Witcher 3 is a game that has a lot of fans, and for good reason. Where we find a lot of fans we also find a lot of cool creations, but digital and real ones. This falls into the last ones as someone went ahead and created an amazing looking real version of Witcher 3’s in-game mini game Gwent.
The Gwent game is quite complicated in comparison to many other mini games that mostly are copies of normal games such as blackjack, poker, and chess, but that’s not the case with Gwent. There are a lot of accessories, playing cards and the Imgur user waffleguru made this amazing set for her boyfriend who’s a big Wither 3 fan.
The handmade set comes with a chest to keep everything inside. There is a printed playing mat of sturdy cotton canvas blend for durability, a rule book printed on magazine cover paper, custom deck boxes for each faction, and plenty of cards for each faction including doubles to be able to build more useful setups. To top it off, there’s also a tiny chest inside with tokens and tiny pouches with gem counters. Everything you need to play this fantastic looking game.
I think there are quite a few out there that will be jealous of such a gift and wish that they had gotten it instead.
The advent of affordable closed liquid cooling solutions has made many system builders switch from traditional air cooling to sealed loops. However, air cooling is generally cheaper, more reliable and significantly quieter compared to the Asetek competition. Clearly, many consumers dismiss them on the basis of aesthetics, but their price to performance ratio is difficult to beat! Thermalright has just announced their latest air cooling product which adopts a very unusual, if fairly comical name. The Macho Direct is the company’s first Heatpipe Direct Touch cooler and should provide great performance on a budget.
The cooler also utilizes a unique aluminium fin design to reduce air resistance and maximize airflow. Additionally, the small gaps counteract the accumulation of air between the cooling fins to help with cooling performance. On another note, the concave formed heat pipes cool the CPU very effectively especially when you consider the product’s design. In terms of dimensions, the Macho Direct is 4 mm lower than the Macho Rev. B. This makes it possible to mount the Macho Direct in tighter cases where space is limited. At the same time, the weight of the Macho Direct with a fan mounted is reduced by 820g.
A TY 140 Black PWM-fan is included with the cooler. The fan is equipped with a low-wearing “Enhanced Hyper-Flow Bearing”. Thanks to the very low starting speed of just 300 rpm and the maximum speed of only 1,300 rpm, the black fan runs very silently at 15 – 21 dB(a) and is almost inaudible while running. The Macho Direct will be sold exclusively by the Mindfactory AG in Germany with an MSRP is 36.99 Euro, incl. 19% VAT.
AMD was quite proud when they released the new Crimson Edition software and it was a great success for the biggest part. The new interface was welcomed by most users where others ran into some trouble. The issue is in regards to the graphics cards fan, a vital component on your graphics card. There are two separate issues in regards to the fan speed where one will let the graphic card spin up to 100% at all times, even when idle, and the other one holds the fan speed at 30%, again at all times. AMD acknowledged this issue over the weekend and promised to release a fix today.
“We’re aware of isolated reports of low fan states following the installation of Radeon Software ‘Crimson Edition’ on select Radeon GPUs. Our engineering teams have identified and addressed this issue, and we intend to release a hotfix on amd.com this coming Monday, November 30th.”
We are aware of low fan speed reports on select GPUs with Radeon Software Crimson Edition. We intend to publish a hotfix on Monday.
So it looks like the problem has been found, but it could be too late for some users. While the 100% fan speed isn’t as serious as it is annoying, the 30% speed can become problematic. A few users have reported their GPU dying and named this as the reason. It seems logic, if you tax your GPU for full load for an extended period of time, it will get very hot. And if it isn’t cooled properly because the fan doesn’t spin up, then we got a problem. But whether these reports are people that actually had this happen or if they’re just opportunistic in order to try and get a new graphics card that they killed themselves is something that is up to everyone’s own speculation.
It’s not every day we report about fans, there’s something boring about the parts considering that a huge proportion of PC users have at least one in their system. The technical jargon can get some people to dunk their heads in the sand and plump for the one with the flashiest colour or simply the cheapest price. But for those who are serious about cooling and the longevity of the high-performance parts inside the case, high-quality fans are a must!
Noctua is probably the biggest name in air cooling, producing some of the most iconic fans in dreadful colours and today it announced four new offerings into the IndustrialPPC line up, all in 24V variety.
“The launch of our industrialPPC line has allowed us to expand our base of industrial clients as we’re now able to provide solutions for highly challenging environments and to meet much higher demands as far as airflow and pressure performance are concerned”, says Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). “Since many of our industrial clients work with 24V, we’re now offering extra versions for 24V applications.”
