**Steam and Origin: The Changing Landscape of PC Gaming**

It's been a while since we've seen any significant changes on Steam, but it seems like that's not going to be the case forever. According to recent trends, it appears that fewer and fewer games are being released on Steam, with some popular titles opting for other platforms instead. This shift in the gaming landscape is nothing new, but it's undeniable that Steam has long been the go-to platform for PC gamers.

**Solid-State Drives: A Closer Look at the Ocz Vertex 4**

But enough about the state of Steam, let's dive into something more exciting – solid-state drives. Specifically, we're talking about the Ocz Vertex 4, a new line of SSDs from one of the most respected names in the industry. Marco has been holding up his Vertex 4 glasses, which are equipped with these powerful drives, and he's excited to share their performance with us.

The Ocz Vertex 4 is based on the Indelink X5 controller platform, a cutting-edge technology that promises exceptional read and write speeds. With a capacity of 52GB or 256GB, this drive is perfect for enthusiasts who need a reliable and fast storage solution. But what really sets it apart from other SSDs on the market? Let's take a closer look at its performance characteristics.

**SSD Performance: What to Expect**

When it comes to SSD performance, there are several factors to consider. Incompressible and compressible data, sequential read and write speeds, and random reads and writes – these are just a few of the metrics that can make or break an SSD's performance. The Ocz Vertex 4 excels in both sequential large file reads and random reads and writes, making it a great choice for anyone who needs a fast and reliable drive.

However, when it comes to small sequential read speeds, the Vertex 4 trails behind other top-tier drives like the SandForce Base series. This is not a deal-breaker, however – the drive still offers exceptional performance in most use cases, making it a solid choice for anyone looking to upgrade their storage needs.

**The Upcoming Contest: Transformer Prime Tablets**

But enough about SSDs – let's talk about something more exciting. Two and a Half Geeks has announced an upcoming contest that could be of interest to hardware enthusiasts everywhere. The prize package includes not one, but two Transformer Prime tablets from Asus, as well as some other goodies. We can't reveal too much just yet, but we're excited to announce the details once they become available.

**Hot Hardware: Where to Find Your Favorite Gaming Content**

Whether you're a fan of news, reviews, or tutorials, Two and a Half Geeks has got you covered. Our website, hotHardware.com, is packed with all sorts of content, from in-depth previews of upcoming games like Diablo I, to beautiful photos of custom gaming cases, and even some behind-the-scenes looks at our latest video productions.

And if you're feeling social, be sure to check out our Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube channels for the latest updates, news, and reviews. We've got everything you need right here – so what are you waiting for? Head on over to hotHardware.com and start exploring!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: encoming up on Two and a Half Geeks we actually have two and 1 half geeks on this episode plus we're going to be talking about Diablo I some amazing cases and a whole lot more the bar has been set wicked fast it rocked in the benchmarks we're going to up the Annie a little bit processing power I kind of understand this welcome back to two and half Geeks I'm a actar alongside Dave alella the returning Dave alella and Marco chapeta who been here since the beginning before there was a time I have no idea what I'm saying how are you guys doing other than you making stuff up um I'm doing all right and Marco how are you I'm I'm doing doing really good can't complain here I am Punchy I've had a very long and busy day I I was working in the fields you know I was I was uh I was mining today lots of things and there's no M the field Fields of Gold perhaps something like that I or I don't know I was probably doing my job anyway let's talk about technology cuz that's what we do on 2 and a half Geeks if you didn't know if you're confused be confused no longer let's talk about something that's going to confuse me why it's in the lineup we're going to be talking about uh some some cases the carbide 300r and the obsidian 550d now before we even get to this don't people just take their desktops and and hide them now under their desks do people even see them Dave some people do some people do is like perhaps you or I shouldn't say that you know it it it's really a uh a lifestyle choice if you wish to have your computer be um you know uh performing and not seen or heard then yeah perhaps you might tuck it away in the desk elsewhere uh or if you're you know in designing an h htpc a home theater PC you might want to have it you know tucked away stealthly and out of sight uh but then there are those not so few and but very proud that uh like to have a case that um not only showcases their product uh the hardware the the technology within but uh sets it up in such a fashion that it is um well cooled well managed uh elegantly designed and um otherwise um you know just dialed in for performance and and that's what um that's what the Enthusiast case product or I should say the Enthusiast case Market rather is all about and and the folks at Corsair have been serving that for a little while now they they started with memory then they broke out to power supplies and are now doing some pretty Sleek cases uh the carbide 300r and the obsidian 550d to be specific is is what we looked at now I'm actually from the old school I'm kidding around a bit because back when I was a kid we put desktops on the desk top they would literally you would you would either you put it under your monitor I know this is the the old days where they used to be like on their sides the pizza box style then when mini tower showed up you're like okay which side do I put it on on the left side of my monitor or the right side of the monitor you have to decide your cable management had to see if you can actually see around the corner and these cases are beautiful what's actually what's what's uh interesting about each one so you know honestly um Corsair in terms of uh their case designs they've you know there there's a couple of different um approaches in the market uh currently that seem to be uh taking hold there's the flashy you know really standout sort of product you know things like the thermal take level 10 and the the level 10 GT um you know these are these are cases that were literally designed by Folks at um BMW in conjunction with the folks at thermal for example um so you get some really flashy products out there like that and then you also get you know the folks at Corsair and Silverstone and some of these other higher-end case manufacturers that strike a um a balance of you know