Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles, including AMD readies native 16-core chips based on Steamroller, Gigabyte AMD Radeon R9 290X WF OC (GV-R929XOC-4GD) Video Card Review, Icy Dock ToughArmor MB992SK-B 3.5" SATA Mobile Rack Review, AMD Kaveri: Gallium3D vs. Catalyst Drivers, and Three A88X motherboards tested: ASRock, ASUS and Gigabyte



AMD readies native 16-core chips based on Steamroller

Contemporary multi-core AMD Opteron microprocessors for high-end servers utilize multi-chip-module (MCM) technology that places two six-/eight-core dies onto the same piece of substrate to create 12-core or 16-core solutions. However, a new document from AMD suggests that the chip designer is working on native 16-core processors with all cores on the same die.

Read more: AMD readies native 16-core chips based on Steamroller

Silverstone Strider Gold S Series 750 W @ techPowerUp

Silverstone has a rich portfolio of PSU offerings and recently released a new line, the Strider Gold S series, which includes the world's smallest fully modular ATX PSUs. We will take a look at the ST75F-GS unit, having Gold efficiency and Silverstone's great look.

Read more: Silverstone Strider Gold S Series 750 W @ techPowerUp

Gigabyte AMD Radeon R9 290X WF OC (GV-R929XOC-4GD) Video Card Review @ Madshrimps

Gigabyte has recently launched another model of the Radeon R9 290X video card, this time sporting the proven WindForce 3X cooler which guarantees cooling performance while keeping the noise at low levels. Besides this we will also find a mild overclock on the GPU from the start, so it will distance itself from the rest of OEM stock solutions.

Read more: Gigabyte AMD Radeon R9 290X WF OC (GV-R929XOC-4GD) Video Card Review @ Madshrimps

Icy Dock ToughArmor MB992SK-B 3.5" SATA Mobile Rack Review @ HiTech Legion

At this point I am finding a common theme from people, they are concerned about backing up information. But, at the same time they want to have a central point to stream music, movies, and photos from. The Cloud is certainly the in thing for storing your backups, but others like myself are concerned about what companies can do with their data, or what might happen in the instance of a breach. Look at what happened with Target during Christmas time, the widespread breach of credit card data is still being felt by many, and the true size of the breach is still unknown.

Read more: Icy Dock ToughArmor MB992SK-B 3.5" SATA Mobile Rack Review @ HiTech Legion

Roam Mobility User Review @ TechnologyX

I just returned from a week in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show, checked my data usage and compared it to what it would have cost with any Canadian company at a low (NOT!) $6/MB for data. Considering the fact that I had used 320MB of data, the price tag with my provider, Bell, would have been a whopping $1920 for that data alone. Talked into Roam Mobility for the week, unlimited US talk, unlimited international text, 2GB of high-speed data, tethering and voicemail cost me all of $27.95 CDN. Forgive my rant but we need to find a way to break free of a system where the big three˜ can pay off governments to maintain sky-high prices and prevent fair competition. How is it that I could make countless calls from Las Vegas to Ontario for that $27.95, and without a single roaming fee?

Read more: Roam Mobility User Review @ TechnologyX

AMD Kaveri: Gallium3D vs. Catalyst Drivers @ Phoronix

Now having looked at the Windows 8.1 vs. Ubuntu Linux performance, carried out an initial GPU comparison, and compared several Intel/AMD processors, our latest performance investigation with AMD's A10-7850K "Kaveri" APU is looking at the Radeon R7 Graphics performance on Ubuntu Linux when using the open-source "RadeonSI" Gallium3D driver and then using the closed-source AMD Catalyst driver.

All the published AMD Kaveri Linux benchmarks up to this point have been with the AMD Catalyst Linux graphics driver. As outlined in my original AMD Kaveri Linux article, the open-source Linux GPU driver support for this GCN-based APU isn't quite baked at this point.

Read more: AMD Kaveri: Gallium3D vs. Catalyst Drivers @ Phoronix

Patriot Spark 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive @ NikKTech

The Nineteen Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case which we had the pleasure of reviewing two days ago is one of those products which prove that larger is always better but that doesn't really apply for everything in this industry especially when it comes to USB flash drives. Luckily that's something everyone agrees on and so most manufacturers have been doing their best to cut down the size of USB flash drives for a while now. The issue with that however is that currently most tiny USB flash drives are not only average in terms of design and build quality but they are also USB 2.0 compatible only so in the end size means very little when you need quite a bit of time to even fill just 16GB. Well it seems that Patriot may have the answer with their latest and quite elegant Spark USB 3.0 USB Flash Drive which we have here with us today.

Read more: Patriot Spark 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive @ NikKTech

Western Digital My Cloud Review: The $150 personal cloud @ ArsTechnica

WD's small single-disk network storage system is surprisingly cheap and good.

In the consumer electronics world, simplicity is king. Manufacturers must constantly struggle to balance power and complexity with ease of use. Western Digital has been walking that tightrope for a while now with its My Book line of personal storage products, trying to pack in features without making the devices too difficult to use. Last year we saw the company try its hand at a networked solution with the My Book Live, and now it's taking this idea a bit further with the WD My Cloud. My Cloud is a set of personal "cloud-in-a-box" products designed to not just store your stuff, but to let you take it outside of your home. Could this be the network storage system for the layman?

Read more: Western Digital My Cloud Review: The $150 personal cloud @ ArsTechnica

Three A88X motherboards tested: ASRock, ASUS and Gigabyte @ Hardware.Info

AMD recently released its new generation Kaveri APUs with integrated GPU. These require a Socket FM2+ processor socket. FM2+ boards came out long before the new processors, as they are backwards compatible and work with FM processors. We recently reviewed the Gigabyte G1.Sniper A88X and today it's time for boards from ASRock and ASUS.

Like the Gigabyte board, the ASRock FM2A88X Extreme6+ and ASUS A88X-Pro use the AMD A88X chipset, a new version of the A85X that supports Kaveri. 

Read more: Three A88X motherboards tested: ASRock, ASUS and Gigabyte @ Hardware.Info