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Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

A Look At Linux Application Scaling Up To 128 Threads
ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming K4 (AMD B450) Motherboard Review
ASUS ROG RTX 2080 Strix OC (08G) Review
ASUS ROG Strix Hero II GL504GM Laptop Review
Building a custom Xbox Adaptive Controller peripheral, part two
Cooler Master Masteraccessory MP860 Review
Das Keyboard X50Q Review
Edge GX1 Luxury Gaming Chair Review
G.SKILL Trident Z 4000 MHz DDR4 Review
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 Graphics Card Review
HyperX Cloud MIX Gaming/Bluetooth Headset Review
Jaybird Tarah Sport Headphones Review
MSI RTX 2080 Ti Duke Graphics Card Review
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Edition Review
OWC Updated Thunderbolt 3 Dock Review
Patriot Evlvr 1-TB external SSD Review
Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber Review
WWE 2K19 Review



A Look At Linux Application Scaling Up To 128 Threads

Arriving last week in our Linux benchmarking lab was a dual EPYC server -- this Dell PowerEdge R7425 is a beast of a system with two AMD EPYC 7601 processors yielding a combined 64 cores / 128 threads, 512GB of RAM (16 x 32GB DDR4), and 20 x 500GB Samsung 860 EVO SSDs. There will be many interesting benchmarks from this server in the days and weeks ahead. For some initial measurements during the first few days of stress testing this 2U rack server, here is a look at how well various benchmarks/applications are scaling from two to 128 threads.

Read full article @ Phoronix

ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming K4 (AMD B450) Motherboard Review

The motherboard sports features pertaining to power users such as heat sinks on all the CPU VRMs and RGB LED support and some RGBs integrated under the chipset heat sink. The motherboard is targeting gamers who are on a budget but still want nice features, so let's take a look.

Specifications: The Fatal1ty B450 Gaming K4 features two M.2 slots, Display Port, HDMI, D-sub, USB 3.1, and SATA6Gb/s.
Pricing: The Fatal1ty B450 Gaming K4 costs $98.99

Read full article @ TweakTown

ASUS ROG RTX 2080 Strix OC (08G) Review

It's one of the most feature-rich RTX 2080 cards - but it costs a whopping £999. Having already analysed RTX 2080 cards from Palit and Gigabyte, today our attention turns to ASUS ROG and its RTX 2080 Strix OC (08G). This card is nothing short of a monster – in terms of its size, feature-set and its price. That’s because, at £999, this is the most expensive RTX 2080 currently on the market. Could it be worth an extra £250 over Nvidia’s Founders Edition? Let’s find out.

Read full article @ KitGuru

ASUS ROG Strix Hero II GL504GM Laptop Review

Looking for a new gaming laptop? The ROG Strix Hero II could be one to look at! Back in June ASUS announced new versions of its Hero and Scar gaming laptops. We then got a closer look at the Scar II when we visited ASUS HQ in August and we knew its release wasn’t far away. That brings us to today where we finally have our hands on the Strix Hero II GL504GM. In this review we put it through its paces to find out if this is a must have laptop for gamers on the go and whether it is worth the £1800 asking price.

Read full article @ KitGuru

Building a custom Xbox Adaptive Controller peripheral, part two

That certainly puts a whole new perspective on The Magic School Bus. Part of me regrets not buying a Gigabyte Brix PC with an integrated projector when they could be had for a couple hundred bucks a few years back. That would be pretty slick to use, but this solution isn't bad. The plastic shell keeps everything tidy and protected from overzealous vacuum robots, and it's stable enough to place nearly anywhere.

Back to the actual building of the controller. I've decided to continue pursuing the spin-actuated mechanical keyboard switch plan. An errant paint roller in the back of my car turned out to fit perfectly inside the rollers I picked. That made a huge difference in ease of construction and proved easy to integrate into my design. However, I may still need to source a switch that actuates at a shallower depth, so I can leave a larger gap and potentially reduce spinning resistance even further. A hair trigger is desirable in this case.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

Cooler Master Masteraccessory MP860 Review

We're now seeing RGB enabled chairs, monitors, headphone hangers and honestly just about anything else that can have lights implemented into them. Well, now its the turn of the humble mouse mat. We've seen RGB mouse mats in the past, and now Cooler Master added to that group with their Masteraccessory MP860, but is it a good entry?

t's off to a good start thanks to a few key features, the first being the dual-sided nature of it. This is thanks to Cooler Master opting to add both a premium cloth surface as well as an Aluminium one. This is quite a rare sight as usually its a polymer-based surface rather than metal one that is used. The next notable feature is a low profile cable and power housing. The older RGB mouse mats and even some more recent releases have had a significantly sized plastic housing that contains all the electrical components, Cooler Master though has managed to hide that away, and all that is left is just the cable. This means that it doesn’t block or snag your mouse cable. Other notable features include 19 bordering LEDs and software control.

