Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles, including Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: December 2013, CPU Gaming Performance - Intel, Samsung 840 EVO 250GB mSATA SSD, Powerocks Super Magicstick 2800mAh Universal Extended Battery Review, and SilverStone Fortress FT04 Computer Case Review



Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: December 2013 @ Toms Hardware

The holiday season sees the FX-6300 price drop lower than ever before. In addition, slight drops on key Intel processors coupled with the arrival of low-cost Socket 1150 motherboards prompt us to reconsider our high-end recommendations. More inside!

Read more: Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: December 2013 @ Toms Hardware

CPU Gaming Performance - Intel @ ocaholic

Our series of gaming performance articles where we take one CPU and put it up against another one and run a series of game benchmarks, is very well known meanwhile. With this chart list we're going to give you an overview regarding all benchmark restuls we received regarding Intel CPUs.

Read more: CPU Gaming Performance - Intel @ ocaholic

Nokia Lumia 925 Smartphone Review @ HotHardware.com

We're inching closer to the end of an era. Now that Microsoft has acquired Nokia's mobile phone unit, we'll soon see Microsoft-branded handsets rolling out in place of Nokia's own hardware. The company has made a heroic attempt to fight the tide of Apple's growing popularity coupled with the surging share of Android, but currently, Windows Phone holds only around 5% of the global market in smartphones. By and large, the Lumia line has looked fairly uniform to date, relying on polycarbonate frames, bold colors and stand-out camera features to differentiate itself.

The Lumia 925, despite being one of the final Lumias to ship with Nokia's branding, stands as one of the first in the range to truly carve a different path on the design front. It's the first Lumia to roll metal into its design, and while you'll still recognize it as a tried-and-true Lumia at a glance, there's no question that it's cut from a different cloth. Speaking of which, let's have a look at what's inside.

Read more: Nokia Lumia 925 Smartphone Review @ HotHardware.com

ASRock FM2A88X Extreme6+ AMD Socket FM2+ Motherboard Review @ OcInside

Today, we test the first motherboard with the new Socket FM2+ for AMD Kaveri processors at OCinside.de that is also backward compatible with Socket FM2 Richland and Trinity processors.
The AMD FM2+ motherboard based on the AMD A88X Bolton-D4 chipset and has a total of five PCI Express slots, two PCI slots, four memory slots with AMP and XMP support, seven SATA3 ports, one eSATA3 port, Gigabit LAN, HDMI-In, HDMI output, D-Sub VGA, DVI, DisplayPort, 7.1 purity sound and lots of more features.
Of course we have not just tested the ASRock FM2A88X Extreme6+ Socket FM2+ mainboard features, but also overclocked it up to the limits.

Read more: ASRock FM2A88X Extreme6+ AMD Socket FM2+ Motherboard Review @ OcInside

Corsair Vengeance 1500 (V2) Gaming Headset Review @ Legit Reviews

We're back with another 2013 Corsair headset and this time, Legit Reviews gives its attention to the Vengeance 1500 (V2). This is a USB headset aimed at gamers who are unwilling or unable to upgrade to a dedicated sound card, but are interesting in advanced hardware codec features such as Dolby Headphone. This is the only new Vengeance headset that shares the same name as its predecessor. Read on to find out more!

Read more: Corsair Vengeance 1500 (V2) Gaming Headset Review @ Legit Reviews

Samsung 840 EVO 250GB mSATA SSD @ Custom PC Review

Several months ago at the 2013 Samsung Global SSD Summit, Samsung unveiled their latest and greatest SSD, the Samsung 840 EVO. Based off a brand new MEX controller and Samsung’s latest 19nm TLC Toggle Mode 2.0 NAND, it quickly became one of the most successful consumer SSDs on the market due to its great performance, competitive pricing, and proven Samsung reliability.

Now I’d have to say ever since the release of the Samsung 840 EVO back in July, I’ve been expecting a mSATA form factor version of the 840 EVO as well, at least on the OEM side of things. When I reviewed the 250GB edition of the Samsung 840 EVO, I noticed that it had a very small PCB, about the size of a mSATA SSD, with only two NAND packages onboard. Given that Samsung already produces a mSATA PM840 SSD based on the 840 Pro, it was logical that an 840 EVO based SSD in the mSATA form factor would arrive, especially since the SATA version’s PCB is already about the size of a mSATA SSD anyway.

