Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles, including AMD Radeon R7 265 reviews, CMStorm Ceres 500 Gaming Headset, AMD A10-7850K Dual Graphics Performance, Nanoxia Deep Silence 6 Review, and 20 WiFi access points review: extend your network



AMD Radeon R7 265 Mainstream GPU Review @ HotHardware.com

AMD is shaking up its mid-range graphics cards line-up today, by slashing the price of the Radeon R7 260X and introducing the more powerful Radeon R7 265. Though their model numbers are quite similar, the Radeon R7 265 is actually built around a beefier GPU than the 260X, and is more like the higher-end Radeon R9 270X.

AMD is positioning the Radeon R7 265 against NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost. Stock on that GPU, however, has been drying up as of late, perhaps in anticipation of another new release aimed at the sub-$200 "sweet spot" of the graphics card market? We'll know soon enough, but we're getting ahead of ourselves. For now let's take a look at AMD's latest mainstream GPU and see how it stacks up to the competition available today...

Read more: AMD Radeon R7 265 Mainstream GPU Review @ HotHardware.com

Sapphire Radeon R7 265 2 GB @ techPowerUp

Today AMD releases their Radeon R7 265 in a pre-emptive strike to cover their bases against NVIDIA's upcoming GTX 750 Ti. While the card is based on the aging HD 7850, it still offers good gaming performance and comes with an excellent price/performance ratio.

Read more: Sapphire Radeon R7 265 2 GB @ techPowerUp

Sapphire R7 265 Dual X Graphics Card Review @ KitGuru

Today AMD release their new R7 265 graphics card which they claim is an outstanding performer at 1080p resolution. The R7 265 is set to supplement the more expensive R9 270 which was designed to replace the last generation HD7870. The R7 265 looks set to replace the HD7850, which has proven so successful that it is still being sold (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=56&subid=411) - 2 years after release. Rather than focus on a reference board for our review we look at a custom Sapphire R7 265 with Dual X cooling system.

Read more: Sapphire R7 265 Dual X Graphics Card Review @ KitGuru

AMD Radeon R7-265 Review @ Guru3D

We review the AMD Radeon R7-265 today, the card is being injected into AMDs line-up of more affordable graphics cards to be able to compete with NVIDIAs new and pending GTX 750 series. That means 1080P gaming will become in reach at a price level that speaks to many of you. Nothing about this product was really planned (we think). Basically we learned that Nvidia is updating their product line, and boom all of the sudden we get a call from AMD asking if we want to do a product review on today's tested product. A product released merely days before the competitions 750 series. Hey we'll play... competition is good and keeps the manufacturers sharp and the prices low. What's not to like, eh?

The Radeon R7-265 as tested today is fitted with a total of 1024 Stream processors, a compute performance of 1.89 TFlops, 2 GB of GDDR5 memory (256-bit) and a relatively TDP of 150W which will be supplied through a single 6-Pin power connector. For those that get a bit of a deja-vu, yes that is very comparable to Pitcairn Pro aka the Radeon HD 7850. It's the same GPU being used, yet slightly tweaked on the clocks and seated onto a new PCB. The clocks are set at a maximum of 925 MHz boost for the graphics core while the memory operates at 5.6 GHz effective clock speed alongside a 256-bit memory interface. The card is PCI-Express 3.0 compatible. Equipped with AMD’s Graphics Core Next Architecture the R7-265 is ready for Mantle as well. The AMD Radeon R7 265 graphics means gaming on a budget, and admittedly if we look at the R7850 series, these are still great little cards for Full HD gaming. The AMD Radeon R7-265 graphics card is AMD CrossFire compatible as well AMD Eyefinity Technology and AMD ZeroCore Power ready. The card would be an excellent HTPC card, but you can certainly play games with it as well if you stay away from the highest resolutions of course. The SEP of the AMD Radeon R7-265 will start at 109 EUR + VAT / 149 USD. You will start seeing availability end of February 2014. Have a peek at the card first though. We received a model from Sapphire running default reference clock frequencies, of course.

But let's head on-wards into the review...

