Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles, including AMD Radeon R9 290X Versus NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Benchmarks, SteelSeries 5Hv3 Gaming Headset Review, Corsair RM Series 750 W, Apple iPhone 5s Review, and The Workstation & Server CPU Comparison Guide Rev. 6.4



AMD Radeon R9 290X Versus NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Benchmarks @ Legit Reviews

NVIDIA is holding a press event in Montreal today and it looks like AMD is crashing that party. AMD set up shop at the hotel across the street and allowed the media to come over to run both the game titles BioShock: Infinite and Tomb Raider at 4K resolutions with the AMD Radeon R9 290X versus the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780. Read on to see the first official benchmarks!

Read more: AMD Radeon R9 290X Versus NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Benchmarks @ Legit Reviews

LG G2 Smartphone Review: Snapdragon 800 Powered @ HotHardware

In the ever-intensifying smartphone war, clear lines are being drawn. The only two mobile phone manufacturers making any notable profits at present are Apple (with iOS) and Samsung (with Android). Despite the fact that Android as a whole is dominating from a global market share perspective, players such as LG, HTC, Pantech, and Sony are scrapping for market share. The point? Competing with the heralded Galaxy line of phones and phablets is difficult. Crosstown rival LG has historically had something of a quiet battle going with Samsung, and recent moves by the company's mobile division demonstrate that it's not content with playing second fiddle.

Read more: LG G2 Smartphone Review: Snapdragon 800 Powered @ HotHardware

Tt eSPORTS CRONOS Gaming Headset Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Over the past few weeks we here at ThinkComputers have been spending time reviewing several gaming products. This is a great opportunity with the upcoming release of Battlefield 4 and Callof Duty Ghosts. Today we are going to be reviewing the Tt eSPORTS CRONOS headset. The CRONOS is part of the eSports lineup of gear at Thermaltake. Thermaltake has pushed the bar, time and time again, releasing all around great products which focus on their gaming line. The Tt eSPORTS line has something for every type of gaming style on the market. Today we are going to be reviewing the Tt eSPORTS CRONOS headset to see if it is a perfect fit for you.

Read more: Tt eSPORTS CRONOS Gaming Headset Review @ ThinkComputers.org

SteelSeries 5Hv3 Gaming Headset Review @ Legit Reviews

The flavor of multiplayer games over the years has changed, but team communication has remained a staple. Though the big days of cooperative multiplayer online games such as World of Warcraft are decaying out of age, a surge of competitive multiplayer games has driven a continued need for gaming headsets. SteelSeries has been keen to push its name within the competitive gaming scene and has become a highly recognizable brand as a result. On the 5Hv3 box, SteelSeries proudly associates itself with four accomplished esport organizations: NaVi, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Tyloo, and Fnatic.

Read more: SteelSeries 5Hv3 Gaming Headset Review @ Legit Reviews

CM Storm Quickfire Stealth Mechanical Keyboard @ Modders-Inc

The CM Storm division added another keyboard to their Quickfire line: the QuickFire Stealth. The name gives away little about the keyboard, but do not let that fool you.

Read more: CM Storm Quickfire Stealth Mechanical Keyboard @ Modders-Inc

Corsair RM Series 750 W @ techPowerUp

We recently tested one of Corsair's RM PSUs and today have the chance to check out the 750 W model. Like all RM units it comes with Gold efficiency, low operational noise, and a fully modular cabling design.

Read more: Corsair RM Series 750 W @ techPowerUp

HIS Radeon R9 270X IceQ X2 Turbo Boost Video Card Review @ Benchmark Reviews

In this next installment of AMD's GPU 14 R9 line-up, Benchmark Reviews will be testing the HIS Radeon R9 270X IceQ X² Turbo Boost 2GB video card. As the name suggests, this particular model features the high end IceQ X2 cooler from the HIS labs and much faster Core and Memory speeds. I have seen the evolution of this cooler first hand and I know it to be fully capable. Two 89mm dual axial fans and five 6mm heatpipes ensure that your temperatures will stay well within safe limits.

