Hands-on review: GoPro HERO 3: Black Edition

4k video qualitySmaller and lighterEasy to useVersatileMyriad mounting options

This week GoPro held an event in and around San Francisco to introduce the world to their latest creation, the GoPro HERO 3: Black Edition. Described by the company as the world's first 4K-capable action cam, everyone in attendance was given their very own HERO 3: Black Edition to put the little camera to the test.

With an MSRP of $399.99 the GoPro Hero 3 is 30% smaller and 25% lighter than the Hero 2 and offers 4K video capture at 15fps. For those in the know, 15fps is probably not gonna cut it for the more hardcore would-be filmmakers but the GoPro HERO 3 boasts myriad capture modes iincluding the new resolution of 2.7K at 30fps, 1080p at 60fps, 1440p at 48fps, 960p at 100 fps and 720p at 120fps.

In addition to that the GoPro HERO 3 is also capable of capturing 12MP stills at 30fps, and it also sports improved low light performance compared when compared to its predecessors.

We tested our GoPro HERO 3 at Sonoma Speedway just north of San Francisco where we used to the camera to record footage of various motorsports. We drove an Audi R8 around the track with a camera attached to our helmet as well as one mounted on the roof of the $180k sports car. The in-car footage was super smooth and did a great job of showing what it was like to be behind the wheel. In addition the improved audio with the GoPro HERO 3 made it possible to hear the conversations we were having in-car as well as with the instructor who was guiding us via radio. That said, audio quality is still an issue with these cameras.

The roof-mounted camera likewise did a great job of expressing what it was like to speed around the track at upwards of 100mph. And GoPro sells so many top-notch mounting options that we easily were able to attach the camera to the roof of the car via a suction cup.

In addition to driving the Audi R8 we also mounted the HERO 3 to a motorcycle helmet and were taken around the track on the back of a sports bike while a professional racers tried and successfully scared us to death. The images picked up by the camera are stunning.

As far as specs are concerned the HERO 3 has built-in Wi-Fi for which lets you stream footage live to your computer or smartphone. In addition to that, the HERO 3: Black Edition ships with the $79.99 LCD Touch BacPac. This makes it much easier to set up your shots. Prior to hitting record, we would frame our shots with the LCD Touch BacPac and then turn it off to conserve battery power. The GoPro HERO 3: Black Edition also ships with a Wi-Fi remote that can control up to 50 cameras simultaneously.

One downside with GoPro's cameras is the lack of an easy-to-use UI. And while this is still an issue with the HERO 3 the LCD Touch makes this much easier.

Simply put, if you're an action sports fan that does anything from surfing, cycling, skiing or you just like to record yourself diving fast, you'll no doubt be pleased with the GoPro HERO 3: Black Edition.

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'Hands on reviews' are a journalist's first impressions of a piece of kit based on spending some time with it. It may be just a few moments, or a few hours. The important thing is we have been able to play with it ourselves and can give you some sense of what it's like to use, even if it's only an embryonic view. For more information, see TechRadar's Reviews Guarantee.

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Review: Sony Pulse Wireless Headset: Elite Edition

Great audio qualityComfortableBuilt-in rechargeable battery"Bass impact" feature is convenientEasy to setupDoesn't ship with a USB cableOnly works with PS3 and PC

Until recently wireless audio for the Xbox 360 has always required...well...wires. Not so with the PlayStation 3. If there's one thing Sony did right it was designing their flagship console in such a way that it was compatible with any Bluetooth headset. That said, gamers wanna look like gamers and not all Bluetooth headsets are built the same.

Enter the Sony Pulse Wireless Headset: Elite Edition for the PS3. With an MSRP of around $149 (£90) the Pulse not only boasts the level of audio quality we've come to expect from a Sony headset, but it's also really comfortable. Even on some relatively large heads.

The Sony Pulse Wireless Headset: Elite Edition resembles its predecessor the Sony PlayStation 3 Wireless Stereo Headset that came out last year. The huge, comfortable earpieces are great for those long gaming sessions and both headphones boast the same virtual 7.1 surround-sound technology. While the Pulse looks much better than the original headset, anyone who already owns the original will be hard pressed to come up with a reason why to upgrade.

Where the Sony Pulse Wireless Headset: Elite Edition shines is in how easy it is to setup and pair with your PS3 or PC. As multiplatform gamers,TechRadar is currently enamored with the Astro A50, a device that works with anything you own with a power button. That said, you can't escape how easy it is to set this thing up. Shipping with a small USB wireless adapter that looks a lot like a USB memory stick, you simply plug the USB adapter into one of your PS3's USB ports (the process is the same when pairing the headset with a PC) and your PS3 will communicate with your headset as if it's just another controller.

