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We go hands-on with the Intel Clover Trail+ powered Lenovo K900 smartphone
Computex Taipei 2013 - Something I haven't played with as the Mobile Devices Editor for this awesome website we all know and love, is an Intel-powered smartphone. Nor have I played with a Lenovo device, but that's what Computex is here for, right?
We stopped by the Intel booth earlier today in the Nangang halls, checking out their wicked touchscreen-capable bus shelter, but something else that caught our eye was Lenovo's K900 smartphone. What is the Lenovo K900 you ask? Well, it's the first smartphone in the world to feature Intel's Clover Trail+ processor, which is a dual-core processor clocking in at 2GHz. The K900 has 2GB of RAM, a 5.5-inch 1920x1080-pixel display, 16GB of internal flash storage, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera backed up by a 2-megapixel front facer, and runs Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean.
Impressions? Not that great. It felt, to me, sluggish, and that was just sliding between the home screens. I think I'd need a true play on it, but it's hard to get a "feel" for smartphone performance without using it on a day-to-day basis. Hopefully we'll get some Lenovo samples in the near future and we can bring you a full review on the Clover Trail+-based smartphone.
Thermaltake unveil an awesome digital PSU that lets you monitor and control things in real-time
Computex Taipei 2013 - Thermaltake continue to impress the world, and myself especially, with their new digital power supply unit (PSU). The new Toughpower DPS range of power supplies are all-digital, and allow users to do real-time performance monitoring and control.
You can save records and view ultra-detailed data at anytime, and something I truly love is that it is really social - you can share records with friends through the usual social networks like Facebook and Twitter, or even go e-mail if you want. The Toughpower DPS 850W we took a look at has an ultra-quiet 14cm fan with smart fan control, and the new Toughpower DPS line of PSU's are fully modular with low profile and flat cables, another nod to Thermaltake's eye in detail.
Thermaltake's new all-digital, fully modular power supplies are Haswell ready, just in case you were worried.
ReportTT: Amazon expanding grocery business to Los Angeles, San Fransisco
Most people are unaware of Amazon's grocery business that it runs in its home base of Seattle. More people are about to become aware, if a report by Reuters is accurate. According to their sources who are familiar with the situation, Amazon is preparing to expand its grocery business to Los Angeles as soon as this week and San Fransisco later this year.
Amazon's current grocery business utilizes their own fleet of trucks to deliver fresh produce--eggs, strawberries, and meat--to residents of Seattle. The current business, AmazonFresh, has been operating for a least five years. These sources say that the business could expand to 20 aditional urban areas in 2014, provided the two new markets said to be launching this year go well.
Grocery experts feel Amazon faces a major challenge with AmazonFresh. However, if successful, it could pave the way for Amazon to start delivering their own products via the same trucks used to deliver the groceries.
Halo: Spartan Assault arrives on Windows Phone and Windows 8
With the new Xbox One just around the corner and the upcoming Xbox TV series directed by Steven Spielberg announced, Halo fans have been eagerly awaiting news on the next installment in the Halo game series. Today were finding out that game is here... Well, sort of.
Unfortunately, the next Halo game is not for the Xbox One, but rather for Windows Phone and Windows 8 touch-enabled devices. Halo: Spartan Assault, developed by 343 Studios, appears to be a top-down RTS style shooter. While this is sure to disappoint some fans, it is only natural for Microsoft to try and capitalize on Halo's popularity by bringing a version to touchscreen devices.
"In a nutshell, it's a top-down twin stick arcade-style action shooter," explained Dan Ayoub, executive producer at 343 Industries. "Really, [its] a brand new way to play Halo." The game does appear to be a major part of the Halo timeline and fills in the gaps between Halo 3 and Halo 4. The game will also have a companion comic book series called Halo Initiation which further details the saga of Sarah Palmer.
Continue reading: Halo: Spartan Assault arrives on Windows Phone and Windows 8 (full post)
We get Classified Clearance to check out latest EVGA video cards
Computex Taipei 2013 - With new video cards being released over the recent weeks from NVIDIA we get a chance to sit down and check out the latest offerings from EVGA to find out just what they're doing with the new high-end single GPU models from NVIDIA.
As you'd expect the focus was on the new GTX 700 series and EVGA showed off four of its main models which starting from the left included the new EVGA GTX 780 Hydro Cooler which of course carries with ti that massively mean looking water block.
Moving across to the right we found ourselves looking at one card that extremely excites us; the upcoming GTX 780 Classified. Designed in house the new Classified model is due to offer some extreme performance and even more extreme overclocking capabilities with improvements in a number of areas. While final clock speeds for the model haven't been set yet, It's safe to say that most users of the upcoming model will probably be firing up EVGA Precision and trying to get even more performance out of the card.
