Wi-Fi Router Buyers Guide | GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Roundup | DreamHack Austin 2017

MODDER Q&A
KURT NITEMAYR SCHUFF

MARK XLVI DAKOTAH BRONKS IRON MAN HOMAGE

June | Vol. 17 Iss. 06

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11
GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Roundup
35
Mad Reader Mod: XLVI, By Dakotah Bronk

FRONTSIDE P. 4 BUYERS GUIDE P. 54

DID YOU FIND THE HIDDEN
News, product release information, and Because a great Wi-Fi signal at home CPU LOGO ON OUR COVER?
stats from the tech industry. starts with choosing the right router.

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The latest PC hardware is here: reviews, Software projects, betas, updates, and more.
product profiles, and category roundups.
DIGITAL LIVING P. 69
HARD HAT AREA P. 35 Trends and leisure, news from around the
CPUs Mad Reader Mod winner, LAN web, tech company interviews, and more.
party coverage, and in-depth looks at the
latest technology. BACK DOOR P. 86
Monthly last-page interview with people
who help to shape the PC industry.

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 Corsair Enters New Market,
Launches T1 RACE Gaming Chair
Corsair is expanding its product mix beyond computing
systems and components. The company has launched
its first line of gaming chairs. The new T1 RACE is
available in five color schemes and has a white Corsair
logo emblazoned on the back. Another Corsair logo is
embossed on the front of the headrest. The chairs are
available in these accent colors: black, blue, red, white, and
EVGA Adds GeForce GTX 1080 Ti yellow. The T1 RACE has a sturdy steel frame with a gas
lift, and it rolls along on a five-caster base. The chair back
SC2 GAMING HYBRID To Lineup is able to recline at any angle up to 180 degrees, so you
EVGA has added a new high-end GeForce 1080 Ti card to can lay completely flat. The seat also tilts up as much as 10
its gaming card lineup. The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti SC2 degrees. The armrests can be adjusted for position, height,
GAMING HYBRID features the companys iCX cooling width, and angle from the frame. Corsair says a lumbar
technology, which combines an AIO liquid cooler with an array pillow and neck pillow are included with each chair. The
of temperature sensors and MCUs that provide feedback on T1 RACE is available immediately and carries an MSRP
critical performance areas. The AIO cooler on the new card has of $349.99.
a 120mm radiator and fan. The GPU waterblock has a copper
base, plus there is a dedicated copper memory plate that makes
direct contact with the block. Theres another cooling fan in
the housing on the card above the VRM area. The information
relayed by the temp sensors and MCUs that EVGA has placed
all over the card can be viewed in real time on-screen using the
companys Precision XOC software. Overclockers can use the
software to tweak settings and monitor temps to get the fastest
possible clocks. The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti SC2 GAMING
HYBRID graphics card has an MSRP of $809.99.

WATCHING THE CHIPS FALL

CPU Released Original Price Last Months Price Online Retail Price*
Here is the pricing AMD Ryzen 7 1800X (Zen) 3/2/2017 $499 $469.99 $464.99
information for AMD Ryzen 7 1700X (Zen) 3/2/2017 $399 $395.99 $389.99
various AMD and AMD Ryzen 7 1700 (Zen) 3/2/2017 $329 $329.99 $314.99
AMD Ryzen 5 1600X (Zen) 4/11/2017 $249 $249.99 $249.99
Intel CPUs.
AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (Zen) 4/11/2017 $219.99 $219.99 $219.99
AMD Ryzen 5 1500X (Zen) 4/11/2017 $189 $189.99 $189.99
AMD Ryzen 5 1400 (Zen) 4/11/2017 $169 $169.99 $169.99
AMD A10-7890K (Godavari) 3/1/2016 $164.99 $149.99 $149.99
AMD Athlon X4 880K (Godavari) 3/1/2016 $94.99 $79.99 $74.99
AMD Athlon X4 845 (Carrizo) 2/2/2016 $69.99 $60.73 $52.37
Intel Core i7- 6950X (Broadwell E) 5/31/2016 $1,723** $1,649.99 $1,649.99
Intel Core i7- 5960X Eight-Core (Haswell) 8/29/2014 $999** $1,069.65 $1,009.95
Intel Core i7- 6900K (Broadwell E) 5/31/2016 $1,089** $1,049.99 $1,049.99
Intel Core i7- 6850K (Broadwell E) 5/31/2016 $617** $609.99 $609.99
Intel Core i7- 5930K Six-Core (Haswell) 8/29/2014 $583** $613.17 $613.17
Intel Core i7- 5820K Six-Core (Haswell) 8/29/2014 $389** $409.99 $409.99
* As of May 2017 Intel Core i7- 6700K Quad-Core (Skylake) 8/5/2015 $359** $339.99 $339.99
** Manufacturers Intel Core i7-4790K Quad-Core (D.Canyon) 6/25/2014 $339** $407.99 $392.14
estimated price Intel Core i7- 4790 Quad-Core (Haswell) 5/11/2014 $303** $363.60 $348.42
per 1,000
Intel Core i5- 6600K Quad-Core (Skylake) 8/5/2015 $249** $239.99 $239.99

4 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 New Razer Mice For Gaming Pros
Razer introduced two new mice for the high-end gaming
market, the wireless Lancehead ($139.99) and the wired
Lancehead Tournament Edition ($79.99). Aside from the
cord on the wired model, the two mice look the same.
Both models feature 16,000dpi sensitivity, but Razer says
the wireless Lancehead has a 5G laser sensor, while the
Lancehead Tournament Edition has a 5G optical sensor. The
Lancehead also has up to 210ips/50G acceleration, while
the Lancehead Tournament Edition has up to 450ips/50G
acceleration. Both mice have a 1,000Hz polling rate and
New ViewSonic XG2530 Touts use the same mechanical mouse switches rated to 50 million
240Hz Refresh Rate & FreeSync clicks, which Razer developed with partner Omron. The
mice have the same ambidextrous body and rubber side
ViewSonic has announced a new model in its XG line of grips. There are two DPI buttons on the mice that let users
gaming monitors. The XG2530 is built for speed, with a adjust their sensitivity settings even while gaming. The mice
1ms response time and a blazing 240Hz refresh rate. The also have Razer Chroma technology, which lets users adjust
new monitor sports a 25-inch TN (twisted nematic) screen lighting with different colors and special effects.
with full HD resolution (1,920 x 1,080). The screen has
a 16:9 ratio and maximum viewing angles of 170 degrees
(horizontal) and 160 degrees (vertical). Along with the
impressive response time and refresh rate, the monitor is
equipped with AMD FreeSync to help eliminate stutter
and screen tearing. Ports include two USB 3.0 Type A, one
USB 3.0 Type B, one HDMI 1.4, one HDMI 2.0, and one
DisplayPort. Theres also a 3.5mm audio-out connection.
The set comes with a number of preset gaming modes for
FPS, MOBA, RTS, and other gaming situations. ViewSonic
says the XG2530 monitor will be available this month for an
MSRP of $449.99.

Lian Li PC-011WGX Certified By ROG

Lian Li rolled out a special edition of its PC-011 chassis that
is officially certified by the ASUS Republic Of Gamers and
includes special design elements from the ROG theme. The
front panel of the new PC-011WGX case is silk-screened with
geometric markings that will be familiar to ROG fans. The full
glass side panel also has an official ROG certification etched in
the lower left. Lian Li says that as with all of its ROG-Certified
cases, the PC-011WGX has undergone extensive testing from
ROG engineers to ensure compatibility with ROG products.
The new case is able to handle any motherboard from the
ROG stable, from Mini-ITX on up to E-ATX-sized boards.
The front ports on the PC-011WGX have been upgraded to
include a USB 3.1 Type-C connection, and the interior has
been optimized for placement of up to three 2.5-inch drives in
the rear. Lian Li says the PC-011WGX ships with the 011-1
accessory kit that includes a PCIe riser cable. MSRP for the
ROG-Certified PC-011WGX chassis from Lian Li is $319.

CPU / June 2017 5

 In Win Launches Little Brother
For 303: The 301 MicroATX Chassis
In Win recently announced the C version of its 303 case line,
an update that includes USB 3.1 Type-C connectivity. Now
the company has unveiled the 301, a microATX version of the
original 303 ATX case. The 301 has the same general look of
the 303 (tempered-glass side panel, smooth rectangular lines,
two-tone front, stylish hexagonal ventilation pattern), but its in
the form of a mini tower. The case is made of the same 1.2mm
steel as its bigger brethren, but it measures just 14.3 x 7.4 x
14.6 inches (HxWxD). Available in black or white, the 301 can
handle graphics cards up to 13 inches, CPU coolers up to 6.2
inches, and power supplies up to 6.3 inches. There are spots for
up to five 120mm fans (two front, two bottom, one rear). The
front I/O includes HD Audio and two USB 3.0 ports. There are
four expansion slots. For storage, the case includes one 3.5-inch
and two 2.5-inch internal bays. You can find the 301 online for
about $70.

HARDWARE MOLE

LucidSound LS35X For Xbox/PCs

LucidSound announced a new headset called the LS35X
that is an officially licensed Xbox product. The company
says the LS35X is the first wireless headset that lets users
connect directly to Xbox One consoles without the use of
a base station or cables. The LS35X connects to an Xbox
One in the same way as an official Xbox One wireless
controller, so there is no need to use a base station or
to mess with configuration settings. LucidSound says
its headset will work with future Xbox systems as well,
meaning it will be ready for Scorpio. In the same fashion,
FSP Announces Windale Coolers the LS35X can connect to Windows 10 computers that
FSP will add CPU coolers to its product mix. The Windale have Xbox Wireless technology built in to the system.
4 and Windale 6 are air coolers, and their names indicate Along with its seamless console connection feature, the
the number of heatpipes in the unit. The Windale 4 has a LS35X offers 3D surround sound and advanced head
heatsink made of an aluminum alloy and a thermal design tracking technology. The headset should be out in Q4.
power of 180W TDP. In contrast, the Windale 6 (see
photo above) is a beefier model that has a TDP of 240W.
In addition to having two additional heatpipes, this model
is physically larger than the Windale 4 (165 x 110 x 122
mm; HxWxD) and has more radiating surface area. It also
is constructed of an aluminum alloy but is plated in black.
Both Windale models include 120mm fans with sleeved
bearings that operate at speeds ranging from 1,000 to 1,600
rpm. The Windale 6 fan, however, also includes blue LED
lighting. FSP says both coolers are compatible with most
late-model Intel and AMD sockets.

6 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 MP3 Format Reaches Its Official End
Whether you noticed or not, the MP3 format came to
its official licensing end April 23. Fraunhofer Institute for
Integrated Circuits, which worked to develop the standard in
the 1980s, announced its licensing program for certain MP3-
related patents and software of Technicolor and Fraunhofer IIS
has been terminated. The institute faced many hurdles during
the early days of MP3, which the institute states it created as
a way to let users of portable music players store their entire
music collections. At its most basic level, MP3 encodes and
Study: Open-Port Backdoors stores music and, because an MP3 file takes up just 10% of the
storage space of an original file, the institutes site states, files
More Vulnerable Than We Thought can be easily transmitted via the internet and stored on MP3
Open ports are essential to the internet infrastructure, and both players. In announcing the end of MP3 licensing, Fraunhofer
PCs and smartphones rely on them to receive information. But IIS noted that licensees have made MP3 the de facto audio
those open-port backdoors are much more vulnerable than codec in the world and that, although more efficient audio
previously thought, according to researchers at the University codecs with advanced features are available now, MP3 remains
of Michigan. In PCs and notebooks, open ports can be secured popular among consumers. You can see a timeline of MP3s
because the devices dont typically change IP addresses. With history at www.mp3-history.com.
smartphones, however, IP addresses change as you move around.
To find out how widespread the problem is, the researchers
created a tool to identify and characterize vulnerable open-port
usage in Android apps and then analyzed 24,000 popular mobile
apps. The analysis found that more than half of the usage of open
ports in the apps was unprotected, creating the opportunity for
thieves to steal private information, remotely control devices,
perform a denial-of-service attack, or inject malicious code, the
researchers note. The problem isnt necessarily caused by poor
implementation of apps, the researchers state, but is instead
caused by popular ways open ports are used in smartphones.

SOFTWARE SHORTS

Voice-Mimicking Tool Works discussing Lyrebird. You can listen to the artificial voices,
which the company notes do not convey the opinions of
By Analyzing A Minute Of Audio those three people, at lyrebird.ai/demo. The demonstrations
A Canadian startup has developed a speech synthesis technology show how the technology can be applied to a variety of
it says can copy the voice of anyone based on a one-minute scenarios, including use for personal assistants, reading audio
recording of that persons voice. Lyrebirds technology uses deep- books, or speech synthesis for people with disabilities.
learning models developed at the MILA lab at the University
of Montreal. Using Lyrebirds GPU The company acknowledges that
clusters, developers reportedly can the idea of reproducing someones
generate 1,000 sentences in less than voice creates several societal and
half a second and even make the ethical issues, including bringing
generated voice reflect emotions such into question the validity of voice
as anger, sympathy, or stress. Developers say they could generate recordings being used as evidence or leading to fraud or
entire dialogs with the voice or design a new and unique voice. other misrepresentation. By making the technology publicly
available to anyone, the company states, it hopes to build
To demonstrate the technology, Lyrebird created synthesized awareness that such technology exists and that its possible to
voices of Donald Trump, Barack Obama, and Hilary Clinton copy someone elses voice.

CPU / June 2017 7

 Study Compares Social Media Use
Across 14 Countries
With the most recent statistics showing the number of
monthly active Facebook users approaching 2 billion,
one would think that nearly everyone who goes online
in countries with the most advanced economies is using
Facebook, Twitter, or another social media site. But a study
by Pew Research Center shows that even in countries where
social media use is fairly common, theres still 20% or
more of internet users who say they dont use social media
MIT Researchers Working Toward at all. The study looked at 14 countries in the developed
world. Among them, social media use was most common
Web Pages That Load Faster in Sweden, where 71% of adults surveyed report using both
Youve undoubtedly encountered slow-loading web pages or parts the internet and social media, followed by the Netherlands
of a page that load faster than others. Researchers from MIT are (70%) and Australia (70%). Social media use is least
working to prevent that problem. Many websites aggregate all of a common in Germany (49% of adults who have internet
pages components before sending them to the user, the researchers access dont use the sites), France (33%), and Spain and the
explain, so if one program is delayed, the rest of the page is left UK (both report 27% dont use social media). In the United
waiting. The MIT-developed system, dubbed Flowtune, works States, 69% of adults use the internet and social media and
to better allocate that bandwidth and, in tests, downloaded all 21% dont use social media.
of a pages components up to four times faster. Flowtune uses
what the researchers call a market-based solution to bandwidth
allocation, where operators assign different values to increases in
the transmission rates of data sent by different programs. Every
network link sets a price based on demand, or the amount of
data that senders want to send over it. Based on the price and
demand, Flowtune calculates the transmission rate that will
maximize profit, or the difference between the value of increased
transmission rates and the price of the requisite bandwidth.

SITE SEEING

About.com Rebrands As Dotdash Verywell, which is focused on health and well-being; The
About.com, once one of the internets most well-known sites, Spruce, for home lifestyle information; Lifewire, which
filled with articles and information on a range of topics, is no includes how-to technology news; The Balance, with financial
more. As of May 2, the site has rebranded and launched as and career information; ThoughtCo., with in-depth articles
Dotdash. The site still features news and information but is on topics such as science, history, math, and religion; and
focused on a more select list of topics. TripSavvy, a soon-to-be-launched travel site put together by
local experts with hometown pride.
Dotdash serves as the overall organization behind six media
properties the company About.com had a more than
claims are among the 20-year history, and the
biggest, fastest-growing, and new Dotdash name reflects
most trusted brands on the that, said CEO Neil Vogel.
internet. Dotdash brands A red dot has always been
help people find answers, a part of the About.com
solve problems, and get visual identity, and the dash
inspired, according to the suggests forward motion
site. Those brands include and action.

8 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

Job Of The Month
Drones have become a big business in just the past couple of years, with dozens of companies springing
up to build the flying vehicles for commercial enterprises as well as consumers. One of the best-known 35.6 million
drone makers is DJI Technology out of Shenzhen, China. DJI has offices all over the world and is
The number of Americans who will use a
currently looking for an Android developer to work out of the companys facilities in Palo Alto, California.
voice-activated assistant at least once a
This position is in research and development and is part of a team of engineers and developers that
month this year.
imagines and then builds new products. Youll help expand the SDK for DJI and assist customers with
eMarketer
creating new drone applications. Applicants should have a BS in CS, EE, or CE, and four or more years of
development experience. Experience with embedded systems or programming for UX is a big plus. If you
want to build new applications in Android, and you like the idea of working in a fast-growing industry that 442 million
is discovering new uses for its products every day, check out this opening at DJI's website.
The total number of connected consumer
Source: www.dji.com
devices that are forecast to be sold in
the United States during the year 2020.
I Get Allergic Smelling Hay Within this market segment, the category
of personal assistant devices (think voice-
If you love your digital devices, you might want to
controlled products such as Amazon Alexa
rethink that long-time dream of pulling up stakes and
and Google Home) is growing faster than
moving to the farm. A study by Pew Research shows
any other, with a combined aggregate
that where you live affects your chances of having
growth rate of more than 78% between
access to certain technology products at home. The
2015 and 2020.
research revealed that rural U.S. households are well
Parks Associates
behind their urban peers when it comes to owning
and having access to popular technology products
and services. More surprising, perhaps, was the 500 million+
discovery that suburban households are leading the
The number of monthly active devices
way in those same areas. In every category of the
worldwide that run the Windows 10
survey, people living in the suburbs were more likely
operating system.
to own or have access to the product or service at
Microsoft
home than their urban or rural counterparts. For some
results of the survey, see the chart at right.
Source: Pew Research $27.22 billion
Forecast size of the location of things
My Phone Is Dumb, But My House Is Smart market by the year 2022. This market
includes indoor and outdoor mapping
More than 100 million U.S. households did not have any type of connected smart home device at the
and navigation as well as products or
end of 2016, according to research firm Parks Associates, but that number is rapidly dropping. Parks
applications that use geospatial information
says products with natural language and automated controls are making devices easier to use, which
(such as retailer apps that send you
will help drive strong growth in the smart home market in the near future. By the year 2020, Parks
coupons when you are near their stores).
says tens of millions
The market this year is expected to be about
of American homes
$5.46 billion.
will contain various
MarketsAndMarkets.com
smart home products
and technologies. The
companys forecasts
for the penetration of
$59.87 billion
some specific types of Forecast size of the worldwide artificial
smart home products are intelligence software market in 2025.
shown in the chart. Tractica

Source: Parks Associates

CPU / June 2017 9

Ti Fighters
GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Roundup
f your goal is to max out visual fidelity NVIDIA combined 11 32-bit memory architecture supports DirectX 12 (feature
I in todays most demanding games at
better than 60 frames per second in 4K
controllers for a 352-bit memory bus, yet
it managed to do so without shedding any
level 12.1), OpenCL 1.2, OpenGL 4.5,
Display Port 1.4, HDMI 2.0b, HDCP
resolutions or in VR, you should know memory bandwidth. This is largely thanks 2.2, and the ability to output at 8K.
that the list of cards that are capable of to further refinements in the 5GHz Other technologies that come baked into
such a feat is very short. Basically, there GDDR5X used in the GTX 1080 and every NVIDIA Pascal-based graphics
are three of them, and according to Titan. As Microns manufacturing process card include 4th generation delta color
NVIDIA the other twothe Titan X matured, the firm was able to produce compression, a new PureVideo feature
and the newly released Titan Xparent chips capable of running at 11Gbps and set, an in-game photography utility called
even designed for gaming and command 12Gbps, which NVIDIA uses in the Ansel, GPU Boost 3.0, Simultaneous
prices above a cool grand each. The GTX 1080 Ti and Titan Xp, respectively. Multi-Projection, and a new memory
GeForce GTX 1080 Ti resides between NVIDIA paired this memory with the 11 controller. The gaming landscape was very
the pair of Titans like the meat in a Pascal memory controllers on this card for an different two years ago, and the influx of
sandwich, and according to NVIDIA, 11GB frame buffer. Trust us, you wont impressive 4K gaming monitors and the
this is the gamers flagship. There may be miss that extra 1GB. rise of VR have given gamers cause to seek
a challenger from AMD waiting in the The core and boost clocks of the more powerful graphics cards. As such,
wings, but for the time being, gamers can reference design are set to 1,480MHz weve put together a roundup of four of
rally behind the king and an uncontested and 1,582MHz, respectively. As youll the fastest enthusiast gamer graphics cards
crown. Let there be peace and gaming see, GIGABYTE, ZOTAC, and EVGA currently available.
throughout the land. blew those numbers out of the water
with their factory overclocked models. GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
The Cherry On Top Of The Cherry At its stock settings, the GeForce GTX Founders Edition
If youre NVIDIA, how do you manage 1080 Ti delivers up to 11.4TFLOPS of From a clocks perspective, the
to top the performance of the impressive peak compute and 484GBps memory Founders Edition is merely a reference
GeForce GTX 1080? You start with the bandwidth, and both of those numbers design graphics card. As such, its
GTX 1080s big brother, the GP102 give this card a slight edge over the respective base and boost clocks are
used in the aforementioned Titan X (and original Pascal-based Titan X, and a set to 1,480MHz and 1,582MHz.
subsequently fully unlocked in the Titan 35% lead on the GeForce GTX 1080. The 11GB of GDDR5X is clocked at
Xp). This GPU consists of 12 billion Manufacturers suggested retail prices 11GHz, though it shows up in the driver
dual-gate 16nm FinFET transistors, for the souped-up cards from the other as 11,010MHz. Its hard to get hyped
which are designed to dynamically power vendors in this roundup start at $720 and about those clocks, especially considering
down the channel to reduce current go up from there. how much NVIDIAs AIB partners
leakage and improve power efficiency. in this roundup have layered on the
Compared to the Maxwell GPUs inside The [Second] Most Powerful Pascal Megahertz, but if the coolers going to be
the GTX 980 Ti, NVIDIA was able to As we write this, were nearing the the star of the show, its a good thing this
cram 4 billion more transistors onto a one-year anniversary of the for sale cooler steals the spotlight.
die thats just over 100mm2 smaller. date of the GeForce GTX 1080, and The Founders Edition cooler on the
Inside the GTX 1080 Ti, there are 28 looking back, its easy to see why Pascal GTX 1080 Ti, like that on the GTX
streaming multiprocessors, 3,584 CUDA has become one of NVIDIAs most 1080 and Titan X before it, may look
Cores, and 224 texture units. The successful architectures to date. Pascal was like a slight evolution of the reference
ROPs are independent of the streaming built from the ground up to maximize design blower-style coolers attached
multiprocessors, so the GTX 1080 Ti has performance per watt, and as a result, to previous flagship cards, but we
88 compared to the Titan Xs 96. Pascal-based cards achieve up to three maintain that this cards cooler screams
The memory bus on the Titan X times the efficiency of the Maxwell-based premium. Blower-style fans like the
is 384 bits wide, but for the 1080 Ti, GeForce GTX 900 Series cards. The one equipped on this card are capable of

CPU / June 2017 11

 a rectangular block of aluminum fins
built on top of a large vapor-chamber
baseplate, which uses phase-changing
liquid coolant to rapidly draw heat away
from the surface of the GPU.
The GTX 1080 Ti features a new
seven-phase 2x dual-FET power design
that provides the GPU with 250 Amps
of power. There are 8-pin and 6-pin PCIe
power ports on the top edge of the card.
NVIDIAs engineers removed the bulky
DVI output riser on the back bracket,
which let them double the airflow area.
Thats a good thing considering that
this is a 250-watt card with a thermal
threshold of 91 degrees C. Under load,
this card does get a bit noisier than the
open-shroud GTX 1080 Tis we tested,
but blower coolers like this are known to
for being rather loud.
Outputs include three full-sized
DisplayPort 1.4 outputs and one full-
sized HDMI 2.0b port, though the
Founders Edition package includes an
active DP to DVI adapter for those
of us still running a DVI monitor.
Although its clock speeds arent in the
same ballpark as the other cards in this
roundup, we like the way this card looks,
love the way it performs, andas the
least expensive car on the lotits easy
to picture this powerful and sleek card
GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition parked in your gaming rig.
$699.99 | NVIDIA | www.nvidia.com
AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11G
The AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
generating high levels of static pressure near the power port, 4.4 inches from the 11G was the first variant we saw with
within a fairly contained space, which PCIe interface to the LED-lit GeForce a custom PCB and cooler, and its clear
is primarily why theyre the go-to fan GTX logo, and a width that matches that GIGABYTE gave this component
type for closed-shroud graphics cards. that of the bracket. GIGABYTE and the careful design consideration that it
On this card, a vast majority of the ZOTACs take on the GTX 1080 Ti are deserves. Except for the clock speeds,
heat generated by the GPU, VRAM, considerably chunkier. the specs on this card are identical
and VRM gets exhausted out the back The shroud on the Founders Edition to the rest of the GP102-equipped
of the PC case. As one of the hottest is composed of a handful of interlocking cards in this roundup. Additionally,
components in your PC, a graphics card black and silver die-cast aluminum parts GIGABYTE left the memory at its
with this type of heatsink and shroud is adorned with a pattern of triangles. The default 11,010MHz clock.
best suited to small form factor systems black aluminum backplate comes in two In order to access the AORUS cards
where cooling options are limited and halves, and you can remove one side series of base and boost clocks, you need
blowing heat across the rest of the to improve cooling performance when to download and install the AORUS
components is deemed undesirable. running SLI in adjacent slots, a feat Graphics Engine. Once installed, launch
The Founders Edition also exhibits a you wouldnt be able to achieve if you it to see the Founders Edition base
uniform size and shape, at 11 inches had a pair of the AORUS or ZOTAC and boost clocks of 1,480MHz and
from the bracket to the opposite end cards. Underneath the shroud, there is 1,582MHz referred to, almost derisively,

12 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

as Silent Mode. In Gaming Mode, the aluminum backplate adorned with orange RGB LED-backlit AORUS and Fan Stop
base and boost clocks are locked in at stripes. Over the top of the GPU and logos on the top edge of the card and a
1,569MHz and 1,683MHz, and OC memory chips, GIGABYTE installed quartet of RGB LED bars on the face of
Mode, the peak performing preset, raises a large solid-copper baseplate, and on the card let you light up the interior of
the base and boost clocks to 1,594MHz top of that theres a heatsink with angled your case, and the AGE software lets you
and 1,708MHz. This is the setting we fins threaded with GIGABYTEs 6mm tweak it to your hearts content. The card
tested the card at, and as you can see and 8mm composite vapor chamber-like measures approximately 11.5 inches long,
from its scores, that extra couple hundred heatpipes. The middle fan in the trio and its a 2.5-slot design that bulges rather
Megahertz makes a fairly substantial of stacked 100mm double-ball-bearing significantly past the bracket width.
difference in the benchmarks. fans spins the opposite direction, which The cooler isnt the only custom
To keep the AORUS 1080 Ti running spreads cool air over more of the PCBs component in this package; the PCB
cool and quiet, GIGABYTE modified its surface. Those fans will also stop spinning features an impressively deep 12+2
Xtreme Gaming WINDFORCE cooler, a when the GPU is idle, and GIGABYTE phase VRM, as well as high-quality
cooler we liked so much last year that we gives you a handy LED indicator letting Titan X-grade chokes and capacitors.
awarded it CPUs Cutting Edge Award. you know theres nothing amiss. The top The PCB also features an aerospace-
Now theres a copper core behind the shroud consists of a solid piece of brushed grade coating to prevent dust buildup,
GPU built into the cards black, brushed- black aluminum with orange accents. resist component corrosion, and act as
a moisture barrier. Power comes to the
AORUS card via a pair of 8-pin PCIe
ports, and the amount of juice the card
draws under load will vary depending
on your chosen running mode. There
are a plethora of outputs on this card,
including three full-sized DisplayPort 1.4
ports and one dual-link DVI-D output.
When it comes to HDMI, the AORUS
VR Link feature lets you utilize two of
the rear-facing HDMI ports, or take
advantage of the cards internal HDMI
port for connecting a VR headset to a
front panel-based output.
Weve already declared the GTX
1080 Ti the definitive 4K gamers
graphics card, making the tangibly
faster AORUS GTX 1080 Ti 11G even
more of a show stopper. It runs quietly,
churns out pixels like mad, and looks
rather nice to boot, making it easy to
recommend to anyone in the market for
a gaming powerhouse.

