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Here a roundup of todays reviews and articles:

808 Audio Studio-Precision Tuned Over Ear Headphones Review
Acer Aspire Switch 12 hands-on review
Adata's Premier SP610 solid-state drive reviewed
Antec EDGE 550W Power Supply Review
ASUS MAXIMUS VII FORMULA/WATCH DOGS Motherboard
be quiet! Straight Power 10 CM 600W Review
EVGA X99 Classified
Intel Z97 Chipset: 7-Way Motherboard Roundup
Lian Li PC-V359 Micro-ATX Modular PC Case Review
Maingear Pulse 15 3K Gaming Laptop Review
RAM Disk Guide Rev. 3.0
Samsung 27" S27B970D Super PLS LED Monitor Review
Samsung 850 PRO SSD 256 Gigabyte Review
XFX Radeon R9 285 DD Video Card Review



808 Audio Studio-Precision Tuned Over Ear Headphones Review

808 Audio is one of the new brands taking a shot at consumer audio claiming they offer studio quality sound at a consumer price. As an audiophile, I am rather skeptical of this but budget headphones that sound great certainly exist and it is possible that 808 Audio delivers on their promise. Before doing a review on any gear from a brand we don’t know, we always do a little background research to see what type of company we are working with to give us a bit of a heads up on what to expect.

Read full article @ TechnologyX

Acer Aspire Switch 12 hands-on review

SAN FRANCISCO: THE ACER ASPIRE SWITCH 12 was previewed during a keynote at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in California last week, shown off as one of Intel's OEM partners' many upcoming Core M-powered devices set to hit the market this October.

The Aspire Switch 12 is the successor to the Taiwanese firm's previous affordable multi-mode device, the Aspire Switch 10. It boasts a slimmer design thanks to Intel's new 14nm fanless processor, has a 12.5in display and features five alternative viewing modes.

Read full article @ The Inquirer

Adata's Premier SP610 solid-state drive reviewed

At around $0.47/GB, Adata's Premier SP610 is priced to compete with budget SSDs from the biggest names in the business. The drive's four-channel Silicon Motion controller may not look like much, but it's surprisingly competitive when paired with the latest NAND. See for yourself

Read full article @ The Tech Report

Antec EDGE 550W Power Supply Review

This is it people, NVIDIA will finally unveil their next generation of graphics cards in less than 3 days during GAME24 their 24-hour event setup by gamers for gamers (if things go as planned of course) and aside the high-end GeForce GTX 980/970 models which we've been waiting to make their debut for quite some time now (and which may set new performance numbers for 4k gaming) it seems that they will also introduce their mid-range GeForce GTX 960 model which should be roughly half as power hungry compared to the flagship model of the new line and that brings us to today’s review. As many of you know although Antec introduced their latest EDGE series of power supply units in the USA roughly two weeks ago the EU announcement happened just a few hours and go and since the 550W variant should be sufficient to power the upcoming GeForce GTX 960 we decided to take a closer look.

Antec, Inc., is the leading global brand of high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) markets. Founded in 1986, Antec is recognized as a pioneer in these industries and has maintained its position as a worldwide market leader and international provider of efficient, quiet, and reliable products. Antec has also achieved great success in the distribution channel, meeting the demands of quality-conscious system builders, VARs and integrators. Antec’s offering of enclosures includes a large range of cases, such as its technically advanced Performance One Series, cost-effective New Solution Series and server grade cases designed for the needs of all workstation and server markets. Antec’s products also include front line power supplies such as its TruePower Quattro Series and EarthWatts, the most environmentally friendly power supplies available. PC gamers are an increasingly significant consumer of performance components, and many Antec products are geared toward the gaming demographic, like the Nine Hundred, the premier gamer enclosure. Antec also offers a computing accessories line comprised of many original products, including its patented LED Fans and Notebook Cooling solutions. Antec is headquartered in Fremont, California, with additional offices in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, as well as in Germany, China and Taiwan. The company’s products are sold in more than 40 countries throughout the world. Please visit www.antec.com for more information.

The EDGE power supply models by Antec (550/650/750W) are 80 plus gold certified and feature a fully modular design, 16pin power connectors (future-proof design), two high-current +12v rails, a thermal manager which controls the 135mm fluid dynamic-bearing LED fan, Japanese made capacitors and an assortment of industrial grade protections such as over current protection (OCP), over voltage protection (OVP), no load operation (NLO), short circuit protection (SCP), over power protection (OPP), over temperature protection (OTP) and surge & Inrush Protection (SIP). The +12v rails of the 550W variant which we have here with us are capable of using roughly 98.2% of the units total output (540W) with up to 30A each and although they are not as good as the ones of the recently reviewed High Current Pro Platinum series still such specs accompanied by Antec’s Quality 5 year warranty should cover the majority of gamers out there.

Read full article @ NikKTech

ASUS MAXIMUS VII FORMULA/WATCH DOGS Motherboard

The ASUS MAXIMUS VII FORMULA/WATCH DOGS is a top mid-range socket LGA1150 motherboard based on the new Intel Z97 chipset, supporting the fourth and the forthcoming fifth generation Core i processors. It brings a professional-level, high-end audio codec, ten SATA-600 ports (allowing two SATA Express connections), eight USB 3.0 ports, Wi-Fi interface, and comes with a free serial code for the Watch Dogs game. Let's take a good look at it.

