Reviews 51945 Published by

Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

27-Way NVIDIA GPU Comparison From GeForce 8 To GeForce 900
4 mid-range Z170 motherboards review
Arctic Freezer i32 CPU Cooler Review
be quiet! Silent Base 600 ATX Case Review
BIOSTAR A68N-5200 Motherboard Review
Cooler Master V750 750W Power Supply Review
Cougar 450M Optical Gaming Mouse Review
Dell Inspiron 15 7559 Review: Affordable, Upgradeable
G.Skill Ripjaws MX780 Gaming Mouse Review
Huawei Mate 8, Kirin 950, Cortex-A72 Benchmarks
Intel Compute Stick STK1AW32SC Review with Cherry Trail
Lian Li PC-O8 Review
Logitech G933 Artemis Spectrum Wireless Headset Review
Philips Brilliance BDM3490UC Ultra-wide 21:9 Curved Display Review
Razer Diamondback Gaming Mouse Review
Seagate ARCHIVE 8TB HDD Review



27-Way NVIDIA GPU Comparison From GeForce 8 To GeForce 900

Curious how the raw OpenGL performance and power efficiency has improved going back a decade to the GeForce 8 days? In this article is a 27-way graphics card comparison testing graphics cards from each generation going from the GeForce 8 series through the GeForce GTX 900 series and ending with the $999 GeForce GTX TITAN X. If you are interested in how graphics card performance has evolved, this is a fun must-read article.

Last week I published an article looking at the OpenGL speed and perf-per-watt from the Radeon R600 GPUs through the R9 Fury while this article is the rough NVIDIA equivalent. With the NVIDIA comparison there are more graphics cards to test and thanks to NVIDIA's well-maintained legacy Linux drivers, it was easy going back and testing the older generations of GPUs. In fact, the testing went back all the way to the GeForce 6 series from 2004. However, the GeForce 6 hardware was left out for being too slow to compare to the modern NVIDIA GPUs, not being able to mode-set to 2560x1600, and only supporting OpenGL 2.1.

Read full article @ Phoronix

4 mid-range Z170 motherboards review

A decent motherboard will cost you atleast 100 pounds. However if you want something with more features, you'll find yourself spending at least 140 pounds. In this review we'll be comparing four motherboards of ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI that belong in this price class.

The four biggest manufacturers of motherboards all offer models of around 140 pounds. We're testing the ASRock's Z170 Extreme6, one of the higher end Extreme boards. In contrast to the Maximus VIII Ranger from Asus, which is the lowest positioned Republic of Gamers motherboard. The Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 5 and the MSI Z170A Gaming M5 are both found in the middle price segment of the two manufacturers.

When compared to the cheaper models these boards in general have slightly more features, such as more overclocking options and M.2 slots. More attention is also paid to the design.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

Arctic Freezer i32 CPU Cooler Review

Arctic - formerly Arctic Cooling - has 15 years of experience in PC cooling. This time we test the brand-new Arctic Freezer i32 from the Swiss company, which looks rather common at first glance. With its angular design and 120mm fan it really does not stand out of the huge mass of CPU coolers. But while testing we could find some traits which really make this cooler to something special. This i32 variant is only suitable for Intel systems, but AMD users can buy the almost identical Arctic Freezer A32.

Read full article @ OcInside.de

be quiet! Silent Base 600 ATX Case Review

be quiet! is a German company dedicated to making desktop products with exceptionally quiet operation. They are mostly known for their ventures into extremely quiet power supplies and CPU coolers from which they have had a lot of success among silent desktop enthusiasts. Last year they announced the Silent Base case line, their first attempt into entering the case market. Today, Benchmark Reviews takes a look at the second case release from be quiet!, the Silent Base 600.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews

BIOSTAR A68N-5200 Motherboard Review

The A68N-5200 board, by incorporating one A6-5200 Kabini-based APU, is bringing to the table even more raw performance when compared to its A4-5000, while the GPU component gets a 100Mhz boost. While the increased 3D performance is minimal versus the A4, other tasks which require CPU performance will get up to 25% performance boost. Despite the fact that this is a cheap and low-powered board, BIOSTAR saw fit to include a fully-fledged UEFI interface which also contains some performance tuning options. Last but not least, we do get with the A68N-5200 one very-welcome PCI-E 2.0 x16 (x4 electrical) which invites us to install a dedicated video card.

