Here a roundup of the latest reviews and articles:

4K Gaming PC - April 2015
AKRacing Rush Gaming Chair Review
AMD x86 16-core Zen APU detailed
Antec's P380 case reviewed
Apple Watch review round-up
Asus ZenFone 5 LTE Smartphone Review
BitFenix Pandora mATX Case Review
Budget All-round PC - April 2015
Cooler Master Nepton 240M AIO Liquid Cooler Review
Corsair H110i GT and H100i GTX CLC Liquid Cooler Review
Cougar 500K Keyboard: A membrane switch gaming keyboard
Creative Sound Blaster E3 USB DAC and Headphone Amplifier Review
Crucial MX200 250GB SSD Review
Crucial MX200 500GB M.2 Type 2280 SSD Review
Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Review
Gigabyte X99-UD4 Motherboard Review
Intel SSD 750 Series 1.2TB
Kingston HyperX Predator M.2 PCIe SSDs in RAID 0 – You Thought One Was Fast?
LG 34UM67 AMD FreeSync Monitor Review
Linux 4.0 Hard Drive Comparison With Six File-Systems
Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca KDE Review
Moto 360 Review: Android Wear-Powered Time Piece
Netgear Arlo Security System
Netis AC1200 Wireless Dual Band Adapter
Noctua NH-D15 CPU Cooler Review – The King of Air Coolers
Noctua NH-U9S Review
OCZ ARC 100 - 240GB SSD Review
OxyLED T-01 LED Touch Sensitive Light Review
Seagate Barracuda ST5000DM000 5TB Desktop Hard Drive Review
Tesoro Excalibur RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review
TP-Link Archer D7 1750AC Router Review

4K Gaming PC - April 2015

After a few years in which little happened in the area of PC displays, the 4K revolution is finally taking place. Graphics cards have to render four times as many pixels to drive a 4K display, while the game textures are only getting more detailed. In short: you need real horse power to game in 4K.

A fast processor and especially a graphics card is a must. For now, you even need a couple of the latter. However, the rest of the configuration needs to be balanced as well. Since many gamers prefer to overclock their PC to improve performance, it is important to choose a motherboard that is suitable for this.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

AKRacing Rush Gaming Chair Review

I have a long personal history with chairs, going all the way back to my early days as an infant sitting tall in a high-chair. I recall the steel folding chairs heated by the sun during my graduation commencement. There was even a memorable chair that followed me around after college, and played several roles at the dining table and behind the office desk. More recently, there was the expensive Embody Chair that stirred controversy. In this article for Benchmark Reviews, I spend hours on my seat to test the new AKRacing Rush gaming chair.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews

AMD x86 16-core Zen APU detailed

just fine. This will be the first exciting processor from the house of AMD in the server / HSA market in years, and in case AMD delivers it on time it might be a big break for the company. 
Each Zen core gets 512 KB of L2 cache and each cluster or four Zen cores is sharing 8MB L3 cache. In case we are talking about a 16-core, 32-thread next generation Zen based x86 processor, the total amount of L2 cache gets to a whopping 8MB, backed by 32MB of L3 cache.
A theoretical quad-core would have four times 512KB cache and 8MB L3 cache. The platform supports secure boot and AMD's crypto coprocessor, which is important for corporate and business customers, and there is a very good chance that this processor will end up in the HSA compute market.
This new APU also comes with the Greenland Graphics and Multimedia Engine that comes with HMB memory on the side. The specs we saw indicate that there can be up to 16GB of HMB memory with 512GB/s speed packed on the interposer. This is definitely a lot of memory for an APU GPU, and it also comes with 1/2 rate double precision compute, enhanced ECC and RAS and HSA support.

Read full article @ Fudzilla

Antec's P380 case reviewed

The P380 full tower is Antec's newest flagship case. We put the P380 through the gauntlet to see whether it can hang with some of the best cases on the market.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

Apple Watch review round-up

Our updated Apple Watch review isn't the only opinion about the new iPhone-compatible smartwatch out there today.Ten other outlets have weighed in on the iWatch after spending a week wearing, poking at and testing out its wearable Force Touch display.The consensus is that it's one of the best smartwatches out there, but it's also not for everyone, sort of difficult to use at first and in no way essential.

Read full article @ Techradar

Asus ZenFone 5 LTE Smartphone Review

Today we complete our look at the 2014 ZenFone range from ASUS. So far the other two handsets – 4 and 6-inch devices – have been very impressive and cost-effective. Will the 5-inch model, now available for under £190, continue this trend or will it disappoint?

