Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

10 Times AMD Beat Intel in the CPU Innovation Race
Adata XPG GAMMIX S11 SSD Review
Amazon Fire TV Cube Review
AMD Linux driver receives initial PCIe 4.0 support
Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit Review
BenQ EX3501R Ultra Wide Monitor Review
BenQ EX3501R VA Curved FreeSync HDR Gaming Monitor Review
BitFenix Formula Gold 450W PSU Review
BitFenix Spectre Pro PWM 120 and 140mm Review
Core i7-8086K Review
Corsair K70 RGB MK.2 And Strafe RGB MK.2 Gaming Keyboards Review
Corsair K70 RGB MK.2 keyboard Review
CORSAIR STRAFE RGB MK.2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review
D-Link DCS-8010LH Wi-Fi Surveillance Camera Review
Dell XPS 13 (9370) Review
Dissecting the Modern Motherboard: Connectors, Ports and Chipsets Explained
Elgato Eve Aqua Water Controller
GEEEK A30 Review
Guru3D Rig of the Month - June 2018
HyperX Alloy Elite RGB Mechanical Keyboard Review
HyperX Cloud Revolver Gaming Headset
Hyundai Kanabo 15 Gaming Laptop Review
Logitech G933 7.1 Wireless Headset Review
Noctua NF-A12 and P12 Redux Fan Group Test Review
Seasonic Prime Titanium 600W Fanless Review
Team Group Delta RGB SSD 250 GB Review
The Crew 2 Review
Windows 10 build 17704 for PC: Everything you need to know

10 Times AMD Beat Intel in the CPU Innovation Race

AMD’s rivalry with Intel dates back five decades. The two processor manufacturers were born as rivals at the end of the 1960's, and they have continued their tug-of-war up to this very day. AMD, being the smaller competitor, has often been considered the underdog battling almighty Intel. Although history has shown us that it loves the underdogs, the last several years have arguably gone in Intel’s favor. However, the latest market data from reputable research firm Mercury Research revealed that AMD’s processor market share in the DIY segment has grown to 12% in the last quarter of 2017. Even though the Santa Clara-based chipmaker is back on track, it still has a long road to travel to end Intel’s dominance in the processor market.

Regardless of which side that you're rooting for, both AMD and Intel have had ups and downs over the years. Today, we're going to relive the times that AMD was able to beat Intel to the finish line by hitting a milestone first.

Read full article @ Tom's Hardware

Adata XPG GAMMIX S11 SSD Review

Adata tries to make one of the best mainstream SSDs even better by adding a trendy heatsink.

The Adata XPG GAMMIX S11's strongest feature is the overall look of the drive. It costs more than the SX8200 that comes with the same components, but you pay a premium for a thin piece of red colored metal. At this price you should consider the 970 EVO with more endurance, or just get the SX8200 and pocket the difference.

Read full article @ Tom's Hardware

Amazon Fire TV Cube Review

In hindsight, it's pretty clear exactly what we should have expected. Amazon Fire TV is a known entity. We've used it for years, and it's a great option for streaming TV. Amazon Echo is a great hands-free voice assistant thing. We've used Alexa for years.

Combine the two in cube form, and we've got the Amazon Fire TV Cube. It sits atop the three current models of Fire TV, and is sort of an offshoot in the Echo line. A more capable Echo Dot, if you will. You plug it into your TV, teach it a little bit about what all you have hooked up, and it controls things reasonably well. Your display, speakers or sound bar, other devices.

None of that is particularly new.

Read full article @ CordCutters

AMD Linux driver receives initial PCIe 4.0 support

AMD Linux driver has received an update for PCI Express 4.0 speeds. Preparing for Vega 20 This was long speculated, but it finally materialized in a proof directly from AMD engineers working on Linux driver. The driver has been updated with PCIe gen 4.0 speeds, ultimately confirming that a new generation of a high-speed interface is being introduced to AMD Radeon graphics. Last year, long before Vega 10 was even released, we published a slide from AMD's internal presentation. So far most of the details were confirmed. The PCIe 4.0 specs were also mentioned in the slide.

Read full article @ VideoCardz.com

Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit Review

There’s something almost magical in the air on Saturday mornings. The world feels fresher, the sun brighter and the people happier. Perhaps it’s a hang up from the days of our youth when the industrious weekend was the time our dreams would come true. The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is a snapshot of the intangible magic and the tragedy that so easily hides behind it.

