Attempts to create truly small gaming desktops usually involve at least some kind of performance hit. Even HP’s category-bending Firebird, one of the few stand-out examples, had to use toned-down graphics to succeed in a tiny enclosure. Digital Storm might have broken the trend towards sacrifice with its new Bolt desktop: although it’s just 3.6 inches wide and 14 inches tall, the Bolt can cram in as much as a GeForce GTX 680 and will even let gamers upgrade the graphics like they would in a full-size PC. The seemingly logic-defying (if also finger-defying) case still allows room for as much as an overclocked 4.6GHz Core i7, 16GB of RAM and storage options that meld a spinning hard drive with up to two SSDs and a DVD burner. Digital Storm isn’t even setting an absurd base price, but it’s in the cost that we finally see the catch to the miniaturization tricks. The $999 entry-level Bolt carries a modest 3.1GHz Core i3, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive and GeForce GTX 650 Ti, while it takes a staggering $1,949 to get a fully decked-out Core i7 system with a GTX 680. Those prices might be worthwhile for anyone who has ever strained while lugging a traditional tower to a game tourney.
Now that AMD’s fresh new FX processors based on the Piledriver architecture are out in the wild,the specialist hardware sites have seen fit to benchmark the top-lining FX-8350. Overall, the group feels that AMD has at least closed the gap a bit on Intel’s Core juggernaut with a much better FX offering this time around, but overall the desktop CPU landscape remains unchanged — with Intel still firmly at the top of the heap. Compared to its last-gen Bulldozer chips, “in every way, today’s FX-8350 is better,” according to Tom’s Hardware: cheaper, up to 15 percent faster and more energy efficient. Still, while the new CPUs represent AMD’s desktop high-end, they only stack up against Intel’s mid-range Core i5 family, and even against that line-up they only edge ahead in heavily threaded testing. But if you “look beyond those specific (multithreaded) applications, Intel can pull away with a significant lead” due to its superior design, says Anantech. As for power consumption, unfortunately “the FX-8350 isn’t even the same class of product as the Ivy Bridge Core i5 processors on this front,” claims The Tech Report.
Despite all that, Hot Hardware still sees several niches that AMD could fill with the new chips, as they’ll provide “an easy upgrade path for existing AMD owners and more flexibility for overclocking, due to its unlocked multipliers.” That means if you already have a Socket-AM3+ motherboard, you’ll be able to do a cheap upgrade by swapping in the new CPU, and punching up the clock cycles might close the performance gap enjoyed by the Core i5. Finally, AMD also saw fit to bring the new chip in at a “very attractive” $195 by Hexus‘ reckoning, a much lower price than an earlier leak suggested. Despite that, however, the site says that AMD’s flagship FX processor still “cannot tick as many desirable checkboxes as the competing Intel Core i5 chips.” Feel free to scope all the sources below to make your own conclusions.
If you’re a PC maker launching a new lineup of Windows 8 devices, you’re going to look awfully square if you don’t have at least one touch-enabled all-in-one to show off. Clearly, ASUS got the memo. Here at a press event in New York City, the company announced the ET2300, a 23-inch desktop whose display can be pushed down to lie basically flat — a pretty ubiquitous form factor these days. Starting with that IPS screen, it has 1080p resolution and promises horizontal viewing angles of 178 degrees. Under the hood, it runs your choice of Core i3, i5 or i7 processor, with either integrated Intel graphics or NVIDIA’s GT 630M GPU. (Even then, you can choose between one and two gigs of dedicated video memory.) Other specs include up to 8GB of RAM, up to 2TB in HDD storage, a slot-loading DVD drive, Intel Wireless Display and optional Thunderbolt connectivity. Additionally, like ASUS’ other products (even its tablets and phones), it makes use of SonicMaster’s audio technology. We haven’t heard anything regarding pricing or availability just yet, but we’ll update this post if we do.
Who said Apple’s event was all about the little things? Apple just unveiled its first redesign to its iMac desktop in three years. The new all-in-one makes the widely expected leap to Intel’s Ivy Bridge Core i5 and Core i7 processors, but also represents a much leaner and meaner replacement for the 2009-era template — its edges are just 5mm thick, and it’s constructed with “friction stir welding” as well as a gapless, less reflective display that’s laminated together with the glass. Screen sizes remain the same and include both a 21.5-inch, 1080p model and a 27-inch, 2,560 x 1,400 model — sorry, no Retina displays this year. They share 720p-capable front cameras with dual mics as well as NVIDIA’s GeForce 600-era graphics, up to 32GB of RAM and a panoply of storage options that peak at 3TB of spinning storage, a 768GB SSD or what Apple calls a Fusion Drive that mixes both 128GB of flash with 1TB or 3TB of conventional storage (a hybrid drive, for those of us who’ve seen it before). There’s no optical drive unless you plug in a USB option.
