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Despite its plain appearance MSI claims that the 870A-G54 is one of their military-class products using Hi-c CAP solid state capacitors, Icy Choke and Solid CAP capacitors. Server grade Hi-c CAP solid state capacitors feature a rare element Tantalum at their core. They offer high temperature durability and stability, making them ideal for harsh, high temperature environments (overclocking, anyone?). They claim a lifecycle more than 8 times longer than solid state capacitors....

With the recent launch of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, I thought now would be the perfect time to pick up one of Apple’s latest smartphones and use it exclusively for two weeks. What follows are my thoughts on the phone and the ecosystem as primarily an Android user, how the two experiences compare, and whether long-time Android users should contemplate an iOS switch. This is my gold iPhone 6s, featuring an awesome wooden skin from dbrand Apple is known to deliver stellar out-of-box experiences for their products, and the iPhone 6s is no exception....

An undefined number of Platform digital certificates for Android were compromised by cyber-criminals and have been used to sign malware. First disclosed in November, the issue seems to be resolved now thanks to the aforementioned certificates’ revocation, but the risk still persists as attackers will continue to go after this type of access. As originally explained on Chromium’s bug tracking platform, a Platform certificate is the application signing certificate used to sign the “android” application on the OS system image....

In 2017, Apple decided to secretly throttle performance on iPhones with aging batteries so that they would last longer and have fewer chances to experience an unexpected shutdown during peak power draw. The feature came in an update without user notification and without a way to reconfigure the throttling setting. Apple’s actions cost it hundreds of millions in a US class-action settlement and a separate probe by 34 states into the Cupertino giant’s maligned battery practices....

Apple rates the second-generation iPad mini’s battery as being capable of ten hours of Wi-Fi web browsing, and in my experience this seems to be accurate. If you’re reading books on this device, not accessing the internet, you’ll likely achieve even better results, especially if you use a moderate brightness level. In gaming this tablet could probably achieve 6-7 hours, going on extrapolated data, although I didn’t actually test this definitively....

The rounded corners of the aluminum rear shell feel great in the hand, but I’m having a hard time looking past the camera that sticks out like a sore thumb. I realize it was necessary in order to make the phone as thin as possible but it still looks out of place and feels prone to damage. Even though Apple stands by its decision today, I wouldn’t be surprised if they go back to a flush camera on the next iteration a year from now and make a great deal of it....

Between the iOS-like features we saw back in October and what we are seeing now, it’s clear Apple has drawn a lot of inspiration from its popular iPhone and iPad devices, making significant changes to OS X and adding features that are focused on simplifying the overall experience for both new and longtime Mac users. Although looking at TechSpot’s audience profile, Windows users overwhelmingly outnumber those using Macs, it’s hard not to acknowledge Apple’s influence on the whole industry and how its approach to computing could affect Microsoft’s plans for Windows 8....

The new feature, dubbed Tap to Pay, will allow merchants to accept Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets with a simple tap to their iPhone. Apple said Stripe will be the first payment platform to offer Tap to Pay on iPhone to their customers, with additional partners to join later this year. Naturally, Apple Store locations will also support the new payment method. Once the service goes live, merchants will be able to accept contactless payments using a supported iOS app on iPhone XS or later devices....

Ultra quality’s massive draw distances and detailed world are too much for most graphics cards to handle at 1680x1050, with the HD 7950 Boost being required to crack 30fps. Again, it was the SLI and Crossfire configurations that got the job done, as the dual HD 7970 GHz Edition cards produced 69fps and the GTX 770 duo displayed 80fps. At 1920x1200, Arma 3 reduced the GTX Titan to only 53fps, while the GTX 660 Ti SLI setup landed in the upper 40s, just ahead of the GTX 780....

The Core i5 2520M’s L2 cache performance is phenomenal as read throughput reaches 51GB/s while the write performance exceeded 30GB/s. Compare this to the AMD Phenom II X2 560 and Core i3 370M’s 25GB/s read results, and you get an idea of just how fast the Core i5 2520M really is.

momomo_us, the prolific leaker usually revealing the latest GPUs and CPUs ahead of time, tweeted an image of the Asrock Side Panel Kit. It’s a 13.3-inch, 16:9, 60Hz IPS panel (300 nits) that can attach to the transparent glass side panel of most ATX, mATX, and Mini-ITX chassis using the included brackets. Asrock gives a few use-case suggestions for its kit: a large screen for monitoring your PC hardware, a display dedicated to streaming or messages, or just a second monitor for watching videos....

Neither chipset offered both features, ultimately forcing users to assess their priorities. However this hasn’t been a major deal for the average system builder because someone who wants to overclock heavily probably has a discrete graphics card, while someone who’s using Sandy Bridge’s integrated graphics chip likely wouldn’t want to be bothered with overclocking – note the word “likely.” There exists a third, smaller group of individuals who want squeeze extra performance out of their processor and memory, but don’t require the graphical muscle of a full-blown video card....

Then we moved on to compare integrated graphics performance using three different platforms. The first comprised of an Intel Core i3 530 (GMA HD graphics) and an Intel H55 motherboard. The second featured the AMD Athlon II X4 635 processor with an AMD 785G motherboard, and the third used the same AMD processor with the integrated graphics of the 890GX chipset.

Ultimately, however, it does make a surprising amount of sense on a gaming unit. You can use the Flow as a conventional laptop, sure, but it can also twist into a tented position and work like a small TV, so you can play titles with a control pad or watch movies. Move it into tablet position and it’s well-suited for creative work or touchscreen games. If you can stomach its size, it could even work for reading....

Folks with a more flexible budget should find it easy to justify the Transformer Prime’s price premium (~$100), yet cash-strapped shoppers won’t sacrifice much by purchasing the Transformer Pad. After all, it still packs a powerful quad-core Tegra 3 processor, 16GB to 32GB of storage, an amazing IPS display, and the TF300T keyboard docking station. Software is driven by Android ICS and Asus is known to update its devices rather often compared to the competition....

When testing with Company of Heroes, the Radeon HD 5770 was able to provide playable frame rates and even matched the 44fps rendered by the GeForce GTX 260 at 2560x1600. It was slightly slower at 1920x1200 and 1680x1050, with margins varying between 5 and 6fps when using these resolutions.

Being blatant for a second, the Radeon performance both sucked and impressed. Both AMD and Nvidia supplied us with their own version of a “reviewers guide” for Battlefield 3 along with their latest drivers. Nvidia didn’t bother to compare their products to AMD’s when putting together their reviewers guide. AMD, on the other hand, included extensive testing putting products from both companies head to head. That testing cast the Radeon series in a good light, however we found it odd that in virtually every test AMD used the Ultra settings but with MSAA completely disabled....

The purpose of the open beta is to test technical aspects like server stability, latency levels, and matchmaking, as well as gameplay elements such as weapon balancing. For those that pre-ordered the game – and we never recommend you to pre-order until reviews are out – but the point of our pre-order is to tell you how well the game does or doesn’t run in its current condition. Anyway those pre-ordered the game now have early access, while those that haven’t will get access two days later....

The Intel X25-V 40GB stands out as the fastest drive taking an average of just 11.7 seconds to load a clean copy of Windows 7. The next fastest drive was the ADATA S596 Turbo 32GB which scored poorly in a couple of our write tests on the previous page. The OCZ Vertex 2 and Agility 2 40GB drives delivered similar performance to that of the S596 Turbo 32GB while the Kingston SNV425-S2 64GB and OCZ Onyx 32/64GB drives were only slightly slower....