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HOW TO: MAKE A RESERVOIR ISSUE 126 MAR 201 4 4.

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11 cards reviewed
1080p to 4K
resolutions tested
Cards for every
budget, from
136 to 793
GRAPHICS
CARDS
GEAR UP FOR THE
LATEST GAMES
Which Cherry
keyboard switch
is right for you?
PLUS
INSIDE: BITCOIN MINING ON THE RASPBERRY Pi
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3 March 2014
Welcome to Issue 126
Editorial
EDITOR
Ben Hardwidge
editor@custompcmag.org.uk
LABS
Matthew Lambert
Mike Jennings

GAMES EDITOR
Rick Lane

ART EDITOR
Bill Bagnall

PRODUCTION EDITOR
Julie Birrell

CONTRIBUTORS
Antony Leather, Gareth Halfacree,
James Gorbold, Jim Killock,
Paul Goodhead, Richard Cobbett,
Simon Treadaway, Tracy King
PHOTOGRAPHY
Antony Leather,
Danny Bird


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4 March 2014
12
HOBBY TECH
Gareth investigates Bitcoin mining
on the Raspberry Pi, reviews the GertDuino
and also looks at some ancient memory.
20
EVGA Z87 STINGER
This month, its EVGAs turn in the
spotlight, with a premium mini motherboard
thats massively overclockable.
24
PREMIUM HTPC FUN
We check out Steiger Dynamics
gorgeous Origen-based touch-screen case.
30
CORSAIR HYDRO H75
Corsair brings the price of a dual-
fan liquid-cooler down to just 65.
94
ENGINE ROOM CHROME
Not to be confused with the Google
browser, Chrome is the fantastically advanced
technology behind Techlands Call of Juarez.
96
2014 PC GAMING
COUNTDOWN
We have a look at the PC gaming treats that
will be on offer this year.
100
GAMES FOR WINDOWS DEAD
What exactly happened to
Microsofts Games for Windows Live brand?
Rick Lane tracks its history to find out what
went wrong.
106
WATER-COOLING THE
RADEON R9 290X
AMDs R9 290X GPU might be ridiculously fast,
but it also gets very hot, which in turn has a
throttling effect on frame rates. Antony
Leather shows how to water-cool it, and
measures the difference it makes.
110 30
cover storY
GRAPHICS CARDS
46
The graphics card world is now one of
themost overcrowded and confusing
markets around, with many price points
occupied by numerous cards, and a bewildering
selection of model numbers and suffixes. Meanwhile,
a recent host of product launches, rebrands and
price drops has done little to ease the headache
of GPU shopping.
However, with AMDs product reshuffle
complete in the form of the R-series, and
Nvidias GTX 780 Ti also coming out, the
market has settled again. As such, now
isthe perfect time for a graphics card
face-off. From the 136 Radeon R9 270 to
the 793 GeForce GTX Titan, weve pitted
the current crop of GPUs against each
other. Weve also looked at what cheaper
options bring to the table, and looked at
Nvidias hardware PhysX features too.
34
O H7
of a
OM
114 96
118
1ssue 126
110
GUIDE TO CHERRY
KEYBOARD SWITCHES
We detail the three main types of Cherry
switches used in mechanical gaming
keyboards Blue, Red and Brown to
help you choose the right one for you.
118
HOW TO MAKE A WATER-
COOLING RESERVOIR
Sometimes only a custom part will do exactly
what you want, particularly when it comes to
water-cooling reservoirs. Antony Leather
shows you how its done.
118
46
110
12
12
Reviewed this month
Hardware
MOTHERBOARDS
20 EVGA Z87 Stinger
22 Gigabyte
GA-F2A88XM-D3H
CASES
24 Steiger Dynamics LEET Reference
28 Antec ISK600
CPU COOLER
30 Corsair Hydro H75
HEADSETS
34 Plantronics RIG
35 SteelSeries Siberia Elite
KEYBOARD
36 Func KB-460
Custom kit
42 Divoom Bluetune Bean
42 Startech USB 3 Hard Drive Adaptor
42 Xsories Weye Feye
43 Griffin WoodTones
43 Divoom OnBeat 500
43 Combat Creatures Stryder
Graphics cards Labs test
49 AMD Radeon R9 270 2GB
49 Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 2GB
50 AMD Radeon R9 270X 2GB
52 Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 2GB
54 AMD Radeon R9 280X 3GB
55 Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 2GB
58 AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB
59 Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 3GB
60 AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB
62 Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB
64 Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan 6GB
Games
86 Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag
88 Deadfall Adventures
89 Need for
Speed: Rivals
90 State of Decay
92 X: Rebirth
30
PRODUCTS
REVIEWED
Regulars
8 From the editor
10 Tracy King
12 Hobby tech
16 Incoming
40 How we test
72 CPC Elite products
84 Cynical hit
94 The engine room
98 Digital rights
129 Retro tech
130 James Gorbold
Community
112 For the win!
114 Readers drives
118 How to make a reservoir
124 Letters
126 Folder of the month
127 Your folding milestones
eed for
peed: Rivals
tate of Decay
Rebirth
5 March 2014
86
W
ow, Id better make sure I have an Nvidia card in 2014,
Ithought, as I watched The Witcher 3 PhysX demo last
year look it up on YouTube if you havent seen it yet.
Thiswas a key realisation for me. It was the very first time that a
proprietary GPU feature would actually persuade me to go with one
companys GPU over anothers since the 3dfx days.
Graphics card companies have been coming up with these
uniqueselling points for years. Back in the late 1990s, 3dfx had its
proprietary GLide API, and now AMD is similarly pushing the Mantle
and TrueAudio features of its latest GPUs, while Nvidia is pushing its
new G-Sync tech (which were going to be
having a proper look at next month).
Coverage of these unique features is
always a tough call for tech journalists. We
have to prioritise what we think most people
want, against what we personally might want,
while also giving the features the coverage
they deserve. In the early days, you also never
know whats really going to take off. At the
moment, hardly any real games use Mantle,
for example, but that might change in the future.
Likewise, Ive always had an interest in hardware-accelerated
PhysX as a technology, but until now, I wouldnt have considered
buying an Nvidia GPU just to get it. The snow effects in Batman:
Arkham Origins (see p56) look incredible, but Im not really
interested in that game, or any of the other games that support
hardware PhysX at the moment.
The Witcher 3, however, is a different ballgame for me. I loved The
Witcher 2, and the next game in the series looks to be promising a
Bethesda-style open-world environment, but with the superior
graphics, characters and combat that CD Projekt does so well. Its
the main game that Im really looking forward to in 2014, and having
hardware PhysX support will be a big bonus in terms of realism.
Would you buy an Nvidia GPU just
for hardware-accelerated PhysX?
Yes, says Ben Hardwidge
Would I buy a specific GPU just for one game? No, that would be
silly, but I do also know plenty of people who bought a high-end GPU
a few years ago just to play Crysis at its highest settings a game
that was over in around 12 hours. Would I buy a specific GPU that
could play all the games I want, but that also had the added bonus
ofhardware PhysX support for The Witcher 3. Yes, most definitely.
But this is the problem. The Witcher 3 is just one game. Im
particularly looking forward to it, but my opinion on games is
completely subjective a vast number of CPC readers will have
nointerest in it at all. Similarly, some people buy a GPU just for
Folding@home, or other distributed
computing projects that use GPU compute,
but others will have no interest in these
applications at all.
Subjectivity is hard to accommodate in
ahardware review thats based on raw
numbers, so the graphics card Labs in
thisissue (see p46) has scores based on
performance across four current games, with
features such as hardware PhysX disabled.
However, to help you make your own decisions, according to your
specific priorities, weve also included a look at hardware PhysX in
Batman: Arkham Origins, including benchmarks, and weve also
included both Folding@home and Bitcoin mining benchmarks,
soyou can still make your own judgement call, according to your
priorities. What are your priorities when making a GPU purchase?
Id be very interested to find out feel free to tell me at editor@
custompcmag.org.uk
Ben Hardwidge is the editor of Custom PC. He likes PCs, heavy
metal, real ale and Warhammer 40,000.

EDITOR@CUSTOMPCMAG.ORG.UK

@CUSTOMPCMAG
Plenty of people
bought a high-end GPU
just to play Crysis at its
highest settings a
game that was over in
about 12 hours
GRAPHICS
PRIORITIES
8 March 2014

from the editor
I
ts just another year before the events of Back to the Future 2 come
true; I cant wait for my Hoverboard. One idea the film predicted
correctly was the emergence of controller-free gaming, with the
hapless McFly scorned for playing a vintage shooting game: You
mean you have to use your hands? Thats like a babys toy! Yeah kids,
hows your Kinect working out? Im not a fan of motion sensor gaming,
but before the Kinect and Wii days, I was an excitable child with access
to many different games. As such, I greeted the news that the Internet
Archive has made a bucket-load of vintage games available with joy.
Using the sites JSMESS emulator system, players can now revisit
Atari, ColecoVision and other games in their
browser, albeit without sound yet. Nostalgia is
powerful and some of the games, such as Pac-
Man and ET okay, not ET are still very
playable. The intent is honourable, to harken
back to the revolution of the change in the
hearth of the home, when the fireplace and
later television were transformed by gaming
consoles into a centre of video game
entertainment. Thats a sentiment I can get behind, but joy and
nostalgia quickly give way to a creeping uncertainty: is this legal?
Copyright is an increasingly difficult area to write about, as
technology makes once-sensible laws unenforceable and businesses
panic at shifting culture. Weve recently seen a panic among YouTube
game reviewers Lets Players - who have been hit by long-overdue
takedown notices for content to which they dont have the rights,
leading to awkward and often angry discussions about whether
enforcing those rights benefits the content owners anymore, and if
monetising someone elses creative content, albeit via your own
interaction with it, is acceptable.
Monetisation, it turns out, is the answer to whether the retro
gaming project is legal. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)

has an exemption for libraries, such as the Internet Archive, but most
importantly, it has a 2003 amendment that gives a free pass to games
distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require
the original media or hardware as a condition of access.
As the original consoles are no longer manufactured, for now it
seems safe. Whether the copyright owners will make a legal
challenge remains to be seen, but heres hoping theyll agree that
thehistorical and educational value of the project outweighs any
commercial concerns.
Finally, a clarification. In Issue 123 I wrote about Dr Angela Tinwells
research cited in a Guardian article, saying
people who display psychopathic behaviour
often are expressionless in the top half of their
face, which sets off warning signals in people
around them. I couldnt find the paper online
and was unable to corroborate the claim, but
Dr Tinwell has been in touch with a copy of her
journal article, Perception of Psychopathy and
the Uncanny Valley in Virtual Characters.
Dr Tinwell has clarified that this article was published in an
academic, peer-reviewed journal, Computers in Human Behavior.
Ifyou read the methodology section youll see that I used an existing
empirical scale to measure psychopathy in humans called the
Elemental Psychopathy Assessment that is a self-report inventory
forassessment of psychopathy based on the five-factor model of
personality authored by Lynam et al in 2011. Two hundred and five
participants were used in this study. Also, the term psychopath is
notused in the journal article, but the medical term, psychopathy.
Gamer and science enthusiast Tracy King dissects the evidence
and statistics behind some of the popular media stories
surrounding tech and gaming @TKINGDOLL
A 2003 amendment
gives a free pass to
games distributed in
obsolete formats
IS FREE RETRO
GAMING LEGAL?
The Internet Archive provides free access
to vintage games, but what are the legal
implications, asks Tracy King?
Sceptical analYsis
10 March 2014
12 March 2014
The latest tips, tricks and news in the world of computer hobbyism,
from Raspberry Pi and Android to retro computing
hoBBY tech
GARETH HALFACREES
REVIEW: GERTDUINO
If youre a Raspberry Pi fan, you may have
heard of the Created by Gert Van Loo, who
worked on the Pis hardware design. It was
the first add-on GPIO expander announced
for the Pi, although not the first to market.
Initially a self-assembly kit full of tiny
surface mount technology, the
Gertboard was withdrawn and
re-released as a fully assembled
version although without any
changes to its incredibly unintuitive design.
Now Van Loo is back with a more compact
board dubbed the GertDuino, aiming to
bridgethe Arduino and Raspberry Pi worlds.
Designed to sit directly on top of the Pi,
connecting to the GPIO header via a female
socket on the underside, the GertDuino
provides access to an on-board ATmega328
microprocessor, which is compatible with the
Arduino Uno, as well as physical pins that can
accept Arduino Shields.
Well, mostly compatible. As with the
Gertboard, configuring the GertDuino through
its various modes requires jumpers (supplied)
or strap wires (not supplied), with the latter
obstructing any Shield that needs a serial
connection. While this can be resolved using
risers to lift the Shield above the GertDuino, it
then becomes precarious and top-heavy.
There are, however, advantages to the
GertDuino. It includes six user-addressable
LEDs pre-installed, two buttons and an
infrared module at the top edge. This
moduleis driven by a second microcontroller,
an ATmega48, which is also user-
programmable, and provides the Pi with a
real-time clock (RTC) feature, provided an
optional button-cell battery is inserted into
the holder at the upper right of the board.
assume youll do your compilation and upload
via the command line, without the benefits of
the Arduino integrated development
environment (IDE).
That, thankfully, is optional. Its possible,
thanks to work by Gordon Henderson the
same chap who wrote the BASIC interpreter
for the Fuze to modify the Arduino IDE to talk
to the GertDuino, but even then there are
caveats. I spent an hour diagnosing why I was
getting verification errors uploading simple
sample sketches, before stumbling across
acomment on a web forum that explained
sketches need to be uploaded using the via-
programmer option, rather than directly a
circumstance thats entirely undocumented in
any of the official instructions.
If you can get over the steep initial learning
curve, though, the GertDuino promises much,
especially when you start using the ATmega48
for jobs such as placing the Pi into a low-
power sleep mode and waking it up at regular
intervals. The GertDuino is available now from
CPC (http://tinyurl.com/gertduino) for 22.50
including VAT and delivery.
Theres even a bi-directional level shifter, to
avoid any magic smoke getting out when the
5V ATmegas communicate with the 3.3V Pi.
Sadly, the experience isnt as rosy once you
start working with the GertDuino. As well as
the aforementioned jumpers, which must be
swapped around depending on the chips
youre tying together, the badly organised PDF
manual is hardly written with the beginner in
mind. From installing a hacked and outdated
version of the AVRdude programmer tool, to
setting the default fuses on the ATmega ,
which should really be done at the factory, it
isnt easy to get started. Worse, the examples
The GertDuino promises to bridge the gap between the
Arduino and Raspberry Pi worlds
The GertDuino is compact, although its oversized
rubber foot near the USB ports gives it a slight slant
ave
who
was
nced
ket.
sign.
mpact
Th G D i i b id h b hh Th G tD i i t lth hit i d h T
You cant tell, but that LED is blinking as per the Arduino
Blink example sketch. Honest!
13 March 2014
14
CUSTOMISATION
Its been a good month for vintage
computing acquisitions. As well as
analmost unheard-of recased and
upgraded Dragon 32, the Welsh
competitor to the ZX Spectrum and
Acorn Electron, which Ill discuss in
a future column when I have the
damn floppy drives to spin up again,
Ipicked up a very exciting component
from Russia.
First, some background.
Computer memory is pretty much
taken for granted: you stick 4GB, 8GB
or 16GB into your box and youre
done. In the early days of computing,
however, there was no dynamic RAM
(DRAM) or even the more expensive
static RAM (SRAM) live data storage
was a much harder proposition.
In the very early days, there was
noreal data storage. Hard data would
be fed into a system on paper tape or
punch cards, processed directly and
spat out again. If you wanted to
reprocess that output, you either
hadto feed it back into the system,
orbuild a second computer next to
the first and a third for more
processing, and a fourth, and a fifth
and so on.
Clearly, a form of temporary
storage was required. Early
solutions to these problems were
often esoteric mercury delay lines,
for example, which werent easy or
safe to work with but one was
dramatically simpler than its
competitors: magnetic core memory.
Developed in the very early days
ofcomputing numerous teams
arguably developed the technology
independently, but IBM holds the
earliest patent on a core-based
system, having purchased it from
inventor Frederick Viehe core
memory held sway over the computing world until well into the
1980s. The term core to refer to memory is still in active use, in
fact: many modern computer systems, including Linux machines,
refer to the process of saving the
contents of memory to disk, in the
event of a crash, as a core dump.
Core memory harnesses the
concept of transformer design,
creating a plane of single-turn
devices by passing wires through
magnetic toroids. By sending a high
enough current through the right
wires, the polarity of a given core can
be flipped creating the binary logic
required of memory. The polarity
can be read back by writing a zero
and sensing whether the polarity
changed; if so, the lost bit was a one,
but if not, it was and still is a zero.
The technology doesnt lend itself
to miniaturisation. For every bit, the
plane requires an individual core
and three or four wires: one to
choose the column, one to choose
the row, and one or two as sensing
and inhibition wires.
The result is a sizeable grid that
holds a tiny amount of data: my
double-sided core memory module,
pictured, has eight banks of 32x32
plans for a total of just 1KB of
memory in a volume of 63,216mm.
For comparison, an SD memory card
has a 1,613mm volume and stores
up to 128GB.
While Im unlikely to treat my
corememory module, pulled from
aRussian industrial computer
whenitwas decommissioned a
surprisingly short number of
yearsago, as anything more than
adecoration for my desk, there are
those who still know how to make
core memory sing.
The Core Memory Shield (http://
corememoryshield.com), the work
of Ben North and Oliver Nash,
successfully added a hand-made
core memory module to an Arduino microcontroller as
accessible memory giving it a whopping 32 bits (or, if youd
prefer, four bytes) of rather slow memory.
CORE MEMORY MODULE
Z
S
Y
0
Y
1
Y
2
Y
3
X
0
X
1
X
2
X
3
This diagram, by Wikimedia Commons user Tetromino, shows X
and Y drive lines, S sense lines, and the Z inhibit wire in a 4x4 core
memory module
This core memory module may be attractive, but it holds just 1KB
of data
Seen under 20x magnification, the intricacy of magnetic core memory
each toroid holding a single bit is undeniably impressive
14 March 2014
hoBBY tech
14
To say that the cryptocurrency Bitcoin has
been enjoying a few column inches
recently is like saying the Pacific Ocean is a
little wet. The hash-based system has
seen its value rise almost exponentially to
a high of $1,000 per Bitcoin at the time of
writing. For those who got in on what its
critics call a classical pyramid scheme,
itsa path to riches; for everyone else, a
chance to dream about what could have
been if theyd started mining when
Bitcoins cost fractions of a penny each.
Despite an explosion of interest, its still
possible to mine Bitcoins. The days of
doing so on your CPU or GPU have passed,
however, and even expensive field-
programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) arent
powerful enough to make a difference.
Now, the game belongs to application
specific integrated circuits (ASICs)
designed specifically for Bitcoin hashing,
and its possible to save on your electricity
bill by running a few from the back of a
Raspberry Pi.
First, however, a quick disclaimer,
which is that its near impossible to
actually make any money at it.
Even joining a pool of miners, where
combined efforts lead to shared payouts,
its highly unlikely that youll ever earn a
large enough fraction of a Bitcoin to offset
the electricity used to run the ASIC and
theRaspberry Pi. Its an interesting
experiment, though, when approached as
a purely intellectual exercise, rather than a
get-rich-quick scheme.
Im using a Block Erupter ASIC,
available from eBay for around 20,
although this is possibly the slowest device
on the market at 300 million hashes per
second (MH/s); a Red Fury manages up to
2,700MH/s with the same form factor and
power draw, although it will cost you
around 150.
Top-end ASIC units can manage
600,000MH/s if you have the cash, but
remember the warning above about the
likelihood of ever earning your investment
back (you probably wont).
BITCOIN MINING ON THE RASPBERRY Pi
01
Once youve
purchased a USB-
connected ASIC, the first
step is to make sure you
have the latest software
versions. Open a shell on
the Pi and run the following
command before rebooting the system:
sudo apt-get update && sudo


apt-get upgrade
02
Because there are no reliable pre-built
binaries of the cgminer Bitcoin
hashing software for the Pis ARMv6 CPU,
well be compiling our own from source,
which means installing a few prerequisites:
sudo apt-get install libusb-1.


0-0-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev


libncurses5-dev libudev-dev


autoconf automake libtool
03
To ensure were running the absolute
latest version of cgminer, well check
out the source code from its GitHub repository
a socially minded site that combines handy
source versioning with easy sharing and
collaboration. Type the following:
git clone git://github.com/

ckolivas/cgminer.git
04
Now its time to configure and compile
the cgminer software. This step takes a
little while when compiling directly on the Pi,
NG ON THE RASPBERRY Pi
Mint your own Bitcoins with
a Raspberry Pi but dont
connect it up like this!
Youll need to install several
prerequisites on the Pi before
getting started
The latest cgminer code is
always available from the
projects GitHub page
15 March 2014
CUSTOMISATION
15
GARETH
HALFACREE
is the news reporter at
www.bit-tech.net, and a
keen computer hobbyist
who likes to tinker with technology.

@ghalfacree
WIRELESS WEARABLES
A team of researchers from Nottingham
Trent University and Loughborough
University has released details of a flexible
and water-resistant fabric-based antenna.
Designed for wearable computers and
communication systems, the antenna is
produced using traditional embroidery
machines, modified to accept conductive
threads, which then print the antenna onto
the fabric itself. Monopole antennas are
bulky, heavy and prone to breaking, explained
Professor Tilak Dias. They also attract
unwanted attention for the military during
covert and secure operations. This new
design solves such problems by being small,
lightweight, flexible and weather resistant.
REPRAPPRO LAUNCHES
ORMEROD
Open-source 3D printing specialist
RepRapPro has announced a new, web-
controllable Arduino-compatible printer
dubbed the Ormerod. Claimed to be among
the most versatile on the market, the fused-
filament fabrication system launches with
the ability to print in a single colour of plastic,
with a three-colour upgrade
promised in the near future.
With a build volume of 200 x
200 x 200mm, and support for
both ABS and PLA materials,
the company is
expecting the
design which
is, as with its
other products,
open hardware
to sell well.
Retailer http://
uk.rs-online.com
has priced the kit at 599 inc VAT.
but it does work; just dont be surprised if
youre looking at an apparently frozen screen
for a few minutes. The following commands
will kick everything off:
cd cgminer
./autogen.sh --enable-icarus &&


make
The --enable-icarus option is required to
use Block Exploder ASICs with cgminer. If
youre using a different ASIC, youll need to
enable that instead. Possible values to follow
--enable- are: avalon, bflsc,


bitforce, bitfury, hashfast,


icarus, knc, bab, klondike or
modminer. If youre not sure what you need,
check your ASIC manufacturers website for
details or just switch everything on with
multiple --enable- options.
05
Now its time to connect the ASIC to the
Pi. Dont try to use one of the Pis USB
ports directly (yes, I know Ive done that in the
picture, but I learned my lesson afterwards),
as it draws a full 500mA far more than a Pis
USB port can handle. Instead, connect
apowered USB hub to the Pi, then the
ASIC to the hub. As an added bonus, this
enables a single Pi to run multiple ASICs.
When connected, check that its seen by
the operating system by typing: lsusb
06
Finally, we can run cgminer, using
the handy Screen utility to make
sure it runs even when weve closed
downour terminal session. Type the
following to start mining Bitcoins:
screen sudo /home/pi/cgminer/

cgminer -o stratum+tcp://

yourpool.example.com -u


workername -p password
Replace the example URL, worker
name and password with your own details.
If youre not a member of a pool, join one
Iuse TripleMining at http://tinyurl.com/
triplemine. To return to your terminal but
leave cgminer running, press Ctrl+A
followed by Ctrl+D; to see how its getting
along later, type screen -r to resume
the detached Screen session.
olour upgrade
he near future.
olume of 200 x
and support for
PLA materials,
s
h
s,
re
//
This symbol means the command should all
be on one line
The configuration and
compilation stage takes a
while on a Raspberry Pi, so go
and make a cup of tea
Once installed, run cgminer
and you should start raking
in those precious fractions-
of-fractions-of-fractions-
of-Bitcoins. Success!
NEW HARDWARE
16 March 2014
AVEXIR BLITZ MEMORY
COMES TO UK
UK retailer www.overclockers.co.uk has announced that its now the
countrys exclusive dealer for Avexir BLITZ 1.1 memory. Designed
foroverclockers, the LED-equipped modules are handpicked at the
factory, and start at 1,600MHz versions for 86, but go all the way up
to super-fast 3,200MHz flavours for 720.
We take a look at the latest
newly announced products
STEAM BOXES SHOWN OFF
Now that Valves Steam OS beta has kicked off, weve started
seeing a few prototypes of third-party Steam boxes. The
designs range from set-top boxes to innovative designs that
can be attached to the back of the TV. One of the latter comes
from UK firm PiixL (www.
piixl.com), with its Jetpack
Steam box, which doesnt
compromise on graphical
power. According to PiixL,
the machines innovative
approach to cooling, using
centrifugal fans, with the components divided into separate
segments, means the slim box can handle 500W of thermal
headroom. According to PiixL, the VESA-mounted, slim
machine can accommodate an overclocked Core i7 CPU, as
well as a GeForce GTX 780 GPU.
EVGA LAUNCHES GTX 780 Ti K|NGP|N EDITION
Not everyone buys high-end graphics cards for gaming, or even for
compute performance. If youve ever been to an overclocking
tournament, youll know full well that overclocking and record breaking
are also part of the appeal, and EVGA has launched a card for exactly
that purpose, teaming up with K|NGP|N Lucido to create a GTX 780 Ti
card for competitive overclocking. Its ACX cooler includes 100mm fans,
and the PCB features a 14+3 phase power design (14 for the GPU and
three for the memory).
Meanwhile, its XOC voltage modification points, real-time voltage-
monitoring LEDs and three-plug power system (with two 8-pin and
one6-pin PCI-E power connectors) should offer the power needed
tomaintain record-breaking frequencies. In order to break world
records these days, you need some serious hardware, said K|NGP|N,
describing the card as the worlds best overclocking graphics card. He
says youll be able to expect GPU clock speeds at over 1.85GHz with
extreme cooling.
SAMSUNG
LAUNCHES 1TB
MSATA SSD
Spotting a gap in the market for mini
systems and laptops with plenty of
storage, Samsung has just launched
a new EVO 840 mSATA drive with a capacity of 1TB. To achieve this
feat, Samsung used four flash memory packages, each of which
contains 16 layers of 128Gb chips. According to Samsung, the
new1TB drive is capable of sequential read and write speeds of
540MB/sec and 520MB/sec respectively. Other capacities of the
drive will also be available, including 120GB, 250GB and 500GB
flavours. The drive is expected to cost around 500.
34
PLANTRONICS
RIG
Game, headset and
match!
24
STEIGER
DYNAMICS LEET
REFERENCE
Premium HTPC goodness
35
STEELSERIES
SIBERIA ELITE
A premium headset,
complete with lights
28
ANTEC ISK600
A tiny aluminium
mini-ITX cube thats yours
for 65
36
FUNC KB-460
Backlit mechanical
keyboards dont have to
cost the earth
20
EVGA Z87
STINGER
An overclockable mini-ITX
motherboard
22
GIGABYTE
GA-F2A88XM-D3H
Overclockable FM2+ fun for
just 53
42
STARTECH USB 3
HARD DRIVE
ADAPTOR
Access old IDE hard drives
18 March 2014
Our in-depth analysis of
the latest PC hardware

20
19 March 2014
HOW WE TEST, P40
Corsair Hydro H75
We take a look at Corsairs latest
half-height all-in-one liquid
cooler, which includes two fans
and costs just 64

30

20 March 2014
HOW MUCH?
Price 173 inc VAT
Supplier www.scan.co.uk
Manufacturer http://eu.
evga.com
Model number
111-HW-E872-KR
IN DETAIL
Chipset Intel Z87
CPU socket Intel LGA1150
Memory support 2 slots:
max 32GB DDR3 (up to
2,666MHz)
Expansion slots One 16x
PCI-E 3, one mini PCI-E
Sound Creative Sound
Core3D 8-channel
Networking 1 x Intel
Gigabit LAN
Overclocking Base clock
100250MHz; CPU
Multiplier 8-80x; max
voltages: CPU 2V, RAM 2.3V
Ports 4 x SATA 6Gbps, 6 x
USB 2 (Z87), 6 x USB 3 (Z87),
1 x LAN, 4 x surround audio
out, line in, mic, optical
S/PDIF out, HDMI,
DisplayPort, eSATA
Dimensions (mm) 170 x 170
his month EVGA steps into the mini-ITX
limelight with its Z87 Stinger motherboard.
Itretails for a whopping 173, so it wont be
going head to head against the likes of MSIs
sub-100 Z87i. Instead, it has more in common with
Asus lustworthy ROG Maximus VI Impact.
At first glance, its difficult to see why it costs so
much too. Theres no VRM daughterboard as with
Asus Z87I-Pro and Maximus VI Impact, with the Z87
Stinger only offering six power phases. Theres also
noon-board Wi-Fi, with just a vacant mini PCI-E slot.
However, take a look at the other specifications and
youll see that EVGA has clearly made more of an
investment elsewhere.
The Z87 Stinger apparently has a higher socket pin
gold content, which EVGA claims reduces inductance
and offers better power delivery, while the 10-layer
PCB supposedly improves overclocking stability and
provides better PCB cooling. The VRMs also
have a large heatsink sitting on top of them.
The layout has had considerable effort
poured into its design too. In fact, its the best
mini-ITX layout weve seen. The CPU socket
is nearer to top of the board than usual, and
there are no large heatsinks near it, while the DIMM
slots are located as far away as possible without
knocking the 24-pin ATX connector off the PCB.
The latter sits right on the edge, as does the 8-pin
EPS 12V connector and all three of the Z87 Stingers
3/4-pin fan headers. The only niggles are the USB 3
header and four SATA 6Gbps ports, which sit right
above the 16x PCI-E slot, although this will likely
makeno difference in the vast majority of mini-ITX
cases. The Z87 Stinger is also one of the few mini-ITX
motherboards weve seen to feature power, reset and
clear-CMOS buttons, as well as an LED POST code
readout, with the latter also acting
as a CPU thermometer.
Theres little to shout about in
terms of audio, however, with no
noise-isolated or discrete sound
cards as weve seen on other mini-
ITX boards, but everything else
youd expect is in place, including four rear USB 3
ports, plus four USB 2 ports. You also get Bluetooth in
addition to an Intel Gigabit Ethernet port, an HDMI port
and a DisplayPort connector. To spruce up the look of
the Z87 Stinger, EVGA has also included an I/O port
bracket that straddles the rear of the motherboard,
and improves the PCBs otherwise basic look.
PERFORMANCE
In our Media Benchmarks, the Z87 Stinger certainly
lived up to its name, recording the fastest image
editing score weve seen from a Z87 motherboard
2,124. This is slightly higher than both the previous top
mini-ITX scorers Asus Z87I-Pro and Maximus VI
Impact. Its video encoding score of 3,691 wasnt quite
top-dog, though, but still matched the Z87I-Pro and
was miles ahead of the MSI Z87Is score of 3,496.
The Z87 Stinger was back to the top of the graph in
the multi-tasking test, though, with its core of 1,747
beating the MSI Z87I and Asus Z87I-Pro by a sizeable
margin, and bettering the Maximus VI Impact by a few
points too. The overall score had the Z87 Stinger just
one point short of topping the graph, with the Maximus
VI Impact retaining its crown. However, the EVGA
board enjoyed a 69-point lead over the Asus Z87I-Pro
and a 177 point lead over the MSI Z87I.
Likewise, in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the Z87
Stinger nearly matched the Maximus VI Impact, with a
minimum frame rate of 97fps, and the two were level
in the Shogun 2: Total war CPU benchmark, with a
T
EVGA
STINGER
Excellent
layout; superb
stock speed
performance;
brilliant
overclocker
STINGY
No Wi-Fi or
discrete sound
card; expensive
CONSIDERABLE EFFORT HAS BEEN
POURED INTO ITS DESIGN ITS THE
BEST MINI-ITX LAYOUT WEVE SEEN
A superb overclocker,
but its a little too pricey
Z87 Stinger
21 March 2014
GIMP IMAGE EDITING
0 650 1,300 1,950 2,600
2,534
2,500
2,424
2,124
2,106
1,972 MSI Z87I
Asus Maximus VI Impact
EVGA Z87 Stinger
HANDBRAKE H.264 VIDEO ENCODING
0 1,100 2,200 3,300 4,400
4,321
4,384
4,156
3,691
3,729
3,496 MSI Z87I
Asus Maximus VI Impact
EVGA Z87 Stinger
MULTI-TASKING
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000
1,843
1,868
1,736
1,747
1,728
1,663 MSI Z87I
Asus Maximus VI Impact
EVGA Z87 Stinger
OVERALL
0 750 1,500 2,250 3,000
2,899
2,896
2,779
2,520
2,521
2,343 MSI Z87I
Asus Maximus VI Impact
EVGA Z87 Stinger
Stock speed min Stock speed avg Overclocked avg Overclocked min
Stock speed Overclocked
THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM
1,920 x 1,080, 16x AF, 0x AA
0 40 80 120 160
fps 146
fps 150
fps 147
fps 150
fps 137
fps 143
fps 97
fps 108
fps 98
fps 108
fps 91
fps 100
MSI Z87I
Asus Maximus VI Impact
EVGA Z87 Stinger
TOTAL WAR: SHOGUN 2
DX9 CPU Test
0 11 22 33 44
fps 36
fps 41
fps 36
fps 41
fps 33
fps 41
fps 29
fps 35
fps 29
fps 35
fps 27
fps 34
MSI Z87I
Asus Maximus VI Impact
EVGA Z87 Stinger
minimum frame rate of 29fps. Meanwhile, all the SATA
6Gbps ports are controlled by the Z87 chipset, and
produced typical read and write results of 543MB/sec
and 518MB/sec respectively.
We had big hopes for overclocking, and we werent
disappointed. While the EFI wasnt as slick as Asus
systems, the Z87 Stinger booted fine with our Core
i7-4770K at 4.7GHz with a voltage of 1.27V, and raising
the vcore to 1.3V even saw it fairly happy at 4.8GHz,
although it couldnt handle our video encoding test.
However, this wasnt due to temperatures, with
theCPU remaining at around 93C under stress
testing a toasty temperature, but below the throttling
threshold. With more tweaking, and perhaps the
01
The CPU socket is near
the top, with no large
heatsinks near it, while the
DIMM slots are located as far
away from it as possible
02
Power, reset and clear-
CMOS buttons are
included, as well as an LED
POST code readout, which also
acts as a CPU thermometer
03
The I/O port bracket
straddles the rear of the
motherboard, and helps spruce
up the boards appearance
addition of water cooling, this is potentially a super-
fast overclocker. The overclock saw the Z87 Stinger
finally top the overall score graph, recording 2,899
points just ahead of the Maximus VI impact and a
welcome 15 per cent boost over its stock speed result.
CONCLUSI ON
The Z87 Stinger is fast, very overclockable and has a
superb layout thats more cooler-friendly and less
cluttered than Asus motherboards. It also sports a
mini PCI-E slot something that both Asus boards
lack, although it also lacks Wi-Fi.
Its current price of over 170, though, is 70 higher
than MSIs Z87I, and 50 more than Asus Z87I-Pro.
The highly desirable Maximus VI Impact costs around
the same price, but itoffers a plethora of software and
hardware features, most notably a discrete sound card
too. As such, it just edges the Z87 Stinger to the top of
our list, but EVGA certainly deserves a nod for making
such a top-notch motherboard.
ANTONY LEATHER
TEST KIT
3.5GHz Intel Core
i7-4770K, 16GB Corsair
Vengeance Pro DDR3
1,866MHz DDR3 memory,
128GB OCZ Vector SSD,
Corsair Pro Series Gold
HX750 PSU, Windows 7
64-bit


