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Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

5 Photoshop Alternatives You Can Run on Linux
AMD vs Intel - Our 8-Core CPU Gaming Performance Showdown!
ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming K6+ Motherboard Review
Corsair Gaming Strafe Mechanical Keyboard Review
Corsair STRAFE Review
Deepcool Assassin II Review
Fondling Samsung's Next Big Thing, Galaxy S6 Edge+ And Note5 Hands On
Hands On With the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
iRobot Autonomous Lawn Mower To Make Life Easier
Kingston HyperX CLOUD II Pro Gaming Headset Review
Samsung SSD 850 Evo 2TB Review
Samsung SSD Update: 48-layer 256Gbit TLC 3D NAND & Three New TLC SSDs Announced
SilverStone TD03-E Liquid CPU Cooler Review
SilverStone Tundra Series TD03-Lite AIO CPU Cooler Review
Six 32-inch Ultra HD monitor review: serious business
Toshiba HK3R2 960 GB



5 Photoshop Alternatives You Can Run on Linux

Linux users are perpetually stuck in a dilemma. While the freedom of open source is great, Linux consistently sits between 1% and 2% market share, which means industry standard programs, like Photoshop, rarely give Linux users the time of day. The great tragedy is that even after all this time, the open platform of Linux still has yet to produce competing software that can really match Photoshop head-to-head (if youre thinking about GIMP, well get to that later).

Read full article @ MakeUseOf

AMD vs Intel - Our 8-Core CPU Gaming Performance Showdown!

As a gamer and hardware enthusiast that spends a lot of time in various PC gaming communities, one of the longest on-going debates has been the best choice for CPU when it comes to gaming; Intel or AMD.

Read full article @ TechnologyX

ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming K6+ Motherboard Review

Exploiting the Skylake CPUs for their allure to gamers, ASRock’s Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming K6+ is a motherboard that targets the enthusiast gaming audience by offering a wide range of the bells and whistles they may desire. Can pumped-up audio, a Killer NIC, strong multi-GPU support, and high-speed storage interfaces persuade gamers who are willing to invest in the Skylake platform?

Read full article @ KitGuru

Corsair Gaming Strafe Mechanical Keyboard Review

There's more than meets the eye with the Strafe mechanical keyboard from Corsair Gaming. Many of our readers should be familiar with Corsair's K70 mechanical keyboard which is remarkable in its own right for a variety of reasons. So then, is the more recently released Strafe a dumbed down mechanical keyboard from Corsair? We spent some time typing and gaming with this new product and can already tell you there are some interesting things going on. This is in addition to what we now know about its future with regards to a version featuring never before seen Cherry MX Silent gaming switches.

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

Corsair STRAFE Review

Corsair have long been a brand that represented reliability and quality in the world of custom PC modding and their gaming peripheral division, too, has become one that holds up their position too. Though there has been changes in branding (such as Vengeance and Corsair Gaming), it seems that Corsair have made the 'gaming' part has taken a step back with a return of those trusty sails and no tribal cutlasses to be seen anywhere on their latest STRAFE line up as opposed to what we saw in our last outing with the K70 RGB.

The STRAFE series is an interesting move by Corsair as it doesn't look set to replace the previous series, rather compliment it with a slightly cheaper alternative. Some may prefer the sleek look of the brushed aluminium faceplate you can find on the K-- series, but with a stronger emphasis towards 'GAMERS' (such a subjective term), we find per-key back lighting and dynamic effects, completely programmable keys and 100% anti-ghosting. Corsair also stress that they only use Cherry MX mechanical switches as opposed to some competitors, the STRAFE comes in Red and Brown flavours while the STRAFE RGB additionally comes with the exclusive option for Cherry MX 'Silent' switches.

Read full article @ Vortez

Deepcool Assassin II Review

The load temperatures for stock and overclock were excellent. That monster base and eight heat pipes give the Assassin II the ability to keep the heat down, and the spread between stock and overclocked load performance was a rather narrow four degrees Celsius. The overclocked load temp of 74 °C is well within the range of liquid cooling and in fact the Assassin II performed better than two of the liquid coolers I have tested. It is also quiet under a load. The fans spool up, but the sound is not annoying or excessive. Deepcool definitely has the right combination with the Assassin II.