Read more: AMD Radeon R7-265 Review @ Guru3D

AMD Radeon R7 265 Review @ Hardware Canucks

The R7-series cards may not be the first thing enthusiasts think of when looking for a capable gaming GPU but they certainly occupy a prominent space in AMD’s lineup. While higher end products typically get all the attention, the $125 to $175 market occupied by these low priced yet extremely capable graphics cards happens to be the most popular. In order to round out their offerings in this crowded volume-focused segment, AMD is launching the R7 265 2GB.

The R7 265 may represent the highest performance iteration of AMD’s R7-series but in many ways it’s more akin to the R9 270 and R9 270X. With this in mind, AMD is hoping that it will go toe to toe against NVIDAI’s GTX 660 2GB and GTX 650 Ti Boost while also threading carefully between the R9 270 and R7 260X. Like we said; this is an insanely cluttered corner of the GPU market.

Read more: AMD Radeon R7 265 Review @ Hardware Canucks

AMD Radeon R7 265 Review: Curaçao Slides In At $150 @ Toms Hardware

We published Radeon R7 250X Review: Reprising Radeon HD 7770 At $100 just a few days ago, and that story's title is pretty self-explanatory. In essence, AMD re-named an existing product and dropped its price a few dollars to renew interest. Unfortunately, we're still waiting for the Radeon R7 250X to become available.

Over the course of the last several months, AMD applied this treatment to its entire GPU portfolio to turn the Radeon HD 7000 family into Radeon R7s and R9s, often with higher clock rates than the cards they replaced. Today, AMD continues that trend by announcing its Radeon R7 265, which company representatives say won't be available until the end of February.

The Radeon R7 265 is the first card in AMD's re-branded line-up ending in a "5". Until now, everything else was a "0" or an "X": Radeon R7 240, 250, 250X, 260, 260X, and so on. That might seem like simple trivia, but I think there's a bit of a story there. You see, the Radeon R7 260X is typically found in the $140 range. The next model up, R9 270, was introduced at $180 back in November of last year. A $40 delta doesn't seem wide enough to justify another product, though. In fact, the 270 was actually a good deal.

Read more: AMD Radeon R7 265 Review: Curaçao Slides In At $150 @ Toms Hardware

The AMD Radeon R7 265 & R7 260 Review: Feat Sapphire & Asus @ Anandtech

The launch of the Radeon R7 250X earlier this week and today the Radeon R7 265 are part of a larger refactoring of AMDs mainstream desktop product family. AMD is cutting prices and launching new products both to maintain and enhance their competitive position, and to fill holes in their lineup however small to cover as many price points as possible. The end result is that along with a price cut for the existing R7 260X, which will see AMDs flagship Bonaire part drop to $119, AMD is also using this time to launch parts above it and below it in order to fill the holes this refactoring is creating. A key part of that refactoring strategy will be todays launch of the Radeon R7 265. With R7 260X dropping to $119 and R7 270 holding at $179 (MSRP), AMD has a $60 gap that needs to be filled with a new product, and R7 265 is that product. Based on AMDs venerable Pitcairn GPU, R7 265 will be filling this gap by bringing a variant of the Radeon HD 7850 back to the market, creating a 3rd tier Pitcairn product for the 200 series. Compared to the 7850 that its based on, R7 265 is receiving the same GPU clockspeed and memory clockspeed bump that the 7870-derrived R9 270 series saw last year that will make the R7 265 a bit faster than the 7850 it functionally replaces and making it better suited to fill the gap between the R9 270 and R7 260X.    

Read more: The AMD Radeon R7 265 & R7 260 Review: Feat Sapphire & Asus @ Anandtech

Sapphire Radeon R7 265 Dual-X @ Hexus

AMD brings down the cost of full-on 1080p gaming. AMD has been launching graphics processing units (GPUs) at a frenetic pace since October 2013. Right now, there is a combination of Radeon R7 and R9 GPUs that fill the $89-$199 price points. All cards use the Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture and are, in one way or another, modifications of existing HD 7000-series parts. Here's how they line up against one another.

