After announcing earlier this week the impending release of their VR Go backpack, ZOTAC has now made pricing details available: $1999 will net you the ability to strap a PC to your body so you can freely engage with enemies or friends alike in VR environments.

The ZOTAC VR GO can work autonomously for up to two hours, feeding on two Li-ion batteries rated at 95Wh (6600mAh). The batteries can be hot-swapped and charged separately, featuring a DC12V-out for powering the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift. When not in use as a backpack to play virtual reality games, the VR GO can be used like a normal desktop computer: its form-factor allows it to be placed on a desk either vertically or horizontally and all the ports will remain accessible. It isn't very heavy, either, though at 4.95 kilograms, your mileage may vary.

AOC's AGON line of PC monitors has been increasingly added to by the company - which usually signifies strong sales and brand recognition. In trying to cater to an even more diverse consumer base, AOC has now added a new offer to their AGON line of gaming monitors: the AG251FZ.

The AG251FZ 25" is a 16:9 ratio monitor, which comes in at the still-dominating 1920*1080 resolution, sporting a TN-type panel with a 1ms Grey-to-grey response time which allows it achieve a 240Hz refresh rate. The panel offers 16.7 million colors, brightness of 400cd/m2, contrast ratio of 1000:1, and pretty decent viewing angles of 170/160. On top of that, the monitor also includes AMD's royalty-free FreeSync (active from 48Hz towards the 240Hz maximum refresh rate), with 1x HDMI 2.0 and 1x DisplayPort 1.2a adaptive sync compatible inputs, as well as more legacy 1x DVI and 1x VGA inputs. The monitor also features a connectivity hub, sporting 4 x USB 3.0, Audio out/in, and Microphone in/out ports.

Already more than 3 years ago, back in summer 2013, Club 3D did open up a new era by introducing the first Multi Stream Transport Hubs (MST-Hubs) to the worldwide IT market. With the introduction of the DisplayPort 1.2 standard in the beginning of this decade, the Multi Stream Transport Technology was established. The concept of MST was already available before Club 3D developed the solution and was first to bring a MST Hub into the mainstream market. In 2014 we could already introduce the second generation MST-Hubs and create a line of products for Dual-, Triple- and Quad-Monitor usage and even one version with HDMI outputs. The full line up you can find here.

In IT the development never stands still and therefore Club 3D is proud to be ahead in the market again by introducing the first product of the next generation of MST-Hubs today. MST Hub goes Type C it can be called. The Club 3D SenseVision MST Hub USB 3.1 Gen1 Type C to DisplayPort 1.2 Dual Monitor is named CSV-1545. It takes advantage of the very new Type C plug but offers the technology that users are used to from our existing line up of MST Hubs.

High-dynamic range or HDR is all the rage these days as the next big thing in display output, now that hardware has time to catch up with ever-increasing display resolutions such as 4K ultra HD, 5K, and the various ultra-wide formats. Hardware-accelerated HDR is getting a push from both AMD and NVIDIA in this round of GPUs. While games with HDR date back to Half Life 2, hardware-accelerated formats that minimize work for game developers, in which the hardware makes sense of an image and adjusts its output range, is new and requires substantial compute power. It also requires additional interface bandwidth between the GPU and the display, since GPUs sometimes rely on wider color palettes such as 10 bpc (1.07 billion colors) to generate HDR images. AMD Radeon GPUs are facing difficulties in this area.

German tech publication Heise.de discovered that AMD Radeon GPUs render HDR games (games that take advantage of new-generation hardware HDR, such as "Shadow Warrior 2") at a reduced color depth of 8 bits per cell (16.7 million colors), or 32-bit; if your display (eg: 4K HDR-ready TV) is connected over HDMI 2.0 and not DisplayPort 1.2 (and above). The desired 10 bits per cell (1.07 billion colors) palette is available only when your HDR display runs over DisplayPort. This could be a problem, since most HDR-ready displays these days are TVs. Heise.de observes that AMD GPUs reduce output sampling from the desired Full YCrBr 4: 4: 4 color scanning to 4: 2: 2 or 4: 2: 0 (color-sub-sampling / chroma sub-sampling), when the display is connected over HDMI 2.0. The publication also suspects that the limitation is prevalent on all AMD "Polaris" GPUs, including the ones that drive game consoles such as the PS4 Pro.

