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Expansion support includes three exposed 5.25" bays, seven hidden 3.5" bays, two 2.5" bays (converted from one 3.5" drive bay), seven standard expansion slots and an eighth vertically-aligned slot for I/O brackets. Cooling is managed by a single rear 120mm fan that features red LEDs that can be turned off. That is the extent of the pre-installed fans, which is one of the weakest packages we have seen in recent times, though considering the quality of this case and its $90 asking price, we understand certain sacrifices had to be made....

Battlefield 1 was tested on the outskirts of an active a 64-player map, it’s a little easier to replicate the results here. Anyway the 7700K was again clearly faster, the margins weren’t huge but the quad-core always served up the best results. Once upon a time, Mafia III murdered quad-cores like a ruthless gangster. These days it’s happy to get along with all types of CPUs. In fact it’s now more favorable when it comes to quad-cores and like most games prefers those MHz....

Worse still, the more affordable 960 Evo is a tad faster despite using TLC memory, in fact quite often it was considerably faster. Yes, TLC memory isn’t as good, but when you get the same three-year warranty with both products and the less expensive drive is also quicker, it becomes what we call a no-brainer. It’s a shame really as the MP500 is a great product in the sense that it’s plenty quick and it has a high TBW rating thanks to using MLC memory....

Ultimately, Crucial sacrificed low-end performance, which hurt multitasking, in favor of higher sequential transfer speeds in order to make the m4 appear faster. Instead of making strides, it seems Crucial was more focused on delivering a more affordable next-gen SSD. Shifting to 25nm memory has helped the company reduce the m4’s price to the point where its sufficiently undercutting OCZ’s new Vertex 3. Crucial has also undercut Intel’s latest SATA 6Gb/s drive, as the 128GB m4 is currently going for $270 on Newegg, which compares to $280 for the 120GB 510 Series....

We measured the time it took to install Red Orchestra 2 (9.5GB) with the source files and the installation directory both located on the test drive. The m4 mSATA was able to complete the test in just 103 seconds, matching the time set by its larger sibling. The only drive to beat the m4 was OCZ’s Vertex 4, which was 4 seconds faster. We copied the Windows/System32 folder onto the test drive and ran a scan with Microsoft Security Essentials....

The Agility 4 was 57% faster than the v4 in PCMark 7’s Importing Pictures benchmark with a throughput of 25.7MB/s over 16.4MB/s. In fact, the v4 was the slowest SSD we’ve tested. There wasn’t a huge difference between the two budget SSDs in the Video Editing test, though the Agility 4 was still 8% faster. The Agility 4 ranked pretty low in the Starting Applications test, and yet it was still 149% faster than the v4....

Last month I received one such e-mail from Asrock that nonetheless caught my attention. It claimed their Z170M OC Formula was the only motherboard to support G.Skill’s Trident Z DDR4-4333 modules. Initially I thought, how useful is that? Are there even any benefits from running DDR4 memory on the LGA1151 platform that high? For the most part we test using DDR4-3000, as it occasionally shows some benefits over the more typical 2400 and 2666 speeds....

Fast forward nearly a year after and Dell now has an upgraded Luna PC design that extends this concept to easy robotic manufacturing, component reusability, and potentially even a new circular economy-like business model. Luna 2.0 (not the official name, but a reasonable way to think about it) refines modularity further, simplifying things like the number of screws necessary to open the device and making disassembly easier. Not only is this simplified design an important step forward in repairability and device accessibility, but it also opens new opportunities for applications like manufacturing and remanufacturing the device....

When building your own computer, you get to choose from various hardware components that will go into your system. There are some compatibility restrictions to be aware of, but you’re still left with plenty of options even if you go Team Green, Team Red, or Team Blue. Once you put everything together and get that glorious POST beep, you’re on your way to enjoying your new rig! However, before you start to game on it, word process, or just browse the internet, there is one crucial component that still needs to be installed: the operating system!...