Continue reading: We get Classified Clearance to check out latest EVGA video cards (full post)
Patriot fill mobile devices gas tank with new Fuel+ Chargers
Computex Taipei 2013 - Expanding the line up of products, Patriot today showed off it's latest devices to hit in the form of the Fuel+ mobile rechargeable batteries. Carrying the same name throughout the three chargers that took our fancy included the 1500mAh unit designed or Apple users thanks to the built-in Lightning connector; something that we're still not really seeing from a lot of companies.
This particular unit simply sits on the bottom of your device and has the ability to not only charge your device but also be charged at the same time. You can see we've got quite a small foot print to the device due to the smaller 1500 mAh battery but for people who want to make sure they've got enough power during the day. It's a great little option.
If you're looking for something a little larger in terms of power and flexibility the below units might be just what you're looking for with options of 2000 mAh and 3000 mAh for single USB ported units and larger 5200 mAh to 9000 mAh options for dual USB port options.
Continue reading: Patriot fill mobile devices gas tank with new Fuel+ Chargers (full post)
EVGA show off Z87 motherboards and remind us of X79
Computex Taipei 2013 - This morning we got the chance to head over to the EVGA Suite at the popular Grand Hyatt to check out some of the latest offerings that the company was going to be offering us in the coming months. Working hard recently to become a competitor in the extremely tough motherboard segment we saw EVGA show off a number of upcoming motherboards based on the new Z87 chipset that was just released by Intel over the past weekend.
The first board we saw was the upcoming Z87 Stinger based on the Mini-ITX form factor which we saw sitting in the new Mini-ITX barebone system that EVGA had just launched. In Typical Mini-ITX fashion there's not a whole lot to the motherboard due it's small nature. Looks wise it's pretty nice, though, with the black PCB and red highlights which is very typical EVGA.
Moving away from the Mini-ITX based board we had a look at two of the larger options from the company which include the Z87 FTP which is the more mainstream board while users looking for something a little more powerful will indeed be eyeing off the Z87 Classified.
Continue reading: EVGA show off Z87 motherboards and remind us of X79 (full post)
EVGA expand their line up with mITX barebone and new PSUs
Computex Taipei 2013 - This morning we got the chance to head over to the EVGA Suite at the popular Grand Hyatt to check out some of the latest offerings that the company was going to be offering us in the coming months. Entering and saying hello we then got taken over to the upcoming power supplies that EVGA plan to launch soon which will expand the lineup they already have on the market.
Expanding the already known SuperNOVA series EVGA sees the new 1300G2 and 1000P2 added to the lineup which already increases a strong lineup of units. The new 1300G2 is a 80 Plus Gold Rated unit that sits between the current 1000G2 and NEX1500 units. The 1000P2 on the other hand is a 80 Plus Platinum rated 1000 Watt unit. A new lower budgeted 500B model is also coming that carries the 80 Plus Bronze rating and of course comes in at 500 Watt.
Along with an expansion to the PSU line; EVGA will soon be releasing its own Mini-ITX Barebone System coming with a Case, Power Supply and Thin Optical Drive that can be optioned as DVD or Blu-Ray. Showing off the new barebone with the upcoming Z87 Stinger Motherboard, new Intel i7 4770K CPU and a GTX TITAN. EVGA showed us just what the tiny system was going to be capable of handling.
Continue reading: EVGA expand their line up with mITX barebone and new PSUs (full post)
Corsair strap us in for some high-speed memory clocks
Computex Taipei 2013 - While hanging out with Corsair a fair bit yesterday afternoon at the OC Main Event hosted by Intel and Themselves, we decided to head over to the Grand Hyatt Suite to see if they had anything else they could show us. Walking into see a cloud of LN2 greet us we headed over to Jake to see what exactly was going on.
Using an ASUS ROG Haswell motherboard we got a chance to check out the upcoming 3200MHz DDR C11 kit coming from Corsair under the Vengeance Pro label. On display at 3201.8MHz DDR the CL 11-14-14-36-2T kit from Corsair will indeed be for users who are looking for the most extreme out of the box performance.
Asking a couple of questions about the kit we quickly find ourselves discovering that the kit will probably no doubt be something that many more people will be able to take advantage off then when compared to the previous 2800Mhz DDR kit we saw from the company.