Even though the fans have been designed for 24V Industrial applications, they run at a maximum of 3000RPM in 24V and 1700RPM in 12V. They can be lowered further by the use of PWM, so if you really wanted to spend the 29.90€ price tag, you won’t have to worry about noise or trying to figure out how to power these bad boys.
If the price tag wasn’t enough to put you off, take a look at the product pages below.
Metal Gear Solid popularized the stealth genre and is perceived as one of the greatest PlayStation franchises of all time. Sadly, the original title has aged badly due to clunky controls and dated visuals. Although, you could argue this adds to the game’s charm and makes it stand out from the PlayStation 2 sequels. Ideally, I would love to see an official remake of Metal Gear Solid but this seems unlikely. Despite this, iRamGamer decided to tirelessly work on a fan re-master in Unreal Engine 4 and showcase the beauty of his favourite game. To mark the project’s progress, he released a number of astonishing screenshots.
The ‘Shadow Moses’ remaster looks extremely promising and I’m fascinated to see how the project unfolds. Although, given Konami’s recent behavior it wouldn’t be surprising if they demanded the remaster to cease production. The portrait of Hideo Kojima makes me chuckle and proudly illustrates who the driving force behind Metal Gear Solid was. Unfortunately, it seems that era is over and Konami is considering creating another Metal Gear Solid game without Kojima’s vision. Whether or not this will be successful is unknown, but you have to admire fans who spend so much of their free time honoring their favourite games.
Building a PC can be a fairly simple task, most of the parts to together in a format that’s no less complex than a Lego set. Of course, picking the right components, putting them together in the best way and getting the best performance out of them, that’s where a little more effort is sometimes needed. One thing that can be quite easy is picking a bunch of great hardware, but keeping it running cool, quiet and efficiently, that’s a whole different ball game. Your chassis comes with fans, most likely that your CPU cooler does too, be that a water or air cooling solution, your GPU no doubt has fans and the list goes on. One thing you’ll be familiar with about fans, other than the fact that they blow air, is that they can often get a little noisy, especially when your system is running a little hot.
NZXT had great success with their GRID fan controller, a simple device that hooks up multiple fans and gives you control over their RPM via some desktop software. The new GRID+ V2 follows the same concept, but this time the unit is even better than before. Being able to take control of your fans is a great addition to your setup, as it allows you to turn them down to a whisper when watching movies or performing less intensive tasks. However, when you’re gaming, overclocking and more, being able to dial-up the fans to a suitable level gives you more control over the airflow, noise and hopefully the performance of your system.
Equipped with six fan headers, the Grid+ V2 should be able to drive all the fans in your system, and you could always invest in a couple of Y-splitters if you need to connect more per-channel. With up to 30W maximum output, the V2 shouldn’t have any trouble powering a whole bunch of fans.
The packaging is nicely designed, with just a simple image of the product and some branding on the front.
Around the back, we’ve got a slightly more detailed run down of the CAM software that is used to control the fans.
In the box, you’ll find a comprehensive setup guide. Honestly, it’s all pretty self-explanatory, but it certainly never hurts to have a helping hand.
In the box, you’ll also find a good selection of cables that you’ll need to set up the Grid+ V2. This includes a USB cable, Molex power cable, some handy cable ties and two 3-pin female to 4-pin/3-pin Y extension cables.
Finally, we’ve also got two dual-lock 3M velcro pads with adhesive backs.
Phanteks didn’t just release one product today, they have a total of three new ones lined up for us. Phanteks announced the immediate availability of the PH-F120, 140, and 200 SP Series as well as the PH-F120 and 140 MP Series Black Edition fans. On top of that, they are also ready with a new nanostructured thermal compound called the PH-NDC.
The SP fan series is designed to overcome high static pressure, blade deflection, and noise challenges. The fans all have nine blades to be able to provide a better airflow. The bearing systems is called UFB and it stands for Updraft Floating Balance which is composed of MOSS and SCC. MOSS has an effective fan hub-blade ratio to achieve a dynamic balance, thus floating the axis for minimal air noise. SSC increases the bearing life span to ensure that the fan axis is consistently operating without mechanical noise.
The MP fan series is designed for the liquid cooling enthusiasts that need to overcome airflow restrictions from radiators with high fin density. The fans produce high static air pressure for a direct and focused airflow. The blades used in the MP fans are called MVB (Maelström Vortex Booster) and they are precisely angled to generate a silent yet controlled airflow. The downdraft vortex created allows for a greater amount of air passage which in return reduces the airflow turbulence across the surface of the blades.
Both new series of Phanteks fans are backed by a 5-year warranty and depending on the model, they will set you back between £9.99 and £14.99 each.