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) confirmed with GamesBeat that it has shifted E3 online again and will announce more details soon. The event hasn’t been held in person since 2019. Because of the initial Covid-19 outbreak, 2020 was the first year E3 was ever canceled in the event’s 20-plus-year history. Last year, the ordinarily hands-on expo returned as an online-only affair. However, IGN’s sources say that even a digital event isn’t set in stone this year and that the ESA may have given up on a physical expo as far back as last year....

The Persona Driven Dynamic Content Framework patent, originally spotted by Op Attack (via Exputer/VGC), describes a way of determining a ‘player persona’ based on the available gameplay information. These personas include ’explorer,’ ‘competitor,’ ‘collector,’ ‘support,’ ‘combatant,’ ’tank/lead,’ ‘commander,’ and ‘completionist.’ What’s interesting is that the gameplay styles can be tracked across multiple games, not just one. Part of the patent describes the system using the determined playstyle to dynamically tailor the game specifically for that player, perhaps by adding or subtracting more enemies, puzzles, or loot drops....

Trump started the spat on Saturday at a campaign rally when he called Musk a BS artist for claiming that he had never voted Republican until this June. “He told me he voted for me,” Trump said. He also called the Twitter acquisition contract “rotten.” On the same day we heard Twitter is suing Musk for walking away from the deal, the world’s richest man responded to Trump. “I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset,” Musk tweeted....

In April, Musk sold $8.4 billion worth of Tesla shares to raise funds for his $44 billion takeover of Twitter. The billionaire said at the time that he didn’t plan to sell any more, but that changed in August when Musk offloaded another 7.92 million shares worth about $6.9 billion. The second sale came while Musk was embroiled in a legal battle with Twitter following his withdrawal from the acquisition....

For representing the multiplayer online battle arena type games I’ve used Dota 2 as its replay system is excellent for accurate benchmark results. I’m able to repeatedly target a busy part of the game to test. I’m not bothering with League of Legends as it’s less demanding than Dota 2 so if these cards can play Dota 2 you can rest assured they can play League. Using the lowest quality preset which is called “fastest”, the GT 1030 rendered just 4% more frames on average but did allow for 20% greater 1% low result....

While hardware review sites like TechSpot do a great job testing and comparing different CPUs, unless they specifically benchmark the applications you personally use their results may not accurately reflect the performance that you would see. After all, as reliable as review numbers may be, if reviewers were to test every possible application they simply would not be able to complete their testing by the time the CPU becomes obsolete....

At a Web3 event this week, a core Ethereum developer said he expects the cryptocurrency to move from its current proof-of-work model to proof-of-stake in August. The so-called “Merge” will finish final testing sometime in the next several weeks. Previously, developers expected the switch to happen in June, but a developer confirmed a delay last month. Hopefully, there isn’t another. Moving to proof-of-stake is supposed to address a couple of cryptocurrency’s most significant issues with critics....

According to a message from the poster on Reddit, most of the content was borrowed from vintage video game magazine archive Retromags. Missing issues were sourced from the Data Hoarder’s Exchange on Reddit. Nintendo published issue #1 of Nintendo Power magazine in the summer of 1989. The first issue featured a 20-page dive on Super Mario Bros. 2 as well as a coveted map of the second quest of The Legend of Zelda....

In 2011 Sandy Bridge stormed onto the scene, spelling the death of CPU overclocking as we knew it. If you wanted to overclock a Core i5 processor you needed to purchase the 2500K for $216, which was a little more expensive than its equivalent non-K model (about $12 at the time) and a little over 20% more expensive than the most affordable Sandy Bridge Core i5. Even Core i7 processors suffered the same fate....

Native Method Probably the quickest and easiest way to discover your motherboard model is by using Windows’ System Information utility. In Windows 10 you can access this menu by going to Start, typing “System Information” and running the application. Alternatively, hit the Windows key + R to open the Run window, then type “msinfo32” and hit Enter. Those on older Windows PCs can use the Run command above, or within the Start menu, click on: All Programs > Accessories > System Tools, then the System Information utility....