Read more: Sapphire Radeon R7 265 Dual-X @ Hexus

AMD Radeon R7 265 review: pre-emptive strike @ Hardware.Info

The eternal competition between AMD and Nvidia is a game of having a graphics card available at every price point while offering a better price/performance ratio than your competition. Part of that game is the timely anticipation of product introductions and price drops. Although AMD denies it, today the manufacturer introduces a new graphics card that serves primarily as a pre-emptive answer to the upcoming introduction of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 750 and 750 Ti, next week.

The R7 265 is based on the Pitcairn GPU, which can also be found in AMD's R9 270, R9 270X and earlier Radeon HD 7850 and 7870 graphics cards. In order to meet a lower price point, the chip has somewhat lower specifications than the 270 and 270X. Of Pitcairn's 1280 shader units, the R7 265 has 1024 enabled enabled. The GPU has a maximum clock frequency of 925 MHz, identical to the R7 270. Radeon R7 265 cards will come equipped with 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, linked through a 256-bits interface and clocked at 1.4 GHz, resulting in an identical memory clock frequency to the 270 and 270X's.

Read more: AMD Radeon R7 265 review: pre-emptive strike @ Hardware.Info

CMStorm Ceres 500 Gaming Headset @ LanOC Reviews

Quality sound and a comfortable fit aren’t exclusive to just PC gaming but for the most part finding the same experience in a console headset can be difficult and expensive. For most, owning a set of quality headsets for both your console and your PC simply isn’t cost effective. Today we take a look at the Ceres 500 from Cooler Master that looks to buck the trend and proved a quality experience to both platforms with the ability to switch between them on the fly. Is this performance too good to be true? We will find out.

Read more: CMStorm Ceres 500 Gaming Headset @ LanOC Reviews

AMD A10-7850K Dual Graphics Performance @ Techspot

Although the Steamroller cores in AMD's Kaveri-based A8-7600 APU brought a notable boost in CPU efficiency, it felt like the company was mostly focused on gaming performance with last month's update. The A8-7600 wasn't much faster than last year's A10-6800K, but it was quick enough to power modern titles such as BioShock Infinite and Tomb Raider without help from a discrete graphics card.

At the same time that AMD is beginning to deliver on a years-long promise of single-chip PC gaming, its effort toward Crossfiring integrated graphics with discrete graphics is finally maturing. The company first touted 'Dual Graphics' with its first Lynx-based APUs back in 2011, but it was largely dismissed due to Crossfire's poor frame time performance and that remained the case with 2012's Virgo/Trinity APUs.

By the time 2013's Richland APUs landed, AMD was working to improve its frame pacing performance through driver updates and with the arrival of Kaveri, we're starting to see solid Crossfire performance that isn't plagued by frames being dropped and or chopped off. That being the case, we have taken the time to do some dual graphics testing with the A10-7850K, the company's current flagship APU.

Read more: AMD A10-7850K Dual Graphics Performance @ Techspot

GX Gaming Gila MMORPG / RTS Gaming Mouse Review @ HiTech Legion

As I get older, I realize more and more how important control is. When I was young, I was a bit rough around the edges and had a distinct lack of control over my own thoughts and actions. Even when it came to driving, I was just an out of control kid hurtling down the road in 2500 pounds of steel and chrome. I didn’t care, I was having fun. I look back now and I am lucky I made it this far, but then I look at some of the things other kids are doing today, and I am very grateful that my generation didn’t all have cameras in their pockets and we were not inundated with social media, like Face Book.

Back to control and how large a part being in control plays in people’s lives, if you really sit for a moment and consider it, you might realize that everything you do is about control. But I want to reel it in, move away from the philosophical and get into the everyday control of our devices and our surroundings. People are always looking for a device that is easier to control, whether that's because it has a better UI and better features, or just because it is designed better. When those two come together with the right kind of synergy, it can be a glorious joining.

