Reviews 52175 Published by

Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

AMD A10-7860K 65W APU
ASUS ROG Spatha Review
Chieftec Navitas 1000W GPM-1000C Review
Corsair M65 PRO RGB Review
Corsair SF600 Power Supply Review
EK P360 Performance Liquid Cooling review
Intel 750 Series 400GB NVMe Solid State Drive Review
Lexar 633x microSDXC Card Review (200GB) – Smartphone Storage Savior
Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum
MSI DS502 Gaming Headset Review
NVIDIA & Samsung Settle All Patent Infringement Disputes
Plextor M7V M.2 SATA SSD Review
Western Digital Black and Red Pro 6TB review: two storagegiants
Western Digital RED 8TB Helium HDD Review



AMD A10-7860K 65W APU

AMD's APUs have been refreshed, some now featuring lower power consumption and a new thermal solution, so they draw less power and are quieter. AMD's A10-7860K supports HSA, DirectX 12, Vulkan, and Mantle. With a maximum turbo clock of 4.0 GHz, the AMD A10-7860K isn't just a CPU, it does graphics, too.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

ASUS ROG Spatha Review

The Spatha has been turning heads since it was unveiled at Computex last year and it is easy to see why. It is a large, wired/wireless mouse based on a magnesium alloy frame that features a total of 12 programmable buttons, of which the 6 side buttons are arranged in a way that represents the ROG eye logo. To finish of the final aesthetic, there is a 3 zone customisable RGB lighting system.

Under the hood, the Spatha is powered by the Pixart ADNS - 9800 sensor that is made for high grade wired/wireless gaming mice. Casting their wizardry, ASUS have aimed to ensure a super responsive experience by enabling a 1000hz refresh rate wirelessly and a staggering 2000hz (0.5ms) refresh rate for the ultimate performance over a wired connection. Looking deeper into its specification we find that the mouse wheel uses an Alps encoder while the side buttons use Alps switches that provide a tactile feedback. The main mouse clicks use the renowned Japanese made Omron switches that are rated for 20million clicks and should you need to replace them, ASUS have made things easier by seating them in sockets and have included an extra pair of Omron switches.

Read full article @ Vortez

Chieftec Navitas 1000W GPM-1000C Review

With the Navitas 1000W Chieftec has a high quality mid range power supply in its portfolio which offers 1000 Watt output power. When looking for an 80Plus certificate we find a Gold sticker on this unit. Since Chieftec doesn't own their own PSU factory, their using an OEM platform from CWT (Channel Well Technology) for this model. As usual we're curious to find out what this 151 Euro PSU is capable of.

Read full article @ ocaholic

Corsair M65 PRO RGB Review

It has been a while since the Corsair M65 mouse hit the market and has undergone the various branding changes that Corsair have made to its gaming line 1 2. The M65 PRO RGB, is the latest revision to the M65 model and it comes with all those known and loved features of those before it. This includes 8 programmable buttons, the top quality aircraft-grade aluminium frame, ergonomic shape, the large sniper button as well as the adjustable weight system.

The M65 PRO RGB is now kitted out with a new Pixart PMW336x optical sensor (similar to the 3366 in the Logitech G900?), the same found in the Scimitar mouse. It has a resolution of up to 12,000 DPI and so we can expect a responsive, zero acceleration performance for increased precision. There is another change any Corsair fanboy would welcome. That is the return of the iconic Sails logo, replacing the fancy crossed cutlass design seen in our previous outing. ARRR! The logo forms one of three customisable lighting zones, with the forward projecting light and the profile/DPI lighting making up the other two zones.

Read full article @ Vortez

Corsair SF600 Power Supply Review

We recently evaluated Corsair's SF450, which left a good impression on us. Now it's time to test the family's flagship SF600, which can deliver 150W more power using exactly the same cable configuration.

