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Asus Z77 Roundup
When doing all of our Ivy Bridge launch prep we spent a LOT of time benchmarking and testing a whole collection of boards. You guys have seen our reviews of the Intel and Gigabyte boards. When it came time to write about the four different Asus Z77 boards I realized that most of you are not going to want to read through a lot of information that we would cover over and over on each review. We decided to roundup all four of the boards and cover them together. This way we can get to the point a little quicker, saving you time, as well as giving us a chance to talk more about the differences between the variety of boards that we tested.
ASUS P8 Z68-V/GEN3
Perhaps one of the most daunting tasks after making the decision that you do not wish to purchase an off-the-shelf computer is attempting to figure out which components go in the machine. There are fun aspects, like the graphics card and processor, and then there are the not-so-fun aspects, like the motherboard (at least in my opinion). Why do I think it is a whole lot of not fun? There are so many out there to choose from, with all sorts of features. When shopping you will likely come across the ASUS board that I am going to review today. Arguably, it is one of the better all-around boards out there, with features like good integrated graphics and killer sound. But to a gamer that generally does not mean squat. Does the ASUS P8 Z68-V/GEN3 board have what it takes to function as a serious gaming component? Read on to find out!
XFX R7750 Black Edition DD
Not everyone is looking to spend $500 on their video card, in some cases that is the total budget for a build. When you are up against a wall trying to pack the best performance you can get into a budget build you still want to get the most performance you can out of your video card. That’s where cards like the XFX R7750 Black Edition Double Dissipation come into play. XFX has taken the styling and cooling from their high end cards and combined it with the price of budget cards like the HD 7750. Today we are going to take a look at how those two things do combined in XFX’s R7750 Black Edition Double Dissipation.
Sapphire HD 7770 Vapor-X
Earlier this year when AMD introduced the HD 7770 we took a look at cards from both Sapphire and XFX. Although we were impressed with the cards performance it was a little ill-timed due to AMD still clearing out discounted back stock. Three months later we are able to revisit the situation with today’s release of Sapphires new HD 7770 Vapor-X. With Sapphires Vapor chamber cooling technology along with a nice overclock over the reference design, the Sapphire HD 7770 Vapor-X could be a great option for a gamer on a limited budget. Let’s take a look.
Motherboard Sizing
When we got in a few oddly sized dual CPU motherboards from EVGA and Asus I posted up a few pictures on our forums and on Facebook. The problem was that even though they looked large there wasn’t any prospective. So we tossed in a couple other boards to give everyone a little perspective. This lead us to digging out even more motherboards to put together all of the standard motherboard sizes all together for everyone to be able to see the differences. Along with the picture we also have a breakdown on the dimensions of each size standard; I hope this helps everyone as some point. Sometimes it can be hard to understand all of the different motherboard sizes and how they all relate.
Android to the Maxx, DROID Razr Maxx
The list of different Android based phones available at any time is both overwhelming and frustrating. It’s almost impossible to get good feedback from friends who have the same phone because of this. So it’s rare than you have any one phone that manages to stand out. Doing something different is the only way to do this normally, but most times this ends off coming off as gimmicky or just lame. When Motorola introduced the Droid Razr Maxx it caught my attention right away. This was just before our trip out to San Francisco for the GTX 680 Editors day, what a better way to put the Maxx’s proposed batter life to the test!
Lian Li PC 100 “The Hammer”
We have had a few different Lian Li chassis come through the LanOC Offices and there hasn’t been a time that we haven’t been impressed with the new and interesting features Lian Li always seems to slip in. When they wanted to ship over their new case “The Hammer” PC 100, we signed up right away. We had seen the case previewed from a few shows prior and this time around Lian Li took a new perspective with its design, I was very interested to see how their changes worked out. Let’s jump in and see what it’s all about!
Nvidia GTX 670
When Nvidia launched Kepler with the GTX 680 I was impressed with the launch price of the card but even at such a great value it is still out of reach for some people. Just because you can’t afford the top card doesn’t mean you don’t want to experience Kepler’s performance. Of course it was only a matter of time before we saw Nvidia filling in the gaps in their product line, starting first with the GTX 690 then going to the next step down from the GTX 680, the GTX 670. Today we get to have a look to see how the performance compares to both the GTX 680 as well as AMD’s offerings. We are also very curious how it compares to the GTX 580, a card that has found its way into most of our office PC’s.
ioSafe Rugged Portable
So you do the smart thing, you backup your data from your laptop and your home PC to an external or network drive and go on with life feeling confident that you have gone well and above what most people do. For the most part, you did. What about when you’re traveling, have you seen how much abuse a device can take when on the go? For some people, and I know I’m one of them, some of the data you carry with you while traveling is more important than the laptop or device that you actually carry it on. In that situation you need a way to not have to worry about your data, no matter the situation, and to have a guarantee to back it up as well. The folks over at ioSafe focus specifically on this crowd. Not only do they offer products that are according to them build to handle almost anything, but they back it up with data recovery if something does happen. Today we are going to take a look at that Rugged Portable hard drive to see what all of the fuss is about, without any more buildup, let’s dig in.
