Battlefield 4 has been officially announced on Battlefield’s Facebook Page. It will launch October 29th of this year. Of course I know most of you reading this will be getting it for the PC, but it will also be available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. The Battlefield team has also revealed that the game will be made available for the recently announced Xbox One console as well. So expect to see that later down the line.

EA also went ahead and announced the first expansion pack for Battlefield 4 called China rising. The pack will contain 4 maps and extra weapons and vehicles. If you pre-order Battlefield 4 you will get this expansion pack for free!

Are you excited about Battlefield 4? If not check out this 17 minute gameplay video!

Source: Battlefield | News Archive

Microsoft’s Xbox Reveal event was held today at Microsoft’s Redmond campus. If you missed it we have all of the information on the next generation Xbox console. After months of speculation the official name of the console will be Xbox One. The Xbox One is made to be an “all-in-one” box that interacts with all the devices in your home theater. Microsoft’s Don Mattrick said the core strategy is “simple, instant and complete.” The Xbox One will be available “later this year” and will ship with a new Kinect motion camera and controller. Read on as we go over some of the new features.

Xbox One Specifications

The system itself has a new subtle, yet sleek design compared to the Xbox 360. The console looks more or less like a set-top box. It has a two-tone black finish with both matte and gloss. On the top of the device is a silver Xbox logo. Below it on the front left of the device is a slot-loading Blu-ray optical drive. On the far right front is an Xbox simple, which we are guessing is the power button and will light up.

Under the hood you have an 8 Core processor, 8GB of DDR3 system memory, a 500GB hard drive and 802.11n wireless networking with WiFi Direct. As far as connectivity is concerned on the back you have HDMI out as well as HDMI in, two USB 3.0 ports and an Ethernet port. For those wondering the CPU is based on the Jaguar design from AMD, which has 8 cores and a 4MB L2 cache.

The new Xbox One will ship with a new Kinect motion sensing camera. This new camera features an updated look, which I really do like. Inside is a new 1080p camera, which is a huge upgrade over the VGA camera that was in the original Kinect. This new Kinect camera can track more reference points and even read your heartbeat. It also works in conjunction with the new controller for some real-life functionality. Say you lift the controller it lifts your shield up in game. Kinect is what brings the whole Xbox One experience together from the hand gestures to the voice commands.

Xbox One will come with a new wireless controller. Not much has changed from the Xbox 360 controller. It does look to be more rounded and has redesigned shoulder buttons. The D-Pad has been revised and the thumbsticks have more texture on them.

Next on to the software!

Enermax has released 5 new fan models that use their new patented APS (Adjustable Peak Speed) Control technology. What this new technology does is it allows you to set the peak speed of the fans yourself so they will never go over a specific RPM speed. Then the speed will be regulated by a PWM or an integrated thermal sensor. The 5 new fan models include Cluster Advance, Everest Advance, Magma Advance, T.B. Vegas Quad and T.B. Vegas.

ENERMAX Launches Five New Fan Models

While the current Twister Series have been introduced into the market for more than 5 years, ENERMAX decided to refresh the series by adding the new Twister Advance series offering three different RPM modes which can be selected with a small switch at the fan hub. Users can then easily adapt the ENERMAX fans for various applications. For instance, the new Cluster Advance 12cm version fan runs within the ranges of 500 to 1200, 500 to 1500 or 500 to 1800 RPM, so that users can select the best combination for their chassis. Other features such as the patented Twister Bearing, carved halo frame and batwing blades are still retained to offer users the best cooling performance.

On the basis of the design of the APS control that allows end users to have different RPM settings and specifications, ENERMAX has released two new Vegas fans, the 4-color LED (blue, red, green and white) and single-color LED models coming in blue, red or white. These two series have 48 LEDs and 18 LEDs respectively, and each contains 6 lightening modes. These LED specifications truly make ENERMAX Vegas fans the brightest and shiniest fans in market. In addition, this is the first time that ENERMAX Vegas fans have the patented carved halo frame to allow more air in to enhance the cooling performance.

Furthermore, just like all other ENERMAX fans, all of the above five new models utilize the ENERMAX patented Twister Bearing, a magnetic bearing technology, which helps prevents the abrasion which mechanical bearings such as Sleeve or Ball-Bearings have. This design helps to give these ENERMAX fans a long lasting lifetime of more than 100k hours.

