Computer Power User 2013-03

7/30/2019 Computer Power User 2013-03

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44Mad Reader Mod

Steampunkd TJ11

38Intel LANFest 2013

LANFest Atlanta & LANFest MLP

MARCH 2013 | VOL 13 ISSUE 03

FRONTSIDE P. 4

News, product release information,

and stats from the tech industry.

HEAVY GEAR P. 14

The latest PC hardware is here:

reviews, product profiles, and category

roundups.

HARD HAT AREA P. 38

CPUs Mad Reader Mod winner, LAN

party coverage, your questions, and in-

depth looks at the latest and greatest

hardware and technology.

LOADING ZONE P. 76

Software reviews, betas, updates, and

how-tos.

DIGITAL LIVING P. 84

Game reviews, news from around the

web, and tech company interviews.

BACK DOOR P. 95

Monthly last-page interview with

people who help to shape the PC

industry.

DID YOU FIND THE HIDDENCPULOGO ON OUR COVER?

Gotcha. Here it is.

Copyright 2013 by Sandhills Publishing Company. Computer Power User is a registered trademark of Sandhills Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction of material appearing in

Computer Power Useris strictly prohibited without written permission. Printed in the U.S.A. GST # 123482788RT0001 Computer Power UserUSPS 005-665 (ISSN 1093-4170) is published monthly

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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Smart Computing, P.O. Box 82545, Lincoln, NE 68501.

Contact Us

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email: [email protected]


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http://www.1and1.com/linux-web-hosting?ac=OM.US.USf27K188763T7073a


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W A T C H I N G T H E C H I P S F A L L

Here is the pricing

inormation or

various AMD and

Intel CPUs.

* As o January 2012

** Manuacturers

estimated price

per 1,000

Thermaltake Shrinks Full-TowerPower Into Midtower SizeWith the new Chaser A31 (pricing and release details still tocome), hermaltake aims to put in the hands o gamers andenthusiasts the cooling, perormance, and expandability o aull-tower chassis in a midtower case size. Te cooling comes inthe orm o two preinstalled 120mm ans (ront intake and blueLED-lit rear exhaust) and the option to add another 120mmblower at ront, two 120mm or 140mm ans at top, and a 120mman at bottom. Flashing a look patterned ater Termaltakes teSPORS lineup, the A31 also has a perorated ront bezel thatgoes nicely with the cases windowed side panel. In addition toaccepting both AX and micro-AX boards, the A31 oferssix tool-less internal bays or 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch drives, twoUSB 3.0 ports up ront, and a convenient recessed storage trayset into the top panel or a smartphone, USB ash drives, or other

devices. More importantly, Termaltake says the case supports240mm radiators and extra-long graphics cards.

GIGABYTE DebutsHot-Swapping Aivia KryptonGIGABYE had you in mind when it designed its AiviaKrypton Dual-Chassis Gaming Mouse ($69.99). No,really: Te company says it designed the worlds rst all-aspect customizable gaming mouse by taking the habitso diferent gamer types into consideration. In addition toa Ghost Macro Engine (70 macros in onboard storage), an8200dpi laser sensor, and onboard support or up to vegame proles, the mouse eatures hot-swappable Speed andControl bottom plates that aim to provide unparalleledreedom by changing undamental mouse movement anddynamics to best t the application at hand. Te Speedchassis uses an abrasion-ree ceramic base to allow orquick movements, immediate reaction, and extraordinaryspeed, while the Control chassis uses a eon oundationto ocus more on precision and control. Also noteworthyis the Kryptons weight-adjustment system, which enablesdistributing the mouses weight to avor your right- and let-

handed and palm- or claw-grip tendencies.

CPU Released Original Price Last Months Price Online Retail Price*

AMD FX-8150 Black Edition Eight-Core 10/12/2011 $245** $189.99 $179.99

AMD FX-8120 Black Edition Eight-Core 10/12/2011 $205** $159.99 $159.99

AMD A10-5800K Quad-Core 10/12/2012 $122 N/A $129.99

AMD FX-6100 Black Edition Six-Core 10/12/2011 $165** $104.99 $119.99

AMD FX-4100 Quad-core 10/12/2011 $115** $109.99 $104.99

AMD A8-3870K Black Edition Quad-Core 12/20/2011 $135** $94.99 $89.99

AMD A6-3650 Quad-Core 7/3/2011 $115** $79.99 $89.99

AMD A8-3850 Quad-Core 7/3/2011 $135** $99.99 $84.99Intel Core i7-3970X Extreme Edition 11/12/2012 $999** $1,079.99 $1,079.99

Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition 11/14/2011 $990** $1,029.99 $1,069.99

Intel Core i7-3930K 11/14/2011 $555** $569.99 $569.99

Intel Core i7-3770K 4/23/2011 $332** $319.99 $329.99

Intel Core i7-2600K 1/9/2011 $317** $319.99 $319.99

Intel Core i7-2700K 10/24/2011 $332** $329.99 $309.99

Intel Core i7-3820 2/12/2012 $305** $299.99 $299.99

Intel Core i7-3770 4/23/2011 $294** $299.99 $299.99

Intel Core i5-3570K 4/23/2011 $225** $214.99 $229.99

Intel Core i5-3550 4/23/2011 $205** $209.99 $179.99

Intel Core i3-2130 9/4/2011 $138** $129.99 $129.99

Intel Core i3-2120 2/20/2011 $138** $124.99 $124.99

4 March 2013 / www.computerpoweruser.com


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Sony Gets Thin & Wet

With Xperia Tablet ZMaking a splash in the tablet market these daysis no easy task due to the dominance a selectew companies enjoy. Whether Sony can upsetthe tablet pecking order with its new 10.1-inchXperia ablet Z (pricing to come) remains to beseen, but the company certainly appears to begiving it its best efort. Beyond being just 6.9mmthick, the tablet is waterproo and dustproo,oers 4G LE and NFC connectivity, comeswith 32GB storage and a microSD slot, sports an

8.1MP camera that auto-adjusts in dark settings,and packs a Qualcomm quad-core 1.5GHz chip.Te screen, meanwhile, benets rom what Sonydubs a Reality Display, which aims to producebetter HD images, and Sonys Mobile BRAVIAEngine, which is designed to boost color vibrancyand sharpness. he Xperia ablet Z will see a

spring release in Japan initially.

Corsair GivesVengeance A New LookCorsairs rst generation o keyboards and mice were designed to translatethoughts into action with ruthless eiciency, says Corsairs RubenMookerjee. Te recently released Vengeance K95 keyboard ($149.99;spring release) and M95 ($79.99) and M65 ($69.99) mice, he says, adda new level o precision to that competitive advantage. Te K95, orexample, eatures Cherry MX Red mechanical keyswitches addressablekey-by-key backlighting with our levels o illumination. Eighteen

dedicated programmable macro keys and onboard ash memory tostore proiles are also present. he mice, meanwhile, pack a new

8200dpi LaserStream gaming sensor that boosts tracking resolutionsby 30%. Te M95 is optimized especially or MMO gamers (15programmable buttons), while the M65 is aimed at FPS players (a

Sniper button ofers more accurate aiming). Also announced is a reedriver update coming in February or the Vengeance 2000 wireless headsetthat will add Dolby Headphone 2.0 support.

Zalman Shuns The Fan With CNPS FX100-CubeFor some enthusiasts, noise is a deal breaker. o that end, Zalman is looking to take the

noise (and vibration) completely out o the cooling equation with its CNPS FX100-Cube, a passive-operating cooler with no ans or moving parts. Unveiled at CES in earlyJanuary, the FX100-Cube is reportedly broad in the shoulders yet weighs less than 500grams and can t in standard AX midtower cases. Te cooler is expected in Q2 2013or about $60 and will include an option to bolster perormance by adding a 92mm anto the mix. Zalman says the cooler uses the companys Multiple Heatpipe Pressing Jointstechnology and cross-shaped, black-pearl nickel-plated ns.

CPU / March 2013 5


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ASUS Shrinks Wireless RouterDown To USB SizeSometimes, good things do come in small packages.Proo positive is ASUS new WL-330NUL PocketRouter, which is billed as the worlds smallest

ully eatured wireless router. Pretty much thesize o a USB ash drive (65 x 20 x 15mm) andweighing in at just 25 grams, the pint-sized routerintegrates one Ethernet port to connect to a wirednetwork and beams an 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi signal.ASUS says that in addition to establishing its ownsecure wireless hotspot, the router has the abilityto unction as a USB Ethernet adapter (USB 2.0and 3.0 supported) or laptops that dont have anEthernet port. Te router is set or a Feb. 14 releasewith pricing details still to come.

USB 3.0 Perormance Doubles UpSuperSpeed USB, otherwise known as USB 3.0, is getting an enhancement that promisesto add much higher data throughputtwice as high, in act, bumping up rom 5Gbpsto 10Gbps. Te enhancement is scheduled to undergo industry review during Q1 2013with the hope completion will be ready by mid-year. Te speed boost will come in theorm o enhanced, USB connectors and cables backward-compatible with USB 3.0 andUSB 2.0 devices. In related news, the USB Implementers Forum announced in earlyJanuary that the number o certied USB 3.0 products doubled in 2012 to total nowmore than 720 certied products on the market.

Hardware Mole

Listia.com Welcomes Best BuyTo Get-Rid-O-Old-Stu PartyGet rid o old stuf. Get new stuf or ree. Tats the businessmodel enlisted by Listia, a startup that Marc AndreessensAndreessen Horowitz venture capital rm has backed and that Listiaclaims customers have used to trade 7 million-plus items, including

hardware and electronics. In short, Listia users earn credits byputting stuf they no longer want up or auction, then using thosecredits to bid on stuf others are auctioning. Now, users can redeemcredits to buy new items rom Best Buy at xed prices as sold inListias Reward Store. CEO and Listia ounder Gee-Hwan Chuangsays his company has assisted 2 million users in ooading old goodsor new ones. By working with Best Buy, Chuang says, Listia cannow ofer hundreds o thousands o premium Best Buy items.



