Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

20 of the Worst PC Setups – September 2015
35 Video Games from the 90s That Shaped a Generation
Able2Extract PDF Converter 9 review
AData XPG SX930 240GB SSD Review
Antec GX505 Window SC Mid-Tower Case Review
ASRock Z170 OC Formula Motherboard Review
B2C Telecom Premium Custom Bookstyle Case for iPhone Review
Cooler Master V750 Modular Power Supply Review
Gainward GeForce GTX 970 Phoenix Review
Gigabyte GTX 950 Xtreme Gaming 2 GB
Gigabyte GTX 950 Xtreme Gaming 2GB Review
Gigabyte X99-SLI Motherboard Review - Welcoming & Budget Friendly
Icy Dock MB174U3S-4SB Black Vortex Reader Review
Jabra Sport Coach Bluetooth Fitness Earphones Review
Kingston SSDnow KC380 1.8-Inch Solid State Drive Review
Mixing power-line networking with Wi-Fi proves intoxicating
MSI R9 390 Gaming 8G
MSI Z170A Gaming M9 ACK Review
OCUK Titan Electron Intel Core i3 Mini-ITX gaming PC review
Tesoro Lobera Spectrum Review
The Dos and Dont's of Water Cooling
Tt eSPORTS Shock 3D 7.1 Gaming Headset Review
Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN970 Review - A Gaming mini-PC Done Right

20 of the Worst PC Setups – September 2015

I'm sure at some point you had a bad PC setup. Maybe moving into a new place, waiting for a new desk to arrive or you just ran out of room. I can remember my horrible PC setups from when I was living at the dorms in college. If you have ever ventured over to the Shitty Battlestations sub-reddit you will find a lot of horrible PC setups. We will are going to pick 20 each month and feature them as 20 of the Worst PC setups for that month. Here are some of the bad ones from September!

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

35 Video Games from the 90s That Shaped a Generation

As a kid growing up in the 80s and 90s, I was influenced by a lot of things. I gravitated toward Hulk Hogan, Macho Man and professional wrestling. I thought I was a young thug listening to west coast gangsta rap. And I played video games. A lot of video games. And these video games, for better or for worse, have really shaped me into the person writing these words here today. And I'm certainly not alone.

While video games had technically already been around for a couple of decades, they really came into their own during the 1990s and really made their way through mainstream culture. It was during this time that many of today's major game genres were established by industry-defining titles. From fighting games to RPGs, real-time strategy to first-person shooters, the 90s were where it was at and we've all been irreversibly altered as a result.

The following list is presented in no particular order, but with the caveat that only one title from any series can be represented. Let's get started.

Read full article @ MTN

Able2Extract PDF Converter 9 review

I've written a review of the Able2Extract PDF Converter 9 software, including setup, first use, conversion options, quality and speed of conversions to Microsoft Office, LibreOffice and HTML, other observations, and more. Enjoy.

Read full article @ Dedoimedo

AData XPG SX930 240GB SSD Review

The high end SSD market is in a state of turmoil right now. Not only has the SATA 6Gbps interface long since reached its capacity but SATA Express is effectively dead in the water and new standards like NVMe are pushing the boundaries alongside the M.2 and U.2 form factors. As a result, high end SSDs are rapidly becoming either too expensive for all but the most diehard of users, prices of mainstream offerings are in freefall and the market itself has seen a lot of contraction when compared to previous years.

This situation also means it is a great time to be looking for a more affordable SSD; the remaining manufactures are thinking outside their normal comfort zones since much of their lineups have begun to stagnate. Indeed, actually seeing a new SSD launch outside the worlds of Samsung and Intel is a bit of a rarity these days. Hence why the AData XPG SX930 caught our attention.