GeForce GTX 1080 Ti AMP Extreme

Core Edition
If ever there was a card that deserved
the label Extreme, the ZOTAC
version of the GTX 1080 Ti in this
roundup qualifies. Not only are the
core and boost clocks (1,607MHz
and 1,721MHz) pushed higher than
any GTX 1080 Ti we tested, ZOTAC
AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11G also chose to add some extra spice to
$719.99 | GIGABYTE | www.aorus.com the memory clock, raising it from the
reference 11GHz to 11.2GHz. In the

CPU / June 2017 13

 benchmarks, these clocks are largely
responsible for ZOTACs dominating
performance, especially at the higher
resolutions. Without the hardware
to back it up, however, it would be
downright irresponsible for vendor to
deliver a card with these clocks. Luckily
for you and me, ZOTAC did right
by the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti AMP
Extreme Core Edition.
But before we inspect the PCB and
cooler, lets take a moment to appreciate
ZOTACs ability to merge grey, silver,
black, and yellow, yet still have it look
good. ZOTACs SPECTRA LED lighting
system lets you tap into three lighting
zones with the help of the FireStorm
software utility. In addition to tweaking
the LEDs, this utility lets you try your
hand at overclocking your GPUs core
clock, voltage, memory clock, power
limits, and more, with an intuitive and
straightforward UI. Aesthetic concerns
aside, this card is objectively massive. It
measures 12.8 inches long, 5.83 inches
tall, and 2.23 inches thick, which means
that this is one of those dreaded 2.5-slot
cards that make SFF aficionados wake up
covered in a cold sweat. One thing that
wont be sweating is this GPU, thanks to
the IceStorm heatsink ZOTAC bolted on.
The heatsink shroud is composed of grey
and black metal ExoArmor, which helps GeForce GTX 1080 Ti AMP Extreme Core Edition
contribute to this cards considerable heft. $749.99 | ZOTAC | www.zotac.com
Three 90mm wide-blade fans blow across
dual blocks of aluminum fins and a series
of six copper heatpipes (four 8mm and flat-out at high clocks. On the back sporty sedans, it has the most muscle
two 6mm in diameter). With ZOTACs of the PCB, youll notice a cutout in under the hood. Which is why it should
FREEZE technology, the fans will stop the backplate that draws your attention come as no surprise that this card was
spinning at idle and resume when under to a pair of Power Boost ICs. These consistently the fastest of the bunch.
load. All of the cards in the roundup offer ZOTAC-exclusive chips are designed to As long as you have one of those steel-
some form of backplate, but ZOTACs reduce ripple noise and minimize the reinforced x16 PCIe brackets, youre
wraps around on two sides of the PCB, to adverse effects of power fluctuations sure to love the elite gaming experience
help shuttle cool air around to all sides of that can wreak havoc on your cards afforded by the ZOTAC GTX 1080 Ti
the PCB. performance. With that high factory AMP Extreme Core Edition.
ZOTAC made sure this card has overclock comes a high TDP; this card
what it takes to handle its sky-high is rated at 320 watts, and youll need GeForce GTX 1080 Ti FTW3 GAMING
clocks, and then some. There is a a pair of 8-pin PCIe power plugs to Weve been fans of the all-metal look
16+2 phase VRM, which means that run it. On the back bracket, youll find and feel of EVGAs ACX 3.0 coolers,
the load and heat are spread across three DisplayPort 1.4 ports, one HDMI particularly on the GTX 1070 FTW
more components, resulting in more 2.0b port, and a dual link DVI-D port. weve been using in one of our testing
reliable performance and better long- Although this card feels like the systems. The new iCX cooler attached
term stability, even when running Cadillac Eldorado among a field of to this card is a dramatic departure,

14 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

consisting of what looks like a single EVGA has pushed the core and boost even further. This is a 280-watt TDP
piece of metallic gray webbed metal clocks to 1,569MHz and 1,683MHz, card, and as for display output options,
surrounding a trio of 90mm fans. We re s p e c t i ve l y. T h e G T X 1 0 8 0 Ti you have access to five ports, three
also like that EVGA has opted to keep FTW3 also gets a small bump to its DisplayPort, one HDMI, and one DVI.
the heatsink compact enough that it effective memory clock, raising it to EVGAs GeForce GTX 1080 Ti FTW3
doesnt extend past the dual-slot bracket. 11,016MHz. Gaming commands the highest retail
Theres a black aluminum backplate Other extras youll find on this price of any of the cards we tested,
that shares the Founders Editions split card include dual BIOSes that make but it feels like every extra dollar
design, letting you remove either side recovering from a bad overclock easy, theyre asking is accounted for in this
for better cooling performance when and a 10+2 phase VRM, which should cards superior build quality and the
running cards in SLI. reduce the frequency of encountering innovative iCX technology, which
On other cards, including the old a bad overclock to begin with. EVGA ensures the card gets cool faster to keep
ACX-based cards from EVGA, the fans sells a pair of Superclocked GTX 1080 fan noise to a minimum. Knowing
on graphics card speed up when the Tis with iCX Cooling, but only the this industry like we do, we wouldnt
GPUs thermal sensor reports a certain FTW3 card we tested relies on a pair be surprised to find multiple graphics
threshold has been met and slow of 8-pin PCIe power ports to deliver vendors introducing their own multi-
down when the card is cool enough extra headroom for pushing the clocks sensor technology come next year.
to dial back the fan speeds again.
Although you can take charge of these
thresholds by creating your own fan
curves in a number of first- and third-
party overclocking utilities, EVGA
is here to say that theres gotta be a
better way. The iCX way is to instead
rely on a series of thermal sensors and
microcontrollers built onto the PCB
that intelligently determine which of
this graphics cards fans should spin, at
what speed, and for how long. There
are three sensors for the memory, four
for the VRM and power subsystem,
and the all-important GPU sensor, and
they all work together to determine
which components are most in need of
attention and asynchronously put the
fans to work. The iCX coolers three
fans and a faceplate with specially-
designed air channels bolted between
the heatsink and the PCB can deliver
cooling to three distinct zones. There
are a trio of colored LEDs on the
top edge of the card labeled G/P/M
(GPU/Power/Memory) that let you
know which zone is getting active
cooling. The large back-lit logo is RGB
programmable, as well. Of course,
you can tap into all of these sensors
and customization options via EVGAs
Precision XOC utility.
Wi t h s o m u c h a t t e n t i o n p a i d
to this cards cooling, it would be a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti FTW3 GAMING
shame if it werent sporting a decent $779.99 | EVGA | www.evga.com
overclock. Well, dear reader, fret not,

CPU / June 2017 15

 NVIDIA GeForce GTX GIGABYTE AORUS GTX ZOTAC GTX 1080 Ti AMP!
Specs & Scores EVGA GTX 1080 Ti FTW3
1080 Ti F.E. 1080 Ti 11G Ext. Ed.

Price $699 $719.99 $749.99 $779.99

Core/
1,480MHz/ 1,582MHz 1,594MHz/ 1,708MHz OC 1,607MHz/ 1,721MHz 1,569MHz/ 1,683MHz
Boost clock

Memory clock 11,010MHz 11,010MHz 11,200MHz 11,016MHz

Memory interface 352-bit 352-bit 352-bit 352-bit

Memory 11GB GDDR5X 11GB GDDR5X 11GB GDDR5X 11GB GDDR5X

3DMark Fire Strike Ex. 11,806 13,274 12,751 13,531

Graphics Score 13,304 14,018 14,628 14,312

Physics Score 24,781 21,430 21,377 21,017

Graphics Test 1 70.1fps 73.58fps 77.77fps 76.09fps

Graphics Test 2 49.24fps 52.02fps 53.8fps 52.64fps

Physics Test 78.67fps 68.03fps 67.87fps 66.72fps

Combined Test 20.89fps 31.37fps 23.11fps 32.39fps

Games 1,920 x 1,080

Shadow Of Mordor (Vsync Off, Ultra,

195.35fps 200.8fps 197.95fps 196.82fps
DoF, OIT, Tess)

Metro: Last Light (DX11, V High, 16XAF,

167.33fps 165.33fps 163.33fps 161.33fps
V High Tess.)

Dying Light (High, AO On, AA On,

222.29fps 185.42fps 184.88fps 199.72fps
Vsync Off)

Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Vsync off, Unl.

146.29fps 141.16fps 164.81fps 155.24fps
fps, Ultra)

2,560 x 1,440

Shadow Of Mordor (Vsync Off, Ultra,

145.58fps 155.1fps 154.09fps 151.11fps
DoF, OIT, Tess)

Metro: Last Light (DX11, V High, 16XAF,

113.33fps 120.67fps 124fps 120fps
V High Tess.)

Dying Light (High, AO On, AA On,

163.04fps 163.98fps 165.11fps 169.96fps
Vsync Off)

Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Vsync off, Unl.

109.74fps 117.06fps 129.96fps 123.37fps
fps, Ultra)

3,840 x 2,160

Shadow Of Mordor (Vsync Off, Ultra,

79.76fps 87.65fps 87.46fps 85.97fps
DoF, OIT, Tess)

Metro: Last Light (DX11, V High, 16XAF,

67fps 69.33fps 72.33fps 70fps
V High Tess.)

Dying Light (High, AO On, AA On,

79.48fps 86fps 88.09fps 86.13fps
Vsync Off)

Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Vsync off, Unl.

59.87fps 61.48fps 74.39fps 73.52fps
fps, Ultra)

16 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 GIGABYTE AORUS Radeon RX570 & Radeon RX580 XTR 8G
n this article, well be taking a look at a pair of GIGABYTEs ROPs. The RX 570 loses access to four of the Polaris 20s compute
Icoolers,
premium AORUS-branded cards, which come with custom air units, giving it a total of 2,048 stream processors, 128 texture units,
healthy factory overclocks, RGB LEDs, and a number of and 32 ROPs. Both cards feature a 256-bit memory bus, however,
unique features that make these cards stand apart. the RX 580 has a memory bandwidth edge with its 8Gbps memory
All of the graphics cards in the Radeon RX 500 family use Polaris compared to the RX 570 with 7Gbps memory.
GPUs that are essentially overclocked fourth generation GCN The Radeon RX 500 Series cards dont represent an earth-
(Graphics Core Next)based GPUs. The old RX 470 and RX 480 shattering improvement compared to last years RX 400 Series.
are 120-watt and 150-watt TDP cards, respectively, but because But for those who are running two-year-old or older graphics
the clock speed is the sole differentiator in the 500 Series, it should cards, the RX500 Series brings more performance to the table
come as no surprise that the TDPs of the RX 570 and RX 580 have without commanding a higher premium. And although AMD isnt
shifted upward to 150-watts and 185-watts. The RX 580 features 36 mentioning it, the RX 570 is now VR Ready, effectively pushing
compute units, 2,304 stream processors, 144 texture units, and 32 the cost of entry for VR down ever so slightly.

AORUS Radeon The other main attraction is the together with the 6+1 phase VRM
RX570 4G custom AORUS air cooler, which consists should be enough to let you eke that core
This card features a of a black plastic heatsink shroud with clock up even higher using the AORUS
1,295MHz core clock, orange highlights and adjustable RGB Graphics Engine.
which you can enable LEDs, an aluminum heatsink threaded In addition to all of the above, we like
by installing the with a quartet of GIGABYTEs composite how compact this card is; it measures less
AORUS Graphics Engine and choosing copper heatpipes that make direct than 9.25-inches long and the air cooler
OC Mode (Gaming Mode, the default contact with the surface of the GPUs only extends a quarter-of-an-inch above
setting, sets the clock to 1,280MHz). heatspreader, and a brushed aluminum the top edge of the PCB. Its performance
In order to support this frequency and backplate with a copper square over in our benchmarks put it only a few
remain cool and quiet under load, the backside of the GPU to assist in frames per second behind a handful of
GIGABYTE has a number of tricks up its transferring heat from the center of the the RX 480s we tested just six months ago
sleeve. First of all, GIGABYTE sorts the card as quickly as possible. Two 90mm and late last year. If youre committed to
GPUs it gets from AMD and NVIDIA, fans, with unique airflow-optimizing a 1080p gaming experience, the AORUS
and only installs those that support higher grooved blades, spin in opposite RX 570 4G will let you max out the
clocks with little leakage into its factory directions to cover more of the heatsink settings in virtually any game, and for less
overclocked products, like those under the with cool air. than $200, thats no small feat.
AORUS brand. The card also features the On the back bracket of the AORUS
firms Ultra Durable components, such RX 570 4G, youll find 3 Display Port, AORUS Radeon RX570 4G
as 2oz. copper PCB, solid caps, metal one HDMI, and one DVI outputs. $189.99
chokes, lower RDS(on) MOSFETs, and Theres an 8-pin PCIe power connector GIGABYTE
tier 1 memory. on the top edge of the card, which, www.gigabyte.us
CPU RANKING 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

18 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 AORUS Radeon above the top edge of the PCB. Theres Power comes via an 8-pin and 6-pin PCIe
RX580 XTR 8G a sizeable gap between the fans, calling power connectors. Outputs on the card
In a two-page to mind the stacked WINDFORCE include three Display Port, one HDMI,
spread like this, most 3X heatsinks, but dont be fooled, and one DVI.
of our readers are theres no third fan hiding under that In the benchmarks, this cards
probably gravitating AORUS badge. They too spin in i m p re s s i ve c o re c l o c k s k e e p s i t
toward the AORUS RX 580 XTR opposite directions to more evenly comfortably ahead of the AORUS
8G, the decidedly more capable card. bathe the heatsink in cool air. The RX570, and the heartier cooler makes
The OC Mode core clock here is set to composite heatpipes are 6mm and 8mm sure it remains quiet and cool all the
1,439MHz, and without flipping the in diameter, and they crisscross through while. When compared to the overclocked
switch in the AORUS Graphics Engine a more substantial aluminum heatsink GTX 1060s weve tested, this card trades
software, the card runs at 1,425MHz. As and converge over the top of the GPUs blows, though it does command a higher
mentioned earlier, this card benefits from heatspreader. Portions of the 6+2 phase premium compared to RX 580s based on
GIGABYTEs GPU Gauntlet Sorting VRM and all of the memory chips get AMDs reference design. If youre looking
binning methodology, and its also built direct heatsink contact via metal plates for the faster RX 580s out there, this one
with the same Ultra Durable caps, chokes, and thermal pads. There are a few more is on that very short list.
MOSFETs, copper-infused PCB, and adjustable RGB LEDs on this card, and
memory as the AORUS RX570. the stylish AORUS badge on the front AORUS Radeon RX580 XTR 8G
At first glance, the cooler on the is more striking than the rather muted- $279.99
AORUS RX580 XTR 8G looks like a looking heatsink shroud on the AORUS GIGABYTE
beefier version of the cooler on the RX570. www.gigabyte.us
RX570. Here we have a pair of 100mm A brushed aluminum backplate
fans and an overall card length of more with a copper patch under the GPU is
than 10.5-inches. The heatsink also also bolted to the back of the card for
extends approximately 3/4ths of an inch improved cooling and added rigidity. BY ANDREW LEIBMAN

AORUS Radeon AORUS Radeon AORUS Radeon AORUS Radeon

RX570 4G RX580 XTR 8G (1,920 x 1,080) RX570 4G RX580 XTR 8G

Reference clock 1,244MHz 1,340MHz Shadow Of Mordor (Vsync Off, Ultra, DoF, OIT, Tess) 80.29fps 92.65fps

Boost clock 1,295MHz (OC) 1,439MHz (OC) Metro: Last Light (DX11, V High, 16XAF, V High Tess.) 78fps 89.67fps

Memory clock 1,750MHz 2,000MHz Dying Light (High, AO On, AA On, Vsync Off) 92.18fps 100.81fps

Memory interface 256-bit 256-bit Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Vsync off, Unl. fps, Ultra) 66.43fps 72.45fps

Memory 4GB GDDR5 8GB GDDR5 (2,560 x 1,440)

3DMark Fire Strike Extreme Score 5,215 6,085 Shadow Of Mordor (Vsync Off, Ultra, DoF, OIT, Tess) 57.09fps 65.84fps

Graphics Score 5,319 6,317 Metro: Last Light (DX11, V High, 16XAF, V High Tess.) 50fps 58fps

Physics Score 21,217 19,203 Dying Light (High, AO On, AA On, Vsync Off) 61.78fps 71.38fps

Graphics Test 1 25.77fps 31.66fps Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Vsync off, Unl. fps, Ultra) 46.28fps 54.74fps

Graphics Test 2 20.98fps 24.25fps (3,840 x 2,160)

Physics Test 67.36fps 60.96fps Shadow Of Mordor (Vsync Off, Ultra, DoF, OIT, Tess) 31.66fps 36.96fps

Combined Test 10.66fps 12.31fps Metro: Last Light (DX11, V High, 16XAF, V High Tess.) 25fps 29fps

Unigine Heaven 4.0 Score 1,143 1,296 Dying Light (High, AO On, AA On, Vsync Off) 32.59fps 36.74fps

FPS 45.4fps 51.5fps Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Vsync off, Unl. fps, Ultra) 24.48fps 32.23fps

Test System Specs: Processor: Intel Core i7-6950X; Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-X99-Ultra Gaming; Memory: 16GB HyperX Predator DDR4-3000; Storage:
240GB OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS SSD; OS: Windows 10 Enterprise

CPU RANKING 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

CPU / June 2017 19

 NEOChanger
$109.99/$119.99/$129.99
ENERMAX
www.enermaxusa.com

ENERMAX NEOChanger
ts bad for liquid-cooling pumps to LED brightness, in addition to color, so ENERMAX preinstalls the vertical
I run dry, even for a moment. To ensure
constant flow, many builders turn
you can match the LED intensity with
other system illumination. Overall, its
mounting bracket onto the NEOChanger
base, which is a smart move as the vertical
to a reservoir/pump combo where the an excellent effect, especially if you can layout will likely be the best option for
reservoir sits directly above the pump. synchronize the LED color with your most chassis. Similar to many other
E N E R M A X s N E O C h a n g e r i s a motherboard. The included remote reservoir/pump combos, the top of
reservoir/pump combo kit that also boasts features eight colors (red, green, blue, the reservoir features both an inlet and
RGB illumination. Color and lighting white, pink, orange, yellow, and purple) fill port, and the inlet port features an
effects can be adjusted in real-time by and a color of your own choosing. internal tube to prevent splashing and
either the included remote control or In terms of effects, the remote allows foaming. The outlet port resides on the
your motherboardif the mainboard has you to switch among a fixed color with pump. There are no fittings built-in, but
a 4-pin RGB header. The remote control flash effects, a fixed color that fades ENERMAX does use standard G1/4
also lets you regulate pump speed. up and down, and a mode that cycles screw threads, so you can add which
ENERMAX offers the NEOChanger through all 256 colors. You can also turn fittings work best for your loop.
in three capacities: 200ml (7.7 inches the LED on or off via the remote control. Equipped with a high-performance
tall), 300ml (9.66 inches tall), and 400ml The remote control lets you adjust flow pump and remote control for RGB color
(11.6 inches tall). Other than the unit rate on-the-fly, and there are buttons for and pump speed, the NEOChanger is
height, theres no difference between the entire range of pump rpms1500, a well-designed reservoir/pump combo.
the three models. And by offering three 2000, 2500, 3000, 3500, and 4000. Modders should also like the ability to
capacities, it should be relatively easy to ENERMAX rates the NEOChanger to synchronize LED lighting on compatible
find an option that ideally fits into your deliver up to 900 liters per hour, which is motherboards. Best of all, at $129.99,
case and loop. ENERMAX fills out the a bit faster than many of the comparably the 400ml NEOChanger is a bit more
kit with mounting brackets (both vertical priced reservoir/pump combos on the affordable than other cylindrical combo
and horizontal), a retention clip, and a 24- market. You can fine-tune the pump units with a powerful pump. The shorter
pin power adapter to let you modify the speed at 150rpm increments, as well, for units cost slightly less at $119.99 for the
reservoir/pump combo to your installation. more granular control of pump rpm. An 300ml and $109.99 for the 200ml.
An RGB LED ring sits on the base of LED display on the front of base shows
the reservoir and lights up the coolant, the pumps current rpm. In our testing,
as well as the reservoirs circular, acrylic the unit was close to silent when pump BY NATHAN LAKE
housing. ENERMAX allows you to adjust rpms were under 2500rpm.

Specs: Dimensions: 11.6 x 3.67 x 3.7; Capacity: 400ml; Pump speed: 1,500 to 4,000rpm; Maximum pump flow rate: 900 liters per hour; Screw thread:
G1/4; Power connector: SATA

CPU RANKING 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

20 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 b-PWM 80mm/90mm
$11.99 ($10.99 for translucent black)
$12.99 ($11.99 for translucent black)
BGears

Bgears b-PWM 80mm/90mm www.bgears.com

lthough modern compact and small pressure. The 80mm model is rated for onboard LEDs spread light throughout
A form factor cases typically manage to
find space for a 120mm fan or two, some
up to 4.92mmH20 and the 90mm can
deliver up to 6.45mmH20.
the frame, rather than appearing as single
bright points of light.
miniature chassis also support an optional Any fan that spins at 4,000rpm is All b-PWM fans feature a 4-pin
80mm or 90mm fan to further improve going to generate noise, and the b-PWM connector, and Bgears also provides a
airflow. Extremely SFF cases, such as 80mm and 90mm are no exception with 3-pin-to-Molex adapter if you dont have
some Mini-ITX models, might only noise levels of 37dB(A) and 39dB(A), a free fan header. Those that do use the
support fans smaller than 100mm. Bgears respectively. But with a PWM range Molex adapter should be ready for some
recently introduced a lineup of 80mm of 500rpm to 4,000rpm, its unlikely a noise, as the b-PWM will always run at
and 90mm b-PWM fans that support motherboard would regularly run the its maximum 4,000rpm speed. Price-wise,
an exceedingly wide PWM rangefrom b-PWM at its maximum speed. Another the LED-less black fans are a dollar less
500rpm to 4,000rpm. Bgears also offers factor to consider is that many modern ($10.99 for 80mm, $11.99 for 90mm)
the 80mm and 90mm fans in a few motherboards now allow you to manage than the blue and red LED models
color options (red, blue, and black) to and customize fan curves to 4-pin, PWM ($11.99 for 80mm and $12.99 for 90mm).
complement your builds color scheme. headers. As such, you could configure the The wide PWM range is the calling
Bgears designs the b-PWM lineup with board to only run the fan at its maximum card of b-PWM 80mm and 90mm
double ball bearings to deliver extremely speed when absolutely necessary. As lineups, and we also like the LED
fast fan speeds and high performance power users, wed always prefer to have illumination on the red and blue models.
airflow. Many comparably priced 80mm the cooling potential available, even if we As with most small diameter fans,
fans feature rifle or sleeve bearings that dont always use it. theres a bit of noise at higher speeds, so
arent stable at higher speeds, and we The red and blue versions of the it might be best to pair this fan with a
found that most 80mm fans operate at b-PWM lineup sport LEDs that match motherboard that lets you manage the
less than 3,000rpm. At 4,000rpms, the each fans translucent frame and blade PWM fan curve. Most importantly, if you
b-PWM 80mm produces up to 78cfm, color. The black models have no LED, require extreme airflow from a tiny fan,
while the 90mm delivers up to 88cfm. which makes sense because the black the b-PWM 80mm and 90mm models
Should you need to put the fans next translucent frame wont stand out in will get the job done.
to a drive bay intake, or other restricted many cases. Compared to LED fans
space, the fans produce a decent static with a solid matte color, we like how the BY NATHAN LAKE

Specs (80mm): Dimensions: 80 x 80 x 25; Speed: 500 to 4,000rpm; Airflow: up to 78cfm; Static Pressure: 0.33 to 4.92mmH20; Noise: up to 37dB(A);
Connector; 4-pin, adapter for 3-pin to Molex; Available colors: Red (LED), blue (LED), black (no LED)
Specs (90mm): Dimensions: 90 x 90 x 25; Speed: 500 to 4,000rpm; Airflow: up to 88cfm; Static Pressure: 0.34 to 6.45mmH20; Noise: up to 39dB(A);
Connector; 4-pin, adapter for 3-pin to Molex; Available colors: Red (LED), blue (LED), black (no LED)
CPU RANKING 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

