Reviews 51951 Published by

Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles, including Samsung 840 EVO reviews, G.Skill TridentX 2933MHz F3-2933C12D-8GTXDG 8GB Memory Kit Review, Mionix Naos 8200 Gaming Mouse, RaidSonic ICY BOX IB-PBa7800 7800mAh Power Bank, and Trio of Z87 OC Motherboards Tested



G.Skill TridentX 2933MHz F3-2933C12D-8GTXDG 8GB Memory Kit Review @ KitGuru
When its pure speed and record-breaking memory youre after, there are few better kits than those from G.Skills TridentX series. Can the 2933MHz TridentX 8GB memory prove yet again that it is built for ultra-high frequencies?

Read more: G.Skill TridentX 2933MHz F3-2933C12D-8GTXDG 8GB Memory Kit Review @ KitGuru

ASUS Fonepad Review @ Hardware Secrets
Is the ASUS Fonepad a 7" tablet with cell phone functions or a cell phone with a 7" screen? Let's try to answer this question in this review.

Read more: ASUS Fonepad Review @ Hardware Secrets

Oblanc UFO True 5.1 USB Gaming Headset Review @ Legit Reviews
The Oblanc UFO True 5.1 Gaming headset will give the user high quality sound even if your PC does not have surround sound. We liked the build, quality, and sound production which allow you to pinpoint where the action is while playing a FPS. While playing one of our favorite games, Call of Duty Black Ops 2, the 5.1 surround sound gave a more realistic audio perception and sound quality which allowed us to get the jump on a lot of players as they tried to sneak up behind me...

Read more: Oblanc UFO True 5.1 USB Gaming Headset Review @ Legit Reviews

240GB OCZ Vertex 450 Solid State Drive Review @ Benchmark Reviews
The last time we tested the OCZ Vertex 4, it was powered by a dual-core Marvell controller that combined technology from separate sources. This time, the OCZ Vertex 450 solid state drive is made of in-house components. Featuring an Indilinx BF3-M10 Barefoot 3 controller that supports 20nm Synchronous Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND flash components with AES-256 encryption and Trim support, Vertex 450 is good for 540 MB/s read speeds over a SATA 6-Gb/s connection. In this article Benchmark Reviews tests the 240GB OCZ Vertex 450 SSD, model VTX450-25SAT3-256G, against the leading competition.

Read more: 240GB OCZ Vertex 450 Solid State Drive Review @ Benchmark Reviews

Samsung 840 EVO SSD Review @ SSD Review
Our SSD analysis today is perhaps the most detailed typical SSD report we have published to date, and so it should be. Actually, the word typical doesn't quite fit as the Samsung 840 EVO SSD, that I am now using as my mainstream system drive, is pushing over 1GB/s sequential speeds and an unbelievable 685MB/s low 4K random write performance. If you think this might be magic, you would be right and this magic is within the reach of every Samsung 840 EVO purchase, performance not even closely matched prior to this release.

Read more: Samsung 840 EVO SSD Review @ SSD Review

Samsung 840 EVO Solid State Drive Review @ HardwareHeaven.com
Replacing the non-Pro 840 models in their product stack and sitting just below the 840 Pro the Evo SSDs arrive in capacities of 120GB-1TB and include some rather interesting software developments. These aim to give us a boost in performance past the level we would normally expect from a SATA3 so today we take the 1TB model for a spin, comparing it in real world and synthetic tests to the direct competitor Crucials 960GB M500 as well as a selection of other current generation models.

Read more: Samsung 840 EVO Solid State Drive Review @ HardwareHeaven.com

Samsung's 840 EVO solid-state drive reviewed @ The Tech Report
Samsung's entry-level 840 EVO SSD combines affordable TLC NAND with a server-style SLC cache. We explain the drive's unique buffering tech and explore how it affects performance.

Read more: Samsung's 840 EVO solid-state drive reviewed @ The Tech Report

Samsung 840 EVO 750GB Review @ Vortez
It was only last week that we were involved with the launch of the new Samsung 840 EVO. Key Samsung specialists were on hand to divulge all of the technical information surrounding this new drive and we witnessed a live demo of this very drive being shown at the Global Summit in South Korea. Aside from the assortment of technological inclusions we learned that a burly 1TB model would be available to this new product line – something which hasn’t yet been a possibility in the storage SSD sector.

The new 840 EVO arrives with a new 3-core MEX controller and 1x nm Samsung toggle NAND. Improvements have been made to the hardware specification and an exciting new RAPID mode feature will be available for EVO with Magician V4.2 which pushes transfer speeds beyond 500MB/s. Later in our review we will be delving into the advantages of RAPID mode and seeing how it benefits the user.

Read more: Samsung 840 EVO 750GB Review @ Vortez

LG 55LA8600 Review @ TechReviewSource.com
The LG LA8600 series of HDTVs offers beautiful aesthetics, sharp 2D and 3D imagery, and rich color reproduction at a premium price. You get lots of features with this series, some of which are of questionable value.

