Reviews 51923 Published by

Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

Apple Watch Series 4 Review
ASRock B450 Fatal1ty Gaming-ITX/ac Review
Best Mouse 2018
CPU Cooler Comparison 2018 Part 2
Crucial BX500 480 GB Review
Destiny 2: Forsaken Review
ECS Elite Group Liva Q2 Series Mini-PC Review
Gigabyte RTX 2080 Gaming OC 8G Review
Gigabyte UD Pro 512GB Solid State Drive Review
Gigabyte X299 Designare EX Motherboard Review
Metal Max Xeno Review
MSI Clutch GM60 Modular Mystic Light Gaming Mouse Review
MSI GeForce RTX 2080 DUKE OC 8 GB Graphics Card Review
MyDigitalSSD M2X Portable SSD M.2 USB 3.1 External Enclosure Review
NVIDIA SLI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 2080 with NVLink Review
Origin EVO15-S Review
Origin PC Eon17-X Gaming Laptop Review
Team Group Delta RGB SSD Review
Timespinner Review
Windows 10 - How to hide updates



Apple Watch Series 4 Review

A $399 starting price is a lot to ask, but Apple added a lot to this Watch. The fourth iteration of the Apple Watch still looks like a tiny iPhone on your wrist, but for many, it was the most exciting device announced at Apple's event earlier this month. A larger screen, faster performance with improved sensors, fall detection, and ECG readings are just a few of the features that inspired quick interest in the Apple Watch Series 4. The steps forward in health monitoring alone point to a new era for Apple's wearable, and users who could benefit most from them have a compelling reason to shell out $399 or more for the Series 4.

Otherwise, the Series 4 is an amalgamation of small improvements that make a big difference in the Apple Watch experience. These improvements will attract new users to the Watch who have been waiting for a device that's up to their personal standards, and they will make existing Watch wearers question their happiness with the smartwatch currently on their wrists. But while the Series 4 represents the first major redesign of the Apple Watch since its birth, that alone doesn't make it an automatic upgrade for all Apple Watch users.

Read full article @ ArsTechnica

ASRock B450 Fatal1ty Gaming-ITX/ac Review

The ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX/ac is a tiny little motherboard designed to give you the best possible performance in the smallest package. The board itself measures 170mm x 170mm with small heatsinks and space-saving features to make a powerful, yet small, workstation or media PC.

Read full article @ Vortez

Best Mouse 2018

Anyone spending hours on their computer every day will tell you that having the right tools at hand is serious business. Deciding on the best mouse is a subjective process where several things come into play: intended use, feel, feature set, grip style and price. Here are our top picks.

Read full article @ TechSpot

CPU Cooler Comparison 2018 Part 2

After the big CPU cooler comparison 2018, where we tested numerous coolers on an AMD AM4 system, we would like to present another cooler test overview on OCinside.de today. In the second part of the cooler chart there is now an overview with selected CPU coolers from Antec, Arctic, Cooler Master, Cryorig, Enermax, Intel and LEPA that have been tested on an Intel Core i5 PC system. So you can easily find the right air cooler or AIO water cooler for the Intel PC or AMD PC and get a quick comparison of the cooler test results.

Read full article @ OcInside.de

Crucial BX500 480 GB Review

Crucial's new BX500 SSD comes at a great price point of just $80 for the reviewed 480 GB version, making it one of the most affordable drives on the market. It is a DRAM-less design that's built around a Silicon Motion controller with Micron-made 3D TLC NAND.

Read full article @ TechPowerUp

Destiny 2: Forsaken Review

With no official support of Vanguards, you’re essentially on your own to taken Sov and his Barons. What this means is that your Guardian will have to work with some unsavory characters in order to put the beat down on the Prince. Tonally, there’s a massive shift towards the somber as characters you talk to (especially at the Tower) reflect on the impact that Cayde had on all their lives. The focus is revenge through and through. It’s tight and never loses momentum.

The main structure of the Destiny 2: Forsaken main campaign is that you’re hunting down the Prince’s eight Barons in order to reveal his final location. Each of the Baron missions are diverse and highlight different Destiny 2 gameplay aspects. For example, The Rider is head of a notorious Pike(r) gang that’ll require to strap into in a suit-up Pike armed with some deadly artillery. The Baron’s each have their own personality and role in Prince Sov’s new world order and a hand in the murder of Cayde-6. My personal favorite is the MindBender, a Fallen who is a Hive superfan who’s mission ends in a fight in his personal little pocket dimension.

Read full article @ Wccftech

ECS Elite Group Liva Q2 Series Mini-PC Review

Mini-PC systems is a market that, despite much effort, is still a little bit new and unusual. The concept of having a PC you could literally fit in your pocket is certainly one that would appeal to many. This is particularly for those who have jobs on the go that might not necessarily quite the bulk of a laptop, but perhaps something that could easily be hooked up to a monitor or a projector. Perhaps for a Powerpoint presentation. Perhaps even just as a means of having a PC hooked up to your TV for streaming and video.