Phanteks’ new thermal compound is called PH-NDC and the diamond-like particles of the hybrid compound are non-electrical conductive, ensuring that your hardware stays safe. It is also silicon-free to provide long-term stability with an effective thermal cycling and low dry-out features. The PH-NDC has a thermal conductivity of 4.5W/m-k, a thermal resistance of 0.14°C cm2/W, and it is rated for an operating temperature between -40°C and up to 150°C. The compound comes with a 2-year warranty and will set you back £5.50 for a 4G tube.
Arctic has released some impressive cooling solutions in the past, for both CPUs and GPUs. Their newest CPU cooler is the Freezer i32 or a32 depending on whether you’ll want to mount it on an Intel or AMD processor. The really cool thing about this CPU cooler is that it is semi-passive, like we’ve seen quite a bit on graphics cards lately. This effectively means that the fan will not spin up before it is actually needed.
The Freezer is using a 120mm PWM fan that won’t spin up for the first 40% of the scale and comes with quite a nice TDP rating for its size. This CPU cooler is able to keep up to 320 Watts TDP under control and keep an i7-4790K below 50 degrees under full load.
The slim size should prevent any issues with memory clearance or other areas around the CPU. The backplate is secure enough for transport and should keep everything in place in your LAN gaming rig too.
In case you have a system that runs continuously for 24/7, Arctic released the Freezer i32 CO which stands for continues operation. It is specifically designed for these kinds of systems in mind while still performing great and for a long time.
Feature Highlights
Improved cooling performance
German fan controller
Improved Bearing
Optimal compatibility through lower footprint
Transport safe due to a back-plate and a lower weight
MX-4 thermal compound included
The Freezer i32/A32 is now available for a price of £49.99 while the CO version costs a little more and is available for £59.99.
Is drone racing really a thing? It looks like it! Since more and more people are taking an interest in the little (or not-so-little) gadgets, competitions were bound to crop up sooner or later. Some competitions already took place around the world, one at the California State Fair with a prize offering of $25,000 and others in Australia, France and the UK.
But when it comes to competitions, it’s all about money and investment. That’s why sponsors are the key to it all. You might think that people, companies or organizations may not be interested in drones, but the truth is that they are. This is the case of billionaire Stephen Ross, owner of Miami Dolphins, who already invested $1 million in the first round of New York startup The Drone Racing League.
The real challenge here is drawing fans to these sporting events. I know you can get millions of viewers on YouTube or similar streaming services, but you actually need a crowd to cheer, support and spend something to keep these championships going. It is said that there have been an estimated 60 spectators who showed up at the California State Fair event, but weather conditions may have influenced the low number of spectators.
In addition to the above, drone racing may be a bit boring to sit and watch. Competitors use first-person view racing techniques to manoeuvre the drones with the help of goggles that send a live feed from the drone to the pilot, but the real killer here is that drones only reach a top speed of up to 70 mph. I know they are not as fast as rally racing cars, but this could actually be the start of a new type of sporting event. What do you think?
Thank you The Verge for providing us with this information
Xigmatek may not be everyone’s first thought when you ask them to name cooling manufacturer, but they’ve been around for many years, creating some incredible chassis products, CPU coolers and more. With that in mind, I’ve got high expectations of the LOKI II. Of course, this is only a budget friendly, and rather small CPU cooler, so it’s not about to break any world records. However, the budget end of the market is fiercely competitive and not everyone needs a super high-end custom loop water cooling system; actually, very few people do. What most people need is something that doesn’t suck as bad as the stock CPU cooler that came with their chip and more often than not, they don’t want to spend a lot of money.
As you can see, the LOKI II is quite a compact size cooler, so it may be suitable for a lot of SFF builds. It comes with three 6mm heat pipes, with a direct touch design and a 92mm PWM fan.
The packaging is simple enough, just a nice picture of the cooler, the specs on the other side and that’s about it really.
In the box, you’ll find the cooler, the fan, a universal backplate, fitting screws and washers, two fan retention clips and the Intel/AMD brackets.
The fan may be small, but it is still very nicely designed; it features orange fan blades, that look pretty funky and some sleeving on the cable.
The fan is a brushless fitting, with a 4-pin PWM connector.
The tower is tiny, but has a solid fin stack and a triple heat-pipe design which are U-shaped to pass through each side of the tower.
The sides are partially closed off, allowing airflow to be better directed through the fins and get heat away from the cooler.
The fan mounts on this side of the cooler and there’s a pair of grooves on the side to allow you to use the fan clips. The slim design of the cooler should also mean zero issues with ram modules.