Read full article @ KitGuru

BitFenix Pandora mATX Case Review

BitFenix has taken another step in case design with the introduction of the Pandora series of micro-tower cases. Using brushed aluminum sides that curve around the front of the case, the Pandora presents the user with a modern looking design. These two curved aluminum side panels leave an opening in the front of the case for an transparent black plastic with no openings to disturb the clean styling.

What is not evident is that hidden behind the black front panel is another innovation from BitFenix dubbed the ICON. It is a 2.4” programmable TFT LCD that the user can use to display a unique graphic. This small footprint computer with styling can be used a media center that you won't be inclined to hide somewhere.

The Pandora series incorporates features such as cable management to keep cable clutter to a minimum, direct air flow to keep computer components cool, and easy to remove air filters to facilitate cleaning. Even with a slim design there is room to mount two 2.5” SSDs and three 3.5” HDDs out of the way while allowing for installation of graphic cards up to 350mm in length and even 240mm AIO water coolers.

Read full article @ Neoseeker

Budget All-round PC - April 2015

The all-round PC is a PC with comprehensive features for around £650 - £750 that can do a little bit of everything. It should have enough speed and capacity to meet your needs for some time. Currently it can run all applications, and you're able to upgrade it with small future investments when you need more power or storage capacity.

Surfing, gaming, business applications, photo and video editing should all be possible on the all-round PC without giving you the feeling that it's lacking in performance.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

Cooler Master Nepton 240M AIO Liquid Cooler Review

For two decades Cooler Master has been delivering thermal solutions for computer users and this past October 2014, they announced the Nepton 240M AIO (all-in-one) liquid cooler for the marketplace. Featuring the new 120mm Silencio fans, the Nepton 240M is designed for greater cooling performance with higher air pressure while reducing fan noise and power usage through the use of a new 5-blade fan design.

The Nepton 240M water block has also received enhancements; the liquid coolant flows into a main center channel, then out through skived fin micro-channels to provide better heat dissipation. A 120 liter-per-hour pump keeps the liquid coolant traveling through the water block, out the FEP (fluorinated ethylene propylene) tubing and into the radiator where the two Silencio fans push (or pull) air to transfer the CPU generated heat out of the computer system.

To keep the liquid coolant moving freely from the radiator to the water block and back again, the FEP tubing of the Nepton 240M AIO features an "anti-kink" ribbed design which also makes for better flexibility, facilitating installation. Using temperature tolerant and low vapor permeability material, the FEP tubing keeps coolant evaporation minimal for longer durability.

Read full article @ Neoseeker

Corsair H110i GT and H100i GTX CLC Liquid Cooler Review

I went into this review with certain hopes. It had been quite a while between model updates from Corsair, and there had been some releases not made by CoolIt or Asetek that had shown some improvements recently. This had me expecting something fresh, and when the initial photos of the units were released I was very impressed.

Read full article @ HiTech Legion

Cougar 500K Keyboard: A membrane switch gaming keyboard

Hardcore gamers swear by their mechanical keyboards due to the tactile feedback and the low actuation force needed to register a key. No doubt that you have noticed there are tons of mechanical keyboards on the market, and almost every one of them are using one of the four switches from Cherry: Black, Brown, Blue, ...

Read full article @ Bjorn3D

Creative Sound Blaster E3 USB DAC and Headphone Amplifier Review

I am sure when most users hear Creative Sound Blaster it is synonymous with computer audio perfection, many of the top gaming motherboards feature Sound Blaster audio. Today I will be looking at the new Sound Blaster E3 USB DAC & headphone amplifier with Bluetooth. In addition to being a USB DAC and amplifier it also features Bluetooth connectivity allowing you to wirelessly connect with your mobile devices. So can the Sound Blaster E3 live up to Creative Sound Blaster’s long legacy of audio excellence? Read on as we test the E3 and find out!

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

Crucial MX200 250GB SSD Review

Crucial’s MX200 series has proven to be a great all-round drive series with excellent performance metrics and an accessible price point. When we reviewed it both the 500GB and 1TB versions were covered and now we’re rounding things out with a review of the more affordable MX500 250GB.

Having access to an entire lineup of SSDs gives a unique perspective into how each compares against one another. Typically, due to a number of factors like interleaving and slight NAND differences, performance increases as capacity gets into higher ranges. The last things customers want is to buy into an SSD line based upon the performance of larger drives and end up with a slower drive. Some manufacturers have been able to overcome the inherent limitations of lower capacity drives by instituting clever firmware optimizations and architectural changes.