So, let’s take a closer look and see if the £79.95 ($89.00 AUS) price tag is justified.

Read full article @ Vortez

Das Keyboard X50Q Review

Today we will be taking a look at their latest offering which is the X50Q. This isn't a mechanical keyboard as you know it and offers a feature that we have never come across before. What Das Keyboard has done is to use their experience to blend mobile-esque notifications with this keyboard and their QSoftware suite.

Das Keyboard was founded in Austin Texas back in 2005, and was born out of the drive for personal improvement. The founder Daniel Guermeur created a totally blank keyboard to help increase his own typing speed and accuracy, the result, he managed to double his typing speed after just a few weeks of use. After further testing and improvement he sought the opinion of his friends and colleagues who were mesmerised by the experience the first creation offered, thus Das Keyboard was created. Now we are fast approaching 2019, and Das Keyboard is still going strong.

Today we will be taking a look at their latest offering which is the X50Q. This isn’t a mechanical keyboard as you know it and offers a feature that we have never come across before. What Das Keyboard has done is to use their experience to blend mobile esque notifications with this keyboard and their QSoftware suite. This may not sound groundbreaking, but this is a - as far as we are aware, is the first of its kind, making it a big deal and potentially a new feature that we could see become more mainstream in the near future.

Read full article @ Vortez

Edge GX1 Luxury Gaming Chair Review

Can any chair be worth the guts of £1,000 ? How much is your spine worth ? If you spend as much time gaming as I do, then it’s time to move past the simple FPS blitz and focus more of your attention (and PC budget) on the subject of spines, chairs and derrières. Edge is a new company, based in Wales, dedicated to creating the world’s best gaming chairs – from the ground up. No re-skins here, each chair is individually hand made to order. But, can any gaming chair be worth the best part of £1,000? The backrest, seat base and headrest come fully-assembled. No tools are required for assembly and all gamers have to do is pop the gas stem into the base and engage the seat base. They can be gaming in seconds.

Read full article @ KitGuru

G.SKILL Trident Z 4000 MHz DDR4 Review

The G.SKILL Trident Z sticks have been around for a while now, available in a multitude of colors and speeds, as well as with RGB. These 4000 MHz sticks are for all you non-RGB lovers out there, but with such a high speed, you best make sure your motherboard and CPU are capable.

Read full article @ TechPowerUp

Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 Graphics Card Review

Ready to dive into the world of the RTX graphics cards from Nvidia? It’s certainly been a busy launch, with dozens of new flagship GPUs hitting the market in recent weeks! While the RTX 2080 Ti may be rocking prices North of £1000, the RTX 2080 sits in a much more affordable, albeit still more expensive bracket. At around £799.99, the Gigabyte RTX 2080 is one of the best value cards on the market in this range, offering some factor OC, a triple fan cooler, and more.

“The graphics card uses the 8+2 power phase design to allow the MOSFET to operate at lower temperature, and over-temperature protection design and load balancing for each MOSFET, plus the Ultra Durable certified chokes and capacitors, to provide excellent performance and longer system life.” – Gigabyte

Read full article @ eTeknix

HyperX Cloud MIX Gaming/Bluetooth Headset Review

When it comes to gaming headsets, few companies are as highly esteemed as HyperX. They?ve been on an absolute run over the last several years, releasing a number of critically acclaimed headset. Today, we have their latest entry, the HyperX Cloud MIX on the review bench. It wants to be your one-and-done headset, designed to fit your lifestyle and your gaming rig. Does it live up to the promise?

Read full article @ MMORPG

Jaybird Tarah Sport Headphones Review

Jaybird's new low-cost sport headphones are so good that unless you absolutely need the best tips or battery life, they should probably be the near the top of your list.

It feels like sport headphones are proliferating. It's hard to say why — maybe more people are getting into fitness, maybe they're becoming easier to make, maybe they're just lucrative. "Athleisure" fashion is a thing, certainly.

