Monthly Archives: October 2010

Sonic Platinum SLI Giveaway

Palit's GTX 460 Sonic Platinum

If you’re in the market for a shiny new set of GTX 460s but don’t have any cash at hand, Palit (makers of Nvidia graphics cards) are giving away 2 of their Sonic Platinum GTX 460s to the lucky winner of their latest competition – with a 2nd and 3rd prize of a GTS 450 and GT 430 respectively. All you need to do to enter is follow them on Facebook, and enter the words “Palit Give Back” in the right place.

Palit’s Sonic Platinum GTX 460 comes with an overclock of 800MHz on the core, with a slight increase in the memory too. It has won over of more than a few hearts in the reviewer community, especially in SLI mode.

Entrants must live in the U.S. or Canada …grrrrr! The competition ends on November 26th.

Full details here.

WoW Cataclysm digital presale open now

World of Warcraft Cataclysm Deathwing

If you’re one of those WoW players that just has to be among the first in when the new expansion goes live, Blizzard’s digital presale seems to be the best option. Blizzard are currently splashing the presale on the launcher for the game and I have to say this is the option I’ll be using to buy.

Basically you pay for the game now and log into your account once so you’re registered as eligible to play Cataclysm and the content starts to download. Then, at 00.01 am on the 7th of December, you can log in and be among the first to experience the expac. The benefits to an achievement junkie like me are obvious – the faster you can get in and get levelling the more chance you have of getting realm-first achievements.

The digital version of the expansion will set you back €34.99/$39.99 and unfortunately doesn’t include a special edition.

Check it out here (EU) and here (US).

For those who prefer to have a physical retail copy, Amazon are offering release date delivery of the game for 99 cents.

Interestingly, the Collector’s Edition of Cataclysm has already sold out on Amazon months ahead of release, but can still be had from Gamestop. The Collector’s Edition includes a special ingame pet among lots of other goodies.

ASUS GeForce GT 430 Overclocking Performance

Benchmark Reviews tests the overclocking performance on the ASUS ENGT430 video card

Change comes quickly when it comes to computers. Anyone with a computer a year or two old can tell you that. The last year has been all about DX11. Microsoft DirectX-11 has made video games for the PC look the best they ever have. For a while, there was quite a lull between video card capability and software to take advantage of it. It seemed like even the 2nd or 3rd best cards could play all the games at the highest settings. DX11 was certainly a game-changer. But DX11 has been around for a while now in computer age. The chipset manufacturers are chasing down a new squirrel now.

3D is starting to show up everywhere. It’s not just for the movies anymore. 3D TVs with 3D Blu-Ray players and their 3D glasses can be found at almost any electronics store. 120 Hz computer monitors capable of 3D playback can be paired with more than a couple of manufacturers glasses and software to play 3D games. But 3D isn’t just for games and movies anymore. YouTube offers a 3D site now, and other major video sites will soon follow suit. NVIDIA has started a site where users can upload their own 3D videos and pictures. 3D media is coming on strong, and the major players in the video card market are banking on it.

This is a guest article written by our content partners at Benchmarkreviews.com

Read on @ Benchmark Reviews

Overclocking the MSI N460 GTX Cyclone

Despite all my inner voices trying to persuade me this was a bad idea and I didn’t need to do it, I ended up venturing into overclocking for the first time. After reading up on how well these cards overclock and how easy the software makes it these days, that coupled with the fact that I can practically cool beers in my Cooler Master HAF 932 full-tower case, I figured I’d give it a shot. I wasn’t prepared for how easy it was to get this card stable at the overclock I attained.

Another reason to pair this card with the HAF 932 is the lack of a shroud on the Cyclone 460 leaves it open to all the incidental air flow coming from the gargantuan case fans.

The default specs for Nvidia’s GTX 460 are 675MHz on the core, 1350MHz on the shader clock and 3600MHz (effective) for the 1Gb of GDDR 5 VRAM. The MSI Cyclone comes with a small overclock, giving you a bump of 50Mhz on the core. With a little voltage increase I was able to bring the core to 925MHz, shader clock 1850MHz and 4200MHz (effective) for the VRAM.

This overclock, that more than past my expectations is completely stable under Furmark, Unigine’s Heaven benchmark, 3Dmark Vantage and Metro’s own benchmark tool. I have also stressed it with hours of gaming and it hasn’t crashed once. I got the core up to 950MHz at one stage but the drivers crashed on some of the test benchmarks so I settled on 900MHz.

I must also stress that even with this aggressive overclock in place, the card idles around 26 degrees while on the desktop, and even after a few hours in game it never goes over 52 degrees. Even after stressing it under benchmarking suites like Heaven and 3DMark Vantage the core temps never exceed 52 degrees.

If you want to know how well this card performs with the overclock (and without) then keep reading.

Test system:

CPU: Intel Core i7 950
Mobo: Asus P6X58D-E
GPU: MSI N460 GTX Cyclone
RAM: Corsair Dominator 3x2GB 1600MHz
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 6GB/S
PSU: Cooler Master Silent Pro M850

My overclock:

Drivers used for the benchmarks are the very latest from Nvidia, released only 3 days ago (260.99). The operating system is Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.

Metro 2033:

An average of 52 fps on High settings, tessellation enabled

THQ’s Metro 2033 makes formidable demands on today’s PC hardware, more so than probably any game released in 2010. This first-person shooter follows the story of Artyom, a young Russian male with a band of survivors living in an underground Metro station in Russia, after a Nuclear war. Humanity’s very existence is under threat by a new breed of predator.

The game comes with its own built-in benchmark tool so that’s what I used. With the graphics settings on very high and a resolution of 1920×1080 and tessellation enabled, it was a bit too much for the mid-range card. But just knocking the settings down to high made all the difference in the world. With settings on high and tessellation enabled I was able to achieve very fluid game-play.

