1660 ti

I heard a lot of good things about the 1660 ti ($279.00). I don't have one and I don't intend on buying one. However I will never say never. If I saw it somewhere for say $150.00, sure I might pick one up.

For those who don't know...NVIDIA launched the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, its latest GPU for mainstream PC gamers. This new card carries the GeForce GTX title like the older Pascal cards but it is actually based on the Turing architecture, which is based on the GeForce RTX 2000 series gpu. The GeForce GTX 1660 Ti’s TU116 has 1,536 active CUDA cores, which is more than the the GeForce GTX 1060, but less than the RTX 2060. The TU116 GPU also has 48  ROPs  just like the 1060 and 2060 but 96 texture units, which is somewhere in between the GTX 1060 (80 texture units) and RTX 2060 (120 texture units).

In many test I have seen across the web this card is more powerful than the more expensive GeForce GTX 1070. As of March 2019, the GTX 1070 goes for about 300.00 and up. In many results, I saw how the GTX 1660 Ti compared to the GTX 1070 at three resolutions and in many different games. I saw in one benchmark for Rise of the Tomb Raider on GNU/Linux. It was rendered with Vulkan at 1080p with the very high quality setting and it was the same as the RX Vega 56. As of March 2019 the RX Vega 56 goes for about 399.00.

The Mesa AMD Open Source Driver for Vulkan

What I will be getting in the future is a Radeon RX Navi 3000 series card. According to a leak, the Radeon RX 30-series will be the first graphics cards to compete with Nvidia's current GeForce RTX 20-series. The Radeon RX 30-series GPUs should run well out-of-the-box with Linux 5.* + Mesa 19.* when they come to market. Vulkan games will see performance improvements out of box with the newer Mesa series. Linux 5.* and Mesa 19.* will be found in as packaged out-of-the-box in distros like  MX Linux 19, Fedora 30, Ubuntu 19.04 and many more others. Mesa has made many improvements to OpenGL/Vulkan drivers in 2018. There has also been improvements by Valve and other companies to make these opensorce drivers better for GNU/Linux gaming.

Note: Mesa implements various API’s (Application programming interface) like OpenGL, OpenGL ES, OpenCL, OpenMAX, VDPAU, VA API, XvMC and Vulkan.

SSHD

Fact: Solid-state drives are much faster than mechanical drives. However a Seagate Barracuda SSD 2TB 2.5 as of March 2019 will cost you $300.00 and up while a WD Blue 2TB mechanical drive will only cost about $70.00. HDDs are cheaper and you can get more storage space. SSDs, however, are faster, lighter, more durable, and use less energy.

Hybrid drive (solid state hybrid drive – SSHD)

A hybrid hard drive contains both a traditional magnetic drive and the amount of solid-state storage you’d find in a small solid-state drive. That will add "some" of the speed of SSDs to the low cost storage capacity of mechanical HDDs. The small amount of the SSD in a hybrid drive is to act as a cache for the data stored on the mechanical HDD, making the system move a little faster by keeping copies of the most frequently used data on the faster SSD. The most important part is the SSHD appears as a single drive to your operating system. So you will not have to worry about which files go on the mechanical part of the drive and which files go on the solid-state part of the drive. The the SSHD’s firmware manages what is and isn’t on the solid-state drive.

Cost

As March 2019 hybrid drives can be cheaper than solid-state drives because they contain only a small amount of solid-state memory. A hybrid hard drive will be significantly faster than a mechanical drive offering solid-state speeds when accessing cached files. Again a Seagate Barracuda SSD 2TB  as of March 2019 will cost you $300.00 and up but Seagate 2TB FireCuda Gaming SSHD is around $100.00 as of March 2019. On a FireCuda the more you play/load a particular game or program, the faster it is able to load it due to the 8GB of Flash Storage.

If you’re on a really-really tight budget, get a SSHD. An SSD will perform  better, but the SSHD will perform much better than a mechanical HDD.

What is Pluto TV?

Pluto TV is an Internet-based TV platform. Pluto TV generates revenue from video advertisements between programming, with plans to remain a free television provider. Yes its free. Pluto TV doesn't ask for your credit card or bank account information and there are fewer ads compared to traditional TV. No matter how you connect to the internet, you can watch Pluto TV. It works on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, and Google Chromecas. There is also an app for Windows and Mac on desktop, and both Android and iOS on mobile phones.

You don't get the broadcast channels like NBC CBS ABC FOX or CW. You don't get any cable networks. But Pluto TV offers over 75 channels, over 120 major content partners, availability across all streaming devices with approximately 10 million monthly visitors. Pluto TV, is also expanding into Europe, starting in the UK market, beginning on Sky’s streaming service, NOW TV, NOW TV Smart Stick and NOW TV Boxes. Pluto TV UK includes over a dozen channels which has original Pluto TV-branded channels.

Boxing Lace Converters

No this not a post about Software...

