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Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

AMDGPU-PRO 17.10 OpenCL vs. NVIDIA Shows Problems
ASUS RoG STRIX GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Graphics Card Review
Benq Zowie XL2735 en XL2540 review: gaming monsters
Dragon Flair Inferno GR4 (i7 7700K/ GTX1080) System Review
Fierce PC Imperial Hive Review
HyperX Pulsefire FPS Optical Gaming Mouse Review
Intel Optane 3D XPoint Memory Review
Intel Optane Memory Review - 1.4GB/s Speed & 300K IOPS for $44
Intel Optane Memory Review – 32GB Module With 3D Xpoint Tested
Intel Optane Memory With 3D XPoint Review: Easy, Robust PC Acceleration
Intel's 32GB Optane Memory storage accelerator reviewed
Intel's Coffee Lake CPUs Likely Compatible With LGA 1151 Motherboards
MSI GeForce GTX 1060 GAMING X PLUS Review
MSI Z270 SLI PLUS Motherboard Review
News: HyperX's Pulsefire gaming mouse reviewed
Palit GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GameRock Premium 11 GB
PowerColor Red Devil Golden Sample RX 580 Review
Razer Blade (Kaby Lake Core i7) with Razer Core / GTX 1080
RX Vega to launch within next two months says AMD
RX580 Crossfire Testing
Team Group T-FORCE CARDEA M.2 480GB SSD Review
The Intel Optane Memory (SSD) Preview: 32GB of Kaby Lake Caching
The Intel Optane Memory Module Review



AMDGPU-PRO 17.10 OpenCL vs. NVIDIA Shows Problems

Last week I began posting a number of AMD Radeon RX 580 Linux benchmarks but not covered so far has been the OpenCL compute performance considering the Clover-based compute stack isn't good enough for benchmarking and is basically unmaintained these days by AMD. Meanwhile, their ROCm stack is still being brought up and is not yet fully-opened nor optimized yet for performance. Thus for those with desktop cards looking for basic OpenCL support are left with the AMDGPU-PRO hybrid driver with its closed-source OpenCL driver. In this article are some fresh OpenCL benchmarks of AMDGPU-PRO on the RX 580 and other Radeon GPUs compared to NVIDIA with its Linux OpenCL driver.

Read full article @ Phoronix

ASUS RoG STRIX GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Graphics Card Review

ASUS are one of the biggest and most popular brands in the world when it comes to high-end gaming hardware, and their RoG product ranges have won many awards for being some of the best on the market. With that in mind, I'm very excited today to be testing their latest RoG STRIX GeForce GTX 1080 Ti OC Edition Graphics Card. It comes with powerful factory overclocks, a massive cooler, and promises to deliver blazing fast performance vs the standard GTX 1080 Ti.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Benq Zowie XL2735 en XL2540 review: gaming monsters

A few months ago, Benq introduced the XL2735. A remarkable new gaming monitor with wqhd resolution and a 144Hz panel that uses a self-developed anti motion blur technique. Another new monitor, the XL2540, was added in November. This is the first native 240Hz gaming monitor available on the market. Both devices are meant for different target audiences, although one thing is certain: Benq is focusing on the power users.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

Dragon Flair Inferno GR4 (i7 7700K/ GTX1080) System Review

Dragon Flair is a relatively new system integrator based in Ireland. They got in-touch with us and today we are looking at a high-end gaming PC from the company – the Inferno GR4. With as much emphasis on the system’s aesthetics as there is on its hardware, it will be very interesting to see if the Inferno GR4 can justify its hefty £2139 asking price.

Read full article @ KitGuru

Fierce PC Imperial Hive Review

Today we have in our hands the devilish delights of the all-new Red Devil Golden Sample RX 580. The Golden Sample goes beyond what the standard Red Devil is capable of, by offering an improved cooler and higher clock speeds. Unlike previous generations of the Devil series, this RX 580 variant opts for a double-fan configuration rather than the usual triple-fan - but instead we get two, larger 100mm dual ball bearing fans which promise to deliver on performance and low-noise.

Read full article @ Vortez

HyperX Pulsefire FPS Optical Gaming Mouse Review

HyperX just released their very first gaming mouse called the Pulsefire FPS and as you will see in our review it follows the same exact "principles" as their very successful Alloy FPS mechanical gaming keyboard.