As you can see from the graph above, the card with its overclock in place managed an average of 52 frames per second. Remember that’s with settings on high at a resolution of 1920×1080, with tessellation enabled and advanced physX disabled.

Enabling advanced physX doesn’t hamper the performance all that much, I was surprised to find. A very acceptable average frame-rate of 48fps is what I got in the benchmarks after re-running the test with physX.

To give you an idea of how much the card benefits from the overclock, 10 frames per second are lost on the benchmark when running the Cyclone 460 at the default settings.

Unigine Heaven:

Overclocking the Cyclone 460 gave a performace increase of 12 fps in Heaven

The overclocked card breezed through Unigine’s Heaven benchmark at a resolution of 1920 x 1080, with tessellation normal, shaders high, anisotropy x 4 with no AA. To give you an idea of fps gained, without the overclock in place I lost 12 frames-per-second in Unigine’s Heaven.

3DMark Vantage:

The overclocked Cyclone is within a stone-throw away from the GTX 480

21,137 is a pretty impressive score for the mid-range GTX 460. I chose performance mode with all the default options left alone, and a resolution of 1280 x 1024. With this overclock in place the Cyclone GTX 460′s performance is easily on par with the more expensive, hotter and louder GTX 470.

It still can’t touch the GTX 480 but it costs less than half the price of Nvidia’s current high-end GPU. When I add another MSI Cyclone to the mix for an SLI configuration, I have no doubt they will absolutely smoke the GTX 480, given how well these cards scale in an SLI configuration.

Without the overclock, 3DMark Vantage score was 18,728.

Conclusion:

Well what can I say, this card cost me less than 200 euro and it can easily handle Metro 2033 on high at HD resolutions. With the overclock in place an average of 10 frames per second is achieved in games, putting it right up there with the performance muscle of the GTX 470. If you have good air-flow in your case, MSI’s Cyclone edition of the GTX 460 will benefit from the air flow in your case, as it is an open design with no shroud. Even with an overclock so aggressive the card stays cool and never goes above 52 degrees while in game.

I cannot recommend this card enough. It can handle any game out there right now with ease. And given the fact that the GTX 460s have already come down in price, adding another card to the mixture at some point in the future will send your system into overdrive. If only 1 of these cards performs this well, I look forward to revisiting the benchmark suites with a second 460 in SLI.

If you’re in the U.K. you can snag the Cyclone for as low as 164.99 Pounds Sterling. For those in the U.S. Amazon.com have them listed for under $200.

AlienBEware Episode V: The Wallet Strikes Back

If you only knew the power of a custom-built gaming PC!

Back in August I set out to build a decent PC gaming rig without breaking the bank. I wanted to show how much money can be saved when purchasing all the parts separately and assembling it yourself. For the price comparison I chose Alienware as they are pretty well-known for making high-end gaming PCs and Notebooks but with a hefty price-tag.

Since the PC is now built, I figured I’d follow the last post up with some performance benchmarks and updates on the changes made (notably the price). It has pretty much remained the same apart from the graphics card and a few minor changes. But the few minor changes have saved even more money. All the parts arrived about 2 weeks ago and I have found the time to put it together and run some benchmarks. So if you’re interested in building your own rig, read on if you want to see the kind of performance that can be attained on this budget.

The previous build came to a total of 1,534.79 Pounds Sterling, with Alienware costing almost double for practically identical specs. My slight hardware revision shaves even more off that price and weighs in at a more pocket-friendly 1,251 Pounds Sterling. That equates to $1,970.67 USD, but these parts are much cheaper in the U.S. as opposed to here in Europe so it would be even less expensive than that for my Yankee comrades.

Parts:

Processor: Intel i7 950 Quad Core Intel Core i7 950

This is a great Quad-core processor with Hyper-threading. All cores run at 3.06GHz but individual cores can be bumped up in speed when applications don’t make use of all the cores. It has come down in price literally by 50% in the past few months, so as I was going i7 anyway, this was a no-brainer for me. Plus if you’re into overclocking the CPU, I’ve seen people reach 4GHz with ease (with a decent air/water-cooler).

Graphics card: MSI Cyclone GTX 460 1GB

I can’t begin to praise this card enough. It cost me under 200 Euro; it runs silent, even while in game and has more than enough beef to handle any game I’ve thrown at it so far. The desktop temps are in the mid 20s and when I get out of a long stint of gaming, the card never gets hotter than 44 degrees. Plus this little mid-ranger is a Herculean overclocker, but more on that later.

The original build included an ATI 5970 but for one 22″ monitor that was a little overkill in retrospect.

Motherboard: Asus P6X58D-E

This board is basically the same as the Premium variant but with a few minor features missing. It’s the perfect budget-board for anyone interested in building an X58 system. It supports 3-way SLI and Quad-CrossfireX and has support for USB 3.0 and SATA 6GB/s, with all the usual ASUS features you would expect. Obviously it can house any Intel i7 processor, including the 6-core Gulftown.

System RAM: Corsair Dominator 3 x 2GB Corsair Dominator 1600MHz 3 x 2GB

This RAM performs very well. Although I had to adjust the frequency in the BIOS settings in order for the Corsair Dominator to run at its native speed of 1,600MHz. But that was painless and literally took seconds.

Power supply: Cooler Master Silent Pro M850

I went with the Cooler Master Silent Pro because it has an 80 Plus Bronze rating and got rave reviews pretty much across the board. It is extremely quiet (as the name
Cooler Master Silent Pro m850 would imply), comes with a 5 year warranty and has ample power to feed my rig, even when I add another graphics card sometime down the line.

Modular PSU ftw!

