Here a roundup of the latest reviews and articles, including Building a Home Server - The Complete Guide, Radeon Gallium3D Can Beat AMD's Catalyst In Select Workloads, Dell Inspiron 17R-5721 Review, Triple Monitor Gaming on a Budget, and OCZ Vector 256GB SSD Review



Building a Home Server - The Complete Guide @ The SSD Review

Over the past few years, The SSD Review has enjoyed a fairly smooth ride with little to complain about. It wasn’t until our readership explosion that we realized how important backups were.

There is nothing worse than a site crash, other than a site crash which also contains a Forum of course. The sudden loss of days, weeks, months and even years worth of data cannot arguably be equal to that of valuable Forum members who hate seeing their threads gone. It happened.

Even worse was the fact that our hosting company was receiving premium monthly payments for daily backups, the last of which they had completed some two months prior. It was only for the odd feeling that we had prior to leaving on Christmas vacation that we physically downloaded backups, minimizing our information loss to two weeks. Although website material resulted only in the loss of our Acer S7 Ultrabook Review, the loss of forum posts could never be equalled.

Read more: Building a Home Server - The Complete Guide @ The SSD Review


Corsair Hydro Series H90 and H110 140mm-Based Liquid Cooler Review @ PC Perspective

Corsair has upped their presence in the cooling field with the new 140mm fan-based additions to the Hydro Series™ CPU water cooler lineup. Corsair was kind enough to provide us with samples of their H90 and H110 series cooling units, both using 140mm fans. We put these coolers up against their H80i 120mm fan-based unit as well as our custom-built Swiftech Apogee HD cooling system to see how well these new Corsair units performed. Starting at a base price of $99.99 for the Corsair H90 cooler, you can't go wrong with either unit.

Read more: Corsair Hydro Series H90 and H110 140mm-Based Liquid Cooler Review @ PC Perspective

NVIDIA Tegra 4 Looks To Be a Mobile Powerhouse @ HotHardware

Consider the gauntlet thrown down by NVIDIA. The company has provided additional information about its upcoming Tegra 4 and Tegra 4i mobile platforms at the Mobile World Congress conference currently taking place in Barcelona, including new performance benchmarks and architectural details. The well-timed platform upgrade comes at a time when Tegra 3, with its older GPU technology, is starting to lag behind the best the competition has to offer, which includes SoCs from Apple and Qualcomm. Tegra 4 is an attempt to wrestle back the performance crown in a big way.

Read more: NVIDIA Tegra 4 Looks To Be a Mobile Powerhouse @ HotHardware

Radeon Gallium3D Can Beat AMD's Catalyst In Select Workloads @ Phoronix

For seeing how far the open-source ATI/AMD Linux graphics driver has advanced, in this article are benchmarks from a vintage Radeon X1800XT (R520) graphics card when it's tested on a Catalyst Linux graphics driver from five years ago. The Ubuntu Linux releases every year going back to 2010 were then tested for reference to see how the open-source graphics driver matured just in the past three years. Here are the results in this article from the extensive round of testing.

All testing happened from an ATI Radeon X1800XT graphics card from an AMD Phenom 9500 Quad-Core system, so that system compatibility would be maintained going back to the Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTS release from 2008.

Read more: Radeon Gallium3D Can Beat AMD's Catalyst In Select Workloads @ Phoronix

Corsair H90 CPU Cooler Review @ Hardware Secrets

We tested the new Corsair H90, a sealed liquid cooling system for CPUs with a 140 mm radiator cooled by one 140 mm fan. Check it out!

Read more: Corsair H90 CPU Cooler Review @ Hardware Secrets

Auvio Bluetooth Portable Speaker Review @ TechwareLabs

Does your smartphone, tablet, or laptop need some extra oomph in the audio department? If youre like me, I use my smartphone for enjoying streaming music while I am working around the house, at the beach, or on the patio enjoying some drinks with friends. However, with the mantra of mobile devices being smaller/slimmer is better, the built-in speakers leave a lot to be desired. Fortunately, some companies have taken notice and now offer portable speakers for your mobile devices.

