Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles, including Hands-on review: Windows 8.1 RT, Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev. 26.6, OUYA Game Console First Impressions, Guru3D Rig of the Month - June 2013, and TR's Summer 2013 system guide



Hands-on review: Windows 8.1 RT @ TechRadar

Windows RT is still hanging in there, even though the number of ARM-based devices available with it doesn't exactly seen to be growing. But despite that, as well as high initial prices for products like the Surface RT plus notable stillborn devices and absentee vendors, Microsoft still appears to be committed to the cut-down version of Windows 8 and now Windows 8.1, even if RT barely got a mention in the keynote that opened Microsoft Build yesterday. We got our hands on RT 8.1 which we found running on a Surface at the Build event.

Read more: Hands-on review: Windows 8.1 RT @ TechRadar

Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev. 26.6 @ Tech ARP

We have just posted the *Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev. 26.6*.

Here are the latest updates in Revision 26.6 :

*- Added the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 769 graphics card.
- Switched from Average Boost Speed to Maximum Boost Speed for NVIDIA
graphics cards that support it, with corresponding changes to their Texture
Fill Rate and Pixel Fill Rate specifications.
- Corrected the Clock Speed, Texture Fill Rate and Pixel Fill Rate
specifications for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 (OEM) graphics card.
- Corrected the Clock Speed, Texture Fill Rate and Pixel Fill Rate
specifications for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost graphics card.*

Read more: Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev. 26.6 @ Tech ARP

Intel Z87 Motherboard Review with Haswell: Gigabyte, MSI, ASRock and ASUS @ Anandtech

Talk about Haswell and Z87 has circulated the internet for many quarters – today we reap the benefits of the wait and get our chance to review both the CPU and several examples of the Z87 chipset.  Today we have in the Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H, the MSI Z87A-GD65 Gaming, the ASRock Z87 Extreme6/AC and the ASUS Z87-Pro.

Read more: Intel Z87 Motherboard Review with Haswell: Gigabyte, MSI, ASRock and ASUS @ Anandtech

OUYA Game Console First Impressions @ ThinkComputers.org

Behold, the day of days has arrived: Kickstarted darling Ouya, the Android-powered video game console, is available to the public. It sold out on Amazon in just a few hours and I'll bet that other retailers are finding their stocks a little low, too. I backed Ouya on Kickstarter shortly before the close of the nearly $8.6M funding round last summer, and I received my backer unit a couple of weeks ago. I've had some time to play several of the games and poke around the device a bit.

Read more: OUYA Game Console First Impressions @ ThinkComputers.org

OCZ Vertex 450 256GB 20nm MLC SSD Review @ HardOCP

OCZ refreshes the venerable Vertex 450 line of SSDs with itsIndilinx Barefoot 3 controller and 20nm Micron MLC NAND. The new Barefoot 3 BF3-M10 controller is the same controller featured on the flagship OCZ Vector, yet with a slower clock speed. Will this slower controller allow OCZ to gain a foothold in the value market

Read more: OCZ Vertex 450 256GB 20nm MLC SSD Review @ HardOCP

Rezzed 2013: The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot Developer Walkthrough @ HardwareHeaven.com

This week Kaeyi Dream has been in attendance at the Rezzed 2013 game show. Today we have a developer walkthrough with upcoming title The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot.

Read more: Rezzed 2013: The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot Developer Walkthrough @ HardwareHeaven.com

ZOTAC GeForce GTX 770 2 GB @ techPowerUp

The ZOTAC GTX 770 introduces a new dual-fan cooler that looks quite sleek. Even though the card isn't overclocked, it delivers improved performance thanks to ZOTAC's smart thermal design.

Read more: ZOTAC GeForce GTX 770 2 GB @ techPowerUp

Toshiba KIRAbook High Resolution Ultrabook Review @ HotHardware

With the KIRAbook 13 I7, Toshiba is flexing its muscles and taking on the likes of Apple, Asus, and Lenovo in the ultrabook arena. And you know what? Toshiba seems to be on the right track. With clean lines, a 2560 x 1440 resolution display and a slick magnesium alloy body, the KIRAbook is anything but a typical laptop.

Hitting a home run in this market isn't easy, because a true ultrabook should be as much about form as it is function. It should be thinner than a laptop, and lighter too. It needs processing power as well as decent battery life. But small, powerful hardware usually comes at a steep price, and driving the price too high invites unfavorable comparisons to other solutions.

There are areas where a certain level of compromise can be acceptable in a laptop, so long as the system is strong contender for it's particular target audience and use case. Ultrabooks, on the other hand, are expected to approach perfection. And (unlike more than a few ultrabooks) the Toshiba KIRAbook almost does...

Read more: Toshiba KIRAbook High Resolution Ultrabook Review @ HotHardware

Antec High Current Gamer Modular 750 W @ techPowerUp

Antec added new models to their High Current Gamer series of PSUs, which feature interesting characteristics and good performance. Today, we will evaluate the fresh HCG-750M, that is 80 PLUS Bronze certified and comes with a five-year warranty.

