Reviews 51952 Published by

Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

Antec P8 Midi Tower Case Review
Corsair MP300 M2 NVMe 480GB SSD Review
DJI Mavic Air Review
ECS LIVA Z2 Mini-PC Review
LG 27UK850 Monitor Review
MSI B350I PRO AC Ryzen Motherboard Review
Reeven Twila RGB LED Light Strip Review
Salt and Sanctuary Review
SteelSeries Arctis Pro + GameDAC Headset Review
The Low Road Review



Antec P8 Midi Tower Case Review

It's only £65 in the UK, but is it worth a consideration if buying a new case?

The Antec P8 is a mid tower PC case that features a minimalist, functional design aimed at PC builders on a budget. You won’t find any RGB lighting but there are plenty of different options when it comes to cooling and drive configuration. With a price tag of around £65, is the P8 a case worth considering?

Read full article @ KitGuru

Corsair MP300 M2 NVMe 480GB SSD Review

We review the Corsair Force MP300 480GB M2 NVMe SSD. With this release, Corsair offers a more affordable M2 NVMe SSD. The performance is wat faster than your normal SATA3 SSD, but not as fast as the MP500 for example. If you can settle for 1600 MB/s reads and 1 GB/sec writes, this might be a serious alternative in a saturated NAND storage market.

An SSD targeted towards gaming laptops and high-end PCs, it's thin and covered by a mixture of graphene foil. Available in capacities of 120 (€54), 240 (€79), 480 (€149) and 960 GB (€299) volume sizes. These units offer peak read performance of up to 1600 MB/s and peak write speeds up to 1080 MB/s, much faster way compared to what you can achieve with a SATA3 device. The random performance rated up-to 210K random read IOPS and up to 240K write IOPS. Being M.2., you do need a modern motherboard with capable NVMe supported M.2 (PCI-Expresse Gen 3.0 x2 (and not x4) connected) interface, please do check out your motherboard manufacturer for that. But ever the past year or two all Intel and AMD chipset released in the mainstream to high-end class support it very well. M2 is interesting stuff, these smaller form factors storage units are evolving from being "just as fast" as a regular SSD towards double, tripling, heck... even quadrupling that performance. It comes in a different package, M.2. The M.2 interface is so much more capable as it can deal with way more bandwidth using PCI-Express lanes. As such, M.2 solutions are intended for enthusiast class motherboards. The series M.2 SSDs are a breathtaking series of storage technology as they offer enthusiast class performance yet remain reasonable in pricing depending on NAND type.

Read full article @ The Guru of 3D

DJI Mavic Air Review

DJI has once again stepped into the spotlight with another powerful, yet portable, 4K drone that combines the video capabilities of its highly regarded Mavic Pro, with the smaller footprint of the consumer-focused DJI Spark.

DJI has gone to great lengths in recent years to appeal to consumers looking for more portable devices. As a photographer, I carry a camera bag littered with lenses and DSLR bodies; but most will agree that something like DJI's earlier Phantom drones were simply too large to consider highly portable. With DJI’s latest and greatest drone, the Mavic Air, however, photographers and videographers alike are able to carry a foldable, simple to deploy, and extremely easy to use airborne 4K camera in their gear bag or even their cargo shorts' pocket...

Read full article @ HotHardware

ECS LIVA Z2 Mini-PC Review

ECS looks to impress with the LIVA Z2, a silent, power-efficient, and semi-upgradeable successor to the LIVA Z. Packing a host of new outputs and features, such as HDMI 2.0 for 4K 60 Hz playback, the LIVA Z2 offers enough performance to make it a compelling entry level offering for those wanting a HTPC or simple office system.

Elitegroup Computer Systems, known to most of us as ECS, was formed in 1987. From their humble beginnings, they have become an industry-leading OEM that not only manufactures a large number of products for themselves but other vendors as well. ECS currently offers mini-PCs, laptops, motherboards, tablets, and other IoT devices under their various brands and has expanded into a large number of markets. Even if you have never directly bought an ECS-branded product, it is still highly likely that you have used or owned one they manufactured. With each passing year, ECS continues to grow, offering a larger and more diverse portfolio of consumer products.