custom PC
81
OVERALL
SPEED 44 / 45
FEATURES 23 / 30
VALUE 14 / 25
MINI-ITX MOTHERBOARD
01
02
03
22 March 2014
HOW MUCH?
Price 53 inc VAT
Supplier www.dabs.com
Manufacturer
http://uk.gigabyte.com
IN DETAIL
Chipset AMD A88X
CPU support FM2/FM2+
A-series APU
Memory support 4 slots:
max 64GB DDR3 (up to
2,133MHz)
Expansion slots Two 16x
PCI-E 3 (one at 16x; one at
4x), one 1x PCI-E 2 slot, one
PCI slot
Sound Realtek ALC887
8-channel
Networking 1 x Realtek
Gigabit LAN
Overclocking Base clock
100140MHz; CPU
Multiplier 8-79x; max GPU
frequency 2,000MHz; max
voltages: CPU +0.3V,
RAM1.9V
Ports 8 x SATA 6Gbps, 8 x
USB 2 (A88X), 4 x USB 3
(A88X) 1 x LAN, 4 x surround
audio out, line in, mic, optical
S/PDIF out, HDMI, VGA, DVI
Dimensions (mm) 244 x 244
ts pointless spending more than 100 on
aSocket FM2 motherboard when budget
LGA1150 motherboards can be had for half
the price; for around 250, an equivalent Intel
CPU, motherboard and discrete graphics card will
walk all over an AMD A10-6800K. Keep your choice
ofFM2 motherboard within sensible fiscal limits,
though, and you can shave 100 off that price and still
end up with a decent gaming system.
Thats where Gigabytes micro-ATX GA-F2A88XM-
D3H comes in. At just 53, adding an A10-6800K will
mean your entire CPU, GPU and motherboard setup
will cost around 150. It also sports AMDs A88X
chipset, making it one of the cheapest motherboards
to do so, and it will support AMDs Kaveri APUs, slated
for release in early 2014, too. However, cheap doesnt
always mean cheerful, so lets take a closer look.
The PCB sports the familiar brown colour of a
budget motherboard, and the chipset heatsink is the
only cooling system in sight. Meanwhile, the layout
isnt bad but it isnt amazing either, with
both the USB header and CPU fan
headers located some way from the edge
of the PCB. The CPU socket is also quite
close to the DIMM slots, and none of the
SATA ports is mounted parallel to the
PCB. At this price, though, we can forgive
these issues; theres nothing majorly adrift after all.
Thankfully, there are no shortcomings with storage
options, with the GA-F2A88XM-D3H offering eight
SATA 6Gbps ports, all controlled by the A88X chipset.
Italso has all bases covered as far as expansion goes,
offering two 16x PCI-E slots running with 16 lanes and
four lanes respectively, plus a further 1x PCI-E slot and
a standard PCI slot a decent collection for a budget
micro-ATX board. Fan headers are pretty sparse,
though, with just two offered in addition to the CPU
fanheader. Not surprisingly, theres little by way of
overclocking features, with just a clear-CMOS jumper
and a dual BIOS to aid you.
Meanwhile, the USB ports on the back panel arent
exactly in abundance, with just two USB 3 ports and
four USB 2 ports the total of six is the bare minimum
needed to deal with a modern PCs requirements.
Theres also a dual-link DVI port supporting
resolutions of up to 2,560 x 1,600, and the HDMI port
will actually offer 4K support but only in conjunction
with AMDs forthcoming APUs not its current line-up.
Unlike the G1 Sniper A88X we reviewed recently, there
are no extra audio features either, with just a standard
8-channel Realtek ALC887 on-board sound card.
PERFORMANCE
In our Media Benchmarks, the GA-F2A88XM-D3H
proved to be a little slower than the G1 Sniper A88X,
especially in the video encoding and multi-tasking
tests. Its scores of 2,012 and 980 respectively
compared negatively to the G1 Sniper A88Xs scores
of2,120 and 1.066 at stock speed, while the overall
scores were 1,423 for the G1 Sniper A88X and 1,353
forthe GA-F2A88XM-D3H. Using the A10-6800Ks
on-board GPU, our game tests also showed a slight
disadvantage, with the G1 Sniper A88X holding a 3fps
minimum frame rate advantage in Left 4 Dead 2 and a
1fps advantage in Skyrim equivalent to 8 per cent.
Overclocking our APU proved to be a little tricky, as
we were first hampered by the inability to set a specific
CPU voltage, instead having to add voltage in steps to
eventually arrive at our usual 1.475V. This was no
different with the G1 Sniper A88X, though, and it just
takes a little longer than the usual method. This is
where our test CPU is stable at 4.7GHz and, amazingly,
the GA-F2A88XM-D3H was quite happy with this
600MHz clock speed boost. Sadly, it couldnt hit 4.8GHz
like the G1 Sniper A88X, but it also matched the latters
GPU overclock, boosting the clock speed from
844MHz to 1,050MHz.
This saw the overall score in the Media Benchmarks
rise to 1,577 just 44 points short of the G1 Sniper
GIGABYTE
WINGSUIT
Good overclocker;
cheap; support
for future
KaveriAPUs
PARACHUTE
Limited
overclocking
features;
lacklustre
looks; average
stock-speed
performance
IT SPORTS AMDS A88X CHIPSET,
AND WILL SUPPORT AMDS KAVERI
APUS, SLATED FOR RELEASE IN
EARLY 2014, AS WELL
A super-cheap and
overclockable FM2+ board
GA-F2A88XM-D3H
23 March 2014
SOCKET FM2+ MOTHERBOARD
THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM
1,920 x 1,080, 16x AF, 0x AA
0 7 14 21 28
fps 20
fps 25
fps 26
fps 21
fps 25
fps 27
fps 13
fps 18
fps 19
fps 14
fps 18
fps 20
Gigabyte G1 Sniper A88X
(2,133MHz memory)
Gigabyte G1 Sniper A88X
Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H
(2,133MHz memory)
Gigabyte
GA-F2A88XM-D3H
LEFT 4 DEAD 2
1,920 x 1,080, 16x AF, 0x AA
0 20 40 60 80
fps 63
fps 67
fps 76
fps 69
fps 70
fps 78
fps 48
fps 54
fps 58
fps 51
fps 54
fps 59
Gigabyte G1 Sniper A88X
(2,133MHz memory)
Gigabyte G1 Sniper A88X
Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H
(2,133MHz memory)
Gigabyte
GA-F2A88XM-D3H
GIMP IMAGE EDITING
Stock speed Overclocked
0 350 700 1,050 1,400
1,170
1,202
1,065
1,085 Gigabyte G1 Sniper A88X
Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H
HANDBRAKE H.264 VIDEO ENCODING
0 600 1,200 1,800 2,400
2,321 2,012
Gigabyte G1 Sniper A88X
Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H
MULTI-TASKING
0 350 700 1,050 1,400
1,241
1,277
980
1,066 Gigabyte G1 Sniper A88X
Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H
OVERALL
0 450 900 1,350 1,800
1,577
1,621
1,353
1,423 Gigabyte G1 Sniper A88X
Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H
Stock speed min Stock speed avg Overclocked avg Overclocked min
2,133 MHz memory is added at overclocked settings
2,386 2,120
A88X, while the Left 4 Dead 2 minimum increased
from 48fps to 54fps, matching the more expensive
motherboard. The same was true in Skyrim, with the
GA-F2A88XM-D3H again matching the G1 Sniper
A88Xs minimum overclocked frame rate of 18fps.
AsAMDs APUs see decent gaming performance
benefits from using faster memory, we added some
2,133MHz Corsair Dominator memory to the system.
However, we had to manually input the memory
timings first to get the system stable, with the board
returning overclock errors when we tried running the
memory at its rated frequency. Once wed done that,
the minimum frame rates increased again, to 20fps in
Skyrim and 58fps in Left 4 Dead 2 just behind the G1
Sniper A88X only a little tweaking in the settings
would be needed to make Skyrim playable at 1080p.
ItsSATA 6Gbps speeds were good too, boasting read
01
All expansion bases are
covered, with two 16x
PCI-E slots running with 16 lanes
and four lanes respectively, plus
a further 1x PCI-E slot and a
standard PCI slot
02
The heatsink on top of the
A88X chipset is the only
cooling system in sight
03
None of the SATA ports is
mounted parallel to the
PCB, but thats forgivable for
the price
and write speeds of 545MB/sec and 501MB/sec
respectively, while stock and overclocked power
consumption were 39W and 75W respectively at idle,
and 143W and 198W under load.
CONCLUSI ON
Apart from a couple of niggles, such as mediocre
stock-speed performance and having to manually
input RAM timings, theres little to dislike about the
GA-F2A88XM-D3H. Its easy to overclock and there are
no major issues with the layout or features. If you can
put up with its little issues, you can save 30 compared
to Gigabytes G1 Sniper A88X. The latter is a better
board, but the GA-F2A88XM-D3H is exactly what you
want from an AMD APU motherboard its cheap
without compromising on overclocking. With support
for AMDs forthcoming APUs too, we have no
hesitation about recommending it.
ANTONY LEATHER
TEST KIT
4.1GHz AMD A10-6800K,
16GB Corsair Dominator
1,600MHz and 2,133MHz
DDR3 memory, 128GB OCZ
Vector SSD, Corsair Pro
Series Gold HX750 PSU,
Windows 7 64-bit


custom PC
84
OVERALL
SPEED 39 / 45
FEATURES 21 / 30
VALUE 24 / 25
01
02
03
24 March 2014
HOW MUCH?
Price 590 inc VAT and
shipping
Supplier
www.steigerdynamics.com
Manufacturer
www.steigerdynamics.com
IN DETAIL
Dimensions (mm) 435 x 390
x 220 (W x D x H)
Material Aluminium
Available colours
Black, silver
Weight 15kg
Front panel Power, reset,
2 x USB 3, stereo, mic, SD
card reader
Drive bays 1 x external
5.25in, 4 x internal 3.5in,
3 x internal 2.5
Form factor(s) E-ATX, ATX,
micro-ATX
Cooling 2 x 120mm side fan
mounts (fans not included),
1 x 120 rear fan mount (fans
not included), 1 x 92mm
bottom fan mounts (1 x
92mm fan included)
CPU cooler clearance
170mm
Maximum graphics card
length 280mm
Extras Touch-screen,
optical drive cover, noise
insulating foam
espite the advent of smart TVs, media
streamers and consoles, there are still plenty
of reasons to own an HTPC. Unlike smart TVs
and media streamers, PCs work with all
on-demand video streaming services, rather than
amere selection, plus they can easily record and play
back any video or music files too. With the addition of
TV tuner cards and discrete sound cards, they offer the
ability to twilight as TV recorders and bases for high-
quality sound systems, while also eliminating the need
for a NAS box or server.
One task has eluded them in many cases, though,
and thats gaming. Were not talking about easy-to-
run games such as TrackMania even Intels latest HD
graphics can cope with such low-powered games.
Dealing with the likes of Crysis 3 and
Battlefield 4 is no mean feat, however, as
isbettering consoles in the living room.
However, US-based Steiger Dynamics
offers the most extreme HTPCs weve
seen, sporting SLI graphics and even
water-cooled LGA2011 systems.
These are built into its own customised HTPC
casecalled the LEET Reference, which is available
separately. The company even offers an interesting
contraption called the Couchmaster, which enables
you to use a keyboard and mouse on your sofa. As the
company ships its case and its systems worldwide, we
were keen to take a look.
The LEET may certainly look familiar to HTPC fans,
as it appears to be a modified Origen AE case. For an
HTPC case, its one of the largest weve seen, mainly
due to its height. At 22cm, its as tall as many micro-
ATX cases. The exterior is sublime, with a huge, single-
piece aluminium shell and a hefty top panel, which has
a window option too. The use of 5mm aluminium all
round means the case weighs in at over 15kg too, so
with hardware installed, youll need a sturdy TV cabinet
to give it a home.
The front panel sports a 7in Samsung Soundgraph
FingerVU 700M touch-screen, which has been
customised to show various system status displays,
but will also be great for displaying and controlling
music playback software without switching on your TV
or reaching for the mouse, meaning your HTPC could
be used as a standalone, lossless audio jukebox too.
Above the screen sits a standard 5.25in slot, rather
than a slimline or slot-loading bay. The hole is exposed
as standard, but a tight-fitting fascia is included to
attach to your optical drive. Meanwhile, at the bottom
youll find two mini-jacks, two USB 3 ports and an SD
card reader, hidden by a flip-down cover.
Theres just one 92mm intake fan included as
standard, with Steiger Dynamics offering dual radiator
cooling options, and claiming many customers will
simply choose their own fans anyway. However, this
means that cooling isnt amazing out of the box.
Thankfully, there are plenty of vents in the case to allow
D
STEIGER DYNAMICS
1337
Great expansion
room; touch-
screen; noise
insulation; room
for full-sized PSUs
and motherboards
N00B
Only one fan;
lacklustre cooling;
expensive
IT SUPPORTS FULL-SIZED PSUS AND
MOTHERBOARDS, AND HAS ROOM
FOR SEVEN EXPANSION SLOTS TOO
The most versatile HTPC case
weve ever seen
LEET Reference
25 March 2014
HTPC CASE
cool air to be drawn inside. In a bid to reduce noise and
vibration, theres a lot of noise-absorbing foam lining
the inside of the case and top panel too, while the panel
itself rests on neoprene-lined slats.
As youd expect in a case this size, theres plenty of
room for hardware, and installation is made simpler
with the addition of a removable motherboard tray. The
LEET supports up to E-ATX-sized motherboards, full-
sized PSUs and it has room for seven expansion slots
too. It can also house three SSDs, plus a further four
3.5in hard disks via two separate mounts, which are
tucked away at the front of the case.
Graphics cards up to 280mm in length are
supported too, and with so many expansion slots
supported, dual or triple-slot coolers are an option
too.Interestingly, Steiger Dynamics suggests the best
option for CPU cooling is an all-in-one liquid cooler,
with space for both a single 120mm-fan radiator in the
rear and a dual 120mm-fan radiator in the side fan
mounts. With an optical drive installed, there isnt
otherwise a lot of space for CPU coolers, although
theres 170mm of available, so our standard case test
cooler, the Gelid Tranquillo, fitted fine.
PERFORMANCE
The 92mm fan was exceptionally quiet, yet still shifted
plenty of air. The lacklustre out-of-the-box cooling
didnt yield terrible results either, with the CPU delta T
of 59C being a long way from the worst weve seen,
despite the low noise. However, a decent air-cooled
case, such as the Corsair Obsidian 750D, knocks
another 10C off this temperature, by comparison.
The GPU delta T of 54C was again not a dire result
either, probably helped by the large vent in the side
panel next to the graphics card. Again, some of the
01
The use of 5mm
aluminium all round
means the case weighs in at
over 15kg
02
Theres just one 92mm
intake fan included
as standard, with Steiger
Dynamicsoffering dual radiator
cooling options
03
In a bid to reduce noise
and vibration, theres a lot
of noise-absorbing foam lining
the inside of the case
best cases weve seen perform much better, but with
the addition of a couple more fans, the situation would
probably improve considerably.
Besides, these temperatures are still fine, despite
being comparatively high, if youre not overclocking,
and you prioritise low noise over performance, which
is highly likely if youre building an HTPC.
CONCLUSI ON
The LEET Reference is a difficult case to classify, in that
it has all the hallmarks of an HTPC case but is touted
as a high-end gaming chassis. As such, out-of-the-
box cooling is comparatively disappointing, but you can
easily follow Steiger Dynamics recommendation of
using an all-in-one liquid cooler or even full-on
custom water cooling, which it can offer as part of the
case package. Its remarkably quiet in operation too,
and has an incredible amount of expansion room
compared to other HTPC cases.
You could easily add a high-end TV tuner card and
sound card, and still have room for a full-height, dual-
slot graphics card, several hard disks and SSDs, and
even an all-in-one liquid cooler. These features are
very rare in the world of HTPCs, but the LEET
Reference offers all of them, and still looks awesome
enough to look at home in a premium TV cabinet.
Its undoubtedly for those with lots of space, and a
fair amount of cash to spend on adding all the extras.
However, the possibilities have us drooling like Homer
Simpson over a doughnut.
ANTONY LEATHER
CPU LOAD DELTA T TEMPERATURE
GPU LOAD DELTA T TEMPERATURE
Lower is better
Lower is better
0 15 30 45 60
59C
49C Corsair Obsidian 750D
Steiger Dynamics
LEET Reference
0 15 30 45 60
54C
47C Corsair Obsidian 750D
Steiger Dynamics
LEET Reference


custom PC
80
OVERALL
COOLING 19 / 30
FEATURES 18 / 20
DESIGN 28 / 30
VALUE 15 / 20
01
02
03
28 March 2014
HOW MUCH?
Price 65 inc VAT
Supplier
www.overclockers.co.uk
Manufacturer
www.antec.com
IN DETAIL
Dimensions (mm) 260 x 369
x 195 (W x D x H)
Material Aluminium, steel
Available colours Black
Weight 2.95kg
Front panel Power, reset,
USB 3, USB 2, stereo, mic
Drive bays 1 x external
slimline optical, 3 x internal
3.5in, 2 x 2.5in
Form factor(s) Mini-ITX
Cooling 1 x 120mm fan
(fan included)
CPU cooler clearance
170mm
Maximum graphics card
length 315mm
Extras Illuminated front
panel
eing no stranger to every case form factor
thats around at the moment, were surprised
that Antec hasnt jumped a little further onto
the mini-ITX bandwagon. Its made the odd
case in the past, but in recent years, most of its mini-
ITX cases have been focused on the HTPC and office
PC segments. However, thats all changed this month
with the release of its new mini-ITX cube, the ISK600.
Its decidedly on the small side, although not quite
as small as Cooler Masters Elite mini-ITX cubes.
However, the ISK600 is made almost entirely from
aluminium, with the rest made from 0.8mm steel,
meaning it weighs less than 3kg and has an exquisite
feel that only this type of metal can bring to a PC case.
Of course, this also means a small hike in the price
tag, which stands at 65, while Cooler Masters steel
Elite 130, for example, costs less than 40.
The ISK600 also lacks a 5.25in slot, in
order to keep the height to a minimum,
butAntec has at least included a slimline
optical drive mount. Below this mount
theres also an odd strip that stretches
from either side of the front fascia, and this adds a little
pizzazz by way of a blue backlight powered by a SATA
power connector. Its very subtle, though, and it doesnt
look garish, even in darkened rooms.
Below this strip youll find a USB 3 port and a USB 2
ports, plus the obligatory mini-jacks, and power and
reset buttons. The rest of the exterior is pretty bare,
apart from side vents in the front fascia and the larger
vents in the one-piece removable top shell.
Cooling-wise, theres a single 120mm fluid dynamic
bearing fan, and this is all youll be able to install.
Thankfully, theres just enough room to use a half
height, radiator-equipped, all-in-one liquid cooler with
a single fan, but anything more elaborate, such as a
custom water-cooling loop, isnt going to be an option
without modification. The one fan sits in the rear of the
case above the I/O panel a sensible setup, as it will
make use of the ISK600s ample air vents.
Meanwhile, the insides are a little abnormal in that
the PSU mount is located at the front of the case, with
the PSU sitting on its side, and an angled power
connector running from it to a standard kettle
connector at the rear. This means theres plenty of
room for modest-sized CPU coolers anything up to
170mm is fine although large tower coolers are out
of the question. Theres room for dual-slot
317mm-long graphics cards too, and the side vent
here means your graphics card wont be suffocated
either. Alternatively, theres room for two expansion
slots, so if you wont be gaming, youll have the option
to use the latest Wi-Fi cards, sound cards or TV tuners.
There are also plenty of storage options. Two
elegant slot-in drive mounts sit in the top, which can
house two SSDs and three 3.5in hard disks without
impeding on the space of another other components.
Installing hardware is fairly straightforward and
surprisingly hassle-free too, especially given the
cases miniscule dimensions. The top-mounted
removable drive mounts mean that all your storage
can be added at the end of the build process, making
cable routing a little easier, and theres some useful
space around the PSU to hide them too. The PSU
mount also sports neoprene padding to reduce
vibration, and there should be no issues with PSU
length or PSUs with modular cables, as you have
nearly the entire width of the case at your disposal.
B
ANTEC
ALUMINIUM
Good build
quality; very
exible; room for
full-sized graphics
cards; quiet
LEAD
Mediocre cooling;
limited water-
cooling options
THERES JUST ENOUGH ROOM TO
INSTALL AN ALL-IN-ONE LIQUID
COOLER WITH A SINGLE FAN
A fantastic aluminium mini-ITX cube
for a great price
ISK600
29 March 2014
PERFORMANCE
When it came to cooling, the CPU delta T of 56C is on
a par with Cooler Masters Elite 120, but the added
airflow of Fractal Designs Node 304 at its high fan
speed knocked 7C off this result. Not surprisingly,
larger mini-ITX cases such as BitFenixs Prodigy were
better still, with a CPU delta T of just 41C.
However, the ISK600 was also extremely quiet, and
to match this noise level, the Node 304s lowest fan
speed meant it was actually 3C warmer than the
01
A single 120mm fluid
dynamic bearing fan is
installed, but thats the only
fanyoull be able to install
02
Two elegant slot-in drive
mounts sit in the top,
which can house two SSDs and
three 3.5in hard disks
03
The PSU mount is at the
front, with the PSU sitting
on its side, and an angled power
connector running from to a
kettle connector at the rear
ISK600. The GPU delta T of 51C was more
competitive, bettering the Cooler Master Elite 120 by
4C, and it was also just 2C warmer than the Fractal
Node 304 on its highest fan speed setting, while being
just 4C warmer than the best-performing Prodigy,
which managed a GPU delta T of 48C.
CONCLUSI ON
The ISK600 is affordable, easy to work with and has
enough room for all but water-cooling buffs. The front
illuminated panel is a neat aesthetic touch too. All-in-
one liquid coolers are a possibility, as are modest-
sized CPU coolers and high-end graphics cards. More
importantly, theres enough cooling to cope with our
overclocked test gear, so theres scope for using the
ISK600 as a high-end mini-ITX gaming system.
although other small mini-ITX cases manage better
cooling, albeit with louder noise. The amount of hard
disks and SSDs it can house is also commendable.
Its main competitors are Cooler Masters Elite
cubes and Fractal Designs Node 304. The former
aresmaller and cheaper, but lack the cooling and
expansion, while the Node 304 costs the same and
offers slightly better cooling, but weighs over 1kg more
and limits your CPU cooler and graphics card choice
more than the ISK600. The ISK600 has plenty of
competition, but it has cut itself a neat market
segment and, for less than 70, it wont disappoint
anyone looking to build a pint-sized gaming rig.
ANTONY LEATHER
MINI-ITX CASE
CPU LOAD DELTA T TEMPERATURE
Lower is better
0 15 30 45 60
C 56
C 49
C 59
Fractal Design Node 304,
Low fan speed
Fractal Design Node 304,
High fan speed
Antec ISK600
0 15 30 45 60
51C
47C
49C
Fractal Design Node 304,
Low fan speed
Fractal Design Node 304,
High fan speed
Antec ISK600
GPU LOAD DELTA T TEMPERATURE


custom PC
83
OVERALL
COOLING 23 / 30
FEATURES 16 / 20
DESIGN 27 / 30
VALUE 17 / 20
01
02
03
30 March 2014
CPU COOLER
HOW MUCH?
Price 64 inc VAT
Supplier www.scan.co.uk
Manufacturer
www.corsair.com
Model number
CW-9060015-WW
IN DETAIL
Compatibility Intel: LGA775,
LGA1156, LGA1155,
LGA1150,LGA2011,
LGA1366;
AMD: Socket FM1, FM2,
AM3+, AM3, AM2+, AM2
Weight 1.3kg
Radiator size (mm)
120 x 120 x 25
Fan 2 x 120mm
Stated noise 31dBA
osting just 64, Corsairs new
Hydro H75 liquid cooler sports a
half-height radiator but is equipped with two
SP120L 120mm fans, both of which are PWM-
controlled, using 4-pin fan headers.
Out of the box, the H75 supports all major current
sockets including LGA1150 and LGA2011, plus Socket
AM3+ and FM2.
Corsair has also developed a unique mounting
bracket; its backplate has sliding socket hole pins, so
adjusting it for your specific CPU socket is incredibly
easy, although youll only need this for Intel sockets,
not including LGA2011. AMD users will need to
remove their cooler mounting brackets, with the
H75screwing into the standard backplate.
We installed the fans in exhaust mode in the rear of
our case easily, although one of the rear threaded nuts
in the backplate started to turn in its mount while
removing it, so we had use pliers to prevent it from
moving while unscrewing the pin from the other side.
Weve seen this problem on numerous other coolers,
though, and thankfully, the H75 was easy to fix.
We connected the H75 with its fans maxed out to
assess its highest cooling potential and noise. It
managed a delta T of 40C in our LGA1150 test system,
which is 2C cooler than SilverStones Tundra TD03
and 3C cooler than Corsairs own H90. It also
matched many large air coolers, such as
Thermalrights Archon SB-E X2.
In our LGA2011 system, the H75s delta T of 47C
again matched the Tundra TD03, although one or two
large air coolers pipped it to the post, including the
Thermalright Archon SB-E X2 and Phanteks
PH-TC14PE. The H75 made a noticeable noise at
these settings, but it wasnt unpleasant. Plus, of
course, using the PWM function on the fans will
makeit quieter.
CONCLUSI ON
While it lacks the SilverStone Tundra TD03s good
looks, the H75 is much cheaper and matches or
betters it at cooling. Its easy to install, bar one hiccup
with the backplate, its fairly quiet and its compact size
means it should have few case compatibility issues. It
doesnt quite better every large air cooler out there, but
if you want an all-in-one liquid cooler for less than 65,
this is the one to buy.
ANTONY LEATHER
C
CORSAIR
HYDROPHOBIC
Great cooling;
cheaper than the
competition; easy
to install
SOAKED
Slight issue with
backplate; some
large air coolers
are better
A great liquid cooler for less than 65
Hydro H75
scores: lGa2011

scores: lGa115x
results
85
custom PC
OVERALL
COOLING 34 / 40
DESIGN 25 / 30
VALUE 26 / 30
FITTING EASY
85
custom PC
OVERALL
COOLING 33 / 40
DESIGN 25 / 30
VALUE 27 / 30
FITTING EASY
Lower is better
Lower is better
INTEL LGA1155
0 12 24 36 48
40C
42C
40C Corsair H80i (high)
SilverStone
Tundra TD03
Corsair H75
INTEL LGA2011
0 12 24 36 48
47C
47C
45C Corsair H80i (high)
SilverStone
Tundra TD03
Corsair H75
ped with two
ch are PWM-
jor current
, plus Socket
ounting
holepins so meansitshouldhavefewcasecompatibilityissues It
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34 March 2014
HOW MUCH?
Price 85 inc VAT
Supplier
www.overclockers.co.uk
Manufacturer
www.plantronics.com
Model number 200040-05
IN DETAIL
Cup type Circumaural
Connection Wired, USB or
3.5mm jacks
Driver(s) 40mm
Frequency response 20Hz
to 20KHz
Impedance 32 Ohms
good gaming headset is a joy to use but, as
with many gaming accessories, they can
often be a little exuberant on the styling front.
Put it this way youd probably feel like a bit of
a plum wearing some of the gaming headsets weve
reviewed on the bus.
The Plantronics RIG is designed to buck this trend,
pitching itself (thanks to its muted styling, audio hub
and clever system of interchangeable cables) as the
do-it-all headset.
It gets off to a good start with its sleek, simple
andattractive looks, although the construction of
theheadset is a little more plasticky than wed like,
considering the 85 asking price. The overdose of
plastic does at least keep the headset light and
comfortable to wear for extended periods, however.
The RIGs interchangeable cables are a great touch
too, coming with a boom microphone (for gaming) or
an in-line microphone (for mobile use). Its a simple
system, and it means that switching between gaming
and mobile use is as simple as unplugging one cable,
and plugging in the other one. Its much
more elegant than having a removable
boom microphone (like many other
headsets), as it means you dont have to
go ferreting under the PC to disconnect
the cable you leave it plugged into your
PC and just reconnect it to the headset when you want
to start screaming obscenities into the Internet again.
Additionally, the RIG features a USB mixing hub very
similar to that of the 200 Turtle Beach Ear Force Z
Seven (see Issue 118, p72). This clever box of tricks
gives you independent control over game audio and
team chat volumes, ensuring you can always hear
your mates over the cacophony of battle. You can also
connect your phone to the mixer, enabling you to pipe
in your own music (again, with independent volume
control), or answer phone calls while still in-game, by
flipping the big rocker switch in the centre to divert
your microphone input to the phone.
It works well, but the hubs sheer amount of
connections means it can quickly become a spider-
like eyesore on your desk. Likewise, bundling so many
A
PLANTRONICS
BIG RIG
Comfortable;
dual cord system
works well;
balanced audio
BIG WIG
Hub creates
mess; plasticky
feel
A worthy all-round headset
thats comfortable on the move
RIG

