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Here a roundup of todays review's and articles:

40 gigabit switches, reviewed: essential links
ADATA Premier SP610 256GB Solid State Drive Review
ASUS ROG G751JY Laptop: G-Sync Gaming On The Go
AZIO EXO1-K Gaming Mouse Review
EVGA GTX 980 Ti Classified Video Card Review
Hobbico Heli-Max 230Si Quadcopter Drone Review
Intel Skylake-U low power processor lineup revealed
PowerColor R9 390X PCS+ Review
Reeven Brontes CPU Cooler Review: Reaching New Heights in Low-Profile Design
ROCCAT NYTH Modular Gaming Mouse Review
StarTech.com 8-bay USB 3.0 / eSATA Removable Hard Drive Enclosure Review
Ultimate Ears Roll Portable Bluetooth Speaker Review



40 gigabit switches, reviewed: essential links

Looking for a switch to add more network connections to your network? You'll find that there are many, many choices. We tested no less than 40 switches, with each model having either 5, 8, or 16 ports. What things should you pay attention to? And does it actually matter what model you buy? We'll try to answer these (and other) questions in this article.

If you're someone who frequently tinkers with their home network or small business network, then you probably know the feeling of lacking that one unoccupied port on your router that would have allowed you to connect your new printer or home automation equipment to your network. Or you want to create additional network connections in a spot that's quite a ways from your router, without having to lay multiple cables. In other words, you need a switch! Armed with this knowledge, you'll end up visiting numerous web shops, along with our Hardware.Info Price Comparison tool, after which you'll no doubt be rather overwhelmed by the wide range of products on offer. About time we clarified the situation a little, which we have done by testing no less than 40 different switches.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

ADATA Premier SP610 256GB Solid State Drive Review

There has been a plethora of new solid state drives that have hit the market over the past year. ADATA’s SP610 has been out for a little while now and with capacities getting higher prices of solid state drives have been dropping steadily over the past few months. This puts the 256GB version of ADATA’s Premier SP610 that we are reviewing today at $84.99 at our favorite online retailer. At this price it makes this SSD a perfect low-cost choice for an OS or game drive. ADATA is making use of the Silicon Motion SM2246EN controller that we saw on the Mushkin Reactor and the Crucial BX100. The 256GB version of the drive boasts sequential read and write speeds of 560 MB/s and 290 MB/s respectively. Let’s get this drive on the test bench and see what it can do!

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

ASUS ROG G751JY Laptop: G-Sync Gaming On The Go

Since laptop purchases are largely one-and-done transactions, it's important to buy the highest end configuration you can afford, otherwise you'll just be right back in the market before many of the parts are obsolete. This is especially true if you're a gamer -- if you go cheap and buy a well equipped laptop with a weak-sauce GPU, you might find yourself regretting that decision in a year when newer games prove too taxing. It won't matter that you have a fast CPU or a burly storage scheme, because neither one will pick up the slack when your GPU coughs up a hairball.

ASUS alleviates these concerns with its ROG G751JY-DB72. It's a 17.3-inch desktop replacement that's crammed full of drool-worthy hardware, like a Core i7-4720HZ processor that clocks up to 3.6GHz, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M GPU with 4GB of GDDR5 memory, a heaping 24GB of DDRL-1600 RAM, and a 256GB PCIe-based solid state drive with a 1TB HDD in tow for bulk storage chores...

Read full article @ HotHardware.com

AZIO EXO1-K Gaming Mouse Review

AZIO (an acronym for “A to Z, Input-Output”) Corporation has been providing computer peripherals for over 15 years. These peripherals are designed with a variety of colors, materials and finishes to provide a diverse lineup of products ranging the spectrum of aesthetics and functionality. The AZIO EXO1-K gaming mouse on our review bench today intends to deliver a quality product at an affordable price.

The EXO1 has an ergonomic design for right-handed users with "soft-touch" perforated side grips. With four DPI level adjustments (1250/2000/2650/3500) selected via the DPI button with a four color LED to indicate the current settings, the cursor speed and accuracy can fine tuned on the fly as desired for gaming or work purposes.

Utilizing a braided USB cable and a vacuum plated surface, the EXO1 should prove a durable peripheral. The white backlight for the thumbwheel and AZIO logo also some illumination for visual flair (and lighting up your desktop in low light and night time conditions).

Read full article @ Neoseeker

EVGA GTX 980 Ti Classified Video Card Review

Overclocking puts a unique strain on video cards and while reference design cards overclock rather well there is a limit to what the stock VRM can supply in terms of clean usable power. These power demands go unnoticed under air and water cooling but overclocking under LN2 with voltage modifications and the weaknesses become evident. For this reason many hardware enthusiasts look for cards with custom PCBs in hopes their overclocking experience will be better. Another perk to custom designed videocards is that out of box performance is also considerably better since these cards often come with higher default clocks and better cooling systems.

