Our Most Recent Reviews
Asus Z77 Roundup
When doing all of our Ivy Bridge launch prep we spent a LOT of time benchmarking and testing a whole collection of boards. You guys have seen our reviews of the Intel and Gigabyte boards. When it came time to write about the four different Asus Z77 boards I realized that most of you are not going to want to read through a lot of information that we would cover over and over on each review. We decided to roundup all four of the boards and cover them together. This way we can get to the point a little quicker, saving you time, as well as giving us a chance to talk more about the differences between the variety of boards that we tested.
ASUS P8 Z68-V/GEN3
Perhaps one of the most daunting tasks after making the decision that you do not wish to purchase an off-the-shelf computer is attempting to figure out which components go in the machine. There are fun aspects, like the graphics card and processor, and then there are the not-so-fun aspects, like the motherboard (at least in my opinion). Why do I think it is a whole lot of not fun? There are so many out there to choose from, with all sorts of features. When shopping you will likely come across the ASUS board that I am going to review today. Arguably, it is one of the better all-around boards out there, with features like good integrated graphics and killer sound. But to a gamer that generally does not mean squat. Does the ASUS P8 Z68-V/GEN3 board have what it takes to function as a serious gaming component? Read on to find out!
XFX R7750 Black Edition DD
Not everyone is looking to spend $500 on their video card, in some cases that is the total budget for a build. When you are up against a wall trying to pack the best performance you can get into a budget build you still want to get the most performance you can out of your video card. That’s where cards like the XFX R7750 Black Edition Double Dissipation come into play. XFX has taken the styling and cooling from their high end cards and combined it with the price of budget cards like the HD 7750. Today we are going to take a look at how those two things do combined in XFX’s R7750 Black Edition Double Dissipation.
Sapphire HD 7770 Vapor-X
Earlier this year when AMD introduced the HD 7770 we took a look at cards from both Sapphire and XFX. Although we were impressed with the cards performance it was a little ill-timed due to AMD still clearing out discounted back stock. Three months later we are able to revisit the situation with today’s release of Sapphires new HD 7770 Vapor-X. With Sapphires Vapor chamber cooling technology along with a nice overclock over the reference design, the Sapphire HD 7770 Vapor-X could be a great option for a gamer on a limited budget. Let’s take a look.
Motherboard Sizing
When we got in a few oddly sized dual CPU motherboards from EVGA and Asus I posted up a few pictures on our forums and on Facebook. The problem was that even though they looked large there wasn’t any prospective. So we tossed in a couple other boards to give everyone a little perspective. This lead us to digging out even more motherboards to put together all of the standard motherboard sizes all together for everyone to be able to see the differences. Along with the picture we also have a breakdown on the dimensions of each size standard; I hope this helps everyone as some point. Sometimes it can be hard to understand all of the different motherboard sizes and how they all relate.
Android to the Maxx, DROID Razr Maxx
The list of different Android based phones available at any time is both overwhelming and frustrating. It’s almost impossible to get good feedback from friends who have the same phone because of this. So it’s rare than you have any one phone that manages to stand out. Doing something different is the only way to do this normally, but most times this ends off coming off as gimmicky or just lame. When Motorola introduced the Droid Razr Maxx it caught my attention right away. This was just before our trip out to San Francisco for the GTX 680 Editors day, what a better way to put the Maxx’s proposed batter life to the test!
Lian Li PC 100 “The Hammer”
We have had a few different Lian Li chassis come through the LanOC Offices and there hasn’t been a time that we haven’t been impressed with the new and interesting features Lian Li always seems to slip in. When they wanted to ship over their new case “The Hammer” PC 100, we signed up right away. We had seen the case previewed from a few shows prior and this time around Lian Li took a new perspective with its design, I was very interested to see how their changes worked out. Let’s jump in and see what it’s all about!
Nvidia GTX 670
When Nvidia launched Kepler with the GTX 680 I was impressed with the launch price of the card but even at such a great value it is still out of reach for some people. Just because you can’t afford the top card doesn’t mean you don’t want to experience Kepler’s performance. Of course it was only a matter of time before we saw Nvidia filling in the gaps in their product line, starting first with the GTX 690 then going to the next step down from the GTX 680, the GTX 670. Today we get to have a look to see how the performance compares to both the GTX 680 as well as AMD’s offerings. We are also very curious how it compares to the GTX 580, a card that has found its way into most of our office PC’s.
ioSafe Rugged Portable
So you do the smart thing, you backup your data from your laptop and your home PC to an external or network drive and go on with life feeling confident that you have gone well and above what most people do. For the most part, you did. What about when you’re traveling, have you seen how much abuse a device can take when on the go? For some people, and I know I’m one of them, some of the data you carry with you while traveling is more important than the laptop or device that you actually carry it on. In that situation you need a way to not have to worry about your data, no matter the situation, and to have a guarantee to back it up as well. The folks over at ioSafe focus specifically on this crowd. Not only do they offer products that are according to them build to handle almost anything, but they back it up with data recovery if something does happen. Today we are going to take a look at that Rugged Portable hard drive to see what all of the fuss is about, without any more buildup, let’s dig in.