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HugePic.io Zooms In On Huge PhotosWhen should you use the web app HugePic? When you want to upload HUGEpictures that you can zoom in on like a map, o course. Better, a recently addedability enables users to embed a HugePic.io image browser on their own sites. AsWebMonkey.com aptly states about HugePic.io, the app enables adding very largeimages to your pages without orcing your users to download enormous les. TinkGoogle Maps or images, with only the data necessary or the current zoom levelbeing loaded. HugePic.io is actually an experiment rom Peter Bengtsson thatsbased on open-source code. Uploading a photo to HugePic.io doesnt require adriver, which makes HugePic.io great or mobile devices (even the le uploadingpart). In addition to uploading via a direct URL, users can also upload at Filepicker.io, and can share permalinks with support to share exactly what you see.

Survey Says: Pirates Make Best

Music CustomersWhat exactly is an appropriate penalty or downloadingan unauthorized song or movie? According to a randomphone survey o 2,303 adults that Te American Assemblyat Columbia University conducted in August 2011, its notdisconnection rom the Internet or jail time. Specically,72% o those surveyed dont support such options. Aspublished in a Copy Culture In Te U.S. & Germanypaper, only 37% o those younger than 30 support anytype o penalties. Elsewhere, 76% o those under 30indicate its reasonable to share music les with riends

vs. 48% o those ages 50 to 64. Perhaps most interestingrom survey is the inding that more than hal o themusic those under 30 have acquired was done legallyand the biggest pirates (P2P le sharers) are also the bestcustomersby around 30% or music le purchases.

Sotware Shorts

Dev Bootcamp Can MakeA Developer Out O YouNine weeks. Tats how long it will take to learn Ruby on Rails,HML5 and CSS, JavaScript undamentals, and much more atDev Bootcamp. Mind you, were talking nine intense 40-hourweeks o training in either San Francisco or Chicago. Teres also thesmall matter o the $12,200 tuition ee. Tat said, Dev Bootcampsays it has established connections with companies in Silicon Valleyand other U.S. cities that are interested in hiring grads, and thosethat land a job with those companies receive a partial tuition reundupon completing their 100th day on the job. Last year, more than90% o Dev Bootcamp grads seeking jobs got one, with the average

starting salary being $80,000. Although prociency with computersand roughly 50 hours o prerequisite learning are required, DevBootcamp states, a computer science background and advancedmath and calculus skill arent. Ater all, programming isnt a darkmagic; its a language and a way o thinking about the world.

CPU / March 2013 7


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HackDesign.org GoodIn the estimation o HackDesign.org, hackers are the modern-dayRenaissance men and women who love to learn, explore, build, andtake things apart. In other words, a hacker can make sotware doanything. Applying design, however, can be hackers downall. Aterall, as HackDesign.org states, design can seem nuanced, subjective,and inaccessible sometimes. o that end, the site aims to help hackerslearn design at their own pace by sending them one design lesson everyweek via email as created by a design proessional. Further, the sitehas amassed an impressive collection o designers to curate a catalogo blogs, books, games, videos, and tutorials that assisted them inlearning various design elements. On tap or week one is watchingthe documentary Objectied, hailed by HackDesign.org ounderWells Riley as the most powerul design resource he is aware o andabsolutely crucial to setting the groundwork or taking the course.

The Gigabit City Challenge Is OnA ast gigabit Internet community in every U.S. state by

2015. Tats the goal FCC Chairman Julius Genachowskihas set or the Gigabit City Challenge he recently un-veiled at the U.S. Conerence o Mayors Winter Meeting.Genachowski states that American economic historyteaches a clear lesson about inrastructure. I we buildit, innovation will come. Genachowski reasons that orinnovators to develop next-gen applications and servicesto drive economic growth and global competitiveness,America requires a critical mass o gigabit communitiesnationwide. Only about 40 cities in 14 states are currentlytapping into ultra-high-speed ber Internet access, the FCCreports. o meet the challenge, Genachowski unveiled plansor collecting and disseminating data aimed at creating

gigabit cities and lowering the cost and increasing the speedo broadband deployments in general.

Site Seeing

Public Libraries, Not Just A PlaceFor Borrowing BooksA survey the Pew Research Centers Internet & American LieProject recently conducted with roughly 2,250 U.S. residents16 and older ound that 80% consider borrowing books a veryimportant library service. Te same percentage view reerencelibrarians in the same light. No surprises there. What is somewhatsurprising is that nearly as many people (77%) view ree access tocomputers and the Internet as a very important service. Usage-wise, 54% reported using library computers or email, 47% toacquire health inormation, 41% to visit government sites orretrieve data rom government services, 36% to hunt or and

apply or jobs, 35% to hit up social networking sites, and 26% todownload or watch video.



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http://www.corsair.com/


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I Have JustOne WordFor You, Benjamin: Apps.

According to a survey commissioned by the Application Developers

Alliance, ull-time application developers are doing just fne fnancially,

thank you. The survey ound that the average ull-time app developer

earned $75,000 annually, which is considerably higher than the $45,250

earned by the average U.S. worker. That pay is likely to increase, as the

Alliance estimates the market or applications has already surpassed $5

billion and will grow nearly tenold in the next fve years.

Well, DUH. Its The InternetPew Research surveyed more than 1,200 arts organizations that have received unds rom theNational Endowment For The Arts to learn how inormation technology such as the Internet and social

media were aecting their organizations. Numerous benefts rom technology were cited, including:

t *ODSFBTFEBUUFOEBODF

at art events

t .PSFUJDLFUTBMFT

t *ODSFBTFEBXBSFOFTT

o the organization

t &OIBODFETVQQPSUGPS

undraising eorts

On the other hand, the most

common negative associated

with technology was how it

allowed or unfltered public

criticism o the organization.

(Disney.com)

+VTU-FU.F6TF.Z1IPOF

.BOZDBSPXOFSTOEJUDPOGVTJOHUPVTFUIF(14TZTUFNT

that come built into their automobiles, according to research by J.D.

Power and Associates. The frms 14th annual navigation study ound

that satisaction with built-in systems decreased in every category

they measured, including ease o use, routing, system speed, and voice

BDUJWBUJPO5IFTBUJTGBDUJPOXJUITNBSUQIPOF(14TZTUFNTPOUIFPUIFS

hand, appears to be increasing, and 46% o car owners in the survey

TBJEUIFZQSPCBCMZXPVMEOPUCVZBQSFJOTUBMMFE(14JGUIFZDPVME

display their phones navigation system on the screens in their cars.

+PC0G5IF.POUIWant a job working or the house o the mouse? Disney has an

opening or a Senior Sotware Engineer in the digital media area

o its Parks & Resorts segment. I you have more than fve years oexperience in sotware design and implementation, are disciplined and

able to create technical solutions or a variety o customer needs, and have

great communications skills, you may qualiy. Youll need to have patience and a capacity

to work well with others, as they want someone who can work on project teams and also mentor

junior team members. One last note: Were guessing you might get a nice discount at any o Disneys

various theme parks and resorts, but you may have to use some vacation days to get there, as this

job opening is or Seattle, Washington.

BILLI

ON

BILLION

$79,312.FBODPNQFOTBUJPOGPSBMMQSPGFTTJPOBMTJOUIF

IT industry as o January, 2013(Janco Associates)

1Number o cameras shipped to market in 2012as a part o other devices such as tablets andsmartphones(ABI Research)

13,202Number o black-and-white televisions still in

use in the United Kingdom(TV Licensing)

38.7Number o online videos viewed by U.S. Internet

users during the month o December, 2012(ComScore.com)



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http://intelgamingpromo.com/


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http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/


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GIGABYE has built the GA-Z77N-

WiFi with longevity in mind, as it eaturesUltra Durable 4 technology to provideprotection against humidity, electrostaticdischarge, power ailure, and hightemperatures. GIGABYE also includesits EZ Setup utility that works with IntelSmart Response, Intel Rapid Start, andIntel Smart Connect. ErP Lot 6 supportlets the motherboard work with ErP Lot6 power supplies or extremely low energyusage in standby.

We installed the GA-Z77N-WiFi into

a case that could handle a GeForce GX580, so we could test the motherboardwith a high-end GPU. he GA-Z77N-WiFi produced results nearly identical tothe other Z77 motherboards weve tested,and combining it with the GeForceGX 580 delivered 28.8ps in Aliensvs. Predator and 23ps in Metro 2033.Te overall 3DMark11 score o X2244 isimpressive or such as small board.

I youre looking or a powerulMini-IX motherboard, you cant do muchbetter than the GA-Z77N-WiFi, thanksto its support or the Z77 chipset, 16GBo memory, and a PCI-E 3.0 graphicscard. he built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetoothconnectivity also means that you wontneed to invest in USB or add-on cards toconnect wireless devices.

BYNATHAN LAKE

T

his is a Mini-IX motherboard that

comes with an Intel Centrino WirelessN 2230 module or built-in 802.11b/g/nWi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and Intel WirelessDisplay connectivity. Itll also provide youwith support or Intel Sandy Bridge and IvyBridge processors with Intel HD Graphics,so it makes a great platorm or an ultra-portable computer.

For video output, the GA-Z77N-WiFiprovides one DVI-I port and two HDMIports; both the DVI and HDMI ports arecapable o a 1,920 x 1,200 maxiumum

resolution. heres also a PCI-E 3.0 x16slot that runs at ull x16 speed, should youwant to build a portable gaming system.Surround sound audio (up to 7.1-channel)can be delivered through the HDMI ports,the optical S/PDIF output, or the analogaudio jacks. Dual Gigabit Ethernet portsare provided or those with a desire toutilize teaming on their network.

Te GA-Z77N-WiFis two DDR3 slotscan handle up to 16GB o DDR3-2800memory. GIGABYE lists support orDDR3-800/1066/1333/1600 modules tocover a wide range o RAM speeds. Naturally,Intel XMP is supported, too. With theGA-Z77N-WiFi, GIGABYE oers two6Gbps and two 3Gbps SAA ports. RAID0/1/5/10 congurations are supported. Forexternal storage, there are our USB 3.0 ports(two rear panel, two internal) and six USB2.0 ports (our rear panel, two internal).

GIGABYTE GA-Z77N-WiFi GIGABYTEBenchmark Results GA-Z77N-WiFi

3DMark11 Extreme

Overall X2244

Graphics Score 2009

Physics Score 9663

Combined Score 2704

Graphics Test 1 10.17




Physics Test 30.68

Combined Test 12.58

PCMark 7

Overall 5721

Productivity 5374

Creativity 5844

Entertainment 5474

Computation 5572

System Storage 5963

SiSoftware Sandra 2013 SP1 Lite

Processor Arithmetic

Dhrystone SSE4.2 (GIPS) 134.49

Whetstone iSSE3 (GFLOPS) 98.9

Processor Multi-Media

x16 Multi-Media Integer iAVX

(Mpixels per second) 230.2

x16 Multi-Media Float iAVX

(Mpixels per second) 325.54x8 Multi-Media Double iAVX


Memory Bandwidth

Integer Memory Bandwidth

B/F AVX/128 (GBps) 18.2

Floating Memory Bandwidth

B/F AVX/128 (GBps) 18.2

Cinebench 11.5

CPU* 7.88

POV-Ray 3.7 Beta** 1391.32

Games

Metro 2033 (4XAA, 16XAF) 28.8

Aliens vs. Predator (4XAA, 16XAF) 23

* points | ** pixels per second

Games tested at 2,560 x 1,600.

Specs:Form factor: Mini-ITX; Socket compatibility:

Intel LGA1155; Max memory: 16GB (DDR3-1600;

DDR3-2800 max OC); Slots: 1 PCI-E 3.0 x16;

Storage; 2 6Gbps SATA, 2 3Gbps SATA; Rear I/O: 1

DVI-I, 2 HDMI, 2 USB 3.0, 4 USB 2.0, 2 Ethernet, 1

S/PDIF out, audio I/O

Test system specs: Processor: Intel Core i7-3770K;

GPU: ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580; RAM: 4GB Crucial

Ballistix DDR3-1333; Storage: 128GB Crucial

RealSSD C300; OS: Windows 7 Enterprise (64-bit)

GA-Z77N-WiFi

$129.99 | GIGABYTE

www.gigabyte.us



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You get a gigantic state-o-the-art SSDor less than a buck a gig. hat aintbad, especially considering the Vector

drives handle incompressible data (thebulk o your data these days) as well ascompressible data. Te rest o the perksthat weve come to expect are all here,too; you get a 3.5-inch bay adapter, plusAcronis rue Image HD sotware ormaking your system migration a breeze.

We think the time has come to putaside our notions o saving SSDs or onlyour most crucial data. Te 512GB Vectorwants your Windows installation. It wantsyour games, and it wants your appsallo em. With a drive this big, this ast, andthis aordable on a cost-per-GB basis,the conversation has shited rom Whatshould you put on your SSD? to Whatshouldnt you put on your SSD?.

BYVINCE COGLEY

Jumbo-capacity SSDs, at some level, havenever quite been able to shake the niche

label. When SSDs irst became a realisticoption or power users, the cost per gigabyteo even MLC NAND was still high enough

that drives over 200GB were a priceyproposition. As such, most pennywisepower users learned to buy just enoughsolid-state storage to do the most damageor their dollar. he early days o consumerSSDs conditioned us to buy drives or thereally important stuWindows and agame, maybe two games i you were lucky.he rest o our digital stu had to make dowith good old-ashioned magnetic storage.

It didnt help that some truly massiveSSDs actually perormed worse than their

smaller counterparts in certain operations.Having a single large SSD that lags be-hind its smaller siblings is not exactlywhat wed call a winning proposition.

But now OCZ is here to change yourmind with its biggest Vector. At 512GB,

this SSD is large and in charge. Te drivehas the same DNA as the 256GB Vectorthat we reviewed last month. For a quickreresher, OCZs Vector drives bring tothe table the Bareoot 3 controller, a

product o OCZs 2011 acquisition oIndilinx. Whats noteworthy about theBareoot 3 is that OCZ developed theentire controller under its own roo.(Contrast this with earlier OCZ-Indilinxsilicon, which still relied on third-party involvement here and there.) Putsuccinctly, the drives are worth the wait.

OCZ conidently rates the 512GBVectors perormance as equal to the 256GBdrive. o test this claim, we slipped the512GB Vector into one our test systems and

put it through its paces. rue enough, thebiggest Vector delivered as promised; theresno slowdown here as you step up to hal aterabyte o solid-state storage.

At its current price, the 512GB Vectoralso scores a nice psychological victory.

OCZ Vector 512GB

Vector 512GB

$499.99

OCZwww.ocztechnology.com

Specs: Maximum sequential read/write: 550MBps/530MBps; Maximum random 4K (QD32) read/

write: 100,000IOPS/95,000IOPS; Interace: 6Gbps SATA; Five-year warranty

Test System Specs: Processor: Intel Core i5-3570K; Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD4H;

RAM: 4GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3-133; Graphics: ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580 (2x, SLI); Storage: 128GB

Crucial RealSSD C300; Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit

OCZ Vector

Benchmark Results 512GB

CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 Default*

Sequential read 499.9

Sequential write 502.2

512KB random read 417.3

512KB random write 496.7

4KB random read QD1 30.11

4KB random write QD1 75.14


4KB random write QD32 375

CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 All 0x00 (0 Fill)*









AS-SSD*



4K read 26.31

4K write 59.92

4K-64Thrd read 376.03

4K-64Thrd write 312.91

*Results in MBps

CPU / March 2013 15


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providing extra cooling or your VGAcards, regardless o their length or whichslots theyre in.

Zalmans MS800 is a tinkerers dream asthe sheer number o possible congurationso ans and video cards alone may keep youup at night. Add to that the customizationpotential you have with numerous drivebays and the option or a watercoolingsystem, and you should be able to make theMS800 t all o your gaming or multimedianeeds and then some.

BYJOSH COMPTON

The irst thing we noticed about theMS800 is how sturdy and well-built

it elt. It has a mostly steel exterior witha plastic panel on top that houses a ancontroller, two USB 3.0 ports, two USB2.0 ports, power and reset buttons, andyour standard audio ports. Zalman putremovable dust ilters on the ront andbottom or easier cleaning, and on thebottom and inside o the case, Zalmanadded anti-vibration and noise absorptionrubber pieces to protect your components

as well as your ears.he an controller, depending onyour coniguration, can simultaneouslycontrol the speeds o up to six ans. You getthree ans with the initial conguration,including a rear 120mm, a top panel120mm, and an additional 92mm anor internal cooling, and theres roomor additional 120mm ans on the topand bottom or a total o ive ans. hecase also has grommeted ill/drain portsbuilt into the back panel just in case you

want to install a watercooling system. Inaddition, the MS800 is well-ventilated,with perorated steel covering the rontdrive slots, so cooling shouldnt be an issue.

As or components, the MS800 hasroom or everything youll need to builda solid system. It sports six 5.25-inchexternal bays, three 3.5-inch internalbays, and a 3-in-1 adjustable bay or anadditional 5.25-, 3.5-, or 2.5-inch drive.he case has seven expansion slots andnearly 12 inches o ront-to-back space

or high-end graphics cards, and Zalmanincludes a multi-guide rail that you canplace in one o three vertical positionsalong the inside o the let panel. herail has mounting clips or the included92mm an that let you tilt the anwherever it will do the most good,

Zalman MS800

MS800

$89.99

Zalman

www.zalmanusa.com

Specs: Dimensions: 20.9 x 8.1 x 29.3 inches (HxWxD); Motherboard support: ATX, mATX; Bays: 6

5.25-inch external, 3 3.5-inch internal, 1 2.5/3.5/5.25-inch internal; Fans (included): 1 120mm top,

1 120mm rear, 1 92mm internal; Fans (optional): 1 120mm top, 1 92mm internal; Top panel: Fan

controller, 2 USB 3.0, 2 USB 2.0, audio I/O



17/96

test (run three times to produce amaximum temperature) produced amaximum temperature o 58C, whilePrime 95 (ran our instances using

the Small FF test or 10 minutes)delivered maximum temps o 60C. Weran the Intel Core i5-3570K, and as thebenchmarks push all the CPU cores to100% usage, you can see that theresdeinitely some headroom or urtheroverclocking with the H90.

I youre looking or a closed-loopcooler that provides excellent cooling andputs a premium on quiet operation, theHydro H90 has what you need.

BYNATHAN LAKE

The Hydro H90 adds to Corsairslineup o closed-loop CPU coolers,

and it dierentiates itsel rom thecrowd with a 140mm radiator and a

140mm an. As such, it oers 20mmmore surace area to cool than thestandard 120mm components ound inmany closed loop CPU coolers. Corsairsays that the provided static pressurean (which has an advertised airlow o94cm and operates at 1,500rpm) hasbeen designed to deliver more air perdecibel than a comparable 120mm an,so youll enjoy superior CPU coolingand quieter operation.

Other than the radiator and an

upgrades, the Hydro H90 is similarto many o the other Corsair closed-loop coolers weve tested. Youll enjoyuniversal compatibility with Intel andAMD pro cessors via the pr ov idedbackplates and mounting kits. Overall,the Hydro H90 is compatible withIntels 1155/1156/1366/2011 socketsand AMDs AM2/AM3/FM1/FM2sockets. Te H90 also comes with theenhanced copper cold plate ound onCorsairs recently released H80i and

H100i coolers and is equipped withthick, exible rubber hoses that connectthe radiator and pump/cold plate.

