Hasta La Gadget!

Gaming PCs usually come in huge full-size towers, while some builders can cram a decent rig into a mid-size tower. However, iBUYPOWER has managed to stuff a top-of-the-line gaming machine into a SFF (small form factor) case, which isn’t completely unheard of, but very few people attempt such a feat. This new computer is called the Revolt, and it was announced earlier last month at CES 2013. The new computer is expected to start shipping sometime later this month, but we ended up getting some quality hands-on time with the new rig and ran it through its paces. Let’s see how it did.

Hardware & Design

First off, the Revolt is packed with high-end hardware. This particular build is running an Intel Core i7 3770K quad-core processor clocked at 3.5GHz with 8GB of DDR3 RAM. It also has NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 graphics, a 120GB Intel SSD, a 1TB Western Digital HDD, and a slot-load DVD burner to top it all off. I’ll be covering the performance aspect of the rig later on, but in brief, this thing absolutely screams.

The case has a white and black theme to it, and it almost looks like it should be an official Portal computer case due to how closely it resembles the whole Portal vibe, which we really like. The front panel has a smooth, glossy black finish and has the “Revolt” name displayed at the top lit up by LEDs. You can actually differentiate each of the LEDs, which could be considered a slight design flaw for picky gamers who prefer to have a smooth and seamless lighting scheme. Other than that, though, the front of the PC has the power button, LED button (to change the LED colors on the side), memory card slot, two USB 3.0 ports, headphone and microphone jacks, and obviously the slot-load DVD drive. The LEDs on the side of the case come in Blue, Green, or Red, and you can cycle through each of the colors with the button on the front. However, it’s important to note that the LEDs oscillate, meaning that they don’t simply just stay on, but they fade in and out.

On the back, there are a bevy of connectivity options: four USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, eSATA, PS/2 (for older keyboard and mice), ethernet, various audio jacks, two DVI ports, and HDMI. We’re not quite why this rig has a PS/2 port, since the interface is pretty much extinct, but we can’t say that it’s a burden to have anyway. Simply put, it’s there if you need it. Now, there’s not as many ports as we’ve seen on past top-tier gaming rigs, but most users will be happy with the eight total USB ports, as well as the eSATA and HDMI options.

As far as upgrading the internal components and servicing the machine, iBUYPOWER says that the Revolt is user-serviceable, although we had a grand ‘ole time trying to get the case opened up. However, once we figured it out, it wasn’t too bad. You simply take off the front panel and then slide the side panels back just a bit and it should come right off. It’s all screwless, so there’s no need for tools at this point. However, when you get to the inside, it’s all pretty closed down. The only components with easy access are the storage drives, optical drive, and the power supply (which looks to be similar to a mini ITX power supply, but iBUYPOWER says it’s custom-built). Everything else is buried on the other side, which is accessible, but once you take off the outer side panel, there’s another steel panel in your way that you have to deal with. In the end, if you plan on upgrading this bad boy at some point in the future, be prepared for a long night, unless of course you want to upgrade the storage drives, in which case it’s as easy as sliding them in and out.

Software

The Revolt runs Windows 8, which didn’t seem to give me much problems gaming-wise. I was able to play all the games that I wanted, and Steam seemed to work great on the new OS. Even Call of Duty 4 — which was released well before Windows 8 — played flawlessly on top of Microsoft’s newest operating system. Compatibility is a huge deal for many PC gamers, so seeing Windows 8 handle everything fairly well was a good sign. Of course, Valve’s Gabe Newell thinks Windows 8 is a “catastrophe,” but personally I didn’t have any problems.

As far as bloatware is concerned, many OEM gaming computer companies usually keep it on the down-low when it comes to pre-installed software, and iBUYPOWER is no exception, although you won’t be greeted with a completely-stock version of Windows 8. There are several Intel utilities that come pre-installed, including Control Center, Rapid Storage, Recovery Agent, and Smart Connect. There’s also the THX TruStudio suite, as well as the 3D Vision preview pack and Photo Viewer. Many gamers might not use these programs, but they hardly get in the way, and you can easily disable them from starting up.

Performance

We ended up conducting benchmarks with our go-to benchmarking tool Geekbench, and the results were nothing short of impressive. The Revolt ended up scoring just over a 15,000, which is quite respectable, and frankly, kind of expected thanks to the quad-core i7 and the GTX 670 graphics that we were working with.

