In case you’re looking for some compatible memory modules that are confirmed to work on the ASUS Sabertooth X79 motherboard, the Qualified Vendors List (QVL) can be found below, as well as a quick overview of possible memory configurations.

Download the PDF version:
ASUS Sabertooth X79 Qualified Vendors List

Last week was the official launch of the Intel X79 platform from Intel, featuring the new LGA-2011 CPU socket. This is the new “enthusiast” platform taking over for LGA-1366.

If you want to learn more about the new Intel X79 platform, Sandy Bridge-E and LGA-2011 socket from Intel, and maybe learn a bit about overclocking with this new hardware, check out this webinar posted by Corsair (of course biased towards Corsair’s own products, but I’m not at all ashamed to say I’m a fan of their products):

A leaked slide from an Intel presentation suggests that longevity will be good if you purchase an Intel X79 motherboard today.

Intel’s upcoming Ivy Bridge-E* CPUs are based on their advanced 22nm process node. The leaked slide suggests that these CPUs will be supporting the existing LGA-2011 platform.

As Ivy Bridge-E based CPUs are rumored for a Q4 2012 release, this means that a mere BIOS update could be all that’s needed to upgrade your rig in late 2012 to the latest and greatest technology.

Intel X79-based motherboards with the LGA-2011 socket from Intel was just released worldwide to the consumer market this week, and features built-in support for two 6Gbps SATA ports, four 3Gbps SATA ports and 40 PCI Express 3.0 lanes.

Next generation graphics cards utilizing the new PCI Express 3.0-bandwidth are expected (rumored) to be released from early January 2012.

* The “E” stands for Enthusiast, which are the most powerful consumer CPU series from Intel. These are not to be confused with their non-E counterparts, which cater more to people with a smaller budget or lower power demands.

Click to enlarge

The Kave is a foldable, fully enclosed 5.1 surround gaming headset from relatively new gaming peripheral manufacturer ROCCAT, released in 2010. After one year of using it, I’m publishing this review to share my experiences with the ROCCAT Kave 5.1 Surround Gaming headset.

The headset:

The general construction of the Kave feels good and fairly solid for a plastic construction. The hinges that make it foldable don’t have any signs of fatigue after a year of normal use (not LAN party use, mind you).

Unlike many other headsets of the surround type, the Kave features analog connectors and uses one USB connector for power only. Many other headsets rely on their own built-in USB audio interfaces. For most people, either solution is probably just fine. All I can say is that I’ve had no problems whatsoever with this analog connector solution over the past year of using the headset, so I can’t complain about it. One advantage I see with this solution is that it lets you get the most out of a good dedicated sound card if you have one. Another is that it’s completely driver-less.

The Kave feels fairly light for its size, and very comfortable. The three pads underneath the headband could have been better, though. When I first started using it, the plastic “dot” inside the top middle pad could be felt through the open room in the padding. This feeling mostly disappeared after a couple of months of use, possibly because the headband loosened up a bit. Wearing it for hours without end is (literally) no sweat.

The control unit:

The Kave features a control unit with a volume adjustment disc, microphone mute button, a mode button that lets you switch between “game” and “movie”, as well as four individual analog sliders for adjusting the individual volume levels for the center, front, rear and sub (bass) channels. The volume adjustment disc will adjust general Windows volume level by default, and gives both a tactile and audible “clicking” feedback when you spin it. When the mic is muted, there’s a blue light at the tip of the microphone that lights up. The equalizer sliders work pretty well, you could for example increase the volume of all sounds coming from the rear when you don’t have anyone to watch your back, so as to improve your chances of hearing an ambusher in an FPS game.

The wires:

The Kave’s connector wires are your standard 3.5 mm thickness wire which will easily withstand normal wear and tear. The length of the wire that goes from the control unit to the audio connectors is very adequate, at approx. 2.5 meters. Meanwhile, I would like to have seen a slightly longer wire length from the control unit to the actual headset, for increased flexibility. At about one meter, it can sometimes feel like it gets in the way and limits the placement options. If the wire length from the control unit to the headset was at least 2 meters long, it would be just perfect.