Te installation process is simple, and

because the pump/cold plate assemblytakes up so little space around the CPUsocket, you wont have to worry aboutthe height o the memory in your buildthe way you do with some heatsink/ancoolers. One caveat, however: Its a goodidea beore bringing the H90 home tomake sure that your case provides anmounting holes or its 140mm an (orat least that you have room to drill yourown, should it prove necessary). Tosewith space or 140mm ans wont need

to worry about compatibility with theHydro H90.In testing, the H90 produced an

idle temperature (tested ater a halan hour o idle activity) o 29C withIntels Core i5-3570K. Our POV-Ray

Corsair H90 140mm Liquid CPU cooler

Hydro H90

$99.99

Corsair

www.corsair.com

Specs: Water Block: Copper; Pump: 12V; Fans: one 140mm an that operates at 1,500rpm;

Radiator: Aluminum

Test System Specs: Processor: Intel Core i5-3570K; Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z77X-UD4H; GPU:

ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580 (x2, SLI); RAM: Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1333; Storage: 128GB Crucial

RealSSD C300; OS: Windows 7 Enterprise (64-bit)

CPU / March 2013 17


18/96

you native support or PCI-E 3.0 whenpaired with an Intel Z77 motherboard.he Core i5-3570K is rated at a DPo 77W, which is a much lower wattagethan the Core i5-2500Ks 95W DP,so its a bit more power-eicient thanits counterpart.

Similar to its Sandy Bridge predecessor,theres also support or Intel Quick SyncVideo, Intel Inru 3D echnology, IntelClear Video HD echnology, and IntelFlexible Display Interace.

We tested the Core i5-3570K witha GIGAB Y E GA-Z77X -UD4Hmotherboard and two ZOAC GeForceGX 580s in SLI. As you mightexpect, compared to the Core i7-3770K, youll ind anywhere betweena 15% and 30% decrease in our CPU-intensive benchmarks. As ar as gaminggoes, theres virtually no diference inperormance between the CPUs.

Our benchmarks show that the Corei5-3570K makes a good choice orgamers who want to get a lot o value

out o their processor. Overclockers canalso utilize the unlocked multiplier toeasily push speeds beyond the Core i5-3570Ks 3.8GHz urbo Boost speed.

BYNATHAN LAKE

Fans o Intels Core i5-2500K whowant to step up to Ivy Bridge will

ind a lot to like in the Intel Corei5-3570K. Like the Core i5-2500K,the i5-3570K boasts our cores, anunlocked multiplier, 6MB o IntelSmart Cache, and a Direct MediaInterace bus speed o 5Gps. Anothersimilarity between the two chips isthat neither has Hyper-hreading. hemain dierence is that the Core i5-3570K is, as an Ivy Bridge CPU, its22nm lithography (vs. the 32nm dieon the Core i5-2500K) with Intelsri-Gate transistor. In terms o speedsand eeds, the i5-3570K also receiveda 100MHz jump to both its standardand urbo clocks.

he Direct Media Interace builtinto the Intel Core i5-3570K providesnative support or up to DDR3-1600memory, which allows or a maximummemory bandwidth o 25.6GBps. hisprocessor also integrates Intel HD4000 Graphics with a base requency

o 650MHz and a Max DynamicFrequency o 1.15GHz. As such, itsnice option or those wanting a quickCPU in a build without a graphicscard. he Ivy Bridge architectureinside the Core i5-3570K also gives

Intel Core i5-3570K Intel CoreBenchmark Results i5-3570K

3DMark 11 Extreme

Overall X4202

Graphics Score 3737

Physics Score 7559

Combined Score 4692





Physics Test 24

Combined Test 21.81

PCMark 7

Overall 5147

Productivity 4937

Creativity 5538

Entertainment 4538

Computation 5093

System Storage 4707






x16 Multi-Media Integer iAVX


x16 Multi-Media Float iAVX

(Mpixels per second) 220.5x8 Multi-Media Double iAVX


Memory Bandwidth


B/F AVX/128 (GBps) 18.21


B/F AVX/128 (GBps) 18.2

Cinebench 11.5

CPU* 6.36

POV-Ray 3.7 Beta** 1206.24

Games

Metro 2033 (4XAA, 16XAF) 35.7

Aliens vs. Predator(4XAA, 16XAF) 53.5

* points

** pixels per second

Games tested at 2,560 x 1,600.

Specs: Socket: Intel LGA1155; Clock speed:

3.4GHz (3.8GHz max Turbo); 6MB Intel Smart

Cache; TDP: 77W

Test system specs: Motherboard: GIGABYTE

GA- Z77X-UD4H; GPU: ZOTAC GeForce GTX

580 (x2, SLI); RAM: 4GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3-

1333; Storage: 128GB Crucial RealSSD C300;

OS: Windows 7 Enterprise (64-bit)

Core i5-3570K

$235

Intel

www.intel.com



19/96

GPUs) benchmarks and monitoredthe results with an Exech rue RMSPower Analyzer Datalogger. We tookmeasurements with using both single-card

and SLI setups to show you how the powersupply perorms at dierent loads. Ourbenchmark system included an Intel Corei7-3770K, a GIGABYE GA-Z77X-UP7motherboard, and two ZOAC GeForceGX 580s. We saw a maximum wattageo 665W and a power actor o .965 withour SLI system. When we tested the PSUwith one GPU, it produced a maximumwattage o 442W and a power actoro .975.

Te oughpower Grand PLAINUM

700W provides a nice aesthetic orany enthusiasts with one o those all-white custom builds we love so much,and the support or two graphics cardsallows or a decent gaming setup. hemodular cabling and intelligent an aretwo excellent eatures, as well. As such,wed recommend this model to mostany power user looking or a premiummidrange power supply.

BYNATHAN LAKE

Thermaltakes new oughpower GrandPLAINUM 700W works at an

eiciency between 89% (at 100% load)and 93% (at 50% load), which meets the80 PLUS Platinum standard, the highestcurrently available or desktop PSUs. hispower supply also eatures an all-whitedesign on both the unit and cable sheathingthat matches hermaltakes Snow Editioncases and CPU coolers.

In terms o connectivity, youll indenough PCI-E connectors to supportSLI and CrossFire setups. he PSU alsosupports high-end motherboards designedor overclocking, thanks to its two +12VCPU connectors (one 4+4-pin, one 8-pin).he oughpower Grand PLAINUM700W is a partially modular unit, withhardwired cables or the 20+4-pin mainpower connector, one PCI-E cable(with two 6+2-pin connectors), and theaorementioned +12V CPU connectors.Te hardwired cables are sheathed in a wiremesh, while the modular cables are at, oreasy routing. For your peripherals, there are

eight SAA connectors (split between twocables), six Molex connectors (split betweentwo cables), and a FDD connector (via aMolex-to-FDD adapter).

Termaltake designed the oughpowerGrand PLAINUM 700W with a single+12V rail that can handle a maximum loado 58A, which equates to 696 watts. For the+5V and +3.3V rails, Termaltake providesyou with support or maximum loads o22A each, which is a combined wattage o120 watts. Te unit is built with Japanese

capacitors and solid state capacitors thatcan handle temperatures up to 105 degreesCelsius. A built-in 140mm smart an onlybegins running when the PSU reachesmore than 25% load; at lesser loads theoughpower Grand PLAINUM 700W iscompletely silent. At the highest an speed,the an in no louder than 23.1dBA.

o stress-test the oughpower GrandPLAINUM 700W, we simultaneouslyran POV-Ray Beta 3.7 (stresses all CPUcores) and the Aliens vs. Predator (stresses

Thermaltake Toughpower Grand PLATINUM 700W

Specs

Rated continuous (W) 700 (at 50 C)

12V Rails 1

+12V max (A) 58

+5V max (A) 22

+3.3V max (A) 22

SLI/CrossFire-ready Yes

Max wattage tested 665

Power factor tested .965

Efficiency rating

(as advertised) 89 to 93%

Fan 140mm

4 (two 6+2-pin

PCI-E and two 8-pin)

Main 12V 20+4-pin

2 (1 8-pin,

12V CPU 1 4+4-pin)

SATA 8

4-pin Molex 6

Floppy 1

Length

(including cable bend) 8.2 inches

Warranty 7 years

Test system specs: Processor: Intel Core i7-

3770K; Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UP7;

GPU: ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580 (2x , SLI);

RAM: Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1333; Storage:

128GB Crucial RealSSD C300; OS: Windows 7

Enterprise (64-bit)

Toughpower Grand PLATINUM 700W

$189.99 | Thermaltake

www.thermaltakeusa.com

CPU / March 2013 19


20/96

clocked at up to 2,800MHz. he dual-channel architecture supports IntelsXMP memory proles or quick setup ooptimal memory speeds and timings. Forstorage connectivity, youll nd a total oour 6Gbps SAA ports and our 3GbpsSAA ports. GIGABYE utilized a Marvel88SE9172 chip that adds two 6GbpseSAA ports to the rear panel, but theseports will be unavailable i you connectdevices to the SAA ports 6 or 7. Tere areeight USB 3.0 ports (six on that rear panel,two internal) and six USB 2.0 ports (all viainternal headers).

he GA-Z77X-UD4H comes withGIGABYEs UEFI BIOS that providesnative support or 3B hard drives, aswell as an easy-to-use GUI. Supportor Lucid Virtu GPU helps to optimizevideo processing and media playbackwith Intel HD graphics, and it lets youswitch between Intels HD Graphics andyour discrete graphics card. o quick-charge your phone or tablet, GIGABYEincludes its On/Of Charge sotware that

recharges your mobile devices, even i thePC is turned of.

his board put up benchmarknumbers similar to what we saw withGIGABYEs high-end GA-Z77X-UP5H, which we reviewed in the Octoberissue. We saw an overall mark o X3875in 3DMark11. Our test systems Intel

Core i7-3770K delivereda good result o 7.53points in Cinebench 11.5.You get a lot o value or

your money with theGA-Z77X-UD4H, as itprovides eatures necessaryor both gaming builds andoverclocking enthusiasts.