Read full article @ Toms Hardware

EK P360 Performance Liquid Cooling review

In this review we take the Performance series EK liquid cooling kit consisting out of all components needed to assemble and design your own proper liquid cooling loop. We will build a system and test this kit on the Mac Daddy quad-core Intel Core i7 6700K processor. The end result is a setup that will surpass any AIO kit in both performance, low noise levels and looks. Once we have defined and built our loop, we'll obviously massively overclock the PC as well to see how well Skylake (Core i7 6700K) behaves at up-to even 1.50 Volts!

You know, in the world of CPU coolers nothing ever stops developing. These days you can select from a hundred different heat-pipe based coolers, where many are shaped, formed and priced the same. The better heat-pipe based coolers are good though. Next in line are LCS systems (liquid cooling) setup followed by the real and proper expensive liquid cooling kits. The entry level LCS products are affordable, easy to install pre-fab liquid cooling kits. We've seen and tested many of them as Corsair, Asetek, NZXT, Cooler Master and so on all have interesting kits. Today we test a new kit from EK, not an AIO kit but a kit with everything you need to build your own liquid cooling loop. EK released the 360 Performance with a proper price / value ratio in mind.

So what we test today is marketed as a true liquid cooling solution for the starters among you, and not a factory kit like the (great) Predator series. Inside the box you'll find everything you need from tubing, to radiator, fans, and reservoir/pump, biaslly all you need to do is pickup some distilled water and spend some time putting it all together. EK is offering this Performance series kit in three models, a 240, 280 and 360 kit. Obviously this number is is tied towards the raditor size and the included fans that go along with it (3x 120 mm).

Read full article @ Guru3D

Intel 750 Series 400GB NVMe Solid State Drive Review

Intel introduced their 750 Series solid state drives last year.  Back then and even now not many people know what NVMe is.  NVMe stands for Non-Volatile Memory Express and it is a protocol that has been designed from the ground up to capitalize on the low latency and internal parallelism of flash-based storage devices, mirroring the parallelism of contemporary CPUs, platforms and applications.  NVMe reduces latency and allows for more transactions per second, which will increase application performance.  NVMe is also uses less CPU power than AHCI, this means you have more CPU cycles for other activities.  Intel’s 750 Series were the first solid state drives available to consumers to make use of this technology.  Today we will be looking at the lowest capacity drive is the series, which is 400GB.  It boasts sequential read and write speeds of up to 2200 MB/s and 900 MB/s respectively.  That is quite impressive, let’s take a look!

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

Lexar 633x microSDXC Card Review (200GB) – Smartphone Storage Savior

The ability to upgrade storage in today’s smartphones seems to have become key once again. It is the dividing point between Samsung and Apple. A Samsung S7 smart phone allows the user to add up to 200GB of storage space whereas the Apple iPhone 6S tops out at 128GB, that storage increasing the iPhone price by several hundred dollars. This is leverage for Samsung and this latest smartphone trend may play directly into Apple’s financial downfall as of late, with stock losing $40 billion in market cap after earnings.

This is where the Lexar 633x 200GB microSDXC Card comes in; it has ample storage, reputation, quality, warranty and value. The Lexar 633x is is a high performance UHS-1 microSDXC card that is intended for camcorders, tablets and smartphones, and it is capable of storing and playing back 1080p HD, 3D and 4K video.

Read full article @ The SSD Review

Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum

Logitech and more specifically their Gaming or G line has been constantly evolving over the years to follow the latest in technology when it comes to keyboards, mice, headsets and other peripherals. Only a few weeks ago we had the honor to review the G910 Orion Spark keyboard and today we have the pleasure to test and review their new G502 Proteus Spectrum gaming mouse. So in this review we put this mouse through rigorous testing.

The Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum is a technologically advanced modern gaming mouse that is highly configurable to allow you to take your game play to the next level. At the forefront of this technology is the new Logitech G Delta zero optical sensor that allows the users to adjust their DPI from 200 to an incredible 12000 DPI. You can set five DPI settings that you can switch between on the fly while you’re playing your favorite game. Now if you have never owned a gaming mouse before, this can allow you to make rapid fast movements when you’re running around the map and then when you’re zooming in to make that perfect shot, you can slow down the sensor for more precision. In addition to the incredibly powerful sensor technology, Logitech fitted the Proteus Spectrum with a series of interchangeable weights that allow you to dial in the feel of the mouse. Furthermore it features 11 programmable buttons so you can game the way you want with your favorite commands with the simple movement of a finger. The RGB lighting features of the G502 takes the customization to the next level, allowing the user to select from 16.8 million colors to fit their mood or favorite color. Keep reading to see if the G502 lives up to the Logitech G name!

Read full article @ Bjorn3D

MSI DS502 Gaming Headset Review

Today we are taking a look at MSI’s brand new gaming headset, the DS502, boasting 7.1 surround sound, premium build and Hi-Fi level sound quality in a lightweight, ergonomically designed package. How does it hold up?

Read full article @ KitGuru

NVIDIA & Samsung Settle All Patent Infringement Disputes

Roughly a year and a half ago, NVIDIA opened up a patent infringement case against Samsung and Qualcomm, claiming that the various GPUs used by the two firms violated various NVIDIA patents. In response, Samsung opened up their own counter-suit, claiming that NVIIDA and its partners were violating Samsung patents. Since then, things have not progressed well for NVIDIA, with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruling that Samsung’s GPUs don’t infringe on NVIDIA’s patents, while also ruling that NVIDIA’s GPUs did infringe on Samsung’s patents.

Now with the final ruling on Samsung’s counter-suit originally scheduled for today, NVIDIA has announced that they have buried the hatchet with Samsung, ending all litigation between the companies. In their announcement, NVIDIA notes that both companies have ended their suits with the US courts, US ITC, and the US Patent office, effective immediately. In turn, both companies have agreed to cross-license “a small number of patents by each company to the other,” while noting that this is not a broad cross-licensing agreement. All other terms of the deal – such as any potential payments – are not being disclosed.

Read full article @ Anandtech

Plextor M7V M.2 SATA SSD Review

Flash based storage can really wake up an older PC due to it's massive increase in speed and decrease in seek time as compared it its rotating disk counter part. As the price of flash memory continues to drop, we start to see SSD's prices per gigabyte creep ever closer to mechanical hard drive's price per gigabyte.

Read full article @ Modders-Inc

Western Digital Black and Red Pro 6TB review: two storagegiants

Western Digital – or WD, as they like to call themselves nowadays – is expanding their range of products. The race to higher capacity storage is still active and previously we tested the 6TB-variants of the Red-, Green- and Purple-models. Today we add two new ones: the Red Pro and the Black.

WD Black is the series meant for power-users: the brand mentions photo- and video editors as well as gamers as their target audience. These are 3,5”-drives that operate at 7,200 rpm (revolutions per minute) and in this case have 128 MB cache memory. Moreover the disk is equipped with a dual-core processor as controller, which should enable higher sequential speeds.

Aside from that the Black-disks are supposed to be extra reliable. WD calls this StableTrac; this means that the motors are fixed on two places to reduce vibration of the platters. The drive comes with a five-year warranty. On average you pay 250 pounds / 316 euros for the WD Black 6TB, about 40 pounds / 50 euros more than you would for a WD Green with the same capacity.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

Western Digital RED 8TB Helium HDD Review

Welcome to a brave new world, one with two very distinct storage mediums which, in some ways, are no longer actually competing for the same buyers. On one hand we have the SSD, an ultra fast storage format which has no problem featuring titanic throughput numbers but has historically struggled to deliver those numbers at affordable price points in the capacities today’s users require. In corner number two there’s the traditional hard drive; it can trump SSDs in the price per gigabyte category but performance just can’t compete.

Alongside the obvious performance-driven challenges, HDD manufacturers have also hit up against two other walls: one which limited platter density and the other which is a rather large but still spatially-constrained 3.5” form factor. In order to leap ahead in both those respects, Western Digital’s new RED 8TB’s platters are filled with helium and then sealed.

Read full article @ Hardware Canucks