CPU POWER USER SEPT

7/30/2019 CPU POWER USER SEPT

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ADATA XPGGEAR UP & TAKE COMMAND

September | Vol. 13 Iss. 09

Complimentary Copy

THRONE INDUSTRIALBUNKER OR BUNKER BUSTER?


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http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/


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30PU System Workshop

y Hello To Customus Prime

50Mad Reader Mod

Look What We Found At PDXLAN

SEPTEMBER 2013 | VOL 13 ISSUE 09

FRONTSIDE P. 5

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

CPU s Mad Reader Mod winner,

LAN party coverage, and in-depth

looks at the latest and greatest

hardware and technology.

LOADING ZONE P. 66

Software reviews, betas, updates, and

how-tos.

DIGITAL LIVING P. 74

Games and leisure, news from

around the web, tech company

interviews, and more.

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

for $29 per year by Sandhills Publishing Company, 131 West Grand Drive, P.O. Box 82545, Lincoln, NE 68501. Subscriber Services: (800) 733-3809. Periodicals postage paid at Lincoln, NE.

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

Contact UsP.O.Box 82545Lincoln, NE 68501

or

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Advertising: (800) 247-4880Fax: (402) 479-2104

Circulation: (800) 334-7458Fax: (402) 479-2123www.cpumag.comemail: [email protected]


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Canonical Crowdsourcing SuperphoneCanonical wants your help to the tune o $32 million. Te

company behind the Linux Ubuntu OS has launched anIndiegogo campaign to help it create a limited-edition runo the Ubuntu Edge, a superphone and catalyst to drivethe next generation o personal computing. Plans call or atextured amorphous metal exterior with 4.5-inch screen (720p)shielded with pure sapphire crystal, a material so hard onlydiamond could scratch it. Underneath will be a multi-coreCPU, 4GB RAM, 128GB storage, NFC support, 4G-LEcompatibility, an 8MP camera, and more. he Edge willdual-boot to an Ubuntu mobile OS and Android, convertingthe Edge into a ully integrated Ubuntu desktop PC whenconnected to a display. As o late July, Canonical had raisedroughly $6.5 million o its goal.

MIT Gives TCP A Kick In The PantsRemy is a computer system developed by researchers at MIsComputer Science and Artifcial Intelligence Laboratory andCenter or Wireless Networks and Mobile Computing. Remy

specializes in automatically generating CP congestion-controlalgorithms and evaluating possible indicators o networkcongestion that human engineers have not considered.According to the MI News Oce, during simulations thealgorithms Remy generated considerably outperormed thosethat humans developed. In act, grad student Keith Winsteinsays that what Remy does doesnt resemble anything in the30-year history o CP. Whereas CP has historically involvedrelatively simple endpoint rules but complex behavior, Remyis the opposite, Winstein says. In simulating a high-speedwired network with steady transmission rates occurring acrossphysical links, Remy nearly doubled throughput compared to

approaches based on Compound CP and CP Cubic. Remyalso reduced delays by 66%.

WATCHING THE CHIPS FALL

Pricing inormation

or various AMD and

Intel CPUs.

* As o August 2013

** Manuacturers

estimated price

per 1,000

CPU Released Original Price Last Months Price Online Retail Price*

AMD FX-9590 Eight-Core 6/11/2013 NA NA $899.99

AMD FX-8350 Eight-Core 10/23/2012 $195 $199.99 $199.99

AMD FX-8320 Eight-Core 10/23/2012 $169 $159.99 $159.99

AMD FX-8150 Black Edition Eight-Core 10/12/2011 $245** $179.99 $169.99

AMD A10-6700 Quad-Core 6/4/2013 $142** $148.99 $148.99

AMD A10-6800K Quad-Core 6/4/2013 $142** $149.99 $149.99

AMD A8-6600K Quad-Core 6/4/2013 $112** $119.99 $119.99

AMD A8-3850 Quad-Core 7/3/2011 $135** $84.99 $84.99AMD A8-6500 Quad-Core 6/4/2013 $112** $118.99 $118.99

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

Intel Core i7-3970X Extreme Edition 11/12/2012 $999** $1,029.99 $1,029.99

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

Intel Core i7-4770K 6/2/2013 $339** $349.99 $339.99

Intel Core i7-4770 6/2/2013 $303** $309.99 $309.99

Intel Core i7-3820 2/12/2012 $305** $229.99 $299.99

Intel Core i5-4670K 6/2/2013 $242** $239.99 $239.99

Intel Core i5-4670 6/2/2013 $213** $229.99 $219.99

Intel Core i5-4570 6/2/2013 $192** $199.99 $199.99

Intel Core i5-4430 6/2/2013 $182** $189.99 $189.99

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

CPU / September 2013 5


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Add Water, Sel-DestructOne day your smartphone is by your side where it has

been or years. Te next day, however, its not only gone,its completely gone having vanished in water. Tis mightsound a little out there, but its precisely the type o researchthat University o Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchersare conducting as part o a born to die program.According to John Rogers, a proessor who is part o theproject, the programs aim is to create transient technologythat can dissolve at the end o its useul lie. In additionto cutting down on electronics waste, the developmento so-called sel-destructing devices would save landillspace and reduce related airborne toxins. Reportedly, theresearchers have thus ar created a chip on a thin flm o silkthat dissolves when touching water. You dont need your

cell phone to last or 25 or 50 years, says Rogers. Nobodywants to keep it or that long anyway.

CompuLab Stays Trim With The UtiliteI you share the opinion o CompuLabs Igor Vaisbein,you believe his companys 2011 mini-PC-sized rim-Slicepioneered the market o ARM-based computers. As the

rim-Slices successor, the companys new Utilite maintainsits predecessors impish size (5.3 x 3.9 x 0.8 inches) butdoubles up on perormance while oering more connectivityoptions. Perhaps even better is that the Utilite does so at astarting price at $99, less than hal what the rim-Slice ran.Beyond a Freescale i.MX6 with single, dual, or quad-coreCortex-A9 MPCore CPU, the Utilite supports multistream1080p H.264 on-chip decoding and delivers up to 4GBo DDR3 RAM; up to 512GB o mSAA SSD storage;support or up to 128GB o micro-SD storage; Wi-Fi andBluetooth 3.0; and HDMI, DVI-D, two GbE, two ultra-mini RS232, one micro-USB, and our USB 2.0 ports.

CompuLab expects to begin taking orders or multipleconfgurations in August.

Logitech Gets Artsy With Z600Bluetooth SpeakersUltrabook owners could do a lot worse than picking upLogitechs new Z600 Bluetooth speakers as an audio-outputtingcomplement or their system, at least in the aesthetic sense. Tisis because the Z600 speakers were designed to be an object o

art that can meld with the modern living space and ft rightin with the appearance o ultrathin notebooks, Logitech says. Inthis regard, the long, owing, curvy lines the Z600 sports aresuccessul. Feature-wise, the Z600 also entices with its abilityto connect to three devices at once (press Pause on one deviceand Play on another to switch outputs) and its touch-basedvolume control that relies on fnger glides. Tree drivers ueleach speaker, an integrated Bluetooth button eases the pairingprocess, and a 3.5mm jack is onboard or connecting non-Bluetooth devices. Logitech also bundles a Bluetooth transceiverto handle this task.

6 September 2013 / www.computerpoweruser.com


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HARDWARE MOLE

Digital Storm Unveils New 13.3-inchGaming LaptopCustom system builder Digital Storm believes it has a beast onits hand with the Veloce, a 13.3-inch gaming notebook that thecompany touts as a perormance monster molded into a sleek andcompact shell. Beyond being the frst Haswell-based slim notebookto provide a ull 1,080 HD anti-glare display, Digital Storm claimsthe Veloces ingeniously designed cooling system consisting o smallcopper blocks, heat pipes, and side-mounted direct airow ventstranslates into the Veloce being a marathon perormer that canpower gameplay or hours with zero thermal issues. Weighing 4.6pounds and measuring 1.26 inches thick, the Veloce comes with a2GB NVIDIA GX 765M graphics card, up to 16GB o DDR3,a 750GB HDD and up to 240GB o mSAA SSD storage, and an

Intel Core i7 CPU up to the 3.8GHz quad-core 4900MQ. Modelsare available in Good ($1,284), Better ($1,596), Best ($1,998), andUltimate ($2,180) confgurations.

Ogios Gambit Packs A BunchMost o us dont spend a great deal o time or eort sizingup notebook backpacks. Hauling a basic, run-o-the-millbackpack around or long stretches at hackathons, LANparties, and other gatherings, however, can cause many o usto wish we had. Ogio obviously has put considerable thoughtinto what a backpack should be, and its handy Gambit ($100)or 17-inch notebooks is solid evidence. Beyond a crush-proo, sot-lined ech Vault that holds cameras, mice, andother devices, the Gambit eatures a HUB (Hybrid UnibodyBackpanel) design that includes extra shoulder strap paddingto create a Sweet Spot comort zone. he ergonomicshoulder straps themselves include a molded protectionzone. Elsewhere, theres a eece-lined top-loading zone ornotebooks, built-in oam panels, zippered utility side pockets,bottle/accessory holders, and more.

Cooler Master Revs Up The V8 GTSDescribed by various admirers as amazing, innovative,audacious, best o all worlds, stunning, and one o thebest looking and most powerul air coolers now available,Cooler Masters new V8 GS sports an attractive price

($99.99) but also has the look o something youd fnd underthe hood o the baddest, most tricked-out ride in town thanksto a black armor-like casing and red LEDs. Perormance doesntlook to be lacking, either, due to an HVC (horizontal vaporchamber) that Cooler Master claims uses the same technologythat keeps high-end graphics cards cool. he V8 GSdistributes heat evenly through eight 6mm heatpipes, whichow up through a triple-tower array decked with dual 140mmans (1,600 rpm) that use a new generation o POM bearingsand oer 160,000 hours operation. Cooler Master says the V8GS can handle thermal loads up to an astonishing 250W.



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Google Chrome Launches AppsAt Windows UsersWith little anare in mid-July, Google released a publicversion o the Chrome App Launcher or Windows users(a developer preview was previously available). ChromeApp Launcher installs in seconds via download at chrome.google.com/webstore/launcher . Aterward, a pop-up menurom the askbar grants access (even when Chromeisnt running) to the users Google-related apps (Gmail,Chrome, Google Drive, Blogger, etc.), as well as other appsthat run in Chrome. Syncing apps, bookmarks, passwords,and more is also possible in App Launcher, and right-clicking an apps icon in the menu will display variousoptions, including opening a new tab, opening an app in

a new tab or window, creating shortcuts, and pinning tabs.Google is reportedly working on OS X and Linux versionso Chrome App Launcher.

