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Monday, August 25th, 2014
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| 6:20a | Exclusive: ASRock’s X99 OC Formula Motherboard in Pictures
To add another element to the current whirlwind of X99 motherboard shots being released, ASRock has now lifted the lid on its high end overclocking motherboard, the X99 OC Formula. Similar to other OC Formula motherboards, this model is designed by ASRock’s in-house overclocker former world #1 Nick Shih. With the yellow and black livery, ASRock is keen to promote its use of 12 power phases capable of supporting up to 1300W. While regular users will come nowhere near to 1300W, extreme overclockers have (with previous platforms) hit 500W-700W while using liquid nitrogen to push the processors. Given ASRock’s recent push for overclocking records, it makes sense to design a product that can compete. Alongside this feature, ASRock still wants to have a motherboard that regular end-users can use 24/7 with high-end overclocks.
Alongside the new socket, the motherboard will offer 8 DIMM slots and 10 SATA 6 Gbps ports. Instead of SATA Express it looks like there is two M.2 slots, one PCIe 2.0 x2 and one PCIe 3.0 x4, both supporting up to 110mm drives. Next to the Purity Sound 2 is a half-height mini-PCIe slot, suggesting that there may be a WiFi edition or users can add their own WiFi module. The PCIe slots should allow 4-way Crossfire and SLI, with a central PCIe slot (PCIe 2.0 x4?) that will allow an additional PCIe card for two-way setups.
For overclockers, the X99 OC Formula will have the superhydrophobic Conformal Coating similar to previous models that protects the components on the motherboard from moisture. On the top right of the motherboard are quick frequency change buttons along with voltage check points, a PCIe disable switch, an LN2 mode switch and a slow mode switch. On the rear panel is a ClearCMOS switch, and additional PCIe power is provided by a molex connector. For regular home users, there are six fan headers, a Thunderbolt header (requires a Thunderbolt PCIe card), a COM header, two USB 2.0 headers, a TPM header and two USB 3.0 headers. There are 10 USB 3.0 ports total including the two headers, and the rear IO shows dual network ports. The connector on the right hand side under the SATA ports is for ASRock's relatively new SATA power feature that makes use of hot-plug functionality to hide drives not in use. I would imagine that the ASRock BIOS and Software are also receiving iterative updates, and the in-the-box contents for OC Formula models in the past have always been interesting. With X99 being an expensive platform by comparison to Z97, I hope that there can be something in there to tantalize everyone.
With all the X99 press shots floating around the media, along with DDR4 pricing going live for pre-orders, things are getting more and more exciting. No word if the ASRock X99 OC Formula will be available at launch, or the release pricing, but I am sure we will know in due course. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7:00a | Zotac ZBOX EI750 Plus: A Feature-Rich Iris Pro mini-PC Intel's Crystal Well parts (-R series) with integrated eDRAM have arguably been the most interesting products in the Haswell line-up. In the early stages, only Apple had access to these parts. However, since the beginning of 2014, we have seen other vendors roll out products based on the -R series processors. We have already covered the BRIX Pro (BXi7-4770R) in great detail. Today, we will take a look at what Zotac has conjured up with Crystal Well in the ZBOX EI750 Plus. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10:45p | LG Reveals Details About the G3 Stylus Debuting at IFA
The IFA trade show is scheduled to take place a couple of weeks from now, but LG is already giving details about their upcoming LG G3 Stylus ahead of the event. The G3 Stylus joins the original G3, the G3 Beat, and the G Vista in LG's lineup of similarly named devices for 2014. LG is only releasing limited information but we've put together all the specifications that they have detailed in a chart below. LG will be displaying the device at IFA with more detailed information about its specifications and details about pricing.
As you can see, it's not the most comprehensive specification sheet. Based on the display resolution and amount of RAM and NAND, this looks to be a fairly mid-range device. The display resolution may be problematic at that screen size, as 960x540 at 5.5" amounts to a pixel density of only 200ppi. A smaller display may have been preferable for sharpness, but LG is likely trying to find a balance to maintain stylus usability, The size and mass of the device are both slightly greater than the LG G3. Despite being the same display size and battery capacity, the price point and the addition of the stylus necessitates changes to the device's chassis. The G3 Stylus will be launched in Brazil in September, with other countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East to follow afterward. Pricing is currently unknown, and LG gave no details about a possible US launch, but there will definitely be more information about the G3 Stylus at IFA. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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