Here a roundup of the latest reviews and articles:

AMD Launches Radeon R9 380X: Full-Featured Tonga at $229 for the Holidays
AMD Radeon R9 380X Nitro Launch Review
AMD Radeon R9 380X Review
AMD Radeon R9 380X Review: Mainstream GPU Speed Boost
Asus R9 380X Strix OC
ASUS Radeon R9 380X Strix 4GB
ASUS Strix R9 380X DirectCU II OC Review
Asus STRIX R9 380X OC Review
Best SSDs: Holiday 2015
Gigabyte Z170X-UD5 Review
Huawei SmartWatch Review
iClever Dual USB Travel Wall & USB Travel Charger Review
Intel Core i7 Broadwell-E launch set for Q2 2016 suggests leak
Linksys LCAB03VLNOD 1080p 3MP Outdoor Night Vision Bullet Camera Review
Moto X Style Review
OnePlus X Review: Not bad for $249, assuming you can actually buy one
Razer Diamondback 2015
Sapphire Radeon R9 380X NITRO 4GB Review
Sapphire Radeon R9 380X Nitro Review
Sony Xperia Z5 Review: The best water resistant design
The AMD Radeon R9 380X Review
Thermaltake Suppressor F31 Case Review
XFX AMD Radeon R9 380X Review
XFX Radeon R9 380X DD Review

AMD Launches Radeon R9 380X: Full-Featured Tonga at $229 for the Holidays

Back in September of 2014 AMD released their first Graphics Core Next 1.2 GPU, Tonga, which was the GPU at the heart of the Radeon R9 285. For all intents and purposes Tonga was the modern successor to AMD’s original GCN GPU, Tahiti, packing in the same 32 CUs and 32 ROPs, while other features such as color compression allowed AMD to trim the memory bus to 256-bits wide without a performance hit. With Tahiti slowly going out of date from a feature perspective, Tonga was an interesting and unprecedented mid-cycle refresh of a GPU.

However in the 14 months since the launch of the first Tonga product AMD has never released a fully enabled desktop SKU, until now. Radeon R9 285 utilized a partially disabled Tonga – only 28 of 32 CUs were enabled – and while it was refreshed as the Radeon R9 380 as part of the Radeon 300 series launch, a fully enabled version of Tonga only showed up in mobile, where in the form of the R9 M295X it was used in the 27” iMac. In its place AMD continued selling the Tahiti based Radeon R9 280 series for much longer than we would have expected, leading to an atypical situation for AMD where a card using the fully enabled GPU is only now showing up over a year later. In some ways Radeon R9 380X is a card we were starting to think we’d never see.

Read full article @ Anandtech

AMD Radeon R9 380X Nitro Launch Review

Tonga’s been around for more than a year now, and it’s taken all this time for it to finally be available for regular desktop PCs. Before now, this configuration was exclusively offered for a different platform. But does it still make sense today?

Read full article @ Toms Hardware

AMD Radeon R9 380X Review

Although the Radeon R9 380X is based on the latest Graphics Core Next architecture, at its roots you will find a graphics card that is almost four years old now, the venerable Radeon HD 7970. Debuting back in 2012, the 7970 ran for a cool $550 and was at the time AMD's flagship part. The R9 380X starts at $230, but does it deliver?

Read full article @ Techspot

AMD Radeon R9 380X Review: Mainstream GPU Speed Boost

AMD is poised to make a lot of noise as we head into the holiday shopping season. The Radeon Technology Group has already announced its Radeon Software Crimson Edition, which completely revamps the company’s GPU software suite, and promises improved stability and performance. And that insane, dual-Fiji powered graphics card we had the opportunity to show you back during E3 in June, probably isn’t too far off either. Today though, it’s the mid-range GPU market that’s getting a shot of adrenaline.

As much as we all love uber-powerful, high-end graphics cards around these here parts, it’s in the more mainstream price segments where AMD and NVIDIA sell the bulk of their GPUs. Although AMD’s mid-range GPU line-up has been relatively strong for a while now, the company is launching the new Radeon R9 380X today with the goal of taking down competing graphics cards like the popular GeForce GTX 960...

