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MSI’s Trident 3 Gaming PC Gets Limited-Edition Model Sporting GTX 1070

MSI announced a limited edition of its Trident 3 small form factor (SFF) gaming PC. The new model sports a chilled white finish and goes beyond the capabilities of the previously available configurations with an upgraded graphics card.

The MSI Trident 3 Arctic features an Intel Core i7-7700 processor with 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 RAM on an Intel H110 motherboard. The newer CPU sitting on an older H110 chipset may not seem like an ideal match, but the only real sacrifice between that and a newer B250 chipset is Intel Optane compatibility, and that’s not really much of a sacrifice with a storage configuration consisting of a 256GB M.2 SSD (which is likely plenty fast) and a 1TB 7,200RPM HDD.

The graphics card has been upgraded from a GTX 1060 (the highest available GPU of the former model) to a custom-built mini-ITX MSI GTX 1070. The jump to the new GPU gives the Trident 3 Arctic edition a significant bump in graphics horsepower, and it also sports a new 330W power supply (the standard models feature a 220W PSU) to accommodate the increased power demand.

The MSI Trident 3 Arctic also sports the same USB and display connectivity as the standard-edition models, with a front-panel USB 3.1 Type-C port, three USB 3.0 ports, and four USB 2.0 ports. There’s also a rear-panel HDMI output coming from the motherboard, in addition to the GPU’s outputs (two HDMI 2.0, two DisplayPort, and a DVI-D interface). There’s also a front-panel HDMI passthrough (you plug the GPU into the other end on the back side), giving it formidable living-room VR gaming chops.

The device is kept frosty, as it were, by MSI’s Silent Storm Cooling 2, which keeps the gear chilled with separate compartments for the heat-generating components and quiet fans. The RGB LED lighting on the chassis can be adjusted using RGB Mystic Light or MSI’s Gaming Center software.

The MSI Trident 3 Arctic limited-edition gaming PC will be available this April from major retailers, including Newegg, Amazon, and Fry’s, for $1,500.

Product	MSI Trident 3 Arctic Gaming PC
Processor	Intel Core i7-7700
Memory	16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-2400
Graphics	MSI GeForce GTX 1070
Storage	– 256GB M.2 SSD – 1TB 7,200RPM HDD
Ports	– USB 3.1 Type-C – USB 3.0 x3 – USB 2.0 x4 – HDMI 2.0 x2 (GPU) – DisplayPort x2 (GPU) – DVI-D (GPU) – HDMI 2.0 (Motherboard) – VR-Link (Front panel HDMI passthru)
Power Supply	330W
Dimensions	13.63 x 9.16 x 2.83 inches
MSRP	$1,500

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Uber to pull out of Denmark

Cab hire firm Uber will withdraw from Denmark in April because of new taxi laws that require drivers to have fare meters and seat sensors.

Local taxi driver unions and politicians have complained that Uber poses unfair competition by not meeting legal standards required for established taxi firms.

According to Uber, 300,000 riders use its app in Denmark and it has around 2,000 drivers.

The service will shut down on 18 April.

In a statement the firm said: “For us to operate in Denmark again the proposed regulations need to change. We will continue to work with the government in the hope that they will update their proposed regulations and enable Danes to enjoy the benefits of modern technologies like Uber.”

Uber has been operating in Denmark for less than three years.

The firm said it would “allocate resources” to help Uber drivers during the shutdown process. It will maintain its software division in Aarhus in northern Denmark where it employs 40 people.

The firm has faced opposition from traditional taxi drivers in cities around the world. In the UK, a 2015 High Court challenge arguing that Uber should be regulated in the same way as other London taxi businesses was dismissed by a judge.

But in 2016, Uber drivers won the right to be classed as workers rather than as self-employed.

Earlier this month, it suspended its self-driving cars after an accident in Arizona when one of the autonomous vehicles – a Volvo SUV – ended up on its side.

It has also faced negative stories about its workplace practices and a number of executives have quit, including the president Jeff Jones.

