Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles, including NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti reviews, Seagate Backup Plus USB 3.0 4TB External Drive Review, OCZ Vector 150 SSD Review, ECS GANK DRONE Z87H3-A3X LGA 1150 Motherboard Review, and Ubuntu is back with Saucy Salamander



Seagate Backup Plus USB 3.0 4TB External Drive Review @ Warp2Search

Ok, I was having an urgent issue with my faithful Windows Home Media Server becoming cranky. I needed something to back up to quick. Being that I take a LOT of pictures, I needed something large. Luckily my local electronics shop had a 4TB Seagate Backup Plus for about $170 on hand. 4 TB, 2 year warranty, USB 3.0 and about $40 more than a comparable 3 TB-- what's not to like? So I grabbed it, brought it home, ripped open the box and proceeded to save my digital @**. I liked it enough that I thought it deserved digging into a bit deeper.

There's not much to set up. Plug in the power cable and plug in the provided USB 3.0 cable and your machine will detect it like any other drive. When you look at the device in Windows, you'll notice that the drive will show as 3.63 TB and not 4 TB. No, they didn't rip you off of 0.37 TB, it's that Windows does the math based on 1024 bytes as opposed to 1000 bytes.

Jacked into my USB 3.0 hub, I was able to consistently grab approximately 10 Gig in about 3 minute, ( 3.3 gig per minute. That's not too shabby), and read /writes were well within or better than what I would expect from a current external drive. (130+ MB/s read) Now that said, if you do not have USB 3.0 - expect something more like 30-35 MB/s read -write, still that's fine for backups.

Read more: Seagate Backup Plus USB 3.0 4TB External Drive Review @ Warp2Search

Raidmax Vampire Case Review @ OCC

Starting with the negative and working to what the chassis has to redeem itself, I'm going to start with one of my larger complaints of false advertising. This I cannot let go; I have been duped in the past and more than once. It's that feeling when you get a gift for Christmas and realize your parents meant well, but got you the off brand, cheaper version of your favorite toy. Raidmax intentionally, or unintentionally, has played a role in creating a false image of a chassis with a nice blue glow to it. It's simply not what is pictured, not even close in my mind. As explained before, both the website and box show a nice glowing blue chassis and what you receive is a semi-blue fan in the front; nothing else. Raidmax could resolve this by either adding a blue LED fan in the rear or just changing the image.

Read more: Raidmax Vampire Case Review @ OCC

OCZ Vector 150 240GB SSD Review @ Legit Reviews

It was this time last year that we wrote about our affinity for the then brand new Vector series drive from OCZ which flaunted their homegrown Indilinx Barefoot 3 M00 controller. We had high praise not only for the performance but also for OCZ’s persistence with their Indilinx acquisition made a year or so prior, finally reaping the rewards with a finished product they could be proud of. The drive was a hit with the reviewer and consumer communities alike and the Vector effectively stole the OCZ performance crown from the once prominent Vertex line. To that end, they've unveiled the latest incarnation of the Vector drive named the Vector 150 which I'm sure they hope brings good fortune. Similar to the original Vector drive, it carries the same Barefoot 3 M00 controller but shrinks the MLC NAND die size down from 25nm to 19nm, following the industry trend. A reduction in NAND architecture generally yields less endurance but in comparison to the original Vector drive, the Vector 150 ups the anticipated endurance from a rating of a five year 20GB/day to 50GB/day which is quite an improvement. Read on to see how it performs...

Read more: OCZ Vector 150 240GB SSD Review @ Legit Reviews

OCZ Vector 150 SSD Review Rattling The 120GB Competition @ The SSD Review

When it comes to solid-state drives, OCZ needs no introduction. The manufacturer has been around long before SSDs first entered the consumer market, and helped push them towards the performance and affordability standards of today. Out of the original bunch of companies, OCZ is one of the very few remaining that still holds a sizeable share in the SSD market.

Read more: OCZ Vector 150 SSD Review Rattling The 120GB Competition @ The SSD Review

Nvidia's GeForce GTX 780 Ti graphics card reviewed @ The Tech Report

The GeForce GTX 780 Ti has a clear mission: to best the best single-GPU graphics card in the world. To succeed, it'll have to unseat AMD's Radeon R9 290X.

Read more: Nvidia's GeForce GTX 780 Ti graphics card reviewed @ The Tech Report

Nvidia GTX 780 Ti 3GB Graphics Card Review @ eTeknix

In the next few days to a week AMD will be launching the HD 7990 graphics card, this represents to first challenge to Nvidia’s superiority in the ultra high performance consumer graphics market segment. No longer will Nvidia’s GTX Titan and GTX 690 be the only options at $999 price point. AMD’s pricing will be crucial here because as of late Nvidia has not been forced to change its pricing because of what is an essential monopoly. Were AMD to hit back with a low priced HD 7990, say $849, then Nvidia would be forced to lower the prices of both their GTX 690 and GTX Titan to match. However, price lowering isn’t Nvidia’s only strategy as fresh reports suggest they are working on two new variants of the GTX Titan graphics card.

