Here a roundup of todays reviews and articles:

ASUS GeForce GTX 780 Ti DirectCU II Review
Asus Z97-A motherboard reviewed
Cooler Master Nepton 280L CPU Cooler Review
CyberPowerPC Zeus Mini-I 780 SFF Gaming PC Review
Func HS-260 Gaming Headset Review
GIGABYTE G1.Sniper 5 LGA 1150 Motherboard Review
Gigabyte GeForce GTX Titan Black Review
Gigabyte launches full range of 9 Series motherboards
Kingston HyperX Predator KHX28C12T2K2/8X Review
Lenovo ThinkPad 8 Tablet Review
OCZ Vertex 460 240GB SATA III 2.5" SSD Review
Panda Cloud Antivirus Free 3.0 Review
Plextor M6e 256GB PCIe SSD Review
Raijintek Morpheus
Red Faction II 11 Years-Later Reviewed
Reeven Justice RC-1204 CPU Cooler Review
Roccat Ryos MK Glow Review
Rokit Boost Swage 2 Wireless Stereo Headphones Review
Sapphire R7 250X Vapor-X Graphics Card Review
Tt eSports Level 10 M Hybrid Gaming Mouse Review
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 32-bit vs. 64-bit Performance

ASUS GeForce GTX 780 Ti DirectCU II Review

You might recall that we recently rounded up a collection of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti graphics cards and put them through a gauntlet of benchmarks and tests. Each of the cards represented brought something unique to the table and stood out in some way, but curiously missing from the bunch was an entry from ASUS. Not to worry -- we didn't forget about ASUS, their cards just decided to show up fashionably late to the GPU party.

We mean that literally and figuratively. One of the things that separates the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 Ti DirectCU from the competition is the custom cooling solution. It's prepped and primed to run cooler and quieter compared to NVIDIA's reference cooling solution, but it also makes a customizable fashion statement. Included with the card are two sets of metallic (read: not paper) stickers -- one set in gold and other in red...

Read full article @ HotHardware.com

Asus Z97-A motherboard reviewed

Asus' Z97-A motherboard combines Intel's next-gen enthusiast chipset with wicked-fast PCIe storage interfaces, revamped firmware, and a host of builder-friendly features. Join us for a closer look at this $150 wonder.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

Cooler Master Nepton 280L CPU Cooler Review

Cooler Master has been trying over the years to squeeze themselves into the all in one liquid cooling market; no spin-offs or re-brands as most AIO manufacturers offer. The in-house design makes these coolers stand out from the competitors offerings, however to be successful the AIO has to be a perfect combination of looks, ease of installation and of course most of all cooling performance at a low noise ratio. The Cooler Master AIO series have been hit and miss; especially the ease of installation was sometimes far fetched. With the Eisberg series Cooler Master has reached new performance heights for the AIO segment. Sadly the Eisberg lineup carried a hefty price tag due to the choice of high grade components. The Nepton series are CM's high end AIO coolers to fill up the gap between the Seidon series and the Eisberg models. Today we review the high end Nepton 280L version and compare it with the previously tested Corsair Hydro H110.

Read full article @ Madshrimps

CyberPowerPC Zeus Mini-I 780 SFF Gaming PC Review

It’s really no secret that I love building my own PCs and it’s quite rare that you’d see me buy a pre-fab desktop. For me, there’s simply no value add in ordering a custom PC built with off the shelf parts I can easily put together myself. However, there are some system builders who’ve found ways to provide value add for enthusiasts such as myself by developing stuff like exclusive components or enhanced warranties that are far superior in comparison to the ones offered by PC component manufacturers.

Today we’ll be reviewing the CyberPowerPC Zeus Mini-I 780, which is a brand new system from CyberPowerPC that was unveiled for the first time at CES earlier this year. Unlike most CyberPowerPC systems that simply use off the shelf parts, CyberPowerPC decided to up the ante with the Zeus Mini by not only making the system extremely small, but they’ve also developed their own exclusive chassis specifically for the system as well. Unlike many mITX chassis on the market that limit the length of the graphics card, size of the cooler, or the type of power supply that may be used, CyberPowerPC’s Zeus Mini chassis is special in the fact that it supports everything from the longest single GPU graphics cards to full sized ATX power supplies and pretty much everything inbetween.

Read full article @ Custom PC Review

Func HS-260 Gaming Headset Review

We took a look at our first products from Func a few weeks ago, the MS-3 gaming mouse and 10302 mouse pad and concluded our review with positive words. We now turn our attention to their HS-260 gaming headset which we’ve been using for some time. Read on to see how this gaming headset performs!

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

GIGABYTE G1.Sniper 5 LGA 1150 Motherboard Review

If you are building a gaming box and you have a quad GPU configuration in mind, make sure you read our evaluation of the GIGABYTE G1.Sniper 5 LGA 1150 motherboard.

