Techreport

Ever since the Radeon R9 Fury X debuted, it's been a hard card to find in stock. On the other hand, a couple models of the air-cooled R9 Fury are available at something approaching the card's recommended retail price. Closed-loop coolers and the R9 Fury, then, are kind of like readily-available chocolate and peanut butter, and XFX may be working on a liquid-cooled treat that blends these two great tastes into one intriguing video card.Shannon Piel, the company's North American regional sales manager, tweeted an image of this mystery card yesterday. Given that XFX's video card lineup is entirely AMD-based, ...Read more...

Pascal is Nvidia's next-generation GPU architecture, and it's expected to arrive sometime in 2016. If the folks over at German site 3DCenter are correct, some Pascal chips may be moving across the globe for testing purposes today.The chips in question showed up as generic graphics processors on Indian import tracking service Zauba , amidst other chips or boards marked with their proper Nvidia code names (like GM206). 3DCenter believes that the lack ...Read more...

If you read that headline and wondered if you've been transported back in time, you may not be alone. You see, Nvidia already sells a mobile graphics chip known as the GeForce GTX 980M, and now we're hearing that the GeForce GTX 980 is coming to laptops. So what's the deal?Well, mobile graphics products like the GTX 980M are typically cut-down versions of desktop parts meant to fit into much smaller power envelopes. So the desktop GeForce GTX ...Read more...

The next-generation storage wars may be about to heat up. Samsung is firing off a potent opening salvo in the form of the 950 Pro SSD, its first consumer drive to combine 3D V-NAND flash memory and the NVM Express specification. ...Read more...

Intel's Braswell and Cherry Trail 14-nm SoCs can make for PCs that sip power and are still fast enough for basic computing needs. Asus just pulled the wraps off of a pair of Transformer Book systems built around these chips running Windows 10, and the company says they'll run all day. ...Read more...

Peripheral company Mad Catz has officially released its high-end R.A.T. Pro X mouse and set a date for the launch of a new "Pro S" model. TR is no stranger to this brand of rodents, having recommended them before. Let's take a close look at the new specimens. ...Read more...

2013's Tomb Raider was arguably one of the few reboots actually done right, and the new story of Lara Croft will continue in Rise of the Tomb Raider, the next title in the series. Crystal Dynamics is again at the helm of development, with Rhianna Pratchett holding the pen.Microsoft released a new trailer for the game today, ...Read more...

Historically, the iPad Mini hasn't fared as well as its larger siblings in DisplayMate's screen test results. That trend has changed with the iPad Mini 4, however.According to the company's preliminary tests , the iPad Mini 4 was able to reproduce 101% of the sRGB color gamut. Compared with the iPad Mini 3's mere 62%, the ...Read more...

They say the best things come in small packages. That's apparently the goal ASRock has in mind with its just-announced Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac motherboard. ...Read more...

They say the best things come in small packages. That's apparently the goal ASRock has in mind with its just-announced Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac motherboard. ...Read more...

Morning, folks. Hope you had a good weekend. I spent part of mine participating in that Rocket League tournament, which did not end well for Team TR. We went up against Team EVGA in the first round and were utterly destroyed. They were clearly better prepared (and had much lower ping times) than us. The guys from EVGA proceeded to go all the way to the finals, where they then lost in lopsided fashion, destroying some of my excuse for our loss.Oh well. It was fun except for ...Read more...

Apple's iOS app store is a notorious walled garden, but it seems to have sprung a leak. Reuters reports that Macs belonging to certain developers contracted some malware dubbed Xcode Ghost that, in turn, infected iOS binaries compiled on those machines. Some of the infected apps made it onto the App Store.It seems the cause of the outbreak was an infected version of Xcode downloaded from a server in China, rather than directly from Apple. Palo Alto Networks Director ...Read more...

The Rocket League Invitational for Extra Life should be underway soon. I'll be playing for Team TR along with Gyromancer. Here's the stream:...Read more...