PC case: Cooler Master HAF 932

The Cooler Master HAF 932 is one of the main stars of this build, and is a shining beacon of engineering prowess. I cannot heap enough praise and when you look at the Amazon page, you’ll see others sharing in my enthusiasm. The case’s aesthetics are first and foremost what drew me in. It looks like something you’d find in Darth Vader’s chamber in The Empire Strikes Back. It’s black all around with some red LED lights on the front intake fan.

The case sports 3 x 230mm case fans; one that blows from the side door right over the graphics card and processor, the other sucking air from the front and one more venting heat out the roof of the case. There is also a smaller fan at the rear, sucking hot air out the back. I could literally cool beers inside this case, it’s pretty amazing. If you’re looking for something that will give you ample room to
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB (6GB/s) work in, have plenty of cable management holes, great air flow and killer looks, than I highly recommend the HAF 932 full-tower case from Cooler Master.

Hard drive: 640 GB Western Digital Caviar Black 6GB/s

I know a lot of you recommended an SSD, some were horrified that I would dare put a mechanical hard drive into a new gaming rig. But unfortunately price-per-gigabyte, I cannot justify spending money on these things just yet. I’m happy to see that the prices are coming down all the time, and I will add one in at a later stage, probably around the same time I pick up another GTX 460. For now though, the Caviar Black is a decent hard drive, very cheap and serves its purpose well. It’s limited to 7,200 RPM but I can live with that until SSDs come down a title more.

Mouse: Sidewinder X3
Microsoft Sidewinder X3 I really like this mouse. I’ve always said that Microsoft make great mice, that last. This mouse feels like it was custom-made for my own hand. I can game for yours with no cramp or wrist pain to speak of. The only thing I would complain about is the buttons on the side are a little far to the front of the mouse. But other than it’s a cool little mouse and pretty darn cheap.

Keyboard: Sidewinder x4

Microsoft SideWinder X4 I’ve been using laptop keyboards for damn near 8 years now so it was a little bit of a transition to get back into PC keyboards again, but once I got past that hurdle, this is one comfortable keyboard with a wrist-rest at the base. It has all the usual features from a gaming keyboard; like the ability to assign macros to certain keys, and the likes of volume control, play, stop, etc. Very good price. Plus the keys light up in red, which matches the LEDs at the front of the case..’nuff said!

Monitor: 22″ LG E2240T LED LG Flatron E2240

This is one sweet little monitor, with a crisp clear image. Compared to the laptop I have been using for the past few years, this monitor is like sweeping the cobwebs from my eyes and getting a cornea upgrade. For the price, wow.

Continue reading →

MS offering free hard drive with Win 7 Pro upgrade

Seagate FreeAgent Go Portable 500 GB Hard Drive (Black) Microsoft have a couple of late October deals at the Microsoft Store if you need to buy Windows 7.

First off they’re offering a 500 GB Seagate FreeAgent Go portable hard drive when you buy Windows 7 Professional upgrade. The hard drive costs $109 if you buy it on its own. The offer is valid while supplies last, check it out here.

They’re also offering $150 off a new PC when you buy a Win 7 Home Premium Family Pack. The range of PC’s this offer applies to is fairly large, and covers the price range of about $400-$2000. This offer is also valid while supplies last, check out the range of PCs here.

Are games getting easier?

Medal of Honour: 4/5 hours of a single player campaign!?!

I can’t help feel that this generation of games for both consoles and PCs are getting increasingly dumbed down and easier to complete. There’s no challenge in today’s games, most of which can be completed on the day of purchase. Triple A titles such as Halo, Modern Warfare 2 are the worst of the lot. The whole reason for this article is Medal of Honor, this can be completed within hours of purchase. Where’s the fun in that?

You, the player, spend on average €60 or $60, depending on which side of the pond you are on, for 4/5 hours of a single player campaign!?! That seems a lot of money for 4/5 hrs entertainment, just imagine if you were asked to pay that at a cinema the next time a big movie came out? You would rightly be shocked.

A lot of people will argue that with all the games mentioned above; that they have excellent multiplayer modes, which keep you gaming long after the single player is over and done with. That would be a very fair point, but what if you don’t like multiplayer, and you buy the game just for the story mode!?

New Super Mario Bros. Wii: The option to try the level again, or skip it completely! Are you kidding me?

I love Halo, but I’ve never really played the multiplayer aspect of the games. I kept coming back for more because I wanted to know more about Master Chief and the Halo universe. The latest Mario Bros on the Wii has a mode in it called Super Guide, if a player fails a course eight times in a row; a green block appears, allowing a computer-controlled Luigi to show the player a safe path through the level. The player may interrupt the guide at anytime and take control. After Luigi completes it, the player has the option to try the level again, or skip it completely!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me?

I remember when I got my first console, a shiny grey NES with Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt, it had one Joy-pad and the Nintendo light gun. The original Mario Bros game took me months to complete – MONTHS not hours and when I did it was like winning a gold medal. It was something to be shouted from the roof tops. You went to school the next day and it was something to make your friends jealous, who knows how that works in the school yard nowadays, “So Jonney have you beaten CoD MW2 yet?” “Yeah man I beat it in 3 hrs, you?” “Nah it took me 4hrs I got stuck at the end”.

Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time: I spent weeks playing this game.

The sense of achievement I got when I finished the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, to this very day was immense. I remember sitting in front of my TV, palms sweaty, hands trembling, heart racing – my friend Dave and I had spent weeks playing the game taking turns at dungeons and boss fights and when we finally finished it we both felt elated, we were truly overjoyed – we’d done it! Woo hoo.

In school the next day, friends were amazed, bombarding us with questions…. asking us how did we do it (ah, a time before YouTube videos ;) ). I didn’t need a gold pop up saying [congratulations game complete] to feel achievement! It was the same with the original Zelda, Sonic Mega Man any triple A game from the early 90’s to late 90’s – they were hard games to finish. I would even say that this ran up until the Xbox, PS2 and N64 days and then it all went to hell in a hand basket.