BYNATHAN LAKE

GA-Z77X-UD4H

$164.99

GIGABYTE

www.gigabyte.us

The GA-Z77X-UD4H is one oGIGABYEs newest Z77 chipset

motherboards. Here, youll ind supportor PCI-E 3.0 GPUs running inSLI or CrossFire, as well as Intels 3rdGeneration Core processors. Overclockerswill like that the GA-Z77X-UD4Hcomes with onboard voltage read pointsor accurate, real-time inormationabout the processor and memorys powerconsumption. heres also an onboardBIOS switch, so you can move betweenoverclocking and regular BIOS settingsor you could try out a new BIOS withoutlosing any o your original settings.

Te graphics subsystem looks like this:he irst PCI-E x16 slot works at ullx16 speed with one card, and it movesto x8 when a second graphics card isconnected. Te second PCI-E 16 slot runsat x8 speed no matter i one card or twocards are connected. heres also a thirdPCI-E x16 slot, and it supports PCI-E2.0 devices. Tis bottom PCI-E x16 slotshares bandwidth with all the PCI-E x1

slots and runs at x4, which makes it useulas a slot or a dedicated PhysX card. Notethat the boards three PCI-E x1 slots will beunavailable i you install any add-on cardsto the bottom PCI-E x16 slot.

For memory support, GIGABYEprovides our DIMM slots that are capableo handling up to 32GB o memory

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD4H

GIGABYTE

Benchmark Results GA-Z77X-UD4H

3DMark 11 Extreme

Overall X3875

Graphics Score 3576

Physics Score 9287

Combined Score 4512





Physics Test 30.4

Combined Test 21.75

PCMark 7

Overall 5345

Productivity 5198

Creativity 5118

Entertainment 5143

Computation 5412

System Storage 5198






x16 Multi-Media Integer

iAVX (Mpixels per second) 223.9

x16 Multi-Media Float

iAVX (Mpixels per second) 311.43

x8 Multi-Media Double

iAVX (Mpixels per second) 173.43Memory Bandwidth


B/F AVX/128 (GBps) 18.1


B/F AVX/128 (GBps) 18.1

Cinebench 11.5

CPU* 7.53

POV-Ray 3.7 Beta** 1397.5

Games

Metro 2033 (4XAA, 16XAF) 36.4

Aliens vs. Predator

(4XAA, 16XAF) 54.2

* points | ** pixels per secondGames tested at 2,560 x 1,600.

Specs:Form factor: ATX; Socket compatibility:

Intel LGA1155; Max memory: 32GB (DDR3-1600;

DDR3-2800 max OC); Slots: 2 PCI-E 3.0 x16, 1

PCI-E 2.0 x16, 2 PCI-E x1, 1 PCI; Storage; 4 6Gbps

SATA, 4 3Gbps SATA; Rear I/O: 1 VGA, 1 DVI-D, 1

HDMI, 1 DisplayPort, 6 USB 3.0, 2 6Gbps eSATA, 1

Ethernet, 1 S/PDIF out, audio I/O


3770K; GPU: ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580 (2x,

SLI); RAM: 4GB Crucial DDR3-1333; Storage:


Enterprise (64-bit)



21/96

the above SSDs have retail prices o lessthan $1 per gigabyte.

Perormance-wise, the Force GS ispretty competitive or its price. Being aSandForce-based SSD, it really starts tostrut its stuf when it comes to readingand writing compressible data, as youcan see in the middle o our benchmarkresults (CrystalDiskMarks All 0x00[0 Fill] tests). Even when we ed itincompressible bits and bytes, such asvideo and audio les, the drive held itsown among s imilar company.

So how does the Force GS comparewith Corsairs other SSDs in the Forceseries? All use SandForce memorycontrollers, but thats where the internalsimilarities end.

Wel l, th e Forc e G, as you ma yknow, makes use o synchronous MLCNAND as opposed to the oggleNAND o the Force GS. In its 240GBvariant ($224.99), the Force G logsadvertised sequential read speeds o upto 555MBps. It perorms sequential

writes at up to 525MBps, and alignedwrites o 4KB les at up to 85,000IOPS.

This attractive, midrange, consumerSSD is blessed with oggle-Mode

NAND, a strain o double data rateMLC lash memory originally developedby oshiba. oggle NAND, as Corsairwell knows, has become a avoriteamong SSD shoppers looking ortop perormance.

he controller responsible or allo the I/O lowing through the ForceGS is the SandForce SF-2200. hisstandby o the SSD scene seemsas amiliar as an old riend by now,but it doesnt have the novelty cacheto newer control le rs such as theOCZ/Indilinx Bareoot 3 in the OCZVector or the Link_A_Media Devicescontroller in Corsairs own Neutronand Neutron GX. hat said, its amature, well-patched chip with nosurprises in storehighly desirableattributes in a storage controller thatwill be responsible or your data.

Corsai r se l l s the Force GS incapacities o 128GB, 180GB, 240GB,

360GB, and 480GB. With the excep-tion o the smallest two drives, all o

Corsair Force Series GS 240GB

Corsair Force

Series GSBenchmark Results 240GB

CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 Default*








4KB random wri te QD32 248.9

CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 All 0x00 (0 Fill)*









AS-SSD*



4K read 23.12

4K write 57.01

4K-64Thrd read 227.18

4K-64Thrd write 222.54

*Results in MBps

Specs: Specs: Maximum sequential read/

write: 555MBps/525MBps; Maximum random

4K write: 90,000IOPS (4K aligned ); Interface:

6Gbps SATA; Three-year warranty

Test system specs: CPU: Intel Core i7-

3570K; Motherboard: GA-Z77X-UD4H; GPU:

ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580 (2x, SLI); RAM:

4GB Crucial DDR3-1333; Storage: 128GB

Crucial RealSSD C300; OS: Windows 7

Enterprise (64-bit)

Power users oten eel more anitytoward a particular controller or type oash memory than to a certain brand,which is why manuacturers such asCorsair eld SSDs with varying blendso the two. In the case o the Force GS,it adds up to solid perormance at agreat price.

BYMARTYSEMS

Force Series GS 240GB

$229.99

Corsair

www.corsair.com

CPU / March 2013 21


22/96

in any direction. Bright graphics andcontoured, anti-ray edges give this padan aura o quality.

We tried out both CM Storm pads witha typical optical mouse rom Logitech,

the M-BJ58. his 800dpi LED mousetracked perectly on the Power-RX, and theControl-RX yielded a 100% score on up-down and side-to-side motions.

As an acid test, we tried out both matswith an Evoluent VerticalMouse 3 Rev. 2.Weve only been able to make this unusual-looking mouse track perectly on anotherCooler Master pad, the CM Stacker, whichhas a hard, textured black surace.

Amazingly, the nicky Evoluent mouseperormed awlessly on both mouse mats.

It seems that i you own a VerticalMouse,and youve been unhappy with its pointertracking, Cooler Master is the place tobuy your next mouse pad.

BYMARTYSEMS

Some parts o your PC setup youjust never really think about. Unless

theyre unsatisactory, that is. hen theycan become irritating in a major way.

An unsuitable mouse pad may not grab

your attention during day-to-day computingtasks. But try to game with one, or use it withsotware that demands precision control overyour mouse pointer, and its shortcomingswill become readily apparent.

oo much riction is a problem. So is toolittle riction, which means a lack o tactileeedback on the edge o your palm, and thusconusion in your mind about how muchyouve really moved your mouse hand. Somemouse mats are too big or your desk space,or too small or your preerence. Others

develop cracks or dog-eared corners, whichcan seriously interrupt your mojo.And lets not orget suraces that dont

track well under the LED or laser o amodern optical mouse. Older mouse padswere created with suraces intended tohelp mechanical ball mice roll smoothlyin all directions (when the ball wassqueaky clean, that is).

Tus, we looked orward to trying outa pair o very large gaming mouse suracesrom CM Storm by Cooler Master.

Te CM Storm Power-RX is more o amouse mat than a pad, being only aboutas thick as a credit card. Mind you, acredit card o the same dimensionsthePower-RX is just shy o 18 x 14 inches

wouldnt t in your wallet very easily. Itssurace is inely textured black rubberwith moderate resistance against handmovements. he Power-RX is lexibleenough to roll up (indeed, it comes ina tube like a poster), but it lies lat assoon as it hits the desktop, without anyannoying tendency to curl or snag yourmouse cord.

Te CM Storm Control-RX, on theother hand, is packaged more like apicture rame in a thin, rigid box. Its

exible, too, but being almost as thickas a thin SSD, it isnt as roll-uppable asthe Power-RX. Cooler Master covers thetop o the pad with comortable Lycraabric that lets your mouse hand movereely. Te company says that the weavepattern o the surace is designed toaccommodate mice operating at low dpisettings. Underneath, the Control-RXhas a semi-sticky, polyurethane base.Clean of a section o desktop beore youplop the mat down, and it will not slide

Cooler Master CM Storm Mouse Pads

CM Storm Power-RX & CM Storm Control-RX

$29.99 ea.

Cooler Master

www.coolermaster-usa.com

CM Storm Power-RX Specs: Size: 17.7 x 13.8 x 0.1 inches; Surace:Rubber; Base: Silicone

CM Storm Control-RX Specs: Size: 17.3 x 13.8 x 0.2 inches; Surace:Lycra; Base: Polyurethane



23/96

o put this PSU through its paces,we ran POV-Ray Beta 3.7 (stressesall CPU cores) and the Aliens vs.Predator (stresses GPU) benchmark,simultaneously. Our test system isloaded with plenty o power-hungryparts, including an Intel Core i7-3770K, a GIGABYE GA-Z77X-UP7motherboard, and a ZOAC GeForceGX 580. Running on all cylinders, thesystem drew a maximum o 374 watts,at a power actor o .971.

Te Corsair CX430M makes a perectpower supply any general-purposesystem. Its quiet, energy-ecient, andthanks the modular cabling, lexible.We also demonstrated that it has what ittakes to drive a single high-end graphicscard, so gamers on a budget can add thisunit to their short lists.