In January 2016 Club 3D brought a solution to the market as an upgrade since GPU solutions were not bundled with HDMI 2.0 connectors. Users needed to spend a lot of money for the latest graphics card, Notebook, Ultrabook or MiniPC, that were equipped with up to date technology HDMI 2.0 output for 4K@ 60Hz.

With the introduction of the CAC-1070 (DP 1.2 to HDMI 2.0 Adapter) and CAC-1170 (MiniDP to HDMI 2.0 Adapter) Club 3D has been the first company in the market to fulfil this demand. These 2 products have become our star products for 2016. Now it is time to develop things further and introduce the next products for this demand.

ECS is giving final touches to a the new Liva Z mini-PC featuring Intel "Apollo Lake" Pentium and Celeron SoCs. The desktop could come with Pentium J4205, Celeron J3455, and Celeron J3355 options. The J4205 and J3455 feature quad-core "Goldmont" CPUs running at 1.50 GHz, but differ with integrated GPUs and Turbo Boost frequencies. The J4205 features 18 execution units (EUs), maximum iGPU clocks of 800 MHz, and 2.60 GHz maximum CPU Turbo Boost; while the J3455 features 12 EUs, 750 MHz maximum iGPU clock, and 2.30 GHz maximum CPU Turbo Boost frequency. The J3355 features a dual-core "Goldmont" CPU running at 2.00 GHz with 2.50 GHz Turbo Boost, and an iGPU with 12 EUs, with 700 MHz maximum clocks.

The upcoming ECS Liva Z "Apollo Lake" also comes with two DDR3 SO-DIMM slots supporting up to 8 GB of memory, integrated eMMC storage options of 32 GB and 64 GB (for the OS), and an M.2-2280 slot for internal storage expansion. Display outputs include mini-DisplayPort and HDMI. Network connectivity includes two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, and a WLAN controller with 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0 support. The rest of its connectivity includes three USB 3.1 type-A ports, and one USB 3.1 type-C port. The company didn't reveal pricing or availability.

AOC today announced availability of the AGON AG352QCX, its premium 35-inch curved gaming monitor. The monitor features a VA (vertical alignment) ultra-wide display panel with 2560 x 1080 pixels resolution, 4 ms response time, 2000:1 contrast-ratio, and a staggering 200 Hz refresh-rate. Its gaming credentials are further bolstered with support for AMD FreeSync technology. The monitor takes input from DisplayPort 1.2a (needed for FreeSync), HDMI 2.0, and D-Sub. Other features include a 4-port USB 3.0 hub, a headset stand, and 5W stereo speakers. Expect this monitor to be priced around the $600 mark.

Belkin, the market leader in mobile accessories, today announced the Thunderbolt 3 Express Dock HD. The Thunderbolt 3 Express Dock HD plugs into devices with a Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) port. With 40 Gbps data transfer rates, dual 4K video support and 85 Watts of power delivery, the Thunderbolt 3 Express Dock HD is a complete single-cable docking solution providing connectivity and power to your notebook.

"Belkin has a long-standing history of designing complementary peripherals and accessories for the industry's most innovative hardware products, such as the all-new MacBook Pro," said Steve Malony, vice president and general manager, Belkin. "The new Thunderbolt 3 Express Dock HD and its exceptional single-cable docking solution for notebooks was developed with a deep understanding of consumers' needs for ideal connectivity solutions."

Acer announced the new Predator XB241YU, a premium 24-inch gaming-grade monitor. Its key features include NVIDIA G-SYNC support with refresh-rates of up to 165 Hz, 1 ms response time, and WQHD resolution (2560 x 1440 pixels). The monitor achieves these refresh-rates with a TN-film panel. Its new ZeroFrame LED back-lighting keeps the front bezels framing the panel to a bare minimum. Its stand allows height, tilt, and rotary adjustments. The monitor takes inputs from DisplayPort 1.2 (needed for G-SYNC), and HDMI. A 4-port USB 3.0 hub and 2W stereo speakers come embedded. Available now, the Predator XB241YU is priced at US $499.99.

NEC Display Solutions of America, a leading provider of commercial LCD display and projector solutions, today announced the MultiSync EA245WMi display, capable of simplifying multiple-monitor configurations with an improved, sleek cabinet and 3-sided ultra-narrow bezel design. The new 24-inch widescreen model features IPS panel technology, LED backlighting with wide viewing angles (178° horizontal/vertical), and 3 ultra-narrow bezels, each less than 1 mm thick, in order to create desktop configurations with little distraction so users in corporate, command and control, and financial industries can focus on their work.