This will give you onscreen information about the headset's battery level, the sound profile you happen to be using and whether or not your mic is on. As with the Tritton Warhead 7.1 Headset on the Xbox 360, all of this information is made available when you hit the PlayStation button on your controller.

The Sony Pulse Wireless Headset: Elite Edition ships with a 3.5mm audio cable that let's you use the headset with everything from an MP3 player to a smartphone or even a PS Vita. The versatile USB adapter gives you the option of even using the headset with a TV which means that, technically, you can use it with non-PS3 consoles by way of your standard TV audio.

While we welcome the ability to use the Pulse with any audio device thanks to the included 3.5mm cable, the cable feels super-cheap and delicate and we can easily see users wearing them out and needing a replacement. And while the Pulse's rechargeable battery uses the same USB cable that charges your Dual Shock controller, we don't understand why the unit doesn't ship with a USB cable of its own.

Since the Pulse acts like yet another controller, the headset itself boasts a plethora of controls. There's a button that lets you mute the mic as well as sliders on each of the cans that control things like volume levels and sound profiles. The Pulse sports seven audio profiles that range from "Music" and "Shooter" to "Racing" and "Movie" and use the headset's BassImpact feature to give you a different experience.

Obviously in "Racing" mode the motors inside the cans emulate the rumbling of engines while in "Music" mode they adjust for whatever the bass response is in the music you're listening to. There's also an option to just turn BassImpact off you'd rather not have your head vibrate for hours on end.

We tested the Pulse with Spec Ops: The Line, Madden NFL 13 and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier and while the Pulse's virtual surround sound can't compete with true 7.1 audio, we still enjoyed the experience. Gunshots and explosions in the shooters sounded great and hits in Madden also proved thunderous.

The Pulse does away with the boom mic that adorned last year's version, opting instead for a hidden mic in the left earpice. We welcomed not looking like a telemarketer while gaming and in multiplayer sessions our "buddies" reported that they had no problem hearing our trash talk.

As a $150 wireless headset, the Pulse offers fine sound quality at a reasonable price. We especially liked how well it integrated with our PS3. Having the unit's battery life and mix settings displayed at the ready with just a press of the PS button is very convenient and makes for a nicely integrated experience. We also appreciated the hidden mic, which makes it a more compact device we'd never feel awkward wearing.

The lack of USB cable is annoying, and we'll always prefer more versatile headsets that work with more than one gaming console. However, the Pulse makes up for it with a respectable price tag and by playing so nice with the PS3's interface.

Simply put, the Sony Pulse Wireless Headset: Elite Edition is a great headset. If you're a PS3 gamer that's in the market for an affordable wireless headset that also works with a portable device, you'll be pleased with this unit. That said, if you're a multiplatform gamer your needs will be better met by a more versatile product like the Astro A50.

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Review: Zotac GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition

Small footprintDecent frame ratesBettered by cards at a similar priceDifficult to recommend over a HD 7950By Dave James from PCFormat Issue 271  September 13th 2012

This really is more like it. We've been impressed by the overclocked AMP! cards from Zotac before - most recently the fantastic GTX 670 AMP! - and it's trying to continue that trend with the GTX 660 Ti AMP! edition.

Where the other manufacturers have approached the new Nvidia card as just another big GPU with high clockspeeds, Zotac has been a little smarter.

Using the same reference PCB as the GTX 670, it's managed to create a card with a far smaller footprint than the competition. You've got to give it props for taking a different approach to the others - especially considering it's managed to hit the same GPU frequency as the slightly pricier Gigabyte card.

The AMP! is right up there with the big boys in terms of gaming performance. In fact, in some instances it manages to hit a higher boost clock for longer. That orange-tinged fan array helps the chip spit out the occasional higher frame rate than the GTX 660 Ti competition.