Read more: Antec High Current Gamer Modular 750 W @ techPowerUp

Guru3D Rig of the Month - June 2013 @ Guru3D

Each Month One Winner walks away with a cool prize. Starting January 2013 the winner of the months Rig of the Month will receive an OCZ Vector 128GB SSD delivered for free at it's doorsteps as a nice incentive. Combining high-speed data transfer rates with record-breaking access times, OCZ Vecor SSDs are designed to provide a superior user experience and improved application performance. OCZ has developed this product with their all new Indilinx Barefoot 3 controller. The end result is an SSD that is extremely fast and amongst the fastest we have ever tested.

Read more: Guru3D Rig of the Month - June 2013 @ Guru3D

MAD CATZ R.A.T. M Wireless Mobile Mouse Review @ Benchmark Reviews

Mad Catz arguably changed the gaming mouse market when they released their R.A.T. into the wild. With an unusual appearance and a previously unapproachable level of customization, the subsequent R.A.T. series of mice went on to win multiple awards and generate a lot of interest. Today, Benchmark Reviews has a chance to take a closer look at one of the newcomers to the R.A.T. line, the R.A.T. M wireless mobile gaming mouse. Does this rodent have what it takes to back up its heritage?

Read more: MAD CATZ R.A.T. M Wireless Mobile Mouse Review @ Benchmark Reviews

ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 Review @ OCC

Overclocking with the ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 was a lot fun, and a big surprise. I opted in this case for a simple multiplier overclock and edged it up with a few ticks of the FSB for a final overclock of 5187MHz. To my surprise, this is the highest stable frequency I have been able to get out of this particular FX-8350. I am convinced that if I had more time and more cooling than the H-100 on my test rig, I could have gotten even more out of it. As it was I was pushing the cooling for all it was worth. I could tell after dissecting the board and power delivery that I was probably looking at a healthy overclock with the Sabertooth, but beating out the CVF-Z by a good 150MHz was a bit of a shock. Not to take anything from the Sabertooth to be sure, however I think this particular result may be a case of this CPU and chipset getting along in a rare pairing. In other words the Sabertooth is turning out to be a great overclocking board, however your mileage may vary, act now, supplies are limited, so on and so forth.

Read more: ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 Review @ OCC

In Win Rocker Mat Aluminum Gaming Surface Review - A Glass Alternative With Unique Features @ TechnologyX

When we think of In Win, PC cases are typically the first things we relate the name to. The company recently showcased the unique glass Tou chassis at Computex 2013, as well as the D-Frame at CES 2013. Many other items produced by In Win took a backseat to the eye-catching D-Frame, one of them being the Rocker Mat.

Read more: In Win Rocker Mat Aluminum Gaming Surface Review - A Glass Alternative With Unique Features @ TechnologyX

Fractal Design Tesla R2 800W Power Supply @ HiTech Legion

Obviously, men would go to great lengths to attract women, which is why I found it puzzling that Nikola Tesla rejected his female admirers when they were practically throwing themselves at him. Granted, these were turn of the century babes so they can’t possibly be that hot considering Fay Wray is the benchmark of hotness back in his time, but Tesla seemed to prefer the company of coils, magnets, motors and other electrical gadgets instead. It didn’t end well for him, dying penniless and alone, but thankfully we are reaping the benefits of his innovation and misery. His legacy inspires many modern innovations including advanced telecommunications techniques, electronic motors, and Fractal Design’s own 80 Plus Gold power supply line.

The Fractal Design Tesla R2 is a non-modular power supply that comes in 500W, 650W, 800W and 1000W varieties. Each Fractal Design Tesla R2 PSU carries an 80 Plus Gold rating and has a single +12V rail. To ensure convenient installation and cable routing inside any chassis, Fractal Design has equipped the Tesla R2 with a 700mm long EPS12V connector. A temperature-controlled 135mm ball-bearing fan actively cools the Taiwanese capacitors and the rest of the internal components, operating silently at a lower speed to minimize noise levels. The Tesla R2 is also fully compatible with Intel’s latest Haswell processors, reducing the power consumption of the CPU to only 0.05A during the new C7 deep sleep state. Each Fractal Design Tesla R2 power supply has a MTBF of 100,000 hours at full load and comes with a 3-year warranty.

Read more: Fractal Design Tesla R2 800W Power Supply @ HiTech Legion

ASUS Z87 Deluxe Motherboard Review @ Hardware Canucks

Intel’s launch of the much anticipated Haswell microarchitecture and Lynx Point Z-series chipsets has finally come and gone. When the embargo lifted in at the beginning of June, we brought you a performance review of the i7-4770K & i5-4670K processors that included a comprehensive bundle of tests and comparisons. As always, along with new microarchitecture and chipsets comes a wide range of motherboards. The board we will be looking at in this review is the feature-packed ASUS Z87 Deluxe.