While Captain Spirit is more of a minisode teaser for season two of Life is Strange, there some immediate differences. The most noticeable of which is the central character. Chris is the first male protagonist in the Life is Strange series, which has up until this point focused on the strange lives of young women. DONTNOD has received a lot of praise for its portrayal of its central characters in the past, and I was slightly worried that the new dynamic won’t feel as honest. Despite this, Chris is a superbly well-made character and immediately relatable. While this won’t be true for everybody, Captain Spirit spoke to me on a deeply personal level, and it was an extraordinarily emotional experience. If you have lonely memories of childhood and an overactive imagination, this game will speak to you in a language known all too well.

Read full article @ Wccftech

BenQ EX3501R Ultra Wide Monitor Review

In the segment of ultra wide monitors, Benq was an early adopter brand with a gaming model, the XR3501. We were very enthusiastic about it at the beginning of 2016, but by now it couldn't keep up with its specifications. So we had been looking forward to the successor, the EX3501R. When it reached our lab a while ago, we immediately got to work with it.

At its introduction, the Benq XR3501 was particularly striking because of its size and 144Hz refresh rate; the resolution of 2560x1080 pixels was less appealing. More than two years later we can state that 'wide Full HD' is something that we mainly expect in the budget segment, or it has to be combined with even higher refresh rates. The new EX3501R ultra wide has a panel with 3440x1440 pixels, or UWQHD. It combines that resolution with a 100Hz refresh rate and a fairly modest price.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

BenQ EX3501R VA Curved FreeSync HDR Gaming Monitor Review

Today, we’re looking at our first HDR-capable gaming monitor, BenQ’s EX3501R. It’s a 35” VA panel with an 1800R curve, 3440x1440 resolution, FreeSync to 100Hz, and HDR10 support.

BenQ EX3501R delivers a smooth immersive experience in fast-paced action titles. It supports HDR10 just fine but doesn’t offer as much contrast as some of the competition and has a little less color saturation in HDR mode. For SDR material however, it has few equals. While there are faster screens out there, few of them look as good.

Read full article @ Tom's Hardware

BitFenix Formula Gold 450W PSU Review

The 450W BitFenix Formula Gold PSU exudes quality. It combines good performance and high efficiency with a fair price tag. It's only a bummer that the BF450G sacrifices modular cabling to keep costs down.

BitFenix's Formula Gold 450W is notably more expensive than competing PSUs like Corsair's CX450 and EVGA's 450 BT. But it's also more efficient and much quieter. If your needs are covered by 450W of output and you don't have a problem with fixed cables, then the BF450G is worth considering for your mainstream PC.

Read full article @ Tom's Hardware

BitFenix Spectre Pro PWM 120 and 140mm Review

BitFenix co. Ltd. is an IT manufacturer founded in 2010 by a group of enthusiasts specialized in producing cases, Power Supplies, fans and different IT accessories. The company is specialized in manufacturing computer cases, power supplies, fans and different IT accessories, the latest launched products are aimed at the modding segment.

The Spectre Pro PWM fans come in a black box with a plastic window on the front side. The name of the manufacturer and the model are placed on the upper part, below we find the name of the fan.

Read full article @ Tech-Legend

Core i7-8086K Review

Intel pays homage to the 40th anniversary of the 8086, the first x86 processor, with the limited-edition Core i7-8086K.

Core i7-8086K is based on the same Coffee Lake architecture as Core i7-8700K, right down to its six Hyper-Threaded cores able to work on 12 threads concurrently. But it features a higher base frequency and more aggressive Turbo Boost bins, which tell us that Intel carefully picked out the best dies to use in these chips. This is the first Intel processor to ship with a 5 GHz Turbo Boost bin, matching AMD's record with the FX-9590. And if you're only looking at clock rate, the -8086K represents a 1000x multiplication of the original 8086's 5 MHz frequency.

Read full article @ Tom's Hardware

Corsair K70 RGB MK.2 And Strafe RGB MK.2 Gaming Keyboards Review

Corsair's line-ups of K70 and Strafe mechanical gaming keyboards have been on the market now for quite some time. The Strafe is a more streamlined speedster for performance freaks and the K70 a more full-featured deck with ultra-premium build quality. We recently looked at Corsair's K70 Lux RGB in a 5-way round-up and the board walked away with our Editor's Choice award. Today, fresh off its Computex 2018 unveil, Corsair returns to our lab with buffed-up and decked-out versions of the K70 and Strafe, both sporting some disco RGB goodness, but now in their MK.2 (pronounced Mark 2) incarnations, with new features, the same killer build quality, and a bit more bling. Corsair set the bar with the K70 Lux, so we have high expectations with these new Corsair offerings. Let's take a look...