The PC played every game that I threw at, all of which were running on medium to high settings. Granted, I didn’t get to play any of the newer games, but I ended up playing a bit of Call of Duty: Black Ops without a problem, as well as Portal 2. The Revolt was able to handle the game wonderfully with little lag or clipping, and I was able to game on for several hours at a time without a hitch. Even after an extended amount of gaming time, the fans inside the rig never picked up speed, and I never noticed the temps go above abnormal levels — it seems that while all the components are crammed into a tiny case, iBUYPOWER made sure that cooling was a priority.

As far as the noise levels, the Revolt is relatively silent. Using my handy-dandy decibel meter app, there was a jump of about 10 decibels. A normal quiet house is just under 40 decibels, and the meter was reading around 47-49 decibels when placed next to the Revolt. Other than that, I had the rig sitting on the floor next to my desk, and I could barely hear the PC running. Granted, it was on the floor and not on my desk (where I’d be able to hear it more), which is where most gamers might put their rigs, but either way, the noise level shouldn’t be a problem. I couldn’t even hear the thrashing of the hard drive, which is a big plus and something that I personally hate.

Wrap-Up

In the end, the Revolt is a solid gaming rig for those that need the power in a smaller package. Of course, many dedicated PC gamers would gladly build their own machine, but for those that are just getting into PC gaming, or aren’t yet brave enough to tackle the building challenge, buying pre-built is the next best option. Of course, stuffing top-tier gaming components into a SFF case isn’t something that most computer builders would even attempt to do, so leaving it to the highly-trained and professional builders at iBUYPOWER may be the way to go if you’re wanting a SFF gaming rig. Pricing for the Revolt starts at $499, which will land you a Core i3, 4GB of RAM, and integrated Intel HD 2500 graphics. This particular build, however, is in the $1,400 range, so you’ll definitely be paying up if you want top performance.

iBUYPOWER Revolt Review is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

While Rockstar is still considering bringing the upcoming Grand Theft Auto V game to PC, nothing is final just yet, and the new title hasn’t been officially announced for the platform. However, a listing of the game’s PC version has been spotted on several of Amazon‘s European sites, and it’s blatantly obvious that these are PC copies.

The listing quietly popped up on Amazon’s UK, French, and German websites sometime over the weekend. However, none of the listings display the release date of the game, nor the price that you’ll be able to buy it at, although the French listing has a price of €49,99, while the German listing has it for €59,99.

Rockstar has only confirmed Grand Theft Auto V for release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but has also suggested that a release for PC and the Wii U are being considered. Granted, all previous Grand Theft Auto installments have been released on PC before, but not until well after the console versions came out. The last major game in the series, Grand Theft Auto IV, released on PC in December 2008, which was eight months after its release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Again, Rockstar has not officially announced a PC version of the upcoming game, and an Amazon listing is obviously not hard proof that the PC version will even exist, but if we base our predictions on past Grand Theft Auto releases, we can bet that a PC version of Grand Theft Auto V is very likely to arrive on store shelves, but maybe not right away.

[via VideoGamer]

Grand Theft Auto V for PC listed on European Amazon sites is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

I’ve always wanted an arcade cabinet in my house so I could play all of the classic arcade games like they were meant to be played. But I keep putting off the purchase because I have more important things to do with my money, like pay for food and my mortgage. Still, if I ever have the money lying around, I’ll definitely bite the bullet and buy one. And if I hit the lottery, I know exactly which machine I’m buying.

This extraordinary arcade cabinet was built by Jack Thompson and the crew at ArcadesRFun with a massive Samsung 55-inch LED/LCD Smart TV, and full controls for up to four players. It’s also got a second 37″ LG marquee display at the top so it can display different images up there during gameplay.

It’s got every controller you can dream of, including RGB LED ball top joysticks, RGB LED buttons, an RGB LED trackball (perfect for Marble Madness, Missile Command and Golden Tee), a true 4-way stick for certain games like Q*bert, and dual spinner controls for games like Tempest and Arkanoid, which can be swapped with tiny metal steering wheels for racing games. It’s also pre-loaded with the awesome Hyperspin UI, so it’s easy to flip between games on just about any system you can imagine.

Under the hood, this beast is powered by a Dell Alienware Aurora R4 PC w/i7 3.9GHZ six core CPU (overclocked to 4.1GHz), with 16GB RAM, 2 – 2TB hard drives and a 3GB AMD Radeon 7950 Video card. It’s also got a Blu-ray player. Audio is provided by a powerful 232 Watt Corsair Gaming Series PC speaker with a “giant” subwoofer. And in case playing games on MAME, MESS and other software emulators isn’t enough for you, it’s also got a PS3, Nintendo Wii, and Xbox 360 w/Kinect pre-installed. You’ll also be able to play console games using the wireless Xbox 360 gamepads.