BYANDREWLEIBMAN

adding about hal an inch to thePSUs proile. his PSU looks like itwas built or small cases, measuring amere 5.9 x 3.4 x 6.3 inches (WxHxD).

here are our modular cable portsto the right o the hardwired bundle.he modular cables include a pairo SAA cables (two connectors percable), one or peripherals (three 4-pinMolex connectors and one loppyconnector), and one with a single6+2-pin PCI-E connector. o hookup our GeForce GX 580, we had touse a Molex-to-PCI-E power adapter,but this is more graphics card that thisPSU was built to handle.

Te CX430M eatures a single +12Vrail that supports 32A (384 watts)maximum at its peak. Teres 20A eachor the +5V and +3.3V rails, which get110 watts o the overall total to playwith. Like the rest o the quality powersupplies you can get rom Corsair, theCX430M eatures overvoltage andoverpower protection, undervoltage

protection, and short-circuit protection.Corsair also backs this power supplywith a solid three-year parts and laborwarranty and lietime access to Corsairstech support and customer service.

Modular power supplies tend to bepopular among enthusiasts and

system builders because they let us onlyuss with routing the essential powercables; any letover cables can stay inthe box until we need them. Sadly,though, modular power supplies inthe sub-500 watt range are ew and arbetween, yet small orm actor, HPC,and basic PCs oer ewer cable routingoptions and dramatically less space tospare. Corsair apparently elt our painand released the CX430M, a compact,low-wattage modular power supplythats a perect it or any value build.

he CX430M meets the 80 PLUSBronze certiication, oering up to85% energy eiciency, which givesyour energy budget a break and keepsthe unit running cool at idle andunder ull load. he unit eatureshardwired +12V 20+4-pin AX and+12V 4+4-pin CPU power connectors.he ormer is sheathed in plastic mesh,and the latter is lat style. Corsair

made the CPU power cable extra-long;at more than 26 inches, you shouldhave no trouble routing it behind themotherboard and over the top edge.he cable bend is very shallow, only

Corsair CX430M

Specs

Rated continuous (W) 430

12V Rails 1

+12V max (A) 32

+5V max (A) 20

+3.3V max (A) 20

SLI/CrossFire-certified No

Max wattage tested 374

Power factor tested .971

Efficiency rating

(as advertised) 85%

PCI-E 1 (6+2-pin)

Main 12V 20+4-pin

8-pin EPS 12V 1 (4+4-pin)SATA 4

4-pin Molex 3

Floppy 1

Length

(including cable bend) 6.2 inches

Warranty 3 years


3570K; Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-

UP7; GPU: ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580; RAM:

4GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1333; Storage:


Enterprise (64-bit)

CX430M

$59.99 | Corsair

www.corsair.com

CPU / March 2013 23


24/96

Specs: Dimensions: 20.2 x 9.1 x 20.5 inches (HxWxD); Motherboard support: mATX, ATX; Bays: 3 5.25-inch external, 7 3.5-inch internal, 2 2.5-inch internal

(converted rom one 3.5-inch bay); Fans (included): 2 120mm white LED ront, 1 120mm rear; Fans (optional): 2 120mm top, 1 120mm bottom, 2 120mm

side, 1 120mm HDD cage; Front panel: 2 USB 3.0, 2 USB 2.0, audio I/O

Cooler Masters CM Storm Scout 2

Ghost White is a good-looking, highlyunctional case that will stand out in acrowd. I you are looking or somethingwith a resh look, this should be onyour short list.

BYCHRISTRUMBLE

arrangement o drive bays, but it comes

with two additional 120mm ans installedbehind the ront panel. Tese intake ansprovide better cooling or your systemsinterior, and they are equipped with whiteLED accents that you can leave on orturn of, depending on what youre doingwith color elsewhere.

In our November 2012 issue, we rana review o Cooler Masters updated

CM Storm Scout, the CM Storm Scout2. As we pointed out at the time, weespecially like the updated rubberizedhandle that runs across the top. Itshorizontal orientation lets you carrythe case comortably even when ullyloaded, and as any o you who havelugged a system to a LAN party canattest, thats a pretty big deal. Betterstill, you dont have to sacriice theoverall look o the system or thisunctionality; the Scout 2 has a clean,sleek look that is aggressive but in arestrained, non-ostentatious sort o way.

Cooler Master hasnt rested on itslaurels. System builders these dayslove unctionality and good looks,but they also want variety and choice.hats where the CM Storm Scout 2Ghost White comes in. White casesare hot these days, and the Scout 2Ghost White provides the clean whiteexterior inish that you used to have to

spend hours sanding and painting toget, accented by the black steel meshinset in the ront panel, the black meshunder the top panels ventilation holes,and o course the black rubberizedhandle on top.

In other words, i youre looking ora case to go with your Stormtrooperarmor, this is it.

Seriously, though, we like CoolerMasters decision to leave the interiorrame, motherboard tray, and drive

cages black, as it makes pulling to-gether a cohesive interior look easierthan i everything inside were white.

And lest you think the Scout 2 GhostWhite is a mere pallet swap, think again.he case has the same dimensions asthe standard Scout 2 and has the same

Cooler Master CM Storm Scout 2 Ghost White

CM Storm Scout 2 Ghost White

$109.99

Cooler Master

www.coolermaster.com



25/96

2.2 x 0.8 inches) and immediatelybegin brainstorming the perect caseor a Raspberry Pi mod, but the Pi is

the product o much more altruisticobjective. In 2006, a group led byEben Upton (then at the University oCambridge) and also including RobMullins, Jack Lang, and Alan Mycrotnoticed a concerning drop in both thequantity and experience o studentsapplying or postsecondary computerscience programs. Upton and hiscolleagues suspected a decline in studentsprogramming experience went hand inhand with the evolution o consumer PCs

As power users, were always ascinatedwith extremes. On the one hand, we

have extremely powerul systems. You

know the typeCPUs overclocked tounreal requencies, triple-GPU arrays,wicked liquid-cooling loops, and so orth.heres no shortage o systems like that.

On the other hand, we have the extremethat doesnt get as much ink: extremelysmall systems. Tanks in large part to theexistence o the diminutive Mini-IXorm actor, we have PCs that will t ina desk drawer or hide behind a monitor.Modders have gone urther, puttingMini-IX systems inside toasters, NES

consoles, and even stufed animals. Teresjust something cool about going small.

Now, ater six years o development,

a group rom the University o Cam-bridge Computer Laboratory gives us anew option or tiny builds that makesMini-IX boards look downrightgargantuan by compar i son . heRaspberry Pi is a true computer on a card,but theres more to this pocket-sized PCthan meets the eye.

The Big GoalA modder wil l take one look at the

Raspberry Pi s dimensions (3.4 x

Computer On A CardRaspberry Pi Is The Small ComputerWith Huge Ambitions

CPU / March 2013 25


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not requiring programming knowledge toefectively use.

It makes sense. In the heyday o the

Amiga, Commodore, etc., to get the mostout o your machine, you needed to knowhow to code. By comparison, todayspower users can ully enjoy their systemswithout much, i any, programmingknowledge. Additionally, the group eltthat parents o one-PC households hadbecome leery about letting their childrenexperiment on the amily PC.

he solution was to develop a ullyunctional PC that was also eminentlyaordable, giving curious kids a wayto try their hand at coding withoutinvesting a ortune in a traditionaldesktop PC. he group also wantedhardware with multimedia capabilitiesthat would pique interest in the deviceand then give users the opportunityto go deeper i desired. In 2008, aterdeveloping some prototypes, the grouppartnered with Pete Lomas o Norcottechnologies and David Braben, whoco-authored the classic BBC Micro gameElite, and the Raspberry Pi Foundation(www.raspberrypi.org) was born.

In 2011, the Raspberry Pi Foundationmoved closer to bringing the RaspberryPi to lie, orging manuacturing dealswith element14/Premier Farnell and RSElectronics. A year later, the RaspberryPi burst onto the scene and has quicklyoutstripped its creators original goal. TeRaspberry Pi has garnered interest romdeveloping nations that need computingdevices but lack the resources or ull-edged PCs; museums and hospitals haveshown interest in using the Raspberry

Pi to power display devices. Parentso special-needs children have evenadapted the Raspberry Pi or monitoringand accessibility purposes. Indeed, theRaspberry Pi seems to have taken on a lieo its own.

The GoodsAt th e ti me o th is wr it ing, you

can ill your basket with two kinds oRaspberries: the Model A ($25) andthe Model B ($35). he Model A is

Whats Inside Your Pi?

Talk about working within your allotted space. About the same size as a pack o gum, theRaspberry Pi is an incredible little machine. Although two versions o the Raspberry Pi exist, the

Model A and the Model B, their base hardware specifcations are largely the same. Heres the

scoop on this sweet creation.

A) Broadcom BCM2835. This is where the

magic happens. The BCM2835 consists

o a 700MHz ARM1176JZ-F CPU and a

VideoCore IV GPU thats capable o Blu-ray

quality playback, OpenGL ES 2.0, and

OpenVG.

B) HDMI. Hardware support or 1080p video

demands a 1080p display. This is how you do

it. Audio out over HDMI is also supported. I

your monitor doesnt have an HDMI input, use

an HDMI-to-DVI adapter.

C) USB.Although the Model B gives you a

pair o USB ports, youll still need a powered

USB hub i you want to use a keyboard and

mouse and attach external storage. The

Model A has one USB port.

D) LAN. Only the Model B gives you a 10/100

Ethernet port or networking.

E) Power. The Raspberry Pi uses a 5V mini

USB port or power, but you can get away

with running the Pi rom battery power i

youre aware o a ew caveats.

F) Composite video. Most o us went digital

years ago, but remember, the Raspberry Pi

was designed to bring low-cost computing

to as many people as possible. Thanks to the

composite video output, the Pi can connect to

a standard analog TV.

G) Audio out. I you dont use the Raspberry Pis

HDMI port or audio, youll need this 3.5mm jack.