Sleek design you know really minimalistic lines uh along with high quality so that's what Corsair definitely strides the line for is is that high quality sort of minimalistic approach where uh the construction the layout the the materials and worksmanship of the product is topnotch um but it's it's not a a case that's going to scream hey look at me I'm you know I'm a hot rod it's it's just a very well-built well-designed chassis and and the carbide 300r is a a smaller um ATX midtower and uh also supports uh Micro ATX uh designs or motherboards I should say and um the 550d the the obsidian 550d is a little bit larger uh super quiet design uh the the 330r is is built uh the smaller chassis is built with uh lots of thermal advantages uh in mind perforated um um sides all around for lots of venting you know larger fans lots of sites for fans really good uh use and layout of um available real estate inside the chassis uh actually has a nice um car you know cut out inside the um Drive rack area that actually allows you know a a video card to an extended longer video card to extend beyond the motherboard uh keep out area into the the drive rack area so definitely they they put their thinking cap on in terms of layout inside this chassis little bit loud um you know with frankly with how open it is um but but definitely a a welld designed case from a layout and Cooling and thermal management perspective uh the the 550d is sort of like the opposite approach here you've got a little bit larger case design so again you know good um management layout and um I guess real estate um planning inside the chassis as well but it's also designed for absolute acoustic um you know dampening and and minimal you know quiet design it's it's actually got um uh uh acoustic dampening material you know foam all around the panels of the of the the system even uh the individual standoffs and and mounting holes for things like the power supply uh and certainly the the the hard drive rack they're all lined with rubber grommets so that you know anything you you screw into this chassis anything you you snap together whether it be a side panel or or a drive or or whatever it's all insulated with some sort of sound dampening material and so the result is an a absolutely stealthy quiet chassis that also cools very well and you can open it up by pulling a couple panels on the top or the sides or the or the um the front uh to to let some extra air in you can actually pop some of the panels off but it's um it's definitely designed for for quiet you know stealthy existence probably a case that you'd enjoy using in your your video uh Studio setups um but um you know well wellb build case on the 550d little bit um mechanically challenged inside we we found that the motherboard tray area was recessed a little bit inside the chassis and so as a result plugging in SATA cables was a challenge in spots um but uh you know barring that if you're if you're one that's if if you're the type of uh enthus e EST or uh you know do it-yourself or that's looking for a chassis that absolutely works on quiet Computing this is this is the chassis for you and then the 300r if you're looking for an inexpensive chassis again you're talking under $100 about $89 $79 retail street price uh that also keeps your components really cool and does so in a very you know a smaller footprint um Mid Tower smaller mid Tower footprint the 300r is a good option as well so we were pleased with the the new offerings from Corsair now Marco you you actually told me one of your favorite uh little things about one of these cases what what was that again the the the 550d that the door on the front of the case it can hinge either direction so you don't have to choose you know where you're going to stick your case you can just stick it wherever you want it and the door swings either direction it's really cool it's a small things like that that's actually really important and I'm not I'm not making fun I really mean that on to fun I'm making fun of you now I'm going to make fun of Gamers haha ready here we go people have been waiting for Diablo I because it's come on seriously you don't even have to be a gamer and know that people are waiting for Diablo I and over a hot Hardware is the definitive Diablo II preview what does that even mean Marco what was it what is it what is a definitive preview we're serious so this this is is an awesome article um Joel put it together for us and Joel was a Diablo I modder back in the day and a hardcore Diablo player when you when you read this piece it's obvious he knows everything about the universe all the characters the history through Diablo 1 and two uh Joel just knows this game better than most people on the planet and I'm not saying that um saying that lightly he really does know the game and why we say it's the definitive uh preview is because not only does Joel cover the storyline uh the graphical elements um you know the the basic mechanics of the game but he also Dives deep and discusses how Blizzard's changing some of the ways the game works in so far as it manages uh health and experience points and things like that you know and and actually goes into the math on uh you know on how the the game deals with some some perceived problems that were in Diablo I um it's it's really an interesting piece I can't pretend to know a fraction of what Joel knows about Diablo um played Diablo I but it was more just so I could mash my button and and you know kill kill monsters and stuff but uh he he really is entrenched in the world and covers all of the intricate details in Diablo II you know which is coming by the way May 15th so May 15th you can read the preview and know everything that's ever come before it is there anything else you should be highlighted in this article U well with the article I want people to come read it and check out the videos check out the screenshots uh Joel's been in the beta for a couple of months now so we have all of the intricate details but what's also interesting we're going to talk a little later um about some console information um and what Diablo II kind of means to me and what some of the other games that have come out recently they're sort of like the stars are aligning and there's a bit of a Renaissance in PC gaming we've had some awesome games already come out like Skyrim and Battlefield 3 and Mass Effect 3 and we have awesome games coming like Diablo II which we cover and there's also been some rumors they're not you know they haven't been confirmed yet but it's probably going to happen that the nextg consoles are likely going to have x86 CPUs and ATI Radeon graphics chips and it's like okay if the console makers are now going to be optimizing games for x86 and Graphics chips that are in the PC it's almost like we're not going to get those crappy reports anymore we'll have much more you know much higher quality games coming you know and it's kind of it's already happening because people are seeing how much power they have on the PC but