Read more: GX Gaming Gila MMORPG / RTS Gaming Mouse Review @ HiTech Legion

Orb Audio Mod4X Custom 7.1 Modular Home Theater Speaker System Review @ TechnologyX

Our report today is on our Orb Audio Mod4X Custom Home Theater Speaker System, a system that holds a website build value of $3619 before taxes and shipping. In the interest of disclosure, we didn't pay full pop, but most would consider our cost still hefty. It arrived on a 30 day no questions asked return policy and well let's just say that these speakers are staying right where they are.

Read more: Orb Audio Mod4X Custom 7.1 Modular Home Theater Speaker System Review @ TechnologyX

A quick look at Mantle on AMD's Kaveri APU @ The Tech Report

Three months ago, AMD foretold of the performance improvements that Mantle, its close-to-the-metal graphics programming interface, would bring to Kaveri in Battlefield 4. We've now put those predictions to the test by comparing Mantle and Direct3D performance on AMD's A8-7600 APU.

Read more: A quick look at Mantle on AMD's Kaveri APU @ The Tech Report

Cooler Master CM Storm Ceres 500 Headset @ PureOverclock

Gaming headsets are one of the most popular peripherals today for most gamers. Whether you are a PC or console gamer you probably at one point had some kind of headset that you used and abused. We have in our hands today the Cooler Master CM Storm Ceres 500 Headset. The sleek look of the white and black aesthetics really makes a statement. The first overall impression of the Ceres 500 is very strong. Of course, at a glance, feel and touch isn't enough for most of us. With the number of hours we spend in front of the TV or PC, we need to know it performs well, is comfortable, and has great durability for long heavy use. Let's dive in and see if the Cooler Master CM Storm Ceres 500 Headset ticks off all the boxes.

Read more: Cooler Master CM Storm Ceres 500 Headset @ PureOverclock

Belkin WeMo Switch + Motion Wireless Home Automation @ MEGATech Reviews

Wouldn’t it be awesome if your coffee maker turned itself on at the same time every morning, brewing up a fresh pot for you? Wouldn’t it be cool if you could turn the lights on and off in your home via an app on your smartphone? Wouldn’t it be great if you could have this kind of functionality without having to go through expensive and complex configurations with a licensed technician?

That’s the fundamental idea behind the WeMo family of products from Belkin, providing you with a modular way to have a smarter home. Today, we’re taking a look at the Belkin WeMo Switch + Motion, a bundle that grants you wireless control over yoru home appliances and electronics, as well as activation when movement is detected.

Read more: Belkin WeMo Switch + Motion Wireless Home Automation @ MEGATech Reviews

EVGA Z87 Stinger Motherboard and GTX 760 FTW Graphics Card Review @ HardwareHeaven.com

More and more recently we are seeing mini-ITX boards with full size desktop like features and performance. Recently EVGA joined that club with the release of the Z87 Stinger. Today we will take a look at that board along with their GTX 760 FTW!

Read more: EVGA Z87 Stinger Motherboard and GTX 760 FTW Graphics Card Review @ HardwareHeaven.com

LG G2 Review @ ocaholic

With the G2, LG has a new flagship smartphone in its portfolio. There is a 5.2 inch screen, a Snapdragon 800 SoC and a 3200 mAh batter which, from a hardware perspective sound like a really compelling offer. LG also offers this phone at a rather attractive price, which makes it possible that this could be one really decent device

Read more: LG G2 Review @ ocaholic

Ozone Onda Pro Headset @ Rbmods

Time for another gaming headset review, we are today going to take a look at the Onda Pro from Ozone.
This headset is even used by Pro gamers so I expect quite a bit from them. They look comfortable since the earcups fully cover your ear… so let´s get on with the review.

Read more: Ozone Onda Pro Headset @ Rbmods

Nanoxia Deep Silence 6 Review @ Anandtech

We've reviewed a few of Nanoxia's cases already, and they've done well overall. Today we're looking at their latest and grandest creation, the Deep Silence 6. As the name implies, this is the sixth case that Nanoxia has designed and it's targeted towards a very specific segment of the market, namely hardcore enthusiasts and advanced users that might want a gigantic case. How does Nanoxia fare when you take their core design and super size it? Read on for the full review.    