CPU / June 2017 21

 Eisblock XPX CPU
$83
Alphacool
www.alphacool.com

Alphacool Eisblock XPX CPU

ot all CPU waterblocks are the same. offers a much larger cooling surface an Intel Core i7-7700K and EVGAs
N Sure, theres almost always going to
be a copper cold plate and a top cover
(34mm x 32mm) than its predecessor
with a fin structure thats refined to
Classified K, as well as Alphacools
Eiswand 360an external AIO liquid
where youll install the fittings, but whats 0.2mm, down from 0.5mm on the cooler with a 360mm radiator. Both
in between can make a big difference in NexXxos XP3 lineup. Alphacool also blocks produce near identical temperatures
heat dissipation. Alphacools NexXxos optimizes the Eisblock XPX CPU cold at idle with an average of 25 degrees
XP3 lineup has been a reliable performer plate for use with large CPU die, and Celsius. Temperatures definitely skewed
the past few years, yet the German it should support up to 10-core CPUs. in favor of the Eisblock XPX CPU under
company felt a major revision was in The Eisblock XPX CPU comes with load. When running POV-Ray 3.7,
order. The Eisblock XPX CPU lineup a universal mounting system thats average temperatures for the Eisblock XPX
features a number of improvements to compatible with all recent Intel and CPU were 59.4 C, while the NexXxos
the distribution system and fin structure AMD sockets, including Intels LGA XP3 Light was 61.1 C. The gap was a bit
within the block. We got a chance to test 1151 and AMDs AM4 platforms. wider when running Prime95 with average
out one of the new clear versions. Alphacool offers two styles of temperatures reaching on 62.3 C on the
The Eisblock XPX CPUs new transparent nylon Eisblock XPX blocks, Eisblock XPX CPU and 65.4 C on the
distribution system boasts two chambers one with a polished clear finish and one NexXxos XP3 Light.
with a ramp system. Within the block, with a satin finish, so you can see coolant The Eisblock XPX CPU is an attractive
theres a flow diverter that moves fluid inside the block. The polished clear model waterblock thats a solid performance
from a pre-chamber to a flow distribution we tested is best for those who want to improvement over Alphacools previous
chamber that uniformly spreads liquid see coolant movement, but either of the NexXxos XP3 lineup. A built-in RGB
over the cold plates fin structure. The transparent blocks would be good if you LED might be a nice addition to the clear
design eliminates turbulence and makes use colored coolant. Alpahcool also sells block, as itd help to illuminate the coolant
pump pressure less critical to the cooling the Eisblock XPX CPU with a full block in dark case interiors, but cases with
performance, according to Alphacool. cover in silver, block, chrome, or grey decent interior lighting will have a clear
As such, you might be able to reduce colors. view of the waterblock and coolant.
pump power and system noisewithout We tested both Alphacools NexXxos
effecting CPU temperatures. XP3 Light and the Eisblock XPX CPU
In addition to the flow distribution to give you an idea of the performance BY NATHAN LAKE
improvements, the Eisblock XPX CPU improvements. Our test rig includes

Specs: Materials: nickel-plated cooper cooling plate, aluminum top cover; Socket compatibility: Intel LGA 2011(3)/1366/115X/775/771, AMD AM4/AM3(+)/
AM2(+)/FM2(+)/FM1; Dimensions: 1.18 x 2.56 x 2.56 inches (HxWxD)
Test System Specs: Processor: Intel Core i7-7700K; Motherboard: EVGA Z270 Classified K; GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 FTW GAMING ACX 3.0; Memory:
Corsair Vengeance LED 32GB DDR4-3,200MHz; Storage: Patriot Hellfire 480GB; OS: Windows 10 Enterprise

22 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 Celsius S36
$119.99
Fractal Design
www.fractal-design.com

Design tells us that, as a general guideline,

motherboard headers can support up to
Fractal Design Celsius S36 1A of currentenough for the pump and
three of the Fractal Design Dynamic X2
he AIO liquid cooler market has much guidance. Theres a single page that GP-12 PWM fans. The onboard fan hub
T undergone a small, but meaningful,
change for enthusiasts in recent months.
displays how you might incorporate custom
parts, but no instructions to uncouple the
is an excellent, easy way to tidy up cabling
and frees up the fan headers on your
Several CPU cooler manufacturers are connectors. Fractal Design recommends that motherboard for other system fans.
moving away from closed-loops with sealed you remove only one of the connectors Fractal Design includes a universal
connections and custom fittings to standard the one on the radiator without the cable backplate and standoffs to support all
G1/4 threads and fittings. This seemingly running to the fan hub. This tube would be modern Intel and AMD sockets, including
minor switch allows you to incorporate moved over to the expansion components, the newly released AM4 socket. We installed
other liquid-cooled hardware, such as a GPU which in turn, would run to the empty the Celsius S36 into a test rig with Intels
waterblock and reservoir, into the loop. An thread on the radiator. Core i7-7700K and an EVGA Z270
expandable AIO, such as the Fractal Design Supporting extreme loads is always top- Classified K. At idle, the Core i7-7700K
Celsius S36, still provides all the benefits of-the-list for enthusiasts, but in terms of averaged a cool 25 degrees Celsius. Ten
of a conventional closed-loop design. For importance, quiet operation is often a close minutes of POV-Ray 3.7 testing moved
example, the Celsius S36 comes fully second. Fractal Design allows the Celsius the needle up to an average of 60 C with
assembled and prefilled with coolant. And S36 to operate in two modes, Automatic a high of 65 C. In our most demanding
installation is a marvel of simplicity. and PWM, that both regulate fan and pump test, Prime95s Small FFT, the Celsius
The Celsius S36 is ready for overclocking speed. In Automatic Mode, the Celsius S36 S36 proved superb in keeping the Core
duties, thanks to a 360mm radiator and intelligently adjusts the fans and pump to i7-7700K to an average of 65C and a
three Fractal Design Dynamic X2 GP-12 balance noise level and cooling performance. maximum temperature of 70 C.
PWM fans. The 120mm fans feature a Power user who like to tinker with The Celsius S36 clearly functions well as
wide PWM range (500 to 2,000rpm) and settings will likely prefer the PWM Mode, a CPU cooler, and the ability to expand the
at maximum fan speed, each 120mm fan which bases fan and pump speed off the loop for use with additional liquid-cooling
is rated for 87.6cfm and a static pressure of motherboards PWM signal. Typically, you components is a big bonus. Such a setup is
2.30mmH20. Fractal Design also includes can customize PWM fan header operation definitely less complex (and most likely more
a speedy pump that operates between in the motherboards BIOS or a compatible affordable) than designing and assembling a
1,950rpm and 3,150rpm for a maximum software utility. complete custom loop. Fractal Design could
pressure of 1.45psi. The Celius S36 offers To simplify cable management, Fractal provide a few more instructions, in regard
enough cooling overhead to expand the loop Design integrates a fan hub with three, 4-pin to how youll actual expand the loop. Even
to include a high-end GPU. Fractal Design PWM headers between the barbs on the if you dont plan on adding to the loop,
tells us the pump, with average components, radiator. The hub is powered by the pumps the Celsius S36s performance is worth the
should support one GPU block, a second 4-pin header. Weve seen fan hubs on other cost of admission ($119.99), as many other
radiator, and a reservoir without issue. coolers, but the hubs are often external (not closed-loop AIOs with a 360mm radiator
If you do opt to include other liquid- built onto the radiator like the Celsius S36) are more expensive.
cooling components into the Celsius and are typically powered by a Molex or
S36s loop, dont look to the manual for SATA connector from the PSU. Fractal BY NATHAN LAKE

Specs: Materials: copper (waterblock) and aluminum (radiator); Socket compatibility: Intel LGA 2011(3)/1366/115X/775, AMD AM4/AM3(+)/AM2(+)/
FM2(+)/FM1; Pump: 12V, 1950-3,150rpm; Fans: 3 Fractal Design Dynamic X2 GP-12 PWM (500-2,000rpm); Radiator dimensions: 1.18 x 15.87 x 4.84
inches (HxWxD); Warranty: 5 years
Test System Specs: Processor: Intel Core i7-7700K; Motherboard: EVGA Z270 Classified K; GPU: GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming; Memory:
Corsair Vengeance LED 32GB DDR4-3,200MHz; Storage: Patriot Hellfire 480GB; OS: Windows 10 Enterprise

CPU / June 2017 23

 FPS Designed By Razer
$99
Gunnar
www.gunnar.com

Gunnar FPS Designed By Razer

unnar Optiks has teamed up with Razer and end in an oval; a silicone nose pad light is what studies have shown can cause
G to create several gaming-centric versions
of Gunnars popular eyewear. The new
is inserted into the oval and held tightly
in place by a groove around the edge.
eyestrain and headaches associated with
prolonged computer use.
Gunnar FPS Designed By Razer is the latest (With some effort, you can pop out these During testing, I wore the glasses for
product the partnership has generated. silicon pads if you wish. Gunnar doesnt several hours in a typical office setting,
The FPS has a stainless-steel frame sell the pads separately on its site, but the with multiple computer screens on a
with temple pieces that feature cutouts company will send you a replacement if desk and overhead fluorescent lighting.
of the Razer name. While the main you need one.) If necessary, you can adjust I also used the glasses in a darker room
frame is a dark, antique bronze color the position of the nose pads by gently while gaming. In both situations I found
that Gunnar calls Onyx, the inside of bending the thin steel nose pad arms. the glasses very comfortable to wear.
the temple tips that go behind your ear The Gunnar FPS frames are one-size- The amber lens color did not create any
are coated in a soft thermoplastic rubber fits-all eyewear, with 56mm lens width, negative issues for me at all; it was not
that is neon green. 136mm front width, 135mm temples, too dark, nor was it distracting. In fact, it
The hinges on the temples are and 19mm nose width. Although they was easy to forget I was wearing colored
simple and sturdy. They dont have flex will work just fine with a wide range of lenses. The lightweight frames hugged my
springs or discernable screws, and you head sizes, if you have an exceptionally face very firmly, but without any pinching.
wont be losing or replacing any teensy broad or thin face, you may require a Best of all, I had no slippage problems the
components that pop out at inopportune different frame. entire time I wore the frames.
times. The hinges arent made to bend The FPS lenses are rounded and I cant say definitively that the glasses
past the frames end pieces (the part roughly rectangular in shape. In terms of will prevent computing eyestrain, but I do
that extends back from the lens rims to size as well as shape, the lenses are similar know people who feel Gunnar products
connect with the temple pieces) more to the frame in that they are meant to are a great help in that area. As for myself,
than 90 degrees. If you try to open the work with most faces and appeal to the I found the Gunnar FPS Designed By
temples wider than that, its the entire broadest range of people. The lenses in Razer to be very comfortable and non-
eyeglass frame that flexes. This flexed the glasses I tested were not corrective, intrusive, and my eyes felt fine during and
tension in the entire frame is what helps but you can order prescriptive lenses for after the times I wore them. You can put
hold the glasses in place on your head, an additional charge through the Gunnar these glasses on and simply concentrate on
and not just tension at the hinges as website. All FPS lenses are available in your computing, whether the task at hand
with some eyewear. one shade, Gunnars signature Amber, is sniping enemies at long range or slaying a
There is a single bar or bridge between which the company says filters out 65% monster spreadsheet.
the two lenses. The thin nose pad arms of the high-intensity blue light that is
extend directly from the frame rims emitted from computer screens. This blue BY RON KOBLER

Specs: Dimensions: 56mm lens width, 136mm front width, 135mm temples, 19mm nose width; Frame materials: stainless steel, thermoplastic
rubber; Lens color: Amber

24 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 P7-C0
$99.99
Aerocool
www.aerocool.us

Aerocool P7-C0
erocool just sent us its newest mid- Rather than going with the traditional up front, and the top panel will support a
A tower PC case; its the next member of
the companys Project 7 case line, the P7-
series of cable-routing holes outfitted with
rubber grommets, the P7-C0s tray goes
dual rad, with space for the usual 120mm or
140mm radiator in the rear.
C0. We reviewed the first Project 7 case, the from front to back with a slight offset just The biggest difference between the
P7-C1, last year in October, and weve been forward of where an ATX motherboard P7-C0 and the P7-C1 we looked at
looking forward to seeing what else the line stops. The offset (the forward section is late last year (aside from the latters
had in store for us ever since. raised nearly three-quarters of an inch above aforementioned top cover and case feet)
At a glance, the P7-C0 seems quite the rear section) lets you easily run cables is that whereas the P7-C1 came with just
a bit smaller than its predecessor, but this to your board from behind the tray while one acrylic side-panel window, the P7-C0
is primarily due to the fact that the P7-C0 giving them quite a bit of cover. has smoked tempered-glass panels on both
lacks the taller case feet and the vaulted top Another thing we like about this mother- sides. The aesthetic impact is profound
panel cover of the P7-C1, the latter of which board tray is the fact that the motherboard this is a great-looking case. Aerocool also
lets you install fans or a radiator above the doesnt mount so that its right up against tucks all the P7-C0s drive bays out of
interior panel. These things aside, the cases the top of the interior. Rather, the position sight; the dual-bay 3.5-inch drive cage
are similar in size, and the similarities dont of the standoffs leaves nearly an inch and (which also holds 2.5-inch drives) is
end there. For instance, although their front a half of space above the board complete located behind the PSU shroud, and there
panels are slightly different in shape, they with a couple of cable holes, and even if you are two vertical SSD mounts on the back
both have the same essential look, and both mount fans or a radiator beneath the top of the motherboard tray.
have the cool LED accent ring that runs panel, youll still be able to run a cable or Aerocools cases have always been highly
around the steel mesh inset. (The P7-C0s two to the top of your board while keeping it functional, but since late 2015 when
lets you choose among 10 colors, though, mostly out of sight. Aerocool launched its Aero-series cases, the
whereas the P7-C1s LED ring had eight; you Speaking of fans and radiators, the P7- companys case designs have put a lot more
can also set it to run in solid color, breathing, C0s mesh front panel works with its emphasis on aesthetics, and the P7-C0 is yet
or auto cycle mode.) Both cases also have ventilated top panel and a number of fan another reminder of how far theyve come.
power supply shrouds and flexible, well- mounts to make cooling a snap. You can
designed motherboard trays. mount radiators up to 360mm in length BY CHRIS TRUMBLE

Specs: Dimensions: 18.4 x 8.1 x 17.75 inches (HxWxD); Materials: steel, plastic, tempered glass; Motherboard support: Mini-ITX, mATX, ATX;
Drive bays: 2 x 2.5-/3.5-inch internal, 2 x 2.5-inch internal; Fans (included): 1 x 120mm rear; Fans (optional): 3 x 120mm/2 x 140mm front, 2 x
120mm/1 x 140mm top, 1 x 140mm rear; Ports: 2 x USB 3.0, audio I/O

CPU RANKING 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

CPU / June 2017 25

 MAINGEAR Omen X

ired of the same old tower chassis? obvious at a glance that MAINGEAR Omen X

T The Omen X is a refreshing take

on the gaming desktop with a cube-
shaped case that sits at a 45-degree
angle. Inside the cube, there are three
chambersone for the PSU, one for storage,
took the concept and ran with it. This
Omen X shows off MAINGEARs full
repertoire of boutique additions, including
custom liquid cooling, extreme overclocks,
and a glossy, Hellcat Red paint job.
$9,500 as tested
MAINGEAR
www.maingear.com

and one for primary system components

to separate some of the key heat-generating A Divine Omen configuring the Omen X, and when
parts and provide easy access to hardware. MAINGEAR lets you select either available, we also expect Intels upcoming
HP originally designed the chassis, but its Intels X99 or AMDs AM4 platform when X299 platform to be in the mix. Our test
system includes the Intel Core i7-6950X
and the ASUS X99-M WS. The Core i7-
6950X benefits from MAINGEARs
SUPERSTOCK liquid-cooling and
REDLINE overclocking upgrades, and the
A Hellcat Red builder pushes the 10-core CPU from its
finish serves as 3GHz stock clock to 4GHz.
the first clue to The cooling loop also includes two
the Omen Xs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics
high-octane cards with EKWB waterblocks and full cover,
performance. nickel-plated aluminum backplates. The
premium waterblocks allow MAINGEAR
to apply some hefty overclocks; GPU
core clocks move from 1,480MHz to
1,630MHz, while the Memory Clock is up

26 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

325MHz. MAINGEAR also employs MSIs
Afterburner utility to increase the GPUs
power limit by up to 120%, and under
load, the GPU core clocks were often as fast
as 2,025MHz. GPU-Z logs indicate that,
despite the tremendous speed boost, GPU
temperatures stayed under 60 degrees.

Portents Of Performance
Luxurious is the best way to describe
the cooling loop. MAINGEAR uses its
Crystal Hardline acrylic tubing with
white coolant running through the
loop. The white liquid is a nice contrast
to the mostly black interior. Incredibly,
MAINGEAR doesnt have a single MAINGEAR uses T-fittings and an EKWB dual terminal on the graphics cards to
bend in the hardline tubing, which create a parallel flow that equally distributes coolant among the components.
creates perfectly straight sight lines.
Instead of bending the hardline tubing,
MAINGEAR opts for a variety of curved
Bitspower fittings. The polished silver
fittings reflect the internal LED lighting
and mesh well with the shiny, full-cover
GPU backplates.
To optimally cool the overclocked CPU
and GPU, the MAINGEAR builder opts
for a parallel flow with T-fittings on the
processor and an EKWB dual terminal
on the graphics cards. This design allows
the coolant to be distributed equally
among the parts in the loop and drops
temperatures a few degrees Celsius
for each component, according the
MAINGEAR. By comparison, a serial flow
(where coolant moves directly from one
component to the next) would make it so
the bottom GeForce GTX 1080 Ti would
run warmer than the other components.
Starting from the EKWB pump/
reservoir combo unit, coolant runs to a
120mm radiator and over to a T-fitting
that splits the coolant to the CPU
and GPUs. Within the GPUs, liquid
flows in parallel through the EKWB
waterblocks and the dual terminal. Polished silver
We like that MAINGEAR uses a fittings and the
clear acrylic terminal, as it gives you full nickel-plated
another look at the coolant and the GPU covers
parallel lines visually match the inlet give the interior
and outlet on the CPU block. From a premium
the dual terminal, coolant moves up metallic shine.
to a T-fitting above the CPU block
and merges back to a single line,

CPU / June 2017 27

 X99-M WS, because the onboard M.2
slot can only access two PCIe 2.0 lanes
Benchmark Results Omen X
for 10Gbps data transfer. MAINGEAR
tells us that customers could switch to 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme
a different X99 motherboard, such as
Overall Score 23014
EVGAs X99 Micro 2, to maximize SSD
performance. Graphics Score 28047
Systems with extreme overclocks Physics Score 23895
make for enjoyable benchmarking, and
the Omen X produced some incredible PCMark 8

results. In 3DMarks Fire Strike Creative Score 6621

Extreme test, for example,
SiSoftware Sandra 2017
the 23,014 Score is one of
The Omen X features three chambers to optimize the highest weve ever seen, Dhrystone AVX2 (GIPS) 326.12
system cooling. and overall result is buoyed
Whetstone AVX (GFLOPS) 301.75
b y t h e 2 8 , 0 4 7 Gr a p h i c s
Score. The dual NVIDIA Multi-media Integer AVX2 x32
1000
(Mpixels/s)
which goes into a 240mm radiator and GeForce GTX 1080 Ti cards crushed
over to the pump/reservoir unit. our game tests, producing for example Multi-media Long-int AVX2
336
The handcrafted loop is worthy of a bonkers score of 157fps in Witcher x16 (Mpixels/s)

praise, and MAINGEAR gives the Omen 3 (Ultra settings and a resolution of Multi-media Quad-ALU x1
5.2
X an exterior to match with glossy, 2,560 x 1,440; we got 92fps at 4K). The (Mpixels/s)
Hellcat Red paint on all sides of the cube. rigs Cinebench 15 (a score of 2,104 Floating B/F AVX/128 (GBps,
MAINGEAR does all of its paintwork points) and POV-Ray 3.7 (4,195 pixels 53.2
mem bandwidth)
in-house, and you can pick from a per second) results show off what an
CrystalDiskMark 5.12 (MBps)
variety of Glasurit finishes (the brand overclocked Intel Core i7-6950X can
is known for its use in show cars), such accomplish. CrystalDiskMark numbers Sequential Read (Q32T1) 835.7
as Austin Yellow and Copper Orange. were the only disappointment, but Sequential Write (Q32T1) 752.5
You can also select a custom color. Our those numbers could be easily bumped
Omen X also includes an RGB LED up by a different motherboard. Random 4K Read (Q32T1) 573.5
light strip and a remote control, so you Random 4K Write (Q32T1) 481.5
can adjust illumination on a whim. The All Signs Point To . . .
POV-Ray 3.7 (Pixels/s) 4,195
MAINGEAR additions to the unique Boutique builds near $10,000
look of the Omen X make for a truly awe- should always impress with benchmark Cinebench 15 (Points) 2104
inspiring appearance. numbers, so its critical for any system
Games 2,560 x 1,440
in this price range to nail the aesthetics.
A Mix Of Good & Ill Omens The Omen X starts as a remarkable base, Metro: Last Light (Very High,
171fps
As you might guess, this $9,500 rig and MAINGEAR does wonders with 16xAF; SSAA off)

is packed with premium components. the internal liquid-cooling design and Dying Light (High, AO On, AA
228fps
Theres 32GB of HyperX FURY DDR4- external paint job. We did dock points On, Vsync Off)
2666, a Corsair AX1200i power supply, for the lack of optimization on the SSD, Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Vsync
157fps
a 4TB Seagate BarraCuda, and a 512GB but everything else about the build Off, Unl. FPS, Ultra)
Samsung 960 PRO. The latter serves as shows an extraordinary command of
Games 3,840 x 2,160
the OS drive, and although the drive is enthusiast parts.
a speed demon, you wont get the most Metro: Last Light (Very High,
103fps
16xAF; SSAA off)
out of it when paired with the ASUS BY NATHAN LAKE
Dying Light (High, AO On, AA
136fps
Specs: On, Vsync Off)

Processor: Intel Core i7-6950X @ 4.0GHz; Motherboard: ASUS X99-M WS; GPU: NVIDIA GeForce Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Vsync
92fps
Off, Unl. FPS, Ultra)
GTX 1080 Ti (x2 SLI); RAM: 32GB HyperX FURY DDR-2666; Storage: 512GB Samsung 960 PRO,
4TB Seagate BarraCuda; PSU: Corsair AX1200i; OS: Windows 10 Home 64-bit; Warranty: 1 year
with lifetime service labor and phone support

28 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 State-Of-The-Art
Standards
3D XPoint

echnology changes in memory and capacity) and Optane Memory (low- sizes, leading to fast and efficient read/write
T storage over the years have, more often
than not, taken the form of evolution rather
capacity M.2 SSDs that serve as system
cache) are the first products based on 3D
processes. Performance-wise, 3D XPoint
technology is more responsive than PCIe and
than revolution. DRAM, for example, is a XPoint technology. Admittedly, Intels initial SATA SSDs thanks to lower latency, but is
decades-old technology thats been through products arent exactly the groundbreaking slower than DDR4.
numerous architecture upgrades, all based devices many enthusiasts expected, but 3D Intel says that its Optane technology,
on CMOS transistors that store data by XPoint still has the potential to dramatically which is based on 3D XPoint memory,
modulating the charge in silicon transistors. change the PC landscape, especially for is particularly well-suited for random
On the storage side, NAND flash has been latency-sensitive applications. workloads at low queue depthswhere
around since 1989 and uses the same basic most real-world I/O happens. For instance,
cell program/erase mechanisms, even as read New Memory Cells Intel says its Optane Memory drives can
and write speeds have dramatically improved. 3D XPoint technology uses an improve load times and responsiveness
3D XPoint is a completely new type of innovative, transistorless cross-point with applications like Microsoft Outlook
non-volatile memory that could have a big architecture that creates a three-dimensional and Google Chrome, as well as in
impact on PCs, as the technology can serve checkerboard where memory cells sit videogames. The tangible benefits come
as both system memory and storage. Intel at the intersection of word lines and bit from Optanes excellent performance
and Micron are the big names behind 3D lines, allowing the cells to be addressed at mixed, random workloads. Current
XPoint, and Intels 375GB Optane SSD individually, says Jon Carter, vice president, PCIe and SATA SSDs, by contrast,
DC PX4800X (an enterprise-class SSD storage emerging memory at Micron. As a work best with sequential reads at high
that expands server memory and storage result, data can be written and read in small queue depths, and software optimization

30 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 switch cell states more rapidly than existing
nonvolatile memory technology.
The cross-point structure includes
perpendicular wires that connect to
submicroscopic columns, and 3D XPoint
addresses an individual cell by selecting its
top and bottom wire. The design allows for
densely packed memory cells. Density is
further improved by stacking the memory
layers. Carter tells us that, although details
arent yet announced on available capacities
with Microns QuantX brand, 3D XPoint
is up to 10 times denser than conventional
memory. Intel plans to release Optane
SSD DC PX4800X 1.5TB add-in cards
later this year.
The 375GB Optane SSD DC P4800X is an enterprise device that helps to scale memory capacity, As DRAM, 3D XPoint helps to address
while also serving as fast storage. gaps in memory capacity. Intel and Micron
are primarily looking to add DRAM
capabilities in the enterprise, because 3D
is often necessary to create high-queue- of NAND), says Apurva Agarwal, senior XPoint technology isnt faster than DDR4
depth workloads. manager, electronics and semiconductor, at and consumers dont typically max out
3D XPoint offers higher performance MarketsandMarkets. Instead of a transistor system memory. In the server space, however,
compared with NAND because its memory on each memory cell, theres a simple selector 3D XPoint technology employed as DRAM
element can be switched at a faster rate and mechanism that can send varying voltage would give data centers access to larger
also because it can change the state of single to read or write the data. Doing away with memory pools and help to deploy bigger
bits rather than having to erase a block of transistors increases capacity and reduces cost. data sets. While 3D XPoint may eventually
cells and then write again (as in the case Fast write algorithms also help 3D XPoint to become as ubiquitous as NAND and

3D XPoints cross-point structure is built with no transistors, allowing for denser memory and larger capacity. Layers can stack for additional density gains.

CPU / June 2017 31

 DRAM, we are focusing early applications
of the media for high-performance enterprise
environments, says Carter.
3D XPoint enterprise options are
currently available as storage-only solutions
with M.2 or PCIe technology. Agarwal says
We believe that as there is more progress,
3D XPoint will come to be used increasingly
in memory applications (NVDIMMs along
with DRAM) as we move to the memory
bus, but will require major changes in
OS and software development so that its
functionality can be fully utilized. Intels
Optane SSD DC P4800X, for instance,
is bundled with Intel Memory Drive
technology to quickly make the drive
available for memory subsystems.

A Unifier, Not A Conqueror

3D XPoint is not expected to replace
either DRAM or SSD completely, but rather
will be used along with them, depending Latency on 3D XPoint is measured in nanoseconds, rather than microseconds or milliseconds.
on the desired cost and performance
requirements, says Vaibhav Chaudhari,
senior research analyst, electronics and with 256GB of DDR4, and add the 375GB 3D XPoint fills the present bandwidth
semiconductor at MarketsandMarkets. Optane SSD DC PX4800X to more than gap between the speeds of DRAM memory
Intels Memory Drive technology, for double the storage pool at less cost than and NAND flash, says Carter. Using 3D
example, combines system DRAM and the using conventional enterprise DRAM. Intel XPoint memory on the DRAM bus will
Intel Optane SSD DC P4800X drive to Memory Drive technology also optimizes allow us to begin to bridge the latency gaps
emulate a single volatile memory pool. An performance by determining where data is that exist between traditional DRAM and
enterprise could, for example, take a server located in the memory pool. the fastest storage technologiesboth in a
latency/performance and a cost perspective.