Dropbox Stares Down The Hard DriveI Dropbox has its way, youll one day rethink what a harddrive can be. Specifcally, Dropbox CEO Drew Houstontold Wired ahead o Dropboxs irst DBX sotwaredevelopers conerence in San Francisco recently thatDropbox is replacing the hard drive. Houston said hedidnt mean that youre going to unscrew your MacBookand fnd a Dropbox inside, but more in the sense thatDropbox could become the spiritual successor to the harddrive. At DBX, Dropbox announced a suite o tools thataims to make it easier or developers to create capabilitiesthat stretch across devices and platorms. A DatastoreAPI, or example, lets developers look beyond fle-syncing

abilities to a new model that makes storing and syncingapp data an eortless task.

SOFTWARE SHORTS

Stream Nation Puts YourPhotos & Videos In The CloudA lot o cloud storage providers will gladly store your data securely intheir space. Stream Nation, however, is primarily interested in doingthe same or your videos and photos. Recently launched, StreamNation comes rom Jonathan Benassaya, co-ounder o streamingmusic service Deezer. You can upload videos (26 types supported) andphotos (22 types supported) rom computers and mobile devices via abrowser tool, a Mac OS X or Windows client, or an iOS mobile app.Users can then stream their content at a resolution suitable or theirdevices screen. Privacy options include sharing abilities and privateand public settings. Additionally, unlike some services, Stream Nationreportedly wont limit the length o a video clip that a user can streamto another users browser. A ree account includes 2GB cloud space;you can get unlimited storage or $19 per month.



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Music Streams Up; Album Sales DownRecent survey results that Nielsen obtained via SoundScan

(U.S. point-o-sale data) and BDS (U.S. radio airplay and musicstreams) show that audio and video music streams during 2013sfrst hal reached nearly 51 billion, up 24% over the same periodlast year. Nielsen characterizes this growth as tremendous.Whats causing all this streaming? Te Harlem Shake Internetmeme to a large extent, as the track accounted or nearly 438.5million streams. As numerous commenters have suggested, overallstreaming activity will likely increase when iunes Radio launchessoon. Nielsens numbers also show positive growth or digitalalbum sales (up 6.3% to 60.8 million), but numbers were lessattractive in other areas. Digital track sales were down 2.3% to682 million, CD album sales down 14.2% to 78.2 million, totalalbum sales down 5.6% to 142 million, and overall album and

track-equivalent album sales down 4.6% to 210 million.

What Real People Are BrowsingLets make search human again. Tats the rallying cry on

the home page or the recently launched Blippex, a searchengine made by the people, or the people. Te Berlin-based company behind Blippex believes search shouldntbe about links between machines but rather about peopleand their interests. Tus, Blippexs results are based onhow long users stay on a web page, something a browserextension (or Chrome, Saari, and Fireox) measures. Teassumption is the longer a user stays on a page, the moreimportant that page is and the higher ranking it receives.Tose concerned about privacy can provide inormationanonymously, and Blippex says it plans to publish a dumpo its database every month. Registration isnt necessary

to use Blippex, which reportedly served an impressive120,000-plus searches its frst week.

SITE SEEING

Lumi Looks Into Your PastFor Current NewsFelix Miller and Martin Stiksel did OK by themselves when theyco-ounded Last.m in the early 2000s. Ater they solid Last.m or millions, they werent heard rom much until recently

when they launched Lumi, a social news reader that tracks ausers web browsing history to analyze what articles, news, blogposts, and other relevant content it should serve. Rather thanasking or manual input regarding topics o interest as some socialreader programs initially do, Lumi uses a browser extension orChrome, Saari, or Fireox to analyze your browsing history andpresents an initial batch o content on a ree-owing web page. Temore recommendations you click, the more fne-tuned the resultsbecome. Privacy-wise, Lumi says it recognizes the issues trackingbrowsing history stirs up, but the company says this data is storedsecurely, made anonymous, and will never be shared.



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Job O The Month

I you like to play white hat to the worlds black hats, then Nike, the giant athletic-wear company that broughtthe world the swoosh, may have the perect position or you. The Senior IT Security Engineer at Nikes

headquarters in Portland, Ore., is responsible or implementing, monitoring, and improving security or the

companys inormation systems. Youll need to be more than amiliar with routers, switches, frewalls, VPNs,

and the like, and with how to protect those systems rom threats. Nike says its Security Engineer must

be the voice o reason when it comes to ascertaining actual risks. In other words, masters o FUD need

not apply. What you will need are sterling credentials: You must have CISSP (Certifed Inormation Systems

Security Proessional) certifcation and preerably CISA (Certifed Inormation Security Auditor) and CCNA

(Cisco Certifed Network Associate) certifcates, as well. Oh, and youll need to pass a background check with

ying colors. I youre interested in fnding, fxing, and preventing inormation security threats at a company

with one o the worlds most recognizable brand names, check out the job description online or more details.

(For more infomation, see Nike.com)

Wait Until They InventDigital Beer CansCollege students love their tech. According to re:uels 13th annual

College Explorer student

survey, the typical student

going to college owns an

average o 6.9 devices,

with laptops ar and away

the most popular digital

device even beating

out smartphones. Seewhat percentage o the

collegiate crowd owns

dierent types o devices

in the table at let.

(Re:fuel College Explorer Survey)

And Now . . . A Short QuizQ. What do the ollowing have in common?

t 34 Nimitz-class aircrat carriers

t 103,030 cement trucks ull o cement

t 9 Empire State Buildings

A. Theyre each roughly equivalent in weight to theamount o electronics waste that Americans throw

away each year. According to the EPA, U.S. citizens

annually generate about 3.4 million tons o e-waste,

or a little under 7 billion pounds.

(epa.gov; ask.com; Wikipedia.com; ask.wiki.

com; trusty calculator)

41Number o technology companies making

the 2013 Fortune 500 list o the worlds

largest corporations.

(Fortune via VentureBeat.com)

30%Percentage o driving time in urban

business districts that is spent looking or

a parking space.

(National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration)

252 millionTotal number o tablet unit sales orecastedor 2013.

(FutureSource)

$1.24 billionEstimated average value in U.S. dollars

or each o the top 50 sports ranchises

worldwide.

(Forbes)

$200 billion+Estimated total value in U.S. dollars o annual

e-commerce sales in the United States.

(Center For Media Research)

Tech Devices Owned

By College Students

Device % of Students

Laptop computer 85

Smartphone 69

Videogame console 68

MP3 player 67

Printer 62

Digital camera 61

Flat screen TV 60

Desktop computer 48

Tablet computer 36

Handheld gaming system 35

Feature phone 33Camcorder/video recorder 25

E-Reader 21

DVR 18



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http://www.1and1.com/


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Better Gear,Better ResultsADATAs XPG Lineup Offers Performance & Stability

Advertisement

store more data, pictures, music, andprograms on them. Both models aredesigned with MLC (Multi-Level Cell)NAND lash memory that allows orcost-ecient, high-density storage.

In terms o eatures, the XPG SX900provides RIM support and support orRAID confgurations. ADAA also providesAcronis rue Image HD to make it easy tomove your fles between the old and newdrive. Te XPG SX900 can be installed intoa traditional 3.5-inch HDD bay, thanks toa 2.5- to 3.5-inch adapter bracket. With the

you need at a price that wont ruinyour budget.

XPG StorageADAAs XP G SX9 00 SSDs are

available in 64GB, 128GB, 256GB,and 512GB capacities, while the XPGSX910 comes in 128GB, 256GB, and512GB lavors. Both models eatureLSIs SF-2281 controller eaturing 5.07aSandForce irmware, which provides a7% increase in capacity over previous i rmware , which means you can

Top-o-the-line perormance requiresmore than just a ast CPU and

powerul graphics cards. And ADAAis ready to provide you with thespeedy memory and SSD storage youneed with its XPG (short or XtremePerormance Gear) lineup. For example,ADAAs XPG SX900 SSDs are capableo read speeds up to 550MBps andwrite speeds up to 530MBps. AndADAA XP G V2 me mory de liv ersspeeds up to a blistering 3100MHz.Best o all, you can get the XPG gear
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and the eight-layer PCB inside isconstructed with 2-ounce copper orextreme durability. All modules above1600MHz operate at a voltage 1.65V,while the aordable 1600MHz kitoperates at 1.5V.

Stability & PerormanceADAA uses a strict flter ing process

with all its memory chips to ensureyou receive only the highest-qualitymodules. Both the XPG v1.0 and XPGV2 are backed with a lietime limitedwarranty; ADAA oers a three-yearwarranty on its XPG SX900 SSDsand a ive-year warranty on the XPGSX910 lineup. Perormance, stability,aordability, and peace o mind. All othis, and good looks, tooADAAsXPG lineup has it all.

while black XPG kits run at 1600MHzand have CL9 timings. Red modules pushspeed even higher, with kits availableat 1866MHz and 2133MHzboth owhich deliver timings o CL10.

I youre ater the pinnacle o per-ormance and aesthet ics , s tep upto the XPG V2 series. XPG kitseature distinctive heat spreaders ineither metallic gold or tungsten grey,and come in speeds o 1600MHz,2400MHz, 2600MHz, 2800MHz, and3100MHz. Tese dual-channel kits arespecially designed or use with Intels4th Generation Core Processors and theZ87 platorm, and can be purchased in8GB (two 4GB modules) or 16GB (two8GB modules) kits. Te heat spreadersound on the XPG V2 use ADAAshermal Conductive echnology,

SX910, you can choose between a DesktopPack, which comes with an adapter bracket,and a Notebook Pack, which comes withan external hard drive case that lets you usethe old hard drive as portable storage. Bothdrives are a scant 7mm thick, or 2.5mmthinner than standard 2.5-inch drives. Tisis good news or small orm actor buildsand modders looking to hide their SSDsaway in tight spaces.