we might have even more better stuff coming if the consoles kind of align themselves with the PC in the future just something interesting to think about well let's move on to that discussion of consoles you guys have a piece over there at hot Hardware the dysfunctional state of the console industry and obviously there's been lots of rumors about the three unreleased consoles that are expected the Wii U apparently people are are are groaning that the hardware is just pathetic it's actually not as strong as the 360 or the PS3 which are current gen Technologies there there's also murmurs that the Xbox 720 whatever they're going to call it and the PS4 these things are going to kind of lock down how you can use how you can actually play used games Dave what what is going on with the next Generations of consoles Beyond this like this sounds really negative but Hardware wise for at least the the two major ones does seem a little exciting well you know we we should spit ball this around a little bit because this is a a a large discussion on a number of fronts and and Marco touched upon um really some rumors uh of the PS4 I think you were speaking of Marco um relative to you know its CPU and GPU architecture um you know and again we have to underscore that a lot of this is speculation rumors and some of it's based in you know perhaps some reliable sources I guess you could say um but uh you know there's there's a number of different Dynamics in play and I think it really speaks to uh the the uh chord that that Joel was striking again we come back to Joel rasa he had a banner week this week he was on his game we really had some uh very insightful creative stuff from Joel uh to sink our teeth into and thank you very much to Joel for that um and so yeah you're you're you're you're looking at a situation where we've got a sort of a Confluence of lots of different things that are that are changing and and shaping the console industry um whether they like it or not um architecture is is a big uh issue and it's been too long since we've seen uh you know a healthy architectural refresh in the console space and so you know rumor that the PS4 you know is targeted at you know dx10 error Radeon you know uh 4,000 sort of um stuff that is uh sort of melded in with um uh Fusion based designs from from AMD um uh and and you know other you know sort of rumors that are that are that are sort of swirling about um you know I think we need to we need to take a step back and think about this because you know is is AMD sort of or I should excuse me is is Sony uh with the PS4 you know targeting you know their next Generation console on uh even current generation Hardware probably not um I think a lot of that's based on rumor and speculation um I should say excuse me the the Wii there was there was rumor that that the Wii is based on a 4,000 part in that um the uh the PS4 was was more of a fusion based part which would point to D at least a dx11 core um but but taking a step back even from that and and just considering the the whole industry in general we have we have a lot of things going on you you touched on a couple of things Xbox uh the the Next Generation Microsoft Xbox console uh locking down uh the used game market and and going to more of an online content distribution model and requiring an always on internet connection um we've heard rumors of that uh we've heard rumors of the Wii actually um to give you a little bit more granularity on that based on a power 7 core uh IBM power 7 core CPU again with previous generation Radeon 4000 family Graphics you know more like dx10 quality uh Graphics engine um I I think again that there's a fair bit of speculation there you have to be careful what you believe um one of the things that was shocking that we've heard from again more credible sources developers concerned with the we um touchcreen this this touchcreen control that they're coming out with that's going to be um newer technology you would think Innovative technology again like the Wii uh the folks at Nintendo did so well with the initial Wii um where you had that motion controller um that that you know the wand that that the gamer can use and and interact with the game with now we've got a touchscreen um you know almost tablet-based controller that's supposedly going to be available with the system the rumor is from developers that only one system um will function with Excuse Me One controller will function with a system so as a result now you've got this one touchcreen available to the user per system and every other controller in a multiplayer uh game or environment let's say has to be a you know it's it's more of a traditional Wii controller so one touchcreen versus you know a system that can handle two or maybe three in the case of a multiplayer setup sort of breaks the model of of the traditional Wii that we know and and and did so well that sold like hot cakes how many Christmases ago right and so there's a lot of things buzzing around I mean it's like the console guys are really trying to get a handle on it uh and a lot of it sort of points to the fact that the console industry is really trying to reinvent itself to try and find new profit centers um this whole notion with Microsoft locking down the used game market and going to you know potentially at least streaming cont content model only and requiring an an always on internet connection speaks to how unhealthy the content providers end of the deal is when it comes to consoles and and how guys like GameStop can't make a decent Buck on a new game um so there there's some there's some really broken parts here that need to be fixed and assembled so that um you know it can evolve into a you know a product and a and a and an experience for the end user that that Mak sense what do you guys think it seems like Nintendo is quite content with not having the latest and greatest when it comes to Graphics or Hardware they seem to be fine with making money on the hardware versus or breaking even anyway when Sony introduces their stuff like the PS3 or the PS2 they're taking a loss for a while before they make it up and the thing is Nintendo doesn't seem to be they're not they're not even pretending to be in the same playing field as the top two guys I think good observation and when it comes to uh the rumors that Dave you said the AMD by accident but the rumors AMD would provide the processor for the PS4 which if they're going to go with this kind of more of a I guess PC based system that's great news for them that's kind of weird because I mean when Microsoft came out with the 360 they were using power MAAC g5s as their Dev box because they moved to a different architecture which is even more confusing to me not really sure why there'd be a move I mean there should be a move back to x86 I would think um Marco do you think that that the x86 movement is actually going to happen are we going to move and and is that going to break backwards compatibility entirely um I I think it's going to happen um see