H) SD card slot. Because the Raspberry Pi

doesnt boot to local storage, its SD slot is your

gateway to booting to an OS. According to the

Raspberry Pi Foundation, Debian will give you

the best result, and you can download a custom

version, Raspbian, rom the Foundations website.

D

C

G

F

A

B

EH



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essentially a slightly slimmed-downversion o the Model B. Te Model B

has 512MB o RAM, a pair o USBports, and a 10/100 Ethernet port, whilethe Model A includes 256MB RAM, asingle USB port, and no Ethernet port.Beyond that, Models A and B have thesame hardware.

Broadcoms BCM2835 SoC doesthe heavy liting on the Raspberry Pi.his chip contains an ARM1176JZ-Fprocessor running at 700MHz, as well asa VideoCore IV GPU. In practical terms,this is about the same as a 300MHz Intel

Pentium 2 CPU paired with the graphicscapabilities o a rst-generation Xbox. Sowhat i it wont run Crysisthe act thatthe Raspberry Pi delivers Xbox power in aphysical ootprint the size o a credit cardis an impressive eat.

It gets better. Te VideoCore IV GPUbuilt into the Broadcom chip delivers1080p30 H.264 decode at 40Mbps(Blu-ray quality), OpenGL ES 2.0,and hardware-accelerated OpenVG. Itsalso capable o 1Gpixels per second,

1.5Gtexels per second, or 24 GFLOPs oGPGPU compute. With its HDMI-out

(video and audio) port, it should comeas no surprise that the Raspberry Pi hasquickly emerged as a viable option or alow-cost HPC.

Te Raspberry Pi also has a compositevideo output (included with the intentiono connecting the Pi to an analog V)and a standard 3.5mm audio output.Connecting a USB keyboard and mouseto the Model B is no problem, but youcan achieve a similar setup with theModel A by connecting devices through

a USB hub.he preerred method o poweringthe Raspberry Pi is using its 5V microUSB port. According to the RaspberryPi Foundation, its possible to run thesystem o o good old-ashioned AAbatteries, with the ollowing caveats:Rechargeable batteries may introducestability problems as they lose theircharge, and AA alkaline batteries willrequire a voltage regulator, since ourbatteries produces 6V.

Although the Raspberry Pi also hasan SD card slot, this is what youll useor booting the computer. Te Pis USB

port(s) are your go-to option or storage.

The Guest List: Penguins OnlyAs it stands now, i you want to take

the Raspberry Pi or a drive, you haveto put Linux in the tank. Debian is therecommended distro, and the RaspberryPi Foundation supplies an image oRaspbian, which is essentially Debianoptimized to run on the Pi, or download.Te Foundation also has instructions orloading a bootable OS to an SD card. Atminimum, you need a 2GB card; largercards are recommended i you want toput other programs on the image.

You might think that Windows Ris theoretically an option, given thatMicrosot Surace R uses an ARMprocessor. Making Windows R happenon the Pi will be up to Microsot, theFoundation says. I Redmond putsits support behind porting WindowsR, then a Raspberry Pi R could bea possibility.

Currently, progress is being made on a

version o Android or the Raspberry Pi.Its unstable right now, but the project isstill under active development.

Even More PiWere barely scratching the surace

here. Although the Raspberry Pi wasdesigned as a way to make learningprogramming afordable and accessible,the groundswell o people brainstormingall sorts o uses or the tiny wonderis nothing short o astonishing. he

Raspberry Pi Foundations orums(www.raspberrypi .org/phpBB3 ) a r eull o enthusiasts with RaspberryPi projects that are too numerous tolist here. Countless case modders haveshowcased their custom enclosures,and many include instructions orreplicating their mods.

With al l th is po tent ia l, th e Rasp -berry Pi seems limited only by yourcreativity and ingenuity. So, what areyou waiting or?

As it stands now, i

you want to take theRaspberry Pi or a

drive, you have to put

Linux in the tank.

CPU / March 2013 27


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Raspberry Pi, LEGO & Supercomputing:Q&A With Proessor Simon Cox & James Cox

The Raspberry Pi came about as an inexpensive way to introduce people to

computer programming. As it turns out, the Little Computer That Could is

also an inexpensive way, relatively speaking, to get into supercomputing.

A team o engineers at the University o Southampton, led by Proessor

Simon Cox, combined 64 Raspberry Pi boards to create what has to be in

the running or Worlds Most Interesting Supercomputer. The team named

their creation Iridis-Pi, a nod to Southamptons Iridis supercomputer.

Iridis-Pi boasts 1TB o memory (each Raspberry Pi board uses a 16GB SDcard) and uses Python Tools or Visual Studio or coding.

The real star o the show is the supercomputers custom racking. Yes,

those are LEGO building blocks, and Cox brought in his son James as a

special consultant to put it all together. James has also been learning to

code Python and Scratch on the Raspberry Pi, making him one o the most

accomplished 6-year-olds weve encountered in a while.

We caught up with the only amily in the United Kingdom with a My child

built a supercomputer bumper sticker to ask them a ew questions about

their incredible project.

CPU:64 Raspberry Pi computers with LEGO rackingit sorto boggles the mind. Did you have a specifc goal in mindwhen you built the supercomputer, or was your motivation Lets build this

and see what we can do with it?

SC:Over the years, my research and lecturing at the Universityo Southampton has ocused on using commodity o-the-shel components to do high-perormance computing, and the

Raspberry Pi was an obvious choicenot or its raw computing powerbut or its wide availability and cheap price as a tool to get people into

HPC. Our main motivation was to inspire people to get into science and

engineering and get excited about how computing has transormed

these disciplines. We need more people to work on the challenges o

modeling and understanding the complex environment in which we live

and developing the next generation o machines and devices we rely

on in our daily lives.

CPU: The clusters frst task was to calculate the value o Pi.What task(s) do you have it working on now?



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SC:We have run codes to solve problems in engineering,optoelectronics, and physics modeling, and have usedthe system to prototype some new codes beore running them on our

12,000-core University High Perormance Computing system. We are also

writing up some work with a more detailed benchmarking study o theperormance o the system.

CPU:What advice would you give someone else who wants tothink outside the box with the Raspberry Pi?

SC: Go or it and then tell others what you have done with a guideand a video.

CPU: Do you have any other Raspberry Pi-related projects?Or, whats the next ambitious ather-son project you andJames have planned?

SC: James and I are thinking o doing something with music,sensors, or vehicles . . . or all three!

CPU: James, what was it like to help build a realsupercomputer?

JC: It was great un to put all the pieces together and make thecomputers talk to each other.

CPU:We think everyone wants to know: What are you going tobuild with LEGOs next?

JC:A rocket.

SC:At this point I should add that it will be strictly hand-propelled in

its frst version.

CPU: Be honest: You were the brains behind the whole project,werent you?

JC:That would be telling. (Smiles.)

CPU / March 2013 29


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Q&A With Eben Upton, The Mind Behind The Pi

In 2006, Eben Upton had a dream: Get kids interested in learning com-puter programming. The result o that dream, the Raspberry Pi, went

into production in February 2012. Since then, estimates have pegged

Raspberry Pi sales at close to 1 million, which translates to a lot o happy

hobbyists, modders, and budding programmers.

To say that that the Raspberry Pi has been a smashing success is an

understatement. We asked Upton a ew questions about the Pis beginnings

and what the uture holds or this remarkable computer on a card:

CPU:Now, its easy to look back and say the Raspberry Pi was abrilliant idea. At any point in the projects development, did youhave any doubts that such an aordable computer like the Pi was easible?

EU:There was a period in 2011 ater wed initially announcedit, that we working extremely hard to close the pricing story.There was probably a period o three months when we were really going

through the design line by line, pricing each line, looking or alternative

components; and yes, there was a period when we had our doubts. It

wasnt a slam dunk; it wasnt immediately obvious to us.

At several points throughout the development, rom very early on, we

had real doubts about how much perormance you could oer in that

price bracket. In 2007 to 2008, we had little more than a target price,

and we were trying to fgure out how much we could ft into that budget

. . . . It wasnt clear to us whether we were going to be able to squeezeeverything in, even though at the 30,000-oot level, it seemed plausible.

CPU:At its price, the Raspberry Pi seems like the perectsolution or providing low-cost computers to developingnations, and especially schools in those nations. How has the Pi been

received in these countries? Are there any plans in the works or

government-subsidized Raspberry Pi computers or children?

EU:In the early days, it wasnt something that we were ocused oninitially. Its become clear that there is a lot o interest there,particularly in, say, South Americaso not the poorest countries, but

countries that have an emerging middle class.

The primary interest has been rom the private sector, individuals

interested in using the Raspberry Pi rather than governments. My

perception is that governments tend to be more attracted to laptop and

tablet deployment or these kinds o very simple devices. We think in

terms o the private sector . . . in terms o someone who might buy the Pi

themselves, we have a lot o unrealized potential.

CPU:The community has obviously embraced the RaspberryPi and is constantly inventing new ways to use thecomputer. What do you see as the uture o the Pi? Any new goals?

EU:The ambition is still to meet the educational goals, to getkids using them to do interesting programming. Thats still anunrealized ambition. A lot o our frst-year sales have been to technically

profcient adults, who already know how to use computers and want to

do something interesting with them. We are starting to see an uptake inindividual children buying them, parents buying them or their children,

and schools buying them or teaching, so we are starting to reach

children and see them do interesting things. Thats encouraging.

We would like to do some things with the developing world. We would

love to be shipping more units to South America right now. In the next

year, I would like to ship units to one or more o the ollowing nations:

China, India, or Brazil.

CPU:What has been the most ulflling aspect o the RaspberryPi and the Foundation?

EU:A trivial thingIm a real space cadet, so the guy who sentdown pictures rom 40 kilometers [above the Earth], whereyou can see the curve o the Earth and the blackness o space, that was

quite something! (Laughs.) I really enjoyed that.

In terms o actually ulflling, we get emails rom parents who have

engineering jobs, and theyre always struggling to fnd a way to talk to their

children about what it is that they do; they ail to fnd a way to get their

children interested in their job. The Pi has provided some o those people

with a way o doing that. Those are the emails that when weve had a hard

day, we look at and cheer ourselves up and keep ourselves going.