Nvidia could be launching two new graphics cards from the GK110 GPU design. The GTX Titan Ultra and GTX Titan LE, which we have already heard about before. The GTX Titan LE is a slightly scaled down version of the original GTX Titan with only 13 out of 15 SMX units enabled giving 2496 CUDA Cores, 208 TMUs, 40 ROPs, a 320 bit GDDR5 interface and 5GB of GDDR5. The GTX Titan Ultra on the other hand is a minor improvement over the GTX Titan original. The original GTX Titan uses just 14 out of the 15 SMX units on the GK110 chip, so the GTX Titan Ultra would use 15 out of 15 SMX units giving it 2880 CUDA cores and 240 TMUs.

The pricing of both these new cards are still unknown. You’d hope that Nvidia choose to put the GTX Titan Ultra where the current GTX Titan is and then knock the price of everything else down. Though, how generous Nvidia are with the pricing will all depend on how threatened they feel by AMD’s HD 7990 when it comes to market. Given Nvidia’s history of high pricing it seems likely that the GTX Titan Ultra will come in at $1100, with the GTX Titan remaining at $1000 and the GTX Titan LE coming in at $700.

Read more: Nvidia GTX 780 Ti 3GB Graphics Card Review @ eTeknix

OCZ Vector 150 240GB @ PureOverclock

As technology progresses, it’s not uncommon to see new iterations of existing models hit the marketplace; evolutionary sequels, so to speak. And OCZ has had many instances of this, with their Vertex series of solid states drives a well known example. Another in the latest progression forward is the Vector SSD, an impressive drive we reviewed that featured the Indlinx Barefoot 3 controller for impressive performance.

The latest in the OCZ “enthusiast” classed series is the Vector 150, which stays true to their winning formula of performance, features, and value. So it’s no surprise the Barefoot 3 controller still lies at the heart of the SSD, though there have been a few improvements made in terms of longevity and durability. A move to different NAND flash highlights more of the changes.

Today marks the launch of the OCZ Vector 150, and we’re looking at the 240GB model. Set to retail for $240 at the price of $1/GB, it crosses into a slightly more mainstream pricing segment, while still looking to offer enthusiast-classed performance.

Read more: OCZ Vector 150 240GB @ PureOverclock

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Reviewed @ Futurelooks

Both 2012 and 2013 have turned out to be great years for NVIDIA. Both from an engineering and a gamer stand point. The Kepler architecture has proven to be the most scalable GPU architecture to date. First, Titan crashed through the Quadro barrier delivering unprecedented CUDA processing for pro desktop users as well as epic frame rates. Next, the GTX 780 answered the call for enthusiasts demanding Titan-like frame rates without the Titan price. It appears NVIDIA has stepped up again with another powerful remix dubbed the GTX 780 Ti. This graphics processor may look like the GTX 780 and Titan, but it’s faster than both and sits right between in pricing. Interesting.

Read more: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Reviewed @ Futurelooks

OCZ Vector 150 SSD Review @ Techspot

The Vector 150 is an evolutionary step forward for OCZ's enthusiast series, improving the original Vector's endurance and security by supposedly being able to withstand 150% more writes along with providing AES-256 encryption. By focusing on those features, OCZ left us with the impression that speed wasn't a priority, but that hasn't prevented the company from boasting about breaking performance barriers.

OCZ says its Vector 150 series offers better sustained and mixed workload results than its first Vector and while we'll test those claims shortly, for now it's worth noting that the company's pricing certainly seems to reflect a speed boost at no less than $1.00 per gigabyte. The 120GB model is set at $130 ($1.08/GB), the 240GB version is fetching $240 ($1.00/GB) and the 480GB Vector 150 is going for $500 ($1.04/GB).

By comparison, OCZ's performance series Vertex 450 is priced at $128 for a 120GB drive ($1.06/GB), $230 for 256GB ($0.89/GB) and $500 for 512GB ($0.97/GB), while Samsung's 256GB SSD 840 Pro is only $0.83/GB and a TLC-equipped 840 Evo of the same size costs a mere $0.66/GB. Point being, it's easy to find a snappy yet affordable SSD -- even among OCZ's own offerings with the 256GB Vertex 450 being such a great value.

Read more: OCZ Vector 150 SSD Review @ Techspot

ASUS Nexus 7 Gen 2 Android Tablet Review @ TechwareLabs.com

us has recently introduced the successor to the popular Nexus 7. The original Nexus 7 was a svelt, small, light, and affordable 7 inch tablet built by the technology giant Asus. The small portable tablet market is saturated with entries by many manufacturers all competing for your heard earned money. In order to be successful in this category you have to present a significant value or set of features to stand out from the crowd. The market is currently dominated by the iPad/iPad Air , iPad Mini, Samsungs Note 7/8, and Tab series. All that changes with the new Asus Nexus 7 Gen 2

Read more: ASUS Nexus 7 Gen 2 Android Tablet Review @ TechwareLabs.com

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780Ti Review @ HiTech Legion

The well-known saying is that you get what you pay for. Of course that means when you buy high end products, you expect to pay a high price, but you also should get the best product for your money. It doesn’t matter if you are buying a sweet guitar, a high quality knife, or the newest sports car. In theory the more cash that is dished out on an item the better it is going to perform, look, and sound. It seems like in the end it is hit or miss if spending the extra is really worth it. In some cases you get something amazing and in others you end up paying a premium for a product and it is just not worth the cost.

