The Thermaltake Smart lines of power supplies have been in the market for a few years now. Since its inception, the line expanded and updated with the introduction of the Pro and White lines, all suitable for a wide range of opreations. Capacity …
Silverstone, a familiar face in several enthusiast markets, has announced a new Small Form Factor (SFF) case, the RVZ03. Nestled in its Raven “extreme enthusiast chassis” line, the RVZ03 is an update from their existing RVZ01 chassis from both a styling perspective and the addition of integrated RGB LEDs, giving the lineup its first RGB fix. Silverstone says the Raven Series RVZ03 “…redefines SFF computing with flair.”
The front panel styling differs in appearance versus its predecessor by reshaping the front fascia to give it a more angular shapes as compared to the more plain panel of the RVZ01. The “flair” Silverstone was talking about comes in the form of the RGB LED strip on that front panel. They mention it has the same interior room, supporting Mini-ITX and Mini-DTX motherboards, a standard ATX(PS2) power supply up to 150mm (Silverstone recommends 140mm with flat cables), space for large graphics cards up to 13” (330mm) x 5.88” (149mm) wide, and has “superb air cooling performance”. There is room for up to four 2.5” SSDs or HDDs internally for storage needs. Further, the case can be laid flat or standing up as to fit in whatever space buyers may have.
Looking at the restyled front panel, it holds two USB3.0 ports, 7mm audio and microphone jacks, power/reset buttons, and a drive activity light. The added RGB LED visual is a line running through the front panel of the case, parting the USB/Audio jacks and the Power/Reset buttons on either side. The RVZ03 includes Silverstone’s LSB01 RGB light strip control box for allowing expansion and control over additional RGB strips. RGB LED regulation can be done in two ways. First. via the control box itself allowing to swap between several modes (single color, breathing, gradient, and a rotation of those). The second method is by using motherboard RGB software including AURA Sync, AUR RGB LED, RGB Fusion, and Mystic Light.
Below is a complete list of specifications:
| Silverstone RVZ03 | |
| Technical Specifications | |
| Model | SST-RVZ03B |
| Material | Reinforced plastic outer shell, steel body |
| Motherboard | Mini-DTX, Mini-ITX |
| Drive Bay | Internal – 2.5″ x4 |
| Cooling System |
Top 1x 120mm fan, 1500RPM, 18dBA Bottom 1x 120mm fan, 1500RPM, 18dBA 1x 120mm fan slot |
| Expansion Slot(s) | 2 |
| Front I/O Port(s) | USB3.0 x2 |
| Power Supply | Optional PS2(ATX) |
| Expansion Card | Compatible up to 13″(330mm) long, width 5.88″(149mm) |
| Limitation of CPU Cooler | 83mm |
| Limitation of PSU | 150mm |
| Dimensions |
382mm (W) x 105mm (H) x 350mm (D), 14L 15.04″ x 4.13″ x 13.78″ |
| Extras |
Support Kensington lock PCIe riser card set x1 RGB light strip control box x1 |
The RVZ03 comes with two 120mm, 1500RPM, 18dB(a) fans on the top and bottom of the case with space for an additional 120mm fan. Both included fans are bringing fresh air in the case setting up a positive pressure environment. Silverstone says this is to help prevent dust buildup inside the chassis and quietness. The maximum height of the CPU cooler must be 83mm or less. There is also support for using AIO solutions as well.
The RVZ03 is available in Europe starting today with pricing set at 97.50€ (about $114) excluding VAT. Pricing and availability for the US market was not available at the time of publication.
Corsair has announced a new color option for the RMx series power supplies, Arctic White. Readers with a watchful eye may remember that a while ago the company brought out a special edition of the RM1000i PSU in white. Now by popular demand, Corsair h…
The Samsung Galaxy S8’s headline features are its edge-to-edge Infinity Display and striking new design. Of course it still comes packed with the latest hardware and technology like previous Galaxy phones, including iris recognition, wireless charging, and a flagship SoC. Actually, there are two different SoCs for the S8 and S8+. Most regions around the world will get Samsung’s Exynos 8895, while regions that require a CDMA modem, such as the US, Canada, and China, will get Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835. Both SoCs are built on Samsung’s 10nm LPE process and are paired with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 64GB of UFS NAND.
While no market receives both types of phones through official channels, with the wonders of modern shipping, anyone with a bit of time and patience would have little trouble tracking down the out-of-region version of the phone. Consequently, for the nerdy among us, we simply have to ask: how do these dueling SoCs compare? Which SoC – and consequently which phone – is better?
Today we’ll delve into the performance differences between the Snapdragon 835 and Exynos 8895 to help answer those questions. We’ll also see how well they work with the Galaxy S8’s other hardware and software when we evaluate its system performance, gaming performance, and battery life.
