Kingston, as one of the industry leaders in memory has had a solid line of USB drives over the years. Producing these devices under the name of Data Traveler, Kingston build on it’s solid reputation with a dependable USB Key that was reasonably priced. However looking back over the years there was an absence of the use of the HyperX name when it came to these drives. The reason for this was simple, for Kingston the HyperX brand is their flag ship and unless they felt they could do something that would really stand out they wanted to not make use of the branding. Well it appears that special USB Key design has been found and so we are looking today at the Data Traveler HyperX.

For before we begin lets be clear, this is NOT a common use USB key. Priced at $130 on Newegg, this is a serious luxury item. With 64 gig of memory this is the size of a decent SSD and makes full use of the USB 3.0 ports you see on new computers. This key comes in two sizes, the 64 gig model we are looking at today and a 128 gig model for those needing even more space.

Now remember this is a HyperX product so this is the best of the best and Kingston setout to make sure this was achieved. Not only do you have a large capacity for storage, the devices use an 8 channel memory controller to allow this drive to reach incredible transfer rates. In fact according to Kingston on a USB 3 port this drive should move data faster than a spindle hard drive.

We started out testing by running a quick read test using Crystal Disk Mark, I reran the test 4 times to confirm the fact that this drive was doing a sequential transfer rate of 250 MB/s. Not only is this FAST but it is faster than spindle hard drives, something I have never seen from a USB key and faster than the speed Kingston rates the device at.

However simple benchmarks have never impressed me so I decided to see what this beast could do with real world usage. I put together a test folder made up of pictures, some programs and even a short video. To ensure the key was not held back I put the file on my HyperX SSD and then transfer the folder to the USB Key and them transferred it back, measuring the time with a stopwatch. For comparison purposes I used another brand of USB 3.0 key and a generic 8 gig USB 2 key, all devices where used on the USB 3 port connected to a Z68 based motherboard.

Using the USB 2.0 device as the standard and zero mark the other USB device was at 19% faster. This was a nice speed boost but not what you would hope for with the move to USB 3 on a device supposedly designed to use the USB 3 speed. Next up was the HyperX and again we ran the test mutliple times to confirm the results, the HyperX was 417% faster!  I am not kidding and this is not a typo, the speed difference was NUTS! To give you an idea of how fast we did 500 meg, 76 files of various sizes in under 10 seconds.

Okay so this suckers lets you move files onto it fast, what about off the drive to the SSD? Again the generic USB 2 device is our standard and our other USB 3 device achieved a more impressive than last time, clocking at 170% faster. Now we begin to see the USB 3 speed kick in. Again we fired up the HyperX and again our jaws dropped when the numbers showed that the data was moved back to the SSD 651% faster! This translates BTW into right at 4 seconds to pull the data off the key.

Okay so this is impressive but can it sustain those speeds, well I had a thought and I wanted to test it. Remember this is a HUGE device with 64 gigs of space. With the amazing transfer rates I was seeing I wanted to see what this little key could really do so I moved my entire STEAM folder to the key and unplugged my 64 Gig SSD that I use for my STEAM games. Now with the games fully moved over and the software running okay I fired up Skyrim.

This was a seriously ambitious test that would make any other USB key fall to it’s knees in tears, however the Hyper X did not even burp as it swallowed everything I threw at it, letting me play Skyrim and Civilization V off the USB key with no performance hit. In fact compared to a spindle drive, a Caviar blue, the games actually loaded a little quicker. To say this result is insane is an understatement!

With a USB 3 enabled computer this key is more like an external SSD. The performance is amazing and it can be used just like an internal storage device. I can serious see this paired with a netbook or laptop using an SSD and this being the storage drive for data and even some software. It would be like adding a second SSD to the device.

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Fast is great but will the HyperX hold up to use? Well Kingston thinks so as the device comes with a 5 year warranty. The exterior of the device is made of a mix of a powder coated metal and rubber. To be honest though I did not have a clue of how tough the metal was until I did the key test on it. However rather than try to explain how tough the finish is I thought you should see it for yourself and so put together a quick video.

As I said at the start Kingston had held off creating a HyperX USB Key until they felt they could make something worthy of the HyperX branding, HOLY COW! This is the fastest USB Key I have ever seen, and I have seen a ton of them over the years, none have ever come close to this level of performance. I mean a lot of spindle hard drives do not come close to this level of performance, some old SSDs did not beat this thing in benchmarks! I think it is safe to say Kingston found a design worthy of the HyperX branding.

As if all that speed and the massive storage was not enough, Kingston made this key TOUGH! I have run this key over with a car, stepped on it, put it through a washer cycle and it keeps working. Kingston is so sure of how solidly it is built they put 5 years behind it, then we have a tough outer shell that looks great and holds up the punishment it will face everyday with ease.

If you can handle the cost and want the absolute best USB Key you can get then there is nowhere else to look. The Kingston Data Traveler HyperX is nothing short of amazing!

Review segment as aired live 28 January 2012.

There is a common theme throughout humans that we see played out in every aspect of life and that is the desire to believe that they are not a bad person. Often they will go on about the opinion of others not mattering and for many this is true, but the opinion of self is always important. With that position in mind, when a person is engaged in an activity that has negative connotations or is perceived bad by others they are put into a position that forces them to look upon their own bad behavior and try to find a way for it to not be bad.

In modern society one of the most common methods for this self-protection of worth is to change the definition of the action by changing what it is called. An example of this is the term date rape which is most often used by those that actually perform the act. They feel that by adding the term date in front of it their behavior is in some way less of a terrible act that pure rape.