There are always the products that perform are a really high level, but either look terrible, or have some annoying property about them that you can’t stand. Take for example many sports cars that pump out a ton of horsepower, but don’t have enough legroom to drive for more them 20 or 30 minutes at a time. With computer components these judgments are usually made based on a performance to price ratio with the consideration of power usage and noise levels. Even the most hardcore gamers wouldn’t want a component in their system that sounds like the jet engine of a Messerschmitt Me 262, one of the first jet powered fighter aircraft.

Read more: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780Ti Review @ HiTech Legion

OCZ Vector SSD 150 Review @ Guru3D

OCZ is updating their Vector series SSD with the all new Vector 150. It’s based on the Indilinx Barefoot 3 controller and we’ll test the 240GB NAND flash memory model. The end result is an SSD that is downright fast. This round though speed is not trivial or topic of debate as the purpose of the Vector 150 is not to be extremely fast only, but also extremely reliable.

See performance these days with most of the SATA3 SSDs you really don't have anything to complain anymore. I've stated this a couple of times already, whether your SSD is reading 450 MB/sec or 550 MB/sec, honestly you are not going to notice that. As such the focus should really shift towards a more long-lasting life-span of these products. With Flash NAND memory modules getting smaller and smaller, we also see the program erase cycle (P/E) lifespan being shortened. In the past MLC memory cells could be written like 5000 times before they die and have to move the data towards another proper functioning MLC cell. These days we see 19nm memory being able to write 2500 maybe 3000 P/E cycles before they die. Now, numerous tests already have been showing that it can take 5 years writing 20 GB per day / 365 days a year before such an SSD would slowly die, but still that fact will always be nagging inside your head. This concept has been bothering OCZ as well and they made some design changes for the new Vector 150. Basically a technology called over provisioning is now used to ensure a long lasting lifespan (you guys know this from SandForce products who is over-provisioning it as cache).

So very simply put, out of a 256GB SSD, OCZ now nabs away 16 GB (240GB) and uses it for over-provisioning. The trick here is that whenever a NAND cell reaches its end of life status now the data on that cell will be written towards a cell that you have over provisioned. This way OCZ now claims that their SSD will last 5 times longer / or has 5 times more writes, before it becomes an issue. It is a rather bold statement, but with the Vector 150 OCZ states that you may write 50 GB of data per day / 365 days a year and the drive would still be fine. In our previous models we have always stated that a power user will write perhaps 10 GB a day (which already is a LOT) and then your average 19nm NAND Flash based SSD would last 5 years. Reverse and apply that statement and with 10GB writes day/365 a year the OCZ Vector 150 would last you 25 years at the very least. So yes, while stability and safety of your data have become a number one priority for the manufacturers, the technology keeps advancing in a fast pace as it does, the performance numbers a good SSD offers these days are simply breathtaking. 450 to 500 MB/sec on SATA3 is the norm for a single controller based SSD. Next to that the past year NAND flash memory (the storage memory used inside an SSD) has become much cheaper as well. Prices now roughly settle just under 1 USD per GB. That was two to threefold two years ago. As such SSD technology and NAND storage has gone mainstream. The market is huge, fierce and competitive, but it brought us where we are today ... nice volume SSDs at acceptable prices with very fast performance.

Read more: OCZ Vector SSD 150 Review @ Guru3D

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews

When we first told you about the NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan video card back in February 2013, we noted that it was powered by NVIDIA’s GK110 ‘Kepler’ GPU and that one of the Streaming Multiprocessors (SMX unit) was disabled. Our review on the GeForce GTX Titan 6GB showed that the card was easily able to beat any single-GPU powered card on the market at the time. NVIDIA followed up the launch of the GeForce GTX Titan 6GB with the more affordable GeForce GTX 780 3GB that had two more SMX units disabled at the end of May 2013. Those two cards were all that NVIDIA needed to dominate the high-end desktop graphics card market for nearly a year. Many gamers and enthusiasts forgot that a fully enabled Kepler GK110 GPU even existed. NVIDIA had certainly not forgotten, they just didn’t mention it. NVIDIA was keeping this trump card close to their chest and waiting for the right time to unleash the beast.

When AMD released the Radeon R9 290X video card, they claimed it was the fastest in the world and our review showed that it was overall the gaming graphics card on the market at normal resolutions and then again when we tested it on a 4K monitor. Around the time of the AMD Radeon R9 290X launch, NVIDIA announced that the would be releasing the GeForce GTX 780 Ti that would be their new flagship card. Shortly after that announcement, NVIDIA cut the prices some of the cards and said that the GeForce GTX 780 Ti would be $699. This was a very unusual move as seldom do we see NVIDIA announce a card, let alone the pricing, weeks in advance.

AMD was able to say they had the fastest video card on the planet for exactly two weeks, but now NVIDIA has released the GeForce GTX 780 Ti and claim that they now have the fastest card in the world!

Read more: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews

Of course you don't like Call of Duty, you're a gamer @ KitGuru

Ah, I love the smell of a good internet war in the morning. No, there hasn’t been some well deserved internet vigilantism and no there isn’t a middle-eastern coup being livestreamed via Twitter, nothing unimportant like that. No, a new Call of Duty has been released and everyone who’s anyone has said how awful it is. While reviewers have at least let it down gently, suggesting that it’s single player is dull, multiplayer features have been removed and that it’s all getting a bit tiresome, the internet has reacted much harder.