what's different about this Con this next generation of consoles in the previous gen the previous gen were kind of you know cutting their teeth on HD the next gen stuff H HD resolutions are no big deal anymore so you can have mid-range lower pric hardware and still pump 60 frames per second at 1080p um going with x86 means they can probably get some fairly small cheap low power CPUs U make nice small boxes and you know they're not going to have any trouble finding x86 developers and as far as backwards compatibility there's probably some emulation that can go on there and I think they could but I don't think they care all that much um you know the PS3 I think now it's not backwards compatible I I don't have one so I might get this wrong but when they originally came out they had Hardware in there for PS backward compatibility with the PS2 and now all that Hardware is gone correct yeah that's right the original PS3 actually effectively had a PS2 built in so it could handle everything and then I believe they moved to a software emulation model that broke some compatibility and I don't even know if the latest version does if it even bothers but I think if it does it's based on software now because they had to cut costs yep so I mean I just the x86 stuff is is low enough power and affordable enough where I think they could do it they're not going to have trouble finding developers um as far as you know locking out the the the used game sales that's just a side effect of going you know to online distribution I just hope that if if it is online distribution they pass on some of that savings to Consumers because if there's no packaging and no shipping and nothing like that to contend with hopefully the games are going to be cheaper for end users but as far as you know all the the the speculation on what they're going to do if you look at all the trends um in in the marketplace when they're planning the consoles like right now phones are hot tablets are hot that's all the kind of stuff they're going to integrate they're going to integrate you know some kind of smartphone connectivity integration um there'll be some sort of touch screens some sort of touch interface um obviously Microsoft will have Synergy with the with Windows 8 Xbox 360 already has you know Metro uh metro style interface um they'll also have media player stuff built in so anything that's hot right now will be in the next consoles you know Marco touched on Mark he touched on a couple of really good points there um one uh the the arm contingent which he actually he didn't touch on but uh we we need to discuss Microsoft in uh sort of you know continuing their trend of of integrating the uh the tablet smartphone Arena um with their uh environment on the console end as well I think I think you need to think about we need to think about uh the arm uh contingent relative to you know Windows 8 on arm which obviously micro Microsoft has already been demonstrating I think arm could be a real impact player in in the console space and I think that's where um this x86 uh you know story that we're getting you know just sort of Rumors in the in the mill on perhaps you know the lower end consoles whether it be whether it be Wii or what have you um you know they they you may you may see some traction for x86 in that space I don't know if it's if it's PlayStation 4 I think we's power power seven or IBM but arm arm is a going to be a big horse in that race and when you have guys like Microsoft saying you know windows on arm and and demonstrating Windows 8 and now you've got a a synergistic you know platform crossplatform architecture um there's a real challenge there um and then the and then the other thing about you know the the always on the the the digital distribution I I think you're absolutely right I think I think that's what what needs to happen here is that you know content gets cheaper and more available and ubiquitous through that that means and you know frankly yeah the brick and mortar shops are probably a thing in the past I mean how many games Marco have we uh needed to acquire for benchmarking that we haven't been able to get on Steam lately right yeah very few yep very few between Steam and origin you can get almost everything it's kind of a sign of the times and um use game Market or not I think I think the brick and morar shops or or or selling a ROM I think the days are numbered well let's let's move on to the world of confirmed stuff okay everything we're talking about is all rumors we have no idea we hopefully we'll see something let's talk about ssds because sure we haven't talked about in a long time now Marco you you were holding them up before you had like gigabytes almost a terabyte worth of data there nice shades my man what what do we got these are my Vertex 4 glasses these are the new uh ocz Vertex 4 ssds have a 52 Giger and a 256 Giger here uh nice little drives so these are our our brand new solid estate drives from ocz they use the indel linkx Everest 2 controller platform um and as you probably know ocz owns indel link so this is a uh you know an ocz fully built and designed Drive um if you're familiar with ssds you know the ocz's vertex Series has been really popular with enthusiasts they've been out for years um the vertex one was based on an indel links controller it was really good at the time of its release the vertex 2 was offered class leading performance the vertex 3 you know another class leader great drive this Vertex 4 it it does offer excellent performance but it doesn't have that kind of generational leap over the vertex 3 um that the vertex 3 had over the vertex 2 but the uh the performance characteristics are really interesting so you you have a few things to to deal with with ssds you you have incompressible or compressible data and how they handle that you have read write performance in sequential read and wrs um with small or large files and you have um random reads and rights both with you know small file sizes or larger file sizes the Vertex 4 excels with rights um and especially random reads and writes doesn't it does really well with sequential large file reads and it handles uh incompressible or compressible data equally there's no performance limitation with different data types but with small small uh sequential reads it kind of trails the other the sand Force Base drives so it's really fast overall but it's not sort of the fastest in in all use models this episode's actually running long so unless is there anything else super important by this SSD um only $1.75 per gigabyte available now come to the site and read the article there you this site of yours you you guys sometimes have contests where's the contest details tell me about the contest details I'm shaking a fist at you we we are we can tell you about them but we can't announce just yet um I can tell you that uh we are aligning at least a pair of Transformer Prime tablets with docs that will be available to uh lucky winners at the end of the contest when we announce