Cooler Master Storm Trigger
Just two years ago the only mechanical keyboards you would find were from companies like DAS keyboard trying to create a nitch market. Over the past two years things have really exploded with every manufacture you can think of introducing their own mechanical keyboards. Cooler Master has been especially aggressive with multiple unique designs like their Quickfire series. What they did lack was a full featured mechanical keyboard with full backlighting, until now. Today they officially introduce their Storm Trigger, although it you look around the board was available Globally before now. With full backlighting it falls into a small category of Mechanical Keyboards with very little competition. I am excited to see how it performs.
Cooler Master HAF XM
The topic of cleaning your computer out came up last week on our forums and it got me thinking about how often I really need to clean out my computer. As it turns out it’s not very often anymore. All because of improvements in case design like fan filters. You don’t really see them on low end cases yet but they have been slowly trickling down. At CES this year we had a chance to get our hands on one of Cooler Master’s upcoming chassis, the HAF XM. A mid-range case packed with the features we have come to love from their high end HAF line. Today we are going to dig into the final product and see how it came out.
Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H
Z77 boards come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and prices. Just about every manufacture has a whole lineup of boards covering the whole range to make sure you can find what you are looking for. Gigabyte is no different; they have a whole selection of boards that will fit your needs. Today we are taking a look at their Z77X-UD3H, one of their budget boards. It may not be a high end board but it is still packed with features. I am curious how it will perform now that the cat is out of the bag with Ivy Bridge. Let’s jump in and see what it’s all about.
Hopefully everyone survived the heat wave that the midwest just went through. Steam has set some awesome numbers about how much they have made and their top ten games. Batman Arkham Asylum is this weeks Midweek Madness sale and finally I have finished Duke Nukem Forever with some great screenshots. Its Wednesday and that means Gaming News is a go!
Steam:
This week, news has been coming in from Forecasting & Analyzing Digital Entertainment about how much Steam has made in the first half of twenty eleven. They estimate that Steam has revenues around the range of $468 million dollars. I will let everyone guess what game led that charge, yep, Portal 2. With an estimated 1.1 million units sold for 56.4 million dollars. Other notables on that top ten list are number two, Magicka with 789k units, Monday Night Combat with 264k and the one that caught me off guard was Borderlands with 204k units sold. Anyone wanna comment on how PC gaming is dying? Nope, didn't think so. I would like to thank Valve for all that they do with Steam. We couldn't of picked a better service. Gratz to Steam for a great first half. I would like to see them hit 1 billion in revenue before the year is up.Midweek Madness:
As much as I despise Games For Windows Live this is a great game. At this point you might as well pay the $7.50 for it and finish it before the next one comes out. Hopefully Rocksteady Studios wises up and uses Steamworks for the next game. Until then though play Batman and add it to your collection of games that are finished. As always, Midweek Madness sale's are good until Thursday at 7pm EST.
Duke Nukem Forever:
After a long, drawn out process I have finally finished it. It was a great journey and the reviewers need to get off their "High Horses". For me, Duke was an enjoyable experience. Sure, it wasn't Crysis or Metro 2033 but it was a great game to mess around with. The best section by far for me was the monster truck driving. As I have always said in the past it's the little things that make the difference. During that sequence of driving you can hear the "blower" on the truck. For me, this adds to the gameplay. I just really can't fathom how people took a dump on this game. It's not the best game that I have ever played but its far from the worst. People need to rethink how they review games in my own opinion. Overall though I couldn't be happier with Duke Nukem. Probably my favorite line was "I've got balls of fail". I did take some time to take some screenshots, here ya go.
The Freeze Ray
The Ripper with a great photo in the back
Railgun, anyone for a cigar?
You try drawing with a mouseGreat Thread:
This thread is just awesome. Post up anything and everything that you pick up. You might be surprised on what your fellow LanOC'ers are buying. Don't be shy either. None of us our professional photographers so don't worry about the quality of the picture.
It was a short Gaming News this week and I am sorry about that. I have finals this week so wish me luck, one more semester until I graduate! Don't forget our Mini-LAN is this weekend. The best part is its free! Also remember that LanOC V9.0 is coming up soon, please sign up as soon as possible so we can get a firm head count on how many people are showing up. And if at all possible try and pay when you sign up. It is so much easier that way. See you at the end of August.
