Computer Systems - Page 24

If you've been casually following the various Raspberry Pi releases like myself, it's likely you have little to no idea what other mini ARM boards there are on the market.

Thankfully Phoronix has published a quick wrap-up and some benchmarks of competing boards compared to the well-known Raspberry Pi 3. Coming in hot and topping the list was the ODROID-C2, labeled as costing "just a few dollars more ($40 USD) while having a faster SoC and other advantages."

The claimed advantages of this product include a 64-bit quad-core SBC, backed by the Amlogic S905 which comes in at 2GHz with four Cortex-154 cores, paired with 2GB of DDR3 SDRAM and a Mali 450 GPU. Connection options include Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI 2.0 and full support for Android and Ubuntu, all wrapped up in a $40 asking price.

As the Raspberry Pi celebrates four years of DIY tech marvels and eighty million sales, the creators have unleashed a brand new computer iteration with a bunch of nifty enhancements.

The new Raspberry Pi 3 is 50% faster than its predecessor, owing this boost to a number of extra features like a beefier 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex A53 CPU (which is actually 10x more powerful than the original Raspberry Pi). The new Pi also sports onboard 802.11n Wi-Fi (up to 150Mbps) and Bluetooth 4.1 support, seamlessly unlocking a huge wave of device compatibility. As always, the Raspberry Pi 3 plays nicely with its younger siblings, the Raspberry Pi 1 and 2 computers.

The new Pi only sports 1GB of RAM--the same as its predecessor--but makes an upgrade in the graphics department thanks to Broadcom's 400MHz VideoCore IV. With Broadcom's graphics core, the Pi 3 can hit 1080p 60FPS video in H.264, and even supports H.265 but only at 1080p 30FPS.

If you don't have a gaming PC that's ready for the Oculus Rift and were in the market for a new PC, you can now pre-order Oculus Rift PC bundles right now - with the PCs starting at $1499.

The ASUS G11CD-B11 bundle sports an Intel Core i5-6400, 8GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 for $1499. The recommended specs for the Oculus Rift are an Intel Core i5-4590 or better, 8GB of RAM minimum, and a GTX 970 or R9 290. The entry-level VR gaming PC from ASUS barely makes it, but hey - it'll be fine for $1499.

Moving from there, we have the Alienware Area 51 which costs $3149, featuring an Intel Core i7-5820K, 16GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980. Alienware's Area 51 gaming PC also includes a 128GB SSD and 2TB mechanical HDD. Remember that each of the Oculus Rift ready VR gaming PCs includes an Oculus Rift headset, sensor, remote, an Xbox One controller, and the two games included by Oculus: Lucky's Tale and EVE: Valkyrie Founder's Pack.

With the release of Far Cry Primal around the corner, Oz Modz custom PC builder Stephen Hoad had created a beautiful custom gaming PC in the theme of Ubisoft's upcoming first-person shooter.

The PC rocks an ASUS T.U.F. Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1 motherboard, backed up by 2 x ASUS Strix NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970s in SLI. CPU wise, Stephen used an Intel Core i7-6700K, backed up by 16GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR4 RAM. The Corsair RM 850i PSU was used, with 2 x 240GB Kingston Hyper-X Savage SSDs backed up by a 2TB Western Digital Black HDD handling storage. The full list of gear inside of the system, we have below:

Current brain-computer interface systems are extremely limited in their capability, so DARPA is looking to blow them wide open. The plan with its recently launched Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) program is to create a tiny implant that provides "unprecedented signal resolution and data-transfer bandwidth between the human brain and the digital world." Specifically, it aims to talks clearly and individually with each of up to one million neurons in a given part of the brain.

With the implant, hearing and sight disabilities could be compensated for though other applications are of course possible (coughcyborgswithlasereyescough).

The project is ambitious and thoroughly complex, to say the least. DARPA states "integrated breakthroughs" in eight different fields -- including neuroscience and low-power electronics, to name a couple -- will be required for success. To expedite matters, they will be recruiting stakeholders willing to give up the cutting edge prototyping and manufacturing services needed on a "pre-competitive basis" in exchange for research and commercial rights. To that effect, they will hold a "Proposers Day" meeting February 2 and 3.