Somehow, I got roped into streaming myself playing Rocket League in a public tournament tomorrow. Something about it being for a good cause, I think, was the tipping point. I even had to recruit Jr. Damage Gyromancer as a teammate. ...Read more...

Eight is Enough

Google's Chromecast has long been a cheap and easy way to get video from your Android devices and PC onto the big screen, but the $35 streaming stick is getting up there in years for a tech product. If you're dreaming of an updated Chromecast, though, you might not have to wait much longer. A report of leaked internal Google documents at 9to5Google shows that a new Chromecast could be right around the corner.Reportedly, the "new Chromecast" (as the leaked documents call it) will have updated Wi-Fi. Phandroid first spotted an FCC filing for a "multimedia device" from Google and believed the listing was for an updated Nexus Player. 9to5Google says this filing belongs instead ...Read more...

Is your display looking a bit tired and yellow with age? Been on the fence about upgrading to a shiny, new panel? This week's deals may push you over the edge. We've also found a couple other bargains worthy of consideration if you're already set on the display front.Those are the best deals we could find this week. If we missed ...Read more...

AMD's top CPU architect, Jim Keller, has left the company. According to Hexus, Keller is stepping down "to pursue other opportunities." AMD told the site that prior to his departure, Keller was responsible for "overseeing the teams defining the roadmaps for AMD's CPU cores, systems IP, and server and client SoCs," including the upcoming Zen CPU.Keller rejoined AMD in 2012 after a long line of successes for other companies, including major contributions to Apple's A4 and A5 SoCs. His ...Read more...

Thermaltake is taking custom liquid cooling seriously. The company has released not one, or two, but seventeen new radiators, across two product lines and three base dimensions ranging from 120 mm to 180 mm. Say hello to the Pacific R and RL series.

Everybody likes fanless PCs—either out of our own desire for a quiet room or out of necessity in, say, an industrial setting. Arbor Solution's FPC-7800 family definitely sits in the latter camp, with a full-metal jacket enclosure, finned panels, and a port configuration straight outta the '90s. ...Read more...

In The Witness, the next game from Braid creator Jonathan Blow and Thekla, players will be dropped onto a deserted island, and they're on their own to find their way off. The game is a point-and-click-style puzzle adventure in the same vein as Myst. You'll be able to get your hands on it soon-ish: January 26, 2016, according to the latest trailer below....Read more...

Amazon is Firing with all barrels today. The online giant is going after the low end of the tablet market with the new Fire, a 7" device with a mere $50 sticker price. That puts it dangerously close to "impulse buy" territory. ...Read more...

Amazon has refreshed its set of Fire HD tablets, and it seems the online retailer is trying to dominate the mobile multimedia experience. Two tablets, the Fire HD 8 and the Fire HD 10, join this battle, and Amazon makes a point of comparing them to the iPad Air at every turn. Let's take a good look at these new contenders for the sofa and throne.

Cooler Master's V-Series power supplies got a small-but-welcome update recently. The company is now using its Silencio FP 120-mm fans to provide cooling airflow for these PSUs, and they're now decked out with fully-modular flat cabling. ...Read more...

Do you love frustration? If so, you're probably already familiar with the Dark Souls series. The next iteration of From Software's unforgiving hack and slash series, Dark Souls III, is coming to PC, Xbox One, and PS4 in April, 2016. Have a look at the trailer and gird your loins....Read more...

MSI is well-known for its graphics cards, and Corsair is famous in part for its all-in-one liquid coolers. The two companies have appareantly decided each of their great tastes go better together, as they've teamed up to produce a liquid-cooled GeForce GTX 980 Ti graphics card called the Sea Hawk. (Corsair appears to be selling its own version of this card called the Hydro GFX.) ...Read more...

There's been a great disturbance in the Force every time EA has doled out information about the upcoming Star Wars Battlefront. It's only fair, then, that the company is rolling out the welcome mat to everybody who wants to take part in the beta-testing phase of the game.Community manager Matthew Everett confirmed this news in a blog post today , and he says the beta will cover the game's offline and online play modes, as well as network and split-screen co-op. PS4, Xbox One, and ...Read more...

