Here is a roundup of today's reviews and articles, including a review on the Fractal Epoch XL computer case, offering more space and features than its predecessor, including support for E-ATX motherboards, 360mm radiators, and larger graphics cards. Meanwhile, the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 G835 (2025) gaming laptop boasts impressive performance, a bright display, and tool-less upgradability at an affordable price. In other news, several reviews have been published on various components, including the Acer Predator XB273K V5 gaming monitor, which offers dual-mode IPS technology at a reasonable price, and the Patriot Viper Elite 5 Ultra DDR5-6000 RAM kit, which has seen prices more than double due to a shortage. Other reviewed products include the Bluetti Elite 30 V2 portable power station and the Crucial X10 SSD, both of which offer compact and high-capacity storage options for various use cases.
Casing: Fractal Epoch XL Black TG Light Tint Review, Fractal Design Epoch XL Case Review
Computers: ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 G835 (2025) Review - Incredible Gaming Laptop
Displays: Acer Predator XB273K V5 Gaming Monitor Review - 4K 160Hz & 1080p 320Hz for $400
Memory: Patriot Viper Elite 5 Ultra DDR5-6000 2x48GB Review
Motherboards: ASRock X870E Taichi OC Formula Review, ASRock Phantom Gaming Z890I NOVA WiFi Motherboard Review
Power: Bluetti Elite 30 V2 Review: A Lightweight Portable Power Station for Camping and Backup Power
Storage: Crucial X10 SSD Review: Fast, Rugged, Pocket-Sized Storage
Casing:
Vortez: Fractal Epoch XL Black TG Light Tint Review
Expanding on the Epoch lineup of computer cases, Fractal unveils the Epoch XL - a contemporary design which is packed with space and features like a trio of Momentum 14 cooling fans.
ThinkComputers: Fractal Design Epoch XL Case Review
Earlier this year we took a look at Fractal Design’s Epoch case. We liked this case quite a lot as we gave it a 9 out of 10 score and our Recommended Award! Well Fractal is back with their Epoch XL, which as you can guess is a larger version of the case. This is going to give you more flexibility of what you can install and of course allows for larger hardware. The biggest changes you’ll see is now having support for E-ATX motherboards and back-connect motherboards, 360mm radiators in the top of the case, long graphics cards up to 425mm, and this case will now ship with three 140mm fans in the front instead of the three 120mm that came on the original. If you wanted to build a high-end system in the Epoch, but were worried about space this new larger version should be the perfect thing! Let’s take a look and see what this case is all about!
Computers:
TechPowerUp: ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 G835 (2025) Review - Incredible Gaming Laptop
With its massive, well-engineered vapor chamber cooling, the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 G835 (2025) pushes the performance of the Core Ultra 9 275HX and RTX 5090 to new heights with reasonable noise levels and low external temperatures. The super bright Mini LED display, great input devices, superb I/O, and tool-less upgradability cement this machine as the zenith of mobile gaming.
ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 G835 (2025) Review - Incredible Gaming Laptop
Displays:
TweakTown: Acer Predator XB273K V5 Gaming Monitor Review - 4K 160Hz & 1080p 320Hz for $400
The Acer Predator XB273K V5 is a dual-mode IPS gaming monitor designed for both competitive and cinematic gamers at a very reasonable price.
Memory:
APH Networks: Patriot Viper Elite 5 Ultra DDR5-6000 2x48GB Review
When it comes to investing, there are two principles I generally stick to. The first principle goes along with the saying that "time in the market beats timing the market". The reason why this is true is because it is basically impossible to consistently and accurately predict when the best time is to buy and when is the best time to sell. The second principle, in many ways an offshoot of the first, is it is basically impossible to beat the market, unless, of course, you are Nancy Pelosi. According to SPIVA Scorecards, 90% of funds did not perform as well as the S&P 500 over the last decade. In fact, in 1973, Princeton University economics professor Burton Malkiel wrote in his book "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" that a "blindfolded monkey throwing darts at a newspaper's financial pages could select a portfolio that would do just as well as one carefully selected by experts". This was shown by Warren Buffett in 2007, where he bet $1M against Ted Seides that an S&P 500 stock index would outperform hedge funds over a 10-year period. Buffett won in 2017, and it was not even close -- Seides' fund only went up by $220,000, while Buffett's low-cost S&P 500 index fund gained a whopping $854,000. Now, of course, there are times where you can make reasonable guesses and get lucky. To prove my point, I bought NVIDIA at $115 during the DeepSeek scare earlier this year, and sold it at $170 a few months later, which provided a whopping return of 48%. I also bought Tesla during the spat between Trump and Musk at $300, which I promptly sold a week later for $330 -- a 10% gain over a short period. Afterwards, I just took my wins and went home, since I am not a gambler. Now, one spike not many people saw coming is the DDR5 RAM shortage. In the last month or so, prices have more than doubled, making more gains than even NVIDIA stocks in 2025. If you need RAM now, you are going to have to pay to play. But what choices do we have, and which ones are good? We took in the Patriot Viper Elite 5 Ultra DDR5-6000 2x48GB to find out.
Patriot Viper Elite 5 Ultra DDR5-6000 2x48GB Review (Page 1 of 10) | APH Networks
Motherboards:
PC Inquisitor: ASRock X870E Taichi OC Formula Review
ASRock’s Taichi OCF ditches half the DIMM slots of the original Taichi to chase higher overclocking frequencies: We rate it.
Funky Kit: ASRock Phantom Gaming Z890I NOVA WiFi Motherboard Review
This is one of the smallest Z890 motherboard on the market. Meet the ASRock Phantom Gaming Z890i NOVA WiFi. It’s super compact, measuring just 17cm by 17cm, and utilizes the Intel Z890 chipset and supports all the latest Core Ultra processors on the LGA 1851 socket.
ASRock Phantom Gaming Z890I NOVA WiFi Motherboard Review - Funky Kit
Power:
MacRumors: Bluetti Elite 30 V2 Review: A Lightweight Portable Power Station for Camping and Backup Power
Bluetti's Elite 30 V2 that came out earlier this year is a portable power station that's ideal for short trips, plus it works well as a temporary backup for powering small electronics in a power outage.
Bluetti Elite 30 V2 Review: A Lightweight Portable Power Station for Camping and Backup Power
Storage:
HotHardware: Crucial X10 SSD Review: Fast, Rugged, Pocket-Sized Storage
External storage is a key enabler for a wide variety of use cases and workloads. Whether using it for backup purposes, portability of frequently required data, recording from a modern camera, or just expanding the storage on a device with limited internal capacity, external storage may fit the bill. The Crucial X10 portable SSD we’ll be looking at today ticks all of the right boxes to address all of those use cases, and then some. This compact external USB drive is fast, rugged, durable, and available in high capacities. It’s also compatible with a broad range of devices, from game consoles and smartphones, to modern mirrorless cameras and PCs.