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An external sound card i sn tyour average, run-o-the-mill

peripheral. And it isnt an itemthat naturally inds its way onto everyPC enthusiasts must-have list. In act,we wouldnt exactly have to go out ona limb to say that you might never haveseen one in person.

hat being said, an add-on soundadapter can bring a number o benetsto your laptop or desktop PC. You dontnecessarily have to hate the integratedaudio built into your computer to wantto buy one, although thats certainly

a valid reason to do so. Some externalaudio cards go above and beyond, with

practical, useul eatures that can makeyour headset time more enjoyable.he t eSPORS BAHAMU

is a USB example rom hermaltake(usa.ttesports.com). It not only improvesyour PCs audio, but it also enhances yourheadset usage in a number o ways. Letsstart with the latter.

Audio At HandPeople like buttons and knobs.

Even in this age o touchscreens, when

were swiping and tapping lat suraceson our phones and tablets, theres still

something greatly reassuring about aphysical control. With onscreen controls,its occasionally hard to know whetheryou activated them or not i nothinghappens right away. In contrast, withphysical controls, you dont need to worryabout whether you touched an onscreenbutton hard enough or long enough,nor whether you accidentally mouse-clicked a ew pixels outside it, because youelt the satisying click o a real button orthe spin o a real knob.

ThermaltakeTt eSPORTS BAHAMUTThe Missing (Audio) Link

Extra headphone cord

length, easy volume

and mute control, and

DTS Surround SoundHeadphone Technology

audio processing are on

the BAHAMUTs CV.

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Its a similar deal whenyoure representing your groupat a LAN party, lying on a

hotel bed watching a movieon your laptop, or holedup in your gaming cave orsome online squad action.You dont want to have toumble around in dim lightinglooking or the unction keythat adjusts the volume. Andyou dont want to exit to theDesktop to adjust the soundsettings onscreen.

Te BAHAMUs Battle-Dragon wheel makes it easyto crank the volume whenyou need to and turn it backdown when you dont. RedLED indicators give you cleareedback o your currentvolume level, so you donthave to rely on the eel o anindentation on the knob inthe dark.

Also glowing scarlet are theicons on the mute buttons orthe microphone and headphones. hey

have separate controls to give you moreexibility with the audio coming in andgoing out. For example, at certain times,such as when youre eating a crunchysnack, you may want to shut o yourmicrophone while still being able to useyour headphones to listen to whats goingon in-game.

A Longer LeashNone o us really likes to have a cable

dangling rom our headphones. Probably

the number-one killer o a wired headsetis an accidental yank o the cord. Yawn,stretch, and drop your arms to your sidejus t rightyank. Alternatively, theresour patented move o standing up andwalking away rom the desk, orgettingthat were still wearing our phonesuntilyankwere suddenly not wearingthem anymore. Cabled headphones areinexpensive, and they come in every style,but most o us tend to begrudginglytolerate the cord as a necessary evil.

On the ip side o the coin, wireless

headsets have their pros and cons, too.Higher prices, smaller selection, andbattery lie are among them. Also, sometechnologies are prone to intererenceand/or connection hassles. You mighteven need to connect a dongle or otherdevice to your computer in order totransmit a signalnot a big deal, but itsjust one more thing to remember to bringalong (and not lose).

Tus, wired headphones arelikely to remain the dominantorm o critter attached to

our craniums in the uture.hat being the case, its aspot o good news that theBAHAMU can make usingtraditional headsets a littleeasier. With the additionallength o its USB cable, orinstance, youll have moreroom to move when yourewearing your headphones.

Onscreen ControlAno t he r p e rk o th e

BAHAMU invo lve s i t scompanion sotware. heapplication lets you set customaudio equalization settingsor particular environmentsand uses.

For example, hermaltakesays, you can create an EQsetting that will emphasizevocal requencies, so you cancatch the dialogue a little more

easily when youre watching a movie. And

in a gaming scenario, you can punch upthe bass o weapons and explosions, whileadding acoustic eects to make gameenvironments that much more realistic.

Clear SoundPart o the BAHAMUs allure is

its pure, strong audio. Although a ewupper-tier laptops and PC mainboardscome with decent integrated audio, most

In a dark situation, such as a movie session or a LAN party,

youll appreciate the BAHAMUTs lighted controls.

Interface USB

Channels 5.1

Formats DTS Surround Sound Headphone Technology

Controls Volume knob, mute

Connectors Speakers (3.5mm analog stereo), microphone

Audio Specs 44.1/48KHz sampling, 8/16-bit DAC channels

Compatibility Win7/Vista/XP, Mac OS X

Thermaltake Tt eSPORTS BAHAMUT Specifcations



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decidedly dont. Te BAHAMU can addgreat sound to any system.

Its easy to get used to the way audio

sounds on your computer, just as youcan enjoy a avorite song playing on anFM radio station in your car. But onceyou hear your games and media throughan advanced sound card such as theBAHAMU, its like moving rom yourcar radio to a high-quality audio ileplayed on a component stereo system.

Once you hear the dierence, youwont want to go back to your PCsintegrated audio. With the BAHAMU,youll hear instruments and musicaldetails you didnt notice beore. In

games and movies, ambient soundcues can be more noticeable, moreully immersing you in the ictional

environment.hermaltake a l so endowed theBAHAMU with DS SurroundSound Headphone echnology. hisexpands the soundscape youll hear inyour headset, making it seem as thoughits two drivers have multiplied intodiscrete surround speakers. With DSenabled, the BAHAMU can moreaccurately clue you in when someone(or something) is on the approach in agame or the cavalrys coming to save theday in a movie.

Beyond GamingDont be ooled into thinking that

because the BAHAMU is rom

hermaltake, its solely an accessoryor PC gaming and the like. I youoten make Internet cal ls, such asthrough Skype, or instance, youllind the intuitive volume knob andmute buttons indispensable. A customEQ sett ing can al so he lp c lar i y voice communications.

Wh ats more, yo u can use theBAHAMU or powered speakers, too.Its stereo output can be expanded throughDS to sound uller and richer or a moreexciting experience.

The BAHAMUT

plugs into a USB

port on your PC, and

it accepts 3.5mmheadphone and

microphone jacks.

CPU / March 2013 33


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include USB, FireWire, AA, and ocourse, PCI.

The AGP StopgapPCIs shared bandwidth problem also

contributed to the rise o AGP, or the

Back in 2003, electronics engineersemployed at standards bodies and

device manuacturers such as Intel, Dell,HP, and IBM set out to address theneed to improve on the PCI (PeripheralComponent Interconnect) interace orinternal computer components. oward theend o its lie, PCI bandwidth was reachingits theoretical limits, but applications thatrequired more were only just gaining inpopularity. When the standard came intobeing in the mid-90s, there wasnt a wholelot o streaming audio and on-demandvideo available or consumption, but bythe end o its liespan nearly a decadelater, those applications were just on the

horizon, and they demanded real-timeperormance rom servers and computersthat PCI could not handle in its end-o-lieincarnation. PCI was built or computersand servers, but ended up being used inmobile, communications, and embeddedapplications, as well, making it one o themost lexible interaces ever created.

The PCs Split Personalityraditionally, a computers components

have been grouped into two distinct

hubs. Te rst is the CPU and memorysubsystem and on the second is the I/Ohub, which handles everything else, suchas graphics (though this component isalso very memory-bound, but well getto that later), peripherals, storage devices,and other internal components. heCPU and memory subsystems changerapidly, generally keeping step withMoores Law, whereas the I/O hub is amuch less volatile environment. Tis parto the computer is the bread and butter

o the consumer electronics industry.Key considerations or the interaces onthis side o the PC include backwardcompatibility, low power, a highly scalablearchitecture, and support or a varietyo orm actors. Protocols on this hub

State-O-The-ArtStandardsPCI Express

The two notches in this 32-bit PCI

card indicate that it can be used in

either a 3.3V or 5V PCI slot.

The AGP (Accelerated Graphics

Port) standard gave graphics cards

a signifcant boost in bandwidth

compared to PCI.



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Accelerated Graphics Port, also developedby Intel. Like the proposed PCIe, AGPwas a point-to-point connection that was

dedicated to the graphics subsystem. PCI-based graphics cards were required to copytextures rom system memory to the graphicscards memory. AGP-based graphics cards, onthe other hand, are able to set aside a portiono system memory or storing textures,eliminating the copy step that slowed PCI-based cards. With AGPs benets becomingredundant as o PCIes debut, the dedicatedgraphics interace didnt last long past thenewer specications launch.

During its initial decade, PCI sawseveral incremental improvements. heoriginal spec was or a 32-bit bus thatoperated at 5 volts and 33MHz. Later,the PCI-SIG (PCI Special InterestGroup) added a 66MHz 3.3V standard,a double-wide 64-bit bus, and a 133MHzPCI-X extension, the latter two o whicheventually became popular in servers.

The Parallel/Serial SeesawPCI uses a parallel bus interace in which

every device connected to the PCI host sharesthe same address, data, and control lines.

Due to its architecture, a PCI host can onlyallow the transer o data to occur or a singlemaster at a time and in just one direction.PCIs clocking scheme also limits the overallbandwidth to the speed o the slowestconnected component. I you run legacycomponents (as many businesses tend to),this largely nullies the PCI specicationsincremental updates. he PCI host on agiven system is also limited to ve devices.

Prior to AGP, you could easily max out asystem by installing a PCI-based graphicscard, wired NIC, wireless NIC, sound card,and an auxiliary storage controller.

Early computing relied heavily on serialconnections that transmitted data over asingle wire in packets. Advantages includedthe ability to send data over a single wire,and dedicated pins and wires could allowbi-directional communication to take place.Serial connections were reliable, but notast enough to keep up with computings

accelerating demands. Serial connectionseventually gave way to para

Documents

Computer Power User 2013-03