I hope everyone has a great rest of the week. Looks like i'm heading out to King's Island here in the next week or two. I haven't had that much "me" time in the last couple of months. Also, make sure and follow your staff on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Foursquare to get the latest updates about reviews, news and PC gaming. You will be amazed at the stuff that we share.
Until next week, Wingless is out!
Hail to the King....
You are right about people needing to get off Duke's back and I think the reason people are being harsh is that they probably weren't around in the glory days of Duke or they think the game needs to be like another hand holding FPS clone with a Michael Bay script.
Duke Forever played like a Duke title. Guns, Babes, Corny one liners and nonsensical puzzles.
You are right about people needing to get off Duke's back and I think the reason people are being harsh is that they probably weren't around in the glory days of Duke or they think the game needs to be like another hand holding FPS clone with a Michael Bay script.
Duke Forever played like a Duke title. Guns, Babes, Corny one liners and nonsensical puzzles.
As for DNF getting poor reviews: I'm guessing it's because, you know, it's completely outdated in terms of game mechanics. And it took ten years to make while still being pretty much mediocre. Also, if every game has to be another clone, wouldn't Borderlands have gotten a bad score?
It's just not a good game, and it was a terrible idea to ever dig it up from its grave.
It's just not a good game, and it was a terrible idea to ever dig it up from its grave.
Kurzuul wrote:
That's the thing do games these days need to hold peoples hands and have shit blow up constantly on screen like a Michael Bay film? I think that is the problem with a lot of games this generation in that it removes you from having to think and everything is scripted to point where its just a linear shot from A to B.
At least Duke's puzzles made some people have to think about what they need to do instead of follow way point A to get way point B and hey look pretty pictures.
There are the few games out there that are a challenge or require one to think but majority of it just spoon fed to you.
As for DNF getting poor reviews: I'm guessing it's because, you know, it's completely outdated in terms of game mechanics. And it took ten years to make while still being pretty much mediocre. Also, if every game has to be another clone, wouldn't Borderlands have gotten a bad score?
It's just not a good game, and it was a terrible idea to ever dig it up from its grave.
It's just not a good game, and it was a terrible idea to ever dig it up from its grave.
That's the thing do games these days need to hold peoples hands and have shit blow up constantly on screen like a Michael Bay film? I think that is the problem with a lot of games this generation in that it removes you from having to think and everything is scripted to point where its just a linear shot from A to B.
At least Duke's puzzles made some people have to think about what they need to do instead of follow way point A to get way point B and hey look pretty pictures.
There are the few games out there that are a challenge or require one to think but majority of it just spoon fed to you.
Arkham is on sale so often. And I wonder if the Summer Sale was included in the Steam profit prediction. And if they are making more money under the TF2 banner by just selling items instead of that and the game.
As for Duke and the implementations on gaming, I think people expected more for a game that took so long and didn't have CoD attached to it. People enjoy games that aren't just explosions, hand holding, and guns. Look at those Portal 2 sales. Look at how indie games are doing online.
Often, it's not the most voices, but it's the loudest voices are heard the most. And those tend to be the noobie teens suckling off the CoD teet and hating on everything else that requires a brain capable of memory and nostalgia. Duke was decent and functional as a FPS. The mechanics may have been flawed, but it wasn't super easy, and some players want that. I think some reviews didn't look at it well simply because it had hype behind it without a big name company that would bribe them for good reviews.
As for Duke and the implementations on gaming, I think people expected more for a game that took so long and didn't have CoD attached to it. People enjoy games that aren't just explosions, hand holding, and guns. Look at those Portal 2 sales. Look at how indie games are doing online.
Often, it's not the most voices, but it's the loudest voices are heard the most. And those tend to be the noobie teens suckling off the CoD teet and hating on everything else that requires a brain capable of memory and nostalgia. Duke was decent and functional as a FPS. The mechanics may have been flawed, but it wasn't super easy, and some players want that. I think some reviews didn't look at it well simply because it had hype behind it without a big name company that would bribe them for good reviews.
Thanks for the LINK!!!! Shacknews
Duke Nukem's arsenal is about to double, ladies and gentlemen.
According to Gearbox Community Manager (and Shacknews alum) Chris Faylor, a patch is currently in the works for Duke Nukem Forever that will increase Duke's inventory slots, allowing him to carry up to four weapons at once during the single-player campaign.
Duke Nukem's arsenal is about to double, ladies and gentlemen.
According to Gearbox Community Manager (and Shacknews alum) Chris Faylor, a patch is currently in the works for Duke Nukem Forever that will increase Duke's inventory slots, allowing him to carry up to four weapons at once during the single-player campaign.
Sweet, brings it closer to how classic games were. I miss carrying an arsenal and feeling like a badass.
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