Slow Down, Speed Racer

Initial performance estimates for 3D
XPoint in 2015 came with some bold
performance claims, with up to 1,000
times greater speed and 1,000 times
better endurance than NAND, as well
as 10 times the density of DRAM. Since
then, both Intel and Micron have revised
the performance claims, dropping from
incredible numbers to moderate speed
increases. Were told the previous speed
claims were based on performance at the cell
level, not of the actual SSD media.
Internal Intel benchmarks show that the
Optane SSD DC P4800X is up to eight
times faster in random read and write than
conventional SSDs. Intel rates its 375GB
Optane SSD DC P4800X for performance
Intels enterprise Optane SSD drives can significantly add to a servers memory pool. up to 500,000 IOPS (2GBps) at a queue
depth of 11. Speed is highly dependent on

32 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 game-changing performance for big data
applications and transactional workloads,
says Carter. Just some of the work in
progress, on Microns part, includes designing
end products, enabling controllers, and
selecting market partners.

Cost Benefits
In current computer architectures,
there is always a tradeoff between cost/bit,
data throughput, and the energy/bit, says
Chaudhari. The closer the memory is to
the CPU, the higher will be the cost/bit
and the speed. CPU cache, of course, is
the nearest form of memory with DRAM
behind it. PCIe NVMe SSDs bring more
memory capacity to the tableas well
as reasonable costbut latency is still a
problem when data cant be stored in cache
or DRAM. 3D XPoint technology can
Intels Optane Memory drives are designed to serve as high-speed system cache, storing your most function on the DRAM bus, which should
frequently accessed blocks of data for quicker response. enable servers to provide better performance
for many types of workloads.
At the Optane SSD DC P4800Xs
current price point ($1,520), the memory
costs over $4 per gigabyte, which is much
closer to DRAM than NAND in price,
says Chaudhari. However, the pricing
seems more reasonable if we compare it
to enterprise SSDs which cost over $1 per
gigabyte and the larger DDR4 DIMMs
which cost more than $10 per gigabyte.
Like any new product release, initial prices
are going to be high due to supply and
demand issues. As more 3D XPoint products
are made available, interest should increase
demand and lower prices.
We believe that 3D XPoint is still in its
initial phases and as such is being targeted
at the high-performance computing
market to shift the workloads out of the
earlier DRAM/SSD/HDD configuration
into the DRAM/3D XPoint combination
On the consumer side, Intel Optane Memory is only supported on 200-series chipsets. Most high-end to make the computation faster and more
Z270 motherboards, such as the AORUS GA-Z270X-Gaming 7, come with multiple M.2 slots. economical, says Chaudhari. The idea is
to make the cost per IOPs economical rather
than reduce the cost per bit. Increasing both
workload, among other factors, but even Micron has yet to release devices based capacity and cost efficiency should open new
half of the IOPS rate would be better than on its QuantX technology, but performance options for data centers. Intel provides this
the majority of consumer PCIe SSDs on the is expected to be top-notch. With up to example, high-performance computing
market. Intels 32GB Optane Memory is 1,000 times lower latency and exponentially centers can increase simulation sizes, improve
rated for random reads up to 240,000 IOPS greater endurance than component research and scientific results, and quickly test
and random writes of 65,000 IOPS. NAND, 3D XPoint technology can deliver new simulations.

CPU / June 2017 33

 In a server environment, 3D XPoints might also benefit consumers. Intels will likely see a boost with Optane Memory
persistent memory capability would be an Optane Memory, available in 32GB and as a cache, but testing with PCIe and SATA
ideal way to provide fast access to complex 16GB capacities, pairs with Rapid Storage SSDs will be necessary to see if Optane
data sets too large to hold in conventional Technology to serve as a cache device. Sound Memory provides enough response gains to
DRAM, such big data analytics, metadata familiar? You might have used Rapid Storage be worth it.
servers, and in-memory databases. Micron Technology for this purpose in the past. In Intel Optane Memory wont work on
currently offers DDR4 NVDIMMs for 2011, Intel introduced a 20GB Intel SSD just any platform. Requirements include
persistent memory, and 3D XPoint could 311 designed specifically for SSD cache, as one of Intels new Kaby Lake processors, a
provide new alternatives. Microns view well as Smart Response Technology to learn 200-series (Z270, Q270, H270, Q250, and
is that there will eventually be persistent what files you access the most often. B250) motherboard, a free Key M/B, M.2
memory solutions at a variety of performance Optane Memory is expected to func- slot, and a PC running Windows 10. Any
and cost points, providing a true hierarchy of tion in a similar manner, caching the such system would have to have been built
options based on what the system architect is most frequently accessed blocks of data to this year, further reducing the chance that an
trying to achieve, says Carter. accelerate system response. As you use the HDD would serve at the systems boot drive.
PC, the data within Optane Memory will On the flip side, Intel Optane might open up
XPoint Endurance change to reflect your usage pattern, so youll new options for OEMs designing affordable
Micron has revealed that its first 3D see a performance boost with the files and PCs, as they could retain some responsiveness
XPoint QuantX SSDs would feature 25 applications you use every day. Files you without sacrificing storage capacity.
writes per day of endurance over a 5-year dont access often, such as an application
period with the first generation of 3D you might run once a month, arent likely to Get To The XPoint
XPoint, says Agarwal. By comparison, reside in the cache. 3D XPoint is an intriguing technology
enterprise SSDs based on NAND provide up Intel plans to list the 16GB Optane that should make a splash in the data
to 10 writes per day of endurance. (Writes Memory module for $44, while the 32GB center, but that for now may not appeal
per day refers to how many times you can drive has an MSRP of $77. Current to the majority of enthusiasts, at least
overwrite a drives entire capacity in a day 256GB consumer SSDs retail at around the in its current form. If Intel, Micron, or
without device failure.) Agarwal adds that same price as the 32GB Optane Memory one of Microns partners release a larger-
Micron has noted that it is currently tuning drive, and 512GB SSDs cost the same as capacity drive that can work on both the
3D XPoint to be used as a storage device, the combination of a 2TB HDD and a DRAM and storage buses, or that you
which does not require as much endurance 32GB Optane Memory, says Chaudhari. can boot from, more exciting power-user
as it will when it is used as a memory device Consumers using an HDD as a boot drive applications will likely come into play.
(NVDIMMS on a RAM slot).
On Intels 375GB Optane SSD DC
P4800X, Team Blue rates the drive for 30
writes per day and up to 12.3 Petabytes
written. The endurance ratings allow
the Optane SSD DC P4800X to be
used on the DRAM bus and other high-
write environments. Intels consumer
Optane Memory devices, on the other
hand, have a lower endurance rating
with only 182.5TB of lifetime writes.
Agarwal says The endurance rating of
100GB per day, for both 16GB and
32GB models, amounts to three to six
drive writes per day, which is higher than
current consumer SSDs but is way lower
the game-changing endurance advantage
promised in earlier announcements.

XPoint Consumer Options

Enterprise environments appear to be the
most promising for 3D XPoint right now,
Data centers should be an excellent fit for 3D XPoint technology.
but the technologys low-latency capabilities

34 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

CPU / June 2017 35
 Mark XLVI
akotah Jack Bronk was a finalist in our mod contest The Mark XLVI suit is the 46th Iron Man armor, Bronk

D at PDXLAN 29 back in February, and his submission

to the contest was met with approval by the CPU staff;
his Iron Man-themed Mark XLVI mod is an excellent piece
explains. It bears a big resemblance to the Bleeding Edge
armor in the comics and is Starks latest and greatest suit.
With the design and the look, I thought it most fitting with
of work both technically and artistically. the simple and elegant look of the EVGA Hadron Air cases
Bronk says his dad introduced him to building computers design. Bronk won the Hadron Air at PDLXLAN in 2016
when he was a kid, and it clearly stuck. My dad always and was quickly inspired.
had spare parts around, and the ability to bring something Seeing just how small the case was, I knew I needed to
to life was always a thrill to me, he says. It wasnt until I mod it and push it to the limit, he says. I have always
met my good friends and fellow Nerd Rage Pro gaming clan been an Iron Man fan, even more so after they got Robert
members Jon PennyWise Hansz and Anthony Elmnator Downey Jr. to play the part. But I loved the idea of
Lackey that I was inspired to push past the boundaries of a something as powerful as the arc reactor being so compact.
normal build to see how custom I could make a computer. And thats where the idea came to me, I would build a
Speaking of PennyWise, Bronk says that because he has watercooled rig in a chassis that was built to only support
limited space for modding where he lives, he occasionally limited air cooling.
borrows some workshop space from Hansz. I just bribe Bronk was living in San Diego at the time and had to
him with food and he doesnt even realize I am there, travel to Portland for PDXLAN, sometimes by air. He
Bronk says. needed something smaller than his main PC to take with
him, and Mark XLVI was the result.
46 Bronk hadnt built a fully custom watercooling loop
In case youre unfamiliar with the chronology of Tony prior to this build, so he consulted with his NRP clan
Starks Iron Man armor suits, Mark XLVI was Starks current mates and watched lots of YouTube videos, particularly
suit in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as of Captain those posted by Singularity Computer. I would just spend
America: Civil War. It was the suit he wore in the movies hours watching their build logs, he says. I loved seeing
big Avengers intra-squad tussle at the airport, and it people take a standard-looking case and PC parts and turn
sustained heavy damage in Starks fight with Cap and Bucky them into art, and that ended up motivating me to do the
Barnes in the Siberian Hydra facility near the films end. same. I wanted to put my figurative stamp on the modding

36 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

community, and I felt like the Mark XLVI was the way to done in gold, as well, to allow the subtle color undertone
do that. that you see in Iron Mans suits.
Mark XLVI packs a lot of sweet, sweet PC power inside
In The Shop the aforementioned EVGA Hadron Air case, starting with an
Although he bought most of the parts himself, Bronk Intel Core i7-4790 mounted on an ASUS ROG MAXIMUS
says Thermaltake contributed the Riing RGB case fans. The VI IMPACT Mini-ITX board, 8GB of Crucial Ballistix
most unusual item involved in the project, though, was Tracer memory, an EVGA GeForce GTX 970, an EVGA
unsurprisingly the item he needed to pull off the arc reactor. 500W power supply, a Crucial M.2 256GB SSD, and two
The arc reactor housing is that of an aftermarket gauge Intel SSD 520 Series 480GB drives in RAID 0. Its cooling
housing that you would find in an auto hobby shop, Bronk system consists mostly of EKWB parts except the Riing fans,
says. I found that this most closely resembled Tony Starks including waterblocks, an EK pump and reservoir combo,
chest piece from the films. Then I took about 100 feet of and an EK radiator.
Cat 5e cable and stripped all the copper wire from it to wrap
around the top of the ring of the reactor. I printed the design 47?
for the arc reactors center on frosted acrylic and cut it into a Bronk tells us hes begun planning his next mod, but
disk, then needed to light it up. I first used a series of white it wont be another Iron Man joint: I am using a case I
LEDs that I ended up burning out when I connected it to purchased close to 10 years ago that Ive been sitting on to
the wrong power source. So I instead cut and ran a blue LED mod, he says. Its a Thermaltake Mozart TX. Im going to
strip on the inside of the metal tube below the disk and sealed fully dismantle it and rebuild the chassis from the ground up
the back with a piece of black acrylic to block the light from out of wood.
leaking through the back into the case. Bronk is considering using Spanish Teak or perhaps
Bronk also ordered some gold-plated bolts from Kawasaki something thicker and harder, and he wants to burn in some
for the front panel, sleeved the cables, build the cooling Lichtenberg figures (branching electrical discharges). Hell
loop, and painted everything himself. I did all the exterior be using about 15,000 volts to attempt this; we hope he
panels in Fire Engine Red except for the window panel, remembers to wear an antistatic wrist strap.
which I did in gold, he says. The inside of the chassis was All photos courtesy of Brad Hutchinson (@hutchinson15 on Twitter).

CPU / June 2017 37

 We Want Your Mod
Have a PC mod that will bring tears to our eyes? Email photos and a
description to [email protected]. If we choose your system
as our Mad Reader Mod, youll win $1,500!. (U.S. residents only, please.)

Drop Us A Line Today!

38 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 DreamHack Austin 2017
Texas Turns Out For Europes
Preeminent Digital Festival
eSports is riding a tasty wave of momentum these days. Plenty of evidence of this was on display in the Austin Convention Center in late April when
DreamHackthe Swedish-originating expo billed as the worlds largest digital festivalset up shop in Texas capital city for the second straight year.
For the amateur and pro eSports players and fans, BYOC LAN partiers, hardware enthusiasts, and others who attended, DreamHack Austin 2017
featured live music, cosplay contests, free gameplay zones, tournament action with more than $150,000 in prize money at stake, and much more.
In addition to stellar action in DreamHack Astro Open (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive), Hearthstone Grand Prix, Smash Championship, StarCraft II
World Championship Series, and Capcom Pro Tour tournaments, CPU took in scads of other sights deep in the heart of Texas.

DreamHacks BYOC LAN party area covered about a quarter Beyond money prizes in three competitive levels, DreamHack
of the convention center floor and featured nonstop gameplay featured a Cosplay Chess event and Cosplay Repair Station where
throughout the weekend. staff members helped apply first aid to costumes in need.

Nine international teams competed for

$100,000 in prize money in the DreamHack
Astro Open. Hundreds of loud, raucous fans
packed the area to watch the CS:GO action,
which the U.K.-based Gambit team won by
topping American team Immortals in Sunday
nights finals.

CPU / June 2017 39

 DreamHack
offered numerous
opportunities
to attendees
to experience
VR firsthand,
including at our
booth where
attendees like this
young man took
advantage of our
Oculus demo.

Among the PCs we ran across in DreamHacks BYOC LAN party area
was this fully functioning fish tank mod (complete with live GloFish)
This crew of DreamHackers were among three groups of winners we
that Cameron Watkins of CWE Cases spent months working on.
gave hardware prizes to from Patriot, Zalman, Enermax, and Rosewill.

GIGABYTEs sprawling
AORUSLAND booth was
packed with gaming PCs
that attendees used to
collect points redeemable
for sweet loot.

40 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 I Left My Heart In Sacramento
LANFest Sacramento Spring 2017
Beginning Friday, May 5 at 7 p.m. and running through Sunday, May 7 at 6 p.m., LANFest Sacramento took place at Intels
Campus F7 in Folsom, Calif., and CPU was there. Weve covered LANFest Sacramento many times in the past, and for good
reason. Not only is it one of the premier LANFest events twice every year that draws nearly 400 attendees and staff, but it also
is one of the best events on the LANFest schedule for providing lots of cool AFK activities and contests. We also really enjoy the
mod contests we judge there, due to a very strong community of builders and modders among the LANs regular attendees.

This time, as we have every time weve been there in the past, we judged a great mod contest, gave away some cool stuff,
and enjoyed the event thoroughly. If you are within travel distance of Sacramento and youre not going, you should probably
reevaluate that position; we think youll be glad you did.

Nearly 400 gamers of all ages gathered at the Intel Folsom campus Energy drinks are a staple of LAN gaming, and the various flavors of
for 47 hours of gaming goodness. Bawls drew a large, thirsty crowd.

Twitch was
in attendance
at the LAN
(left), as was
your favorite
computer
magazine (right).

CPU / June 2017 41

 Nothing says extreme
overclocking like liquid
nitrogen. And, as we
found out at LANFest
Sacramento, nothing
says extreme ice
Overwatch continues to be hugely popular at LAN events. cream treats like liquid
nitrogen, either.

Did someone order a pizza?

Mod Contest
As always at this event, there were a lot of great-looking builds as far as the eye could see. Some were really cool on the outside,
while others were immaculate on the inside, but in the end, the best-looking mod on the outside and the inside was also the one
that had the most consistent theme. Congrats to Joseph Anderson on getting a win with CHUM, his San Jose Sharks mod!

42 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 Modder Q&A: Kurt Schuff
From Rattle-can Camo To
Modding For The Stars
Kurt Nitemayr Schuff has won our Mad Reader Mod contest twice, and in fact was the first modder in the history
of the feature to appear twice in three monthsCircuits (built cooperatively with Matt Baker) made the cover of our
July 2016 issue, and his Diablo III tribute mod, Sanctuary, graced the cover of September 2016. Schuff originally built
Circuits for NVIDIAs Modding for Charity 2016 event, a benefit for the Phil Scholz Foundation. Schuff is a longtime
PDXLAN attendee and one of the guys behind Those Light Signs (thoselightsigns.com), which makes wood and acrylic
signs for LAN attendees with their gamer handles on them. He also recently contributed to a custom build for
actor Terry Crews.

Q : So, whats with all the Thermal-

take Core P5 mods?

: [Laughs] Just alignment of

KS the stars, really. When we were
planning for the Circuits charity build, we
thought it would be a fun case to build in.
We reached out to Shannon Robb, who
worked at Thermaltake at the time, and
he sent us one to build in. Shortly after
that, Sanctuary was built as part of the
Thermaltake Mod competition and the
Core P5 was the featured case for that
season (everyone had to base their build on
the P5). Its a fun case to work in though,
and has a lot of potential while being a
little different than your normal box.

Q : You told us before that youve been

modding PCs since 1999. How did
you get into modding in the first place,
and what was the first mod you did?

: As a child of the 90s, I must

KS admit my first mod was a
rattle-canned camouflage paint job on
the computer I built for college. Beige Schuff in the shop, hard at work on his Mad Reader Mod-winning Circuits mod.
was still 90% of the color scheme, but
who hadnt seen Hackers? A year or two
later, I was putting prototype waterblocks an actual, full, thought-out mod would scene is so crazy up there; was the LAN a
from Danger Den in my rigs, and then probably be the Lego construction site/ factor in your modding career?
breaking in a buddys Dremel in the crane build I did back in 2009.
: The LAN was a huge factor.
kitchen of his college apartment to cut
custom-shaped Invader Zim windows in
a case. The first build that Id consider Q : We obviously talk to a lot of guys
from PDXLAN because the modding
KS Having the Danger Den guys
pushing me to try this or that was fun,

CPU / June 2017 43

 want etched, designing the sign shapes,
and even drawing custom signs. My
dad, Scott, does the woodworking
and assembly of the circuits into the
block, as well as operating the laser and
CNC. Hes been woodworking as long
as I can remember, and loves getting
requests for custom wood blocks. Lastly,
my brother Kory is our wildcard, fill-
in-the-blanks guy. He helps in the
shop, on the business side, with email
correspondence; pretty much anywhere
t h a t n e e d s a t t e n t i o n . I c o u l d nt
imagine doing it without them, and
love having the opportunity to work
with my family.

Q : Whats the farthest distance youve

had to ship one of your signs?

: We did a batch of signs for

KS Thermaltake that they use at booths
and shows around the world. The furthest
Schuffs favorite project to date is his first full-blown mod project, a Lego construction crane (left).
Schuffs XCOM: Enemy Unknown tribute mod (top right) lights up PDXLAN, and the modder inspects his weve personally shipped a sign is Sweden.
work on a tempered-glass side panel he etched for a JayzTwoCents project for Terry Crews.

and after going to my first PDXLAN : Fittingly, it started with a mod.

Q : Your site provides lots of custom-
ization options; whats the most

in 2005 I saw just how intense mods

could be. I havent missed a PDXLAN
KS When I was doing the Lego
construction one, I had a vision of a
expensive sign Those Light Signs has ever
made?

since, and its an incredible venue to moving controllable crane. One thing : We really enjoy doing cus-
watch the modding trends come and go.
Matt Conwell has cultivated something
led to another, and by the time I was
done I had a basic understanding of
KS tomized stuff. As for most
expensive, we once did a standard-sized
amazing there, maybe he puts something circuits, some simple microcontroller sign in a block made of solid Ebony
in the Monster bucket. work, and electronics (particularly wood. What an amazingly black wood
LEDs). About the same time, I got a it was, but it was incredibly expensive to
message from my dad saying he and source. Weve also done a couple really
Q : What modders would you say have
had the biggest influence on your
work?
Dennis had thought itd be cool to have
their names lit up on their cases at the
large signs, including a three-foot sign at
PDXLAN in February.
LAN, and they wanted the LEDs to
: Definitely all the guys Ive met be animated. We whipped up a couple
KS at PDXLAN. That place is a crazy
confluence of talent: Jon Hansz, Brian
prototypes, took them to the LAN, and
had a ton of people ask about them. So
Q : Do you play in tournaments at
PDXLAN, and if so, whats your game?

Carter, Rod Rosenberg, Bob Stewart, we figured wed throw up a quick order : I have the reaction time of a
Richard Surroz, and Dennis Leach, just to
name a few that I can think of.
form and if we sold a couple to some
friends at the LAN wed cover the costs
KS drunk octogenarian, so I typically
only do tournaments if dragged into it
of materials and such. I guess people by my buddies. I will play just about
liked them, because now we have a laser anything, but not well. [Smiles] The last
Q : Tell us the story of Those Light
Signs! You do all the circuit and
design work, right? Who does the
in the shop!
I do all the circuit work, from
tourney we played in at PDXLAN was
Overwatch.
woodwork, is anyone else involved in design to programming to assembly. I
also do all of the graphic design work,
the company, and when did you decide
to make it a thing? including cleaning up images people Q : How do you do in the PDXLAN
tourneys?

44 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 : Not well, but we have fun.
KS PDXLAN is great because they
tend to add a random team win at the
end, so even if youre knocked out in
the first round you still have a small
chance at winning something fun. The
last tournament we actually won was
a Battlefield 1942 retro tournament a
couple years ago.

Q : Are you working on a mod now,

and if so, can you tell us about it?

: My last couple projects could

KS be dubbed mod suppor t.
Most of them have been doing a piece
or two for other mods, including the
glass etching on the Old Spice build
for Terry Crews. I do hope to get
another mod for myself in this year,
though. After hauling Sanctuary to Circuits, Schuffs first Mad Reader Mod winner, built in cooperation with Matt Baker.
a few LANs, Im looking forward
to something a little more compact
and lightweight for taking from
place to place.

Q : Whats your favorite among all the

mods youve done, and why?

: Thats probably the hardest

KS question youve asked. Its like
choosing your favorite kid. Id probably
have to go with the Lego construction
crane because the elements that
went into it served as a launch point
for subsequent projects. The moving
crane and LEDs led to electronics and
lighting. It was the first time Id sleeved
any cables. It was the mod that showed
me the importance of having all the
little details tying everything together
(like having a Lego welders torch be the
HDD activity LED). You cant beat the
number of smiles Ive seen from that Sanctuary, the September 2016 Mad Reader Mod.
build at events, either.

Cable sleeving. Root Beer Bawls.

Q : Its time for Five Quick Questions!

1) Core i7 or Ryzen 7? 3) Diablo II or Diablo III? 5) Aaron Rodgers or Brett Favre?

Core i7. Diablo III. Aaron Rodgers, number 12! If he ever

needed a case mod done, Id totally be the
2) Pre-paint sanding or cable sleeving? 4) Bawls or Brawndo? guy for that.

CPU / June 2017 45

 ENERMAX NEOChanger
A Trio Of Reservoirs Light Up The Enthusiast Scene
he days of PC component manu-

T facturers specializing in a single type

of product are all but over. These
companies are an endangered species,
bordering on extinction. Diversify or
die feels like an unspoken mantra, as
enthusiast hardware makers expand their
offerings in the hope of capturing power
users attention.
ENERMAX understands this quite
well and has the portfolio to prove it.
Established in 1990 to compete in the
power supply and PC case markets,
ENERMAX has evolved over the years
and as a result gradually added to their
fleet of hardware. PSUs and cases are
still arguably the companys bread and
butter, but the company has established
quite a presence in the PC cooling
business, too.
Veterans know that ENERMAX
produces coolers for just about every
occasion. It maintains a gigantic stable
of case fans and also has a fair number
of CPU coolers in its arsenal. Further,
ENERMAX has invested considerable
resources into R&D, resulting in a slew
of patented technologies, such as Pressure
Differential Flow, Vortex Generation Flow,
and Shunt-Channel-Technology, to name a Meet the familyENERMAXs NEOChanger family of LED-lit reservoirs. Prior to the NEOChanger,
few. Although ENERMAX has introduced ENERMAXs liquid-cooling options consisted of closed-loop CPU coolers, so the NEOChanger represents
many air coolers and closed-loop liquid a big, bright step into custom liquid cooling.
coolers, the company hadnt ventured
into the realm of custom liquid cooling
waterblocks, radiators, pumps, and so forth. your coolant to match the rest of your Ph.D., ENERMAX global head of sales
Until now. systems components. Its proof that and marketing.
ENERMAX is kicking off the summer ENERMAX got the Diversify or die Rather than force power users to fit
with a cool new option for power users memo and took the advice to heart. their case around a single reservoir size
interested in giving their custom loops In order to satisfy the growing (or abandon the NEOChanger entirely),
a little more flash: the NEOChanger demand for gaming, RGB [LED ENERMAX tops the units pump with
reservoir and pump kits. What appears lighting], and DIY computer hardware, one of three reservoirs. The cylinders
to be a garden-variety pump and reservoir ENERMAX has been investing resources themselves have capacities of 200ml,
unit hides a bright, brilliant surprise. in our R&D and developing unique 300ml, and 400ml, resulting in an overall
With an integrated ring of customizable products for users to add more personality height of 7.69 inches, 9.66 inches, and
LEDs, the NEOChanger can illuminate to their system build, says Kevin Tseng, 11.63 inches, respectively. ENERMAX

46 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

also includes mounting brackets that let to the custom watercooling scene, the muscle. Topping out at 4,000rpm (its
you install the NEOChanger horizontally, NEOChanger needed world-class RGB overall speed range is 1,500 to 4,00rpm,
which opens up possibilities for PC cases lighting capable of synchronizing with 10%), the pump produces a maximum
that dont have enough room to install the RGB motherboards to present exclusive hydraulic head of 5.2m and a flow rate
NEOChanger end to end. The brackets lighting effects. ENERMAX also wanted of 900L/h, giving it the ability to keep
also give case modders more freedom to the pump to be the star of the show (even coolant surging through loops that have
use the NEOChanger as a visual focal if the NEOChangers LED lighting was several waterblocks and a sizable radiator.
point in their creations. the flashier performer). ENERMAX gives enthusiasts plenty of
ENERMAX used high-quality mate- control over the pumps performance. The
Prime Pump rialsnotably, a ceramic nano PI (polyimide) patented Digital Pump Speed Meter instantly
While were on the subject of mantras, bearingto lay a solid foundation for the shows the pumps current operating speed.
ENERMAXs happens to be Power. NEOChanger. This type of bearing can If you decide that the pump needs more (or
Innovation. Design. As it turns out, withstand more punishment than other less) gas, grab the included 3-in-1 remote and
that happens to sum up the companys polymers, including PEEK (polyether play around with the pumps RPM until you
approach to creating the NEOChanger. ether ketone), PPS (polyphenylene sulfide), find your ideal speed.
For the NEOChanger, cooling PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), and PPO We noticed that the pumps installed in
performance was always the main (polyphenylene oxide). According to Tseng, most [systems] make it difficult to adjust
focus, Tseng says. Thats why we had the ceramic nano PI bearing is built for long- the pump speed once the system is built,
to fine-tune the pump and make sure term use at up to 482 degrees Fahrenheit, Tseng says. ENERMAXs Digital Pump
its performance is top of its class. Apart which is up to 122 F higher than the other Speed Meter allows users to monitor and
from performance, we wanted to bring materials. He also cites PIs high durability, instantly adjust the pump speed anytime.
some innovative design that was inspired high fracture toughness, and exceptional The NEOChanger can change
by our customers. stability. As a result of the bearings the pumps speed at steps of 150rpm,
Tseng adds that ENERMAX had durability, ENERMAX rates the pumps which should help users strike a balance
a pair of specific goals that guided its MTBF at 100,000 hours. between cooling performance and noise
engineers through the design phase. First, With a tough-as-nails bearing, the output. Further, the remote has six pre-
in order to turn heads as a newcomer NEOChangers pump has plenty of programmed speeds (1,500/2,000/2,500/

Weve seen a few mods that stand out by rotating their reservoir to run horizontally, something you can do with ENERMAXs NEOChanger, but theres a practial
consideration, as well. For builds that lack the clearance to install the NEOChanger vertically, the horizontal mounting brackets offer a potential workaround.

