Lunar Festival
A few changes were made to Lunar Festival this year, with two faction specific pets being added and new Elders for you to visit in the Cataclysm zones. You can find a list of the Elder's locations on Wowpedia.
The new Lunar Lantern and Festival Lantern are new rewards from the Lunar Festival. The new Lunar Lantern would be the Alliance version and the Festival Lantern the Horde one. Each costs Coin of Ancestry x 50 from the vendor.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Every year the druids of Moonglade hold a celebration of their city’s great triumph over an ancient evil. During the Lunar Festival, citizens of Azeroth have the opportunity to honor their elders by celebrating their sage wisdom, sharing in magnificent feasts, and of course…shooting fireworks!
The Lunar Festival returns to Azeroth in a cascade of pyrotechnics on Sunday, January 22! With the start of a new year, elders of generations past manifest around the world to impart their wisdom upon all who would listen. Should you encounter these venerable spirits in your travels and take the time to heed their wisdom, they may even pass along tokens of their gratitude -- Coins of Ancestry, the lessons of a past age in physical form. Gather enough of these Coins of Ancestry and the Cenarion Circle will open to you their stores of celebratory fireworks, trinkets, garbs, and recipes!
The Cenarion Circle have even more cause to celebrate this year than any previous, for this year also marks the first Lunar Festival since the return of many Ancients that had fallen in battles past: Goldrinn, Malorne, Aviana, and Cenarius himself. But this celebration is muted by the eternal torment of one of their own -- Omen, blessed by the moon goddess Elune, has risen again from the depths of Moonglade’s lake. Driven mad by the Burning Legion’s tainted magics during the War of the Ancients, Elune’s blessing of immortality means that he will forever be cursed to return in his maddened state at the advent of a new year. Heroes are called to help ease this tormented Ancient’s suffering, in the hopes that perhaps next year will see him return with a clearer mind.
Lunar Festivities end Sunday, February 12.
Computers - Setup of the Month (by chaud)
Each month or every 2 months, depending on the hardware evolutions, the lovely chaud will work on a couple of hardware setups for those of you who are thinking of upgrading their computer!
This month
Hard drives remain expensive, so now is still a good time to buy a SSD, as the next generation is a while away and the current prices are fairly flat, with sales bringing the cost very close to $1 per gigabyte.
AMD's Bulldozer arrived to negative reviews, citing excessive power usage and heat output and very poor single threaded performance. The previously mentioned patches for Windows are now available and give a few percent performance increase. (Patch 1, Patch 2)
The new 7970 GPU from AMD has been released and can be had for ~$550 if you can find it in stock. The 7950 will be here in a matter of weeks somewhere in the low ~$400 price range. More GPUs will likely be released next month. New GPUs from Nvidia likely won't be here before early March.
Make sure to keep your AMD and Nvidia drivers up to date.
Don't hesitate to post any feedback in the comments of that news post, and don't forget to visit the Computer Forum for any extra questions! If you are interested in Folding@home, take a look in our team's thread.
Trading Card Game Art Gallery Update
The Trading Card game art gallery has been updated with ten new pieces.
More...
A few changes were made to Lunar Festival this year, with two faction specific pets being added and new Elders for you to visit in the Cataclysm zones. You can find a list of the Elder's locations on Wowpedia.
The new Lunar Lantern and Festival Lantern are new rewards from the Lunar Festival. The new Lunar Lantern would be the Alliance version and the Festival Lantern the Horde one. Each costs Coin of Ancestry x 50 from the vendor.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Every year the druids of Moonglade hold a celebration of their city’s great triumph over an ancient evil. During the Lunar Festival, citizens of Azeroth have the opportunity to honor their elders by celebrating their sage wisdom, sharing in magnificent feasts, and of course…shooting fireworks!
The Lunar Festival returns to Azeroth in a cascade of pyrotechnics on Sunday, January 22! With the start of a new year, elders of generations past manifest around the world to impart their wisdom upon all who would listen. Should you encounter these venerable spirits in your travels and take the time to heed their wisdom, they may even pass along tokens of their gratitude -- Coins of Ancestry, the lessons of a past age in physical form. Gather enough of these Coins of Ancestry and the Cenarion Circle will open to you their stores of celebratory fireworks, trinkets, garbs, and recipes!
The Cenarion Circle have even more cause to celebrate this year than any previous, for this year also marks the first Lunar Festival since the return of many Ancients that had fallen in battles past: Goldrinn, Malorne, Aviana, and Cenarius himself. But this celebration is muted by the eternal torment of one of their own -- Omen, blessed by the moon goddess Elune, has risen again from the depths of Moonglade’s lake. Driven mad by the Burning Legion’s tainted magics during the War of the Ancients, Elune’s blessing of immortality means that he will forever be cursed to return in his maddened state at the advent of a new year. Heroes are called to help ease this tormented Ancient’s suffering, in the hopes that perhaps next year will see him return with a clearer mind.
Lunar Festivities end Sunday, February 12.
