Techreport

Gigabyte wasted no time getting to the business of overclocking after the introduction of Intel's Core-X CPUs and the accompanying X299 platform at Computex last week. The motherboard manufacturer's in-house overclocker HiCookie and his five-person team spent the hours of the show rocketing an Intel Core i7-7740K past 7.5 GHz and setting four new 3DMark records. ...Read more...

The latest versions of Flir's One thermal imaging add-on for iPhones and Android smartphones become available for pre-order today. If you need a refresher, we're talking about the updated One as well as the all-new One Pro that were announced during CES this year. These camera attachments combine images from a regular visible-light camera with data from an infrared sensor to create detailed photos that include heatmap data. ...Read more...

When you hear "2750 MHz DDR4 memory" your mind likely auto-corrects to "2750 MT/s." Except in this case, that's wrong. G.Skill sent us a line informing us that professional overclocker (what a job, eh?) Toppc achieved a stunning 5.5 GT/s memory transfer rate using an Intel Core i7-7740K CPU astride an unspecified X299 motherboard. The new record is verified by HWBot and is a 500 MT/s improvement over Toppc's 5 GT/s record from last year. ...Read more...

The 3D NAND revolution continues. Mushkin has two new lines of solid-state drives hitting the shelves, the Reactor Armor3D series and the Triactor 3D series. Both lines of drives employ 3D NAND flash, which offers increased per-die density compared to planar offerings. The Armor3D models use MLC flash, while the Triactor3D lineup works with TLC chips. ...Read more...

Despite my lasting relationship with Microsoft's Windows and Valve's Steam, I must confess a strong affection for the ideals of the Free Software Foundation. To that end, when I can, I prefer to purchase DRM-free software on GOG.com. The storefront has launched into its 2017 Summer Sale with gusto, and has "1500+ deals up to 90% off" on PC games both new and old alike. ...Read more...

The gerbils in TR's comments section always have the answer when it comes to the best selection of PC components, but not everyone wants to do a lot of digging around for information about graphics cards and CPUs when building a gaming system. NZXT's BLD program is intended to make it easier for newcomers to join in the PC gaming fun. ...Read more...

Nom nom?

As one of the old-school PC vendors, HP likes to sell its customers complete solutions rather than piecemeal parts. Naturally, then, the company has a couple of new displays to offer alongside its latest refresh of the Omen gaming lineup. The monitors comprise a 25" model with FreeSync support, and a G-Sync-enabled 27" model. HP also has some fresh Omen-branded peripherals coming. ...Read more...

It seems that every hardware manufacturer these days has a gaming-oriented sub-brand, and HP is no exception. The computing giant has updated its Omen lineup with a ton of new gear, which we'll be taking a look at today. The Omen gaming laptops are fresh out of the oven with new CPU and graphics card options, and there's also an Omen Accelerator external graphics card enclosure available to add some extra polygon-chewing oomph to an existing machine. ...Read more...

Yesterday's refreshes of the iMac and MacBook Pro were highlighted by the switch from Intel sixth-generation Skylake Core processors to seventh-generation Kaby Lake CPUs, but models with discrete graphics cards also get a boost to AMD Radeon Pro 500-series graphics chips. Let's have a look at the details of these refreshed Polaris parts. ...Read more...

Just in time for the Electronic Entertainment Expo next week, HP has announced a refresh of its Omen gaming lineup. Included in the announcement are a pack of potent laptops and desktops, as well as an external graphics dock and some fancy monitors. We'll be taking a look at the laptops in just a moment, but first let's have a glance at these new desktops. ...Read more...

At its WWDC conference in San José today, Apple spent a ton of time on the upcoming iOS 11 and its features. The new release prominently favors the iPad, and for that device, it adds a number of features aimed at improving multitasking and general usability for what we might call "real work." Apple has also decided that it's time to revamp the App Store for the first time in iOS history.

The all-new iMac Pro and the Kaby Lake updates to the iMac and laptop product lines weren't the only new bits of hardware announced at WWDC today. Apple also announced updates to its iPad Pro tablets, which were last updated in March 2016. The smaller version's screen is getting a size bump from 9.7" to 10.5". Apple shrunk the bezels of its mini-Pro to keep the one-pound weight and exterior dimensions about the same. ...Read more...

When Apple unveiled its slimmer, trimmer MacBook Pros last October, we had to wonder whether the company's goals for those notebooks ended up out-of-sync with Intel's product cycle. Those machines relied on Intel's Skylake processors instead of the higher-boosting, more-responsive Kaby Lake mobile chips that launched about two months later. Subsequent complaints about performance, limited memory capacity, and battery life from MacBook Pros may have been related to that choice of CPU. Today, Apple is harmonizing MacBooks and iMacs with Intel's latest CPUs by replacing Skylake with Kaby Lake. ...Read more...

