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Category: Pc-hardware
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Published: Wednesday, 21 September 2022 10:38
In our first look at our latest project build Project, Icyu which is a rack-mounted upgrade to our Blue Iris security camera server setup I dove into some of the issues that I’ve been running into and some of the goals for the new build. I also started putting the hardware together for the build with the case, hard drive storage, the power supply, and the rack rails and got all of that set up and installed in our server rack. Today I want to continue on that and get into cooling and noise by checking out what I’m going with to keep the CPU cool, the case cool, and hopefully keeping noise levels for the system overall down. To do that I’ve partnered up with Cooler Master and Noctua which we have worked with a lot in the past.
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Category: Mobile
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Published: Thursday, 15 September 2022 14:06
For years the biggest issue that I would have with my mobile devices was keeping things charged and ready to go. I’m always really bad about remembering to charge devices and when phones took a long time to charge this would lead to me panicking hours before I leave the house trying to get at least some charge into my phone and often plugging in for the drive to get a little more. That has gotten a lot better with quick charge options, a lot of devices can get a full charge in that “panic” window but you do need to have AC adapters and cables that can handle it, we are now seeing their capabilities reach the point where one adapter can fan charge your phone and laptop and Anker is a big name in that area. They recently introduced their new GanPrime lineup and before I go on vacation this year I wanted to check out a few of their new and older devices to see if I could improve on my charging setup so today I’m going to check out some of what Anker has to offer and see what they are all about.
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Category: Power Supplies
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Published: Thursday, 08 September 2022 09:02
Last year Lian Li introduced their SP750 SFX power supply which focused on the high-end/high-wattage SFF builds and today they are expanding on that with their new SP850 which ups the wattage to 850 watts. The SP850 is SFX, not the usual SFX-L and while this isn’t the first 850-watt SFX option out there, it is only one of a few. This is however the first that is also coming with a new PCIe 5 power connector included which can deliver up to 400 watts to one supported device which means no need for adapters on the last generation of Nvidia Founders Edition cards and if the rumors are correct the next generation of cards as well. So let’s dive in and check out what the Lian Li SP850 is all about.
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Category: Storage
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Published: Wednesday, 07 September 2022 19:11
Crucial recently launched their two new latest drives the P3 and the P3 plus and I recently took a look at the P3 Plus. The P3 Plus is their budget-focused PCIe 4.0 drive and the standard P3 sticks with the PCIe 3.0 interface of their past drives for those who don’t need 4.0 performance or don’t have the hardware to take advantage of the performance. I was impressed with the P3 Plus, especially with its price point considering its performance. So today I’m going to check out the P3 in the same 2TB capacity as I did with the P3 Plus and we will find out how it performs and if it is also a good value so let’s get to it!
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Category: Other
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Published: Thursday, 01 September 2022 15:45
It’s interesting how for a lot of people higher resolution and larger screen size are important, but when it comes to competitive gaming. The pros have a slightly different focus, huge monitors aren’t useful or even possible for events and the singular focus is a high refresh rate. Part of getting that high refresh rate also means that high resolutions aren’t a good idea because of the processing power needed to get your performance up in the range to match with an ultra-high refresh rate so 1080p is still the norm. This is where monitors like the Agon Pro AG254FG from AOC come into play. It is pushing the limits for LAN events with its 24.5-inch screen size that they consider 25 inches but it is running 1080p with a refresh rate of 360 Hz which even just a few years ago would have been a crazy number. Of course, AOC didn’t just touch on those main features, the AG254FG does have a lot more going on so today I’m going to check it out and see what it is all about.
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Category: Audio
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Published: Thursday, 25 August 2022 09:00
Soundcore has a whole series of earbuds and headphones under their life brand including the Life Q30’s which if how much they are talked about on the Anker subreddit are extremely popular. Well, today Soundcore is launching a new lineup they are calling Space and while some of the Life models have adaptive noise canceling both the Space A40 and Space Q45 launched today have stepped that up a notch with upgraded adaptive noise canceling that is advertised to reduce noises by up to 98%. That is a step up from the Q30’s for example that could do up to 95% and would explain the new Space branding. So today I’m going to check out both the Space Q45 and Space A40s to see what they are all about.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Tuesday, 23 August 2022 15:06
The last few mice that I’ve had in the office from Razer have had a huge focus on being lightweight and to do that those mice keep their features extremely limited. Razers launch today goes the other direction with a big focus on features and this is a much more mainstream-focused mouse even with it having Pro in its name. The Basilisk series of mice is Razer's direct competition to Logitech’s G502 lineup and with the Basilisk V3 Pro, they have brought their latest sensor and switches that I loved on the Deathadder V3 Pro and Viper V2 Pro while still having things like the crazy lighting that helped Razer make their name back in the day. So let's take a closer look at the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro and see what it is all about as well as the new Mouse Dock Pro which I pair up with it for charging and to get 4000 Hz HyperPolling for the wireless connection.
