“System responsiveness” is actually more of a descriptive term Intel uses to encompass their trio of features meant to make your everyday computing experience faster and -- of course -- more responsive. It looks like they were developed primarily for use in netbooks and high-end laptops, but they’re coming to the solid state disk-equipped desktop computer via the 7 Series of chipsets.
First you have Intel Smart Response, which capitalizes on a cost-cutting but performance-enhancing technique that many of us have begun taking advantage of already. That is, you use a traditional high-density platter hard disk drive for masses of cheap storage, while putting your most-used applications and data on a small solid-state disk to speed up application launches and game loading times. What they’ve developed is an application that automates and streamlines this process, merging your HDD and SSD into a single virtual drive. It then monitors your usage habits and caches your most frequently used data to the SSD portion, while everything else goes on the slower HDD. By doing so, it’s supposed to boost your system boot and application load times by up to 50%, compared to using a standard hard drive alone.
There’s also Intel Rapid Start, which uses a solid-state disk drive to supercharge Windows’ existing power saving and session resume features. Hibernation normally works by copying your system memory to the hard drive before powering down, so when you turn the machine back on, it can restore everything you had open. Rapid Start enables that same process to work much more efficiently, with resume times as low as around five seconds from a near-zero power state. Basically, using that instead of shutting down will let your computer turn itself on in about the time it takes you to sit down in your chair. Previously, that kind of response has only been seen when returning from Sleep mode, which is a low-power standby, not a complete power-down.
Finally, something that probably isn’t nearly as useful to those of you reading this is Intel Smart Connect. It’s aimed more at the tablet or all-in-one computer, especially those using Windows 8. This feature will wake a turned-off system into a low-power state for a short time to automatically update and sync with relevant cloud storage systems, social media networks, email, and the like, then turn itself off again. All it does is save you from waiting a few seconds per application, waiting for it to download updates at start-up like you normally would.
Final Thoughts
So there you have it, a rather comprehensive look at Intel’s new Z77 chipset and one of their first-party motherboards that utilizes it, the DZ77GA-70K. That and several other offerings from the usual vendors including ASUS, Gigabyte, ASRock, MSI, and Biostar are available now. However, I imagine a lot of you who already have Sandy Bridge aren’t necessarily interested in upgrading motherboards again… No, you’re just waiting for the new Ivy Bridge CPUs, which will be arriving before month’s end. As I mentioned earlier, most of those older boards will be able to support the new processors with BIOS updates, which is good.
Stay tuned to FiringSquad in the coming weeks for a full-blown features and performance review of the most powerful Ivy Bridge chip, including CPU and graphics benchmarks in some of the latest and greatest games. How well does the integrated GPU fare compared to discrete add-in boards? How far can you overclock it? What’s the power usage like? All of that, and more, will be revealed!
Elemental: Fallen Enchantress Preview Elemental: Fallen Enchantress is a standalone expansion pack and follow-up to developer Stardock's previous game in the series, subtitled War of Magic. That 4X strategy game was highly-anticipated and slated to compete with games such as Sid Meier's Civilization V for your turn-based strategy play-time, but was released in an incredibly broken and unfinished state that it never fully recovered from. Lead designer Brad Wardell apologized profusely to fans and set out with his team to go back to the drawing board and try again.
Almost two years later, the result of that proverbial mulligan is currently undergoing closed beta testing. In today's article, Will reports his thoughts on how Fallen Enchantress is shaping up, and will tell you whether or not you should be keeping an eye on it as it nears release later this year.
The Elder Scrolls Online Details Leak - Should Fans Be Excited? The Elder Scrolls Online, long rumored to be in development, was officially announced yesterday. Still in development at Zenimax Online Studios, this MMO aims to combine traditional genre mechanics with the spirit and sensibilities, not to mention setting and lore, of the immensely popular series of single-player RPGs. Though the game is set for a full unveiling in the next issue of Game Informer magazine, what appears to be the entire cover story article has been leaked to the interwebs already. In today's article, you'll find summary and analysis of all the alleged details, as well as feast your eyes on the very first screenshots and concept art from the game. Of course, the burning question now is, should you be excited?