Mac power users have been clamoring for a wholly modern Mac of late, and Apple gave them an enormous tease today during its WWDC keynote. The iMac Pro takes Apple's 5K iMac chassis and crams it full of workstation-class hardware. ...Read more...

Intel's Optane SSD DC P4800X is an interesting product, but Intel and Micron's 3D Xpoint non-volatile storage technology isn't meant to reach every part of the storage market. The company's new datacenter-oriented SSD DC P4501s utilize Intel's next-generation NVMe controller in conjunction with 3D TLC flash to reach smaller form factors and power envelopes compared to most many server SSDs. ...Read more...

It got a bit buried in the Computex shuffle, but at the beginning of the month Micron posted a blog entry laying out in broad strokes the company's plans for graphics card memory. The big news in the piece is that the company has managed to get its GDDR5X memory running at 16 Gbps in a lab scenario. Micron also says it will have functional GDDR6 silicon "very soon." ...Read more...

Those of you gaming on Intel graphics—perhaps on the move—will be happy to know that the company has a new driver out today with performance improvements in Prey, Rising Storm 2: Vietnam, World of Warcraft: Legion, and a handful of other big titles. Even if you're not gaming, you should probably update to the new 15.45.19.4670 driver thanks to "important security enhancements" when using the IGPs in Skylake and Kaby Lake processors....Read more...

Cryorig first showed off the Taku mini-ITX PC case at Computex last year. The Taku has wide, low-profile rectangular design that allows the box to pull double-duty as a monitor stand while its angular wooden legs lifts it high enough to stow a full-size 104-key keyboard underneath when not in use. The case has yet to hit retail, but fans of boutique mini-ITX chassis can now put their money where their mouths are by backing Cryorig and Lian Li's Kickstarter campaign. ...Read more...

What do you have delivering Wi-Fi access to your home, gerbils? Is it a nondescript grey or black box with a couple of meager sticks for antennae? Wouldn't you rather have a totally awesome space arachnid? Well, what if I told you that the Asus ROG Rapture Tri-Band AC5300 gaming router—which is not actually a space arachnid, despite appearances—supports 4x4 MU-MIMO for wireless transfers of up to an aggregate of 5.3 Gbps? ...Read more...

A little over a month ago, the internet started buzzing with rumors that Google would bake ad-blocking right into its Chrome browser. A new post on Google's blog, written by the company's Senior VP of Ads & Commerce Sridhar Ramaswamy, confirms that selective ad-blocking is coming to Chrome early next year.Most websites, including ours, are funded at least in part through advertising. Some sites also use more intrusive ads than others. Intrusive ads include auto-playing audio, videos with sound, countdown timers, and pop-ups—among many other variants. Google believes these intrusive ads cause users to install ad-blocking software. Therefore, ...Read more...

At this year's Computex, much of the hype and hoopla from Plextor surrounds the M8Se SSD Series that the company's launching this month. Tucked away in the press materials, though, are a few tidbits about an upcoming line of drives, the M9Pe series. Expected later this year, the M9Pe drives will be Plextor's first drives to come with 64-layer 3D NAND flash.Our colleagues over at AnandTech have the scoop on the M9Pe Series. The TLC flash will reportedly come hot and fresh off of Toshiba's fabrication line, and the drives will use a controller from Marvell. The SSDs will be sold as M.2 ...Read more...

It's all too easy to dismiss Rosewill as "Newegg's house brand," but that discounts the fact that the company actually does sell a lot of good stuff. Rosewill's PR is at Computex, of course, but the company sent over some information about its upcoming Neon series of gaming accessories. As you might guess from the name, the Neon K51 keyboard and the Neon M55 and M57 mice come with prominent RGB LED lighting.

Greetings, gerbilmen and gerbiladies. The dust is starting to settle at Computex 2017, which means we have a decent opportunity to do our weekly duty and hunt down the best hardware deals on the internet for you. Take a look at what we've found.There's a chance you're looking for something we haven't covered. If that's the case, you can help The Tech Report by using the following referral links when you're out shopping: not only do we have a partnership with Newegg ...Read more...

Thermaltake's Level 10 compartmentalized case caused a bit of a stir when it was released all the way back in 2010, though we weren't particularly impressed with its usability or acoustics. Much has changed since then in the world of PC enclosures, and the Level 20 concept case the company showed off in Taipei this week reflects many new trends. The company also displayed its MOBA-and-MMO-focuded Nemesis Switch many-buttoned mouse. ...Read more...

