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Here a roundup of todays review's and articles:

GIGABYTE X99-SOC Champion Review
HP Spectre x360 review: Hands-on
Intel Xeon D SoC To Wrestle ARM In Microserver And Cloud Services Markets
KingSing T8 Smartphone Review
Kingston HyperX Fury Pro 360x300mm (HX-MPFP-M)
MiniTool Partition Wizard Review
Noctua NH-U9S CPU Cooler Review
NZXT Doko Review
SilverStone PS11B-W ATX Case Review
WiFi Basics Part 1: Frequencies and Channels
ZOTAC ZBOX EN760 Plus Review



GIGABYTE X99-SOC Champion Review

Although we had our hands on two GIGABYTE Super Overclock Series motherboards back in April, we haven't atually reviewed one since the original X58A-OC model that helped launch this hardcore motherboard series all the way back in 2011. Despite the relabel from OC to Super OverClock (SOC) to put the motherboard division in line with the company’s graphics card naming scheme, the fundamental ideas behind this series really hasn't changed. With their unique black and orange colour schemes, plethora of overclocking-focused features, top-quality components, and thoughtfully considered specifications lists, these purpose-built motherboards have always caught our eye.

Today, we have the privilege of reviewing the recently released GIGABYTE X99-SOC Champion. Now in many ways this new Champion model is a slightly stripped down version of the X99-SOC Force designed to hit a more affordable price point. Although this new model is missing a few of the Force's overclocking-oriented features, the most notable difference is obviously the fact that the Champion is the only full-size X99 motherboard on the market with only four memory slots. While this design feature alone might be a non-starter for some users, serious overclockers shouldn't count it out just yet since one of the results of this design is shorter pathways between the memory and the processor, and thus - at least hypothetically - better stability and overclocking potential.

Read full article @ Hardware Canucks

HP Spectre x360 review: Hands-on

A flexible productivity-focused Windows 8.1 convertible

Read full article @ The Inquirer

Intel Xeon D SoC To Wrestle ARM In Microserver And Cloud Services Markets

Intel announced the Xeon D System On A Chip (SoC) architecture today and really, it's kind of a big deal. This marks the first effort by Intel to integrate the Broadwell architecture into a fully integrated SoC design, complete with all IO including 10Gb Ethernet, all in a single chip 45 watt TDP...

Read full article @ HotHardware

KingSing T8 Smartphone Review

Along with the Elephone G3, this is the second low-cost smartphone we are testing on MadShrimps.be and we can consider ourselves impressed that for only $99 we are receiving a product with an exterior design similar to one of the Xiaomi flagships, is equipped MTKs last year octa-core processor and is paired with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of ROM.

Read full article @ Madshrimps

Kingston HyperX Fury Pro 360x300mm (HX-MPFP-M)

Kingston has been branching out with a few select high quality products like the The HyperX Cloud II headset we reviewed this last month. During our normal back and forth with Kingston they mentioned they has a new HyperX Fury Pro Mouse Pad and since we are all about gaming we told them to send one over. We can’t tell you how glad we are we had them send it, coming in 4 different sizes from small to ginormous there’s a size sure to fit your desk and needs.

Kingston has grown to be the world’s largest independent manufacturer of memory products. With global headquarters in Fountain Valley, California, Kingston employs more than 4,000 people worldwide. Regarded as one of the “Best Companies to Work for in America” by Fortune magazine, Kingston’s tenets of respect, loyalty, flexibility and integrity create an exemplary corporate culture. Kingston believes that investing in employees is essential and that each individual employee is a vital part of the company’s success.

Read full article @ Bjorn3D

MiniTool Partition Wizard Review

I've written a review of MiniTool Partition Wizard 8.1.1 professional edition disk and partition management software, covering installation and first-time use, deletion and creation of new partitions, supported filesystems & formatting, basic and advanced partitioning options like copy and recovery, splitting and merging, disk type conversion, surface testing, other details and features, comparison to competition, and more. Enjoy.