A small Xigmatek logo on the top, looks pretty cool, but the cooler also shows some signs of being a little cheap here, but that’s not exactly a shock, because it’s priced cheap!
The heat pipes are direct contact and there’s a thick mounting block to help better dissipate the heat through those pipes.
Gigabyte has just announced its low-end GTX 960 model, the GeForce GTX 960 ITX, boasting a Windforce 2x cooling solution. This looks to be dedicated to people who use their PCs mostly for office and multimedia activities, though the card can also be used for some casual games that don’t require a powerhouses rig just start it.
The card features a reasonable 2GB of GDDR5, a 128-bit memory interface and a core base clock of 1127 MHz, going to up to 1178 MHz in boost mode. By the looks of it, Gigabyte plans on rolling out a OC version of the card with a base clock of 1152 MHz and boost clock of 1203 MHz. Taking into account the latter and the GeForce GTX 960 ITX already on the market, I’m fairly certain that Gigabyte will roll out a 4GB model soon enough, should 2GB be not enough for what you have in mind.
Taking a look at the Windforce 2x, the cooling solution looks to be promising in keeping the ‘little monster’ cool under full load. The blades are specially designed with triangle shapes at the edge and special 3D stripe curves to efficiently enhance and keep the card cool. In addition to that, the pure copper heat pipe direct touch (HDT) helps in keeping the card cool at an extremely low noise level, so you don’t have to worry about it buzzing your ears off when you put it to the ultimate test.
There is no official confirmation of any price for it, but EXPReview puts it at ¥1499, which is roughly £155.
Whether you are looking for an upgrade to your gaming rig or want to build a new one, it’s important to know what’s available on the market. EVGA knows this and hopes to offer everything you need to improve your gaming experience. That’s why they just revealed their own GeForce GTX 980 Ti Classified graphics solution.
The card comes with 6GB of GDDR5 memory and 2816 NVIDIA CUDA Cores, so it will undoubtedly have your back in the latest and upcoming game titles. In addition, the 384-bit memory width, 7010 MHz memory clock and 336.5 GB/s bandwidth specs just speak for themselves in terms of performance. The Maxwell GPU clocks look promising too, having the base clock at 1140 MHz and boost clock going for up to 1228 MHz. But the best part about it? It can go to up to 4-way SLI, so even if you’re an extreme gamer, you can get everything you need out of this baby.
EVGA tells that the 14+3 Power Phase on the card will bring improved efficiency, power capacity and lower average operating temperature, while the dual 8-pin Power Inputs deliver increased power capability. When it comes to the cooling solution, EVGA’s ACX 2.0+ cooling technology along with its MOSFET Cooling Plate show a 13% temperature, while the Straight Heat Pipes are said to further decrease the card’s temperature by 5ºC. This all adds up to a 20% temperature reduction compared to other cards. The ACX 2.0+ cooling solution also helps in delivering more airflow while eating up less power with the help of its optimized swept fan blades, double ball bearings and the low power motor.
The card certainly looks great and from what I see, EVGA is really pushing a lot of juice to deliver the necessary performance while also providing the right cooling for the card. More information about the EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Classified ACX 2.0+ can be found over at its website here.
Like all games being released nowadays, Batman: Arkham Knight needs a huge day one patch to get it working. This comes after players inevitably get frustrated by waiting for a game and not being able to play it even if they have it already installed and ready to go. I really don’t get developers and their strategy today, but we may have to get used to it.
Rocksteady just launched a 3.5 GB day one patch for the title, promising to deliver more performance improvements, stability fixes and other goodies. Hopefully, along with AMD’s and NVIDIA’s newly released drivers, we might see the game running to an extent where it is ‘playable’, though we might need to wait for a couple of patch releases to actually see it working properly.
The full patch notes are as follows:
Improved Performance
Stability Fixes
New feature: Rival Points
New feature: Original Batsuit skin available to select
Support for “A Matter Of Family” additional content
General gameplay, graphical, audio, UI, and localization fixes
The real question here is whether it’s worth pre-ordering. I mean, we see more and more that titles don’t work properly once released, huge day one patches that hope to fix these problems and constant updates to actually see the game working as expected… months before it gets released. Shouldn’t we like wait until they get fixed properly before we buy them? What do you think?
Thank you GamingBolt for providing us with this information
The long wait for Valve’s latest Dota 2 title, Dota 2 Reborn, is now over. Despite the many bugs and features which are not fully functional just yet, fans and curious gamers can now play the beta version alongside Dota 2 on Steam.
