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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 and 780 review roundup: Kepler's still kicking in 2013
Now that we have the low-down on NVIDIA's two mainstream heavyweights, the GTX 770 and the GTX 780, we figure it's time to move beyond specs and official slide decks and bring together some reviews from the specialist sites. Both cards contain the same Kepler architecture as NVIDIA's 2012 line-up, with no huge leaps in evidence, but they either add more of this silicon (in the case of the GTX 780) or drive it harder (in the case of the GTX 770) in order create new options for enthusiasts and for those upgrading from a card that is two or more generations old. At the same time, these products represent a major shift in NVIDIA's pricing strategy. At $649, the GTX 780 is priced much higher than its direct ancestor, and it aims to approach Titan-level performance without hitting the same thousand-dollar high. Meanwhile, the GTX 770 costs just $399 and yet is said to replace last year's flagship cards like the GTX 680 and Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, which are still being sold for $450 and upwards at some retailers. Read on and we'll summarize how these claims have stacked up against reality.
AMD Radeon HD 7990 review roundup: fast, quiet, but no world beater
Now that the veil has been lifted from the AMD Radeon HD 7990, it's time for the usual enthusiast review sites to reveal their thoughts -- and benchmarks -- on the latest graphics card from Sunnyvale. As we've mentioned, the 7990 has effectively two 7970 GPUs on board, promising over 8 TFLOPS of power and the chops to handle full 4K resolution under maximum settings. However, it's a pricey little thing at around $1,000, which doesn't set it too far away from the competition and its unique cooling system means an airy case is a must. What do our sample of reviewers think? Find out in our roundup after the break.
Crucial M500 SSD review round-up: 960GB at $600 is cheapest in class, available now
Crucial's budget-friendly yet high-capacity 2.5-inch M500 SSD has finally cropped up for sale today, as have the reviews of it from the usual enthusiast sites. While it's still not exactly low-cost, many applaud the fact that the company's $600 960GB drive is the cheapest near-1TB model you can get on the market. It uses Micron's 20nm MLC NAND flash, a SATA 6 Gb/s controller and is the first to implement the new 128Gb MLC NAND die. According to Benchmark Reviews, it certainly bests its m4 predecessor with peak speeds that reach 500 MB/s read and 400 MB/s write, with 80,000 IOPS in operational performance. Both TweakTown and Anandtech concur that it's not quite as fast as its closest competitor, the Samsung 840 Pro, but as Anand Lai Shimpi said in his review: "If you need the capacity and plan on using all of it [960GB], the M500 is really the only game in town." TechnologyX, however, gives the nod to the 480GB model, if only because it's about $200 cheaper if you're willing to compromise on space. Crucial also offers the M500 in 120GB and 240GB for $130 and $220 for those with smaller wallets. If you're keen to see the full breakdown on this tiny wonder, head on over to the sources to judge for yourself, or just click on the Crucial link below to get your own.
NVIDIA GTX Titan review roundup: the fastest single-GPU card ever tested
Looking to cut to the chase? Those yearning for the fastest single-GPU powered graphics card ever tested need look no further... for the moment, anyway. NVIDIA's beastly GTX Titan has been making the rounds on test benches across the world, and while demo titles and stress factors varied somewhat, the overall conclusion seems pretty unanimous. The folks at Hot Hardware proclaimed: "In every benchmark or game we threw at it, regardless of resolution, the GeForce GTX Titan clearly outpaced the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition and the GeForce GTX 680, sometimes by margins over 50 percent." Meanwhile, the crew at AnandTech stated: "It's simply in a league of its own right now, reaching levels of performance no other single-GPU card can touch." Oh, and it can totally play Crysis 3. For those needing any additional convincing, you'll find a plethora of links below; in other news, you still need a grand to buy one. Huzzah!