80
OVERALL
SOUND 34 / 40
DESIGN 26 / 30
VALUE 20 / 30
controls onto a device the size of a coaster isnt easy
either, and while Plantronics has done as well as it
could, we still found ourselves getting mixed up, even
after living with the RIG for a few days.
In terms of audio, the RIG didnt disappoint, as its
very well balanced. Bass proved meaty and satisfying,
while not overly intruding on other frequency ranges,
and the middle range was tidy too, doing a good job of
picking out individual voices during an in-game
argument scene. If asked to nitpick, wed say that high-
end reproduction could be better its good, but the
high cymbal and vocal notes on our test MP3s just
lacked the sparkle and clarity that the QPAD QH-90
(see Issue 118, p69) gave them.
CONCLUSI ON
The RIG offers a decent equilibrium between
practicality and style, while also providing good-
quality, balanced audio. The fussy mixer wont be for
everyone, although even without, it youre left with a
competent headset thats equally at home on the move
or in front of a PC.
PAUL GOODHEAD
THIS CLEVER BOX OF TRICKS GIVES
YOU INDEPENDENT CONTROL OVER
GAME AUDIO AND CHAT VOLUME
35 March 2014
GAMING HEADSETS
HOW MUCH?
Price 168 inc VAT
Supplier www.scan.co.uk
Manufacturer www.
steelseries.com
Model number 51151
IN DETAIL
Cup type Circumaural
Connection Wired, USB or
3.5mm jacks
Driver(s) Not stated
Frequency response 16Hz
to 28KHz
Impedance 32 Ohms
teelSeries Siberia range has been a favourite
among PC enthusiasts for close to a decade
now. Believe it or not, the first headset to bear
the frosty moniker was released way back in
November 2004. Competition is fierce in the gaming
audio market now, however, so the range has needed
to evolve to stay relevant. First we had the Siberia V2
(see Issue 118, p74) and now the Siberia Elite,
complete with Dolby Headphone support; a headset
into which SteelSeries claims to have poured every
ounce of its gaming headset know-how.
On the style front, the Siberia Elite is certainly
striking; huge rings of padding around the drivers
givethe headset a super-sized appearance, while
illuminated rings on the ear cups can be programmed
to glow any colour you desire. Its all a little over the top
for our liking (although this is subjective, of course),
and while the padding looks arresting, more of it
doesnt automatically equal a more comfortable
headset. In fact, in this case, its arguably
the opposite, as the sheer bulk of the ear
cups and the headsets tightness makes
the Siberia Elite feel overbearing to wear
for extended periods. We felt like we were
strapping on a scrum cap every time we
sat down to indulge in a spot of gaming.
It all adds to the weight too; despite a skinny
headband, the headset weighs a whopping 428g
142g more than the Plantronics RIG (see opposite)
and104g more than our current favourite headset, the
QPAD QH-90 (see Issue 118, p69). This added weight
makes a tangible difference to comfort too, particularly
after a long gaming session.
Given the heft of the headset (and indeed the price),
you would be well within your rights to expect a
revelatory listening experience but alas, that isnt
thecase. Sound reproduction is good, certainly, with
oodles of volume on tap, but it lacks finesse. Bass
tones are well represented, so audio doesnt sound
tinny, but the bass is often too dominant, encroaching
onto the mid-tones and confusing them. This was
forgivable when we were creating explosions in
Battlefield 4, but it often made music sound imprecise;
we could detect far more definition between
instruments from the better-balanced QH-90.
Its possible to turn to the Siberia Elites excellent
software to iron out some of the balance issues, but it
isnt ideal having to set up a custom EQ to make a 170
headset sound as good as a 70 headset. Here you can
also enable Dolby Headphone, which does its best to
ape a 7.1 setup via signal processing. Weve always
found Dolby Headphone to be a little hit and miss, but
when it works, it functions surprisingly well. However,
weve found its more effective in games than when
watching movies or listening to music
CONCLUSI ON
SteelSeries has aimed high with the Siberia Elite, but
its audio reproduction is skewed too heavily towards
the bass end of the spectrum. This is fine for its
primary purpose of gaming, but you expect better
audio quality for the money. Unless you exist on a
media diet made up exclusively of explosions and
James Earl Jones monologues, youll be better
servedby the cheaper and better-balanced QH-90.
PAUL GOODHEAD
S
STEELSERIES
DOLBY
Excellent
software; decent
build quality;
looks great
DUBLY
Too bassy; too
heavy to wear
comfortably for
long gaming
sessions;
expensive
THE ILLUMINATED RINGS ON THE
EAR CUPS CAN BE PROGRAMMED TO
GLOW ANY COLOUR YOU DESIRE
Visually striking but ultimately
lacking where it matters
Siberia Elite

scores
68
OVERALL
SOUND 30 / 40
DESIGN 21 / 30
VALUE 17 / 30
36 March 2014
HOW MUCH?
Price 65 inc VAT
Supplier www.ebuyer.com
Manufacturer
www.func.net
IN DETAIL
Connection Wired, USB
Switch type Cherry Red MX
Cable 1.8m, braided
Material Plastic
Extras Wrist rest
unc has been making mouse mats for years,
but its recently been pushing deeper into the
peripherals market. The first example we saw
came in the shape of its MS-3 gaming mouse
(see Issue 116, p44). We loved its simplicity and
performance, so we were excited when the relatively
modestly priced KB-460 landed in the lab.
Not that you would necessarily guess the two
products were related if you put them side by side.
While the MS-3 is all about elegant curves and
swooping ergonomics, the KB-460 has so many
straight lines it looks like its been designed on an
etch-a-sketch. The result is an extremely severe,
businesslike-looking keyboard that wouldnt seem out
of place on a desk in an accountants office.
Only one purely aesthetic design touch
seems to have been incorporated, and
thats the bright red metal plate on which
all the Cherry MX mechanical keys are
mounted. Its a subtle touch, as only
small slivers of the plate can be seen
between the keys, but it looks good, especially when
combined with the red backlight.
The key switches themselves are of the popular
Redvariety (see p110), meaning that they have a light,
linear action, making them ideal for gaming, as they
feel direct and responsive. This direct feel is enhanced
by the reassuringly solid chassis, which exhibited very
little rattle or flex.
Feature-wise, youd expect the KB-460 to be
relatively sparsely furnished, given its price point, but
that isnt the case. The board sports a bundled wrist
rest (covered in the same soft touch finish as the rest of
the board), two USB 2 pass-through ports, media
shortcut keys, N-key rollover and a cache of on-board
memory to store the custom settings saved to each of
the boards five profiles.
The KB-460 also boasts an innovative approach to
macros. Up to ten can be created and then individually
bound to any key via Funcs excellent and very clear
software. These are then only activated (and the
Windows key disabled) when you switch the board
intoFunc mode by hitting the Fn button and F12.
Its a slick system, giving maximum flexibility in
terms of macro key placement, while still enabling
theKB-460 to function as a normal keyboard when
performing more mundane tasks. It does slightly
preclude the use of macros for everyday tasks (such
asentering email addresses and so on), though, as
dropping into Func mode to use a macro, and then go
back out, is overly fiddly, but it works perfectly well for
gaming macros.
CONCLUSI ON
Theres a lot to like about the KB-460, not least the
price. Were used to seeing mechanical boards that
cost nearer to 100 than 50, but for 65 youre still
getting macro support, a USB pass-through, a wrist
rest, backlighting and excellent customisation
software. The styling wont be everyones cup of tea,
and it lacks the X factor of more expensive models, but
the KB-460 offers superb value for the money.
PAUL GOODHEAD
F
FUNC
FUNKY TOWN
Great software;
durable; well
priced
FUNKY SMELL
Aesthetically
plain; no on-the-
y macro creation
THE CHERRY RED MX KEYS HAVE A
LIGHT, LINEAR ACTION, MAKING
THEM IDEAL FOR GAMING
A well thought-out mechanical
keyboard for a bargain price
KB-460

82
OVERALL
DESIGN 34 / 40
FEATURES 25 / 35
VALUE 23 / 25
MECHANICAL KEYBOARD
40 March 2014
Thorough testing and research is the key to evaluating whether a product
is worth buying, and deciding whether or not theres a better alternative
TESTS: We use the Custom PC Media Benchmarks, Cinebench R11.5 and Total War: Shogun. We also test the resultant power draw of the
test PC with the CPU installed. These tests reveal a broad range of performance characteristics for the CPU, from image editing to gaming
and video encoding to 3D rendering. We run all the tests with the CPU at stock speed and again when overclocked to its highest frequency.
Graphics cards are mainly evaluated on how fast they are for their price. However, we also consider the efficacy
and quietness of the cooler. Every graphics card is tested in the same PC, so all results are directly comparable.
We judge CPUs on whether they offer sufficient speed for the price. Part of a CPUs speed score comes from
how overclockable it is. Every type of CPU is tested in the same PC, so all results are directly comparable.


The graphics card
were reviewing
Thegraphicscard 4.2GHz Intel Core
i5-3570K
AMD FM2 Intel
LGA1150
Nvidia GeForce
GTX 680 2GB
Asus F2A85-M Pro Intel
DZ87KLT-75K
120GB OCZ Vector for
FM2 and LGA1150
250GB Samsung
SSD 840 EVO for
LGA2011
8GB Corsair
2,133MHz DDR3
16GB Corsair Vengeance
Pro Silver 1,600MHz DDR3
Windows 7
64-bit
8GB Corsair Dominator
2,400MHz DDR3
Asus Maximus V
Extreme
Windows 7 64-bit
SP1
Wi d 764 bit
Intel
LGA2011
Asus X79-Deluxe 16GB Corsair Vengeance
Pro 1,866MHz DDR3
AMDFM2
amd fm2
Intel lGa2011
Intel lGa1150
orsairVengeance
HOW WE TEST
41 March 2014
Our benchmark suite
simulates how people
really use PCs, and a
higher score is better.
You can download
the suite from
www.tinyurl.com/
benchies
2.66GHz Intel Core 2
Duo E6750
2GB of Corsair
1,066MHz DDR2
250GB Samsung
SpinPoint P120S
Asus P5K Deluxe
WiFi-AP
TESTS: By using the fast PC detailed on the
left, we can be sure that any limitations are due to
the graphics card on test. We test the four games
(right) at their maximum detail settings, in their
highest DirectX mode, at several resolutions.
High-end cards should be able to sustain
playable frame rates at 2,560 x 1,440, while 1,920
x 1,080 is more important for mid-range cards;
we also now test at 5,760 x 1,080 for three-screen
setups, and 3,840 x 2,160 for 4K monitors. We
also try to overclock every graphics card we test
to assess the performance impact.
Some products are
gloriously over the
top. These items of
excellent overkill
earn our Extreme
Ultra award.
Premium Grade
products are
utterly desirable
wed eat nothing
but beans until we
could afford them.
Products worthy
of the Professional
award make you
and your business
appear even
more awesome.
Approved products
are those that do a
great job for the
money; theyre the
canny purchase for
a great PC.
For those gadgets
and gizmos that
really impress us,
or that we cant live
without, theres the
Custom Kit award.
Motherboards are evaluated on everything from layout and features
to overclockability and value for money. Every motherboard is tested
with the same components, so all results are directly comparable.


