Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

Aerocool Aero-500 Windowed Mid-Tower Chassis Review
AMD vs. NVIDIA Vulkan & OpenGL Linux Performance With The New Drivers
Antec P380 Full-Tower Chassis Review
ASRock Z170 Extreme4+ Motherboard Review
Asus ProArt PA329Q 32 inch Colour Accurate 4K IPS Display Review
be quiet! Pure Power 9 600W PSU review
be quiet! Pure Power 9 700W Review
Be Quiet! Pure Power 9 CM 700 Watt PSU Review
Corsair Carbide 400Q
Griffin Trainer Hip Belt for Smartphones Review
Hands-on review: Dell Vostro 3900
Hitcase Pro for iPhone Review
Hykso Boxing Sensors Review: Wearable Technology And Fitness Collide
Patriot Viper Elite DDR4-3000 16GB Memory Kit Review
QPAD DX-20 Review
Samsung 950 Pro 256GB RAID Report
Smanos W020i WiFi Alarm System Review
Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM) 6.0 Review
Tested: The Galaxy S7's always-on display consumes very little battery
Virtual reality cost of admission: Platform requirements and bundles detailed

Aerocool Aero-500 Windowed Mid-Tower Chassis Review

Aerocool is back on eTeknix once again and today, we’ll be taking a look at their budget friendly mid-tower, the Aerocool Aero-500. There’s a big market for affordable cases with great amounts of component compatibility and the Aero-500 certainly ticks a lot of the right boxes. You’ll find it capable of housing a high-end gaming system, some water cooling, long graphics cards, and much more and that’s sure to make it appeal to a wide range of system builders, especially given its affordable price.

With a long history of creating some fantastic chassis, Aerocool are always a welcome site here at eTeknix. Sure, we love our flagship models with crazy spec and price tags, but every now and then, a down to Earth and affordable product is just as good, especially given that these are the products people are more likely to actually invest in for their own system.

Read full article @ eTeknix

AMD vs. NVIDIA Vulkan & OpenGL Linux Performance With The New Drivers

The AMD GPU-PRO Beta driver stack released last week was used on the Radeon side. On the NVIDIA side was the 364.12 beta driver made public on Monday. All of the tests happened on an Ubuntu 16.04 x86_64 system (Linux 4.4) with Intel Xeon E3-1280 v5 Skylake processor that has a 3.7GHz base clock frequency and 4.0GHz boost frequency. The system was utilizing a MSI C236A Workstation motherboard, 16GB of DDR4-2133 EUDIMM, and 120GB Samsung SSD 850. The AMD graphics cards in my possession that are natively supported by the AMDGPU kernel driver as mandated by the GPU-PRO stack is the GCN 1.2 based R9 285 (Tonga) and R9 Fury (Fiji). The PRO stack with its DKMS module does enable the experimental CIK/GCN1.1 support, so I was also able to test a Radeon R9 290 (Hawaii) as part of the mix. On the NVIDIA side, thanks to the company continuously sending out review samples for Linux testing, was the entire GTX 900 Maxwell line-up with the GeForce GTX 950, GTX 960, GTX 970, GTX 980, and GTX 980 Ti.

Read full article @ Phoronix

Antec P380 Full-Tower Chassis Review

Today we’re going to take a look at a bit of an older case made by Antec, named the P380. This case was originally unveiled for CES 2015 and launched several months later. Antec was always one of the go-to companies for PC cases, but over the years the Antec name has slipped away in favor of other brands. Let’s take a look and see what Antec is up to with this case.

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

ASRock Z170 Extreme4+ Motherboard Review

Although we haven't reviewed an ASRock motherboard in quite a while, their ascension in the market has been undeniable thanks in part to the fact that they release a huge number of models for every platform - 69 models and counting for Socket LGA1151 - and their willingness to promote some subversive features like Sky OC, which they were eventually forced to repeal under duress from Intel.

