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Tiny was March’s Mod of the Month winner. It uses a mini-ITX motherboard and a custom-made metal case.

The votes are in, the counting’s done and now it’s time to reveal the winner of Bit-Tech Mod of the Month March 2013.

With everything from desk mods to wooden egg-shaped cases, this month had plenty of variety but picking up the plaudits is forum user Floyd with his project, Tiny.

This mini-ITX scratchbuild got the most votes thanks to its impressively tidy metalwork, clever use of space, great paint job and – true to its name – its tiny size.

Inside, Floyd used a Zotac mini-ITX motherboard equipped with a venerable Core 2 Q6600, and even managed to squeeze a GeForce GTX 260 in for good measure.

You can check out the full project log here. We’ll leave you with some of the latest photos from the project, which has unfortunately come to a bit of a halt due to hardware failure.

Oh the joys of modding…

The next edition of Mod of the Month is right around the corner so watch this space.

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Fierce PC Prodigy GT Review

Manufacturer: Fierce PC
UK Price (as reviewed): £1,134.79 (inc VAT)
US Price as reviewed): N/A

Despite its shortcomings, namely slightly wobbly FiberFlex feet, BitFenix’s Prodigy (check out our review of it here) is proving to be pretty popular choice for those wanting to compact but powerful PC. BitFenix has since released it in a variety of colours too, meaning it’s pretty easy to build and own a distinctive looking PC. The case is also making waves with system builders too and Fierce PC has sent us its Prodigy GT overclocked system to take a look at.

Fierce PC has chosen the white variant of BitFenix’s case – colour is nearly as subjective as the overall shape of the case itself but if you like super-clean looking cases, then a white Prodigy will probably score highly in your books. It’s the first time we’ve seen an alternate colour Prodigy and we have to say we’re pretty impressed with the paint finish.

You have the option of a black or white case and Fierce PC’s website also offers the usual array of options allowing you to tweak your system quite extensively. Our sample retails for £1,135 including a copy of Windows 8 – thankfully you can ‘downgrade’ to Windows 7 and pick and chose pretty much any component, although being a high-end pre-overclocked gaming PC you’ve only got the option of a Core i5-3570K or Core i7-3770K CPU (both overclocked to 4.2GHz). However, you can select from a range of SSDs, power supplies and graphics cards – all the way from an Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 2GB to a GeForce GTX 680 2GB.

Our sample sports 8GB of RAM, a Zotac GeForce GTX 670 2GB and the 4.2GHz Core i5-3570K option. This is cooled by Thermaltake’s Water 2.0 Performer all-in-one liquid cooler. This has a single 120mm-fan radiator, which sports two fans and exhausts air from the case, while a single 120mm fan acts as in intake at the front of the Prodigy case.

To make way for the hefty graphics card in such a small case, Fierce PC has done away with the middle 3.5in hard disk caddie. However it still comes with a 1TB Seagate Barracuda hard disk for bulk storage and a Kingston HyperX 240GB SATA 6Gbps SSD located behind the side panel for the boot drive, to keep things nice and speedy.

Fierce PC has opted for a 650W Fractal Design Integra 80+ Bronze PSU. There’s a DVD Re-writer (upgradeable to blu-ray for £20) but no discrete sound card due to the mini-ITX motherboard only having one PCI-Express slot, which is occupied buy the graphics card. So, using either the motherboard’s onboard sound or a USB sound card will be the way forward.

Finally, the motherboard of choice is Gigabyte’s GA-Z77N-WiFi. It’s a cheaper model than Asus and ASRock’s current Z77 mini-ITX offerings and does have the limitation of no vcore control, meaning overclocking will be fairly limited. Even so, a 4.2GHz overclock is nothing to be sniffed at. The motherboard also sports built-in WiFi, a total of four USB ports (two via on board header and two at the rear) as well as dual Gigabit LAN ports.

