As part of Computex 2014, ARM has announced their first CPU Design Center in Taiwan, focusing on the next generation of Cortex-M class cores for IoT and wearables. Initially this will mean 40-50 individuals within the talent pool in 2014 befo…
Our first meeting this week at Computex is with Be Quiet! and we were shown a new case aimed at low noise output, due for the market in September. The Case With No Name (they are still deciding) will be around $130 and in orange, silver and black. Both of the side panels and the front fan grill is lined with a sound absorbent foam, and the case comes with four fans preinstalled.
The side panels use a latch mechanism so users who want more air flow can open them up by about 1cm, and the case also provides room for cable management. The extra space at the bottom is to aid airflow through the power supply which is also fitted with a rubberized shim to reduce vibrations. Interestingly enough one of the hard drive combination bays can also migrate to the set of ODD bays depending on the user. There is space for a dual radiator cooler at the top, with space in the top segment to also equip the fans. The power button and USB ports are on the top, along with special vents to minimize the fan noise out of the top of the case.
On the power supply front Be Quiet! has two new models, the Straight Power 10 and the Straight Power 10 CM (cable management), featuring their new 135mm Silent Wings 3 fan. The fan has an upgraded motor to reduce the noise, and Be Quiet are working on a consumer model aside from their power supply designs. For the PSUs, they will be rated at 80 PLUS Gold and offered in 400W-700W for the Straight Power 10 and 500-800W for the Straight Power 10 CM. The later should be coming to North America, whereas the former has focus in other markets.
Our first meeting this week at Computex is with Be Quiet! and we were shown a new case aimed at low noise output, due for the market in September. The Case With No Name (they are still deciding) will be around $130 and in orange, silver and black. Both of the side panels and the front fan grill is lined with a sound absorbent foam, and the case comes with four fans preinstalled.
The side panels use a latch mechanism so users who want more air flow can open them up by about 1cm, and the case also provides room for cable management. The extra space at the bottom is to aid airflow through the power supply which is also fitted with a rubberized shim to reduce vibrations. Interestingly enough one of the hard drive combination bays can also migrate to the set of ODD bays depending on the user. There is space for a dual radiator cooler at the top, with space in the top segment to also equip the fans. The power button and USB ports are on the top, along with special vents to minimize the fan noise out of the top of the case.
On the power supply front Be Quiet! has two new models, the Straight Power 10 and the Straight Power 10 CM (cable management), featuring their new 135mm Silent Wings 3 fan. The fan has an upgraded motor to reduce the noise, and Be Quiet are working on a consumer model aside from their power supply designs. For the PSUs, they will be rated at 80 PLUS Gold and offered in 400W-700W for the Straight Power 10 and 500-800W for the Straight Power 10 CM. The later should be coming to North America, whereas the former has focus in other markets.
Diversification is an important strategy for any company that wants to continue to grow, especially if their initial market segments become saturated. We’ve seen motherboard, memory, and now graphics cards manufacturers all look to diversify into other markets, and while some results have been less impressive than others, it’s critical for companies to look for additional revenue streams. Today we’re reviewing EVGA’s effort to deliver a high performance power supply, the Supernova 850 G2. This isn’t EVGA’s first PSU, as they first started shipping PSUs over a year ago, but they’re still a relative newcomer to the PSU scene. They have a competitive product on paper, so read on to find out more about the quality, performance, and features of the Supernova 850 G2.
It’s Thursday again, so you know what that means: a new Humble Weekly Bundle. This week the core package is RPG Maker VX Ace, a tool which can be used to make [Drumroll…] your own RPGs. Surprise! I always had dreams of being a game designer as a youth, and while I never did much with the idea I do know there are plenty of budding designers still out there. Hopefully some of you can make use of this package to get your start. The collection of games have all been created with RPG Maker (some with VX Ace, some with earlier versions), and while you can buy some of the games, others are available free so there’s nothing special here other than providing you with a different means to download the games. There are three tiers for this bundle: “pay what you want” ($1 minimum for Steam codes), $6 or more, and $12 or more. Here’s the list of games/tools, grouped by pricing tiers:
Pay What You Want ($1)
$6 or Higher Donation
$12 or Higher Donation
This is clearly a bundle targeting wannabe game developers/designers more than RPG fans. Not even counting the games, the cost of purchasing all of the software and DLC packs in this bundle normally comes to around $300 (note that Steam currently has a sale on most of the RPG Maker assets), though I’m not sure if there’s much point to owning and using RPG Maker XP when you have the newer VX Acer version. However, it’s not the tools so much as what you can do with them that matters, and I suspect despite claims to the contrary, you’ll need to spend a decent amount of time with the tools before you can create anything really noteworthy.
You can even create commercial games using the various tools, though I’m not sure how viable it is to sell such games unless you invest a lot of time and effort into creating your own assets – otherwise, it’s just new stories with the same graphics and music that numerous other RPG Maker games have used. Another complaint I have with the created games is that the support for different resolutions appears limited (or perhaps non-existent), so many of the games look like they’re 1024×768 affairs.
If I were 25 years younger I’d probably be a lot more interested in trying my hand at RPG Maker, but as a grumpy old man I’m more content to see what others have created. To that end, if you’re just looking for free RPGs, you could skip this bundle and instead check out all of the free content on RPGMaker.net. The quality of user-created content will vary greatly, naturally, and the best games will likely end up turning into commercial products I suspect. Even if you just want games, though, at $12 for the entire bundle you still pick up more than $50 worth of games (i.e. not counting the free games), so that’s not bad. Now if I just had about 500 hours to spend playing nothing but classic-style RPGs, I’d be set!
On a similar note, if you’re looking for tools to create your own games, Bundle Stars has a similar deal running for Axis Game Factory Premium for $9.99 with ~13 days remaining.