The Z170 Extreme4+ model that we are reviewing today is at the upper-end of the company's mainstream Z170 offerings, with a price tag that is attractive to American buyers ($160 USD) but less so for Canadian consumers ($270 CAD). Nevertheless, thanks to its positioning, it does come with just about everything you would want in a modern motherboard, except for any form of wireless connectivity. If that is not a deal-breaker for you, then you are left with a very well featured product.

The Z170 Extreme4+ features a 10-phase CPU power design, high-quality 12K Japanese capacitors, three physical PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots with support for 2-way SLI or 3-way CrossFireX, three PCI-E 3.0 x1 slots which are open-ended to accept longer expansion cards, six SATA 6Gb/s ports that can transformed into three SATA Express ports, and one full-speed M.2 socket with a PCI-E 3.0 x4 interface. There are also four high-speed USB 3.1 ports, two Type-A and two Type-C, up to eight USB 3.0 ports, up to four USB 2.0 ports, and even a header ASRock's Thunderbolt 2 AIC accessory.

Read full article @ Hardware Canucks

Asus ProArt PA329Q 32 inch Colour Accurate 4K IPS Display Review

The Asus ProArt PA329Q is the company’s new flagship professional-grade display for colour-accurate graphic design work. It’s a 32-inch screen, sporting a 10-bit IPS panel with a 14-bit look-up table, resulting in an impressive 100% quoted Adobe RGB coverage.

Read full article @ KitGuru

be quiet! Pure Power 9 600W PSU review

Today we are looking at one of the new power supplies from leading German brand be quiet! The new Pure Power 9 range is a dual 12V rail design which has achieved 80 Plus Silver certification. The new design adopts a 120mm noise optimised fan and is modular, with high grade flat cables set to aid the appearance of the final system build.

Read full article @ KitGuru

be quiet! Pure Power 9 700W Review

Be quiet!'s Pure Power 9 700W is a mid-range PSU offering 80Plus Silver certification and is produced by FSP (OEM). With a price of about US $100 you should not have to break a bank to afford it. Overall we're curious to find out what this unit can do.

Read full article @ ocaholic

Be Quiet! Pure Power 9 CM 700 Watt PSU Review

Be Quiet! (no, not you) has updated the Pure Power series towards revision 9 and tagged it with 'CM' for cable management. We test the new 700 Watt power supply. The series has been fiddled and fooled around with and comes with some new tweaks, features and hey now, is an 80 Plus Silver certified product series. With the ever-growing demand of power consumption this is a highly modular, with two 12V rails (for this 700 Watt model), highly energy efficient product that remains very silent. Now personally I say give me a single rail anytime of the day, but if you prefer multi-rails, here's your chance man!

Efficiency wise anno 2016 things just do not matter that much anymore, we have seen most power supplies move upwards into the region of gold/silver/platinum as well, everything else is already invented. So the only thing left is efficiency and making the best quality PSU your money can get you. The 700 Watt PSU as tested today has an 80 Plus Silver certification meaning at 50% load this puppy is 89% efficient (at 230V). Bronze, Silver are the more affordable units, but truthfully Gold or Platinum and Titanium is what you want, that upper stack in hardware is more expensive though. So, it's 89% efficient at 50% load at 230V and 88% at 110V. Efficiency matters; years ago PSUs were as low as 70% efficient (that's not a joke as efficiency simply was not a topic of discussion), meaning that 30% of the used power simply vanishes somewhere in that electric circuitry, whilst you are paying for it on that electricity bill. Allow me to explain a little more simply, if your components consume 500W directly from the PSU then with that 70% efficient product you'd actually use and draw 650W from your wall power socket. With a Silver certified PSU you'd be using 550W. The math is that simple.

Read full article @ Guru3D

Corsair Carbide 400Q

The Corsair Carbide 400 series is a smaller version of the 600 series. On paper, the case still reads like quite the potent enclosure without any real drawbacks in comparison to the Carbide 600 series, which is already extremely promising as it costs a full 50 US dollars less.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

Griffin Trainer Hip Belt for Smartphones Review

The Trainer Hip Belt is designed to carry most any size iPhone or Samsung Galaxy during workouts, on runs or just when out and about. It features four headphone openings for universal smartphone compatibility. While other running belts hide the phone out of the sight, Griffin provides a clear window for visualizing the display and easy interaction.

