Longer life in exchange for more noise? These are also some of the agenda items we’ll cover in our comparison of the Arctic P14 CO fan with the fluid bearing variant (P14). These are actually the main points. In any case, the ball bearings in the more expensive variant of these fans also have specific features that can be easily observed and distinguished even in normal, “home” use. Read more “Arctic P14 PWM PST CO or ball vs. fluid bearings”
The SilentiumPC Spartan 5 cooler with the “Max” attribute differs from, say, the basic variant only by having twice as many heatpipes. So four instead of two. The other elements are the same, so naturally the question comes to how much the two added heatpipes, which the more expensive SPC cooler has in addition, will increase the cooling efficiency. By quite a bit, or by nothing at all – depending on the processor used. Read more “SilentiumPC Spartan 5 Max: Extra heatpipes for CPUs over 130 W”
We are starting to see introductions of first PCI Express 5.0 SSDs, which will enable up to double the read and write speeds on AMD AM5 and Intel LGA 1700 platforms. Many or majority of these SSDs will be based on the Phison E26 controller (and often on Phison reference design and firmware). Its manufacturer has now unveiled its specs at Computex 2022, showing us what the new cutting-edge SSD for PCs will look like. Read more “Phison E26: PCIe 5.0 controller to deliver 2× faster NVMe SSDs”
MSI’s second cheapest motherboard with the Intel Z690 chipset costs significantly less compared to the higher-end Tomahawk DDR4. The difference in features is small. And perhaps too small, as the specifications artificially downgrade some components. The power delivery is less efficient and the heatsinks are more modest, but the roughly 80 EUR saved is almost as much as the cost of upgrading from a Core i5-12600K to a Core i7-12700K(F). Read more “Better than on paper. Low-cost “OC” mobo MSI Pro Z690-A DDR4″
This week, AMD unveiled the Ryzen 7000 CPUs and Zen 4 architecture at Computex 2022. These new desktop processors will also introduce a brand new platform with the AM5 socket and new chipsets – B650, X670 and X670E. We now have details of these platforms and an overview of the connectivity that the AM5 boards will offer. Some of it has been revealed directly by AMD, but there’s also an unofficial leak with many more details. Read more “AMD AM5 platform: B650, X670, X670E chipsets and how they differ”
It looks like Nvidia’s new budget graphics card, which we just wrote about on Friday, will be out a lot sooner than it might have seemed. VideoCardz has already found out practically full specs of the GPU, so we have a better idea of where it might fit in terms of price and performance. In particular, though, they write that its launch should be practically around the corner, and we’ll probably see it at the end of this month. Read more “GeForce GTX 1630 launches next week. Full specs revealed”
The database of results of inexpensive low-profile CPU coolers is slowly growing. We tested the largest of the top-flow models from Akasa on the Intel LGA 1700 platform.Given the claimed TDP of 125 W, it looks like this might not only be a replacement for the Laminar RM1 and RS1 that come with more economical processors, but also a solution for open multiplier models that don’t come with a cooler. Read more “Akasa AK-CC6606BP01: A stronger alternative to the Laminar RM1”
The news of this week is that the new GPU generation will not be waiting for September, with Nvidia planning to release (or at least unveil) the new Lovelace architecture and the first GeForce RTX 4000 graphics in July. And indeed, the leaks are starting to pour in. After the specs leak, a photo of the cooler for the top-of-the-line GeForce RTX 4090 or 4090 Ti Founders Edition cards directly from Nvidia has also surfaced. Read more “Photos of GeForce RTX 4090 Ti Founders Edition cooler have leaked”
Recently, Fractal Design has been introducing cases like clockwork. Today, a model from the well-established Meshify 2 series has come out. The new product is with the RGB attribute, but also noteworthy is a cut-down version with the Meshify 2 Lite (RGB) designation with a cheaper price. What the original version had to give up to create the Lite version, we’ll show you in a comparison of the two cases. Read more “Fractal Design Meshify 2 Lite RGB and Meshify 2 RGB review”
We didn’t make it to the release day of the Radeon RX 6000 refresh, but we’ve got them – performance tests with the Resizable BAR active. Mostly this technology is useful, but in some cases it is harmful. The test results show how AMD tunes this technology across different driver versions, optimizes it, and sometimes breaks and doesn’t fix some things for a change. However, these are outnumbered, and quite overwhelmingly, by improvements. Read more “Radeon RX 6650 XT with AMD SAM: +6 % performance for 20 W”
AMD CPUs bringing the 5nm manufacturing process, the new Zen 4 architecture and also a new desktop platform (AM5) with DDR5 memory, look to be quite close, these Ryzen 7000 processors could be here as early as September. An interesting teaser has emerged now: it seems AMD tested a Ryzen 7000 sample in the Phoronix Test Suite, and the result went public in the OpenBenchmarking database. And it shows quite interesting specifications. Read more “AMD Ryzen 7000 sample leaked: Zen 4 cores boost up to 5.2 GHz”
Now that’s what we call a turnaround. Remember how the BioniX F120 failed on obstacles? The newer BioniX P120 (A-RGB) no longer has such a fundamental limitation. On the contrary, it is significantly less stifled by obstacles than many competing fans. Just tame those vibrations, fine-tune the acoustics, where there are some flaws, and it’ll be great. The basis (the rotor) is better in practice than the label parameters suggest. Read more “Arctic BioniX P120 A-RGB: The lit specialist for filters and grilles”
Lian Li Lancool? Lian Li is historically known for using more aluminium than its “steel” competitors. Lancool, on the other hand, was at a time a separate brand for, say, cheaper Lian Li derivatives. But what does a “Lian Li Lancool” Mesh Performance look like? The name promises an emphasis on cooling, but the case is also characterized by the extra modularity of the individual parts. Read more “Lian Li Lancool II Mesh Performance: Modularity first”
The second version of FidelityFX Super Resolution is officially released. This upscaler premiered in Deathloop, the first and so far the only supported game. We compared FSR 2.0 with FSR 1.0 in our tests, both visually and performance-wise. While FSR 1.0 couldn’t compete visually with Nvidia’s DLSS, and the result was significantly worse, AMD pulled the thorn out of its heel with FSR 2.0. A full-featured alternative is now available. Read more “FSR 2.0 is no eyesore now. AMD upscaler analysis in Deathloop”
Intel’s entry into gaming GPU market currently held by just Nvidia and AMD has been long awaited. Intel took its first step with Arc GPUs in late March, but only with low-end mobile models so far. But the three-way competition could start as soon as this month with the arrival of regular Arc graphics cards in desktop PCs. According to the WCCFtech, mainstream models will come out first and we already have some price estimates. Read more “Intel Arc graphics cards due in a few weeks, pricing has leaked”
The Radeon RX 6650 XT replaces the RX 6600 XT in AMD’s lineup. That one beats the GeForce RTX 3060 in performance under certain circumstances, but always only narrowly. Now, after the GPU’s frequency and memory bandwidth increase, Radeon’s dominance is clear, and yet efficiency is still on AMD’s side. The non-reference Sapphire Nitro+ design is also super-quiet – the cooler is now quite a bit more robust. Read more “Sapphire RX 6650 XT Nitro+ test: RTX 3060 falls even further behind”
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