Read full article @ OCC

Fondling Samsung's Next Big Thing, Galaxy S6 Edge+ And Note5 Hands On

We just left Samsung’s Unpacked 2015 event in New York City, at which the company unveiled its latest flagship, big-screen smartphones, the Galaxy S6 Edge+ and Note5. Immediately following the on-stage presentations and big reveals, Samsung opened up a demo area featuring the new devices and we got to spend some hands-on time with each of them. A video of both devices in action is avaialable here...

Read full article @ HotHardware.com

Hands On With the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+

Today, Samsung is announcing the next generation of their Galaxy-brand phablets, the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 edge+. Samsung’s phablets have been one of their greatest smartphone success stories, finding traction in a market when many thought there wouldn’t be a place for such a large phone. And while you will never see some competitors directly admit to it, products like the Note series have legitimized the phablet form factor and required that the competition catch up as well, making the phablet form factor as much of a home court for Samsung as there can be.

Starting with the 2014 models, Samsung introduced two different phablets, the Note 4 and the simply titled Note Edge. This year Samsung is retaining the dual phablet approach, however in the case of the Edge product Samsung has shifted gears on what they want to do. For 2015 Samsung seems to be going after a new audience in the form of the Galaxy S6 edge+, which is a more distinct derivative of the Note 5 platform with some greater feature changes than just a curved screen. To understand what I mean, read on for the full article.

Read full article @ Anandtech

iRobot Autonomous Lawn Mower To Make Life Easier

iRobot, the company that has brought us robotic vacuums like the Roomba has had plans for years to develop an autonomous robotic lawn mower. Now they are just one step closer after receiving FCC approval to build its first robotic lawn mower. Why FCC approval? Well, the robotic lawn mower would wirelessly communicate with signal beacons to understand its boundaries and not veer off to cut your neighbors grass or worse, the asphalt road or concrete driveway.

Read full article @ Geek Inspector

Kingston HyperX CLOUD II Pro Gaming Headset Review

Quite a few months have passed since we last reviewed a gaming headset but since we finally got out hands on Batman Arkham Knight we decided to use it with some of the gaming peripherals we have here (along with Battlefield 4, Planetside 2 and Star Citizen) including several gaming headsets. Now some of you may recall that roughly a year ago we reviewed the HyperX CLOUD Pro Gaming Headset by Kingston a stereo model (actually manufactured by Qpad) with surprisingly good audio performance and certainly a lot better compared to its immediate competition. Still a stereo gaming headset may not have the same "impact" as a virtual surround one and so it didn't take but just a few months for Kingston to release the CLOUD II 7.1 Surround Sound Pro Gaming Headset which we have here with us today.

Kingston Technology Company, Inc. is the world’s largest independent manufacturer of memory products. Kingston designs, manufactures and distributes memory products for desktops, laptops, servers, printers, and Flash memory products for PDAs, mobile phones, digital cameras, and MP3 players. Through its global network of subsidiaries and affiliates, Kingston has manufacturing facilities in California, Taiwan, China and sales representatives in the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Australia, New Zealand, India, Taiwan, China, and Latin America. HyperX is the high-performance product division of Kingston Technology encompassing high-speed DDR3 memory, SSDs, USB Flash drives, and headsets. Targeted at gamers, overclockers and enthusiasts, HyperX is known throughout the world for quality, performance and innovation. HyperX is committed to eSports as it sponsors over 20 teams globally and is the main sponsor of Intel Extreme Masters. HyperX can be found at many shows including Brazil Game Show, China Joy, DreamHack, GamesCom and PAX.

Right from the get go we think you should all be aware that the CLOUD II is pretty much the same as the original CLOUD but with the addition of a USB card which takes care of the 7.1 virtual surround feature. Because of this the entire specifications sheet is almost identical to that of the original CLOUD so once again we see the same large 53mm dynamic stereo drivers that feature a frequency response of 15Hz-25KHz with 60 Ohm impedance and a SPL of 98dB (­+-3dB). Now the reason i said "almost" identical is because Kingston has used an updated flexible detachable boom microphone which this time features a far wider frequency response of 50Hz-18KHz with -39dB (+-3dB) of impedance (as opposed to the 100Hz-12KHz of the original - impedance remained the same). We never did have a problem with the original boom microphone but using a even better model is never a bad thing.