Read full article @ NikKTech

Intel Optane 3D XPoint Memory Review

Intel’s new Optane Memory Technology is more than just an SSD accessed by existing cache technology. Intel paired the latest in storage media technology with an intelligent algorithm to increase system, and not just disk, performance.

Read full article @ Toms Hardware

Intel Optane Memory Review - 1.4GB/s Speed & 300K IOPS for $44

Intel Optane Memory is Intel' first phase in release of their Optane flash technology line that Intel hopes might revolutionize the flash industry. At its most basic level, it is SSD storage that caches your hard drive with performance speeds up to 1.4GB/s, a speed that has yet to be seen for this type of storage in the industry. The term 'Optane' is the new branding designation for flash products using Intel' newest 3D XPoint flash memory. 3D XPoint just may be game changing, and in fact, it could almost be argued that Intel/Micron may have just invented a better wheel when the entire 3D Xpoint story is told.

3D XPoint, development of which is shared between both Intel and Micron, changes the way data is stored on flash memory, increasing data transfer speed and endurance significantly. We will elaborate on that within this report. Most importantly though, we hope this review provides a very easily understood study of what this will mean to you in the future, as Optane is sure leave its mark on flash technology as we see it.

Read full article @ The SSD Review

Intel Optane Memory Review – 32GB Module With 3D Xpoint Tested

If you building a PC on a budget this year you'll likely find yourself deciding between a high capacity Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or a smaller, albeit faster SATA III Solid-State Drive (SSD). This is where Intel Optane Memory Modules are expected to fit into the market as it combines Intel 3D XPoint Technology with the latest in SSD caching advancements. The idea for SSD caching is that the important recently accessed data is placed onto really fast caching drive (Intel Optane Memory) and can be quickly accessed when needed by the system instead of having to pull the data from the slower hard drive.

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

Intel Optane Memory With 3D XPoint Review: Easy, Robust PC Acceleration

Intel Optane Memory is designed to accelerate the storage subsystem on compatible machines, to improve transfer speeds and reduce latency. It is among the first products to leverage 3D XPoint memory technology that was co-developed by Intel and Micron. 3D XPoint offers many of the same properties as NAND flash memory, but with much higher endurance and certain performance characteristics that are similar to DRAM.

We revealed many details regarding Intel Optane Memory a couple of weeks ago. To quickly reiterate, Intel Optane Memory products and their associated software are designed to cache the most frequently accessed bits of data on a compatible system, which can significantly increase performance and improve responsiveness...

Read full article @ HotHardware

Intel's 32GB Optane Memory storage accelerator reviewed

Intel's Optane Memory tech purports to offer most of the responsiveness of an SSD to systems whose primary storage device is a good old hard drive. We put a 32GB stick of Optane Memory to the test to see whether it lives up to Intel's claims.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

Intel's Coffee Lake CPUs Likely Compatible With LGA 1151 Motherboards

Another interesting tidbit to have dropped from recent SiSotware leaks on Intel's upcoming Coffee Lake CPUs is that these could be backwards compatible with LGA 1151 motherboards that rock the 200 series chipset (and perhaps even the 100 series.) This last tidbit seems to be a bit of a stretch, even if it does end up being somewhat of a motherboard manufacturer's choice whether or not to issue updated, supporting BIOSes for the most recent Intel processors on their older boards. But why lose so many sales of motherboards equipped with Intel's upcoming, complimentary 300 series chipsets?

Read full article @ techPowerUp

MSI GeForce GTX 1060 GAMING X PLUS Review

We check out the new MSI GeForce GTX 1060 GAMING X PLUS edition. The new revision comes fitted with faster memory, bumping it from 8 Gbps towards 9 Gbps at default clocks. Oh hey, and it tweaks to 10 Gbps as well.