Read full article @ HotHardware

Corsair K70 RGB MK.2 keyboard Review

Corsair is one of the companies responsible for the renaissance of mechanical keyboards among the enthusiast set, and its arsenal of Cherry MX-underpinned products has only grown as time goes on. I've been using the original K70 RGB as my daily driver since its introduction nearly four years ago. Aside from one major incident in which I had to reset that board's firmware to get it working again, I've enjoyed nothing but typing bliss from the K70 nearly every day I've been putting glyphs into an editor. In fact, I have little doubt the K70 RGB will still be cycling through RGB LED rainbows years after 16-core processors are mainstream and we're jacked into VR headsets all day. It's undeniably a classic design that's built to last.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

CORSAIR STRAFE RGB MK.2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

In order to try out the STRAFE RGB MK.2, we did first write a full article and besides the good responsiveness of the keys we did also enjoy the silence. To be frank with you, our daily keyboard for work is the K70 LUX RGB that does feature the same type of switches so moving on to the new STRAFE version was pretty straight-forward. Afterwards, we did run some Quake Champions matches, but also AION that does require lots of key combinations: thanks to the powerful iCUE configuration options, it was a breeze to access the spells, while the Volume wheel is quite handy when you do not have an easy to reach Volume modifier on your headset or speakers.

Read full article @ Mad Shrimps

D-Link DCS-8010LH Wi-Fi Surveillance Camera Review

It is after a work day and time for me to start cooking for dinner. I am exhausted from a long day at work and waiting for the water to boil. I never realized how bad all-day meetings could be until now. All of a sudden, the doorbell rings. I hesitate. I generally do not open the door for unexpected guests, but I relent since it may be a neighbor. Unfortunately, it is not a neighbor but a salesman for a security company. "Hi, my name is Mike, and I represent ..." He drones off into a typical sales pitch. I nod politely and try to pay attention, but the draining day at work had left me barely wanting to reply. He asks me various questions like if I heard about his company he represented or if my neighbors told me about it. I try to brush through the questions while still looking interested. Of course, this was something I had been thinking about when I bought my place, as it would lend some peace of mind in terms of unexpected visitors. We start talking pricing, as this really is my real concern with any sort of security system. Pulling out his iPad, he calculates a few things, including the number of sensors I would need. After surveying everything, he gives me a total and I literally gasp aloud. "I thought it would be closer to half of that," I think to myself. Based on my expressions and reaction, he starts asking about ways he can cut down on the price. Maybe I should not have gasped so loud. I never realized peace of mind would cost so much and I start thinking about alternatives.

Read full article @ APH Networks

Dell XPS 13 (9370) Review

The best mainstream Ultrabook on the market? Anyone contemplating a premium Ultrabook doesn't have to look too far past the Dell XPS 13. Last year's model offered excellent build quality, all-day battery life and a choice of high-quality screens. Yet unlike many others in the Ultrabook business, the inevitable transition to Intel Core 8th Generation Core U-series processors - doubling potential performance - is more than a drop-in upgrade for the 2018 itteration. Dell has seen fit to revamp the chassis, move stuff around, and get rid of a few ports. Enter the new XPS 13.

Read full article @ Hexus

Dissecting the Modern Motherboard: Connectors, Ports and Chipsets Explained

Here is a diagram of major ports, headers, and slots common on today’s motherboards, plus a guide to expansion slots, RAM and form factors. If you don’t know exactly what you’re looking at, motherboards—particularly high-end models—can look more like the Transformers’ home world of Cybertron than something you might plug your drives, CPU, and graphics cards into. And with dozens of models available for most platforms, unless you’re up on all the lingo and the latest tech, it can be tough to know where to start.

Below we’ll diagram most of the major ports, headers, and slots common on today’s motherboards, followed by some helpful basics about expansion slots, RAM, and motherboard form factors. For more detailed advice, check out our motherboard buying guide.