Source: Enermax | News Archive

One thing I’m sure you have been hearing about the upcoming Haswell desktop processors is their power supply requirements. These new processors impose stricter requirements on the power supply regarding energy saving features. The new processors feature a new sleep state called C6 and C7. In these states the processor is nearly shut off, bringing down the power consumption. Be quiet! wants you to know that all of their current power supplies are Haswell ready.

That includes their entry-level Pure Power L8 all the way up to their High-end Dark Power Pro 10. Even some of be quiet’s older models are Haswell compatible: Dark Power Pro 10 (all models), Straight Power E9 (all models), Pure Power L8 (all models), System Power 7 (all models) and Pure Power L7 (630 W and 730 W).

Source: be quiet! | News Archive

The upcoming NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 is set to be released on May 31st after the release of the GeForce GTX 780 on the 23rd. Of course many people already have their hands on these cards for review purposes. Well the first benchmarks of the GeForce GTX 770 have been revealed by the Chiphell forums. The benchmarks show about a 10% performance boost over the GeForce GTX 680.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 Benchmarks Revealed

The GeForce GTX 770 will make use of a refined GK104 core, which has the codename GK10425 A2. It will be clocked a little higher than the original GK104-400 core and will have some minor improvements. It will feature 1536 CUDA cores and 2/4 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 256-bit bus. The card was tested directly against the GeForce GTX 680 in 3DMark FireStrike, 3DMark 11, FarCry 3, Crysis 3, and Tomb Raider. Below is the results graph.

Here is an easier explanation of the results:

3DMark FireStrike (Extreme):
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770: 3535 Marks
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680: 3150 Marks

3DMark FireStike (Performance):
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770: 7078 Marks
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680: 6331 Marks

3DMark 11 (Extreme):
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770: 3840 Marks
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680: 3411 Marks

3DMark 11 (Performance):
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770: 10693 Marks
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680: 9777 Marks

FarCry 3 (1920×1080):
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770: 78.8 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680: 70.9 FPS

CRYSIS 3 (1920×1080):
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770: 42.9 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680: 39.1 FPS

TOMB RAIDER (1920×1080):
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770: 87.3 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680: 78.3 FPS

So about a 10% performance increase over a GeForce GTX 680. Of course if you choose to get an overclocked GTX 770 results will be a little bit better.

Source: Chiphell Forums | News Archive

In this modern area of wireless networking, the market is flooded with devices with advanced feature sets, sometimes not performing as well as others. This trade-off can be frustrating. Sometimes, the basic features are all one really needs in a WiFi router, and the Rosewill T600N fills that gap. It’s an 802.11a/b/g/n router that can do 300 Mbps per frequency and even features standard replaceable antennas for its 2.4 GHz radio. ThinkComputers takes a look at this sub $60 unit that frequently can be found online for under $50!

Special thanks to Rosewill for providing us with the T600N Wireless Router to review.

Features
- Supports 2.4GHz up to 300mbps and 5GHz up to 300mbps at the same time
- 2x External 5dBi 2.4GHz Antenna + 2x internal 3.5 dBi 5GHz Antenna ensuring the best performance
- Full Gigabit Ethernet allows you to transmit data at a blazing speed
- Easy Setup – Quick and Easy Setup installation
- Intelligent QoS – QoS optimizes your network performance
- Maximum 30,000 Simultaneous Connections for Best Performance
- Enhanced Security – 64/128 bits, WEP, WPA-PSK (TKIP), WPA2-PSK (AES) wireless encryption, and WPS button to ensure the security of your network
- One Click WPS Setup – Easy Connection with One Click

Check out the rest of the specifications on the product page.

Packaging
The Rosewill T600N wireless router comes in a blue and black box with a picture of the unit on the front. The front calls attention its its dual-band features, dual external 2.4 GHz antennae, 30,000 connection limit, and that it’s a gigabit Ethernet router. The rear lists the specifications in the previous section, a house diagram showing potential applications of the device, and a list of what ports are on its rear.

Inside the well-packed box is the router, two antennas, an Ethernet cable, a power cable, mounting screws, a CD, and some quick start documentation.

For a full video unboxing be sure to check out our video below.