Tiger Woods I’m an avid PC gamer now and I always laugh when I hear people saying “I’d love to try out Team Fortress 2 but it’s too hardcore I’ll get my ass handed to me”. When did this happen? When you start anything in life it’s hard but you try to get better and in time you improve; that’s the way I thought it worked.

Imagine if Tiger Woods just gave up the first time he swung a golf club because he didn’t get a hole in one? What if Michael Jordan gave up because he couldn’t dunk straight away? Both Golf and Basketball are games just like any other game, you play because it’s fun and in time you learn to play better and improve. There are games out at the moment that do take skill and time to finish: Mass Effect, Fallout 3, Half Life 2 and Dragon Age Origins are just a few off the top of my head. I’m sure if you are reading this you could name many more but they are few and far between

Did this trend start with the whole Xbox points/PSN trophies? Are developers afraid that if a game is too hard that gamers will just give up and move onto the next new shiny game? It seems a bigger priority to make games look like a Hollywood blockbuster and have loads of great trailers and hype than gameplay. I’m not saying that all new games must be infuriatingly hard to complete just make them fun and challenging (i.e.) last more than a day. Think about it this way, the first DOOM was in its day a great shooter but how much did Half Life change the way FPS games are played, they are both FPS games but Half Life added story and puzzle solving which created more to challenge the player than just mindless shooting. Who knows I may be 100% wrong here, maybe the whole Internet feels differently, this is just what I feel after playing most modern games.

McGriff – Follow McGriff on Twitter

New Nvidia WHQL drivers, 260.99

Nvidia 260.99 available for download

Yes that’s right, just when you were getting comfortable with your 260.89 WHQL drivers, released only 1 week ago.

Nvidia just announced via its Twitter page the release of driver version 260.99. This new release brings with it performance gains in a few choice titles like: Civilization V, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, and Fallout: New Vegas. There’s also an upgrade to 3D Vision game profiles for Call of Duty: Black Ops and Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. 2.

One nice new feature with the 260 series is in the installation menu – you are given the option to perform a “clean” install, which completely wipes your PC clean of any trace of the previous driver. No more using CC cleaner.

You can grab the new drivers here.

New game releases for the coming week Oct 25- Nov 1

This week’s new releases will include the MMO Lego: Universe, Rock Band 3 Lionhead’s Fable III, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and the arrival of The Sims 3 on Xbox 360, PS3 and DS.

PC
The Sims 3 Late Night Expansion Pack – Oct 26
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II – Oct 26
Lego: Universe – Oct 26
Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate Edition – Oct 25
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Fatal Conspiracy – Oct 26
Reload: Target Down – Oct 26

Xbox 360
Fable III – Oct 26
Fable III Limited Collector’s Edition – Oct 26
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II – Oct 26
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II Collector’s Edition – Oct 26
Rock Band 3 – Oct 26
Rock Band 3 with Wireless Keyboard – Oct 26
WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011 – Oct 26
The Sims 3 – Oct 26
Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate Edition – Oct 25
Hasbro Family Game Night 3 – Oct 25
Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2011 – Oct 26
Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2011 with Top Shot Elite – Oct 26
Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete – Oct 26
CSI: Fatal Conspiracy – Oct 26
Tony Hawk: Shred – Oct 26
Tony Hawk: Shred Board Bundle – Oct 26
Backyard Sports Football: Rookie Rush – Oct 26

PS3
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II – Oct 26
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II Collector’s Edition – Oct 26
Rock Band 3 – Oct 26
WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011 – Oct 26
The Sims 3 – Oct 26
Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate Edition – Oct 25
Hasbro Family Game Night 3 – Oct 25
Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2011 – Oct 26
Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2011 with Top Shot Elite – Oct 26
Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete – Oct 26
CSI: Fatal Conspiracy – Oct 26
Monopoly Streets – Oct 25
Tony Hawk: Shred – Oct 26
Tony Hawk: Shred Board Bundle – Oct 26

Wii
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II – Oct 26
Rock Band 3 – Oct 26
Rock Band 3 with Wireless Keyboard – Oct 26
WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011 – Oct 26
Hasbro Family Game Night 3 – Oct 26
Tony Hawk: Shred – Oct 26
Tony Hawk: Shred Board Bundle – Oct 26
Monopoly Streets – Oct 25
Monopoly Streets – Oct 25
Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2011 with Top Shot Elite – Oct 26
The Amazing Race – Oct 26
Mathews Bowhunting w/ Bow Bundle – Oct 26
Reload: Target Down – Oct 26
Disney Channel All Star Party – Oct 26
Nerf N-Strike Double: Blast Bundle – Oct 26
Backyard Sports Football: Rookie Rush – Oct 26
Deca Sports 3 – Oct 26
Family Party: 90 Great Games Party Pack – Oct 26
Dora the Explorer: Dora’s Big Birthday Adventure – Oct 26
Camaro Wild Ride – Oct 30

Nintendo DS
The Sims 3 – Oct 26
Art Academy – Oct 25
Monopoly – Oct 25
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II – Oct 26
Kung Zhu – Oct 27
Backyard Sports Football: Rookie Rush – Oct 26
Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2011 – Oct 26
Mega Bloks Diego’s Build and Rescue – Oct 26
Rock Band 3 – Oct 26
Dora the Explorer: Dora’s Cooking Club – Oct 26
Petz Cats Playground – Oct 26
Deal or No Deal Special Edition with Case – Oct 26

PSP
Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger Darkdeath Evilman – Oct 26
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Tag Force 5 – Oct 26
WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011 – Oct 26

AMD Radeon HD 6850 Barts Video Card

AMD Radeon HD 6850 Review

NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 460 is threatened by AMD’s Barts GPU with better performance and value.