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Category: Smart Home
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Published: Friday, 19 August 2022 14:52
It’s interesting because you would think given my interest in technology and smart home devices not to mention laziness when it comes to cleaning that we would have had a robotic vacuum in the house years ago. With having pets and a multi-story house I didn’t think a robotic vacuum would meet our expectations and given how much they cost I didn’t want to waste that money so we invested in a Dyson Animal vacuum and called it a day. Since then though we have moved and have most of our house on one level and I’ve seen that at least some of the robotic vacuums can better handle pet hair. Already having a few eufy devices in the house their RoboVac’s caught my eye and their latest RoboVac X8 which has dual motors has the potential to handle our situation so I thought I would give it a try and find out. So today I’m going to check out what features the X8 has then go through my experience setting it up and using It in our home so let’s dive in!
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Category: Storage
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Published: Wednesday, 17 August 2022 18:25
Back in May Crucial announced two of their latest NVMe-based M.2 SSDs with their P3 and P3 Plus. These drives continue their P lineup which has had the P1 and the P5 as their budget and flagship drives and later the P2 replaced the P1 and they introduced the P5 Plus to push things farther being their first PCIe 4.0 drive. Well the P3 and P3 Plus drop in the middle of the lineup as a cheaper PCIe 4.0 option behind the P5 Plus and today I have the P3 Plus in the office to test to see how it performs. Crucial is normally great at offering a good value in this part of their lineup so I’m excited to see if the P3 Plus continues that so let’s dig in.
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Category: Pc-hardware
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Published: Monday, 15 August 2022 08:53
If you have been a reader for a while now you may have noticed that while I do sometimes love smart home products and some of the cloud-based services that go along with them. I have a strong hate for anything that requires a monthly payment and I try to host as much as I can on our own rather than have potentially important data in someone else’s hands. I’ve moved things like Google Photos over to our own storage and even before all of the cloud-based camera services came out we were running our own IP cameras with a basic server running on my main PC. Eventually, to take the load off of that I used a small SFF system that I had to run Blue Iris and then stored the data on a NAS. With me trying to tidy up our server rack I have been hoping to get that server rack mounted but I have also been running into issues with our current setup in just about every way possible so it’s high time that I stop putting this off and rebuild our security server, welcome to Project Icyu.
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Thursday, 11 August 2022 11:59
I picked up my first Razer mouse in a CompUSA back in 2005 and it was the newly introduced at the time Diamondback Plasma which looked crazy and was the first time I had given any thought to the performance of my mouse. While I did like it the shape didn’t fit my hand at all so I later picked up the newly launched Deathadder which was larger and fit my hand perfectly. In fact, I liked it so much that later on, I picked up two more for $25 each on sale. I eventually would upgrade when Razer offered better sensors and over the years I have switched back and forth between the Deathadder and the Sensei shape but I always come back to the Deathadder from time to time. Well 16 years after the original Deathadder launch Razer is now introducing their new Deathadder V3 and I’ve got the wireless Deathadder V3 Pro here in the office to check out today so let’s see what's new!
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Category: Pc-hardware
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Published: Monday, 08 August 2022 10:44
Maybe it's because I just finished watching the entire Star Wars movie lineup after finishing the Obi-Wan TV series but the name Skywalker evokes a little bit of nostalgia and is the last thing I would see as the model name for memory. But that is the name that V-color went with. We haven’t had anything in the office from V-Color but I have been seeing coverage about them pop up for the last few years and the company itself has been around going back to 2006. The Skywalker Plus lineup features heatspreaders with silver or golden plating on them which isn’t new but is rare to see and always stands out so I’m excited to take a closer look and see how they perform. Let’s dive in.
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Category: Motherboards
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Published: Friday, 05 August 2022 11:39
Rumors about Intel’s next generation of CPUs have been going around for a while but we recently saw that BIOS support for the future CPUs have been hitting some motherboards including Asus’s Z690 boards. This means that for those who are looking to build a high-end PC right now you can go with one of those Z690 boards with at least some confidence that an upgrade later will be possible. As far as Z690 boards go there is a HUGE range in features and pricing but there are a few cool options up on the high end. A good example of this is the ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme that we have been using on our test bench going back to the Z690 launch and it is high time that I take a close look at it so let’s check out what it has going on.