It could be that people just want the core features of modern sport headphones: Bluetooth, waterproofing, mic input, and comfort. Phrased that way it makes perfect sense.

Read full article @ Apple Insider

MSI RTX 2080 Ti Duke Graphics Card Review

The Nvidia RTX launch has certainly been exciting, and it’s certainly not done yet! Today, we kick things off with the new RTX 2080 Ti Duke from MSI, one of their fastest graphics cards ever! Factory overclocked, and with a massive cooler, this titan is out for battle in the enthusiast battleground. You can argue all you want about the over £1000 price tags. However, when it comes to smashing through FPS in any game at seemingly any resolution, the RTX 2080 Ti is unmatched. Now, how does the MSI model stack up?

Equipped with a 1665 MHz boost clock, it’s certainly no slouch on paper. Of course, the triple TORX Fan 2.0 cooling system, massive heatsinks, and more will no doubt help it reach its potential 24/7. Let’s dive in for a closer look at see what it can do!

Read full article @ eTeknix

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Edition Review

Under the spotlight today is the NVIDIA RTX 2080 Founders Edition - this graphics card features a newly revised vapour chamber cooler with dual-fan design and even comes with a subtle factory overclock straight out the box.

So far we’ve encountered a number of RTX 2080 Ti graphics cards in our coverage of the new NVIDIA RTX 20-series launch but today we’re set to weigh up what the non-Ti version has to offer in terms of performance, value and other elements.

Partner cards are often the more favoured route for graphics card selection but favour for the Founders Edition directly from NVIDIA has been gaining momentum over the last few years and today we’ll be examining one such variant.

Read full article @ Vortez

OWC Updated Thunderbolt 3 Dock Review

Nearly a year and half ago, OWC was one of the first companies to launch a Thunderbolt 3 dock, offering over a dozen ports of various types to support a variety of accessories. While I loved the sheer number of the ports offered on the original version of the dock, there were some shortcomings, including a lack of any 10 Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports and only 60 watts of charging power, which may not be enough for 15-inch MacBook Pro users.

Users for whom those two concerns are dealbreakers will be glad to hear that OWC is launching an updated version of its Thunderbolt 3 dock in just a few weeks, addressing these issues.

Read full article @ Mac Rumors

Patriot Evlvr 1-TB external SSD Review

When you hear the name Patriot Memory, your first thought may be of well, memory. The company has more tricks up its sleeves than just RAM, though. Last year, we got Patriot's first NVMe SSD into our labs, and we loved it. The Hellfire was a no-frills M.2 gumstick whose price and pep earned it our hearty endorsement.

This year, Patriot's moved on to another challenge—stuffing NVMe sticks into pocketable cases to turn them into portable SSDs. Meet Patriot's Thunderbolt 3-equipped Evlvr 1 TB. It's a tiny little sliver of a device, at 4" x 1.8" x 0.4" (101.6 x 45.7 x 10.2 mm) and only 3.5 ounces (99.2 g). It's not much smaller than Samsung's similarly-TB3-powered Portable SSD X5, but it's quite a bit lighter.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber Review

So I was given chance to take a look at a capture device of sorts, this one is interesting it’s a 4K capable one and it’s the Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber with its sleek aluminium casing and small footprint it’s certainly making itself stand out in a market of devices capable of video capture. So let take a look and see if this is worth your time in this review!

Read full article @ Play3r

WWE 2K19 Review

A lot has happened since the last WWE game hit shelves. Daniel Bryan returned to the ring! Shawn Michaels is about to! John Cena’s run as a full-time wrestler ended, and Ronda Rousey’s began! The first all-women’s PPV and multiple super stadium shows were added to the schedule! Brock Lesnar finally dropped the damn title! Phew, that’s a lot of exclamation marks! Given the change in the air, it would be especially disappointing if WWE 2K19 was yet another by-the-books outing.

Since taking over the license in 2013, 2K Sports has been turning out mostly humdrum WWE games hampered by frustrating mechanics, missing features, and a general lack of polish (the lazy WWE 2K18 left me particularly unimpressed). WWE 2K19 includes some much-requested features, like a revamped story-driven MyCareer and the return of 2K Showcase mode, but is it enough? Does WWE 2K19 grab that shiny brass ring or continue the series’ Curt-Hawkins-like losing streak?

Read full article @ Wccftech