Here a roundup of todays review's and articles:

All-round Deluxe PC - January 2015
Antix MX-14.3 Review
Arch Linux on MacBook Pro Retina 2014 with DM-Crypt, LVM and suspend to disk
ASUS PB279Q 4K Monitor Review
BitFenix Flo Gaming Headset Review
Cooler Masters Hyper D92 CPU cooler reviewed
Cougar 600M Gaming Mouse Review
Cougar 700K
ECS LIVA X Review: A Fanless Bay Trail-M mini-PC
Haswell-E overclocking workshop: How to get the most out of the Core i7 5960X, 5930K and 4820K
Mio Spirit 6970 LM Truck GPS Navigation System Review
Netgear Arlo Smart Home Security Camera Kit Review
Phanteks Enthoo Mini XL Case Review
Review: Plextor M6e Black Edition 256GB PCIe SSD
Z97 & Z87 Motherboard Charts: 45 Models tested - Update Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H-BK

All-round Deluxe PC - January 2015

The all-round Deluxe PC will last you a few years without requiring any upgrades. It is a bit more expensive, but is very complete as well. Using the internet, gaming, business applications, photo and video editing - all of these are possible on a good all-round PC, and you should never feel that you are lacking in performance for any of those activities.

This means a good processor and graphics card from the upper mid-range segment. Fast, yet affordable. You also need enough RAM and storage space, not to mention an attractive chassis and reliable power supply that can last several years. Of course you need a quality monitor, mouse and keyboard, as these are used very frequently.

This PC will cost more than the standard all-round PC, but it is also more powerful and has higher-end components. If this exceeds your budget somewhat, then you can have a look at out standard All-round PC instead.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

Antix MX-14.3 Review

I need love, which is why I wrote this review of antiX MX-14.3 32-bit Xfce edition, a Debian-based distribution co-developed with the Mepis community, covering live session, installation in a quad-boot setup on a laptop with Intel graphics and SSD, and post-install use, including look & feel, networking - Wireless (2.4GHz and 5GHz) & Samba, multimedia playback - Flash and MP3, partitioning and system configuration, applications & tools, system resources, stability, suspend & resume, Samba printing, customization, and more. Have fun.

Read full article @ Dedoimedo

Arch Linux on MacBook Pro Retina 2014 with DM-Crypt, LVM and suspend to disk

I’m going to describe steps needed to have the following system:

Dual-boot with Arch Linux / Mac OS X
Boot manager UEFI Gummiboot (simple, can handle several kernels easily)
Full disk encryption (Mac OS X and Arch Linux)
LVM support
Suspend to disk using a swapfile
Settings for a great battery life (~09h30)

I keep the Mac OS X partition, to be able to update the firmware later.

Read full article @ loicpefferkorn.net

ASUS PB279Q 4K Monitor Review

The KitGuru audience is savvy, and based on our research late last year only a tiny percentage upgraded their system to accommodate a 4k monitor. We all want more deskspace and higher resolutions, but pushing 8,294,000 pixels around can demand expensive graphics hardware. There is no doubt that prices are dropping and the quality is getting better – and with this in mind today we spend some time with the Asus PB279Q, featuring a AHVA IPS panel with a WLED backlight.

Read full article @ KitGuru

BitFenix Flo Gaming Headset Review

"We know how to optimize the individual rate allocation to every node in a multi-device MIMO wireless network using fancy techniques like SLP-PA," I told the guys who work with me in the same lab at the university. "But we might run into a bit of trouble setting up a $20 WiFi router we buy from the local computer store." We all laughed at the irony of that idea. While it is not entirely true (I just bought a pretty awesome 802.11ac router, loaded DD-WRT onto it, and had absolutely no issues getting it to run), the fact is, as a bunch of PhD and MSc students in Electrical Engineering, we really know a lot about nothing; whereas a comparable high school student will know a little about everything. As much as we -- the graduate students -- would like to think we know a lot about everything, this is simply not true. Late last year, we have received the BitFenix Flo gaming headset for review. As the company takes on this challenge of designing a competitive audio product, it promises "high definition sound whether you are fragging the opposition, or listening to your favorite tunes on the go". Is it possible someone has finally made a headset that is, unlike graduate students, really good at everything? If you have been on APH Networks long enough, you will know we take our audio reviews very seriously. The highest scoring product ever recorded in a whole decade of writing reviews is the V-MODA XS, an audio product. The lowest scoring product in the history of this website are the Arctic Sound E352 and Gigabyte Fly, which, coincidentally, are both audio product as well. With yet another audio product in our hands, let us see how the BitFenix Flo stacks up.