Within this same context we find the word game being used by people when it involves online piracy or as the legal term defines it copyright infringement. The term infringement makes the offense sound like something akin to stepping on toes. When it is pointed out to someone that it is actually a form of theft they quickly begin an argument of how nothing is actually stolen, no one is being deprived of their property.

However theft in its many forms is not limited to physical property. For example one can perform a theft of services which is not depriving anyone of anything but instead incurring an extra cost on them to pay for a service they did not receive.

In the same way piracy is theft, you are taking something that you have no right to and making use of it without the permission of the owner of the property, hence theft is occurring. Piracy however seldom stops at just stealing but also involves in most cases the trafficking of those stole goods. Most methods of piracy involve the sharing of the data to facilitate faster file transfers for all. This means not only are you stealing but you are helping others to steal as well. Also most pirates share the material they steal with friends, again trafficking of stolen goods.

Once you get many people engaging in this activity to see this point they will back down but the more die hard will then begin creating excuses for the behavior. They will claim they are drove to it because the companies make things too expensive, or another common excuse that they are hurting no one because they would not have bought it anyway. Perhaps one of the most pathetic excuses, well the game, in this case, is actually broke so they are not getting my money for it.

Now remember we are not talking about someone that is on the streets begging to exist stealing some bread. We are talking about a movie, piece of music or software, not exactly the needs of living. Yet the person in question feels they are somehow justified in their stealing because the company charges to much. Well if they charge to much then do not partake, it is easy after all and you do not need it to survive. They claim they would not have paid for it, so then why use it? If it is not worth your money then it is surely not worth your time. Of course then we have the fun one of it is owed to me. The game they made is broke I will not pay but they owe me the game? Really, you did not buy the game, they owe you nothing?

None of these excuses are about need, they are about greed. The sense of entitlement that we are somehow owed these things and we can take them as we like, in other words steal.

Finally we come to the last place that the pirates seek refuge in order to make themselves believe they are not bad people, the argument that they are not hurting anyone, that this is a victimless crime.

Using just some very conservative estimates of a specific piece of software lets look at that. The Witcher 2 was one of the best RPG releases last year. According to a few different estimates the game was pirated around 30,000 times based on torrent trackers. Now anyone that knows anything about piracy knows that this number represent a fraction of the actual piracy that took place but for this argument let’s say this was ALL that was done. Now let’s say that 50% of these people would never have bought the game if they had not pirated it. That leaves 15000 copies of a brand new game stolen. Based on the current price of the game from Steam which is $40, we are left with the market losing $600,000.

Now remember that this is a single game and we are not looking at just the loss to the publisher but the entire retail chain of the game coming forward. We add in a few more games like Skyrim which would be safe to say had a piracy level higher than Witcher due to its popularity but let’s leave it the same for argument. How about we throw in BF3 and MW 3 as well and do the same, leave the level the same for this example. So now we have four of the biggest releases from 2011 and using a formula that is conservative to the extreme, likely accounting for less than 10 of the real numbers we see a loss to the market of 2.4 million dollars. That is just 4 games, we are not counting the many movies and music and productivity software and so on.

If we are JUST talking about 15000 people of all the piracy from each item and the thousands and more items we are talking about the numbers are pretty big when we look at the loss to the market, sounds like someone is getting hurt there.

Oh I know the argument on your lips already folks and I agree, the artists in the movies or the music who are overpaid to the nuts level are not being hurt. You are right they are not, they have been paid already. Also the publishing houses that live off the efforts of others are not feeling the pinch, your right they are taking a minor dip I am sure in the end. However what about the minimum wage workers that handle all this material? What about the consumers that buy it?

You see that lose has to come from somewhere, that is simple economics. That means the loss is reflected by lower sales and thus less people working, reduced budgets for the next project or an increase in cost to cover the loss in advance.

The hurt of piracy does not end there however; we feel it in our homes as well. You see hardcore pirates use a lot of bandwidth. They use software designed to max out their download speeds so they can “steal” faster. In small communities it only takes a few such people to max out a node for a cable service and cause a reduced amount of bandwidth availability for others; in other words stealing our ability to enjoy the internet.

Now the argument here is that we are blaming them for crappy internet service and this is NOT true. For years the policy has been for an ISP to carry minimal bandwidth due to cost. What they carry is similar to what was done in the days of the dialup modem, a 7 to 1 ratio. The theory is that never more than 1 in 7 people were using the internet at any one time.

In today’s reality we know that with 24/7 internet that is not true but the premise is that only a few people and only for short periods will actually max out the bandwidth offered. This premise BTW is very true with the exception of pirates. See even streaming HD from Netflix does not max out the bandwidth. The stream process is design to pull in bursts that might be high bandwidth but do not stay there. Even if they did they would stay for about an hour and then drop off completely thanks to buffering.

People that test software often might make use of the same tools as pirates but the nature of the tools means they can do their downloads fast, often in a hour or two and then they are done, they do not occupy that bandwidth for days at a time.

When the sensible solution of having the ISP monitor such behavior and throttle the pirates scream the loudest that they are being screwed over. The truth is they are the ones doing the screwing.

In this age of digital access to our media or software, with low costs and even good free alternatives there is no excuse for piracy that can hold up. Yet people every day try to create excuses for bad behavior. They know they do not need the items and yet they do it, they know it is a crime and yet they do it. They blame the companies and society and everything else but do not just except responsibility and when they do they try to hide the bad behavior behind words that do not sound so bad and make them feel better about themselves.

Laws like SOPA and PIPA will not stop piracy, even a new economic model coming from within the industry will not completely stop piracy. There will always be a group of people out there that steal from others. However in the case of piracy we have as a society condoned it, make it okay because we have allowed people to create this wall of illusion around their behavior and said it was okay.