Read more: Of course you don't like Call of Duty, you're a gamer @ KitGuru

NVIDIA GTX 780 Ti Video Card Review @ Hardware Asylum

There comes a time in every GPU launch, and maybe that time for you is now, when it doesn’t hurt to start thinking about the future. Currently that future is full of things such as 4K resolution displays, dynamically changing clock frequencies and the thought that AMD could have a faster GPU. To handle these you're going to need one (or more) massive video cards. During a press event in Montreal there was a new GPU was announced to address these things and it is called the GTX 780 Ti.

The GTX 780 Ti, according to NVIDIA, is the fastest GPU in the world and is yet designed to do much more than win benchmarks. For instance the gaming enthusiast wants more from their games including higher resolution, better performance and quiet operation. These are key for creating an immersive experience and are why gamers will go to great lengths to get the best hardware possible. In this review we will be looking at a reference version of the GTX 780 Ti using the stock metalized cooler.

For those of you following the GTX Titan launch earlier this year you will know that the GPU used on that card was an extension of the GK110 architecture designed for super computers. Given that the GPU is similar to those used on retail cards it was easy for them to repurpose the chip and thus make the first retail/professional cards not tied to a numbered series. With that card came a variety of new technologies including the famous GPU Boost 2.0 which will dynamically change GPU frequency based on pre-defined temperature targets. In laymens terms the cooler you can keep the GPU the faster and more powerful it becomes.

Read more: NVIDIA GTX 780 Ti Video Card Review @ Hardware Asylum

Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev. 27.2 @ Tech ARP

These days, there are so many graphics card models that it has become quite impossible to keep up with the different configurations. Therefore, we decided to compile this guide to provide an easy reference for those who are interested in comparing the specifications of the various desktop GPUs in the market as well as those already obsolescent or obsolete.

Currently covering 571 desktop graphics cards, this comprehensive comparison will allow you to easily compare 24 different specifications for each and every card. We hope it will prove to be a useful reference. We will keep this guide updated regularly, so do check back for the latest updates.

To make it easy to compare the specifications, we split it up into three sections for your convenience. Just click on Split List to access them. However, if you prefer to compare all the graphics cards for each company in a single table, we also have a single list which can be accessed by clicking on Full List. Just click on the company and the type of list you prefer.

Read more: Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev. 27.2 @ Tech ARP

Asus Transformer Book T100TA (64GB) Review @ TechReviewSource.com

For a sub-$400 price, the Asus Transformer Book T100TA is a fully functional Windows 8.1 hybrid tablet, and the natural successor to the netbook ideal from a few years ago. It gives you a bright, usable PC an affordable price. Plus it avoids all of the compatibility issues that plague tablets running mobile operating systems like iOS, Android, or Windows RT.

Read more: Asus Transformer Book T100TA (64GB) Review @ TechReviewSource.com

OCZ Vector 150 Series Solid State Drives Tested @ HotHardware.com

OCZ is at the ready with a brand new line of solid state drives in its popular Vector family of products, targeted at performance-conscious PC enthusiasts. The new Vector 150 builds upon the success of the original Vector, which debuted last year at about this time, but offers better sustained performance and longer endurance, despite its use of 19nm NAND flash memory.

We've got a couple of Vector 150 drives in-house, in 120GB and 240GB capacities, and have the full scoop laid out for you on the pages ahead...

Read more: OCZ Vector 150 Series Solid State Drives Tested @ HotHardware.com

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Review @ OCC

In my testing, a boost clock speed of 1291MHz was reached with a memory speed of 1940MHz for a stunning improvement in 3DMark scoring. The baseline clock speeds for the GTX 780 Ti are 875MHz on the core with a typical GPU Boost 2.0 frequency of around 928MHz over a wide array of games. During my testing, I never saw speeds drop below the 928MHz threshold. A much different strategy than what we recently saw with the R9 290X, which when run in Quiet Mode would shed clock speed as fast as donuts disappearing at the morning roll call at your local police department. No such troubles here. Both manufacturers use dynamic clock speeds, but it's how well it's implemented that makes the difference once the cards heat up during gaming. This is where we see another point of difference. The vapor chamber cooling solution used by NVIDIA for its GTX 700 Series Kepler cores has been rock solid in terms of cooling efficiency and the low noise profile it uses thanks to the improved fan algorithms implemented over successive launches.

Read more: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Review @ OCC

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti: Taking GK110 To The Max @ HotHardware.com

While out at AMD's tech days in Hawaii, a number of folks were chit-chatting about recent developments and some of our peers felt compelled to mention how "terrified" NVIDIA was of AMD Hawaii GPU. They said that AMD caught NVIDIA off guard, and that they wouldn't have any real answer until well into 2014. We sat back and listened to all the chatter and wondered how these things could be said with such conviction. Quite frankly, it just didn't make any sense to us. NVIDIA's had the GK110 GPU that powers the GeForce GTX Titan, 780, and now the 780 Ti done for ages, and prior to today, the GPU's full capabilities hadn't been available on a consumer GPU. Remember, the GK110 used on the GTX Titan has one of its SMXes disabled.

Anyway, to think NVIDIA didn't have something up their virtual sleeve seemed outlandish to us, and wouldn't you know it, a couple of weeks removed from AMD's launch and what do we have? A new flagship from NVIDIA that's ready action-The GeForce GTX 780 Ti. Take a look...

