Reviews 51914 Published by

Here a roundup of the latest reviews and articles:

10+ Windows 10 Settings You Should Change Right Away
A Look At The Windows vs. Linux Scaling Performance Up To 64 Threads With The AMD 2990WX
Acer Predator Helios 300 Review
Adata XPG Spectrix D41 2x 8GB DDR4-3200 Review
Antec P110 LUCE Tempered Glass Chassis Review
ASUS ZenFone 5 (ZE620KL) Review
Corsair H100i Pro RGB Review
Corsair HX750 PSU Review
Cougar Fortress Gaming Backpack Review
Gigabyte X399 Designare EX Motherboard Review
Linux vs. Windows Benchmark: Threadripper 2990WX vs. Core i9-7980XE Tested
Patriot Scorch M.2 512GB NVMe SSD Review
Shuttle XPC Slim Barebone DH10J Review
Teamgroup XCALIBUR RGB General Edition 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) 3600 MHz CL18 DDR4 Memory Kit Review
Thermaltake Level 20 GT RGB Plus Full Tower Review
Threadripper 2990WX - 2950X & Wraith Ripper DIY Install



10+ Windows 10 Settings You Should Change Right Away

Microsoft's operating system has some default settings that slow you down. Stop what you're doing and tweak these. Out of the box, Windows 10 works pretty well for the most part. However, there are a few default preferences which slow you down and important, helpful features that aren't enabled. Here are 10 changes you should make right now.

Read full article @ Tom's Hardware

A Look At The Windows vs. Linux Scaling Performance Up To 64 Threads With The AMD 2990WX

This past week we looked at the Windows 10 vs. Linux performance for AMD's just-launched Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX and given the interest from that then ran some Windows Server benchmarks to see if the performance of this 64-thread CPU would be more competitive to Linux. From those Windows vs. Linux tests there has been much speculation that the performance disparity is due to Windows scheduler being less optimized for high core/thread count processors and its NUMA awareness being less vetted than the Linux kernel. For getting a better idea, here are benchmarks of Windows Server 2019 preview versus Ubuntu Linux when testing varying thread/core counts for the AMD Threadripper 2990WX.

Read full article @ Phoronix

Acer Predator Helios 300 Review

In our hands today is the recently released Acer Predator Helios 300. This gaming laptop is designed to satisfy the mid-range with Intel's Core i7-8750H, 16GB DDR4 and GTX 1060. Acer has also stepped away from the typical TN panel you'd usually see on a laptop of this price-point, in favour of the superior IPS display.

Read full article @ Vortez

Adata XPG Spectrix D41 2x 8GB DDR4-3200 Review

As one of the top memory manufacturers, Adata’s limitations for U.S. buyers have always revolved around marketing and availability. Both of those impact the XPG Spectrix D41 DDR4-3200 kit we're looking at today, as the black/dark grey kit with this data rate disappeared from most U.S. outlets at the same time as one of Adata's competitors, Patriot, was rapidly dropping prices to outmaneuver speedy higher-data rate kits. Adata’s identically configured red-colored Spectrix D41 DDR4-3200 kit is still a good value at about $190. But competing kits offer better performance for as little as $16 more.

Read full article @ Tom's Hardware

Antec P110 LUCE Tempered Glass Chassis Review

The chassis market is a busy one, with pretty much every PC owner needing a case of some kind, there are many awesome products hitting the market every month. One of the latest from Antec really caught our attention, the P110 Luce. It comes equipped with a range of cool features that look set to offer great value for money. However, as part of their Performance series, it’s also the latest entry in one of their most popular ranges. We’ve loved previous P-series chassis, and I’m hoping the same is true of their latest.

So what do you get for your investment? Well, it’ll handle an ATX motherboard, PSU, large cooler and large GPUs, so that’s the basics covered. However, it also comes with tempered glass, as well as RGB lighting, so that covers the next two must-haves for a modern PC. On top of that, you’ll find a built-in GPU support, vertical GPU mounting (riser cable not included), aluminium front panel, PSU shroud, extensive HDD support, cable management, and one more thing. This chassis is VR ready. A weird thing to say I know, but it has HDMI pass-through to the front panel, which is perfect for hooking up your VR headsets!