Dota 2 Reborn brings a lot of features and improvements to its predecessor, including the Source 2 Engine. What this means is that Dota 2 will have a lot of rendering improvements, performance optimizations, higher fidelity content, and not to mention enhanced physics. Valve says that they will further improve cloth and simulation physics in the future too, but they are still awesome as they are now.
Other improvements can be seen in the UI, having Dota 2 Reborn come with a new and improved interface. Players area able to quickly and efficiently search for matches, stay in touch with their friends through newly added party and chat features, as well as see the what your friends (or enemies) are up to.
Now we all know how frustrating it is to have problems connecting or maintaining a connection to a server sometimes. This is why Valve worked hard to offer more reliable network connections through a new backbone and relay protocol. In addition to the latter, a lot of effort has been put into DDoS protection and we know that is a major problem nowadays.
Last but not least, Custom Games is also a nice addition to the series, having it come with better developer tools for modders. While regular users get to play other modes and maps made by fans, modders get the chance to expand their ideas a bit with new tools. The new Hammer Level Editor lets you quickly prep your map, while the Material, Model and Particle editors help shape it to look how you imagined it to be. Also, Valve now offers better debugging with their new Developer Console.
More details about the latest title can be found on their website here, or if you want to get straight into the action, you can do so by following the steps below:
Twitch has been the most appreciated games streaming service available on the market lately. It now has over 35 million unique visitors a month and more than 1.5 million broadcasters. Now YouTube wants to get in on the streaming action by announcing that it will launch a new service dedicated to gamers in the US and UK this summer.
YouTube has announced its own YouTube Gaming app and website, where people can visit to watch, broadcast streams and even search for what they want to find out in games. Google’s video streaming service plans to use its existing YouTube features, such as 60FPS streaming and DVR, along with new features like allowing steamers to share all their streams with one link.
“YouTube Gaming is built to be all about your favorite games and gamers, with more videos than anywhere else. From “Asteroids” to “Zelda,” more than 25,000 games will each have their own page, a single place for all the best videos and live streams about that title. You’ll also find channels from a wide array of game publishers and YouTube creators.” YouTube wrote on their blog.
YouTube Gaming is said to launch this summer in the US and UK and YouTube plans on promoting its new service at E3 next week too. If you’ll be at the event, be sure to check out what YouTube has planned for its Gaming service! If not, head on over to YouTube’s E3 streaming page to find out more.
Dota 2 has been getting a lot of attention lately and it’s now seen in its annual championship tournament, where the prize pool could reach $11.5 million, setting it as a new record in the game’s championship history. Pretty impressive, huh?
This year marks the fifth International Dota 2 Championship event and it is said that the prize reached $11.4 million this Friday thanks to the money brought in from virtual Compendium. This is really overwhelming since the prize pool started off with a $1.6 million budget at the end of April.
However, in just a matter of days, the prize money reached $5.5 million. This was mainly due to a lot of Compendium sales, which is the sum of in-game challenges, fantasy league-style predictions and in-game cosmetics rewards. Thanks to its fans and players, competitors now will have the opportunity to have a lot of fun, fight for the top and maybe even end up filling their bank account with a small fortune.
In terms of Compendium sales, the basic one costs you $9,99. Should you want to spend more, there is also a $27,99 variant, 25% of which goes to the prize pool. This year Compendium owners are said to have more rewards as they level by watching games, collecting player cards and other such activities.
Thank you Polygon for providing us with this information
Computex 2015 – While at the PowerColor booth, we noticed something a little different about the fans that are used on the current line-up of graphics cards.
The new ‘DoubleBlades’ design is the same as a standard 5 fin fan, but with notched taken out of the inner fin to concentrate more airflow downwards. Due to the additional fin and notch taken out of the larger fin, this creates negative air pressure which is filled in quicker than a traditional fan design; thus creating a more powerful flow of air.
We look forward to taking a closer look at these fans during an upcoming review. We will keep you updated with the rest of the news and events from the rest of Computex 2015.
Computex 2015: Chassis, coolers and power supplies are all essential, but there’s so much more you can add to your build to enhance the style and functionality. Thermaltake know this and have revealed a range of cool products for your system. A selection of gorgeous sleeved PSU cables and colourful cable combs to help improve the overall style. There’s also a range of funky hard drive docks, in fact, they’re some of the best docks I’ve seen and now come with USB Type-C connectivity!
Their latest fan controllers look pretty cool too and are an idea match for the latest range of Thermaltake fans. We’ll bring you more information shortly, so stay tuned!
Scythe expanded their 120mm fan portfolio with a new series, the Slip Stream 120 DB. While the naming isn’t the smartest as most will associate the DB with dB, it has nothing to do with the noise generation but rather the double ball bearings used.
