Reviews 51949 Published by

Here a roundup of todays reviews and articles:

15 Intel X99 motherboards review: new boards for Haswell-E
Aerocool DS Cube
Akasa Euler Mini-ITX Thin Fanless Chassis Review
AMD FX-8370E 95W (32nm Vishera) Review
Asus clarifies situation with OC sockets: CPUs have warranty
ASUS reveals EeeBook X205, Zenbook UX305 and the ZenWatch
ASUS X99-DELUXE Motherboard Preview
CM Storm Devastator Review: Gaming Keyboard and Mouse Combo
Everybody Can NAS, a Beginners Guide to OpenMediaVault
EVGA TORQ X10 Carbon Gaming Mouse Review
Galaxy Note 4 hands-on review
Gigabyte X99-UD4 Review
HTC Announces the Desire
Intel Core i7 5960X / 5930K / 5820K Haswell-E review: 8 cores at last
Kingston HyperX Cloud Headset Review
Kingston HyperX Fury 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review
MakuluLinux 6.0 KDE - Super messy
New AMD FX CPUs: 8370, 8370e, 8320e
Operating System U: A new Linux based OS with a firm focus on you the user and functionality over UI overhauls, hits KickStarter
Plextor M6M 128GB mSATA Solid State Drive Review
Synology DS115j Review
Tesoro Gandiva H1L Review
WD My Passport Wireless 1TB Storage Drive Review



15 Intel X99 motherboards review: new boards for Haswell-E

Intel has introduced their new high-end Haswell_E, click here for our extensive review. The new high-end processors make use of a new socket, Socket 2011 v3, and have to be paired with a new chipset, Intel X99. More than enough reason for several Taiwanese manufacturers to introduce one or more boards with this chipset. We tested 15 of these sent to us from ASRock, ASUS , Gigabyte and MSI.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

Aerocool DS Cube

Aerocool's Dead Silence series of cases aims to be quiet, but flashy, thanks to its various bright color choices. With the DS Cube, the company is offering a compact mATX chassis having the ability to hold potent components, which allows you to build a hip gaming rig.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

Akasa Euler Mini-ITX Thin Fanless Chassis Review

We kick things off today with a look at one of the latest chassis designs from Akasa. Akasa have established a solid reputation for themselves over the years as a cooling manufacturer, and while the Euler mini-ITX Thin chassis I’m reviewing today may not sound like their typical product range, its passive cooled design certainly does.

The HTPC market has great demand for silent and compact chassis designs that not only perform great, but also look great. Of course this being a small form factor chassis means that it’s a prime choice for HTPC loving consumers, but there will no doubt be interest from the digital signage market, or those who are simply limited on space in general.

There are two models of the Euler available right now, one with a 120w power adapter suitable for mini-ITX slim motherboards, and one without, for those who many have already gotten a PSU supplied with their motherboard. The model we have here today is the AK-ITX05-BK12, the model with the DC power pack included.

Read full article @ eTeknix

AMD FX-8370E 95W (32nm Vishera) Review

AMD FX goes after Intel Core i5. Yesterday was a busy day for the folks at AMD. In addition to launching the Radeon R9 285 graphics card, the firm refreshed its line of FX Series CPUs with the introduction of three new models.

Priced between $147 and $200, the trio is comprised of the performance-optimised FX-8370, along with the power-optimised FX-8370E and FX-8320E, both of which reduce chip TDP from 125W to 95W.

Based on the 'Piledriver' architecture, all three new additions continue to offer eight native x86 cores in an AM3+ package. Putting the new models into sharper focus, the below table highlights the key specifications of AMD's various eight-core FX Series parts.

Read full article @ Hexus

Asus clarifies situation with OC sockets: CPUs have warranty

Asustek Computer on Wednesday clarified the situation with its custom LGA2011-3 O.C. sockets as well as warranty that covers Intel Corp.’s processors. The mainboard maker denied that Intel’s warranty does not cover chips used with O.C. sockets and stated that the sockets are absolutely safe to use. A new statement by Intel confirms Asus’ claims.

Read full article @ KitGuru

ASUS reveals EeeBook X205, Zenbook UX305 and the ZenWatch

The Ultra Slim (12.3mm) ASUS Zenbook UX305 features an Intel Core M processor.

Read full article @ Hexus

ASUS X99-DELUXE Motherboard Preview

Intel’s LGA2011 and its aging X79 chipset have soldiered along for that segment of the market that prized core count and memory bandwidth above all. But now there’s a new LGA2011 in town: LGA2011-V3, complete with the new X99 chipset, and Benchmark Reviews has ASUS’ latest X99-based motherboard to test. Replete with features like 5-way optimization, Crystal Sound audio, on-board 802.11ac wireless, m.2 SSD support, extensive overclocking options, and unique additions like a fan extension card and multiple ways to mount m.2 SSDs, the ASUS X99-DELUXE is aimed squarely at the enthusiast for whom only the very best will do.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews

CM Storm Devastator Review: Gaming Keyboard and Mouse Combo

Getting two things to review in the same package feels a little overwhelming, yet exciting at the same time. I get to ask myself so many questions that I normally wouldn’t, such as: “How do these two devices work together?” or “Do they manage to pull off a similar style, making them feel like an item bundle” and even “What does this mean for consumers, is it more worth it than buying a keyboard and mouse separately?” All these questions I will answer, analyzing both the products included in the Cooler Master Devastator bundle separately and as a package.