Read more: HIS Radeon R9 270X IceQ X2 Turbo Boost Video Card Review @ Benchmark Reviews

Cooler Master Silencio 352 Review @ HCW

A week or so ago, we published our Gigabyte Z87M-D3H as part of our new focus on small form factor gaming PCs. There’s no question that this is the way of the future for a lot of people, especially those who want to game in their living rooms. If you are looking to put together a SteamOS gaming build, this is the kind of case you’ll be looking at.

The question is, what do you give up when building a mATX gaming rig? Are you limited to weak video cards? What about cooling? Will the case be a huge tangled mess of cables coming from the PSU? With the Cooler Master Silencio 852 at least, you might be pleasantly surprised by how much power you can fit into it.

Read more: Cooler Master Silencio 352 Review @ HCW

Apple iPhone 5s Review @ Techspot

The oft predictable Apple mixed things up a bit this year by releasing not one, but two handsets: the iPhone 5s and the 5c. As an incremental update, the flagship 5s borrows heavily from its predecessor which in theory would encourage many to play the waiting game for one more year to see what sort of new design Cupertino comes up with for the iPhone 6.

You wouldn’t know it’s an incremental update based on early sales figures, however. Apple managed to move more than nine million iPhones during launch weekend a few weeks ago and early reports suggest the 5s was the top-selling phone at all four major US carriers in September -- surprisingly, it's the cheaper 5c that is not doing as well. That said, there is some new technology inside the 5s that is partly responsible for its early success, namely the all-new 64-bit A7 processor and the Touch ID fingerprint reader built into the phone's Home button.

Read more: Apple iPhone 5s Review @ Techspot

Day One: Garry's Incident Review @ OCC

As I mentioned earlier in the review, I do not feel the current $20 price tag is justified at this time, but with a little work, Wild Games Studio can certainly change that. The studio has already done a great job squashing bugs and fulfilling player requests (including FOV adjustment added just prior to release based on customer feedback), so the potential is certainly there. At the very least, add Day One to your wishlist so Steam notifies you when it goes on sale. By the time the next big Steam Sale comes around, the game may be updated enough where it becomes a steal.

Read more: Day One: Garry's Incident Review @ OCC

AMD Radeon R9 290X BioShock 4K Performance vs GTX 780 Revealed @ HardwareHeaven.com

A few hours ago AMD notified the press that today they would allow publishing of select information on R9 290X performance. That performance was to be a single benchmark, Bioshock Infinite, at 4K resolution (3840x2160) and against the GTX 780.

Read more: AMD Radeon R9 290X BioShock 4K Performance vs GTX 780 Revealed @ HardwareHeaven.com

SanDisk Extreme II 240GB SSD @ Custom PC Review

Despite being one of the lucky few who own their own NAND fab and their own controller technology (albeit slow and outdated), when it comes to SSDs SanDisk isn’t usually a name you’d hear too often. While SanDisk has been in the SSD game for a very, very long time, most of their business is conducted with OEMs and SI’s with SanDisk generally supplying their SSDs in off the shelf ultraportable notebooks and Ultrabooks.

Prior to the Extreme II, SanDisk really hasn’t done very much in the consumer space. In early 2012, they released the original Extreme, which was a decent product, but it was built with the completely off the shelf SandForce SF-2281 controller packaged with a pretty much the vanilla SandForce firmware. Considering the fact that any OEM out there looking to put together a SSD can do the exact same thing, it didn’t make much sense given the fact that SanDisk has such extensive knowledge in controller technology and firmware design. They simply had the resources and the technical ability to do so much more…

Read more: SanDisk Extreme II 240GB SSD @ Custom PC Review

Internal AMD benchmarks show R9 290X beating GTX 780 @ The Tech Report

Journalists (including TR's Scott Wasson) are gathered in Montreal this week for an Nvidia event. It so happens that AMD is right next door to the Nvidia venue, armed with one of its upcoming Radeon R9 290X graphics cards—and it's taken the opportunity to release some internal benchmarks comparing that card to Nvidia's GeForce GTX 780.