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Razer’s updated Blade Pro is the first ever THX-certified laptop

Late last year Razer resurrected its Blade Pro laptop line, finally stuffing it with hardware worthy of the “Pro” appellation. Our three-word review: We loved it. It’s a great machine, if you can afford it.

And now it’s a bit better, thanks to the standard year-over-year refresh. Razer released details on a new Blade Pro today—it’s keeping Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1080, but moving over from an Intel i7-6700HQ at 2.6GHz to an overclockable i7-7820HK processor at 2.9GHz. The Blade Pro’s 32GB of RAM also gets a timing bump up to 2,667MHz (from 2,133MHz).

Hayden Dingman

The really interesting news though: The Blade Pro is now the first-ever laptop to receive THX Mobile Certification, “an accreditation reserved for high-performance mobile phones, tablets, and laptops.” From the press release:

“Through the processes of THX, the Razer Blade Pro screen is calibrated and tested for resolution, color accuracy and video playback performance…Similarly, the audio jack on the new Razer Blade Pro met THX requirements for voltage output, frequency response, distortion, signal-to-noise ratio, and crosstalk that guarantees clear sound through headphones.”

It’s worth noting that only the headphone jack is THX-certified, not the built-in speakers—an important point, I think, given people usually associate THX with surround sound systems. While the Blade Pro’s speakers are certainly better than your average laptop’s, they’re still not amazing by any means.

We could also debate all day about the usefulness of THX certification. Is your non-certified Blade Pro from six months ago suddenly a decrepit old hag? Not at all. Razer’s even using the same 4K IGZO display on this new THX-certified laptop as it did on the 2016 model—just calibrated slightly differently, and with (presumably) a big ol’ THX stamp on the box. So yeah, this is a bit of a marketing win more than anything else.

On the other hand it does prove the Blade Pro is one hell of a laptop. A THX representative confirmed to me that competing laptops have undergone testing, but Razer’s is the first to meet the standards of this new Mobile Certification program. That makes it somewhat-objectively the best laptop in the world for the moment, at least by THX’s standards—meaning as far as the display and headphone jack are concerned.

Is that useful? I don’t know. The display is certainly an important aspect with laptops, so THX Mobile Certification isn’t a wholly made-up honorific. Still, it does seem of limited use to tech nerds—no consideration given to internal hardware, benchmarks, or anything we usually use to compare laptops. The Blade Pro is THX-certified to be easy on the eyes, and that’s about it.

I guess you’ll have to keep reading our PCWorld reviews for the full picture.

Razer Claims 'First' THX-Certified Laptop With Razer Blade Pro; Updated With Kaby Lake

Razer announced that its flagship 17” Razer Blade Pro has become the “first” notebook to be certified by THX. The company also updated the CPU to the latest 7^th generation Intel Core i7 processor.

The Razer Blade Pro features an Intel Core i7-7820HK processor, replacing the previously available Skylake counterpart, the Core i7-6820HK. It still rocks the same memory capacity, graphics, and storage configuration options, which includes 32GB (2 x 16GB) of RAM, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, and SSD RAID 0 configurations up to 2TB (two 1TB PCIe M.2 SSDs). However, the memory speed has been upgraded to DDR4-2,666 (2,667MHz), up from the previous version’s DDR4-2,133.

The 17.3” 4K (3840 x 2160) IGZO G-Sync display is also the same screen as the previous Razer Blade Pro, but Razer can now claim that it’s the first gaming laptop to earn THX Mobile Certification for its color resolution, color accuracy, and video playback performance. Furthermore, the audio jack on the Razer Blade Pro meets THX requirements for voltage output, frequency response, distortion, signal-to-noise ratio, and crosstalk.

Networking is provided by Killer Doubleshot, which consists of a Killer Wireless-AC 1535 module and a Killer E2500 gigabit Ethernet interface. The Razer Blade Pro also sports three USB 3.0 ports, a USB-C Thunderbolt port, and an SDXC card reader. The RGB LED backlit keyboard features low-profile mechanical switches and can be controlled using Razer’s Synapse software.