Read full article @ HotHardware.Com

Asus R9 380X Strix OC

When it comes to picking out a video card for your PC, I think we would all go with the top end cards if it was possible. But the truth is when we are picking out our components it is all a balance. We have to make sure that no one component gets the biggest portion of the budget, the card has to fit the budget, and it also has to fit with your other components. In other words, you wouldn’t go with a Fury if you could only afford a power supply that would power an R7 370. Because of that it is nice to have options and for the most part AMD has done a good job filling in the gaps. The one glaring omission though has been the lack of a 380X to match the 370X and 390X’s in their product line. Well today they have filled that gap. So today I’m going to dig into the Asus R9 380X Strix and find out what sets the 380X apart from the competition as well as the 380 and 390 that it sits between.

Read full article @ LanOC Revews

ASUS Radeon R9 380X Strix 4GB

Today AMD launches their Radeon R9 380X, which is built on the company's fully unlocked Tonga silicon with 2048 shaders. In terms of price and performance the card sits right in the middle of GTX 960 and GTX 970, where it is supposed to capture market share from the green team.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

ASUS Strix R9 380X DirectCU II OC Review

For many gamers the sweet spot for graphics cards is around the £200 mark. Over the years this has been a truly competitive sector with both AMD and NVIDIA vying aggressively for market share. With this specifically in mind AMD have just updated their range, releasing the R9 380X which the company claim will hit retail at £199.99 inc vat. So how does it stack up?

Read full article @ KitGuru

Asus STRIX R9 380X OC Review

The new AMD Radeon R9 380X is the very latest midrange graphics card from the big Texan GPU maker, and should be filtering into shops and onto the e-shelves as you read this.Asus' STRIX brand is its gaming-centric option and, as such, this owl-eyed version of the R9 380X comes with a little factory overclocking and a very tasty cooling array.But to really call the R9 380X itself a new card is something of a misnomer. That's not to say the R9 380X's Tonga XT chip isn't an advanced graphics core. In fact, after the Fiji GPUs that have gone into AMD's R9 Fury, Fury X and Nano cards, it's the most advanced chip AMD has got in its armoury.

Read full article @ Techradar

Best SSDs: Holiday 2015

For todays holiday buyers guide were taking a look at SSDs. SSD prices have dropped a lot since last years recommendations, but our recommendations havent shifted much. High-end SATA SSDs have hit their limit for performance. The value segment of the market has seen a flood of drives using TLC flash, but none of them have brought prices down far enough to justify the power and performance penalties they pay relative to MLC drives. Samsung still holds the clear lead for the transitions to 3D NAND and PCIe interfaces.

The most significant development in the past year has been the release of many good drives using Silicon Motions SM2246EN controller paired with 1x nm MLC flash. These drives are preventing TLC from taking over the low-end segment: most SM2246EN drives offer performance thats within spitting distance of high-end SATA SSDs for typical consumer workloads, some of the best power efficiency weve measured, and prices to match or beat TLC drives.

The other big shift in the market is that the 120-128GB capacity class is fading away, with many new models starting at 240-256GB. When using 128Gb NAND chips, 128GB drives arent large enough to provide the full performance modern SSD controllers are capable of. 128GB drives also carry an increasingly steep premium in terms of price per GB, whereas 256GB and 512GB drives are priced very similarly at the moment. Unless youre quite sure that you wont need more than 120GB, the sensible buy will almost always be to move up to a 240+GB size.

Read full article @ Anandtech

Gigabyte Z170X-UD5 Review

One drawback that was obvious right from the start was that I was seeing lower levels of performance running at stock speeds. What I found was that the board only boosts one core up to 4.2GHz, following Intel's specification to the letter. This is something the comparison boards don't quite follow. By that I mean that the comparison boards boost up all the cores rather than just a single core. It is a point of difference at stock speeds that can easily be overcome with the push of a button. Stock performance aside, the board is fully stable and offers a lot of options for the end user. At $169 after rebate from e-tailers, it's tough to look the other way when you have a capable board in your hands. As an added bonus, you can register the Z170X-UD5 and throw your name into the hat for some serious Gigabyte gear.

