News
AMD officially launches first Radeon R9 and R7 200 series graphics cards, high end R9 280X and mid-end R9 270X along with R7 260X. While these three cards don't bring anything new to the table, they offer good price/performance ratio.
During a press event in Sydney, Australia, AMD's AIB partners showed off a large selection of Radeon R9/R7 200 series graphics cards, most of them featuring non-reference designs.
Valve revealed specifications of their prototype gaming computers. Steam Machines will come in multiple configurations, offering a wide selection of specifications, price and performance. Steam Machines are, for now, powered by Intel Haswell processors and NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards.
Aerocool introduced DS Dead Silence Micro-ATX cube cases series featuring clean external design and coming in six colors making up a total of 12 variants.
BIOSTAR released Hi-Fi B85N 3D mini-ITX motherboard based on Intel LGA1150 socket and B85 chipset. The board has onboard DVI, VGA, HDMI connectors with support for 4K/2K resolutions and flexibility in HTPC systems.
B85N has two DIMM slots and supports up to 16GB of DDR3 memory. All latest Intel Haswell CPUs are supported and fed through 4-pin power connector. Expansion slots include single PCI-E 3.0 x16 slot. Storage connectivity includes two SATA3 6Gbps ports, two SATA2 3Gbps ports and one mSATA port.
Zalman rolled out ZM-T4 mini tower case. Case supports Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX motherboards, graphics cards of up to 300 mm and has room for up to four fans. Measuring at 189 x 427.5 x 364 mm (W x H x D), T4 is stretched vertically.
Zalman introduced ZM-Z1 ATX mid tower PC case. Based on Zalman's signature classy design, Z1 features meshed front panel, extruded side panels and indent on the top to place a smartphone or external hard drive.
Two 5.25" bays and one external 3.5" bay are present. One of 5.25" bays has a cover with lever for easy removal. Two USB 2.0, one USB 3.0 and audio/mic connectors are placed in the middle of front part.
AMD Radeon R9 200 series graphics cards, including R9 290X, are to be released in a matter of days and some retailers are already taking pre-orders.
First of, four R9 290X graphics adapters from MSI (model number R9 290X 4GD5), XFX (R9-290X ENFC), Sapphire (100361SR) and ASUS (X9290X-DC2T-4GD5) have appeared online at Newegg. All models are of reference design, which enforces the rumor that AMD might restrict AIBs from releasing non-reference models, at least for some time. Prices have been removed, however, at first cards were priced at 729 USD.
Enermax is preparing to launch Thorex mid-tower PC case. Three variations will be released, differing by extruded side and top panels. One will come with acrylic window, other with extra two fans positions on side panel. All models have meshed front panel.
Xigmatek rolled out Aquila micro-ATX case featuring unique design with steel frames along the sides of the case, which also play the role of standoffs (feet) and handles. Case measures at 390 x 403 x 265 mm (length x height x width). The whole case body is placed at an angle, with front tilting up. Front and top panels are meshed. Side panel has a window.
Deepcool unveiled three budget tower-type CPU coolers - G156, IceEdge 400 E and Ice Blade 100 FS. All three coolers feature core touch technology (CTT, Deepcool's name for direct contact heatpipes).
Bitfenix introduced Phenom Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX cube cases featuring sleek design, liquid cooling support and flexible storage configuration.
Phenom Mini-ITX can fit up to six 3.5" or eleven 2.5" drives. With Flexicage removed, graphics card of up to 330 mm length can be installed. When it comes to CPU cooling, Phenom Mini-ITX can fit either an air cooler of 175 mm height or a thick 240 mm liquid cooling radiator. Case has two PCI expansion slots and accommodates ATX standard power supply.
In addition to Pangu, Deepcool also announced Tesseract mid-tower case, dubbed as "all-round cooling case". It's a compact ATX case measuring at 472 x 210 x 454 mm and weighing 5.1 kg.
Cooling experts Deepcool unveiled Pangu Mid-Tower case, featuring wide body design and high cooling performance. It's a Mid-Tower case with Micro-ATX and ATX motherboard support. Case is available in black and white variants with blue strips on the sides.
Valve Software announced SteamOS free operating system for 'living room machines'. Steam OS is a Linux based operating system that aims to set new standard for living room entertainment, including music, TV, movies and, of course, video games. New operating system improves hardware performance on OS level. Developers can take SteamOS advantage to improve gaming experience. Some game developers are already targeting Steam OS for new releases.
AMD revealed upcoming Radeon R9 200 and R7 200 graphics card series. As suspected, some of the models are rebranded HD 7000 series graphics cards. However, there are also some new models, including the ultra high end R9 290X graphics processor featuring Hawaii GPU.
X2 Products, division of Spire, introduced a new high end CPU cooler. Eclipse IV is a completely revamped successor to the Spire Thermax (Thermax Eclipse, TME) series.
Enermax introduced Ostrog Pink Limited Edition Mid-Tower case. As the name says, it's a pink version of Ostrog budget case. Apart from pink exterior, other changes include white interior and acrylic side panel window with dual 120 mm fan support. Enermax Ostrog Pink Edition (ECA3253-PW) is of limited edition and will be sold in limited quantities.
Scythe released Kotetsu mainstream CPU cooler in Japan. It's a tower type cooler with alternating aluminum fin array, four 8 mm heatpipes passing through the array and nickel plated pure copper base. It bears a black top fin bolted to the heatsink, similar to that of Scythe Ashura.
Deepcool presents their first PC case, the Mammoth. It's a full tower ATX case with support for E-ATX motherboards, nine expansion slots and advanced liquid cooling support. Mammoth is manufactured by CFI (Chyang Fun Industry).
Corsair announced RM series silence-oriented power supplies that are capable of running without fan spinning at up to 40% load. They are 80 Plus Gold rated and fully modular.
Xigmatek announced Assassin II Mid-Tower case series. Cases come in white and black colors and feature unique meshed front panel design with innovatively placed I/O ports.
Enermax is readying Liqmax and Liqtech self-contained processor liquid cooling kits. We have some details about Liqmax 120S, Liqtech 240 and Liqtech 120X coolers.
Enermax is set to announce Revolution X't Power Supply series soon. 80 Plus Gold rated, semi-modular power supplies come in four capacities, ranging from 430W to 730W.
Several online stores leaked first details about Corsair's upcoming Obsidian 750D case. It is a spacious Full Tower steel structure case with aluminum front panel.