TESTS: We use the Custom PC Media Benchmarks and several games, and also test
the speeds of the boards SATA ports. We try to overclock every motherboard we review
by testing for a maximum QPI, base clock or HTT as well as overclocking the CPU to its
maximum air-cooled level. We run our tests at stock speed and with the CPU overclocked.
Intel Core
i7-4770K
Intel Core
i7-4960X
Motherboard
on test
Motherboard
on test
16GB Corsair
Vengeance Pro Silver
1,600MHz DDR3
16GB Corsair Vengeance
Pro 1,866MHz
Motherboard M AMD A10-5800K Motherboard
on test
16GB Corsair
Vengeance Pro
Silver2,133MHz
Nvidia GeForce
GTX 680 2GB*
120GB OCZ Vector Windows 7
64-bit
Windows7
*Please note: We test AMD FM2 motherboards using the on-board graphics, not the Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 2GB 3GB
Intel lGa2011
amd fm2
Intel lGa1150
sairVengeance
ADAPTOR CABLE
STARTECH USB 3 HARD DRIVE ADAPTOR
02
If you use old hard disks for backup or archive storage, or work with old PCs
professionally, youll know it can be a chore to connect old hard disks to modern
motherboards, as many dont have IDE ports anymore. Thats where this
handyStartech adaptor comes in, enabling just about any hard disk to be
hitched up to a high-speed USB 3 port thanks to its SATA, IDE
40-pin and IDE 44-pin connections. Setup is a breeze, as
itworks without drivers, although the need for an
external power brick to power the hard disk is
anannoying necessity that means youll
need to be working near a spare wall
socket. At only 27, this a sound
investment if you find yourself
handling lots of different
disksregularly.
PG
PARALLEL PORT USB 3
Price 27 inc VAT
Supplier www.dabs.com
Manufacturer www.startech.com
RDDRIVE ADAPTOR
rage, or work with old PC
harddisks tom
whe
42 March 2014
Custom Kit
We check out the latest gadgets, gizmos and geek toys
Written by Paul Goodhead
Seen something worthy of
appearing in Custom Kit?
Send suggestions to
paul_goodhead@dennis.co.uk
BLUETOOTH SPEAKER
DIVOOM BLUETUNE BEAN
01
The Bean, which is just larger than an egg, occupies
the ideal niche for a Bluetooth speaker; its cheap
enough to take to the beach or festival without overly worrying, but
not so cheap that wed rather remove our ears than listen to anything
played through it. Its fine for use used outdoors too, with a thick rubber
exterior to soak up everyday knocks, and a bundled karabiner
forclipping it to a bag or belt hook. The charging port is also
weatherproofed under a chunky rubber tab. Predictably, audio
lacked bass, and distortion rears its head at higher volumes, but
its surprisingly good for a speaker of this price and size.
PG
HAS BEEN MAGIC BEAN
Price 25 inc VAT Supplier www.amazon.co.uk
Manufacturer www.divoomusa.com
PHOTOGRAPHY ACCESSORY
XSORIES WEYE FEYE
03
The ingenious Weye Feye isnt much
larger than a Zippo and, once
connected via USB, it enables a a DSLR to be
controlled remotely via a tablet or phone
running the free Xsories app. You get a live
video feed from the camera, and the ability to
adjust various settings. It even has its own
on-board battery, so it wont unduly drain your
cameras juice. Its all incredibly slick, with
time-lapse and touch-to-focus functions
thatwouldnt be available on many old
cameras otherwise. Some lag is apparent
between the camera and the on-screen
image, but it was never enough to bother us or
ruin a shot. Its perfect for wildlife photography,
and while 200 may look expensive, its a lot
cheaper than the professional gear with which
its competing.
PG
SNAPS PHOTOS
Price 195 inc VAT Supplier www.amazon.co.uk
Manufacturer www.xsories.com
BLUETOOTH SPEAKER
DIVOOM ONBEAT 500
05
At 80, and around the size of a house
brick, the OnBeat 500 is more of a
living-room (or hotel) speaker than a rugged
travel companion, although its eight-hour
battery means its portable. Its party piece is
built-in NFC compatibility put an NFC-
equipped phone onthe OnBeat and it will
instantly enable Bluetooth, pair the devices
and start streaming music. However, audio
output is simply good rather than great. The
sound gets muddled beyond 70 per cent
volume, and the tonal balance is bass-heavy,
making music sound a touch lifeless. Theres
alot of technology here for 80, though, if you
prioritise convenience over sound quality.
PG
ON HEAT ONBEAT
Price 80 inc VAT Supplier www.amazon.co.uk
Manufacturer www.divoomusa.com
CUSTOM KIT
43 March 2014
ATTACK ROBOT
COMBAT CREATURES STRYDER
06
Strutting loudly across the office like a miniature
Monkeylord (if this confuses you, go and play Supreme
Commander immediately), the Stryder patrols
its territory, fending off trespassers with a
flurry of darts. Its all rather impressive; you
can tilt the weapon up and down, and
swivel the body independently from the
legs, meaning no direction or angle is
safe. Theres nothing tame about the
weaponry either the darts travel
around 30 feet, meaning they come out
of the weapon at a fair old lick. You can
also duel if you have two of them, with
the first robot to sustain three hits
automatically powering down. Of course,
its around five minutes of fun, and then ten
minutes of trying to find where all the darts
went. Maybe someone should invent a dart-
gathering robot next.
PG
HUMAN OVERLORD ROBOT OVERLORD
Price 40 inc VAT Supplier www.smythstoys.com
Manufacturer www.combatcreatures.com
HEADPHONES
GRIFFIN
WOODTONES
04
Given the sea of plastic, steel
and aluminium that currently
reside in our lab, its easy to see why
the Griffin WoodTones caught our
eye. Available in walnut, sapele
(pictured) or beech, we were
instantly smitten with the styling,
which struck just the right balance
between chintzy old-world charm
and modern elegance. They
sound brilliant too, with a lovely
balanced audio profile that we
found refreshing, given how
modern commercial headphones
tend to prioritise bass over all
else. As a result, the
WoodTones tackled everything
from orchestral pieces to
metal tracks with aplomb.
Chuck in the fact that theyre
comfortable and lightweight and,
at 75, theyre a bargain.
PG
BALSA MAHOGANY
Price 75 inc VAT
Supplier www.griffintechnology.co.uk
Manufacturer www.griffintechnology.co.uk
O
ver the past few years, the graphics card market has
become one of the most overcrowded and confusing
markets around when it comes to PC components.
Theres now a massive variety of price points occupied
bynumerous cards, which have a bewildering selection of model
numbers with a variety of suffixes. Meanwhile, a host of product
launches, rebrands and price drops in recent months has done little
to ease the headache of GPU shopping.
Nevertheless, with AMDs product stack reshuffle now complete in
the form of the new R-series, and Nvidias GTX 780 Ti also having been
launched, the market has settled again. As such, now is the perfect
time for a graphics card face-off. From the 136 Radeon R9 270, up to
the 793 GTX Titan, weve pitted the current crop of GPUs against
each other. Weve also looked at what cheaper options bring to the
table, and investigated Nvidias hardware PhysX features too.
MATTHEW LAMBERT AND MIKE JENNINGS
We test all the latest and greatest GPUs to find
the ideal candidates for your next upgrade
46 March 2014
WWWWWWeee tttttteeessstttttt aaallllllllllll tttthhhheee llllllaaatttteesstttt aaanndddd ggrreeeaaattttttteeessstttt GGPPPPPPUUUUUUsss tttoo fffiiiinndddd
GRAPHICS
CARD
SHOWDOWN
48
48 How we tested
49 AMD Radeon R9 270 2GB
49 Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 2GB
50 AMD Radeon R9 270X 2GB
51 Is it worth buying a cheap GPU?
52 Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 2GB
54 AMD Radeon R9 280X 3GB
55 Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 2GB
56 Inside Nvidia PhysX
58 AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB
59 Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 3GB
60 AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB
62 Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB
64 Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan 6GB
66 Feature table
68 Results graphs
47 March 2014
HOW WE TESTED, PAGE 48
48 March 2014
how we test
A
ll our graphics tests are performed on
ahigh-end Ivy Bridge system, which
features an Asus Maximus V Extreme
LGA1155 motherboard and an Intel Core
i5-3570K running at 4.2GHz. Alongside these
components is 8GB (2 x 4GB) of Corsair
Dominator 2,400MHz DDR3 RAM and a
256GB Samsung SSD 840 Pro SSD.
Meanwhile, power comes from a LEPA
G1600 1,600W PSU, capable of powering up
to four high-end graphics cards in SLI or
CrossFire configurations.
We tested each card in four separate
games. Our Battlefield 4 test uses a
60-second sequence from the start of the
single-player campaign mission Tashgar,
while Crysis 3 is tested using a custom
60-second, macro-recorded play-through
from the single-player mission Red Star
Rising. For BioShock Infinite and Batman:
Arkham Origins, we use the games built-in
benchmarks, recording a 40-second and
60-second sequence respectively.
Although these benchmarks feature their
own frame rate counters, we record every
test using the freely available FRAPS tool to
ensure accuracy.
Typically, each game is tested at its highest
detail preset with v-sync disabled, although
there are some exceptions. We disable anti-
aliasing in all games in the 4K (UltraHD)
tests, as at this resolution it otherwise
becomes too demanding for any cards to
achieve meaningful results, and the high
pixel density makes anti-aliasing largely
unimportant anyway. We also leave anti-
aliasing disabled at all resolutions in Crysis
3, again because its overly demanding, and
leave hardware PhysX disabled in Arkham
Origins since its a feature exclusive to Nvidia
cards (see p56).
SCORING STANDARDS
Following on from our previous graphics
card Labs (see Issue 119, p58), we adopted a
weighted scoring system for GPU group tests
thats designed to highlight meaningful and
real-world performance differences. The
Performance component of the final score is
calculated through a point-based system,
with points allocated according to the
minimum frame rate achieved in each test.
We focus on minimum frame rates, as its
these that youll really notice when your
games slow down.
We consider 30fps to be the minimum
target for games to remain smooth and
playable. As such, a minimum of 30fps or
more is worth three points at 1,920 x 1,080,
two points at 2,560 x 1,440 and one point at
both 5,760 x 1,080 (AMD Eyefinity/Nvidia
Surround) and 3,840 x 2,160 (4K). If a
minimum result exceeds 60fps, we award
0.5 bonus points on top, while a result of
between 25fps and 29fps (which weve
consistently considered to be borderline
playable) receives half of the 30fps points
forthe appropriate resolution.
We use these points to calculate the final
Performance percentage, which is weighted
towards 1,920 x 1,080 and 2,560 x 1,440, the
most popular mainstream and high-end
gaming resolutions respectively.
Meanwhile, multi-monitor and 4K results
count only for a small percentage, given that
theyre only important to a niche segment of
PC gamers.
This scoring method highlights cards that
are either underpowered or overpowered for
specific needs, putting the focus on real,
useful performance in the current
generation of games. After all, if one card
manages a frame rate of 4fps, and another
manages 9fps, the latter card doesnt really
win, as both are ultimately unplayable.
Weve also included results for Unigines
Valley benchmark, a demanding DirectX 11
test. Its run at 2,560 x 1,440, and at the Ultra
detail setting, with anti-aliasing disabled.
Our result is the average of three runs.
In addition, weve tested each GPU in two
popular GPGPU applications, Bitcoin mining
(integer based calculations) and Folding@
home (floating point calculations), both of
which use the OpenCL framework. As we
prioritised performance in real games,
neither Unigine nor GPGPU performance
factors into the overall scores, but their
results can be found at the back.
49 March 2014
GRAPHICS CARDS
50
SMOOTH Cheap; faster than GTX 660; small dimensions
AWKWARD Incapable beyond 1080p; too closely priced to R9 270X
PIXEL PERFECT Wallet-friendly price; low power consumption
PIXELLATED Showing its age; poor value compared to R9 270X
AMD Radeon R9 270 2GB
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 2GB
Great at 1080p, but the R9 270X is superior
Even with a price cut, it cant compete with AMDs 270X
Price 136 inc VAT Supplier www.scan.co.uk Manufacturer www.amd.com
Price 137 inc VAT Supplier www.overclockers.co.uk Manufacturer www.nvidia.com
T
he R9 270 is simply a down-clocked R9
270X, with one 6-pin PCI-E connection
instead of two. It uses the same Pitcairn GPU
with 1,280 stream processors, 80 texture units
and 32 ROPs, and at 136 its the cheapest
Pitcairn card weve seen.
AMD has dropped the core clock by
100MHz to 900MHz, though this jumps to a
boost clock of 925MHz under load. The 2GB of
memory runs at 5.6GHz (effective), however,
so the R9 270 has the same 179GB/sec of
memory bandwidth as its bigger sibling.
At 1,920 x 1,080, theres little difference
between the R9 270, R9 270X and GTX 660 in
terms of whats playable. Nevertheless, this
card typically outperforms Nvidias card, with
W
hile the GTX 660s 2.54-billion transistor
GPU has all its parts fully enabled, and
is the most high-end GK106 chip available,
itsfar from a powerhouse now. With only five
SMCs, it has just 960 stream processors (the
lowest amount on test), although its clocked
at a relatively high 980MHz, and will boost to at
least 1,033MHz.
It also has a healthy allocation of 2GB of
GDDR5 memory, although the relatively
limited 192-bit interface means that its 6GHz
(effective) memory clock only nets it 144GB/
sec of total memory bandwidth the lowest in
this test. Its 137 price tag means that it has
dropped over 40 since our last graphics
roundup, in which we commended it for good
its biggest advantage coming in Battlefield 4,
in which its 32fps minimum is noticeably
smoother than the GTX 660s 28fps. However,
the quicker R9 270X stays above the 30fps
threshold in Crysis 3, where the R9 270 fails.
Also, although its technically playable in
BioShock Infinite at 2,560 x 1,440, all cards at
or around this price point are poor choices for
such high a resolution.
If you only have one 6-pin PCI-E power
connection available, the R9 270 is your best
choice, as its slightly quicker but costs the
same as the GeForce GTX 660.
Otherwise, budget-conscious buyers
looking for 1080p gaming will be better off
with the R9 270X its faster core and higher
value for money. However, the graphics
market is a fast-changing landscape, and the
relatively low specifications are now evident in
its performance.
While it manages technically playable
frame rates of 25fs or above in every game at
1080p, it loses out to the R9 270 in three of our
four games. It scrapes by in Crysis 3, but still
cant quite maintain 30fps. Its also the only
card on test unable to meet the 30fps target in
Battlefield 4. On the plus side, its load power
consumption is 12W lower than that of the
Radeon R9 270.
In this price sector, maintaining playable
frame rates with maximum settings at 1080p
is tough, but the GTX 660 is still bettered by the
power envelope mean that it will serve you
better in the long run for just 10 more. Dont
worry if you bought a PowerColor 270 OC card
last month; its still perfectly up to the task of
1080p gaming, but that card is no longer
available at 126, meaning the 270X now
offers better value. ML
competition. The R9 270X is well worth the
extra money, but if you cant spare a second
6-pin PCI-E connector, the R9 270 also has a
little extra juice in its tank. ML
62
custom PC
OVERALL
1920 SPEED 22 / 29
2560 SPEED 2 / 15
3840 SPEED 0 / 3
5760 SPEED 0 / 3
VALUE 38 / 50
53
custom PC
OVERALL
1920 SPEED 18 / 29
2560 SPEED 2 / 15
3840 SPEED 0 / 3
5760 SPEED 0 / 3
VALUE 33 / 50
50 March 2014
PITCAIRN Solid 1080p speed; excellent price; short PCB
PITCANT Cant step up to 2,560 x 1,440
AMD Radeon R9 270X 2GB
AMD achieves affordable 1080p perfection
Price 144 inc VAT Supplier www.cclonline.com Manufacturer www.amd.com
T
he X at the end of an AMD GPU name
signifies that its designed for gaming,
and the R9 270X is the cheapest AMD card in
this months Labs to include that important
letter. Its a 144 inc VAT card, which means
that it falls in between two Nvidia cards, the
137 GTX 660 and the 173 GTX 760.
Like the R9 280X, it doesnt use any new
silicon. Instead, its based on the Pitcairn
core that was used in last years Radeon HD
7870 GHz Edition, which itself is a derivative
of the Tahiti core used in the new R9 280X and
the older Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition.
There are 1,280 stream processors inside
this GPU, which might look weedy next to the
2,048 stream processors in the Radeon R9
280X, but gives the R9 270 an edge over the
GTX 660, which only has 960 stream
processors. The R9 270X also has a 1GHz
core that can hit 50MHz higher thanks to
boosting, giving it at least a 100MHz edge
over the standard R9 270.
Interestingly, the PCBs used to make R9
270X cards can be as small as 211mm from
front to back, which made our test sample
one of the most compact cards in this Labs.
Italso requires two 6-pin PCI-E power
connectors, making it ideal if your PSU
doesnt have any 8-pin plugs.
The R9 270X is designed specifically for HD
gaming at 1080p, so its no surprise that it hit
playable minimum frame rates in every one
of our 1,920 x 1,080 benchmarks, not just at
25fps, but never dipping below 30fps in
Batman: Arkham Origins, Battlefield 4 and
BioShock Infinite. It was also the cheapest
card on test to hit 30fps in Crysis 3 at 1080p,
and its minimum of 49fps in BioShock
Infinite is also really fast for the money.
Thats pretty much the R9 270Xs limit,
though, as it began to struggle when we
loaded our 2,560 x 1,440 benchmarks. It put
in a decent show in BioShock Infinite, in
which it never went below 30fps, but it
couldnt maintain a playable frame rate in
any of our other tests. Not surprisingly,
gaming at 5,760 x 1,080 and 4K is also simply
too much for the R9 270X; it even went down
to a single-figure minimum in Crysis 3.
However, youre very unlikely to be pairing a
144 card with an expensive 4K monitor
anyway, so that isnt really an issue.
CONCLUSI ON
AMD set out to make the R9 270X ideal for
1080p gaming, and its succeeded: the card
played all of our games on a single screen
without breaking a sweat, and even coped
well with BioShock Infinite at 2,560 x 1,440. If
youre restricted to a tight budget, and know
you wont be going beyond a resolution of
1,920 x 1080, the AMD Radeon R9 270X is
currently your best option, enabling you to
play the latest games at maximum settings
without dropping below 30fps. MJ
74
custom PC
OVERALL
1920 SPEED 25 / 29
2560 SPEED 3 / 15
3840 SPEED 0 / 3
5760 SPEED 0 / 3
VALUE 46 / 50
gaming at 1080p, so it s no surprise that it hit couldn t maintain a playable frame rate in
nt price; short PCB
440
1080p perfection
erwww.amd.com r
i one anyof ourother tests. Not surprisingly,
51 March 2014
GRAPHICS CARDS
52
F
inding the best bang for your buck is
abig part of building and upgrading
your PC, and this is particularly true
when it comes to graphics cards.
Alongwith the motivation to get the
performance you need for as little money
as possible comes the temptation to
spend less on your graphics card, but is
this a false economy?
While weve based this months Labs
predominantly around mainstream and
high-end options, we also decided to look
at a couple of cheaper cards to see if they
were worth considering.
NVI DIA GTX 650 Ti
BOOST 2GB
This card is based on the GK106 GPU on
which the GeForce GTX 660 is based, but
with one SMX disabled, which equates
toa 20 per cent reduction in stream
processor and texture unit counts (768
and 64). In every other way, though, the
GTX 650 Ti Boost matches the GTX 660.
Its 192-bit memory interface and 6GHz
(effective) memory clock result in a peak
memory bandwidth of 144GB/sec.
It also shares the GTX 660s 980MHz
core clock and, unlike the vanilla GTX 650
Ti, features Nvidias Boost 2 technology
so that it can boost higher
when under load. Its
available in 1GB
and 2GB
BUDGET GRAPHICS CARDS
Weve focused testing on cards over 135, but what value
will you nd at the lower end of the market?
SKUs, and the latter costs at least 125; just
10 less than the GTX 660. Clearly, a card
at this price is unsuitable for
screens beyond 1080p, but
even at 1,920 x
1,080, it falls off
the playable
spectrum in
Battlefield 4, and
only barely hangs
on in Crysis 3 with a 25fps
minimum. It does achieve
playable frame rates in Batman:
Arkham Origins and BioShock
Infinite, but its still 7 and 14 per cent
behind the GTX 660 respectively.
AMD RADEON R7 260X 2GB
As the highest-tier product in AMDs
mainstream R7-series, this card retails for
105. This price is about 30 lower than that
of the R9 270, the bottom R9-series card, and
recycles the Bonaire GPU from the HD 7790.
As such, it has 14 compute units (896 stream
processors) and thus 30 per cent less raw
processing power than the R9 270. To
counter this deficit, AMD ships it with a core
clock of 1.1GHz (when boosting) and a
6.5GHz (effective) clock for its 2GB of GDDR5
memory. AMD has also recently announced
the R7 260, which will ship with two fewer
CUs, lower clock speeds and
just 1GB of memory.
Given the above, it isnt
surprising that the R7
260X comes bottom in
every benchmark. The
only game in which it
sustains playable frame
rates is BioShock Infinite,
although this is admittedly still
a decent achievement for a 105
card. Nevertheless, the R9 270 is just
under 30 per cent more expensive, but at
least a third faster in every game, and a
whole 45 per cent ahead in Battlefield 4.
CONCLUSI ON
Bang for buck typically reaches its
deepest lows as you approach the higher
and lower ends of a market, and these
two cards support this theory. Theyre
simply too expensive for the performance
they offer relative to the hardware above
them, and this trend worsens the lower
you go cheap doesnt always mean
good value for money. Of course, not
every rig needs to be able to pump out
smooth frame rates with high or ultra
settings at 1080p, but as hardware and
gaming enthusiasts, we feel this is a fair
test for products marketed to deliver
quality gaming experiences.
On-board graphics chips such as those
in AMDs Richland APUs (as well as the
PS4 and Xbox One) are improving with
every generation. With their HD video
support, and lack of surplus space and
power requirements, theyve already
supplanted the need for cheap discrete
graphics cards as the hardware of
choices for media centres and HTPCs. In
games, even cards such as the R7 260X
will still outpace the best on-board chips
available today, but the gap is rapidly
closing. As such, the value proposition
ofsuch cards is low, and if youre limited
to this end of the market, even a small
additional investment will go a long way.
MATTHEW LAMBERT
135, but what value
market?
atter costs at least 125; just
e GTX 660. Clearly, a card
nsuitable for
d 1080p, but
d
gs
th a 25fps
es achieve
rates in Batman:
s and BioShock
still 7 and 14 per cent
660 ti l
CONCLUSI ON
Bang for buck typically reaches its
d t l hth hi h
, gy
so that it can boost higher
when under load. Its
available in 1GB
and2GB
y
the R7 260, which will ship w
CUs, lower cloc
just 1GB o
Given t
surprisin
260X com
every be
only gam
sustains p
rates is Bio
although this
a decent achieve
card. Nevertheless,
under 30 per cent more
least a third faster in every
whole 45per cent ahead in B
GRAPHICS CARDS
52 March 2014
54
HIGH DEFINITION Smooth 1080p performance; modest PCB size; plays some games at high resolutions
STANDARD DEFINITION Expensive; AMD Radeon R9 270X almost as fast
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 2GB
Great for 1080p gaming, but the R9 270X offers better value
Price 173 inc VAT Supplier www.dabs.com Manufacturer www.nvidia.com
T
he GeForce GTX 760 is the only current-
generation Nvidia card in this Labs to dip
below the 200 barrier, but it sits at an odd
position in the market, with no direct
competitor from AMD. Its nearest rivals are
the Radeon R9 280X, which is much more
expensive at 240, and the R9 270X, which is
a more affordable 144.
Under the hood, the GTX 760 uses the
GK104 architecture thats also found inside
the GTX 770, which is a revised version of the
core that debuted in 2012s GeForce GTX 680.
Thats an enviable pedigree, but the Kepler
core used here has been significantly cut
down in order to meet this cards budget.
The1,152 stream processors are divided
intosix streaming multiprocessors that,
bizarrely, are then divided into four graphics
processing clusters (GPCs) two of these
GPCs have pairs of multiprocessors, while
two make do with one each.
The GTX 760 has 3.54 billion transistors,
which is the same number as the more
expensive GTX 770, but Nvidia has pacified
this cheaper card with lower clock speeds.
The GTX 760 runs at 980MHz with a top
boostclock of 1,124MHz, while the GTX
770zips along at 1,046MHz and
1,130MHzrespectively.
Elsewhere, the GTX 760 has 2GB of
GDDR5 RAM clocked to an effective
frequency of 6,008MHz slower than the GTX
770 and its 256-bit memory interface
matches that of the R9 270X. This is
allcrammed onto a modest PCB
too:this240mm card only needs
two6-pin power plugs,
ratherthanthe 8-pin
connectors needed
onlarger cards.
In terms of
performance, the
GTX 760 took an early
lead in the 1,920 x
1,080 tests. Its 42fps minimum
in Batman: Arkham Origins was 6fps
quicker than the R9 270X, and it was 5fps
faster in BioShock Infinite and Crysis 3. The
cheaper AMD card fought back, though, in
Battlefield 4 its 36fps minimum frame rate
was 2fps faster than the GTX 760. These
wins are mainly academic, though, as both
cards never dip below 30fps in any of our
games, meaning theyre smoothly playable.
Where the GTX 760 has a small edge over
the R9 270X is at 2,560 x 1,440. The GTX 760s
25fps minimum in Batman is playable, giving
the card a slight edge over the R9 270X, and
italso managed a respectable 33fps
minimum in BioShock Infinite. However,
Crysis 3 and Battlefield 4 were still out of
reach at this resolution.
Like the R9 270X,
the GTX 760 isnt
designed for 4K and
multi-monitor gaming, and it
showed in our tests, in which it
failed to produce any playable frame rates.
CONCLUSI ON
The GTX 760 and the R9 270X are both
designed for 1,920 x 1,080 gaming, as our
benchmarks illustrate and while the GTX
760 is a little faster than the AMD card, both
cards are consistently playable in top titles
atthis resolution. And, while the GTX 760 is
30 more expensive than the AMD card,
neither parts have enough power to make
aconvincing step up to 2,560 x 1,440 a
borderline playable frame rate in Batman:
Arkham Origins isnt enough to recommend
this card for frame rates beyond 1080p. The
GTX 760 is marginally faster than the R9
270X, but that extra power doesnt drastically
change its capabilities, meaning the 144 R9
270X offers better value for money. MJ
72
custom PC
OVERALL
1920 SPEED 25 / 29
2560 SPEED 5 / 15
3840 SPEED 0 / 3
5760 SPEED 0 / 3
VALUE 42 / 50
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54 March 2014
SWEET SPOT Playable frame rates at 2,560 x 1,440; attractive price
DAMP SQUIB Cant handle 4K or 5,760 x 1,080; GTX 770 has the same price
AMD Radeon R9 280X 3GB
Hits the mid-range sweet spot, but the GTX 770 offers a better deal
Price 240 inc VAT Supplier www.dabs.com Manufacturer www.amd.com
T
he R9 280X comes in at 240, which AMD
considers a sweet spot the point at
which a card will comfortably play top-end
titles at 1,920 x 1,080 and 2,560 x 1,440
without the high prices associated with top
cards. Its an important chunk of the market,
which is why Nvidias GeForce GTX 770 has
exactly the same price.
The R9 280X doesnt use the new Hawaii
architecture found inside AMDs R9
290-series cards. Instead, it recycles the
Tahiti core from the Radeon HD 7970 GHz
Edition, which cost around 400 when it
debuted in 2012. It isnt new technology, but
itstill has an impressive specification.
There are 4.3 billion transistors inside the
28nm die, and 2,048 stream processors
numbers that, on paper, better the 3.54
billion transistors and 1,536 stream
processors inside the GTX 770.
In other areas, though, the R9 280X falls
behind its rival. The AMD card has a core
clock of 850MHz that can hit a Boost
maximum of 1GHz, but the Nvidia card takes
a 1,046MHz stock clock and raises it to a
potential peak of 1,130MHz. The R9 280X
has3GB of GDDR5 memory clocked to an
effective 6,000MHz (effective), which is more
than the GTX 770, although that does have a
costlier 4GB variant. The Nvidia card wins on
speed, though, with its GDDR5 memory
clocked at 7,012MHz (effective).
There wasnt much to separate the two
cards at 1,920 x 1,080, with only a few
frame rates separating them in each
test, and each card achieving
playable frame rates that
never dipped below
30fps. Unlike the
cheaper cards in
this test, though,
both the GTX 770
and R9 280X also
managed to clock
up playable frame
rates in each of
our game tests at 2,560 x 1,440,
again with little separating them. Some
games, such as Crysis 3, did dip below 30fps,
but were still comfortably above the 25fps
barrier that we consider playable.
So far, so similar, but the GTX 770 revealed
a small party trick once we hit 4K. The GTX
770s 32fps minimum in Batman: Arkham
Origins wasnt only playable, but was also
9fps ahead of the R9 280X. Otherwise,
though, neither card was capable of
achieving high frame rates at this resolution.
Likewise, while the R9 280X was quicker
than the GTX 770 in some three-screen tests,
neither card could manage playable frame
rates so the point is moot. The R9 280X was
4fps faster in Battlefield 4, and the GTX 770
could only better its rival by 1fps in Crysis 3.
Interestingly, though, while both cards
were close across our benchmarks, the GTX
770 was massively in front of the AMD card
inUnigine Valley, with a score of 2,135
compared to the R9 280Xs 1,760.
This might not be a real game, but it
potentially indicates superior DirectX 11
performance for future games.
CONCLUSI ON
The R9 280X consistently returned playable
frame rates at 1,920 x 1,080 and 2,560 x
1,440, making it fine for playing current
games at either resolution. However, the R9
280X faces stiff competition from the GTX
770, and their neck-and-neck performance
and matched prices make the choice tough.
There really isnt much in it, but the GTX 770s
playable frame rate at 4K in Batman just
clinches the deal, making it the (slightly)
better card for this money. MJ
81
custom PC
OVERALL
1920 SPEED 26 / 29
2560 SPEED 12 / 15
3840 SPEED 0 / 3
5760 SPEED 0 / 3
VALUE 43 / 50
y y p y
55 March 2014
GRAPHICS CARDS
56
MID-RANGE Playable frame rates at 2,560 x 1,440; Batman playable at 4K; good price
LOW-END Unplayable at 5,760 x 1,080
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 2GB
Locked head to head with AMD in this months tightest battle
Price 240 inc VAT Supplier www.overclockers.co.uk Manufacturer www.nvidia.com
T
he GeForce GTX 770 is priced at 240 inc
VAT, so it has strong competition from
AMDs Radeon R9 280X, which is ostensibly
newer and has the same price. The GTX 770
brings some hardcore hardware to the fight
though namely, a revised Kepler-based
GK104 GPU, which formed the basis of
2012s flagship GTX 680. The R9 280X uses a
chip that first debuted in the Radeon HD 7970
GHz Edition so, in effect, this battle
concerns two cut-price flagship chips.
The GTX 770 architecture sports1,536
stream processors spread across 12 GPCs
therefore, on paper, AMDs R9 280X looks
likeit has the upper hand, with its 2,048
stream processors.
However, there are other complications.
The GTX 770 has a stock core frequency of
1,046MHz the highest base speed of any
card in Nvidias current range, and higher
than the 850MHz pace of its big rival, the R9
280X. The Nvidia card can boost further too,
with a maximum speed of 1,130MHz, which
is again the highest of any GPU in this test.
The GTX 770 is available with 2GB or 4GB
of memory, but its the former weve tested
here. The cards GDDR5 memory runs at an
effective speed of 7,012MHz, which is again
the highest memory frequency of any card in
this months Labs. However, the GTX 770s
top memory bandwidth figure of 224GB/sec
lags behind the R9 280Xs 288GB/sec figure.
This is because the AMD card has a 384-bit
memory interface, while the Nvidia card
makes do with a 256-bit connection.
The GTX 770 got off to a good start in our
benchmarks. At 1,920 x 1,080, it beat its AMD
rival in three out of our four tests, although
both cards never dipped below 30fps in any
ofour game tests at this resolution, so this
win is largely academic, especially as the
performance differences were small.
The gap between the two cards narrowed
even further when we ran our game tests at
2,560 x 1,440 too. The GTX 770 led the way in
Crysis 3, where its minimum of 29fps was
just 1fps quicker than the R9 280X, but both
cards recorded minimums of 42fps in
BioShock. Either way, both cards managed
playable frame rates in all our game tests at
this resolution.
The GTX 770 took a single victory in our 4K
benchmarks, though, achieving a playable
minimum frame rate of 32fps in Batman:
Arkham Origins. Thats it though every
other game was unplayable on either card at
this resolution, and neither card could play
current games at 5,760 x 1,080.
Interestingly, however, the GTX 770
managed a large lead over the R9 280X in
Unigine Valley. This test usually prefers
Nvidia hardware, but it also suggests that
theGTX 770 could offer faster DirectX 11
performance in future games. The GTX 770
also had the bonus of slightly lower power
consumption than the R9 280X.
CONCLUSI ON
Theres very little between the GTX 770 and
the R9 280X when it comes to real-world
performance, but as they have the same
price, the GTX 770 wins out with its single
playable game at 4K and slightly lower power
consumption. If you have around 240 to
spend, this is the card to buy. MJ
83
custom PC
OVERALL
1920 SPEED 26 / 29
2560 SPEED 10 / 15
3840 SPEED 1 / 3
5760 SPEED 0 / 3
VALUE 46 / 50
GRAPHICS CARDS
56 March 2014
58
I
n order to cut through the marketing
jargon, weve based our scores on a
bang per buck scale. However, both AMD
and Nvidia offer unique additional
features. Recently, for example, AMD
hasbeen promoting its Mantle API and
TrueAudio, while Nvidia is marketing
G-Sync and PhysX.
Here, were going to look at the latter
to assess the difference it can make to
your gaming experience.
WHAT IS PHYSX?
PhysX is essentially a physics simulation
engine. It was originally designed to run
on dedicated PPU cards, or via software,
but since Nvidias acquisition of its
original maker, Ageia, dedicated PPUs
have been abandoned. Although the
engine itself can run on various systems
through software, including consoles
and AMD cards, its optimised to run best
on GeForce graphics cards that are
CUDA-enabled.
PHYSX TESTI NG
Batman: Arkham Origins is the latest
game to feature Nvidia-exclusive PhysX
features. For testing, weve compared
the GTX 770 with the R9 280X, and the
GTX 780 with the R9 290, as our original
game tests showed these cards to be
closely matched. We also ran the
entire built-in benchmark, rather
than our usual 60-second snippet, so
that we could fully capture the various
physics simulations.
The in-game PhysX settings are Off,
Normal and High. Normal graces the
game with interactive paper, debris
and banners.
For example, running through or
near some debris, or running through
some hanging toilet paper, will cause
it to move realistically based on your
movements. This setting is available
when using an AMD card, but the CPU
will handle the calculations. High is
NVIDIA PHYSX
What benets does hardware accelerated physics processing bring to Batman?
reserved for Nvidia users, and adds extra
effects for steam, smoke and snow.
On Normal, the additional debris is easy
tospot, and adds a decent touch of realism,
but the performance impact can be big. The
GTX 780s minimum frame rate falls from
64fps to 51fps at 1,920 x 1,080, a 20 per cent
decrease, while the GTX 770 suffers a similar
16 per cent drop, although both results are
still playable.
The impact on AMD hardware, however, is
drastic. Although the average frame rates
are higher than those of their Nvidia
counterparts, even the R9 290 only manages
a minimum result of 25fps at 1,920 x 1,080
this is only just on the borderline of being
playable, which is shocking for a 335
card only running at 1080p. The PhysX
intensive portions are very CPU-limited,
and even our overclocked Core i7-3570K
doesnt have enough power to maintain
satisfying frame rates at these settings.
Visually, the High PhysX setting is
where you see the biggest difference. Fog
and smoke are more prevalent and are
clearly simulated, rather than just being
animated. Meanwhile, the additional
particle effects and tessellation in the
snow, both in the air and on the ground,
are also pleasing to watch. This improved
experience costs the GTX 780 another 16
per cent in lost frames (31 per cent in total
compared to no PhysX), while the GTX
770 loses just 9 per cent (24 per cent in
total). Both cards also maintain frame
rates well above 30fps at this setting.
CONCLUSI ON
If you particularly love a game that
supports PhysX (The Witcher 3 will
support it, for example), then its
definitely worth considering buying
Nvidia hardware to get the ultimate
level of realism. However, its only
supported in eight 2013 games, and
thats always the crux with such
middleware packages, including
AMDs Mantle and TrueAudio.
MATTHEW LAMBERT
Batman: Arkham Origins with hardware
PhysX off (left) and on (right)
BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS
1,920 x 1,080, DX11 Enhanced, 8x AA, PhysX Off
Minimum Average
PhysX Normal
0 25 50 75 100
fps 100
fps 88
fps 70
fps 76
fps 65
fps 64
fps 51
fps 48
AMD Radeon
R9 280X 3GB
Nvidia GeForce
GTX 770 2GB
Nvidia GeForce
GTX 780 3GB
AMD Radeon
R9 290 4GB
0 25 50 75 100
fps 79
fps 64
fps 84
fps 68
fps 51
fps 43
fps 25
fps 22
AMD Radeon
R9 280X 3GB
AMD Radeon
R9 290 4GB
Nvidia GeForce
GTX 770 2GB
Nvidia GeForce
GTX 780 3GB
PhysX High
0 25 50 75 100
fps 57
fps 48
fps 44
fps 39
Nvidia GeForce
GTX 770 2GB
Nvidia GeForce
GTX 780 3GB
www.overc|ockers.co.uk
EUy W|t| Ccndence
0vercIockers Uk | Unit 5 LymedaIe Cross, NewcastIe-under-Lyme, Staordshire, S75 97
www.overcIockers.co.uk 7eI: 0871 200 5052
Pr|oes oorreot at t|me of pr|nt but may ohange w|thout pr|or not|oe. A|| |tems subjeot to ava||ab|||ty. D|soount oodes are va||d for 2 weeks after the magaz|ne pub||sh date.
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58 March 2014
ON THE RADAR Much cheaper than rivals; several games playable at 4K
OFF THE GRID Can be loud and hot; cant handle Battleeld 4 at 5,760 x 1,080
AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB
Top-end performance for a great price
Price 335 inc VAT Supplier www.ebuyer.com Manufacturer www.amd.com
A
t first glance, the R9 290 looks like it
should be overshadowed by the flagship
R9 290X, but its worth paying attention to this
particular chunk of graphics hardware its
over 75 cheaper, yet it still uses the same
foundry-fresh Hawaii core. The cheaper card
has the 6.2 billion transistors of its bigger
sibling, and it still has 4GB of GDDR5 RAM
clocked to 5GHz (effective), plus a 512-bit
memory interface, although compromises
have understandably been made elsewhere.
The main change comes in stream
processors: there are 2,560 divided into 40
compute units, cut down from the 2,816
processors and 44 compute units in the
R9290X. It has the same number of
rasterisers, tessellation units and ROPs,
though, and its still built with a 28nm
manufacturing process. Like the R9 290X, it
also still needs one 8-pin and one 6-pin
PCI-E power connector.
Like the more expensive card, this GPU
includes support for AMDs TrueAudio and
Mantle, and theres now no need to use
physical connectors for CrossFire either
itsall handled by the PCI-E lanes.
However, while the R9 290 might have
been cut back in certain areas, it still
impressed in our benchmarks. It offers
playable frame rates in every game at 1,920 x
1,080 and 2,560 x 1,440, and at the former
resolution it never dropped below a super-
smooth 60fps in either Batman: Arkham
Origins or BioShock Infinite.
There often wasnt much of
a gap between this 335
graphics card and
its more
expensive
stablemate
either. In
Batman at
2,560 x 1,440,
the R9 290s
minimum of 41fps was only 3fps
slower, and that 3fps difference was
repeated across our other games at 2,560
x 1,440. Likewise, the R9 290s biggest Nvidia
rival is the GTX 780, which is almost 45
more expensive, but the R9 290 beat it in
every single one of these tests.
The gap between the R9 290 and the R9
290X was even smaller at 5,760 x 1,080, but
this is where the difference becomes crucial.
In Battlefield 4, the R9 290s 23fps minimum
was only 2fps behind the 290X, but this
effectively makes the game unplayable at
these settings. Both cards hit a minimum
frame rate of 28fps in BioShock Infinite. Once
again, it was faster than the GTX 780 in every
triple-screen benchmark, although not by
any notable difference both cards only offer
playable frame rates in BioShock Infinite and
Batman: Arkham Origins at this resolution.
However, the R9 290 offered surprising
power in our 4K tests, in which it managed
playable (25fps or above) frame rates in
everygame except Crysis 3, while the GTX
780 only achieved this feat in Batman:
Arkham Origins.
The R9 290 isnt particularly efficient,
though, with its load total system power
consumption of 401W being significantly
higher than the 373W with the GTX 780
installed. It was hot and noisy during our
tests too, but these factors can easily change
given better cooling.
CONCLUSI ON
The R9 290 only costs 335, but consistently
punches above its weight. It maintains
playable frame rates at 4K in all our tests,
except Crysis 3, and almost keeps pace with
the R9 290X, despite being 75 cheaper. The
pricier R9 290X can play Battlefield 4 at 5,760
x 1,080, but otherwise this GPU does it all. MJ
88
custom PC
OVERALL
1920 SPEED 27 / 29
2560 SPEED 13 / 15
3840 SPEED 2 / 3
5760 SPEED 1 / 3
VALUE 45 / 50
59 March 2014
GRAPHICS CARDS
60
SOARING Smooth frame rates at 2,560 x 1,440; comparatively low power consumption
FALLING AMDs cheaper R9 290 plays more games at 4K; too expensive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 3GB
Loses out to AMDs more keenly priced R9 290
Price 379 inc VAT Supplier www.scan.co.uk Manufacturer www.nvidia.com
T
he GeForce GTX 780 Ti is Nvidias
flagship card, but at 379, the standard-
issue GTX 780 isnt far off the Radeon R9
290Xs 410 price. For that money, you get
acard built around the same GK110 core
used inside the GTX 780 Ti and the GTX
Titan,and the Kepler architecture that first
debuted with the GTX 600-series although,
understandably, its been cut back to meet
this cards lower price.
There are 2,304 stream processors inside
12 streaming multiprocessors (SMPs),
rather than the 15 SMPs included in the
more expensive card. The GTX 780 is clocked
a little lower too; its 863MHz core and
1,002MHz peak boost speed are a little
shortof the 875MHz and 1,020MHz figures
from Nvidias current flagship.
The GTX 780, like its bigger sibling, has
3GB of GDDR5 memory addressed with a
384-bit memory interface, but its RAM runs
at an effective frequency of 6,008MHz the
speed used in last years range-topping GTX
680 rather than the 7GHz pace of the
current top cards memory.
The GTX 780 still has just over 7 billion
transistors on a 561mm
2
die though it
usesthe same chip, but some of its SMPs
have simply been disabled.
Theres little difference on the outside
between the GTX 780 and its pricier
stablemate either: both cards use 267mm
PCBs and require single 6-pin and 8-pin
PCI-E power connectors.
However, while the GTX 780
squares up to the R9 290X
at the checkout, it
cant compete
with either the
290X or even its
much cheaper
sibling, the R9
290. On the plus side, the
GTX 780 never dipped below
30fps at 2,560 x 1,440, even in
Crysis 3, meaning it will provide
smooth performance at this resolution in
practically any current game. However, even
at this resolution, the R9 290 was faster in
every test except Crysis 3, and the difference
in that test was only a measly 1fps.
The GTX 780 didnt fare any better at 5,760
x 1,080 either. In Batman: Arkham Origins,
the GTX 780s minimum pace of 25fps was
only just on the borderline of being playable,
while the R9 290 and R9 290X clocked in at
29fps and a smooth 30fps respectively. At
this resolution, the GTX 780 also only
managed a minimum of 18fps, while the R9
290X managed a borderline playable 25fps.
There was a slight glimmer of hope for the
GTX 780 at 3,840 x 2,160, where its 36fps
minimum in Batman was ahead of the 32fps
score of the R9 290X, but both results are still
comfortably playable. Whats more, the GTX
780 couldnt manage playable frame rates in
any other test at 4K, while the much cheaper
R9 290 never dropped below 25fps in both
Battlefield 4 and BioShock Infinite.
On the plus side, the GTX 780 scored 2,487
in Unigine, compared to the R9 290Xs 2,378,
but this is only a theoretical test. The Nvidia
hardware proved more power-efficient than
AMDs equivalent, however, with idle and
load total system power draws of 108W and
373W respectively, compared to 114W and
409W with the R9 290 installed.
CONCLUSI ON
The GTX 780 can easily play every game at
1,920 x 1,080 and 2,560 x 1,440, but thats to
be expected at this price. However, the
significantly cheaper Radeon R9 290
manages this while also offering playable
frame rates in Battlefield 4 and BioShock
Infinite at even higher resolutions. In this
price bracket, youre better off saving some
money by opting for the quicker R9 290. MJ
80
custom PC
OVERALL
1920 SPEED 27 / 29
2560 SPEED 13 / 15
3840 SPEED 1 / 3
5760 SPEED 1 / 3
VALUE 38 / 50
GRAPHICS CARDS
60 March 2014
62
FLAGSHIP Much cheaper than Nvidias equivalent; plays several games with three screens
DINGHY Still struggles with Crysis 3 at high resolutions; gets very hot; high power consumption
AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB
Great performance for the money, but it gets hot
Price 410 inc VAT Supplier www.ebuyer.com Manufacturer www.amd.com
A
MDs 410 R9 290X is one of few parts
from the Volcanic Islands range to
feature a genuinely new GPU. The GPU,
codenamed Hawaii XT, is fabricated using
a28nm manufacturing process, and is
basedon the Graphics Core Next (GCN)
architecture. It has 6.2 billion transistors,
which is 800 million crammed onto a
438mm
2
die, making the chip smaller than
Nvidias 561mm
2
top-end hardware.
AMD organises the R9 290Xs 2,816
stream processors into four shader engines
overall, this GPU contains 37.5 per cent
more hardware than last years Radeon
HD7970, but it still has 64 fewer stream
processors than Nvidias GeForce GTX 780 Ti.
Elsewhere, theres 33 per cent more L2
cache and double the number of rasterisers
of the Radeon HD 7970, and double the
number of ROPs, so the R9 290X can
theoretically process twice as many pixels
per second than its predecessor. Meanwhile,
the 4GB of GDDR5 memory soldered to the
R9 290Xs 275mm PCB is addressed by a
512-bit interface a wider interface than any
current GeForce GPU.
Not surprisingly, the R9 290X had no
trouble with our game tests at 1080p and
2,560 x 1,440, and it improved on its good
form at 5,760 x 1,080. The R9 290X hit a
smooth minimum of 30fps in Batman at
5,760 x 1,080, and it was also the only card on
test to hit a borderline playable minimum of
25fps at Battlefield 4 at this resolution. It hit
aplayable minimum of 28fps in BioShock
Infinite too, although the pricier GTX 780 Ti
managed a smoother 34fps. It topped the
table in Crysis 3 too, although no card could
hit a playable frame rate in this game
with three screens.
However, the GTX 780 Ti leads
the way at 4K, getting the
top result in three out of
our four test games.
The R9 290X led the
way in Battlefield 4,
with a decent,
playable minimum
of 28fps, but the GTX
780 Tis minimum of 44fps was
12fps quicker in Batman: Arkham
Origins, and the Nvidia card also didnt dip
below a 30fps in BioShock Infinite either,
while the R9 290X managed a playable but
less impressive 27fps. The GTX 780 Ti was
quicker in Crysis 3 too, although no card
achieved a playable frame rate in this test.
The GTX 780 Ti is also more power-
efficient. The R9 290Xs idle and load power
consumption figures of 114W and 409W
(total system power consumption) are
among the worst on test the system drew
111W and 380W respectively with the GTX
780 Ti installed. The R9 290X gets hot too,
which is a factor worth considering before
putting it in a cramped case with minimal
airflow. Its heat can be tamed, though, as we
show in our water-cooling guide on p106.
CONCLUSI ON
The R9 290X is one of the quickest cards in
this test, and while the GTX 780 Ti is
sometimes quicker, it also costs over 100
more. However, the R9 290 hits the sweet
spot with its much cheaper price and
comparable performance on single-monitor
setups the 290X is only really worth
considering if youre gaming across three
screens, and youll need to accommodate its
heat and power requirements too. This is a
better flagship than the GTX 780 Ti, but its
toasty tendencies make it hard to
recommend, and the R9 290 hits a better
balance between price and performance. MJ
85
custom PC
OVERALL
1920 SPEED 27 / 29
2560 SPEED 13 / 15
3840 SPEED 2 / 3
5760 SPEED 2 / 3
VALUE 41 / 50
GRAPHICS CARDS
62 March 2014
64
62 March 2014
TIED FIRST Decent 4K performance; lower power consumption than AMDs rival
TIED IN KNOTS Much more expensive than R9 290X; cant play Crysis 3 at 4K
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB
A very fast graphics card, but its ridiculously expensive
Price 516 inc VAT Supplier www.scan.co.uk Manufacturer www.nvidia.com
T
he GeForce GTX 780 Ti is Nvidias current
flagship card, and it has a price to prove
it. At 516, it costs over 100 more than
AMDs top-end GPU, the Radeon R9 290X.
For that money, you get a card based on the
GK110 core, which also appears in the
ruinously expensive GTX Titan and the
cheaper GTX 780.
The GTX 780 Ti is also the best-equipped
version of the GK110 currently on sale for
gaming: the SMP that was disabled on the
Titan has been activated here, which means
the GTX 780 Ti includes 2,880 stream
processors across 15 SMPs the most of
anycard in this test.
The rest of the specification is no less
impressive. Theres a mighty seven billion
transistors, and a decent base clock of
875MHz, which boosts to a peak of
1,020MHz. Meanwhile, the 3GB of GDDR5
memory is 1GB less than the R9 290X and
half what the Titan offers, but its clocked to
7GHz (effective).
All of this is packed onto a 561mm
2
die,
which is the same size as the Titans silicon,
as its effectively the same chip. The GTX 780
Ti also has a 267mm PCB a similar size to
AMDs top-end cards and it requires single
6-pin and 8-pin connectors.
Nvidia sets out its stall early, too, by calling
the 780 Ti the fastest graphics card on the
planet, but that wasnt strictly true in our
benchmarks. The GTX 780 Ti topped our
1,920 x 1,080 benchmark tables in Batman:
Arkham Origins, BioShock and Crysis 3,
and with amazingly smooth
performance. Forget 30fps
the GTX 780 Ti didnt drop
below a super-
smooth 60fps in
Crysis 3, BioShock
Infinite or Batman:
Arkham Origins, and
it only missed this feat in
Battlefield 4 by a 1fps whisker. In
fact, it was also the only card on test
to never dip below 60fps in BioShock
Infinite too.
It couldnt manage this in any other games
at 2,560 x 1,440, but it was more than up to
the task of churning out playable frame rates
in every game, naturally. The R9 290X traded
blows with the GTX 780 Ti at 4K though.
The GTX 780 Tis 44fps minimum in
Batman: Arkham Origins was a mighty 12fps
better than the R9 290X, and the Nvidia GPU
didnt drop below 30fps in BioShock Infinite
either. However, the R9 290X managed a
playable frame rate of 28fps in Battlefield 4,
giving it the edge over the GTX 780 Tis
unplayable 23fps.
The GTX 780 Ti also lost its lead to AMD
when we plugged in three monitors. Again,
only the R9 290X could maintain a borderline
playable frame rate in Battlefield 4, and it
also never dropped below 30fps in Batman:
Arkham Origins, unlike the GTX 780 Ti.
However, the GTX 780 Ti had its revenge in
BioShock Infinite, where it managed a
smooth minimum of 32fps compared to the
R9 290Xs 28fps.
Where the GTX 780 Ti has a notable edge,
however, is in power consumption, with our
test system drawing 380W from the mains
under load, compared to 409W with the R9
290X installed.
CONCLUSI ON
Theres no denying the raw speed of the GTX
780 Ti, but it isnt the fastest graphics card in
the world either, as demonstrated by the
AMD Radeon R9 290Xs consistent
Battlefield 4 speeds. The GTX 780 Tis main
problem, however, is its price, which is 106
higher than the R9 290X. Its fast, but not fast
enough to justify its price. MJ
78
custom PC
OVERALL
1920 SPEED 28 / 29
2560 SPEED 14 / 15
3840 SPEED 2 / 3
5760 SPEED 2 / 3
VALUE 32 / 50
sumption than AMDs rival
cant play Crysis 3 at 4K
dic y
GTX 780 Ti topped our
mark tables in Batman:
oShock and Crysis 3,
y smooth
get 30fps
t drop
k
n:
and
s feat in
1fps whisker. In
he only card on test
w 60fps in BioShock
playableframe rate in Battlefield 4, and it
GRAPHICS CARDS
64 March 2014
66
TITAN Reasonable benchmark scores; double-precision compute
TITANIC Ruinously expensive; recent agships are faster and cheaper in games
NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan 6GB
Now outpaced by rivals that cost half the price
Price 793 inc VAT Supplier www.dabs.com Manufacturer www.nvidia.com
T
he Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan stands
apart from every other card in this Labs:
its 793 price is 277 higher than the next
most expensive card here, and it was
released way back in February 2013, which
makes it one of the oldest cards on test too.
Under the hood, there isnt much
difference between this card and Nvidias
more affordable GTX 780 Ti. Both cards use
variants of the GK110 core, and both
naturally include just over seven billion
transistors. The Titan storms ahead when
itcomes to memory though; the 6GB of
GDDR5 memory included here is more
thanany other card in this Labs, and it runs
at a reasonable effective frequency of
6,008MHz as well.
That sounds impressive, but the GTX 780
Tiruns its RAM at 7,000MHz (effective), and
the Titans top memory bandwidth figure of
288GB/sec is also bettered by the GTX 780
Tis336GB/sec figure, and the 320GB/sec
bandwidth of AMDs Radeon R9 290X for
thatmatter. The Titans core also has 2,688
stream processors which, surprisingly, is
192 fewer than those inside Nvidias own
GTX780 Ti the latter card has all of the
cores SMPs enabled, while the Titan still
hasone disabled.
The Titans core clock sits at 836MHz, with
a potential maximum boost clock of 993MHz
figures that again are both beaten by the
GTX 780 Ti. Like the other high-end
cards here, the Titan connects
using one 8-pin and one
6-pin PCI-E power
connector, while
the PCB has the
same 267mm
length as the
GTX780 Ti.
In short, the Titan was an
impressive behemoth when it
emerged in the spring, but its now
been overshadowed by the cheaper GTX
780 Ti and, in some cases, the even cheaper
AMD Radeon R9 290X.
In Battlefield 4, for example, its 51fps
minimum was 4fps slower than the AMD
Radeon R9 290 a card thats less than half
the price. Likewise, at 2,560 x 1,440, the 793
Titan was beaten by the 516 GTX 780 Ti in
every test, and the pricier card only beat the
R9 290X in BioShock Infinite, where the
Titans 57fps minimum was just 1fps quicker
than the 410 AMD silicon.
We hoped the Titan would stretch its legs
at higher resolutions, but that wasnt the
case. At 3,840 x 2,160, it again remained
behind the GTX 780 Ti in every test and, in
Battlefield 4 and Crysis 3, it also slipped
behind AMDs R9 290 and R9 290X cards.
Thesituation didnt improve at 5,760 x
1,080either: across three screens, the GTX
780 Ti was always
quicker, and the Titan
wasbettered by the R9 290X
inthree out of our four game tests.
Where this card could potentially
offera bonus, however, is when it comes
toGPU compute workloads. Its support
fordouble-precision compute, as well
asits extra memory, will give it the edge
overthe GTX 780 Ti, which is focused on
single precision.
However, compute applications will need
tospecifically take advantage of double
precision for this to be an advantage; the
GTX780 Ti was still quicker than the Titan
inour Bitcoin and Folding@home
benchmarks, for example.
CONCLUSI ON
The Titan turned heads when it was
originally released, but its now hopelessly
outgunned in the gaming arena. Nvidias
cheaper GeForce GTX 780 Ti is faster in every
single game benchmark, and the AMD
Radeon R9 290X even managed to beat it in
some, despite being 383 less expensive.
When other cards offer similar performance
for so much less, theres simply no reason to
buy the Titan for gaming. MJ
63
custom PC
OVERALL
1920 SPEED 27 / 29
2560 SPEED 13 / 15
3840 SPEED 2 / 3
5760 SPEED 2 / 3
VALUE 19 / 50
cision compute
faster and cheaper in games
t half the price
e the other high-end
e Titan connects
nand one
ower
ile
he

