Here a roundup of todays reviews and articles:

Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus Review
Azza Z mITX Case Review Review
Benefit of OC Socket on ASUS X99 motherboards proven
Gigabyte AMD Radeon R9 285 WindForce OC Video Card Review
Gigabyte GA-Z97-D3H Motherboard User Review
QNAP SilentNAS HS-251 NAS Server Review
ROCCAT TALK FX Overview
Scythe Kaze Master II Fan Controller Review
Silverstone Fortress FT05 Mid-Tower Case Review
Super Flower Leadex Gold 650W Review

Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus Review

A near-perfect smart phone and a decent phablet. The recent release of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus has been like a shock to the system, with Apple selling over 10 million of the handsets over the opening weekend alone. These device impact the mobile market—and really, the wider world too—in ways that can be frustrating for fans of rival systems. But Apple has long made terrific hardware. The big change this year is that it now has more open software and services to match.

Read full article @ WinSupersite

Azza Z mITX Case Review Review

ITX style cases never cease to amaze me. Just when you think there can’t possibly be a better/different way to house and organize your hardware, along comes another case to once again challenge your thinking on how these form factors can be laid out. This is especially important for those of you who, like myself, enjoy a bit of tasteful case modding from time to time to really make the rig stand out as being uniquely your own. It can also be just as important to those who simply require a specific shape/size to accommodate their usage scenario.

Azza, always one to bring us somewhat “outlandishly” designed cases, is now offering up their first mITX case: the Z. Somewhat conservatively designed in comparison to their other offerings and providing a unique layout that accommodates both water cooling radiators and a slim profile, can this case really offer an enthusiast what they need out of their next small form factor (SFF) build? I was bound and determined to find out, so I tried to cover pretty much all of the bases here. Now, let’s dig in!

Read full article @ PureOverclock

Benefit of OC Socket on ASUS X99 motherboards proven

Back in our launch review of fifteen Intel X99 motherboards for Haswell-E processors we weren't entirely sure about the purpose of ASUS' OC Socket, which contains more pins than the sockets other manufacturers incorporate in their boards. Haswell-E processors do indeed have more than 2011 contact points, a number of which are not actually used in the official socket. For the time being, Intel appears to be unable or unwilling to tell us why this is the case. Initially, ASUS was also unable to prove the claim that the additional pins can be used to deliver additional and more stable power.

During the tests for our upcoming Haswell-E OC workshop, we couldn't help but notice that the uncore, which includes functions such as the L3 cache and the memory controller, could be overclocked further on ASUS boards than on motherboards that are produced by manufacturers such as Gigabyte and MSI. This had a clear effect on memory performance. In the image below, you can see that memory performance is substantially improved when we increase the uncore frequency from 3 GHz to 4 GHz. The other settings are identical: a Core i7 5960X clocked at 4.5 GHz and DDR4 memory clocked at 3,000 MHz with identical timings. In the most favourable scenarios, the maximum speed of both the L3 cache and the memory is increased by some 30 percent.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

Gigabyte AMD Radeon R9 285 WindForce OC Video Card Review

The R9 285 WindForce OC video card from Gigabyte impresses with the new GCN 1.2 technology improvements, a lower TDP and a solid cooling system which keeps the GPU cool even during stressful long gaming sessions. Despite the fact that the card possesses a shrinked memory BUS, it is able to trade punches with the R9 280 and in many case exceeds its performances, positioning itself just under the R9 280X.

Read full article @ Madshrimps

Gigabyte GA-Z97-D3H Motherboard User Review

I’m sure all of you have heard the ‘ole saying “you get what you pay for”, and today I think we may just change your mind on that saying. It’s not very often that you see budget motherboards sporting the latest and greatest features available, yet Gigabyte has done just that and loaded it’s GA-Z97-D3H ATX motherboard with some features that aren’t available on other higher end boards. The best part about this is that you can get the Z97-D3H for just under $120 at Amazon.com and as usual, Gigabyte has put a 3 year warranty on the board.