Cooler Master Storm Trigger
Just two years ago the only mechanical keyboards you would find were from companies like DAS keyboard trying to create a nitch market. Over the past two years things have really exploded with every manufacture you can think of introducing their own mechanical keyboards. Cooler Master has been especially aggressive with multiple unique designs like their Quickfire series. What they did lack was a full featured mechanical keyboard with full backlighting, until now. Today they officially introduce their Storm Trigger, although it you look around the board was available Globally before now. With full backlighting it falls into a small category of Mechanical Keyboards with very little competition. I am excited to see how it performs.
Cooler Master HAF XM
The topic of cleaning your computer out came up last week on our forums and it got me thinking about how often I really need to clean out my computer. As it turns out it’s not very often anymore. All because of improvements in case design like fan filters. You don’t really see them on low end cases yet but they have been slowly trickling down. At CES this year we had a chance to get our hands on one of Cooler Master’s upcoming chassis, the HAF XM. A mid-range case packed with the features we have come to love from their high end HAF line. Today we are going to dig into the final product and see how it came out.
Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H
Z77 boards come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and prices. Just about every manufacture has a whole lineup of boards covering the whole range to make sure you can find what you are looking for. Gigabyte is no different; they have a whole selection of boards that will fit your needs. Today we are taking a look at their Z77X-UD3H, one of their budget boards. It may not be a high end board but it is still packed with features. I am curious how it will perform now that the cat is out of the bag with Ivy Bridge. Let’s jump in and see what it’s all about.
Is everyone ready for some COD? Welcome to Wednesday everybody. Gaming News might be a bit long this week. Gonna do a preview of the COD:MW3 single player, we have the Midweek Madness sales on Steam ready for ya and a bunch of news at the end. Clean out the dust in your PC cause it’s game time, let’s go!Written By: Skyler
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
So this one was a bit tough. Over the years people have said that the COD series has worn itself out. It’s the same game just over and over. I would tend to disagree and here’s why. Each year we get a new one, weather it be Treyarch or Infinity Ward. I would say this a two different games entirely. One of them has been telling a story since COD4 came out and the other side seems to be trying new things along the way. The ones that I really want to play are on the Infinity Ward side. With the breakup over at Infinity Ward after COD: MW2 came out I had my doubts that Activision/Blizzard could pull this series together. Need not worry my friends, they have done a great job.
First off let me say this, if you could care less about the single player then just move on down to the next article cause this is not for you. I will be doing a review of the multi player here in a few weeks. With COD4 having been out for awhile most people have played it and enjoyed it. It was one of the few games that I would go back into and keep playing missions over and over. “Death From Above” is probably as I have said before one of the best missions in all of video games. I had really hoped that COD:MW3 returned to that once fabled ground and capture my heart like it did before. After playing through the single player yesterday I can say without a doubt that this ranks right up there with COD4.
With this being a trilogy you tend to forget some of the details about the previous games. What had happened, who shot who and how did it end. They do a great job of a quick refresh at the start of the game going back over the last two games and reminding you of what had happened. With that outta the way I was off and running.
The HUD in the game is pretty much the same as COD:MW2 so it should be pretty familiar to you. The controls are nice and tight just like your accustomed too. COD has really defined what proper controls should be like. They aren’t laggy like some other game and I am not picking on Battlefield 3 here at all. One game and one game alone comes into mind about horrid controls, yes, hello Killzone 2. Well, thank god that we don’t have to deal with any of those shenanigans here. No matter what mouse/keyboard setup your using, you’re going to be picking off head shots as if they were on sale.
The missions in the game are some of the best ones in the series. And when I say series I mean COD4, MW2 and MW3 just so there is no confusion. They pay homage to the first game along with some of the second. They also introduce some new gameplay mechanics and new guns as always. No matter what mission you are on, you will be whisked away to a far away country to take care of business. From deserts to underwater, towers to tunnels, the game has it all. I said I wouldn’t spoil anything for anyone so I will leave it at that. If you are wondering about a particular mission from COD4 and if they have redone it? You will have to play through and find out yourself.
The newer guns fit right in with the modern times, they don’t feel old as in from the 60’s or 70’s ala Black Ops. These are new guns that haven’t been seen before and they fit right in. The detail of the guns has also gone up. Now you sometimes see what the manufacture of the gun in on the side. I didn’t see this on all the guns but on others its clear as day. I am not a gun enthusiast so cut me some slack, lol. As in the other games you can CQB with certain guns and pick off long distance sniper shots with others. One of the best parts that they have added is the close range scope. Say you have a bad ass sniper rifle but you aren’t willing to drop it for another gun. No worries now, you can switch to the close range scope which is on the side of the gun and use that until you gain some open space, it’s really a nice addition to what has always been one of the biggest problems with the sniper rifles.