The 21.5-inch model ships in November, and will set you back $1,299 for a 2.7GHz Core i5, 8GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive; pony up for the 27-inch model at $1,799 and you’ll get a 2.9GHz Core i5 as well as the same memory and storage. Apple’s larger iMac doesn’t ship until December, however, which will give some impulse buyers at least a brief respite.
AMD has revealed the latest in its FX Series of processors: the Piledriver Vishera chips. Aimed at computer users with demanding hardware needs, the new series comes in 4, 6, and 8-core variants with a “default” speed of 4GHz. The chips feature a variety of enhancements and improvements over previous offerings.
The new line is composed of four processors: the 4.2GHz FX-8350 (8-core, $195), the 4.0GHz FX-8320 (8-core, $169), the 4.1GHz FX-6300 (6-core, $132), and the 4.0GHz FX-4300 (4-core, $122). The FX-4300 has 4MB of L3 cache, while the FX-6300 has 1MB of L2 cache per core with a total of 8MB of L3 cache. The two higher-end processors, the FX-8320 and FX-8350, both have 8MB of L3 cache. This series uses the Piledriver architecture, which is an improved version of the previously released Bulldozer.
The Piledriver cores were first introduced back in May in the A Series Trinity chips. Improvements include improved scheduling, larger L1 TLB, larger load queue, page translation reload optimization, and more. Said Adam Kozak, “We’re seeing anywhere from seven, all the way up to 15% [in improvement improvement]. Half of that comes from [instructions per cycle] improvements, and the other half or so comes from frequency improvements.” According to AMD, you need a 9-series motherboard to run the FX Vishera chips.
During a pre-release presentation, these four AMD processors were compared to Intel’s Core i5-3570K, i5-3450, i5-2300, and i3-2120 processors. In each case, the AMD processor was priced lower and offered better specs, according to the presentation slide. All FX Series processors are unlocked and can be overclocked.
If you get the impression that AMD is diverting its energy away from traditional CPUs and towards APUs and fresher PC form factors such as all-in-ones, then you’re certainly right — but you’re also slightly ahead of the game. The company promises there’s a still a good few years of life left in its CPU-only chips and the AM3+ socket, and it’s putting today’s announcement forward as evidence. As of now, last year’s eight-core FX-8150 has been superseded on retailers’ shelves by the FX-8350, which notches the stock clock speed up to 4GHz, or 4.2GHz on turbo (alas with no obvious sign of that resonant mesh we once heard about). The full stack (codenamed ‘Vishera’) includes eight-, six- and four-core options, all based on the new Piledriver architecture which — when combined with these higher clock speeds — promises an overall performance uplift of around 15 percent versus the old Bulldozer cores. To be fair though, those Bulldozers weren’t so snappy to begin with, and besides, the most significant performance claims with this upgrade relate to multi-threaded applications and a few gaming titles like Skyrim and Civ 5. Judging from the slide deck below, gains in other areas of performance may be lower — perhaps in the region of seven percent — so as usual we’re going to roundup a bunch of reviews later today before we jump to any conclusions.
If it turns out that stock performance alone isn’t enough to sell these chips, then potential buyers still ought to check out FX’s pricing relative to Intel — not least because, as is typical, AMD sells overclockable chips at no extra charge. The top-end FX-8350 will hit the market at $195, which is not only cheaper than some earlier leaks suggested, but also $40 cheaper than an unlocked Core i5-3570K that has a lower clock speed and a smaller L3 cache — although the relative performance of these two chips remains to be independently tested. Meanwhile, the entry-level quad-core FX-4300 will virtually match the price of a locked i3-2120 at $122, but can be readily overclocked to 5GHz with water-cooling. AMD is also making a few claims based on the cost of multiple components in a rig: for example, that you can spend $372 on an FX-8350 and Radeon HD 7850 combo that delivers a 25 to 70 percent gaming advantage over a similarly priced Core i5 3570K with a GeForce GTX 650 Ti. Again, stay tuned for our roundup and we’ll figure out just how compelling this really is.
LG just announced in Korea three new Windows 8 powered devices with the H160 Hybrid laptop, the V325 Tablet and a new AIO. The first model the H160 is a 11.6″ slider like laptop with a IPS Panel that will weight just around 1.05kg for a battery life of 10h and that pretty much all what we now as for now. Indeed LG did not give any details on the H160 flavor of Windows 8 (RT or not) of is this device will be powered by an Ivy Bridge CPU, ATOM or else. The second model announced is the …
As mentioned by CNET UK, Apple’s insiders, the birds flying around the Foxconn factory and people involved in the Apple supply chain, we can say there will be plenty of upgrades for the Cupertino based fruity manufacturer. With the new exciting one being smaller iPads. Apple’s tiniest computer, the humble Mac mini, is rumoured to be getting a much-needed refresh alongside the launch of the fabled iPad mini. 9to5Mac reports the new Mac mini units will come in two sizes, with varying …
The Apple event on the 23rd of October – next week, that is – is quite likely going to be playing host to more than just the iPad mini: in fact details today suggest that refreshes of both the Mac mini and iMac will be appearing at the event as well. This tip comes from 9to5Mac where they’ve got sources close to the line saying that three new Mac mini models will be appearing at the same prices the current models are at, that being $599, $799, and $999 – the last being a single server model. New iMac models are also being suggested to keep their pricing scale with $1199, $1499, $1699, and $1999 depending on the size and innards.