ANNO 2070 Review
The year is 2070. The majority of life on Earth was devastated when global sea levels surged after the melting of the polar ice caps. Swaths of previously habitable land are now deep underwater, and sovereign nations are a relic of the past. But there is still hope...
This city-building RTS/simulation game from Ubisoft tasks you with re-colonizing what little land areas are left on the planet following a global warming apocalypse. Does it have what it takes to be worthy of your time and money, or should it be cast out to sea with the rest of civilization? Find out in today's review!
Hear that? It's the sound of the largest computer chip manufacturer in the world churning out new processors to power your gaming rig. This week, Intel is launching their next generation of Core CPUs, code-named Ivy Bridge. Like last year's Sandy Bridge chips, they're low-power, quad-core powerhouses that also feature integrated graphics processors. Want to find out more? Maybe check out a whole bunch of performance benchmarks on both the CPU and graphics sides of things? Well you can, in today's review!
Intel Z77 Chipset & DZ77GA-70K Motherboard Overview
Looking forward to those new Ivy Bridge CPUs? In anticipation of their release later this month, Intel has already unveiled the new Series 7 chipsets designed especially to take advantage of what will be the 3rd-generation of Core processors. In today's article, we take a look at the architecture of the enthusiast variant, the Z77, and how it's used in the Intel Desktop Extreme DZ77GA-70K motherboard. Even if you're not particularly interested in the motherboard itself, you'll probably want to see some of the new features that come along with it, so read on!
Mass Effect 3 PC Review
This latest release from EA/BioWare is the final entry in their trilogy of sci-fi action RPGs, putting you in a dire situation: rally the troops to save Earth at all costs. There was a lot of hype surrounding the final act of what has been a vast and highly-customizable story-telling experience, and the reception among many hardcore fans has been less than stellar. Even people that haven't played the game have probably heard about all the nerd rage going on over Mass Effect 3's ending...
If you want to cut through all the crap and find out whether or not the rest of ME3 is worth playing, come check out Will's spoiler-free take on the first blockbuster game release of 2012.
Batman: Arkham City PC Review Batman: Arkham City is the sequel to 2009’s smash-hit action game Batman: Arkham Asylum. As the name suggests, you will be reprising your role as the Caped Crusader and going against an even larger 'prison' filled with Gotham's criminals and villains. A textbook example on how to do a proper sequel, Arkham City takes what worked in the original, excised or improved upon what didn’t, and elevated everything to an even greater scope. The PC version suffered from a few months of delay, but in that time, Rocksteady worked closely to NVIDIA to implement some familiar technologies from the last game, such as PhysX and 3D Vision, along with new DirectX 11 optimizations. But how well was the whole package executed? Read on to find out!
Saints Row: The Third PC Review Saints Row is one of most unique series of games to build upon the open-world action template forged by Grand Theft Auto, and has met with plenty of critical and commercial success since it began on consoles back in 2006. This latest iteration, titled Saints Row: The Third promises the most outlandish fun and freedom of customization of them all, and in a much more PC-friendly package than its predecessor. Does it live up to those expectations and, more importantly, is it worth the price of admission? Find out in Will's latest review!
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim PC Review The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is Bethesda Softworks’ latest offering in their series of epic fantasy RPGs, as well as one of the most highly-anticipated PC titles of 2011. As the Dovahkiin, or Dragonborn, prepare to take the fight to the mythical beasts that have returned to the realm after centuries of slumber, all the while exploring a huge and highly-detailed open world.
The PC version of the game promises enhanced graphical fidelity, standard RPG trimmings such as hotkeys and quick-save, as well as unbridled mod support, something we’ll all be thankful for once they release that SDK. Skyrim has already sold millions of copies and set records for play-time on Steam... Find out why in today's review, which happens to be one of the biggest and most in-depth articles on the subject out there!
L.A. Noire Complete Edition PC Review L.A. Noire, as the name clearly states, is a video game built on the tropes of one of the greatest periods of American cinema: film noir. Developed by the now defunct Australian developer Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games, this title has been out on consoles for a full six months before finally making its way to the PC. This “Complete Edition” of the game features improved graphics, keyboard/mouse controls, and every bit of previously-released DLC for free. But was it truly worth the wait? Read on and find out!
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