Designed for multiple-monitor configurations, NEC's exclusive ControlSync technology allows users to automatically control settings on up to six displays from one primary monitor using the included ControlSync cable. Additionally, the DisplayPort 1.2 daisy chain capability allows for connectivity of up to four monitors through one DisplayPort 1.2 input, simplifying cable connections.

Sapphire announced its premium Radeon RX 480 graphics card, the NITRO+. Featuring a completely custom design, the card features the company's latest Dual-X cooling solution that combines a dense aluminium fin-stack heatsink, with a pair of easily detachable 95 mm fans, and an air-channel that directs hot air towards the top; and a custom-design PCB with a strong VRM, which draws power from a single 8-pin PCIe power connector.

The Radeon RX 480 NITRO+ comes in two variants, 4 GB and 8 GB. The 4 GB variant comes with clock speeds of 1208 MHz core, 1306 MHz boost, and 7 Gbps memory; while the 8 GB variant ships with 1208 MHz core, 1342 MHz boost, and 8 Gbps memory. Display outputs include two each of DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0b, and a dual-link DVI connector. The unique NITRO Glow feature lets you make the LED-lit Sapphire logo useful, by cycling it between its default blue color, to a random RGB color, gradients based on PCB temperature and fan-speeds, a Sapphire TriXX-set color, or stay off.

Here's one of the first pictures of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founders Edition (reference) PCB. The PCB is about 2/3rds the length of the actual card, and despite that, it's pretty barren. Power is drawn from a 6-pin PCIe power connector, however, this connector isn't on the PCB, but is on a receptacle towards the end of the cooler. NVIDIA designed this in response to complaints that on cards with PCB shorter than the cooler, the power connector would be in the middle of the card. It would also block the illuminated GeForce GTX logo along the top.

The 6-pin PCIe power receptacle connects to the card at big solder points. This approach has one downside. If you want to change the cooler (to, say, an aftermarket air cooler), you will have to deal with that ugly cabling. The card uses a simple 3+1 phase VRM to power the GPU, with its TDP rated at just 120W. The GP106 GPU is neighbored by six 8 Gbps GDDR5 memory chips populating its 192-bit memory bus. There's no SLI support. Display outputs include three DisplayPort 1.4, and one each of HDMI 2.0b and DVI.

ASUS is readying with what could be the world's first 4K Ultra HD monitor with 144 Hz refresh-rate. The monitor features a 27-inch AHVA panel by AU Optronics. The monitor relies on DisplayPort 1.3 for sufficient bandwidth to push its advertised resolution (3840 x 2160 @ 144 Hz). There's no word on whether the monitor supports adaptive sync technologies such as G-SYNC or FreeSync. DisplayPort 1.3 support can be found on some of the latest GPUs, such as the GeForce GTX 1080 and the Radeon RX 480.

AMD put out press pictures (for now renders) of its reference-design Radeon RX 480 board. The pictures reveal a very compact reference PCB, which draws power from just a single 6-pin PCIe power connector, and which uses a 5+2 phase VRM to power the card. The ASIC package is about the size of the "Tonga," and is surrounded by 8 memory chips. Display connectors include three DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.0a. The blower-type reference cooler has to cope with a card with a typical board power of just 150W despite high clock speeds, and so we expect this to be a very cool and quiet card. We expect AMD to allow its add-in board (AIB) partners to come up with custom-design coolers from day one, and so the combination of this 150W card with the likes of IceQ X, VaporX, or TwinFrozr VI can only be blissful.

ECS showed off its the H110S-2P, a no-frills motherboard built in a form-factor that's smaller than mini-ITX, although compatible with mini-ITX cases. The board lacks add-on card expansion slots. The only expansion you can give this board is an mPCIe, and an M.2 2230, which closely passes over the PCH. You can tell from the M.2 placeholder marking on the PCB running over the PCH that even the production board could lack a PCH heatsink.

The H110S-2P supports 6th generation Core processors in the LGA1151 package, and up to 32 GB of dual-channel DDR4-2400 memory though SODIMMs. Storage connectivity, besides the M.2 slot, includes one SATA 6 Gb/s port. Display outputs (you'll need them), include one each of DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 1.4a. Four USB 3.0 ports, and two USB 2.0 ports complete the package.