Read full article @ TechnologyX

Everybody Can NAS, a Beginners Guide to OpenMediaVault

NAS is the acronym for ‘Network Attached Storage’ and that is just what it is. Storage that is directly attached to your network, thereby allowing you to access its content from all your smart devices. In this article I’ll take you along the road of setting up and configuring your own NAS, even for a small wallet. It sounds so simple and it is. But it is also something that can make your every-day digital-life a lot easier and more enjoyable.

Having a NAS in your household allows you to have a centralized storage for all your backups, media files and documents. This again gives you the ability to easy access them from all your devices, may it be your smart TV, your phone or tablet, your computers or game consoles and what else comes to mind.

Some of the first words that scare most people away from setting up a NAS themselves are ‘linux’ and ‘network’. While it might not be something you have experience with, I guarantee it’s all very easy and quick to do.

Read full article @ eTeknix

EVGA TORQ X10 Carbon Gaming Mouse Review

EVGA is probably not the first name that you think of when shopping for a mouse. With the new Torq X10 they aim to change that in a big way. EVGA may be best known for their NVIDIA based video cards but they have branched out before with some award winning Power supplies and motherboards. Let’s see if the Torq X10 set a similar trend.

A popular quote from Henry Ford states, "You can have any color as long as it's black.". This was a line describing the new Model T and is still relevant today. The Torq follows a similar concept and only comes in black but you do get to choose your materials. You can take the black and aluminum standard X10 or opt for the upgraded X10 Carbon like the one in this review. The Carbon replaces all of the exterior shell with real carbon fiber. I am sure even Ford would approve.

The black look is accented by a set of red buttons on each side that appear to be anodized aluminum and the two arrows on the adjustable DPI rocker just behind the wheel. Shiny accents on the convex scroll wheel provide a bit of flash that looks even better when things are lit up! Let’s see what’s under the hood.

Read full article @ Hardware Asylum

Galaxy Note 4 hands-on review

A sizeable smartphone designed with productivity in mind. Visually the Galaxy Note 4 doesn't stray too far from its predecessor, the Galaxy Note 3 and has the same fake leather backplate and metallic sides. The Galaxy Note 4's button placement is also the same and the Galaxy Note 4 has a physical front-facing home button and volume and power controls on its right side. Under the hood, though, Samsung has made a few changes, one of the biggest of which is the inclusion of the custom fingerprint scanner debuted on Samsung's regular-sized Galaxy S5 handset.

Read full article @ V3

Gigabyte X99-UD4 Review

With the X99-UD4, Gigabyte already has an X99 motherboard ready for launch day and this particular model comes with a reasonable feature mix and very attractive price. It doesn't take long until you see that Gigabyte did not overexaggerate equipping this board with additional chips, which is something that's reflected in the price. Maybe Gigabyte is capable of scoring big with this motherboard, since it looks like the X99-UD4 has the potiential to set the benchmark for entry-level X99 motherboards.

Read full article @ ocaholic

HTC Announces the Desire

According to HTC, the Desire 816 proved to be a popular device in the mid-range smartphone market. Now, only a bit longer than six months after its release, the Desire 820 is here to replace the 816 as HTC's new flagship of the Desire lineup. It's one of the first Android devices with a 64-bit ARMv8 SoC, and the first to adopt Qualcomm's Snapdragon 615. Below I've laid out all the specifications for the Desire 820.

Read full article @ Anandtech

Intel Core i7 5960X / 5930K / 5820K Haswell-E review: 8 cores at last

Recently, Intel introduced their new high-end processor platform, codenamed Haswell-E, in the shape of the Core i7 5960X, 5930K, and 5820K processors. With these being the first Intel desktop processors to feature 8 cores, along with the transition to DDR4 and a significantly improved chipset, Haswell-E is at least on paper a significant upgrade over Intel's current high-end CPUs. Within this extensive test, we will determine whether this is also the case in practice.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

Kingston HyperX Cloud Headset Review

Recently we seen a couple of Kingston's gaming products premieres. One of them is the HyperX Cloud headset. The naming maybe simple but you can be sure it is not just another standard gaming headset.

Online multiplayer games are becoming more popular each year and one of the keys to a team winning is good communication. What else can help with that if not a good headset? Kingston's support to the gaming communities has been well known for many years. Based on their experience, Kingston is improving their HyperX line to provide best products designed for winning.

Read full article @ FunkyKit

Kingston HyperX Fury 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review

Kingston recently introduced whole new line of products under FURY name. We already had a chance to review DDR3-1866 memory and 240GB SSD drive and now it's time for the flash drive which had its premiere couple of days ago on the Gamescon which had a place in Cologne, Germany.
HyperX FURY is a budget series but it's still designed to be fast. Our review sample is a 32GB version so should be perfect for most users.
Let's check how HyperX is performing in our tests and if it meets our expectations.

