Other – SFF.Network

Asus GeForce RTX 4080 Noctua OC Costs as Much as RTX 4090

Do you have $1,650 US Dollars to spend on a GPU? Neither do I. However, for those that want to pay RTX 4090 prices for an RTX 4080 you can now buy the 4-Slot Asus RTX 4080 Noctua OC. I’m not going to list this as a news post because there is absolutely no way I can keep opinion out of this overpriced owl face. Look, I like Noctua. I really do. The L9 series coolers have been my go-to for SFF cooling. Their fans are top notch. Even the huge NH-D15 is worth the money at $109 it …

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Tom’s Hardware Finds Up To 10% Performance Loss in Games From Windows VBS

Tom’s Hardware recently discovered that Windows Virtualization Based Security was automatically activated on their Windows 11 test platform. Thankfully, they took the time to test the performance difference with and without it on. With modern GPUs pushing more bottleneck to the CPU, it turns out that there was a pretty substantial hit to performance. In some cases, it was up to 10%. Check out their article and benchmarks by CLICKING HERE. To learn more about Windows Virtualization Based Security, CLICK HERE.

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Creative Launches Sound Blaster X5 External DAC aka External Sound Card

Creative Labs has launched the X5; a new external DAC for $279. Featuring dual Cirrus Logic CS43198 DACs, a balanced headphone amplifier, and customizable DSP EQ functions, the X5 looks like a nice audio upgrade to SFF users on paper. Rear connectivity includes unbalanced RCA input and out ports, USB input, and optical input and output. PCM playback at 32-bit /384 kHz at 130 dB DNR is supported. You can check out the product page HERE. Tech Powerup has done a review HERE. That’s a lot of numbers. Let’s make it simple. An external DAC is an external sound …

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Atlantic Writer’s HP Printer Disabled Remotely For Canceling Monthly Ink Subscription

Image Credit – HP via Wikipedia Commons Fudzilla has posted an article about the a problems of tech subscriptions and service contracts that happened to Atlantic writer Charlie Warzel. It would seem that Warzel’s printer, which he paid $200 for, stopped working because he unsubscribed to HP’s Instant Ink program. More specifically, because the original cartridges in the printer were considered part the Instant Ink program the instant he signed up for it, HP remotely disabled the printer until Warzel purchased new ink from a retailer. Why? Turns out that the Instant Ink program’s fine print states that …

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Short Length GPUs Are Finally Truly Back in Stock and A Word of Warning

Image Credit – MSI So right now a few of might be saying something like “so what…toasters make toast”. Before you get upset, this news update is not for you. It’s for the people who don’t know the ins and outs of the SFF world yet. One thing I like to do is keep an eye on the 200mm and shorter market of GPUs to see where the stock levels are. A year ago, you would have had to pay $800 for an RTX 3060 ITX style card, and likely used a Chinese importer. That’s how we had to …

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News is Light: Enjoy The Worst Set-Top Box of My Life

Image Credit – Evan-Amos Oh the 1990’s. Everyone got obsessed with the term “multimedia”. What was it? I still have no clue, but damn it we had to have it. Behold the 1990 small form factor set-top box that would define everything that was wrong with the multimedia concept; the Phillips CD-i. Powered by customized Motorola 68000 called the Phillips 68070 at a whopping who-cares-about-the-speed-this-thing-sucked-MHz, this CD spinning monstrosity was the bane of kids existence. Want a Genesis, SNES, or PC? No says the parent who watched the infomercial. This machine is “educational”. It taught me to hate. The …

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Apple Introduces New Mac mini with M2 Processors

Press Release: When an article is marked as such, it is posted verbatim from a Manufacturer’s text, and does not reflect the views or opinions of SFF.Network. Apple today unveiled the new Mac mini, supercharged by M2 and the all-new M2 Pro. With the M2 chip, Mac mini is even more powerful, capable, and affordable with a new starting price of just $599. The new M2 Pro chip delivers pro-level performance to Mac mini for the first time, enabling users to run high-performance workflows that were previously unimaginable in such a compact design. Mac mini with M2 and M2 Pro …

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AMD CES 2023 – Live Updates

Image Credit – AMD AMD is getting ready to kick off CES 2023. I’ll be posting live updates as it happens. Keep refreshing this article as it happens. Also check out the SFFN Discord for live discussion of the event. Update 1: The opening of the conference reminds me incredibly of the 3dFX Voodoo graphics ads from back in the day. I’m really hoping they’ll suddenly rip a chip out of someone’s hand and say “but we decided to use the tech for games!” Update 2: They did not make it funny. I’m sad. Also they introduction …