XPG MemoryADAA des ig ned it s XP G v1.0

memory with low-proile design, aswell, which is great or builds with largeCPU coolers, and speeds ranging rom1600MHz, 1866MHz, and 2133MHz.he XPG v1.0 modules are also color-coded, based on speed; blue XPG kitsoperate at 1600MHz with CL11 timings,
http://www.adatausa.com/index.php?action=index_xpg&lan=us


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GIGABYTE G1.Sniper 5

he G1.Sniper 5 provides you withseveral top-shel overclocking eatures,as well. Chie among these is the UltraDurable 5 heatsink with built-in supportor watercooling along the PWM area.GIGABYE also adds a small an tothe heatsink, so even i you dont optor watercooling, the PWM heatsinkhas active air cooling right out o thebox. he PCH chipset area eatures alarge passive heatsink. PowIRstage ICsdeliver precise digital power to the

comes with a discrete audio processor,headphone ampliier, noise guard, asurround sound utility, and an onboardoperational amplifer. GIGABYE evenincludes a second operational ampliier(as well as an IC upgrade tool) that youcan swap in to adjust the motherboardssound quality. he G1.Sniper 5 is alsoequipped with a Qualcomm AtherosKiller E2200 network controller, whichlets you prioritize network bandwidth orgames and applications.

The initial wave o Z87 motherboardsthat weve reviewed topped out at

two-way SLI and three-way CrossFire.he GIGABYE G1.Sniper 5 has nosuch limitations, as it supports our-waySLI and CrossFire.

he G1.Sniper 5s our PCI-E x16slots support the PCI-E 3.0 standard,and there are 48 total PCI-E lanes,32 more than what youll fnd on thestock Z87 chipset. A PLX PEX 8747chip provides 32 PCI-E lanes thatare dedicated to the PEG slots. Withour-way SLI, all our GPUs run at x8speed, while three-way SLI or CrossFirewill operate at x16/x8/x8. wo-waySLI or CrossFire runs at the ull x16speed or both cards, assuming youinstall the cards in the frst and thirdPCI-E x16 slots.

With mult i-GPU se tups , inte rnalcase cooling is critical. he G1.Sniper 5inc lude s p l enty o an suppor t ,wi th nine an headers across themotherboard. Youll ind our systeman headers along the bottom o themotherboard, as well as two across thetop, two along the upper right side, andone right above the top PCI-E x16 slot.A SAA power port on the right edgeo the motherboard helps supply extrapower to any installed graphics cards;

GIGABYE recommends that youprovide auxiliary power to the PCI-Ex16 slots when two or more graphicscards are installed. he motherboardalso eatures three PCI-E x1 slots,which utilize the PCI-E lanes withinyour Haswell processor.

High-end audio is another impressiveeature ound on the GIGABYEG1.Sniper 5. We took a more completelook at the audio tools in the GIGABYEG1.Sniper M5 review elsewhere inthis issue, but know that this board



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put up marks across the board that wereslightly higher than the numbers weveseen rom previous Z87 motherboards.For example, we saw 56.2ps in Aliensvs. Predator (tested at 2,560 x 1,600),a 3DMark 11 Overall score o X4228,and a PCMark 7 score o 6435.

POV-Ray Beta 3.7 topped 1600 pixelsper second (1603.57), and Cinebench11.5 posted 8.57 points, which areimpressive marks. Running ADAAsspeedy memory, the G1.Sniper 5 put up27.1GBps and 27GBps in SiSotwareSandra 2013 Lites Memory Bench-mark tests.

With its our-way SLI/CrossFire andextensive overclocking support, theGIGABYE G1.Sniper 5 is certainlyaimed at gamers and enthusiasts. Besides

brute power, youll also get enhancedaudio, intelligent networking, andwireless connectivity. Its an enticingoption or those who demand the bestor their rig.

BYNATHAN LAKE

motherboards components to urther assistyour overclocking endeavors. Memorymodules clocked up to DDR-3000 aresupported, and you can install up to32GB o RAM.

For storage, youll ind 10 6GbpsSAA ports, all o which support

RAID 0, 1, and 10 conigurations.(he six SAA ports associated withthe Z87 chipset also support RAID5.) he G1.Sniper 5 also supports upto 10 USB 3.0 (six external) and sixUSB 2.0 (two external) ports. hemotherboards accessory bundle includesa 2-port USB 3.0 hub that installsin a 3.5-inch external bay. Wirelessconnectivity is also covered, thanksto a wireless communication modulethat delivers support or 802.11a/b/g/n

dua l -band Wi-F i and B lue tooth4.0/3.0+HS/2.1+EDR.We benchmarked the G1.Sniper 5 in

a rig with an Intel Core i7-4770K (atstock clocks), two GeForce GX 580sin SLI, and 8GB o ADAA XPG V2clocked at 2,400MHz. Te G1.Sniper 5

G1.Sniper 5$409.99

GIGABYTE

www.gigabyte.us

Benchmark Results

GIGABYTE

G1.Sniper 5

3DMark 11 Extreme X4228

Graphics Score 3891

Physics Score 10019

Combined Score 4789

PCMark 7 6435

Productivity 6520

Creativity 5923

Entertainment 8432

Computation 9210

System Storage 5413

SiSoftware Sandra 2013

SP2 Lite

Dhrystone AVX2 (GIPS) 138.3

Whetstone iSSE3

(GFLOPS)

101

x32 Multi-Media Integer

AVX2 (Mpixels/s)

424.9

x16 Multi-Media Float

FMA3 (Mpixels/s)

417.45

Integer B/F AVX/128

(GBps)

27.1

Floating B/F AVX/128

(GBps)

27

POV-Ray 3.7 Beta* 1603.57

Cinebench 11.5** 8.57

Games (2,560 x 1,600)

Metro: Last Light

(4XAA, 16XAF)

24.3fps

Aliens vs. Predator

(4XAA, 16XAF)

56.2fps

* pixels per second

** points

Specs: Max memory: 32GB (DDR3-1600/Max OC: DDR3-3000); Slots: 4 PCI-E 3.0 x16, 3 PCI-E x1; Storage; 10 6Gbps SATA; Rear I/O: 2 HDMI, 1 DisplayPort; 6

USB 3.0, 2 USB 2.0, 2 Gigabit Ethernet, 1 optical S/PDIF out, 1 coaxial S/PDIF out, audio I/O, 1 PS/2 port; Form Factor: E-ATX; Warranty: 3 years

Test system specs: Processor: Intel Core i7-4770K; GPU: ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580 (2x, SLI); RAM: 8GB ADATA XPG V2 DDR3-2400; Storage: 128GB Crucial

RealSSD C300; OS: Windows 8 Enterprise (64-bit)



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GIGABYTE G1.Sniper M5

a debug display or quick troubleshooting.

Voltage read points, available along thetop right, let you work with a multimeterto check real-time voltage levels or the keypower areas o the motherboard.

he G1.Sniper M5 is built withGIGABYEs Ultra Durable 5 Plustechnology that includes digital power(using IR3550 PowIRstage ICs), Black SolidCaps rated or 10,000 hours o operationat 105 degrees Celsius, and large passiveheatsinks. he heatsinks are designedwith the distinctive green and blackG1-Killer color scheme, though well note

that GIGABYE opted not to include gun-shaped heatsinks, which we eel keeps thehigh-end board looking classy. o bettersupport closed-loop watercooling setups,GIGABYE has added an OP an con-nector (located right next to the CPU_FANheader) that will provide continuous ullpower to a waterblock/pump unit.

he G1.Sniper M5 is engineered withthree PCI-E x16 slots. For SLI and CrossFire,youll want to use the top and bottom PCI-Eslots, as the top slot supports ull x16 speed,

says that it will be oering other upgrade

kits soon.o protect the G1.Sniper M5s premiumaudio components rom potential electro-static intererence, GIGABYE adds anaudio noise guard that essentially isolatesthe audio components rom the rest o theboard. LED lighting illuminates the pathto show the separation. Te rear I/O panelsaudio connectors, as well as the HDMI andDisplayPort connectors, are gold-plated ordurability and optimal connectivity.

For enhanced network connectivity,the G1.Sniper M5 is built with a

Qualcomm Atheros Kil ler E2200Gigabit Ethernet controller. With it, youcan prioritize network trac or gamesand other applications. Its a great wayto ensure that a Steam game update orsecurity sotware patch doesnt interruptyour gaming experience.

On this mAX motherboard, youll alsofnd many o the overclocking eatures oundon GIGABYEs ull-sized, high-end boards.For example, there are onboard buttons orpower, reset, and clear CMOS, as well as

I youre amiliar with GIGABYEs G1-Killer line o motherboards, the new

additions that are built to support Intels4th Generation Core processors oughtto interest you. he G1.Sniper M5 is amicroAX motherboard that supports SLIand CrossFire, ideal or gamers lookingto put together a new LAN party rigwith a Haswell processor. Gamers willalso like the host o audio enhancementsthat GIGABYE included on the board.

Lets examine the standout eatures o theG1.Sniper M5.

he G1.Sniper M5 eatures GIGA-BYEs Amp-Up Audio, which consists oa discrete audio processor rom Creative,Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3 sotware, audionoise guard technology, a ront panelheadphone ampliier, and an onboardOP-AMP (operational ampliier). hediscrete audio processor is CreativesSound Core3D, which is a quad-coreaudio processor. Te accompanying Sound

Blaster X-Fi MB3 sotware comes withSBX Pro Studio, which adds surroundsound eects over stereo headphones, aswell as some extra punch to gunshots,explosions, and other common videogamesounds. he sotware also includesEAX ADVANCED HD 5.0, VoiceFX,and Creative ALchemy applications.he motherboards gaming headphoneampliier can drive 600ohm loads, andGIGABYE claims the amp can providea uller range o dynamic sound withcrisper details and less distortion when

paired with high-quality headphones.One o the most interesting audio

additions is the OP-AMP socket.GIGABYE provides an IC extractiontool and a second, specialized OP-AMPto let you customize the G1.Sniper M5sintegrated audio. Te BB OPA2134 is thedeault OP-AMP, and its designed or aneutral sound over a ull requency range.Te LM4562NA is the second OP-AMP;GIGABYE tells us this OP-AMP eaturesclear and bright sound. GIGABYE also

G1.Sniper M5

$204.99

GIGABYTE

www.gigabyte.us



17/88

motherboard that could top whatGIGABYE has provided with theG1.Sniper M5. We expect it to be a top

choice or small orm actor buildersand those interested in making a high-perormance LAN party system.

