The TR Podcast 171: Nvidia takes heat, Carrizo runs cool, and Fractal stays quiet

Date: March 2, 2015
Duration: 1:20:55

Hosted by: Jordan Drake

Co-Hosts: Scott Wasson, Cyril Kowaliski, and Jeff Kampman

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Show notes
Let's start with the best part of this episode: we're releasing it on a good old-fashioned Sunday night. (Well, Monday in the AM, but who's counting?) Besides the impeccable timing, this episode is a fantastic assortment of GDC expectation, PC hardware controversy, and in-depth discussion of AMD's Carrizo APU and a svelte PC case. Plus, listener mail!

We're still streaming each of our podcast recording sessions live on Twitch. If you want a combination of our dulcet tones and stunning visages, you'd do well to catch the next show live—or check out the YouTube edition of this episode below.

Send in listener mail, and we'll answer on the podcast. - jdrake@techreport.com

Follow us on Twitter - Scott - Jordan - Geoff - Cyril - The Tech Report

Listener mail

GPU question - from Shane:

"Long time listener loving the podcast, gets me through my daily commutes! But I digress, onto my question. I'm still running an ancient Radeon 6870 graphics card and looking forward to a decent upgrade. With the whole 970 4gb not being 4gb would you still recommend the 970? If I go with the 970 will I have a huge issue considering I'm only running dual 1080p monitors? Or would you go with something like the Radeon 290? Or wait for a 300 series of Radeon? Many thanks for any advice!"

Minor gripe - from Asbestos:

"I love your podcasts. However, can you please do one simple thing to make the product reviews much more useful. When reviewing or discussing products on your podcasts can you please be sure to mention the product name frequently (or at least more than once). You often mention the product name at the beginning of a review, discuss it for a long time, and even close by saying it's time to move on without ever further identifying the subject of the discussion. When listening to podcasts sometimes I can't be 100% focused on the content and if I miss the initial product name you never say it again. It is really frustrating and I have noticed this shortcoming many times. For example, in the recent Dell Venue review you repeatedly refer to it as "this tablet". It gets even more confusing when you mention other products by name more frequently, such as the Nexus 10, Ipad, and Shield. When you talk for twenty minutes discussing detailed specs and I have no idea what the product is I begin to tune out. Hope you take my suggestion to heart and keep up the good work."

Tech discussion

• Valve announces SteamVR, promises GDC demo - Read more

  Nvidia CEO on GTX 970 controversy: 'We won't let this happen again' - Read more

  Nvidia faces class-action lawsuit over GTX 970 memory issue - Read more

  Samsung investigating 840 EVO slowdowns, prepping another fix - Read more

  Fractal Design's Define R5 case reviewed - Read more

  AMD previews Carrizo APU, offers insights into power savings - Read more

Video edition

That's all, folks! We'll see you on the next episode.