Read full article @ NikKTech

Samsung SSD 850 Evo 2TB Review

Today we have the latest model from the Samsung SSD 850 Evo on hand, the mouth-watering 2TB model. Previously the 850 Evo range extended to a 1TB model but for those that find that simply wasn’t enough, Samsung has doubled the capacity and in the process created what is by far the largest capacity 2.5” SSD on the market..

The very first SSD that I used day to day in my main PC was the Intel X25-M 80GB and it was a considerable bargain at $390, an eye watering $4.87 per gigabyte. Still the SLC X25-E was selling for almost twice that in a miniscule 64GB capacity.

Back then the X25-M was the king of MLC-based SSD storage, delivering the best performance and reliability. If you were lucky enough to own the 160GB model you would have felt like you had all the high-speed storage in the world.

Read full article @ Legion Hardware

Samsung SSD Update: 48-layer 256Gbit TLC 3D NAND & Three New TLC SSDs Announced

When Samsung took the stage at the 2015 Flash Memory Summit, they admittedly didnt deliver any bombshell announcements on the scale of the Intel/Micron 3D XPoint surprise, but they still had a lot to talk about.

We knew that Samsungs third generation of V-NAND/3D NAND was on the way with mass production scheduled for the second half of this year. Samsung has now disclosed that mass production is starting this month, and that its a 48-layer design with a 256Gb TLC being the first die announced. Samsungs current second-generation 3D NAND is a 32-layer design available as 128Gb TLC or 128Gb MLC.

With mass production imminent, Samsung has ensured that neither SK Hynix nor the Toshiba/SanDisk joint venture will be able to leapfrog them with their respective 48-layer 3D NAND designs, both scheduled for mass production starting in 2016.

Read full article @ Anandtech

SilverStone TD03-E Liquid CPU Cooler Review

While I normally find myself in the pursuit of absolute performance – especially when it comes to cooling – for some PC enthusiasts that’s not always the case. Whether it’s space constraints or maybe a massive overclock is just not needed there is always a need for smaller CPU coolers. Today we’ll be taking a look at Silverstones TD03-E. This 120mm radiator based cooler is identical to the TD02-E we’ve previously tested aside from radiator size. Coming in with the same high quality design, fit, and finish let’s see if the TD03-E provides just the right amount of cooling performance that you need.

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

SilverStone Tundra Series TD03-Lite AIO CPU Cooler Review

We first reviewed the Silverstone TD03 just over a year ago, and I was thoroughly impressed with its build quality, performance and overall design. The TD03 is one of the best coolers in its class, but the only downside that I can see is that it was a little expensive; although you get what you pay for. Today, I’ll be taking a look at the TD03-Lite, a cooler that takes what we knew about the original, but for a much lower price and to reflect that, a few of the design features have been cut back to keep the cost down, offering the product to a much wider market, but has this had an effect on the performance? Let’s find out!

The specifications from the TD03-Lite are promising and the cooler comes equipped with a high-quality 120mm PWM fan, an aluminium 120mm radiator and copper contact block.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Six 32-inch Ultra HD monitor review: serious business

We have already tested quite a few screens that sport a resolution of 3440x1440 pixels, but if you are looking for a serious amount of desktop space Ultra HD offers even more. The disadvantage is that Ultra HD screen are relatively small, but the 32 inch models are starting to become more accessible. Prices have dropped quite a bit since we tested our first 32 inch Ultra HD model and we decided it was time to do a comparative test between six models that are currently available.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

Toshiba HK3R2 960 GB

The Toshiba HK3R2 is a entry-level enterprise SSD which is built around Toshiba's own controller and NAND chips. With its 960 GB capacity it offers plenty of storage for all business applications, and our MySQL database testing reveals excellent performance in read-heavy scenarios.

Read full article @ techPowerUp