Read more: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti: Taking GK110 To The Max @ HotHardware.com

Nvidia GTX780Ti Review (1600p, Ultra HD 4K) @ KitGuru

AMD have been taking all the headlines in the last month, releasing a slew of graphics cards – including the class leading (but noisy) R9 290 and R9 290X. The R9 290X managed to take the performance crown from Nvidia’s GTX 780 and GTX Titan in the ultra high end at both 1600p and Ultra HD 4K resolutions. Nvidia have been hard at work behind the scenes however and today they release their new GTX780 Ti. The big question we need to answer … is it enough to push the formidable R9 290X into second place?

Read more: Nvidia GTX780Ti Review (1600p, Ultra HD 4K) @ KitGuru

OCZ Vector 150 240GB SSD Review @ KitGuru

OCZ have been at the forefront of Solid State Technology now for years, and today we look at their new Vector 150 drive. The Vector 150 is built on the latest 19nm process geometry NAND to deliver the best performance with both compressible and incompressible data. OCZ are focusing now on the endurance of the new Indilinx drive which is rated for an industry leading 50GB a day of host writes for 5 years. Shipped in a slim 7mm housing it will also fit inside the latest super slim ultraportable laptops.

Read more: OCZ Vector 150 240GB SSD Review @ KitGuru

OCZ Vector 150 (240GB) SSD Review @ HardwareHeaven.com

Over the past few months some of the major players in the SSD marketplace have been refreshing their product ranges, such as Samsung and their EVO release and Crucial moving into 1TB storage with the M500. Now it is OCZ turn with a refresh of their Vector range.

Read more: OCZ Vector 150 (240GB) SSD Review @ HardwareHeaven.com

OCZ Vector 150 SSD Review (240GB) @ The SSD Review

Perhaps one of the best mindsets I have seen in my six years in the SSD industry is the ambition to, not only improve SSD technology, but to also take them to the next level. Selling a consumer SSD as an enterprise one will always be a shot in the dark, but the appetite of SSD manufacturers to push their consumer SSDs into that very realm can only be seen as a huge plus to the consumer. The inevitable effect today has top manufacturers watching one another very closely, only to run back to the boardroom with their teams in hopes of creating a better product, all the while understanding that SSD pricing continues to decline.

OCZ has traditionally done just this and today is no different as we provide analysis on their newest enthusiast level SSD, the OCZ Vector 150. Consider that, not so long ago many wrote about OCZ to be evacuating the consumer SSD market for enterprise, this release is a bit unexpected. Add to this the news that OCZ is also working on the new RevoDrive 400 to replace their longstanding king of the hill Revo 3 Series PCIe solutions, and we can see that OCZ still has their feet firmly planted in the consumer SSD world.

Read more: OCZ Vector 150 SSD Review (240GB) @ The SSD Review

OCZ Vector 150 240 GB @ techPowerUp

OCZ's new Vector 150 is a direct replacement for the Vector, which uses the same Indilinx controller. The only major change is that flash chips from Toshiba are now used, instead of chips from Micron.

Read more: OCZ Vector 150 240 GB @ techPowerUp

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Performance Review @ Hardware Canucks

When it was first announced at NVIDIA’s Montreal event, it was obvious that the GeForce GTX 780 Ti was an attempt to recapture the performance crown from AMD’s extremely capable R9 290X. However, NVIDIA does have an interesting situation to contend with since the 290X currently goes for $549, competes well against the almighty TITAN but hasn’t been widely available in the retail channels since its launch. This has left the door open for a more powerful, highly targeted alternative NVIDIA is ready to go.

The GTX 780 Ti is the card we’ve all been waiting for since Kepler was first announced as it represents the first GeForce-branded unveiling of NVIDIA’s fully enabled 7.1 billion transistor GK110 core. This means it has one more Streaming Multiprocessor active than the TITAN but it still retains the same 384-bit memory controller and ROP layout.

Having that extra SM grants access to some additional processing backbone in the form of 2880 CUDA cores, 240 texture units, additional L1 instruction cache, and another all-important PolyMorph Engine. Budding CUDA developers may be salivating right now but unlike the TITAN, the GTX 780 Ti’s double precision throughput has been neutered to 1/3 the single precision rate. With this in mind, double precision performance will be faster than a GTX 780 but significantly slower than a TITAN. This approach towards segmentation actually makes sense since NVIDIA wanted to keep some differentiation between the two cards.

Read more: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Performance Review @ Hardware Canucks

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Review @ Vortez

NVIDIA have historically been very good with their strategic marketing. The GTX TITAN came at a time when graphics card releases were going through an interim, barren period. They grabbed the limelight with that release and even charged a huge premium. Few thought the TITAN would be a success at such an inflated price yet many have were sold to those looking for the best of the best. AMD’s most recent answer is the R9-290X, itself a very fast card that threatened the GTX TITAN’s grasp to the performance throne. Now it is time for NVIDIA to show its hand and unleash the full power of the GK110 core.

There were questions left unanswered with the TITAN, namely the mystery surrounding the missing SMX. The GTX TITAN had 14 out of a possible 15, much the same as the pro grade Tesla K20 the TITAN is based upon. Whether this was due to yield issues or NVIDIA rationing power we cannot say but the GK110 has to date always shipped with one SMX disabled. This has changed with the GTX 780 Ti because it serves up a full complement of SMX making the GTX 780 Ti a 'full fat' GK110.