Read full article @ Hardware Canucks

Antec GX505 Window SC Mid-Tower Case Review

Antec was kind enough to ship me their GX505 Window SC mid-tower case to review. The Antec GX505 is part of the GX series of cases designed for gamers on a budget. The GX505 is a slight revision of the GX500 case. The main difference is the all new front and top panels, and a built-in fan controller switch.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews

ASRock Z170 OC Formula Motherboard Review

Like most motherboard manufacturers, ASRock has an impressive line-up of new motherboards that support many of the various features of the latest Intel Z170 chipset. ASRock has over 17 Z170 motherboards geared towards different types of users. They sent over their Z170 OC Formula, which as the name implies is designed for overclocking. In fact, one of the worlds top overclockers partnered with ASRock to perfect the Z170 OC Formula, Nick Shih. Read on to see how it performs!

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

B2C Telecom Premium Custom Bookstyle Case for iPhone Review

Today we take a look at the at product from B2C, they offer custom printed bookstyle cases for popular smartphones. We design a colorful Madshrimps case and take an iPhone for a spin

Read full article @ Madshrimps

Cooler Master V750 Modular Power Supply Review

Cooler Master is one of most recognisable and well-respected names in the PC component market. Over the years, Cooler Master has created some of the best power supplies, coolers and chassis around, not forgetting their gaming division CM Storm, which has delivered some very impressive headsets, keyboards, mice and much more too! With all that in mind, I am very excited to see another Cooler Master product in the office today, their brand new V750 power supply, which promises premium performance in a tidy and compact form factor.

“V Series power supplies feature the most stable and efficient power supply unit in its class thanks to exclusive 3D circuit design and Silencio FP technology. The V Series has fully modular flat cables with energy-saving 80PLUS Gold/Platinum ratings all delivered in a compact design smaller than most Power Supply Units (PSUs) in its class. The V series family is available in V550, V650, V750, V850, V1000 and V1200 watt variants perfect for gamers, enthusiasts and even system builders.” – Cooler Master

The V750 uses a unique 3D circuit design, Cooler Master’s own Silencio FP fan technology, fully modular flat cables, 100% Japanese capacitors and much more. The overall quality is reflected in the fact that this tidy, 150 x 140 x 86, form factor still delivers 750W of power at an 80 Plus Gold efficiency

Read full article @ eTeknix

Gainward GeForce GTX 970 Phoenix Review

After the commotion, GTX 970 remains as good a bet as any. Can you believe the GeForce GTX 970 is already a year old? Where does the time go? 12 months ago we approved of Nvidia's mid-range offering, alluding to "a mighty-attractive price for a very-decent card." It wasn't all clear sailing, though, particularly at the turn of the year when the Internet caught wind of GTX 970's memory shenanigans.

Turns out 4GB of memory isn't quite what it seems, but put aside your feelings on Nvidia's failure to disclose the finer details from the offset and you'll probably agree: despite the bad press, GeForce GTX 970 remains as good a bet as any. Prices now start at under £250 and for that amount it offers plenty of bang for your buck. So while the GPU may be getting on a bit, it's worth revisiting and we're doing precisely that with a recent addition from Gainward, the GeForce GTX 970 Phoenix.

Read full article @ Hexus

Gigabyte GTX 950 Xtreme Gaming 2 GB

Gigabyte's new GTX 950 Xtreme Gaming is the company's new flagship GTX 950, which comes with a large overclock on both the GPU and memory, making it the fastest GTX 950 we tested so far. An idle-fan off feature is also present and the card runs quiet during gaming.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

Gigabyte GTX 950 Xtreme Gaming 2GB Review

Today we look at the modified, highly overclocked Gigabyte GTX950 Xtreme Gaming partner card.

Read full article @ KitGuru

Gigabyte X99-SLI Motherboard Review - Welcoming & Budget Friendly

Today we will have a look at the Gigabyte X99-SLI (http://technologyx.us7.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=3d9b6193ffd32dd60e84fc74b&id=041636fff9&e=312ec141fb) motherboard and its features, as well as putting it through some benchmarks to see how the board performs. At first glance we were expecting this board perform nicely on air and water, which as you will see for a budget board it performs quite well even overclocked. Gigabyte is well known for its fleets of motherboards in all series to meet the needs of the end users, from your average home user, gamer, overclocker and extreme overclocker. The Gigabyte X99-SLI (http://technologyx.us7.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=3d9b6193ffd32dd60e84fc74b&id=c10233acf1&e=312ec141fb) caters for your average user and gamer, while overclocking rather well for those who want the bit of extra performance.

