Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles, including AMD Radeon R9 290X reviews, Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H Review, Humble Bundle with Android 7 Review, 3M SPR1000 Streaming Projector Powered by Roku Review, and Surface 2 Review



LUXA2 Groovy Wireless Stereo Speaker Review @ KitGuru

Today we are taking a look at the LUXA2 Groovy Wireless Stereo Speaker. As a division of Thermaltake, LUXA2's goal is to deliver aesthetically pleasing hardware without compromising on performance. So, is the LUXA2 Groovy Wireless Stereo Speaker the ultimate mobile audio companion?

Read more: LUXA2 Groovy Wireless Stereo Speaker Review @ KitGuru

AMD Radeon R9 290X Review: Welcome To Hawaii @ HotHardware

AMD has launched their new top-end Radeon R9 290X graphics card today. The new flagship wasn't ready in time for AMD's recent October 8th launch of midrange product, but the new top of the line model, based on the GPU codenamed Hawaii, is ready now. The R9 290 series GPU (Hawaii) is comprised of up to 44 compute units with a total of 2,816 IEEE-2008 compliant shaders. The GPU has four geometry processors (2x the Radeon HD 7970) and can output 64 pixels per clock.

The card's 4GB of GDDR5 memory is accessed by the GPU via a wide 512-bit interface and the R290X requires a pair of supplemental PCIe power connectors-one 6-pin and one 8-pin. Save for some minimum frame rate and frame latency issues, the new Radeon R9 290X's performance is impressive overall.

AMD still has some obvious driver tuning and optimization to do, but frame rates across the board were very good and easily rival NVIDIA's high-end offering...

Read more: AMD Radeon R9 290X Review: Welcome To Hawaii @ HotHardware

AMD RADEON R9 290X Review @ Vortez

The wait is finally over. The R9 290X is finally here. After a somewhat disjointed media frenzy we can today reveal everything you wanted to know about AMD's latest flagship graphics card. Fuelled by enthusiast speculation, there have been numerous details 'leaked' to the public from some very dubious origins. Rumours ranged from TITAN Killer performance for less than the price of a GTX780 to a total flop of epic proportions. Sifting through the wheat we can say, after thoroughly testing this graphics card that some of the rumours were correct to a certain extent, and others were wildly inaccurate. The question everyone wants to know is can it beat a GTX TITAN and lay claim to being the new performance king? Yes and no. Yes it does better the NVIDIA GTX Titan in certain scenarios but not in others.

Read more: AMD RADEON R9 290X Review @ Vortez

AMD R9 290X Review (Part 1) @ KitGuru

Many of our readers have been waiting for today however the release of the new flagship R9 290X marketed to tackle Nvidia's class leading GTX780.

Read more: AMD R9 290X Review (Part 1) @ KitGuru

AMD Radeon R9-290X review and Crossfire review @ Guru3D

Oh yeah, it's finally time review the AMD Radeon R9-290X. The new flagship product has been long discussed, awaited and anticipated. Actually in the next week or so AMD is to launch two products, the Radeon R9-290 and Radeon R9-290X. Both will compete with Nvidia's finest in both performance and price levels. These cards are little beasts. As such this in-depth review will cover the Volcanic Islands GPU architecture, Hawaii for the 290 series, we'll benchmark these cards with FCAT Frametimes, Ultra High Definition and of course, we'll check out game performance with the latest games next to power consumption and heat levels as well. This is one review you don't want to miss out on!

Now before we begin with the new graphics cards, the first thing that you guys will need to get used to is the new naming schema. AMD ended with the Radeon HD 7000 and 8000 series graphics cards in 2013. Logic dictates that AMD would have continued with a series 9000. But hey now, we already have had the Radeon 9000 series many years ago (2003), oh and who doesn't remember the Radeon 9800 Pro right? As such it was time to bring in a new naming scheme, a bit more in line with AMD's APUs. R9 will be high-end and R7 will be mainstream and inevitably R5 being entry level. After that you'll notice products being tagged as 250, 260X, 270X, 280X and the coolest two of them all are the Radeon R9 290 and R290X.