Read more: Auvio Bluetooth Portable Speaker Review @ TechwareLabs

NZXT Phantom 630 Case Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Not that long ago we took a look at NZXT’s Phantom 820 case. This case took the best parts of NZXT’s original Phantom and combined them with the best parts of their own Switch 810 case. We loved the case and even gave it our Recommended Award. With a pricetag of $249.99 the Phantom 820 may be a little too expensive for some people. At CES we were shown the Phantom 630, which seemed to be like the little brother to the Phantom 820. While NZXT explained that this is a less expensive Phantom it has a lot of new features that are not in the 820. Some of these features include dual SSD mounts behind the motherboard tray, three included 200mm fans, three removable hard drive cages, and a new motherboard tray design. Can NZXT release a new Phantom this soon and still impress? Read on as we find out...

Read more: NZXT Phantom 630 Case Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Dell Inspiron 17R-5721 Review @ TechReviewSource.com

In a rather strange twist, Dell has taken a normal-sized 17-inch laptop and fitted it with an Ultrabook processor and and discrete graphics. The Dell Inspiron 17R-5721 features a new exterior, a comfortable keyboard and solid performance.

Read more: Dell Inspiron 17R-5721 Review @ TechReviewSource.com

Fractal Design Node 605 Review @ Vortez

As the home entertainment system becomes ever more popular, amusement seekers are building compact computer systems to sit beside the TV for a multitude of uses. To house these computer systems is the versatile HTPC computer chassis. The look of this type of case is essential as it typically sits in the lounge, on show and will have to co-ordinate with other furniture.

Fractal Design have jumped on the HTPC bandwagon where only a small number of brands currently dominate. Can they seize the opportunity?

Under the spotlight today is the Node 605, a HTPC chassis sporting typical Scandinavian styling and allowing compatibility for ATX motherboards. In true Fractal Design fashion, Node 605 is designed with silence as its primary purpose, low-noise fans, a three-speed fan controller and noise damping material should all assist with keeping noise levels to an absolute minimum.

Read more: Fractal Design Node 605 Review @ Vortez

Logitech Bluetooth Easy-Switch Keyboard Review @ Legit Reviews

While the ease and portability of an iPhone, iPad or other smartphone/tablet makes it super convenient to use on the go, performing any kind of typing outside of short texts, tweets and Facebook posts can be cumbersome and tedious. Accessory manufacturers have recognized this and there are a number of options for external keyboards available, both wired and wireless. Switching these keyboards between devices can be just as painful so Logitech has seen fit to address that problem with a keyboard that allows the user to switch between devices in seconds. Appropriately designated as the Easy-Switch (model K811) keyboard, it can connect up to three devices at a time for use between any of them with just a key press..

Read more: Logitech Bluetooth Easy-Switch Keyboard Review @ Legit Reviews

NZXT HALE90 V2 1000 W @ techPowerUp

NZXT released the successor of their flagship HALE90 series, the HALE90 V2. The latter includes three members that retain the same efficiency ? Gold - while the competition has already jumped on the Platinum wagon, but it has many interesting features and looks great. In this review, we will look at the HALE90 V2 1000 W.

Read more: NZXT HALE90 V2 1000 W @ techPowerUp

Triple Monitor Gaming on a Budget @ Techspot

With 2012 delivering the industry's first 28nm GPUs from both AMD and Nvidia, we enjoyed watching the bitter ritual of one-upmanship as the titans scrambled to earn your cash. After a year's worth of staggered releases, price cuts, exclusive deals and driver updates, the dust finally settled enough last November for us to run a generational comparison between the Radeon HD 7000 and GeForce GTX 600 series.