Looking forward to Deus Ex: Mankind Divided's eye candy? There's more good news today, then. TweakTown's Anthony Garreffa had a little chat with AMD's Richard Huddy about the company's involvement with DirectX 12. The conversation eventuallly led to a discussion of Mankind Divided, and some good news about the game's graphics came to light. It seems Mankind Divided will be billed as one of AMD's showcase titles (as part of the company's Gaming Evolved program), and it'll include effects like TressFX Hair 3.0 technology. More importantly, the DirectX 12 API will be supported from day one....Read more...

Cryorig's C7 looks like an intriguing cooler for cases where low profiles are important, but the company isn't leaving those with a little more room to work with out in the cold. Its M9 tower cooler is a little taller than the squat C7, at 4.9" (or 125 mm) tall. Along with its triple-heatpipe base and 92-mm fan, this heatsink could be a nice upgrade over Intel's stock cooler. ...Read more...

Lian-Li makes some attractive, understated cases. The company's PC-X510 is built with that trademark svelte look, but at over two feet tall, it's bound to be noticed. Scroll on by for an idea of its height: ...Read more...

Do you have an Android device running any 5.x version before the latest 5.1.1, build LMY48M? Is it protected by a password? If the answer is "yes," you should probably switch over to a PIN or a pattern lock instead. A vulnerability in Android's lock screen handler app will let anyone holding the device to waltz right in and gain full access, even with encrypted devices. Here's a demonstration:...Read more...

iPhone and iPad owners, rejoice: a new iOS version arrives today. iOS 9 will begin rolling out to a wide range of devices starting at 10 AM PT, according to a tweet on the semi-official Apple Support Twitter account. Apple had previously announced that iOS 9 would be released today during its fall event last week. ...Read more...

HDPlex is teasing HTPC builders with an updated version of its H5.S ATX fanless case. Yes, you read that right—"ATX fanless." The case itself looks like a big radiator, and it comes with a heatsink and heatpipe set that supports CPUs with up to 95W TDPs. A similar heatsink arrangement is available for the GPU as an option. With the optional GPU heatsink installed, the company claims the case is the world's first 16-heatpipe fanless chassis. FanlessTech has some exclusive pictures of the sleek beast.The H5.S is compatible with ATX, microATX and Mini-ITX motherboards, and SFX or Flex ATX PSUs. As an additional option, users can feed power into the case via an external ATX connector. Graphics cards ...Read more...

Morning, folks. Hope all is well with you.I have an article to edit, and then you should see ...Read more...

Scythe makes some serious air coolers, and the third iteration of its Grand Kama Cross looks to continue that trend. This cooler's bowing fins would look totally sweet in a windowed case. ...Read more...

Most of us at TR drool over the highest-end smartphones and tablets, but mid-range devices can provide a good experience at modest prices, too. Qualcomm hasn't forgotten this segment of the market, and it's announced a pair of new models in the Snapdragon 600 and 400 families alongside the high-end Snapdragon 820. ...Read more...

Last month, Nvidia teased some GeForce Experience Share features, and now you can try them out for yourself. An "early access beta" of the GeForce Experience software with streaming, remote co-op, and video editing features is available for download today....Read more...

Microsoft celebrated 75 million installations of Windows 10 in the operating system's first month of availability, but that figure doesn't give us a good feel for the PC market as a whole. Netmarketwatch has published its August 2015 statistics today, though, and we can see that the latest Windows is making a dent.According to Netmarketwatch's metrics, Windows 10 claimed 5.2% of the desktop market last month. That's still a far cry from Windows 8.1's 11.4% or Windows 7's 57.7%, but 5.2% is ...Read more...

For Aiur! Blizzard releases games "when they're done," and one's about to come out of the oven. StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void is nearly here, and it has a new trailer, too. Check it out, it's worth it:...Read more...

G.Skill has joined the RGB LED keyboard fight with two new models. Gamers, please welcome the KM780 RGB and the KM780 MX keyboards, available with the usual trio of Cherry MX switch flavors: red, brown, and blue. Check out G.Skill's video:...Read more...