Read full article @ Hardware Canucks

Crucial MX200 500GB M.2 Type 2280 SSD Review

Crucial recently refreshed its SSD line with the MX200 SSD series and as you can expect from the title, this review will be based on one of these SSD. We had a chance to test previous version which gathered some good comments. You can find Crucial MX100 512GB SATA review here.
After really good results of MX100 series, we count on even more from MX200. Since we are usually showing SSD in 2.5" SATA form factor then this time will be little change. Crucial MX200 is available in SATA and all M.2 formats so it's not an issue to pick one for nearly every computer type. However we will take a closer look at M.2 type 2280 version.
If you are interested in the latest SSD then stay wish us and check new Crucial MX200 500GB in M.2 form factor.

Read full article @ FunkyKit

Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Review

Long are the days of the SUPER TOWER chassis being the king of the gamers den, in the past few years the SFF (Small Form Factor) has taken over the market. This is not only due to the compact size of mATX and ITX but that both form factors are continuing to squeeze performance into every bit of their tiny … Read more.

Read full article @ Modders-Inc

Gigabyte X99-UD4 Motherboard Review

When it comes to X99 motherboards we have taken a look at boards from ASUS, MSI, ASRock and EVGA. The company not on that list is Gigabyte and today we are getting our first look at one of their X99 motherboards. The X99-UD4 is set to be a more affordable motherboard in their X99 stack and is not really aimed towards gamers or overclockers, but offers a great set of features any user will appreciate. The board is part of the companies Ultra Durable line and features an all digital power design, 4-way graphics support, dual M.2 slot, SATA Express support, Intel Gigabit LAN, and the companies AMP-UP audio solution. Did I mention the board lights up too? Let’s get the board on the test bench and see if Gigabyte has a winner on their hands.

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

Intel SSD 750 Series 1.2TB

Designed for enthusiasts and workstations, the key feature of Intel's SSD 750 Series is its adoption of Non-Volatile Memory Express or NVMe, bringing multiple queues and lower latency with a direct path from the storage to the CPU. The drive is rated to deliver sequential read performance of up to 2.4GB/s with sequential writes hitting 1.2GB/s...

The SSD 750 series is Intel’s first PCI Express Gen3 x4 SSD that has been designed for enthusiast and workstation markets. The key feature of the SSD 750 series is its adoption of the new performance controller interface known as Non-Volatile Memory Express or NVMe for short.

Read full article @ Legion Hardware

Kingston HyperX Predator M.2 PCIe SSDs in RAID 0 – You Thought One Was Fast?

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Read full article @ The SSD Review

LG 34UM67 AMD FreeSync Monitor Review

In this article slash review we will test out the 579 EURO / 599 USD costing FreeSync compatible LG 34UM67 (a 34-inch 2560x1080 monitor) screen. AMD tackled stutter and tearing while gaming using a different approach, if you create a setup with the right combination. The LG 34UM67 is a truly lovely looking and supaaah wide IPS monitor with great image quality.

So ya'll know that when NVIDIA announced GSync shortly thereafter AMD realized that they already had something similar available hidden and harbored deeply as a technology with a purpose for laptops. To jump onto that bandwagon AMD figured, hey if we can get manufacturers to offer monitor support that can chew on a dynamic refresh-rate and develop FreeSync into a VESA standard then you would get the same experience as GSYNC offers, but at lower cost as you do not need an expensive GSYNC module - right? So the graphics card is running a dynamic device that outs its frames in a varying FPS, the problem is that your monitor has a static refresh-rate (Hz), these two don't really match together. To gain the maximum out of your graphics card you can turn off VSYNC on your monitor but that will result into multiple rendered images per shown frame, the overlapping difference is what you guys see as screen tearing. With VSYNC activated a somewhat similar thing happens as the graphics cards tries to stay as close to 60 FPS as possible, however if incapable of sustaining 60 FPS or Hz, you can see an effect that we call soft sync stuttering. Soft sync stuttering is relative, honestly. Screen tearing however is just a nasty thing. So the biggest culprit is tearing. Considering that the hardcore FPS gamer obviously wants extremely high FPS, and for these frag-masters the alternative is simply disabling VSYNC. However if you have that same 35 FPS framerate on 60 Hz, you'd see visible screen tearing. Heck, this is why framerate limiters are so popular as you try to sync each rendered frame in line with your monitor refresh rate. But yeah, these are the main reasons for all sorts of screen anomalies. Ever since the start of the 3D graphics revolutions, we simply got used to these sync stutters and/or screen tearing. To compensate we have been purchasing extremely fast dedicated graphics cards to be to be able to match that screen refresh rate as close as possible. Over the years the industry tried to solve problems like vsync stutter or tearing basically in two ways. The first way is to simply ignore the refresh rate of the monitor altogether, and update the image being scanned to the display in mid cycle. This you guys all know and have learned as "VSync Off Mode" and is the default way most FPS gamers play. If you however freeze the display to one 1 Hz, this is what you will see, the epiphany of graphics rendering evil, screen-tearing. We have taken this for granted many years, screen-tearing and VSYNC stutters, but anno 2015 there now are solutions for it.