Based on pricing and performance at the time, AMD's HD 7850 was the best $150 to $200 option, while Nvidia's GTX 660 Ti was the best solution when spending $250 to $300. Those parting with $400 and up were best off with the HD 7970 as it matched the GTX 680 in terms of performance but was almost $100 cheaper -- a stark contrast from our original findings if you care to revisit the GTX 680's review.

Considering next-gen cards are still months away, we didn't expect to bring any more GPU reviews until the second quarter of 2013. However, we realized there was a gap in our current-gen coverage: triple-monitor gaming. In fact, it's been almost two years since we pitted the HD 6990 and GTX 590 against each other to see how they could cope with the stress of running games at resolutions of up to 7680x1600.

Read more: Triple Monitor Gaming on a Budget @ Techspot

SteelSeries Free Mobile Wireless Controller Review @ Madshrimps

The SteelSeries Free is a tiny controller that can be paired via Bluetooth to mobile phones, tablets but also PC/Mac. Mobile games which support the gamepad aren’t many but on the PC we can play most of the games which support X360 controllers.

Read more: SteelSeries Free Mobile Wireless Controller Review @ Madshrimps

Gigabyte F2A85XM-D3H Motherboard (with AMD A8-5600K) Review @ KitGuru

Today we are going to look at the Gigabyte F2A85XM-D3H motherboard which supports AMDs latest Trinity APUs and occupies a Micro-ATX form factor. We will also be looking briefly at the performance of the AMD A8-5600K APU as we haven't had a chance to test it previously. This processor and motherboard combination isnt top-of-the-range, but should offer users a healthy balance between price and performance.

Read more: Gigabyte F2A85XM-D3H Motherboard (with AMD A8-5600K) Review @ KitGuru

OCZ Vector 256GB SSD Review @ Custom PC Review

When taking a look at the storage market, I think no other company out there has really matched OCZ in making the SSD market what it is today. OCZ was really one of the first companies to mass promote SSD technology, always one of the first companies to introduce new SSD technology, and over the past couple years, they’ve also literally been the catalyst to making SSDs as affordable as they are today.

While the hard charging, first to market strategy worked very well for OCZ in the early days, the sacrifices in testing and validation time ended up creating huge problems for OCZ down the line as the early production Vertex 3 drives were plagued with firmware issues that ended up giving OCZ quite a negative reputation in terms of quality. Without a doubt, a negative reputation in quality probably had significant impacts on sales, so early last year OCZ introduced the Vertex 4, which promised top tier performance with greater reliability. Of course knowing OCZ, this definitely wasn’t enough…

… Which then brings us to our review for today – the OCZ Vector 256GB SSD.

Read more: OCZ Vector 256GB SSD Review @ Custom PC Review

Cooler Master HAF XB High Performance LAN Enclosure Review @ Futurelooks

Some of the most convenient computer enclosures I’ve used for LAN parties and shows in the past have had an integrated handle on top. While handles make it very simple to transport a system, they were still very much your typical vertical tower style enclosures. Some were mid-tower and others were nearly full tower meaning you’re still hauling around a large system. Cooler Master, a big promoter of some very unique modder friendly enclosures, decided to get horizontal. In other words, they designed an attractive horizontal enclosure but gave it the heart of an open air test bench.

The Cooler Master HAF XB offers an open air design inside, but integrates the right amount of features including handles on each side, just in case you decide to go mobile when you take it to a place like a LAN party. Recently, I hit the InfernaLAN LANfest and with the help of GIGABYTE, I put together a very cool system to show offer featuring this chassis. Let’s see how it did in the field!

Read more: Cooler Master HAF XB High Performance LAN Enclosure Review @ Futurelooks

How to setup Flash Player in Steam Linux - another guide @ Dedoimedo

Today, we have two articles discussing Steam, on Linux no less! Party on! Article two: a not so short tutorial explaining additional methods of installing and configuring the Adobe Flash Player plugin for Steam on Linux, including downloading the 32-bit version through the package manager via command line, automated updates through wrapper scripts, pointers on file locations, permissions, security, convenience, audio problems, and more. Doubly enjoy!