e Titan was an
ehemoth when it
he spring, but its now
adowed by the cheaper GTX
h
780 Ti was always
quicker, and the Titan
wasbettered by the R9 290X
inthree out of our four game tests.
Where this card could potentially
offerabonus however iswhenit comes
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66 March 2014
FEATURE TABLE
AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB AMD Radeon R9 280X 3GB AMD Radeon R9 270X 2GB AMD Radeon R9 270 2GB
Typical street price (inc VAT)* 410 335 240 144 136
Supplier www.ebuyer.com www.ebuyer.com www.overclockers.co.uk www.cclonline.com www.scan.co.uk
Manufacturer www.amd.com www.amd.com www.amd.com www.amd.com www.amd.com
GPU
Architecture Graphics Core Next Graphics Core Next Graphics Core Next Graphics Core Next Graphics Core Next
Codename Hawaii XT Hawaii PRO Tahiti XTL Curacao XT Curacao PRO
Base clock ~727MHz ~662MHz 850MHz 1,000MHz 900MHz
Guaranteed boost clock N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Maximum boost clock 1,000MHz 947MHz 1,000MHz 1,050MHz 925MHz
Stream processors 2,816 2,560 2,048 1,280 1,280
Layout 44 CUs, 176 SIMDs 40 CUs, 160 SIMDs 32 CUs, 128 SIMDs 20 CUs, 80 SIMDs 20 CUs, 80 SIMDs
Texture units 176 160 128 80 80
Rasterisers 4 4 2 2 2
Tessellation units 4 4 2 2 2
ROPs 64 64 32 32 32
Die size 438mm
2
438mm
2
352mm
2
212mm
2
212mm
2
Transistors 6.2 billion 6.2 billion 4.313 billion 2.8 billion 2.8 billion
Process 28nm 28nm 28nm 28nm 28nm
Memory
Memory 4GB GDDR5 4GB GDDR5 3GB GDDR5 2GB GDDR5 2GB GDDR5
Frequency 1.25GHz (5GHz effective) 1.25GHz (5GHz effective) 1.5GHz (6GHz effective) 1.4GHz (5.6GHz
effective)
1.4GHz (5.6GHz
effective)
Interface 512-bit 512-bit 384-bit 256-bit 256-bit
Bandwidth 320GB/sec 320GB/sec 288GB/sec 179GB/sec 179GB/sec
Stock card specifications
PCI-E power connectors 1 x 8-pin, 1 x 6-pin 1 x 8-pin, 1 x 6-pin 1 x 8-pin, 1 x 6-pin 2 x 6-pin 1 x 6-pin
CrossFire / SLI compatibility 4 x CrossFire 4 x CrossFire 4 x CrossFire 2 x CrossFire 2 x CrossFire
TDP 290W 275W 250W 180W 150W
Slots, length Dual, 275mm Dual, 275mm Dual, 275mm Dual, 240mm Dual, 210mm
* Prices correct at time of going to press
67 March 2014
GRAPHICS CARDS
68
Nvidia GeForce GTX 780
Ti 3GB
Nvidia GeForce GTX
Titan 6GB
Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 3GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 2GB
516 793 379 240 173 137
www.scan.co.uk www.dabs.com www.scan.co.uk www.overclockers.co.uk www.dabs.com www.overclockers.co.uk
www.nvidia.com www.nvidia.com www.nvidia.com www.nvidia.com www.nvidia.com www.nvidia.com
Kepler Kepler Kepler Kepler Kepler Kepler
GK110 GK110 GK110 GK104 GK104 GK106
875MHz 836MHz 863MHz 1,046MHz 980MHz 980MHz
928Mhz 876MHz 902MHz 1,085MHz 1,033MHz 1,033MHz
N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
2,880 2,688 2,304 1,536 1,152 960
5 GPCs, 15 SMXs 5 GPCs, 14 SMXs 4 GPCs, 12 SMXs 4 GPCs, 8 SMXs 3 or 4 GPCs, 6 SMXs 3 GPCs, 5 SMXs
240 224 194 128 96 80
5 5 4 4 3 or 4 3
15 14 12 8 6 5
48 48 48 32 32 24
561mm
2
561mm
2
561mm
2
294mm
2
294mm
2
221mm
2
7.08 billion 7.08 billion 7.08 billion 3.54 billion 3.54 billion 2.54 billion
28nm 28nm 28nm 28nm 28nm 28nm
3GB GDDR5 6GB GDDR5 3GB GDDR5 2GB GDDR5 2GB GDDR5 2GB GDDR5
1.75GHz (7GHz effective) 1.5GHz (6GHz effective) 1.5GHz (6GHz effective) 1.75GHz (7GHz effective) 1.5GHz (6GHz effective) 1.5GHz (6GHz effective)
384-bit 384-bit 384-bit 256-bit 256-bit 192-bit
336GB/sec 288GB/sec 288GB/sec 224GB/sec 192GB/sec 144GB/sec
1 x 8-pin, 1 x 6-pin 1 x 8-pin, 1 x 6-pin 1 x 8-pin, 1 x 6-pin 1 x 8-pin, 1 x 6-pin 2 x 6-pin 1 x 6-pin
4 x SLI 4 x SLI 4 x SLI 3 x SLI 3 x SLI 2 x SLI
250W 250W 250W 230W 170W 140W
Dual, 267mm Dual, 267mm Dual, 267mm Dual, 267mm Dual, 241mm Dual, 241mm
68 March 2014
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69 March 2014
GRAPHICS CARDS
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70 March 2014
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72 March 2014
Our choice of the best hardware available
NAME SUPPLIER MANUFACTURER REVIEWED PRICE (inc VAT)
A Xigamtek Midgard II www.overclockers.co.uk www.xigmatek.com Issue 113, p74 60
B Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H www.dabs.com www.gigabyte.com Issue 126, p22 53
C AMD A10-6800K www.scan.co.uk www.amd.com Issue 120, p20 106
D 8GB Corsair Vengeance 2,133MHz CAS11 www.scan.co.uk www.corsair.com Issue 112, p60 78
E Gelid Tranquillo Rev 2 www.quietpc.com www.gelidsolutions.com Issue 100, p86 26
F XFX Pro Series 550W Core Edition www.novatech.co.uk www.xfxforce.com Issue 122, p50 53
G 500GB Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 www.scan.co.uk www.seagate.com Issue 104, p72 33
H Lite-On IHAS124-04 www.scan.co.uk www.liteonit.eu Issue 99, p108 13
I Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit www.scan.co.uk www.microsoft.com Issue 75, p46 118
TOTAL SYSTEM PRICE 540
You dont have to spend an huge sum to get a decent PC. Our budget PC
includes a superb AMD Richland APU, with a built-in Radeon HD 8670D
GPU, plus 8GB of 2,133MHz RAM to boost the on-board graphics
B
MOTHERBOARD
F
PSU
G
HARD DISK
D
RAM
H
OPTICAL DRIVE
E
COOLING
I
OPERATING SYSTEM
C
APU
A
UPDATED
73 March 2014
74
NAME SUPPLIER MANUFACTURER REVIEWED PRICE (inc VAT)
A SilverStone Raven RV03 www.scan.co.uk www.silverstonetek.com Issue 103, p70 89
B MSI Z87-G45 Gaming www.scan.co.uk www.msi-computer.com Issue 120, p54 108
C Intel Core i5-4670K www.scan.co.uk www.intel.co.uk Issue 119, p38 174
D
8GB Patriot Black Mamba
2,400MHz PV38G240C0K
www.cclonline.com www.patriotmemory.com Issue 120, p98 84
E Thermalright True Spirit 120M www.novatech.co.uk www.thermalright.com Issue116, p61 29
F AMD R9 270X 2GB www.cclonline.com www.amd.com Issue 126, p50 144
G
Antec HCG-520M
High Current Gamer 520W
www.cclonline.com www.antec.com Issue 122, p43 70
H Seagate Barracuda 2TB ST2000DM001 www.scan.co.uk www.seagate.com Issue 104, p75 62
I Lite-On IHAS124-04 www.scan.co.uk www.liteonit.eu Issue 99, p108 13
J SanDisk Ultra Plus 256GB www.ebuyer.com www.sandiskcom Issue 117, p68 114
K Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit www.scan.co.uk www.microsoft.com Issue 75, p46 118
TOTAL SYSTEM PRICE 1,005
As Core i7 motherboards and high-end graphics cards command a
premium price, here are some components for a Core i5 PC that offer
great performance and wont break the bank
A
G H I J K
PSU HARD DISK OPTICAL DRIVE SOLID STATE DRIVE OPERATING SYSTEM
F
GRAPHICS CARD
B D E
MOTHERBOARD RAM COOLING CPU
C
UPDATED
74 March 2014
Our choice of the best hardware available
NAME SUPPLIER MANUFACTURER REVIEWED PRICE (inc VAT)
A SilverStone Fortress FT02B-W USB 3.0 www.scan.co.uk www.silverstonetek.com Issue 85, p88 185
B Gigabyte GA-Z87-UD3H www.scan.co.uk http://uk.gigabyte.com Issue 120, p52 133
C Intel Core i5-4670K www.scan.co.uk www.intel.co.uk Issue 119, p38 174
D
8GB Patriot Black Mamba 2,400MHz
PV38G240C0K
www.cclonline.com www.patriotmemory.com Issue 120, p98 84
E Corsair H80i www.scan.co.uk www.corsair.com Issue 116, p64 77
F AMD R9 290 4GB www.ebuyer.com www.amd.com Issue 126, p58 335
G XFX Pro Black Edition 750W www.scan.co.uk www.xfxforce.com Issue 122, p60 107
H Seagate Barracuda 2TB ST2000DM001 www.scan.co.uk www.seagate.com Issue 104, p75 62
I Creative Sound Blaster Z www.scan.co.uk www.creative.com Issue 116, p42 73
J Plextor M5 Pro 256GB www.scan.co.uk www.plextor.com Issue 117, p64 164
K Lite-On IHAS124-04 www.scan.co.uk www.liteonit.eu Issue 99, p108 13
L Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit www.scan.co.uk www.microsoft.com Issue 75, p46 118
TOTAL SYSTEM PRICE 1,525
Our choice of the best hardware available
This PC has the potential to be the finest gaming machine you can find as
well as an excellent all-round computer for office work, digital photography,
video production and media playback
G H I L
PSU HARD DISK SOUND CARD SOLID STATE DRIVE OPERATING SYSTEM
F
GRAPHICS CARD
A
B D E
MOTHERBOARD CPU RAM COOLING
C
J
UPDATED
75 March 2014
76
NAME SUPPLIER MANUFACTURER REVIEWED PRICE (inc VAT)
A SilverStone Temjin TJ07B-W www.overclockers.co.uk www.silverstonetek.com Issue 63, p87 260
B Asus Rampage IV Extreme Black Edition www.overclockers.co.uk http://uk.asus.com Issue 124, p42 430
C Intel Core i7-4930K www.overclockers.co.uk www.intel.co.uk Issue 123, p51 430
D
16GB Kingston HyperX Predator 1,866MHz
KHX18C9T2K4/16X
www.dabs.com www.kingston.com Issue 123, p56 140
E
2 x EVGA Superclocked ACX
GeForce GTX 780 3GB
www.scan.co.uk www.evga.com Issue 123, p54 779
F Corsair H100i www.scan.co.uk www.corsair.com Issue 116, p65 89
G Corsair Professional Series AX760i www.ebuyer.com www.corsair.com Issue 122, p53 155
H Samsung SSD 840 EVO 1TB www.overclockers.co.uk www.samsung.com Issue 121, p28 510
I Creative Sound Blaster Z www.scan.co.uk www.creative..com Issue 116, p42 73
J Seagate Barracuda 2TB ST2000DM0001 www.scan.co.uk www.seagate.com Issue 104, p75 62
K Microsoft Windows 7 Professional www.scan.co.uk www.microsoft.com Issue 75, p46 169
TOTAL SYSTEM PRICE 3,097
What you need for gaming at 3,840 x 2,160. The PC includes LGA2011
parts, not only to give you powerful multi-threaded processing, but also
to give you the option of a third GPU if you want it. Weve included a
Corsair H100i, but the case can house a variety of water-cooling setups too
G H I J K
PSU SOLID STATE DRIVE SOUND CARD HARD DISK OPERATING SYSTEM
A
D
RAM
E F
GRAPHICS CARD COOLING
B
MOTHERBOARD CPU
C
4K GaminG PC
76 March 2014
TYPE GRAPHICS CARD GRAPHICS CARD GRAPHICS CARD 4K GRAPHICS SETUP
NAME AMD Radeon R9 270X 2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 2GB AMD R9 290 4GB
2 x EVGA Superclocked ACX
GeForce GTX 780 3GB
SUPPLIER www.cclonline.com www.overclockers.co.uk www.ebuyer.com www.scan.co.uk
MANUFACTURER www.amd.com www.nvidia.com www.amd.com www.evga.com
REVIEWED Issue 126, p50 Issue 126, p55 Issue 126, p58 Issue 123, p54
PRICE (inc VAT) 144 240 335 828
Our choice of the best hardware available
lGa1150 components
UPDATED
TYPE CPU MOTHERBOARD COOLER RAM
NAME Intel Core i5-4670K Gigabyte GA-Z87-UD3H
Thermalright True Spirit
120M
8GB Patriot Black Mamba
2,400MHz PV38G240C0K
SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk www.scan.co.uk www.novatech.co.uk www.cclonline.com
MANUFACTURER www.intel.co.uk http://uk.gigabyte.com www.thermalright.com www.patriotmemory.com
REVIEWED Issue 119, p38 Issue 120, p52 Issue116, p61 Issue 120, p98
PRICE (inc VAT) 174 133 29 84
UPDATED
UPDATED
77 March 2014
TYPE CPU MOTHERBOARD COOLER RAM
NAME Intel Core i7-4930K
Asus Rampage IV Extreme
Black Edition
Corsair H100i
16GB Kingston HyperX
Predator KHX18C9T2K4/16X
SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk www.overclockers.co.uk www.scan.co.uk www.dabs.com
MANUFACTURER www.intel.co.uk http://uk.asus.com www.corsair.com www.kingston.com
REVIEWED Issue 123, p51 Issue 124, p42 Issue 116, p65 Issue 123, p56
PRICE (inc VAT) 430 430 89 140
78
TYPE CPU MOTHERBOARD COOLER RAM
NAME AMD A10-6800K Gigabyte G1 Sniper A88X Gelid Tranquillo Rev 2
8GB Corsair Vengeance
2,133MHz CAS11
SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk www.dabs.com www.quietpc.com www.scan.co.uk
MANUFACTURER www.amd.com www.gigabyte.com www.gelidsolutions.com www.corsair.com
REVIEWED Issue 120, p20 Issue 124, p40 Issue 100, p86 Issue 112, p60
PRICE (inc VAT) 106 77 26 78
78 March 2014
Our choice of the best hardware available
TYPE BUDGET CASE AIR-COOLING CASE WATER-COOLING CASE
NAME Xigmatek Midgard II SilverStone Raven RV03 SilverStone Temjin TJ07B-W
SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk www.scan.co.uk www.overclockers.co.uk
MANUFACTURER www.xigmatek.com www.silverstonetek.com www.silverstonetek.com
REVIEWED Issue 113, p74 Issue 103, p70 Issue 63, p87
PRICE (inc VAT) 60 89 260
TYPE MINI-ITX CASE
Z87 MINI-ITX
MOTHERBOARD
MICRO-ATX CASE
Z87 MICRO-ATX
MOTHERBOARD
NAME BitFenix Prodigy MSI Z87i Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 Asus Maximus VI Gene
SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk www.scan.co.uk www.scan.co.uk www.overclockers.co.uk
MANUFACTURER www.bitfenix.com www.msi.com www.fractal-design.com http://uk.asus.com
REVIEWED Issue 109, p54 Issue 121 p48 Issue 125, p30 Issue 121, p20
PRICE (inc VAT) 70 101 70 170
mini-ITX and micro-aTX
79 March 2014
80
TYPE HARD DISK SSD NAS BOX
NAME Seagate Barracuda 2TB ST2000DM001 Plextor M5 Pro 256GB Synology DiskStation DS213j
SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk www.scan.co.uk www.ebuyer.com
MANUFACTURER www.seagate.com www.plextor.com www.synology.com
REVIEWED Issue 104, p75 Issue 117, p64 Issue 119, p50
PRICE (inc VAT) 62 164 160
TYPE BUDGET 550W PSU 520W PSU 760W PSU 1.2kW PSU
NAME
XFX Pro Series 550W Core
Edition
Antec HCG-520M
High Current Gamer 520W
Corsair Professional Series
AX760i
Corsair Professional Series
AX1200i
SUPPLIER www.novatech.co.uk www.cclonline.com www.ebuyer.com www.scan.co.uk
MANUFACTURER www.xfxforce.com www.antec.com www.corsair.com www.corsair.com
REVIEWED Issue 122, p50 Issue 122, p43 Issue 122, p53 Issue 111, p40
PRICE (inc VAT) 53 70 155 250
80 March 2014
Our choice of the best hardware available
UPDATED
TYPE 24IN MONITOR 27IN BUDGET MONITOR 29IN MONITOR 4K MONITOR
NAME Dell U2412M Digimate IPS-2701WPH Dell U2913WM Asus PQ321QE
SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk www.overclockers.co.uk www.overclockers.co.uk www.scan.co.uk
MANUFACTURER www.dell.com www.digimate.com www.dell.com www.asus.com
REVIEWED Issue 105, p64 Issue 115, p62 Issue 115, p58 Issue123, p27
PRICE (inc VAT) 213 350 380 2,687
TYPE SOUND CARD USB SOUND CARD 2.1 SPEAKERS HEADSET
NAME Creative Sound Blaster Z Asus Xonar Essence One Corsair SP2500 Qpad QH-90
SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk www.dabs.com www.scan.co.uk www.scan.co.uk
MANUFACTURER www.creative.com www.asus.com www.corsair.com www.qpad.com
REVIEWED Issue 116, p42 Issue 118, p44 Issue118, p75 Issue 118, p69
PRICE (inc VAT) 73 340 176 77
81 March 2014
TYPE KEYBOARD MMO KEYBOARD MOUSE
NAME Corsair Vengeance K70 Corsair Vengeance K95 Mionix Naos 8200
SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk www.cclonline.com www.dabs.com
MANUFACTURER www.corsair.com www.corsair.com www.mionix.net
REVIEWED Issue 125, p34 Issue 123, p64 Issue 125, p74
PRICE (inc VAT) 90 125 60
TYPE DREAM PC MINI-ITX PC GAMING LAPTOP
NAME Scan 3XS Bear Computer Planet VeeR Scan 3XS Graphite LG135
SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk www.computerplanet.co.uk www.scan.co.uk
MANUFACTURER www.scan.co.uk www.computerplanet.co.uk www.scan.co.uk
REVIEWED Issue 125, p58 Issue 125, p48 Issue 124, p24
PRICE (inc VAT) 6,999 2,786 999
Systems
82 March 2014
83 March 2014
War of the Vikings
Paradoxs War of the Vikings is a multiplayer melee
combat game, which puts you in the thick of battle
between the British Saxon tribes and the invading
Norse hordes. Its the sequel to the medieval-
themed War of the Roses, which had excellent
ranged and mounted combat systems, but it wasnt
so good when it came to fighting on foot. War of The
Vikings intends to rectify this problem with a faster,
more involved combat system, including a variety
of special moves. Also, unlike its predecessor, its
currently available on Steam Early Access,
meaning it can be played through development.
c
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84
CYNICAL HIT
Business time
86
ASSASSINS CREED IV:
BLACK FLAG
Piratanical
88
DEADFALL ADVENTURES
The Quatermain experiment
89
NEED FOR SPEED: RIVALS
Rival pursuit
90
STATE OF DECAY
Rotting in the free world
92
X: REBIRTH
Born again
94
THE ENGINE ROOM
Valley of Chrome
96
GAMES OF 2014
Dawn of a Broken Age
84
n
ever before has gaming seemed so wildly accepted as
serious business. People who once simply streamed or
uploaded Lets Play videos for fun are now locked in epic
battles for monetised views. Meanwhile, game discussions
about everything from DLC to the bastardisation of beloved franchises
are routinely filtered by questions better suited for developers or
publishers accountants. Plus, its impossible to ignore the big
jackpots on offer for the worlds best Starcraft II players.
I was talking to someone this month who
declared he would never be playing Blizzards
next game because, wait for it, he doesnt see it
becoming an eSport. This isnt someone who
plays eSports. This isnt someone with any
intention of playing eSports, or even particularly
watching them. Yet because the professionals
are unlikely to leave Dota 2, hes not interested.
Its for babies, apparently.
A game making it in eSports does guarantee its future for a while,
while those simply played by gamers for fun without an anagram of
Duty Call of in their title tend to fizzle out considerably faster. Even
then, though, it isnt so cut and dried. A game designed for that market
has to give elsewhere, which is why Starcraft II only has weird and
wonderful gimmick maps that more casual players would love in its
single-player campaign.
My own odd quirk is that I find it difficult to fire up multiplayer
games. I know Im never going to put in the endless hours needed
tobecome really good, so simply splashing around like an amateur
feels a little pointless. The joy of the moment? Whats that?
Even odder, I find a lot of single-player challenges inherently
unfulfilling because they never feel like my own. I really want to play
Dark Souls, for instance, and since I have a copy of Dark Souls and a
The focus on money and competition
is replacing the crucial focus on fun in
gaming, says Richard Cobbett
PC that can play Dark Souls and more than enough time to play Dark
Souls, that seems like a pretty easy problem to resolve.
Having seen so many people play and finish it, though, it feels like Id
just be walking in their footsteps. Prior to Twitter, Twitch, YouTube and
the ability to compare Achievement progress in Steam, sure, that was
still the case. Its only in our post I Want To Be The Guy era that Ive
really felt it get in the way, though, and felt a craving for experiences
that at least pretended it was just the two of us heading out on an
adventure. Is that weird? Im pretty sure it is.
There was an old advert I always hated; the
one where Robbie Coltrane happily declares
were all bankers now. These days, I suspect
it wouldnt get the green light, because
insulting the audience is rarely a good idea. I
never liked it, though, because its assumption
that being bankers was good seemed off.
The same applies to so much in gaming
now, from the assumption that all gaming should be social, to
publishers pushing built-in video streaming features, to help with
freemarketing, as something everyone should use.
Theres a lot to be said for a big market, new avenues for games to
succeed and more tools to do more with games. Maybe, though, for
the first month after a games release at least, we could pretend
theyre simply there for fun, and leave both the finance and the future
until after the end credits have rolled.
THE PURPOSE
OF PLAY
BECAUSE THE PROS
ARE UNLIKELY TO LEAVE
DOTA 2, HES NOT
INTERESTED. ITS FOR
BABIES, APPARENTLY
GAMING
84 March 2014
Richard Cobbett is a journalist and professional cynic, wishing
everything was as easy to solve as an adventure game puzzle.
@richardcobbett
CYnical hit
THE KNOWLEDGE
Price 39.99 inc VAT
Developer Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher Ubisoft
Website http://
assassinscreed.ubi.com
bisoft has a history of learning
from some mistakes, but not all of
them. The first Assassins Creed
suffered from repetitive mission
design and a dull lead character. Then
Assassins Creed II brought us Ezio Auditore,
one of the finest characters in gaming culture, plus
superior storytelling and a more organic-feeling
open world. Then Assassins Creed III brought us a
more turgid, po-faced dirge than the first game, its
only saving graces being that it killed off the series
phenomenally boring modern-day protagonist
Desmond Miles, and featured one neat mission in
which you took part in a big naval battle.
In response to the last games reception, for
Assassins Creed IV, Ubisoft has taken that one
navalmission, put a pirate hat on its head and made
itinto an entire game. And it turns out this
was an absolutely superb idea, because
Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag is the best
game of the series, and arguably the best
game of 2013.
Black Flag casts you as Edward
Kenway, a roguish Welsh privateer
with two motivations in life
freedom and money and hes
perfectly willing to sacrifice
love and lives in the pursuit of
both. Unlike the other protagonists in
the series, Kenway becomes involved
with the Assassins by accident, killing
one of their members and stealing their
robes. Kenway then responds to the
Assassins attempts to recruit him with a
childish nuh-uhhh! and spends much of
the games story exploiting the Assassins,
their enemies the Templars, and his own
fellow pirates to make himself as rich as possible.
Theres a streak of unpleasantness to Kenway, but
hes a pirate after all. Whats more, Kenways cynical
humour and rebellious nature make for a delightful
change in tone; the series has historically taken its
own rather silly story far too seriously. Kenways
attitude also makes sense when you shirk the story
missions to plunder trade ships or explore the
Caribbean. And youll do both of these because
theyre enormous fun and necessary for progress.
Instead of the usual large cities with small
interconnecting areas, Ubisoft has created a
sizeable chunk of the Caribbean to explore and
exploit, with small, numerous areas scattered
amid a beautiful blue ocean. Your ship, the
Jackdaw, is your main tool for this task. Sailing
is as straightforward as
driving a car that handles
more like a truck. That is, if
trucks came with 16 cannons
abreast and randomly sang sea shanties
at you. Wind has no effect on your
ability to turn and travel, and the ship
has various speeds, which are set by
whether you go half-sail or full-sail.
U
JOLLY ROGER
Great sailing
mechanic;
smartly designed
open world;
pirates!
DEAD MANS
CHEST
Silly meta
narrative; over
thetop stealth
system
Top sail
86 March 2014
ASSASSINS CREED IV: BLACK FLAG
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REVIEW
92
OVERALL

87 March 2014
While it isnt remotely authentic in terms
of simulation, the experience feels real
enough. The sea dramatically bobs and
swells, meaning the ship climbs up and
slides down enormous waves like an alpine
skier. Blustering squalls regularly threaten
to capsize the ship, and occasionally thunder
storms gather overhead. These transform
the ocean into a frothing, rain-lashed
maelstrom, which is beset by terrifying
rogue waves that must be taken head-on in
order for the ship to survive. There are also
towering, unpredictable waterspouts that
need to be avoided at all costs.
Such storms are random, so they might
occur when youre in the middle of fighting
aSpanish Frigate. Ship-to-ship combat is
undoubtedly the games highlight, requiring
you to first batter the opposing vessel with
volleys of cannonfire, and flaming heavy
shotfrom the ships broadside, chain shot
from the bow or explosive barrels from the
stern. Once the opposing ship is disabled,
you can sail alongside it and reel it in for
boarding, which involves killing a set number
of enemy sailors using a combination of
bloody swashbuckling, quick-fire pistol
shots and dramatic assassination leaps from
the ships masts.
Yet the smartest aspect of the ship combat
is that, unlike in previous AC games, it isnt
frivolous. It has a purpose. The Jackdaw
starts out as a fairly weak vessel, only able
totake on small schooners. In order to
redress the more pressing issues. For
example, a stealthy approach can now be
achieved by hiding in dense foliage, luring
guards into bushes and crop fields in order
todispatch them quietly. It works after a
fashion, but its a little like using a wrecking
ball to crack an egg. Whats wrong with a
good old-fashioned Crouch button, Ubisoft?
The Animus sections have been stripped
back further too, but theyre still a problem.
Now, instead of controlling Desmond, youre
using the ancestral memories taken from his
dead brain to build a computer game based
around Edward Kenways life, which in turn
is being used by the Templars as a cunning
ruse to find the location of the Observatory.
Its one tinfoil hat short of being a Dan Brown
plot, and to be pulled out of such a thrilling
historical fiction to have this dribbling
nonsense paraded in front of you never
ceases to take the wind out of your sails, in
both a literal and figurative sense.
That said, the Animus sections are short,
and easily forgiven when the game places
you back at the helm of the Jackdaw, with the
setting sun glittering off the deep blue ocean,
and the silhouette of a Spanish
Frigate ripe for plundering in the
distance. There really is nothing
quite like Black Flag, despite the
Assassins Creed games that
preceded it, and that makes it a
remarkable achievement.
RICK LANE
progress through the story and take on the
bigger ships that patrol the furthest reaches
of the map, you must upgrade the Jackdaws
capabilities. But doing so is expensive, and
requires certain materials that can only be
found on other ships. As such, exploring and
playing with the games core systems is
actively encouraged, a hallmark of
successful open-world design.
There are plenty of other ways in which
Black Flag evokes this motivational
approach. Templar Hunt missions are like
previous Assassination contracts with their
own little stories, but theyre more involved
and completing all the missions will unlock
aspecial suit of armour. Meanwhile, the
Caribbean is guarded by fearsome naval
forts, which must be besieged in order to
make the seas safe for pirating, and to
revealhidden locations on the map. Diving
underwater to explore shipwrecks can help
you retrieve plans for unique ship upgrades,
while hunting animals is necessary to craft
armour and weapon upgrades for Kenway.
Almost every aspect of Black Flag has a
meaning behind it, and a tangible reason for
you to do it. Its very clever.
Of course, it isnt perfect. Its
still Assassins Creed, which
means tasks such as climbing
and combat can be a little
unpredictable thanks to the
contextual control system.
Some effort has been made to
THE KNOWLEDGE
Price 32.99 inc VAT
Developer The Farm 51
Publisher Nordic Games
Website www.deadfall-
game.com
eadfall Adventures wants so badly to be
Indiana Jones, its a whip and a hat short of
atie-in game. Concept-wise, this is fine, as
theIndiana Jones films transition well into
computer games. Globetrotting tales of adventure,
exploring ancient tombs filled with arcane puzzles
and deadly traps, killing hundreds of Nazis its
almost like a formula. With Deadfall Adventures, The
Farm 51 has followed this recipe fastidiously, but it
hasnt left its game in the oven quite long enough, and
its consequently a half-baked mess.
You play as James Lee Quatermain (a reference to
King Solomons Mines Allan Quatermain). Hes a
witless lump of sarcasm chiselled into the shape of a
burly adventurer, who is enlisted by a crusty professor
and a female archaeologist to assist in their search for
the Heart of Atlantis, a powerful ancient relic thats
also being hunted by the Nazis. Of course, the relic
has been broken into several shards,
meaning Quatermain must travel to
Ancient Egypt, the frozen Arctic and the
jungles of central America to locate the
pieces before the Hitler fan club.
The environments look great, cleverly
providing significant variety within the
three chosen themes. Unfortunately,
this also seems to be where 90 per cent of the budget
has gone, as the game feels lacking everywhere else.
The ropey animations cause the characters to move
like Gerry Anderson puppets. Then theres the cringe-
worthy script and voice acting. Its as if the developer
discovered a phrasebook titled Witty English Retorts,
by the same person who wrote the Hungarian
Translation Dictionary from the Monty Python sketch.
More problematic, though, is the fact that the game
simply isnt a lot of fun to play. The guns have all the
power of a toddlers cough, and theres little sense of
force or impact when a bullet meets a Nazi. The
puzzles are more enjoyable, if mainly because they
only occasionally involve shooting. But theyre far too
simplistic; many of them are largely variations on
matching symbols together, or following the right
path through a trap. Its a long way away from the
mind-bending brilliance of Portal or Antichamber.
Deadfall Adventures clearly had some
potential, but it needed a lot more thought
and attention directed towards making
the game enjoyable and interesting
instead of pretty. It may want to be Indiana
Jones, but sadly, its more Crystal Skull
than Raiders of the Lost Ark.
RICK LANE
D
INDIANA JONES
Fun concept;
great-looking
environments
JAMES LEE
QUATERMAIN
Awful voice
acting and script;
imsy shooting;
simplistic puzzles
40
OVERALL