BYNATHAN LAKE

Te key components in our test systemincluded an Intel Core i7-4770K (run atstock clocks) and two GeForce GX 580s

in SLI. Te G1.Sniper M5 proved a goodchoice or gaming, as we saw 54.5ps inAliens vs Predator and 23.4ps in Metro: LastLight. 3DMark 11 produced scores right inline with the rest o Z87 chipset boards wevetested, as it posted an Overall score o X4198and a Combined Score o 4734. Cinebench11.5 produced an impressive 8.56, thanksin part to the Core i7-4770K, and ADAAsXPG V2 memory helped the G1.Sniper M5to a 27GBps score in SiSot Sandra 2013Lites Memory Bandwidth test.

All in al l, the G1.Sn ipe r M5 tookeverything we could throw at it. Youdbe hard-pressed to ind a microAX

and the bottom slot can handle up to x8speeds. Both slots run at x8 with two GPUsconnected. We think this is a smart design,

because youll have one slots worth o spacebetween the GPUs, so hot air wont gettrapped as easily between two cards. hemiddle PCI-E x16 slot runs at x4 speed anddoesnt support SLI or CrossFire.

Anothe r hi gh -end e ature on theG1.Sniper M5 is its ability to work with32GB o DDR3 memory clocked up to3,000MHz. We had no trouble runningan ADAA XPG V2 8GB DDR3-2400kit at its rated speed. Stock Z87 chipsetoptions are provided or SAA and USBsix 6Gbps SAA ports, six USB 3.0 (ourexternal, two internal), and six USB 2.0ports (two external, our internal).

Benchmark Results

GIGABYTE

G1.Sniper M5

3DMark 11 Extreme X4198

Graphics Score 3853

Physics Score 9998

Combined Score 4731

PCMark 7 6213

Productivity 6317

Creativity 5893

Entertainment 8354

Computation 9087

System Storage 5256

SiSoftware Sandra 2013

SP2 Lite

Dhrystone AVX2 (GIPS) 138

Whetstone iSSE3

(GFLOPS)

100.56

x32 Multi-Media Integer

AVX2 (Mpixels/s)

423.1

x16 Multi-Media Float

FMA3 (Mpixels/s)

416

Integer B/F AVX/128

(GBps)

27.1

Floating B/F AVX/128

(GBps)

27

POV-Ray 3.7 Beta* 1601.34

Cinebench 11.5** 8.56

Games (2,560 x 1,600)

Metro: Last Light

(4XAA, 16XAF)

23.4fps

Aliens vs. Predator

(4XAA, 16XAF)

54.5fps

* pixels per second

** points

Specs: Max memory: 32GB (DDR3-1600/Max OC: DDR3-3000); Slots: 3 PCI-E 3.0 x16, 1 PCI-E x1;

Storage; 6 6Gbps SATA; Rear I/O: 2 HDMI, 1 DisplayPort, 1 DVI; 4 USB 3.0, 2 Ethernet, 1 S/PDIF out,

audio I/O, 1 PS/2; Form Factor: microATX; Warranty: 3 years

Test system specs: Processor: Intel Core i7-4770K; GPU: ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580 (2x, SLI);

RAM: 8GB ADATA XPG V2 DDR3-2400; Storage: 128GB Crucial RealSSD C300; OS: Windows 8

Enterprise (64-bit)



18/88

ADATA XPG V2 DDR3-2400speed. Tose interested in the DDR3-3100kit will ind that the modules use timingso 12-14-14-36 and a voltage o 1.65V. Allthe kits in ADAAs XPG V2 amily aredual channel. For reliability, ADAA laces

the inner layer o the XPG V2 modulesPCB with 2 ounces o copper, twice asmuch as traditional modules. ADAAalso puts its memory chips through astrict fltering process to ensure youll havea high-quality module, and the companybacks the XPG V2 modules with a limitedlietime warranty.

Our test system eatured an Intel Corei7-4770K and a GIGABYE G1.Sniper 5motherboard. First, we ran the kit througha battery o SiSotware SANDRA 2013

Lites memory benchmarks. In the MemoryBandwidth tests, we saw impressive speedso 27.1GBps (Integer Buered) and27GBps (Float Buered) tests. Te MemoryLatency test, which measures speed whenaccessing memory outside the L1D/L2cache, produced a result o 20.4ns. We

ADAAs XPG V2 lineup is highlightedby a striking aluminum heat spreader in

Metallic Gold or ungsten Grey. he heatspreaders have 10 angled ins that dissipateheat rom the modules while adding

a cool, erocious look. he XPG V2 kitsare available in speeds up to 3,100MHz;we got a chance to check out an 8GBDDR3-2400 kit.

Our 8GB DDR3-2400 kit consists otwo 4GB modules, and theres an IntelXMP profle or the 2,400MHz speed. Atthis speed, the modules run with timingso 11-13-13-35. All the ADAA XPG V2modules are also designed to conorm toJEDECs DDR3-1333 standard, whichuses timings o 9-9-9-24. Te DDR3-1333

speed is the one that our test system deaultedto when we frst booted ater installing thememory. Bumping up the XPG V2 modulesto 2,400MHz was as simple as going into theBIOS and selecting the XMP Profle.

his PC3-19200 memory kits modulesoperate at 1.65V when run at their rated peak

also ran the Cache Bandwidth benchmark,which takes into account the transer speedo the system cache and memory, and wesaw a speed o 176.8GBps. o provide agaming benchmark, we ran Aliens vs.

Predator at low resolution and qualitysettings, which should isolate the memoryrom the GPU perormance. Our test rigran the benchmark at 709.5ps.

Compared to the 1,866MHz moduleswe had previously installed in our testrig, the 2,400MHz modules made oursystem seem snappier when multitaskingand loading programs. he XPG V2 kitalso perormed well in our benchmarktests, which makes us pretty comortablerecommending it or enthusiasts.

BYNATHAN LAKE

XPG V2 DDR3-2400

$99.99

ADATA

www.adatausa.com

Specs: Capacity: 8GB (2x 4GB); Timings: 11-13-13-35; Frequency: DDR3-2400 (PC3-19200); Voltage: 1.65V; Unbuered; Non-ECC; Lietime warranty;

Intel XMP-certifed

Test system specs: Processor: Intel Core i7-4770K; Motherboard: GIGABYTE G1.Sniper 5; GPU: ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580 (2x, SLI); Storage: 128GB Crucial

RealSSD C300; OS: Windows 8 Enterprise (64-bit)

Benchmark ResultsADATA XPG V2DDR3-2400

SiSoftware

Sandra 2013 Lite

Integer B/F AVX2/256

(GBps)

27.1

Float B/F FMA/256

(GBps)

27

Memory Latency 20.4ns

Cache Bandwidth (GBps) 176.8

Aliens vs. Predator Low

Quality (fps)

709.5



19/88

MSI GeForce GTX 770 Twin FrozrTe Advanced win Frozr cooler on this

card consists o a copper base over the GPUand an array o aluminum fns threaded withnickel-plated SuperPipe heatpipes that extendthe length o the card. Over the top, MSIinstalled a thin aluminum heat shield anda pair o patented 80mm Propeller Bladeans, which can deliver up to 20% more

airow than conventional-bladed ans. MSIsexclusive Dust Removal echnology is a neateature that spins the ans in the oppositedirection or a ew seconds upon start up,keeping the cards cooler operating at its peakeiciency or as long as possible. All told,the jazzed-up cooler can deliver cooler peakrunning temperatures and quieter operation.

he PCB also sports a number oadvancements over the reerence design thatall under the umbrella o MSIs MilitaryClass IV brand. Tese include Hi-c CAPs

that oer up to 93% energy eciency, superpermeable Super Ferrite Chokes that runcooler and support higher current capacity,and 10-year-liespan solid state capacitors.On the backplane, youll fnd a DisplayPortport, HDMI port, and two DVI ports.Power comes to this card via 6-pin and8-pin PCIe power connectors.

This month we take a closer look at MSIsactory overclocked take on the GeForce

GX 770, upon which the irm installed aourth-generation Advanced win Frozr dual-slot cooler. o recap, the NVIDIA GeForceGX 770 is based on the same GPU, theKepler GK104, used in the GX 680. Itsmanuactured at the same 28nm process

as the previous generation card and sharesits shader, MU, and ROP count; 1,536,128, and 32, respectively. Because the 770has more in common with the 600 serieslagship than the IAN or 780, it makesdo with a 256-bit memory bus instead othe more capable 384-bit memory bus onthe higher-end cards. NVIDIAs reerencedesign oers cards with either 2GB or 4GBo GDDR5, and or this one MSI went withthe ormer. Incidentally, MSIs Lightningversion o the 770 also boasts 2GB GDDR5.

Te primary dierence between the 770and the 680 is the memory; this card isequipped with 7Gbps GDDR5 memorymodules, which are capable o 224.3GBpso peak bandwidth. he other extrayou wont see in the 680 is GPU Boost2.0 echnology or improved overallperormance, overclocking, and monitoring.

With its highly capable cooler and suchquality materials, this card is practicallyscreaming or an overclock. MSI obligedby raising the GeForce GX 770sbase and boost clocks rom 1,046MHzand 1,085MHz, to 1,098MHz and1,150MHz, respectively. hanks to thebundled Gaming App, you can easily

switch between Gaming, ECO, andDeault settings, or perormance ondemand. he Aterburner sotware alsolets you raise your clocks, voltages, andan speeds to exert even more inuenceover your gaming experience. MSI alsothrows in an image and video captureutility called Predator.

In even the most demanding DX11games currently available, the MSI GeForceGX 770 win Frozr will perorm well atresolutions up 1,920 x 1,200. As the graphics

power plant inside CPUs Customus Primeheading to PAX (check out the buildcoverage in this issue or detailed benchmarkino), its sure to put and extra big smile onthe ace o one very ortunate power user.