The first step to stopping piracy is not going to come from our government or the media companies; it must come from us, the computing community. We need to stop allowing this to be an acceptable behavior. You would not hang out with a known thief in the real world, would not trust them in your homes, so why do so on the internet? For that matter why do so in real life? Piracy is a crime, it is a theft that is motivated by a pure self-entitled, selfish greed, until we treat it as such it will not go away.

Both of these chips are 100 MHz bumps over the chips that preceded them, so it is hard to get excited about the performance bump. AMD however took the initiative and did something more, both chips are Black Edition, which means they are fully unlocked for overclocking. So while the 100 MHz bump is not all that exciting the overclocking holds the promise of more. For our testing AMD sent us the A8 3870K, so lets throw it into our Fusion system and see what we get.

A quick refresher the Fusion APU is a traditional CPU with a Parallel Co-Processor, or GPU on the same die. This extra unit means the chip can perform all the graphic functions the computer needs for display and is also fully usable by APIs such as Direct Computer and OpenAL for GPU computing.

The A8-3870 is the current flagship of the APU lineup clocked at 3.0 GHz with GPU portion running at 600 MHz. For defining the GPU performance level AMD has listed this as a 6550D.  For our testing we used the same system as our original A series review, all we did was swap the processor and began our testing.

First we established baselines at stock speed in comparison to the A8 3850 and as expected the performance was so close as to be un-noticeable in difference. Remember though this was only a 100 MHz speed bump so stock performance was not were we expected to see a difference. This chip is unlocked however so overclocking should be easy. So we started by overclocking the 3850 we had and was able to achieve a stable overclock with no tweaking at 3.3GHz. Firing up the 3870 I was hoping for more but hit 3.4Ghz and would have been forced to start tweaking voltages and such to go further. The result was not as much as I had hoped.

However the CPU portion is only the beginning, with the 3850 we where unable to get any overclock on the GPU portion but with the 3870 we where able to pull some nice boost. We where able to take the speed up to 775 MHz without any tweaking and this resulted in a 3D Mark 11 Performance score boost of about 28%, pushing it close to the Performance score of a 6570. Next we paired the overclock chip with a 6670 and watched the performance go up more netting us another 17% above the performance we saw with the stock speeds and the 6670 is Crossfire.

While the overclocking we got gave a nice little speed bump, overall it is a very limited overclock. These chips are just pushing the envelope with stock speeds it seems and overclocking them is a neat exercise but any real bumps are just not going to happen without a lot of effort. This is a bit disappointing considering how well other Black Edition chips have overclocked historically for AMD.

What does this mean for you? Well we where able to run Skyrim at High Detail at 1440×900 and it was butter smooth throughout  our game play session. Further I could play Champions Online at max detail at 1440×900 and run pretty high frame rates, easily high enough to make lag from the hardware a none issue. This chip will not win any performance marks out of the game but take this chip with a sub $100 video card and you get some really solid performance that will easily meet a budget gamers needs.

The system when running the 6670 in crossfire can push into 1080 resolution game play but you need to start backing down some settings. I did most of my testing at 1440 because this is a realistic resolution for the price point with details levels as high as possible.

Sadly however this may be Llano’s, the codename for this chip, last hoorah. Trinity based APUs were on display at CES in their mobile version and the desktop is likely not far behind. These next generation APUs will be based on Piledriver and be of a completely different architecture so the performance we will see compared to Llano is up in the air until we can get one. The 3870 and 3670 could very well be the only refresh we see on the first run of APUs.

If you are a hardware tinkerer and want to do a low budget build with some gaming potential the APU platform is really a must look at for your first choice. With even the onboard video and overclocking you can get fair performance for basic gaming at 1440×900. Drop in a low cost video card and you can game decent at 1080 or great detail levels at 1440. These unlocked APUs are a neat chip to look at but at the end of the day will be a minor blip on the APU radar as this phase of the APU is pushed out of the way by Trinity.

The FM1 Socket APU however has done it’s job and made it’s note in history. The first real APU design this chip has shown that an integrated graphics solution CAN be done and done well, not just basic functionality. The ability for it to be used outside the graphics area and as a full parallel co-processor is it’s most important contribution in my eyes. So with my Fire and Ice reference I think it is fitting that instead of going quietly into that good night as Trinity comes along, Llano should go out with a last hoorah and take the Black. Heading to the wall to give us our start into a new kind of chip.

You also may have noticed I have pruned the show Archives of some of the older shows. If you are still looking for a show and do not see it send me information and we will see if we can track it down for you.

So I am off to get things ready for this weeks show and then hopping a plane Sunday for Vegas and CES 2012. Trust me there is more to come.

2011 will go down as an interesting year to say the least. Perhaps the biggest news of this year has been the lose of Steve Jobs. I do not care if you love or hate Apple, there is no way any sane person can say Steve Jobs did not have a major impact on computing as we know it today. His lose is a lose to all of us that love computing as a hobby.

When it comes to computer hardware we have arguably had one of the slowest years we have seen in a long time. The high point of the year was AMD finally getting their Fusion processor out in the wild. While it may not be the powerhouse of CPUs, it does bring the best integrated graphics we have yet seen and does it with a solid CPU backing it at a very economical price. This chip will not win any benchmarks are even tug at the strings of the hardcore computing crowd but the true enthusiast understands the importance of this chip and what it potentially represents to the future.

On the other end of the scale AMDs FX launch was one of the biggest disappointments of the year. After a long wait full of AMD hype we where treated to the first 8 core processor which happened to be slower in some cases than AMDs Phenom II 6 core. The FX is an entirely new design and while AMD might have been looking to the future they overlooked the present and the FX launch was far from anything exciting.