Read full article @ Guru3D

MSI Z270 SLI PLUS Motherboard Review

Like most motherboard manufactures MSI has quite the Intel Z270 motherboard lineup, separated into a few different categories. Starting off you have the Gaming Series, which of course is targeted at gamers as well as enthusiasts. Next you have the Performance Gaming, which is where you’ll find the Krait and Carbon motherboards. The last gaming series from MSI is the Arsenal Gaming Series, which has the Tomahawk, Mortar and Bazooka board. Not part of the Gaming Series is the Pro Series, which is designed for great performance, but without all of the flash and extra’s you’ll find on the gaming series boards. Today we are checking out the Z270 SLI PLUS which is part of the Pro Series. It has great features like Military Class 5 components, Turbo M.2 slots, USB 3.1, support for SLI and Crossfire, and much more. You get all of this for a very reasonable $133! Let’s jump in and see what this motherboard is all about!

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

News: HyperX's Pulsefire gaming mouse reviewed

HyperX is making a foray into yet-unexplored gaming peripheral territory today with its Pulsefire gaming mouse, a simple and software-free rodent. We put this mouse to the mat to see whether HyperX's keep-it-simple approach plays well with gaming mice.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

Palit GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GameRock Premium 11 GB

Palit's GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GameRock Premium is the company's latest flagship card. It introduces a new fan design in which two stacks of two fans each operate in a counter-rotating fashion. Also the card comes with a dual BIOS and a large overclock out of the box.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

PowerColor Red Devil Golden Sample RX 580 Review

PowerColor's Red Devil Golden Sample RX 580 is an excellent showcase of how the new 500-series can deliver an effective rival to NVIDIA's mid-range GTX 1060 (and in some cases even GTX 1070). Our Golden Sample card handled DX12 games with ease and even proved an impressive level of prowess at 1440p and 4K resolutions.

Read full article @ Vortez

Razer Blade (Kaby Lake Core i7) with Razer Core / GTX 1080

We began our recent review of the 2017 Razer Blade (http://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/laptops/leo-waldock/razer-blade-with-gtx-1060-laptop-2016-2017-review) by telling you that Razer had updated the graphics chip from GTX 970M to GTX 1060. The laptop has continued to evolve and now it’s the turn of the CPU which has been changed from Intel Core i7-6700HQ Skylake to Core i7-7700HQ Kaby Lake.

The only other change we found in the specification was a minor update from DDR4-2133MHz RAM to DDR4-2400MHz. As you will see in our video this means the revised Razer Blade is effectively unchanged.

Read full article @ KitGuru

RX Vega to launch within next two months says AMD

Confirmed on Facebook that it will be ready "this quarter". It feels like eons ago since the HEXUS editor-in-chief published his in-depth three page AMD Vega GPU architecture uncovered feature. Then about a month ago we heard, via a Tech Summit in Beijing, that RX Vega was "just around the corner". Official mentions of Vega have been conspicuously absent since that time.

Read full article @ Hexus

RX580 Crossfire Testing

So last week AMD launched the 500 series of cards and I had the chance to check out two different RX580 variations. So like always, if I get a pair of cards in and they support Crossfire or SLI I have to see what they are capable of. So as soon as I had my reviews posted I got the XFX and Sapphire cards on the testbench and started seeing what they can do. Like previous multi-card testing articles, this is mostly just me posting up results with less commentary than normal. So get ready to flip through a whole bunch of results.

Read full article @ LanOC Reviews

Team Group T-FORCE CARDEA M.2 480GB SSD Review

We review the new Group T-FORCE CARDEA M.2 480GB NVMe SSD. This slice of M.2 NAND is fast and even has been fitted with a large heatsink. Will Team Group be able to deliver a unit that manages to impress?

Read full article @ Guru3D

The Intel Optane Memory (SSD) Preview: 32GB of Kaby Lake Caching

Last week, we took a look at Intels first product based on their 3D XPoint non-volatile memory technology: the Optane SSD DC P4800X, a record-breaking flagship enterprise SSD. Today Intel launches the first consumer product under the Optane brand: the Intel Optane Memory, a far smaller device with a price that is 20 times cheaper. Despite having "Memory" in its name, this consumer Optane Memory product is not a NVDIMM nor is it in any other way a replacement for DRAM. Instead, it is a very small (16GB or 32GB) but very fast NVMe SSD for use as a cache device in front of slower SATA storage.

Read full article @ Anandtech

The Intel Optane Memory Module Review

Intel's Optane technology is finally available for home users in the form of an affordable, high performance add-in 32GB module. But can its benchmark results align with expectations?

Read full article @ Hardware Canucks