Computers - Setup of the Month (by chaud)
Each month or every 2 months, depending on the hardware evolutions, the lovely chaud will work on a couple of hardware setups for those of you who are thinking of upgrading their computer!
This month
Hard drives remain expensive, so now is still a good time to buy a SSD, as the next generation is a while away and the current prices are fairly flat, with sales bringing the cost very close to $1 per gigabyte.
AMD's Bulldozer arrived to negative reviews, citing excessive power usage and heat output and very poor single threaded performance. The previously mentioned patches for Windows are now available and give a few percent performance increase. (Patch 1, Patch 2)
The new 7970 GPU from AMD has been released and can be had for ~$550 if you can find it in stock. The 7950 will be here in a matter of weeks somewhere in the low ~$400 price range. More GPUs will likely be released next month. New GPUs from Nvidia likely won't be here before early March.
Make sure to keep your AMD and Nvidia drivers up to date.
Don't hesitate to post any feedback in the comments of that news post, and don't forget to visit the Computer Forum for any extra questions! If you are interested in Folding@home, take a look in our team's thread.
Peripherals/Monitors
| Component | Puppy | Dolphin |
|---|---|---|
| Monitor | ASUS VW224U 22-Inch Widescreen - $149 | ASUS VW246H 24-Inch Widescreen - $200 |
| Keyboard | Microsoft Digital Media Keyboard 3000 - $21 | Cyborg V.5 - $47 |
| Mouse | Logitech G400 - $37 | Razer Deathadder - $48 |
| Speakers | Logitech S220 2.1 Speaker System - $30 | Logitech Z313 Speaker System - $40 |
| Component | Narwhal | Unicorn |
| Monitor | ASUS VE276Q 27-Inch - $279 | HP ZR24w 24-inch (IPS Panel) - $375 |
| Keyboard | Logitech G110 - $70 | Razer BlackWidow (Backlit)- $74 ($130) |
| Mouse | Logitech G500 - $58 | Razer Naga (Buttons on the Side) - $68 |
| Speakers | Creative Inspire T3130 2.1 Speaker System - $45 | Logitech Speaker System Z523 - $79 |
Puppy and Dolphin
Overclocked Puppy will outperform Dolphin when multiple threads are in use (Not WoW) and come close in most other cases.
Mix and match anything but the CPU/Motherboard combo between Puppy and Dolphin. Mix and match anything between Dolphin and Narwhal.
Overclocked Puppy will outperform Dolphin when multiple threads are in use (Not WoW) and come close in most other cases.
Mix and match anything but the CPU/Motherboard combo between Puppy and Dolphin. Mix and match anything between Dolphin and Narwhal.
| Component | Puppy | Dolphin |
|---|---|---|
| Case | NZXT GAMMA Classic - $40 | NZXT GAMMA Classic - $40 |
| Power Supply | Corsair CX500 V2 - $58 | Corsair CX600 V2 - $70 |
| CPU | AMD Phenom II X4 960T Black Edition- $115 | Intel i3-2100 - $125 |
| Heatsink | Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus - $27 | Corsair Air Series A70 - $38 |
| Motherboard | ASUS M5A97 AM3+ 970 - $116 | Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 - $123 |
| Memory | 4GB PNY Optima DDR3 10600 - $25 | 4GB G.Skill Ripjaws F3 12800 DDR3 - $40 |
| Graphics Card | XFX 6770 - $95 | MSI 6850 or EVGA GTX 560 - $174 / $175 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB - $120 | Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB - $157 |
| DVD | Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $23 | Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $23 |
| Total | $619 | $791 |
Narwhal and Unicorn
All of these parts can be mixed and matched to create a build between Narwhal and Unicorn. SSDs are always optional.
All of these parts can be mixed and matched to create a build between Narwhal and Unicorn. SSDs are always optional.
| Component | Narwhal | Unicorn |
|---|---|---|
| Case | Cooler Master HAF 912 - $66 | Cooler Master HAF932 - $143 |
| Power Supply | Corsair 650TX V2 - $90 | Corsair 750HX (7 Year Warranty) - $144 |
| CPU | Intel i5-2500k - $230 | Intel i7-2600k - $320 |
| Heatsink | Thermaltake Frio - $55 | Noctua 6 NH-D14 - $88 |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 - $160 | ASUS Z68 P8Z68-V PRO - $205 |
| Memory | 4GB G.Skill Ripjaws F3 12800 DDR3 - $40 | 8GB G.Skill DDR3 12800 - $54 |
| Graphics Card | XFX 6950 1GB OR EVGA GTX 560 Ti- $220/ $230 | XFX 6970 2GB OR EVGA GTX 570 - $325 / $360 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black - $157 | Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black - $157 |
| SSD | Crucial 128 GB m4 (Review) - $180 OR Corsair Force Series GT 120 GB - $180 | Intel 510 Series 120 GB (Review) - $275 OR OCZ 120 GB Vertex 3 (Review) - $165 |
| DVD | Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $23 | Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $23 |
| Total | $1041 - $1231 | $1624 - $1769 |
Trading Card Game Art Gallery Update
The Trading Card game art gallery has been updated with ten new pieces.
More...