Specifications

• CPU Intel Core i5-3570K overclocked to 4.2GHz
• Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z77N-WiFi
• RAM 8GB 1,600MHz Kingston HyperX
• Graphics card Zotac GeForce GTX 670 2GB
• Case BitFenix Prodigy
• CPU Cooler Thermaltake Water 2.0 Performer
• Storage 1TB Seagate Barracuda, 240GB Kingston HyperX SSD, DVD Rewriter
• Operating system Windows 8 Pro
• Warranty Two years Return To Base

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Nvidia’s profit margins have hit a record high, thanks to growth in its high-end GPU and GPGPU products helping to shore up a slowdown in Tegra business.

Nvidia has bucked the current PC market slowdown, posting boosted profits compared to the same time last year thanks to strong sales of its high-end Kepler-based GPU products.

According to the company’s quarterly filing report, the company made an impressive $954.7 million in the first quarter of its financial year 2014 – and while that’s down a disappointing 13.7 per cent compared to the last quarter of FY13, when the company took in a whopping $1.11 billion, it represents a 3.2 per cent gain on the same period last year. With other PC-related companies complaining of slowing sales and tight margins, that’s not too shabby at all – and comes at the very top of the company’s previous projections.

‘Our results this quarter came in at the upper end of our guidance, driven by strong sales of higher-end GPU products for PC gaming,‘ explained Nvidia’s Rob Csongor, vice president of investor relations, during the company’s conference call late last night. ‘We made good progress on our key strategies as the Kepler GPU architecture, which delivers outstanding performance and energy efficiency drove strong GeForce demand with PC gamers and began to flow through our Quadro and Tesla businesses in new products.‘

Keplar on the rise
Increased uptake of high-priced Kepler boards, especially in the workstation market, have seen the company’s margins rise to a record 54 per cent – 1.4 points up on the last quarter, and 4.2 per cent year-on-year. ‘There are always puts and takes but this improvement reflects our richer mix of higher margin products as well as the underlying value of our GPUs in the marketplace and our focus on cost,‘ claimed Burns. ‘For Q2, we expect margins to remain within the same 54% range as Q1 with a high mix of our higher margin products.‘

Another major win for the company has been uptake of GeForce Grid, the company’s GPU-powered cloud computing platform, and its closely-aligned workstation-centric Grid Visual Computing Appliance (VCA). ‘In the short time since we began taking Grid to market this quarter, we’ve engaged over 100 Grid VGX and Grid VCA trial customers and signed many of the top Adobe, Autodesk and SolidWorks resellers to take Grid VCA to market,‘ claimed Csongor. ‘We believe Grid VCA represent a potential $3 billion market opportunity.‘

Discussing the slowing PC market and growth of tablets, Nvidia’s co-founder, chief executive and president Jen-Hsun Huang was bullish on his company’s future in the discrete GPU market. ‘ People who build high-end gaming PCs, and people who are enthusiasts, and who enjoy having the most performance on the desktop, or people who are building these PCs for their own video editing hobbies, or the maker people who are designing 3D objects and then printing it at home, they print their own jewellery, they print their own, I don’t know what, telephones: they need to be designing 3D somehow, and those PCs tend to have GPUs inside,‘ explained Huang. ‘And that’s a movement that’s really growing fast. So, I would say that desktop PC market that we target, that we serve, is quite a vibrant market.‘

An admission from Huang of just how high the margins on his company’s enterprise-grade products are – the Grid family and the Tesla GPGPU accelerator boards – provides a glimpse as to the headline-grabbing 54 per cent profit margin: ‘Grid and Tesla are much higher than 54 per cent,‘ Huang explained, ‘[while] Tegra is lower than 54 per cent. Whenever our gaming business improves, it helps gross margins. Whenever GTX improves, it helps gross margins. When Tesla grows, it helps gross margins. Notebooks obviously drag the gross margins down, because they tend to be a more competitive business. Low-end desktop PC business tends to drag gross margins, but that’s not a very large business [for Nvidia] anyhow.‘