BYANDREWLEIBMAN

Specs: Core Clock: 1,098MHz (1,150MHz Boost Clock); Memory Clock: 1,753MHz; 2GB GDDR5; PCIe 3.0; Cooler: dual-slot; Backplane: DVI x 2,

DisplayPort, HDMI

MSI GeForce GTX 770 Twin Frozr

$399.99

MSI

us.msi.com



20/88

Corsair Vengeance M65 FPS Laser Gaming Mouseto be lighter or heavier in the ront,back, or either side.

he M65 is an upgraded versiono the M60, which we reviewed lastyear, so it shares many o the same

eatures. here are eight programmablebuttons on the M65, which i s a common eature o most gaming micewe encounter. here are two longrectangular thumb buttons at thejunc ti on o th e le t side an d to p othe mouse body, and a pair o DPIswitches just south o the mousewheel. he orward button increasesthe DPI, whi le the back buttondecreases it. A three-LED indicatorbetween the two buttons shows you

the current DPI setting.One particularly unique eature onthe Vengeance M65 (and the VengeanceM60) is the large red sniper buttoncentered under the thumb. Press andhold this button to temporarily dropthe DPI to its lowest setting, whichhelps you make those tricky long-rangeshots using scoped weapons. Release thebutton, and your M65 returns to your

Cor sa i r s l a t e s t gaming mouse ,the Vengeance M65, was built

speciically to give gamers a competitiveadvantage in irst-person shooters.Having just read that, we wouldnt

blame you or raising an eyebrow, butthe M65 is more than just a buncho marketing. he version we got ourhands on is Arctic White M65; Corsairalso oers the attractive peripheral inGunmetal Black and Military Green,not coincidentally, the same shadesin which many o Corsairs casescome painted.

he main right and let buttons andthe convex top surace o the M65 iscomposed o smooth glossy plastic,

and the perpendicular sides o themouse use a matte textured plasticthat eels like ine-grit sandpaper. heunit has an aluminum chassis, ivePFE (polytetraluoroethylene) padsthat make sure the mouse moves reelyon just about any surace, and threescrew-mounted weights arranged in atriangle. Removing a screw to drop theweight out lets you balance the mouse

preerred DPI setting. Te M65 standshead and shoulders above the M60(which we loved) thanks to its 8,200DPI laser sensor. he right- and let-click switches are rated or 20 million

clicks, and the high-mass mouse wheelrolls smoothly and accurately underyour fnger.

he M65s sotware driver givesyou an incredible array o settings totweak. For instance, you can cycle theM65s response times rom 125Hz upto 1,000Hz (8ms up to 1ms) or betterresponse on dierent suraces, adjustthe lit height, and toggle the LEDs oand on.

he Corsair Vengeance M65 is a

solidly built and highly conigurablemouse that can ac tua l l y make a dierence in your FPS perormance.

BYANDREWLEIBMAN

Vengeance M65 FPS Laser Gaming Mouse

$69.99

Corsair

www.corsair.com

Specs: Sensor: Laser (100 to 8,200dpi); Adjustable weight system; Body Type: Right-handed; 8 programmable buttons; Blue LED; Interace: USB



21/88

Thermaltake Water 3.0 Performer

Core i7-4770K and saw an impressively lowmaximum temperature o 67 C. We alsoran our simultaneous instances o Prime95,and the Water 3.0 Pro delivered a maximumtemperature o 68 C.

Te Water 3.0 Perormer is no slouchwhen it comes to cooling perormance. Wealso like that the unit is easy to set up andwill ft into most cases. Its a solid choice

or enthusiasts on a tight budget.

BYNATHAN LAKE

Water 3.0 Performer

$74.99

Thermaltake

www.thermaltakeusa.com

bracket onto the waterblock. Ten, lockit in with the included retention ring.Next, select the matching backplateand screw the mounting bracket to thebackplate. he Water 3.0 Perormersrelatively thin radiator makes it a goodoption or small orm actor builds, suchas HPCs and LAN party systems.

We installed the Water 3.0 Perormer

into a rig that eatured Intels Corei7-4770K (run at its stock clock), twoZOAC GeForce GX 580s, and 16GBo Kingston HyperX Predator memoryclocked at 1,866MHz. With the CPU idle,the cooler produced a temperature o 42degrees Celsius. o stress-test Water 3.0, weran POV-Ray 3.7 or 10 minutes on the

Weve covered hermaltakes Water 3.0Extreme and Water 3.0 Pro closed-

loop CPU coolers in recent issues, andhere, we get a chance to benchmarkthe Water 3.0 Perormer. Similar to theWater 3.0 Pro, the Water 3.0 Perormercomes with two ans that operaterom 1,000 to 2,000rpm, as well as a120mm radiator.

he biggest dierence between thetwo is the thickness o their radiators.Te Water 3.0 Perormers rad measures27mm thick, while the Water 3.0 Pros is49mm thick. Otherwise, the Water 3.0Perormer comes with everything youllind in the Water 3.0 Pro, includingsupport or Haswell processors.

As expected, Termaltake designed the

Water 3.0 Perormer to be compatiblewith all modern desktop CPU sockets.he complete l i st includes IntelLGA1150/1155/1156/1366/2011 andAMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+/FM1/FM2 sockets. he waterblock eaturesa ull copper plate that, accordingto hermaltake, maximizes heatconductivity. hermal compound ispreapplied to the copper plate to saveyou rom making a separate purchase.Te 12V pump built into the waterblock

operates at 2,900rpm (+/-150rpm). TeWater 3.0 Perormers 120mm ans are setup in a push-pull confguration and havea double curve blade design that producesa maximum o 99cm airow at a noiselevel o 20dBA.

o install the Water 3.0 Perormer,attach the Intel or AMD mounting

Specs: Materials: Copper (waterblock), aluminum (radiator); Fans: 2 120mm (1,000 to 2,000rpm); Pump motor speed: 2,900rpm; Warranty: 3 years

Test system specs: Processor: Intel Core i7-4770K; Motherboard: MSI Z87-GD65 GAMING; GPU: ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580 (2x, SLI); RAM: 16GB Kingston

HyperX Predator DDR3-1866; Storage: 128GB Crucial RealSSD C300; OS: Windows 8 Enterprise (64-bit)



22/88

Cooler Master CM Storm Havocensures you have plenty o controlwith your thumb. he scroll wheel hasa smooth rubber jacket that eels like aracing slick.

here a re mul t i co lored LEDs

behind a CM Storm logo and the twoDPI buttons. apping the orwardDPI button increases the DPI, andthe rear-most thumb button cycles thesaved DPI and LED color proiles.his way, you can alter the colors andDPI settings right rom the mouse andassign up to our built-in proiles.

In the sotware, you can take muchgreater control over the DPI settings,LED colors and brightness, sensitivity,double-click speed, button response

time, and LED behavior. For example,you can turn o the LEDs, keep themalways on (the deault setting), letthem ade in and out, or enable RapidFire, which lashes the LED whitewhenever you click. he sotwareisnt just incredibly powerul, its alsostraightorward and easy to use.

he Havoc gives you an amazingamount o control, thanks to the

For gamers, the mouse is one o thosecomponents you just dont skimp

on. But when a company attaches theword gaming to a peripheral, we hereat CPU are looking or more than just

LEDs and cutting-edge internals; thecomponent has to be comortable touse and highly unctional. Ater all, theprimary dierence between a typicalcomputer user and a gamer is that thelatters computing sessions tend to lastsigniicantly longer.

Cooler Masters CM Storm Havoclaser gaming mouse, a right-handedmouse, has a lot o technology packedinto its mostly matte black shell ,but our irst impression was that the

mouse just elt good against our palm.he Havocs surace is covered in thesame rubberized plastic that CoolerMaster seems so ond o in its variousperipherals. heres a strip o glossyblack plastic on the right side o theunit, where your pinky and ring ingerrest. A ribbed pad under the thumbrest prevents slippage, and the side othe mouses near-perpendicular plane

Avag o 98 00 la se r se ns or, wh ich cancycle between 100 and 8,200dpisettings in 50dpi increments. hereare eight programmable buttons onthe Havoc, and the main right and let

mouse buttons utilize Japanese Omronmicroswitches, which are rated or 5million clicks. he cable is 5.9 eetlong and has a braded nylon cover oradded durability. he USB connectoris gold-plated or superior connectivityor the l i e o the device. CoolerMaster backs the Havoc with a two-year warranty.

I you use your PC or extendedsessions (or play games), the CMStorm Havoc i s one o the most

comortable, precise, and attractiveoptions weve seen recently.

BYANDREWLEIBMAN

CM Storm Havoc

$54.99

Cooler Master

www.coolermaster-usa.com

Specs: Sensor: Laser (100 to 8,200dpi); Body Type: Right-handed; 8 programmable buttons; 4 profles; 7 color LEDs; Interace: USB



23/88

Cooler Master i700he +5V and +3.3V rails each supportup to 20A or a combined power o 120watts. Te hardware you connect to thei700 will be protected rom overvoltage,overcurrent, overpower, and short circuits

coming through the power supply. CoolerMaster lists a MBF o 100,000 hoursand backs the PSU with an impressiveive-year warranty. A 120mm an coolsthe i700s internal components.

Our benchmark system included anIntel Core i7-4770K, a GIGABYEG1.Sniper 5 motherboard, and twoZOAC GeForce GX 580s. Wesimultaneously ran POV-Ray Beta 3.7(stresses all CPU cores) and the Aliens vs.Predator (stresses GPUs) benchmarks to

push the power supply, and we monitoredthe results with an Exech rue RMSPower Analyzer Datalogger. We tookmeasurements or both SLI and single-card setups to show you how the powersupply perormed at dierent loads.In SLI, we saw a maximum wattage o716W at a power actor o .982. heunit also produced a maximum voltageo 117.5V and a maximum amperage o6.26A. With one GPU, the maximumwattage hit 472W with an almostidentical power actor: .981.

Cooler Masters i700 is a no-rills PSUthat has received an 80 PLUS Bronze

certiication. Budget builders will alsolike that the i700 is capable o drivingtwo graphics cards (thanks to the units

our PCI-E 6+2-pin connectors), currentCPUs, and motherboards that have an8-pin CPU power connector. All o thecables are hardwired to the unit, andtheyre all long enough to reach thevarious components o your build.

In terms o cabling, youll ind a20+4-pin main power cable thats 19.6inches long. Te our PCI-E connectorsare split between two cables that are 23.6inches long. Te 4+4-pin CPU connectoris on a separate cable thats also 23.6 inches

long. o power your storage devices, thereare nine SAA power connectors. CoolerMaster splits the SAA connectors acrossthree cables. Tere are two cables that eachhave our connectors, while the remainingSAA connector is placed on a cable withthree Molex connectors and one FDDconnector. Tis cable is 34 inches long.

he i700 has a single +12V railthat can handle a maximum load o55A, which equates to 660 watts opower. Cooler Master tests the i700 attemperatures up to 40 degrees Celsius.

Cooler Masters i700 is a good optionor those who need a reliable powersupply or a basic build. Support or SLIand CrossFire also makes it a nice choiceor gamers on a budget.

