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Although dual-channel memory support did allow for 4K playback when using HEVC hardware, decoding it was still a bit on the slow side on the Celeron SoC. Since then we’ve looked at other ultra-compact desktops. Solutions such as the ECS Liva X were too slow to be used for daily computing, while the Intel NUC6i7KYK is grossly overpowered for general usage. Typically that would be non-issue but in the case of the Skull Canyon NUC, it comes at a huge expense, exceeding $1000 for a full system build....

“Asrock has announced BIOS updates for its Intel 600 series motherboards to support the soon-released Intel desktop processors,” reads the announcement. Asrock’s list covers Z690, H670, B660, and H610 chipset boards, several of which use DDR4 rather than DDR5, confirming the memory type’s compatibility with Raptor Lake. This comes after a leaked list of Asrock’s flagship Z790 and mid-range H770 motherboards included both DDR4 and DDR5 variants. The Asrock Z690 Aqua is one of the boards receiving a BIOS update Raptor Lake’s support for DDR4 was always expected....

Asrock’s monitors were highlighted by prolific leaker @momomo_us and reported by TechPowerUp. The first product follows in a long tradition of catchy monitor names by using the moniker PG34WQ15R. This is a 34-inch curved display with a VA panel and a 3,440x1,440 resolution. The PG34WQ15R also supports FreeSync Premium and is listed as having a refresh rate of 48 Hz to 165 Hz over DisplayPort and 48 Hz to 100 Hz over HDMI, suggesting this won’t be one of the new HDMI 2....

Besides the inclusion of Z68’s new features, the Extreme4 appears to offer many of the same great features seen on the P67 Extreme6. The spec sheet includes 64Mb AMI UEFI Legal BIOS with GUI support, four USB 3.0 ports, four SATA 6Gb/s connectors, 8-channel audio, eSATA 6Gb/s and Gigabit LAN. Asrock has added quite a bit of functionality to the stock Z68 chipset. Whereas all Z68 motherboards have six SATA 3Gb/s ports (two can work at 6Gb/s speeds) Asrock has expanded the storage capabilities of their Z68 Extreme4 by including the Marvell 88SE9120 controller, which supports a pair of 6Gb/s SATA ports each using a PCI Express 2....

Some of you may question Asrock’s platform choice anyway because Intel’s most powerful desktop CPU (the Core i7-4960X) started shipping a few months ago on LGA2011. While there’s no denying that hexa-core, dozen-threaded processor is an enthusiast’s dream, at $1,000 that’s precisely where it will remain for most. The chip is grossly overpriced and its aging platform doesn’t exactly sweeten the deal. For a third of the cost, most folks are better off with the newer Core i7-4770K and LGA1150....

When you compare both motherboards on paper, it becomes clear how little they differ. Other than a few minor changes to components such as the Gigabit LAN controller, they are very much the same. The key addition to the Crosshair IV Extreme is of course the Lucid HydraLogix engine, and as much as we like the idea behind it, its drivers still need a lot of work and we seriously question its worth at the moment....

This mild overclock improved frame rates slightly, but it made very little difference overall. Given that the GF110 is the pinnacle of the Fermi architecture, the limited overclocking didn’t shock us. By increasing the core voltage to 1.25v with Asus’ Smart Doctor software, we were able to reach 1000MHz. Unfortunately, this was extremely unstable and even at 960MHz we ran into issues. While we were able to complete a few tests, the results were not as expected....

5ms response times are totally within the realm of possibility at high overdrive modes but the overshoot becomes unacceptable. In any case, an average response of 7.2ms for a non-gaming IPS display is decent, it’s faster than a typical VA panel and well under the 16.6ms refresh window. The main issue with the PA32UC is input lag, which is very poor. At nearly 60ms of lag in our standard test mode, this monitor is the slowest I’ve tested, and I couldn’t find an OSD setting that improves upon this result....

The model that I received to review was the 1080p 75 Hz variant, which is a good mix between affordability and performance. The GTX 1070 should actually be powerful enough to run games at 4K, however you’ll get significantly higher frame rates running at 1080p. Asus rates this display at 300 nits of brightness with 72% NTSC color space coverage, and in my testing I validated these claims (in fact the display manages 335 nits of brightness)....

