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Digital Storm Bolt stuffs full-power graphics into a mini gaming desktop, stretches laws of physics
Attempts to create truly small gaming desktops usually involve at least some kind of performance hit. Even HP's category-bending Firebird, one of the few stand-out examples, had to use toned-down graphics to succeed in a tiny enclosure. Digital Storm might have broken the trend towards sacrifice with its new Bolt desktop: although it's just 3.6 inches wide and 14 inches tall, the Bolt can cram in as much as a GeForce GTX 680 and will even let gamers upgrade the graphics like they would in a full-size PC. The seemingly logic-defying (if also finger-defying) case still allows room for as much as an overclocked 4.6GHz Core i7, 16GB of RAM and storage options that meld a spinning hard drive with up to two SSDs and a DVD burner. Digital Storm isn't even setting an absurd base price, but it's in the cost that we finally see the catch to the miniaturization tricks. The $999 entry-level Bolt carries a modest 3.1GHz Core i3, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive and GeForce GTX 650 Ti, while it takes a staggering $1,949 to get a fully decked-out Core i7 system with a GTX 680. Those prices might be worthwhile for anyone who has ever strained while lugging a traditional tower to a game tourney. %Gallery-169137%
Maingear announces Alpha 24 Super Stock AIO: NVIDIA graphics and Ivy Bridge power for $1,349 and up
Maingear is relatively new to the all-in-one space, having released its Solo 21 just this March. Now it's introducing the Alpha 24 Super Stock, an AIO with a 24-inch, 1080p touchscreen and some solid specs under the hood. Processor choices include a Core i3-3240 chip clocked at 3.4GHz and a Core i7 option (both Ivy Bride, of course), and the AIO is configurable with up to 16GB of SO-DIMM memory. For storage, you're looking at up to a 3TB hard drive and up to a 256GB SSD. Being a Maingear machine, the Super Stock is all about the graphics: an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 GPU comes standard, but that can be switched out for a GeForce GTX 680 chip. There are also two 8-pin PCI-E power connectors on board for good measure. Also in line with the company's DIY mentality, the machine meets Intel's thin-mini ITX standard for assuring that next-gen components can be swapped in. Rounding out the feature list are an optional CableCARD tuner, an optical drive, HDMI, three USB 2.0 ports and a SD card reader. The Alpha 24 Super Stock will go for $1,349 and up starting today -- check out the full press info below the break.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 and 670 round-up: which overclocked card is the one for you?
Happy first-quarter birthday, Kepler. Your reference design is old enough for companies like EVGA, MSI, ASUS, Zotac to push your various clock speeds to the limit, while using custom coolers to avoid meltdown. Arguably the time to upgrade is now and that's why Hot Hardware has done a full-on round-up review, comparing some of the best GTX 680 and GTX 670 packages against each other and against the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition. If you prefer your morning news fresh and unspoilered, jump straight to the source link below. Or, if you just want the gist of it, click Read More.
Hands-on: Maingear Shift running Saitek flight-simulation hardware (video)
Custom PC builder Maingear had something pretty nifty up its sleeve at Pepcom tonight: versions of its desktops configured to run Saitek's flight-simulation hardware -- in this case, with a full cockpit setup. In partnership with Mad Catz, the company developed configurations of its Potenza, F131 and Shift desktops optimized to work with the Saitek line of flight-sim systems. Tonight we saw the Shift paired with some pretty heavy-duty hardware: we're talking 18 USB connections for the full Saitek cockpit. Maingear's pro-certified system packs a Core i7 CPU clocked at up to 3.9GHz and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 graphics (with four GPUs), and with an experienced pilot behind the wheel, that translated into a smooth landing in Flight Simulator X. Maingear says the whole setup -- hardware controls plus the Shift desktop -- will go for $5,500 starting tomorrow. That's the top-of-the-line configuration, mind you; if your piloting aspirations are more modest, you could opt for the more affordable Potenza, which starts at $1,000. Check out a video demo below.%Gallery-158862%
EVGA's GeForce GTX 680 Classified tempts overclockers with watery siren call
Judging by a sneak Computex preview, EVGA's intentions for the upcoming GTX 680 Classified graphics card are not a thorny mystery. With an optional water-cooling block and voltage control inputs, there's plenty here to seduce the hardcore modder. The company isn't talking numbers just yet, but if terms like "14-phase power design" whet your appetite, then you're in luck. In any case, like its other Classified mates, it's apt to be the company's top GeForce GTX 680 performer. So, if you're plugging in the pumps and hoses for that next mod, you might want to leave a slot -- or four -- open for this one.