‘You know, the PC market declined 10 per cent quarter-over-quarter, but we declined only 6 per cent quarter-over-quarter,’‘ added Csongor. ‘That difference comes from growth in the non-commodity PC space. Non-commodity PC space will tend to be Tesla and Quadro and GTX, and those growths are always good for us and that helps gross margins. That’s also where we are putting most of our energy. Most of our energy related to GPGPU, related to extending our GPU beyond the PC into our datacentres and servers all the work that has led to the announcement of Cisco, and IBM, and Dell and HP launching their GPU servers, all of that kind of growth is good and I think we are just gearing up for Grid becoming a larger and larger component of our business – and that’s good for our margins.‘

Tough time for Tegra
But what of Tegra, the company’s ARM-powered system-on-chip product? Back in November, the company claimed that a large proportion of its growth was coming from non-PC products, meaning Tegra and its related chipsets. Well, things appear to be slowing down a little on that front – the company has reported a 50.5 per cent dip in revenue sequentially, and 22.2 per cent year-on-year – likely as a result of increased competition from the like of Qualcomm’s popular Snapdragon family and as the market waits for the first Tegra 4 products to hit shop shelves – due, Csongor claimed, during the next financial quarter.

‘Sales volume of Tegra 3 processors declined as customers began to ramp down production of Tegra 3 base mark phones and tablets,‘ admitted Karen Burns, the company’s interim chief financial officer and vice president, during the call. ‘We expect this to continue in to the next quarter as customers start to announce Tegra 4 design with further new designs and phone ramp starting in the second half of the year.‘

Beyond a commitment to launch Tegra 4 into the market – or at least have some of its customers announce devices powered by the chip, and its Tegra 4i LTE-modem integrated variant – by the end of the next quarter, Nvidia was silent on impending product launches, except to say that it expects an uptick in sales when Intel launches its Haswell processor family at Computex in June.

For those who like full figures: the company’s Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP) revenue for the quarter was $954.7 million on a gross margin of 54.3 per cent. With operating expenses for the quarter totalling $435.8 million, that makes for a total net profit for the quarter of $77.9 million – or $0.13 per share. Investors appear to have taken the news cautiously: despite hitting the top end of its projections, Nvidia’s stock price is steady having climbed just 1.01 per cent in after-hours trading.

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Intel has shared a few scant details on the graphics portions of its upcoming Haswell products, but is it saving the top-end IGPs for BGA-packaged parts?

Intel has released more details regarding the integrated graphics hardware that will form part of its fourth-generation Core processor family, codenamed Haswell – and indications are that it’s gunning for AMD’s accelerated processing units (APUs.)

Intel graphics have traditionally been the butt of jokes in the enthusiast market. While the company has carried out some research into dedicated graphics cards, which would be abandoned in favour of using the techniques discovered to create many-core co-processor boards for high-performance computing applications, Intel has typically ignored the high-performance graphics market. While rivals AMD and Nvidia battle it out to win the hearts – and, more importantly, credit card details – of gamers, Intel has bimbled along quietly producing on-board and, latterly, integrated graphics products that meet the needs of the vast majority of non-gaming and non-workstation users. For office applications, web browsing, video playback, Intel’s integrated graphics processors (IGPs) work just fine – only losing their lustre when gaming is brought into the equation.

Gamers are only too aware of this fact: even when purchasing Intel processors with integrated graphics, they typically buy one – or more – dedicated graphics cards and leave the IGP unused. Even in the laptop market, where space and power are at a premium, it’s typical to find a manufacturer cramming in a mini-PCIe graphics board and using tricks like Nvidia’s Optimus to ensure the IGP only gets used in light, battery-friendly scenarios. Casual gamers, too, are starting to pay attention to AMD’s APU products, the most recent versions of which include graphics capabilities that easily outstrip those of rival Intel – even if the processor itself isn’t quite so impressive. When Sony’s APU-powered PlayStation 4 – and, if rumours are to be believed, Microsoft’s next Xbox console – hit the market, this will only accelerate.

