BATTERYFORPC BLOG
This Casio Smartwatch Perfectly Illustrates the Struggles of Wear OS
The history of Wear OS watches is long, and mostly disappointing. Over the years, Qualcomm’s less-than-snappy Snapdragon Wear 2100 chip bore a decent chunk of the blame. The arrival of the 3100 was supposed to offset that, and it’s better sure—but not by a degree that offsets years of stunted development. Knowing all this, I wasn’t expecting much when mulling around a showcase of Casio watches a f ... Read more
2019-12-19 20:19:11
RAZER BASILISK X HYPERSPEED REVIEW
The Basilisk X Hyperspeed is Razer's latest stab at the affordable wireless mouse market. Its big selling point is that it boasts the same wireless tech found in the Viper Ultimate and the Basilisk Ultimate—but while those mice cost $150-plus, the Basilisk X Hyperspeed is just $60. Razer claims the technology is 25 percent faster than any other wireless tech. In practice, as I said in my Viper Ul ... Read more
2019-12-19 20:19:11
OWC launches Accelsior PCIe SSD for Mac Pro, up to 8TB with speeds up to 6000MB/s
Just as Apple announced the 8TB SSD option for the Mac Pro, OWC has launched a PCIe SSD with storage up to 8TB capacities and speeds hitting up to a blazing 6000MB/s. The OWC Accelsior 4M2 SSD is slot powered and starts at $480 for the 1TB model. OWC announced the launch of its new PCIe SSD in a press release today: the all-new Accelsior 4M2 ultra high-performance PCIe M.2 NVMe internal SSD that ... Read more
2019-12-19 20:15:03
This Apple Watch charger plugs directly into a USB-C port so you can carry fewer cords
If you’ve been looking for an Apple Watch charger that isn’t yet another long cable that can get tangled up in your bag, Satechi’s new USB-C Apple Watch charging dock might be the charger you’ve been looking for. The dock looks to be pretty straightforward — it’s just a magnetic Apple Watch dock that can plug into a USB-C port. You can also plug the dock into an included USB-C male to USB-C femal ... Read more
2019-12-19 20:15:03
This pint-sized Radeon RX 5700 would be a perfect fit for a small form factor PC
PowerColor is apparently selling a mini-ITX version of AMD's Radeon RX 5700 in Japan, and I really hope the company decides to make it more widely available. If so, this could end up being the best graphics card for small form factor (SFF) builds. I say this because the full-size 5700 is already one of the top GPU options in terms of frames per dollar—the bang-for-buck factor is high, and compare ... Read more
2019-12-19 20:11:20
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X vs Intel Core i9-10980XE: High End Flagships Fight
If you just so happen to be in the market for some serious firepower, both AMD and Intel have new high-powered HEDT (high-end desktop) processors designed for the heaviest workloads. Intel recently launched its Cascade Lake-X family, spanning from ten to 18 cores, while AMD unleashed the third-generation Ryzen Threadripper chips with models that come with either 24 or 32 cores. The 32-core 64-thr ... Read more
2019-12-19 20:11:20
ASRock's X299 Taichi CLX Mothboard Now Supports RDIMMs up to 256GB
ASRock has released a new firmware (Version 1.4) for its X299 Taichi CLX motherboard that brings support for RDIMMs (registered DIMMs). Standard DIMMs currently max out at 32GB per stick. RDIMMs, on the other hand, hold up to 256GB on a single module. However, there are two caveats. For starters, RDIMM support is solely coming to the Intel Skylake-X family of processors. For reasons unknown, ASRo ... Read more
2019-12-18 20:35:50
Adata announces stylish XPG Hunter DDR4 memory for desktops and laptops
The new XPG Hunter DDR4 modules come in both conventional DIMM and SO-DIMM form factors. Adata is expanding its memory line with a new XPG Hunter DDR4 series, available for both desktop PCs (conventional DIMMs) and laptops (SO-DIMMs). The latter form factor also applies to some mini-PCs. The best DDR4 memory kits combine higher speeds with tighter timings, and maybe some RGB bling as a bonus. &q ... Read more
2019-12-18 20:35:50
Intel DG1 GPU Will Be 23% More Powerful Than Tiger Lake, Struggling To Meet 25W TDP
According to chatter on the grapevine, Intel's first-ever DG1 GPU will be just 23% more powerful than Tiger Lake graphics and is currently struggling to meet its TDP envelope of 25W. Oh and notice the rumor tag and its implications, or forever hold thy silence. Intel's Xe GPUs have captured the imaginations of tech enthusiasts everywhere and practically all of us cant wait for the duopoly to becom ... Read more
2019-12-18 20:31:40
AMD's FEMFX Deformable Physics Library Lands: Benefits From Lots of CPU Cores
PhysX has been Nvidia's party trick for well over a decade, but it seems that after all these years AMD wants to play catch up on that front too. The red team's latest announcement is that its new FEMFX library is finally available, which offers deformable physics effects through the GPUOpen set of AMD-built libraries for developers. The name FEMFX stems from FEM, which stands for Finite Element ... Read more
2019-12-18 20:31:40