NVIDIA outs GeForce GTX 670 GPU: it's Kepler without the mortgage
This'll be old news for some lucky folks, but NVIDIA has just unveiled the GeForce GTX 670 graphics card. It aims to bring Kepler to gamers who don't have off-shore bank accounts, with a price tag of $399 (or £329 in the UK, and €329 in Europe). What sacrifices will be made to reach that bracket, compared to the flagship GTX 680? A loss of 192 CUDA cores, for starters, plus a slightly slower 915MHz base clock speed, which will no doubt have an impact on benchmarks -- we'll do a review round-up shortly to figure out just how much. Nevertheless, you'll still get the same 28nm chip architecture and 2GB of DDR5 RAM, along with NVIDIA's GPU Boost technology that autonomously overclocks the processor to make use of available headroom. In terms of official performance claims, NVIDIA has chosen to compare its benchmarks to AMD's high-end Radeon HD 7950 and boasts that the GTX 670 comes out on top every time by a margin of 18 to 49 percent. Of course, the war of words is little more than performance art at this point, so stay tuned for independent tests. Meanwhile, gaming-friendly manufacturers like Origin and Maingear have declared that they'll carry the card alongside the 690 in its desktop offerings -- you can learn more about that after the jump.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 review roundup: (usually) worth the one grand
Now that NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 690 is shipping through some vendors, gamers have been wondering if it's worth the wallet-busting $999 to get those higher frame rates. Surprisingly, the answer is "yes." As AnandTech notes, the GTX 690 is often almost as fast or faster than a pair of GTX 680s working together in SLI mode, only using less power and running at cooler and quieter power levels through those two 28-nanometer Kepler chips. Across multiple reviewers, though, the GTX 690 was sometimes slower than two Radeon HD 7970 boards using CrossFire. HotHardware and others found that it's definitely the graphics card of choice for Batman: Arkham City enthusiasts: problems with AMD's CrossFire mode leave a dual Radeon HD 7970 setup running at just half the frame rate of its NVIDIA-made challenger. Caveats? There are still some worries beyond the price tag, as the twin Radeon cards are as much as three times faster at general-purpose computing tasks than the latest and greatest GeForce. PC Perspective likewise warns that fans of joining three displays together for some 3D Vision Surround action will still take a big frame rate hit when they put the 3D glasses on. Still, the GTX 690 looks to be tops if you're looking to get the fastest single-card gaming on Earth, and as Legit Reviews adds, that trivalent chromium-plated aluminum makes it one of the "better looking" cards, to boot. Read - AnandTech Read - HotHardware Read - Legit Reviews Read - PC Perspective
Maingear reveals more heat-dissipating desktops, keeps those new Ivy Bridge internals cool
Maingear gave us a quick nudge to say something was coming. Now it can reveal that -- alongside Intel's third-generation processors inside all of its desktops and laptops -- it's further updated two of its tower models. The F131 ($1,049), the middleweight option, now houses the same vertical heat-dissipating design found on Maingear's Shift model, alongside hot-swappable storage. It's followed by the Potenza ($899), the company's "mini-ITX gaming solution." It's 45 percent smaller than the F131 with the same heat dissipation design, but still capable of squeezing in NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 680 and support for a liquid cooling setup on the side. Phew. So pick your size, pick your processor and hit up the source for all the custom desktop options.
NVIDIA's GTX 680 tested in SLI and multi-display modes, loses some of its lead
Just hours after our review round-up of the new GeForce GTX 680 graphics card yesterday, a Dutch site has managed to test multiple cards in different (but invariably exorbitant) SLI modes. One of the strange things we learned during our hands-on was that SLI is complicated by NVIDIA's GPU Boost technology, which causes individual cards in the same chassis to run at different clock speeds depending on their load and temperature. Fortunately, Hardware.info reports no problems with SLI whatsoever, but it also concludes that the GTX 680 doesn't scale quite as well as AMD's Radeon HD 7970 in this type of niche setup. That changes if you throw down even more money on a 5760 x 1080 triple-display rig, in which case NVIDIA takes the lead in some games, but loses in others -- leaving the two rivals closer than the single-card reviews we looked at yesterday. If horizon-filling gameplay is your thing, don't give anyone thousands of dollars until you've checked out the source link.[Thanks, Koen]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 review round-up: see ya later, AMD
We've already been hands-on with NVIDIA's first Kepler GPU, but all those fancy features count for nuthin' if the benchmarks don't back them up. So do they? Huh? Do they? NVIDIA told us to expect a 10 to 40 percent performance boost from the $499 GTX 680, versus AMD's pricier Radeon HD 7970, and it appears that was no exaggeration. If you've bought yourself a high-end 28nm AMD card recently, try to hold back those tears until you've glanced over the reviews after the break. Let's just hope for a fairer fight when NVIDIA's mainstream and low-end cards come out to tackle AMD's 7800- and 7700-series -- and hey, some timely price drops could help to balance things too.