Read full article @ Guru3D

Linux 4.0 Hard Drive Comparison With Six File-Systems

It's been a while since last running any Linux file-system tests on a hard drive considering all of the test systems around here are using solid-state storage and only a few systems commissioned in the Linux benchmarking test farm are using hard drives, but with Linux 4.0 around the corner, here's a six-way file-system comparison on Linux 4.0 with a HDD using EXT4, Btrfs, XFS, and even NTFS, NILFS2, and ReiserFS.

Read full article @ Phoronix

Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca KDE Review

Giving Minty things their second chance. This is a review of Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca 64-bit KDE edition, covering live use, installation in a multi-boot setup with Linux and Windows on a laptop with UEFI, Secure Boot and GPT, and general post-install usage, including look & feel, network connectivity - Wireless, Bluetooth, Samba, multimedia support - Flash and MP3, partitioning, software updates, applications, resource usage, stability, suspend & resume, hardware detection and associated niggles, touchpad configuration, webcam, customization, extra software, desktop effects, other observations, and more. It should be a joyful read. Enjoy it then.

Read full article @ Dedoimedo

Moto 360 Review: Android Wear-Powered Time Piece

Not long ago, the battle for consumer dollars occurred on a field littered with ultralight notebooks. A few years later, that transitioned to smartphones and tablets. Today, the next major tussle is occurring on one’s wrist, in the red-hot "wearables" market in general. Motorola’s Moto 360 made waves by being the first major smartwatch to actually look like a watch - a real timepiece, not just a gadget. Most of its primary rivals are more akin to something Dick Tracy would wear, but Moto zigged when everyone else zagged. Instead of selling a computer with a band, the 360 is a timepiece that just so happens to run Android Wear.

Despite being on the market for a few months now, the Moto 360 is still more interesting and dynamic than ever. A variety of bands are now available for the fashion conscious, and Android Wear 5.0 has retooled the user interface...

Read full article @ HotHardware.com

Netgear Arlo Security System

Surveillance and security systems are of interest to many users nowadays. Netgear recently introduced the Arlo security system with weatherproof and wireless camera(s) and a dedicated base station. The main advantages of this system are its easy installation and out-of-the-box cloud support.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

Netis AC1200 Wireless Dual Band Adapter

While a lot of us still run wired networks at home, you really can’t avoid running a wireless network in your home or office. There are just to many devices that only use wireless like mobile phones, tablets, portable game consoles, and a lot of today’s thin laptops as well. Hell in our house in addition to the regular devices you will also see a printer, at least one IP security camera, and even our whole house humidifier. This is all of course in a house that is completely wired as well, imagine how many devices you might see on a house that runs completely on wireless. With that the move to wireless AC becomes more and more important. The additional bandwidth it allows on wireless is huge, especially when a lot of households are actually getting faster internet than their wireless can provide to their devices. So today I’m going to take a look at a wireless AC adapter from Netis that allows you to hook up that PC all the way on the top floor to your new AC router or if you want you can even use it to run your own wireless network.

Read full article @ LanOC Reviews

Noctua NH-D15 CPU Cooler Review – The King of Air Coolers

In the world of PC cooling few names carry as much weight as Noctua; an Austria based cooling technology company, which specializes in high-end air coolers and fans. You may even consider them the BMW of PC cooling. Their former flagship air cooler: the NH-D14 holds high regard with PC enthusiasts and overclockers everywhere. So naturally when they approached us to do a review of the cooler replacing that highly successful model: the Noctua NH-D15 (http://technologyx.us7.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=3d9b6193ffd32dd60e84fc74b&id=0af8a6d5d3&e=312ec141fb) , we jumped at the opportunity!

