The cheapest 140mm fan we’ve tested so far beats even significantly more expensive 120mm models at comparable noise levels. That’s because of the use of a larger cross-sectional area, as well as the efficient impeller geometry that the Stratus 140 PWM definitely has. “Cheap” fan doesn’t necessarily mean “weak”, though of course there are some compromises based on more limited manufacturing resources than with more expensive fans. Read more “Endorfy Stratus 140 PWM: Low price, high efficiency”
Intel’s box coolers have been stagnant for a long time. Since the first models on the LGA 775 platform (which is already quite historic), not much has changed with their coolers. However, a significant shift away from the usual shape will come at the beginning of the year with the more economical Alder Lake processors. We wrote about this in September, but the latest visualizations reveal some striking details. Read more “The design of new coolers for 65-watt Intel CPUs is now clearer”
Since HBM2E is no longer used in gaming GPUs due to its price, the highest performing graphic memory is now the PAM4-based GDDR6X, developed by Micron for Nvidia and reaching transfer rates of up to 21.0 GHz. However, it could now be outperformed by the classic GDDR6. Samsung has announced 20GHz and even 24GHz samples of GDDR6 (or GDDR6+?), that could bring about a 50% bandwidth increase when compared to current GDDR6. Read more “Samsung will make GDDR6 50% faster than today, already sampling”
The Ryujin II 360 represents the pinnacle of Asus’ liquid AIO cooler range. This water cooler is based on the seventh generation of Asetek coolers. It boasts a trio of top-of-the-line Noctua NF-F12 Industrial PPC fans, and the ROG Fan Controller is also included. The premium components, however, come with a higher price tag. So I’m curious to see if the Ryujin II 360 can live up to it, or if it will fit in with the average of other AIO coolers. Read more “Asus ROG Ryujin II 360: A missed opportunity with a déjà vu vibe”
We got a peek at the prices of cheaper B660 motherboards for Intel Alder Lake recently. So far, motherboards for the new desktop platform have generally been expensive. Why is that? According to TechPowerUp’s intel, it’s a combination of many factors and several features of Alder Lake processors. Some are quite surprising, for example the LGA 1700 socket itself is apparently much more expensive than you’d expect it to be. Read more “Causes of high Alder Lake mobo prices? PCB, VRM, even the socket”
The choice of CPUs for low budget builds is getting weaker and less economical – the current prices of Pentiums are reminiscent of a bad joke. Core i3-1010x(F) are the only ones in sufficient numbers at the moment, and still for reasonable money. It’s just a shame that AMD has no competition here. But the comparison of Core i3 Comet Lake with Core i5-10400(F) is also attractive. You might find that it’s worth the savings. Read more “Intel Core i3-10105F is a rarity: Cheap processor for cheap mobos”
After a very long time, the Polish company SilentiumPC is pushing the numbering of the Fortis series coolers as well. These are slightly larger than the successful Fera coolers, but they are still single-tower designs. The new Fortis 5s have a lot in common with the excellent Fera 5, so I guess it finally worked out for SilentiumPC with this line as well. Because in the past Fortis coolers have always fallen short of expectations, and quite significantly. Read more “Fortis 5 coolers are out, SilentiumPC released them in three ways”
Socks, stockings or tights made of silon also attract uses other than on our legs. Enthusiasts can use the material to make, for example, a dust filter for a PC fan. It’s effectiveness then depends on the thickness of the silon fibre. However, tests show that whatever type you use, it is a rather unsuitable solution. And it’s also difficult for robbers who don’t worry too much about the mask and just need a visit to the drugstore before the job. Read more “We tried a DIY silon dust filter instead of traditional nylon. Result?”
Obscure hardware has been thriving lately, with AMD choosing to recycle APUs used in consoles into improvised PC CPUs. Following the Jaguar chip from the Xbox One, this year theAMD 4700S Desktop Kit, a CPU with 8 Zen 2 cores produced from defective PlayStation 5 APUs, has appeared. And AMD now seems to be preparing a similar CPU with a new 4800S designation. A mainboard fitted with such should be suited for gaming. Read more “AMD 4800S: Zen 2 console APU comes to PCs, now with PCIe 4.0”
AeroCool has come up with an inspiring design that will increase the efficiency of smaller tower coolers. These always use small fans, but the 135mm tall new addition in the form of the Raven 4 ARGB has a full-sized “hundred and twenty” on the fins. To make sense of such a design, the fan bezel tapers smoothly from intake to exhaust, thus having a conical shape. Look at the details. Read more “Raven 4 ARGB, AeroCool cooling novelty with conical fan”
After analyzing the nylon and plastic dust filter, we now add a test of the “foam” dust filter. The latter has a slightly more complex construction. It consists of several parts and is kind of like a jigsaw puzzle, the elements of which even improve the aerodynamics in some ways. We go through everything in detail, and although we approached this type of filter with a bit of a bias, it comes out in a good light in the end. Is a foam dust filter better than a nylon one? Read more “The Akasa GRM120-30 foam filter works better than it seems”
GeForce RTX 2060 with 12GB of memory is officially here. Earlier leaks had it coming on December 7, which is the date of store availability. In the end Nvidia already “revealed” the card last week. But extremely quietly, the company just published the specs of the “new” on its website. The return of the RTX 2060, or arguably RTX 2060 Super is now a real thing. But unfortunately there are some questions around the price. Read more “GeForce RTX 2060 12GB quietly released. More memory costs more”
Why do cases and PSUs almost always have impractical cut-outs in the grille in front of fans for air passage? Whether this is due to indifference to an all-round honest product or ignorance of how inefficient a solution it is, remains a mystery. But we have devised a comparative test which refers to drawbacks of the hexagonal grille. Compared to the non-restrictive circular ones made of wires, the differences are significant. Read more “Analysis: a hexagonal grille is no match for a circular one, in any way”
It has been over a year since Nvidia has announced a deal to buy ARM – source of the instruction set and CPU architectures that power embedded and mobile devices, phones and increasingly computers, laptops and servers. But now it looks like there is a major chance that this merger will not happen. US authorities have raised the loudest “NO” yet, aiming to stop the acquisition for fear it would stifle innovation and competition. Read more “Nvidia-ARM merger dead? US authorities seek to block the sale”
The vast majority of computers use two types of dust filters – a fine nylon one and a coarser plastic one. The fact that the plastic filter lets more through and is less efficient in this respect is already apparent from the eye, as it has a coarser mesh. But do you know which one degrades the performance of the fan more and by how much? One even “wheezes”, which is nicely indicated by a detailed noise analysis at 240 sound frequencies. Read more “Test: Nylon vs. plastic dust filter. Which restricts fans less?”
There was news that (some) boards for Alder Lake using B660 chipset won’t support PCI Express 5.0. But it looks that may not be an actual limitation of that chipset, but rather something that will depend on pricing of each particular model. It turns out that even some Z690 boards will be like this. Gigabyte has a first such board, and it seems that these models might be the key to building an Alder Lake PC relatively cheaply. Read more “Z690 Alder Lake boards can lack PCIe 5.0 too, for cost reasons”
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