Read full article @ TechnologyX

QNAP SilentNAS HS-251 NAS Server Review

Ever since i started using and testing NAS devices I’ve always been on the lookout for one which could replace the media player i have in my bedroom since such devices offer so much more. Unfortunately if you're reading these lines then you are aware of the noise most NAS devices emit even at idle so they are not really what I’d call suitable for use in a bedroom especially at night. QNAP came up with a solution to that issue by releasing the SilentNAS HS-210 a few months ago a NAS device which was based around a passive cooling design so noise levels were only limited to those coming from the drives themselves. The lack of an HDMI output however didn't just surprise all of us here but it also rendered that project unsuitable for use with a TV set and thus my only hope was that QNAP would listen and resolve this with a future model. Well it didn't take long for them to do so since they just released the SilentNAS HS-251 and although it shares the same passive design as its predecessor it's not only improved in terms of specifications but it also features two HDMI outputs.

QNAP Systems, Inc., as its brand promise "Quality Network Appliance Provider", aims to deliver comprehensive offerings of cutting edge network attached storage (NAS) and network video recorder (NVR) solutions featured with ease-of-use, robust operation, large storage capacity, and trustworthy reliability. QNAP integrates technologies and designs to bring forth quality products that effectively improve business efficiency on file sharing, virtualization applications, storage management and surveillance in the business environments, as well as enrich entertainment life for home users with the offering of a fun multimedia center experience. Headquartered in Taipei, QNAP delivers its solutions to the global market with nonstop innovation and passion.

Because of both its size and lack of an active cooling system we all thought that QNAP would be forced to make use of low-performance components just like with the HS-210 but that obviously didn't stop them since the HS-251 is actually very similar to the TS-451 model (as revealed by model number). To be more specific the SilentNAS HS-251 wears the Intel Celeron Dual Core 2.41GHz J1800 CPU (the OpenGL 3.0 compatible Intel(R) MESA DRI Bay Trail version 10.0 ones again takes care of the graphics part), 2GB DDR3L RAM (our sample the HS-251-2G) and 512MB of flash memory (DOM). Features-wise the HS-251 comes ready with two 1GbE RJ-45 Ethernet ports, two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports and two HDMI v1.4a ports (one is reserved for service purposes by QNAP technicians) which can output even the heaviest bitrate media files (3D content included) on your TV set. The most important question however which we will do our best to answer today is whether or not the SilentNAS HS-251 can match the performance of the TurboNAS TS-451 since aside the number of bays these two models are pretty much identical.

Read full article @ NikKTech

ROCCAT TALK FX Overview

From what they have shown us recently, the people at ROCCAT have a clear vision; to develop well-built, innovative, and high-quality gaming peripherals. What is truly impressive is that ROCCAT has been able to produce several devices in a relatively short amount of time without sacrificing anything from a quality standpoint. In addition, ROCCAT developed a new feature, called ROCCAT TALK, to accompany these devices, which provides gamers with an unmatched level of functional customization. Having had the opportunity to review ROCCAT devices and test the ROCCAT TALK feature, Benchmark Reviews is able to provide you with a first-hand account of this revolutionary feature.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews

Scythe Kaze Master II Fan Controller Review

There is a wide variety of fan controllers.
The more important is to find the optimal control for noisy fans, which is not only functional but also visually appealing.
Many controllers start with the voltage at 7 volts or look as if they had been removed from a 1990s PC - here Scythe offers an alternative.
For some people here, Scythe will already be a household name in terms of great CPU coolers.
But in addition to fans and coolers, Scythe also sells fan controllers so it is definitely worth a test at OCinside.de.
Therefore we present today a review of the Scythe Kaze Master II 4-Channel VFD fan controller.

Read full article @ OcInside

Silverstone Fortress FT05 Mid-Tower Case Review

Silverstone's "stacked" design might offer unbeatable cooling performance, but as we found out in our review of the Raven RV05, it also resulted in a lot of wasted space and a cramped area to work with. The company knows this and has come up with a calmer, classier version of its extreme gaming case with the new Fortress FT05.

Read full article @ Techspot

Super Flower Leadex Gold 650W Review

Fundamental to any computer system is the power supply. Without it, hardware simply has no juice but making a brash decision on such a device can be to the enthusiast’s folly. Investing in a quality power supply is a sensible choice when splashing out on a new system and today we will be taking a look at a unit from Super Flower – who, for many years have actually been an OEM to numerous well-known PSU brands.

In our hands today is the Leadex Gold which is an 80 Plus Gold efficient PSU series. Leadex Gold is available in a selection of different wattages – today we’ll be taking a look at the 650W variant. This PSU features a 140mm cooling fan and all the expected trimming such as Over Voltage Protection, Short Circuit Protection etc.

Read full article @ Vortez