boasts that Bristol Ridge's premiere FX chips are 56% faster than previous gens, with the entry-level A6 series 51% faster than past generations. The Bristol Ridge APUs are also beating Intel's mobile chips: According to AMD, the new FX-9800P is 50% faster than Intel's i7 6500U processor.

The lineup puts emphasis power efficiency and performance, which is exactly what users need in laptops. AMD's new 7th generation APUs leverage four Excavator cores and eight Radeon Graphics Core Next Cores, with integrated GPUs ranging from Radeon R2 to Radeon R7 graphics. The A10, A12, and FX series support performance gaming features like FreeSync and pairing up with discrete desktop video cards with Dual Graphics, whereas EyeFinity and Framerate Target Control are reserved for the top two models. The FX series also sports DirectX 12 and Vulkan with multi-adapter support.