the contest I'm going to guess a couple of weeks or so tops um and it will take a little bit more social network uh or I should say not more different social network effort than previously uh required are you sure you're allowed to say that or do I have to do I have to bleep that out you sure you allowed to say the product say again yeah are you sure you were allowed to say the product or do I have to bleep it out no you sure you don't have to bleep it out yes I'm sure all right so if you heard bleeping it's just because I felt like doing it so anyway if you want you will find out contest details over atot harbor.com when it's posted also if you want to know about anything we talked about today I mean anything and we talk about a lot of stuff H harbor.com it's got every article we're talking about the definitive Diablo I preview cases and cases beautiful pictures of cases no less why is there air we answer that question too that's also there there's all kinds of things but let's say you're like ah I want to go somewhere else I want to go a different part of the web but I still want to see hot Hardware ah you're really lucky we got you covered dig.com Hardware there's twitter.com Hardware there's facebook.com Hardware or youtube.com hardwar vids for again beautiful Motion Picture goodness that's right and that does it for this episode of two and half Geeks wow this was just packed packed you guys how are you guys feeling I'm spent I'm like energized you're energized this got you going I'm like wow my brain is exploding with information so we'll see everybody next week thanks for stopping by take carecoming up on Two and a Half Geeks we actually have two and 1 half geeks on this episode plus we're going to be talking about Diablo I some amazing cases and a whole lot more the bar has been set wicked fast it rocked in the benchmarks we're going to up the Annie a little bit processing power I kind of understand this welcome back to two and half Geeks I'm a actar alongside Dave alella the returning Dave alella and Marco chapeta who been here since the beginning before there was a time I have no idea what I'm saying how are you guys doing other than you making stuff up um I'm doing all right and Marco how are you I'm I'm doing doing really good can't complain here I am Punchy I've had a very long and busy day I I was working in the fields you know I was I was uh I was mining today lots of things and there's no M the field Fields of Gold perhaps something like that I or I don't know I was probably doing my job anyway let's talk about technology cuz that's what we do on 2 and a half Geeks if you didn't know if you're confused be confused no longer let's talk about something that's going to confuse me why it's in the lineup we're going to be talking about uh some some cases the carbide 300r and the obsidian 550d now before we even get to this don't people just take their desktops and and hide them now under their desks do people even see them Dave some people do some people do is like perhaps you or I shouldn't say that you know it it it's really a uh a lifestyle choice if you wish to have your computer be um you know uh performing and not seen or heard then yeah perhaps you might tuck it away in the desk elsewhere uh or if you're you know in designing an h htpc a home theater PC you might want to have it you know tucked away stealthly and out of sight uh but then there are those not so few and but very proud that uh like to have a case that um not only showcases their product uh the hardware the the technology within but uh sets it up in such a fashion that it is um well cooled well managed uh elegantly designed and um otherwise um you know just dialed in for performance and and that's what um that's what the Enthusiast case product or I should say the Enthusiast case Market rather is all about and and the folks at Corsair have been serving that for a little while now they they started with memory then they broke out to power supplies and are now doing some pretty Sleek cases uh the carbide 300r and the obsidian 550d to be specific is is what we looked at now I'm actually from the old school I'm kidding around a bit because back when I was a kid we put desktops on the desk top they would literally you would you would either you put it under your monitor I know this is the the old days where they used to be like on their sides the pizza box style then when mini tower showed up you're like okay which side do I put it on on the left side of my monitor or the right side of the monitor you have to decide your cable management had to see if you can actually see around the corner and these cases are beautiful what's actually what's what's uh interesting about each one so you know honestly um Corsair in terms of uh their case designs they've you know there there's a couple of different um approaches in the market uh currently that seem to be uh taking hold there's the flashy you know really standout sort of product you know things like the thermal take level 10 and the the level 10 GT um you know these are these are cases that were literally designed by Folks at um BMW in conjunction with the folks at thermal for example um so you get some really flashy products out there like that and then you also get you know the folks at Corsair and Silverstone and some of these other higher-end case manufacturers that strike a um a balance of you know Sleek design you know really minimalistic lines uh along with high quality so that's what Corsair definitely strides the line for is is that high quality sort of minimalistic approach where uh the construction the layout the the materials and worksmanship of the product is topnotch um but it's it's not a a case that's going to scream hey look at me I'm you know I'm a hot rod it's it's just a very well-built well-designed chassis and and the carbide 300r is a a smaller um ATX midtower and uh also supports uh Micro ATX uh designs or motherboards I should say and um the 550d the the obsidian 550d is a little bit larger uh super quiet design uh the the 330r is is built uh the smaller chassis is built with uh lots of thermal advantages uh in mind perforated um um sides all around for lots of venting you know larger fans lots of sites for fans really good uh use and layout of um available real estate inside the chassis uh actually has a nice um car you know cut out inside the um Drive rack area that actually allows you know a a video card to an extended longer video card to extend beyond the motherboard uh keep out area into the the drive rack area so definitely they they put their thinking cap on in terms of layout inside this chassis little bit loud um you know with frankly with how open it is um but but definitely a a welld designed case from a layout and Cooling and thermal management perspective uh the the 550d is sort of like the opposite approach here you've got a little bit larger case design so again you know good um management layout and um I guess real estate um planning inside the chassis as well