Read more: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Review @ Vortez

OCZ's Vector 150 solid-state drive reviewed @ The Tech Report

There's a new SSD in town. OCZ's Vector 150 combines the Indilinx Barefoot 3 controller with 19-nm Toshiba NAND and additional spare area. We take a closer look at how it measures up.

Read more: OCZ's Vector 150 solid-state drive reviewed @ The Tech Report

Nvidia GTX 780 Ti @ LanOC Reviews

When Nvidia launched the GTX 780 it was an extremely impressive card, and frankly it still is. Even so AMD did come out swinging with the new R9 290X and to counter that Nvidia lowered the pricing of the GTX 780 and GTX 770. Now to go along with that they are filling in the price gap they created with the lower prices with a new product, the GTX 780 Ti. Today I have the chance to check out the GTX 780 Ti and see what it is all about. I expected the GTX 780 Ti to just be a higher clocked GTX 780, but I was pleasantly surprised, read on to find out what’s different.

Read more: Nvidia GTX 780 Ti @ LanOC Reviews

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3 GB @ techPowerUp

NVIDIA's new GTX 780 Ti uses a full GK110 GPU with 2880 shaders. This enables impressive performance that's 10% faster than GTX Titan / R9 290X. The card also comes with massive overclocking potential, that let us overclock GPU frequency by almost 30%.

Read more: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3 GB @ techPowerUp

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Graphics Card Launch Review @ HardwareHeaven.com

NVIDIAs answer to AMDs recent R9 290X launch is the GTX 780 Ti which pushes the Titan very much into the professional arena and takes its place at the top of the gaming stack. We will be putting it up against the R9 290X and GTX 780 (overclocked) in a selection of games including Battlefield 4 and Batman: Arkham Origins.

Read more: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Graphics Card Launch Review @ HardwareHeaven.com

GeForce GTX 780 Ti and SLI reviews @ Guru3D

In this review we test the GeForce GTX 780 Ti. The GeForce GTX 780 Ti is NVIDIA's all new high-end graphics card based off the same chip that is the GeForce GTX Titan. However, NVIDIA probably figured, save the best for last as NVIDIA unlocked the GPU completely meaning all 2880 Shader processors are available. That combined with increased core and memory clock frequencies and nice overclock potential will make this the top 699 USD flagship product to purchase for the Christmas holiday season. So yeah, this means it is based on the GK110 revision B GPU and has an whopping 7.1 Billion transistors. That makes it a nice one of the fastest graphics cards available on the market today. We test the product with the hottest games like Metro: Last Light, Battlefield 4, Medal of Honor Warfighter, Hitman Absolution and many more.

Just like Titan, the GTX 780 Ti is based on the GK110 GPU with the distinctions that the Titan has a GK110-300 GPU and the GeForce GTX 780 a revision B GK110 GPU. Same stuff, yet with some changed. The recipe for the GTX 780 Ti is fantastic though, as the product has the full 15 Streaming clusters thus 2880 Shader Processing Units enabled. That's 240 TMUs and 48 ROPs on a 384-bit memory interface of fast GDDR5. So yeah, NVIDIA in a nutshell that is a 45 mm × 45 mm 2397-pin S-FCBGA GK110b GPU with 2880 shader/stream/CUDA processors. But wait Dave, there's more. Memory wise NVIDIA equipped the GeForce GTX 780 Ti with 7Gbps memory, the fastest GDDR5 memory you can find on a graphics card today. The GeForce GTX 780 Ti ships with 3GB of this memory, providing up to 336GB/sec of peak memory bandwidth. That is still huge (12 pieces of 64M ×16 GDDR5 SDRAM) of memory (384-bit) on there and started designing a bunch of new tricks at BIOS and driver level. Combined with GPU Boost 2.0 you will see this product boosting towards the 1000~1050 MHz range once you tweak it. The reference clock is 875 MHz with a boost clock of 928 MHz. Looking at the specs you must think that this product must consume heaps of power, well it's not great, but definitely not bad at all. Another improvement that Nvidia implemented to the GeForce GTX 780 Ti is a new power balancing feature that’s been made so enthusiasts can get the most out of their overclock. Typically GPU gets its power from three sources: the 6-pin and 8-pin power connectors, and the PCI Express interface. Under normal conditions, the power sent to the GPU is balanced across these three sources, but when a user overclocks their graphics card they can unbalance the power delivery and draw more power from one source than the others, potentially maxing it out. With this new feature we can steer power from one input to another, so if you max out one power source, you can draw more power from the others to make up the difference.

Read more: GeForce GTX 780 Ti and SLI reviews @ Guru3D

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Video Card Review @ Benchmark Reviews

NVIDIA tends to dominate the field when it comes to graphics processing power, leaving AMD scrambling to remain competitive by reducing prices on their products to add value for an aging technology. Recently the AMD Radeon R9 290X was revealed as the brands flagship graphics card, virtually occupying future shelf space for around $599 and expected to compete against NVIDIAs less-expensive GeForce GTX 780 that has been available since May (2013). Not one to allow competition into their high-end territory, NVIDIA pushes back with the introduction of GeForce GTX 780 Ti. Capable of producing the fastest and most efficient graphics power ever available, GeForce GTX 780 Ti offers 25% more processing cores than GTX 780 while leaving room to deliver record-level 336 GB/sec GDDR5 memory bandwidth so to leave no doubt who controls the top-end of discreet graphics.