DirectX 11 tessellation performance
Heaven 2.5: FPS: Higher is better
EVGA GTX 660 TI SC: 23.7
ZOTAC GTX 660 TI AMP!: 25.4
GIGABYTE GTX 660 TI OC: 24.5

DirectX 11 hi-res gaming performance
Batman: AC: FPS: Higher is better
EVGA GTX 660 TI SC: 48
ZOTAC GTX 660 TI AMP!: 52
GIGABYTE GTX 660 TI OC: 49

DiRT Showdown: FPS: Higher is better
EVGA GTX 660 TI SC: 20
ZOTAC GTX 660 TI AMP!: 22
GIGABYTE GTX 660 TI OC: 23

Metro 2033: FPS: Higher is better
EVGA GTX 660 TI SC: 13
ZOTAC GTX 660 TI AMP!: 14
GIGABYTE GTX 660 TI OC: 14

DirectX 11 1080p gaming performance
Shogun 2: FPS: Higher is better
EVGA GTX 660 TI SC: 68
ZOTAC GTX 660 TI AMP!: 70
GIGABYTE GTX 660 TI OC: 74

DirectX 10 gaming performance
Just Cause 2: FPS: Higher is better
EVGA GTX 660 TI SC: 47
ZOTAC GTX 660 TI AMP!: 50
GIGABYTE GTX 660 TI OC: 50

That still doesn't change the fact there are AMD cards for the same money, which are generally speedier in gaming frame rates. You can also pick up a vanilla GTX 670 for only another £20 more, and that will take both the GTX 660 Ti and HD 7950 outside for a good kicking.

That's before you think about the incredible overclocking potential the GTX 670 still has in its pocket. While the GTX 660 Ti AMP! edition is definitely the finest example of Nvidia's new card we've seen, that still doesn't mean we'd recommend it over the superior GTX 670 or HD 7950 it's up against. This is not the GPU to pick your battles with, Zotac.

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Review: HIS HD 7870 IceQ GHz Edition

Decent cooler design for multiple cardsSlight increase in stock speedsSmall amount of OC headroomNot much of an overclockerPriceNot much of an improvement over stock cardBy Dave James from PCFormat Issue 270  August 20th 2012

This latest version of the IceQ cards from HIS gave me a big, shit-eating grin when I pulled it from the chunky packaging. The massive cooler strapped onto the PCB makes it look like a graphics card from 2005, when bigger was unashamedly better.

The cooling array spreads out from the circuit board to house a large fan that's lifted away from the rest of the componentry. If space is at a premium in your build, this may not be the card for you.

The 'Black Hole' impeller HIS uses on its IceQ card is a little smarter than you might give it credit for, though. The fact that it is raised away from the PCB means it can draw in air from both sides. Therefore, if you have another PCI/PCIe card pushing up against it, the IceQ will still draw in a decent air supply.

It's not all about the chunky impeller though - there are also four big aluminium heatpipes going from the copper plate into the heatsink cooled by the Black Hole.

Why does it need this extra-special cooling array with the cosmological nomenclature? Well, despite the GHz Edition naming, this is an overclocked version of the stock card. So GHz Edition +1, then? Actually it's more like +100MHz, as the starting clock speed for the HD 7870 IceQ is 1,100MHz. Does that make it GHz Ed +0.1?

Argh, whatever, this is an overclocked card and offers slightly speedier frame rates for the extra £30-odd HIS is asking for this version over the stock reference card.

Sadly though, all that extra goodness doesn't really translate into much speed in-game. Sure, you get a bit of extra performance, but only around 5-10 per cent at most. That's not much of a surprise, as factory-overclocked cards rarely offer much more straight out of the box.

What they do offer is a third-party cooling solution. That should allow you to either have quieter operation at full load, or crank up the clocks even further than with the original, reference design cooler the GPU first found itself strapped to. That Black Hole impeller is a quiet little device, and barely registers to the human ear, even when its GPU is weighed down with polygons.

What it doesn't seem to offer is much in the way of increased cooling. We saw only a 4°C difference in fully loaded GPU temperature compared with the reference cooling design. Compared with the "up to 25°C cooler than the reference cooler" claim on the HIS website, that's a bit of a blow. Even when the reference GPU was clocked up to match the starting point of the IceQ, the difference in chip-chilling barely registered.

We did manage to crank the clocks up a little higher than the reference card, though. The original card topped out at 1.2GHz, whereas the HIS version hit 1.25GHz - a whole 50MHz extra.

DirectX 11 tessellation performance
Heaven 2.5: FPS: Higher is better
HIS HD 7870 ICEQ: 21
AMD HD 7870: 20.2

DirectX 11 gaming performance
DiRT Showdown: FPS: Higher is better
HIS HD 7870 ICEQ: 30
AMD HD 7870: 30

Cooling performance
100% GPU load: Degrees centigrade: Cooler is better
HIS HD 7870 ICEQ: 64
AMD HD 7870: 68

With the improvements AMD has made to its reference cooling design, the wisdom of spending extra cash on fancy third-party options that barely offer any extra performance is starting to seem misplaced. The IceQ might be worth it for the nostalgic aesthetics, but that's £30 I wouldn't be willing to throw away.

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