Intel’s answer: Iris Pro, the name given to the company’s highest-performing IGP to be built into the upcoming Haswell-based fourth-generation Core processor family. The Iris Pro 5200, to give the IGP its full title, is based on what the company calls a GT3e ‘graphics level’ – putting it right at the top of the company’s line-up, and significantly above the HD 4000 series at GT2. Designed for use in high-end desktops and laptops, the Iris Pro 5200 IGP will be joined by the Iris 5100, a GT3 part, and the non-Iris branded HD 5000. The reason for the three differing levels? Power draw: packing different numbers of execution units (EUs,) each increase in level will require a corresponding increase in power allowance and cooling – making the lower-performing parts more tempting for laptop manufacturers.

For lower-end Haswell parts, there are IGP options below even the GT2: some models are to be available with HD 2000 IGP parts, which Intel describes as either GT1 or GT1.5 depending on which slide you’re viewing from the company’s surprisingly detail-light press pack. Full details of what makes the Iris Pro so special have yet to be shared, but the company is targeting a twofold or higher improvement in performance over the IGP found in Ivy Bridge chips. Previously released information points to Intel using multi-chip module (MCM) packaging for the GT3 and GT3e parts, packing 40 execution units and the rumoured L4 cache memory which can be accessed by both the IGP and the CPU cores.

Full performance figures for the parts have yet to be released, but Intel has shared a few ‘normalised’ benchmark results: compared to the 77W Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770K, the 84W Haswell i7-4770K – its direct replacement, packing the Iris GT3 graphics hardware – manages a near-doubling of 3DMark11 performance, and almost 1.5x the 3DMark Vantage performance. Both, however, are eclipsed by the i7-4770R – which will replace the GT3 Iris IGP with the more powerful GT3e Iris Pro – which stops just short of tripling its predecessors 3DMark11 score and increases the 3DMark Vantage score by over 2.5x.

The result: a processor which, VR-Zone has claimed based on a leaked and as-yet unreleased Intel performance comparative graph, will outperform a discrete GeForce GT 640 graphics board. Sadly, that performance comes with a catch: some in the industry are claiming that the R suffix that differeniates the Iris Pro-based i7-4770R from its Iris-based i7-4770K brother indicates that Intel will only be releasing the processor in a ball-grid array (BGA) package – meaning it will come bundled with a motherboard, to which the processor will be permanently attached.

With Intel expected to formally launch the Haswell family at Computex in June, it’s certainly looking like AMD is going to have a fight on its hands – to the point where some analysts are suggesting Intel could purchase its long-term rival, bypassing monopoly concerns thanks to the growing market share of ARM-based processors.

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April 2013 Bit-tech Modding Update

It’s only April but we’ve already seen some fantastic projects completed this year, and over the next few pages we’ll be showcasing a few of the finest, with prizes up for grabs for the pick of the bunch.

Before that, elsewhere on bit-tech, our Raspberry Pi case competition is drawing to a close, so if you’d still like to enter you better be quick about it.

We’ve also got even more projects in our modding databases. The Case Mod Index – our database of case mods, now has well over 100 projects, all filtered by case manufacturer and model so you can see what others have done with a particular case and whether they’ve water-cooled it too. Our Scratchbuild Index now has dozens of projects, all filtered by materials used, motherboard size and case type. They’re great ways of finding some inspiration for your new projects.

UK modding and watercooling etailer Specialtech is offering a Xigmatek Aeigir CPU cooler every month and we’ll be shipping the prize worldwide so everyone can enter. To be in with a chance of winning, just submit your project below.

The winner for January (yes, this latest update has taken us a while) is Paul Giles – aka Wejjy – who recently submitted the first Bit Fenix Prodigy to our Case Mod Index.

How to submit Case Mods

If you’re submitting a case mod (modified case), it must be complete with noticeable modifications (these can include spray paint/powder-coat or installed water-cooling hardware.) To submit your case mod you’ll need to include the following information:

How to submit case mods

• Your forum user name
• Case (make and model)
• URL to your project log (which must be in bit-tech’s project log forum)
• Project name
• Is your PC water-cooled?