The Radeon HD 6850 is AMD’s latest DirectX-11 video card, and uses an updated Cypress back-end to offer ‘Barts’ GPU architecture. Built to deliver improved performance to the value-hungry mainstream gaming market, the $200 AMD Radeon HD 6850 and $250 Radeon HD 6870 video cards supplement their 5800-series counterparts. The most notable new feature is Bart’s 3rd-generation Unified Video Decoder with added support for DisplayPort 2.1a. AMD’s UVD3 accelerates multimedia playback and transcoding, while introducing AMD HD3D stereoscopic technology with multi-view CODEC (MVC) support for playing 3D Blu-ray over HDMI 1.4a.

In this article Benchmark Reviews tests the AMD Radeon HD 6850 video card, a DirectX-11 graphics solution that competes at the $200 price point with the 768MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 video card and the Radeon HD 5770 to a lesser extent. Graphical frame rate performance is tested using the most demanding PC video game titles and benchmark software available. DirectX-10 favorites such as Crysis Warhead, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and PCMark Vantage are all included, in addition to DX11 titles such as Aliens vs Predator, BattleForge, Lost Planet 2, Mafia II, Metro 2033, and the Unigine Heaven 2.1 benchmark.

This is a guest article written by our content partners at Benchmarkreviews.com

Read on @ Benchmark Reviews

AMD’s 6000 series arrive, Amazon taking pre-orders

It has been a long wait but AMD’s 6000 series are finally here. Despite earlier confusion these first batch of cards (the 6850 and the 6870) are mid-range GPUs. They are here to replace the 5700 series and the lower-end 5800 series. We don’t know yet when exactly the high-end 6900 series cards will be released but rumour has it that November is when AMD will be rolling them out. We’ll have to wait and see at this point.

Reviews thus far for the the new mid-range cards are pretty good. It looks like the GTX 460 will have some competition from the 6870. It’s really too early to be overly judgmental as new drivers will surely be released for these cards. Initial benchmarks should be treated with a grain of salt.

Sapphire’s version of the 6870 is currently available on Overclockers.co.uk for 204 Sterling. Amazon have them ready for pre-order at a cost of $293.44.

Late October codes and deals from Gamestop

Gamestop have released another batch of promo codes and deals for late October:

15% off + Free shipping on any in-stock game $29.99 or more. Use code 15SHIP. Expires 10.31.2010.
Buy a Nintendo DSi XL and get a free game at GameStop.com. Use code XLGAME. See site for details. Expires 10.31.2010.
Save 15% off all in-stock PC games at GameStop.com. Use Code 15PC. Offer ends 10.31.2010.
Purchase any in-stock game $59.99 or more and get 25% off any game $49.99 or more. Use code 25POFF. Offer expires 10.31.2010.
Free 2 day shipping on uDraw from GameStop.com Use code UDRAW2. Offer expires 10.31.10.
Two Games for the Price of One! Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii, PS2,PSP,DS Game Bundles Starting at $19.99
A New Deal Every Day for the Xbox 360,PS3,Wii,DS,PSP,and more at Gamestop.com

Related:
Latest games releases

EVGA GeForce GTS 450 FTW Video Card

EVGA GTS 450

With the launch of AMD’s next generation of graphics cards looming, most everyone’s eyes are on the upcoming HD 6000 series. Today, however, we turn our attention to the NVIDIA camp. While it’s still unclear what NVIDIA is preparing in response to this new generation, it’s worth pointing out the GTS 450 is just barely a month old. As we witnessed in our last GTS 450 review, the overclocked variants can easily keep up with the HD 5770 and will still have a role to play in the mainstream segment for the foreseeable future. In this article, Benchmark Reviews looks at EVGA’s fastest GTS 450: the GTS 450 FTW.

The For-the-Win edition represents EVGA’s highest factory overclock, surpassing their Superclocked and Super-Superclocked models. It comes in at 920/1840 MHz for the core and shader clocks, and 4104MHz for the 1 GB of GDDR5 memory. This is comparable, and a bit faster when in terms of memory speed, to the ASUS ENGTS450 TOP that we looked at last month. Considering both cards represent the highest overclock for their respective companies, it’s not surprising the clock speeds are so similar. Unlike the ASUS card, though, EVGA opted for the reference design.

This is a guest article written by our content partners at Benchmarkreviews.com

Read on @ Benchmark Reviews

Futurmark release teaser trailer of 3DMark 11

Over on the official Futurmark Youtube page, the company that brought us 3Dmark Vantage has released a very short trailer of their upcoming Directx 11 benchmark suite. Most people are familiar with 3DMark Vantage as the gamer benchmark of choice to test your PC’s gaming capabilities. 3DMark Vantage however, is limited to Directx 10. With more and more dx11 titles coming out soon or in the works, Fururmark are in the process of developing new software to take advantage of the new features of dx11, such as hardware tessellation.

There is no concrete date of release just yet. The video says “coming in 2010″ just like their previous clip. Here’s hoping there won’t be a delay until next year, given the fact that we’re fast approaching November.

Resonance of Fate 55% off, today only

Amazon are listing SEGA’s Resonance of Fate for the PS3 and Xbox 360 at 55% off the normal price as their video games deal of the day.

Ordinarily the game lists for $55.99 on both consoles but for today only they’re $26.99, a nice saving of $33.

I haven’t played the game personally, but the customer reviews on Amazon are good: 4½/5 stars average for the PS3 version and 4/5 stars for the Xbox 360 version.

Check out the deal at the links below.
Resonance of Fate for PS3
Resonance of Fate for Xbox 360

Starcraft II keyboard, mouse and headset ready for preorder

Starcraft 2 Razer Peripherals Razer’s line of Starcraft II hardware is now ready for preorders. The keyboard, mouse and headset are custom designed for Blizzard’s hit RTS and each features a built-in actions per minute system that monitors your speed and provides instant feedback on your in-game performance.