For a number of years I have been into  Boxing and Mixed martial arts (MMA). In fact the first pair of gloves I ever got was Jeet Kune Do gloves/Kempo gloves. They were gloves very similar to the gloves used by Bruce Lee in the movie "Enter The Dragon". They were made out of high quality leather and canvas. They had a thumb and broken knuckle design allowing  grappling. Now that was prior to the The Ultimate Fighting Championship era in the 90s. So things like 7oz Everlast Evergel MMA Gloves had not yet come to market. The Jeet Kune Do glove wrist guard had a lace-up closure for a secure fit. There is a certain kind of fit that you can get from a lace up glove that you just can’t get from a velcro glove. However I hated having to ask someone to lace me up all the time. I tried switching the laces out for elastic laces, but it did not feel quite the same. Soon I went on to switch to all Velcro (Hook & Loop) Gloves.

Lace-Up Gloves VS. Velcro Gloves.

Lace-up Boxing Gloves have laces just like your shoes allowing a more customizable fit. Where as Velcro gloves are fixed to fit. The Velcro (Hook & Loop) would sometimes scratch people I was training with because the straps would sometimes be too long and left my velcro exposed. Plus Cheap Velcro will lose effectiveness over time and lose grip. Last but not lease Velcro (Hook & Loop) Gloves usually have less padding around the wrist.

Velcro gloves are really easy to put on. More and more people like myself train alone these days, so being able to put on my own was a must. They work well with my short training sessions, allowing me to take them off and put them back on again in seconds.

Boxing Lace Converters

Society Nine Lace and Loops

In recent years I have gone back to lace up because generally I get better wrist support. I ordered a pair of  Rival High Performance Hook-and-Loop (velcro) Sparring Gloves (RS2V) but the wrist support was just too loose for me. I also didn’t like how difficult it was to strap and unstrap. Just like with lace gloves, I was going to have to keep asking or bothering people to help me get my gloves on or off. I sent them back and got the 16oz Rival High Performance Lace-up Pro Sparring Gloves (Rival RS1). Theses Sparring Gloves had what Rival called the Ergolace Track System.

 
It had a 15 degree angled "Lace Track" at wrist for anatomical fit and the "X-Lace Track" on cuff for perfect lacing every time. However I still needed to have someone lace me up. So I was unable to use them when I worked out alone. They make lace converters. A Hook & Loop Glove Converter is a velcro strap that converts the laced gloves to a velcro (Hook & Loop Glove) glove. There's really only a few options for lace converters, TITLE makes one, but they did not have enough tension and it was hard to wrap with my gloved hand. Plus I was unable to really use the X-Lace Track for the laces on the cuff.

Someone loaned me a pair of the Lace N Loop glove enhancing system. I used them on my Rival RS1 gloves and they worked flawless. This product makes any lace up glove quickly and easily into a convenient elastic wrist cover strap. It converts training, pro-fight and competition glove laces into hook-and-loop attachments. All you have do attach your laces to the strap. On the other side, the strap is extended with an elasticated section which connects to the hard velcro side. Then you wrap the Lace and Loop around your gloves. The thin elastic bands made my gloves fit snug on my wrists. A hook-and-loop closure keeps the glove secure to wrist and hand.They are easy to install and put on/remove, even with a gloved hand. The Strap itself is about an inch wide and soft velcro on one side and a foam-like texture on the other side will hold onto your gloves without damaging them.

I bought a pair of The Society Nine Lace and Loops which worked the same way. Like the Lace N Loop glove enhancing system,  you tie a knot through the eyelet of the Society Nine Lace and Loop. Then place your hand in your glove, tighten the laces, and just wrap the Society Nine Lace and Loop around your gloves.

When you first use the Lace N Loop or The Society Nine Lace and Loops putting on the second glove might be tricky the first few times you use them by yourself.  Putting the first glove on is always going to be a little easier.The small straps may be hard to grip with gloves on at first. However its a technique everyone will  learn fast and the fabric tab on the end was easy to grab a hold of with gloves on. I can use both converters to put gloves nearly as fast as the hook n loop style gloves. Society Nine Lace and Loops came very fast, one day earlier than planned. They included a letter and a sticker thanking me for my support. I would definitely recommend this company to any woman looking for WSD (Women Specific Design) boxing gloves.

Conclusion

Both Lace N Loop and Society Nine Lace and Loops converters work differently. Instead of them trying to mimic velcro gloves like TITLE Hook & Loop Glove Converter, they work with the laces, allowing you to  get the full benefits of any lace-up glove while still being able to put the gloves on by yourself.I have done bag and pad work. I done some sparring and the velcro straps held strong and never came undone. Lace up gloves are secured with a single lace crossing both sides, which are pulled tight and tied around the hand. The wrists will feel more streamlined and less bulky compared to Velcro gloves. I definitely recommend both products if your looking for a solo glove lacing system.
  
About Society Nine

Society Nine is a Portland-based brand, celebrating the fight in every woman. We are a modern women's boxing lifestyle brand providing quality training gear and active wear to empower every woman's fight. We provide her with what she needs to perform at her best - quality product and a supportive community that will be in her corner no matter where she is in her journey, in life and in
sport.