Read more: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Video Card Review @ Benchmark Reviews

Nexus 5 Review: Flagship hardware for half the price @ ArsTechnica

The Nexus 5 has a tough spot in the market. Thanks to its spec sheet, it will be compared to high-end phones from every other OEM. A 2.26Ghz Snapdragon 800 processor; 2GB of RAM; and a 5-inch, 1080p screen is certainly worthy of any company's flagship.

There's one part of the spec sheet that is definitely not comparable to a flagship phone, though: the price. At only $350 off contract, the Nexus 5 comes in at around half the cost of other high-end phones—an off contract iPhone 5S is $650, an HTC One is $600, a Galaxy S 4 is $640. It's almost hard to be critical of something that delivers so much value for the money.

The Nexus 5 is the first device to ship with Android 4.4 KitKat. KitKat integrates Google Now into the home screen, brings a Google Maps-powered dialer, and features some nice design refreshes all over the OS. There's so much KitKat stuff to talk about that we're going to have a separate review focusing just on the new OS. This review, however, will mostly focus on the Nexus 5 as a piece of hardware.

Read more: Nexus 5 Review: Flagship hardware for half the price @ ArsTechnica

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Review @ Anandtech

First announced last month at an NVIDIA event, launching today is NVIDIA's newest flagship video card and the capstone to the GK110 family, GeForce GTX 780 Ti. Taking everything we like about the GTX 780 and GTX Titan and cranking up the performance, GTX 780 Ti taps the rest of GK110's held back capabilities to unlock the 15th and final SMX while also offering slightly higher clockspeeds than any GK110 card that has come before. As a result, and as well see, after last months launch of the Radeon R9 290X threatened NVIDIAs hold on the single-GPU performance crown, with GTX 780 Ti it is once again solidly back in NVIDIAs hands.    

Read more: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Review @ Anandtech

OCZ Vector 150 (120GB & 240GB) Review @ Anandtech

The holiday season is one of the busiest shopping seasons of all year. As it can be the lifesaver (or destroyer) of company's financials, having a competitive product lineup is extremely important. OCZ's offering for the performance orientated holiday shoppers is the Vector 150. It's based on the same Barefoot 3 controller as the original Vector and Vertex 450 but with the Vector 150 OCZ went with Toshiba's 19nm MLC NAND. With the market's and OCZ's focus being performance consistency, can the Vector 150 keep up with the competition? Read on to find out!    

Read more: OCZ Vector 150 (120GB & 240GB) Review @ Anandtech

Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti ? Nvidia takes GK110 to the Next Level @ Bjorn3D

Nvidia launched the 700 series and really took the market by storm with the capability to offer exceptional power savings and super strong performance per watt, along with cool running cards which makes for a great gaming package. However nothing ever is safe for very long and with that AMD showed off their new R series of cards to compete. Unfortunately for AMD, almost all of the models in the R series were actually existing chips with a new name. The exception was the flagship product–the R9-290X.

The R9-290X takes the TITAN head on, and the price point is a real killer for the gaming market, but this kind of value does not come without compromises. Unfortunately, these come in the form of 92-95C loaded temps and noise which can be akin to a vacuum cleaner inside your chassis. But even with these issues this got a lot of performance enthusiasts’ attention as some of these issues can be relieved with liquid cooling fitment or just dealing with the heat on quiet mode.

Nvidia today releases the answer to 290X, and really the answer to what gamers have been seeking since Kepler or TITAN launched almost a full year ago. As TITAN launched we finally saw Nvidia take a step into its enterprise GPU lineup to give an insanely capable GPU to the consumer gaming lineup and now Nvidia has upped the ante by giving a full GK110 GPU to a gaming GPU which still is well below the 1K pricepoint where the TITAN presently resides.

Read more: Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti ? Nvidia takes GK110 to the Next Level @ Bjorn3D

Nexus 5 review @ The Inquirer

Google's Android 4.4 Kitkat smartphone is the best that £300 can buy     

Read more: Nexus 5 review @ The Inquirer

ECS GANK DRONE Z87H3-A3X LGA 1150 Motherboard Review @ Madshrimps

The Z87H3-A3X motherboard from ECS takes part of their entry-level DRONE series and is equipped with 6 power phases, Intel I217-V Gigabit LAN controller, ALC1150 with support of the Creative Sound Blaster Cinema software and 2-way Crossfire and SLI support. This all comes at an affordable price for more budget-oriented gamers.

Read more: ECS GANK DRONE Z87H3-A3X LGA 1150 Motherboard Review @ Madshrimps

Reviewed: Logitech 2013 G-Series Gaming mice roundup @ PC Gamers

A couple of months ago, Logitech sent us 3 of their gaming mice from the new 2013 'G' series to road test and review. It's always interesting when a company releases a product line openly calling it a "refresh". Some people will criticise the company for not making more changes whilst others will be grateful that the change is limited.

Reviewing a refresh is also tricky because you are faced with the decision to either review against the previous product line that is usually pretty similar or treat it as a fresh start and review the product on it's own merits without comparison to the previous generation.

In this situation, we decided to review the new G-series mice from Logitech on their own merits but we couldn't resist a few references to the Logitech Gaming peripheral heritage.