Qualcomm's slow trickle of information related to the Snapdragon 820 SoC continues. Today, we're learning about Quick Charge 3.0, which the company says is its "fastest, most efficient charging technology to date."...Read more...

Eurogamer recently interviewed not one but six people from The Coalition about the technical aspects of the forthcoming (at least for PC) Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, and the site came back with a few interesting tidbits of information. The remake is one of the few that may actually deserve the name, since the devs are diving into the guts of the original game and, in a way, ripping the old renderer out and replacing it with a modern one that's shiny and chrome enough to make Immortan Joe salivate.The Coalition says the PC version will be built with and optimized for DirectX 12, with an unlocked framerate and "a variety of graphics options." Not only that, the remake's textures were "re-authored with 4K in mind," possibly (and ironically) making this title one of ...Read more...

The last time we checked in on the rebooted Need for Speed franchise, it was looking like a slick Underground-style racer. Developer Ghost says it's been listening to feedback through social media, and that company says it's building fan feedback into the game. PC players are going to have to wait a little longer, though, as Ghost has announced that the PC-specific features it's adding will require a little extra love.Part of the conversation includes hearing from our PC community that an unlocked frame rate in Need for Speed is a massive priority for you, and we fully agree. To deliver this, ...Read more...

Shield Tablet owners will soon welcome some new members into the Brotherhood of Shield Device Recalls. Certain 500GB Shield Pro Android TV micro-consoles aren't surviving the upgrade to firmware version 1.4, so Nvidia is recalling affected units of the premium model.According to the company's FAQ, affected devices could fail to update on the first attempt, but complete the process on a subsequent attempt. Other Shields will fail to upgrade entirely and may fail to ...Read more...

In a conversation with CNBC, an Apple representative revealed the company's expectations for iPhone 6S pre-orders. Though it didn't reveal exact pre-order sales numbers, Apple says it's on track to beat last year's first-weekend sales record of 10 million units, and some CNBC contributing analysts are forecasting roughly 12 million sold when the devices become available on September 25.Apple says the "exceptionally strong" demand for the bigger-screened 6S Plus exceeded its own predictions, and it's "working to catch up as quickly as [it] can." Demand seems to be especially strong ...Read more...

I love the smell of fresh graphics cards in the morning. Chinese site Expreview has received some pictures from an "unnamed insider" that purportedly show an XFX Radeon graphics card claimed to be an as-yet-unannounced R9 380X.According to Expreview's insider, the card is already in mass production, and the site goes on to speculate what kind of specs its GPU has. One scenario is that the new unit may have a fully-enabled Tonga GPU with 2,048 stream processors and a 384-bit memory bus. ...Read more...

Are you looking to upgrade to a Skylake CPU while holding on to your DDR3 memory? Biostar's Hi-Fi H170Z3 has slots for a pair of DDR3L DIMMs for today's memory, along with two more DDR4 slots for tomorrow's upgrades. ...Read more...

Apple's updated iPhones and iPad Pro won't be in consumer hands for a while yet, but the updated iOS device simulators in Xcode may confirm our wildest dreams strong desires when it comes to RAM. According to developer Hamza Sood, the latest Xcode version exposes how much memory is in its simulated devices. A simulated iPhone 6S or 6S Plus has 2GB of RAM, while a simulated iPad Pro has 4GB.Not much of a surprise but Xcode confirms 2GB of RAM for the 6s ...Read more...

Apple's updated iPhones and iPad Pro won't be in consumer hands for a while yet, but the updated iOS device simulators in Xcode may confirm our wildest dreams strong desires when it comes to RAM. According to developer Hamza Sood, the latest Xcode version exposes how much memory is in its simulated devices. A simulated iPhone 6S or 6S Plus has 2GB of RAM, while a simulated iPad Pro has 4GB.Not much of a surprise but Xcode confirms 2GB of RAM for the 6s ...Read more...

Eight is Enough