Read more: Nanoxia Deep Silence 6 Review @ Anandtech

20 WiFi access points review: extend your network @ Hardware.Info

All routers come with a built-in wireless connection nowadays so why would you still need a separate access point? They are still useful in certain situations and are still widely available. We tested 20 recent models. 

We will examine the reasons why you could still have use for an access point. Which one is best for you depends on how you will use it. The one category we left out from this test is outdoor access points, in order to keep the test manageable. 

Read more: 20 WiFi access points review: extend your network @ Hardware.Info

Bitfenix Flo Gaming Headset Review @ Madshrimps

The Flo headset from Bitfenix is available in four color flavors, features 40mm drivers and succeeds to deliver good quality sound in games, music or movies. The manufacturer includes cables for using the product on both PC and mobile devices and the microphone is fully removable.

Read more: Bitfenix Flo Gaming Headset Review @ Madshrimps

Silverstone PS09 Micro-ATX Chassis Review @ eTeknix

In the office today I have the Silverstone PS09, a budget friendly and fairly compact micro-ATX chassis. While I love the high-end Silverstone models such as their Fortress and Raven series, I still can’t help but check out what goes on at the other end of the scale. It’s not surprising that it’s the low and mid budget products on the market that consumers typically go for, sure the gaming market may want a little more features and a large gaming chassis, but in the real world we’re all governed by budget. Most people just want a straight forward case that will tick all the basics, build quality, size, affordability and that it is capable of holding all their components. Style obviously a factor too, but that’s a very subjective matter as everyone will have their own preferences.

Priced at around £40 inc. shipping from most major online retailers the PS09 is certainly budget friendly, so it’s certainly going to appeal to a wide audience. it’s also quite compact, and it’s size means it will only handle mITX and mATX motherboard sizes and is limited to four expansion slots, but there are plenty of great motherboards available in smaller form factors these days, so that’s not too much of a restriction in terms of overall system performance. While the chassis is budget friendly, it’s not without its bonus features and washable side intake vent for reduced noise and dust prevention are included, as well as a 120mm in take fan, and best of all the PS09 comes fitted with foam padded side panels to help reduce overall noise.

The specifications are fairly standard, but it’s nice to see that despite its compact size the PS09 will still handle 2 x 5.25″ drives, 4 x 3.5″ drives and 1 x 2.5″ drives, of course you could install more 2.5″ drives in the 3.5″ bays, but you would need to use adaptor brackets. Most major graphics cards should fit with relative ease, especially since it’s unlikely that those shopping for this kind of chassis will be worrying about cards as large as the 7990.

Read more: Silverstone PS09 Micro-ATX Chassis Review @ eTeknix

Lenovo IdeaTab S6000 10.1 Android Tablet Review @ eTeknix

Since the launch of Apple’s world-renowned iPad a few years ago, the way in which we interact in our digital lives has been revolutionised to the point where we now feel lost if we can’t get online; whether it be for social or entertainment purposes or for business use in multitude of ways. Before tablets were around with such a presence as they are today, laptops and desktop computers was the only real way of getting online as even the world of smartphones was in its infancy, just before the iPhone was released.

Since those historic days when the first iPhone and iPad went on sale, the work of mobile connectivity through tablets, smartphones and now today’s Ultrabooks has advanced in leaps and bounds taking us into a world that only a few people could have imagined before. In today’s world and within the marketplace there is are so many different tablets and smartphones on offer, it is almost impossible to list all of them; from the market leading models right down to the rock bottom basic devices that cost very little to get hold of. It’s easy to say that if you want to get a tablet or smartphone, the chance of getting a device that suits your taste is very strong and this is why they are now more popular than we would have thought only a few years ago.

Like every other part of the technology world, the tablet market has devices at virtually every price level and whilst there are loads of people who are willing to buy the latest iPad for upwards of $500 / £400, this price is way over the top for another large group of users and this is where the Android based tablets come steaming through. At only a fraction of the cost, but still offering some of the best features on the market, it is no surprise that the Android operating system is the OS of choice on a large number of top-selling products out there.

Read more: Lenovo IdeaTab S6000 10.1 Android Tablet Review @ eTeknix