The tock of Intel’s current generation equation and built for a new socket (LGA1150), the Lynx Point Z87 chipset alone brings a host of exciting features to the Z87 Deluxe. There are six native USB 3.0 ports, six SATA 6G ports, full support for PCI-E 3.0 including 16 PCI-E lanes, SLI / Crossfire compatibility and new instruction set support. Add all the ASUS-specific features and we have a board that should appeal to everyone from a mainstream user, to overclockers, to gamers.

Read more: ASUS Z87 Deluxe Motherboard Review @ Hardware Canucks

NVIDIA SHIELD Hands-On Preview @ Hardware Canucks

The SHIELD portable gaming handheld is one of the few products this year which took the tech world by storm. After NVIDIA's decades of focusing on designing graphics chips for the desktop, professional and mobile markets, its announcement came as a surprise to industry watchers. However, when taking a step back and looking at the many gaming-focused technologies NVIDIA have been rolling out, SHIELD suddenly starts to make perfect sense.

If all had gone according to plan, tomorrow SHIELD would launch in the USA and Canada, pre-orders would ship out and our review would go live. Unfortunately, even the best laid plans can go awry and that’s exactly what happened. While conducting their final QA checks, NVIDIA discovered a slight flaw with a third party component and in order to ensure a smooth release, the launch was delayed. Availability and in-depth articles will have to wait until sometime in July.

Read more: NVIDIA SHIELD Hands-On Preview @ Hardware Canucks

TR's Summer 2013 system guide @ The Tech Report

Over a few short months, we've seen the arrival of Intel's Haswell processors, AMD's Richland APUs, and Nvidia's GeForce GTX 700 series. In this latest edition of the TR system guide, we've revamped our builds to take these launches and other pricing and availability changes into account.

Read more: TR's Summer 2013 system guide @ The Tech Report

Team Group Color Turn 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review @ Bigbruin.com

In this review we are going to take a quick look at a USB flash drive from Team Group. Their model number TG032GE902C3 is a 32GB USB 3.0 flash drive that promises read speeds up to 54MB/s and write speeds up to 30MB/s, while carrying a price tag of under $25 (US). I'll be honest - I bought this drive and the price was the main selling point. I needed a new high capacity flash drive that would mostly be used on USB 2.0 ports, but having the extra boost of speed when connected via USB 3.0 was a necessity.

Read more: Team Group Color Turn 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review @ Bigbruin.com

EVGA GTX 760 Superclocked w/ACX @ LanOC Reviews

Now that we have taken a look at the GTX 760 from Nvidia, which of course means it is time to see what some of the other manufactures have done with their GTX 760 designs. First up is a look at a card from EVGA called the GTX 760 Superclocked w/ACX. Some of you might remember the GTX 770 ACX that we recently took a look at, this is very similar. Hopefully the performance that we saw with the GTX 770 ACX will be similar to the GTX 760 ACX; if that is the case we should be very happy with the card. Of course there is only one way to find out, read on to see.

Read more: EVGA GTX 760 Superclocked w/ACX @ LanOC Reviews

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card Review @ HiTech Legion

It wasn't until early this year that (per Steam Survey) I began to see DirectX 11 graphics cards make a stand against DirectX 9/10 in desktop systems. Two reasons: the age of the older models or the inability to play the next game in a favorite series. As developers push the limits, PC gamers have begun to understand that there is a need for a graphics processor that will afford them the time to enjoy future evolutions of their favorite series games. Although I don't like to use future proof, I will use the words future and proof in a sentence. The future of PC gaming is dependent on those who desire to push the limits of their graphics cards and this is proof that PC gaming is not end of life.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 is proof that PC gaming has not died. The GTX 760 is priced at $249.00 and is the newest member of the NVIDIA graphics 700 series DirectX 11 graphics cards. The Geforce GTX 760 has 3 to 4 graphics clusters, 6 SMX processors, 1152 CUDA cores, a base clock of 980 and a GPU boost of 1033. Unlike GPU boost, GPU boost 2.0's thermal thresholds can be manually set to maintain a more constant GPU boost. The GTX 760 contains the GK104 graphics processor, which differs from its predecessor the GTX 660, which contained the GK106 processor. Other differences include a 256-bit memory interface 2GB of GDDR5 memory and TDP of 170W. Could the Geforce GTX 760 be the wolf in sheep's clothing?

Read more: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card Review @ HiTech Legion

Nokia Lumia 925 smartphone @ Silicon Republic

The Lumia 925 as it is officially known is Nokia?s latest flagship smartphone running Windows Phone 8 and it is hard to say which it exemplifies the most: a solid performance smartphone, sleek and beautiful design or the best camera technology in the market right now.

Read more: Nokia Lumia 925 smartphone @ Silicon Republic

HP ZR30w Versus DoubleSight DS-309W, 30-Inch Monitors, Tested @ Tom's Hardware

With a steady stream of 27-inch QHD monitors coming through our lab, we thought we?d take a quick break and test two even bigger screens, the 30-inch, 16:10 aspect ratio HP ZR30w and DoubleSight DS-309W. How do these $1000+ stunners compare?

Read more: HP ZR30w Versus DoubleSight DS-309W, 30-Inch Monitors, Tested @ Tom's Hardware