Read full article @ OCC

Huawei SmartWatch Review

With the holidays approaching, we have seen a large number of wearable electronics to hit shelves. While many of these devices are fun, there are few that are functional and stylish. Many of the fitness bands look pretty much like oversized rubber bands on your wrist, while some smartwatches are oversized and gaudy. Today, we take a look at a watch that is incredibly stylish as well as functional: the Smartwatch by Huawei.

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

iClever Dual USB Travel Wall & USB Travel Charger Review

With all the fancy electronics we have around us these days the number one priority to this wireless world is keeping our devices charged. iClever has blessed us with some assistance from there outstanding SmartID technology put into two of their newest chargers. The iClever Dual USB Wall Charger and the 4-Port USB Travel Desktop Charger.

Read full article @ TechnologyX

Intel Core i7 Broadwell-E launch set for Q2 2016 suggests leak

An updated Intel processor roadmap has been published by a Chinese tech site. Earlier this week we reported on another Chinese leak, which provided the specifications of Intel's Core i7 Broadwell-E HEDT range of processors. The top of the range Core i7-6950X grabbed our attention as it comes equipped with 10 physical CPU cores and support for 20 threads. This chip also stands out from the pack thanks to its 'eXtreme' overclockability via an unlocked multiplier and voltage tweaking flexibility.

Read full article @ Hexus

Linksys LCAB03VLNOD 1080p 3MP Outdoor Night Vision Bullet Camera Review

Where i live we may not have the freedom to have guns at home or carry them around for personal protection but that doesn't mean there aren't many other ways for someone to increase the level of security both at home and at work. One of the easiest ways and also one we've focused on quite a bit over the years is the installation of an IP camera which people can use to live stream everything it sees either onto their computer or their mobile devices via both wired and wireless modes. However there are many aspects one needs to take into account before getting an IP camera aside connectivity such as enclosure quality/endurance, enclosure type (bullet or dome), usage (indoor or outdoor), recording resolution, lens angle, night vision range, microSD/SD card recording, available software features and last but not least warranty period. As part of our review schedule inside 2015 we received the LCAB03VLNOD 1080p 3MP Outdoor Night Vision Bullet Camera by Linksys and today several months later (sorry for that Linksys) we can finally post our review.

The Linksys brand has pioneered wireless connectivity since its inception in 1988 with its leading innovation and engineering strategies, and best-in-class technology, design, and customer service. Linksys enables a connected lifestyle for people at home, at work and on the move, and with its award-winning products, simplifies home control, entertainment, security and Internet access through innovative features and a growing application and partner ecosystem. Linksys is part of Belkin International.

Although Linksys markets the LCAB03VLNOD as a 1080p (1920x1080 @30fps), 3MP (megapixel) outdoor IP camera that's not really the case since inside its IP67 certified enclosure (it's both weatherproof and vandal proof) it features a 5MP CMOS sensor which can output a maximum resolution of 1536p (2048x1536 @18fps). The LCAB03VLNOD can also record in H.264/MJPEG/MPEG4 (on a drive and/or the built-in microSD card slot), features two-way audio (receive/transmit), fully supports ONVIF 1.0/2.0 standards, is PoE IEEE 802.3af (Power Over Ethernet) compatible and uses F1.4 vari-focal lens (variable focal length - 3.2x Optical Zoom) which feature a viewing horizontal angle of up to 70 degrees (51 degrees vertical) with a minimum illumination of 0.5 lux which drops to 0 once all of its 24 IR LEDs are turned on. Honestly just the specs sheet of the LCAB03VLNOD is enough to impress but since over the years we've learned the hard way that specifications are not always "on par" with the product let's continue with our in-depth review.

Read full article @ NikKTech

Moto X Style Review

Motorola's handset impresses in the display, performance and software departments. THE MOTO X STYLE sits at the top of Motorola's 2015 smartphone line-up, offering a premium alternative to the Moto X Play and Moto G.

It offers top-end specs with a QHD resolution screen, 21MP camera and waterproof case, but costs just £399, much less than many of its competitors' offerings.