AMD Trinity review roundup: good bang for your entry-level buck
It's never easy playing second fiddle, but AMD is trying their best to keep Intel on their toes with its latest line of Trinity desktop chips. We were introduced to the Trinity last week, but now the official reviews are in from the usual specialist sites. The consensus seems to be that it provides solid performance for the price. The Trinity A10-5800K is in the same class as the Core i5 but sells at $130 on NewEgg, which is the going rate for the Core i3-3220 (Guess those price leaks were true). Hot Hardware notes that both the A10-5800K and the A8-5600K offer improved performance and decent overclockability, stating that it offers "roughly a 10 percent kicker in CPU performance" and "15 - 17 percent increase in GPU performance." As for power consumption, Anandtech claims the Trinity isn't quite as good as the Core i3, but "compared to Llano, Trinity is a bit more efficient" so it looks like there's improvement from past AMD chips. TechSpot points out the Trinity also requires a new Socket FM2 motherboard. Like most reviews, Hot Hardware recommends the Trinity chips as a solid choice for those who want an entry-level system. However, those hungry for power are probably still going to go Intel. Legit Reviews states that the AMD Trinity will do just fine for everyday use and some light gaming, leaving the pricier Intel chips for performance-chasers. Definitely peruse the links below for more details before considering a purchase. Read - Hot Hardware Read - Tom's Hardware Read - AnandTech Read - Legit Reviews Read - Benchmark Reviews
Friday Favorite: Desktop Tidy
Part of my blogging workflow uses Skitch for screenshots. As a result, I wind up with images all over my desktop at the end of the day like, well, a messy desktop after a busy day. If you find yourself with files constantly cluttering your desktop as well, check out Desktop Tidy on the Mac App Store. It'll hide those files clogging up your workspace at intervals you set, from every few seconds to every few days. But wait, there's more! Desktop Tidy includes a ton of customization features. Sure, it stashes your files away in your Library folder where Spotlight won't index them (and Finder likes to hide the Library folder by default these days), but that's part of the beauty of the app. Using the menu bar, you'll easily see what files were sent over, make them come back, or search and organize them on the fly. Here's a neat trick: Ctrl-clicking an item in the menu will restore it to your desktop. There are filters for filetypes which will allow you to easily spot the files you may typically save to the desktop. In my case these are image files, and Desktop Tidy comes already configured to show a filter of images, easily accessed from the menu bar. In a way, this is easier than mucking about on the desktop itself. Yes there are other tools and ways to do this, but I think Tidy gives the user a ton of options and ease of use for a decent price (currently US$4.99). Check out Desktop Tidy if you just can't stand having all those files littering your desktop, no matter how tiny you make them.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti review roundup: impressive performance for around $300
No one's saying that $300 is "cheap," but compared to the GTX 670 and GTX 680 before it, the newly announced GeForce GTX 660 Ti is definitely in a more attainable category. The usual suspects have hashed out their reviews today, with the general consensus being one of satisfaction. A gamechanger in the space it's not, but this Kepler-based GPU managed to go toe-to-toe with similarly priced Radeon GPUs while being relatively power efficient in the process. That said, AnandTech was quick to point out that unlike Kepler reviews in the past, the 660 Ti wasn't able to simply blow away the competition; it found the card to perform around 10 to 15 percent faster than the 7870 from AMD, while the 7950 was putting out roughly the same amount of performance as the card on today's test bench. HotHardware mentioned that NVIDIA does indeed have another winner on its hands, noting that it'd be tough to do better right now for three Benjamins. Per usual, there's plenty of further reading available in the links below for those seriously considering the upgrade.
AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition review roundup: a big, bad bruiser of a graphics card
You know the routine: we looked this revamped card's spec sheet a few hours ago, so now it's time to find out how it fared in independent tests and whether it's worth the $499 outlay. On the face of it, this powerhouse of a card ought to be a champ, since it comes $50 cheaper than the original's launch price (although that non-GHz Edition has now dropped to $449) and brings crucial improvements in clock speed and memory bandwidth. In practice? Well, it wins -- but only on points. Read on for more.
NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 review roundup: a $99 card that fails to keep Kepler's promise
NVIDIA blew reviewers away with its flagship GTX 680, but building cards for the low-end is a whole different challenge. The GT 640 hits the $99 price point, where it sits right between the AMD Radeon HD 7750 at $109 and the last-gen Radeon 6670 at around $80. As it turns out, these rivals pull off something of a pincer movement, leaving NVIDIA's card little room to retaliate. The GT 640 contains a 28nm Kepler chip, but it's a cutdown version of the silicon with just 384 CUDA cores, a poor memory bandwidth of 28.5GB/s and no GPU Boost feature -- which means the card can't boost its 900MHz to make use of thermal headroom. These limitations have a significant impact on the benchmarks, as you'll see in our little review roundup after the break.