Read full article @ Tom's Hardware

Elgato Eve Aqua Water Controller

As the British might say, the Eve Aqua "does what it says on the tin," even if it could stand refinements in some areas. When Apple launched iOS 11 last year, one of the key additions it made to HomeKit was support for sprinklers and faucets. People have been automating these products for years, especially in hydroponics, so it's only natural that Apple would join in.

The Eve Aqua is one of the first products made with this support in mind. Elgato describes it as a "smart water controller," and that's as good a description as any. It sits between an outdoor faucet and a self-supplied hose, turning water on and off on command.

Read full article @ Apple Insider

GEEEK A30 Review

I hope by now most of you have figured out that I love SFF builds. Over the years we have built a new Lunchbox build with the goal of going smaller and building an even more capable gaming rig to take to LANs. So I am always on the lookout for new and different cases that might fit the bill. Well, early this year I came across a company called GEEEK hat has a few small ITX cases including one that really caught my eye that used a FlexATX power supply to save space. That was the A30 and GEEEK was nice enough to send one over to check out. With a unique extrusion based construction they were able to keep the costs down. With a budget-friendly price and an acrylic construction, Its looks good. But is it easy to build and how does it all perform when together? That is what I want to find out today.

Read full article @ LanOC Reviews

Guru3D Rig of the Month - June 2018

Meet the June edition of the Guru3D Rig of the month 2018, right here. We just adore PC related hardware & think you do too. And sometimes you guys really make a PC that really stands out. We ask you to answer a few simple questions and send in photos of your rig. Each month we'll have a look at the entries and perhaps pick you and post your PC with photos and everything here at Guru3D.com. Here you can find out what you need to do and win a nice prize courtesy of Corsair.

Read full article @ The Guru of 3D

HyperX Alloy Elite RGB Mechanical Keyboard Review

HyperX, the gaming division of Kingston, entered the mechanical keyboard market in 2016 with the Alloy FPS - which this reviewer found to be well constructed and a great value relative to the market when I reviewed both versions last year. Enter the Alloy Elite, an impressive-looking keyboard that boasts a high level of build quality and the option of full RGB lighting (a single color variant is also available). Does the Elite live up to its name in everyday use? I will share my findings with the RGB version reviewed here.

Features (from HyperX):

Unique light bar and dynamic lighting effects
Solid steel frame
CHERRY® MX mechanical keyswitches
Dedicated media buttons and large volume wheel
Quick access buttons for brightness, lighting effects and Game Mode
Conveniently connect devices via USB 2.0 pass-through
100% Anti-ghosting and N-Key Rollover functionality
Comfortable, detachable wrist rest with soft-touch coating
Additional titanium-colored textured keycaps and HyperX keycap removal tool

Read full article @ PC Perspective

HyperX Cloud Revolver Gaming Headset

Choosing the right headsets is a decision that you can get very wrong, very easily. Some headsets perform amazingly but are marred by excessive weight or uncomfortable ear cushions that don’t become apparent until you’ve used the headset for an extended span of time. What feels good for a few minutes can literally give you a pounding headache after a few hours. Likewise, a headset that manages good music reproduction may burn you in gaming scenarios when you’re trying to determine if those footsteps are your nearby teammate’s, or the enemy’s on a different floor. And for the record, I’m not even talking about surround sound headsets. The size and depth of the sound field produced by two seemingly similar stereo headsets can vary dramatically.

Aesthetics aren’t everything, but they’re also not nothing. Nobody wants to wear a headset to a LAN party that makes you cringe as badly as my English teacher would if she read that previous sentence. The oft-neglected mic is also a vital component that can be a real deal-breaker if it fails you or performs poorly in multiplayer situations. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Read full article @ Modders-Inc

Hyundai Kanabo 15 Gaming Laptop Review

Hyundai Kanabo 15 delivers strong performance and build quality for its price while differentiating from the Acer Predator Helios 300.

Hyundai brought it’s A-Game with its first gaming laptop, the Hyundai Kanabo 15. The Kanabo offers great performance and build quality for its cost and has some extra features that set it apart from the popular Acer Predator Helios 300. However, its cost is more appropriate at its sale price of $1,200.

Read full article @ Tom's Hardware

Logitech G933 7.1 Wireless Headset Review

Artemis is the Greek goddess of war. A spectrum is a wide band of colors. Given the name "Artemis Spectrum," we have to assume that the Logitech G933 7.1 Surround Sound Wireless Headset is a product focused on gaming, that also does a bunch of other things well. At least that is our take.