As for performance goes its on par with COD4. The only added video feature that I found was ambient acclousion. Other than that it’s the same menu system that has been around for the last couple of years. What I like most is that the game scales very well. No matter what kind of system you have you will have a great experience. Throughout the single player the framerate was way over 100. Most of the time it would sit right around 150fps, granted this is on a i7 2600k at 5Ghz and EVGA GTX 580 Classified but as with other COD games you don’t need a huge system to run it. I didn’t come across any texture pop in or any other weird video effects. The game ran nice and smooth throughout the campaign.
Overall I can’t give this game a score. That is not what I’m trying to do. You can read reviews anywhere on the net. I try and give opinion on how the game runs and what it has to offer. If you want reviews go to any of the thousand of review sites. I will say this though. The single player campaign is one of the best. It is easy to follow and makes sense. MW2 was way off the deep end, this is not. Sure, there are a bunch of action moments but nothing that is too far fetched. If you are a fan of the COD series and have liked the single player then you need to play this. It will answer a load of question and it may even have you asking some new ones.
New York everybody
A castle? In COD?
Anyone need a map?
Just something weird I ran across in game
Midweek Madness
If you really want get your Military shooter on, then this is the week. All of the Arma games are on sale. I haven’t delved to deep into these but from what I have played and what I have seen they look like a boat load of fun. Remember as always, the Midweek Madness sales end on Thursday’s at 7pm EST.
Left Field
X79 Motherboards have started to surface. Make sure and check back on the newest Asus Rampage IV board that Wes posted about.
WebOS seems like it’s in need of some dire help. Hopefully HP will stick to their guns and keep supporting it. Thanks to The Verge for the link.
Thanks everyone for the great phone OS debate over the last week. I think that we have opened up some member’s eyes about what their next phone should be
Do you own a Hybrid? If you do then don’t be like this lady, WARNING NSFW
Looks like we have a bunch of members waiting on their toes for Skyrim. Don’t worry everyone, it will be out soon, lol.
Orc’s Must Die! just received the Lost Adventures DLC. It is on sale for $2.99 until November 15th.
L.A. Noire is out today, You can pick it up now for $49.99.
Rage is on sale for $40.19 until Thursday at 7pm EST.
Batman Arkham City has been delayed another week It is now coming out on Nov 22.
PayPal has a new Android app that uses NFC for payments. Just sucks that the only thing that I use PayPal for is paying for LAN’s and games over Steam.
Firefox 8 is out now. Go download the update today. Always best to have the latest addition of a browser.
I hope you guys don’t kill me but I am waiting to see what the Galaxy Nexus release details. As of today Google is being very shy about any dates the phone will be available. I might just switch back to iOS at this point. No reason to sit around and wait for something. Hey Google, stop being so shy about your Nexus phones, people want details ASAP.
Well that is all for this week LanOC. Have a great week and enjoy some of the new games that have come out. November is going to be a busy month. Until next time,
Wingless is out!
If you really want get your Military shooter on, then this is the week. All of the Arma games are on sale. I haven’t delved to deep into these but from what I have played and what I have seen they look like a boat load of fun. Remember as always, the Midweek Madness sales end on Thursday’s at 7pm EST.
Left Field
X79 Motherboards have started to surface. Make sure and check back on the newest Asus Rampage IV board that Wes posted about.
WebOS seems like it’s in need of some dire help. Hopefully HP will stick to their guns and keep supporting it. Thanks to The Verge for the link.
Thanks everyone for the great phone OS debate over the last week. I think that we have opened up some member’s eyes about what their next phone should be
Do you own a Hybrid? If you do then don’t be like this lady, WARNING NSFW
Looks like we have a bunch of members waiting on their toes for Skyrim. Don’t worry everyone, it will be out soon, lol.
Orc’s Must Die! just received the Lost Adventures DLC. It is on sale for $2.99 until November 15th.
L.A. Noire is out today, You can pick it up now for $49.99.
Rage is on sale for $40.19 until Thursday at 7pm EST.
Batman Arkham City has been delayed another week It is now coming out on Nov 22.
PayPal has a new Android app that uses NFC for payments. Just sucks that the only thing that I use PayPal for is paying for LAN’s and games over Steam.
Firefox 8 is out now. Go download the update today. Always best to have the latest addition of a browser.
I hope you guys don’t kill me but I am waiting to see what the Galaxy Nexus release details. As of today Google is being very shy about any dates the phone will be available. I might just switch back to iOS at this point. No reason to sit around and wait for something. Hey Google, stop being so shy about your Nexus phones, people want details ASAP.
Well that is all for this week LanOC. Have a great week and enjoy some of the new games that have come out. November is going to be a busy month. Until next time,
Wingless is out!
Nice Review. I liked the dancing chickens!
Perhaps Nov. 21st for the Nexus: www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=...MFIR&full_skip=1
Perhaps Nov. 21st for the Nexus: www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=...MFIR&full_skip=1
Nacelle wrote:
Yea,it's that new super secret card, lol. Fixed, thanks for the #correction.
You said you had an EVGA GTX 500 Classified in the article. I presume that it's a 580?
Yea,it's that new super secret card, lol. Fixed, thanks for the #correction.
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