Dell XPS One 27 review roundup: an all-in-one PC worth owning
Let's be honest here: there hasn't been an overly compelling option in the all-in-one PC space in a really, really long time. Not to say there weren't decent options, but that "blow you away" factor has been missing for a good while. No more. Dell's wildly handsome XPS One 27 has hit the ground running, and it's garnering near-universal praise across the web. While it boasts a somewhat steep price point ($1,399 and up), packs a touchpanel option and is landing just months before Windows 8's debut, critics at large seem to have fallen back in love with the AIO form factor thanks to this one machine. Hot Hardware lauded the Core i7 CPU and NVIDIA Kepler graphics, and they had a tough time controlling their adoration for the Samsung PLS panel that stole the show. PCMag struggled to find cons, noting that the rig managed to put "almost every technology and feature we're looking for in a compact stylish chassis." AnandTech, however, rightfully points out that the lack of a touchpanel is no big deal in the land of Windows 7, but not providing the option for those looking forward to a Metro-fied Windows 8 experience may end up hurting the value proposition in the long run. Hovering over that buy button? Restrain yourself a bit longer while you dive into the source links below.
AMD Trinity laptop review roundup: beats Ivy Bridge on gaming, but CPU lets the herd down
If you've been following AMD's game plan over the last couple of years, then you probably won't be totally shocked by what follows. That said, reviewers' verdicts of the new high-end Trinity laptop APU, the 2.3GHz quad-core A10-4600M, do include some dizzying highs and despairing lows, which are still kinda surprising in their own way. Like how? Well, HotHardware found that AMD's chip beats Intel's Ivy Bridge (with integrated HD 4000 graphics) by 30 to 50 percent in some games, albeit with a few stumbles over immature DX11 drivers. Similarly, AnandTech's handy table above shows just how far ahead Trinity is across fifteen common titles. On the other hand, most reviewers found that non-gaming CPU performance fell far short of Ivy Bridge and even Sandy Bridge mobile chips. For example, Hexus's Geekbench scores put the APU 40 percent behind last year's Dell XPS 15z, which is totally underwhelming. So, as usual, it'll all depend on what you need a laptop for -- but if you're after something that costs $699 or less, handles regular day-to-day tasks okay and can also play current games with decent frame-rates, then you'll be keen to conduct further research at the links below. Read - HotHardware Read - AnandTech Read - Hexus Read - PC Perspective
Nikon D800 review roundup: significant upgrades to an already top-notch DSLR
Three years is quite a long time for any one gadget to complete its product cycle -- even a high-end DSLR. The D700 remained on its flagship DSLR perch since its launch in the summer of 2008, all the way through Nikon's D800 announcement earlier this year. During that tenure, the full-frame camera became the primary workhorse for a bounty of photography pros, and it appears safe to confirm that its successor is up to the same task. The 36.3-megapixel D800 has completed its labs tour, leaving reviewers with positive impressions across the board. As always, DPReview offers some of the most comprehensive analysis on the web, and highlights several advantages over the D800's competitor, the Canon 5D Mark III, including a higher megapixel count (36MP vs. 22MP) and a significantly lower price tag ($3,000 vs. $3,500). CNET struggles to identify cons, and praises the cam for its "stellar photos, excellent videos, speedy performance, and a relatively streamlined shooting design." Ken Rockwell brings a D800E into the reviews mix, concluding that the low-pass-filter-less flavor isn't the best fit for everyone. Finally, newcomer The Photo Brigade put the camera in the hands of Preston Mack, a professional on assignment who used the DSLR to capture a GigaPan photo for MLB.com and offered this takeaway: "I am very happy with the Nikon D800 camera. It is an amazing value." Overall, seems like quite a hit -- you'll find links to all of the above reviews just past the break.