88 March 2014
DEADFALL ADVENTURES
More like dreadful adventures
March 2014 89
THE KNOWLEDGE
Price 49.99 inc VAT
Developer Ghost Games
Publisher EA
Website www.needfor
speed.com/en_UK/rivals
odemasters is great at making games about
cars, but if youre after a game about speed,
Criterion Games is the developer for you. Or
at least, it was. The former Burnout series
developer, and more recently saviour of the Need For
Speed franchise, has traded in its driving licence to
work on something smaller and more personal,
leaving new developer Ghost Games to continue
where Criterion left off with Need For Speed: Rivals.
For the most part, Ghost has done an excellent job,
although that might be because the developer is
mostly comprised of former Criterion members.
Rivals lets you either drive incredibly fast, causing
all sorts of chaos as a racer, or drive equally fast,
causing equal amounts of chaos as a cop. Both
sidescompete in a spectacular open world, with
environments ranging from forests to deserts to
mountains, all rendered with EAs sumptuous
Frostbite 3 technology.
More importantly, the open world gives
you complete freedom to explore and
compete as you want. Story progression
is achieved via Speedwalls, which give
you objectives to complete, from earning
a particular medal in a race, to destroying
the opposing factions vehicles using
Mario-Kart style weaponry, such as
electrical rams and deployable spike traps.
Completing a Speedwall earns you new cars and
upgrades, and also progresses you through the
story, which is a load of overly serious nonsense that
has little relevance to what youre actually doing.
But thats okay, because despite its po-faced tone,
Rivals is entirely about playing with its systems. To
that end, it also merges single and multiplayer, with
asmall number of player-drivers playing in the
samegame world as you. The games missions and
mechanics are built so that multiple events can occur
at once; a race between you and a bunch of AI drivers
might turn into a full-blown pursuit if a real players
cop car decides to chase you. Such chases can go on
for miles, and involve roadblocks, helicopters and
spectacular crashes.
The only problem with Rivals is that, while its fun to
tinker with its systems, the lack of direction means
theres nothing to involve or engage you for long
periods. That said, settling for quick
thrills rather than forcing commitment
isnt necessarily bad. If Rivals didnt cost
a whopping 50, it would be a classic
game, rather than merely a very good
one. If you can find it cheaper, though, its
an open world full of fast-paced fun.
RICK LANE
C
RIVAL
Beautiful open
world; thrilling
emergent chases
NEMESIS
Too serious;
lacks purpose
The fast and the frivolous

80
OVERALL
REVIEWS
NEED FOR SPEED: RIVALS
REVIEW
THE KNOWLEDGE
Price 14.99 inc VAT
(Breakdown DLC 4.99
inc VAT)
Developer Zombie Labs
Publisher Microsoft
Studios
Website www.undeadlabs.
com/about-state-of-decay
consoles, and it has a rather blunt-force attitude
towards both combat and story, with brainless button
mashing used for brainless zombie smashing, and
character conflict that feels forced and artificial.
But the games real problem is the zombies
themselves. First of all, zombies have been done to
death, and State of Decay has arrived at the back end
of this fad. However, State of Decays zombies are also
slow, numerous and easy to fend off, making them a
nuisance rather than a threat.
Consequently, the game becomes a slog at times,
which could have been avoided with an adversary that
was less common but more dangerous. This would
provide more exhilarating combat when they appear,
and heightened tension when theyre hiding.
Despite these issues, State of Decay is worth buying
if you like intelligently crafted open worlds
that encourage you to explore them. Also,
the recently released Breakdown DLC
ditches the linear narrative in favour of
amore randomised experience, which
creates far better framework for the
games systems.
RICK LANE
et in a small fictitious American state, State
ofDecay charts the story of several survivors
of the zombie apocalypse as they attempt to
rebuild their civilisation from the ruins of
theold world. As they travel through the state, they
encounter several established havens that they can
help build to stand a better chance of survival.
As with many zombie games, its the survivors, not
the zombies, who are the focus. Unlike The Walking
Dead, however, State of Decay expresses this focus
through its systems more than its story. Communities
require a variety of resources food, weapons,
medicine and building materials. Their acquisition
involves venturing from the safety of your community
to search the surrounding abandoned buildings.
This helps to boosts the morale of the community,
which is important because the characters bear
specific personality traits that often clash, and low
morale can ultimately cause them to turn on each
other. Yet acquiring supplies also increases your
influence, enabling you to build new structures, such
as sleeping areas or medical facilities, order other
survivors to accompany you on search
parties, or send them on supply runs of
their own. In essence, its an RPG mixed
with just the right amount of strategy,
and for the most part, it works.
It has a few issues. Notably, the
menus are a little fiddly because the
game was designed initially for
S
FERMENTED
First-rate survival
simulation;
Breakdown
DLC worth extra
investment
ROTTEN
Rudimentary
combat; clumsy
writing; enough
with the zombies!
Post-apocalicious
75
OVERALL

90 March 2014
STATE OF DECAY
consoles, and it has a rather blunt-force at i tittuddde
REVIEW
THE KNOWLEDGE
Price 39.99 inc VAT
Developer Egosoft
Publisher Deep Silver
Website www.egosoft.com
azzlingly beautiful, complex and detailed, yet
also immersive and intuitive, Egosofts X:
Rebirth was set to usher in a new era of virtual
interstellar trading and exploration. Instead,
its a disaster. The list of problems is long and
complicated a compound-fracture of bad design
ideas that are shoddily executed and poorly tested.
It casts you as Ren Otani, the pilot of a spaceship
called the Albion Skunk perhaps the least appealing
spaceship name in the history of science fiction who
ends up caught in the middle of a civil war between the
games two main factions.
Of course, youll only find this out if you manage to
get past the tutorial, which shipped with several
game-breaking bugs. These will hopefully be fixed
soon, but Rebirths problems penetrate far deeper
than wonky code. The redesigned systems are
convoluted and infuriating. For example, to hire a
newcrew member, rather than looking up an online
database of local engineers, as you would in the real
world, you have to ask individual people to point you in
the right direction, then dock at a space station and
seek them out to view their hiring prices.
And thats the least of it. Unlike previous X games,
you can only fly one ship, which means youre reliant
on AI ships to perform tasks such as trading and
mining for you. However, the ship AI is incredibly
unreliable, often struggling to perform
simple tasks such as docking at stations.
Furthermore, you cant automate trade,
so you have to manually command each
ship you own to make every trade.
Beyond the broken systems, its just
shoddily made. While the galaxys many
space stations might look beautiful and
detailed on the outside, inside the stations are drab,
sparse places cobbled together from the same
random corridors, and populated by some of the
ugliest character models youll encounter this side of
the original Unreal Engine. Meanwhile, both the script
and voice acting are abysmal to the point of being
surreal. Asking anyone in space a question to which
they dont know the answer will result in such
charming responses as Go boil your head! and Nice
chat, not!
The only saving graces are that the galaxy is quite
pleasant to explore, and the combat is
enjoyable, provided enemy fighters dont
get too close to a space station, at which
point they tend to get stuck. X Rebirth was
going to be the future, but instead it feels
like a game from a long time ago, and we
wish it was in a galaxy far, far away.
RICK LANE
D
REGENERATION
Beautiful
universe;
enjoyable combat
DEGENERATION
Everything else
Premature
35
OVERALL

92 March 2014
X: REBIRTH
Rick Lane
the engine room
94 March 2014
eople dont talk about Techlands
Chrome engine much. It doesnt have
the legacy of idTech, the reputation
ofCryENGINE, or the vast user base
of Unity. Even compared to its Polish
technological counterpart, CD Projekts RED
Engine, its a lesser known quantity. This is
unfortunate, because when judged on its
own merits, Chromes rsum is impressive.
Its been in continual development for ten
years, has gone through five definitive
iterations, with a sixth on the way, and has
powered almost 40 games, among them the
Call of Juarez series the only Wild West
games on the PC that are worth your time.
Perhaps the reason for the lack of buzz
around Techlands, erm, tech, is the teams
highly pragmatic approach to engine
development. Its decade-long history is one
of empirical design and a continual update
process, which has kept its tech current with
the very best the industry has to offer, and led
to a few firsts along the way.
I started my career as a programmer
from writing my own graphics engine, which
supported 3D models, says Pawel Rohleder,
technology producer at Techland. I gradually
added new features, such as animations,
shadowing and a collision system, which
often demanded a complete overhaul of the
engine. At the 12th or so version, it was clear
that repeating work over again from scratch
isnt the right way to catch up with, and
eventually overtake, the best in the world.
According to Rohleder, nowadays the
engine sees improvements on a daily basis,
with numbered iterations signifying major
changes. However, Chromes history began
back in 2003 with the development of
Techlands first game, an open-environment
first person shooter, also named Chrome.
The game wasnt particularly well received,
but the tech showed considerable promise,
demonstrating the potential of an open-
ended FPS a full year before Crytek
mastered the idea in Far Cry.
At the time, Techland had three major
objectives: to create a graphics engine that
blended wide-open spaces with high-visual
fidelity on close objects; to make complex yet
intuitive developer tools; and to eventually
create an engine that was flexible enough
torelease on multiple platforms. Achieving
the first of these goals is a never-ending
process, which is why Techland is constantly
working on the engine. However, the second
also feeds into the teams pragmatic
approach. Techland describe its engine as
having a WYSIWIG (what you see is what you
get) design. Its games are built through
ChromEd, the in-house-developed toolset.
One of the most important issues
connected with the development of high-
quality games is the ability to quickly see and
evaluate the effects of your work, which is
true for level designers, 3D modellers,
texture creators and effects specialists all
the same, Rohleder explains. Each change
to the code of a game using Chrome Engine
can be reviewed in ChromEd, which features
a window to the games world. Developers
can use it to introduce new elements and
change the current ones, using a live view of
how they influence the game.
Those frequent updates and streamlined
Rick Lane discovers Techlands in-house engine, as used in Call of Juarez,
has been more than a little polished
Chrome
P
Hellraid has a unique particle and
environmental effects system for magic
ANALYSIS
95 March 2014
developer tools also make Chrome quite a
flexible engine. Although Techland is best
known for its FPS games, particularly Call
ofJuarez and Dead Island, much of the
companys early years was devoted to
making racing games such as Xpand Rally.
This meant making significant alterations
toChromes physics engine, as technology
director Jakub Klarowicz describes. We
hadto add realistic physics of vehicles
and significantly expand the already
implemented physics system ODE. It was
abasis for two types of physics one for
simulation and one for arcade racing.
After two years working primarily on
racing titles, alongside a couple of FPS
games that didnt gain much traction in the
UK, in 2006 Techland released Call of Juarez,
the first of its games to really grab worldwide
attention, partly due to it being the first
enjoyable Wild West FPS since LucasArts
1997 game Outlaws. Call of Juarez was
released on Chrome Engine 3, and was a first
for Techland in many respects. It was its first
game to feature significant post-process
effects, its first game to use HDR (high
dynamic range) lighting and its first step
toward multiplatform, which would be
realised by the sequel Bound in Blood three
years later. But, most interestingly of all,
Callof Juarez was one of the first games to
support DirectX 10, again a full year before
Crytek did the same with Crysis.
It was an experiment and showcase of our
capabilities, Klarowicz states. We used new
ATI hardware that wasnt officially available
then. The experiment was successful; we
were one of the first firms in the world to
support DirectX 10 in its engine and games.
For Call of Juarez, Chrome was given
more advanced editors for effects and
materials (essentially textures with
adjustable properties). These might seem
like fairly minor changes, but for Chrome
they had one important consequence.
Theyre the reason why Chrome Engine is
acomplex solution that allows for game
development without needing additional
middleware, Klarowicz says. In other words,
all of the technology used in Techlands
games is built in-house, a rarity in the days of
tools such as Havok, PhysX and Speedtree.
After the huge leaps seen in the first Call
ofJuarez, Techlands primary concern for
Chrome became making it work on
platforms other than the PC, finding ways to
create better-looking games on unchanging
hardware. This is why Chrome Engine 4 only
supported DirectX 9, despite itspredecessor
supporting both 9 and 10. However, the
recent release of the new consoles means
Techland can start pushing that graphical
edge further on the PC again, which its
planning in Chrome Engine 6.
The new features include a physically
accurate lighting mode, spherical harmonics-
based indirect lighting for all scene elements
and object motion blur, says Maciej
Jamrozik, lead technical artist at Techland.
This means the engine will accurately render
lighting on objects from multiple light
sources, including indirect lighting bounced
off other objects such as walls and ceilings.
Intriguingly, Techland is currently working
on two simultaneous projects, the action-
RPG Hellraid and the free-running zombie
survival game Dying Light. Both run on
different engine iterations, Hellraid on
Chrome Engine 5, and Dying Light on
Chrome Engine 6, and both iterations have
had their own separate improvements.
Hellraid is receiving an expanded effects
system to make the in-game magic more
spectacular and dazzling, as Klarowciz puts
it. Meanwhile, Dying Light is privy to a whole
range of updates, including advanced
texture and geometry streaming, a flexible
terrain system, a new proprietary animation
system and a vastly improved NavMesh to
accommodate its free-running mechanic.
NavMesh determines where one can
enter, climb to, or jump [in the game world],
Klarowicz says. We needed to broaden its
range for Dying Light, where the AI has to
beable to follow the player and reach the
same places. In the framework of NavMesh,
the AI programmers can implement new
behaviour patterns of NPCs and enemies, so
they follow the player wherever they go.
Chrome, the eponymous engines first game, had some impressive open-world environments for its time
Dying Light is Chromes most advanced game yet,
featuring a bespoke animation system
The 2006 Wild West FPS Call of Juarez was one of the
first games to use DirectX 10
BROKEN AGE
Famous for starting the Kickstarter craze in the games
industry, Broken Age is a brand-new adventure game
developed by Tim Schafers Double Fine Studios. Thats Tim
Schafer of Grim Fandango and Psychonauts fame.
The game tells the story of two playable characters. One is
aboy living alone on a spaceship; the other is a girl destined to
be sacrificed to a monster terrorising her village. Its an oddly
dark premise given Schafers work so far, but no doubt well
see the same irreverent and kooky humour thats
characterised his previous games. It also boasts an all-star
voice cast, including Jack Black, Elijah Wood, Wil Wheaton and
Mass Effect star Jennifer Hale.
Broken Age marks a return to the type of games Schafer
enjoys making, free from big publisher interference thanks to
the enormously successful crowd-funding campaign,
although even that sum apparently wasnt sufficient to finish it,
possibly because of the cost of hiring all those expensive voice
actors. Consequently, the game has now been split into several
episodes, the first of which is expected to drop at the beginning
of this year.
TITANFALL
We previewed Titanfall a couple of months ago, and since then
our anticipation for the game hasnt dimmed one iota. Titanfall
takes every aspect of the multiplayer FPS worn out by years of
Call of Duty sequels, and attempts to reinvent them in cunning
ways. Then it throws in a personal mech for each player, which
is housed in an orbiting space-carrier and can be called down
from the sky at the players whim.
We played it for half an hour in September at Eurogamer
Expo, and the memory is still embedded in our brains like a
first kiss. Every facet of Titanfall has a clever idea behind it; the
jetpack-based wall-running, the inventive weaponry (who
doesnt want a pistol that can shoot around corners?), and the
little narrative that frames and contextualises every mission.
Then theres the frantic last-minute Extractions, which see a
matchs winning team hunting down the losing team as it tries
to escape via an evacuation dropship.
Titanfall embraces the anarchy of a multiplayer FPS, and
channels it in a way that creates unique stories. Unless
Respawn changes its mind and makes Titanfall a Farmville
clone instead, it will almost certainly be a highlight of the year.
96 March 2014
einthe hhh games hsago andsincethhen
2014 is looking to be a stellar year for PC gaming.
Here are our picks for the next twelve months
GAMES OF
THE WITCHER 3
The Rise of CD Projekt as one of the worlds most ambitious
and interesting developers has been fascinating to watch. The
first Witcher was an intriguing experiment in making your
choices in RPGs matter, making your decision making
complicated, and more interesting than: Do you return the
Teddy Bear to the crying child, or use it to murder an old lady?
The Witcher 2 brought more moral ambiguity and world-
changing choices, but in a beautiful new engine and with a
story that was far deeper and more intelligently written than
the first game. Now, in The Witcher 3, CD Projekt intends to
give you the same depth of story and consequence of action, in
an open world thats bigger than Skyrim.
CD Projekts plan for this vast environment is to enable you
to affect the lives of characters at all levels, from changing the
fate of a small rural village by killing a local monster, to
determining the future of the entire realm as a rival Empire
begins its invasion. Other activities include riding horses,
sailing boats and growing a beard. Plus, the hardware PhysX
demos of wolf fur look amazing. If none of the above sells you
on The Witcher 3, we dont know what will.
PILLARS OF ETERNITY
Another Kickstarter behemoth, and another classic genre
rebooted for the modern era, Pillars of Eternity (formerly
known as Project Eternity) is an epic isometric RPG in the vein
of Baldurs Gate and Planescape Torment, created by people who
worked on both those games.
Its written by Chris Avellone who, aside from working on the
aforementioned games, is also responsible for other superbly
written (if sometimes technologically a little wonky) titles such as
Alpha Protocol and Fallout: New Vegas. So expect lore as deep as
Alan Sugars pockets, world-changing choices and characters that
are weird, amusing and disturbing.
In addition, the game features its own bespoke engine, which
blends the beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds of late-1990s
RPGs with modern graphical techniques such as dynamic
weather, liquid physics and detailed particle effects. Meanwhile,
the tactical turn-based combat sets itself apart from traditional
Dungeons and Dragons rules, and there are technological
enhancements based on harnessing peoples souls as energy,
which has the potential to change the world or destroy it.
TOM CLANCYS
THE DIVISION
By the end of 2014 well probably be as sick of survival games
as we are now of zombie games. For the moment, however,
Tom Clancys The Division is looking very interesting indeed,
being one of the first survival games to have the weight of a
mainstream budget behind it. Set in a post-apocalyptic city
(stay with us here), its a multiplayer, open-world game in
which players team up in small groups of four or five, and
attempt to survive together by searching for shelter,
scavenging food, and acquiring weapons and items.
However, there are other teams of survivors trying to do
exactly the same, and sharing is most definitely not caring in
this game. This is where the Tom Clancy bit comes in, as youll
need to fight tactically with your other team members to come
out on top, using voice commands and equipment such as
remote-controlled drones to target opponents and get a good
view of the battlefield. The Division is ambitious, both
technologically and conceptually, and may be the revolution
that the struggling MMO genre so desperately needs.
97 March 2014
PREVIEWS
dsmosttt ambbi bitious
Y
e
vein
l h
n

ickofsurvivalgames
98 March 2014
Jim Killock
round a year ago, Custom PC
published a feature about Bitcoin,
explaining how it works, what you
need to mine the currency and
whypeople use it. Since then, however, its
become almost impossible to mine Bitcoins
with conventional PC hardware, while its use
and value have grown, and now governments
and taxmen are a lot more interested in it.
For many people, Bitcoin is a symbol
offreedom, a way to disengage from
government regulations and conventional
banks. By providing a degree of anonymity,
people can trade whatever they like, whether
its legal or not. By making transactions
directly from one person to another, bank
charges can be avoided too.
Plus, as Bitcoins arent dependent on
agovernment, they cant be devalued or
manipulated by central authorities.
The problem of digital cash certainly
needsto be solved. Online, were dependent
on PayPal, Visa and so on, and its costly,
particularly for small merchants. Offline,
inshops, we can make electronic card
payments, but we impose costs on the
vendor. Theres no frictionless, anonymous
digital equivalent of the pound note.
There are potential ways to solve some of
these problems, including using Oyster-like
cards as a local cash payment system. These
often sacrifice anonymity, but can make
payments cheaper. Nevertheless, online,
were still unable to make cash payments.
Wealso have to worry about currency
conversions, another point at which costs
areimposed on us. This is where Bitcoin
steps in, now being a genuinely popular
attempt to reduce some of these problems,
independently of banks and governments.
For many, though, Bitcoin is problematic.
Its become popular with tax avoiders, drug
traders and illegal arms dealers, because
their transactions are out of immediate reach
of governments and police, or regulated
banks looking for suspicious activity.
If youre a libertarian, this might not bother
you. You might also take the view that cash
payments have the same lack of traceability,
so its neither here nor there whether a
criminal uses Bitcoins or bank notes. Some
people also take the view that Bitcoins are
akind of scam, designed to make a lot of
money for the original developer Satoshi
Nakamoto and the miners of the first
Bitcoins, which have now rocketed in value.
Some have even called it a Ponzi scheme,
where the last people to get involved will
never have any chance of receiving a return
on their investment.
Regulating Bitcoin
Responsible governments should take a serious look at Bitcoin, beyond ensuring its
not used for tax avoidance, argues Jim Killock
A
99 March 2014
JIM
KILLOCK

is executive director of
campaign organisation
The Open Rights Group
(www.openrightsgroup.org)
@jimkillock
provide permission to indulge in such
[Bitcoin] transactions.
Meanwhile, in the UK and Canada, a major
concern has been the tax status of Bitcoin
transactions. In the UK, Bitcoin payments are
very likely to be subject to VAT, and Bitcoins
could be treated like redeemable vouchers.
Canadian authorities have also made it clear
that Bitcoin profits are subject to tax. While
some Bitcoin enthusiasts will baulk at this
idea, others will see it as a sign that the virtual
currency has come of age.
The European Banking Authority gave
some even handed advice in December about
how to treat Bitcoin and similar virtual
currencies too. It doesnt say its illegal or
wrong, but it does warn that no specific
regulatory protections exist that would cover
you for losses if a platform that exchanges or
holds your virtual currencies fails or goes out
of business.
When a conventional bank goes bust, as
many have done in the EU, most small
investors are protected. This isnt true for
aBitcoin platform. Some platforms have
heldBitcoins on behalf of users, only for the
platform to be hacked, and the Bitcoins to be
Because Bitcoins are tradable, its perhaps
unfair to call it a Ponzi scheme, but it does
encourage speculation and hoarding, so its
delivered vast profits for some of the first
people to get involved, and this has happened
by design. With a normal currency, youre
generally confident that it will fall in value, as
inflation does gradually erodes its worth.
In turn, this encourages you to spend
money, which keeps currency flowing and the
economy moving. In the Bitcoin system, the
currency avoids inflation, and holds or even
increases its value. Supply of Bitcoins is
limited and regulated, for instance.
The result is that theres no underlying
reason to spend, and theres a temptation to
hoard, especially as Bitcoins rise in value
against conventional currencies as they
become scarcer, due to hoarding.
That, of course, is what has happened.
Bitcoins are taken by more places than
before, but theyre also undersupplied, not
least thanks to hoarding. Rick Falkvinge,
founder of the Swedish Pirate Party,
announced on his blog in 2011 that [I am]
investing all of the money I had saved
and all that I can borrow into the
currency. No doubt hes made quite a
good return or at least would do, if he
sold his Bitcoins today. Whether the
increased value of his Bitcoins is really
because of their utility as Rick argues,
or from speculation and hoarding, is
open to debate.
In any case, the interest is real. Bitcoin can
be used to buy some legitimate goods and
services, especially services such as Internet
hosting. As a result, in 2013, many national
banks started to provide advice about Bitcoin
and other virtual currencies. Indias national
bank issued a notice warning people not to
use Bitcoin, while the central bank in China
instructed financial institutions not to use
Bitcoin either.
In December 2013, a number of
independent Chinese Bitcoin platforms
ceased trading, apparently voluntarily. In
India, the national banks announcement was
followed up by an Enforcement Directorate
raid on Bitcoin platform https://buysellbit.
co.in, claiming that the central bank does not
stolen. As the EBA says, In a number of
cases, exchange platforms have gone out
ofbusiness or have failed in some
instancesdue to hacking by third parties.
TheEBA is aware of consumers permanently
losing significant amounts of money held on
these platforms.
The EBA has been working with
Denmarks banking authorities after the
Danish BIPS platform had around 1million
stolen from customers in late 2013; police
responded that they could not treat the
matter as theft, as Bitcoin is unregulated,
according to the New York Times on 5
December, 2013.
There are other ways that you lack
protection when using Bitcoins. Your
personal computer can be hacked to steal
Bitcoins directly from you, or you can just
simply lose your hard drive, as one resident
ofNewport reportedly did, costing him an
estimated 4m. If youre hacked, its
presumably also extremely difficult to
insureagainst Bitcoin losses.
Even if governments arent actively hostile
to Bitcoin, they dont seem to be in any
hurry to regulate it, except toensure it
isnt used for tax avoidance.
Whatever your views about the
reliability, soundness and original
purpose of Bitcoin, the opportunities
for theft and fraud to go unpunished
seem remarkable.
In the end, responsible governments cant
ignore new and original opportunities for
crimes, such as the theft of virtual currency.
While regulating a myriad of virtual currency
platforms, all with different properties and
values, may seem nearly impossible, its also
important that people can access the law and
seek redress when harm is done.
OPINION
WHATEVER YOUR VIEWS, THE
OPPORTUNITY FOR THEFT AND
FRAUD TO GO UNPUNISHED
SEEM REMARKABLE
The national Indian bank initiated an Enforcement
Directorate raid on Indian Bitcoin trading platform,
https://buysellbit.co.in
100 March 2014
After almost seven years, Microsofts much-maligned Games For Windows Live
service will be shut down next July. Rick Lane investigates what happened, how it
affects developers and whether Games For Windows Live deserved its reputation
Games
for Windows
O
n 20 August last year, a support
update appeared on the Age of
Empires Online website,
announcing that service for the game would
be discontinued as of 1 July, 2014. However,
contained within this announcement was
what appeared to be a rather bigger notice:
Games for Windows Live will be
discontinued on July 1, 2014.
The update was quickly removed, and
followed up by a much vaguer statement
emphasising Microsofts belief in PC gaming
and its long-term plans to grow our
support. Yet not long after this incident,
other news stories surfaced about games
that had been previously bound to Games
For Windows Live, such as BioShock 2 and
Batman: Arkham City, receiving updates
toremove their connection with the service.
Microsoft may not have issued official
confirmation on the matter, but make no
mistake, by the summer of next year,
GamesFor Windows Live will have come
toan end.
This news will no doubt come as a relief
tomany gamers. Theres no escaping the
fact that Games For Windows Live was
absolutely detested by a large number of
people who use the PC as their primary
gaming platform. The service has suffered
several problems, and been at the forefront
of controversies since its launch in May
2007,when its Gold subscription service
essentially charged PC gamers money for
online services theyd usually received for
free since the invention of the modem. In
more recent years, Live appears to have
been left to stagnate by Microsoft,
consequently becoming massively
outclassed by the likes of Steam and even
EAs Origin service.
But should we be satisfied at the quiet
demise of this reviled service, or should we
be sad? There are still many questions that
havent been answered about Games For
ANALYSIS
101 March 2014
102
Windows Live. What exactly went wrong with
the service? What was it like to use from a
developers perspective? Should Microsoft
really be shutting it down, or could it be
rescued even now?
GAMES FOR WINDOWS
To understand precisely what went wrong
with Games For Windows Live, its necessary
to look back to the time before the launch of
the service and examine where the idea
germinated. Games For Windows Live is a
part of the broader Games For Windows
brand, the certificate that until very recently
appeared at the top of many boxed copies
ofPC games. It was intended to bring a
measure of regulation to PC gaming, in
particular ensuring games would run within
a certain remit of system requirements.
Heavily involved in the creation of the
Games For Windows brand is Matt Ployhar.
Currently president of the PC Gaming
Alliance, and senior product planner at Intel,
he previously worked at Microsoft for 12
years in various divisions, starting in the
Sidewinder peripherals group before
moving to Microsoft Games Studios, which
created Age of Empires and Flight Simulator.
He then moved to the DirectX division, where
the idea for the Games for Windows brand
was raised.
They were trying to get Vista and DirectX
10 out the door. and I said Guys, we really
need a big marketing program to wrap
around games such as Crysis, BioShock,
Lost Planet and so on, that are the DX10
showcases. So I put together some
numbers that I started showing a few people.
Actually, I got my hand slapped by somebody
in the Xbox group, and I said I dont care, I
dont work in that group any more. I can show
people whatever numbers I want.
XBOX LA LA LAND
Ployhar had prior experience working with
the Xbox group, known internally as the
Entertainment and Devices Division, and
colloquially by Ployhar as Xbox La La Land.
While at Microsoft Game Studios, he feared
the division would end up being largely
re-orged, which is Microsoft jargon for
thereorganisation of a department into
other areas of the company, as Microsoft
increasingly focused on the Xbox project.
This prophecy eventually came true shortly
after he left to work for the DirectX division.
All of those franchises such as Age of
Empires and Flight Simulator all of those
studios got shut down, sold off, or whatever.
And the reality is that if it didnt play well on
Xbox and wasnt making money, then, you
know, why try?
By the time Ployhar was formulating the
data that would eventually be used in the
creation of the Games For Windows brand,
the Xbox and Xbox 360 were Microsofts
priorities, because of the royalties received
from third-party developers you didnt get
those sorts of royalties back on the PC
because of its open-platform nature. Its
pretty lucrative to sit back and let other
people take it on the chin for the development
costs of making the games, while you sit
back and carve off the royalty, which is the
cream right off the top, Ployhar says.
Eventually Ployhar was contacted by Kevin
Unangst, who at the time was senior global
director of Windows Gaming, asking to see
News stories began to surface about games
that had been previously bound to Games
For Windows Live, such as BioShock 2 and
Batman: Arkham City, receiving updates to
remove their connection with the service
And the reality
is that if it didnt
play well on Xbox
and wasnt making
money, then, you
know, why try?
102 March 2014
the data hed put together regarding the
DX10 launch titles. Thats how the brand of
Games For Windows was launched it was
kind of a guerrilla marketing team and the
DirectX group getting together.
The initial intention behind the Games For
Windows brand was to kick-start the PC
gaming side of Microsofts business, an
umbrella under which Microsoft could
provide PC dedicated services such as
Games for Windows Live, headed up by the
Windows division. It could be a competitor
against the increasingly popular Steam, and
that might have been the case, if it wasnt for
what happened next.
Ployhar says that, in his data, he
speculated that a significant sum of money
would be required to get the brand off the
ground. Tens of millions of dollars, in fact,
which was then chased by Kevin Unangst
and Lisa Sikora, now consumer marketing
director for Microsoft.
According to Ployhar, Unangst and Sikora
had a meeting with Steve Ballmer to discuss
the direction the Games For Windows Live
brand would take. Also at that meeting was
Robbie Bach, head of Microsofts
Entertainment and Devices division.
[Kevin and Lisa] led that charge, Ployhar
points out. They stuck their necks out, and
kudos to them, they got the tens of millions of
dollars of commitment they were looking for.
But Robbie Bach then said: Hey, why do you
need to take it off your budget? This is our
expertise, weve got the consumer space.
Why dont we bring the Games For Windows
stuff in well get more traction that way?
A SECONDARY XBOX BRAND
In short, the Games for Windows brand
wastaken out of the hands of the Windows
division, and incorporated into the same
budget as the Entertainment and Devices
division. In other words, placing it under the
supervision of Xbox La La Land.
Thus, Microsofts PC gaming strategy for
the next eight years would be in the hands of
a department whose first priority wasnt the
PC. When that news trickled down to me the
next day, I looked at them and said: You guys
do realise that you just signed your own
death warrant, right? Ployhar states.
Understanding that the Games For
Windows brand, and consequently Live
along with it, was developed as a secondary
project by the Xbox team sheds light on many
of Lives weirder idiosyncrasies. For many
years rumours circulated among the gaming
community that Games for Windows Live
was either a version of Xbox Live that was
hotwired to work on the PC, or an attempt by
Microsoft to treat the PC as a glorified Xbox.
With that in mind, it suddenly makes
sensewhy Games For Windows Live initially
required PC gamers to pay for a Gold
subscription, why its crammed into a small
corner of the www.xbox.com website,
rather than having a site of its own, and why,
when Windows 8 was released, its version of
Games For Windows Live was rebranded
Xbox Live for Windows. All of the above
suggested that the PC had become a
secondary platform for Microsoft in the
years after the release of the Xbox 360, but
up until now there hasnt been a way to
confirm if this was true.
As to why the Entertainment and Devices
division tied its PC strategy so closely with its
Xbox strategy, wed only be speculating, but
aside from straightforward poor
management, the obvious reason would
bethat Microsoft wanted to somehow
implement the lucrative royalties-based
business model of the Xbox on to the PC.
The Games For Windows brand appeared at the top of
many boxed PC games until recently
Big PC gaming
franchises such as
Flight Simulator and
Age of Empires had their
studios shut down
ANALYSIS
103 March 2014
104
Ployhar never worked directly on Games
For Windows Live, and left the company in
2008 after having worked at the Windows
Division on Windows 7, which he refers to as
getting the Vista train wreck back on track.
Live was launched in on 29 May, 2007, its
twoflagship games being the mediocre
multiplayer FPS Shadowrun, and Halo 2,
which had been released on the original
Xbox three years earlier.
OPERATI ON RELAUNCH
From that point onwards, Games For
Windows Live seems to have been a six-
year-long disaster for Microsoft, with
multiple controversies spiking through a
general attitude of disdain for the service
from the PC gaming audience. This isnt to
say there werent attempts from Microsoft to
improve the service.
In fact, looking back through the gaming
news headlines, that period seems to have
been one long struggle by Microsoft to get
the service accepted by PC gamers, starting
with the removal of the highly controversial
paid-for Gold service for multiplayer games
in May 2008. At the end of 2009, the service
was relaunched with an on-demand store in
the vein of Steam or Direct2Drive.
In March 2011, Kevin Unangst came out
and admitted Games For Windows Live had
seen a rocky start, having been designed
originally as a partner to the console service
more than the PC service, but promised it
would get better with a range of fantastic
games, such as Age of Empires Online
andFable III.
There does seem to have been at least
some effort on Microsofts part to improve
the service. It even joined the PC Gaming
Alliance with the specified aim of altering the
tiresome adage that PC gaming is dead,
which was pervasive in the years prior to
2010. The trouble is that none of these efforts
went towards resolving the most commonly
cited problems that PC gamers reported.
These include the fact that Games For
Windows Live only worked from inside the
game, so if it had to perform a task such as
downloading a patch, you had to boot up the
game, log in to Live, then download the
patch, log out, quit the game and start it up
again. There were other issues too, such as
not being able to save your game unless you
were signed in to Live, and only being able to
contact your friends in multiplayer via a
cumbersome, email-style message system,
rather than a chat window. Plus the virtual
shelves in the on-demand store looked bare
in comparison to the Steam store.
These issues, combined with Microsofts
apparent view of PCs a secondary platform
for gaming, meant that Games For Windows
Live became the focus for many PC gamers
frustrations, to the point where even
learning that a game would require signing
into Live would elicit online complaints, and
even cause some potential consumers to
avoid purchasing the game.
DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS,
DEVELOPERS
But what went on at Microsoft, and the
experiences of the consumer, are only two
sides of Lives three-sided story. That third
side belongs to the developers of third-party
titles that used Games For Windows Live.
They were the people who had to code their
games to work with the service, and as such,
theyre the folks who have been most
affected by the announced shutdown.
One developer that isnt sad to see Games
For Windows Live shutting down is Fuelcell
Games, creator of Insanely Twisted Shadow
Planet. For me, Games For Windows Live
was like a tumour that needed to be
removed, says Michel Gagn, the artistic
visionary behind Shadow Planet. Just from
the emails Ive received, it was getting the
most negative comments of anything about
the game by far.
Insanely, Twisted Shadow Planet was
originally an Xbox Live Arcade exclusive,
released in 2011s Summer of Arcade.
According to Gagn and Fuelcell CEO Joe
Olson, Microsoft was initially reluctant to
publish the game, but showed a renewed
interest after one of its infamous re-orgs.
Suddenly it makes sense why the
Games for Windows Live website
is crammed into a small corner
of the Xbox website, rather than
having a site of its own
You guys
do realise that
you just signed
your own death
warrant, right?
104 March 2014
Olson is keen to emphasise that, despite his
gripes with Games For Windows Live, his
experience of working with Microsoft is
generally positive.
The guys we worked with were great, he
states. They were very willing to offer help
and advice, but were also willing to step back
and let us do what we thought was right with
the game when we were adamant about it.
Gagn concurs: Its the most artistic
freedom Ive ever had.
The game did well on Xbox Live, and
Fuelcell ultimately ended up signing a
separate contract for Microsoft to publish
the game on PC. At this point, Fuelcell was
given a choice: it could either release the
game using Games For Windows Live, or
using Games For Windows Live and Steam.
After figuring out that the team didnt have
the resources to ensure the game worked
with both platforms, Fuelcell decided to only
work on Games For Windows Live support.
We really didnt have much of a choice.
Olson explains. As it turned out, it was the
right call. We didnt know too much about it,
and digging into it just made matters worse
and worse; a lot of the development time
actually ended up being devoted to getting
that to work properly.
At the beginning, Olson and the
programmers had to ensure that Shadow
Planet met the technical certification
requirements, or TCRs, of Games for
Windows Live. There are pages and pages of
documentation, and a lot of requirements for
how messages are displayed, integrating
with the API and so on. Even at the time it
seemed antiquated, Olson explains. The
programmers werent happy.
Even Microsoft itself didnt appear to
understand how to make Games For
Windows Live work with third-party games
anymore. At the time, Microsoft wasnt
allocating a tonne of resources to it, and
again with the turnover in the re-orgs, the
company really didnt have anybody there
that knew too much about it. It was kind of
hard to get our questions answered.
This was in late 2011, only six months after
Unangst assured PC gamers of Microsofts
commitment to the Games For Windows Live
service. To make matters worse, Olson
states that it could take up to a fortnight to get
builds of Shadow Planet signed off, at which
point it would turn out that the build couldnt
be approved because Fuelcell had
incorrectly filled out the paperwork.
Eventually, Fuelcell managed to get
Shadow Planet out the door with Games For
Windows Live integrated. Unfortunately, the
worst was yet to come, as the games release
was overshadowed by Lives already badly
damaged reputation. I started getting non-
stop emails, says Gagn, from people
basically wanting their money refunded, and
Fuelcell launched Insanely Twisted
Shadow Planet on Games for Windows
Live, but received many customer
complaints about bugs, all of which
concerned Games for Windows Live
Microsofts PC marketplace was closed down in August 2013
ANALYSIS
105 March 2014
being upset at me. Theyd want us to
give them their money back, and it was
always that same complaint. It was
always about Games For Windows
Live. They very rarely complained
about bugs, and the bugs they did
complain about were caused by
Games For Windows Live.
These bugs Gagn mentions include
issues with players losing achievements,
aswell as a save-gave corruption problem;
even at the time of this interview, the team
hadnt been able to resolve these Olson,
meanwhile, discovered that many people,
including members of his own family,
struggled to play the game because of Lives
convoluted sign-in method. He also fears
that many people were put off playing the
game simply because it was packaged with
Games For Windows Live. If I were to name
the worst part of this situation, it would be
that some people who might have actually
tried our game didnt even bother because it
used Games For Windows Live.
Sadly, the only time the relationship
between Fuelcell and Microsoft
really worked during the coding of
the PC version of Shadow Planet
was when the developer was told
Games For Windows Live would be
shut down. Fuelcell was contacted
afew months before the
announcement , in order to figure
out which games would continue on
the PC platform after the shutdown,
and which would not. Microsoft has
been supportive about us removing
it, says Olson. Its in Microsofts best
interests as well as ours.
Its possible that Fuelcells experience
with Games For Windows Live was an
unfortunate one-off, but this appears
unlikely. All the other publishers and
developers we contacted, including 2K,
Codemasters and Warner Bros, either
declined to comment on their experiences
with the service, or didnt respond at all
and,while this is speculation, it would be
reasonable to expect at least one of them to
reply if they had something positive to say.
Fuelcell has just released its game on
Steam, an experience that Olson says was
much smoother than the Live integration
process. There really isnt a comparison.
Thats the way to put it; Steam makes
integration incredibly easy. The API is
really modern, and the people at Valve
are very responsive and helpful, plus
Steam is well documented, with
automated processes. Valve has
made it really easy.
THE FUTURE OF
WINDOWSGAMING
As for Microsoft, it would be good to say that
its attitude towards the PC has changed, but
its focus still seems to very much on the
Xbox, and given that Olson dealt with the
same individuals for Xbox Live as he did with
Games For Windows Live, it would seem that
Microsoft is consolidating its gaming
divisions even more.
Plus, with Steam being a hugely dominant,
entirely dedicated and specifically tailored
PC service, its difficult to see how Microsoft
can easily win back PC gamers.
Worse, with Steam OS on the horizon, its
even a possibility, albeit currently a vague
one, that Microsoft might lose what little
traction it has left in PC gaming entirely.
MattPloyhar still holds out hope
that the company might change its
tactics, believing that Microsoft
could recover from its stumble
withthe Games For Windows
brand: I want Microsoft to make
theright decision, and think really
hardabout the decisions it makes
over the next couple of years.
Otherwise Microsoft will continue
to lose market share to Android, iOS
and SteamOS. I guarantee it. I dont
like seeing that happen to a bunch
of friends.
With Steam being a hugely dominant, dedicated and specifically tailored PC
service, its difficult to see how Microsoft can easily win back PC gamers
Microsofts gaming divisions are now much
more focused on the Xbox than the PC
106 March 2014
WATER-COOLING
AMDS R9 290X
F
MDs recently released Radeon R9
290X has proven itself to be extremely
fast if you have around 400 to spend,
although it isnt without its faults. Its problems
mainly concern the noise it makes under load,
and the fact that it gets extremely hot during
lengthy gaming sessions. So much so, in fact,
that its default thermal limit of 95C has
forced AMD to apply some fairly aggressive
throttling to keep it in check.
In short, there are two issues noise and
performance throttling. You can ramp up the
maximum fan speed to 100 per cent, with
unpleasant consequences in terms of noise,
or you can reduce the thermal limit and noise
but have the card clock itself down and take a
hit in frame rates. These problems also apply
to GPU compute scenarios such as mining
Bitcoins or running Folding@home.
With the absence of partner cards with
enhanced coolers, theres only one way to beat
the heat and noise, and thats to water-cool
your R9 290X. In this feature, well look at how
to remove your stock cooler, install a full-cover
waterblock and see the results in games.
01