With this in mind, we have had the pleasure of checking out the ECS Liva Q2 mini-PC. A Windows-based micro-PC that offers a surprising level of performance for such a small package.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Gigabyte RTX 2080 Gaming OC 8G Review

It's Gigabyte's triple-fan RTX 2080 card - but is it worth the £859.99 asking price? Nvidia’s new RTX 2080 cards were officially launched on the 20th September, and today our attention turns to the first aftermarket card to come into our offices – the Gigabyte RTX 2080 Gaming OC 8G. This card features Gigabyte’s Windforce 3X cooling system, overclocked speeds right out of the box, as well as RGB Fusion lighting. With a £110 price premium over Nvidia’s Founders Edition model, however, can it justify the extra expense?

Read full article @ KitGuru

Gigabyte UD Pro 512GB Solid State Drive Review

Gigabyte has been expanding their portfolio of products this year. With their high-end gaming brand AORUS they introduced both DDR4 memory and power supplies. Under the main brand they are releasing their first solid state drive, the UD Pro. With this move it seems Gigabyte pretty much makes everything you need to build a system besides the CPU of course. The UD Pro drive is powered by the Phison S10 controller and Toshiba 64-layer TLC NAND. It boats sequential read and write speeds of 530 MB/s and 500 MB/s respectively. Let’s take a look at this drive and see what it can do!

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

Gigabyte X299 Designare EX Motherboard Review

Intel's high-end desktop platforms can be finicky beasts, and X299 is no exception despite its roots in Intel's enthusiast-desktop chipsets. I'm not going to name names, but the breadth and depth of CPUs one can install on this platform seems to have stretched some first-run X299 boards past their limits. I've had boards crash entirely when benchmarks like AIDA64 try to execute AVX-512 code, for example—a flagship feature of X299 and its Skylake-X CPUs. Others can't handle Intel's highest-end Skylake-X chips without a fan directly on their VRM heatsinks to prevent overheating, even when chips aren't overclocked. In short, X299 has fallen a bit short of the expectations we hold for high-end desktop platforms, especially when compared to the stability and reliability we've seen from AMD's X399 boards.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

Metal Max Xeno Review

The Metal Max series is a long-running JRPG franchise centered in a barren wasteland, devoid of any natural life and where your chances of survival are intrinsically linked to however much fuel you have left in your tank. To date, only one other of the Metal Max/Metal Saga games has been localized into English, dating back to Metal Saga on the PlayStation 2. The combination of on-foot and armored tank combat have given the series a unique touch to give it some identity among the dozens of other Japanese RPGs that release every year. Now, more than a decade since the last entry graced Western consoles, Metal Max Xeno has returned with a new wasteland adventure from the publishing team at NIS America.

Read full article @ Wccftech

MSI Clutch GM60 Modular Mystic Light Gaming Mouse Review

Tired of having a gaming mouse that’s just like everyone else’s? Then you’re in luck, as the new MSI Clutch GM60 is here at last! Packing all the high-end features one would come to expect from a premium gaming peripherals, the GM60 also goes quite a bit further. You have all your high-end optical sensor, Omron switches and plenty of RGB on offer here. Of course, that’s great news, but how about a fully customisable ergonomic design too? The mouse comes with two top panels and four side panels that are all interchangeable. This means you can turn it from right to left handed, have it double sided, or just pick whichever panels feel best for you.

The sensor comes courtesy of Avago, with the stunning PWM3330 optical sensor that can deliver tracking up to 10800 DPI in steps of 100. Without a doubt, you’ll find something you like within that range. There are eight fully programmable buttons, all powered by Omron Gaming 50m+ rated switches too. If that wasn’t enough, you have multi-zone RGB lighting and DPI indicators, detachable cables, and a comfortable 170g weight.

Read full article @ eTeknix

MSI GeForce RTX 2080 DUKE OC 8 GB Graphics Card Review

Last week, NVIDIA finally released their GeForce RTX 20 series graphics cards. Taking a complete departure from traditional GPU design and creating a hybrid architecture that includes a range of new technologies to power the next-generation immersive gaming experiences. The key highlight of the GeForce RTX 20 series was the enablement of real-time raytracing which has been the holy grail of graphics and something NVIDIA spent 10 years to perfect. In addition to raytracing, NVIDIA also aims to place bets on AI which will play a key role in powering features such as DLSS or Deep Learning Super Sampling, a unique way of offering the same quality as the more taxing MSAA AA techniques at twice the performance.

We looked at the performance in detail of the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and GeForce RTX 2080 FE cards and thought them to be a good gain over their predecessors, the GTX 1080 Ti and GTX 1080. When it comes to pricing, the GeForce RTX 20 series are some of the most costly graphics cards NVIDIA has offered to consumers. The reference variants are great with their new cooling design and good looking shrouds but AIBs have also prepped up their own custom models which would rival the FE (reference) cards.

Read full article @ Wccftech

MyDigitalSSD M2X Portable SSD M.2 USB 3.1 External Enclosure Review

Have you been one of the many out there that have been looking for a USB to NVMe drive adapter that will allow you to use whatever brand SSD you want and is fully bus powered? The new MyDigitalSSD M2X Portable USB 3.1 Gen 2 M.2 PCI Express SSD External Enclosure Adapter might be what you need. Priced at $39.99 shipped, this inexpensive enclosure could be a life saver for repair shops that work don’t want to shut down a PC each and every time they need to access a customers M.2 drive. You could also use this diskless enclosure to make your very own portable SSD drive!

