CRYORIG Announces the C7 low-profile heatsink
CRYORIG has officially announced the super compact C7 heatsink. Coming in at just 47mm tall, it is only 2mm taller than the stock Intel heatsink but CRYORIG is claiming up to 25% better cooling performance while staying 20% quieter. The compact dimensions are designed to stay within both the Intel and AMD keep-out zones so it should not interfere at all with RAM slots, PCIe slots, VRM heatsinks, etc. I’m not a big fan (pun completely intended) of the proprietary fan though. It seems like a nice quality fan but things fail and attaching a standard 92mm fan will be tricky. …
Shuttle Releases the Fanless Barebones DS57U
Small and quiet is the holy grail here on SmallFormFactor.net. Shuttle has been trading blows in the SFF market since the early days, and they continue that with the fanless DS57U. Based on the Intel Celeron 3205U embedded processor with Intel HD GT2 graphics, this isn’t a powerhouse, but at 1.3L of external volume, it sure is small. The system currently has a price of around $215 US on NewEgg. Guru3D has reviewed this product, mentioning that it is quiet (duh), and a little weak on the performance. This is to be expected though, as it is a Celeron based system. …
Sapphire ITX Compact R9-380 Launched
While we all wait with bated breath for the R9 Nano, Sapphire has released an ‘ITX form factor’ R9-380 graphics card on to the market. With similar performance to the previous generation R9-285 and price of around $205US on NewEgg, it doesn’t cost any more than the full fat R9-380 cards that are also currently on the market. Tom’s Hardware reviewed the card, stating that the small cooler did a great job in keeping temperatures low, and isn’t too loud. Read the article here. Thoughts? Discuss them in the forums.
AMD announces the Radeon R9 Nano video card
AMD is betting big on SFF with today’s announcement of the Radeon R9 Nano. Contrary to earlier rumors, the Nano is not a cut-down Fury X but instead features the same full complement of stream processors, ROPs, and RAM, but at a lower clockspeed and thus TDP, all wrapped up in a air-cooled SFF package. HardOCP has a great run-down of AMD’s press release, the main highlights are the 6″ (150mm) length, 175W TDP, and 1000MHz clockspeed (“up to”). The 175W TDP is a whopping 100W reduction from the Fury X but getting there ties in closely with the disclaimer on the …
Nvidia launches the GTX 950
Today Nvidia is launching the GTX 950, a new mid-range card aimed at the $150 market. While cards like the GTX 980Ti and Fury X grab headlines, this more affordable price bracket is much larger in terms of sales volume and as such is an important launch for Nvidia, considering their previous offering, the 750Ti, is now almost a year and a half old. The GTX 950 uses a slightly cut-down version of GM206, the chip used in the GTX 960, and as such features performance between the 750Ti and 960. For now we’re not seeing any of the AIB …
Asus X99-M WS review – Worth the Wait?
On the bench today is the X99-M WS motherboard, Asus’s much anticipated foray into the world of microATX X99. But has it been worth the wait? This product is one I’ve been anxiously awaiting for quite some time now, since April of last year actually. Except back then I was expecting a Rampage V Gene (a hypothetical update to the X79-based Rampage IV Gene) but the launch of Intel’s X99 platform came and went with no sign of the Gene and then a few weeks later Raja from Asus confirmed that a Gene wasn’t in the plans at all. That was a huge disappointment …
EVGA X99 Micro2 Review – Second Time’s the Charm?
Welcome to this review of the EVGA X99 Micro2 motherboard, a much needed refresh of the X99 Micro, a board that EVGA had released last Fall with the launch of Intel’s X99 platform. The original Micro wasn’t a terrible product but it had several deficiencies that prevented it from being a great board. So does this sequel address the shortcomings of its predecessor? Let’s find out! First off, this is an Intel X99 motherboard in the microATX form factor. Like the original, the Micro2 features an Intel socket 2011-3, four DDR4 RAM slots, three PCIe slots, and a M.2 slot. Specifications …
Intel Z170 Motherboards Launch
Intel’s new Skylake platform partially launches today, starting at the high-end with two new CPUs (the i7-6700K and i5-6600K) and new motherboards based on the Z170 chipset. The rest of the CPU lineup and the other motherboard chipsets will be released at a later date. Here are the Mini-ITX and microATX Z170 motherboards that have been announced so far: Mini-ITX ASRock Fatal1ty 170 Gaming-ITX/ac AnandTech has a pic and some specs of the Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac but nothing on the ASRock site or at any retailers. My suspicion is that this board won’t be available right away, a common trend as you’ll see. Highlights …