Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

3 Under-$500 PC Builds for Playing Games Like Fortnite
Academics Discover New CPU Side-Channel Attack Named BranchScope
Dell XPS 13 9370 (2018) Review
Dual Intel Xeon Gold 6154 Processor Review
Edifier e235 THX-Certified 2.1 Speaker Review
GIGABYTE Aorus X399 Designare EX Motherboard Review
GitStorage Review
In Win 305 Case Review
Krita - Ars longa, vita brevis?
Logitech G Pro Headset Review
Netgear Arlo Baby camera with Apple HomeKit Review
NETGEAR Orbi RBK50 WiFi System Review
Sapphire NITRO+ Radeon RX Vega 64 Limited Edition Review
Windows 10 vs. Windows WSL vs. Linux - Ubuntu / openSUSE / Debian / Clear Linux
Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EK71080 Compact Gaming PC Review

3 Under-$500 PC Builds for Playing Games Like Fortnite

As Fortnite takes over the gaming world (and so many component prices remain high), we asked our community for their best sub-$500 PC builds for Fortnite and similar games.

It’s a tough time to be a PC builder or a PC gamer. In case you haven’t noticed, midrange-to-high-end graphics cards are selling for hundreds more than their MSRPs—if you can find them in stock at all. And other high-end components are surprisingly expensive, as well, due to demands from cryptocurrency mining (among other factors). As much as we hate to admit it, we haven't seen a grimmer time to build a high-end gaming PC for decades.

Read full article @ Tom's Hardware

Academics Discover New CPU Side-Channel Attack Named BranchScope

Academics say that BranchScope is the first side-channel attack that targets "direction prediction" and that the technique can also be used to retrieve content stored inside SGX enclaves, secure areas of Intel CPUs, previously thought to be untouchable.

The research team also tested their technique in field tests and said they successfully retrieved data from three recent Intel x86_64
processors — Sandy Bridge, Haswell, and Skylake. The team said the attack can be launched from user space (no admin rights) and has an error rate of less than 1%.

Researchers also say that because this is a novel attack, there are no mitigations currently in place for BranchScope attacks. Spectre patches (meant to fix TBT-based attacks) are ineffective against BranchScope, they said.

Read full article @ Bleeping Computer

Dell XPS 13 9370 (2018) Review

Since it's introduction in early 2015, the modern iteration of the Dell XPS 13 has been one of the most influential computers in recent history. An example of the rise of desirable Windows-based notebooks back into the premium market, the XPS 13 has done what only a few OEMs have been able to—inspire knockoffs. Now, the market is filled with similar designs including ultrathin bezels (and some even copying the compromises of webcam placement), at similar price points.

Even though it's been regarded as one of the best PC notebooks for its entire tenure, it was clear for a while that Dell must move the brand of their flagship notebook forward, and here it is, the redesigned XPS 13 9370 for 2018.

Read full article @ PC Perspective

Dual Intel Xeon Gold 6154 Processor Review

Have you ever wondered how an enterprise-grade CPU does with consumer workloads? Well, today you will find out just that. We take two Intel Xeon Scalable processors, two Xeon Gold 6154 processors, run some workstation benchmarks, and then some more consumer-facing benchmarks.

The CPUs are pitted against the latest and greatest CPUs from Intel and AMD in benchmarks such as CINEBENCH, SuperPI, and even 3DMark. We also do compare it to a previous generation dual Xeon system and an AMD EPYC system, although the EPYC system uses only a single CPU.

Read full article @ TweakTown

Edifier e235 THX-Certified 2.1 Speaker Review

When you think of home speakers, you may well think of small dull rectangles. Edifier has definitely been breaking the mould with its simple, rounded approach to futuristic speaker design. But, as any audiophile knows, looks don’t make the speaker. We’re searching for the sound. The separation. The punch and clarity. That’s what will influence our spend. That leaves only one question: While the Edifier e235 2.1 set is great to look at, will it produce a sound worth £400 (https://www.overclockers.co.uk/edifier-luna-e235-thx-certified-active-2.1-speaker-system-red-sp-04e-er.html) ?

Read full article @ KitGuru

GIGABYTE Aorus X399 Designare EX Motherboard Review

GIGABYTE's X399 Designare EX is a rich, full featured solution for AMD's Threadripper CPUs. At $370, this isn't a budget-oriented offering. The thing people usually want to know when looking at motherboards in this price bracket is if such products are worth the extra cost. Read on to find out if this gaming and workstation offering is worthwhile.

GIGABYTE was founded in 1986. Interestingly enough, the late 80s saw the birth of many motherboard manufacturers. Other manufacturers to appear in this time include ASUS and MSI. There have been many other motherboard manufacturers that have come and gone over the years. Yet, GIGABYTE has remained successful and even flourished in an otherwise tumultuous market that’s not exactly known for having high profit margins.

Read full article @ HardOCP

GitStorage Review

Petros reviews the GitStorage server appliance, which emphasizes data privacy and security.