The video card market looked to be dry for the year until AMD pulled a last minute paper launch of their 7970 video card. While it has the muscle to propel it into the lead as the fastest single GPU card out it has the distinction of also being the most expensive single GPU card and by a margin that makes it much less attractive. The 7000 series design looks promising but until we see the performance and cost of the chip as it works into mainstream cards it is to early to call this new GPU design a hit. Now people are going to point out the 560 launches as well as the 6900 launches but these where in effect more of the same with existing designs.

Intel was not silent this year, gracing us with the release of their Extreme processors. The two chips introduced are essentially i7 processors with a new memory controller and 6 cores. The speed advantage they offer is minor compared the the existing i7 2600 or even the i5 2500 for 99% of users. But then again these are One Percenter chips targeted at the people that will pay $100 for the high end chip and $500 for the next tier chip. These chips look great in benchmarks but real world performance for most users the chips are not worth the cost.

We did see the SSD gain ground as a more mainstream solution, aided by a flood that cause spindle drive prices to spike. While the release of a new SATAIII controller might have been the tech advancement, the real gain for SSDs this year was watching their price fall. We are getting close to that $1 per gig price point that could open the SSD flood gates.

Software saw F2P gaming move fully into the mainstream with a number of triple A titles making to move to the F2P model. This move was something we have been saying to expect on this show for some time and the MMO world has really made the move to embrace it full tilt. Add in the depth of games now being added to social sites that use the F2P model as well we are seeing the true power of this pricing model come to light.

Gaming this year has seen some of the best releases in a long time. The RPG world had a number of titles worthy of anyone’s gaming money release, all led by Skyrim and Witcher 2. Batman and Assassin’s Creed both came back with strong sequels for the action gamer and proved that a sequel can be great. FPS game play saw the two heavy weights in the industry, Modern Warfare and Call of Duty square off in a death match for the best of the year.

Finally we will look back on 2011 as the year the entertainment industry made a real grab at political power. Using their heavy lobby and clout they where able to by pass due process and force ISPs to punish subscribers based on the word of the industry watchdogs alone, doing this with White House backing. As the year closes there is a bill up that the entertainment industry basically wrote that will take these tactics to a new level allowing them to use the power of not just ISPs, but the federal government to bypass the due process system and take punitive actions against anyone they want to claim is a pirate.

I have been around computing a long time and to be honest this has been one of the quieter years I can recall. However the high points have been great and the low points dismal. One can only begin to wonder what 2012 will bring.

Be sure to tune into our show this week as we discuss our thoughts on the best of 2011 as well as take our look at were we think things will go in 2012.

From all of us at Computer Ed Radio and our families we wish you and your families the best in this new year!

I looked at various reviews we have on the burner ready to post, various editorial ideas I have as well that are ready to be published and I could find nothing I was happy with posting for Christmas Eve. So with that in mind this simple blog entry is all you will get. I am not going to give some deep thoughts or comments here but instead wish that each and every one of you a wonderful Christmas day.

As geeks we can get caught up in our hobby, as anyone can to be sure. So take some time this Christmas away from the PC and whatever tech gifts you are given. Instead play a board game with the kids, curl up with the wife or husband and talk or watch a movie. Enjoy some time with the family, give them the gift they want most, your time. It’s okay, the next adventure in Skyrim will be waiting for you when you get back to it.

So from myself, Doug and our families we wish you the most Merry Christmas you have ever had.

I leave you with the video of my all time favorite Christmas song.

Merry Christmas

When Steelseries sent us our goody bag for reviews they included their Siberia v2 headsets. While this is listed as a pro gaming headset poor Steelseries did not know that we never limit product testing to just it’s intended use, especially headsets. Since headsets are such an important part of my computing experience and just general life I tore into these like a Nord into a fresh batch of mead. (Had to get in a Skyrim reference somewhere).

This headset is pricing at around $85 from various online sources right now and comes in seven different color options ranging from the sexy black and gold or blue and white to single color options that include orange and a nice lime green. For our sample we were sent the red headset, I guess they wanted us to think these are fast.

Opening the package you get the headset with a short cable, the model we got uses the analog connectors, this can also be purchased for USB. The cable has a small volume control unit as well as a mute for the built in microphone. You get a Steelseries sticker, a basic manual and product catalog as well as an extension cable if you need more cable length.

The headset itself is made of a lightweight plastic construction with a leatherette material for the ear cuffs. Instead of the all to common clamping style this headset uses the adjustable slide band system that old style headsets use. I am a big fan of this style as it just seems to give a more comfortable fit.

The overall feel of the headset is very light and this left me a bit concerned about durability. I will admit it, I am a bull elephant when it comes to how I handle my stuff daily. That is shy I need durable products, else they will be destroyed in fairly short order. I am however pleased to tell you that despite the light weight the Siberia is a very durable headset.

The cable from the headset is pretty short, only about 3.5’ in length. However when you think about using this with the Steelseries 7G keyboard we tested and it’s audio pass through this length is not that big of a deal. The cable has a fairly thick vinyl coating until right before the cable end and then it splits into the mic and headphone jacks. The inline volume control is a simple box with a small volume scroll and a simple switch for muting the mic.

The short cable could be a problem for a lot of people however Steelseries thought of this and included a very generous cable extension. How generous you ask, well look at the picture I have included here. That is the extension cable hanging down the door and my 7 year old son in frame for a reference, this is a nice long extension cable. It has the same vinyl construction as the main cable so is very durable. If you cannot reach your hookups with this in place you need to move where your PC is, like into the same room.