but it's also designed for absolute acoustic um you know dampening and and minimal you know quiet design it's it's actually got um uh uh acoustic dampening material you know foam all around the panels of the of the the system even uh the individual standoffs and and mounting holes for things like the power supply uh and certainly the the the hard drive rack they're all lined with rubber grommets so that you know anything you you screw into this chassis anything you you snap together whether it be a side panel or or a drive or or whatever it's all insulated with some sort of sound dampening material and so the result is an a absolutely stealthy quiet chassis that also cools very well and you can open it up by pulling a couple panels on the top or the sides or the or the um the front uh to to let some extra air in you can actually pop some of the panels off but it's um it's definitely designed for for quiet you know stealthy existence probably a case that you'd enjoy using in your your video uh Studio setups um but um you know well wellb build case on the 550d little bit um mechanically challenged inside we we found that the motherboard tray area was recessed a little bit inside the chassis and so as a result plugging in SATA cables was a challenge in spots um but uh you know barring that if you're if you're one that's if if you're the type of uh enthus e EST or uh you know do it-yourself or that's looking for a chassis that absolutely works on quiet Computing this is this is the chassis for you and then the 300r if you're looking for an inexpensive chassis again you're talking under $100 about $89 $79 retail street price uh that also keeps your components really cool and does so in a very you know a smaller footprint um Mid Tower smaller mid Tower footprint the 300r is a good option as well so we were pleased with the the new offerings from Corsair now Marco you you actually told me one of your favorite uh little things about one of these cases what what was that again the the the 550d that the door on the front of the case it can hinge either direction so you don't have to choose you know where you're going to stick your case you can just stick it wherever you want it and the door swings either direction it's really cool it's a small things like that that's actually really important and I'm not I'm not making fun I really mean that on to fun I'm making fun of you now I'm going to make fun of Gamers haha ready here we go people have been waiting for Diablo I because it's come on seriously you don't even have to be a gamer and know that people are waiting for Diablo I and over a hot Hardware is the definitive Diablo II preview what does that even mean Marco what was it what is it what is a definitive preview we're serious so this this is is an awesome article um Joel put it together for us and Joel was a Diablo I modder back in the day and a hardcore Diablo player when you when you read this piece it's obvious he knows everything about the universe all the characters the history through Diablo 1 and two uh Joel just knows this game better than most people on the planet and I'm not saying that um saying that lightly he really does know the game and why we say it's the definitive uh preview is because not only does Joel cover the storyline uh the graphical elements um you know the the basic mechanics of the game but he also Dives deep and discusses how Blizzard's changing some of the ways the game works in so far as it manages uh health and experience points and things like that you know and and actually goes into the math on uh you know on how the the game deals with some some perceived problems that were in Diablo I um it's it's really an interesting piece I can't pretend to know a fraction of what Joel knows about Diablo um played Diablo I but it was more just so I could mash my button and and you know kill kill monsters and stuff but uh he he really is entrenched in the world and covers all of the intricate details in Diablo II you know which is coming by the way May 15th so May 15th you can read the preview and know everything that's ever come before it is there anything else you should be highlighted in this article U well with the article I want people to come read it and check out the videos check out the screenshots uh Joel's been in the beta for a couple of months now so we have all of the intricate details but what's also interesting we're going to talk a little later um about some console information um and what Diablo II kind of means to me and what some of the other games that have come out recently they're sort of like the stars are aligning and there's a bit of a Renaissance in PC gaming we've had some awesome games already come out like Skyrim and Battlefield 3 and Mass Effect 3 and we have awesome games coming like Diablo II which we cover and there's also been some rumors they're not you know they haven't been confirmed yet but it's probably going to happen that the nextg consoles are likely going to have x86 CPUs and ATI Radeon graphics chips and it's like okay if the console makers are now going to be optimizing games for x86 and Graphics chips that are in the PC it's almost like we're not going to get those crappy reports anymore we'll have much more you know much higher quality games coming you know and it's kind of it's already happening because people are seeing how much power they have on the PC but we might have even more better stuff coming if the consoles kind of align themselves with the PC in the future just something interesting to think about well let's move on to that discussion of consoles you guys have a piece over there at hot Hardware the dysfunctional state of the console industry and obviously there's been lots of rumors about the three unreleased consoles that are expected the Wii U apparently people are are are groaning that the hardware is just pathetic it's actually not as strong as the 360 or the PS3 which are current gen Technologies there there's also murmurs that the Xbox 720 whatever they're going to call it and the PS4 these things are going to kind of lock down how you can use how you can actually play used games Dave what what is going on with the next Generations of consoles Beyond this like this sounds really negative but Hardware wise for at least the the two major ones does seem a little exciting well you know we we should spit ball this around a little bit because this is a a a large discussion on a number of fronts and and Marco touched upon um really some rumors uh of the PS4 I think you were speaking of Marco um relative to you know its CPU and GPU architecture um you know and again we have to underscore that a lot of this is speculation rumors and some of it's based in you know perhaps some reliable sources I guess you could say um but uh you know there's there's a number of different Dynamics in play and I think it really speaks to uh the the uh chord that that Joel was striking again we come back to Joel rasa he had a banner week this week he was on his game we