Quiet and Beautiful

AVADirect wasn’t really a systems builder on our radar until late last year when we reviewed their Avant Mini Cube Gaming PC. After extensive testing, we found that the system was well configured, well built, and well priced, quickly propelling AVADirect to the top as one of our favorite custom PC builders.

Recently, AVADirect sent us another one of the systems in their lineup, the AVADirect X370 Quiet Gaming PC, which as its name implies is AVADirect’s quiet gaming PC offering based on AMD’s X370 Ryzen platform.

AVADirect Quiet Gaming PC Specs Desktop AVADirect X370 Quiet Gaming PC Case Phanteks Eclipse [...]

Rumors are abound that Nvidia may be gearing up to release a variant of the GeForce GTX 1060 with 5GB GDDR5 of memory. This new card will be strictly targeted towards the Chinese PC cafe market.

The new variant is rumored to feature a new GP106-350 GPU core. It features the same 1,280 CUDA cores as the GP106-400 in the GTX 1060 6GB, but will feature a narrower 160 bit memory bus which will help reduce cost.

In addition to shaving off 1GB of memory, the card is also rumored to use less robust packaging to save cost. This won’t matter though, since this card is targeted towards internet cafes rather than off the shelf retail. No word on pricing or [...]

Zotac just launched the the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Arctic Storm Mini, the world’s smallest GTX 1080 Ti.

The card which measures just 6.46″ wide by 8.35″ long features Zotac’s ArticStorm open loop waterblock to minimize footprint and maximize cooling potential. The waterblock utilizes a nickle plated direct copper contact capped with a transparent, tinted acrylic top. It’s a full coverage waterblock, so it not only covers the GPU, but also the VRMs as well. To give it some extra shine, it also comes with white LEDs installed around the edge.

The robust cooling means higher overclocking potential. [...]

Videocardz has recently discovered a few benchmarks of the hotly rumored upcoming Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Ti.

The benches are from 3DMark 11, Fire Strike, and Time Spy. When compared against Videocardz own database, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Ti was shown to be faster than AMD’s Radeon RX Vega 56 in Time Spy, but was about even in Firestrike.

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Ti is expected to use the same GP104 GPU as the GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 but with just one SM disabled. This gives it a grand total of 2,432 CUDA cores. The GPU will also be paired with standard GDDR5 and not the faster GDDR5X.  It’s also [...]

MSI recently announced the Vortex G25, a small yet powerful gaming PC.

The MSI Vortex G25 is absolutely tiny. It’s slim build is almost reminiscent of a blade server. When stood up vertically, it takes up less space than a gaming console. It’s so compact, in fact, that it can be mounted on a VESA monitor mount. At just 5.51lbs, it won’t rip your monitor apart, either.

The Vortex G25 is outfitted with Intel’s 10th generation “Coffee Lake” CPUs. Users can choose from the Core i7-8700 or the Core i5-8400. Graphics options include either an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 or a GeForce GTX 1060. All [...]

Information about Nvidia’s upcoming GeForce GTX 1070 Ti has been rumored extensively over the past month, but nothing has been confirmed until now. Some keen observers recently spotted a line in the patch notes for the latest beta of MSI’s Afterburner software which reveals that the GTX 1070 Ti does exist and is likely coming sooner rather than later.

According to the patch notes for MSI Afterburner Beta Version 4.4.0:

“Added core voltage control for reference design NVIDIA GeForce GT 1070 Ti series graphics cards”

*Note there does appear to be a typo in the changelog as it shows GT 1070 Ti rather than GTX 1070 Ti.

The [...]

For those waiting patiently for the latest installment in the highly popular Assassin’s Creed franchise, Assassin’s Creed Origins, Ubisoft recently released system requirements for the PC version of the game so you can make preparations to play when it launches on October 27.

Assassin’s Creed Origins which will be set in ancient Egypt is expected to feature the largest worlds in the Assassin’s Creed franchise.

MINIMUM CONFIGURATION OS: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64-bit versions only) PROCESSOR: Intel Core i5-2400s @ 2.5 GHz or AMD FX-6350 @ 3.9 GHz or equivalent VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX660 or AMD R9 270 (2048 MB [...]

DRAM and NAND prices have soared over the past year due to shortages and it looks like VRAM prices are following a similar trajectory as well. According to a recent article by Digitimes, VRAM price quotes have soared by 30.8% in August, leaping from $6.50 per package in July to $8.50 per package.

The price increase is due to RAM leading RAM manufacturers shifting production focus to memory for servers and smartphones. Samsung, which accounts for 55% of the worldwide VRAM supply, has more than doubled its server DRAM production from 12% to 27%. SK Hynix and Micron which account for the rest of the world’s VRAM production has significantly increased [...]

After about a year since we first heard about AMD Vega, AMD has finally announced the new graphics card, marking AMD’s return to the enthusiast graphics market after years of sitting on the sidelines.

AMD’s RX Vega lineup will consist of two new graphics cards, the RX Vega 64 and the RX Vega 56.

 

AMD Radeon RX Vega 64

The Radeon RX Vega 64 is AMD’s flagship RX Vega graphics card. The 64 in its name signifies the number of next generation compute units in the GPU, which in this case is 64. Multiply this number by 64 Stream Processors per compute unit and you get a total of 4096 Stream Processors.

The [...]

At SIGGRAPH 2017, Nvidia announced that it will be bringing its powerful Titan Xp and Quadro graphics cards into an eGPU solution for gamers, creative professionals and AI researchers.

External graphics docks are becoming increasingly popular due to their convenience and massive graphics performance they bring to laptops and other mobile devices that otherwise would not have the capability.

With the new announcement, those who want Nvidia’s latest and greatest will be able to put one in an external GPU solution such as the BizonBox, which now already has the Titan Xp listed as a compatible graphics card.

Nvidia’s [...]