Essentially the gear lights different colours depending on the situation as you play Starcraft II. an example Razer give on their website shows the Banshee Mouse with green lighting in a low APM situation like building your economy, and red for situations like multiple fights requiring higher APM.

You can also set up the hardware to your liking by changing colors, setting your own APM range and you can even set game conditions to flash a number of times in a colour of your choice.

The peripherals are set to ship in November and are priced at $119.99 for the headset and keyboard, and the mouse at $79.99.

Razer Starcraft II Gaming Peripherals

MS line up celebrity guests for Kinect/Facebook promo

Xbox 360 Kinect Sensor packaging

We’ve heard already that Microsoft have a cool half a billion dollars set aside for the promo campaign for the Xbox Kinect. Facebook is one area they’re spending the ad money and have set up 14 days of ‘celebrity guest moderators’ leading up to the launch. The promo kicks off today with Xbox Live’s Major Nelson answering questions about the device and continues tomorrow with Summer Sanders. The other celebrities have yet to be revealed.

Major Nelson’s appearance is set for today (Oct 21) at 9AM PST.

The plan is then for a celebrity moderator to appear on the Facebook page every day for the 2 weeks leading up to the launch.

To join the event, sign up here. Microsoft promise prizes and unnamed surprises during the two weeks.The Xboxforall page is also worth following for the latest updates.

The Kinect is set to launch on November the 4th in North America and other regions throughout the month. The standalone Kinect bundled with the game Kinect Adventures is priced at $149.99, while an Xbox360+Kinect bundle costs $399.99 or $299.99 for 250GB or 4GB hard drive. Microsoft have also announced 17 games will be available from launch.

Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse Review

MS Arc Touch Mouse

Believe it or not, Microsoft has been creating hardware devices for over 25 years. They are no stranger to devices with both form and function. Very recently, Microsoft Hardware Division has created the new Arc Touch wireless mouse that falls in line with such products as the previously reviewed Arc Keyboard. Benchmark Reviews has been given the opportunity to check out Microsoft’s Arc Touch Wireless Mouse. With such features as a scroll-wheel replacing touch-strip, 2.4ghz wireless technology, and an ambidextrous design, this looks to be a very promising device. There are plenty of wireless mice out on the market already, does Microsoft have what it takes to be competitive in this saturated market? Read the full review of the Microsoft Arch Touch on Benchmark Reviews to find out.

Wireless mice are nothing new to the world, nor are they new to Microsoft. For as long as I can remember, Microsoft have been making wireless mice and trying to improve on functionality, performance, and design. With the Arc Touch, Microsoft strives to take good technology and make it look good. Some of my biggest pet peeves with wireless mice are battery life and range. Often you get a mouse with incredible battery life, but you can’t be more than 5 feet away from the receiver, or you get a mouse that will reach to the other side of your house, but find yourself replacing the batteries every two days. Microsoft has stated that this gets up to 6 months of battery life, and uses 2.4GHz wireless technology, so hopefully it will resolve both of those issues.

This is a guest article written by our content partners at Benchmarkreviews.com

Read on @ Benchmark Reviews

Links Round Up 19 Oct 2010: Fallout: New Vegas, Kinect Ad Tsunami

A few games links for a Tuesday evening:

Your Xbox.com is changing tomorrow – The Xbox website will get a new lick of paint
Fallout: New Vegas mega-primer – Re-familiarise yourself with the series
Fallout: New Vegas’ First DLC Will Be Xbox-Exclusive
Blizzard sues Starcraft II hackers
Namco Gets Into Facebook Gaming – Hamster Pirates!
World of Warcraft: Hallow’s End Achievement Guide – The event started a few days ago
Win Vanquish for your PS3 or Xbox 360 – SEGA’s sci-fi third-person shooter was released today. Reviews
New Command & Conquer coming – Report – If they simply remade Red Alert they’d clean up
Microsoft spending big on Kinect marketing – $500 million set aside for global ad machine
Ad Blitz for Microsoft’s Kinect May Boost Windows Phone 7
Kinect for Xbox 360 to do ‘Oprah,’ ‘Ellen’ Shows
PlayStation Move’s debut ‘modest’ in US, big in Europe – Estimates: 300,000 in US, 1.5 million in EU
FarmVille Allegedly Leaking Private Information to Ad Firms – “Transmitting personal information about a user’s friends to outside companies”
Kinect launching with 17 titles in Nov. – Harry Potter game features in the lineup
Final Fantasy 7′s Tifa to appear in PSP game – This link brought to you in association with the original One Winged Angel

Previous link round ups can be found here.

High early marks for Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout: New Vegas Collectors Edition

The early batch of reviews for the new Fallout have come in and it’s garnered an impressive collection of 85% and higher scores already.

“Just like the scorched scenery that provides its epic backdrop, New Vegas is huge and sprawling, sometimes gaudy, even downright ugly at times – but always effortlessly, shamelessly entertaining.”

Eurogamer: (9/10)

“This is one of those all-consuming games that bites deep and won’t let go, the kind that forces you to stay up an extra hour (or three) just so that you can investigate that odd-looking building on the horizon. I’ve not even touched upon New Vegas itself – a curious mix of towering buildings, gaudy florescent lights and debauchery, underscored by the threat of imminent, inevitable violence. It’s only when you finally get here that the game truly show its hand, when you realise that everything leading up to this point has effectively been elaborate scene-setting – positing you a lone individual among a myriad of opposing factions.”

Videogamer.com: (90%)

“All you have to do is listen to the post-game chatter of those that have played it and you’ll learn that, sure enough, Obsidian has created something that’s consistent yet unpredictable enough that everyone’s adventure feels like it’s something unique and worth sharing.”