The sound:

The first question about any surround gaming headset is: can you hear where the action is, and is it clear and precise? The Kave really delivers in this area – in Battlefield 3 for instance, you can easily hear where the sniper shots are coming from, or quickly locate where that nasty spitter zombie’s creeping out from in Left 4 Dead 2. As for sound isolation, the Kave does a very good job. Good luck hearing the doorbell if you’re in the middle of a game! I haven’t been to any LAN parties lately, so I can’t speak from personal experience, but from reading user reviews at different online retailers, they seem to confirm that it should indeed isolate very well in a LAN party environment.

In-game, the Kave sounds very good. It’s definitely a gaming headset in the truest sense of the word. It really immerses you in the action by rumbling when explosives are raining down on you in Battlefield 3 or tanks are shooting you, without any noticeable rattling. Meanwhile, if you listen carefully, you will be able to hear minute things from surprisingly far away, with very accurate precision. You can easily hear a car or tank approaching from far away in Battlefield 3, or someone walking up behind you to knife you while you’re sniping (you better react fast to stay alive though!). One great example of how well the positional audio has worked for me with the Kave, was this one time when I could hear someone walking upstairs in a house in Battlefield Bad Company 2 and I was able to shoot them through the floor by spraying some bullets where their steps were coming from.

For music enjoyment, the Kave sounds just okay. If I want to enjoy music, I rather connect my Beyerdynamic DT 770.

For movies, the Kave does fine. Even if sound quality is not as good as with a hi-fi headset, the surround sound is good. It’s somewhat strange that switching the setting on the control unit from the “game” to the “movie” setting doesn’t seem to make a big difference, though.

The microphone:

No adjustments needed, the microphone on the Kave sounds very good right out of the box. I’ve been using it daily in Skype, sometimes in Mumble, as well as other VOIP applications, with zero complaints. Everyone I’ve asked say that it sounds very clear and crisp. I can truly attest to this myself, as I’ve been hearing my friends clearly for over a year, and several of them have been using the Kave, some the Logitech G35. We could all hear a huge drop in the clarity and volume consistency from those of us who didn’t use a proper headset. Those of my friends using the Roccat Kave or the Logitech G35 all sounded great. The Kave’s microphone arm is flexible and easily adjustable without being too soft or too stiff. It’s mounted on a rotating swivel that lets you easily push it up and away when not in use.

Summary:

All in all, I’m very happy with the Kave. I’ve had my share of gaming headsets over the years, and this is by far the most reliable one I’ve ever owned, but also the most expensive one, retailing at approximately US $110 at the time of writing. There are many even more expensive alternatives out there, however, such as the Logitech G35 or Razer Megalodon. If I get the chance to review them, or other similar headsets, I will do a comparison.

Score: 8/10

Positive:

+ Good sound quality overall.
+ Sound isolation is very good.
+ Positional audio with 5.1 surround.
+ Control unit with analog “equalizer” is noteworthy.

Negative:

- Sound quality in music and movies could’ve been improved further, possibly by including higher quality magnetic drivers and/or improving the construction of the earcups.
- Headband padding is sparse – could easily have been better if there simply was more of it.
- Wire length between the control unit and headset could have been slightly longer for better flexibility.

Specifications:

Manufacturer: ROCCAT
Part number: ROC-14-500
Total cord length: 340 cm (11.15 feet)
Connector: 3.5mm
Headphone construction: Circumaural
Acoustic construction: Closed
Driver units: Front: 40mm, 20~20 000Hz, Rear: 40mm, 20~20 000Hz, Vibration: 30mm, 20~100Hz.
Headphone sensitivity: 114±3dB SPL at 1KHz
Microphone impedance: 2.2KOhm +15%
Microphone frequencies: 20Hz-18KHz
Microphone sensitivity: -36dB at 1KHz

System requirements:

Soundcard with three (3) analog 5.1 connectors for surround support (front, rear, center+sub), or one stereo connector for stereo support, and one analog microphone connector.
Free 500mA USB connector for power only.