Read full article @ The Inquirer

OnePlus X Review: Not bad for $249, assuming you can actually buy one

A lame invite system puts a damper on a low price and great build quality.

Read full article @ ArsTechnica

Razer Diamondback 2015

Hello hardware enthusiast. We are now going to take a look at the beautiful re-imagining of the legendary Razer Diamondback. Originally designed with the help of the greatest eSports athletes of the time period, the 2004 World Cyber Games saw the debut of the Diamondback featuring the world’s first optical gaming sensor. The Diamondback took the world by storm, garnering an extensive list of awards, including Hardware of the Year 2004 (Gamespot), Editor’s Choice (PC Gamer), and Editor’s Choice (Computer Gaming World) to name a few on the list, and went on to become one of the best selling mice of all time. Now back once again with the ill behavior, the Razer Diamondback is ready to once again make some waves in the peripheral scene. Featuring an entirely new design that has stayed completely ambidextrous, the latest version of the Razer Diamondback includes the seamless function of Razer Synapse with Chroma 16.8 million color option customization ability backed with the world’s most precise gaming mouse sensor with 16,000 DPI.

Read full article @ Bjorn3D

Sapphire Radeon R9 380X NITRO 4GB Review

In this review we look at the the new AMD Radeon R9 380X 4GB. In the 260 EURO range Thus puppy is rendering your games at very nice performance, even in the WQHD 2560x1440 range. And all that at a very reasonable price as well. With 4GB as standard for graphics memory you can game with decent image quality settings as well. Follow us into this review where we'll look at temperatures, noise, performance and go with the latest game titles on the globe.

The Radeon R9 380X graphics cards will be made available in 4 GB versions, you will also spot both reference and slightly tweaked SKUs. The GPU used in thus puppy is based off Tonga which you know from the Radeon R9 285 (these days called Antigua Pro aka Radeon R9 380). This GPU used here is Antigua XT and is a fully utilized (enabled) version of the GPU, meaning that this GPU will have more shader processors available. Made on the 28nm node from Global Foundries it features the latest architectural improvements with decent power efficiency. The GPU retains technologies of the Radeon GCN lineup such as DirectX 12, FreeSync and XDMA for CrossFire support. The GPU has 2048 shader processors running over 32 ROPs with 112 texture memory units. The initial consumer graphics card based on Antigua Pro is the Radeon R9 380 with 1792 activated stream processors, the Antigua XT for the Radeon R9 380X that we review today is the same GPU again with 32 shader clusters opened up, and that is 32x64= 2048 active shader processors. The reference cards will have two 6-pin power PEG (PCI Express Graphics) headers to give the tweaking experience a little more room next to the 4+2 PWM phase power design. Overall a very decent card to play the latest games with whilst offering a good memory size versus good price in the 1920x1080 and even 2560x1440P monitor resolutions.

Read full article @ Guru3D

Sapphire Radeon R9 380X Nitro Review

AMD hits a sweet spot with full-fat Antigua XT. AMD continues to hold a soft spot in the hearts of many enthusiasts, but as 2015 draws to a close even the company's most fervent fans would have to agree, these are tough times for the industry's favourite underdog.

The firm's CPUs serve almost exclusively as minor-league alternatives to Intel's big-game players, and there are similar concerns in the desktop graphics space, where AMD continues to lose ground on rival Nvidia. Despite the launch of the HBM-equipped, liquid-cooled, all-singing, all-dancing Radeon R9 Fury X, Nvidia's market share continues to climb and has now risen to over 80 per cent.

Read full article @ Hexus

Sony Xperia Z5 Review: The best water resistant design

The Sony Xperia Z5 has, on paper, everything you’d want from a high-end smartphone. There’s a 23-megapixel camera on the back with “Hybrid Autofocus”, a 5.2-inch 1080p display powered by a Snapdragon 810 SoC, microSD support, fingerprint reader and two days of battery life in a 7.3mm thin water resistant body. Unfortunately, there’s no USB Type-C or Android 6.0, so it’s lagging behind the latest Nexus phones in that regard.