Read more: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB mSATA SSD @ Custom PC Review

Noctua NH-U14S CPU Cooler Review @ ThinkComputers.org

When people ask me what is a good air CPU cooler Noctua is always a name that comes to mind. They are known for their great cooling solutions, both big and small. When it comes to air coolers one of the biggest problems is compatibility. Many performance and high-end memory modules are large heatspreaders and they can get in the way. Noctua of course knows this and has made an effort to come out with CPU coolers that will be compatible in all situations. The NH-U14S is one such cooler. It is designed with a 52mm thin heatsink stack that allows for full RAM compatibility on socket 2011 as well as other platforms. Normally we see these massive heatsinks from Noctua so will the NH-U14S still be able to perform up to the standards we know Noctua for? Read on as we find out!

Read more: Noctua NH-U14S CPU Cooler Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Powerocks Super Magicstick 2800mAh Universal Extended Battery Review @ TestFreaks

Today for review I’ve got what might be a great stocking stuffer, it’s small and very useful. The product is from Powerocks and it’s called the Super MagicStick, it’s a 2800mAh external battery for cellphones and other portable devices. I’ve reviewed plenty of portable batteries in my time in various capacities and the the size you need depends on you and your uses, large batteries are great but not exactly portable, small are nice and portable but have a small capacity, which one is right for you depends on what you’re doing really. The small ones like what I have today are great for emergency uses or taking with you on a daily basis when you think you might be away from a power source. So read on…

Read more: Powerocks Super Magicstick 2800mAh Universal Extended Battery Review @ TestFreaks

Pittasoft BlackVue DR550GW-2CH Car Dashcam @ NikKTech

Have any of you ever wondered what kind of mini cams are used in all those "car accident" video clips uploaded in YouTube? Well i don't know whether or not people use such devices in your countries but they certainly don't in mine (at least not up until this day) so i took it upon myself to find as much as i could for the so called car dashboard cameras. You see i have been watching such clips for many years now (especially ones with accidents caused by extreme weather conditions) but it never occurred to me that there are many companies out there that only focus in the design, development and manufacture of such dashboard cameras. One of those companies and perhaps the most well-known in the market is Pittasoft and today we will be taking a look at their latest BlackVue DR550GW-2CH dual-cam Wi-Fi compatible model.

Read more: Pittasoft BlackVue DR550GW-2CH Car Dashcam @ NikKTech

Nixeus VUE27D Monitor Review @ Anandtech

After the wave of cheap 27 monitors from South Korea hit Ebay, a number of vendors started to offer their own cheaper models. One of the first models, and one that I reviewed here, was the VUE27 from Nixeus. Now they have released their newest version, the VUE27D. Stripping the input selection down to a single DisplayPort input, the VUE27D reaches for an even lower price point than before. With all the changes in the display marketplace over the past year, how will the VUE27D fare today?    

Read more: Nixeus VUE27D Monitor Review @ Anandtech

Gigabyte Uranium game mouse review @ Guru3D

We review the Gigabyte Uranium game mouse from their Aivia series; the device is unique in the sense that it comes with an OLED display POD that will inform you of your mouse polling rate, DPI or even battery status. The high DPI mouse is fully programmable, has additional thumb game buttons (programmable as well). Being wireless the mouse is impressive and very responsive, and armed with internal memory, all in all this might be the most impressive mouse combo that Gigabyte has put onto the market. We stated it a couple of times already, it is very crowded in the PC gaming hardware arena, especially when it comes to keyboards and mice. Whether you have 5 bucks to spend or 100 EUR, there WILL be a product matching that budget. Simple mice, small mice, mice dedicated to games, mice with multiple scanning lasers, mice with adjustable weight systems, and on and on.

A year or three ago Gigabyte launched their Aivia series of products onto the market as well, and ever since have delivered some of the hottest amongst them to you, the end user. Aivia products are aimed at gamers and more-over are segmented into mice and keyboards. Today we review the Gigabyte Aivia Uranium game mouse.

Read more: Gigabyte Uranium game mouse review @ Guru3D

EVGA GTX 780 Ti Classified Review @ Hardware Asylum

The GTX 780 Ti, according to NVIDIA, is the fastest GPU in the world and is yet designed to do much more than win benchmarks. For instance the gaming enthusiast wants more from their games including higher resolution, better performance and quiet operation. These are key for creating an immersive experience. Overclockers and Hardware enthusiasts also want something from their hardware and that often goes beyond the technology. They want things like enhanced cooling solutions, factory overclocking and the ability to assemble a system that delivers more than what is on the box.