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Category: Other
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Published: Monday, 01 August 2022 13:13
In my quest to check out a few of the sub-brands of Anker it has led me to Nebula which is a brand focused on portable and home projectors. In a world now filled with LCD, LED, and OLED displays projection as a whole has been a lot rarer to see but Nebula has recognized that one area where projection does still work well is when it comes to portability and they have a variety of options available. They sent over the Nebula Capsule which is their entry-level portable projector that has been around for a long time now (launched in 2017) so I’m curious to see what it’s all about. Let’s go take a look at the features then put it to the test!
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Category: Audio
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Published: Thursday, 28 July 2022 10:41
It’s hard to believe that it was four years ago when I last took a look at a variety of portable speaker options. At that time we were getting ready for our first summer with a pool and looking at our options for poolside music. I ended up finding a nice speaker for in the shower and a speaker for by the pool that my wife and I both loved. While that speaker is still working, I’ve been wondering if we could have a little more kick and curious what other options are out there. The chance to check out speakers from Anker’s audio brand Soundcore came up and they had a few options that were portable but might also have a little more volume and bass so today I’m going to check them out and see if they fit the bill. We have the Soundcore Trance Go and the Soundcore Motion Boom, let’s check them out.
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Category: Audio
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Published: Monday, 25 July 2022 08:37
Between reviews and my love for tech as a whole means that a lot of the hardware around our house changes up over time and it is rare that any one thing sticks around for an extended period of time. This has been the focus of the year-end roundups where I check back in to see what hardware over the years I’m still using. There have been two consistent on there. I’m still using the Sound Blaster X7, six years in now, though I would love to see a new version of that come out. The other is the Sound Blaster Katana soundbar that my wife has been using. We liked the Katana so much that we ended up getting a second one to use in our living room as well. Well, Sound Blaster brought out the Katana 2 this past fall and today I’m going to see how it compares to the original. Is it worth the upgrade? Let’s find out!
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Category: Storage
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Published: Friday, 22 July 2022 10:35
As SSD manufacturers have been slowly filling out their PCIe Gen 4 SSD options one of the trends that some of them did with past M.2 drives was sprinkle in a little RGB lighting into the mix and so far except for the WD SN850 which had a small light no one has done that with their new 4th Gen drives. Viper Gaming which is the gaming brand of Patriot just introduced their new Viper Gaming VPR400 which does exactly that by mixing their Viper Gaming VPR100 design that I previously reviewed with a new Innogrit Gen 4x4 controller. Today I’m going to take a closer look at the VPR400 and then put it through our test suite to see how it performs, lets's go!
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Category: Input Devices
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Published: Wednesday, 20 July 2022 14:22
I’ve been a huge fan of compact keyboards for years now pushing for more TKL options when that was as small as you could get from most companies and then moving to 60% keyboard once I discovered some of the more enthusiast-focused brands. Small 60% keyboards cut things down to just what you need and put the rest of the keys on a function layer and their small size makes them much easier for transporting or in situations where you don’t have a lot of desktop space or if you just want a minimalistic look. Well over the last few years they have hit the mainstream and all of the big names in peripherals have brought out their 60% options including Corsair. I’ve had their K65 RGB Mini 60% in the office for a while now and I’m excited to finally see what it’s all about so let’s check it out.
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Category: Smart Home
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Published: Sunday, 17 July 2022 12:37
While sometimes smart home products can come off as lazy, but I know for me the goal is to simplify things to free up time for activities that I enjoy. As a homeowner with a pool, starting in the spring I have a long list of things to get done to open up the pool. Once I get all of that done I then have to stay on top of things to keep it clean and clear which even if you run a chlorinator or use tablets with a floaty you should still be keeping a close eye on your levels. You might be able to find a remote temperature gauge, but checking your FC and PH on the other hand you will need to be there. But I recently came across the WaterGuru SENSE which claims to be able to do just that and I’m interested in finding out how well it would work for me and today I’m going to check it out and see what the WaterGuru Sense is all about.
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Category: Smart Home
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Published: Wednesday, 13 July 2022 09:44
It’s interesting how over the years the number of smart home devices in our home has grown with a majority of our lighting integrated, smart speakers in key rooms to control things and for music/questions, and we have a good set of security cameras outside to keep an eye on things all of the time and some inside for when we are away. But one of the most quintessential “smart home” devices the video doorbell still hasn’t been added into the mix. It isn’t that I haven’t wanted one, but for a long time I was holding out trying to find one that could integrate without Blue Iris camera setup but there haven’t been much for options, and companies have been trending more and more to their own ecosystems so I decided why wait any longer let's make the step. So let’s check out the eufy Security Video Doorbell Dual camera which has a second downward-facing camera to keep an eye out for and on packages.
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