The Official Xbox Magazine: (9.0)

“I was initial skeptical about New Vegas because Obsidian’s last sequel to a high-profile RPG series–Knights of the Old Republic II–was a letdown and their recently released Alpha Protocol wasn’t exactly lauded for its quality, but they did a fantastic job of giving Fallout 3 fans more of what we love, so even if New Vegas doesn’t top Fallout 3, it closely shadows it in terms of quality and depth, making it a worthy sequel in almost every way.”

Gamepro.com: (4½/5)

“The only certainty is that some bright, self-important spark is working day and night in a musty forum thread, dreaming up a new reductive phrase to denigrate Obsidian Entertainment’s new entry into the Fallout franchise in the same way they did Bethesda’s. But they were wrong then and they will be wrong now, because while New Vegas is unmistakably built upon the fundamental gameplay and structure laid out in Fallout 3, it’s a formula that any student of that game will be happy to see repeated, and Obsidian’s numerous embellishments result in what is, in many respects, a deeper and more compelling experience.”

gamesTM: (9/10)

Two major publications whose reviews weren’t glowing, but still gave respectable scores were Joystiq and PC Gamer:

“If I were looking at Fallout: New Vegas as a product, I’d say it’s shocking that it’s being released to the public in this state.

But as an experience … well, tech problems are enough to take you out of it occasionally, but not to write the whole thing off. Heck, I bet technical failures are all but an oddly endearing series hallmark for some of you; I know I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get an odd kick out of the lousy pathing. Sorry, other glitches: You’re still obnoxious.”

Joystiq: (3½/5)

“More wasteland to wander. New Vegas is good, but the failure to move the series on makes it feel a tiny bit stale.”

PC GAMER: (84%)

Overall metascore: 85%

What about you, have you played the game and does it size up compared to the previous titles? Let me know in the comments.

More links:
Official Fallout site
Buy Fallout: New Vegas with bonus on Gamestop

Fallout: New Vegas with ingame Tribal Raiding Armor and Broad Machete at Amazon
Fallout: New Vegas Collector’s Edition
Fallout New Vegas Game Guide

Catch Blizzcon 2010 online with a virtual ticket

This year’s Blizzcon kicks off in 3 days at the Anaheim Convention Center in California, but unsurprisingly enough tickets to physically go to the event are completely sold out. Anticipating this, Blizzard are offering a $29.95 ‘virtual ticket’ to the event, which is priced steeply or is a decent enough price depending on your point of view.

Blizzcon 2010 Deathy Ingame Item Included in the sale is an in game Murloc-disguised-as-Deathwing pet for World of Warcraft, and I have an inkling you might get a Feat of Strength achievement for your character from having the pet too.

If the ‘Deathy’ pet was for sale on the Blizzard Store, it would cost $10 judging by how much Blizzard charge for the others it sells.

Bundled into the cost of the virtual ticket are some un-named Starcraft II items, and I imagine a Feat of Strength achievement for that game too. I know from playing the games myself how much effort people put into getting as many Feat of Strength achievements as possible: a ‘limited edition’ one for the 2010 Blizzcon would be coveted.

You also get access to as yet un-named exclusive merch that Blizzard will be putting up for sale after the event:

Blizzard will be hosting a post-BlizzCon online merchandise sale for all Virtual Ticket and BlizzCon ticket holders. The post-BlizzCon sale will provide access to a limited quantity of BlizzCon merchandise (while supplies last) through the online Blizzard Store. The dates of this sale will be announced after BlizzCon.

For those not bothered about in game items or paying for the ticket, Blizzard will also be making limited coverage of the opening ceremony and tournaments available for free in standard-definition video. Go to the Blizzcon live stream site for either option.

As for the content of the event itself, Blizzard haven’t said what games announcements they’ll be making, but a glance at the schedule suggests some news about Diablo III, and not much about StarCraft II Heart of The Swarm.

There will be 4 stages at Blizzcon 2010: The Main Stage, Development Stage, RTS Tournament Stage and a WoW Tournament Stage. Virtual ticket holders can flick through all four with the Blizzcon viewer.

The event will be hosted by comedian Jay Mohr, and will be concluded by a show by Jack Black’s rock band, Tenacious D.

Buy a virtual ticket to Blizzcon
Blizzcon 2010 Live
Live Streaming FAQ

ECS P55H-AK Intel P55 Motherboard Review

ECS P55H-AK Intel P55-Express Motherboard

It is common knowledge that today’s Intel Core i5 and i7 series of LGA 1156 CPU’s are capable of achieving the 4GHz milestone. You should also know that to push past that milestone, and remain stable, you will need a high end motherboard designed specifically for that task. ECS EliteGroup have been around for many years but have never really been seen as an enthusiast brand. That may be about to change today, as Benchmark Reviews brings you the ECS P55H-AK Motherboard (P/N 89-206-Y66100), which is part of the Black Series offerings from ECS.

The P55H-AK is at the cutting edge of enthusiast PC technology offering support for USB 3.0 5.0Gb/s and SATA 6Gb/s at the same time as offering Tri-SLI / Tri-CrossFire @ 16/8/8. ECS has doubled up on support chips (2x Marvell SATA 6Gb/s controllers, 2x NEC USB 3.0 controllers and 2x Realtek Ethernet controllers) and has utilized a PLX PEX 8608 PCIe Gen 2 switch and an NVIDIA nForce 200 PCI-Express switch chip with an extra 32 PCIe lanes to bring support for all of these latest features on the P55 platform.

This is a guest article written by our content partners at Benchmarkreviews.com

Read on @ Benchmark Reviews

NES console celebrates 25th anniversary

25 years ago yesterday, Nintendo launched their Nintendo Entertainment System in the U.S. changing the world of home entertainment forever. What better way to celebrate the NES’s 25th birthday, than a Mario speed-round video. Man can this guy jump..

Valve steamrolls ahead with 30 million milestone

30 million, let's start new country!