In this review we will be looking at the EVGA GTX 980 Ti Classified. Like in previous versions of the Classified the GTX 980 Ti has been matched up with the EVGA untouchables VRM to create a monster video card that can deliver outstanding out of box performance, enhanced overclocking and superior LN2 experience when matched with a custom unlocked BIOS.

Read full article @ Hardware Asylum

Hobbico Heli-Max 230Si Quadcopter Drone Review

Hobbico has been around for decades now and actually for so long that I remember flying their models when I was a kid. It’s a trusted brand that has produced countless numbers of quality hobby aircraft and models over the years and their Heli-Max 230Si Quadcopter that we are looking at today is no exception to this same quality that they’ve been known for. So what exactly is the Heli-Max 230Si and who is it geared towards? It’s a quadcopter for those looking to upgrade from their micro or palm sized quadcopter or for the completely new pilot that’s never gotten into flying before. It’s a great in-between in size but does not skimp on features as you’ll find a lot of the same features on the 230Si as you’ll find on the larger 350 size quadcopters. The Heli-Max 230Si is priced at $179 with the HD camera and features actual direction control, return to pilot, altitude control management, fail-safe, HD video and photography, LED lighting system, and has a decent stabilization system. Read more at..

Read full article @ Geek Insepector

Intel Skylake-U low power processor lineup revealed

Core processors, Pentiums and Celerons. TDPs range from 7.5W to a max of 15W.

Read full article @ Hexus

PowerColor R9 390X PCS+ Review

AMD’s R9 390X was initially greeted with a mix of derision and hope. At first glance this “new” card seemed to be nothing more than a rebranded R9 290X which set a lot of people on edge since it actually retailed for more than the outgoing Hawaii-based card. On the flip side of that coin, when we originally reviewed the R9 390X we actually found it to be a good value since it included 8GB of memory versus its predecessor’s 4GB, faster GDDR5 speeds and a mature core architecture that allowed for lower power consumption and heat.

Whereas that original review featured an impressive Sapphire card, PowerColor is their hand at their own version. Dubbed the R9 390X PCS+, like every other competing solution it has been born out of necessity. AMD didn’t release a so-called reference spec (other than clock speeds of course) for this product so board partners are left to their own devices to design a PCB and associated cooling solution. Clock speeds are a different affair altogether since, according to our contacts, at 1050MHz, AMD’s baseline spec is precariously close to a maximum value that guarantees stability without some serious binning.

Read full article @ Hardware Canucks

Reeven Brontes CPU Cooler Review: Reaching New Heights in Low-Profile Design

You cannot really judge how capable a CPU cooler is just by looking at it. If it well-made enough, even size can be deceptive which is good news for those who do not want the bulk of a tower style cooling solution and prefer to save some vertical space, although the question still remains. Which one to get? Recently established … Read more

Read full article @ Modders-Inc

ROCCAT NYTH Modular Gaming Mouse Review

NYTH is billed as an MMO mouse, but ROCCAT is confident that it can be a world-beater no matter what game you are playing. In fact, ROCCAT states that the NYTH possesses, “deep button modularity that fluidly transitions into a MOBA or FPS master tool with ease.” Considering the features and specification that have been equipped on this well-endowed mouse and considering the track record of this company, it is easy to take ROCCAT’s word for it and believe that the NYTH will be another successful addition to what is already considered an outstanding gaming peripheral lineup. I have plenty of ROCCAT devices, so I have no reason not to believe the good folks over there, but still, let’s have some fun, put this mouse to work, and see what she’s made of.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews

StarTech.com 8-bay USB 3.0 / eSATA Removable Hard Drive Enclosure Review

Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices have become quite popular over the last five years or so, but Direct Attached Storage (DAS) units were the go-to devices for consumers looking to store large amounts of data before that. The interfaces for these DAS units have evolved from USB 2.0 and Firewire to eSATA and nowadays, USB 3.x and Thunderbolt. What sort of performance numbers and features can we expect in a modern multi-bay DAS unit? What are the use-cases enabled by them in the modern computing ecosystem? Our review of the StarTech.com S358BU33ERM 8-bay USB 3.0 / eSATA hard drive enclosure provides some answers.

Read full article @ Anandtech

Ultimate Ears Roll Portable Bluetooth Speaker Review

Ultimate Ears may not be a company that has been in the speaker game for as long as its competitors, but that does not mean it has not captured our attention. It did so previously with its MegaBoom Bluetooth speaker, even if it was a costly solution. Today we look at something that is a little more modest, but which still retains the high-end features and application support.

Read full article @ Kitguru