really had some uh very insightful creative stuff from Joel uh to sink our teeth into and thank you very much to Joel for that um and so yeah you're you're you're you're looking at a situation where we've got a sort of a Confluence of lots of different things that are that are changing and and shaping the console industry um whether they like it or not um architecture is is a big uh issue and it's been too long since we've seen uh you know a healthy architectural refresh in the console space and so you know rumor that the PS4 you know is targeted at you know dx10 error Radeon you know uh 4,000 sort of um stuff that is uh sort of melded in with um uh Fusion based designs from from AMD um uh and and you know other you know sort of rumors that are that are that are sort of swirling about um you know I think we need to we need to take a step back and think about this because you know is is AMD sort of or I should excuse me is is Sony uh with the PS4 you know targeting you know their next Generation console on uh even current generation Hardware probably not um I think a lot of that's based on rumor and speculation um I should say excuse me the the Wii there was there was rumor that that the Wii is based on a 4,000 part in that um the uh the PS4 was was more of a fusion based part which would point to D at least a dx11 core um but but taking a step back even from that and and just considering the the whole industry in general we have we have a lot of things going on you you touched on a couple of things Xbox uh the the Next Generation Microsoft Xbox console uh locking down uh the used game market and and going to more of an online content distribution model and requiring an always on internet connection um we've heard rumors of that uh we've heard rumors of the Wii actually um to give you a little bit more granularity on that based on a power 7 core uh IBM power 7 core CPU again with previous generation Radeon 4000 family Graphics you know more like dx10 quality uh Graphics engine um I I think again that there's a fair bit of speculation there you have to be careful what you believe um one of the things that was shocking that we've heard from again more credible sources developers concerned with the we um touchcreen this this touchcreen control that they're coming out with that's going to be um newer technology you would think Innovative technology again like the Wii uh the folks at Nintendo did so well with the initial Wii um where you had that motion controller um that that you know the wand that that the gamer can use and and interact with the game with now we've got a touchscreen um you know almost tablet-based controller that's supposedly going to be available with the system the rumor is from developers that only one system um will function with Excuse Me One controller will function with a system so as a result now you've got this one touchcreen available to the user per system and every other controller in a multiplayer uh game or environment let's say has to be a you know it's it's more of a traditional Wii controller so one touchcreen versus you know a system that can handle two or maybe three in the case of a multiplayer setup sort of breaks the model of of the traditional Wii that we know and and and did so well that sold like hot cakes how many Christmases ago right and so there's a lot of things buzzing around I mean it's like the console guys are really trying to get a handle on it uh and a lot of it sort of points to the fact that the console industry is really trying to reinvent itself to try and find new profit centers um this whole notion with Microsoft locking down the used game market and going to you know potentially at least streaming cont content model only and requiring an an always on internet connection speaks to how unhealthy the content providers end of the deal is when it comes to consoles and and how guys like GameStop can't make a decent Buck on a new game um so there there's some there's some really broken parts here that need to be fixed and assembled so that um you know it can evolve into a you know a product and a and a and an experience for the end user that that Mak sense what do you guys think it seems like Nintendo is quite content with not having the latest and greatest when it comes to Graphics or Hardware they seem to be fine with making money on the hardware versus or breaking even anyway when Sony introduces their stuff like the PS3 or the PS2 they're taking a loss for a while before they make it up and the thing is Nintendo doesn't seem to be they're not they're not even pretending to be in the same playing field as the top two guys I think good observation and when it comes to uh the rumors that Dave you said the AMD by accident but the rumors AMD would provide the processor for the PS4 which if they're going to go with this kind of more of a I guess PC based system that's great news for them that's kind of weird because I mean when Microsoft came out with the 360 they were using power MAAC g5s as their Dev box because they moved to a different architecture which is even more confusing to me not really sure why there'd be a move I mean there should be a move back to x86 I would think um Marco do you think that that the x86 movement is actually going to happen are we going to move and and is that going to break backwards compatibility entirely um I I think it's going to happen um see what's different about this Con this next generation of consoles in the previous gen the previous gen were kind of you know cutting their teeth on HD the next gen stuff H HD resolutions are no big deal anymore so you can have mid-range lower pric hardware and still pump 60 frames per second at 1080p um going with x86 means they can probably get some fairly small cheap low power CPUs U make nice small boxes and you know they're not going to have any trouble finding x86 developers and as far as backwards compatibility there's probably some emulation that can go on there and I think they could but I don't think they care all that much um you know the PS3 I think now it's not backwards compatible I I don't have one so I might get this wrong but when they originally came out they had Hardware in there for PS backward compatibility with the PS2 and now all that Hardware is gone correct yeah that's right the original PS3 actually effectively had a PS2 built in so it could handle everything and then I believe they moved to a software emulation model that broke some compatibility and I don't even know if the latest version does if it even bothers but I think if it does it's based on software now because they had to cut costs yep so I mean I just the x86 stuff is is low enough power and affordable enough where I think they could do it they're not going to have trouble finding developers um as far as you know locking out the the the used game sales that's just a side effect of going you know to online distribution I just hope that if if it is online distribution they pass on some of that savings to Consumers because