Read full article @ Hardware Secrets

be quiet! Straight Power 10 CM 600W Review

be quiet! have earned an excellent reputation over the years in the enthusiast sector by releasing a series of high grade fans, coolers and power supplies. Today we look at one of their latest power supplies – the Straight Power 10. This model replaces the best selling Straight Power E9 range and brings new enhancements including lower noise levels and improved voltage stability and regulation. Today we look at the 600 watt, 80 Plus Gold Certified model which features cable management.

Read full article @ KitGuru

EVGA X99 Classified

When EVGA announced their first Classified motherboard back with X58 I saved up my money so I could get one soon after its launch. The X58 Classified was one of the first mega high end motherboards on the market and it started a race to the top to see who could make the coolest motherboard possible while trying to pack in the highest overclocking headroom as possible. From then on EVGA has introduced Classified motherboards for each Intel chipset launched. They have even expanded into Classified GPUs as well! Well with the launch of X99 it wasn’t a big surprise that EVGA would be ready to go with their latest and greatest based on the new enthusiast chipset. Today I’m going to see how it compares to the other X99’s on the market and see just how far things have come from the X58 Classified that is still hanging on my office wall.

Read full article @ LanOC Reviews

Intel Z97 Chipset: 7-Way Motherboard Roundup

Codenamed 'Wildcat Point', the Z97 chipset brings support for future Broadwell CPUs, along with SATA Express and the M.2 socket. With over 90 designs available right now, picking the right one can be a difficult decision. Hoping to narrow the search down, we have taken seven popular boards and compared them in every way possible.

Read full article @ Techspot

Lian Li PC-V359 Micro-ATX Modular PC Case Review

The Lian Li PC-V359 is a micro-ATX cube style case, utilizing a dual compartment design which separates the motherboard and graphics card from the power supply and hard drives. It is available in four models, Black (V359WX), Black and Red (V359WRX), Champagne/Gold (V359WG) and Silver (V359WA). While they should be available now, they are in limited supply so it can be difficult to track one down, if you are lucky to find one, expect to pay around $179.99 plus shipping. Read on to see what makes this case special!

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

Maingear Pulse 15 3K Gaming Laptop Review

We think it's fitting for Maingear to bring 3K resolution gaming to its Pulse line of laptops. Consider that playing games at full HD 1080p (1920x1080) on the desktop is nothing special these days, which is why we're seeing more and more players jump to higher resolution displays, from 2560x1440 (most 27-inch class monitors) on up to the emerging 4K (3840x2160) format. We're finally seeing some innovation again in the monitor market, yet laptop displays were stuck in a state of comatose for a while. Not anymore.

On paper, the Pulse 15 is a potent machine armed with an Intel Core i7 4710HQ mobile processor, 16GB of DDR3-1600 memory, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M graphics with Optimus technology, and a 128GB mSATA solid state drive, all of which come standard. That's a tantalizing foundation, especially when you take into account the system's slim waistline and relatively lightweight design...

Read full article @ KitGuru

RAM Disk Guide Rev. 3.0

A RAM disk (also known as RAM drive or virtual RAM drive) turns RAM into a logical disk drive for temporary storage purposes. It can come in the form of a software that converts a portion of regular computer memory into a drive, or an actual physical device that uses RAM as a storage medium. Both offer a tremendous boost in storage speeds of several magnitudes over the hard disk drive.

The RAM disk has been around since the 1980s, but it has never been popular due to the high cost of computer memory. It is now making a comeback, partly because RAM is now cheap and plentiful and partly because solid state drives (SSDs) are fast replacing hard disk drives as the storage medium of choice, not only in notebooks but also in desktops where they serve as boot drives.

Read full article @ Tech ARP

Samsung 27" S27B970D Super PLS LED Monitor Review

For premium displays on the computing market, it has always been the case that you had to choose an IPS display, and for good reason, because for years IPS was the only display technology that was vastly superior to the inferior TN panels that dominate the monitor market for years.

That was the case until we featured the Series 8 S27A850D from Samsung back one month ago in September. That model featured and presented Samsung's first foray in competing with IPS technology with their very own continuation of the technology dubbed Super PLS (Plane-to-Line Switching) technology. ModSynergy was highly impressed with the Samsung S27A850D as it left a lasting impression with what it offered as a full package.

Samsung hopes to provide consumers an alternative to IPS, and believes their Super PLS is the superior technology providing even better viewing angles, better image quality, and better brightness while somehow reducing manufacturing costs by 15% over their IPS counterparts. For now Samsung is the only manufacture for Super PLS because they own the majority of the patents relating to the technology. This is off-topic, but I hope someday we can see a Samsung AMOLED monitor on the market.

Read full article @ ModSynergy.com

Samsung 850 PRO SSD 256 Gigabyte Review

The 850 PRO 256 GB is Samsung's flagship consumer-grade SATA SSD. The series features Samsungs latest 3D V-NAND with 24 layers and 128Gbit density. Thanks to this NAND flash memory the drive features a high endurance rating and apart from that also performance should be on a seriously high level.

Read full article @ ocaholic

XFX Radeon R9 285 DD Video Card Review

In this article Benchmark Reviews tests the XFX Radeon R9 285 Double Dissipation Edition graphics card, model R9-285A-CDBC, which sells online for $249.99 (Amazon | Newegg). This XFX Double Dissipation Edition Radeon R9 285 is an UltraHD 4K resolution-ready graphics card with 2560 Stream processors operating at 975 MHz with support for the upcoming DirectX 12 API. Equipped with twin 90mm cooling fans paired with long-life capacitors, the XFX Radeon R9 285 represents a solid value for mainstream gamers looking for top-end performance.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews