Author: batteryforpc

G.Skill today announced some new 32GB RAM kits with capacities ranging from 64GB in dual-module kits to 256GB in kits with eight DIMMs. The best part about these modules is that they feature very low timings for their capacities, meaning they should offer both high-capacity and snappy memory at once when they arrive in Q1 2020.

The kits are outed in a handful of lineups, the Trident Z RGB, Trident Z Royal, as well as the Trident Z Neo lines, so there will be plenty of options.

The 32GB modules will run at 3,200 MHz DDR4 speeds with CL14 timings. More pacifically, the CL timings are CL14-18-18-38. G.Skill has validated these clocks and timings on the latest Intel and AMD HEDT (high-end desktop) platforms, as well as AMD’s mainstream X570 platform, which doesn’t always happen at the performance limits.

It should be noted though that G.Skill is known for pushing its modules to their absolute limits with its testing, so we’d hold off on putting any numbers on real-life performance until we do some testing of our own. With Intel XMP 2.0 profiles, however, chances are you’ll be fine.

No word on pricing yet, but we’ll stay tuned to see these RAM kits arrive early next year. 

Like we’ve proven with AMD processors, not all CPU cores are created equally, and that applies to Intel’s silicon, too. The silicon wafer fabrication process lends to discrepancies between each core’s voltage, power and thermal characteristics that lead to better performance. These faster cores are identified to the operation system as a favored core.

The term favored core first came with the arrival of Intel’s Broadwell-E line of HEDT (high-end desktop) CPUs in 2016.

Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0

Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 is a feature used by some Intel CPUs to improve performance of lightly- or single-threaded applications by pushing those workloads to the processor’s two favored (or fastest) cores. Using both hardware and software, Intel claims Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 delivers “more than 15% better single-thread performance.”

Released in September 2019, Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 works by using a driver and CPU-stored information to select and move workloads to the processor’s favored cores.

Windows natively supports this feature, and it’s enabled automatically. You need Windows 10 x65 – RS5 Distortion or later.

Similarly, CPUs that support Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 have the feature enabled in its hardware and p-code. That means you don’t have to activate it in the BIOS or otherwise. Additionally, you can monitor the feature with Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU) software.

According to Intel, the latest version of its Turbo Boost technology allows for “for higher frequencies with single-core turbo” than its predecessor, Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0.

However, the effectiveness of Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 can be impacted by the following:

Your CPU’s active core count

CPU’s temperature

Estimated current and power consumption levels

Workload type

Drive support

Which CPUs Support Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0?

Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 works with certain Intel Core X-series CPUs on the Intel X299 chipset.

The following Intel CPUs can direct workloads to a favored CPU core using Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0:

Intel Core i7-69xx/68xx series

Intel Core i9-7900X

Intel Core i9-7920X

Intel Core i9-7940X

Intel Core i9-7960X

Intel Core i9-7980XE

Intel Core i7-7820X

Intel Core i7-9800X

Intel Core i9-9820X

Intel Core i9-99x0XE

Intel Core i9-99x0X

Intel Xeon E5-1600 v4 series (since CPU socket only)

After falling victim to a data breach back in November, OnePlus promised it would launch a bug bounty program by the end of the year in order to further secure its phones.

Now the Chinese smartphone maker has launched its bug bounty program to help prevent future breaches but at this time, only select security researchers will be invited to to look for vulnerabilities in its systems.

OnePlus will also be highlighting the work of the program’s top contributors by updating a leaderboard which will feature the top three contributors on the main page of its bug bounty program.

One Plus bug bounty program

According to a page offering more details on its bug bounty program, OnePlus will pay up to $7,000 for special cases, $750-$1,500 for critical vulnerabilities, $250-$750 for high tier vulnerabilities, $100-$250 for medium tier ones and $50-$100 for low severity bugs.

While the tiers show the level of rewards researchers can expect to receive, it is still unclear as to what the criteria are for each tier. OnePlus just says that the rewards researchers will receive are “determined based on vulnerability severity and actual business impact.”

Just as NordVPN did with its recently launched bug bounty program, OnePlus will also be partnering with HackerOne to launch its program.

The company’s bug bounty program is currently in a private test phase but OnePlus has said that it will launch a public version of the program in 2020.

SSD drives have fallen in price in the past few years as a slew of products from the big guns (Samsung, Intel, Micron) have pushed the price of the SSD terabyte to less than $90.

However, there’s one small player which is defying that trend. US-based vendor Patriot has dropped the price of its Burst internal SSD to $74.99 after a $5 rebate card at Newegg.

The offer will last till Christmas and includes free delivery – and although you will need to print and fill the rebate form, we believe the hassle is definitely worth the saving.

Patriot Memory is not a household name but they managed to deliver a good product at a bargain price, besting our former cheapest price by a good margin. The offer is good for the next few days so grab it while you can

Other notable features include Static and Dynamic Wear leveling, Bad Block and low power management as well as TRIM support and Smart ZIP. Patriot quotes a sequential read speed of up to 560MB/s and a sequential write speed of up to 540MB/S, both using ATTO benchmark.

As always, we recommend that you get a cloud storage solution to backup your files as well as a hard drive protection plan and a data recovery service for external hard drives. These may add up to the price of the drives but like insurance, it is better to be safe than sorry.

‘Krane’ is a Chrome OS device in development that we’ve not talked about too often. As a matter of fact, we mentioned it upon its arrival in our consciousness in April of this year and once again as Gabriel found it would be only the second Chrome OS device to make the questionable decision of ditching the headphone jack. Other than those two posts, we’ve not really tracked anything unique about this device, but we have a few more clues to add to the pile that tell us a bit more about this upcoming tablet-only device.

First up, let’s get the clues from the Chromium Repositories out of the way. We have two things of interest, here. On one hand, we have proof that in lieu of a headphone jack, Lenovo looks to be assuring support for a USB Type C to 3.5mm headphone converter. That bit of proof comes with a clear reference to Lenovo, so I suppose that’s a 2-for-1 clue. Second, we have proof that they will be removing the POGO pin support we expect most of the ‘Kukui’-based devices to ship with.

Let’s start with the latter. POGO support is being removed from ‘Krane’ and if you’ve been following along, ‘Krane’ is one of a slew of new devices based on the ‘Kukui’ baseboard. This ‘Kukui’ board is toting support for things like a MediaTek 8183 chip, ambient light sensing, Bluetooth 5, detachable/tablet form factors, and more. We know there are at least 10 of these devices in development and we expect to start seeing the first ones arrive at CES in just a couple weeks.

POGO pins are, in general, used for keyboard accessories in detaching devices like the Pixel Slate and HP X2. This port gives tablet devices a quick way to pair up with a keyboard for use as a laptop when necessary and we expect to see quite a bit of this with ‘Kukui’-based devices. It would have made perfect sense for ‘Krane’ to leverage this connector, but it has clearly been removed as seen in the language from this commit in the repositories:

krane: do not support POGO dock

krane doesn’t have a POGO dock, the config should be dropped.

So, why drop the POGO pin support? We’re looking to find more clues about this, but it seems that ‘Krane’ will likely be a tablet-first and tablet-only device. There have only been a few devices like this in the Chrome OS ecosystem thus far, and they were oddities. The most popular and notable was the Acer Chromebook Tab 10. With a very nice screen and pen support, it was a decent tablet held back mainly by the poor tablet mode of Chrome OS at the time and the sluggish Rockchip processor.

I suppose it is time to try again with a Chrome OS tablet and Lenovo looks to be one of the companies giving it a shot. With pen support likely, this device could end up being very similar to the Acer Chromebook Tab 10, but with a much-improved software interface and what we’re hoping will be a much faster ARM processor than the Rockchip RK3399.

We keep referring to ‘Krane’ as a Lenovo device, and that is for good reason. The other commit we’ve uncovered is a very clear nod not only to the maker of this device, but to the fact that they’ll be giving users a work-around for the fact that ‘Krane’ will ship without a headphone jack. The language we found in this particular commit gives all this away:

krane: Add Lenovo USB-C TO 3.5mm Adapter

Add Lenovo USB-C TO 3.5mm Adapter

First up, it is very clear now that this device will be made by Lenovo. Commits don’t get written to include manufacturer-specific hardware if the device itself isn’t made by that manufacturer. Just like we saw with Dell’s Chromebook Enterprise offerings earlier this year, commits with manufacturer-specific language around manufacturer-specific peripherals make a clear-cut case for the maker of the device in question.

The bigger concern, here, is the decision by Lenovo to drop the headphone jack in favor of requiring users to get a dongle out in order to plug in headphones. Look, I know it is the 2019 thing to do, but why? With a tablet or Chromebook, it doesn’t seem necessary in the least. If the big argument for ditching the headphone jack is space, that argument just doesn’t hold water with larger devices. It seems, however, that Lenovo is doing it anyway.

With the removal of POGO pins and what looks to be the addition of the USB-C to 3.5mm headphone adapter in the box, Lenovo seems to be going all-tablet with ‘Krane’. Don’t expect this device to ship with a keyboard attachment in the box or show up with one available right away. My hope is Lenovo is at least considering a solution for those that would need one. I hope that, unlike other Chrome OS tablets, ‘Krane’ will get an official folio case with a Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad (think Brydge G-Type for the Pixel Slate) that gives you some sort of stand function. Chrome OS on a tablet has come a long way, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that under that tablet UI is a great desktop device that many users will want to use in that way.

We’ve got some bad news for the deeper-pocketed nostalgia-tinged tech fans out there: Motorola is pushing back the launch of its foldable reboot of the Motorola Razr.

Preorders of the revived flip-phone were expected to open on December 26, with the first units trickling out on January 9, but those dates have been ditched in favour of an unspecified time next year.

In a statement issued by parent company Lenovo, Motorola said it was delaying the launch to “better meet consumer demand.”

“Demand has been high, and as a result, has quickly outgrown supply predictions,” it said.

For what it’s worth, every company that has attempted to launch a mass-market foldable phone has missed its original expected release dates. Huawei delayed launch of the Mate X no fewer than two times, while Samsung had to shelve its original release date over an embarrassing durability issue.

Early units of the Samsung Galaxy Fold had an awkward problem where removing the screen protector would essentially wreck the display. When the device finally reached shelves, screwdriver botherers at iFixit warned punters that the device was “alarmingly fragile”, particularly with respect to the screen. Furthermore, other publications, most notably CNET, shed doubts on the phone’s ability to withstand its promised 200,000 folds.

The Motorola Razr will be the first commercially available phone to use a candybar-shaped portrait display. It also mirrors the design of the original Razr down to the protruding “chin” at the bottom of the device.

And crucially, at $1,500, it would drastically undercut the existing competition, making foldable mobes (unless Escobar’s brother makes good on his promise) more accessible to a wider swath of the population.

That said, it’s probably sensible to wait for the reviews before dropping your cash on this. The Razr uses a relatively underpowered Snapdragon 710 platform, which is typically found on £300-range mid-rangers. Motorola says this is due to thermal management, and while that might be true, it’ll leave consumers wanting for power.

And with just 6GB of RAM and 128GB of ROM, a puny 2,510mAh battery, and no wireless charging, this phone underwhelms in other areas. On paper, it doesn’t strike us as a device worthy of its steep price-tag. ®