NVIDIA appears to have done away with support for the legacy D-Sub (VGA) analog connector, with its latest GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card. The card's DVI connector does not have wiring for analog signals. Retail cards won't include DVI to D-Sub dongles, even aftermarket dongles won't work. What you get instead on the card, are one dual-link DVI-D, an HDMI 2.0b, and three DisplayPort 1.4 connectors. NVIDIA's rival AMD did away with D-Sub support on its high-end graphics cards way back in 2013, with the Radeon R9 290 series.

After launching its shockingly fast (claimed) GeForce GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 graphics cards, NVIDIA posted specifications of the former. The two are based on NVIDIA's swanky new 16 nm "GP104" silicon, derived from its "Pascal" GPU architecture. The architecture is detailed in our older article, here. The GeForce GTX 1080 leads the pack, featuring four graphics processing clusters, holding 2,560 CUDA cores. The core runs at a scorching 1607 MHz, with a GPU Boost frequency of 1733 MHz. In one of its demos, NVIDIA overclocked this chip to over 2100 MHz, on its reference air cooling, and the GPU barely scraped 67 °C under stress. The GTX 1080 features a 256-bit wide GDDR5X memory interface, holding 8 GB of memory. The memory is clocked at 2500 MHz (10 GHz effective), working out to a memory bandwidth of 320 GB/s.

API support includes DirectX 12 (feature-level 12_1), OpenGL 4.5, and Vulkan. Display outputs include three DisplayPort 1.4 connectors, one HDMI 2.0b, and one dual-link DVI. The reference-design card is 10.5-inch long, and double-slot. It draws power from a single 8-pin PCIe power connector, and its typical board power is rated at 180W. With the GeForce "Pascal" family, instead of caving in to DirectX 12 native multi-GPU, NVIDIA developed its SLI technology further, with the new SLI HB (high-bandwidth) bridge standard. It's essentially a 2-way bridge in which both SLI fingers of the card are used. This doubles bandwidth between the two cards, allowing higher display resolutions, and multi-display setups between high-resolution monitors. The GeForce GTX 1080 will be available from May 27, 2016, starting at US $599. The $379 GTX 1070 specifications will be revealed closer to its June 10, 2016 market availability.

PNY Technologies has today announced the launch of a new design to its XLR8 OC Gaming range, revamping the PNY GeForce GTX 960 and GTX 950 with a stunning fresh look to match its blazing speeds.

The new PNY GeForce GTX 960 XLR8 OC Gaming and GeForce GTX 950 XLR8 OC Gaming graphics cards are being released alongside PNY's new dedicated gaming website, where gamers can learn how to improve their gaming experience and deliver better results. You can visit the new site here: gaming.pny.eu

NVIDIA announced the Quadro M2000 professional graphics card. Based on the 28 nm GM206 "Maxwell" silicon, the M2000 is a mid-range professional graphics offering by the company, and is energy-efficient. The card has the same core-configuration as the GeForce GTX 950, with 768 CUDA cores, 48 TMUs, 16 ROPs, and a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface. 4 GB is the standard memory amount for this card.

The GPU is clocked up to 1188 MHz, and the memory at 6.60 GHz (GDDR5-effective), yielding a memory bandwidth of 106 GB/s. The card relies on the PCI-Express slot for all its power, its typical board power-draw is rated at 75W. The reference-design board features a neat full-height PCB, and a single-slot cooling solution. Display outputs include four DisplayPort 1.2 connectors. The M2000 brings some Quadro-exclusive software features to the table, including nView MultiDisplay, and support for 5K and 8K displays (through multiple connectors). Expect this card to be priced around US $550.

ECS introduced the H110I-C4P value mini-ITX motherboard based on the Intel H110 Express chipset, and designed for 6th generation Core, Pentium, and Celeron processors, in the LGA1151 package. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 4-pin CPU power connectors; conditioning it for the CPU with a simple 4-phase VRM. The CPU is wired to a pair of DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting up to 32 GB of dual-channel DDR4-2133 memory.

Expansions slots include a PCI-Express 3.0 x16, and an M.2 2242 slot with 20 Gb/s bandwidth. Storage connectivity includes four SATA 6 Gb/s connectors. Display connectivity includes one each of DisplayPort and HDMI. Other modern connectivity includes four USB 3.0 ports (two on the rear panel, two by headers), 6-channel HD audio, and gigabit Ethernet. Expect a sub-$80 price-tag.