Read more: LG 55LA8600 Review @ TechReviewSource.com

Mionix Naos 8200 Gaming Mouse @ techPowerUp
Mionix's biggest breakthrough came with the Naos 5000 mouse launched three years ago. The Naos model has been beefed up and now features the newest 8200 DPI sensor from Avago. That, combined with market-leading ergonomics, could make this mouse the best from Mionix yet.

Read more: Mionix Naos 8200 Gaming Mouse @ techPowerUp

Razer Ouroboros Gaming Mouse Review @ Madshrimps
The Ouroboros wireless mouse from Razer sports a unique and customizable chassis, with two sets of replaceable side grips and an included dock for recharging the included battery. We have no less than 9 configurable buttons from Razer Synapse 2.0 and can be also used as a wired device in order to recharge the battery while playing.

Read more: Razer Ouroboros Gaming Mouse Review @ Madshrimps

RaidSonic ICY BOX IB-PBa7800 7800mAh Power Bank @ NikKTech
My smartphone is dead, it run out of battery again! This is a phrase that i can't really begin to count the how many times I've heard it from people sitting next to me in a cafeteria or at the beach. The same people are also the ones who ask all the time about the things they can do in order to prolong their smartphone's battery life and the answer is not that hard. You see right now technology progresses at such fast rates that naturally some things fall behind, one of those things are batteries (although not for long according to scientists) and so when you have a vast number of functions embedded in a smartphone along with a rather huge LCD screen it's to be expected that today's batteries can't last long. Because of that i always carry along with me a portable battery pack just to be on the safe side of things and so far i haven't found myself in a position where one of my smartphones has completely run out of juice. Today we are taking a look at yet another such portable battery, this time it's the ICY BOX IB-PBa7800 7800mAh Power Bank by RaidSonic.

Read more: RaidSonic ICY BOX IB-PBa7800 7800mAh Power Bank @ NikKTech

Samsung 840 EVO 250GB, 750GB SSD Review @ Custom PC Review
Last year, I had the opportunity of reviewing the original Samsung 840, which I felt was a good effort on the Samsung’s part. Despite the challenges of being the first to market with a TLC NAND based SSD, the Samsung 840 was a decent product and catered very well to its target audience – the general consumer. While the Samsung 840 was a strong product for its intended audience, it wasn’t without its drawbacks – the biggest of which was the write performance.

Now, when it comes to the SSD market, no other SSD vendor out there is making as much noise as Samsung these days and less than 10 months after Samsung’s initial unveiling of the Samsung 840, they’ve introduced the successor, the Samsung 840 EVO.

Read more: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB, 750GB SSD Review @ Custom PC Review

ASUS Xonar U3 USB Sound Card Review @ HiTech Legion
It’s easy to watch as people’s tastes evolve. Many of us use products consistently without changing for the simple reason that what we are currently using completes the task we ask of it. We often hear about another product but dismiss it simply due to the fact that we feel improvement is unnecessary. Then, one day, for one reason or another, we wind up trying a superior product. At that point, there is no going back. The product we originally used now seems inferior and unacceptable….but strangely, it seemed fine the last time we used it. Sometimes you just don’t realize how inferior something is until you have used something else.

This tends to be very prevalent in audio. You will find many who are “just fine” using the speakers built into their LCD TV and see no need for a change. I guarantee that if you give them even a basic 2.1 setup with midrange speakers and receiver, they will no longer be fine with the audio from their TV when you take it away. It will suddenly sound as bad to them as it always has to you. The same effect happens with computers, especially notebooks. I am sure you are thinking that the output from your notebook is “just fine”. Well, once you use a quality outboard sound solution like an ASUS Xonar U3, your opinion will change quickly and drastically.

Read more: ASUS Xonar U3 USB Sound Card Review @ HiTech Legion

MSI GeForce GTX 770 Lightning Review @ Hardware Canucks
MSI’s Lightning series have always been counted among the best cards in the GPU market. Alongside the Matrix, Super Overclock and Classified, they represent the pinnacle of modern graphics card design by offering overclockers the tools necessary for pushing clock speeds to extreme levels. However, like its competitors, the Lightning’s abilities come at a cost.

As NVIDIA rolled out the new GTX 700-series, MSI follow up quickly with their own lineup of custom, pre-overclcoked versions. In this case the Lightning treatment has been given to the GTX 770, an incredibly affordable $399 graphics card considering the amount of performance it delivers. That affordability has been somewhat negatively impacted by the Lightning’s $70 premium but at $469 it should still be a price / performance darling considering the GTX 780 goes for $180 more.

Read more: MSI GeForce GTX 770 Lightning Review @ Hardware Canucks

Trio of Z87 OC Motherboards Tested @ Madshrimps
Today we will be looking at 3 high end Overclock optimized mainboards for Intel's 4th generation processors. Madshrimps received the Z87-OC Formula sample from ASRock, the Gigabyte Z87X-OC and MSI's Z87 XPOWER flagship. Three boards, although all listed in total different price categories, targeted specifically at the enthusiast crowd. Fully equipped to squeeze the last MHz out of your Haswell. Due to the specific nature of these particular boards we have adapted the review method slightly to go more into the efficiency aspect instead of listing all of the onboard features/chips.

Read more: Trio of Z87 OC Motherboards Tested @ Madshrimps