Read full article @ eTeknix

ASUS ZenFone 5 (ZE620KL) Review

The ASUS ZenFone 5 hits the market at £349.99 - but is that still too much for what you get? Despite the fact that the ZenFone 4 only became available towards the end of 2017, MWC 2018 saw the announcement of its successor – the ZenFone 5. Now available to buy for £349.99 here in the UK, we have got our hands on the phone and put it through its paces to see if it is worth buying. With an all-new design, AI cameras and Snapdragon 636 chip, the ZenFone 5 has the makings of a solid all-rounder. But what’s it like in the real world?

Not to be confused with the ZenFone 5Z also announced at MWC 2018, the ASUS ZenFone 5 is a mid-range phone priced at £349.99. That alone is significant, as not only is it highly affordable in today’s market, but it is actually £100 cheaper at launch than its predecessor, the ZenFone 4. So, for less money you are getting a larger screen, more appealing design, and an upgraded processor.

Read full article @ KitGuru

Corsair H100i Pro RGB Review

The Corsair H100i Pro RGB is a self-contained water-cooling solution for those with a smaller case or less power-hungry CPU, with the intention of reduced temperatures and less noise.

Read full article @ Vortez

Corsair HX750 PSU Review

The truth is that the majority of users don’t care about PSU monitoring and control, so naturally they don’t want to pay extra money for those features. This is why models like the RMx and HX are more popular than their digital counterparts, RMi and HXi.

Besides the increased price tags, we believe that the added steps required to install a PSU featuring a digital interface and the complexity of the provided software (although Corsair’s Link software in its latest version is pretty easy to use), are two of the reasons behind the low popularity of power supplies featuring a digital interface.

Read full article @ KitGuru

Cougar Fortress Gaming Backpack Review

Fortress is COUGAR’s answer to the mobility needs of gamers. With the capability of storing all your gaming gear as well as a gaming laptop, everything you need for a great gaming session can fit inside it, protected within its shockproof anti-vibration structure.

As important as bringing all your stuff with you is to guarantee that you will find it when you need it. Fortress’ multi-layered structure allows you to keep everything tidy and protected, with space for every single thing a gamer might need.

Read full article @ FunkyKit

Gigabyte X399 Designare EX Motherboard Review

We'll just come right out and say it: The Gigabyte X399 Designare EX is the most beautiful board we’ve tested from the AMD camp thus far. It's also a top performer in our charts, but comes with a price tag to match--it's currently selling for between $370 and $400. Builders focused on value should obviously look elsewhere (though no Threadripper boards come cheap). But builds that require top-tier performance and stand-out aesthetics will find the Designare appealing.

Read full article @ Tom's Hardware

Linux vs. Windows Benchmark: Threadripper 2990WX vs. Core i9-7980XE Tested

Due to popular demand, we’re looking into AMD's Threadripper 2990WX performance using Linux. Apparently this is something we should have done since day one, according to many AMD fans, although of course this is not part of our usual battery of tests.

In case you missed it, we did an extensive day-one review of the Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX and Threadripper 2950X processors. The latter is the drop-in replacement for the previous flagship Threadripper and an overall great performer for the price. The 2990WX however is a different kind of beast, more expensive and offering more cores, but with mixed results. That's why we followed up with the mega-tasking test, a separate multi-tasking focused benchmark in an attempt to explore workstation performance of these high-end CPUs more closely.

Today we have the Threadripper 2990WX put against the Core i9-7980XE head to head using both Windows 10 and Linux, more especifically Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS. Both operating systems were tested in their out-of-the-box configuration, so no optimizations were made.

Read full article @ TechSpot

Patriot Scorch M.2 512GB NVMe SSD Review

Patriot Memory is a brand that has been around for over a decade, and have put together rather interesting products over the years, though their results in the SSD market have been somewhat mixed, as some of their SATA products have had some issues. Although on their NVMe drives they have seen success with the recent Hellfire drive, although it fell short of the bigger names with its performance. It’s pricing along with other E7 drives was pretty good which is why it did well.