This review will cover the Radeon R9 290X, the regular 290 still needs to be released. We can say though that these two products are based on the new Hawaii GPU. The products will get impressive clock frequencies and, much like NVIDIA, boost power, voltage, fan and load limiters. The two R9 290 cards with that new silicon comes with a truckload of new features like integrated DSPs offering TrueAudio technology.

Read more: AMD Radeon R9-290X review and Crossfire review @ Guru3D

AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews

The AMD Radeon HD 7970 is nearly two years old and if you calculate that in ‘gamer years’ it would be easily considered past its prime. Video cards don’t get better as they age, so you would think that this card would be obsolete by now. The funny thing is that the Radeon HD 7970 is still a very competitive graphics card and was just re-branded this month as the lower cost Radeon R9 280X at $299. The AMD Radeon HD 7950/7970 and even some of the Radeon HD 7870 cards were powered by the 28nm Tahiti GPU that had 2048 stream processors and 3GB of GDDR5 memory in its full form. The AMD Radeon HD 7970 was designed in a time period where the largest resolution monitor available was 2560x1600, but now we have massive 4K Ultra HD monitors at 3840x2160 readily available and falling in price. In order to get more performance, AMD had to tape out an entirely new GPU called Hawaii for the Radeon R9 290X at the $549 price point.

Read on to see how it performs!

Read more: AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews

Launch: AMD Radeon R9 290X Graphics Card Review with 4K Performance @ HardwareHeaven.com

A couple of weeks ago AMD launched their new R9 and R7 series cards which replace the 7000 series in the market. The models released up to this point have primarily been tweaked versions of existing GPUs however today we get to see something new from AMD, their R9 290X which is based on the Hawaii chip, priced at $549/£449 and takes on the Geforce GTX 780. Today we will be taking a look at the R9 290X in games such as Battlefield 3, F1 2013 and Total War: Rome 2 to establish whether it can take on the GTX 780 and win.

Read more: Launch: AMD Radeon R9 290X Graphics Card Review with 4K Performance @ HardwareHeaven.com

AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB Review @ Hardware Canucks

AMD's R9 290X 4GB is finally here. This card has been designed to compete directly against NVIDIA's GTX 780 and TITAN but there's one major surprise in this launch: a price of just $549.

Read more: AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB Review @ Hardware Canucks

AMD Radeon R9 290X Review @ Techspot

The GeForce GTX Titan blew us all away eight months ago with its mindblowingly fast GPU, cramming 7080 million transistors into a 561mm2 die to provide massive processing power and bandwidth. The catch, of course, was that Nvidia wanted (and still wants) $1,000 for it -- a sum that didn't necessarily seem to prevent cards from flying off shelves even though it's more than our entire entry-level rig.

Nvidia followed up three months later with the equally impressive GTX 780 for a more plausible $650, where it remains today. Neither of those cards had much of an impact on AMD's sales as the company's most expensive offering at the time was a $450 Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (the 7990 arrived a few months later).

Eagerly awaiting AMD's response, we were disappointed that the first run of Rx 200 cards were rebadges. For instance, the R7 260X and R9 270X are the Radeon HD 7790 and 7870 overclocked, while the R9 280X is an underclocked version of the HD 7970 GHz Edition -- an equivalency chart can be found in our previous Radeon R7/R9 review. We were less than impressed.

Read more: AMD Radeon R9 290X Review @ Techspot

AMD Radeon R9 290X CrossFire @ techPowerUp

In this review, we put two AMD Radeon R9 290X cards into a CrossFire configuration, delivering massively improved framerates that will easily handle the latest and greatest titles. With the pair of cards retailing at just $100 more than a single GTX Titan, this is also quite an affordable combination.

Read more: AMD Radeon R9 290X CrossFire @ techPowerUp

AMD Radeon R9 290X 4 GB @ techPowerUp

AMD's new Radeon R9 290X launches today. Based on a new Hawaii GPU, the card promises record-breaking performance. Not only performance is impressive: With a price of $549, it's also the most affordable high-performance option, which will certainly put massive pressure on NVIDIA.