To start, make absolutely sure your
graphics card has a reference PCB,
soyou know it hasnt been altered by the
graphics partner (XFX, Asus, Sapphire and
soon). You can look at our close-ups here or
head over to http://tinyurl.com/r9290x and
compare the image with your model to make
sure the capacitors and VRMs are all in the
right place. Follow the first few steps in this
guide to remove the cooler. Alternatively,
waterblock manufacturers such as EK offer
cooling configurators, which enable you to
choose your brand and model of card to see
which waterblocks will fit.
02

Our sample is Aquacomputers
Kryographics Hawaii Radeon R9 290X,
which is available in copper and nickel-plated
colours, and cools the GPU core, memory
modules and VRMs on R9 290X and R9 290
graphics cards. It also includes a GPU core
bypass that reduces impingement, meaning
that itshouldnt have too much of an impact
on flow rate and pressure if youre plumbing it
into an existing water-cooling system. Youll
need a small amount of non-electrically
conductive thermal paste as well, such as
Arctic Ceramique 2.
03

Thankfully, the R9 290X is held together
with fairly large, standard cross-head
screws. As such, fitting waterblocks to it is
considerably easier than with Nvidias
GeForce GTX 780 3GB, which uses smaller
star-headed screws. Remove all the screws
you can see on the underside of the PCB,
including the four smaller screws located in
the support bracket.
04

There are also two screws at the end of
the graphics card near the expansion
slot bracket these will need to be removed in
order to loosen the cooler and heatsink. After
that, the cooler should be loose enough to pull
off. Dont use excessive force prying it from
one end first can help, as can using a hairdryer
to loosen the thermal paste.
05

The fan will be connected at the far end
to a header on the PCB. Disconnect
this plug before attempting to completely
remove the cooler it should just pop out with
some pressure, but dont pull on the cables.
Use a small pair of pliers if necessary.
06

With the cooler removed, pick off any
large pieces of thermal pads from the
PCB and place them in their corresponding
places on the cooler; the waterblock has its
own pads, and youll need to use thermal
paste for the rest of the contact area.
07

Start by cleaning the GPU core, using
TIM cleaner and a lint-free cloth, and
then apply your own thermal paste. It needs
tobe non-electrically conductive, as its easy
for the paste to seep out onto the PCB near
theGPU core. Youll also need to apply
thermal paste to each of the 16 memory
modules, which will come into direct contact
with the waterblock.
Antony Leather looks at how to water-cool AMDs agship graphics card,
and the benets for gaming
CUSTOMISATION
107 March 2014
108
08

Once youve applied the thermal paste,
youll need to start chopping up the
thermal pads, which are included in the kit, so
that you can stick them to the VRMs. The first
needs to go in a T-shape between the I/O plate
and memory modules, which is clearly
marked in the instructions.
09

The rest of the thermal pads are for the
rear VRMs. You can cut off a long strip
to cover most of them, rather than cutting out
individual pieces for each chip. If you make a
mess, new thermal pads are available
separately, but in our case, Aquacomputer
included plenty.
10

Once youre done, the PCB should look
like the image above, with the core,
memory modules and front and rear VRM
components all covered in either thermal
paste or thermal pads. Now lay the PCB face
down on the waterblock, using the memory
modules to orientate it correctly.
11

The Kryographics Hawaii Radeon
waterblock weve used includes
replacement screws and everything you need
to fix it to the PCB. Install these with light
pressure until theyre all in place, then tighten
them with moderate pressure. Dont forget to
insert the G1/4in plugs in the threads you
wont be using.
12

Your Radeon R9 290X graphics card is
now ready to be connected to your
water-cooling system.
Performance
We carried out a number of tests designed
toshow how much of an advantage the
waterblock offered in terms of cooling
andextra performance due to reduced
thermal throttling.
As our game tests only run for a minute at
most, we used Unigines Valley benchmark to
load the R9 290X over several minutes, having
run the benchmark once before, so that it
could warm through.
We then tested the card at idle and load,
andat several overclocked settings, and
compared these results to those at the same
settings at both 40 and 100 per cent fan
speeds on the air-cooled card.
The test system consisted of a 200mm
radiator with a 180mm SilverStone Air
01
04
07
02
05
08
03
06
09
108 March 2014
CUSTOMISATION
Penetrator fan and a Laing DDC pump, along
with our standard Ivy Bridge graphics test
CPU, which for testing was also included in
the water-cooling loop. Both setups were
performed in a BitFenix Prodigy case to mimic
a typical scenario in which the R9 290X might
suffer from thermal throttling.
Firstly, we let the two systems idle for 15
minutes, and even here the difference was
marked, with the water-cooled card sporting
a delta T of just 13C compared to 20C with
the air-cooled card.
The latter dropped to 18C after raising
thefan speed to 100 per cent, and rose to
28Cwith the fan running at 40 per cent.
Meanwhile, in our load test, the water-cooled
delta T rose just 5C to 23C, while the air-
cooled card rocketed to 72C at both fan
speeds. Even at our maximum overclock, the
R9 290X failed to break the 30C delta T mark
under load.
In our performance testing, there was also
a noticeable difference. Compared to the 40
per cent fan-speed card, the water-cooled
one was 330 points faster in Unigine Valley
equivalent to 17 per cent and 82 points faster
than the air-cooled card with its fan running at
100 per cent.
We then bumped up the clock speeds to our
original R9 290X review settings of 1.12GHz on
the core and 1.4GHz memory, and again the
water-cooled card had a clear 65-point lead
over the air-cooled one at 100 per cent fan
speed, and a sizeable 215 points over 40 per
cent fan speed equivalent to over 9 per cent.
We even managed to squeeze a higher
overclock out of our graphics card too, raising
the core from 1.12GHz to 1.155GHz and the
memory to 1.44GHz, which netted it an
additional 67 points.
At these settings, it was an incredible 34
percent faster than the stock-speed, air-
cooled card with its fan running at 40 per cent
speed, and over 12 per cent faster than the
performance from the highest overclock we
achieved using the air cooler.
Conclusion
Theres no denying that if you own or plan to
buy one of AMDs flagship graphics cards,
water-cooling it can make a massive
difference to noise (even at 40 per cent speed,
the noise from the air-cooled card was still
very noticeable), while the operating
temperatures are drastically reduced.
Not surprisingly, youll also see sizeable
performance gains due to reduced thermal
throttling, even if you dont dabble in
overclocking. In short, the R9 290X offers
possibly the biggest rewards from water
cooling of any graphics card weve ever tested.
Of course, with waterblocks costing nearly
100, plus the cost of pumps, radiators and
tubing if you dont already have them, this an
expensive option.
However, the rewards are great if you can
afford it. In fact, water-cooling this graphics
card actually makes even more sense than
water-cooling most of Intel and AMDs
currentprocessors.
10 11 12
0 20 40 60 80
72C
72C
72C
72C
AMD Radeon R9 290X
(40% fan, stock speed)
AMD Radeon R9 290X
(100% fan, 150% power)
AMD Radeon R9 290X
(100% fan, stock speed)
AMD Radeon R9 290X
(1.12GHz core, 1.4GHz memory)
TEMPERATURE (DELTA T)
13C
20C
23C
26C
28C
30C
AMD Radeon R9 290X
(1.155GHz core, 1.44GHz memory)
AMD Radeon R9 290X
(1.12GHz core, 1.4GHz memory)
AMD Radeon R9 290X
(150% power)
AMD Radeon R9 290X
(stock speed)
AMD Radeon R9 290X
(stock speed, idle, 40% fan)
AMD Radeon R9 290X
(stock speed, idle)
UNIGINE VALLEY
1,920 x 1,200, Ultra settings, 8x AA
0 650 1,300 1,950 2,600
1,946
1,928
AMD Radeon R9 290X
(40% fan, stock speed)
AMD Radeon R9 290X
(100% fan, 150% power)
2,588
2,521
2,320
2,306
2,258
2,176
AMD Radeon R9 290X
(100% fan, stock speed)
AMD Radeon R9 290X
(stock speed)
AMD Radeon R9 290X
(1.12GHz core, 1.4GHz memory)
AMD Radeon R9 290X
(150% power)
AMD Radeon R9 290X
(1.12GHz core, 1.4GHz memory)
AMD Radeon R9 290X
(1.155GHz core, 1.44GHz memory)
Lower is better
Higher is better Air-cooled Water-cooled Air-cooled Water-cooled
results
110 March 2014
W
eve long endorsed mechanical
keyboards here at Custom PC, both
for their vastly improved typing
experience over membrane models and for
their longevity. They date back most famously
to IBM keyboards from the 1980s, but
mechanical switches have had a massive
resurgence in recent years and are now big
business, especially among PC hardware
enthusiasts and gamers. Most peripheral
companies now offer a mechanical keyboard
of some flavour, and youll find them sprawled
across the desks of LAN parties worldwide.
Most experienced mechanical typists have
strong feelings about the type of switch they
prefer to use, but for anyone considering
making the change for the first time, the
differences might appear confusing.
Thankfully, were here to take a closer look
atthree of Cherrys most popular Cherry MX
switches, by far the most common switches in
consumer keyboards today. Weve got our
hands on three SKUs of the lovely Corsair
Vengeance K70 (see Issue 125, p34), the only
difference between them being the design of
the switch beneath the keys, thus giving us the
perfect chance to compare them.
HOW CHERRY MX
SWI TCHES WORK
Cherry MX switches consist of three main
components: a plastic plunger, a spring and
apair of metal contacts that, when brought
together, complete a circuit and signal a key
press. Outside the housing is the cross-
shaped head of the plastic plunger, onto which
keycaps are attached, but everything else is
sealed inside for protection. The contacts are
also gold-plated to prevent rust and further
increase longevity.
The spring surrounds the plastic stem at
the base of the plunger, providing resistance
and keeping the key up, and the switch in the
open position. As you apply force by pressing
downwards on the keycap, the plunger sinks,
eventually to a point where its moved far
enough for the contacts to come together
the actuation point. Lifting your finger off the
key removes the downwards force, whereby
the spring pushes back up on the plunger,
which breaks the circuit again the release
point. Simply by varying the spring strength
and/or the plunger design, Cherry can
produce switches with distinctly different
typing experiences, hence the array of
different product lines, which are
distinguished by the colour of plunger used.
CHERRY MX RED SWI TCHES
Introduced in 2008, Cherrys Red switches
require just 45 centinewtons (cN) of force to
actuate, making them the lightest switch
available. Theyre also linear, so theres no
THE CHERRY ON TOP
Matthew Lambert takes an in-depth look at three of the most popular
mechanical keyboard switches
ANALYSIS
111 March 2014
tactile or audible feedback when the actuation
point is reached.
Being both light and linear means the Red
switches feel satisfyingly fast and responsive
in use, particularly when using them for the
first time. However, it wasnt just for this
reason that they felt like a natural match for
gaming. You tend to bottom out keys (depress
the key all the way down) in games, so the lack
of any feedback never felt like an issue. Also,
the actuation and release points are at the
same height, so repeated key taps are easy
and fast, which leads to a potentially high
number of actuations per minute (APM). In
testing, we did find ourselves bottoming out
the keys most of the time when typing too, but
we never felt our hands becoming fatigued.
Gamers who prefer a fast rebound, or
whoare at risk of disastrous accidental key
presses (RTS players, for example) may want
to consider Black switches, which have a
stronger spring and thus require more force
to actuate (60cN). Beware, however, that this
may result in increased hand fatigue in
mammoth play sessions.
CHERRY MX BROWN SWI TCHES
Brown switches are tactile, so you experience
a soft bump about halfway through the key
press to let you know its been actuated. This is
achieved through a small notch in the plunger
that pushes against one of the metal contacts.
Brown switches require 55cN of force to clear
this bump, after which the force required to
press the key further drops off (and the
actuation point is reached just afterwards),
thus causing a bump to be felt.
Despite needing more actuation force than
the Red switches, we still found the Browns
lightweight in action. This was especially true
when typing, as the tactile feedback meant we
over-pressed far less often compared to using
the Reds, where youll still be using 55-60cN
of force if you bottom out.
The bump also gives your fingers the
feeling that the key has been pressed, so you
naturally stop pushing, whereas this isnt the
case with the linear Red switches. We found
the tactile feeling to be of little consequence in
gaming, however, although given the choice,
wed still be inclined towards Reds for gaming.
Meanwhile, multiple key taps are again easy
thanks to the actuation and release points
being so close, so Browns offer a good
balance for both typing and gaming.
CHERRY MX BLUE SWI TCHES
While all mechanical switches are louder than
rubber dome switches, Blue switches are
deliberately louder. Theyre tactile, like the
Browns, but also have audible feedback. Upon
actuation, a secondary slider attached to the
main plunger is propelled to the bottom of
theswitch, producing a distinct metal click.
Theyre a little heavier than Browns too, as the
bump requires 60cN of force to push past it.
The bump in a Blue switch feels sharper
and more obvious than in a Brown switch, so
typists may prefer the additional feedback that
this brings along. We were less enamoured by
the audio cue, though, as we didnt find it
brought any benefit to typing or gaming
(where youll often be wearing a headset
anyway), although again some may prefer the
extra level of feedback switch preference is
largely subjective for both gaming and typing.
Whether or not you enjoy the sound it
makes will be a matter of preference, but the
noise level could quickly become annoying, if
not to you then to neighbouring workers or
Skype buddies. Finally, the reset point of Blue
switches is significantly higher than the
actuation point, so youll need to let it travel up
past its bump before it can be actuated again,
much like a membrane keyboard. Conversely,
with Browns, you can float the key just below
its bump to achieve the same action.
FINAL WORDS
Although there are a number of other
mechanical switches available, weve covered
the three most commonly used in new
keyboards to give you a clear idea of the
differences between them. Whichever you
choose, youre practically guaranteed a better
experience than with cheaper membrane
keyboards. However, we also recommend
simply trying the different switches for
yourself, perhaps on a friends keyboard,
andseeing how they work for you.
MEMBRANE KEYBOARDS
Membrane keyboards are cheap and easy to produce, relying on a single rubber-like
layer, as opposed to 105 complex and individually crafted switches. While this gives them
the advantage of being significantly cheaper than their mechanical brethren, theyre
worse in almost every other way (although theyre noticeably quieter too). The main
advantage of mechanical keyboards is that actuation happens before the key is fully
depressed (or bottomed out), decreasing the effort and energy required to type.
Also, a rubbery membrane typically feels spongy and inconsistent when typing, while
mechanical keyboards have a smooth and precise feel thats simply unmatched. Finally,
mechanical keyboards are far more reliable and longer-lasting (theyre rated to handle
around 50 million key presses, compared to 5-10 million on a membrane keyboard, for
example). As they age and get dirty, membrane keys also have an annoying tendency to
become stuck when pressed. Mechanical springs are much less exposed to the
elements, which reduces this annoying occurrence.
112 March 2014
HTTP://FORUMS.BIT-TECH.NET
competition
for the win!
I
f youve just read through our feature on
Cherry switches, and think youve found the
right switch for you, then heres a chance for
you to snag your very own K70 keyboard.
Corsair will give the winner of this competition
a K70 in their choice of black or silver, and also
with their own Cherry switch-type of choice.
Not only that, but our generous friends
atCorsair have also put together a great
bundle of gaming kit on top of it, including a
Vengeance M65 mouse, again in your own
choice of colour. The winner will also get a
V1500 V2 gaming headset with Dolby
Headphone support, and a gorgeous double-
sided, aluminium MM600 mouse mat.
To be in with a chance of winning this
superb bundle of gaming kit, just answer the
question below.
WIN! A bumper Corsair
peripheral bundle!
WORTH 270
Q
Email your answer to
competition@custompcmag.org.uk,
with Corsair Competition 126 in the Subject line.
Closing date 13 February, 2014.
See www.dennis.co.uk/comp/terms for the full competition rules.
What is a corsair?
a) A sailing boat
b) A pirate
c) A cloak
KIT LIST
Corsair Vengeance K70 keyboard,
inyour choice of colour with your
ownchoice of Cherry key switch
(seep110)
Corsair Vengeance M65 mouse,
inyour choice of colour
Corsair Vengeance V1500 V2
gamingheadset
Corsair Vengeance MM600 dual-
sided mouse mat
0keyboard,
our
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experts at
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was really struggling to choose a mini-ITX
board and it was a no-brainer when the
Impact went to market. The processor is a
Core i5-4670K Haswell chip, and the 8GB of
2,133MHz RAM is from Corsair's Dominator
range. I like the design of the memory
modules they have a satisfying understated,
high-quality feel about them.
Meanwhile, the SilverStone PSU is a 450W
modular SFX unit its tiny and, with space at
a premium, it was perfect for fitting in a tight
spot. However, the PSU did limit my choice of
GPU. I decided to use an EVGA GTX 660 3GB,
which was small and only required one 6-pin
power connector this reduces the amount
of cables (and sleeving). I also modded it to fit
into a single slot, fitted with an EKfull cover
waterblock, which reduced the size again.
I used EK waterblocks throughout, and I
also wanted to try my hand at hard acrylic
tubing. I like Primochill's water-cooling kit, as
the tubing grips its fittings really well. The
reservoir was custom built by Phame,
and the C drive will eventually be an M2
NGFF (next-generation form factor) SSD
when theyre available, but for now I have
Windows 8.1 on a standard SSD.
CPC: What other mods have you built?
Andrae:This is the third. Some may
remember D33p Thought (see Issue
109, p102), a Hitchhiker's Guide To
TheGalaxy-themed build. That's my
main PC for gaming, watching films
114 March 2014
CPC: What was the inspiration
behind Mini Moto Mayhem?
Andrae: I had an old Mini Moto
motorbike in the shed, which wasnt
going to get any more use, as the track at
which I race had banned them due to noise
restrictions. The bike looked likely to get
scrapped. I had anidea to do a chopper/
bobber conversion onit, but I like my sports
bikes too much and decided to keep its sporty
look. When I pulled out the engine, I thought it
would be a shame to lose the bike's
purpose entirely, and decided to
convert it to electric. It's an
outrageous idea that turns heads
when riding through LAN events,
whether you like it or not.

CPC: What tubing and components


did you use?
Andrae:For the PC side of the project, I
used Asus' new Maximus VI Impact its
release was a godsend at that time; I
Your chance to get involved in Custom PC
meet thy
maker
Name Andrae Souter
Age 43
Location Southampton
Occupation Brewing technician with
Molson Coors
Main uses for PC Gaming and
watching films
Likes PCs, bikes and marine
aquariums (reef tanks)
Dislikes Trolls
Rather than scrapping
his old Mini Moto Bike,
Andrae Souter saw an
opportunity to not only
add an electric motor,
but to also turn the bike
into a water-cooled
Haswell PC
p p g g
re
an
N
w
W
C
A
g
s
115 March 2014
so that I could get the ports facing the inside of
the bike. I still had to chop out some of the bike
frame, but I got the clearance I needed.
Fitting the electric motor wasnt
straightforward either; I had to grind down
some of the motor's castings, grind the bike
frame and pack out the drive sprocket to get
enough clearance for the drive chain. I had
problems with paint sagging (laying down too
much paint) the list goes on; you wouldn't
believe how much work went into this project!
116
ENTER YOUR OWN PC AT HTTP://FORUMS.BIT-TECH.NET
FULL SYSTEM SPECS
CPU Intel Core i5- 4670K
GPU EVGA GeForce GTX 660 3GB
Storage 128GB M2 (NGFF) SSD
Memory 8GB 2,133MHz Corsair Dominator
Motherboard Asus Maximus VI Impact
PSU 450W SilverStone modular SFX
Cooling Mayhems Aurora 2 coolant, EKWB waterblocks,
Primochill hard acrylic tubing, flow indicator and
compression fittings, Laing D5 pump
Motor 24V 350W electric motor
Batteries 2 x 12V lead/acid
Top speed 15-20mph (approx)
and music. The other was Project Thing,
which I made for bit-tech's Raspberry Pi
competition its basically the hand from
theAddams family.

CPC: What difficulties did you encounter


when building Mini Moto Mayhem?
Andrae:There were a lot of problems; it
fought me all the way, from getting the
batteries to fit under the seat to seemingly
simple tasks such as getting the tubing to
theGPU block. If I wasnt into bikes so much,
the project would have been abandoned
before completion.
The seat problem was solved by raising
thewhole seat unit by 2in. This involved
getting some handlebar risers cut to length,
which I think actually improved the bike's
appearance. Getting the tubing into the GPU
involved trimming some of the waterblocks
CPC: What materials did you use?
Andrae:Mini Moto Mayhem contains pretty
much every type of material acrylic, metal,
moulded plastics, wood, textiles, vinyl and, of
course, rubber. The back pad on the seat unit
was a piece of leftover wood from Project
Thing, which I covered in blue crushed velvet.
Some people absolutely hate it, but I think it
ties in well with the colour of the coolant, and
other blue accents on the bike.

CPC: What tools did you use?


Andrae:Mostly my trusty Dremel, some files
and lots of sandpaper. I did have some ideas
that required specialist kit, however, and
luckily I had a few friends who helped out. The
original plan was to have a cylinder reservoir
in the tank, but then I decided on the
Mayhems logo, partly inspired by the project's
name. I contacted bit-tech user Phame
(James Couzens), who is also a keen biker,
and he was very enthusiastic to help. After
receiving a few sketches, he produced a3D
SEE
the project log at
http://tinyurl.com/
MiniMoto
Mayhem
116 March 2014
CAD model, which went through a few
changes. Once it was complete, I sent him a
big block of acrylic and he machined it for me.
Top bloke.
I also wanted some decals, but Sander
from http://modwithme.com suggested an
alternative 3D logos. We originally had them
machined, but they ended up melting
because they were so small. He then
3D-printed them instead. I hadn't considered
that idea, and the logos looked awesome after
painting. Mod With Me is a startup company,
and he also sponsored the build, so I hope I've
helped to promote his business.
I also wanted to give the bike a custom paint
job. Originally, I was going to use an airbrush
artist, but after thinking about it, I decided
what I wanted wasnt difficult to achieve, so
Idecided to invest in some airbrushing
equipment and do it myself. The results
looked good, and I really enjoyed doing it; I'm
going to look further into airbrushing and
improve my skills.
CPC: What media interest has it attracted?
Andrae:Fast Bikes magazine has expressed
an interest in doing an article, which would be
very cool. I will also be putting the bike into a
custom bike show, just to gauge the reaction
from the bike world.
CPC: How long did Mini Moto Mayhem take
to build?
Andrae:Eight months. I'd been mulling the
idea around in my head for around a year
before I started, and I tried to get a hardware
manufacturer interested, but received
absolutely no response. I knew it was going
tobe a long-term project, so I spread the cost
of the hardware over that eight months.
CPC: What did you learn from this build?
Andrae:My painting skills have improved
when it comes to lacquering and polishing,
which makes a huge difference to the paint
finish. I've also experienced plenty of problem
BEAWINNER!
To enter your machine for possible inclusion in Readers
Drives, your mod needs to be fully working and, ideally,
finished based in the UK. Simply log on to www.bit-tech.net and head over to the forums. Once
youre there, post a write-up of your mod, along with some pics, in the Project Logs forum. Make
sure you read the relevant rules and advice sticky threads before you post. The best entrant each
month will be featured here, where well print your photos of your project and also interview you
about the build process. Fame isnt the only prize; youll also get your hands on a fabulous
selection of prizes see the opposite page for details.
solving. Often, sleeping on a problem and
coming back to it helped.

CPC: Are you happy with the end result?