Read more: How to setup Flash Player in Steam Linux - another guide @ Dedoimedo

How to install the official release of Steam in Ubuntu @ Dedoimedo

Today, we have two articles discussing Steam, on Linux no less! Party on! Article one: a short tutorial explaining how to install the official release of Valve Steam service for Linux (Ubuntu), covering command line usage, upgrades from Beta, system updates, the necessity of signing in to the Ubuntu Software Center with the Ubuntu One account to buy the software, accepting EULA, 32-bit versus 64-bit versions, and more. Enjoy.

Read more: How to install the official release of Steam in Ubuntu @ Dedoimedo

GTX TITAN Single Card Performance @ Bjorn3D

Recently Nvidia launched the GTX TITAN which has proven to be a monster of a card and with extreme capabilities for the most demanding enthusiast gamers. Last week, we released a preview. Now, after some time with the card we have some results to show what you can expect from a single TITAN in both 1080p and surround gaming.

Read more: GTX TITAN Single Card Performance @ Bjorn3D

Fractal Design Define XL R2 Review @ Hardware Canucks

Fractal Design’s original Define XL design was one of the most highly regarded full tower cases on the market and it perfectly followed the success of their initial Define R2. You see, to this day Fractal is one of the newest entrants into the case and cooling market but they’re one of a scant handful of companies which consistently release high quality products. They’ve accomplished this by sticking to a basic formula: don’t reinvented the wheel, simply improve upon existing designs until perfection is within reach.

Read more: Fractal Design Define XL R2 Review @ Hardware Canucks

SilverStone Sugo SG09 @ Phoronix

My experiences with the Sugo series go back to the Sugo SG01 in 2005. Even when this case series was brand new, their first product in this line-up was a spot-on success. Since then, I have looked at several other Sugo enclosures, many of which are still happily housing computer components in my office. With the new SG09 enclosure, SilverStone looks at it as redefining performance in small form factor computing by allowing extended height CPU coolers, no real limits on the length of supported graphics cards, and is a substantially different layout from traditional enclosures.

The advertised features on the Sugo SG09 include:

- Micro-ATX, DTX, Mini-ITX Motherboard Compatibility
- 220 x 354 x 295 mm Dimensions
- 2 x 3.5-Inch, 4 x 2.5-Inch Internal Drive Bays
- 1 x 120mm Exhaust Fan.
- 1 x 120mm Side Fan With 2 x 80/92mm Fan Slots
- 1 x 180mm Air Penetrator Top Fan
- 4 x Expansion Slots
- USB 3.0 Connectivity
- Support For Full-Length Graphics Cards
- Support For Full Tower CPU Coolers
- Support For Up To 1000W Strider Plus PSUs
- Mandatory Cable Routing Design
- Ample Fan Slots For Maximum Airflow
- Motherboard Backplate Opening Behind CPU Area
- 5.3 Kilogram Net Weight
- Support For Two Kensington Locks

Read more: SilverStone Sugo SG09 @ Phoronix

Hands on with the ASUS Fonepad, and ASUS PadFone Infinity @ Anandtech

In its annual tradition at MWC, ASUS held a press conference off-site to introduce some of its mobile devices. The introductions are always interesting and typically unique in the marketplace. This year was no different. To kick things off, ASUS introduced the Fonepad: a 7-inch Android 4.1.2 tablet that also serves as a phone. Samsung launched the Galaxy Note 8.0 earlier this week with a similar capability. While I don't expect many folks to want to hold a 7-inch tablet up to their face, having the ability to combine both tablet and smartphone functionality into one can be tempting. I can see the Fonepad being compelling if you don't make calls all that often but would rather carry a small tablet than a large smartphone, or if you are fine using a Bluetooth headset.

Read more: Hands on with the ASUS Fonepad, and ASUS PadFone Infinity @ Anandtech