First there was the $5 Raspberry Pi Zero computer, then the $15 PINE A64, and now we have the $9 CHIP.

CHIP (Computer Hardware in Products), is open source and houses a 1 GHz R8 ARM processor, 512MB RAM, and 4GB storage. Features-wise, it includes Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and supports composite, VGA, and HDMI outputs, so you can connect it to your desktop or laptop display or even TV. As for OS, it runs on Linux (Debian) and is capable of running apps and games (tons come pre-installed, including the Chromium browser). Peripherals work just fine, too.

So, while CHIP is more expensive than the popular Zero, it's not so bare bones. That said, if you want to expand it, the PocketCHIP peripheral effectively turns it into a Game Boy, but with a touchscreen and keyboard. It will launch in May at the $49 price point.

CES 2016 - The small-form factor PC is making waves in the industry in a very big way. Living room gaming is already a great convenience that console gamers have enjoyed, and now the PC is slowing moving that direction as well. Corsair has a a solution that can be both pre-built, and customized, that has it's own cooler and SFX power supply so you can potentially have the best living room experience. Titan X not included.

The Bulldog was announced in June, though development of the case has continued as they prepare to actually launch it. The surprisingly roomy case didn't quite ship when they wanted it to, which was over this past holiday season, but they've had time to refine the inside, moving screws around and making it an overall easier and more accessible case to work inside of.

But just like what was announced, this is built from the ground up to support both water-cooled CPU's (up to 150W), using their own SFF solution that comes with the case, and water-cooled GPU's if you get their GPU adapter or one of the hybrid cooled cards from MSI. Thankfully the power supply, an 80 Plus Gold certified 600W unit, can handle nearly any single card, even gual-GPU single cards. It's a uniquely shaped system that might not have the Wife Acceptance Factor, but it does fit into a lot of modern decor. In person it's rather stunning to look at.

CES 2016 - You had better watch out for media! We were invited to a secret backroom at CES 2016 where a separate subdivision of GIGABYTE's notebook business unit gave us a tour of their latest technology. Although AORUS is still in its infancy, they have made huge waves through the gaming notebook community in the past year.

Backed by one of the largest manufacturers of motherboards, VGAs, and notebooks, AORUS takes the experience of a large technology corporation and freedom of a separate division to push out some of the best gaming notebook offerings.

Their focus is to design and produce the best gaming notebooks on the market, and we saw nothing mediocre. Every AORUS notebook we saw had a dedicated NVIDIA GPU (or more), and many of the technologies they offered were unique and on the bleeding edge of VR and gaming.

CES 2016 - Lenovo seems to be enjoying its unleashing of interesting devices at CES this year, with the new IdeaCentre 610S being no different. It is pretty much a projector PC, which is just awesomely unique.

The IdeaCentre 610S is a super unique design, where inside it features an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, a 2TB HDD (or a 128GB SSD), and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti. The unique part is the projector, which is capable of driving a 110-inch screen onto your wall.

The projector on-the-go is super-small, at just 2.2L, with 4 x USB 3.0 on the back, HDMI, and an Ethernet port to top it all off. As for price, we're looking at $850, with availability in June.

CES 2016 - Alienware has announced a new promo aimed at new VR adopters that discounts the price of an Oculus Certified PC when purchased alongside an Oculus Rift headset.

With the Oculus Rift opening up pre-orders at $599, key hardware titans are piecing together VR-compatible builds to prepare for the oncoming storm of virtual reality. Dell's Alienware line has joined the VR Ready program by announcing the $1200 Alienware X51 R3 Gaming Desktop, which sports the minimum specs required to power the Rift. The Alienware X51 comes with an Intel i5-6400 Skylake CPU, 8GB of onboard DDR4 RAM clocked at 2133MHz, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 (model unspecified, probably stock), and a 1TB hard drive. No keyboard, mouse or monitor is included.

$1200 seems like a lot, especially for a PC that only sports the bare minimum specs. Alienware will actually lower the X51 R3's price down to $1000 if you pre-order the Oculus Rift along with the PC...but of course that brings the grand total of your bill to $1600 plus tax. Apart from the discount, one of the major benefits in going this route is that you automatically get skipped to the front of the Oculus Rift pre-order line and are guaranteed to receive your headset when the first batch is released.