The new line-up includes five regular models with fixed fan speeds as well as one PWM-enabled model and thanks to the new dual ball bearings the fans have an increased lifespan of 350,000 hours.
The Slip Stream series feature a small hub and large blades to increase the flow area and airflow without increasing the fan speed. The PWM enabled version offers a wide fan speed range from 300RPM to 1300 RPM. The five non-PWM models will be available with an RPM of 500, 800, 1200, 1600 and 1900.
The model name may make these fans sound like some noisy ones, but they aren’t. The 500RPM model operates at just 7.2 dBA while still providing a steady airflow of 24.50 CFM while the 800RPM model can move 40.17 CFM at just 10.7 dBA.
Scythe also supplies four rubber vibration dampeners to assure that any vibration is absorbed and doesn’t move onto your chassis. Regular fan screws are also included and so is a 3-pin to 4-pin adapter.
The long life Slip Stream 120 DB fans are available as of today with the MSRP of 7.50 EUR (excl. Tax/VAT) for regular models. Slip Stream 120 DB PWM can be purchased for 10.00 EUR (excl. Tax/VAT).
With the latest Star Wars movie coming later this year, a lot of retailers are getting ready for people who are looking for some Star Wars goodies. Surprisingly, there are a lot of cool things already on the market.
We can’t dig into every crazy gadget or contraption out there, but we can show you some of the best Star Wars goodies out there. Take this R2-D2 USB car charger for example. Is your phone running out of juice? Why not have R2-D2 ready to help you out!
Still not impressed? Well, since it’s summer, we all want to head over to the beach. So why not head over there with your own shiny new Death Star ball? I know I want to! How about you?
Too old for going to the beach? Ok then, maybe you have your family and want to go out on a trip with them. So why not show how strong the force is in your family on the rear windshield of your car? I bet your neighbours will be so jealous!
There are even toys for your young ones or collectible items for you to show off on your desk at home or at work, such as the ones you see below.
One of the best things I’ve found so far is something that you can share with your loved one. Want to propose in the future? Is your anniversary coming up? No matter the excuse is, these fine ‘I love You / I Know’ rings will make your day something to remember for the rest of your geeky life.
There are so many crazy cool goodies that we don’t even know where to go from here. Spanning from clothing, key chains, earrings, cups and other crazier accessories, you really have a wide variety to choose from. One of the places you can find the above is ThinkGeek, but other retailers are bound to have something similar sooner or later. Enjoy!
One of the hardest parts of building your own systems is the decision on what fans to get for it. While a lot might go for the default ones provided with whatever chassis you purchase, it might not be to everyone’s liking. Especially the liquid coolers want just the best of the best and NZXT has quite a bit of experience in that area.
NZXT has had quite a lot of experience with their Kraken series All-in-one liquid coolers and the latest series of X41 and X61 coolers have blown most competitors out of the way and they’ve grabbed a lot of rewards from reviewers as well. One of the things that make these coolers so good is the attached fan, the NZXT FX140V2 and just that type of fan can now be yours for any setup you want as they’re being released on their own.
The FX V2 series is a complete redesign of the previous generation pressure fan series and it creates effective and high airflow under the most restrictive environments. The fan is controlled by a pulse width modulation (PWM) that can be controlled by either your motherboard, fan controller, or NZXT CAM software. The FX140V2 has a max rotation speed of 2000RPM and allows for a much more gradual increase of speed over traditional voltage control.
High speed and lot of noise isn’t always what you’re looking for and the NZXT FX140V2 has you covered here too, still performing great at 800RPM and limiting the sound level to 20dB.
The NZXT FX V2 140mm fan will be available for purchase at retailers and e-tailers for £17.99 / €19.99 in June.
Cooling expert Scythe announces the official successor of Ninja 3 Rev. B CPU Cooler; the Ninja 4. It comes with some major technical innovations, mainly the increased cooling performance while incredibly shaving 180grams off the product weight.
“Ninja 4 stays true to the core concept of the Ninja series, by keeping focus on passive and semi-passive cooling capabilities of the tower-cooler. To further underline this core concept, a new fan with additional features has been introduced. The GlideStream 120 PWM fan has been equipped with a special fan controller, allowing users to switch between three different fan speed ranges. Low mode has been tuned for extremely silent operation, where PWM control range varies from 300 to 800 RPM at virtually inaudible noise levels from 4,0 to 12,5 dBA. Medium mode suits most user purposes, as it covers a wider range from 300 to 1,150 RPM and offers the best performance to silence ratio. The last mode has been implemented for users seeking more performance, since it offers the maximum fan speed range starting at 300 and ending at 1,500 RPM. Supplied GlideStream 120 PWM fan has great influence on the Ninja 4 design in addition, thanks to its grey fan blades and black fan-frame.