Read full article @ TechnologyX

Noctua NH-U9S Review

After taking a short break from reviewing coolers here at Vortez (to upgrade our computer chassis and re-test coolers) – We are back again! And what better way to kick things back into action than to look at a product from the king of coolers, Noctua. To most enthusiasts, Noctua has become synonymous with premium quality and low-noise. Under their belt they have a strong lineup of cooling solutions and today we’re to take a look at a revision of their much loved 92cm tower design.

The NH-U9S is a compact, single tower CPU cooler which focuses its attention on compatibility. Noctua has addressed key concerns for system builders and enthusiasts – A condensed size makes it easy to install in tight spaces, memory clearance now receives 100% compatibility and mini-ITX users can now use the top PCI-E slot without any hassles.

Read full article @ Vortez

OCZ ARC 100 - 240GB SSD Review

TodayI will be reviewing the OCZ ARC 100 -240GB SSD. The price of SSD's when they first came out where extremely high and very few people had the chance to experience the extreme capabilities of a SSD. The price point made upgrading to a SSD hard to justify. Now, for some time, SSD's have become very affordable and the price per GB has become more reasonable. If you have yet to experience a SSD, let me be the first to tell you GO GET ONE CAUSE YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE MISSING! The responsiveness is amazing, no spinning sound, no clicking, no grinding noises, the list goes on. The biggest drawback of a new hard drive was having to start all over with a fresh install of windows, while that may be the preferred way, You can now easily clone your current drive and that is usually a flawless operation. Lets continue on with review and find out more about the OCZ ARC 100 SSD!   

Read full article @ FunkyKit

OxyLED T-01 LED Touch Sensitive Light Review

Touch enabled is in our tablets and phones and some computers at this point but there are many other things in our lives that can be touch enabled. Today for review I have the OxyLED T-01 which is a touch enabled LED light bar that you can place wherever you need some light and might not have an outlet or the ability or skill to run wires there. The T-01 has four LEDs in it and the center section which houses the LEDs can be tilted to direct the light where you need it most. It uses four standard AAA batteries which should provide about 100 hours of use. Read on to learn more…

Read full article @ Technogog

Seagate Barracuda ST5000DM000 5TB Desktop Hard Drive Review

One of our readers asked us to look at the Seagate Barracuda ST5000DM000 5TB 3.5-inch internal desktop hard drive as he bought one off of Amazon and was having some performance issues with the drive. We looked into it and discovered that Seagate does not sell an internal 3.5-inch desktop drive on the market. That is strange as we went over to Amazon and found half a dozen retailers selling this particular drive. We got our hands on one of these 5TB drives and tried it out to see what was going on!

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

Tesoro Excalibur RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

Just like everything else in the PC industry the technology behind gaming gear never sits still especially now with the increased number of eSports competitions. However although gaming mice and headsets have evolved quite a bit over the past decade the same didn't seem to apply for keyboards (not for consumer oriented models anyways) since it wasn't until just a few years back that we saw the introduction of models featuring Cherry MX mechanical switches. Now mechanical switches may not offer much more compared to regular membrane ones but they do offer many times higher life expectancy and if you happen to be a gamer and about to spend quite a bit on a new keyboard durability is indeed very important. Of course gaming peripheral manufacturers are well aware that durability alone is no longer sufficient in order to attract consumers so they've been adding more features like N-Key rollover, macro keys, on-board memory and of course LED illumination. The Excalibur RGB (G7NFL) is one of the latest Mechanical Gaming Keyboards by Tesoro and today we'll be taking a very thorough look at it.

Established in 2011, Tesoro Technology USA Inc is a team of multinational gaming enthusiasts with over 30 years industry experience with one objective – make ultra-durable products that give the best gaming experience. To achieve this, Tesoro conceptualizes products from the input and feedback from the gaming community, and then builds them using the highest grade components. As a gamers company, Tesoro continues to expand into new horizons and push the limit further with each product unveiling. To learn more visit Tesoro's website: http://www.tesorotec.com

Read full article @ NikKTech

TP-Link Archer D7 1750AC Router Review

Today we are taking a look at the Archer D7 1750AC Router from TP-Link. It retains many of the same features as its bigger brother, the Archer D9 AC1900, but comes in at a lower price. Could this be the best budget option for a router going in to 2015? Let’s find out…

Read full article @ KitGuru