I keep mentioning a mic and yet looking at these pictures I am sure you have notice that you do not see one. Well the reason is that Steelseries has a really innovative design that allows the mic to hide in the headset when not in use.

This is a really cool features because it means that you do not need to deal with pushing the boom out of the way or feeling like you look weird when sitting listening to music with a mic book in the face. I cannot express how neat I find this feature, the mic literally disappears when you do not want it and slides right out when you do.

However enough with all the cool features, how does it work? Well as you all know we put headphones through the ringer hear with testing being done in music ranging from rock and country to blues and accapella to get the most possible range. We also test with movies, specifically stuff with lots of booms, in this case Ironman and then of course we take it though a gaming run as well. Finally since this is a full headset we put the microphone to the test with our audio input and editing test.

For comparison we will be pitting the Siberia v2 against our current general purpose champion and the Plantronic Gamecon and our pure listening champion the Thermaltake Shock Spin. Let the competition begin!

Round one will put music to the test, for this round of testing we chose some more seasonable music with some Transiberian Christmas Jam and then fell back to Sawyer Brown with the Race is One and Posion for Unskinny Bop. For our Accapella listening I chose the song Get to the Point. All three headsets delivered solid playback with good sound reproduction but the Shock Spin still holds the crown delivering a noticeably better sound reproduction, especially in the base tones. The Siberia however comes in a solid second producing a nice improvement over the Gamecon.

Next we fire up Ironman and jump right into one of my favorite scenes. The one I chose is where Ironman comes into the native village to beat back the terrorists. It is full of some great sound and gives a great place to see if you can get all the minor sounds from it. Again the sound reproduction of the Shock Spin is just to tough to overcome but as with the music the Siberia takes the second place crown topping over the Plantronics. I see a trend building.

Round three is gaming, for this we chose Batman Arkham Asylum and Champions Online, plus of course I had to throw in some Skyrim. Again we see the Shock Spin win in pure sound with the Siberia being a solid second beating out Plantronics for sound reproduction.

Okay but now we move out of how these sound, remember this is a headset built for professional gaming this means the mic input is important as well. After all you want your teammates to hear you clearly. For testing of the input we use a comparison of recorded input. For a baseline I have my exit phrase from each segment during the show. The reason I chose this is that over the years I have said it so often that my cadence and inflection is nearly identical every time I say it. This means we can get a solid sample for comparison. We take a pristine copy made at the studio, which is using an amazing mic for input and then compare the wave forms when created from the microphones we are testing to see how close we can get.

When we fire up this test the Siberia said second place was not good enough anymore and the folks at Steelseries should be applauded with the Siberia actually beating the current input champion, the Gamecon. The race was close but the Siberia took it with just a little better reproduction across the board, giving a nice, clean sound. The noise cancelling worked well to with testing being done in a noisy room and them comparing the actual recorded sound. Here the Siberia tied the Gamecon, but there is no shame in this, after all this is all Plantronics does, so matching the standard is a great place to be.

In the area of comfort the Siberia is nothing short of amazing. The headset is so light weight that I have wore it for hours on end in Skyrim and forgotten they where on my head. This lighter weight allows them to take the comfort crown from the Spins and is a world of difference from the Gamecons.

At the end of all this testing the Steelseries has supplanted the Gamecons as my preferred all purpose headset. They offer a better sound quality and equal or even a little better quality at the mic, plus the mic can be made to hide completely out of the way if I do not need it. For comfort they just blow away the Gamecon for long term use.

At the current price point the Siberia v2 is a bit on the high end, however if you are like me then you make serious use of a headset over it’s life. I am in a headset roughly 40 to 50 hours ever week, MINIMUM! Comfort is a big deal and this is were the Siberia has a solid win with its’ light weight. With good sound production, a great mic and comfort the Steelseries Siberia v2 is a great headset for anyone that needs a full purpose headset.

Now if only I could get this set in the Blue or White to match my case. Hey Steelseries, Christmas is almost here; hint, hint.

Steelseries Siberia v2 Review as aired live 17 December 2011

Mousing Surface: We have talked about these on the show and while they may not seem sexy they are something that geeks appreciate when it comes to getting the most out of their computing experience. There are a lot of them out there but only one that I would want under my tree. The WoW!Pad is ultrathin and made of the PVC material making it super durable. It is available in a few different sizes and ranges in price from $10 to $6 on Amazon. The WoW!Pad comes in a few different sizes and round as well as the normal squared look. Personally I have used the largest pad for a long time now and still love it. The WoW!Pad also comes in some interesting styles with the Master’s Series which have a number of great paintings on the pads. No cloth or thick bulking pad here, just clean durable mousing goodness.

USB Keys: No self respecting geek can ever have to many USB keys and my choice for years has been the Corsair Voyager line. This USB key is unique in that it has a rubber housing. This makes these drives incredibly durable. How durable you ask? In our initial testing of these drives on release the test drive worked perfectly after be dropped 12 stories, run over by a car, stepped on by your truly, washed three times in a row and chewed on by a dog. All of these tests where done to the save drive, so it was a cumulative effect and it still kept working. Currently you can pick up a USB 2.0 model with 16 gig for under $20 on Newegg. Eight gig models are consistently below $20 and up to 32 gig which can be had below $50. The entire lineup of Corsair Flash Voyager models can be found on Newegg, check them out.

Okay we done a few serious items how about a few items that are not so serious but still would be greatly appreciated gifts?