Read more: AMD Radeon R9 290X 4 GB @ techPowerUp

Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H Review @ OCC

For what the board is, it is virtually perfect. There is always room to want more, but this board didn't leave me feeling like I was missing out on anything. If there are any features you want that aren't provided, there are higher end Gigabyte motherboards that have them, but for a strong general purpose board this is hard to beat. The only things a user could realistically miss are: IEEE 1394 headers and Wi-Fi. IEEE 1394 isn't nearly as common as USB and Wi-Fi is a premium feature (that is offered on higher end Gigabyte boards). The software worked almost perfectly; it required an update but after that it worked without any problems! The only bug I noticed was incorrect memory frequency being reported but that didn't affect performance. The board was completely stable; the only time I ever had a crash was when the pushing the CPU with too low of voltages!

Read more: Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H Review @ OCC

Humble Bundle with Android 7 Review @ OCC

So what stands out of this 4+2 bundle, and does any one game make the bundle worth buying on its own? In my opinion the best games of the bundle are Anodyne, Incredipede, Greed Corp, and The Bard's Tale. They each offer enjoyable experiences, based on what I have played, and are almost certainly going to be worth your time, if you purchase the bundle. Incredipede and Greed Corp are both innovative takes on their genres, so if you like puzzlers or turn-based RTS games, you will want to play these. Anodyne is a well-constructed return to 16-bit adventure games with a healthy sense of humor, but requires some time investment. The Bard's Tale is a dated game, but is also well designed and has a mildly inappropriate sense of humor that can bring a smile to your face (or an eye roll).

Read more: Humble Bundle with Android 7 Review @ OCC

ASUS ROG Orion for Consoles Gaming Headset Video Review @ HardwareHeaven.com

Kaeyi Dream checks out the Orion for Consoles headset from ASUS released under the Republic of Gamers brand mark.

Read more: ASUS ROG Orion for Consoles Gaming Headset Video Review @ HardwareHeaven.com

Cooler Master V Series 850 W @ techPowerUp

Several months ago, we reviewed the Cooler Master V1000, which amazed us with its performance. Now, it is time for its smaller brother, the V850. Sharing the same platform with the V1000, it has the same features, including a fully modular cabling design, 80 Plus Gold efficiency, Japanese caps, and a silent, high-quality fan.

Read more: Cooler Master V Series 850 W @ techPowerUp

3M SPR1000 Streaming Projector Powered by Roku Review @ MissingRemote

There are many scenarios where a portable projector can be very useful – for business and for play. Providing a reasonably priced option, 3M Streaming Projector Powered by Roku (SPR1000) can tick both boxes, promising to make it easy to host an impromptu outdoor movie night or presentation using this highly portable, battery powered, 720p projector. Also, because it includes a Roku Streaming Stick in the box all of the over-the-top (OTT) goodness that service provides is available in a just-add-Wi-Fi experience. At $189 ($299 SRP) it almost seems too good to be true; let’s see where this little projector + streamer shine and where it is lacking.

Read more: 3M SPR1000 Streaming Projector Powered by Roku Review @ MissingRemote

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Review: The Phablet Refined @ HotHardware.com

Whether you're a fan of oversized smartphones or not, it's clear that they are here to stay. When Samsung initially released the first Galaxy Note, many of us in the industry looked at it a little sideways and wondered what the designers at Samsung were thinking. The original Galaxy Note seemed simply gargantuan next to virtually every other device available at the time and it was somewhat comical to see such a large device perched next to someone's ear when they were making a call.

The Note had a transformative effect on the smartphone industry, however. Yes, it was large. But once you've experienced the benefits of a larger screen, it's difficult to turn back, and Samsung sold millions of them. I was originally dismissive of the Note, but after living with the second-gen Note II for a while during the lead-up to our review, I grew accustomed to its size and features and now everything else just seems too small. Since reviewing the Note 2, I've had access to a number of other newer devices, but I keep going back to the Note 2. Take that for what it's worth.

As much as we liked the Note 2, technology inevitably marches on, and its successor is now available. The recently released Galaxy Note 3 builds upon the success of the Note and Note II, but with significantly updated hardware, a larger screen, fresh software, and a host of additional features...

Read more: Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Review: The Phablet Refined @ HotHardware.com

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (Verizon Wireless) Review @ TechReviewSource.com

Samsung refines its top-tier phablet with the 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 3, a powerful, full HD phone/tablet combo that may be the only mobile device you need.