By profession, I'm a software developer. Aside from a preferred editor, what matters most to a developer is the use of a Source Code Manager (SCM). So, when a new product comes along featuring my favorite SCM, Git, I had no choice but to spend some time using it.

Read full article @ Linux Journal

In Win 305 Case Review

Last year we took a look at In Win’s 301 chassis, which was one of the most elegant micro ATX / mini-ITX chassis we’ve ever seen. In Win had the 303 for a while, which was the ATX version of the chassis, but they new have a newer 305, which is still an ATX chassis, which a few changes from the previous 303. This case is a combination of tempered glass and SECC steel with a splash of brushed aluminum on the front panel. In Win puts together these elements in such an elegant way that this case really has that modern look. You can pack some pretty beefy hardware inside this case with graphics card support up to 350 mm and 360 mm radiator support. Let’s jump in and see if this case can wow us like the 301 did.

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

Krita - Ars longa, vita brevis?

Krita? GIMP? Darmok and Jelad at Tanagra. So, if you are into any kind of image manipulation, you probably have heard of GIMP, a free would-be (!) alternative to Adobe Photoshop, and in its own right a very reasonable and powerful image manipulation and processing suite, hence its acronymy name. But there’s less of a chance that you have heard of Krita, a digital painting program with secondary focus on image work.

I decided to test Krita, to see what it can offer a semi-casual user, both as a plug-in for GIMP and its own art creation software. To that end, I had it installed in KDE neon with Plasma 5.12.3, the latest edition currently available on the market. And before we begin, do remember that genuine art takes talent, skill and patience, and that’s not achievable in the span of a single review. Let’s roll then.

Read full article @ OCS-Mag

Logitech G Pro Headset Review

Logitech's G Pro is intended to round out the company's portfolio with something a little higher-end. Can its dual-chamber technology differentiate the G Pro in a positive way, or is this more of a gimmick?

The design isn't exactly new. If you've been following our headset reviews, then you're already familiar with competing products that use drivers placed in their own separate chamber with openings to affect the sound's character.

Read full article @ Tom's Hardware

Netgear Arlo Baby camera with Apple HomeKit Review

It doesn't come cheap, and its newfound HomeKit support is actually the least interesting thing about it, but the Arlo Baby is a quality baby monitor that has a life beyond the nursery.

Being a new parent is tough, at least if you want to preserve the illusion of "hobbies" and "a social life." Until they're two or three months old, infants need changing and feeding every few hours, which puts sleep at a premium — and even then they'll need a watchful eye.

Read full article @ Apple Insider

NETGEAR Orbi RBK50 WiFi System Review

The Orbi RBK50 is a high performance mesh Wi-Fi system from NETGEAR that aims to provide the best-possible balance of performance, coverage area, and customization. Featuring a router unit and a satellite unit that look right at home at, well, home, it will also support all your smart devices via a tri-band setup alongside a dedicated wireless and Ethernet backhaul for no reduction in network speed.

Read full article @ TechPowerUp

Sapphire NITRO+ Radeon RX Vega 64 Limited Edition Review

It was way back in August of 2017 that I first got my hands on AMD’s flagship, in the form of the limited edition Radeon RX Vega 64 Liquid Cooled Edition, and at the time I wrote that add-in-board alternatives from ASUS, GIGABYTE, MSI, XFX, and the like would be hitting store shelves by October. You can read Paul’s review of the limited edition air-cooled RX Vega 64, here. Fast forward half a year, and although Add-in-Board partners have launched a handful of RX Vega-based graphics cards much later than anyone expected, they’re hardly available, and the ones you can find for sale are still selling for significantly more than their suggested retail prices. We’re confident that the situation will improve, cards will show up in greater and greater volumes, and prices will normalize, but we’re clueless about when this will happen.

Read full article @ Modders-Inc

Windows 10 vs. Windows WSL vs. Linux - Ubuntu / openSUSE / Debian / Clear Linux

With Debian having been added to the Microsoft Store earlier this month for running Debian 9 on Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) plus in wanting to do some fresh updates prior to Microsoft shipping their Spring Creators Update, here are some fresh benchmarks of various Linux distributions and their raw performance, the current major Linux distributions available on WSL, and then also the native Windows 10 performance in the various supported tests.

Read full article @ Phoronix

Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EK71080 Compact Gaming PC Review

Gaming systems and small form-factor (SFF) PCs have turned out to be growth segments in a desktop PC market that has been subject to severe challenges recently. Many vendors have tried to combine the two, but space constraints and power concerns have ended up as performance-limiting factors. Zotac, in particular, has been very active in this space with their ZBOX MAGNUS series. Starting with the ZBOX MAGNUS EN980 (Intel Core i5-6400 / GTX 980), they have been on a regular release cadence - in mid-2016, we saw the EN1080 with an updated Pascal GPU, and the CPU upgrade to Kaby Lake in the EN1080K came to market in Q3 2017. All these systems carried a hefty price tag befitting a boutique vendor. However, the performance of the systems with their excellent liquid-cooling solution did justify the pricing.

Read full article @ Anandtech