if there's no packaging and no shipping and nothing like that to contend with hopefully the games are going to be cheaper for end users but as far as you know all the the the speculation on what they're going to do if you look at all the trends um in in the marketplace when they're planning the consoles like right now phones are hot tablets are hot that's all the kind of stuff they're going to integrate they're going to integrate you know some kind of smartphone connectivity integration um there'll be some sort of touch screens some sort of touch interface um obviously Microsoft will have Synergy with the with Windows 8 Xbox 360 already has you know Metro uh metro style interface um they'll also have media player stuff built in so anything that's hot right now will be in the next consoles you know Marco touched on Mark he touched on a couple of really good points there um one uh the the arm contingent which he actually he didn't touch on but uh we we need to discuss Microsoft in uh sort of you know continuing their trend of of integrating the uh the tablet smartphone Arena um with their uh environment on the console end as well I think I think you need to think about we need to think about uh the arm uh contingent relative to you know Windows 8 on arm which obviously micro Microsoft has already been demonstrating I think arm could be a real impact player in in the console space and I think that's where um this x86 uh you know story that we're getting you know just sort of Rumors in the in the mill on perhaps you know the lower end consoles whether it be whether it be Wii or what have you um you know they they you may you may see some traction for x86 in that space I don't know if it's if it's PlayStation 4 I think we's power power seven or IBM but arm arm is a going to be a big horse in that race and when you have guys like Microsoft saying you know windows on arm and and demonstrating Windows 8 and now you've got a a synergistic you know platform crossplatform architecture um there's a real challenge there um and then the and then the other thing about you know the the always on the the the digital distribution I I think you're absolutely right I think I think that's what what needs to happen here is that you know content gets cheaper and more available and ubiquitous through that that means and you know frankly yeah the brick and mortar shops are probably a thing in the past I mean how many games Marco have we uh needed to acquire for benchmarking that we haven't been able to get on Steam lately right yeah very few yep very few between Steam and origin you can get almost everything it's kind of a sign of the times and um use game Market or not I think I think the brick and morar shops or or or selling a ROM I think the days are numbered well let's let's move on to the world of confirmed stuff okay everything we're talking about is all rumors we have no idea we hopefully we'll see something let's talk about ssds because sure we haven't talked about in a long time now Marco you you were holding them up before you had like gigabytes almost a terabyte worth of data there nice shades my man what what do we got these are my Vertex 4 glasses these are the new uh ocz Vertex 4 ssds have a 52 Giger and a 256 Giger here uh nice little drives so these are our our brand new solid estate drives from ocz they use the indel linkx Everest 2 controller platform um and as you probably know ocz owns indel link so this is a uh you know an ocz fully built and designed Drive um if you're familiar with ssds you know the ocz's vertex Series has been really popular with enthusiasts they've been out for years um the vertex one was based on an indel links controller it was really good at the time of its release the vertex 2 was offered class leading performance the vertex 3 you know another class leader great drive this Vertex 4 it it does offer excellent performance but it doesn't have that kind of generational leap over the vertex 3 um that the vertex 3 had over the vertex 2 but the uh the performance characteristics are really interesting so you you have a few things to to deal with with ssds you you have incompressible or compressible data and how they handle that you have read write performance in sequential read and wrs um with small or large files and you have um random reads and rights both with you know small file sizes or larger file sizes the Vertex 4 excels with rights um and especially random reads and writes doesn't it does really well with sequential large file reads and it handles uh incompressible or compressible data equally there's no performance limitation with different data types but with small small uh sequential reads it kind of trails the other the sand Force Base drives so it's really fast overall but it's not sort of the fastest in in all use models this episode's actually running long so unless is there anything else super important by this SSD um only $1.75 per gigabyte available now come to the site and read the article there you this site of yours you you guys sometimes have contests where's the contest details tell me about the contest details I'm shaking a fist at you we we are we can tell you about them but we can't announce just yet um I can tell you that uh we are aligning at least a pair of Transformer Prime tablets with docs that will be available to uh lucky winners at the end of the contest when we announce the contest I'm going to guess a couple of weeks or so tops um and it will take a little bit more social network uh or I should say not more different social network effort than previously uh required are you sure you're allowed to say that or do I have to do I have to bleep that out you sure you allowed to say the product say again yeah are you sure you were allowed to say the product or do I have to bleep it out no you sure you don't have to bleep it out yes I'm sure all right so if you heard bleeping it's just because I felt like doing it so anyway if you want you will find out contest details over atot harbor.com when it's posted also if you want to know about anything we talked about today I mean anything and we talk about a lot of stuff H harbor.com it's got every article we're talking about the definitive Diablo I preview cases and cases beautiful pictures of cases no less why is there air we answer that question too that's also there there's all kinds of things but let's say you're like ah I want to go somewhere else I want to go a different part of the web but I still want to see hot Hardware ah you're really lucky we got you covered dig.com Hardware there's twitter.com Hardware there's facebook.com Hardware or youtube.com hardwar vids for again beautiful Motion Picture goodness that's right and that does it for this episode of two and half Geeks wow this was just packed packed you guys how are you guys feeling I'm spent I'm like energized you're energized this got you going I'm like wow my brain is exploding with information so we'll see everybody next week thanks for stopping by take care\n"