Many folks in our recent "Best Wireless Headset for Gaming?" thread have mentioned liking the G933s. When the G933s turned up on Best Buy for $99.99, we went and purchased a set for testing. These are not on sale any more at Best Buy, however the G933s have since gone on sale at Amazon for $99.99.

The G933 is not even close to a new product. It has been out on the market for about two years and was originally priced at $200. The G933 was the replacement for the G930 model.

Read full article @ HardOCP

Noctua NF-A12 and P12 Redux Fan Group Test Review

So here's how the story goes. A year or two ago I was attending Computex, Noctua back then told me a story about a fan series they have had in development for years. This year, however, they finally released the NF-A12x25 series fans. In total, these fans they've had in development for over four years (!). And when Noctua releases something, yes you may argue the colors, but you know is just has to be good right? By the way, many of you will be happy to learn this, there's no RGB to be found here! Yes, you can safely read onwards.

Sterrox is what it is all about while being a marketing name for a stiff hard compound based liquid crystal polymer, now used for the fans. Sterrox is based on the raw materials used in Kevlar, and thus now end up in this particular fan series, the NF-A12x25 fans. The material used will stiffen the fan blades and casing so that they can get smaller tolerances (spacing in-between the blades and frame) of the fan housing. This not only helps in airflow, but also will serve for better acoustics.

Read full article @ The Guru of 3D

Seasonic Prime Titanium 600W Fanless Review

With the Prime Titanium 600W Fanless, Seasonic has a high-end power supply in its portfolio complies with the 80Plus Titanium efficiency standard. In the case of power supplies the efficiency rating always correlates with the quality of the product and therefore meeting high standards, is a solid indicator for a high-quality product. Furthermore this power supply comes with a fully modular design and fanless cooling.

Read full article @ ocaholic

Team Group Delta RGB SSD 250 GB Review

Team Group's Delta RGB SSD is a unique solid-state drive, due to its amazing RGB support. It connects to your motherboard's RGB header, which then gives you full control over the LEDs, for mixed colors, patterns and custom lighting effects. Performance is good too, so is pricing, with just $80 for the 250 GB version.

Team Group is a well-known Taiwanese memory and flash storage maker with a long history of catering to the needs of users from all over the globe. The Team Group Delta RGB is the first RGB SSD with addressable lighting, which means you can control exactly how it looks by using your motherboard's RGB headers, e.g. ASUS Aura Sync, MSI Mystic Light, Gigabyte RGB Fusion, etc. Not only the color can be customized, but the patterns and their speeds, too.

The Delta RGB SSD itself uses an SMI SM2258H controller, which we've seen on a large number of other drives, paired with Micron TLC flash.

Read full article @ TechPowerUp

The Crew 2 Review

Ubisoft's open-world racer ditches the cringe-worthy storyline and is all the better for it, but it's a bit hectic.

The Crew was always a good idea poorly executed. One of the biggest issues with that first game was the storyline. Part GTA, part Need for Speed, all dire. The good parts of the game were quickly swallowed up by the bits that made you want to stick pins your eyes.

To some, it might seem surprising that The Crew 2 even exists. But it does, and Ubisoft is taking another stab at the open-world racer. This time around things are very different. The Crew 2 is brimming with ambition and a few crazy ideas that could make or break it.

So, is it second time lucky for Ubisoft? Almost. Here's why.

Read full article @ Windows Central

Windows 10 build 17704 for PC: Everything you need to know

Here's a closer look at the features and enhancements included in Windows 10 build 17704, and we even show you those changes that Microsoft didn't mention.

Microsoft is releasing Windows 10 build 17704 to testers with devices enrolled in the Fast ring and Skip Ahead lane. This is the seventeenth preview that the company is rolling out, and it can be considered one of the most significant rollouts that Insiders had received as part of the Redstone 5 development with a slew of improvements and new features.

In this flight, Windows 10 ships with significant visual changes on Microsoft Edge. The typing experience gets new Artificial Intelligence (AI) insights to help you type more efficiently. Video playback works better in very bright environments. You can now install fonts on a per-user basis. Microsoft continues its gradual rollout of Fluent Design. Windows Defender can now stop suspicious behaviors, and a lot more.

Read full article @ Windows Central