Using the maximum in-game quality settings at 4K saw VRAM usage climb to just over 6GB when using the R9 390X. Despite the massive VRAM requirements the R9 390X was just 2fps faster than the R9 290X, which is almost surprising. As we have suspected, the R9 390X simply doesn’t have enough horsepower to deal with that much data, so while it can store it, this doesn’t help the GPU get anything done faster....

The graphics cards that squeezed into our acceptable level of performance lines were the Radeon HD 5850, 5830, 4890 and GeForce GTX 285, GTX 275. Then it was the Radeon HD 4870, 5770, 5750 and GeForce GTX 260 that just scraped by with playable performance. That said, those using these graphics cards at 1920x1200 using the high quality settings with 2xAA/4xAF will experience stuttery gameplay from time to time. Everything below the red line was no good at this resolution....

The GeForce GTX 580 and Radeon HD 6970 did well with 67fps and 66fps respectively. In fact, at this resolution the performance trends between AMD and Nvidia cards remain the same as when we tested using 1680x1050. The GeForce GTX 560 Ti and Radeon HD 6870 provided very playable performance, but those seeking buttery smooth gameplay will require at least a GeForce GTX 570 or Radeon HD 6950. Many gamers will also be pleased with the Radeon HD 6850 and even the old GeForce GTX 460, although with minimum frame rates hitting 30fps we noticed the occasional slow down....

Running at 1366x768 doesn’t pose much of a problem for the GPUs we tested – even the GTX 750 Ti was good for 57fps. The R9 265 was even faster rendering an average of 65fps, while the R9 285 rested easy with 81fps. Beyond that the results aren’t worth talking about as 80fps+ is more than enough to deliver perfectly smooth gameplay. Jumping to 1080p shows a rapid decline in performance as the GTX 750 Ti drops to 33fps and the R9 265 39fps....

After cranking the resolution up to 2560x1600, the GTX Titan was reduced to a still highly playable 59fps, while the GTX 680 got by with 46fps. Again the GTX 670 took out the HD 7970 GHz Edition, this time by 2fps, while the standard 7970 averaged just 36fps making it slightly faster than the GTX 660 Ti. Below the GTX 660 Ti, we have the 7950 Boost with just 34fps, while the standard 7950 averaged 32fps...

The CPU bottleneck is less apparent when playing at 1920x1200, as the GTX 680 and GTX 580 both averaged 74fps while the GTX 670 and GTX 660 Ti were a fraction slower at 73fps. The HD 7970 tied the GTX 660 at 72fps while the HD 7950 was slightly slower but still sitting comfortably at 70fps. At the other end of the graph, we see that the HD 6770, 7750 and 6750 all struggled with around 30fps, which really isn’t enough for playable performance in our opinion....

As it’s often the case with any significant change in the way we use software, opinions will vary. While many like to stick to the “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” philosophy, I happen to like the new taskbar a lot. Unfortunately for the those of you who don’t, defaulting to the ways of old isn’t as simple as unchecking Superbar in favor of Quick Launch, so you’ll have to get a little hands-on....

Cinebench R15 is a great benchmark for measuring raw CPU performance and here we see just how much power the dual Broadwell-EP processors have under the hood. The multi-threaded score of 2500pts meant that the E5-2630 v4 processors provided 24% more power than the dual E5-2670s. They also outscored the Core i7-6950X by a massive 39% margin. The single threaded score of 130pts wasn’t bad either despite being 12% slower than the 6950X....

The South China Morning Post reports that China’s moon base will likely be nuclear-powered. Its basic configuration will consist of a lander, hopper, orbiter, and rover, and be constructed by the Chang’e 6, 7, and 8 missions. “We are now developing a new system that uses nuclear energy to address the moon station’s long-term, high-power energy demands,” said Wu Weiran, chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program during an interview with state broadcaster CCTV earlier this week....

As reported by The Register, Sina Weibo’s post titled “IP Territorial Function Upgrade Announcement” claims the action is being taken to protect users’ rights and make the service more pleasant to use. “In order to reduce undesirable behaviors such as impersonating parties, malicious rumors … as well as to ensure the authenticity and transparency of the disseminated content, the site launched the ‘IP Territory’ function in March this year,” reads the translated statement....