Read more: Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (Verizon Wireless) Review @ TechReviewSource.com

MyDigitalSSD 128GB mSATA SuperCache 2 Caching SSD Review @ The SSD Review

Todays review is of MyDigitalSSDs SuperCache 2 mSATA 128GB SSD, and the FNet HybriDisk caching software. A license key for the HybriDisk software is included with the purchase of the SuperCache 2. How does a caching SSD work? It works in conjunction with a hard drive disk (HDD) to create what the operating system sees as a single, combined storage partition. A caching SSD utilizes specialized software to determine what programs, data, and/or files that the user accesses most frequently. This hot data will be held in a dedicated caching partition on the SSD for much quicker access when called for. Less frequently requested data will still reside on the HDD, until such time as it becomes frequently accessed enough to be moved to the SSD cache. What is stored on the SSD cache is dynamic, and changes over time based on actual usage.

Read more: MyDigitalSSD 128GB mSATA SuperCache 2 Caching SSD Review @ The SSD Review

Toshiba Q Series Pro 256GB SSD (HDTS325XZSTA) Review @ Custom PC Review

Generally when most of us think about SSDs, we think about a number of very common names such as OCZ, Kingston, ADATA and Corsair, but when it comes to the bulk of SSDs sold on the market, the major players are actually guys like SanDisk, Samsung, Crucial, and Toshiba, which we’ll refer to as Tier 1 manufacturers. These guys are high volume SSD manufacturers who not only produce actual SSDs themselves, but also own the fab that produces the NAND memory powering the SSD, which in turn gives them access to a stable supply of high quality NAND, control over NAND design, as well as control over NAND pricing. As you may expect, this a huge advantage in the market especially with so few Tier 1 SSD manufacturers in existence.

Now up until now many of these Tier 1 manufacturers have been operating a very quiet consumer business, instead focusing on the OEM and SI business rather than deal in the consumer space. However, with the popularity of SSDs on the rise, many of these Tier 1 manufacturers are jumping in for their own share of the market. A couple years ago, Samsung quietly launched the Samsung 470 which ended up becoming one of the top SSDs on the market. Since then, Samsung has really captured a huge chunk of the consumer SSD market with their newer Samsung 830 and 840 series SSDs, thanks to their strong marketing push along with simply having an excellent product at a reasonable price. SanDisk has also jumped into the market by quietly launching the SanDisk Extreme last year and recently launching the Extreme II that we recently reviewed. Of course with all these Tier 1 manufacturers jumping into the consumer market, it is no surprise that Toshiba is interested in taking of piece of the SSD market.

Read more: Toshiba Q Series Pro 256GB SSD (HDTS325XZSTA) Review @ Custom PC Review

Microlab MD312 Bluetooth Wireless Portable Speaker Review @ Benchmark Reviews

Even thought Microlab has only been developing devices with Bluetooth wireless technology since 2011, it has been in business since 1998 and, since then, has earned a reputation for developing outstanding audio products. In other words, there is no reason to shy away from the Microlab MD312, a new Bluetooth portable speaker recently added to the company's product line. Benchmark Reviews has taken a closer look at this device, so you are encouraged to read on in order to see how the Microlab MD312 performed while being used extensively.

Read more: Microlab MD312 Bluetooth Wireless Portable Speaker Review @ Benchmark Reviews

Surface 2 Review @ Neowin.net

Microsoft is back with an updated Surface that has many new features and an updated OS but will the Surface 2 be enough to finally make inroads against the market-dominating iPad? Read more...    

Read more: Surface 2 Review @ Neowin.net

The Surface RT is simply a very bad product @ OSNews

Early this year, I decided to take a risk.

As a geek, I like to reward those in the industry that try to be bold. That try to be different. That try to leave the beaten path. That look at the norm in the market, and decide to ignore it. Despite all its flaws, Microsoft did just that with its Metro user interface, incarnations of which are used on both Windows Phone and Windows 8.

I was a Windows Phone user since day one. I bought an HTC HD7 somewhere around release day, and imported it into The Netherlands, a year before the platform became available in The Netherlands. I wanted to reward Microsoft's mobile team for trying to be different, for being original, for not copying iOS and Android and instead coming up with something fresh and unique. Despite all the limitations and early adopter issues, I loved it.