Continue reading: Corsair strap us in for some high-speed memory clocks (full post)
InWin's KingSize H-Frame open-air chassis is a hot mess of a chassis indeed
Computex Taipei 2013 - We stopped off at the InWin booth at Computex Taipei 2013 today, first off checking out their incredibly beautiful Tou case, but their KingSize H-Frame also caught my eye. InWin are truly making some unique cases, and I really love the direction of the KingSize H-Frame they had on display.
InWin's KingSize H-Frame case is an open-air chassis, which features an awesome design, with some great style and color. There's six USB 3.0 ports on offer, an iPhone/iPad charger and 6 x 3.5-inch HDD bays and a single 5.25-inch bay on offer. It supports gigantic graphics cards of up to 420mm in length, too. As for cooling, we have support for two 140/120mm fans at the front, two 140/120mm fans at the bottom, and for the rear, a single 120/140mm fan is supported.
NZXT shows off new Phantom 530 and new prototype water cooling for GeForce GTX TITAN
Computex Taipei 2013 - I spent all day at the Grand Hyatt in Taipei seeing all the companies who are in attendance at the show in that building. Our first stop was at NZXT where they showed a range of new power supplies and also the new Phantom 530 chassis - a replacement of the original Phantom that was also released at Computex some years ago.
What really impressed me was its new prototype water cooling gear for video cards. These new coolers are compatible with any Asetek-based water coolers such as the NZXT Karken X40. The system was setup cooling two NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN video cards with coolers that feature steel brackets and two 90mm cooling fans on each video card.
They had Crysis 3 running at ultra settings and the GPU temperature was around 40- 50c, which is a big drop in the stock cooling by up to 30 - 40 degrees Celsius. We're looking forward to doing full reviews of the 530 and new cooling gear when it comes to market.
ASUS' new ROG Nomad Back Pack is your new LAN friend
Computex Taipei 2013 - Just when you thought you knew a company, they bust through your imagination and go that little bit further. ASUS have done that quite a lot to the public over the last 24 or so hours, and their new Republic of Gamers (ROG) Nomad Back Pack is no different.
As you can see from the images above, and below, it looks like a normal back pack, but in the traditional ASUS ROG black and red color scheme. It looks great, is highly detailed, and looks like it would be the perfect accessory for lanners, or fans of ASUS' ROG line in general. The ROG Nomad can fit a 17-inch notebook inside, with its 17-inch notebook suspension system and padded pockets. There's ventilated back padding that keeps you comfortable on the move, and durable ballistic nylon that keeps your gear safe, and dry.
Continue reading: ASUS' new ROG Nomad Back Pack is your new LAN friend (full post)
AMD show off 5-screen Eyefinity running from a single Radeon HD 7990 at Computex Taipei 2013
Computex Taipei 2013 - Some of you may know how much of a multi-monitor and high-resolution fanboy I am, well, I had to stop at AMD's booth at Computex to check out their 5-screen Eyefinity rig, which just looked amazing.
The five monitors were in portrait mode, another favorite of mine, and had Tomb Raider ready to play. I didn't play it myself, but I did take some video of another show-goer playing it and it looked incredible. The rig running it was powered by an AMD FX 8350 processor, 8GB of AMD Radeon DDR3 RAM, a Radeon HD 7990 dual-GPU graphics card, and the five monitors, pumping out a resolution of 5400x1920. Now that is my kind of setup!
And all of those monitors require some conversion, from miniDisplayPort that is provided on the back of the HD 7990 to DisplayPort.
InWin's Tou is an absolutely gorgeous work of art, oh and it's a PC chassis, too
Computex Taipei 2013 - I remember last year's Computex, and the InWin booth, where I got some eyes- and hands-on time with their awesome X-Frame open-air chassis and this year I was privileged to see something truly unique, the Tòu.
The Tòu is a features a full aluminum frame that is covered in, wait for it, 3mm-thick safety glass and then skinned in a Specular film that provides a gorgeous mirror finish. The LED's turn on inside, and the mirror finish fades a little, to really give it a magical look. The video above will give you a real chance to see it in action!
BitFenix enter the audio game with their new Flo headsets
Computex Taipei 2013 - BitFenix have just entered the audio headset market with their new Flo headsets, which come in five different colors. BitFenix state that they are made from precision-tuned acoustic chambers, feature 40mm Neodymium drivers for excellent sound, and more.
There's a self-adjusting headband, detachable microphone, in-line volume and mute controls, and BitFenix's famous SofTouch Surface Treatment. We donned the headset for some Lady Gaga tunes, and I must say, I was impressed. They didn't sound washed out with too much bass like most 'gaming' branded headsets, nor did they feel too cheap for a company who is completely new to audio products.