Here at TR, we've made no secret of our love for gaming on variable-refresh-rate monitors. We're always pleased, then, when new FreeSync or G-Sync displays are introduced into the market. Today, Asus is adding three new gamer-oriented displays to its ROG lineup, and all of them support AMD's FreeSync tech. ...Read more...

Logitech has updated its high-end non-gaming mice. The broad-shouldered MX Master 2S and the portable MX Anywhere 2S boast upgraded sensors and 75% longer battery life compared to their predecessors. Logitech's included Flow software might be even more interesting than the mice, though. ...Read more...

MSI has more than a few models on the market of Nvidia's potent pixel-pusher GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, but we've yet to see a Lightning-branded version for sale. It seems that one is on the way, however, as our Johnny-on-the-spot at Computex was able to snap a few pictures of it. ...Read more...

We've already seen be quiet!'s lineup of components for smaller machines, but that doesn't mean that the company is neglecting customers who like to go big. At Computex, be quiet! debuted a large limited-edition chassis and a pair of components that just might match that case's outsized ambitions. ...Read more...

We've been big fans of AMD's Ryzen 7 CPUs for tasks that can take advantage of more than four hardware threads since day one. The CPUs deliver great bang-for-the-buck in productivity applications, and the software patches from AMD and game developers are helping increase performance little by little. The other thing that helps improve price to performance ratio is a price drop, and Newegg has one of those in store for Ryzen chips as well. ...Read more...

Along with nearly every other computer hardware company in the world, the cooling specialists at Noctua are in attendance at Computex. Our guys on the ground, Tony and Adam, got a chance to stop by and check out the goodies. Noctua is showing off a couple of new products this year, including the company's most advanced fan design ever as well as plus-sized coolers for AMD's Rubenesque Ryzen Threadripper and Epyc CPUs. ...Read more...

In many ways, this might be the golden age of small computers. Builders looking to pull together a microATX or Mini-ITX machine have a wide variety of chassis options available to them, and surprisingly powerful components are available in diminutive sizes. Those components still need juice and cool air, though, and that's where a pair of new products from be quiet! comes in. Its Shadowrock TF 2 CPU cooler and SFX L Power PSU are ready to go to work in constrained spaces. ...Read more...

Intel's X299 high-end desktop platform has a lot to offer PC enthusiasts, but the HEDT ecosystem is incomplete without high-speed memory modules. G.Skill demonstrated a number of new products at Computex that look to occupy all availabe X299 niches. ...Read more...

Even though we tend to think of "serious work" as needing serious performance, the truth is that most creative and design professionals don't usually require a ton of graphics horsepower. They do, however, need rock-solid support and stability. That's why products like AMD's new Radeon Pro WX 2100 and Radeon Pro WX 3100 exist. These boards mate a miniature Polaris processor with 2 GB (WX2100) or 4 GB (WX3100) of GDDR5 memory to make a pair of single-slot, low-power graphics cards aimed at content creators and other professionals who don't need the mathematic might of a larger GPU. ...Read more...

PC hardware and computing

PC chassis designer In Win can usually be counted on to provide creative cases, like last December's X-Frame 2.0 or the circular robot-and-PC hybrid that's currently snapping pictures of Computex attendees. With its In Win 806 and Gaming Cube A1 designs, the company is standing out from the crowd with an unusual building material: wood. ...Read more...

The unveiling of Intel's X299 chipset has made a big splash here at Computex 2017. The major motherboard manufacturers are all aflutter showing off all the RGB LEDs—ahem, compelling features that set their X299 boards apart. Buried in all the noise are hints of new RAID functionality that Intel developed to accompany X299. The company doesn't seem to have directly disseminated any information about what it is or how it works, but we've managed to cobble together a rough idea by talking to Intel's motherboard partners.For starters, the new RAID functionality is called Virtual Raid On CPU, or VROC. Users dropping high-speed NVMe storage into M.2 and spare PCIe slots can select arbitrary subsets of those drives to create a blazing-fast RAID 0 array. Here's where the waters get muddied a bit. Some Asus guy with ...Read more...

Are you so accident-prone that your friends suggest you should star in an infomercial? If you fear buying a mechanical keyboard because coffee spills are a weekly occurrence for you, then Corsair has the product for you. The company's K68 keyboard marries Cherry MX switches with a water- and dust-resistant design to create what is likely one of the most durable mechanical keyboards we've seen. ...Read more...