Warming the Heart: I do not know anyone that does not have a person in their lives that is not always cold. You know the people I am talking about, they keep a space heater under their desk and even have it on low sometimes in the summer. They might be warm of heart but their hands and feet are always cold. Well we have something here to help the hands at least, USB Heating Gloves. These nifty little mitts have two heaters in each glove and are powered by the USB ports on your PC. The ends turn up to allow the fingers to type or can be turned down to allow for maximum hand warming. At a reasonable price of $22 these are a great gift that can be fun and practical for the female geek in house. However do not feel left out guys, there is a model for men as well. You can find these at usb.brando.com.

Boys Just Want To Have Fun: Yeah I know the song says girls but the truth is so do boys and nothing can be as fun for a guys as something wacky and militarily oriented. With that in mind bring to his desk his very own USB Rocket Launcher.

I know this gets talked about every year but seriously these are cool. Priced at under $20, you can find these at Think Geek and make the little boy in your geek really happy this year. The device needs batteries which is a bit of a bummer but can be controlled from the computer to rotate, aim and launch it’s foam warheads of fun across the room. These are great fun and your guy will love it, that is until mom gets hit in the head and then a disarmament is forced on you.

Light Up Their Life: Most geeks, especially gamers, seem to have this affinity to using their computers in darkened rooms. I know I have it and others I know prefer it as well. For me it stems from the fact that the screen pops more and lets me see my games details easier. Whatever the reason this is just a fact of life. The overhead lights of a room are just to much and often finding a small desk lamp is okay but difficult to get it to light just the area you want it. The good news is that there are a ton of USB lighting system out there from traditional desk lamps to flexible neck devices.  These flexible lamps are great for laptops but I like them for some of the new mechanical keyboards. These can plug into the USB hub on something like a Steelseries or Thermaltake mechanical keyboard and give good lighting for those dark gaming sessions. USB lighting can be priced anywhere from $10 to around $30 but it comes in quite a few different styles, check out usb.bando.com for a wide selection.

Game On: Speaking of those dark night gaming sessions, lets face it we all have a gamer in our life. With our budgets like they are right now, many of the gamers we know out there have moved to the F2P models of gaming. While the game is free to play there are however always little items in game that the person might want to buy and getting the points for those items requires spending a little real cash. With this in mind a great gift for those gamers can be purchasing some of the game store points for them. These store point bundles can come in various price packages ranging from $10 to around $30. Some of the games will require you to do it through their site but some games like Wizard 101 have point cards available in stores.

Protecting the Smart Phone: Can you seriously say you know a geek that does not have a smart phone on their hip? If so you have found a species of geek that will be extinct in a few years. Today smart phones are the craze and we all seem to have them, we also all seem to drop them sooner or later as well. These are not just phones for us, they can often be our business or even more important our portable internet connection! With this in mind we should protect these investments and nothing says safe to your smart phone user like an Otterbox phone case.

These are the premier portable devices cases and while they are not the most inexpensive, they are the best protection your devices can have. Pricing can range from as low as $20 to as high as $75 depending on the device you want to protect and the level of protection you want to have. I have used these, and tested a few, they really are the best protection your phone can have bar none.

Check for these at your local cell service store, or if they do not have them then head over to the Otter Box site to look at their selection.

Gaming at the Next Level: Okay we have kept the budget under control a bit but sometimes it is better to get one uber gift than a lot of cool ones. If you have a budding gamer in your life there is a chance he is suffering from video card envy. The problem is modern PC games need some umph in their video card to really enjoy them and most budget cost PCs do not come with that umph. The good news is the video cards of today often pack some nice gaming power in a reasonably priced package. Video cards based on the AMD 6670 or the nVidia 550Ti can be had for the $100 to $130 price range. These will take a budget PC to a whole new world when it comes to gaming, allow for good gaming performance without breaking the bank. While you can get these cards locally I would suggest looking at sites like Amazon and Newegg first to get the best prices.

I could keep going, listed all sorts of other devices for the geek in your life but we only have so much time before Christmas and I do not want you to spend all that time reading a wall of text. The good news though is that you can make your geek happy this year without spending a lot of money. If you have geek gift questions be sure to email them in or call into the live show. Also listen to our show for more gift ideas over the next week. Of course be sure to keep listening and enter our holiday giveaway to maybe win something cool for your geek or like our Facebook page for a chance to win all year long.

Remember, the family geek is one of the most under appreciated people in the family, at least we feel that way often, take some time this Christmas to show you how much he means to you. Let him enjoy the new toys he gets this year before you ask him to make your work for you.

When Steelseries sent us their little review care package I insisted that we get a keyboard to look at. They did not disappoint and sent us their top of the line 7G. Priced at $150 this is not a keyboard for the budget meek. Armed with Cherry Black switches the keyboard has a solid metal backplate and laser etched keycaps. This results in a very durable, heavy duty feel to this keyboard. This is further enhanced by a very solid braided cable that comes out the back. The overall construction gives the impression of strength, but that strength is very real and not just cosmetic.

The 7G does not come with a lot of frills, it is all business. You get a manual, sticker, Steelseries catalog and a PS2 to USB adapter. Yes you read that right, most adapters are for going from USB to PS2 but the 7G has a stock PS2 adapter on it and comes with an adapter to use USB.

The reason for this is in the way the keyboard gets the key presses to the computer. Remember this is geared toward professional gamers so the key is to get the data in fast. USB devices require a polling to take place, this requires some CPU cycles to be used to read the keyboards data. The PS2 port does not poll, you press a key and it is in the system, no middle man.

The rest of the cabling includes a USB connection and the headphone and mic jack. The USB connector is not for running the keyboard itself but is used to provide data connections for the two USB ports on the back of the keyboard. The headphone and mic jack are there as well. This offers the option for a close set of connections if your case is not near enough to make the front access ports of the case a viable choice.