Scythe has made modifications to the structural design of the Ninja 4, where total of six 6-mm copper heatpipes are aligned in one layer inside the copper base-plate. Both the base-plate and heatpipes have been nickel-plated in addition. Thanks to this setup and further adjustments, total weight has successfully been reduced by 175 grams to 905 grams, while increasing the overall performance at the same time. Users seeking further improvement of performance or silence are able to mount another 120 mm case fan thanks to the second supplied set of fan clips.
Ninja 4 utilizes the back-plate based Hyper Precision Mounting System (H.P.M.S) for firm mounting and easy installation procedure. The socket compatibility list features AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, FM1, FM2 and FM2+ from AMD as well as sockets LGA775, LGA1150, LGA1155, LGA1156, LGA1366, LGA2011 and 2011-v3 from Intel. All mounting clips, one screwdriver, two sets of fan clips as well as thermal grease and a manual are supplied with the Ninja 4 CPU Cooler.”
The Scythe Ninja 4 is available as of today with a MSRP of 37.50€ ex. TAX.
CRYORIG is a relatively new name in regards to cooling products and most of you won’t have seen the R1 Ultimate that was released last year. It was quite an impressive product especially as it was their first, however, it wasn’t very common in the UK. Most of the people from CRYORIG have previously worked for other large companies such as Phanteks and Thermalright so they do have a lot of experience even though they only officially founded in 2013. We hope that this experience isn’t wasted and that they bring us some more products that can bring even more competition to the cooling market.
CRYORIG have released two new coolers, the H5 and the H7. We have them both ready for our test bench and the first one we are going to look at is the CRYORIG H5 Universal.
The Box for the CRYORIG H5 is quite simple yet effective, it is a large picture of the cooler against a white background. It is clean, simplistic and a really nice design, it has product information on the sides of the boxes as well as links to their website which is actually very good. It has video tutorials on how to install the cooler as well as everything else you would expect to find.
Inside the outer box, we get this second box that protects the cooler and fan entirely. This is some excellent packaging from CRYORIG and shows how much they want to make sure the customer gets their product in good condition. It’s always nice to see products that are well packaged as if they care enough to pay for the extra, generally they will have the same mentality elsewhere.
Other information that can be found on the box includes the specification. What isn’t shown on our spec below is the socket compatibility. This cooler supports the following sockets – 2011, 1366, 1150, 1155, 1156, 775, FM1/2, AM2+ and AM3+. This means it fits all of the popular sockets that we will see on the current market.
Inside the box we get a nice bunch of fittings to allow us to mount the CPU cooler, the fittings are for both AMD and Intel. What is really useful is the really long screwdriver that is at the top of the following picture. This allows you to install the cooler without any problems as you do need to put the cooler through the central holes. This is an excellent idea and it shows that CRYORIG have certainly thought about the end-user.
With the H5 we get a XT140 fan, this is an all-black fan with the CRYORIG logo in the center. It is interesting to see that this fan is 140mm x 140mm x 13mm. Yup, that’s right, its 13mm thick, this means that the overall width of the cooler is kept to less than 100mm meaning it shouldn’t cover any ram slots.
The actual cooler is beautiful, the CRYORIG design department deserve a pat on their backs, it’s gorgeous. It has a range of design features that we will look at in a moment, but as a whole package it just looks amazing. Sleek, clean, simplistic, beautiful; I think you get the picture!
The top of the cooler has a white plastic cover to hide any unsightly heat pipes. This is a nice change from most coolers and actually suits the cooler perfectly, the bottom of the cooler has matching covers to ensure that it looks universal.
Something else worth mentioning is CRYORIGs “Hive Fin” technology, again this looks great, but it is there to increase performance. CRYORIG claim that these fins compress the air making it move through the fins faster and increasing the rate that the heat moves away from the CPU. This is the first time I have seen this kind of technology so it will be interesting to see if it works as they say.
The contact plate for this cooler is nickel-plated copper and this along with the 4 heat pipes will help to ensure the heat is taken from the CPU and moved into the fins and then removed by the fan.
The installation method for this cooler is excellent. It is probably one of the easiest towers I have ever fitted. They use a patent pending “MultiSeg” quick mount system. This consists of a back plate that you add to the motherboard, you then just add 2 mounting bars and screw the 2 mounting screws that are already connected to the cooler into these bars. Below is a picture of the screws connected to the cooler which ensures you won’t lose them and as CRYORIG have included a 15cm screwdriver they are easily accessible; you should have this cooler fitted in minutes.