As we keep on getting closer to the launch of NVIDIA’s 700 Series more and more cards keep on getting spotted. MSI’s upcoming GeForce GTX 770 Lightning graphics card has been spotted. This card will feature a custom PCB and MSI’s Twin Frozr IV cooling solution. Read on to check out the photos!

MSI GeForce GTX 770 Lightning Spotted

MSI’s GeForce GTX 770 card will be powered by a refined GK104 core, which has the codename GK104-25-A2. It will be clocked a little higher than the original GK104-400 core and will have some minor improvements. It will feature 1536 CUDA cores and 2GB of GDDR5 memory across a 256-bit bus. We know that the reference GTX 770 will be clocked at 1046 MHz core and 1085 MHz boost. Since this is a custom model that does use a custom PCB we expect it to be factory overclocked out of the box.

The card also will make use of MSI’s Twin Frozr IV cooling. It is made up of two large 100mm PWN fans with propeller blade technology. Also you have a high density fin grid array and heatpipes that use MSI’s SuperPipe technology. The cooler has a cool feature that runs the fans in reverse for 30 seconds after boot up to remove dust. The card ships with MSI’s GPU reactor module which adds more power to the VRM.

The GPU is powered by dual 8pin connectors compared to dual 6pin connectors that we have seen on reference models. Display outputs include dual link DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort. While the reference GTX 770 cards are expected to be $399-449 expect a premium price on this card. Expected release date is May 31st 2013.

Source: WCCFTech | News Archive

Futuremark has just announced PCMark 8 into its line of benchmarking suites that target all PC subsystems. This benchmark is designed specifically for newer Windows 8 PCs, but the benchmark should work just fine on Windows 7 machines as well. In this new benchmark Futuremark has brought over some battery life tests from their own PowerMark Suite. Other new tests include native application tests using both Adobe and Microsoft applications to simulate real world usage.

As we said PCMark 8 will be compatible with both Windows 7 and 8. It will be available in a few different editions we would expect Basic (Free), Advanced and Professional. Release should be expected towards the end of June.

Source: Futuremark | News Archive

The Acer Iconia Windows 8 tablet has finally come forward and showed itself off on Acer Finland website. On their website Acer has now revealed full specifications of tablet which first showed up on Amazon. The tablet comes with a preinstall Windows 8 Pro and Intel Atom Z2760 processor along with 2GB of RAM and Intel graphics media accelerator 3650 GPU. Storage capacity is low of 64 GB eMMC. Connectivity uses the usual Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with Bluetooth 4.0. The site doesn’t have to say anything about the battery life but as tested by Acer its 8 hours which is pretty reasonable.

Buyers would be keen to know that it has WXGA 8.1 inch 1280×768 multi touch display with a 2 megapixel camera. Also note that Acer Iconic W3 is below the limit of snapping applications which apparently is a new feature that allows the user to operate two windows app side by side on the screen. One can make use of this feature when a separate display is attached which supports a screen resolution of 1366×768 or higher. It is believed that this device will be a strong competitor of Apple’s widely popular, iPod mini tablet.

This device works as PC companion that is compatible to sync with your main laptop or desktop using Windows 8’s cloud features. Besides its ideal for both play and work, through its attached keyboard accessory.

It’s not known to date when this tablet would be releasing to the public. Though there are rumors that it will be shipped soon with installed Microsoft office Home and student 2013 with a price tag of $380.

Source: Liliputing | News Archive

Finally the specification chart for the upcoming NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 graphics card has been unveiled. This confirms all of the details we have been reporting over the past month. NVIDIA already publicly announced the card in China at the GeForce E-Sports event and the official launch is expected on May 23rd 2013.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Official Specifications Unveiled

The GeForce GTX 780 would be based on a cut down version of the GK110 core codenamed “GK110-300-A2″. Unlike the GeForce GTX Titan that has 14 streaming multiprocessors and 2688 cores the GTX 780 will have 12 streaming multiprocessors and 2304 cores. The core clock is set at 863 MHz with a turbo boost of 900 MHz. The included 3 GB of GDDR5 memory operates at 1502 MHz (6GHz effective) and will operate along a 384 bit memory bus. Power is given to the GPU by an 8+6 pin PCI Express connector and the card has a TDP of 250W. Display connectors include dual link DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort.

Of course you see the GeForce GTX 770 in the graph as well. It is expected to be released a week after the GeForce GTX 780.

Source: WCCFTech | News Archive