For all my life I’ve been loyal to PC. It’s been a pretty good relationship, certainly with its ups and downs like in any relationship. It started back in 1992 with my dad’s i486-based computer, and after that there was no stopping us. Fast forward to today, and I’ve been through more than a dozen machines and numerous rebuilds. I’ve even built a couple of water cooled rigs just for the hell of it.

I’ve been a steadfast supporter of the PC platform and what it stands for. I’ve regularly argued against Apple whenever they’ve done bad things, such as locking down pretty much everything they make to suit their business models, or enforcing unfair censorship of publishers’ content – all the while pointing fingers at other. So, I hope my point is made clear: understand that it would take a lot to make me buy an Apple product.

Just a few days ago in July of 2011, however, I decided to do just that.

I’ve finally fallen victim to the Apple propaganda machine. Just got to have it, ‘cause it’s got a glowing bright Apple logo on it, right?

No, I’ll tell you why: the hardware. I’m first and foremost a hardware enthusiast. I’m not like the fanboy that stays loyal to any single platform just because he can’t afford to buy them all. There are a couple of very logical reasons why I decided to upgrade to the new mid-2011 Macbook Air 13”.

I bought the laptop I’m typing this on back in 2009. This Asus 13” laptop is almost perfection in all ways to me. I upgraded it with an SSD and it’s been running Windows 7 like clockwork ever since I got it. Note the “almost” – I demand perfection!

Ever since the invention of the term “High Definition”, PC manufacturers apparently decided to stop – no reverse – the direction of development for PC screens in terms of resolution and aspect ratio. Wherever you look, it’s near impossible to find any laptop that doesn’t sport an “HD LED 16:9” screen, whether it’s 11” or 15”. The fancy term “HD” in numbers is actually 1366×768 pixels, and you have to go up to 16” or more to transition to the even fancier “Full HD”. And since when was 16:9 better than 16:10?

I have an old Asus 15” laptop from 2006 that sports a 1680×1050 16:10 screen, so why on earth can’t I get something like that on a 13”, now five years later?

The new Macbook Air 13”, with its 1440×900 resolution screen, is the first slim laptop with a higher resolution than 1366×768 that I’ve seen, period. It doesn’t really take much, does it? Why aren’t PC manufacturers even trying to advance in the same way? Why don’t we have 1920×1080 screens on 13” laptops in 2011? We should have been there years ago.

Rant over, those are the two main reasons for me buying a Macbook Air: it’s slim and has a higher resolution screen than any comparable PC laptop. There’re more personal reasons why I am going for a mac: they have lower latencies in audio applications, which is a big point for me as a digital composer and remixer. There’s got to be a reason most DJs and producers are happy with their Macs. The Macbook Air also comes with an SSD pre-installed, so no need to open it up and reinstall the OS as soon as I get it. You need SSD these days, trust me. You also get a special connection option called Thunderbolt. What is this Asgard tech you speak of? It’s better than USB 3.0, can be converted to Firewire, and even supports daisy-chaining! Now that’s what I call development.

I’m looking forward to receiving my Macbook Air 13” soon. I will probably be installing Windows 7 on it,  alongside the included OS X Lion. Old habits die hard, right? We’ll see … Word 2010 just crashed on me as I was typing this very paragraph.

Old Dusty

I wanted to print a document the other day, so I switched on my dusty and trusty inkjet printer, only to find a nice red blinking error on the display greeting me. The message was something along the lines of “Printing is impossible, replace yellow ink cartridge”.

I tried printing in black & white (greyscale actually), by specifiying this in the print options (click to see how), but a friendly popup message just stated something along these lines: “Cannot retain printing quality, please replace ink cartridge yellow”.

So I couldn’t print in black and white because my yellow ink was empty?! I couldn’t believe it. Or rather, I could, seeing how printer manufacturers are almost giving away printers for free, they have to make money somehow - why not in sleazy ways like this?

Checking the black cartridge, which is double the size of the colored ones, it was still half full (or half empty, whichever you prefer). Only the yellow one was completely empty. So, what is a man to do?

A little googling later, the eureka moment came along soon enough: Black Electrical tape!
 

You Need This

As it turns out, Brother printers check the ink levels by shining a sensor light at a special “window” in the cartridges, similar by design in all their printers.
 