Andrae:Yes, absolutely. I remember putting
it together, and thinking: 'Wow! this has
turned out way better than even I had
expected' the bike looks like it could run
at200mph. I quite often find myself totally
distracted, and just sit there enjoying looking
at it. In isolation, it could be mistaken for a
regular-sized sports bike.
There is one part Id change, and that
wouldbe to put in a 1,000W motor, along with
upgraded batteries. It would be great to do
burnouts at LAN parties, but that's just vanity.
Thanks for everyones help, and Id like to
thank the sponsors too I hope I've given you
plenty of bang per buck.
HTTP://FORUMS.BIT-TECH.NET
The Phobya modding kit is designed with the modder in mind, offering
great value for money and quality products. The kit includes Nano-G
12 Silent Waterproof 1,500rpm multi-option fans, which use
an innovative fan-blade design. As standard, the
fans include braided black cables to keep
your case looking as neat as possible. The
fans are also supplied with a special cable
that lets you run the fan at 5V rather than
12V, reducing the noise emitted in order to
help you to build a silent system.
The kit also includes the
60cmPhobya 3-pin Molex to
4x 3-pin Molex Y-cable. This pre-
braided extension cable gives you extra routeing options in your case,
and it also enables you to run up to four fans from one compatible
motherboard header. Meanwhile, the Phobya SATA 3 cables included
in the kit offer the same great quality braiding as the
rest of the Phobya range, while also
securing your connection with latched
connectors. As well as this, the kit
includes the Phobya SlimGuide
Controller, which gives you the
option to vary the speed of other
fans in your case, while the Phobya
TwinLEDs let you shine a light on
your mods.
Weve teamed up with some of the worlds leading PC manufacturers and retailers to offer this great
range of prizes to each lucky Readers Drives winner. If your creation is featured in the magazine then
youll walk away with all of the prizes listed on this page, so get in your entries!
CORSAIR GRAPHITE SERIES 230T CASE
AND RM 550W MODULAR POWER SUPPLY
Total value 150 inc VAT Manufacturer www.corsair.com
Corsair believes that a great PC starts with a great case. The
Corsair Graphite Series 230T is a compact expression of
this core philosophy. With stylish looks and a choice
of three different colours, it packs in a remarkable
number of features to provide builders with tonnes
of room for expansion and amazing cooling
potential. Like all Corsair cases, its built using the
finest materials and finished to the highest
standards, so it will withstand several years of
upgrades. Plus, to make sure it stand outs from the
crowd, the 230T features Corsairs new Air Series
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Just as a quality case is essential to building a
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and all with the absolute minimum of noise. It uses
specially optimised quality parts to reduce sound at the
component level, and it's completely silent below 40 per cent load, thanks to its Zero RPM
fan mode. Its also fully modular, allowing for the maximum amount of flexibility during
installation. With a Corsair Graphite 230T case and an RM 550W Modular power supply at
the heart of your build, youll have the foundations for a truly awesome gaming machine.

PHOBYA MODDING KIT
Value 50 inc VAT Manufacturer www.phobya.com, www.aqua-tuning.co.uk
117 February 2014
MAYHEMS COOLANT
AND DYES
Value 50 inc VAT
Manufacturer www.mayhems.co.uk
Cooling performance is only one part of the equation
when it comes to kitting out your rig with custom
water-cooling gear. The other major bonus is that all
those tubes and gleaming fittings just make your PC
look damn sexy, and they look even better when they're
pumped full of fancy coloured coolant. As such, we're
particularly pleased to have the folks at Mayhems now
on board with Readers' Drives; they're currently
offering two 1-litre bottles of Mayhems' Pastel Ice
White coolant, along with a selection of five dyes, so
you can choose the colour that best complements your
PC. Check out the blue coolant in our own mini PC mod
on the cover of Issue 109 for an example of what's
possible with some Mayhems coloured coolant.
e. The
of
118 March 2014
ORDER TO LENGTH
There are plenty of shops online, as well as eBay stores,
which not only offer tubing of specific diameters, but
will also cut it to length for you. You might not be able to
specify odd numbers, and most offer steps of 50mm in
length, but having it pre-cut can save a lot of time.
CHOOSE THE RIGHT COLOUR
Coloured tubing is available, but not in as many pre-cut
shapes and sizes. Also, the colour of coolant you use
wont be visible in a coloured reservoir, or at least it will
become a different shade, so clear acrylic is best if you
plan on using coloured coolant.
PlastiDip spray paint
www.plastidip.co.uk
Acrylic tubing and sheets
www.ebay.co.uk
Plastruct Plastic Weld
www.ebay.co.uk
Small tap wrench M3-M12 bar
www.ebay.co.uk
BSP 1/4in x 19 TPI second cut tap
www.ebay.co.uk
Drill and 11.8mm drill bit
www.amazon.co.uk
Holesaw or Dremel with
cuttingdiscs
Most hardware stores
200, 400, 600 and 1,000-grit
sandpaper
Most hardware stores
Masking tape
Most hardware stores
make Your
own reservoIr
DECIDE ON THE SI ZE
Well be making a tube reservoir, and these types of
reservoir often look a lot smaller outside a case than
inside it. Measure up your preferred location to check
what size you need, and dont forget to account for
barbs and tubing in your measurements.
USE THE RIGHT MATERIALS
Usually, 3mm acrylic would be ideal for this job, as it
can be cut, sanded and bent into shape more easily than
5mm or larger material. However, you want the contact
area between the tube and end plates to be as large as
possible, in order to make the join strong, so we opted
for 5mm acrylic.
he amount of off-the-shelf
water-cooling hardware available
today is pretty extensive, with all
manner of components coming
in various shapes and sizes. However,
depending on your case and your cooling
requirements, you often still have to make
compromises.
Sometimes, what you really need is a
custom part of your own design, and youll
T
Cant find a reservoir thats the right shape or size? Antony Leather shows
you how to make your own
bepleased to know that its surprisingly easy
to make your own reservoir.
Whats more, there are places you can buy
the required acrylic tubing in any colour you
like, and get it cut to size too. Not only will
thisguide show you how to make your own
reservoir from scratch, but it will probably end
up costing under 30 too.
HTTP://FORUMS.BIT-TECH.NET
119 March 2014
BUY ACRYLI C SHEET FOR END PLATES
You need a way to seal the ends of the reservoir, and provide a place for barbs to sit.
Weve opted for 5mm acrylic for the end plates, which is the thinnest material you can
reasonably expect to accommodate threads for the barbs.
MASK UP END CAPS
As well be cutting the end caps to size later, we need to mask off the acrylic first. Its
also worth performing this step if the acrylic is coated in protective film, as it will help
to prevent any slips with the holesaw well be using, which could scratch the acrylic.
CUT THE TUBE YOURSELF
In the event that you need to cut the tube yourself, you can do so with a hacksaw using
a blade with around 32 teeth per inch (TPI) this is a better tool for this job than a
Dremel, which can make straight cutting difficult. However, the latter is still an option
if youre prepared to spend a while sanding the ends to make them smooth.
MASK THE CUTTING AREA
If you have to cut the tube yourself, place masking tape over the area first, then draw
a line to follow with your saw or Dremel. This way, any slipping wont end up with you
scoring the tube, creating a scratch that will be extremely difficult to remove.
MEASURE END CAPS
Well be using red acrylic end plates for our reservoir, and we want to cut these into
circular ends that are slightly bigger than the reservoir tube itself. Start by placing the
tube over the acrylic sheet and drawing around it to create a template.
SAND THE EDGES
Whether youve bought the tube pre-cut to the right size or cut it yourself, its
essential to sand the ends smooth, so they sit absolutely flush with the end plates.
If theres a substantial rough edge, start with 400-600 grit sand paper, before using
1,000 grit to finish off.
120
120 March 2014
DECIDE ON FI TTING HOLES
It will be easier to create the threaded holes before you cut the acrylic into smaller
sections. Decide where you want the barbs and fill ports to sit, and allow plenty of
room between each barb, especially if you plan to use angled barbs.
TEST-FI T A BARB
Once youve tapped the acrylic, test-fit a barb. The thread size is critical, which is one
reason why weve specifically used an 11.8mm drill bit. The barb should screw neatly
into place, and the O-ring at the bottom should sit flush with the acrylic.
MARK UP FI TTING HOLES
Use a pen to mark up the locations of the fitting holes within the circular template you
made previously. Create crosses to mark the centre of the barbs, so you can mount
the barbs symmetrically.
CREATE A HOLESAW PILOT HOLE
If you intend to use a holesaw, youll need to use it complete with its pilot drill. This
means drilling into the end caps centre section. You can easily tap this out later with a
G1/4in thread, and seal it with a plug fitting, but only after youve used the holesaw to
cut it out, as the 11.8mm drill bit will be too large.
USE THE TAP AND APPLY LUBRI CANT
Practise creating threads with the G1/4in tap. Connect it to the tap wrench and insert
it squarely into the hole. Dont try to drill it all the way through in one go instead,
apply a few turns, then unwind before cutting in a few turns again until the entire tap
passes through. Use lubricant WD40 works well to reduce friction and make the
job easier.
PRACTISE FI RST
If you havent drilled and tapped acrylic before, practise on a spare piece of acrylic
first. Start by drilling a pilot hole into the acrylic. Youll ideally need to use an 11.8mm
drill bit, which will allow the tap to cut into the acrylic and create threads that are
strong enough.
11
13
15
12
14
16
HTTP://FORUMS.BIT-TECH.NET
121 March 2014
DRILL MARKED-OUT HOLES
Now its time to turn our attention to the end caps. Use the 11.8mm drill bit to create
the holes youve marked out. If you find it tricky keeping the drill steady, try making a
pilot hole using a 5mm drill bit first, which will help to guide the larger drill bit.
CUT OUT USING A DREMEL
Its also possible to cut out the end caps using a Dremel if you dont have a drill and
holesaw. However, you wont end up with a particularly clean cut. Start by working
a cutting disc round the cap at a medium speed, cutting into the whole circle a
millimetre at a time dont cut all the way through immediately.
TAP THE HOLES
With the holes drilled, use the tap in the same way as in step 14, during the practice
run. Eat away at the hole gradually, backing off every few turns to work the thread into
the acrylic in stages.
SAND THE EDGES
Use 200-400 grit sandpaper to smooth the cuts youve just made, starting in a side-
to-side motion, and moving on to sanding in straight lines. Move the caps regularly to
prevent flat spots. Moving on to higher-grit sandpaper, such as 1,000-grit, will create
a smoother finish, and you can consider flame-polishing the edges too.
CUT OUT USING A HOLESAW
A holesaw will result in the cleanest cut for the end caps. As we mentioned earlier,
you need to use its pilot drill to hold it steady, so get this job out of the way before using
the 11.8mm drill bit or tap. If your drill has a clutch, set it to a low setting to prevent the
acrylic from cracking.
TEST-FI T THE BARBS
The barbs should screw straight into the hole as normal, but dont over-tighten them
just use enough pressure for the O-ring to compress underneath, otherwise you
might risk stripping the threads youve just created.
17
19
21
18
20
22
122
HTTP://FORUMS.BIT-TECH.NET
122 March 2014
TEST-FI T END CAPS AND RESERVOI R TUBE
Before you glue anything together, you need to check how well the tube section and
end caps fit together. There should be no visible gaps at all, and the edges of the tube
should be flat and sit flush all the way around. If there are any visible gaps, continue
sanding until they disappear.
LEAK-TEST RESERVOI R
A leak test is vital before you put your trust in the reservoir. The first step is to cap
off the threaded holes youve made with G1/4in plugs, and then to fill the reservoir,
allowing the water to rest at either end. Youll need to perform a further test under
pressure in the loop, as with any new water-cooling system.
APPLY PLASTI C CEMENT TO BASE CAP
To keep the finish neat, apply the glue on the inside if any glue seeps out it will
mark the plastic, so applying it to the inside will hide any spills. However, the cement
usually finds its way along the join using capillary action, so apply it sparingly with a
small syringe. We also recommend taping the cap to the tube to keep it still.
MOUNT RESERVOI R IN CASE
There are dozens of ways to mount the reservoir in a case. You could create an acrylic
mount or ring clip to secure it to the case, or use a lower G1/4in thread to attach it
directly to a pump. Weve opted to suspend ours from a fill port in the roof, using thick
1/2in ID tubing for support.
ALLOW TO DRY
Once youve glued both ends, allow the cement to set before fitting the barbs. It sets
very quickly, and the join will be hardened in a matter of minutes. Inspect the edges
for gaps or excess glue sometimes its possible to remove excess glue effects using
an abrasive polish.
APPLY CEMENT TO TOP CAP
Apply the cement from the outside of the reservoir, taking advantage of the capillary
action and allowing the liquid to flow along the join. The cement liquefies a thin layer
of the two sides of the acrylic, bonding them together.
23
25
27
24
26
28
124 March 2014
would indeed saturate the 1x PCI-E 2 bus,
but only by a small amount. This was only
in sequential read tests though. In the vast
majority of cases, the SSDs speed was
below the limit of a 1x PCI-E 2 slot. Of
course, you dont have to be limited to a 1x
PCI-E 2 slot. Your motherboard has loads
of full-sized 16x PCI-E slots, which will
also take 4x PCI-E cards (2GB/sec),
andyou can pick up a 4x PCI-E 2 SATA
6Gbps card for around 60
from www.scan.co.uk
In theory, these cards
willwork similarly to an
independent SATA controller
on your motherboard, where
you have some SATA ports
controlled by the chipset,
andothers by a third-party
controller the card should
work like the latter, with its
own BIOS that will be
accessible during boot-up,
enabling you to set the boot
order. Thats the best help I can
be, without your motherboard
Letters
Send your feedback and correspondence to
letters@custompcmag.org.uk
and a SATA controller to hand, but you
should be able to add an SSD to your
system without too much trouble.
Goodluck.
COUCH GAMING
I just built a mini-ITC PC, mainly so that
Ihave alightweight and easy-to-carry
machine forLAN parties, but I also want
touse it forcouch gaming in front of the
TV.Ihaveall the components from your
recommendations for mini-ITX builds
and,as expected, it works fantastically.
However, Im now in need of peripherals
for couch gaming. Most people would
recommend a wireless Xbox controller, but
Im a PC gamer, so Im used to a keyboard
and mouse. I also know most gamers would
stay far away from wireless keyboards and
mice, but using a wired mouse and keyboard
in front of the TV is very uncomfortable, and
all the cables are almost always in the way.
Is there any wireless mouse and keyboard
you would recommend? I dont need
anything extreme, and preferably also not
anything that would break my bank account.
GET BEHIND THEE, SATA
I have a system with an Asus P6T7
WS SuperComputer motherboard
and a Core i7-980X processor. Its
still a pretty capable system, and I dont
really feel the need to upgrade the core
components. However, I think an SSD will
give the system a good boost. The problem
is that the motherboard doesnt have any
SATA 6Gbps connectors.
There are very many different PCI-E SATA
6Gbps adaptors on the market, and prices
for them vary considerably. Ive also heard
speculation about cards that use a 1x PCI-E
interface not being able to the full SATA
6Gbps bandwidth. In addition, I wonder if
there will be any issues booting Windows
through such a PCI-E card. I dont need any
features such as RAID; I just want to connect
one SSD and use it to its full potential.
Please help me to find the right PCI-E
adaptor to suit me.
Alexander Urazov
Ben replies: Youre quite right that your
system is capable enough at the moment
the 6-core 980X is still a very fast CPU. I
also agree that an SSD will be your best
upgrade at the moment; it certainly makes
the biggest difference of any upgrade in
terms of how you generally use your PC.
Isee your dilemma though. Certainly,
intheory, a 1x PCI-E 2 slot can only hit
amaximum bandwidth of 500MB/sec,
compared to 600MB/sec from a SATA
6Gbps port. However, even the latest 2.5in
SSDs rarely push the SATA 6Gbps interface
to its limit, although they do exceed the
300MB/sec limit of the SATA II interface.
For example, when we tested
Samsungs new SSD 840 EVO drives, the
peak bandwidth was 537.5MB/sec, which
An SSD will make a massive difference to your PCs
responsiveness, but not everyone has easy access to
SATA 6Gbps
Valves Steam controller, which uses touchpads
rather than analogue sticks, is one of a couple of
new PC gaming controllers in development
125 March 2014
FEEDBACK
Thank you, and your mag rocks keep up
the great job.
Eckhard Mahne
Ben replies: Thanks for your kind
comments Eckhard, and Ill echo your
frustrations about trying to set up your
PCfor gaming in the lounge I dont like
playing with gamepads either. Ill be
honest currently, there isnt an ideal
peripheral setup for PC gaming on the
sofa, but there are some interesting ideas
in development.
First off is the controller that Valve
showed off last year for its Steam boxes,
which are designed to emulate the
keyboard and mouse interface as best
aspossible in a gamepad, using haptic
touchpads instead of the analogue sticks
you see on console game pads. Also in
development is Worthington Sharpes 3D
mouse (www.worthingtonsharpe.com),
which can function as a mouse without
needing a desk, as well as offering some
keyboard-like controls.
GET YOUR OWN BACK
Tracy King often spouts crap that I dont
agree with, but everyone is entitled to their
own opinion. However, this month she
clearly has no idea what shes talking about.
Im not referring to whether technology is
affecting our youth, as I have no idea about
those statistics.
What I refer to is her assertion that
chiropractors are quacks! Im not saying
there arent some dodgy practitioners out
there, as there are in any industry, but Tracy
has clearly never experienced hobbling into
a chiropractors office because you simply
cant stand straight, only to walk out upright
and pain-free after 45
minutes of manipulation.
And dont tell me that its a
placebo effect. To say that is
utter crap!
Luckily, I havent
experienced back pain for
some years, as I now have
myown solution for back care
a stand-up desk (which I
recommend everyone should
use). But earlier in my life, I
went through a stage of visiting
Tracy replies: Chiropractic is alternative
medicine without a robust scientific
evidence base, so Im comfortable
labelling it quackery, although I
understand that many patients swear by it.
Sadly, anecdotes do nothing to counter
empirical evidence, but if you prefer that
sort of reasoning you can find several
useful stories athttp://whatstheharm.
net/chiropractic.html. I hope that link is
ofuse to you, and I wish you the best for
your health.
a chiropractor around once
a year. That was after
useless sessions with my
doctor and an NHS physio,
who did nothing for me.
Im quite happy for Tracy
to spout off her usual
bollocks each month, but
can she please stick to
subjects that she at least
has some knowledge of?
Robert Clark

Forst3r My Nook is now working
as a Android tablet and I can read
Kindle books thanks to @ghalfacree s
article in Septembers @CustomPCMag
Gareth: Glad it came in handy! I love
my Nook - I just wish it was a little more
up to date than Android 2.1.

JamesWilmington Although
itsniche, will you guys ever start
to use computational benchmarks
forGPUs? It casts a different shadow
toFPS.
Ben: Yep, in this issue weve run GPU
compute Bitcoin and Folding@home
benchmarks on every graphics card,
as well as running the usual gaming
benchmarks. They dont count
towards the final score, but theyll give
you an idea about single-precision
compute performance.

richardnpaul Asdas Chosen By
You mince pies are far better
than the Greggs winner IMO. Bought
some on your recommendation.

Paulinafrica @tkingdoll Another
great piece in the latest
@CustomPCMag Tracy, well done.

EmptyGuid This month in
@CustomPCMag they review
this years Dream PC entries. More
importantly, though, the results of the
Mince Pie megatest are in.
Ben: Heh, I like your priorities!

craigthebeard84 Your wish is my
command @CustomPCMag
Ben: Theyre very good enjoy!

leedshackspace Were featured
in this months @CustomPCMag
:D thanks for the article!

Stanto This months
@CustomPCMag is pretty good ;)
picked up a physical copy so that I can
spread the word of @leedshackspace

inuxnewbie Read about the @
Phenoptix ATX breakout board
bench power supply in
@CustomPCMag just received.
Excellent idea IMHO.
Follow us on Twitter at @custompcmag
g
a
a
u
d
w
I
t
126 March 2014
Join our folding team and help medical research
WHAT IS FOLDING?
Folding@home uses the spare processing cycles from your PCs CPU and graphics cards for medical research. You can download
the client from http://folding.stanford.edu and our teams ID is 35947. Once you pass a significant milestone, youll get your name
in the mag. You can also discuss folding with us and other readers on the www.bit-tech.net forums.
CPC: So who is Petaflops?
Petaflops: Im Pete McCann and I run a
smallholding, which Im developing as a wind
farm. Our first wind turbine has already been
erected and were planning a second one.
CPC: Why did you start folding?
Petaflops: Ive been a long-time reader of
Custom PC and I always loved computers.
Ive used my computers in the past to do
other distributed computing projects,
especially climate modelling, but these have
only ever used CPUs, not GPUs. A while ago
Ifound that the folding project could use GPU
power to conduct useful scientific research,
so I decided to make use of all that power.
CPC: What excites you most about folding?
Petaflops: Using the full power of my PC
andmaking it work hard. Most of us have
incredibly powerful computers sitting
underour desks, just twiddling their
thumbsmost of the time. Theres more
computational power in one PC than the
totalused to send man to the moon, and its
all just going to waste.
CPC: How many PCs do you have folding?
Petaflops: Just one at the moment. I tend
tobuy a new PC once every five years, so I
usually make it a good one! Ive just bought
anew one, so Im putting it to good use now.
However, folding is a little addictive, so Im
tempted to get some other machines going.

We catch up with folder of the month: Petaflops
CPC: Whats the spec of your folding PC?
Petaflops: Its an Intel Core i7-4770K from
Scan, overclocked to 4.3GHz with two Radeon
HD7990s. This machine running at full pelt
can produce almost a half a million points
everyday just on its own. AMD graphics
cardsused to be totally naff at folding, but
with the introduction of the new FahCore 17,
theyre more productive than some Nvidia
cards. So whether you have an Nvidia or
AMDGPU, theres no excuse not to start
GPUfolding.
CPC: Whats your best piece of folding kit?
Petaflops: Definitely the HD 7990s. Each
GPU produces about 115,000 points per day;
thats 460,000 points a day with the two cards.
CPC: Do you intend to keep up your current
production level?
Petaflops: Once I really get the hang of it, I
hope to increase my points tally. I have quite
afew old PCs lying around, which could
eachproduce a lot of points with a modern
graphics card installed.
CPC: Any tips for fellow team members?
Petaflops: Im the new boy on the team, as
Ive only been folding for a couple of weeks.
However, I would suggest that people now
consider AMD GPUs for folding, as theyre
both cheap and productive. To everyone else
who isnt folding, Id ask why not. Surely,
trying to find the cure for cancer is worth the
Team rank 176 World rank 7,321
Score 6,897,138 Work units 318
Daily points average 411,293
TOP FOLDERS
This months shout-outs go to Roveel,
Desertbaker and Dr.G. If you fold under
either of these names, email folding@
custompcmag.org.uk
cost of a little electricity, especially as you
already have the kit with which to do it.
CPC: Whats your worst folding experience?
Petaflops: I had a few problems getting my
cards set up properly at first, but the guys on
the forum helped me to sort everything out.
CPC: And the best?
Petaflops: Helping with a useful cause, and
hitting number six in the producers chart!
HTTP://FORUMS.BIT-TECH.NET
127 March 2014
MILESTONES THIS MONTH
Username Points
milestone
Username Points
milestone
Username Points
milestone
Username Points
milestone
Forquare 800000
Michael_Bland 800000
ashchap 900000
Allan_Smith 1000000
DecadanX 1000000
maxrealism 2000000
Mr.a2008 2000000
Reiep 2000000
Stormcrow 2000000
Wibb 2000000
jdw_lupine 3000000
LittleTodden 3000000
Monkey
ManWales
3000000
Qazax 3000000
SP1 3000000
chad116793 4000000
DrDaveSell 4000000
kenco_uk 4000000
ChunkyBrother 5000000
Copper
Head1960
6000000
ITHelpDirect 6000000
Petaflops 6000000
David_Murphy 7000000
Dr.G 7000000
maniyer 7000000
redironman 7000000
Froskoy 8000000
Roveel 8000000
Assassin8or 30000000
sonic_vortex 30000000
JEE6 40000000
KevinWright 40000000
THE NEXT OVERTAKE
bmwamac 20000
K0MP0 20000
okjorgensen 20000
Baxtee 30000
Captain_Bosh 30000
Greasy
Diablo88
40000
Grimm808 50000
Jimmy_Shaker 50000
Dinwiddie 60000
Thawn 60000
Mansel 70000
markf0wle 70000
SniperPan 70000
stubbler 70000
Ayeska 80000
SuperLeon 80000
david_
thomas1903
90000
Catflaps 100000
coffinwarmer 100000
GJBriggs 100000
happysam10 100000
HeaverNothing 100000
Padsta 100000
SLOcaliKID 100000
Elettra 200000
madmatt1980 200000
Navy-Blue 200000
rvalkass 200000
ConKbot 300000
Techie_Taylor 300000
anadir2 400000
BigD-lite 400000
Liam266 400000
MaverickOne 400000
Clotten 500000
Pickles 500000
Rogerater 600000
bbnsol 700000
kinoblemeister 700000
AtomicSpace 800000
World
rank
Team name Points Daily points
average
Time until
overtake
7
Custom PC &
bit-tech
8,511,427,017 8,040,315 0
8 Hardware.no 6,175,621,178 17,902,164 7.9 months
THE NEXT OVERTAKE
128
MILESTONES THIS
MONTH CONT.
Username Points
milestone
TOP 20 OVERALL
Rank Username Points Work units
1 DocJonz 506,889,422 158,409
2 Dave_Goodchild 444,160,795 114,190
3 coolamasta 391,805,266 149,527
4 Nelio 268,898,748 51,969
5 phoenicis 250,044,587 95,660
6 zz9pzza 211,014,628 15,794
7 Scorpuk 195,499,524 8,101
8 StreetSam 190,215,416 79,141
9 Wallace 170,390,325 6,038
10 Christopher_N._Lewis 152,197,972 35,787
11 Ben_Lamb 144,896,570 2,563
12 Lizard 131,878,662 60,132
13 Lordsoth 125,738,597 79,090
14 piers_newbold 123,760,157 25,964
15 CustomBitChimps 103,528,316 47,990
16 fir3x 101,043,806 16,634
17 johnim 100,592,050 72,233
18 The_M2B 96,473,451 46,409
19 BennieboyUK 91,328,166 5,768
20 PC_Rich 83,694,231 58,98
TOP 20 PRODUCERS
Rank Username Daily points average Overall score
1 DocJonz 877,518 506,889,422
2 piers_newbold 547,583 123,760,157
3 coolamasta 540,996 391,805,266
4 Nelio 520,516 268,898,748
5 Scorpuk 491,786 195,499,524
6 Petaflops 441,487 6,088,517
7 StreetSam 346,428 190,215,416
8 Dr.G 312,206 7,605,951
9 JEE6 310,545 45,313,163
10 Slavcho 309,609 54,608,099
11 johnim 260,735 100,592,050
12 Wallace 251,146 170,390,325
13 PC_Rich 229,815 83,694,231
14 Ben_Lamb 175,048 144,896,570
15 Roveel 127,133 8,376,639
16 Lordsoth 122,669 125,738,597
17 Desertbaker 118,113 17,584,416
18 Assassin8or 90,714 31,859,949
19 The_M2B 88,510 96,473,451
20 fir3x 85,047 101,043,806
On sale 13 February, 2014
*Please note that these articles are subject to product delays,
kit not turning up on time and probably still having to recover
from New Year. Getting older is fun.
New look CPC
Its the new year, so were giving
ourselves a makeover. Look out for a
new A4-sized mag next month, with
a new modding section, an expanded
Hobby Tech and a revamped Elite!
On the case
Loads of cases have been released
recently, so next month were going
to put a load of ATX and micro-ATX
chassis through their paces in the lab
next month.
Hobby tech
Gareth Halfacree experiments with
the new PiFace Raspberry Pi add-on
(pictured), and interviews the
designer of the classic Sinclair ZX
Spectrum faceplate.
Coming next month in
Slavcho 50000000
LordBadger 70000000
fir3x 100000000
johnim 100000000
DocJonz 500000000
128 March 2014
Convert mini PCI-E
to 1x PCI-E
Antony Leather shows you how to
convert a mini PCI-E slot into a full-
sized 1x PCI-E slot, giving mini-ITX
boards more expansion options.
129 March 2014
Math coprocessors
Ben Hardwidge recalls a time when oating point calculations were an optional extra
ack when we used Bakelite phones,
DeLoreans didnt look ridiculous,
andprocessors were long, gold-
legged black strips that looked like
caterpillars drawn with a ruler, most PC
motherboards came with two seemingly
identical processor sockets. These werent
early dual-processor systems; the extra
socket was for an optional extra you could buy
at a later date a math coprocessor.
At this time, floating point calculations
(involving a decimal point) were considered
superfluous to most people, so your average
PC came with just a standard integer (whole
number) processor. Then if, for example, you
did a lot of early CAD work, you could upgrade
and get a coprocessor, sometimes called an
NDP (numeric data processor)
too. The naming convention
was simple, just replacing the
6 in your CPUs model name
with a 7. So if you had an 8086,
youd get an 8087, or a 287 to go
with a 286 processor.
That isnt to say that
standard 8086 and 286
processors couldnt perform
floating point calculations;
clearly they could. However,
there was no dedicated
hardware for it, so the process
involved a fair bit of going back
and forth in the integer unit instead. This
wasfine if you just needed to add a couple of
numbers together, but it slowed down the
machine if your workload involved a lot of
floating point work. As my first PCs manual
(which I still have on the shelf) says: Some
software would benefit considerably if an
8087 processor is fitted for it to use, though it
would still work with an 8086.
The upgrade was simple in my experience.
You would just slot in your x87 coprocessor
next to your processor, and your
motherboards BIOS would detect it. You
could think of it as a little like an early 3D
graphics accelerator upgrade. Your CPU
could render 3D games on its own, but it took
so much processing power that it ended up
being slow and looking rubbish add some
dedicated hardware to take that workload off
the CPU, however, and you end up with a
much quicker experience.
The next step was CPUs with integrated
floating point units, in the form of the 386 and
486 DX chips. At this point, a floating point unit
was still considered optional though. If you
didnt need one, and wanted to save some
money, you would buy an SX chip instead. At
this time, most people, including gamers,
generally didnt need anything more than
aninteger unit.
That all changed with the introduction of
one game in 1996. The brown, castle-bound
Quake, from id Software, was a
huge release for the PC, being
aproper first-person shooter in
which you could look up and down,
and walk on multiple levels. It
wasnt the first game to do so, but
itwas the first to do it really well.
Importantly, the system
requirements on the box very
specifically said that the game
required a floating point unit to run
specifically, the minimum was a
486 DX, although a Pentium was
preferred. Games were now
complicated enough to require
dedicated floating point hardware, and PC
gamers such as myself would never consider
aCPU without one again.
This is probably just as well, as the era of
optional floating point unit pretty much ended
after the 486 DX. After that came Intels
Pentium CPU, which included an integrated
floating point unit as standard, although
competitors, such as the Cyrix 6x86 I featured
last month, still had weak floating point units.
The idea of using coprocessors hasnt
gone away though. CPUs might have
integrated floating point units now, but
westill effectively use graphics cards as
coprocessors for massively parallel tasks,
such as gaming and GPU compute.
B
An IBM 8087 coprocessor sits
next to an AMD 8088 in an original
IBM PC 5150 motherboard
Quake specifically required a
floating point unit to run
a
s 2014 dawns, its become clear that, in the mass media at
least, its time to write another round of poorly argued the PC
is dying articles. This not only annoys me on a personal level,
because I genuinely believe the PC has a good number of years left
init, but also on a professional level because, as somebody who
works in the PC industry, I know all about the health of the market.
The starting point for most of these PC is dying articles is the
worldwide sales figures produced by market data organisations
such as IDC, which do indeed show that PC shipments worldwide
have declined over recent years. However,
what these headline figures dont reveal is
that the majority of this decline has been
feltby tier-one global manufacturers such
asDell, Acer and HP precisely the sort
ofcompanies whose PCs rarely feature
inCustom PC.
This trend shouldnt come as a surprise to
anybody, especially Custom PC readers, as theres very little good
tosay about generic, mass-produced desktop PCs. Besides, many
consumers only want a machine for web browsing, social media and
watching silly animal videos on YouTube, for which a desktop PC is
overkill, regardless of its price.
In contrast, channel companies, such as Scan, are shipping more
PCs than ever before, and here I can talk from experience, not just
conjecture. In fact, weve expanded our system build department
twice in the past year to cope with increasing demand. This isnt just
an excuse for me to advertise Scan either I know that other channel
PC manufacturers are also enjoying great sales at the moment too.
However, as most of these companies sell directly from their own
websites and call centres, rather than city centre retail stores, I can
see why lazy mass-media journalists might think the PC is dying.
After all, you do now see many more tablets in retail stores than
It isnt as simple as looking at global PC
shipments, says James Gorbold
james GorBolD
desktop PCs. Oh, and for the record, most forward-thinking PC
manufacturers also sell tablets, not because we think theyre going
to overtake the PC, but because theyre complementary products,
just like the media streamer under your TV is complementary to
your PC, rather than a replacement for it.
If you look a little further, its also apparent that not every part of
the worldwide PC market is in decline. For example, large parts of
the market, such as high-end gaming PCs, and top-end graphics
cards in particular, enjoyed buoyant sales in 2013. And with 4K
gaming and the Oculus Rift due to take PC
gaming to a whole new level in 2014, the
future of PC gaming looks better than ever.
It isnt just gaming PCs either the server
and workstation markets (for pro audio, video
and graphics) are all growing too, driven in
large part by the relentless demand of
consumers for higher-quality content and
online services. All those games and films you watch and services
you stream are all made on the PC, you know. The PC is moving into
lots of new markets too, with digital signage systems appearing in
many shops, for example.
Instead of talking about the tablets killing the PC, we should be
more specific and talk about the death of the budget PC. Then again,
it would seem pointless to mourn the death of cheap, clunky, poorly
designed budget PCs. In the meantime, can we get back to enjoying
our high-performance, custom PCs now? Thank you.
James Gorbold fell in love with the original IBM PC in the early
1980s, and has been building, tweaking and overclocking PCs ever
since. He has written an article in almost every issue of Custom
PC and now helps Scan Computers to develop new systems.
High-end gaming PCs
and graphics cards
enjoyed buoyant
salesin 2013
ARE TABLETS
REALLY KILLING
THE PC?
130 March 2014

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