Ask ten gerbils about high-end Android phones, and the responses will be dominated by Samsung and Google. Ask a layman, and you might only hear the first name. Essential is an upstart established by Android founder Andy Rubin, and it has an uphill battle to break into the market. The company is finally showing off its first product, the Essential Phone (or PH-1), and it's a looker. ...Read more...

Riotoro announced this week a set of new cases and peripherals set to launch later this year, all with the company's usual black-and-red styling and some nice-looking tempered glass. The company hasn't listed these products on its website just yet, so specs are sparse. ...Read more...

Back when I was reviewing the Corsair One, everyone kept asking me if the nautically-named company would be selling that machine's chassis separately. The answer (at least at that time) was no, but if you're after that sort of look then maybe Phanteks can help you out. At Computex, the company's showing off the Evolv Shift and Evolv Shift X, a pair of cases that strongly resemble Corsair's tower of power. Bit-tech.net got some hands-on time with them, and we're bringing you the highlights.

Liquid-cooled PC components are all the rage these days, and custom open-loop setups have the highest cool factor in both senses of the word. Those full-bore systems with their discrete pumps, reservoirs, and CNC-machined copper waterblocks tend to be much pricier than their all-in-one siblings, though. EK Waterblocks' Fluid Gaming line of open-loop kits wants to put custom liquid-cooling gear within the fiduciary capabilities of more gamers. There are three different kits: one with a universal CPU waterblock and a 120-mm radiator, a set with a CPU block and a 240-mm radiator, and finally one with both CPU and GPU waterblocks and a 240-mm radiator. ...Read more...

If there's one company that unabashedly turns ordinary computer hardware into eye-catching showpieces, it's Thermaltake. The company's Computex lineup this year is true to form. Thermaltake has a new power supply, a chassis, and an all-in-one liquid CPU coolers on display this year. But be ready, as these aren't modest, blend-in-with-the-office-crowd pieces of hardware. These are made to draw some attention. ...Read more...

AMD's Zen architecture is finding its way into all kind of new homes at Computex this year. To date, AMD's Ryzen chips have mostly been found in PCs built by enthusiasts and custom PC builders. We have seen Ryzen in laptops, future Zen-based APUs, Dell all-in-one PCs, and now in QNAP's TS-x77 NAS boxes. The TS-677 is a six-bay model, the TS-877 can accept up to eight drives, and the TS-1277 has a whopping 12 drive bays. ...Read more...

Should you need eight CPU cores in a laptop for whatever reason, your only option until now was a machine even thicker and heavier than the fattest of gaming laptops. Fortunately for you—and for AMD fans all over the world—Asus ROG has developed a laptop powered by a Ryzen 7 eight-core CPU and a Radeon RX 580 graphics card. Meet the ROG Strix GL702ZC. ...Read more...

One of the most bothersome parts of high-quality VR is the bundle of cords tethering you to the host PC. As a result, we've already seen a couple of attempts to chop the cables from the HTC Vive. Yesterday at Computex, HTC announced that it's partnering with Intel to create its own wireless solution for the Vive, based on 60-GHz WiGig technology—also known as 802.11ad. ...Read more...

Microsoft is doubling down on notebooks this year. Not only is the company using its Surface Laptop to spar with Apple in the high-end consumer space, it's also partnering with Qualcomm to help launch Windows 10 notebooks powered by the Snapdragon 835 "Mobile PC Platform." These thin, fanless, and purportedly efficient devices will run the familiar Windows 10 OS and the basic applications that most users need, presumably at a low price. Asus, HP and Lenovo all have their own Snapdragon-powered designs in the works, and should make their own announcements later in the year....Read more...

Nothing shakes up the hardware market quite like a processor launch. In advance of Intel's Core X-series processors, manufacturers have been keeping us busy with a rapid-fire succession of new X299 motherboards. In addition to the slate of boards announced yesterday, MSI has another variant to add to the mix: the X299 SLI Plus. ...Read more...

Last year was a rough one for Samsung's S Pen input device, owing mostly to the firestorm surrounding the company's co-flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. This year is on pace to be better for Samsung's stylus, thanks to the rumored introduction of the Note 8 handset and the company's Computex unveiling of the Notebook 9 Pro S. The notebook comes standard with an S Pen and has an all-new body with a 360° hinge. The S Pen has picked up two new abilities, too: it can now detect 4000 levels of pressure and has support for Windows Ink pen input. ...Read more...

We've yet to look at the company's wares, but ASRock is in attendance at Computex, too. ASRock has a reputation for making some of the zanier products around, although it might prefer the word "innovative." This year, the company is showing off some unique motherboards for both Intel and AMD systems, along with what might be the coolest application of the Mini-STX form factor we've seen yet. ...Read more...