One of the big issues that people have with large coolers is that they usually overhang RAM slots meaning that you generally have to use low profile RAM. Due to the 13mm fan on this cooler though, there is no such worry, you have plenty of room to use large RAM such as Corsair Dominator Platinum.
So, we have seen how this product looks, let’s see how it performs!
343 Industries is said to have been teasing something which relates to Halo 5: Guardians in a trailer which told fans to “HUNTtheTRUTH”. It seems that the trailer was pointing to a fan page which recently went online.
The website (found here) looks like a big teaser campaign for fans to tune in to its weekly episodic audio clips by Benjamin Giraud, a journalist at New Mombasa who covered Master Chief’s arrival when the Covenant attacked.
It is said that a new episode will be released on the above mentioned website each week, having Giraud talking about different aspects of the Chief’s personality. What is currently know is that Agent Locke will be a playable character and that Cortana will have a comeback in the upcoming title. More information is bound to be released in the following weeks.
Thank you Gamingbolt for providing us with this information
Antec announced the VSP-5000, an entry-level case for gamers, which offers a silent solution at the best price-performance ratio. It is said that the VSP-5000 comes with exceptional sound-dampening properties and top-notch performance, having both panels crafted from sound deadening high-density Polycarbonate, while a fan cover sealing the top panel reduces any chance of system sound leakage.
In order to provide an efficient ventilation for components inside, three 120mm fans are provided, two of which are at the top and one at the rear. If that is not enough, two additional fans can be mounted at the front of the case. All fans are controlled via three fan controls, offering two speed settings each in order to achieve the best balance between high performance and quiet environment.
The VSP-5000 in also equipped with seven expansion slots and two bays for optical drives. It consists of a 3.5″ bay, four HDD rail mounds and a dedicated SSD bay. In terms of motherboard compatibility, the VSP-5000 can accommodate Standard ATX, Micro ATX and Mini ITX boards. The case also offers a lot of space for graphic card solutions, users being able to fit almost any graphics card with a length of up to 380mm.
There is also ample space for big high-performance CPU coolers as well, giving the user a 158mm space to fit any CPU cooling solution, while also providing additional space for the cooler to operate at optimum performance. In addition to the latter, the VSP-5000’s top-mounted high-end I/O panel ensures maximum comfort and adds two extra easily accessible USB 3.0 solutions aside from the fan control unit.
The VSP-5000 is currently available at select retailers for a recommended price of £44.99 including VAT.
Thank you TechPowerUp for providing us with this information
SilverStone has released their newest slim fan, the 180mm sized FM182. The FM182 is a superb 180mm fan package with manual adjustable fan controller and a slim profile of 18mm thickness and has fan blades designed to provide excellent balance of airflow and air pressure for their size.
Finding a perfect speed for this fan in any given application is simple with the included fan controller. It is constructed out of high strength white colored plastic and comes packed with anti-vibration mounts as well as the fan controller and screws.
With a thickness of just 18mm, this new fan is close to half the size of an ordinary 180mm fan, something that might give you that bit of extra space that you’ll need.
Special Features:
Includes expansion slot cover with fan controller
180mm fan with super slim 18mm thickness
500rpm ~ 1200rpm speed range
Optimum airflow, pressure and extremely silent performance
The FM182 is available now for a recommended End User price of $14.9 (excl. VAT)
Thanks to SilverStone for providing us with this information
SilverStone has just released their newest fans for use where limited space is an issue. The FW141 and FW181 are the newest fans in the FW series that offers high-quality fans designed for optimal acoustic performance at an affordable price. The fans use a 4-pin PWM connector to allow supporting motherboards and fan controllers to adjust the speed and only have the fans running at a speed that’s necessary and the slim design prevents many conflicts as well as just create more free space inside your chassis. The two new FW models are equipped with P.C.F bearing (Powder Copper Fluid bearing) and come bundled with a speed reduction cable.
The FW141 is a 140mm fan with a slim profile of 13mm thickness designed for use on 120mm based cooler or radiator that have limited space. It has a speed between 800 and 1300rpm, an airflow from 32.5 to 74.6CFM, and a noise level of 19.1 to 34.2dBA.
The FW181 is an 180mm fan with a slim profile of 18mm thickness designed for use in limited space. It has a speed between 500 and 1200rpm, an airflow between 40.38 and 171.1CFM, and a noise level from 16.1 to 39.5 dBA.
Thanks to SilverStone for providing us with this information