BYNATHAN LAKE

i700

$79.99

Cooler Master

www.coolermaster-usa.com

Specs

Cooler Masteri700

Rated continuous (W) 700 (at 40 C)

12V rails 1

+12V max (A) 55

+5V max (A) 20

+3.3V max (A) 20

SLI/CrossFire-ready Yes

Max wattage tested 716

Power factor tested .982

Efficiency rating

(as advertised)

Up to 85%

Fan 120mm

PCI-E 4 (6+2-pin)

Main 12V 20+4-pin

8-pin EPS12V 1 (4+4-pin)

SATA 9

4-pin Molex 3

Floppy 1

Length (including cable

bend)

6.4 inches

Warranty 5 years



24/88

State-O-The-ArtStandardsBlu-ray Disc

new 60mW lasers proved capable oreading and writing high-density, high-speed data streams suitable to meet theneeds o our growing addiction to high-defnition content.

Tere was pent up demand, and thetechnology was in place; all the industryneeded was a company willing to stepup to the plate to oer a ormat capableo spinning in the HD era. Instead, wegot two.

Yes, Another Format WarIn early 2005, the DVD Forumand Blu-ray Disc Association enteredinto negotiations to attempt to avoida costly and protracted ormat war a laVHS/Betamax. Several months later,communications broke down, and in2006, two HD media disc standardsusing Nakamuras blue laser diodesHDDVD and Blu-raybecame commerciallyavailable. he ormer, backed primarilyby oshiba and NEC, was beingpromoted by the DVD Forum. Other

as moving rom the 480i VHS ormat to a480p DVD ormat was, the leap to 1080pwas even more so. But higher idelityaudio and video demands a media ormatthat can hold a ton o data, and the DVDormat was already being overtaxed byhigh bitrate movies that were coming outwhen BD media frst hit the market.

o get the new HD content ontophysical media, manuacturers required anew laser technology. Researchers knewas early as the 1960s that blue lasers

were the key to a narrower beam andhigher disc capacities. Te problem wasthat the gallium nitride crystal-basedsemiconductors or blue lasers wereextremely diicult (and expensive) tomanuacture.

In 1999, the inventor behind blue,green, and white LEDs, Shuji Nakamura,discovered an eicient way o creatinggallium nitride crystals that have a highstructural quality, with an order omagnitude ewer deects than previousblue laser manuacturing processes. Te

Today, the Blu-ray Disc ormat is slatedto be the primary physical media in

both Sonys and Microsots next-genconsoles, the de acto ormat or 3DHD video, the highest-capacity media-based storage available to PCs, and it isgradually supplanting the aging DVDormat in the home entertainmentmarket thanks to its ability to store vastlysuperior high bitrate video and surroundsound. Internal BD-ROM and BD-REoptical drive prices have stabilized at $70to $100, and BD media can be had orright around $1 a disc or single-layer,25GB media. Not too shabby or a mediaormat, right? But one has to wonder i

the victor o the latest, greatest ormatwar would be riding a little higherin the saddle a decade ater its initialintroduction to consumers.

BDs Beginningshe move rom SD to HD in

movies, V, videogames, and video wasextremely disruptive or the consumerelectronics industry, in all the very bestways. It dramatically raised the bar orthe visual and audio fdelity o the media

we consume, orced the rapid adoptiono new display and playback devices,and challenged content creators to stepup their game to meet the demand orHD everything. he government, viathe FCC, even got involved to help easethe transition rom analog terrestrialbroadcasts to a digital ASC (Advancedelevision Systems Committee) standard,which is capable o broadcasting 1080pvideo over the air.

At the center o any such disruption isalways a new media ormat. As impressive



25/88

plastic cartridges, similar to MiniDiscs.Later, DK introduced a hard polymercoating it called Durabis, which couldbe applied in a 0.1mm thickness yetprevent scratching rom even a sharpscrewdriver. Ater its introduction, Sonydeveloped its own hard polymer coating

Sonys BD media, while capableo holding more data, included a duallayer speciication that placed the datalayer just 0.1mm below the surace othe disc, which made the discs extremelysusceptible to scratching. o combatthe problem, early BDs came in hard

backers included Sanyo, Memory-echCorporation, Microsot, RCA, Intel, andVenturer Electronics. HD DVD also hadthe support o three o the Big Six moviestudios: Universal Studios, ParamountPictures, and Warner Bros. Pictures.

HD DVD consisted o a polycarbonatedisc very similar to standard DVDs, butwith a single layer capacity o 15GB,achieved using a 405nm blue laser, smallerbumps, and narrower tracks than DVD.HD DVDs data layer is 0.6mm below thesurace o the disc, which helped ensurethe discs were airly resistant to scratching.

Te institution tasked with promotingBlu-ray was the Blu-ray Disc Association,which counted Hitachi, LG, Panasonic,Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony,homson, Dell, HP, Mitsubishi, andDK among its members. Sony was Blu-rays biggest backer, and the three studiosthat ollowed its lead included ColumbiaPictures, Walt Disney Pictures, and 20thCentury Fox.

Like its predecessor, Sonys PS4 will ship with a Blu-ray drive.

Ill-ated HD DVD, not even steep discounts could save you.



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oshiba threw in the towel, more than10 times more PS3s had sold thanHD DVD players.

Tech TalkTe technology behind the BD ormat

doesnt dier greatly rom that used in

enough to make Blu-ray and HD DVDincompatible with one another.

In November 2006, Sonys PlayStation

3 launched, and it included a BD player.Sonys big rival in the console marketand HD DVD backer, Microsot, optedto stick with DVDs or its Xbox 360,but the irm did oer an external HDDVD expansion drive or the Xbox 360in late 2006. As both ormats competedor market share between 2006 and 2008,Blu-ray took a slight lead and had a largerlibrary o titles available.

One o the major deciding actorsin the ormat war was a Warner Bros.announcement in January 2008 thatit was abandoning HD DVD. Shortlyaterward, Wal-Mart began phasing outHD DVDs, and Netix, then primarilya disc-based rental-by-mail service,ollowed suit. Several smaller studiosell in line, and other big box retailersbegan persuading consumers to stickwith BDs and BD players. By the time

or BD media. But at the time, theseoptions werent available, and many oHD DVDs backers saw Blu-ray as being

too expensive to eectively replace DVDs.Despite the alliances, many consumerelectronics and PC manuacturers,television and movie producers anddistributors, and sotware developerswere split over which ormat to throwtheir weight behind. Despite thedierent capacities, both ormatssupported H.264, MPEG-4 AVC,VC-1, and MPEG-2 video codecs;Dolby Digital, DS, Dolby DigitalPlus, and DS-HD High Resolutionlossy audio ormats; and Linear PCM,Dolby rueHD, and DS-HD MasterAudio loss less audio ormats, thoughat mildly diering bitrates. Regardingvideo datarates, Blu-ray had the clearadvantage with its 54Mbps datarate.HD DVDs peak raw datarate was37Mbps. he dierences, though notearth shattering, were signiicant

The Xbox One will also come with a blue laser under the hood.

Until airly recently, the blue laser diodes used in

Blu-ray players were difcult and expensive to

manuacture.



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As we we nt to pr es s, th e Blu- ra yDisc Association hadnt said muchon the top i c o 4K, but a newcompress ion codec cal led HEVC

(High Eiciency Video Coding) couldenable Blu-ray to handle the extremebitrates necessary to drive a 4K image.However, this would require new BDplayers. he good news is, over thepast couple o years, many movie andV studios have begun to i lm innative 4K or 5K resolutions. Later thisyear, Sony and Samsung both plan tolaunch BD players capable o upscalingstandard BD media to Ultra HDresolutions. It may take a while, but by

the time the hardware market catchesup, therell at least be something towatch on our 4K Vs.

Blooming Blu-rayBlu-ray has been continually evolv-

ing to support more eatures andhigher capacities. In 2009, the Blu-ray

Disc Association oicially announced3D specs or Blu-ray, which would bebackward-compatible with existing 2DBD players, including the PS3. In 2010,BDXL was announced, which expandedthe ormats supported capacity up to100GB. Sony has begun releasing Blu-raymovies Optimized For 4K Ultra HDVs. Tese ormats are mastered at 4Kresolutions (4,096 x 2,160) but have beenresized to a 1080p HD resolution. Asa result, they use a higher bitrate and

output an xvYCC wide color gamut ora superior image quality at the expense oon-disc special eatures.

CD and DVD-based media. Te ormatit was designed to replace, DVD, uses aninrared or red laser diode that generates a

650nm wavelength beam o light to readand write data in the orm o bumps (orpits i youre looking at the label side othe disc) arranged in a spiral ormationon a 12-centimeter polycarbonate disc.CDs, by comparison, use a 780nm wave-length near inrared laser beam. Developedin 1997, the DVD ormat in its mostcommon iteration is capable o storing4.7GB per layer on a single side. hebumps vary in length, but are a minimumo 400nm long, 320nm wide, and rise120nm rom the surace o the disc.Each track on a DVD is separated by just740nm; this density, combined with thedimensions o the bumps, are responsibleor the DVDs overall storage capacity.

BDs are also 12cm in size and use asimilar injection-molded polycarbonatedisc, but there are substantial dierencesbetween BDs and DVDs. Te new ormatcan read and write bumps that are a mere150nm long, and tracks on a standard BDmedia are just 320nm apart. Tanks to ablue (technically violet) gallium nitride

laser with a wavelength o 405nm, BDscan store 25GB on a single layer.

DRM ManiaAlthough content owners were eager to

adopt a new media ormat, they werentabout to side with anything that didntsupport some orm o DRM. Much totheir delight, BD supports multiplelayers o DRM, including HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection),AACS (Advanced Access Content System),

BD+, and BD-ROM Mark, all o whichare designed to prevent access to audio andvideo content on Blu-ray Disc media.

Due to their high capacity, Blu-ray Disc media is a viable option or PC backup and storage.

The good news is, over the past couple o

years, many movie and TV studios have

begun to flm in native 4K or 5K resolutions.



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CyberPowerPC recently announced the arrival of its newest PC line, the Zeus HTPC Series. Available in six models and

offering a variety of options, Zeus HTPCs are designed for maximum flexibility and come in a sleek aluminum case

that looks right at home as part of a high-tech entertainment center setup. We recently had the opportunity to talk with

CyberPowerPCs Joey Wang about the new line.

Fun With Zeus

CyberPowerPCs New HTPCDoes It All

size with passive cooling capability, thiscard takes up less space inside our ZeusHPC as well as keeps up the graphicspower without compromising noise and

heat levels, in addition to synergizing withthe anless, passive cooling theme o ourZeus HPC.