How to submit Scratchbuilds

• Forum user name
• Motherboard size – ATX, micro-ATX, mini ITX, other
• Case type – tower/cube/desk/HTPC/other
• Primary material – acrylic/metal/wood/composite/other or mixed
• URL to your project log (which must be in bit-tech’s project log forum)
• Is your PC water-cooled? Y/N

Email your submissions to modding@bit-tech.net with ‘Submit My Project’ in the subject line.

Case Mod Index Stats for April:

Number of projects: 111
Top three case manufacturers: Cooler Master (24), Lian Li (21), SilverStone (13)
Top three popular cases: Silver Stone TJ-07 (7), Cooler Master ATCS 840 (5), Corsair Graphite 600T (4)

Moving on to this month’s eye-candy and we’ve got some great stuff to show you. First up is one of the first BitFenix Prodigy case mods to be added to the Case Mod Index. The aptly-named Mirror by Lithuania modder ArtX38 features a custom windowed side panel that’s reflective until it’s lit from within.

He’s managed to fit a huge Phobya Balancer 250 Black Nickel reservoir inside that we can just see glowing with some familiar Mayhems Aurora coolant. ArtX38 opted for a Koolance 240mm 30-FPI Copper radiator and Laing DDC pump and had managed to water-cool his EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB and the chipset on his Gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI mini-ITX motherboard.

To see more head over to the project log here

Head over the page to see more eye-candy.

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Introduction

While a 750W power supply is overkill for the average home computer, it’s a reasonable capacity to opt for if you’re touting more enthusiast level hardware. A rig with a fast Ivy Bridge CPU and a pair of Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 2GBs or AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GBs would be well suited to a 750W model, for example. Thus, while we wouldn’t recommend a 750W PSU for every new build, if you have an eye on adding a second powerful GPU to your set-up in the future, it’s useful to have this type of capacity.

Choosing the right wattage for your PSU isn’t the end of the story, however, as there are other factors to consider. Primarily, your power supply needs to be able to supply voltage to your hardware as stably as possible to avoid damaging it, and you want it to run as efficiently as possible too to save you money in the long run. Other things to consider are its noise output and the number and type of connections it has.

With these things in mind, we bring you our latest PSU round-up, featuring eight power supplies, each from a different manufacturer, that are rated at or around the 750W mark. There’s about an £80 difference between the cheapest and most expensive models, so plenty of price points are covered, and as it’s been a while since our last round-up, we’re using a new testing methodology too.

Click to enlarge

How We Test

A PSU’s ability to supply stable voltages across its rails, even under heavy load, is its most important asset. It sounds simple, but cheaper and poorly made PSUs often miss the mark, especially under heavier loads. Unstable voltages can cause your hardware to exhibit instabilities or even to become damaged, so the closer they are to what they should be, the better.

Intel’s desktop PSU design guidelines specify the physical and electrical characteristics that ATX PSUs are required (in theory, at least) to adhere to. It states there can be a maximum of 5 percent variation above or below the nominal voltage on the +12V, +5V and +3.3V rails. These are the rails we test, as they’re the most relevant to modern systems. The +12V rail is tested using Stratron 3229 load generators, while the lower voltage ones are tested with on a Stratron 3227.

Beginning at 200W of load, we test each PSU in 100W increments recording the output voltages on each rail at every step, thus measuring a PSU’s capability to provide stable voltages across various workloads. For the all important +12V rail, we take two measurements. 12V1 is the PSU’s +12V connection with the lowest reading for each test setting, while 12V2 refers to the connection with the highest. As voltage output falls under heavier loads, 12V1 is the more crucial of the two.

We also use a Zes Zimmer LMG95 power meter to determine how much AC power a PSU draws from the grid to output the appropriate DC power level. From this we calculate efficiency at each step, as well as an overall average efficiency. Efficiency is important not just because wasted energy is bad for your wallet and the environment, but because it’s dissipated as heat which can reduce the lifespan and effectiveness of your components. Intel specifies that PSUs must be at least 70 percent efficient under full load, but 80 percent is recommended. We also use our power meter to test leakage levels by leaving the PSU on under no load.