Lazar: Mr. Bond, bullets do not kill. It is the finger that pulls the trigger. James Bond: Exactly. I am now aiming precisely at your groin. So speak, or forever hold your peace.

So I gave it a shot: I simply pressed the cartridge against the palm of my hand almost like a gun, using a finger to hold it in such a way that the window protruded (as seen above), then simply taped it over using a piece of black electrical tape (as seen below). The light from the sensor is now reflected back, and the printer thinks the cartridge is full! (Note: I first tried using scotch tape, which failed miserably, though I speculate it might work if you color it black using strong black ink.)
 

"Eureka!" he said (Click to view larger version)

Now shut up and do your job!

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Rumor has it that Android 3.1, the new version of “Honeycomb”, is going to be delayed until August on several tablets, including the eagerly awaited Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The release dates for these devices will naturally be pushed to August too, if these rumors turn out to be true.

So, what’s so special about the latest iteration of Honeycomb? Here’s a quick rundown:

• Support for additional input devices, such as keyboards, game controllers, mice and trackpads.
• More customization options: e.g. widgets can be resized to your own preferences instead of just having to choose between “small” or “large” as before.
• More stable: many bugs that would cause crashes on 3.0 have been taken care of.
• Support for the beta version of Google’s music service in the cloud, which will allow users to begin storing their music in the cloud using the standard Android music player. Personally, I expect that this will be limited to certain countries at first, then later opened up for more countries as the beta progresses in typical Google fashion.

For a more in-depth look at Android 3.1 (for developers), check out this clip from the Android Event in February:

Microsoft posted this first of several upcoming “Building Windows 8″ videos a few days ago.

I think it showcases some interesting features that look very promising for a good tablet enabled OS, such as a logical app layout and full seamless multi-tasking support for the apps.

We learn that HTML5 and JavaScript are going to be the core technologies for developers looking to make apps for (codename) “Windows 8″, so if you’re aspiring to do so, you might as well get started on sharpening up those skills asap.

Anyways, moving pictures say more than a thousand words, plus Jensen Harris does a great job at presenting through the spoken word. Check it out:

ASUS P8Z68-V, Socket-1155 motherboard

I’ve updated the TommyNation Gamer Rig recommendation page with a brand new setup today.

This new setup is based on the new Intel Z68 platform, which combines all the best of P67 and H67 – or in short: it enables improved video processing performance – previously only found in the H67 – whilst offering the overclocking power and performance benefits of the P67.

With many new graphics cards, unless at least one of your monitors has DisplayPort support or is connected using VGA*, an active DisplayPort to DVI adapter is needed in order to get a picture on more than two digitally connected monitors at the same time. As DisplayPort is only found in the most expensive monitors, this is a fact that many buyers miss.

This problem applies especially to AMD Radeon EyeFinity enabled cards such as the Radeon 5xxx and 6xxx series, which enable use of three monitors simulatenously for a combined resolution of up to 7680×1600 pixels, or even six on certain models, for a combined maximum resolution of up to 7680×3200 pixels.

The first active DP to DVI adapters made available were and can still be very expensive, at around $100 each. Also, they have to be plugged into a USB port for external power.

For HD monitors supporting resolutions of up to 1920×1200 (max resolution of DVI Single Link), manufacturers solved this problem by creating an active DP to DVI Single Link adapter, that requires no extra power, and can be had at more reasonable prices.

The problem with these new “passively powered” active adapters, is that they don’t support resolutions above 1920×1200 pixels, while most 30″ and some 25-27″ monitors have a native resolution of 2560×1600 (16:10) or 2560×1440 (16:9) pixels. To support such monitors without DisplayPort connections, you still need a more expensive adapter with an extra USB connector for power. Note that this only applies if the monitor doesn’t come with DP support!

Here you can see the difference between the new type of Active DP to DVI adapters and a standard passive DP to DVI adapter:

The keyword is "Active"

Sapphire Active DP to DVI-D (Single Link) adapter

Dell Active DP to DVI-D (Dual Link) adapter

Sapphire Active DP to DVI-D (Dual Link) adapter