Wrapped around the keyboard is an entire wrist support bracket. Remember what we said about solid, heavy construction, well it did not stop at the keyboard. This hefty frame gives the most solid wrist rest I have ever used. At the bottom of the keyboard we do not have the tractable legs to give the keyboard a lift, instead there is a molded ramp that gives the keyboard a nice angle and lift. This ramp also has a design that makes it really easy to set the keyboard on your lap and use.

If you want to work with a smaller keyboard the wrist rest comes off with no tools, in fact it does not even snap on. The entire assembly is just a large piece that sits around the keyboard, lift it off and away to get a smaller more streamlined unit.

Steelseries makes no qualms about what they where trying to achieve with the 7G. They were shooting for a heavy duty keyboard that would take abuse and keep coming back for more. It is no frills, just solid construction ready for a gamer to abuse it. After using this keyboard for a while I can safely say they hit their mark.

The attention to detail shows not just in the construction but some neat extras. You know that hated Windows key on the left side of the keyboard, well Steelseries killed that sucker dead and replaced it with a special function key that is used to make use of their multimedia control keys. This means when you accidently hit the key in gaming your game does not vanish to be replaced by the desktop. Steelseries also made sure the key switch and the connectors are all gold plated, helping add another level of durability to this beast.

When you read the literature on this keyboard you will see that Steelseries is proud of the fact that they did not backlight the keyboard. I understand the reasoning, they wanted the 7G to be about the substance of the keyboard and not any glitz. They achieved this in spades. The 7G has a classic elegance that is refreshing in the gaming world. Underneath that simple look is a brute of a keyboard that will take any abuse you throw at it and comeback for more. The laser etching and the fill in paint is very crisp and neat, resulting in easy to read keys.

The 7G has a lot going for it and is an amazing keyboard however at the end of the day when I consider the price the lose of the backlit keys to be is a ding. In fact I will go so far as to say I would gladly lose the USB and headset ports to get the backlighting instead. For me the backlit keys are not about glitz. I like playing my games in a dark room to let the screen pop more at me and thus increase my immersion, this means a backlit keyboard is a big deal for me. Especially since I do not touch type and need to look at the keys. The good news on this front however is the USB ports I mentioned. You can buy small LED reading lights on flexible mounts that you can use to get the keyboard light you might desire.

With the exception of the backlighting I absolutely loved this keyboard. The simple design is something I really like. I never understood all the various extra keys that so many keyboards use. The multimedia keys are nice but they larger go ignored after a few days when the novelty wears off.  Since macro-keys are not permitted in professional gaming the lack of them here makes sense. Personally I never use the macro-keys so again the lose does not hurt me at all and in fact I prefer having the smaller design that results from not having the extra keys. The large wrist rest design is a great idea and well executed. This is just one of many small thoughts that where put in the design I really appreciate.

The $150 price tag however at the end of the day just seems a little steep, however good news, the 6G is the same keyboard without the USB/headset hookups and the large wrist rest, coming in at $100.

What I take away from the 7G is the design philosophy of Steelseries. They set out to build a part and they do it to make the part functionally at the top level with a durability to match and then cut out the flashy looks for that solid construction. At the end of the day the 7G impresses me and shows me what the people at Steelseries are all about. This is a great keyboard that is worth of the title, Heavyweight.

Review Segment Aired Live 3 December 2011

In the case of RPGs the game style has evolved over the years and eventually morphed into what we know today as an MMO. This evolution came with some good and bad traits. The good was that the worlds where open ended, well at least a lot more so than solo RPGs and they where easy to get on and play with friends, a solid social aspect. The bad news was the deep storyline of a great RPG was lost due to the need to simplify the system for the broadest base of appeal.

Bethesda is a company that has been bucking this trend with their Elder Scroll series. They have created a series of games based on the old school RPG standard of great plot and backstory and then tried to open the world for the players to feel they where in control, not moving down a rail of storyline that limited deviation. What we will be looking at today is the latest edition of the Elder Scroll series, Skyrim.

The premise of the story is based in the world of Tamriel, the basis of the entire Elder Scroll series. You awake after having been captured as you tried to cross the border of Skyrim, a region of the planet. You seem to have stumbled into a raid that captured a group of Skyrim separatist along with their leader and a horse thief.  Your adventure begins as you await the executioners axe.

Now for many RPG fans the start may seem a bit contrived without more detail of a background but this it the open nature of the game. Everything about this game is about you and the way YOU want to play. This open story give you the room to create ANY backstory you want.

As the story progresses you discover you are a person of myth, known as Dragonborn. This means you have some mystical connection to Dragons and when they die you “capture” the essence of their soul. As in old school RPG you somehow stand above the norm but again the method choice for this from a story point of view is very open, leaving you with a lot of option.

The game system itself uses a DX9 based gaming engine specifically designed for the game. The graphics are actually very good and the game runs surprisingly well even on older systems. The screen shots in this review will give you idea of what you will see in game. A lot of reviews I have seen has actually pointed to the DX9 engine usage as a flaw or failure in their eyes. Personally I think the engine provides some great images and while not state of the art is still more than enough for a great gaming experience.

The game engine however does more than put graphics on the screen, it also makes the world around you seem alive. I am not talking about scripted events, which the game has as well. What I am referring to is called the “Radiant Story”. This system keeps track of your actions and then uses those actions to create new, random encounters for you to deal with as well as “leveling” your encounters based on your character at the time. This means you are less dependent on following a set storyline path and have more room to wander the world.