The power supplied to each PSU in testing is 230V AC, the same as UK household mains electricity. It should also be noted that at each load interval, we draw 50W of power across each of the +3.3V and +5V rails, using the +12V rail to draw the remainder. This is different to the 80 Plus initiative’s test protocols, whereby rails are loaded proportionally based on their individual rated DC output current. However, we’re not testing whether each PSU deserves its 80 Plus rating, and our procedure still reflects the marginal role played by the lower voltage rails in today’s systems.

For each load scenario, we also carry out a ripple test on the +12V line with an EasySync DS1M12 oscilloscope. Ripple refers to the tiny fluctuations in the output voltage of a power supply: an unavoidable result of converting AC to DC. A PSU’s ability to suppress ripple is important, as high levels can damage your hardware, specifically the electrolytic capacitors found on motherboards and graphics cards, and reduce your overclocking potential. The maximum ripple permitted by Intel’s specifications on the +12V rail is 120mV (peak-to-peak), but PSUs should be able to manage at least half this value to be considered excellent.

Click to enlarge
Finally, we also measure the noise output of each PSU under three different loads (100W, 300W and 500W) with a Brüel Kjær 2238 decibel meter. This is done by isolating the power supply in a sound-proof box (where noise levels are 17 dB(A)). Measurements are taken from a distance of 10cm after five minutes of operation for the low power tests, and after twenty minutes for the 500W one.

How We Score

The voltage stability tests take pride of place in the scoring box and accounts for 40 percent of each PSU’s overall score. The score is worked out as a percentage of the voltage measurements that are within the limits of Intel’s specifications. We only recommend that you buy a PSU with 100 percent stability.

The Design score factors in the average efficiency across each of the load scenarios (as well as leakage level under no load), the highest amount of ripple exhibited by the PSU and the amount of noise produced at the highest load level. As well as this, it also incorporates the number, type and quality of cables supplied with the unit. Finally, the Value score is simply a combination of the Stability and Design scores and the total rated output (in watts) divided by the price.

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Nvidia’s GeForce GTX Titan could be joined by two more models, a down-rated GTX Titan LE and a faster GTX Titan II.

Nvidia is rumoured to be expanding its GeForce GTX Titan family, tripling the stock-keeping units (SKUs) on offer by bracketing the existing model with a down-rated GeForce GTX Titan LE and an up-rated GeForce GTX Titan II.

According to details obtained by 3DCenter.org, Nvidia is pleased enough with the success of the high-priced Titan – or has enough of the GK110 graphics processing units (GPUs) cluttering up its warehouse, if you’re more cynical – that it plans to increase the line-up. First to launch will be a cut-down model dubbed the GeForce GTX Titan LE, to be followed by a GeForce GTX Titan II or GeForce GTX Titan Ultra.

First, the cut-down version. Using marginal chips that just didn’t make the grade for inclusion in the GeForce GTX Titan, the LE version will featuring 2,496 CUDA cores across 208 texture mapping units (TMUs) compared with the Titan’s 2,688 cores across 240 TMUs. The GK110 is further knobbled with the reduction to 40 raster operation pipelines and a 320-bit memory interface. Memory is also reduced, down to 5GB of GDDR5 from 6GB in the full-fat Titan. More pleasing is a claimed reduction in power consumption: where the GeForce GTX Titan has a peak power draw of 206W, the GeForce GTX Titan LE should sit closer to 180-190W.

For those who would prefer to go upmarket, the GeForce GTX Titan II unlocks more of the GK110′s capabilities rather than reducing it. Using specially binned parts, the board – which may launch as the GeForce GTX Titan Ultra – is claimed to include 256 TMUs and 2,880 CUDA cores along with the same 48 ROPs and 384-bit memory interface of the first Titan. Its clock speed gets an additional boost, too: the 837MHz of the original Titan is claimed to be upgraded to 950MHz in its successor – a move which ups the power draw to an estimated 220-230W.