CPU / June 2017 47

 3,000/3,500/4,000rpm) if setting the speed
yourself sounds exhausting.
Already showing a keen understanding
of the custom liquid-cooling crowd,
ENERMAX includes a 24-pin PSU jumper
that lets you connect the NEOChanger to a
PSU and fire it up without powering on the
system itself. When filling and leak-testing
a loop during initial setup, you ideally want
to have your other system components
remain off, and the PSU jumper isolates
the NEOChanger and lets it safely circulate
coolant through the loop.

Bright Idea
Perhaps youve noticed a trend among
power user PC parts over the last year
or two. LED lighting has officially taken
over. Gaming peripherals have long used
LEDs for extra visual flair, and other
hardware manufacturers have caught on.
Graphics cards, motherboards, DRAM With seemingly every component manufacturer jumping on the LED bandwagon, the NEOChangers
modulesyoull find products with LEDs ability to connect to a motherboards 4-pin RGB header expands the reservoirs potential and makes it
in almost every essential component easy to integrate into existing builds that make use of ample LED lighting.
category if you look long enough.
Clearly, ENERMAX wanted in, a
big reason why LEDs are central to the In order to present the right aesthet- NEOChanger represents the first of future
NEOChangers identity. A ring of LEDs ic . . . making the LED lighting consis- offerings. Plans exist to launch ColorGenie,
sits at the base of the reservoir, and like tent . . . became a critical issue we encountered an RGB LED hub with eight LED headers,
the units pump, users have lots of control during the design process, he says. later this year. And keep your eyes peeled
over how those LEDs shine. The same for other custom liquid-cooling hardware,
3-in-1 remote control that commands Only The Beginning including radiators, waterblocks, tubing, and
the NEOChangers pump also lets users Tseng says that ENERMAX isnt merely more, as ENERMAX continues giving power
decide exactly how they want their LEDs flirting with custom liquid-cooling, as the users what they want.
to shine. In addition punching in a light
color, the remote also has buttons that SEND IN THE RESERVOIRS
give you control over the LEDs brightness
Enermax NEOChanger Specs ELC-NC100RGB ELC-NC150RGB ELC-NC200RGB
and speed, plus two pre-programmed
lighting effects (Flash and Sparkle). For the Dimensions (HxWxD, inches) 7.69 x 3.67 x 3.7 9.66 x 3.67 x 3.7 11.63 x 3.67 x 3.7
times you need to make a visual statement
Capacity 200ml 300ml 400ml
quickly, the NEOChangers remote control
puts a lot of options at your fingertips. Materials PPS (polyphenylene sulfide), aluminum, acrylic
With more time, and the right Pump bearing Ceramic nano PI (polyimide) bearing
motherboard, the NEOChanger can
show off additional talents. Compatible Pump MTBF 100,000 hours

with 4-pin RGB headers that have been Maximum head delivery 5.2m
popping up on enthusiast motherboards,
Maximum flow rate 900L/h
the NEOChanger slides into an existing
RGB LED scheme and lets you sync it Pump speed 1,500 to 4,000rpm (10%)
with the systems other connected LEDs. Input voltage, power connector 12V, SATA
According to Tseng, the NEOChanger
is compatible with motherboards from Screw thread G1/4

ASUS, ASRock, GIGABYTE, and MSI.

48 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 The Benchmarks Of CPU
Straight Talk About Our Tough Tests
ot everyone remembers the first how that great school or work car turns a particular card makes the game playable,
N car that they test drove, but we all
remember the first car we were glad we
into a convulsing death trap at 45mph
or faster. A test drive can stop you from
but figuring out how playable your
Prey experience will be with that card
test drove. You know the car were talking making a very expensive mistake. is another matter. Will the game run at
about, because youve driven it, too. Test drives like this arent really a an average of 60fps or better with the
Maybe you found it on Craigslist instead possibility power users. Granted, a new new graphics card? How about at 2,560
of your local newspapers classified ads, graphics card isnt quite the same thing x 1,440, or at 4K? Do you have to pick
but youve driven it all the same. as a 4x4 Dodge Dakota that became a and choose which quality settings to
Of course, were talking about lemons, 4x2 after 130,000 miles, but there are enable? None of these questions are easy
and of course not the kind used to make still plenty of good reasons youd want to answer without buying the graphics
lemonade. Only after the test drive do to try a component before you bought card and finding out, and if you spend
you find out that the too-good-to-be-true it. For example, if you decide you need $400 on that card only to find out its not
convertibles soft top retracts about halfway a new graphics card to play Prey, you quite enough, theres no option to buy an
before giving up. A test drive will reveal might be able to easily determine whether extra $100 worth of graphics card.

Want to turn up the heat on your graphics card? This hot-headed warrior is more than happy to lend a pair of helping hands (and swords). Futuremarks
3DMark synthetic benchmark has been punishing GPUs for almost two decades, and the company regularly develops new benchmarks to keep up with
advancements in GPUs, new DirectX releases, and rendering techniques.

50 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 Allow us to introduce ourselves. Were Despite rendering images, POV-Ray it starts chugging through Aixsponzas
Computer Power User, and we really love doesnt strain the GPU much; these aint No Keyframes 3D image, but like
to test. Sure, were as curious as you about polygons were trying to push. According POV-Ray, Cinebenchs CPU test (a
a boutique PCs ability to run Crysis, as it to POV-Rays website, rather than using separate OpenGL test can put a graphics
were, but our curiosity doubles as the test scanline rendering, raytracing requires card through the wringer) only challenges
drive you, and most other power users, intense floating number calculations, your processor. No Keyframes consists
arent able to take. Depending on the which hammers a processors FPU of 2,000 objects made up of 300,000
component, the hardware we receive goes (floating-point unit). The website adds polygons. According to Maxon, there are
through an obstacle course that could be that a processors CPU and FPU speeds sharp and blurred reflections, area lights,
as simple as a few hurdles or as grueling are the two most important factors in shadows, procedural shaders, antialiasing,
as American Ninja Warriors Mount terms of performance, followed by the and much more.
Midoriyama. We report the results, and processors cache size. POV-Ray and Cinebench R15 are
you get a better idea of how well (or POV-Rays benchmark dispenses with both what we could call quasi-synthetic
poorly) the hardware performs. showing you the scene it renders (but if benchmarks. When we run them,
Normally, we put PC parts under youre curious, you can find it at www were not actually using them the way
the microscope, but this month were .povray.org/i/benchmark.png) and instead we would in the real world, but both
examining the benchmarks themselves. simply presents you with how fast, in benchmarks simulate a workload that the
Unless specified otherwise, bigger num- pixels per second, your processor chews real-world programs could be expected to
bers equal better performance; if youre through the necessary calculations. Like perform. In other words, the results you
in a hurry, that at-a-glance info might be all good CPU benchmarks, POV-Ray receive from POV-Ray and Cinebench
all you need. For scholarly types, knowing has single- and multi-threaded tests, so measure how well a CPU would actually
the ins and outs of each test can help you can easily measure the performance perform, relative to another CPU, in
you understand how that test taxes a difference between a dual-core and quad- POV-Ray and Cinema 4D.
particular component. core processor, for example. The last of our benchmarks we use to
The meet and greet is about to begin. Maxon Cinebench R15 is another assess a CPU is SiSoftwares SANDRA
Find your name tag, grab a beverage, benchmark built to punish your CPU. (System Analyzer, Diagnostic and Reporting
and prepare to learn a little about our Its based on the companys Cinema 4D Assistant). As its name suggests, SANDRA
Murderers Row of benchmarks. software, which cooked some of the VFX is jam-packed with features and a bunch
in Iron Man 3, Life of Pi, and The of additional benchmarks, but we use
CPU Slayers Martian, to name a few. When you it primarily as another metric to compare
Despite advances in GPGPU (general- unleash Cinebench on your processor, CPU performance. We start by measuring a
purpose computing on graphics processing
units) technology, a systems CPU still
does a lot of everyday work. Typically, the
most back-breaking jobs you can give a
CPU are things like video encoding, code
compiling, certain types of rendering
(such as ray tracing, which well cover),
etc. Some videogames lean heavily on
your PCs processor and can thus be CPU-
limited, capping your frame rate despite
the graphics card you have installed.
Although the CPU theoretically influ-
ences the final score of all our tests, we
use trio of benchmarks to isolate its
performance as much as possible. Since
weve already mentioned ray tracing,
well lead off with POV-Ray 3.7. Short
for Persistence of Vision Ray Tracer,
POV-Ray has existed in one form or Maxon created Cinebench to give its users a better idea of how their systems will handle the companys
another for over 30 years. And over those Cinema 4D rendering software, but its nonetheless a terrific way to benchmark your CPU. (Cinebench
years, its users have created a number has a separate GPU benchmark we dont include in our testing process.)
of stunning images ( hof.povray.org ).

CPU / June 2017 51

 Unigine Heaven takes the sky in an attempt to take down your graphics card. It supports DirectX 9, Direct X 11, and OpenGL 4.0. Recently, Unigine introduced
a brand-new GPU benchmark, Superposition, so Heavens zeppelin may soon be making a permanent departing flight.

processors arithmetic acumen in SANDRAs system. When budgeting for an upgrade some of the demands Fire Strike puts
Dhrystone (integer) and Whetstone or a new build, you tend to invest in a on a graphics card. After that, two
(floating-point) tests, small benchmarks shiny new GPU, even it means spending subtests (simply named Graphics test 1
that should run within a CPUs cache to less on other hardware. Factor in the and Graphics test 2) each test a GPU
stress the CPU itself. SANDRA also uses a price of a flagship graphics card, and you differently. According to Futuremark,
processors most advanced instruction sets really cant afford to make a bad decision. Graphics test 1 focuses on geometry
when possible, such as SSE4.x and AVX2. Our GPU benchmarks should make that and illumination, while Graphics test 2
We also target CPUs specifically with decision a little easier. turns its attention to particles and GPU
several of SANDRAs Processor Multi- When we pit our lineup against simulations. A sample frame from Fire
Media tests. These are also a mix of integer a graphics card, 3DMark is the leadoff Strike Ultras Graphics test 1 makes a
and floating-point operations, and there hitter. With few exceptions, we turn graphics card process 3.7 million verticies,
are slight variations in how each Multi- to 3DMarks Fire Strike (a DirectX 11 650,000 tessellation patches, 12.4 million
Media test works the CPU. For example, benchmark) test to challenge a GPU; triangles, 330 million pixels, and 3.4
the Native Integer Multi-Media test is a Fire Strike Extreme is usually our starting million compute shader invocations.
vectorized AVX2 integer test, while the point, but particularly powerful graphics Futuremark maintains a very detailed
Native Quad-Int test uses long integers cards will also receive the Fire Strike technical guide (bit.ly/2qgJUYM) that digs
to emulate Int128 without SIMD. All Ultra treatment. The biggest difference into all of Fire Strikes nitty gritty; we
of the Multi-Media tests we use output between Extreme and Ultra is resolution. recommend checking it out for an even
megapixels per second, and higher is better. The former tests at 1440p, while the better understanding of both Fire Strike
We use Futuremarks 3DMark primarily latter ramps screen resolution up to 4K. and 3DMark.
for graphics cards, but one of its subtests is (Futuremark notes that you dont need Joining 3DMark in our GPU bench-
useful for comparing CPU performance. to use a 4K monitor to run Fire Strike marking suite is another synthetic, Unigine
3DMarks Physics test tends to scale with Ultra.) Quality settings are unchanged Heaven. And like 3DMark, Heaven is a
CPU performance and is a way to reveal between these two variations, but your lot of fun to watch, as the camera zips
subtle differences between processors in a graphics card will need at least 3GB of through a picturesque village in the sky
gaming workload. The rest of 3DMark? VRAM to have a prayer against Fire while the benchmark itself tortures your
Leave that to the graphics card(s). Strike Ultra. graphics card in the background. Built
Fire Strikes primary test gives graphics on the UNIGINE 1 Engine, it supports
3D Beatdown cards a number of effects to chew on. DX9, DX11, and OpenGL 4.0 and will
If youre a serious PC gamer, your High tessellation, volume and particle also keep an eye on your graphics cards
graphics card is the heart and soul of your illumination, and ambient occlusion are temperature and clocks. Other weapons

52 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

in Heavens arsenal, according to Unigine, Over time, two metrics tend to measure
include, comprehensive use of adaptive a solid-state drives performance. The huge,
hardware tessellation, dynamic sky with impressive-looking number you often
volumetric clouds and tweakable day-night see splashed across product packaging
cycle, and real-time global illumination and websites is an SSDs sequential
and screen-space ambient occlusion. performance, how fast the drive transfers
Fire Strike and Heaven are still for- big blocks of data. Sequential performance
midable opponents, but at the time of matters, true, but how a drive deals with
this writing, were evaluating how well small amounts (4KB) of random data is a
use them in the future. Since their release, better measure of its true potential.
Futuremark and Unigine have since CrystalDiskMark and AS-SSD test
updated their fleet with new benchmarks. random and sequential data, and both
3DMark has added Time Spy, which benchmarks test at higher queue depths.
Theres no question that solid-state drives
features a DX12 engine. Unigine recently Pictured on this page, for example,
are faster than hard drives, but comparing
released Superposition, which uses the CrystalDiskMark runs its sequential and
one SSD to another really requires a
new UNIGINE 2 engine and is capable of random read/write tests at queue depths of
benchmark, such as CrystalDiskMark.
walloping a graphics card at 8K resolution. 1 and 32. SSD controllers are built to work
As Time Spy and Superposition are built at high queue depths, and our benchmarks
for the future, we expect to add them to performance in certain situations? reflect that, with eye-popping throughput,
our test routine. Dying Light is one of those games. but few consumers, even power users are
Of course, as visually stunning as Fire Although none of todays high-end able to saturate their drives controllers with
Strike and Heaven are, you cant actually GPUs have difficulty handling Dying that kind of workload. When you need an
play them. In order to assess a graphics Light, when a massive herd of zombies accurate representation of a drives worst-case
cards real-world performance, we put it sends the games AI into overdrive, it scenario, let the QD1 results be your guide.
up against a series videogames and report can influence performance.
its average frame rate. Some games include Witcher 3 is a tremendous game to Temperature Torture
a built-in benchmarking tool, which is play, and its also tremendous game to As power users and overclockers, PC
not only as easy as running a synthetic test graphics cards. Its an all-around cooling matters a great deal, so we test a
benchmark but also ideal for getting demanding game, as only a very small lot of CPU coolers. The coolers we review
consistent results. Games that lack an tool number of GPUs can average 60fps at 4K must face a pair of benchmarks. POV-Ray
arent much tougher to use as benchmarks, while stomping through the countryside returns as a coolers first opponent, but the
but were in charge of making our tests as with Geralt. real challenge is Prime95s Small FFTs test.
reproducible as possible. In this situation, Shadow of Mordor takes after Witcher 3. Like POV-Ray, its designed to put a CPU
we use a game save and try to play the Its another open-world fantasy action RPG, under enormous strain, which in turn send
same part of the game every time we and its another game thats notoriously the processors temperature skyward. The
perform a test run. FRAPS records our tough on graphics cards. Shadow of Mordor cooler were testing only pulls its weight if it
average frame rate for each run, and we also has a built-in benchmark. can pull down the CPUs core temps.
average those averages to arrival at a final After letting the processor idle, we
score. Currently, our squad of videogames SSD Firing Squad run POV-Ray and Prime95 separately
includes the following titles: Metro: Last Few components have disrupted the for 10 minutes each. We use HWiNFO
Light, Dying Light, Witcher 3: Wild industry quite as much as solid-state to record temperature for every core and
Hunt, and Shadow of Mordor. drives have. Once upon a time, SSDs then export the temperature data to a
Metro games have been ruthlessly were a luxury buy that few could afford. CSV file. At that point well average the
tormenting graphics cards ever since Now, blazing-fast PCIe SSDs are within temperatures for our final results.
Metro: 2033 arrived in 2010. Last Light reach to the majority of power users. As
was one of the first games to make use of far as all-around system performance is This Is Only A Test
tesselation. Last Light recently celebrated concerned, few components have the Benchmarking, overclocking, swapping
its fourth birthdayan age that usually impact of a brand-new SSD. components, and benchmarking some more
signals retirement for videogamesbut We test our SSDs with a pair of bench- is one of the best parts of being a power
it still presents tough challenge to any mark, CrystalDiskMark and AS-SSD. user. Its also one of the best parts of our
graphics card we put in its path. Because these tests present similar workloads, job, because determining a components
Remember when we mentioned that some well consider them together as we explain performance helps you determine what
games had a CPU bottleneck that impacted how they go about their business. parts to put in your next build.

CPU / June 2017 53

 BUYERS GUIDE

Unclog Your Home Network

Better Bandwidth For Everyone

A recent report from IDC found that the average home now has eight or more devices connected to the Internet.
And because many networked devices are wireless, theres an enormous demand for Wi-Fi bandwidth. The
report also found that 84% of users stream multimedia content or play games onlinebandwidth-heavy
activities that can tax older wireless routers and degrade speed for everyone connected to the network. Modern
wireless routers and whole-home systems feature multiple wireless bands, as well as signal-optimizing
technology, so each device in the network will enjoy the best possible connection.

802.11ac
Wireless routers based on the 802.11ac standard deliver much faster throughput than 802.11n models.
Theoretical throughput from a single 802.11ac band, for example, often tops 1,300Mbps with some high-end
models supporting up to 2,167Mbps. The 802.11ac signal operates over the 5GHz spectrum, which features
less congestion than the 2.4GHz frequency of 802.11n. For compatibility with older 802.11n devices, 802.11ac
routers typically feature a dual-band design with a high-speed 802.11ac band and a slower 802.11n band.
There are also tri-band wireless routers with a single 802.11n band and two 802.11ac bands, so you can split
traffic and balance the available bandwidth among multiple wireless devices.

MU-MIMO & Beamforming

As more and more wireless signals continue crowding the home network, interference becomes a real concern.
MU-MIMO and beamforming are two technologies that help to optimize signal transmission. Beamforming
allows a wireless router to steer signals to the intended device, instead of broadcasting transmissions equally in
all directions. MU-MIMO (multi-user, multiple-input multiple-output) splits network data into separate streams,
which can be simultaneously transmitted to multiple devices. Without MU-MIMO, devices accessing your
wireless network have to take turns, one at a time, to send and receive data packets.

Whole Home Systems

Even with advanced signal routing and high-power antennas, a single router might not be able to reliably
cover an entire household. Whole-home systems create a mesh Wi-Fi network, much like a cellular network,
with multiple access points that function in a daisy-chain to cover your entire house. And unlike a router and
wireless repeater setup, theres no need to toggle between networks or connect to a different SSID. Instead,
your wireless device automatically roams and connects to the strongest signal.

Build Your Next Generation Network

We know that no house or budget is the same, so weve included a variety of wireless routers and whole-home
systems in this guide. The following pages detail the key features of each product.

54 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

WIRELESS ROUTERS BUYERS GUIDE

D-Link DIR-879
$119.99
us.dlink.com

Why Youll Dig It: Modestly priced at $119.99, the AC1900 EXO Wi-Fi Router (model number DIR-879) includes many of the high-end, bandwidth
optimizing features of D-Links more expensive wireless routers. For example, it includes both D-Links Advanced AC SmartBeam and Smart Connect.
The latter lets the router automatically direct your devices to the clearest band, either the 802.11ac or 802.11n, for the best possible connection.
Advanced AC SmartBeam is D-Links beamforming technology that helps concentrate the transmission of wireless signals to the intended device,
rather than just pushing the signal out in multiple directions. For excellent coverage, the AC1900 EXO Wi-Fi Router features a high power amplifier (up
to 1000mw) and large, wide antenna. We also like D-Links new user interface that makes it easy to create guest networks and block devices. The
orange-and-black exterior is attractive enough that you wont be forced to hide the router.

Who Should Apply: Power users in need of

an affordable, yet long range, wireless router to
eliminate Wi-Fi dead spots.

Network Standards: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac

Maximum Theoretical Bandwidth (AC/N): 1900Mbps
(1300Mbps/600Mbps)
Supports MU-MIMO/Beamforming: No/Yes

WIRELESS ROUTER BUYERS GUIDE

Amped Wireless ALLY Plus

$299.99
www.ampedwireless.com

Why Youll Dig It: ALLY Plus is a whole home wireless system that
includes a router and wireless extender, and Amped Wireless indicates
the system can cover up to 15,000 square feet. The whole home system
is fast, as well, with the router and wireless extender providing up to
AC1900 speed (1,300Mbps over 802.11ac, 600Mbps over 802.11n), so
its ideal for gamers and households where you stream HD and 4K video.
As with other mesh systems, ALLY Plus lets you roam from the router
to the extender with no interruption. Amped Wireless also builds in AVG
protection to help prevent malware and other threats from reaching the
devices on your network. Parents should also like that ALLY lets you
create and enforce house rules, as well as block access or limit use via
a mobile app.

Who Should Apply: Families that need excellent wireless

connectivity, as well as a way to manage Internet access.

Network Standards: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac

Maximum Theoretical Bandwidth (AC/N): 1900Mbps
(1300Mbps/600Mbps)
Supports MU-MIMO/Beamforming: Yes/Yes

CPU / June 2017 55

 WIRELESS ROUTER BUYERS GUIDE

Netgear Nighthawk X10 R9000

$449.99
www.netgear.com

Why Youll Dig It: The Nighthawk X10 R9000 is a wireless router that can also serve as a Plex Media Server, so you wont need a separate host
PC to transcode multimedia content. The onboard Plex Media Server can organize the multimedia content across the devices on your network. For the
fastest streaming possible, the Nighthawk X10 R9000 features an 802.11ad band that can deliver data at up to 4,600Mbps. Dont have any 802.11ad
devices yet? The routers 802.11ac (up to 1,733Mbps) and 802.11n (up to 800Mbps) bands are plenty fast. To handle all of this data, as well as Plex
Media Server duties, the Nighthawk X10 R9000 features a 1.7GHz quad-core processor. Of course, the router also comes with a variety of other
premium capabilities, including support of MU-MIMO, beamforming, remote access (via Netgear Genie), VPN, and Dynamic QoS.

Who Should Apply: Multimedia enthusiasts and

early adopters who require the utmost wireless speed to
a variety of devices.

Network Standards: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ad

Maximum Theoretical Bandwidth (AD/AC/N): 7200Mbps
(4600Mbps/1733Mbps/800Mbps)
Supports MU-MIMO/Beamforming: Yes/Yes

WIRELESS ROUTER BUYERS GUIDE

TP-Link Deco M5
$299.99
www.tp-link.com

Why Youll Dig It: The Deco M5 is a whole home system that lets
you create a mesh network with three dual-band AC1300 units. The
mesh network allows for seamless Wi-Fi handoffs and optimal wireless
connectivity, no matter where you are inside a dwelling. TP-Links ART
(Adaptive Routing Technology) identifies and selects the fastest route for
network signals. Deco M5 units also manage bandwidth and can prioritize
important traffic, such as video streams and gaming, to network devices.
For extra security, the Deco M5 features TP-Link HomeCare (powered by
TrendMicro) for built-in malware and exploit protection. Each Deco M5 unit
features four internal antennas and two Ethernet ports, and as a combined
system, the Deco M5 can cover up to 4,500 square feet. If you have a
bigger space, you can add up to 10 access points.

Who Should Apply: Enthusiasts who want to create a powerful mesh

network, yet also want the setup to be as simple as a conventional router.

Network Standards: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac

Maximum Theoretical Bandwidth (AC/N): 1300Mbps
(867Mbps/400Mbps)
Supports MU-MIMO/Beamforming: Yes/Yes

56 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

WIRELESS ROUTER BUYERS GUIDE

ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AC5300

$399.99
www.asus.com

Why Youll Dig It: Need to supply wireless to a VR gaming system and a 4K streaming device? Few wireless routers are as well equipped for the
job as the ROG Rapture GT-AC5300. To start, ASUS provides three wireless bands, including two high-speed (2167Mbps) 802.11ac bands. You could
allocate one band for a gaming PC and one for high-bandwidth video stream. Plan on using a wired setup? The ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 features
two LAN ports where all traffic is given top priority, so your gaming PC could always be ahead of mobile devices. ASUS also provides its Game Boost
technology that analyzes network traffic and accelerates gaming packets. High-speed networks require a heavy duty processor, and the ROG Rapture
GT-AC5300 comes with a 1.8GHz quad-core CPU to maximize throughput. MU-MIMO and beamforming capabilities, of course, are onboard to help
optimize signal strength and speed.

Who Should Apply: Gamers who want the ultimate

in packet acceleration for both wired and wireless
connections.

Network Standards: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac

Maximum Theoretical Bandwidth (AC/AC/N): 5300Mbps
(2167Mbps/2167Mbps/1000Mbps)
Supports MU-MIMO/Beamforming: Yes/Yes

WIRELESS ROUTER BUYERS GUIDE

EnGenius EMR3000-Kit
$269
www.engeniustech.com

Why Youll Dig It: Set to arrive in June, the EnGenius EnMesh Whole-Home Wi-Fi System (EMR3000-Kit) comes with three router pods that boast
smart sensors to detect which unit will deliver the best connection to a given network device. EnGenius also utilizes its EnMesh mobile app to create
your mesh network to eliminate the need to run a wired connection to any of the units or setup software, because everything is handled by the EnMesh
mobile app and Bluetooth connectivity. The three-pack router kit will cover up to 4,500 square feet, and of course, allow handoff among the router
pods as you move through the house. Each dual-band router can provide up to 867Mbps over the 802.11ac band and 300Mbps over the 802.11n
band. A single wired LAN port, as well as a WAN port, is available on each unit. The router pods small footprint and minimalist design (no external
antenna) allow them to discretely reside next to home dcor.

Who Should Apply: People who want to improve

network coverage with a whole home system thats
both easy to set up and manage.