This afternoon, Intel announced their second quarter results for fiscal year 2017, and continuing a trend, they have once again set a record for the current quarter. Intel recorded $14.8 billion in revenue this quarter, up 9% from a year ago. Operating income, which was down dramatically a year ago due to restructuring charges, has rebounded to $3.8 billion for the quarter, up 190% when compared to a year ago when they took the restructuring hit. Gross margin came in at 61.6%. Net income was up 111% to $2.8 billion, and earnings per share were up 115% to $0.58 per share.
| Intel Q2 2017 Financial Results (GAAP) | |||||
| Q2’2017 | Q1’2017 | Q2’2016 | |||
| Revenue | $14.8B | $14.8B | $13.5B | ||
| Operating Income | $3.8B | $3.6B | $1.3B | ||
| Net Income | $2.8B | $3.0B | $1.3B | ||
| Gross Margin | 61.6% | 61.8% | 58.9% | ||
| Client Computing Group Revenue | $8.213B | +3.0% | +11.9% | ||
| Data Center Group Revenue | $4.372B | +3.3% | +8.6% | ||
| Internet of Things Revenue | $720M | flat | +25.9% | ||
| Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group | $874M | +1.0% | +57.8% | ||
| Programmable Solutions Group | $440M | +3.5% | -5.4% | ||
| All Other Revenue | $144M | -75% | -75% | ||
Intel also released Non-GAAP results to account for the restructuring charges, and they give a better look at the underlying business without the wild swings taken into account when there is a large hit to the bottom line. On a Non-GAAP basis, revenue was the same, at $14.8 billion, up 9%, and gross margins were 63%. Not factoring in certain charges such as acquisition costs and restructuring, operating income came in at $4.2 billion, up 30% from a year ago. Net income was up 23% to $3.5 billion, and earnings per share were up 22% to $0.72 per share.
Intel’s Client Computing Group, which includes platforms for notebooks, 2-in-1 systems, desktops, tablets, phones, wireless, and mobile communications, had a very strong quarter, with revenue up 12% from a year ago to $8.2 billion. Notebook revenue was up 20% from a year ago, while desktop processor revenue slid 3%. Overall, Intel sold 3% more units in Q2 2017 compared to Q2 2016, and average selling prices increased 8%. We’ve not seen anything yet post 14nm, but Kaby Lake’s improved 14nm process is still very competitive, and was able to boost overall performance without any changes in IPC by allowing higher frequencies in the same thermal design. AMD’s new Ryzen platform doesn’t yet compete with Intel in the notebook space, so this will be interesting to watch, since AMD really has no competition to Core based SoCs at this time. Intel announced on their earnings call that they expect to begin shipping 10nm chips in low volume by the end of 2017, with a ramp up to higher volumes in 2018, so 14nm is still going to be the prevalent process for some time. It could easily be CES before we start to see shipping systems with 10nm, although Intel is currently sampling customers with engineering samples right now.
The Data Center Group continues to perform very well, and Intel sees this business having a lot of growth in the future. Revenue for this group was up 9% year-over-year to $4.4 billion. Operating income was $1.66 billion for this group, down 6% from a year ago. The lower margin was attributed to the move to 14nm, which has higher startup costs, and development costs, along with investments in AI. Intel shipped 7% more units, and average selling price was up 1%. We’ve just seen Intel announce the Xeon Scalable Processor Family, and they have had a pretty impressive response to this new branding. Intel shipped over 500,000 units to over 30 customers, which makes it the largest early ship program they’ve ever had. Intel faces strong competition here from AMD though, so we’ll see how the reshuffle their product stack over the next while.
Intel’s Internet of Things revenue was up 26% year-over-year to $720 million in revenue. This segment has had some product changes over the last quarter, with Intel discontinuing their Galileo, Joule, and Edison lines, but Intel is still moving forward in this space with other products for industrial, video, and automotive. Despite the shakeup, this group increased its operating income 56% to $139 million.
The Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group had strong revenue growth as well, jumping 57.8% from a year ago to $874 million. Intel is now shipping 64-layer 3D NAND solutions, and they feel they have a competitive advantage there with density. Operating income for this group was still a loss of $110 million, compared to a $224 million loss a year ago, but Intel says that the core NAND business was profitable this quarter, and they expect it to be profitable the rest of the year. Intel Optane has shipped over 200l,000 units so far, and the profitability includes the ramp up of more 3D XPoint memory.
Programable Solutions Group, which includes Intel’s Altera FPGA business, had a drop in revenue from $465 million a year ago to $440 million this year. Operating income was almost flat at $97 million. They had growth in industrial, military, and embedded FPGAs, but that growth was more than offset by lower data center revenue for this quarter.
Intel is forecasting revenue of $15.7 billion, plus or minus $500 million for Q3, with gross margins around 61%.
Intel is on track to deliver yet another record year, with the first two quarters both setting new records for revenue, on the heels of their record setting 2016 fiscal year. They’ve got some strong competition though to compete against, and it should be fascinating to see how the next couple of quarters play out.
Source: Intel Investor Relations