Read more: Reviewed: Logitech 2013 G-Series Gaming mice roundup @ PC Gamers

AMD Radeon R9 290 Review @ Hexus

You know how AMD launched the Radeon R9 290X graphics card a couple of weeks ago? Priced at a respectable $549 and able to match anything that can be thrown at it from Nvidia's side, it's a value-driven enthusiast card - if such a statement isn't oxymoronic.

But AMD rarely releases a single high-end GPU at one time. The Radeon HD 6970 and HD 6950 GPUs launched on the same day in December 2010, while the HD 7970 had the HD 7950 following soon after. Such proximal releases have historically been achieved by using the same base architecture for both headline GPUs.

It's no surprise that R9 290X is now followed by another GPU based entirely on the Hawaii GCN architecture. Radeon R9 290's the name and forcing Nvidia's high-end pricing hand is very much the game. Let's see how this second-rung Hawaii chip stacks up.

Read more: AMD Radeon R9 290 Review @ Hexus

ASRock M8 review: sleek portable gaming barebones @ Hardware.Info

Building your own PC has its advantages. You are free to choose exactly those components you want, but sometimes it's difficult to know where to start with so many options out there. Well, look no further. The ASRock M8 is a good foundation for a system, especially if you don't mind spending a little extra money on style and design. It's fairly compact, yet has space for a pretty powerful gaming system, perfect for bringing along to LAN parties.

At first glance, the Asrock M8 looks like a very rugger chassis with metal handlebars in all four corners for lugging it around. It's a good thing too, as the barebone weighs in at 7.25 kg.

Read more: ASRock M8 review: sleek portable gaming barebones @ Hardware.Info

Cooler Master Game Xtreme II GXII 650W Power Supply Review @ 3D Game Man

The Cooler Master Game Xtreme II is the 2nd generation of the extremely popular Game Xtreme PSU series. The new GXII PSUs have been tweaked and come with a quiet HDB fan & nonstop USB power. The nonstop USB power lead enables power to the USB ports, even when the system is turned off. The 650W model is an excellent choice and it's affordable, 80 Plus certified, has a single +12V rail & comes with a 5 year warranty.

Read more: Cooler Master Game Xtreme II GXII 650W Power Supply Review @ 3D Game Man

EVGA announces six different GTX 780 Ti graphics cards @ Fudzilla

The reference desinged GTX 780 Ti from EVGA will include a standard one, with reference 876MHz base and 928MHz GPU Boost clocks as well as the GTX 780 Ti Superclocked which will be factory overclocked up to 980MHz for the base and 1046MHz for the GPU Boost clock. Both cards will feature the same 3072MB of GDDR5 memory paired up with a 384-bit memory interface and clocked at reference 7000MHz.

EVGA has also announced three different graphics cards that will feature its own ACX dual-fan cooler, including reference clocked one, Superclocked and the Dual Classified version. The EVGA GTX 780 Ti Superclocked with ACX cooler will be clocked at rather impressive 1006MHz for the base and 1072MHz for the GPU Boost clock. Unfortunately, the clocks for the Dual Classified ACX version will be announced at a later date.

Read more: EVGA announces six different GTX 780 Ti graphics cards @ Fudzilla

Asrock M8 Mini-ITX Gaming PC Review @ Techspot

We've built countless gaming computers and the ones that are smaller in stature tend to impress us the most. We appreciate systems that manage to stand with full tower rigs in our benchmarks while maintaining a tiny footprint. For example, we managed to get an Asrock Z87M Extreme4 motherboard, Core i5 Haswell processor, a GeForce GTX 760, OCZ's 240GB Vector SSD and a pair of 2TB WD Red HDDs into Silverstone's 23-liter Sugo SG10 -- a chassis small enough that it could be carried under arm between LAN parties. What's more, that build cost just under $1,400, which is well within the realm of a typical self-built enthusiast machine -- because that's ultimately what it is, just smaller. Unfortunately, things get inflexible and unaffordable really fast if you want a brand name box, but that's not to say the splurge is never worthwhile.

Asrock's recently launched M8 barebones system, which we are reviewing today, may not be the best value for a Micro-ITX machine, but it may be one of the most attractive we've seen in years and that counts for something.

Even if the M8's style is not your thing, there's less room to argue that this is a unique gaming PC barebones kit and that was enough to earn our attention. We've been impressed with the looks of previous Asrock products -- including its mini PCs -- but the M8 is a clear step up having been designed by BMW Group DesignworksUSA, the driving force behind Thermaltake's Level 10 chassis, a case as overpriced as it is iconic. The Level 10 put aesthetics and novelty before affordability and practicality, and we could see a repeat showing with the M8.

Read more: Asrock M8 Mini-ITX Gaming PC Review @ Techspot

Ubuntu is back with Saucy Salamander @ Dedoimedo

Ubuntu, no longer partaking in the suckfest. We have a long, enthusiastic review of Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander 64-bit edition, tested on a laptop with Nvidia graphics card in a dual-boot configuration, covering live session, look & feel, Wireless, Bluetooth, Samba sharing, Dash improvements and new options, partitioning, Ubuntu One login during installation, applications, multimedia playback - Flash and MP3, Nvidia driver setup, resource usage, performance, stability, printing, tiny niggles, and more. Enjoy.

Read more: Ubuntu is back with Saucy Salamander @ Dedoimedo