Continue reading: BitFenix enter the audio game with their new Flo headsets (full post)
Corsair launches new Vengeance Pro Series of DDR3 RAM at Computex Taipei 2013
Computex Taipei 2013 - If you've caught the theme, there are a lot of new products debuting at Computex. Corsair isn't being left out and has introduced a new line of Vengeance Pro DDR3 RAM for extreme overclockers and pro users around the world.
The new RAM ranges in speed and capacity from 1600MHz to 2933MHz and from 8GB (2x4GB) to 64GB (8x8GB). The Vengeance Pro RAM supports Intel's XMP 1.3 and comes in a range of colors, seen above and below.
According to Corsair, the RAM ICs are "specifically selected for speed and overclocking headroom." They come with a limited lifetime warranty. Pricing and availability have not been divulged as of yet.
Corsair debuts two new cases at Computex Taipei 2013, say hello to the Carbide Air 540 and Carbide 330R
Computex Taipei 2013 - Corsair has debuted two new and exciting cases at this year's Computex. Both cases are mid-towers, which makes them perfect for most users' needs. The Carbide Series Air 540 is "optimized for cooling" and the Carbide Series 330R is said to be "designed for quiet operation."
The Carbide 330R, seen above, is a slick looking case. It's designed for low-noise operation and features noise-dampening side panels and front door, which helps to keep the noise inside the PC. It features support for Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, ATX, and e-ATX motherbaords. Tool-free 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch bays make working with the system extremely easy.
The Carbide Air 540, seen above, is a massive beast designed to keep your system running as cool as possible. It features the same motherboard support as the Carbide 330R, but comes with support for six 120mm fans or a 240/280mm radiator up top and a 360.280.240mm radiator up front. The two 5.25-inch bays, hot-swap 3.5-inch bays, and four 2.5-inch bays are all tool-free.
BitFenix goes Prodigy 2.0 with the new Prodigy M which supports microATX motherboards
Computex Taipei 2013 - We are big fans of BitFenix's Prodigy here at TweakTown and we went to their offices a couple of days ago to go over some new products, one of which was the next-generation Prodigy M.
The Prodigy M, from the outside at least, has remained unchanged from its predecessor, but inside, things are a little different. First and foremost, the Prodigy M supports microATX motherboards, and has moved the power supply location from the back of the chassis, to the front - an odd, but great placing of the PSU. There are some new storage mounts, of which we have some pictures, and you can expect more in the coming days from BitFenix and their unveiling of products at Computex 2013.
GIGABYTE reveals a slew of new gaming notebooks, Ultrabooks and more
Computex Taipei 2013 - GIGABYTE have come out swinging lately, with some great new motherboards and a beautiful new-look BIOS, and now we have a bunch of Ultrabook's and laptops to talk about. First up, we have the GIGABYTE Ultrablade gaming laptops, of which there are two models, the P35K and P34G.
The GIGABYTE Ultrablade P35K is a 15.6-inch gaming laptop that features Intel's fourth-generation Core i7 "Haswell" processor and is "designed for true mobility". The P35K is just 21mm thin and weighs around 2.2kg and features NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 765M for some true on-the-go gaming. Storage hasn't been left out, with the P35K featuring no less than 3TB of storage space thanks to its 'quad-storage' system. There's also a swappable DVD-ROM/HDD slot on the P35K, complimenting its 1920x1080 (Full HD) IPS-based display.
The little brother to the P35K is the Ultrablade P34G, which is a 14-inch laptop with a GTX 760M. The P34G weighs around 1.7kg and is 21mm thin, featuring a 256GB mSATA SSD and a 1TB HDD for storage. The P34G also features a 1080p display, which is great to see.
Continue reading: GIGABYTE reveals a slew of new gaming notebooks, Ultrabooks and more (full post)
GIGABYTE adds new LGA1150 motherboard to Sniper line of gaming motherboards
Computex Taipei 2013 - GIGABYTE has added a new LGA 1150-based motherboard to its gaming line of motherboards. The G1.Sniper 5 is designed for gamers making use of Intel's latest Core CPUs. Sniper series motherboards come with features that gamers care about.
The new G1.Sniper 5 comes with the Killer E2200 Series gaming networking platform, providing the best possible network connection for gamers who need that extra few milliseconds. The G1.Sniper 5 also comes with a front headphone jack amplifier for gamers using a headset plugged into the front audio jack.
The G1.Sniper 5 features four PCIe-x16 expansion slots, spaced every other expansion slot. The remaining expansion slots are all PCIe-x1, perfect for that sound card or other expansion device. The G1.Sniper can easily support four-way SLI and Crossfire thanks to the layout of its expansion ports.