The Trainer Hip Belt has pockets for carrying a key and storing headphones. To help keep the user safe there are high-visibility reflective accents on the Trainer Hip Belt

The Trainer Hip Belt arrives in a cardboard box with it visualized through a clear plastic window on the right and a picture of a model wearing the belt on the left. The back of the box shows the Trainer Hip Belt and lists its features. On the side of the box is a compatibility list. The Griffin Trainer Hip Belt is designed to work with the iPhone 5 through iPhone 6S+ and the Samsung Galaxy S3 to S6 and Note 4 and Note 5.

Read full article @ Technogog

Hands-on review: Dell Vostro 3900

Although Dell has, for decades, been a staunch proponent of the direct sales model – which cuts out the middlemen – it has over the years mellowed and embraced the channel in order to boost its revenue streams. You can now buy Dell systems from a number of surprising outlets like Dabs, Amazon and even Tesco. We've been told that some vendors even manage to undercut Dell's own recommended retail price by ordering in bulk for certain products.

Read full article @ TechRadar

Hitcase Pro for iPhone Review

The Hitcase Pro is a rugged and waterproof iPhone case with a dynamic rail mount and interchangeable lens system, essentially turning your iPhone into a go-anywhere, shoot-anything action camera. Designed in Canada and manufactured in the U.S. isnt something you often associate with smartphones or big chunks of plastic, so I was surprised when I was given a rugged iPhone case sporting this claim to fame. So is this the perfect iPhone accessory for clumsy, nature-loving GoPro wielders?

Read full article @ MakeUseOf

Hykso Boxing Sensors Review: Wearable Technology And Fitness Collide

Boxing workout are increasingly becoming more popular. And a company named Hykso – which was recently backed by Y-Combinator – has developed a set of wearable punch tracking sensors that are targeted specifically for boxing. The Hykso Punch Tracking Sensors are designed for both professional boxers and fitness buffs that box as their preferred workout method. The sensors are still in the prototype phase, but we had a chance to experiment with them and were quite pleased with what we learned...

Read full article @ HotHardware

Patriot Viper Elite DDR4-3000 16GB Memory Kit Review

Patriot entered the DDR4 arena with their Viper 4 Series DDR4 memory. We reviewed both a quad channel kit for X99 and a dual channel kit for Z170. Now Patriot has unveiled the Viper Elite DDR4 memory, which is set to be their best and highest performance DDR4 memory available. This memory is available in dual channel 8GB and 16GB kits with speeds ranging from 2133 MHz all the way up 3200 MHz. It also features one of the coolest looking heatspreaders that we’ve seen in a long time! The kit we are taking a look at today is the PVE416G300C6KRD which is a 16GB (2x8GB) kit with speeds of 3000 MHz. It has official timings of 16-16-16-36 at 1.35V and is designed to perform best on Intel Z170 systems. Let’s get this memory in our test system and see what it can do!

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

QPAD DX-20 Review

It has been quite a while since QPAD have released a new mouse, and the DX-20 comes with a neat little back story as it is inspired by the 'legendary MS Intellimouse 1.1' to provide an ambidextrous shape suitable for both palm and claw grip types.

QPAD have equipped the DX-20 with the Pixart 3320 optical sensor that has a sensitivity of up to 3500 CPI (counts per inch) and provides zero acceleration for true 1:1 tracking. The 128kb on board memory will save your personal preferences for on the go plug&play convenience while OMRON switches for the main mouse buttons will ensure reliability. One of the more visually striking aspects of the DX-20 is the baseplate RGB LED lighting, giving a full surround glow of any colour of your choice which can then be complimented with the additional two lighting zones in the mouse wheel and the rear logo.

Read full article @ Vortez

Samsung 950 Pro 256GB RAID Report

Samsung's 256GB 950 Pro is an excellent way to get NVMe's low latency into your PC for less than $200. That made us wonder if using two drives in RAID 0 would offer a better value for enthusiasts looking for higher capacity and more performance.