Read full article @ APH Networks

Cooler Masters Hyper D92 CPU cooler reviewed

The Hyper D92 is a compact tower-style cooler with dual 92-mm fans. We tested its performance on stock-clocked and overclocked CPUs to see how it stacks up.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

Cougar 600M Gaming Mouse Review

Recently Cougar announced the release of their new 600M gaming mouse with state of the art features for both a reliable gaming experience and an aesthetically pleasing design that brings their brand philosophy of "Passion X Innovation" to bear. The Cougar 600M incorporates an ADNS-9800 laser sensor to provide precision tracking and OMRON switches for instantaneous response.

With a soft touch surface, the Cougar 600M has a comfortable feel and firm grip necessary during game playing. With the ability to program all 8 gaming buttons through the Cougar UIX System, the user can customize the 600M for their own play or work style. Through the easy-to-read 4-stage DPI LED lighting display, the player will always know the current DPI setting for optimal gaming.

The user can choose over 16.8 million colors to illuminate the mouse's backlit floating left key. The 600M connects to your computer using a braided cable with gold-plated USB plug for consistent and reliable data transfer.

Read full article @ Neoseeker

Cougar 700K

Recently I had the chance to check out the 700M from Cougar. I went in with a little hesitation but I was pleasantly surprised. The mouse was good but on top of that I was really blown away that a relatively new manufacture had this good of software. This told me that Cougar was investing a lot into their move into the peripheral market, good software is hard to find and very expensive to develop. So today I’m sitting here with the 700M’s partner in crime, the 700K mechanical keyboard. Is the 700K going to be as impressive as the 700M was? Well there is only one way to find out.

Read full article @ LanOC Reviews

ECS LIVA X Review: A Fanless Bay Trail-M mini-PC

Over the last couple of years, mini-PCs in the ultra-compact form factor (UCFF) have emerged as one of the bright spots in the troubled PC market. ECS first took on this market with the help of the LIVA mini-PC. They have iterated fast to resolve some of the shortcomings of the original LIVA in their latest mini-PC, the LIVA X. Read on for our review of the latest passively cooled mini-PC offering from ECS.

Read full article @ Anandtech

Haswell-E overclocking workshop: How to get the most out of the Core i7 5960X, 5930K and 4820K

The newest Intel Haswell-E processors are already pretty fast out of the box, but if you want to you can squeeze a lot more performance out of them. This workshop shows you how to achieve the optimum overclock.

The Intel Haswell-E processor family was introduced at the end of August 2014, click here for our extensive review. Overclocking the Haswell-E chips is comparable to the methods used on the "normal" socket 1150 Haswell CPU, but because of the DDR4 memory as well as other improvements there are quite a few differences. This article shows you in easy steps how to get the best possible performance out of the Haswell-E chips.

It is an added bonus that all three Haswell-E CPUs on the market are unlocked, not just the top model Core i7 5960X but also the cheaper 6-core Core i7 5930K and 5820K. This enables the overclocker to work with any of these processors without having to worry about limitations.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

Mio Spirit 6970 LM Truck GPS Navigation System Review

One of the very first things i got when i learned how to drive in the late 90's was a very detailed map (more like a book/guide) of Greece which i could use to navigate to places i had never been in the past. Of course although back then it's not really like drivers had many options that all changed when the first GPS navigation systems arrived soon afterwards so it didn't take long for me to get one of the first Mio handheld models for use both while in the car and while on foot (although as it turned out i hardly used it 3 times while on foot). Today things have changed for the best and so aside GPS navigation systems most if not all smartphones come ready out of the box either with Google or Microsoft maps and with a plethora of other solutions (like Sygic and CoPilot). Still a good GPS navigation system is always preferable over the solutions found in smartphones and so today we decided to take a look at the latest offering by Mio the Spirit 6970 LM Truck.