Read full article @ TechPowerUp

LG 27UK850 Monitor Review

LG is aiming at both gamers and graphics pros with the 27-inch Ultra HD 27UK850. It boasts an IPS panel, FreeSync, HDR and factory-certified calibration. In the not-so-distant past, monitors came in one basic flavor – 60 hertz (Hz) business screens with a basic list of features and adequate performance. As new technologies enabled more accurate color and better video processing, distinct categories appeared. Today, the divide between gaming and professional displays is significant, and both genres carry premium price tags. But many users need a monitor that can do everything well. LG attempts to answer that call with the 27UK850, a 27-inch, in-plane switching (IPS) panel with Ultra HD resolution, FreeSync and HDR10.

Read full article @ Tom's Hardware

MSI B350I PRO AC Ryzen Motherboard Review

MSI is one of the leading motherboard manufacturers in the world and a massive sponsor of eSports events. The company was founded in 1986 and has grown to be one of the biggest names in DIY computing and PC gaming. While MSI began with motherboards in the 1980s but, has diversified in recent years. MSI now makes laptops, monitors, desktops, graphics cards, peripherals, and more. MSI is seriously reaching a point where it will be possible to build a PC with nothing but MSI branded hardware in it. CPU, RAM, and a case seem to be about the only things that will be missing MSI logos in such a build.

MSI has consistently impressed me with the quality of its products in recent years. Gone are the days of color coding their RAM slots differently than anyone else or putting roller coaster heat pipe heat sinks on motherboards. The company transformed itself from the run of the mill motherboard company with mediocre motherboards into a company that focuses on PC gaming like no other company in the industry. Sure, ASUS and GIGABYTE have gaming brands, but MSI is the company that put nearly everything they make into a "gaming" brand. Oddly, the motherboard we are looking at here is not part of the usual gaming brand. The B350I PRO AC has no red and black colors, no "gaming" printed across the box or anything of the sort. This is one of those rare products in MSI’s catalog that sits as almost a niche within a niche. It’s a non-gaming part and a mini-ITX motherboard on top of that.

Read full article @ HardOCP

Reeven Twila RGB LED Light Strip Review

In this article for Benchmark Reviews, I’m going to be testing the Reeven Twila RGB LED strips. Reeven Twila is compatible with Asus Aura, MSI Mystic Light Sync, ASrock RGB LED, and Gigabyte RGB Fusion ready. Twila connects to motherboards via the 4 pin RGB connector. The motherboard manufactures have their own software for controlling the output of the LED connectors built-in to compatible motherboards.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews

Salt and Sanctuary Review

Heavily inspired by Dark Souls, Salt and Sanctuary takes key components from a selection of genres, to create a bleak yet intriguing 2D action RPG. Previously amassing a flurry of positive reviews upon its release back in 2016, this title has already established itself as one of the worthy Souls-like games on offer. Following the dark adventures of a sailor, shipwrecked on a strange island, players will uncover mysterious areas, fight fearsome bosses and upgrade their character’s stats. Due to the game’s existing reputation, this review will feature less analysis on Salt and Sanctuary’s content and will instead focus on the quality of theNintendo Switch port.

Nothing has been changed from the original release of Salt and Sanctuary on the PlayStation 4 back in March 2016. If you’ve already played Salt and Sanctuary on another platform then you aren’t going to find anything new here, unless you are looking for a solid portable version of the game.

Read full article @ Wccftech

SteelSeries Arctis Pro + GameDAC Headset Review

Today we will be covering the Arctis Pro + GameDAC from SteelSeries. Big shout out to SteelSeries for providing us with all the great headsets in the past. The one on hand today is from the Arctis line. We covered a few of the Arctis headsets a while back and now we have the Arctis Pro + GameDAC version to show off. As you can expect, SteelSeries doesn’t fool around when it comes to their audio. I love that SteelSeries has a passion about providing us with the most enjoyable experience possible. If you are like me then you want nothing but the best from a headset. This setup looks like a take on the famous Siberia 800. I had the pleasure of reviewing that headset. I like the new style of the dial and screen.

Read full article @ FunkyKit

The Low Road Review

Old-school adventure games have staged somewhat of a comeback in recent years, but recreating the feel of classic franchises like Monkey Island, Sam & Max, and King’s Quest has proven to be an elusive challenge. For every new success, like Ron Gilbert’s Thimbleweed Park, it seems there’s a disappointment, like Tim Schafer’s barely coherent Broken Age.

The Low Road is one of the latest attempts to cash in on lingering LucasArts and Sierra nostalgia. The game has everything a retro adventure game could need – a unique premise, quirky characters, logic-twisting puzzles — but does it manage to recapture that 90s magic? Let’s find out…

Read full article @ Wccftech