To say I am impressed with this system is an understatement. Doug and I in our testing have seen some amazing encounters pop up that obviously where not scripted and in some cases seem to exist solely based off our long term actions. In some cases it has taken what appeared to be disconnected actions and connected the dots to create a resulting encounter. This means the world feels more alive around you, because it. People are not wandering aimlessly in the game. They have patterns for sure but then again so do we with work and such and these are the kinds of patterns the NPCs seem to follow.

A interesting result of this is a term near and dear to RPG enthusiast, dungeon clearing. What I mean is you stumble upon a ruin that you decide to explore. Inside you find a den of thieves and you spend some time clearing them out, okay killing them. Now under most RPG systems one of two things happen. The den is left cleared out until the end of the game or the den respawns the same group of thieves. This system however takes a different approach. Over the next few weeks game time a new group of thieves will possibly, not always, move into the ruins and take up residence. This is NOT the same group and going back will not lead to the same encounters. The boss might be different as well as the guard number and patterns. Also the longer you let this go on the more it fills. In other words this has a reaction that is almost realistic in it’s scope.

This living work is not limited to just the people, NPCs, but the fauna as well. One of the coolest encounters I had was when out hunting, yes you can do mundane stuff as well but more in a minute. I was slowly working toward a large Elk when something spooked the Elk and he started running. As I watched a herd of Elk can leaping across the river near him with two saber tooth cats close on their tails. They ran for a bit before the cats broke off, not able to catch the Elk. I watched as the cats returned to the other side of the river and noted that a Mammoth was cresting the hill. The cats saw it as well and alter course going after the mammoth. I could not bring myself to move as I watched the mammoth beat the snot out of the cats and then lumber off injured. When I got the corpses of the cats I was able to skin them for some nice pelts. I found the mammoth a little ways farther on now dead obviously from it’s injuries.

Now I have seen a lot of wild encounters so I know this was not scripted. Especially considering it happened in the middle of nowhere. What was amazing was the fact I was riveted to watching this entire event unfold despite it having nothing to do with my character or the quest I was on at the time. This I think speaks volumes for how well the Radiant Story system works.

The character creation system in game might seem simplistic to many but I have to tell you I really like it. There is not a slew of classes to choose from, you essential pick your race and create the look you want, then you are done. The game offers four different “human” cultures to choose from as well as an orc, three elf, a lizard and cat person as well. Each of these come with bonuses in certain areas of game play, as well as something special in the way of a talent or skill. There is not any kind of class system with the game being skill based in advancement. There are 18 base skills that encompass tasks your character can perform. As you perform these tasks you get better with them, as in real life. Now this does not mean you can grab a bow and shoot it 100 times and suddenly be a master. The system is setup that certain things must happen as you use the skills and the requirement for an advance gets harder as you skill up. As you skill up each skill has a “perk” tree in it that lets you make the skill more useful. It is possible through game play to earn up to around 80 perks with 240 available. This means there is no way to max out a character in everything.

While this system might seem strange to RPG enthusiasts, it actually makes a lot of sense. The old pen and paper game Runescape used a skill leveling system based on use. This means the character you get is based on what you do and how you play, not an artificial limited created by the game designers. This design is in my opinion a great thing. It is possible to create a character the way you want him to be and only in EVE have I seen this kind of character play flexibility.

Now as I said before a lot of the RPG world has morphed to the MMO play style and with it the weaknesses that it brings. Well Elder Scrolls takes some of the better elements and brings them into Skyrim. You have the ability to exist with your character in this world without the need to quest. You can for example mine ore and sell it or use it make things. You can hunt for food or skins and then use them for crafting, yes you can cook. You can also gather various components for alchemy or enchanting of items. Where in most MMOs this is done for cash income or to hand to lower level characters, in Skyrim this can be used to effect your character directly. Alchemy is a great skill for a thief or assassin to use by making poisons. Smithing will let you upgrade equipment or make new as will enchantment, you can even invest in local businesses and be a trader if you so choose.

There are some downsides to Skyrim however, all is not perfect. The game has a few bugs ranging from jerky mouse movement for some, to issues with the sound being out of whack when facing a sound source straight on. There are some issues with occasional crashes of the game and some of Bethesda’s classic glitches like flying animals or watching a mammoth spawn in mid air and fall to it’s demise. There is a patch due to possibly release next week to address some of these, but we do not have a lot of details at this time. Also the game lacks any kind of multi-player option to enjoy with your friends, you are totally on your own.

Even with these glitches Skrim is a game that has capture me. The openness of the game and the mechanics have captured many of the elements I loved best in MMOs but taken aware the weaknesses. The character creation and advancement system is amazing with the game being about the way I play and not me adapting to the game. The game world feels alive and you feel like you are a part of it. Your actions have consequences that might show up at any time and anywhere, without feeling like you have been riding a rail car down the plot.

It has been a long time since I have truly felt the thrill of the RPG experience like I did in the old days with pen and paper. Computer based RPG was fun but you always felt like you where just along for the ride in the story. Skyrim has rekindled that old flame and stoked it to a bon-fire. While it may not have state of the art graphics I am kind of glad. Rather than giving the game mindless eye candy like MOST titles today do, Bethesda focused on the mechanics under the game to bring the game world to life and providing a deep, rich world to enjoy. We have seen some really good gaming titles release this year but with no doubt Skyrim is at the top of the list. If you are an RPG play then this is a MUST buy and if not, then you should buy it anyway and discover RPG play as it should be done.

Excuse me now as I return to Skyrim, there so much to see and do and so little time….. hhmmmm… wonder if I can declare a Skyrim holiday for a week or so…darn still not enough time..

Show segment as aired live 26 November 2011