Read full article @ Toms Hardware

Smanos W020i WiFi Alarm System Review

How many times have you left your home or office to go on a vacation but your mind stayed behind because you were afraid of what might happen while you were away? Well i don't know about you all but this happens a lot to me even when i leave for a single day so aside equipping our lab with several IP cameras set to record around the clock I’ve done the same at my place to try and put my mind at ease. However IP cameras on their own might just not be enough to keep potential burglars away so lately I’ve been scouring the market to see what kind of budget-friendly out of the box solutions are available for consumers who are looking for something easy both to setup and use. To my surprise there are actually quite a few available choices most of which come from a company named smanos and so today we're taking a closer look at their latest W020i WiFi Alarm System.

smanos is the brainchild of smanos and Chuango Technology Holdings, with a 16-year-long commitment to simplistic design and system reliability. Marketed and serviced from Amsterdam, smanos is our security, monitoring and automation solution portfolio for the global residential and SOHO market, especially targeted at retail channels in hardware/DIY building materials, consumer electronics and IT/mobile accessories. The US$1.4-million, 325-sqm/3,500-sqft facility just outside of Schiphol Airport is a multifunctional design, support and logistics center that facilitates the turning of popular demands, disruptive innovations and intuitive designs into palpable sensations. For the Americas market, smanos inc. is at your service from a 445-sqm/4,800-sqft equally multifunctional facility in Dallas, Texas.

The smanos W020i WiFi Alarm System consists of the central unit, IP6 WiFi HD Camera, remote control and two wireless window/door contact sensors (DS2300 models) so it pretty much has everything you need to setup a basic wireless alarm system. The central unit features a powerful build-in siren (105dB) which goes off in case one of the sensors is tampered with (or if you want it to go off by using the remote control or the smart android/iOS app) and a WiFi receiver/transmitter (IEEE802.11b/g/n) while the IP6 WiFi camera features two way audio/communication (via a built-in speaker and microphone), microSD card slot in which it can record clips and a Exmor 1/3" CMOS sensor by SONY (1280x720p @ 30fps) which smanos has paired with a 5MP (Megapixel) 110 degrees wide-angle lens. Unfortunately although the IP6 WiFi camera can record video in low-light environments it doesn't feature IR LEDs (night vision) and that may "annoy" some potential buyers. So let's move forward with today’s review and see just what smanos has to offer with the W020i WiFi Alarm System.

Read full article @ NikKTech

Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM) 6.0 Review

It has been about six months since Synology launched the Beta program for the new DiskStation Manager (DSM) 6.0 and we’re so very close to an official release. Today I’m taking a closer look at just this new operating system and will show you the new improvements and features.

This review is a little special for me as my NAS reviews normally focus a lot more on the hardware side of things as well as the performance. It isn’t that I don’t show the user interface and features, but there isn’t room to dive as deep into the system as there is today where I’m focusing on the operating system and apps alone.

There are a lot of new great enhancements in DSM 6.0 and one of the best is one that you’ll barely notice as a normal user because it’s going on behind the curtains. The new OS has been upgraded to a 64-bit architecture on compatible models. This will not only allow for a better overall performance by utilizing the modern CPUs a lot better, it also supports over 4GB memory allocation for one single process to deploy large scale applications.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Tested: The Galaxy S7's always-on display consumes very little battery

One of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge's great new features is the always-on display, which shows you the time, date, and select notifications even when the screen is 'off'. Being able to see the time at a glance is very handy, but many people have a misconception that enabling this feature consumes a lot of precious battery.

Read full article @ TechSpot

Virtual reality cost of admission: Platform requirements and bundles detailed

Oculus, HTC, and Sony have all released pricing details for their upcoming virtual reality headsets. But what seems pretty cut-and-dry gets complicated in a hurry when you consider they all need additional hardware to power the experience. To help make sense of it all, we've gone through the hassle of analyzing everything to see what the true cost of ownership looks like.

Read full article @ TechSpot