Read full article @ Techspot

The AMD Radeon R9 380X Review

It has been a while since we’ve seen a new graphics card launch, the last of which was AMD’s capable little Nano. Historically, the time right before and during key events in the retail calendar like Black Friday and the Christmas shopping season is low time for new GPU products but high time for A-list game releases. GPU vendors typically hunker down with their existing wares and avoid launching anything new into an environment that’s rife with heavily discounted merchandise. AMD is bucking that trend by introducing the R9 380X, a $230 card that may prove to be a lynchpin within their lineup in the coming months.

With the R9 380X, AMD is trying to thread a very thin needle with a product many had expected months ago. A price of $230 for reference-clocked versions and up to $260 for higher performing models means (if everything goes according to plan) it should be able to overcome the lower priced $210 GTX 960 4GB while plugging a gap between the R9 390 and R9 380 in AMD’s product stack. However, overclocked versions come perilously close to the pricing structure of AMD’s R9 390 ($290-$300) and NVIDIA’s GTX 970 ($299 after rebates, with a free game) and that could pose a problem as gamers seek an optimal price / performance ratio for their purchases. This is a pricing segment that has been oddly underserved in the last year or so and with good reason: it is book-ended by extremely capable options.

Read full article @ Hardware Canucks

Thermaltake Suppressor F31 Case Review

Back in June we took a look at Thermaltake’s Suppressor F51 was and we were quite impressed. So impressed that we gave it a perfect 10 out of 10 score and our Recommended Award. The case is actually still in use as the case for our video encoding machine since it is so quiet. Today Thermaltake brings us the Suppressor F31 which is a small step down from the F51 as it only supports motherboards up to ATX, has a different fan configuration, and less hard drive space. Thermaltake has actually taken the time to re-tool the case and make it wider for easy cable routing behind the motherboard tray, and they have created some pretty cool accessories for the case as well. Let's take a look and see what they've done!

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

XFX AMD Radeon R9 380X Review

It’s new GPU time again and today that means a release by AMD. They are filling a gap between their R9 380 and R9 390 with the 380X and we have an overclocked, custom designed model from XFX to review. We’ll be comparing it to the closest NVIDIA card in popular and recently launched games such as Star Wars: Battlefront and Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, welcome to our XFX AMD Radeon R9 380X Review.

Read full article @ Hardwareheaven

XFX Radeon R9 380X DD Review

Over a year ago, AMD released the Tonga-based R9 285 video card. It had a mission to take over the fight for the $250 MSRP price segment from the R9 280, with the prime target being the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760. Back then I looked at the PowerColor R9 285 TurboDuo version which performed nicely, accomplishing its main objective and establishing a solid offer from the Red team in a critical market segment. Fast forward a few months and the Tonga GPU was reborn as Antigua during the controversial Radeon 300 series release. The chip was at the heart of the R9 380 which traded blows with the GTX 960 without managing to steal the spotlight from the competition.

Today, AMD - or should I say the Radeon Technologies Group - will be launching the new R9 380X. The refined GCN 1.2 GPU brings more to the table than what was offered with the R9 380. It sports 2048 Stream processors, 128 Texture units, and 32 ROPs. In terms of memory configuration, we get 4GB of GDDR5 running at up to 1,425MHz on a 256-bit interface. The TBP (Typical Board Power) stays unchanged however at 190W. The feature set is also quite impressive, with support for DirectX 12, FreeSync technology, Frame Rate Target Control, Virtual Super Resolution, and PowerTune Technology.

Looking at the beefed up specs and 190W TBP, I wasn't really surprised that AMD will not release a reference card for the R9 380X. Instead, multiple board partners will be releasing stock and factory overclocked cards. It was already confirmed that ASUS, Gigabyte, HIS, PowerColer, VTX3D, Sapphire, and XFX will have cards available by the time this article goes live. Officially, the AMD Radeon R9 380X retail prices will start at $229 USD with OC models expected to start at $239 USD. AMD is going after the obvious gap in the midrange market, aiming to establish its product between NVIDIA's GTX 960 and GTX 970. The Red Team is confident that the price/performance ratio of the R9 380X will make it an appealing choice for gamers still running GTX 660 and GTX 760 cards.

Read full article @ Neoseeker