Read full article @ Madshrimps

Cooler Master V750 750W Power Supply Review

Cooler Master first launched its V-Series power supplies with the semi-modular series that featured an 80 Plus Gold certification and a semi-modular cable design. Now we have the new V-Series that features an the same 80 Plus Gold certification, but now has a fully modular design. These power supplies feature 100% high quality Japanese capacitors, a 3D circuit design, Cooler Master’s own Silencio FP fan, a flat cable design and come with a 5-year warranty. The V-Series comes in 550W, 650W, 750W, 850W, and 1000W units, today we will be taking a look at the 750W which sits right in the middle of the V-Series. Let’s see what it can do!

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

Cougar 450M Optical Gaming Mouse Review

Today we’ll be taking a look at the latest gaming mouse from Cougar, the 450M. Equipped with a high-performance optical sensor, which is capable of up to 5000 DPI with a polling rate of 1000Hz, as well as an ambidextrous design, programmable buttons and more, it’s certainly going to appeal to a lot of gamers, and we’ve got high expectations for its performance too, after awarding multiple Cougar gaming peripherals here at eTeknix over the last year.

Equipped with RGB lighting, eight fully programmable buttons, a powerful 32-bit ARM processors, side grips, as well as being backed up by the fantastic Cougar UIX software, the 450M is sounding pretty great for gaming. There’s also on-board memory, so you can store your profiles directly on the mouse, making it tournament friendly.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Dell Inspiron 15 7559 Review: Affordable, Upgradeable

Dell has some enticing new hardware on tap for its newest Inspiron 7000 series laptops, including the latest and most powerful Intel Skylake processors and NVIDIA GPUs, but the computer maker sent us a decidedly modest version for this evaluation. PC makers usually load their review systems to the hilt, in an effort to make them perform well in commonly used benchmarks, but Dell is confident that its Inspiron 15 7000 delivers solid, real-world performance for the money, even at base specifications, so we gave it a look...

Read full article @ HotHardware

G.Skill Ripjaws MX780 Gaming Mouse Review

We recommend a lot of GSkill memory and that’s why it’s so exciting to be reviewing their first mouse, the Gskill Ripjaws MX780 Gaming Mouse. After all, it’s not every day a company we love gets into the gaming mouse market.

The Ripjaws MX780 team has certainly done their homework. 8200 DPI Laser sensor, custom sizing, RGB lighting, 8 programmable buttons and it’s also ambidextrous. Nice, and that’s not even the full list! But can a first generation mouse compete? Let’s find out!

Read full article @ Hardware Asylum

Huawei Mate 8, Kirin 950, Cortex-A72 Benchmarks

We test Huawei's Mate 8 smartphone to see how its Kirin 950 SoC performs. This is also our first look at ARM's Cortex-A72 CPU core and new Mali-T880 GPU. How does A72 compare to the A57 and Snapdragon 820's Kryo cores?

Read full article @ Toms Hardware

Intel Compute Stick STK1AW32SC Review with Cherry Trail

The Intel Compute Stick was introduced in April 2015 and received a luke warm reception as the tiny HDMI computer stick certainly had a number of faults. Most people need to keep in mind that the Intel Compete Stick was a first generation product and Intel was just testing the waters. At CES 2016 we learned that Intel was greatly expanding their Intel Compute sticks and announced three new Compute Stick models at the show. The old Bay Trail powered Compute Stick that debuted in 2015 has been replaced by a more powerful Cherry Trail powered Compute Stick and two faster Core M models! Today, Legit Reviews takes a look at the new Cherry Trail model!

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

Lian Li PC-O8 Review

With the PC-O8, Lian Li has a high-end cube case in its portfolio. As with all of their cases this one has also been made from aluminum and to top things off, there are side panels, which have been made from tempered glass. Apart from the aluminum and tempered glass there is also RGB lighting, which is very easy to control and allows for beautiful illumination.