These refreshes have also been tipped to be coming with some upgrades, of course, including a Mac mini with 16GB of RAM included in two RAM slots and a denser machine overall. That’s not to say much for the weight of the machine, but the insides will certainly be jumping at leaps and bounds while the size of the unit stays relatively similar to past models. This update has the Mac mini finally able to join the official Apple ranks – rather than just 3rd party modified sales ranks – with its 8GB configuration replaced with 16GB of RAM for the standard edition.
The Mac mini may well have 32GB of RAM then with higher grade models, with four slots for RAM still being the situation on the innards. This boost has separately been tipped to be coming in at a thinner profile than before, strangely enough, this ringing true with the theme of the event, Apple showing us “a little bit more” as it were.
The iMac on the other hand will be keeping its height but reducing its thickness, with a bit of a teardrop design making this all-in-one sort of machine small as it is gigantic. The iMac has been tipped as having a price increase as well, so we’ll see whose reports add up in the end. Size reductions add to the possibility of there being a 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro as well.
We’ll be live at the Apple event on the 23rd of this month – that’s next week – so stay tuned and make sure you’re ready for lots and lots of action. New hardware primarily is what we’re expecting, but we could very well see some software boosts as well – we shall see!
It’s time to take a peek at the MAINGEAR Potenza, a desktop gaming machine that’s small enough to fit under your desk if you wish, or sit right up out in the open with its powerful innards hidden by a perfectly stripped-down black and red outer metal body made of anodized aluminum with a steel frame inside. The unit we’ve got here utilizes the fabulous GeForce GTX 660 Ti for graphics, cutting the cost of the final build while it keeps with the Kepler power NVIDIA is known for. The Potenza is a customized (and customizable) machine that places heavy emphasis on hand-constructed and quality-assured building from MAINGEAR’s own highly-skilled staff of PC geniuses – and it shows.
Hardware
This beast is not light in between 20 and 30 pounds, but it’s certainly small at just 14.75 inches tall, 7.5 inches wide, and 9.25 inches deep. You’ve got all metal on the outside with the Maingear logo set up front in red lights cut into the surface. Everything you need to plug in to this system sits up top of the machine with a plastic grill set with large access points made perfect for securing cords as they slide through the area provided on the sides and back of the top area.
This machine was designed specifically for you to have cords coming upwards out of it and/or out the back of the top, certainly made for easy access at a floor level. Though the system can indeed be as simple as the black totem you see here, you can also get it aesthetically enhanced with laser-etched designs, automotive paint jobs, and “over 200 color combinations of internal and external colors” direct from MAINGEAR – go big with Burple, Citrus Fire, or even Organic Green if you dare!
The front and the back of the setup here are easy to remove as the top with pressure-clips holding them in place until you make the effort to pop them off. Inside you’ll find your hard drive and graphics card ready to look at, admire, or replace at will. Everything else is locked in tight – but if you REALLY want to un-do the precision construction here, there’s a multi-tool included in the box.
In fact, the package you get this computer in also includes every bell and whistle that would normally come with the components that make up the the final product as well, just incase you might ever need them. This set of components includes a couple of external antenna that make your wi-fi signal usable – you can do wireless web without them, but the metal makes it a bit less excellent than we’d like. You can also just toss these in the corner, too, as this amalgamation is ready for action right out of the box.
One you get past admiring the free MAINGEAR t-shirt you’ve likely gotten in the package, you’ll be having another peek at what’s under the grill up top. Here you’ll find a riser cutting the array in half, with a space for the power cord to find its way up and out the back area and the power and reset buttons to stay high. This riser also has the headphone and mic ports popping out the top along with two USB 3.0 ports. All of this sneaks its way out through the top grille when its closed down tight.
Besides the riser you’ve got a collection of ports of all kinds: a couple more USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, jacks for Wi-fi antennas, Ethernet, and a couple of powered e-SATA/USB ports. These sit near HDMI, DVI, and DisplayPort connections all ready for action. All of this is hidden if you wish it to be, but when you’re making with the massive amount of connections at once, you’ll have an octopus of wires attacking your desk. This isn’t any different from the rest of the desktops out there, of course, but the one-ness of the system without cords can be deceivingly clean looking – you might just want to put the system up on its own on your desk just for the light. It looks that good.