Intel Core i7-3770K CPU review roundup: crossing the Ivy Bridge
Today is officially Ivy Bridge day, in case you didn't already know. Intel took the wraps off the latest member of its processor family and the internet wasted no time putting the flagship Core i7-3770K through its paces. The 3.5GHz quad-core desktop chip comes packing not only some architectural tweaks, but a brand new integrated GPU in the form of the HD 4000. Oh, and it does all this using a brand new 22nm manufacturing process and 3D "Tri-Gate" transistors. What does that mean for you, the user? Lower power consumption, better performance and, surprisingly, unbelievably fast media transcoding. When AnandTech turned its eyes towards Quick Sync, the on-die media transcode engine introduced with Sandy Bridge, the 3770K practically buried the competition. Using Cyberlink Media Espresso the new chip turned a DRM-stripped Blu-ray of Harry Potter (130 minutes of 1080p video) into an iPad friendly format in just seven minutes without taxing the CPU. At idle, power consumption hasn't changed much, but when TechSpot put the pedal to the metal things looked quite a bit different. The new i7-3770K sucked down just 147 watts, which was even four watts less than lower clocked i5-2500K. And, of course, it delivered much better performance. In fact, in Bit-Tech's tests, the only chip that was able to routinely best it was the hexa-core 3960X Extreme Edition -- and even that CPU barely eked out its victories. While AMD's offerings simply can't compete with Intel's on pure performance or power consumption, it does still outrun run Chipzilla's GPU. The HD 4000 is, undeniably, a huge step forward for the Core line, but it falls just short of matching the A8's integrated Radeon on Tech Report's tests. For more benchmarks than your heart can handle check out the pile of links below. Read - AnandTech Read - Bit-Tech Read - TechSpot Read - Tech Report Read - Hot Hardware
WD's 1TB VelociRaptor HDD gets reviewed: substantial gains, moderate price
Western Digital has expanded its line of desktop-grade VelociRaptors to include a 1TB model that's available now for $320, but those kidding themselves with that whole "250GB is enough" thing can get in for as little as $160. Top-level specs include a 10,000RPM spindle rate and a SATA 6Gb/s interface housed within a 3.5-inch heat sink -- useful for lessening the burden of the drive's thermal output on the rest of the machine. Storage Review's tests reveal that sequential read and write transfer speeds top out around 206MB/s, thermal dissipation is excellent with low power consumption, and that random access has improved compared with its 600GB predecessor. They consider the new HDD to be a "very appealing value proposition" and "a blend of high performance, storage, capacity, and low cost." Hot Hardware discovered virtually identical numbers with their tests, but wasn't quite as forgiving when it comes to the cost-per-GB versus 7200RPM hard drives. However, they call this VelociRaptor the "fastest HDD yet" at "nearly double the capacity of previous" model. You can find even more stats and impressions to chew on at the sources below.
Zotac ZBOX Nano XS AD11 Plus mini PC launches with E-450 APU, gets reviewed
Zotac and its ZBOXes -- just when you think your next dorm room PC couldn't get any smaller... it does. The latest in the stable is the long-winded Nano XS AD11 Plus, a hysterically titled small form factor PC equipped with a dual-core 1.6GHz AMD E-450 APU, Radeon HD 6320 GPU, 2GB of DDR3 memory and an HDMI output. There's also a 64GB mSATA SSD, a pair of USB 3.0 sockets (as well as a couple of the USB 2.0 variety), a gigabit Ethernet jack and a bundled MCE-compatible remote. In a smattering of reviews that also cropped up alongside the box's launch, we've learned that the E-450 moderately bests the prior E-350 rigs and soars past similarly equipped Atom-based machines; the mSATA SSD is perhaps the biggest upgrade, however, easily helping the system as a whole feel far faster than those with mechanical hard drives. Hot Hardware was pleased with the overall showing, though they did note that the include USB WiFi adapter gave 'em headaches when trying to stream high-bitrate content from a NAS / home server. Worth the $359? Hit those More Coverage links to help you decide.
Kingston HyperX 3K SSD review round-up: Cheaper than its predecessor and almost as good
Kingston's new HyperX 3K SSD has appeared, powered by a second-generation SandForce SF-2281 processor. Sizes ranging from 90GB to 480GB and are appropriately priced between $140 to $700 -- depending on your storage tastes. With a SATA 6Gb/s interface wrapped in a black and aluminum casing, the HyperX 3K looks ready to spar with Intel's similarly SandForce-powered SSDs. Kingston's 2.5-inch drives have also finished the review party circuit, picking up some pretty positive responses. According to Anandtech's testing, the HyperX 3K performs almost as well as its 5K predecessor, landing just behind it for light workload tests (309.4 MB/s on average) and a heavy workload performance (225.8 MB/s) that netted it second place. Overall, they reckon the HyperX 3K is a "no-brainer," offering great performance for less of those hard-earned dollars. The relatively rugged design was the first thing that caught Storage Review's eye, due to Kingston's (presumably necessary) thermal armor. The site was suitably impressed by read rates, which were comparable to the original HyperX SSD. Write performance didn't hold up quite as well during tests and due to the reduced quality of the NAND memory used, you will see a drop on total write cycles possible -- something that mainstream users probably won't lose much sleep over. Storage Review maintains that when it comes to both performance and pricing, Kingston's latest "delivers on both fronts." You can take a closer look at what both reviews have to say -- and a whole load of tests -- at the sources below.