It’s worth mentioning at this point that 3DCenter.org’s write-up of the rumours, received from an unnamed source, involves a certain amount of guesswork: “probably” and “estimated” are two of the key words to take away from its English translation. The news of 2,880 CUDA cores available on the GeForce GTX Titan II, in particular, seems high: that’s the total number of cores available on the GK110 GPU, meaning the chips would have to be absolutely perfect with zero defects – something the company has not yet managed to achieve even for its high-priced GK110-based Tesla K20X accelerator boards, which have 2,688 active CUDA cores.

The GeForce GTX Titan LE, on the other hand, seems a much more likely prospect: designed for those who can’t quite justify the top-end Titan, the Titan LE’s CUDA core count of 2,496 matches Nvidia’s GK110-based K20 accelerator board – making the Titan LE a consumer-oriented K20 in the same way as the Titan is based on the faster K20X.

Nvidia, naturally, has refused to comment on the rumours, but with 3DCenter.org’s source pointing to a summer 2013 launch for the GeForce GTX Titan LE and a late-2013/early-2014 launch for the GeForce GTX Titan II, fans of the green camp’s work shouldn’t have long to wait to find out if the rumours are true.

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Metro: Last Light will require an Nvidia GeForce Titan or GeForce 690 for the top graphical settings to be enabled, 4A Games has warned.

The formal specifications for Metro: Last Light have been released, offering those who want to return to the series’ post-apocalyptic dystopia a clue as to how much they’re going to have to spend on upgrades to get the most from the title.

A follow-up to the reasonably well-regarded Metro 2033 – praised for its lush visuals and unique setting, but slated for poor combat – and originally teased as Metro 2034, Metro: Last Light shows significant promise. A preview from July 2012 revealed much about the game, but mounting financial problems at publisher THQ saw the title delayed prior to the company being split up and sold off.

Thankfully, that won’t be the end of Metro: Last Light. The game is on-track for release next month under new publisher Deep Silver, and forms part of a bundle that will see buyers of selected Nvidia graphics boards receiving a free copy of the game. Those who want to get the most out of the title, however, may need to splash out on an upgrade or two.

4A Games’ official system specifications for the title, released this week, split target systems into the usual ‘Minimum’ and ‘Recommended’ categories, but also add an ‘Optimum’ level which may raise gamers’ eyebrows with its demands.

First, ‘Minimum:’ according to 4A Games, Metro: Last Light will require a 2.2GHz dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and a DirectX9 Shader Model 3 compliant graphics card of equivalent performance to an Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 or AMD Radeon HD 4000 series. Those who want to take advantage of the game’s support for Nvidia 3D Vision, meanwhile, will need a GeForce GTX 275 or higher, 3D Vision-certified 120Hz monitor and shutter glasses. For those who have yet to upgrade, the news of compatibility with the 32-bit release of Windows XP will be a pleasant surprise.

The ‘Recommended’ level ups the game, ditching Windows XP support and asking for a 2.6GHz quad-core processor and 4GB of RAM. 4A Games also asks that gamers use a DirectX11 capable graphics card equivalent to an Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 or GTX 660 Ti or AMD Radeon HD 7870 or better.

Finally, ‘Optimum:’ 4A Games is asking users who want to get the very best from the game to have at least a 3.4GHz quad-core or better processor, 8GB of RAM, and either an Nvidia GTX 690 or an Nvidia Titan – with no mention of what an AMD fan would need to get the maximum graphical fidelity. That no AMD graphics card is recommended for the ‘Optimum’ experience is, perhaps, unsurprising given publisher Deep Silver’s partnership with Nvidia, but will come as a blow to the red camp nevertheless.

Metro: Last Light is due to launch on the 17th of May as a cross-platform title on Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

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Nvidia is to offer a free copy of Metro: Last Light to all GeForce GTX 660 or greater buyers from tomorrow, in response to AMD’s Never Settle Reloaded bundle.

The world of discrete graphics is largely split into two camps: the Red Camp and the Green Camp, more properly known as AMD and Nvidia. When one company does something, you can bet the other won’t be far behind – and Nvidia has proven this maxim by following in AMD’s footsteps and offering free games to buyers of its boards.