Read more: Internal AMD benchmarks show R9 290X beating GTX 780 @ The Tech Report

NVIDIA Reveals Powerful Game Development Tools: Flex, GI Works, Flame Works and More @ HotHardware

NVIDIA is holding a tech event currently in Montreal to showcase a number of the tools and technologies that the company has developed to push the state of the art in game development. The event is taking place over the next two days and we're told there will be a number of newsworthy items revealed.

One rather impressive demo of NVIDIA's Flame Works film-quality volumetric effects really caught our eye...

Read more: NVIDIA Reveals Powerful Game Development Tools: Flex, GI Works, Flame Works and More @ HotHardware

Pokemon X and Y Video Review with Kaeyi Dream @ HardwareHeaven.com

Today Kaeyi Dream reviews Pokemon X and Y for the Nintendo 3DS. Check out her video now.

Read more: Pokemon X and Y Video Review with Kaeyi Dream @ HardwareHeaven.com

The Workstation & Server CPU Comparison Guide Rev. 6.4 @ Tech ARP

Currently covering *699 workstation and server CPUs*, this comprehensive comparison will allow you to easily compare up to *20 different specifications* for each and every CPU.

Here's what we updated in this new release :

*- Added the AMD Opteron X2150 quad-core processor.
- Added the AMD Opteron X1150 quad-core processor.
- Added the AMD Opteron 4365 EE 8-core processor.
- Added the AMD Opteron 3365 8-core processor.
- Updated the Maximum Temperature specifications of the AMD Opteron 6300 family of processors.
- Updated the Maximum Temperature specifications of the AMD Opteron 4300 family of processors.
- Updated the Maximum Temperature specifications of the AMD Opteron 3300 family of processors.

Read more: The Workstation & Server CPU Comparison Guide Rev. 6.4 @ Tech ARP

Seagate 600 Series 240 GB / 480 SSD review: affordable and fast enough? @ Hardware.Info

With the 600 series SSDs, hard disk manufacturer Seagate wants to make a dent in the booming SSD market. Do the established brands need to worry?

The company acquired a lot of knowledge and expertise before launching the 600 series for consumers earlier this year, and the 600 Pro series for professional use. We tested the 240GB ann 480GB versions of the 600 series.

Read more: Seagate 600 Series 240 GB / 480 SSD review: affordable and fast enough? @ Hardware.Info

Kingston HyperX Genesis 8GB DDR3-1600 Na'Vi Limited Edition Memory Review @ Funky Kit

Kingston recently released limited edition products designed in cooperation with professional gaming team - Na'Vi. There are couple of products under this new brand like SSD or RAM.

Today we are going to present Kingston HyperX Genesis 8GB DDR3-1600 CL9 Limited Na'Vi Edition memory. Let's check how this gaming series looks like in our tests.

Read more: Kingston HyperX Genesis 8GB DDR3-1600 Na'Vi Limited Edition Memory Review @ Funky Kit

Noctua NH-U12S and NH-U14S CPU Cooler Review @ Hardware-360

There is no other component in a computer that both manages to fascinate yet bore me at the same time as the CPU cooling system. They may seem like simple devices but the amount of engineering that goes on to crafting one is a lot more complex than normally thought of. A well-crafted heat sink not only performs well but often looks good when mounted. Even the fans that come with most premium heat sinks may seem simple but looking at the development history of a particular product or brand can show just how much science and design went into crafting an item whose primary purpose is to move air.

Proper heat sink engineering requires precision and there is one brand in the CPU cooling business who enthusiasts readily recognize not just from their unique color scheme but also for their standards and excellent build quality. Noctua continuously strives to produce top notch system cooling that has been imitated for years but the results are never duplicated. Modern processors have now moved toward power-efficient designs but the need for optimal cooling for overclocking purposes remains, so Noctua has upgraded their H-series line in response.

Read more: Noctua NH-U12S and NH-U14S CPU Cooler Review @ Hardware-360