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Here a roundup of todays reviews and articles:

AMD A10-7860K APU Review
AMD's Radeon Pro Duo Benchmarked And Tested
ASUS Zenbook UX305CA Review
Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro 240 Preview
Corsair RMi Series 650 W
Corsair VOID Surround Hybrid Stereo Gaming Headset
NZXT Manta
SilverStone Strider Titanium ST70F-TI 700W Review
Swiftech H240 X2 Configurable AIO Liquid Cooler Review
The ASRock E3V5 Performance Gaming (C232) Motherboard Review
Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus - Oh Shucks ... it's Schuster!



AMD A10-7860K APU Review

AMD released a new model called Godavari, the new A10-7860K APU slash processor that was announced in February. It is an APU at a reasonable price. The 7860K is the second best APU in terms of perf, yet only costing roughly 115 USD. As such it'll offer a nice balance in-between money, performance and energy consumption. The 7800 series APU is based on AMD's Kaveri architecture bringing the CPU and the GPU even closer together. Kaveri aims at several segments in the processor business like notebooks, desktops, embedded and even server solutions. Armed with a good 2.41 Billion transistors and based on a 28nm fabrication process, let's have a look at what it can do.

With Godavari people had silent hopes that this would be a new APU architecture, it was merely a project name. The AMD A10-7860K (Godavari) APU now is added. Retailers are listing this APU which will cost around a ~115 USD. You will have noticed that this SKU is using the 7800 series naming, not 8000 as earlier expected and rumored. The APU architecture is what you guys have known and learned as the Kaveri / Excavator architecture CPU cores combined with Graphics CoreNext 1.2 based stream processors seated into the integrated GPU inside the APU. It will support higher speed DDR3 controllers allowing 2133 MHz as default using up-to 2400 MHz with AMD affiliated memory. There will be up to four x86 cores to be more specific, along with up to 512 stream processors per integrated graphics processing unit. The sheer difference for the 7860K will be that it is tweaked to be faster, the APU with a newer stepping will have a 3.6 GHz base-clock and can turbo on its dynamic boost clock frequency towards 4.0 GHz. The integrated graphics core is clocked at 757 MHz.

The APU - With a CPU and integrated GPU combined, together they offer a nice amount of processor performance, especially with OpenCL and GPU assisted applications AMD is very strong opposed to Intel. The A10-7860K as reviewed today is based on the Kaveri architecture. These APUs offer up to 12 usable compute cores in total, the reality here is that AMD adds 4 x CPU cores with 8 x GPU cores to get to that number. I always add a few lines on the definition of an APU, as Intel simply sticks to processor, and AMD is very keen to call their processors APU these days. So here we go again. APUs are able to combine the potential of the processor and GPU together to enable a new class of compute performance in today’s PCs. Back in 2012 AMD introduced a series of AMD A10 "Trinity" APUs as mobile and notebook solutions. Trinity APUs where the successors of the AMD A4, A6 and A8 Llano-processors. AMD then marched onwards with Richland, basically a re-spin of Trinity. And as such we now have arrived at Kaveri with a Steamroller CPU core architecture and Radeon 7000 GCN series graphics. Make no mistake though, A10 and A8 APU processors remain entry level to mid-range targeted processors, please do understand that very clearly. So with the CPU and the GPU now pretty much being merged together we now understand why this architecture was called Kaveri, Kaveri is a large Indian river in which multiple streams of water flow together and is emptying into the Bay of Bengal through two principal mouths. Kaveri is the euphemism here with both the CPU and GPU merging together.

Read full article @ Guru3D

AMD's Radeon Pro Duo Benchmarked And Tested

AMD's Radeon Technologies Group (RTG) has been teasing the product we will be presenting performance metrics for in the pages ahead, for almost year now. A dual-Fiji powered Radeon card was brought out on display by AMD's CEO Lisa Hsu last June, though at the time, no name had been designated for the card. Then last month, in a joint announcement with Crytek and the company's VR First initiative, AMD unveiled the 16 TFLOP Radeon Pro Duo at its Capsaicin event at GDC 2016 for the first time. There was significant build-up for this card, and rightfully so, with the potential for it to be the fastest single-board graphics card on the market, at least for a period of time.

As you might imagine, we were more than a little surprised when AMD informed us they wouldn't be sampling the card to members of the Tech press... But that didn't stop of from getting our hands on one for testing.

Read full article @ HotHardware

ASUS Zenbook UX305CA Review

The primary objective with any notebook/mobile system is portability and yet all too often we find these types of product bearing a weighty chassis and featuring bulky exteriors – hindering the transportation of such a device. The humble Ultrabook seeks to combat this issue by offering up a super-condensed unit, which is lightweight and still retains a solid hardware specification.