OCZ Vertex 4 SSD released, wins calm praise on the review circuit
The Vertex 4 is a big deal for OCZ, because it's the company's first top-end SSD to come with an in-house Indilinx controller. We first saw an earlier version of this proprietary silicon put to good effect in the Octane drive a few months ago, and by most accounts the Vertex 4's updated Everest 2 controller continues in the same vein. The new drive will ship in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB varieties, with MSRPs of $179, $349 and $699 respectively, which stacks up well against Intel's 520 series. Bearing in mind that only the larger two variants have been sent out for review so far, the general feedback is that the Vertex 4 is reliable and indeed excels in certain key benchmarks like random write performance, which Anandtech described as "incredible." On the other hand, read performance and some other real-world benchmarks were less earth-shattering, and most reviewers have been quite measured in their conclusions. Storage Review, for example, suggested that the new Vertex's attractiveness will grow over time, as pricing gets more aggressive and OCZ's decision to use its own controller pays dividends in terms of support and firmware tweaks. Check out the source links for all the usual benchmark graph goodness. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in.]
Intel SSD 520 review roundup: Intel reliability, SandForce speeds starting at $149
There's plenty of SSD options out there, but Intel's NAND drives are among the most well thought of, simply because they're so reliable. But, with the top speed of competing SSDs spiraling higher, Intel's rock-solid reputation may not be enough for some enthusiasts. Enter the SSD 520, with a performance SandForce SF-2281 controller and custom firmware (codenamed Cherryville) on board to ensure the 520 meets Chipzilla's demanding standards for stability. It's the result of a year and a half long collaboration between Intel and SandForce, and is available in both 7mm and 9.5mm thin form factors to fit any machine -- Ultrabook or otherwise. Aside from the SandForce chip, the 520 packs Intel's finest 25nm NAND Flash, a SATA 6GB/s connection and its 550MB/s reads and 520MB/s writes can be had for $149 in 60GB garb and prices escalate up to a grand for 480GB. Naturally, as this is Intel's effort to snatch back the performance market, a raft of reviews have been written about the SSD 520.So, how does the 520 stack up? Well, Intel's so confident in the 520 that it's backed the SSD with a five-year warranty. Though its performance doesn't drastically outpace its competition, Storage Review found the drive to be on par with the current speed king, OCZ's Vertex 3 in its benchmarks -- and also found performance and stability to be quite good in both enterprise use and in RAID arrays. Meanwhile, AnandTech found that the 520's peak random write speeds quite similar to its sequential reads during testing, which shows how well the optimized firmware works with the NAND. Hot Hardware thought the 520 to be comparable to other SandForce-equipped SSDs, but in terms of power consumption, Tom's Hardware found Intel's latest to be a power hog. Generally, all the reviewers were in agreement: the 520 is a speedy SSD, but you pay a hefty premium for Intel's reputation for churning out reliable drives. Only time will tell if the 520 can deliver the reliability we want, but there's plenty of performance info to be had in the reviews listed below.
AMD Radeon HD 7970 review roundup: supremely fast, relatively efficient
AMD's next flagship graphics card was only announced a few hours ago, and it won't arrive on the gaming public's plate until January, but already the tech punditry has tasted it, tested it and spat out a soggy little piece of paper that reads: "the fastest single-GPU card in the world." What we're really looking for, though, is the type of performance that beats older rivals like NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 580 without blowing the house up like a dual-GPU product. As it turns out, most reviewers agree that is exactly what this new $549 Radeon delivers, albeit with the few caveats summarized after the break.
OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid review roundup: a speedy and spacious storage solution
Ever since we spent some time with OCZ's RevoDrive Hybrid back at Computex, we eagerly awaited its arrival so that it could be put through its paces. Well, the time has come for the $500 storage mongrel to face the music and for us to find out if it adds up to more than the sum of its SSD and HDD parts. Hot Hardware found the RevoDrive Hybrid delivered on its promise of mind-blowing peak transfer speeds of almost 1GBps, with performance that could only be matched by dual SATA III SSDs in a RAID 0 setup. Everyone spoke well of the Dataplex software that manages the RevoDrive's caching, as it dutifully maxed out performance once it learned usage patterns. TRIM support was a welcome feature, but all noted the niggle that it must be used as the system boot device, so it can't pull duty as secondary storage. All in all, the consensus is that while the RevoDrive Hybrid may be too pricey for some, it's a darn good deal for the performance it provides. Of course, you don't have to take our word for it, so dig into the full reviews at the sources below.