CES 2016 - The tiny GIGABYTE BRIX computer systems just got beefier, with the trade show in Las Vegas bringing around an announcement that this tech giant will be throwing Intel Skylake processors into new models, including i3, i5 and i7 chips.

Coupled with Intel HD Graphics 520, the BRIX will further offer support for a 2.5" SSDs or HDDs, while also offering M.2 compatibility. USB 3.0 ports are now standard with HDMI and DisplayPort being thrown in, giving the BRIX the ability to send signal to three displays in total. Wrapping up the feature list is Intel Thunderbolt 3 support, found on the new GB-BSi7T-6500 and GB-BSi5T-6200 models only, meaning that the BRIX will be capable of Power Delivery 2.0 for fast charging and can daisy-chain up to 6 devices in total.

While this sounds quite promising, issued press release didn't mention any availability or pricing information.

CES 2016 - MSI wasn't shy when it came to gaming PCs at the Consumer Electronics Show, teasing its new all-in-one gaming PC, the Gaming 27XT.

MSI's new Gaming 27XT features a 27-inch display, with the usual trimmings inside - but its the back of the AIO gaming PC that has piqued our interest. Where Origin PC made a beautiful 34-inch 3440x1440 AIO gaming PC with a built-in NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan X - it's not upgradeable, but the MSI Gaming 27XT is.

The GPU is found on the back of the AIO gaming PC is housed separately, and mounted on the back of the display. It's upgradeable, which is going to go along way if you decide on pulling the trigger on an AIO gaming PC.

CES 2016 - Intel has refreshed its portable Compute Stick with three different configurations that put the original to shame.

Intel's Compute Stick is an amazing idea on paper. I mean, who wouldn't want to turn any given HDTV or monitor into a fully-fledged desktop workstations? Intel's first iterations of the PC-in-your-pocket hardware was anything but practical, however: it was slow at performing tasks and didn't live up to its claims, making it more of a starting point than an actual finished product.

Now Intel is back again with its new trio of Compute Sticks, each of which tremendously outshine the "beta" variant. Thanks to additions like two USB ports and 802.11ac Wi-Fi, the chip-maker's new line of HDMI PC sticks completely blows away the original. Intel has even managed to shove in its new high-performance M3 and M5 CPUs into the top-tier variants.

CES 2016 - Syber Gaming, CyberPower PC's gaming line, has just unveiled two new PC builds that pack enough power for VR and 4K gaming.

While the Oculus Rift finally has a price tag and release date, it's only half of the VR equation. Gamers still need to have adequate hardware to power virtual reality, and Syber Gaming has the perfect solution with its new pre-built PC duo.

The tag team consists of a fully-fledged Mid-Tower PC called the Syber M, as well as the more discrete Steam Machine-esque Syber C for living room VR and 4K gaming. Both builds are fully customizable and feature state-of-the-art components, including AMD Radeon R9 300 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 900 series video cards, high-speed DDR4 RAM, LGA 1151 motherboards, 6th generation Intel Skylake CPUs, SSD and HDD combos, and Windows 10 64-bit to top it all off.

CES 2016 - Origin PC has just announced its latest gaming PC, an all-in-one gaming machine called the Omni. The Omni features a considerable amount of customization, with the company calling the Omni the "world's most powerful and customizable" PC of its kind.

The Origin PC Omni features a 34-inch UltraWide display with a native resolution of 3440x1440 - my favorite resolution, with enough room for an Intel Core i7-5960X, 12GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan X. Bloody impressive for an all-in-one gaming PC, don't you think?

The Omni has support for up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM, with Origin somehow building a liquid cooling system inside of the AIO PC. You can even customize your Omni to feature a translucent back if you want to show off your impressive PC - this is the icing on the cake for me!

CES 2016 - Velocity Micro unveils its new Raptor One all-in-one PC that sports some pretty beefy specs, bringing desktop-grade performance to the AIO realm.