Read full article @ Dedoimedo

Noctua NH-U9S CPU Cooler Review

A little while ago I mentioned in my review of the Noctua NH-D9L low profile dual tower cooler (which I found to be a reasonable product for its target market) that the manufacuter had updated its popular NH-U9B SE2 tower cooler with two new models as of November 12th, 2014. Today I'll be looking at one of these models, the NH-U9S U-Type tower cooler, to find out how well it performs.

The NH-U9S is designed to fit into the same spaces as the older NH-U9B SE2, but it ships with only one fan. The heatsink now incorporates two additional heat pipes for improved CPU cooling. The fan included with the NH-U9S is the NF-A9 PWM premium fan, which has higher maximum rotational speed able to move over an additional 14 cubic feet of air per minute at 5 more decibels of noise. Noctua supplies a second set of mounting clips for a dual fan setup.

The one item that you might find similar between these tower cooler models is the SecuFirm2 mounting system, but the kit for the newer NH-U9S does have some differences. The Intel LGA1115x option uses a square-shaped fixed-screw back plate instead of an X-shape plate with selectable screw slots, and the nickel plated copper heat sink plate already has the fastening brackets attached. If you need past or future socket compatibility for your NH-U9S, you can obtain the optional NM-13 mounting kit for LGA 1366 or 775 Intel processor sockets directly from Noctua for free.

Read full article @ Neoseeker

NZXT Doko Review

NZXT tries its hand at a fully-functional PC-streaming device. Streaming devices are a familiar concept to most consumers, particularly within the realm of media consumption. Having an XBMC- (now Kodi) or Android-based streaming device is common place, and one of the most popular has been the Raspberry Pi. In that instance the streaming device fetches the audiovisual stream from a storage location and relays that information to a connected display, usually through HDMI.

Streaming media content is, however, significantly different from streaming the entire audiovisual output of a PC system. This specific use-case scenario has primarily entailed the use of remote-desktop software such as Chrome Remote Desktop, TeamViewer or the Windows Remote Desktop utility. In the case of the aforementioned remote desktop utilities the receiving end also requires a fully-functional receiving desktop, notebook, tablet or smartphone to interact with the connected PC. Complicated, huh?

Adding further to the complexity is the fact that all the named remote desktop utilities cannot effectively handle full-screen 3D-accelerated applications, e.g. PC gaming, and such limitations, for example, have paved the way for a gamer's streaming platform - Steam In-Home streaming. It quickly becomes apparent in the streaming abyss that there is no single unified solution for media content, gaming or traditional remote desktoping.

Read full article @ Hexus

SilverStone PS11B-W ATX Case Review

The SilverStone PS11B-W is a versatile entry level enthusiast case, featuring bottom-mount PSU, USB 3.0, variable size fan mounts and locations, a variety of hard drive mount options, and space enough for the most gigantic of graphics cards on the market. In this article for Benchmark Reviews, I’ll be putting the SilverStone PS11B-W to the test. Can the SST-PS11B-W deliver on all it’s promises? Let’s find out.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews

WiFi Basics Part 1: Frequencies and Channels

In 1947, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN agency, designated certain bands of the RF spectrum as ISM. The idea was to have an international standard of frequencies that were reserved for Industrial, Scientific, and Medical equipment. Ironically, telecommunications was not the original purpose.

Read full article @ gHacks

ZOTAC ZBOX EN760 Plus Review

Prolific in the graphics card arena, ZOTAC are also well-known for their passion in the mini-ITX motherboard and mini PC markets too. In fact ZOTAC’s ZBOX product-line can almost be regarded as a forerunner for mobile computers.

Momentum in this arena has been gradually increasing – so much so that other brands are now following in ZOTAC’s footsteps as more and more users favour the mini-PC in the living room. Today we are to take a look at one of ZOTAC’s most capable mini-PCs – the EN760 Plus.

Read full article @ Vortez