QHow do the six available modelsdier, and what kinds o optionscan customers add beyond the specs oyour standard conigurations?

JWOur six available models splitbetween two groups, utilizingeither the AMD APU series o processorsor Intels 4th Generation Haswell series

such restrictions, our video card optionsshrank, and it became a matter o usingthe best video card available that alsoeatured passive cooling support. o this

end, we went with the AMD RadeonHD 7750 series that some o our videocard partners developed a passive coolingsolution or.

QWhat else does the Radeon HD7750 bring to the table that made ita good choice or the Zeus?

JWhis particular Radeon HD 7750sports a anless design, using onlycopper pipes to transer the cards heatto its ins. By combining its diminutive

QCan you talk about how you chosethe chassis or the Zeus? It lookslike the case actually unctions asa heatsink?

JWWe chose it s microAX alu-minum chassis, the StreacomFC5 Evo, or its minimalist, low-proile design. We aimed to have theZeus HPC be discreet and subtle tokeep rom causing distractions but stillmaintain a stylish, sophisticated aesthetic.We also chose it or its anless design.Internally, many heatpipes redirect heat tothe aluminum ins, which helps dissipatethe heat.

Q So, in addition to the cases coolingeatures, in order to maintain thelow noise level you were ater, you hadto have passive cooling throughoutthe system; how did this aect yourcomponent choices, especially at thevideo card spot?

JWOur decision to make the ZeusHPC as close to silent aspossible limited the selection o videocards we could build into the system.Its also due to the thin design o thechassis that we had to shelve some othe more powerul video cards. With



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20%, and 30% overclocks in testing. Asyou can expect much more heat romoverclocking, we would recommend a

dedicated gaming tower with activecooling solutions until passive coolingtechnology can eortlessly compete withthe power o a watercooling system.

Q It looks like you chose Windows7 as the deault OS or Zeus SeriesPCs. What makes Windows 7 a betterchoice or a system o this type thanWindows 8?

JW

Wh il e we are an s o bo thoperating systems, we eel that

despite the amazing improvements thatWindows 8 brings to the ie ld, manyusers are more amiliar with Windows 7.In designing the Zeus HPC, we wantedour customers to eel right at homewhen using our HPC in gaming andentertainment; to this end, we elt thatWindows 7, despite the improvementsand continual upgrades going toWindows 8, evokes a more at -homeeeling with its amiliar looks, design,and aesthetics.

QWhat el se should readers knowabout the Zeus HPC line?

JWhe Zeus HPC is a wonderulhome entertainment experience.he combination o clean aestheticsand silent design gives it an unobtrusivepresence anywhere in the householdwhile being able to handle all but themost intensive tasks with its powerul andeicient hardware.

Hauppauge WinV-DCR-2650 Dualuner, the SiliconDust HDHomeRunPRIME riple uner, and the CetonininiV 4 quad-tuner.

QYour si te ment io ns a ew pa rt sthat are Venom OC-certiied inconjunction with Intels Perormanceuning Protection. Have you over-clocked the Zeus internally, and doyou ha ve an y id ea wh at kin ds oOCs youve achieved? Also, whatadvice would you give users whowould be interested in trying to OC aZeus HPC?

JWWe have not yet done extensiveoverclocking work with our ZeusHPC, but we will aim or our 10%,

o processors. hese base models eaturethe best parts at their own price points,and our customers can expect the mostbang or their buck rom our Zeus HPCline. Should they want to gear out theirHPCs even urther, we oer a largerange o choices or components such as

memory, storage, and other add-ons.

QWhat kinds o op tions do youoer or V tuner and DVRunctionality?

JWBy deault, all o our ZeusHPC models are bundledwith a Media Center Remote Control.However, our customers can choose toinclude one o three available V tunercards to improve their unctionality: the



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We Bring The Battle To Seattle

motherboard with more than a ew tricksup its sleeve. Te short version o the storyis that Customus wants or nothing, but thelong version is a lot cooler. Were going toexamine Customus Prime piece by piece, sowhen he rolls into PAX Prime or you to win(provided, you know, youre rolling into PAX

Prime, too, in which case you should checkhim out at booth #3828), youll know exactlywhats under the hood.

Lets take a look at what gives CustomusPrime his mojo.

PC Parts, Assemble!Giving Customus his brain was our frst

priority. We fgured that any processor thatwas good enough or last months superherosystem build, Clark Kent, would be goodenough or this months mean machine.Tats right, Haswell is back or an encore.

Although we style ourselves as ingeniousDr. Frankenstein types when it comes to

building PCs, we try to use our powers orgood (most o the time). I you want proo,look no urther than PAX Primes BYOCLAN party. here, you can expect hordeso hydralisks, zombies, Phoenix Connexiongoons, and dragons to descend upon PugetSound. And you thought the beleagueredcities o Paciic Rim had it rough.

We wanted to do our part with . . .parts. Nothing beats back the bestiaryo videogame baddies like a brand-newcustom PC. o take on this challenge,we went out in search o cutting-edge

components that can do it allgaming,editing, mixing, compressing, encoding,and everything else. Ten, we assembledeverything into a piece o machinerycapable o fghting or all L337kind. Itscustom PC or PAX Prime that can takewhatever punishment you can dish out.

Call him Customus Prime.Now, a ew things about Customus.

Were sorry to report that Customus Primedoes not transorm into a 30-oot-tall

sentient robo-alien rom a distant planet.He has no advanced weaponry to speako, and you dont get your own personalAllSpark. On the other hand, Customusalso doesnt require you to take on ateenage sidekick bent on annoying youevery step o the way. Such an advantagecannot be overstated. Point: Customus.

Getting back to the more relevant sellingpoints, weve amassed an intimidating lineupo hardware. Highlights include the latestand greatest CPU rom Intel, a screaminggraphics card, one wicked-ast SSD, and a

Intels Core i7-4770K is barely two monthsold, but were not giving it any time o.Tis chip is the agship o Intels eet o 4thGeneration Core processors, and its a fre-breather. Te quad-core, Hyper-Treaded4770K has a stock clock o 3.5GHz; whenurbo Boost kicks in, the requency jumps

up to 3.9GHz. And obviously, we dig thatunlocked multiplier. urbo is great, butwhen you want even more hustle out oyour CPU, manual overclocking is the onlyway to go. Weve personally seen the 4770Kblow by 4GHz with ease, so we were readystep on the gas one more time.

An absolute beast o a motherboard wentinto our system. he 4770Ks partner incrime this time around is GIGABYEsG1.Sniper 5. his E-AX mobo has anarsenal so extensive that its bound to violatea ew international arms treaties. hanks



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5s onboard audio is excellent, too. CreativesSound Core 3D audio processor carries theload, and GIGABYE complements thischip with Nichicon MUSE ES series andMW series bipolarized capacitors. Like otherG1-Killer motherboards, the G1.Sniper5 has a Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2200network controller.

Te graphics card that gives Customus

Prime his rame rate frepower is none otherthan MSIs GeForce GX 770 win FrozrGAMING. NVIDIAs 700 Series is Keplerrefned. Te reerence GX 770 is a nastycard in its own right, but the GX 770win Frozr GAMING is no reerence card.MSI overclocks the GX 770s core clockto 1,098MHz, up rom 1,046MHz. Boostgets a bump, too: MSI increased the GX770s standard 1,085GHz Boost clock to1,150MHz. And o course, theres the MSIcards namesake, the win Frozr cooler. Teatermarket cooler consists o a series o

to a built-in PLX PEX 8747 PCI-E bridgechip, the G1.Sniper 5 is equipped orour-way SLI or CrossFire, and on top that,its not an anemic implementation. Shouldyou decide to go with quad graphics,every card will run at x8. (hree-GPUsetups work at x16/x8/x8, while classictwo-card conigurations are x16/x16.)Te motherboard supports up to 32GB o

DDR3 that can run at a whiplash-inducing3,000MHz. Lots o SAA connectors andUSB 3.0 ports are here or you, too.

hese eatures are sweet, sure, but wesee sweet motherboards all the time. heG1.Sniper 5 has a handul o truly specialeatures. First, the PWM heatsink is muchmore than chunk o metal slapped on silicon.It has cooling on top o cooling. A smallattached an provides some active air cooling,and there are integrated watercooling barbs iyou want to incorporate the PWM heatsinkinto your liquid-cooling loop. Te G1.Sniper

heatpipes, an array o aluminum fns, anda pair o Propeller Blade ans. Te GeForceGX 770 win Frozr GAMING has thesame Military Class 4 components thatMSIs motherboards use. When all thatraw power joins with all that ridiculousdurability, you end up with a graphicscard that can slice through 3D workloadswithout breaking a sweat.

Because we consider the SSD to beone o the most important componentsin any build, we gave Customus one othe best. In this case, that happens to beOCZs 256GB Vector, the culminationo OCZs 2011 acquisition o Indilinx.hanks to this team-up o sorts, theVector sports a storage controller youwont fnd in any other companys SSD,the Bareoot 3. In practical terms,that amounts to one crazy-ast SSD.

Sequential reads max out at 550MBps.Sequential writes are nearly as good, at530MBps. For random 4K workloads,the Vector pulls down 100,000IOPS orreads and 95,000IOPS or writes. Tatsspeed you really cant appreciate untilyou boot Windows or load your game ochoice. ake our word or it: Te Vectoris one speedy SSD.

Haswell has a dual-channel memorycontroller, and we relied on a trustedriend or our memory kit. Corsairs

Vengeance DDR3 memory kits are assolid as they come, and we went with a16GB kit o DDR3-1866. We installedtwo 8GB modules in the G1.Sniper5s DIMM slots, and their black heatspreaders were a great match with themotherboards color scheme.

he CPU cooler we picked or Cus-tomus Prime was a great match, too.ENERMAXs ES-40-BKs all-blackheatsink had the look we wanted, but itssolid perormance is just as good. hecoolers our heatpipes are designed to



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internal components such as Japanesecapacitors, a double EMI ilter, and aull bridge with load line calibration. TePSUs 135mm an keeps those internalcomponents cool without making aruckus. In short, the V1000 is proopositive that not all kilowatt powersupplies are created equal.