Read full article @ FunkyKit

MakuluLinux 6.0 KDE - Super messy

You win some, you lose some. Here's a long, thorough and mostly negative review of MakuluLinux 6 KDE 32-bit edition, a Debian-based distribution, covering live usage, installation, and post-install customization and testing, including look & feel, networking (2.4GHz and 5GHz Wireless, Samba), multimedia playback - Flash and MP3, long, cumbersome and dangerous installation, slow and tricky post-install setup, applications, system resources, stability, suspend & resume, printing, and many problems associated with default behavior, programs, installation options, available software, and more. Take a look.

Read full article @ Dedoimedo

New AMD FX CPUs: 8370, 8370e, 8320e

The new unlocked eight-core AMD FX processors. Still the only brand that packs eight-core performance, AMD FX processors deliver more ammunition – more cores, more speed and massive overclocking headroom. Plus new lower wattage options!

Read full article @ FunkyKit

Operating System U: A new Linux based OS with a firm focus on you the user and functionality over UI overhauls, hits KickStarter

There's isn't probably a piece of software that is as hated as Windows 8's Metro UI.

Read full article @ Tech Drive-In

Plextor M6M 128GB mSATA Solid State Drive Review

A few months ago I took a look at a drive that has managed to slingshot Plextor right back into the enthusiast market with a drive that took the limitations of the SATA III interface and threw it out of the window, using the supreme bandwidth of a PCIe interface to allow it to stretch its legs out and give us some proper next generation performance. Now if you’ve not guessed which drive I’m on about here, I’m referring their M6e PCIe SSD – which uses the latest M.2 NGFF interface to deliver levels of performance that may have dreamed of for quite some time.

Whilst the M6e is a great product to behold, it is not for everybody. Firstly we have to look at the cost and with a 512GB drive fetching over £500 / $800, it is a heavy investment to made and secondly its compatibility list is somewhat limited, knocking many mATX builds and portable systems out of the question. Fortunately though Plextor were not naive enough to force users on to the M.2 platform to enjoy the performance that is on offer from the components of the M6e. Alongside the next generation drive, Plextor have brought two more drive to market that follow are more traditional approach to storage, using the most commonly used interface, SATA, and its compact alternative mSATA. Whilst both the mSATA and SATA drives are not able to offer the break neck speeds that can be achieved through a native M.2 or PCIe interface, they still play home to the same controller and NAND packages, just with a lower headlining above them.

The drive we’ve got to play around with today come in the mSATA form factor and with the M6M product name (the second M representing mSATA) we can easily point out its association with the highly popular M6e. Built around the same Marvell 88SS9188 controller and custom firmware, the M6M comes in capacities ranging from 64GB right up to 512GB, all within the same 50.8 x 29.8 container, allowing them to fit into virtually any device that houses a mSATA port. Offering sequential read and write speeds of up to 520MB/s and 440MB/s with IOPs ratings of up to 94K read and 80K write, the M6M is by no means a basic solution for mSATA devices – it is a workhorse that delivers just as much of a punch as its bigger brothers which are part of the SATA and M.2 groups.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Synology DS115j Review

The latest NAS price point to be refreshed by Synology is their single bay, budget conscious product. We take a look at the replacement for the DS112j in our Synology DS115j Review.

Read full article @ HardwareHeaven

Tesoro Gandiva H1L Review

The gaming mouse arena is an extremely fierce market. Once upon a time there were only a handful of key players in this department but the 21st Century has given rise to numerous companies moving into peripheral production and now a ferocious battle has ensued and one such brand to join the onslaught is a company called Tesoro Technology – today we’ll be taking a look at a mouse which features within their portfolio of products.

Gandiva is a laser gaming mouse offering a maximum DPI of 8200. Additional to the obligatory programmable buttons, advanced customisation is available which includes polling rate adjustment, DPI increment, macro functionality and LED lighting.

Read full article @ Vortez

WD My Passport Wireless 1TB Storage Drive Review

Wireless devices are growing in popularity and lets face it we are slowly cutting the cords on many of the electronic devices that we use daily. Over the past several years a number of companies have come out with small wireless storage drives that allow you to backup or store large amounts of data from your smartphone, tablet, PC, or Mac. WD feels that now is a time to come out with a wireless storage device as previously they didn’t feel like the time was right for a portable wireless storage product. WD today unveiled the WD My Passport Wireless, a Wi-Fi enabled external storage drive that allows you to save, access and share stored content wirelessly with pretty much any device on the market today. The My Passport Wireless comes in 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities and runs $129.99, $179.99 and $219.99, respectively. Each model has a built-in rechargeable battery allowing it to power itself when you’re on the road for up to 6 hours of HD streaming on DLNA capable devices and up to 20 hours of battery life when on standby.

Read full article @ Legit Reviews