We evaluate GIGABYTE's G1.Sniper 5 in an attempt to see if GIGABYTE hit the target or missed its mark. It comes prepared to water cool the chipset as well as a robust air cooling system on the motherboard's power components if you wish to go sans water. Along with 9 fan headers down on the PCB, it should support about any cooling you want.

Read full article @ HardOCP

Gigabyte GeForce GTX Titan Black Review

While AMD has made much noise and fanfare for its dual-GPU Radeon R9 295X2 beastie launched last month, Nvidia's been curiously quiet on Titan Z. If reports are to be believed, this £2,200 card is delayed, leaving the ultra-high-end to AMD for the time being.

But there remain readers unconvinced that dual GPUs are the way forward, irrespective of the frame-pacing progress claims made by both companies, and would rather sacrifice performance for smoother gameplay. Here, Nvidia has the upper hand, with GeForce GTX 780 Ti arguably better than the Radeon R9 290X.

The £500 GTX 780 Ti is our choice of high-end card but it isn't the fastest in Nvidia's arsenal - that honour goes to GTX Titan Black, announced in February this year and retailing from £750. The extra 50 per cent cash buys you twice the framebuffer - 6GB vs. 3GB - faster double-precision support and marginally higher frequencies.

Read full article @ Hexus

Gigabyte launches full range of 9 Series motherboards

Today Gigabyte emailed HEXUS to fill us in on the plethora of Intel 9 Series motherboards it is launching. Gigabyte will present buyers with a choice of four specialised ranges, namely its G1 Gaming, Overclocking, Ultra Durable and Black Edition motherboards. These new motherboards are variously based upon the Intel Z97/H97 chipsets with support for 4th and 5th generation Intel Core processors. Please scan through the new product matrix below.

Read full article @ Hexus

Kingston HyperX Predator KHX28C12T2K2/8X Review

These modules are most certainly using Hynix MFR series ICs in a single-sided configuration. With this configuration, you get the ability to run high clock speeds with loose primary timings to get you there. With this set, I was able to hit 3024MHz stable enough to run through the benchmark suite and some quick Prime 95 testing. By using the 125MHz strap and tweaking the timings along with the voltage on the DIMMs and memory controller, surpassing 3000MHz came pretty easily. Getting further really needs some in-depth tweaking of the voltages and timings. Unfortunately, performance starts suffering even more so than with the timings setup on the 2800MHz XMP profile. A secondary profile is available that sets the DIMMs at 2666MHz with tighter primary timings using the same 1.65v applied voltage.

Read full article @ OCC

Lenovo ThinkPad 8 Tablet Review

The 8-inch tablet market is literally overflowing with choices. What makes 8-inch or similar tablets great is that they are small enough that you really do not feel like you are carrying around say a laptop or Ultrabook. While Lenovo does offer 8-inch tablets, this is a ThinkPad tablet, which means it is targeted at business users. Being a business user on the go you want something powerful enough and that can do everything that your PC or laptop can do. I would much rather carry around an 8-inch tablet than an Ultrabook. Running a full version of Windows 8.1 and with its 1920 x 1200 display the ThinkPad 8 might give you a reason to ditch your PC. Read on as we take a look...

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

OCZ Vertex 460 240GB SATA III 2.5" SSD Review

Vertex 460, another OCZ SSD which is priced a little bit lower than the previously reviewed Vector 150, features the same Toshiba 19nm Toggle-mode NAND, along with the lower-clocked Barefoot 3 M10 controller and 512MB of DDR3 1333 Micron RAM.

Read full article @ Madshrimps

Panda Cloud Antivirus Free 3.0 Review

Panda Cloud Antivirus is a popular security program for the Windows operating system by Panda Security. The antivirus application has just been updated to version 3.0, a major new version that ships with several new features. The software is provided as a net or stub installer which downloads the installation package from the Internet.

Read full article @ gHacks

Plextor M6e 256GB PCIe SSD Review

While Plextor hasn’t seen themselves in many headlines these days, their new M6e will likely get folks talking. Indeed, many enthusiasts fondly remember the Plextor PX-716 DVD burner as it was the personification of high end performance in its day. While Plextor has fallen of the radar for all but a loyal following of fans, in the years since their heyday this company hasn’t sat idle, deciding to expand their portfolio into the crowded SSD market.

Unlike the early 2000's where their reputation was built upon being the best of the best, Plextor has a budding reputation for providing some of the best bang for your buck SSD's available. They may not manufacture their own controller, or NAND (or any other critical components for that matter) but what they do have is a lot experience in what customers want and how to go about wringing the most from any storage solution. This critical knowledge has been leveraged towards designing custom firmwares for their drives which provides top-tier performance from components many of the competition use for lower-end drives.