Network Standards: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac

Maximum Theoretical Bandwidth (AC/N): 1200Mbps
(867Mbps/300Mbps)
Supports MU-MIMO/Beamforming: No/No

CPU / June 2017 57

 WIRELESS ROUTER BUYERS GUIDE

Tenda AC18
$99.99
www.tendaus.com

Why Youll Dig It: Tenda designs the AC18 to handle a busy network
composed of multiple wireless devices around the house. The router
features large external antennas, and the signal is further boosted by
the routers high power amplifiers and beamforming technology. Tenda
indicates the dual-band router can cover up to 5,300 square feet. To
reliably dole out traffic, the AC18 boasts a dual-core processor and 256MB
of DDR3, as well as support for 15K jumbo frames ideal for locally
stored files. The router can deliver up to 1,300Mbps over the 802.11ac
band and up to 600Mbps over the 802.11n band. For wired connectivity,
there are four Gigabit LAN ports. A USB 3.0 port is also present, should you
want to use the wireless router as a print or media server. Tenda retails the
AC18 for $99.99, and we found it online for a mere $76.99 at press time.

Who Should Apply: Network enthusiasts on a budget who need

speedy coverage in every room.

Network Standards: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac

Maximum Theoretical Bandwidth (AC/N): 1900Mbps
(1300Mbps/600Mbps)
Supports MU-MIMO/Beamforming: No/Yes

WIRELESS ROUTER BUYERS GUIDE

ARRIS SURFboard SVG2482AC

$239
www.arris.com

Why Youll Dig It: The SURFboard SVG2482AC is specifically designed

for people using XFINITY Internet and Voice Service. Its the first Wi-Fi
modem to feature RDK-B (Reference Design Kit), an open-source software
standard that accelerates delivery of both entertainment and broadband.
And as you might guess, RDK-B has been approved for Comcasts XFINITY
network. The SURFboard SVG2482AC serves up Wi-Fi connectivity (up to
1,750Mbps), fast downloads (up to 1Gbps), and exceptional voice reliability.
For the latter, there are two telephony ports to enable enhanced XFINITY
voice services. Wired network connectivity is provided by four Gigabyte
Ethernet ports, and the gateways onboard Wi-Fi is powered by a 3x3 set of
802.11ac Wi-Fi radios. An optional battery backup is also available, should
you want to place or receive voice calls during a power outage.

Who Should Apply: XFINITY subscribers who want to upgrade their

voice gateway and optimize voice and data service.

Network Standards: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac

Maximum Theoretical Bandwidth (AC/N): 1750Mbps
(1,300Mbps/900Mbps)
Supports MU-MIMO/Beamforming: No/Yes

58 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

WIRELESS ROUTER BUYERS GUIDE

Linksys EA8300
$199.99
www.linksys.com

Why Youll Dig It: Wireless routers with a tri-band configuration are ideal for those who want to balance network load among multiple devices.
Unfortunately, tri-band routers often cost upwards of $300. The EA8300 is a tri-band router that retails for $199.99. Linksys also manages to include
support for MU-MIMO, beamforming, and Linksys Seamless Roaming technology. The latter allows the EA8300 to switch among the tri-band signals
and always stay connected to the strongest signal. Linksys Seamless Roaming also allows the E8300 to work with the Linksys RE7000 range extender
for uninterrupted roaming. The E8300s tri-band network includes two 5GHz bands (each functions at up to 867Mbps) and a 2.4GHz (up to 400MHz)
band. There are four active, amplified antenna to enhance coverage, and each antenna can deliver an individual data stream to optimize bandwidth.

Who Should Apply: This router is perfect for

households with lots of wireless devices that require
smooth streaming and lag-free gaming, because you can
put each device on its own band.

Network Standards: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac

Maximum Theoretical Bandwidth (AC/AC/N): 2200Mbps
(867Mbps/867Mbps/400Mbps)
Supports MU-MIMO/Beamforming: Yes/Yes

WIRELESS ROUTER BUYERS GUIDE

TRENDnet TEW-827DRU
$208.99
www.trendnet.com

Why Youll Dig It: TRENDnet designs the TEW-827DRU with four high-gain antennas and MU-MIMO technology to simultaneously deliver four
spatial streams to the clients within your home network. The quad-stream scheme is ideal for homes where multiple people and devices require high-
bandwidth wireless connectivity. TRENDnet also uses Qualcomms StreamBoost technology to recognize and automatically prioritize high-bandwidth
traffic, such as gaming, video game, and voice packets. To handle the considerable processing overhead, TRENDnet equips the TEW-827DRU with a
1.4GHz dual-core processor. The dual-band router delivers up to 1733Mbps to 802.11ac devices, while 802.11n devices enjoy up to 800Mbps. It also
has four Gigabit Ethernet ports for LAN connections and two USB 3.0 ports that you can use to connect storage devices packed to the brim with video
and audio content, as well as other kinds of files, that youd like to stream across your network.

Who Should Apply: Enthusiasts who want

a wireless router that will automatically prioritize
gaming and multimedia traffic, and smartly manage
complex network workloads.

Network Standards: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac

Maximum Theoretical Bandwidth (AC/N): 2600Mbps
(1733Mbps/800Mbps)
Supports MU-MIMO/Beamforming: Yes/Yes

CPU / June 2017 59

 WIRELESS ROUTER COMPARISON CHART BUYERS GUIDE

Maximum Gigabit Supports

Network
Router Price Theoretical LAN MU-MIMO/ Processor
Standards Bandwidth ports Beamforming

Netgear 802.11a/b/g/ 7200Mbps 1.7GHz

Nighthawk $449.99 n/ac/ad (4600/1733/800) 6 Yes/Yes quad-core
X10 R9000

ASUS 802.11a/b/g/ 5300Mbps 1.8GHz

ROG Rapture $399.99 n/ac (2167/2167/1000) 8 Yes/Yes quad-core
GT-AC5300

TP-Link $299.99 802.11a/b/g/ 1300Mbps (867/400) 2 per Yes/Yes Quad-core

Deco M5 n/ac unit

Amped 3 on
Wireless $299.99 802.11a/b/g/ 1900Mbps router/1 Yes/Yes 880MHz
ALLY Plus n/ac (1300/600) on dual-core
extender

EnGenius $269 802.11a/b/g/ 1200Mbps (867/300) 1 per No/No Dual-core

EMR3000-Kit n/ac unit

ARRIS 802.11a/b/g/ 1750Mbps

SURFboard $239 n/ac (1,300/900) 4 No/Yes n/a
SVG2482AC

TRENDnet $208.99 802.11a/b/g/ 2600Mbps 4 Yes/Yes 1.4GHz

TEW-827DRU n/ac (1733/800) dual-core

Linksys $199.99 802.11a/b/g/ 2200Mbps 4 Yes/Yes 716MHz

EA8300 n/ac (867/867/400) quad-core

D-Link $119.99 802.11a/b/g/ 1900Mbps 4 No/Yes 1GHz

DIR-879 n/ac (1300/600) dual-core

60 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 Graphics Drivers, The Unsung Hero Of Your Frame Rates

n this installment of CPUs Software

I Tips & Projects, were going to be
focusing on the constantly evolving code
that powers your GeForces and Radeons.
If you keep up on the latest graphics
drivers (and you really should), then
youre probably accustomed to seeing a
list of game-specific improvements among
the patch notes that accompany each
release. Sometimes, the improvements can
be quite dramatic from release to release.
But we were curious about the kind of
dividends one might experience over the
course of the cards lifespan, up to two
years or more.
To demonstrate just how much drivers
can impact your scores, we performed a
number of benchmark tests on a pair of
seasoned enthusiast graphics cards, the
GeForce GTX 980 Ti and the Radeon
Is the XFX Radeon R9 Fury getting long in the tooth?
R9 Fury, with the drivers they launched
with back in 2015 and again with current
drivers. With this article, its not our
goal to judge the superiority of AMD
or NVIDIAs drivers, nor is it to even
attempt to crown one vendors drivers
as more apt to deliver improvements
over the course of a graphics cards
lifespan. Such an analysis would require
significantly more hard evidence, in the
form of benchmarks on dozens, if not
hundreds, of the top games. Benchmark
scores are useful in graphics card reviews,
but as well see, those frames-per-second
numbers you see in a review are not
the final word. We reached out to both
AMD and NVIDIA representatives for
this article, but because of time and
scheduling conflicts, only AMD was able
to respond.

Keep The Baby . . .

& The Bath Water
When it comes to graphics card Time to put your GeForce GTX 980 Ti out to pasture?
re v i e w s , a n y t i m e y o u m e a s u re

CPU / June 2017 61

 better, we not only think about frames-
per-second count, but the overall,
end-to-end gaming experience. The
latest Radeon Software drivers enable
a d va n c e d m o n i t o r s u p p o r t w i t h
optimizations for visual technologies
like AMDs FreeSync Technology,
4K resolutions, and High Dynamic
Range, delivering lower latency,
smoother gameplay and higher visual
fidelity. New software optimizations
can also significantly lower power
consumption while improving gameplay
responsiveness, enabling better ways to
record and share your best moments
with your community.
AMD gave us three examples of
performance improvements that occur
between driver releases. The first are
driver-over-driver improvements, for
instance, the Radeon RX 480 8GB
You may want to blow the dust off of this driver before you install it. enjoyed up to 12% better performance
between Crimson 17.3.1 and 17.3.2 in
Mass Effect: Andromeda. The next is
performance, youre effectively taking surprise that a graphics cards driver has API-over-API enhancements, exemplified
a snapshot. The unspoken truth of room to improve at launch. The longer by DOOMs 27% performance boost on
every review you read, however, is that drivers are in the wildgetting periodic the Radeon RX 480 when running in
the performance detailed therein is a updates from AMD and NVIDIAthe Vulkan compared to OpenGL (Radeon
moving target, and at the point that a better they tend to run. Marinkovic Software 16.7.1). Feature enhancements
review hits the street, that performance is adds, When we think about performing are another reason gamers should stay
sometimes a shot from the hip, in a dark
room, while wearing roller skates. Thats
because graphics cards are only ever as
good as their drivers, and drivers are
only ever as good as the respective game
performance. As Sasa Marinkovic, head
of software and VR marketing at AMD,
puts it, Launching any game takes a
tremendous effort by all the partners in
that ecosystem, and many performance
gains are achieved in the last few
months before the game is released. As
such, most performance improvements
materialize within the first year of the
game launch.
As a piece of software, the graphics
driver has the daunting task of acting
as a middleman between the games
you play, the OS, and the hardware.
Few other software utilities you install
are more complex and none has as
significant an impact on your gaming Hands up anybody who wishes AMD would switch back to the old Catalyst UI. . . . Nobody?
experience, so it should come as no

62 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

on top of the latest driver releases. For Edition, we delivered day-zero support or pool of real-world games, is how much
instance, Radeon RX 580 owners who game optimization for over 40 games. ground a graphics card can gain thanks
enable Radeon Chill can enjoy up to The fact of the matter is, a graphics to incremental driver tweaks, for
64% quicker response times, up to 33% card that scores a few frames per instance, up to two years later. The cards
cooler GPU temperatures, and up to second more than another in a series of we chose both deliver a very competent
53% more power efficiency. benchmarks is commonly understood to gaming experience in modern games, as
The Release Highlights for NVIDIAs be the superior choice. Benchmarks are long as you have no plans to use them
GeForce Game Ready 382.05 driver a tool, but they provide incomplete data, exclusively for 4K gaming. These cards
include unspecified improvements for and thats why when we review them, are also the first major enthusiast-grade
major new releases and VR games. Prey frame rates arent the only factor we cards to make their way onto the market
and Battlezone are two titles that enjoy consider when doling out a score. The following the launch of Microsofts
improved performance under this driver, noise, heat, and power draw; vendor- Windows 10. The AMD Radeon R9
and those who play Gears of War 4 using exclusive features such as NVIDIA Fury wasnt designed to go head-to-
multiple GPUs should also see a good Ansel and AMD FreeSync; the size and head with the GeForce GTX 980 Ti, at
frame rate bump. design of the graphics card; overclocking least not like the Fury X, but it is the
Of course, this systematic improve- potential; and aesthetic appeal should highest-end GCN Gen 3 card we had
ment depends on attentive developers, all factor into your final decision when on hand. As an added bonus, this card
and fortunately, were in the midst of it comes time to make your purchase. launched in July 2015, a little more than
a golden age in which both AMD and If nothing else, we hope this article will a month after the June 2015 launch of
NVIDIA have committed to delivering back up the assertion that frame rates the GeForce GTX 980 Ti.
regular driver updates, with an occasional should never be the sole deciding factor The driver we chose for the
beta or hotfix driver releasing off- you use to select one graphics card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti is the
schedule to address problems or improve over another. And for those who buy a WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality
performance in newly launched games. graphics card at launch, you can expect its Labs) GeForce 353.62 release, which
According to Marinkovic, AMDs performance to increase, at least a little. hit the streets July 29, 2015. NVIDIA
Radeon Software development teams are had a bit of a head start, as the card
diligently focused on the delivery of day- Testing Methodology had been available almost two months
zero game-ready drivers. For example, What we want to find out, at least by the time Windows 10 went on sale.
with Crimson and Crimson ReLive in two specific examples with a small The newest GeForce driver that was

At 1,920 x 1,080, both cards deliver a better-than-60fps experience, with all the settings maxed out.

CPU / June 2017 63

 available as we were performing the 10. Although its a beta driver, we the Furys current scores was Crimson
testing was the GeForce 382.05 release, opted to use the AMD Catalyst 15.8 Re L i v e E d i t i o n 1 7 . 5 . 2 , re l e a s e d
which came out on May 4 of this release, dated Sept. 1, 2015. AMD has May 18.
year. The Radeon R9 Fury launched completely revamped its drivers since Our test bed was built around an
a mere two weeks before Windows then, and the version we ran to achieve Intel Core i7-6950X and a GIGABYTE

The 2,560 x 1,440 resolution is a good choice for those who want to max out the settings in modern games.

4K is a little out of reach for both cards, but you can still get very good results if youre willing to reduce the settings a little.

64 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

GA-X99-Ultra Gaming motherboard. What About DX12? the games PhysX settingan NVIDIA-
We installed 16GB (four modules) of It was our initial plan to use Sniper e xc l u s i ve f e a t u re w o u l d re m a i n
HyperX Predator DDR4-3000 DRAM, Elite IVs DX12 running mode for our enabled, even if you disabled it from
and our storage devices consist of tests. However, halfway into testing, the benchmark utilities settings screen,
a 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS we realized that the old drivers would resulting in severe stuttering for owners
SSD for the OS and a 1TB WD Black simply not run the game on the of AMD-based graphics cards. We had to
HDD for games and media. Were using NVIDIA card, and the AMD cards launch the game in Safe Mode, manually
Windows 10 Enterprise for the OS. The scores were also not up to the challenge. uncheck the PhysX, and exit to get the
GeForce GTX 980 Ti was a reference Well definitely be revisiting this topic in benchmark to run properly. Between
design model supplied to us by PNY,
and the Radeon R9 Fury is a stock
clocked unit from XFX.
The games we chose for this testing
were all run at the same peak settings
that we use for graphics cards, systems,
and motherboards. Any games with
exclusive NVIDIA settings, such as
PhysX and HairWorks, were turned
off, as well as SSAA in Metro: Last
Light because its such a resource hog.
Not all of the game benchmarks we
ran returned useful information for
making informed comparisons. Sniper
Elite IV, far and away the most modern
game we used, seems to exhibit
extremely poor performance on the old
GeForce driver. That game was naught
but a twinkle in the eye of the GeForce
GTX 980 Ti, so we cant fault the old
driver for not knowing what to do
with it. When we installed the modern
GeForce driver, performance jumped
92%, 102%, and 50% across the three
resolutions we tested. (NOTE: If youre
running old graphics drivers, let this
be an illustration of why thats not the
best idea.) In a few cases, performance We had to pause Windows Update to prevent the OS from installing an up-to-date driver
actually degraded between the old during our testing.
driver and the new one, but these are
largely between 1% and 3%, which is
within the margin of error. the future, but for the purposes of this then and now, AMD managed to
We ran each series of tests at 1,920 article, DX12 testing isnt useful. solve the problem in subsequent driver
x 1,080; 2,560 x 1,440; and 3,840 x releases, as weve not encountered the
2,160. Although wed not recommend Quirks, Old & New bug since 2015.
using either card at 4K unless you dial Although this article is largely Another wrench in the works
the settings back, we were curious focusing on the performance presented itself when we started testing.
to see if the 6GB frame buffer on improvement from one series of drivers With Windows Updates at the default
t h e N V I D I A c a rd a n d t h e e ve n to another, we should also mention that setting, its difficult to maintain an
more constrained 4GB HBM (High performance isnt the only thing that old graphics driver on your system for
Bandwidth Memory) cache on the Fury changes as drivers improve. For instance, more than 24 hours. Initially, Windows
would handle so many pixels, and we in mid-2015 the AMD driver suffered kept automatically downloading and
were pleasantly surprised by the very from a bug when running Metro: Last installing a more up-to-date driver in
playable results in both instances. Light (or perhaps vice versa). Basically, the background, and we only noticed

CPU / June 2017 65

 after completing some testing. If you
Specs & Scores PNY GeForce GTX 980 Ti XFX Radeon R9 Fury want to replicate these tests on your
own, youll need to keep Windows
Driver version GeForce 353.62 GeForce 382.05 Catalyst 15.8 Crimson ReLive
(7/29/15) (5/4/17) (9/1/15) 17.5.2 (5/18/17)
from surreptitiously swapping drivers
by clicking Start, Settings, Update &
Core clock 1,000MHz 1,000MHz Security, Advanced Options, then clicking
Memory clock 1,753MHz 500MHz the switch under Pause Updates. This
stops Windows 10 from installing updates
Memory interface 384-bit 4096-bit
for up to seven days, after which the
Memory 6GB GDDR5 4GB HBM OS must be brought current in order to
resume the pause function.
3DMark Fire Strike Ex. 7,486 7,467 6,666 6,734

Graphics Score 7,605 7,543 6,870 6,885 Final Results

Physics Score 20,996 21,418 20,211 21,130
What were trying to highlight is
performance gaps of 5% or more. For
Games 1,920 x 1,080 NVIDIA, the only game to see that
Shadow Of Mordor (Vsync 110.14fps 114.59fps 94.61fps 95.89fps kind of improvement was Middle-earth:
Off, Ultra, DoF, OIT, Tess) Shadow of Mordor, and the benefits peak
Metro: Last Light (DX11, V 108.67fps 112.33fps 90.67fps 96fps
at the 1440p resolution. The Witcher 3:
High, 16XAF, V High Tess.) Wild Hunt saw a decent 4% bump at the
4K resolution, but that advantage vanishes
Dying Light (High, AO 140.2fps 144.5fps 111.88fps 115.61fps
On, AA On, Vsync Off) at the lower resolutions. On the AMD
side, things were very different. At 1080p,
Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 88.88fps 86.14fps 68.24fps 76.88fps
all five games seemed to run with faster
(Vsync off, Unl. fps, Ultra)
average frame rates between the two driver
Sniper Elite 4 (Vsync Off, 57.76fps 110.83fps 84.7fps 93.81fps versions; however, the benefits evaporated
Ultra, DX11)
in Sniper Elite IV and Middle-earth:
2,560 x 1,440 Shadow of Mordor at the 1440p and 4K
resolutions. When we focus on the three
Shadow Of Mordor (Vsync 77.58fps 81.61fps 71.6fps 70.91fps
Off, Ultra, DoF, OIT, Tess) remaining games, Witcher 3, Dying Light,
and Metro: Last Light, we can see frame
Metro: Last Light (DX11, V 75.67fps 76.67fps 62.67fps 66fps
High, 16XAF, V High Tess.)
rate increases of about 13%, 3%, 6%
(1080p); 16%, 9%, and 5% (1440p); and
Dying Light (High, AO 94.46fps 92.3fps 78.06fps 85.37fps 8%, 8%, and 5% (2160p), respectively.
On, AA On, Vsync Off)
Due to our relatively small sample size,
Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 65.81fps 66.31fps 48.99fps 56.86fps were reluctant to say definitively that
(Vsync off, Unl. fps, Ultra)
AMDs drivers deliver more performance
Sniper Elite 4 (Vsync Off, 43.22fps 87.44fps 65fps 62.31fps improvements than NVIDIAs. For AMD
Ultra, DX11) Fury owners playing The Witcher 3:
3,840 x 2,160 Wild Hunt, Metro: Last Light, or Dying
Lightthree games with NVIDIA-
Shadow Of Mordor (Vsync 43.84fps 45.5fps 41.84fps 42.19fps
exclusive features no lessthey are
Off, Ultra, DoF, OIT, Tess)
probably pretty happy with how that card
Metro: Last Light (DX11, V 40.33fps 40.67fps 34fps 35.67fps has been running these days. Regardless
High, 16XAF, V High Tess.)
of the chosen resolution, Middle-earth:
Dying Light (High, AO 47.84fps 46.94fps 41.43fps 44.62fps Shadow of Mordor was NVIDIAs big win.
On, AA On, Vsync Off) For those who dont feel the need to buy
Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 35.91fps 37.35fps 32.61fps 35.17fps the latest hardware right when it launches,
(Vsync off, Unl. fps, Ultra) these results should further justify that
Sniper Elite 4 (Vsync Off, 30.95fps 46.29fps 38.09fps 38.23fps
philosophy. Generally, graphics cards do
Ultra, DX11) get better with age. The same cannot be
said, however, for the benchmark scores in
graphics card reviews.

66 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 Inside The World Of Betas
QUICKLOOK 0.1.8
s PC enthusiasts, we know that our
A platform is the best, but lets admit
that theres always room for improvement.
QuickLook 0.1.8
Publisher and URL:
Your wish list for a better Windows The QuickLook Team;
experience might not even include a pooi.moe/QuickLook
major overhaul or revolutionary new ETA: TBD
feature. Perhaps a tweak here or a dab of Why You Should Care:
polish there, and youll have precisely the QuickLook brings a little slice
Windows experience you want. of Mac OS X to Windows.
QuickLook was born because its
developer needed such a tweak. As a Mac
OS X user, the developer appreciated that
operating systems Quick Look feature,
which lets users preview files and folders for what they do) theres plenty of room formats (.PNG, .JPG, .BMP, and .GIF),
without actually opening them. Obviously, in the ring for another hat. compressed archives, PDFs, MS Office files
the developer wanted to emulate Quick Dont expect QuickLook to change (specifically Word, Excel, and PowerPoint,
Look in Windows. any games or disrupt Windows UI provided these programs are installed
In fairness, QuickLook isnt the first of development. Its not that type of pro- on your system), video files, and more.
its kind. Its developer notes that similar gram. However, were confident that Since its release at the beginning of May,
apps arent hard to find but contends that plenty of power users will find it useful. development has been fast and furious, so
for one reason (development has ground At the time of this writing, QuickLook QuickLook is . . . quickly . . . rounding
to a halt) or another (theyre too expensive worked with the most popular image into fighting form.

BEE FLUENT 1.7.1

earning a foreign language yields a litany
L of benefits beyond being able to find the
closest biblioteca in Madrid. It sharpens your
Bee Fluent For Chrome 1.7.1
Publisher and URL:
memory. You become a better multitasker. The Bee Fluent Team;
Learning a second language actually www.beefluentapp.com
improves your command of your native ETA: TBD
tongue, too. In short, why wouldnt you Why You Should Care: Your
want to pick up another language? friends can help teach you a
For most people, we reckon the matter foreign language. They just
boils down to one of two challenges. First, dont know it.
unless youre required by law to sit through
German II with Frau Steiner to get your
diploma, its tough to dedicate a lot of time
to learning a new language. Second, you using these services to the language youd send and receive messages in their language,
probably have no one else to talk with. like to learn, also preserving the message in blissfully unaware that Bee Fluent is buzzing
Parroting your Rosetta Stone lessons to the its original language. (At the time of this through translations in the background.
refrigerator isnt terribly stimulating. writing, Bee Fluent was able to translate During the process, youll teach Bee
The makers of Bee Fluent are attempting the following languages: Dutch, English, Fluent, too. Translation services are
to tackle both of these problems. Available French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, notoriously bad at working with slang, but
as a Google Chrome extension, Bee Fluent Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian.) Plus, by using Bee Fluent in your conversations,
attaches itself to Facebook Messenger or the process is entirely invisible to your the program picks up on the lingo and uses
WhatsApp and translates your conversations conversation partners. Theyll continue to it to become better. Magnifico!

CPU / June 2017 67

 Upgrades Thatll Keep You Humming Along
Surveillance takes center stage this month, as we present updates to a couple of free video surveillance
programs. While were on the subject, in a manner of speaking, if you feel like Windows 10 takes a few too many
liberties with your information, check out Securilla Privacy Repairer.