Velocity Micro proudly touts its new Raptor One as the "world's most powerful AIO", and for good reason: it rocks some amazing specs for an AIO, including a full-sized NVIDIA GTX Titan X GPU, a brilliant 34" curved 3,440 x 1,440p WQHD display with a 21:9 aspect ratio, and configurations that include Intel's latest sixth-gen Core i7 Skylake CPUs.

The Raptor One can be tailor-made and customized to a tee similar to Maingear's new powerful AIO, and even supports liquid cooling options for maximum heat transfer as well as Intel Xeon CPU support for workstation transformations.

CES 2016 - Maingear has announced a new AIO desktop that packs quite a bit of enthusiast-grade muscle with liquid-cooling support, 4K display options, and workstation-class AMD FirePro and NVIDIA Quadro GPUs and Intel Xeon processors.

As all-in-one desktops are traditionally made for office work spaces, the builds are quite lacking when it comes to gaming performance. Maingear wants to reinvent AIO's with its new Alpha 34 gaming desktop, which can fit full-sized gaming and workstation video cards and CPU's for blistering performance.

The Alpha 34 sports a curved 34-inch 3480 x 1440p display, and comes in three different flavors: the H110/Z170 build for performance gamers, the X99 build for enthusiast gamers, and the titanic Professional grade that sports Intel Xeon CPU support and workstation graphics. The cheapest option--the Z170 tier-- starts at $1999, and adding top-tier GPU's will boost the price quite a bit. For example, a Alpha 34 Z170 with an AMD Radeon R9 390 and an Intel i7 6700K CPU and 16GB of DDR4 RAM will cost around $2,600.

On the heels of CES 2016, Lenovo has announced its new ThinkPad X1 family of hardware that includes a new modular tablet, a new Yoga Pro laptop that sports a 360-degree OLED display, and a sleek new all-in-one desktop.

Lenovo has just unveiled its new ThinkPad X1 triumvirate of pro hardware that will push forward into 2016, sporting tech innovations like OLED screens, ultra-thin AIO setups, WiGig wireless docking, USB Type C and a galaxy of peripheral add-ons like 3D sensors and more. Lenovo's X1 trinity is composed of the ThinkPad X1 Tablet, ThinkPad X1 Yoga, and finally the all-in-one ThinkCenter X1 AIO desktop.

The modular ThinkPad X1 Tablet is Lenovo's answer to the Surface Book, and features a slew of modular attachments that change up the device's main functions. These peripherals include the basic stylus-and-keyboard combo, but add-ons like an optional $149 3D RealSense camera sensor that captures and renders real life objects aim to transform the tablet.

Today iBuyPower announces the successor in the popular sleek and modern Revolt gaming desktop, the Revolt 2.

The Revolt 2 gaming desktop is all sleek angles and curves, and the chassis very much resembles a work of futuristic art. The tantalizing design doesn't take away from its utility: the Revolt 2's smallish stature can house enthusiast-grade hardware including a mini-ITX motherboard, a 280mm liquid cooler, 2x SSD's, an HDD and a full ATX power supply.

"[With the Revolt 2], we were inspired to create a PC that highlighted the most important components in a gaming rig and allowed customers to create a PC that's as unique as they are. We chose to lead the revolt against the standard, the generic, the boring, and instead forge a new path," iBuyPower said in their official press release.

According to the latest rumors, Intel is positioning itself for a new NUC launch in Q1 2016. Intel has teased that the new NUC is "the most powerful NUC yet... now with Intel Iris Pro graphics" and that it's "coming Q1 2016".

Now, Q1 2016 is an interesting time frame because we have the Consumer Electronics Show kicking off in early January, but Computex is in Q3. As for the NUC itself, it should rock Iris Pro 580 graphics on the flagship Skull Canyon-based NUC. Intel's Iris Pro 580 graphics features 128MB of eDRAM (which acts as super-quick L4 cache) and houses the 72 Execution Units (EUs) on the die itself.

We're expecting the core clock on the chip to hit 1GHz, but it could change closer to release. If we put this into perspective, we're looking at similar graphics performance to NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 750. The new Skull Canyon NUCs should sport Intel's Skylake-U series processors, replacing the Broadwell-U series parts in the current NUC lineup.