The new Razer Blade Pro will be available in April from the Razerzone online store with configurations starting at $4,000.

Product	Razer Blade Pro (2017)
Processor	Intel Core i7-7820HK
Memory	32GB DDR4-2,666
Graphics	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5X
Display	17.3” 3840 x 2160 IGZO Multi-Touch w/Nvidia G-Sync (THX Certified)
Storage Options	– 512GB SSD RAID 0 (2x 256GB PCIe M.2 SSD) – 1TB SSD RAID 0 (2x 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD) – 2TB SSD RAID 0 (2x 1TB PCIe M.2 SSD)
Ports	– USB 3.1 Type-C (Thunderbolt 3) – USB 3.0 x3 – HDMI 2.0 – SDXC Card Reader
Networking	– Killer Wireless-AC 1535 – Killer E2500 Gigabit Ethernet
Dimensions	16.7 x 11 x 0.88”
Weight	7.69 lbs.
Starting MSRP	$4,000

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Passive Cooling: XFX RX 460 Heatsink Edition Vs. Palit GTX 1050 Ti KalmX

After hacking together our own passively-cooled card, we now compare off-the-shelf solutions based on AMD and Nvidia GPUs. Was our attempt amateurish or could there be a more general problem with passively cooling current-gen graphics processors?

Our German team has a bit of an obsession with passive cooling. In case you missed it, check out their Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Passive Cooling Mod. As we saw in that piece, at least some airflow was necessary to keep Nvidia’s 75W card working properly. Nowadays you can buy a couple of different retail products that sport passive cooling, without the need for our do-it-yourself effort. One is XFX’s Radeon RX 460 Heatsink Edition, and the other is Palit’s GeForce GTX 1050 Ti KalmX. Both sport 4GB of GDDR5 memory.

Does either card work the way it’s advertised? A specially designed cooler with optimized fin spacing is obviously on the right track, but we’re professionally skeptical and obligated to test in every way, shape, and form. You’ll see us benchmarking on an open-air chassis and in a closed case with single- (front/positive pressure) and dual-fan (front and back/negative pressure) configurations.

XFX and Palit apparently came up with different approaches for utilizing the airflow in your case, based on the way they have their fins positioned. At a glance, internal convection may be adequate to cool Palit’s card, while the XFX solution appears to need some additional help from a fan.

Based on their respective GPUs, Palit’s GTX 1050 Ti KalmX should obviously be the faster card. But that’s not our primary concern: the boards first have to work the way each company’s marketing department advertises before we even start thinking about gaming. Right now, cooling is everything!

Our test system and methodology should already be familiar to you from How We Test Graphics Card. But if that story is new to you, we encourage you to check it out before digging in to this piece.

The following table provides a quick overview:

Test Systems And Environment
System Components	Intel Core i7-5930K @ 4.2GHz MSI X99S XPower Gaming Titanium Corsair Vengeance DDR4-3200 @ 2400 MT/s 1x 1TB Toshiba OCZ RD400 (M.2, System SSD) 2x 960GB Toshiba OCZ TR150 (Storage, Images) be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11, 850W power supply Windows 10 Pro (with all updates)
Water Cooling	Alphacool Eispumpe VPP755 Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 Full Copper 360mm Alphacool Cape Corp Coolplex Pro 10 LT 5x be quiet! Silent Wings 3 PWM Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut (for cooler changes)
PC Case	Lian Li PC-T70 with Expansion Kit and Mods
Power Consumption Measurement	Contact-free DC Measurement at PCIe Slot (Using a Riser Card) Contact-free DC Measurement at External Auxiliary Power Supply Cable Direct Voltage Measurement at Power Supply 2 x Rohde & Schwarz HMO 3054, 500MHz Digital Multi-Channel Oscilloscope with Storage Function 4 x Rohde & Schwarz HZO50 Current Probe (1mA – 30A, 100kHz, DC) 4 x Rohde & Schwarz HZ355 (10:1 Probes, 500MHz) 1 x Rohde & Schwarz HMC 8012 Digital Multimeter with Storage Function
Temperature Measurement	Optris PI640 80Hz Infrared Camera + PI Connect Real-Time Infrared Monitoring and Recording Digital Sensors for Water and Air Temperatures in the Bench Table
Acoustics	NTI Audio M2211 (with calibration file) Steinberg UR12 (with phantom power for the microphones) Creative X7, Smaart v.7 Our own anechoic [low-reflection] measuring chamber 3.5m x 1.8m x 2.2m (LxWxH) Axial measurements, perpendicular to the center of the sound source (s), measuring distance 50cm Noise levels in dB(A) (slow) as RTA measurement Frequency spectrum as graphics