SOFTWARE UPDATES is another solid option for homeowners in for Windows 10 RS3 Redstone 3 Build
search of such a program, and even small 16193. Owners of certain Corsair AIO CPU
Contaware ContaCam 7.0.0 businesses that need to keep an eye on their coolers (the H110i, H110i GT, H100i, and
ContaCam is a free app for video property could benefit, as iSpy has been H80i are specifically mentioned) will find
surveillance, helping people who want a around since 2007 and boasts a community that SIV gives them greater control over their
lightweight program that can be as simple of 2 million users globally. A series of updates coolers fan(s). The update also adds GPU fan
or as complicated, options-wise, as they need over the last couple of months has kept iSpy speeds to SIVs Cooling Status readout, plus
it to be. Now, ContaCam natively supports in tip-top shape. The latest update includes support for a small handful of motherboards.
RTSP cameras and simultaneously ditches a couple of fixesconnecting to ONVIF rh-software.com
VLC re-streaming for these cameras. Further, RTSP cameras that use digest authentication
the most recent version updates ContaCams and recording to AVI with audioas well
internal web server to Apache 2.4.25 and as unspecified performance improvements. Securilla Privacy Repairer 1.5.0.0
PHP 5.4.45. ContaCam users now have the An April update upgraded iSpy to .NET Volumes have been written about
option to obscure the video source from Framework 4.5. Windows 10 and end user privacy settings;
the web interface, and cameras can capture www.ispyconnect.com theres no need to re-chronicle it all here. But
audio from a selectable source. if you do feel like you need to rein in your
www.contaware.com OS, Securillas Privacy Repairer is here to
Notepad++ 7.4 help. Issued in the middle of May, version
Notepad++ developer Don Ho (not to 1.5.0.0 adds a pair of options. Now, Privacy
Forest For Chrome 3.5.0 be confused with the late Tiny Bubbles Repairer can stop Microsoft from using your
So-called distraction blockers are singer) was refreshingly candid with the big diagnostic data, and Visual Studio 2017 users
indispensable for folks who need to stay feature released in version 7.4. As a convert can opt out of CEIP (Customer Experience
away from Reddit, Facebook, their fantasy to Microsoft Edge, Ho fell in love with the Improvement Program). Additionally,
football team, etc. and focus on the task at browsers ability to peek an inactive browser the software shouldnt bug command line
hand. Most of these programs simply lock tab by hovering the mouse pointer over it, commandos with dialog boxes anymore.
down blacklisted sites for user-defined blocks so he added it to his program. Notepad++ https://www.securilla.com/privacy-
of time, but this Chrome extension takes a Document Peeker does the same thing when repairer
different approach, gamifying productivity. you hover over inactive document tabs in the
When you need to stay away from your program. Otherwise, the new version makes
own personal time wasters, plant a tree in a series of small enhancements (improved
Forest. If you can avoid blacklisted sites for whitespace visibility, moving tabs with a
30 minutes, your digital sapling will grow mouses scroll wheel) and fixes a bunch of DRIVER BAY
to become a full-fledged tree. If not, your minor issues.
tree is toast. The new version of Forest gives https://notepad-plus-plus.org ASRock Fatal1ty X370 Gaming K4
determined horticulturists access to a pair of BIOS 2.40
new speciesGinkgo and Wisteria. Considering the fact that a decent
https://www.forestapp.cc RH Software number of gamers are also overclockers, we
System Information Viewer 5.19 suspect this new BIOS will be welcomed
System Information Viewer is yet with open arms. Version 2.40, released May
iSpy 6.7.6.0 another resource for power users who want 12, enhances the BIOS overclocking
Billed as the worlds most popular open- detailed reports for everything. Topping settings for advanced overclockers.
source video surveillance application, iSpy the list of changes is version 5.19 is support www.asrock.com

68 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

The Ride Of Your Life
How Theme Parks Are Becoming Our Tech Playgrounds

The use of VR and other technologies by the theme park industry has provided guests more immersive and personalized experiences. For parks, VR specifically
has helped give older rides new life, while technology in general has greatly simplified guests stays.

ts been said theme parks are the coaster, which celebrates its 200th Stilwell of Coaster101.com. Disney
I places where fantasies come to life. If
so, technology is the magic dust that
anniversary this year, is an example.
Whether its the evolution of steel to
introduced support for using mobile
devices to order food from its Satuli
makes it possible. Today, that means use build mega coasters, magnetic-propulsion Canteen at its new Pandora: The World
of VR, AR, holograms, motion sensors, technology to launch riders to more of Avatar attraction, for example, which
simulators, 3D and 4D effects, RFID, than 100mph, or the software that ride could be a complete game-changer in the
robotics, mobile apps, biometrics, and designers use to push the envelope whilst theme park experience, he says.
more. Were seeing advancements on ensuring a ride is always safe and within Broadly, Eric Wooley, also of
all fronts constantlymassive 3D LED human limitations, technology has always Coaster101.com, sees technology assuming
screens, extremely complex ride systems, been a big factor in what we experience in a role to enable greater immersion (VR
animatronics that are more lifelike than theme parks, he says. on roller coasters) and interactivity
ever before, seamless security measures, As Gaines points out, that experience (animations reacting to guest actions) but
and high-definition projection mapping includes greater comfort. Laser scanners and also to assist in crowd/park management.
for nighttime spectaculars of all shapes robots used to assemble roller coaster track For the latter, RFID-enabled wristbands
and sizes, says Rick West, founder of have helped produce much smoother rides. and sensors are helping reduce wait times,
ThemeParkAdventure.com. Track construction can now be accurate create better traffic flows, and pinpoint
The idea of theme parks using to the millimeter and to the finest degree, ideal locations for food stands or where to
technology to enhance the overall guest consequently the track can be exactly as the send characters to entertain guests.
experience is hardly new. Over the years, designers intended, allowing the trains to To a large extent, todays theme parks
numerous experts have hailed theme flow smoothly along the course, he says. must innovate technically. As Tim Baldwin
parks as prototypes of the future, and In their own way, theme parks have of American Coaster Enthusiasts says, a
Walt Disney himself reportedly originally become pioneers in advancing technology, certain drive exists among parks to offer
conceptualized EPCOT (Experimental says Tharin White of Attractions Magazine. the latest, newest, or first of its kind.
Prototype Community of Tomorrow) as Even smaller efforts such as using This, in turn, creates the momentum
a functioning city that would serve as a screens to note a rides waiting time help thats fueling tech advancements in the
living blueprint of the future. to maximize guests time and minimize industry. Presently, VR is the advancement
As technology has evolved in the confusion and difficulty, says White. garnering the most attention. The jury
real world, so too has it in the make- Guests getting the best use of their time might still be out on if its a long-lasting
believe world, says Marcus Gaines of and money has become important as trend or a passing fad, but the industry has
the European Coaster Club. The roller park prices continue to rise, says Andrew bit on it, Baldwin says. The impact of

CPU / June 2017 69

 using virtual reality on roller coasters and rides experience. No longer do you dodging drones and artillery fire, riders dock
other rides is undeniable. see and feel yourself riding this iconic in one of three drone bays, each featuring a
coaster across a wooded hillside near different experience and conclusion.
Not Your Daddys Coaster Magic Mountains front gate. Now, youre Knotts Berry Farm, meanwhile, bills
Among the reasons VR has the theme strapped into a single-seat fighter jet, its new VR Showdown In Ghost Town
park industry excited is the ability battling aliens in an Independence Day- experience as the first permanent, full-
it provides to transform aging roller like dogfight to save the planet. motion VR experience in a United States
coasters into fresh experiences, and its This summer, Six Flags is introducing a theme park. The free-roaming, multiplayer
ability to match a VR experience to a Galactic Attack experience that adds VR to experience reportedly takes guests on a
specific theme such as Halloween. Few the Mind Eraser roller coaster. Notably, a time-traveling adventure to visit a futuristic
companies have embraced VR as much pass-through camera feature will let riders version of Knotts western town of Calico.
early on as Six Flags, which has given the see their true surroundings and virtual There, guests fight off hordes of robotic
Samsung Gear VR treatment to numerous content, including weaponry statuses, time enemies to defend the town. Elsewhere,
existing coasters in its parks, including codes, and fuel cells. Eventually, this mixed- SeaWorld Orlando transformed its well-
the 40-year-old Revolution coaster, now reality view shifts to an entirely immersive known Kraken roller coaster into its
dubbed The New Revolution. Robert VR environment in which a fighter first digitally enhanced ride experience,
Niles of ThemeParkInsider.com wrote spaceship cockpit materializes and envelops the Kraken VR Roller Coaster. Riders
that adding VR completely changed the the riders into a tunnel of light. Beyond reportedly board a virtual submarine to

Theme Parks Go All-In On Videogames

If youve visited a major theme park recently, you know the influence of and restaurants that feature Nintendos most popular games and
videogames is evident seemingly everywhere, including in terms of rides, characters. Reportedly, the area will cost $434 million but is expected
merchandise, games, and characters. In part, this is because videogames to create 1.1 million jobs in Japan and bring in $100 billion-plus within
are a natural draw for parks for the millions of people who play them. a decade of opening.
As such, its not too surprising that Nintendo is partnering with Universal
Studios on a new theme park venture. Notably, CNBC quoted a financial researcher as saying the project is
another example of how Nintendo is seeking to shift away from its
In December, the two companies announced plans to debut the first traditional gaming platform and monetize its franchises across multiple
of three new Super Nintendo World areas. Featuring Mario and Luigi, efforts. Dennis Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services,
Bowser, Yoshi, Princess Peach, and other characters, the attraction is told the Orlando Sentinel that with the popularity of game consoles
set to open at Universal in the home, theme
Studios Japan just ahead parks realized they must
of the 2020 Olympics in incorporate them into
Tokyo. Additional future parks and amp up the
attractions are planned for experience to get visitors
Universals Orlando and to come. Reportedly,
Hollywood parks. Universal Studios and
Disney have both filed
According to USA Today, patents for videogame-
Nintendos Shigeru like rides, which many
Miyamoto will help design parks already feature. One
the new park areas. A thought is that interactive
press release, meanwhile, rides will operate more
states Super Nintendo like videogames, possibly
World will feature including such rides
expansive and multilevel becoming more complex
environments filled as players scores
with unprecedented, With its new Super Nintendo World set to open next year at Universal Studios Japan, Nintendo improve and they gain
state-of-the-art rides, will look to capitalize on the tremendous success of its videogame franchises to draw guests in. more control over
interactive areas, shops, the experience.

70 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 make a greater impact on theme parks
than VR. The Los Angeles Times reported
that Disney CEO Bob Iger has even
ordered his team to not even think
about VR. Disney is reportedly open
to exploring high-tech AR attractions,
however, that blend the real and digital
worlds. Niles wrote that while VR robs
theme parks of their greatest strength
entertainment-wisecreating intricately
decorated, immersively themed physical
spaces that cant be experienced anywhere
elseAR could potentially combine the
best of real and virtual worlds.
Wooley and Gaines both cite German-
based VR Coaster as a leader in enabling
VR experiences, but Gaines also cites that
The highly anticipated opening of Disneys new Pandora: The World of Avatar attraction this spring companys recent efforts to mix VR and
included a Satuli Canteen that guests can order food from using a mobile device, a feature some AR on roller coasters. Gaines also points
experts believe will be a game-changer for the industry. to Holovis, which in addition to working
on motion-simulator ride technology, has
an effort called Extended Experience with
explore an underwater geological formation The other problem with VR is that its a mobile app guests can use in a park to,
before encountering the Kraken creature. very isolating. You visit a theme park with say, shoot monsters via AR games or use
VR is very much the buzzword of the friends and family for shared experiences location tracking to accumulate points for
amusement industry, with parks falling and to make memories together. As soon traveling certain distances on roller coasters.
over themselves to convert an existing as you put a VR headset on, youre no Guests at Ohios Cedar Point
roller coaster into a VR-enhanced one, longer with anyone else. Amusement Park this summer can access
says Gaines. Just like many peoples first a free The Battle for Cedar Point AR
experience of 3D was in a theme park and AR To The Rescue? game in the parks mobile app to join a
now they see it at the cinema every day, Gaines sentiment is precisely why roller-coaster clan and battle other clans
many will experience VR for the first time many experts believe AR will ultimately by earning points for various activities
in a theme park, and VR is set to become
commonplace in homes, he says.
That said, some guests and theme park
experts have complained that VR has caused
longer lines and loading times, as theres
more equipment to maintain, calibrate, and
clean. Parks charging extra for enhanced
experiences is another concern, Wooley
says. Recently, I was at a park where an
older dark ride had optional 3D glasses that
cost a few bucks. Its fine for parks to have
some of these, but I worry about there being
more and more micro-transactions in parks
related to the technology in the way that
free-to-play videogames make money.
Similarly, Gaines sees VR as great and a
disaster. Parks should think about adding
[VR] to unpopular rides to give them While many experts have praised theme parks use of VR on roller coasters, others say the technology
a new lease of life, but when they add has resulted in longer lines and boarding times. Some critics also worry that if parks introduce too
it to already popular rides, theyre just much technology, it could hamper the various social aspects theme parks have long fostered.
making long waits even worse, he says.

CPU / June 2017 71

 such as scanning park signs with their
phones. Characters, animated signs, and
achievement symbols appear co-existing Two Bit Circus & The Art Of
with the real world, says Coaster101.coms
Nick Weisenberger. These interactive
Engineering Entertainment
experiences can then be shared on social One could choose several ways to describe Two Bit Circus, but its probably best to just point to its
media, encouraging others to join the clan. own explanation, which is were a band of mad scientists, artists, inventors, storytellers, educators,
Queues, says West, are a prime example and performers who build games; tell stories with technology; and make liberal use of lasers, fire,
of where AR may really shine in theme and robots. In short, Two Bit Circus lives at the intersection of technology and spectacle, blurring
parks. Instead of using a smartphone in the line between physical and digital playgrounds to create a new world of social amusement.
traditional ways while standing in line,
West says to imagine a guest launching Among these mad scientists is Brent Bushnell, CEO & Roustabout but also the son of Nolan
a Disney app to look for hidden golden Bushnell, co-founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese. Earlier this year, Brent Bushnell and his Two
nuggets while waiting for the Big Bit Circus team raised $15 million to help develop micro-amusement parks that will feature
Thunder Mountain Railroad or viewing not-so-typical amusement park attractions, including multiplayer VR and AR games, molecular
ghostly apparitions at The Twilight gastronomy, science and technology installations, and more.
Zone Tower of Terror. ARs real magic,
he says, is providing true enhancements The first park planned is a 30,000-square-foot space in Los Angeles set for a 2018 launch. Among
without taking people out of the existing other things, look forward to seeing Gearmo, a fully animated, wise-cracking, drink mixing, robot
environment or isolating them. As a bartender that Two Bit Circus constructed from a crashed airplane cockpit, scrapped engine
designer, thats really exciting to me, and block, and other spare parts.
I absolutely see the use of AR becoming
common at parks of all sizes around the Bushnell has pointed out that since laser tag and mini-golf hit the scene, entertainment outside
world in the near future, he says. the home hasnt changed much. The latest tech has just blown the doors open on a whole new
world; changed what it means to play, and play together socially, he states. People stress about
The Way Of The Wristband tech pushing people apart, but we love watching it bring them together.
For as much impact as VR and AR are
making on theme parks, theres a case to Previously, Two Bit Circus has erected temporary installations at large events and conferences.
make that technology that parks are using Before opening its permanent Los Angeles facility, its planning private beta nights in which invitees
to personalize and simplify their guests will roam around its menagerie of mad inventions. Two Bit Circus also notably has an ongoing
experiences is having an even greater STEAM Carnival effort that features technology-driven games and immersive hands-on experiences
impact. In this area, Disneys My Disney that promote science, technology, engineering, art, and math. Past carnivals have included a high-
Experience trip-management system and tech game arcade, battling robot-band showcase, and wearable technology fashion show.
its RFID-enabled MagicBand wristbands
are the standard.
This one band can hold your
FastPass+ reservations, be the key to your
hotel room, give you access to your credit
card on file, add photos from rides and
photo opportunities to your account, and
much more, says White. MagicBands
also enable personalization touches. At
Space Mountain, guests with MagicBands
see their names displayed at the rides
exit as if theyve provided reviews of the
planets they visited. Although MagicBand
wasnt the first wristband used in parks,
White says it certainly is the most
innovative, and many parks have now
used its ideas in their own operations. Two Bit Circus uses an approach that mixes a traditional carnival-like experience with various
Screamscape.coms Lance Hart admits modern technologies to offer guests a completely new experience.
that while privacy is an issue for some
concerning such wristbands, the notion

72 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 that Disney could potentially track
a guests every experience and use it to
A Park-aholics View Of Todays Theme Parks personalize future interactions amazes
Arthur Levine is a self-proclaimed park-aholic who has written features, profiles, reviews, and me as an adult and would really astound
other pieces detailing theme, amusement, and water parks and other out-of-home entertainment a child. Disney, for example, could
experiences since 2002. Levine also writes a weekly travel column for USA Today. We asked him incorporate a childs favorite character
for his thoughts about the use of technology in todays parks. into her guest profile it maintains over
the years and uses upon future visits. A
Q: What role do you see various technologiesVR, AR, wristbands, securitytaking in character could say, for example, Hi,
amusement and theme parks, including to enhance visitors experiences? Sarah! I havent seen you since last year!
So glad you came back to visit me on
AL: I would break out two applications: storytelling and convenience. On the storytelling side, VR, your birthday! This might sound like
and to a lesser extent AR, is being used to enhance existing rides and attractions. The jury is still something out of Westworld, Hart says,
out as ride designers try to incorporate VR into roller coasters; drop tower rides; spinning rides; but the technology is there to do all this.
motion-simulator attractions; and free-roaming, interactive experiences. In my estimation, the In some cases, West says wristband
inherent flaw with VR is that theme parks are meant to be social environments in which we share technology is something guests must
experiences with friends and family, but VR is a solitary, confining experience. When users strap embrace or risk feeling as if theyre not
on headsets, theyre immersed in an alternate reality that shuts out everyone around them. receiving the same accommodations
and opportunities as those guests with
Also, parks and designers seem to be racing against one another to use VR, often with little regard wristbands. While Disney doesnt require
for the story. Technology for technologys sake should never take precedent over story. The story guests to use MagicBands currently,
should drive everything at parks, and the technology should fade into the background so that West says the technology has become
guests arent even aware of it. Thats not what Im seeing with VR at parks now. Part of the problem so integrated into the overall experience,
with VR at parks is media resolution, the retro videogame-style in which media is presented, and its pretty much forcing everyone to buy
other limitations that call attention to the technology and take users out of the experience. On the into it.
convenience side, I am seeing some interesting developments with wearables, mobile phone apps, Moving forward, expect similar
and other technology that are changing the ways visitors make plans and experience parks. technology to spread throughout the
industry. Carnival Cruise Lines Ocean
Q: What applications of technology beyond rides/attractions are noteworthy for the Medallion technology, for example,
industry and why? provides similar perks as MagicBands.
Elsewhere, the Tapu Tapu wearable device
AL: While it hasnt opened yet, Universal Orlandos new Volcano Bay water park could be a real Universal is using at its new Volcano Bay
game-changer. All guests will get RFID bracelets that theyll use to make in-park ride reservations. water park will handle park entry, locker
There will be no lines anywhere in the park. All rides that would otherwise require a line will be access, and photo activation, while also
by appointment only. Thats an industry first. The devil will be in the details, but its an intriguing triggering special effects. Tapu Tapu at
concept. The interactive bracelets also will have the ability to trigger effects in the park. this early stage is like MagicBand Lite,
allowing guests to wait in virtual queues
Q: Technology provides theme parks numerous benefits. Are there negatives it introduces? while they enjoy other aspects of the
park, West says. When its their turn,
AL: Maybe Im just old-school, but I fret about the overuse of mobile phones and technology in the wristband vibrates, telling them its
general and their use in parks specifically. Part of the joy of visiting theme parks is randomly their turn to ride.
experiencing all that they have to offer and organically discovering things along the way. I dont think The entire ride-waiting experience is
its great when an entire day is preordained. There should be some spontaneity. Also, when visitors changing as we know it. Universals new
focus on their wearables, phones, and other technology to the exclusion of interacting with the The Race Through New York Starring
people physically around them, that, to me, is a problem outside parks, and, especially inside parks. Jimmy Fallon ride illustrates how. There
is practically no line in the building,
Q: What tech-driven features do you foresee in parks in, say, five years? even though guests are all waiting to
ride, White says. Instead, guests are
AL: AR, which doesnt cut users off from the real world, makes more sense to me than VR at given cards with colors to symbolize
theme parks. I think its role will increase, and that VRs role may decrease. As media resolution their time to come and experience the
and other specs improve, designers and parks should be able to move ever closer to photorealism attraction. While waiting, guests can
and truly immerse guests in attractions. meet and greet characters, watch shows,
explore a museum, sit in a lounge area,

CPU / June 2017 73

 The Tech That Goes Boo!
Haunted houses and haunted theme parks make a lot of money from
scaring people witless. America Haunts, a group of nearly 30 haunted
attractions, estimates the sector generates $300 million to $500 million
annually in ticket sales. Technology, including VR, 3D, animatronics, and
motion sensors that heighten the realism and scares, is increasingly
helping draw in guests.

America Haunts states that it works year-round to dream up truly horrific

creatures and set designs. Upon walking into one of its haunted houses,
American Haunts states guests every movement is detected and technology
is programmed down to the millisecond how to respond, like walls shifting
and monsters swooping down at just the right moment. It all adds to the
out-of-body experience we want everyone to have. To that end, America
Haunts states it spends millions of dollars and hours yearly. Animatronics, for
example, are often altered drastically, with engineers potentially spending
up to a year rebuilding it so that it fits perfectly into the environment. Haunted houses and haunted attractions are increasingly incorporating
technology, including VR, animatronics, and 3D special effects, to raise
The association claims that among attractions leading the way in high- the level of immersion for guests.
tech haunted houses is Atlantas Netherworld Haunted House, which
reportedly has 300-plus animatronics. Each animatronic reportedly gets its
own programmed brain so that it can sense a visitors every movement meanwhile, is dedicated to creating a zombie-fighting VR environment.
to deliver the most surprising, blood-curdling experience. At the 13th As attractions top out in what theyre able to accomplish with theming
Floor in Chicagothe citys first smart haunted house, America Haunts and physical effects, virtual reality and other activities can help amp up
statesvisitors enter another dimension via VR but can also choose to the tension in other ways, writes EntertainmentDesigner.com.
take an untethered, 360-degree walk-through and encounter HD video
meant to create the most terrifyingly realistic experience possible. At At Universal Studios Floridas The Repository, guests interact with a mix
Nightmare On 13th in Salt Lake City, Utah, meanwhile, guests encounter of live actors, custom virtual reality, and cryptic riddlesall putting you
gruesome monster holograms wielding axes rushing at them, along with in the middle of your own personal ghost story. As Forbes writes, the
hologram ghosts that can scare even the most stoic adults. VR, dubbed Dark Portal Transport, transports visitors from our world
into the supernatural world where they encounter supernatural and
EntertainmentDesigner.com highlights other VR-driven haunted paranormal entities. Forbes writes The Repository represents one of the
experiences, including the Creepy Hollow Haunted House near Houston most sophisticated uses of consumer-facing VR anywhere, in part because
where visitors don VR headsets to step into a first-person-shooter-type guests can roam about freely while motion-capture cameras capture their
environment featuring attacking zombies. Fear Factory in Salt Lake City, movements, which are translated into a shared digital environment.

play videogames, and more. Many have available but also interacting and activating but will you be done in time with your
claimed that this attraction has such a special experiences and special effects. If lunch to catch your 11:30 a.m. to
good queue that its almost better than the this idea works as promised, this could be a 12:30 p.m. Space Mountain reservation
ride itself, White says. game-changer for the industry and change window? Once youre done with that, are
Universal will also use a virtual-queue not only how we experience water parks, you ready to walk all the way across the
approach at its Volcano Bay water park but also the bigger theme parks, he says. park for your 1 p.m. Splash Mountain
this summer. Their plan is to have an A problem Stilwell and others see reservation and then back to Fantasyland
entire theme park with no real lines, where with the influx of in-park mobile apps to ride Dumbo? Youre not supposed to
everyone can simply pick attractions and wristband devices is the potential have a schedule on vacation, he says.
they want to experience and come back they have to distract guests from the
at set times to jump right on and ride, spontaneity a traditional theme park Tomorrows Theme Parks
White says. As Hart explains, a waterproof offers and to become overscheduled. In an interview Future Urbanism
wristband device will enable selecting rides Sure, you got your lunch reservations at conducted with Sam Gennawey, an urban
and receiving notifications when theyre 10:30 a.m. at Be Our Guest Restaurant, planner and author of several books

74 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

concerning Walt Disney, Gennawey
describes Disney as the prototype-
computer geek we have today and
Disneyland as a technology device.
When General Electric struggled selling
color televisions, for example, it turned to
Disney, who came up with the Wonderful
World of Color, says Gennawey. In many
ways, Gaines says theme parks must stay
ahead of the real world or else its harder
for make-believe to be, well, believed.
Gaines points to 3D films as an
example. While there was experimentation
in the 1950s, 1980s, and early 1990s,
its theme parks where it really gained
momentum to come back in a big way in
the real world, he says. Because theme
parks are often so ahead of the real world,
he adds, its really hard to say what well Bearing the name of its famous late-night television host, the new Race Through New York Starring
see in the future from them. Jimmy Fallon attraction works with Universal Orlandos mobile app to let guests jump in a virtual line
Recent patents tied to Disney may and then engage in various activities around the attraction until its their turn to ride.
provide a glimpse. One pertains to foot-
recognition technology, which some believe
Disney could use to identify individual Wooley foresees parks tailoring rides more a pilot program this year involving
guests and generate data that enables to guests and guests receiving different employees. The Los Angeles Times reports
various personalization features. Disney experiences based on how they interact most models from shuttle startups
has also submitted patents concerning soft with attractions or experiences they select. are shaped like tall bricks on wheels;
body robots, which could conceivably He points to Spike, new roller-coaster can transport 12 to 15 passengers;
interact with visitors, and scene-projection technology from German-based Maurer, and are equipped with cameras, radar,
technology, which could transform a which touts interactive passenger- and laser sensors. Such shuttles are in a
hotel room into a multimedia-enhanced controlled acceleration abilities. sense going to demonstrate to the public
interactive experience. Autonomous driverless vehicles could that (robot vehicles) really work, the
In the near future, Stilwell believes in- also play a prominent role in parks in the Times reports.
park characters will personally interact future. Reportedly, Disney is negotiating Ultimately, while technology will
with guests such as Mickey Mouse wishing with two manufacturers of driverless undoubtedly help create highly engaging
a child happy birthday! Similarly, autonomous shuttles and is planning and interactive experiences, some worry
that parks will become too tech-driven.
SeaWorld San Diego will soon open an
attraction called Submarine Quest that
I fear falls into this category, Hart says.
Rather than riders (mostly kids) focusing
on what they view from the ride, he says,
the park is installing touchscreens in front
of riders to play videos and interactive
games as they ride, which is sure to
distract from what is going on outside
the vehicle. In essence, Hart adds, its
like the ride was designed to mimic the
current stereotype of a modern family
One of the most impactful technological innovations to hit the theme park industry in recent years has road trip where the kids faces are glued
been the use of wireless wearable devices for guests. Disneys MagicBand device, for example, enables to their phones and tablets rather than
guests to enter their hotel rooms, board rides, pay for meals, and more. looking out the windows of the car to see
the real-world sights.