It’s hard to believe (or is it?) but Valve’s games distribution software, Steam, has reached a new fever. Recent stats just released from Gabe Newell’s fortress of solitude tell us that there are now a whopping 30 million active users of Steam. As more and more gamers shy away from boxes and stores, Valve’s vision of digital distribution has been given a well-deserved confirmation.

I’ve personally been using Steam from the get-go. I’ll never forget being forced to play the original Day of Defeat on Steam, and being horrified by having to rely on Steam servers. Nobody can deny the software was a bug-fest for quite a while after its release. But over the years it has settled down and is far more reliable than it was all those years ago.

As long as they keep having their weekend deals, I’ll always be loyal to Valve. As long as they pump out magnificent games like Half Life 2, Portal, Left 4 Dead etc, I’ll be there to use and promote their software.

Congrats on a massive milestone.

During the past 12 months the platform had year-over-year new user growth of 178%, pushing the total number of active accounts to over 30 million, with over 1,200 games now offered. Peak simultaneous player numbers were also up to over three million, with over six million unique gamers accessing Steam each day.

In addition to new user growth, Steam sales during the trailing 12 months increased by more than 200%, putting it on track for a sixth straight year of realizing over 100% year-over-year growth in unit sales. To meet this demand, the Steam infrastructure has been increased and now has ability to run at 400Gps, enough bandwidth to ship a digitized version of the Oxford English Dictionary 92.6 times per second.

Valve press release.

Nvidia release WHQL 260 drivers

Nvidia have announced the WHQL release of their new 260 series of graphics drivers. After 2 betas the drivers are finally stable enough to be Windows certified. The 260 series adds support for Nvidia’s lower-end GTS 450 and GT 430 GeForce cards, and also offer a performance boost for Nvidia’s 400 series dx11 cards, while adding support for Blu-ray 3D and lossless surround sound

The chart below gives an indication of the kind of performance gains people can expect with this driver update.

260 drivers offer a performace boost in a number of SLI-based titles

Download the drivers here.

Intel drops price of i3 processor

Core i3 550 sees 15% price-drop

Intel have announced (via their monthly pricing list) an upcoming 15% price drop for the darling of the dual-core, their i3 range of processors – specifically the i3 550. Since most games from the past 5 years or so don’t see much (if any) benefit from a quad-core, let alone a hexa-core processor, this might suite a casual gamer on a budget. The 550 supports hyper-threading and has 2 cores (or 4 threads) with a clock speed of 3.2 GHz and 4 MB of Intel Smart Cache.

Lower-end dual-core chips will also be seeing a reduction in price. Intel’s E6700 will get a 13% price cut, with the E65700 getting 15% shaved off its price tag. The lower-end E3400 dual-core will have 21% off as well.

Here’s a break-down of the pricing:

i3 550: $117 down from $138 (15% off)

E6700: $75 down from $86 (13% off)

E5700: $64 down from $75 (15% off)

E3400: $42 down from $53 (21% off)

None of the major online retailers have adjusted their prices just yet. Amazon still has the i3 550 listed for $143. We’ll watch events unfold over the coming weeks and hopefully have more to tell you on the price-drop very soon.

Related:
Intel i7 Massive Price Cuts

Just how crazy is Steve Ballmer?

People often criticize Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer for his outward, intense optimism and unnerving psychotic behavior in front of technology conferences. But rarely do they see just how off the ground the Redmond front man can be. This 25-year old clip from Youtube shows a much younger Ballmer peddling Windows version 1.0.

The year was 1985, and Ballmer was only 31 years of age (believe it, I’ve checked..). In a video that comes off like a One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest outtake, Ballmer begs us to guess the price of version one Windows.

If you saw a salesman like this in an electrical store walking in your direction, would you a) call for security immediately, b) just run for the nearest exit and hope he doesn’t follow or c) get your iPhone out and share the human condition with your friends on Youtube.

“Except in Nebraska..”

How to get your old laptop infected with an SSD

Thinking of replacing your slow, mechanical laptop HDD with an SSD? Here is a short video from Corsair explaining just how easy it is. Basically if you can can upgrade your own ram then replacing a laptop hard drive should be easy as pie.

SSDs are becoming more and more affordable as time goes on, and small capacity 2.5″ SSDs are pretty much within most people’s reach at this stage. If you have a business laptop, with nothing more than an office suite, a few apps and your browser a 60, 40 or even 30GB SSD is the best friend you ever had.

Here’s a short list of low-capacity SSDs to give you an idea of the kind of choice that’s available if you’re thinking of upgrading the laptop.

Intel 40 GB X25-V Value SATA II MLC Solid-State Drive

OCZ Technology 30 GB Core Series V2 SATA II

OCZ Technology 30GB Vertex Turbo Series

OCZ Technology 30 GB Agility Series SATA II

OCZ Technology 30 GB Vertex Series SATA II

Kingston SSDNow V Series 64 GB SATA 3 GB/s

Corsair Force Series 40 GB SATA II 2.5-Inch

OCZ Technology Vertex 2 Series 40 GB SATA II

As you can see from this short list, there is no shortage of choice available for a budget SSD laptop upgrade. But it doesn’t have to end with your laptop, these 2.5″ SSDs will also fit nicely, with a little bracket into your PC tower. But a 3.5″ SSD is generally recommended for your desktop.

WoW: Cataclysm intro cinematic and TV spot video

Blizzard have released the official cinematic intro to whet our appetites for Cataclysm’s release in early December. These trailers are always high quality and this latest is no different, featuring Deathwing largely and showing the destruction soon to be wreaked on Azeroth.

Sunday also saw the first TV ad for Cataclysm air during an NFL game on Fox, check it out below:

New game releases for the coming week Oct 18-Oct 25

This week’s new releases will include DJ Hero 2, Fallout: New Vegas, the sci-fi third person shooter Vanquish and Pro Evolution Soccer 2011, which has picked up good pre-release reviews.