MORE: Best Graphics Cards

MORE: Desktop GPU Performance Hierarchy Table

MORE: All Graphics Content

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With View 28, Thermaltake Introduces Another Gull-Wing Case

Last summer, Thermaltake introduced the View 27, a mid-tower chassis whose gull-wing window wrapped around the side and top of the case. Well, Thermaltake has done it again with the inclusion of the View 28 RGB Mid-Tower Case, but what better way to spice things up than to add more RGB lighting?

The new View 28 is quite similar to the View 27 in most aspects. It has ample room for ATX motherboards and accommodates four dual slot graphics cards in traditional horizontal fashion, but it also supports up to two graphics cards vertically using optional PCIe riser cables. You can connect four 2.5” drives with the motherboard tray and two additional drives (either 3.5” or 2.5”) with the separate HDD tray. There’s also plenty of places to mount fans and/or radiators, with clearance for up to 360mm radiators on the front and 120mm radiators on the back. Finally, the wraparound window provides a view of your system’s components; couple this with RGB-lit fans, LED strips, liquid cooling fittings, and so on, and you’ll have yourself a view (pun intended) that’ll make your friends do a double-take (double-Thermaltake?) (pun definitely intended).

Unlike the View 27, The View 28 features an RGB LED controller on the top panel, which allows users to adjust the lighting effects of the RGB Matrix, a spiral-like lighting array on the View 28’s front panel. The lighting effects include spectrum cycling, single color lighting, RGB breathing, and single color breathing. If you own any Thermaltake Riing Plus 12 RGB fans, you can use the LED controller to adjust their lighting effects as well, although they don’t offer breathing effects.

Thermaltake also offers the View 28 RGB Riing Gull-Wing Mid-Tower case, which is basically the same chassis but with one of the aforementioned Riing Plus 12 RGB fans included on the rear fan mount.

Pricing and availability are yet to be revealed.

Product	View 28 RGB Gull-Wing Mid-Tower Case
Dimensions	19.9 x 7.9 x 19.4 inches (WxDxH)
Weight	14.9 lbs
Material	SPCC Steel
Drive Bays	-2 x 3.5” or 2.5” (with HDD tray) -4 x 2.5” (with the M/B tray)
Expansion Slots	8 + 2
Motherboards	6.7” x 6.7” (Mini ITX), 9.6” x 9.6” (Micro ATX), 12” x 9.6” (ATX)
I/O Port	USB 3.0 x 2,USB 2.0 x 1, HD Audio x 1
Fan Support	Front: 120mm x 3 Rear: 120mm Power Cover: 120mm
Radiator Support	Front: 360mm Rear: 120mm
Clearance	CPU cooler height limitation: 155mm VGA length limitation: 410mm (Without Front Fan)

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How to download YouTube videos to iPhone or iPad

Now, head to a web browser and copy the URL of a YouTube video you want to download. The video will automatically appear in the YouTube Converter program (and YouTubeByClick also works in the same way). You can copy more URLs and build up a list of videos to transfer to your iPhone or iPad.

You then need to choose the quality for the videos. Although you can select 4K, it’s more sensible to choose 720p or 1080p as no iPhone or iPad yet has a 4K screen, and your chosen video may not even be 4K.

Click the Convert and Transfer to iPhone button and the videos will be downloaded and transferred to your iPhone’s Videos app. It can take a while, so do this well in advance of needing the videos.

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