CPU / June 2017 75

 Yeah, we know you have blogs to post, video to encode, reports to write, and code to compile. We do,
too, but you have to take a break once in a while (and maybe blow some stuff up). Thats why each
month we give you the lowdown on what to expect from the latest interesting games.
Game Of The Month

Pretend To Be A Coffee Mug

To Save The World
BY ANDREW LEIBMAN

$59.99 (PC, XOne, PS4) ESRB: (M)ature

Bethesda prey.bethesda.net

In Prey, or as we like to call it, Dishonored-BioShock-in-Space, you take on Talos I is extremely reminiscent of BioShocks Rapture, even down to
the role of Morgan Yu, the neuroscientist sister (or brother, its your choice) the Art Deco lobby, living quarters, and arboretum. The space station is
of Alex Yu, TranStar Corp.s CEO. Hes recently recruited you to join him sprawling, so getting from one place to another can be challenging and
on Talos I, a retrofitted former prison and containment facility orbiting the tracking down objectives can be frustrating. Continually respawning
moon. If you dig the alternate-history genre, youll enjoy picking up some Typhon make it so theres rarely a safe place to catch your breath.
interesting tidbits as you explore the expansive space station.
To upgrade Morgans human and alien abilities, youll need to collect all
The year is 2035, but the events that set up the reality you wake up to in manner of items littering Talos I, break them down into their raw materials
the beginning actually start with John F. Kennedys thwarted assassination using Recyclers, then fabricate them into Neuromods, weapons, ammo,
in 1963. Following his brush with death, Kennedy went all-in on the health kits, grenades, and more. There are six skill trees youll eventually
space program and ramped up competition with the Russians. But Earths unlock, and upgrading a single branch of three or four skills can often cost
newfound extraterrestrial ambitions caught the attention of a deadly a dozen Neuromods or more. Thankfully, theres no penalty for picking and
assemblage of aliens, collectively referred to as the Typhon, and they choosing skills from multiple trees to suit your play style.
attack. The Russians and Americans joined forces and managed to capture
or destroy the shape-shifting and mind-altering creatures while also The Neuromods memory-erasing plot point is central to the conflict. For a
keeping the invasion attempt a secret from the general populace. From vast majority of our Preythrough we didnt know whom to trust or what
then until the 1980s, the remaining Typhon have been sealed in the space was happening until fairly late in the game. In Prey, the choices you make
station. But as costs mounted, and a breach of containment results in for the good of the others on Talos I, for the fate of all life on Earth, or just to
catastrophe, the governments control lapses, and a corporation takes over. save your own skin will have an impact on how the story unfolds.
And wouldnt you know it, its an evil corporation.
Prey has more than a just BioShocks aesthetic and exotic location;
With capitalism-fueled abandon, TranStar begins performing experiments Neuromods bear a striking resemblance to Plasmids. Prey is less preachy
on the Typhon, and out of this chicanery comes Neuromods, which than BioShock, but to its detriment, its less cerebral, too. For the most
allow humans to rewire their brains to instantaneously learn new skills. part, however, Prey mimics the classic game well enough that were
The major known side effect is memory loss following the removal of a willing to forgive the ham-fisted evil-corp. copout just to get that old
Neuromod, but radical personality changes can occur as well. ADAM-infused feeling back.

76 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 I Majored In Puzzles,
With A Minor In Horror
BY VINCE COGLEY

$14.99 (PC) ESRB: N/A

Nkidu Games thecrowseye.com

Stop us if youve heard this before: Protagonist wakes inside sprawling, cooked up a stew using ingredients of other groundbreaking games
ominously abandoned facility, disoriented, confused, or otherwise not in and added some of its own seasoning. The environment is somewhat
complete command over his or her mental faculties. Summoning every reminiscent of BioShocks Rapture, and many of the puzzles have a distinct
last shred of courage, plus one or two shreds of curiosity, protagonist Portal feel (as youll see), right down to the malevolent, disembodied voice
braves said facility in search of the truth behind unspeakable night- needling you as you move from challenge to challenge. It never feels like
mares that befell the previous inhabitants. Shocking twist and/or The Crows Eye outright apes these games, but theres nonetheless an
revelation shakes protagonist to his or her core; things will never again unavoidable feeling of sameness that keeps it from joining the Amensias,
be the same. BioShocks, and Portals as something truly unique and remarkable.

Add a few proper nouns, and the elevator pitch for Spanish developer Then again, for 15 bucks, perhaps truly unique and remarkable is an unfair
3D2 Entertainments The Crows Eye doesnt deviate much from the bar to set for The Crows Eye. When its brain-bending mental challenges
above description. As the game starts, you awake inside the Medical work (although sometimes they either dont or just feel a little unpolished),
University of Crowswood, 20 years after the bizarre disappearance of the game is really quite enjoyable to play. Although it propels you forward at
a handful of faculty and students, an event that led to Crowswoods a reasonably good pace, The Crows Eye also offers little presents for players
closure. Naturally, youre determined to get to the bottom of the persistent enough to explore Crowswoods every nook and cranny. Plenty of
mystery, so you plunge headfirst into the derelict school in search of big-budget games have a tough time balancing this. The music is well done,
letters, recordings, and other clues. and we wanted to discover The Crows Eyes secrets.

If it sounds like were setting up The Crows Eye as Just Another Amnesia In some places you can nonetheless see the stitching, and in others the
Clone, we apologize. 3D2 Entertainment has the good sense to keep the fabric itself is a problem. The games graphics are decent at best, and
Eldritch horrors at bay and present what it calls psychological terror. considering its 2017, you could argue that even that assessment is being
Instead of trotting out the cower-in-a-broom-closet mechanic, The charitable. We can forgive clunky turns of phrase and the odd spelling error
Crows Eye lets you focus your energy on the real challenge: puzzles. In here and there, but the cackling antagonist will drive you insane faster than
fact, when you consider the game as a platforming puzzler first and a any of The Crows Eyes puzzles.
horror game second, it fares much better.
On balance, The Crows Eye does enough things right to make it worth the
Similarities to other landmark games abound, almost as if 3D2 time and money. If youre a fan of puzzle games with an eerie atmosphere,
Entertainment subconsciouslyor, who knows, maybe consciously consider registering for this class.

CPU / June 2017 77

 Clear Your Schedule
BY CHRIS TRUMBLE

$39.99 (PC) ESRB: (E)veryone 10+

Sega endless-space.com

Endless Space 2 is a 4X game that takes place in the Endless universe, a tree beings. Amplitude held a series of contests throughout the development
vast region of space that was formerly inhabited by an ancient race of beings of this faction in which players could submit ideas for various elements of
known as the Endless. The Endless have long since disappeared, leaving the factions in-game design, and finalists were put to a vote. This method of
behind a mysterious substance known only as Dust; this substance has game design stands in pretty stark contrast to the usual model, and it reflects
become the chief currency among the races that now inhabit the galaxy. Amplitudes dedication to making games for and by gamers.
Eight major factions vie for control of the galaxy through diplomatic, military,
and other means, and you must guide your faction to victory. Like most 4X games, ES2 puts you in charge of your empires governance,
exploration, technological research, diplomacy, and warfare. What balance of
ES2 is the latest offering from Amplitude Studios, and as its name suggests, these things you use to further your factions agendas and grow your empire
its a sequel to the companys 2012 4X game Endless Space. The game is up to you, but as always, politics plays a role one way or the other.
doesnt rewrite any of the rules of the genre, but it does stand out in a couple
of very pleasing ways, the first and most obvious of which is the games fairly Each of the games eight major, playable factions has a predominant
impressive level of polish. ES2 looks incredible from the opening title screen philosophical bent that affects its play style to an extent, but there are six
to the most out-of-the-way interface element, and sound design is every political ideologies (Industrialists, Scientists, Pacifists, Ecologists, Religious,
bit as good. Graphics and sound alone dont make a game fun, of course, and Militarists) that wax and wane throughout the game based on your
but they can pull you in and help to maintain your interest, and Amplitude actions and various other factors, and every 20 turns systems in your empire
definitely succeeds in that regard. hold elections for representation in the senate. Depending on the outcome of
these elections, ideology in your empires senate can shift over time, and the
The second thing that sets ES2 apart is the dev teams incredibly transparent makeup of your senate affects what laws are passed and abolished; in some
approach to designing the game. Steam has made Early Access games very cases, these shifts can force your hand where major policy decisions are
common, and lots of developers welcome feedback from players through concerned, so influencing the senate is an understandably big deal. The end
forums and other channels during and after Early Access, but Amplitude takes result is that you cant just sit back, do what works best all the time, and get
collaboration with players to a whole new level. The company shares detailed stuck in a rut, forcing you to stay on your toes.
design documents dealing with all major facets of the game on its website
that explain how systems work and the devs rationale for making them work Due to political unpredictability, the large number of playable factions, and the
that way, and its Games2Gether program actually gives interested players variety of play styles one can potentially adopt, ES2 has a staggering amount
a chance to impact game design in meaningful ways. Perhaps the best of replay value. Its the best 4X game weve played in a long time and is well
illustration of this is the eighth playable faction, the Unfallen, a race of sentient worth its $39.99 asking price.

78 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 Heroes Loom Large
BY CHRIS TRUMBLE

$59.99 (PC) ESRB: (M)ature

Sega dawnofwar.com

RTS fans are no doubt familiar with Relic Entertainment; the Vancouver-based Now Relic has refined gameplay again, this time to include a little
developer has been making its mark on the gaming landscape with excellent bit of the play styles of both DoW and DoWII. Base building is back,
franchises such as Company of Heroes, Homeworld, and Warhammer as are larger armies, including lots of troops and vehicles of various
40,000: Dawn of War since 1997. The company began as an independent types, but the games hero characters are clearly the drivers of the
developer but became part of THQ in 2004, and then was purchased by Sega action, and the rest of your forces are primarily there to support
when THQ filed for bankruptcy in 2013. their actions.

Relic and Sega recently launched the latest in the Dawn of War series based Space Marines (once again, the Blood Ravens chapter), Eldar, and Orks
on the Warhammer 40K universe, Dawn of War III, and seeing as how the first are all back as playable characters, and as before each race has its own
game in the series and its various expansions are still on my occasional play strengths and weaknesses in the never-ending rock-paper-scissors
rotation, I eagerly jumped at the chance to take this one for a spin. matchups of RTS gaming. The campaign gives you missions for each
faction fairly early on, presumably to prepare players for multiplayer and
First, though, a quick recap: the first Dawn of War game, which dropped in help them gain proficiency with each factions units and structures.
2004, was a pretty straightforward RTS in the mold of Command & Conquer,
StarCraft, and so forth, where you command futuristic sci-fi armies of troops The Blood Angels hero character is Gabriel Angelos, who has become
and vehicles in massive battles either against the games AI or other players. Chapter Master of the Blood Ravens; Angelos and his hero counterparts
The original four playable factions included Blood Ravens Space Marines, (Warboss Gorgutz of the Orks and Farseer Macha of the Eldar) are
Chaos Marines, Orks, and Eldar, and the idea of the game was pretty simple: leading the charge to find an ancient weapon of incredible power on
Build a base and use it to produce the units you need to crush your enemies. the planet Acheron, and this search soon leads to discoveries of even
The game included a couple of named hero characters, including company greater import.
captain Gabriel Angelos, but they largely served as buffs for your regular
troops and were present mostly for the games underlying narrative. I still enjoy the old-school RTS games where you can blanket the
map in your troops and crush enemies beneath your armored heel,
In Dawn of War II, Relic changed things up in a profound way. Rather than so I enjoyed the first Dawn of War a little more than DoWII. But
building huge bases and sending waves of nameless, faceless troops RTS games clearly needed to evolve, and Dawn of War III is a nice
swarming across maps shrouded in the fog of war, this sequel instead had compromise between the two styles. Warhammer 40K fans will
you controlling the actions of a small number of named Blood Ravens, each love this game, as will pretty much any and all RTS fans; the level
of which had special skills and weapons. You could select which characters of graphic unit and environmental detail is very impressive, audio
to take into each mission based on the given intel, and battles were much production is solid as usual, the controls are familiar enough to jump
smaller and more tactical in nature. right in, and the story is engaging.

CPU / June 2017 79

 Q&A With David Wolinsky
Exploring Videogames
Through Conversation
For his website Dont Die, David Wolinsky conducts interviews with individuals about the videogame industry. In fact, in about
three years, hes done more than 210 interviews with people both inside and outside of the videogame industry, including
game developers, firefighters, historians, media theorists, attorneys, podcasters, authors, musical composers, and even his
own mom. Why? As Wolinskya freelance writer who previously was an editor at The Onion, NBC, and Adult Swimexplains
on his website, he found the conversations happening online concerning videogames were stifling, as well as repetitive,
dehumanizing, and typically fixated on consumer goodsvideogames as products, not the creative products of individuals.
Wolinskys interviews are typically broad in scope, freeform in delivery, and extremely conversational in tone.

Dubbing himself a cultural historian, Wolinsky has written that the gaming industry is still reeling from the stigma that
videogames are just for kids, something that resulted in a wide variety of people feeling unqualified to talk or even feel
welcome working in videogames. Wolinsky and his interviewees have touched a range of topics, including labor issues related
to the videogame industry, how game companies view and target younger vs. older gamers, why some gamers quit playing
games as they age, and the general cultural impact videogames have on society. We spoke to Wolinsky about Dont Die and the
aim of the site. (You can read our full conversation at www.computerpoweruser.com/24413 ).

radar in the same way, which just seemed

Q : Whats the primary idea behind
Dont Die, and why was it something
you needed to do? What are you trying to
odd to me because The Onion AV Club is a
super-savvy publication. I sort of helped
accomplish with the site? spearhead that of my own volition, in
addition to what I was hired to do.
: Videogames at this point are a In a weird way or maybe a coincidental
DW couple of decades old, and there
arent many concessions to people who
way, this project is sort of taking that spirit
of trying to bring something into the fray
didnt grow up being completely passionate that may not always realize its separate. I
about them, who didnt grow up super dont know that it necessarily cares, but I
aware of them. There are just so many think it matters that its sort of been apart
assumptions being made now in articles from everything else. I dont want to really
about some of the way games are being harp or dwell on Gamergate, but it was
approached, and its sort of like, Wait a a catalyst for me sort of realizing these
minute, what if you didnt grow up playing types of disconnects. It opened the door
Zelda, Doom, and Mario? What if youre for the certain things I wanted to explore
just now starting to get into games and and certainly the project has evolved
youre in your 30s or 40s or whatever? from there.
As far as why I felt it was a thing I
needed to do, Ive been an entertainment we ran the gamut at that publication of
journalist for about a dozen years. I started
as an editor for The Onion. I was at The
covering books, TV, film, and local
markets, which I was in charge of. Also,
Q : You deliberately do interviews
with people outside the gaming
industr y and encourage anyone
Onions AV Club, which is The Onions arts food, theater, comedy. All the go-to things interested to contact you. Youve even
and entertainment section. I was working people fill their time with for entertainment interviewed your mom. Why is that
in Chicago as a city editor, and I noticed purposes. But videogames wasnt on the type of input important to Dont Die?

CPU / June 2017 81

 : Interviewing people outside the important. The project routinely gets
DW industry does arm me and my
readers with this knowledge of interesting
Q : Youve done hundreds of interviews
for this project. Does preparing for
interviews over time force you to look at
unprompted compliments, and my hope is
what people are responding to is seeing parts
things, like from a labor perspective the Dont Die in different ways? of themselves that they havent reflected upon
game industry is today where the restaurant in quite some time. The project gives some
world was 15 years ago. All sorts of weird : I feel my job with each interview people hope and others PTSD. As long as it
things, and Im still trying to figure out,
OK, what does that mean, and what can
DW is less about referring back to
previous interviews but more about allowing
elicits a reaction, even if they hate it, then I
am happy and feel I have done my job.
we do with that? I think its difficult to the people and their stories and lives to be the It seems impossible today, but there was
know what to do with that because this connective tissue. I never challenge peoples a time where I was unsure there would be a
stuff, although it steady enough supply
does appear to be of people who want
fairly mainstream, its to talk to me for this
still not connecting to maintain a regular
with other places. posting schedule.
Like I can interview People always pop up
people from outer in my inbox with a
stretches of other reaction to my work
industries or people and a conversation
in the film world. . they want to have.
. . I think about this It always surprises
a lot, which is why me, and I am hum-
you go to Dont bled and flattered
Die and it seems that people allow
very easy because themselves to be
theres always a as vulnerable as
new interview up, they do with a total
but what it doesnt For his website Dont Die, David Wolinsky has conducted interviews with game developers, firefighters, stranger. Which
telegraphand Im historians, media theorists, attorneys, podcasters, authors, musical composers, and even his own mom. was something else
trying to figure out I always intended
a way to write an essay around this medium perspectives except in rare cases where they for Dont Die to highlight and remind us
without it seeming like Im navel-gazing have demonstrated certain types of awareness all: Ultimately, we arent all that different
or complainingtheres a fair amount of and then contradict themselves. A major flaw from one another.
handholding that takes place in convincing with the internet and how we communicate
people who dont care about games that with one another is we make so many
theres something to talk about. That theres
something that can be learned. That its OK
assumptions about what people are saying
and why theyre saying it. Aside from a few
Q : Youve expressed an interest in
learning why people who used to play
videogames stop playing them. Why does
they dont know anything about it. exceptions, every interview posted on Dont that question resonate with you?
Ive had people do the interview and Die is the very first time we have ever spoken
then panic because theyre worried about human to human. We email minimally. Its : Thats where a lot of this stuff
some Gamergate-type thing. You know,
they dont know much about it. They only
a great big roll of the conversational dice.
I always learn at least one thing from each
DW started. It just occurred to me
theres this phenomenon of almost like
hear the worst things, and there is all sorts person. Usually the people who are the most SNL or Weird Al or The Simpsons
of skittishness that will take place. I did an skeptical they have anything of value to share where yeah, you grow up and have a
interview with a music critic who threatened have the most interesting stuff to say. People certain fondness for them and its funny,
to sue me if I ever published our interview. who say they dont think they have much they get locked in your head as that was
These are parts of that mirror, as well. So to say really are people who are not used to them at their apex, and you dont really pay
I think always presenting the image of, being listened to. Those are the people I want attention to where theyre at now, but you
Yeah, everyone loves games, its awesome is to listen to. Thats why Dont Die exists. know they used to be better. With games, I
damaging because its not honest, and I think I try to get out of the way and let people just noticed this phenomenon of people just
when you explore honesty you can have some who are, like me, trying to figure it all out burn out or they move on and put games
sort of, its not even progress, but you can get guide the way. People tell me things like, down, if not altogether, almost 99% play
to a better place. Dont Die is blatantly already very way less than they used to. I found it odd

82 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

because people dont stop listening to music. have to start at the beginning. All sorts of Why cant we explore smaller, more banal
People dont stop watching movies. People other things. Im sure youve heard about moments of life? Or why do games even have
dont stop watching TV. Reading is kind representation. Things like map systems, to have people in them at all?
of a different thing, but with Dont Die, and Destiny just completely losing them. Theres a lot thats still being in lockstep
Im always trying to explore conversations They just didnt know how to read it. I with things that have been done before, and
that either fall short or arent allowed to be think theres a game in every generation of I understand that because the budgets are
explored or arent being listened to. consoles thats sort of like everyones high so big. But theres also, why arent people
When we talk videogames and the ways sign to get out. Bioshock Infinite weirdly, reconsidering we could spend less? We
a lot of conversations are disconnected and tons of people talk to me about, Yeah, I could go other directions. I talked to Neil
not being listened to, were talking about was just done playing games after that. Druckmann who is at Naughty Dog. He
just another revolving door. People just But I think oftentimes, its a mix of things says their formula works and they havent had
leaving it behind. I grew up watching my going on in their lives that theyre maybe those sorts of existential conversations about
brother playing games, and he doesnt really not able to articulate because its obviously whether games are getting too expensive.
play anymore. The same thing with so many not a mediums fault per se that people lose But there are so few companies like that and
people I know. Again, its just interesting to interest in it because obviously none of really no new ones starting up at that scale
me that seemingly the game industry, which these things exists in a vacuum. But I think that I do get the sense that yeah, maybe this
is a bunch of different businesses, doesnt for game creators to not at least be open stuff will change in time and there will be
seem to care about losing people because to, Yeah, what types of things are we not a course correction, but people always talk
instead its intent on trying to still court that making? or What types of things do we about these types of changes. That theres
group of younger people. But it just doesnt want to still explore, especially for such a some sort of thing thats possible way off in
make sense in many ways. When you get technological field, its sad to me how often I the future, but actually if a bunch of people
older, you have more disposable income in hear from editors that cover games and from just got together each day, its like, We could
theory hopefully. game companies and even just down to best just do this or We could do that. That
I do think thats starting to change, but practices for how they run their business, like, would be possible, and I think it sounds very
thats only starting to change if youre on Oh, this is just how weve always done it. prudish, but when it comes to things for
the inside and savvy and understand. Like But you cant really claim to be innovative if younger peopleand Ive interviewed a few
if you were to show someone a picture of youre just constantly regressive. teenagers and pre-teenagersit probably has
Metal Gear Solid V and a picture of Call of to do with the age, but most of them arent
Duty, they wouldnt be able to tell that one
has a lot of anti-war commentary. And thats

Q : How do you feel the gaming
industry views older or aging
even aware of the sorts of things that adults
are arguing about over videogames all the
actually a pretty feeble example. There are gamers? Is it differently than how it time. Theyre busy playing games. Theyre
certainly more types of games popping up, views or approaches younger gamers? loving Minecraft.
but I dont know how people are supposed I was at GDC and with Paul Weir, who
to hear about that. You have to know which : I think the games that are hailed is the audio guy from No Mans Sky. You
blogs to go to, which writers to follow on
Twitter, which podcasts to be aware of. Most
DW as mature and adult, thats always
been a little wonky. You think of stuff like
know, if you were to ask an adult who heard
about the game, Im sure theyre aware of
people arent going to go to those sites if GTA. It has the mature rating in front, some of the backlash that happened, but
theyve lost interest in games. Maybe theyll but its obviously just a childs view or a Paul told me that game is hugely popular
read something occasionally in, say, The New teenagers view of what would be awesome with kids. Kids are busy playing. Theyre
York Times, but even there, its going to be a about being an adult or at least what would off playing. Theyre too busy having fun.
surface-type piece. Like, Hey, you should be outrageous or that sort of fun fantasy. Theyre not fighting over this stuff. For me
check out this game and buy this game. Its What I do notice is that stumbling blocks personally, I dont really necessarily make
not sort of humanizing in a way Im trying or places to improve is you look at games, those sorts of distinctions. I think all things
to do with my project, not that Im trying to especially on the consoles, that are hailed as can be for everyone. But I do know the
compare myself to The New York Times. a huge move forward for game storytelling, things that are presented to me as, Oh, this
As far as the types of things Ive heard, its similarly emotionally stunted. It basically is for sophisticated adults, frequently are
Ive heard all sorts of things, from as soon claims to be for adults, but its really more not. I think again to go back to the honesty
as games started to add voices and actors like YA-type level of emotional maturity, thing, its not about necessarily criticizing
pretending to be hurt, that was too violent which is not a knock against YA. any individual creator, its just are we being
for them. So around Street Fighter, they I think as games have continued to lose honest with each other and how can we do
tapped out. They werent interested. People people for so long, there isnt enough of better and take constructive criticism not
also feel intimidated by game series and how a rising tide of people saying, Hey, why as a declaration of war but as a beginning
long-running they are. They feel like they do videogames have to be either X or Y? of a conversation.

CPU / June 2017 83

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 Q&A With Andy Chu
GIGABYTEs Technical Marketing
Manager On The New Sabre Laptop
they are also highly affordable, while
Q : GIGABYTE showed off a new
family of 15- and 17-inch laptops
back in January at CESthe Sabre
bringing you good performance at a
fair pricea perfect match for the
Seriesand now they are here. What Sabre Series.
were GIGABYTEs goals in designing
these laptops?

: The main philosophy of the

Q : What can you tell us about the
Sabre familys keyboards? Also,

AC Sabre Series is simple: We

give you more. It sits in a congested
what is Flexikey, and what are the
advantages it provides for Sabre users?

part of the market, but were offering : Indeed, our Sabre series
more than the competition, not just
a good CPU and a GPU. Instead, we
AC comes with RGB backlighting,
which is quite unique in this part of
focus on refining details such as RGB the market. It also has excellent key
backlighting on the keyboard, Full HD travel. Flexikey is the Sabres software
IPS displays, and support for multiple for controlling the backlighting and
external displays. macro key creation, allowing for
easy customization.

Q : The Sabre Series laptops contain

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 and
1050 Ti GPUs; how did you pick the
to properly unleash the full potential of
your graphics card in a gaming system. Q : Sabre laptops are ready to start
streaming right out of the box,
1050 for these laptops over other With this in mind, all GIGABYTE right? What kinds of features and
available chips? gaming laptops come with the high- software do they have to help users
performance Core i7 H series CPUs. stream their gaming sessions?
: We believe that enthusiast Some competitors sell the much lower-
AC graphics start at this point, the
GTX 1050 level, with the GTX 1050 Ti
performing Core i7 U series CPUs or
even i5s in their gaming systems. AC : Wi t h e a c h Sa b re l a p t o p
comes a three-month premium
offering a little bit extra on top of that. With those CPUs, you will never have membership of both XSplit Gamecaster
The new chassis of the Sabre Series is the same experience, whether its in- as well as Broadcaster. These are
designed with these chips in mind with game or productivity. p o p u l a r, e a s y - t o - u s e s t r e a m i n g
headroom to spare, ensuring the system software solutions for those who wish
will run cool and quiet, allowing for a to get serious about streaming. We
pleasant experience. Q : Were loving M.2 PCIe SSDs,
even in big desktop rigs, and in
the laptop form factor they make
also send along a three-month trial of
TriDef SmartCam, which allows you
to key your background without the
Q : Sabre laptops also run Intels
Kaby Lake 7th Gen Core i7
processors; what are the primary
even more sense. Which SSDs do you
install in Sabre laptops, and how did
you pick them?
need for a green screena must for
every streamer.
benefits of these CPUs, especially in the
: Weve gone with Transcend
context of a gaming laptop?

: Youll always need a high-

AC TS128GMTS800 and Lite-On
CV3-8D128. They have passed our
Q : Are Sabre 17 laptops and Sabre
15 laptops mostly differentiated

AC performance CPU to be able thorough internal testing process and

by size, or are there other distinctions
between them?

86 June 2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com

 eye strain due to reflections in the
screen. Externally, the Sabre supports
output through one HDMI output
and two Mini DisplayPort connectors
simultaneously. Also, the circuitry for
the outputs has been re-engineered;
one of the Mini DisplayPorts and the
HDMI port get their signal straight
from the dedicated GPU, meaning
theyre VR-capable, and the Mini
DisplayPort even supports G-SYNC
and resolutions up to 8K!

Q : What about audio? Good sound

is pretty important for gaming
laptops, after all.

: Agreed, hence weve worked

AC with Creative to incorporate
Sound Blaster Cinema 3 sound into
the Sabre series. Theres been plenty of
refinements in Creatives algorithms and
the processing of the virtual surround
space, making for a great audio
experience, whether it be for gaming or
movies on the go.

Q : What kind of user is an ideal fit

for the new Sabre laptops?

: The Sabre is aimed at people

AC who are serious about gaming
but are on a limited budget. We think
it shows that an entry-level gaming
machine is more than just a CPU and
a GPU.

Q : What else would you like people

to know about GIGABY TEs
Sabre laptops?

GIGABYTEs new Sabre gaming laptop. : There will be another member

AC of the Sabre Series shortly,
dubbed the SabrePro 15. As the
: The only difference is the name suggests, its a 15-inch model,
AC size. Youll get a keyboard
with RGB backlighting, a Full HD
external displays do the Sabre lap-
tops support? but it comes with a further step up
in graphics, the GTX 1060 GPU. Its
IPS panel, as well as the ability to run : As I just mentioned, the Sabre also got the RGB backlighting on the
multiple external displays at once with
each of them.
AC Series feature Full HD screens,
more specifically IPS panels, enabling
keyboard but adds a few dedicated
macro keys and a second M.2 SSD
the widest possible viewing angles and slot for more storage options. We
the truest possible color reproduction. give you more is the mantra of the
Q : Can you talk a little more about
the displays? And what kind of Theyre also anti-glare, meaning less Sabre Series!

CPU / June 2017 87