Read more: The Surface RT is simply a very bad product @ OSNews

AMD Radeon R9 290X Video Card Review @ HardOCP

AMD is launching the Radeon R9 290X today. The R9 290X represents AMD's fastest single-GPU video card ever produced. It is priced to be less expensive than the GeForce GTX 780, but packs a punch on the level of GTX TITAN. We look at performance, the two BIOS mode options, and even some 4K gaming.

Read more: AMD Radeon R9 290X Video Card Review @ HardOCP

The Radeon R9 290X Review @ Anandtech

Launching today is AMD's Radeon R9 290X. The 290X is not only the fastest card in AMDs 200 series lineup, but the 290 series in particular also contains the only new GPU in AMDs latest generation of video cards. Dubbed Hawaii, with the 290 series AMD is looking to have their second wind between manufacturing node launches. By taking what they learned from Tahiti and building a refined GPU against a much more mature 28nm process something that also opens the door to a less conservative design AMD has been able to build a bigger, better Tahiti that continues down the path laid out by their Graphics Core Next architecture while bringing some new features to the family.    

Read more: The Radeon R9 290X Review @ Anandtech

EVGA X79 Dark Review @ Anandtech

Investing into the high performance Intel arena can be expensive. Alongside that $330/$580/$1050 CPU (or more for Xeons) there has to be a motherboard up to the task. X79 motherboards run from ~$200 to ~$400, with a couple of models above that, potentially doubling the price of the setup before a case/memory/storage or GPUs are considered. Today we are looking at the EVGA X79 Dark which sits near the top of this price range at $400.    

Read more: EVGA X79 Dark Review @ Anandtech

HIS Announces its Radeon R9 290X Duo @ techPowerUp

HIS announced its Radeon R9 290X graphics card duo, both of which stick to AMD's reference board design, with reference clock speeds of 1000 MHz core, and 5.00 GHz memory; and differ only with the packaging. The HIS R9 290X Fan is the base model, while the HIS R9 290X Fan Battlefield 4 Edition is practically the same card, but with an Origin key to Battlefield 4. The base model is priced at $549.99, while the Battlefield 4 Edition could charge a $25 premium over that (still cheaper than buying the game off Origin). Based on the 28 nm "Hawaii" silicon, the R9 290X features 2,816 stream processors, 176 TMUs, 4 Tessellation Units, 64 ROPs, and a 512-bit wide memory interface, holding 4 GB of GDDR5 memory.

Read more: HIS Announces its Radeon R9 290X Duo @ techPowerUp

How to prevent Cryptolocker Ransomware to hit your PC @ ghacks.net

Cryptolocker is a relatively new kind of ransomware that was first detected in the wild in September 2013. Ransomware for those who do not know the term refers to malicious software that, when executed on a PC, encrypts files on it so that they cannot be accessed anymore unless decrypted. Cryptolocker displays a ransom notification []The post How to prevent Cryptolocker Ransomware to hit your PC appeared first on gHacks Technology News.

Read more: How to prevent Cryptolocker Ransomware to hit your PC @ ghacks.net

Kingston Navi Limited Edition 240GB SSD review: gaming SSD @ Hardware.Info

In early August, Kingston released a limited edition SSD in collaboration with gaming team Natus Vincere. We tested the 240 GB SSD version.

The Natus Vincere crew are a force to be reckoned with. The eSports team has severl world championships under its belt and earned a total of more than 2.5 million dollars. Hardware manufacturers regularly use the names and even expertise of gaming heroes to give their products a unique look or special features. OCZ, ASRock, Zalman, Creative and ABIT have products made together with Fatal1ty, and MSI has an extensive partnership with gaming team Fnatic. Whether this increases sales is difficult to say, but for us the performance and quality of the products matters much more than a name on a box.

Read more: Kingston Navi Limited Edition 240GB SSD review: gaming SSD @ Hardware.Info

AMD's Radeon R9 290X graphics card reviewed @ The Tech Report

This is the one we've been waiting for. The Radeon R9 290X brings some truly new technology in the form of the GPU code-named "Hawaii." Read on for our pleasingly-yet-slightly-threateningly-detailed review.

Read more: AMD's Radeon R9 290X graphics card reviewed @ The Tech Report