Now with a cheaper drive let’s see how the Patriot Scorch can do, although granted the only drive I have to compare it to currently is the Toshiba 240GB RC100, we plan on adding more M.2 PCIe based NVMe drives in the future to our reviews as time goes on. The product is currently $129.99 for the 512GB we’re testing today, $65.99 for the 240GB model and $39.99 for the 120GB model. So all in all the pricing is quite good considering. With that out of the way, let’s get straight to it!

Read full article @ Wccftech

Shuttle XPC Slim Barebone DH10J Review

With the DL10J, Shuttle is offering a solid upgrade option from the Apollo Lake DX30, thanks to the upgrade to the latest generation Gemini Lake Intel Celeron J4005 SoC. Even if we are talking about the same TDP, IPC has been increased along with the maximum clock speeds and on the graphics side, the new processor does feature Intel UHD Graphics 600, being able to drive up to three monitors. The chassis is compact and solid and preserves the outside appearance as the previous model; the VESA mount is included in the package by default, so you can mount the mini-PC in the back of the display right away.

Read full article @ Mad Shrimps

Teamgroup XCALIBUR RGB General Edition 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) 3600 MHz CL18 DDR4 Memory Kit Review

TeamGroup is the creator of some of the most high-quality memory products for the PC industry. They have come a long way since their inception in 1997 and went on to become one of the fastest growing product manufacturers and a leading brand around the globe.

Since the arrival of DDR4 memory in the mainstream market, Teamgroup started a separate line of DIMM kits under their new T-Force brand. The T-Force brand is the more enthusiast and gamer aimed memory series with a sheer focus towards quality and performance. Today, I will be testing one of T-Force’s new XCALIBUR RGB series memory kit, the latest in their T-Force gaming series arsenal and see how it holds up in against similar priced and similar spec’d memory kits.

Read full article @ Wccftech

Thermaltake Level 20 GT RGB Plus Full Tower Review

PC cases and more specifically towers may not have changed radically in terms of design over the years (there have been a few exceptions however) but manufacturers keep finding new ways to make them more appealing to consumers (especially gamers) and RGB LED fans with RGB LED strips and tempered glass panels are the latest trend to hit the market. As a matter of fact you will have a really hard time finding a new PC tower that doesn't feature at least one tempered glass panel and to be honest I’ve always looked forward to a time where panels made out of plexi would be replaced with something better so that in my book is not a bad thing. Thermaltake recently released one of the best full towers to ever reach our lab the View 91 TG RGB and before we even had the chance to put it back in its box we received the brand new Level 20 GT RGB Plus Full tower which is what today's review is all about.

The beginning of every myth and legend is about dreams and desire: the challenging, creative and combative features of Thermaltake Group create an exciting and fascinating user experience to share with everyone, while allowing users to enter a selfless state in terms of function and potential. Thermaltake Group's 3 main brands: Thermaltake, Tt eSPORTS and LUXA2 have been merchandising throughout the world, and have successfully established 6 business footholds in areas such as Europe, America, Oceania, Japan and China, with 95 regional distributors and over 4000 premium retailers. All product planning is orientated by observation of global PC peripheral market and understanding of consumer demands. Thermaltake creates direct contact opportunities with resellers and consumers by participating major global ICT exhibitions and trade shows every year, and develop innovative marketing strategies for the promotions of new products. Meanwhile, Thermaltake incorporates the composite marketing system by making branch offices and regional distributors both the distribution channel and technical support or service center to provide instant support; by maintaining close contact with end users, we manage to strengthen corporate competitiveness and create the momentum for the growth of accomplishments. With its outstanding wisdom and strength Thermaltake Group is recruiting creative talents to build a cultural brand for the enjoyment of entertainment, e-Sports, technology and lifestyle!

Read full article @ NikKTech

Threadripper 2990WX - 2950X & Wraith Ripper DIY Install

While you might be familiar with AMD Threadripper installation, we give you a full installation video from start to finish covering your 2950X and 2990WX CPUs along with the new Cooler Master Wraith Ripper air cooler install. We cover two different types of TIM installs and what we have found to work best for us. If you are thinking about building a new Threadripper system, we would suggest checking out our latest Threadripper Water Block review, as it has cumulative results from all the water blocks we have tested in the last year.

Read full article @ HardOCP