Read full article @ ocaholic

Logitech G933 Artemis Spectrum Wireless Headset Review

Gaming headsets come and go with rapid succession in this industry, some great, many good and a lot that are fairly forgettable, but every now and then, something big happens. Today is one of those days at eTeknix HQ, as one of the most important headsets in recent years has landed on our desk and its expected to be something truly special. I am, of course, talking about the Logitech G933, following in the footsteps of the legendary G930, highly regarded as one of the best wireless headsets on the market, the G933 looks to make everything bigger and better than ever before.

“Patent pending advanced Pro-G audio drivers are made with hybrid mesh materials that provide the audiophile-like performance gaming fans have been demanding. From your favorite music to expansive game soundtracks, the Pro-G drivers deliver both clean and accurate highs as well as a deep rich bass that you would expect from premium headphones. Experience incredible 7.1 surround sound with Dolbyreg; or DTS Headphone:X Surround Sound,* creating lifelike in-game special awareness, allowing you to clearly hear enemies sneaking around or special ability cues.”

The Artemis is very well equipped, offering support for virtually any audio device, including games consoles and PC. Despite being wireless, it comes with a simple USB-powered transmitter that can be used to turn any wired audio jack into a wireless compatible device, and that’s something that simply cannot be ignored, as it opens up a huge range of devices for use with the Artemis. Add to that high-end 40mm drivers, a high-quality microphone, LED lighting, rechargeable wireless functionality, a fold away microphone, and more.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Philips Brilliance BDM3490UC Ultra-wide 21:9 Curved Display Review

It’s no surprise that ultra-wide curved screens such as the 34-inch Philips Brilliance BDM3490UC are becoming popular as they present a compelling alternative to traditional 16:9 displays. The extra width and subtle curvature gives a cinema-like experience in movies, and for desktop use, the extra pixels means more documents open on screen at any one time.

Read full article @ KitGuru

Razer Diamondback Gaming Mouse Review

Razer has one of the most diverse range of gaming mice on the market today, with all kinds of unique shapes, sizes and specifications to suit a vast range of gamer’s and gaming styles. The Diamondback is one of their most iconic mice, having been around in one form or another since 2004, and having undergone several rather major redesigns in that time. Just look at the timeline below and you can see just how far it has developed in that time.

Their latest model is supposed to be the best one yet, ditching the now archaic 1800 DPI 3G infrared sensor in favour of their latest extreme hardware, the 16,000 DPI 5G laser sensor, the very same one we recently tested in Razer’s insanely good Mamba 2015 mouse. Designed for use with both left or right hands, as well as a super slim ergonomic design that is ideal for palm, claw or fingertip grips, the Diamondback promises to be a bit of a jack of all trades when it comes to gaming, and should appeal to quite a lot of gamers, be that pro gamer or just those who want a nice mouse to use at home.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Seagate ARCHIVE 8TB HDD Review

We review the Seagate ARCHIVE series HDD, the 8 Terabyte version. Though SSDs are the thing to purchase these days, if you need massive bulk volume storage then you'll need a HDD as pricing is the trivial thing here. Let's face it, HDDs are the titanic of the storage units closing in on thet iceberg. Right now they still serve as a viable solution in the storage arena, but only for one reason... price versus storage capacity. HDDs are still cheaper opposed to SSD / NAND based flash storage units. Time is changing fast though, this year we are going to see SSDs with prices at 13 cents per GB (three years ago that was 1 USD per GB), and as such I forsee that in the next 5 years the HDD will slowly become something obolete as in terms of performance and reliability you just cannot beat an SSD. That said, it is the year 2016 and mass-volume HDD storage units are still cheap, the bigger they are the more cheaper they get relatively per GB. Here at Guru3D.com I always recommend any PC user to have a fast SSD for their OS, important (much used) application and games. For the rest like documents, photos music and media files you want to add a nice high volume HDD.

Seagate has revision 2 of their ARCHIVE series HDDs available. They offer various volume sizes but since I need to setup a new office NAS my eyes fell on the 8 TB versions, that's right 8 Terabytes. OK, after formatting it's just above 7.5 TB available per HDD but still that's plenty, right?

Read full article @ Guru3D