PC Perspective Podcast #331 - 12/31/2014

Join us this week as we discuss our Hardware Picks of the Year, Acer's 1080p G-SYNC Display, a new Drobo and more!

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Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Jeremy Hellstrom, Josh Walrath, Allyn Malventano, and Sebastian Peak


Program length: 1:54:53




Podcast topics of discussion:



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Week in Review:



0:04:40 GIGABYTE X99 Gaming G1 WIFI Motherboard Review


0:09:15 BitFenix Pandora Micro-ATX Enclosure Review: Style and Substance


0:14:20 Drobo Third Generation USB 3.0 4-Bay Storage Array Review - Simple and Speedy


0:22:05 Acer XB270H 27-in 1080p 144 Hz G-Sync Monitor Review


0:31:25 Video Perspective: Building a High Powered MicroATX Gaming PC



Ken is an idiot, don't try to use the Hyper 212 Evo in the Air 240.






News items of interest:



0:37:30 PCPer 10 Days of Christmas: Day 6 - Anker 60W 6-Port Family-Sized Desktop USB Charger


0:40:30 Lian Li Has Created a Case You Can Mount on the Wall: The PC-05S


0:43:45 GPU Rumors: AMD Plans 20nm but NVIDIA Waits for 16nm


0:47:25 LG Announces 34UM67 UltraWide Gaming Monitor with AMD FreeSync




PC Perspective Hardware Picks of the Year



Graphics Card of 2014



GTX 980


Winner: GTX 970


R9 285


GTX TITAN Z (lulz)


R9 295 X2


Runner-up: GTX 750 Ti




CPU of 2014



Winner: Core i7-4790K


Pentium G3258


Core i7-5960X


Core M 5Y70 (Broadwell-Y)


AMD AM1 Athlon 5350


AMD A8-7600 Kaveri APU


Tegra K1


Runner-up: Athlon X4 860K




Storage of 2014



Samsung 850 Pro


Winner: Samsung 850 EVO


Crucial MX100


Runner-up: Intel P3700


6TB HDDs


Intel SSD 730 Series


Silicon Motion SM2246EN (Force LX, Angelbird ssd wrk, Adata 610)




Case of 2014



Winner: NCASE M1


Runner-up: Corsair Carbide Air 240


Fractal Design Define R5


SilverStone Raven RVZ01


PHT Ultra Low-Profile HTPC Case




Motherboard of 2014



Runner-up: ASUS Crossblade Ranger FM2+


ASUS Z97 Deluxe


Gigabyte Z97X Gaming G1 Black Edition


X99 Deluxe


Winner: Z97 Maximus VII Formula




Price Drop of 2014



Winner: AMD R9 290X/290


R9 295 X2


Good Displays


GTX Titan Z (lulz)


Runner-up: SSDs (again)


Gasoline




Best Trend of 2014



Variable Refresh Rate Monitors / Tear-free Gaming


Smart Watches


Runner-up: PCIe/NVMe storage


Gigabit Internet


Custom Watercooling


Winner: 21:9 Monitors




Worst Trend of 2014



Smart Watches


Locked GPU Voltages


DDR4


Winner: 840 Evo Performance Issues


Runner-up: G-SYNC Monitor prices


Curved Displays


GPU Mining BitCoins






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Closing/outro




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