Read full article @ TechnologyX

Icy Dock MB174U3S-4SB Black Vortex Reader Review

OCinside.de today published a new reader review. This time MisterY is testing the Icy Dock MB174U3S-4SB Black Vortex from Cremax. The external drive enclosure with dust filter and fan control offers space for up to 4 hard drives, which can either be connected via USB 3.0 or eSATA. Take a look how this external hard drive enclosure performs in the reader review, that can be operated by the way also internally.

Read full article @ OcInside

Jabra Sport Coach Bluetooth Fitness Earphones Review

How many times has your smart phone or iPod/mp3 player gone flying in the gym because of one’s wired headphones? I can’t tell you how many times I sent my iPhone flying off an elliptical because of a headphone cable. This is where in ear Bluetooth headphones come and save the day.

With Bluetooth the only cable that needs to be dealt with is the one going from the left earpiece to the right one.

Jabra, one of the leaders in Bluetooth audio have released the latest in their Jabra Sport line – the Jabra Sport Coach, a sweat, shock, and weatherproof headset that incorporates a free audio coaching app. In addition it has an integrated TrackFit motion sensor that measure distance, pace, steps, cadence and calories burned.

Read full article @ Technogog

Kingston SSDnow KC380 1.8-Inch Solid State Drive Review

The solid state drive that I’m taking a look at today is one that I’ve actually had around for a while, but couldn’t test up until now. I’m taking the tiny 1.8-inch KC380 SSDnow from Kingston for a spin on my test bench to see how well this tiny SSD can perform. While it isn’t the newest model anymore, I still think it’s a valid drive to test and one that quite a few people will consider for their netbooks and similar devices that only have the option for 1.8-inch drives such as this one.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Mixing power-line networking with Wi-Fi proves intoxicating

I decided to try a new spin on a disappointing older technology, home power-line networking, as a means of improving coverage in my home Wi-Fi network. Kinda worked out.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

MSI R9 390 Gaming 8G

Early this month it seemed like we had nothing but video card content, at one point out entire front page was filled with it. Because of that I did take a bit of a break from them but I did have one last card here in the office I wanted to take a look at. This time around I wanted to take a look at an MSI R9 390 Gaming 8G that AMD had sent over. We have seen a few R9 390’s but nothing from MSI so it will be great to see how the 390 compares to some of the SLI and Crossfire testing we recently did and to also see how the MSI card compares to the other competition on the market.

Read full article @ LanOC Reviews

MSI Z170A Gaming M9 ACK Review

We review the MSI Z170A Gaming M9 ACK. The luxurious big brother of the M7. It is one of the best looking products if you ask me, dressed for success and with added benefits like USB 3.1, multiple M.2 slots and the fastest DDR4 support the product will impress. It also comes with extended looks, AC WIFI, a VRM that can be liquid cooled and then a dozen or so other features.

Read full article @ Guru3D

OCUK Titan Electron Intel Core i3 Mini-ITX gaming PC review

Although many KitGuru reviews might show off the most powerful and expensive hardware in the world not everyone can afford a £3,000 system, or fit that giant tower case into a small bedroom. That is why today you do not necessarily need a monstrous ATX case, high end motherboard and companion hardware – just to play games at 1080p.

Enter the diminutive, competitively priced Overclockers UK Titan Electron we are looking at today. The Titan Electron is an extremely compact system build, comprising a powerful Intel Haswell CPU, capable mid-range GPU with a decent amount of memory and high-speed storage.

Read full article @ KitGuru

Tesoro Lobera Spectrum Review

Tesoro are growing in identity and reputation when it comes to good quality gaming peripherals. Having stamped their unique style and branding based on legendary weapons and armour, you can see that their source inspiration serves as a passion for standing out, an important criteria in this market. The Lobera Spectrum, may not be good for slaying real wolves, but it comes as a full 16.8M colour per-key backlit mechanical gaming keyboard with fully customisable key remapping and per-key customisable lighting.