Mio develops and markets products that enable users to take advantage of the latest developments in mobile services. The brand was established in May 2002 and today has operations in Taiwan, mainland China, Europe, North America, Australia, Japan and South Korea. Mio currently employs more than 900 individuals worldwide, and sells and markets its products in over 38 countries and territories. It is Mio’s belief that mobile life and mobile business will remain an integral part of life into our future. Mio’s brand tagline, “Explore More,” focuses on changing the way people experience the world while letting users know that they can explore the world easily and freely with Mio products.

Mio has a very large range of handheld GPS navigation systems but the Spirit 6970 LM Truck is currently their the top-of-the-line solution that features a medium sized 5 inch color LCD touchscreen (480x272p) which is paired with the SiRFatlasV ARM 11 CPU (@664MHz) by CRS and the Skyworks SE4150L GPS IC. Now i can't say much about the hardware used in the Spirit 6970 LM Truck because this is the first GPS device i use that has these specific components but when it comes to the included software it offers a wealth of features such as maps from all around the globe (depends on the country of purchase of course), lifetime map and security camera updates, lane guidance, voice commands and route announcements, TMC, trip planner, IQ routes, find my car mode, truck mode, pedestrian mode and more. Mio also allows you to buy and even rent (very useful for quick trips) maps from their online page which in turn you can activate and upload onto the device with ease just by running their MioMore Desktop PC/MAC software. But let's see what the Spirit 6970 LM Truck by Mio offers and just how well it behaves in real use.

Read full article @ NikKTech

Netgear Arlo Smart Home Security Camera Kit Review

Having an indoor/outdoor high-definition home security system was once something reserved for rich people that had more money than they knew what to do with. In recent years the price on home security cameras and systems has greatly dropped and the average Joe can now afford and get the peace of mind that a security system brings. Even though you can afford to purchase a home security system do you really want to get up on a ladder and run all the data and power lines across your house? That has been one of the major road blocks for home security systems as they've been a pain in the butt to install and people have been avoiding them altogether. Netgear hopes to change all that with a new entirely wireless self-monitored home security system called Arlo.

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

Phanteks Enthoo Mini XL Case Review

Here at Benchmark Reviews we admire those companies who not only give relentless effort to create the best product designs in terms of efficiency, quality, and functionality, but we also applaud those who try to set themselves apart in what is an already crowded market by bringing forth new ideas and daring to take risks. Surprisingly, this seems to be a trend for Phanteks; the relatively young company that is looking forward to create it’s own market of dual system cases with the release of the Enthoo Mini XL “Super Micro-ATX” Computer Case.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews

Review: Plextor M6e Black Edition 256GB PCIe SSD

Last year, we had the pleasure of checking out Plextor’s M6e SSD which was one of the first PCIe SSDs on the market using the M.2 form factor. At the time we were fairly impressed with the drive as it was a solid offering from Plextor with great performance and a solid warranty to match. Unfortunately, the drive is quite pricey and there’s only marginal performance gains for anyone who couldn’t take advantage of the lightning fast sequential performance offered by the drive.

However, Plextor sees the opportunity in being the first to market with a M.2 based PCIe SSD, so they recently unveiled the Plextor M6e Black Edition, which they claim is faster and more feature filled than the original.

Read full article @ Custom PC Review

Z97 & Z87 Motherboard Charts: 45 Models tested - Update Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H-BK

In our comparison tables, meanwhile you find benchmark values regarding 45 recent Z97 and Z87 motherboards. Furthermore we do not comment the benchmark values. The idea and also the goal is to present to you a market overview which helps you choose the right motherboard.

Read full article @ ocaholic