In the spotlight today is the new ASUS Zenbook UX305CA. This Ultrabook is based on Intel Skylake architecture and is available in a selection of different processor models and storage capacities. Our sample today features the Intel Core M3 6Y30 and a 128GB SSD. Not only is this sleek device compact and lightweight, but it also boasts a fan-less design for total silence.

Read full article @ Vortez

Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro 240 Preview

Cooler Master has just announced their new MasterLiquid series of CPU coolers, built using a special “FlowOp” technology that analyzes how heat is absorbed and dissipated to construct a better cooling solution than the competition. The end result was a dual chamber design that did both improve the cooling performance, but also dramatically extended the product’s functional lifetime. In this preview article, Benchmark Reviews covers some of the finer points that separate the MasterLiquid cooler series from everything else on the market.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews

Corsair RMi Series 650 W

The RM650i is a high-end PSU from Corsair with a digital interface, amazing performance, and silent operation. The cherry on top is the ten year warranty, which is now provided with all Corsair AXi, HXi, RMi, and RMx models.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

Corsair VOID Surround Hybrid Stereo Gaming Headset

Let’s face it, not everyone is “just a PC gamer”, or “just a console gamer”. Many of us have both a PC and a console or two, and let’s not forget to throw in a smartphone. Inter-connectivity between all of these devices can be hard to find, and usually quite pricey once something is found. Thankfully, Corsair realizes this, and has created the VOID Surround Hybrid Stereo Gaming Headset. This headset hails from their current VOID series, and as the “Hybrid” name conveys, this headset works across multiple platforms, thanks to its 4-pole 3.5mm connector and Dolby USB adapter. Now the same headset can move from device to device easily. One headset to rule them all, if you will. Can a single headset really move across platforms as easily as Corsair says? Let’s find out!

Read full article @ Bjorn3D

NZXT Manta

This is a case that other supports mini-ITX-motherboards. It still is larger than many compact cases although in reality it does not feel like a midi-case so don’t be fooled by the images. Many compact mini-ITX-cases are actually quite “fat” and almost feel larger than this case. The added size though allows NZXT to offer a lot more options for cooling. Whether you want a lot of fans or water-cooling, there is room for both huge radiators and many fans, in fact you could technically have two 280mm radiators and a 120mm radiator at the same time. Added to that is a fan-controller that helps you handle all the fans in the case.

When it comes to support for storage it is a sign of the future that there are more room for SSD’s than 3.5″-drives in the case. For regular users it should still be plenty enough.

One feature that might not be completely obvious from the images is the curved design. This is absolutely gorgeous but it also has a secondary benefit. It makes it a lot easier with the cable management as there is plenty of room between the case and the side to tuck cables in. We will look more at that in a later part of the review.

Read full article @ Bjorn3D

SilverStone Strider Titanium ST70F-TI 700W Review

Silverstone have earned a reputation over the years for releasing some of the most technically proficient power supplies and cases available for the enthusiast audience. Their high end power supplies have found a home in some of the most powerful, overclocked multi GPU showcase systems (HERE (http://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/zardon/overclockersuk-infinity-vesuvius-r9-295x2-quadxfire-system-review/2/) ). Today we look at one of their latest Titanium grade power supplies targeting the discerning enthusiast with one or two graphics cards.

Read full article @ KitGuru

Swiftech H240 X2 Configurable AIO Liquid Cooler Review

Swiftech's pre-filled cooling systems ship with clear coolant and include extra dye so you can match the lighting modes of the LED controller.

Read full article @ Toms Hardware

The ASRock E3V5 Performance Gaming (C232) Motherboard Review

If you want to run a Skylake E3 Xeon, it needs to be placed in a motherboard with either the C232 or C236 chipsets. This is a change from the last generation, and as a result most of the motherboard manufacturers are bringing some of their consumer expertise to new products in order to get a slice of the casual Xeon user pie. We explored a server-like C236 based motherboard in the previous review, and in this review we are taking the latest edition from ASRock’s Gaming range, based on the C232 chipset, for a spin.

Read full article @ Anandtech

Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus - Oh Shucks ... it's Schuster!

Spring time. Vivaldi. Distros. And a long, thorough review of Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus 64-bit edition, the latest Ubuntu LTS release, covering live session, installation in a multi-boot (Windows and Linux, 16 partitions) setup on a laptop with UEFI, Secure Boot and GPT, and post-install use and configurations, including look & feel, network connectivity - Wireless, Bluetooth, Samba sharing and printing, and issues with the Realtek driver and frequent network freezes, Ubuntu software, applications, extras, online accounts, multimedia support - HD video and MP3 playback, smartphone support - iPhone and Windows Phone, system testing, performance, responsiveness, stability, customization, and various problems like more network bugs after waking from suspend, missing packages and discrepancy between GUI and command line, Flash installation errors, short battery life, and more. Enjoy.

Read full article @ Dedoimedo