We installed all o this phat lewt inTermaltakes new Urban S71 ull tower.Last month, hermaltakes delightullyunderstated Urban S41 gave Clark Kenthis mild-mannered disguise, and we likedthe look so much that we decided toupgrade to the S41s big brother or thisbuild. o start, the S71 had more thanenough space or our components. OurE-AX motherboard had plenty o legroom, as did the GX 770 win FrozrGAMING. he case also took care o

Customus Primes cooling needs out othe box, thanks to a pair o 200mm ans(one behind the ront panel, one in thetop panel) and a 120mm rear exhaust an.It has good-sized cable management holes,removable dust flters, tool-less drive bays,

orm part o the coolers base and makedirect contact with the 4770Ks integratedheat spreader. his implementationquickly unnels heat away rom the CPUand into the ES-40-BKs copperheatpipes and aluminum fns. Ten, thecoolers 120mm .B. APOLLISH antakes care o the rest, and it does so withstyle. he .B. APOLLISH ans LEDsdeliver exactly the right amount o visualair. ENERMAX also includes a secondset o an clips with the ES-40-BK, soyou can easily attach another 120mm andboost the coolers perormance.

Cooler Masters ully modular V1000power supply makes our hardware go.he V1000 is 80 PLUS Gold-certiiedand up to 93% eicient at 50% load.It has a single 12V rail thats capableo serving up 83 amps o current. Te

12V rail also boasts extremely tightvoltage regulationa variance o only1%. Tere are cables galore (eight 6+2-pin PCI-E, nine SAA, and our 4-pinMolex connectors), and Cooler Masterstus the V1000 ull o high-quality

and lots o other goodies power users havecome to expect in a quality case.

hermaltake does more than cases,cooling, and power, obviously. Look nourther than Customus Primes pair ogaming peripherals, the MEKA G-UnitIlluminated Edition keyboard and theHERON Inrared mouse. Te MEKAG-Units keys are all backlit, o course,but theres substance to go along withthe style. Te keyboard uses Cherry MXBlack mechanical keyswitches, a avoriteamong gamers. It oers three gameproiles and a whopping 60 macros.Te MEKA G-Units included sotwaremakes managing the profles and macroseasy and intuitive.

Te HERON Inrared is a precisionweapon. he optical mouse has aresolution range o 100 to 4,000 DPI,

and you can adjust it on the y. You canadjust the mouses weight, too, thanksto a set o fve 4.5g weights stowed in itsbase. Like the MEKA G-Unit IlluminatedEdition, the HERON stores a ton oproiles and macros (ive proiles and40 macros, to be speciic), and the redLED glow makes it a perect matchor our MEKA G-Unit. hermaltakesinput combo is more than a pretty ace,something Customus Primes opponentswill learn the hard way.

Roll Outhanks in large part to the Urban

S71 and the Cooler Master V1000,putting Customus Prime togetherwas quick and painless. Its a goodthing, too, because whats the pointo assembling all that killer hardwarewithout putting it to use?

And we defnitely put it to use. Cus-tomus attacked our benchmarks with avengeance. For the ull scoop, check outour benchmark results recap.



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http://www.gigabyte.us/


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Customus Prime Throws Down

components we used in this build cametogether or a concert o awesome.Even at stock speeds, Customus wascapable o exceptional perormance. Iyoure curious what lagship hardwarei s capable o when i t s workingtogether, our benchmark results charthas your answer.

When we overc locked our CPU, wealso ound out there was more to ourcooler than meets the eye. (ED: OK, you

Hopeully, youve come to grips withthe act Customus Prime is just a

PC. He wont be battling Megatron,and he wont save humanity rom anyexistential threats. On the other hand,his deeds wont inspire any nu metalpower ballads rom Linkin Park. Again,its all about tradeos.

Customus Primes deeds in his battleagainst our benchmarks are deinitelyinspiring, though. he cutting-edge

can stop that now.) For our last build,which eatured a Termaltake Water 3.0Extreme, we dialed up Intels Core i7-4770K to 4.3GHz. Tis time, we wereable to hit the same overclock usingENERMAXs ES-40-BK, a sharp-looking air cooler that beats heat with acombination o direct-touch heatpipes,aluminum ins, and one eye-catchingan. Its a testament to both IntelsHaswell architecture and ENERMAXs



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MSIs overclocked GeForce GX

770 handled our punishing graphicsworkload as well as any other cardweve tested. It put up great numbers in3DMarks challenging Fire Sky test andcame close to cracking 20ps in Metro:Last Light (at 2,560 x 1,600 and allsetting maxed). In a game that chews upGPUs and spits them out, thats awullyimpressive or a single card.

hanks to OCZs 256GB VectorSSD, Customus Prime is quick on hiseet, too. In less than 15 seconds ater

cooler; its also proo that you can get

plenty o cooling bang or your buck iyoure willing to look or it.

Our CPU-intensive benchmarksnaturally beneitted the most romthe 4770K cruising along at 4.3GHz.Ci ne be nc h and P O V -R ay w e r econsiderably aster ater the overclock,with 9.6% and 10.1% increases ,respectively. PCMark 7 showed anice increase, too, so you can expectCustomus to churn through a varietyo tasks like a champ.

pushing the power button, Windows

8 was booted and ready to go. Gamesloaded quickly, too, and we let ahealthy amount o storage or you toinstall your avorites.

We al so let Cus tomus Prime withplenty o room or upgrades, whetheryou want to add another MSI GX770 or Vector SSD (or both). his isone build thats powerul now and hasthe potential to become even morepowerul. hats the best result oany build.



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Benchmark Results Customus Prime (3.5GHz) Customus Prime (4.3GHz)

3DMark Fire Strike 6952 7003

Graphics Score 7757 7747

Physics Score 11118 12209

Combined Test 13.82 13.81

PCMark 7 6807 7130

Productivity 6340 6681

Entertainment 6523 6796

Creativity 10304 10499

Computation 12727 13088

System Storage 5427 5408

SiSoftware Sandra 2013 Lite SP4

Dhrystone AVX2 (GIPS) 132 145.43

Whetstone iSSE3 (GFLOPS) 100.77 110.91

x32 Multi-Media Integer AVX2 (Mpixels/s) 426.61 469.18

x16 Multi-Media Float FMA3 (Mpixels/s) 417.46 398.1

Integer B/F AVX/128 (GBps) 24.08 24.08

Floating B/F AVX/128 (GBps) 24 24

POV-Ray 3.7 Beta (pixels per second) 1623.04 1786.79

Cinebench 11.5 (points) 8.6 9.43

Games (frames per second at 2,560 x 1,600)

Metro: Last Light (4XAA, 16XAF) 19.33 19.33

Aliens vs. Predator (4XAA, 16XAF) 35.8 36

Test system specs: Processor: Intel Core i7-4770K; Motherboard: GIGABYTE G1.Sniper 5; Graphics:

MSI GeForce GTX 770 Twin Frozr GAMING; RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1866; Storage: OCZ

Vector 256GB SSD; CPU cooler: ENERMAX ETS-T40 Black Twister; PSU: Cooler Master V1000; Case:

Thermaltake Urban S71; Windows 8 Pro



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http://www.intelgamingpromo.com/


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ENERMAX ETS-T40Full-Color Coolers

the cooler and ensures that the coolingperormance will not deteriorate, even inhumid environments, says Lee.

So why white or black? Why didntENERMAX inish the ES-40 insomething showier, like a bright red ordeep blue?

In the past, PC systems would be too

colorul and become chaotic or tacky,says Lee. Youd like to treat your systemas an artistic centerpiece, so the entirecomposition must be appealing and owwell seamlessly.

With the new ENERMAX ES-40Black wister and ES-40 WhiteCluster, users have the opportunity tobalance the colors in their rigs and standout rom the ordinary.

A bold hue would also make it hardor you to fnd other PC components incomplementary colors. A neutral tone,

Aew decades ago, a monochrometrend hit the custom automotiveworld. Car owners opted into the

sporty, European look by having theirbumpers, windshield wiper arms, trimpieces, and door handlesbasicallyeverything but the glasspainted tomatch their vehicles body color.

he ES-40 CPU coolers romENERMAX (distributed by ECOMASER;www.ecomastertek.com) put us in mind othe monochroming ad, thanks to a neatnew coating on its copper and aluminumsuraces. But the coating isnt just an aestheticdecision; it supplies a real improvement toperormance, as well.

Color CoatedAs internal black or white coating

becomes the standard in mainstream PC

chassis, many users are looking or theideal color components to complementtheir color-coordinated system, saysENERMAX Sales Manager John Lee.Tis raised an idea to turn our award-winning ES-40 cooler rom atraditional silver inish into a black orwhite edition or those users who wantcomplete tone unifcation or their rigs.

Te coating in question is ENERMAXsinnovative CC (hermal ConductiveCoating).

A normal coat o paint would have anegative eect on the perormance o aCPU cooler because the heat dissipationspeed is blocked, says Lee.

However, with ENERMAXs newtechnology, CC, the issue is solved andmaintains the perect perormance o the40. CC has special nano-molecularproperties that help pass the heat romone side to the other, while increasingthermal conductivity.

Moreover, the coatings oer anti-oxidation, which extends the lietime o

such as the ES-40s white or black, canpretty much go with anything.

Te ES-40 black or white editionsare or those that desire more style andlair or their CPU cooling solution,says Lee.

Construction

he ES-40 incorporates severaltechnologies ENERMAX developed tohelp it do its job o cooling your CPU.

It is designed to ulfll the quintessentialcustomers need by implementing theunique patented technologiesVGF(Vortex Generator Flow), SEF (StackEect), and HD (Heat-pipe Directouch), Lee says.

VGF (Vortex Generator Flow). VGFincreases air convection between thecoolers aluminum ins, helping it tohug the round heat pipes in their midst.

The ENERMAX ETS-T40s colorul coating actually helps it shed heat. It also looks boss.



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cooler air can then be transerred to theback o the heat pipes.

SEF (Stack Eect). his eature isdesigned to help heat escape through

small chimneys in the fn structure.As warm air rises up due to its

lower density, it leaves behind a lowpressure that in exchange pulls cool air(upward), says Lee. wo openings inthe middle o the heatsink make use othis eect. Te openings interrupt theair stream so that the warm air gains

Vortex generators are commonlyapplied in the aviation industry, saysLee. Tey make sure that the air streamis lead as close as possible along the

airplanes wings.During the CPU cooler development,

the ENERMAX engineers recognized thepotential o this technology to optimizethe air stream inside the heatsink, saysLee. Small spoilers on the ins, alsoknown as Vortex Generators, conduct

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