You can also select from other custom controls, such as a Discs of TRON style flight stick (also great for games like Zaxxon), dual light guns, and a special push-pull spinner (also needed for Discs of TRON and its pesky custom controls.)

The original one of these machines was built as a custom commission project for Monolith Games/HD FILMS founder/IGN host Jace Hall, who wanted a single gaming system which could “play every known game ever made.” While I’m not certain that you could play all of these on it, it’s got over 50,000 games covered between all of the emulators and physical game systems inside. It’s unclear exactly what the differences are between the model you can purchase and Jace’s original – its creators only say that it’s “slightly scaled down.”

Here’s a video of the original system. Jump to about 1:10 to see the machine in action:

So how much does all of this arcade and console gaming goodness cost? Well, bust out your 401Ks, because this bad boy is selling for a whopping $19,995(USD) over on eBay. If you’re serious about buying one, ArcadesRFun has a demo unit available in New Jersey. And if you can’t afford $20k, but you still want a cool arcade cabinet, be sure to check out their website, where you can get into a smaller 32-inch, 2-player system for under $3k, or an incredible virtual pinball machine, complete with force feedback, for about $8k.

We’ve seen a few companies try their hands at tablet gaming, but now Razer is officially entering the space with its new Edge tablet. To say that the Edge is “new” is somewhat misleading, as we were introduced to a version of this tablet at CES 2012. Back then, it had been dubbed Project Fiona, but today, with the hardware locked down and plenty of accessories to talk about, Fiona is becoming the Edge.

For $999, you’ll be getting the basic Edge package. Don’t let the word “basic” fool you though, because even this package is quite beastly. At that price, the Edge comes outfitted with a third-gen 1.7GHz Intel Core i5, 4GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GT640M LE GPU, and a 64GB SSD. On the other hand, if you want to shell out $1,299 for the Razer Edge Pro, you’ll be getting the same NVIDIA GT640M LE GPU, but you’ll also be getting a bump up to a 1.9GHz Core i7, 8GB of RAM, and either a 128GB or 256GB SSD. Both models come with a USB 3.0 port and Bluetooth 4.0.

Of course, there wills also be plenty of accessories to add to this package, including a keyboard dock that can be used to play games that rely on a keyboard or mouse. You’ll also have the option of a controller dock – which features the handlebar controller we saw with Project Fiona – along with 40Wh battery packs that cost $69 a pop and supposedly double the life of the Edge. Finally, Razer will be have a docking station on offer, which will provide gamers with additional USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI port, and stereo sound. The docking station will cost $99 and the detachable controller dock will set you back $249, though sadly Razer doesn’t have a price for the keyboard dock yet due to the fact that it isn’t quite ready for prime time.

Razer will be offering an Edge Pro and controller dock bundle for $1499, which doesn’t seem too bad considering the prices of each and the specs of the Pro tablet. Both versions of the tablet are available for purchase right now from Razer’s website, and we’ll be hearing much, much more about the Razer Edge very soon. If this is as good as Razer claims, then expect to see some major changes in the realm of tablet gaming. Check out our CES portal for more straight from the show!

Razer Edge tablet looks to take PC gaming mobile for $999 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Making games for computers is apparently akin to churning out sausage. For the most part, consumers are privy to the final yummy-looking package, give or take the occasional wandering bug that decides to crash their gaming spread. Underneath all that sumptuous, juicy meat, however, is a healthy helping of mystery meat. This includes the amalgamation of hours upon countless hours of the proverbial blood, sweat and tears piled up by the modern-day artisans who ply in the video game trade. At the top of their list of concerns? Making sure a game works across the multitude of computers that proliferate out in the wild.

With the industry essentially settling on NVIDIA and ATI/AMD these days, the narrowing of card choices to two brands has made working on compatibility “a little easier” than it used to be, said Travis Baldree, president and lead engineer for Runic Games. Note he said “a little easier” not “a cakewalk.”

“Compatibility is always the biggest challenge — it isn’t a new problem at all,” Baldree said. “The sheer number of permutations of cards, drivers, devices and third-party software — and their unexpected interactions with one another — can be a trial to deal with.”

Continue reading A perfect match: PC game designers and the quest for compatibility

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Laptops

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