AMD further cemented its place in the hearts of its fans with the announcement that its Never Settle Reloaded offer, which bundles up to six games with selected AMD-powered graphics boards, would be getting a copy of bat-crap crazy 80s sci-fi inspired first-person shooter Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon added – valid for new buyers and those who had already redeemed their vouchers.

Where one company follows, the other must inevitably lead, and so it is with no great surprise that Nvidia is planning to announce a new entry in its own Free2Play Gear Up bundle to better compete with AMD’s offering. Unlike previous bundle packages, which were limited to in-game equipment or currency for free-to-play titles, Nvidia is going for a full-release game this time around, promising buyers a copy of Metro: Last Light.

As is to be expected, the offer comes with strings attached: according to SweClockers, which learned of Nvidia’s plans from an unnamed source, the offer will be valid on purchase of an Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 or better from a participating retailer from the 16th of April. Those who have already picked up a graphics card from the Green Camp will be disappointed to hear that, unlike AMD’s offer, the improved bundle will be valid on new purchases only.

Full details of the bundle offer are expected to be released tomorrow when Nvidia formally announces the inclusion of Metro: Last Light, while the game itself won’t be made available for download until the middle of next month.

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What’s the best way to cool your graphics card?

Nvidia’s Titan might be all the rage at the super-high end at the moment but the green team’s dual GPU, GeForce GTX 690 4GB is still king of the hill in terms of performance. More importantly for this article, the sky-high priced monster also trumps Titan when it comes to power consumption and heat too. Our test system peaked at nearly 400W under load with Nvidia’s dual GPU card, while with GTX Titan 6GB in the system, this number fell to less than 350W.

Thermals are even more of an issue for the GeForce GTX 690 4GB. It’s the hottest-running graphics card in our current line-up, recording a delta T under load of 63°C. This is 4°C warmer than our GTX Titan 6GB sample, 9°C hotter than a GeForce GTX 680 2GB and a sizeable 20°C more toasty than a GeForce GTX 660 Ti. However, we haven’t seen a graphics card fall over due to thermal issues for quite a while, so why bother looking at ways to reduce its operating temperature?

There are actually a number of reasons why you might want to consider looking into a better way of cooling your graphics card. We’ve seen more than a few pieces of hardware die over the years and we suspect many were due to prolonged periods of heavy use and high temperatures. Beefing up the cooling on offer can potentially lead to a longer life for your hardware. One reason you might be sailing close to the wind is if you’ve overclocked your graphics card.

Fitting a better cooler can improve overclocking headroom, both by dealing with the heat more efficiently and by allowing you to ramp up the voltage even more. One of the most common reasons you’d want to replace your graphics card’s stock cooler is noise. During gaming sessions, most graphics cards create quite a din – less so these days but they’re likely to be by far the noisiest component in your PC while you’re gaming.

The third party air cooler scene is somewhat lacklustre with far less choice than there was five years ago. This is largely due to the fact that graphics cards today are much cooler-running thanks to lower power consumption and more efficient coolers. However, a couple of companies do still offer high-performance heatsinks for both current and previous generation hardware, and for the most part, you’ll be looking at an outlay far less than that if you opted for more exotic water-cooling.

Water-cooling is a dark art with significant positives and negatives. We’ve seen some stonking results from water-cooling graphics cards in terms of temperatures. While stock coolers have improved massively, we’re constantly reminded that they’re nowhere near as good as you might think when compared to water cooling solutions. In addition, full-cover graphics card waterblocks not only cool the GPU core but also deal with the RAM and VRMs too.

This means that all that heat is absorbed by the coolant and sent packing to the radiator. In contrast, many graphics card coolers actually dump some exhaust air back into the case, which clearly isn’t ideal. The downside is of course that water-cooling is inherently expensive to get into, although once you’ve invested in a full setup, all you have to do is buy a new waterblock every time you get a new graphics card (not chump change admittedly, but not bad in the grand scheme of things).

So, our goal here is to compare two third party cooling options to see just what the latest generation coolers can do, and of course find out which is best at keeping the world’s hottest-running graphics card in check.

Head over the page to check out some third party cooling options.

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