The bottom of this unit has some rubbery bumpers so you’re not scraping metal against your desk or your floor, and the hardcore black power of its appearance demands that you get a monitor (or set of monitors) to match it. The way the unit is situated, you’ll still be able to work with your CD/DVD slot (you can even get a Blu-ray drive if you wish) extremely easily (that’s the slit up front of the unit, if you did not know), and you’ll have no trouble with overheating in any respect.
This unit uses vertical head dissipation with its motherboard rotated 90 degrees so that when heat needs to escape and rises to do so, it can come right out the top easily. It’s got an intake fan mounted at the bottom as well as a self-contained liquid cooler, all of which keeps the system less than hot with only a small amount of sound overall.
Inside this beast you’ve got a set of innards that’ve been custom installed and quality assured by MAINGEAR’s finest. You’ve got an Intel Core i5 (Ivy Bridge, 3rd Gen) processor at 3570k clocked at 3.4GHz/3.8Ghz with Turbo 6MB L3 Cache HD 4000, for starters, and it’s Redline overlocked to boot – that’s a pro job, if you did not know. Keeping it all cool you’ve got a MAINGEAR 120 Supercooler, and right up front you’ve got the beast – an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti – MAINGEAR gives you a vast collection of options in this graphics arena, and we’ve chosen the 660 Ti because of the waves it’s made in recent news blasts. Value with power!
We’ve also got a 30GB Corsair Accelerator SSD Caching Drive, 500GB Seagate 7200rpm hard drive with 16GB Cache SATA, and up front is an 8X Dual Layer DVD RW Drive Slot Loading SATA so you can watch Lord of the Rings – or whatever you do with a DVD drive these days. The motherboard here is made by ASUS, the P8Z77-I Deluxe with Lucid Virtu MVP and those lovely USB 3.0 ports next to SATA 6G, Bluetooth, and wi-fi connections.
Software
Inside this machine you’ll get a rather stripped-down version of Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit with so little bloatware you’ll wonder if someone made a mistake and provided you with a dream. You’ve got a couple of shortcuts on your desktop right out of the box that offer you just a bit of added security for your system if you wish, but for the most part you’ve got an operating system that gives you just what you payed for – Windows 7 and the basics. With this you’ll have no cleanup duty to perform before getting down to business with hardcore gaming galore.
Benchmarking
With this system, as it is with all systems we test here on SlashGear, we give it the one-shot test with GeekBench. In addition to this we’ve tested a selection of games from Arkham City to World of Warcraft, each of which performed perfectly well, especially considering the fact that this isn’t the absolute most powerful system we’ve ever had on the testing bench. Performance on this system with maxed-out gear inside have been extremely favorable for the Potenza, and with what we’ve got in this build, we certainly cannot argue the possibilities.
Benchmark Score – System manufacturer System Product Name
Section
Description
Score
Total Score
Windows x86 (64-bit) – Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
Integer
Processor integer performance
14279
16450
Floating Point
Processor floating point performance
24757
Memory
Memory performance
9740
Stream
Memory bandwidth performance
8396
If you’re planning on working with this beast with Windows 7 (which is what it comes with right this minute) or with Windows 8 (coming soon), you’ll be busting up skulls without a hitch. You’ll be the belle of the ball with whatever you’re playing too, as any limitation you’ve got here can be modded out if you do so please. Have a peek at some more specifications from inside this build here, as well.
System – System manufacturer System Product Name
Manufacturer
Maingear
Product Type
Desktop
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. P8Z77-I DELUXE
Processor
Intel Core i5-3570K
Processor ID
GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9
Processor Frequency
3.45 GHz
Processors
1
Threads
4
Cores
4
L1 Instruction Cache
32.0 KB
L1 Data Cache
32.0 KB
L2 Cache
256 KB
L3 Cache
6.00 MB
Memory
8.00 GB DDR3 SDRAM 678MHz
FSB
102 MHz
BIOS
American Megatrends Inc. 0504
Wrap-up
The MAINGEAR Potenza has a really good chance of bringing you much more power and performance than you paid for, and the construction of the system – the attention to detail and final product – are nothing to scoff at. The MAINGEAR Potenza is without a doubt one of the finest gaming systems we’ve come across, especially considering the cost. While it wont destroy the gaming universe with perfectly top-tier benchmark smacks with a basic build, it’s certainly one of the best mid-tier gaming desktops you can buy – that’s a category not often attacked – MAINGEAR does it well right here.
The build we’ve got right here will ring in at right around $2,000 – and you’ll start at closer to $1,000 without adding on the beastly bits. You can also ring up quite a bit larger bill with boosts here and there in your own customizations too, so keep that in mind! You get a beast in any case!
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