ASUS, the No.1 gaming monitor brand, today announced MG248Q, MG28UQ and MG24UQ, the latest gaming monitors in the ASUS MG Series. MG248Q is a 24-inch Full HD monitor featuring an ultra-fast 1 ms response time and an incredible 144 Hz refresh rate. MG28UQ and MG24UQ are 28- inch and 24-inch displays respectively, both featuring a 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) resolution.

All MG Series monitors include Adaptive-Sync technology for smooth gaming visuals, while the new ASUS-exclusive DisplayWidget utility gives users easy access to various display settings.

BenQ unveiled a new 24-inch business monitor for people who spend long hours looking at mostly bright screens. The new BL2420Z features a low blue-light mode, which works to reduce eye strain by reducing harmful blue-light by up to 70 percent. The monitor also uses a non-PWM method of reducing brightness of its LED back-lighting, making it flicker-free.

The rest of its specifications are pretty mainstream - Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) resolution, 250 cd/m² maximum brightness, 3000:1 static contrast ratio, 178°/178° maximum viewing angles, and inputs that include DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI, and D-Sub. a 2-port USB hub and 2W stereo speakers make up the rest of it. The monitor's most striking feature is its stand which appears to be carried over from some of the company's gaming-grade monitors, and features a headset stand. BenQ didn't reveal pricing.

At its Capsacin event, AMD demoed one of the first DirectX 12 AAA games, Hitman (2016), on a machine running its next-generation GPU. This GPU is based on its "Polaris" architecture, and while the press got no specs to take home, they did catch a glimpse of the card's rear I/O panel. The display connector layout is unlike anything AMD has at the moment, on its reference-design cards, and looks similar to what NVIDIA offers on some of its high-end graphics cards.

The connector layout sees four connectors on the first slot (same level as the card's PCB), which includes three DisplayPorts and one HDMI port; and one DVI connector on the second slot, with an air-vent next to it. The "Polaris" architecture supports DisplayPort 1.3 and HDMI 2.0a standards. DisplayPort 1.3 serves up enough bandwidth for 5K (5120 x 2880 pixels) at 60 Hz, 4K-HDR (3840 x 2160 with HDR) at 60 Hz, or 4K-SDR at 120 Hz. The SFF desktop setup running this card was able to render Hitman with Ultra settings and 2560x1440 pixels resolution, over 60 fps.

AMD unveiled its latest flagship graphics card, the Radeon Pro Duo. The card is designed for "creators who game, and gamers who create," as the tagline goes. It is a dual-GPU graphics card based on a pair of 28 nm "Fiji" chips, the same ones which drive the R9 Fury X and the R9 Nano. AMD is positioning this card in the gray-area between consumer graphics cards, and FirePro workstation products, as a new "workstation-class" product. Perhaps this allows the company to get away with things such as three 8-pin PCIe power connectors.

The Radeon Pro Duo features two "Fiji" GPUs in their maximum core configuration - 4,096 stream processors, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, each; with 4 GB of HBM memory, each. The card hence packs a total of 8 GB HBM memory, and 16 TFLOP/s total single-precision floating-point performance. The card features a liquid-cooling solution designed by Cooler Master, with a thick 120 mm x 120 mm radiator that's similar to the one that ships with the R9 Fury X. The card's display output configuration is similar to the R9 Fury X, too, with three DisplayPort 1.2a and one HDMI 1.4a connectors. AMD is going ahead and claiming the title of "World's Fastest Graphics Card." The Radeon R9 Pro Duo is expected to be priced at US $1,499.

Back in October 2015 Club 3D did introduce its first USB 3.1 Type-C Adapters. Those adapters did have a very good market acceptance directly from the beginning and with Type C featured Notebooks, Ultrabooks etc. having a wider spread from week to week we are sure that now is the right time to introduce the next USB 3.1 Type C Adapters to offer our customers the widest range of outputs that they can get with Type C.Those adapters do form an innovative new product segment with our existing range of high quality Audio/ Video Adapters like f.e. the first (Mini)DP 1.2 to HDMI 2.0 adapters (CAC-1070/1170) that were initially introduced by Club 3D in January 2016.

The USB Type-C connector was introduced in the first months of 2015. This completely new connector plug is smaller, reversible and capable of transferring more than data alone. It is expected that the USB Type-C connector will eventually replace the USB Type A and Type B connectors we have all been using over the past years. With the Type-C connector, the USB 3.1 standard was introduced as well. Compared to USB 3.0 the new standard offers twice the transfer rate of up to 10 Gbps and allows for three essential features to be used over a single cable: Video, Data and Power.