Read full article @ Hardware Canucks

Raijintek Morpheus

Rajintek's new Morpheus VGA cooler is compatible with the Radeon R9 290X and GTX 780/Ti. It provides excellent temperatures and whisper-quiet noise levels, which will be a godsend for users of the Radeon R9 290X reference design who are plagued by high temperatures and noise.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

Red Faction II 11 Years-Later Reviewed

Is this eleven-year-old game one worth returning to? I would say no unless you just want to spend some time in something. Red Faction II simply fails to distinguish itself in any way today. The graphics are fine at best; the story is lacking and formulaic; and the gameplay is fun some of the time, but not all of the time. For that reason I cannot recommend adding it to your library. Now if you end up adding Red Faction II to your library by purchasing a bundle or collection that includes it, feel free to play it. There is some enjoyment to be had from it. Just do not expect much from it.

Read full article @ OCC

Reeven Justice RC-1204 CPU Cooler Review

Reeven is a new company that has a wide range of coolers and accessories for coolers. Today we are testing one of their products, the Justice RC-1204. This is a fairly large cooler with a 120 mm fan that can be fitted to basically any type of CPU-socket. Can it compete with coolers from more known companies like Thermaright and Noctua? Read on to find out.

Read full article @ Bjorn3D

Roccat Ryos MK Glow Review

Ryos MK Glow is Roccats new mechanical gaming mechanical keyboard. This peripheral features a big palm rest integrated that has been integrated into the chassis, a few macro buttons, blue backlight and much more. Our model comes with CherryMX Black switches but there is also a version with Cherry MX Brown switches making this keyboard attractive for a wider audience.

Read full article @ ocaholic

Rokit Boost Swage 2 Wireless Stereo Headphones Review

Although most of us here prefer to listen to our favorite songs using cables to get the best possible audio quality none of us can deny that using a Bluetooth wireless headset is far more convenient especially if you're not at home. That's just the beginning however the really difficult part begins when you go out in the market to find the one Bluetooth wireless headset that can cover all your needs from audio quality and design up to battery life and size. We have reviewed several interesting Bluetooth wireless headsets with the JABRA REVO Wireless being perhaps the most impressive of them all but since not everyone can afford one such headset we decided to go out and search for far more cost-effective alternatives one of which is the latest SWAGE 2 Wireless Stereo Headphones by Rokit Boost.

Rokit Boost® is a pioneer and provider of affordable high-end, luxury mobile accessories. The company brings exceptional value to mobile lifestyle consumers by offering accessories that substantially improve the user experiences of existing electronic devices. Whether engineering iPhone charger cases, Bluetooth headphones, or wireless Bluetooth speakers/microphones, Rokit Boost’s team leverages leading-edge technological improvements to enhance the usability of today’s most popular mobile devices. Rokit Boost’s first priority is giving its customers complete satisfaction, with a philosophy of great customer service, great prices, and, above all else, great-quality products.

The first thing we noticed when we took the Swage 2 Wireless Stereo Headphones out of the box was the tiny size and so we expect that to be the best selling point for this product. Spec-wise it's not half bad either since the two 40mm dynamic drivers feature a frequency response of 80Hz-20KHz with 32 Ohm impedance and 108dB sensitivity while the built-in microphone has a sensitivity of -42dB. Rokit Boost has placed a 195mAh lithium-ion rechargeable battery pack inside the Swage 2 which according to them can provide power to the device for up to 8 full hours of music playback and 20 days of standby time. Unfortunately Bluetooth v2.1 only gives the Swage 2 a range of 10m/33ft but i really see very little use for more range especially since that would mean a higher price tag (not to mention that your transmitting device would need to support that as well). So let's take a closer look and see what Rokit Boost has brought to the table with their latest Swage 2 Wireless Stereo Headphones.

Read full article @ NikKTech

Sapphire R7 250X Vapor-X Graphics Card Review

A couple of months ago AMD reasonably quietly launched the R7 250X, a part which unsurprisingly sits between their 250 and 260. We have looked at those products previously so today we take a quick look at the R7 250X in the form of Sapphires R7-250X Vapor-X model.

Read full article @ HardwareHeaven.com

Tt eSports Level 10 M Hybrid Gaming Mouse Review

catch myself comparing PC components to cars so often that I almost feel it has become cliché. I started out thinking I would talk about high end sports cars and their design and then I would relate that to the awesome product that I am testing. During a bit of research, I realized that perhaps that was not nearly as cliché as I may have previously thought. First of all, sometimes the design process for tech and cars is pretty similar considering that there is a predefined standard for what must be done for the tech or the car to simply work. From there you can then design around the functions needed and attempt to make the car or whatever is being designed even more beautiful.

Read full article @ HiTech Legion

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 32-bit vs. 64-bit Performance

For those curious about the performance advantages of using 64-bit Ubuntu Linux over 32-bit Ubuntu on a modern Intel laptop, here are 32-bit vs. 64-bit benchmarks of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS on the ASUS Zenbook Prime.

Read full article @ Phoronix