MyDigitalSSD is always trying to keep costs down and ships the M2X in plain cardboard packaging with a nice full color label that also seals the box. The label is jam packed with useful information as well as an image of enclosure along with images of the two included USB connectors. You can find out pretty much everything you need to know about the M2X from the label. It supports M.2 drives with the ‘M’ key format in capacities up to 2TB and lengths of 42mm (2242), 60mm (2260) and 80mm (2280). The drive is bus-powered and should work on PC, Mac, Apple iOS and Android devices. The part number is MDNVME-M2X-USB and it is backed by a 1-year limited warranty.

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

NVIDIA SLI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 2080 with NVLink Review

In our Turing NVLink review we test RTX 2080 Ti SLI against RTX 2080 SLI in 23 games and also include Pascal's GTX 1080 Ti SLI numbers. Our results confirm that NVLink does give higher performance than previous generations' SLI, even though game support could be better.

Read full article @ TechPowerUp

Origin EVO15-S Review

NVIDIA's Max-Q technology has only been on the market for about a year, but in that time quite few OEMs have jumped on the bandwagon. And for good reason. Max-Q is, or wants to be, the answer to a problem that has plagued mobile gamers since the first gaming laptop was birthed, spanked, and shipped off into the real world. We are, of course, talking about size. Bigger is not always better, especially in the mobile computing market. Most gaming laptops are bulky, heavy, and short on battery life. With Max-Q, NVIDIA is looking to change this by focusing on what they call the sweet spot when it comes to performance, power usage, and acoustics.

In order to achieve this "sweet spot" NVIDIA has set guidelines for laptop manufacturing partners that improve efficiency via optimized voltage regulation, clock speed gating, and cooling. There are currently a handful of Max-Q laptops on the market with graphics cards that range from the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, to the GeForce GTX 1080. The Origin EVO15-S we will be evaluating here sports a GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q along with a stout arsenal of high-end component hardware backing it up...

Read full article @ HotHardware

Origin PC Eon17-X Gaming Laptop Review

The Origin PC Eon17-X is a monstrously powerful gaming laptop with customizable configurations and a price tag to match. Your first impression of the Eon17-X will be highly based upon how you order it. For free, you can get a red, black or white design with Origin’s logo, but ours was spiffier. It features one of the company’s HD UV printed designs. In our case, it was a red polygonal pattern, and these designs cost an extra $149. Unfortunately, our pattern came a bit chipped and unevenly applied around the edges, which is a shame especially because a consumer would have paid extra for it.

You can get even fancier with a metallic lid for $175, a “hydro dip” for $199 or premium $249 “themes.”

When you lift the lid, you’ll find the 17.3-inch, 1920 x 1080 G-Sync display surrounded by a fairly thick bezels. There are two speakers directly below it. The RGB keyboard has black keys and rests on a black, deck which gives it a uniform, inoffensive look.

Read full article @ Tom's Hardware

Team Group Delta RGB SSD Review

Today were looking at another SATA SSD with RGB lighting, but the Team Delta RGB is very different from our previous RGB SSD. The lighting design is far more efficient and flexible, and the storage performance is satisfactory. The RGB LEDs do give the drive a premium price tag, and most users would prefer a fast M.2 NVMe drive over a flashy SATA drive.

Complementing Monday's SSD review, we have another SATA SSD with customizable RGB LED lighting: Team Group's T-Force Delta RGB. Like the Kingston HyperX Fury RGB, this is a mainstream SATA drive augmented with RGB LEDs, which can be powered and controlled through a compatible motherboard header to illuminate the top of the drive case. However, the similarities between the two drives end there.

Read full article @ Anandtech

Timespinner Review

Timespinner might have been a Kickstarter success story, but it’s been a long time coming. After all, the campaign itself ran over four years ago but the team at Lunar Ray Games has finally reached the finished line, launching their long-awaited Metrovania on Tuesday. I’ve spent the better part of the last two days, exploring every nook and cranny of Lacheim’s multiple maps and documenting my experience. Now, I can finally put my thoughts to paper and let everyone know just how special Timespinner felt in the end.

Read full article @ Wccftech

Windows 10 - How to hide updates

I've written a short guide explaining how to hide or show specific updates in Windows 10 using the official standalone troubleshooter package. Take a look.

With the release of Windows 10, Microsoft has introduced a number of changes into the Windows Update functionality. Mandatory updates for home users plus reboots (which you can work around), cumulative updates that should save space over time, while also reducing management flexibility, and also, no visible way to hide specific updates.

Such a move makes (some) sense for "ordinary" users, but it does not make any sense for advanced users who want to control what they install, specifically drivers but also certain other components. Well, in this guide, I will show you a simple, non-intrusive and official way of handling updates, so you can hide them just like in earlier releases of Windows.

Read full article @ Dedoimedo