As we have previously sampled the Lobera Supreme there are some similarities to come such as USB and audio pass-through as well as great aesthetics, though will there be some improvements?

Read full article @ Vortez

The Dos and Dont's of Water Cooling

Water cooling systems -- whether they are a custom loop or an AIO -- all follow the same basic principles. You have the reservoir, the pump, the radiator, the fans, some tubing, a block (for either the CPU, GPU, or both), and the water itself. After years of working with water cooling kits, here are some important tips to help you get the most out of your system.

Read full article @ TechSpot

Tt eSPORTS Shock 3D 7.1 Gaming Headset Review

Unlike most review samples that reach our lab on a daily basis gaming peripherals require quite a bit of time to test and so we always wait until we have more than just 2 or 3 here before we start testing since usually that saves us a good amount of time. Of course the most ideal and obvious way for someone to test gaming peripherals is by playing games and so we also need to have a brand new game title in our hands in order to do that. Luckily we haven't finished Batman Arkham Knight yet (no free time to play unfortunately) and we also just started to play the brand new World Of Warships naval action MMO (by our friends over at Wargaming.net creators of World Of Tanks and World Of Airplanes) so since we have everything covered today we're going to take a thorough look at one of the latest gaming peripherals released by Tt eSPORTS the Shock 3D 7.1 headset.

“Challenge is the game” highlights the philosophy to bring out gamers’ addiction in gaming and the ambition of reaching to the extreme. Tt eSPORTS, a gaming obsessed division from Thermaltake, is uniting gamers from all over the world in a unique & fascinating eSPORTS culture, inherited the spirits of Thermaltake, is an energetic, powerful, bold and intelligent challenger who never says “no” to the extreme competition. We do not only provide gamers the ultimate gaming gears but also fulfills the passion to achieve the ultimate success. Thermaltake has been a well-known brand in the gaming & DIY market for PC Chassis, Coolers and Power Supplies PSU for many years. The brand personality of unique, aggressive, vivid and stylish makes Thermaltake an expert in creating exciting things and fascinating environment for gamers and enthusiasts. Tt eSPORTS inherited the brand personality with unique and creative design by observing users’ behaviors and requirements. The fan cooling design on Tt eSPORTS Challenger keyboard demonstrate the brand spirit. It is the worldwide first keyboard with fan cooling function that could dry your hand sweats and blow tension away during cut-throat competition.

As far back as i can recall Tt eSPORTS always had the Shock line of gaming headsets but the Shock 3D 7.1 is actually the very first model in that line to feature 7.1 virtual surround sound. To achieve this Tt eSPORTS has used two 40mm neodymium stereo drivers that feature a frequency response of 20Hz-20KHz, 92dB sensitivity and 32 Ohm impedance with a virtual surround USB sound card (placed inside one of the earcups). This of course is nothing new since there are numerous similar gaming headsets in the market by pretty much every gaming peripheral manufacturer but Tt eSPORTS didn't just stay there since as you will also see later on they also focused quite a bit in the design (didn't win the 2015 Red Dot Design Award for no reason) and quality of the Shock 3D 7.1. A flexible Omni-directional microphone with a 100Hz-10KHz frequency response, -35dB (+-3dB) sensitivity, 2.2 KOhm impedance and auto shut-off function while in upward position completes the package.

Read full article @ NikKTech

Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN970 Review - A Gaming mini-PC Done Right

In the course of our coverage of mini-PCs, we have seen offerings from vendors such as ASRock, GIGABYTE and Zotac targeting the gaming market. Usually, mini doesnt fit the requirements of consumers in this space, but the appearance of power-efficient high performance GPUs have made the offerings in the gaming mini-PC space quite interesting. Zotac has been creating mini-PCs with a gaming focus by combining a mobile NVIDIA GPU with a Core U-series Intel CPU for a couple of generations now. Today, we have results from our evaluation of their Broadwell plus Maxwell combination, the Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN970.

Read full article @ Anandtech