In this review we will be looking at one of the latest performance video card from EVGA called the GTX 780 Ti Classified. Those of you familiar with EVGA will know the Classified edition products are custom designed for overclockers and hardware enthusiasts to deliver superior performance.

Read more: EVGA GTX 780 Ti Classified Review @ Hardware Asylum

VANTEC USB 3.0 Multi-Memory Internal Card Reader w/ USB 3.0, eSATA and Audio Ports Review @ HiTech Legion

Anyone mind a little anecdotal humor? Good. It wasn’t that long ago that I was helping a friend join the wonderful world of PC gaming. He couldn’t get anything amazing, a simple AMD 1090T and an old GTX 560, not bad for a first PC that cost less than 400$. Either way while building it with him, with his wife watching in anticipation, she asked me if I can put the card reader from her old PC in this new gaming rig. I scoffed at the idea of putting some old junk in a new PC, but she insisted. I teased them that it was silly and a waste of time. I was wrong. It wasn’t that much later that I found myself needing to go buy a card reader to accommodate my new camera, of course I called and told him so we could laugh at me together.

Not everyone does need a card reader, but when you do, you will need a good one. I won’t say what I got but I will say the reader I bought was so terrible I could not transfer more than a few minutes of video at a time, and no more than 20 or so images that are hi-res. During transfer files would simply get deleted or corrupted and I would lose my work. I learned to deal with it by making short video clips and only transferring a little bit of info at a time, but it certainly made my task difficult. I have wanted to get a better card reader for a while but you know how it is, even a little money is too much money sometimes. Then at the peak of my frustration, at a time where I was at my wits end, I just happened to luck into a new USB 3.0 multi reader from VANTEC.

Read more: VANTEC USB 3.0 Multi-Memory Internal Card Reader w/ USB 3.0, eSATA and Audio Ports Review @ HiTech Legion

NZXT H630 Silent Ultra Tower Gaming Chassis Reviewed @ Futurelooks

The NZXT H630 comes with a lot to offer with a feature list that includes some surprises along the way. This is a full-tower case with support for ATX, Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, XL-ATX, EATX (347 x 272 mm) motherboards, room for up to eight 2.5/3.5″ drives, with additional room for two more 2.5″ drives, two external 5.25″ ODD bays, and room for up to eleven 120 mm fans. The fan ports, as you would expect, will also support up to nine 140 mm fans and/or four 200 mm fans.

Read more: NZXT H630 Silent Ultra Tower Gaming Chassis Reviewed @ Futurelooks

Deep Cool Gammaxx S40 Review @ OCC

Cooling performance for non-overclocking was toward the middle of the field of test units, but when you stress the system with a mild overclock, the S40 knocks on the 100 °C door, and that is a door we try to stay away from. Two things that I think would help the S40 would be a larger fan with a higher speed to move more air, like a standard square case fan, and for Deep Cool to move the heat pipes away from each other (space them out) to give each pipe better access to a clean stream of cool air.

Read more: Deep Cool Gammaxx S40 Review @ OCC

SilverStone Fortress FT04 Computer Case Review @ APH Networks

"I utterly hate them," my friend said one day. "Those software updates are so annoying -- there's so many of them!" Let's get to the heart of the problem -- why do we need them in the first place? Well, for one thing, they fix bugs that exist in current software code, whether it is a glitch, a security issue, or some other problem. It could be as simple as implementing new and improved features. It is a necessity for people to do work on their computer. But when it comes down to updating twenty different programs you have installed on your computer, it becomes a pain to do every single one, especially when all of them release a new update at the same time every two weeks. Now, the real question is: What is the most efficient way of updating all of my programs without doing so manually? I don't know about you, but the first thing that comes to my mind is to either program a script to retrieve and update everything, or to have my server push out all the updates to the numerous computers at the same time. Automation? Check. Efficiency? Check. Laziness? Well, that depends on your perspective. The point is, I have just turned tedious and potentially time-consuming work into efficient work. What we have here at APH Networks today is SilverStone's Fortress FT04 chassis. It's loaded with two giant 180mm fans and a one hundred and eighty degree rotated motherboard for maximum airflow, thus, minimizing on the number of fans needed to push air around. Automation? No. Laziness? Does not apply. Efficiency? Check. Now, let's get the show on the road and see what else this beastly chassis is capable of.

Read more: SilverStone Fortress FT04 Computer Case Review @ APH Networks

Palit GeForce GTX 780 Ti Jetstream @ Hexus

Palit removes the premium for pre-overclocked 780 Tis.

Read more: Palit GeForce GTX 780 Ti Jetstream @ Hexus