Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles, including Best Google Reader Alternatives, Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide, Picking the perfect system with PC Specialist, SteelSeries Guild Wars 2 Gaming Mouse Review, and Silent, But Deadly: Build Your Own Gaming-Ready 0 dB PC



Best Google Reader Alternatives @ ThinkComputers.org

Since Google announced its hugely popular Google Reader service will be shutting down on Just 1st, tens of millions of users have been left wondering where to turn to next to get their news fix. The web giant made the shock announcement on its developers blog last week confirming that a fall in the number of users was one of the reasons for closing down the service. So as Google looks to putting its energy fewer products Google Reader users will need to seek out an alternative service. Here we take a look at some of the options that are available.

Read more: Best Google Reader Alternatives @ ThinkComputers.org

Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev. 26.2 @ Tech ARP

These days, there are so many graphics card models that it has become quite impossible to keep up with the different configurations. Therefore, we decided to compile this guide to provide an easy reference for those who are interested in comparing the specifications of the various desktop GPUs in the market as well as those already obsolescent or obsolete.

Currently covering 543 desktop graphics cards, this comprehensive comparison will allow you to easily compare 24 different specifications for each and every card. We hope it will prove to be a useful reference. We will keep this guide updated regularly, so do check back for the latest updates.

Read more: Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev. 26.2 @ Tech ARP

Func Surface 1030 XL mousepad @ Rbmods

Func was a big company back in the day when the mousepad starting meaning something in the gaming world. In early 2000 the Ratpad, Icemat and Func were the leading mousepads on the market but suddenly Funs dissapeard. Now they are back! Well in a sense they are “back” -however they do not want to call it a “comeback” because they have been around all this time.

Today we are going to test the new Func Surface 1030 XL mousepad. This is a hard mousepad and not many manufacturers still make plastic pads so I am very curious to see what they have been able to come up with.

Read more: Func Surface 1030 XL mousepad @ Rbmods

Picking the perfect system with PC Specialist @ KitGuru

So heres a question for you? When you move from one processor to another upgrading from one PC specification to another what are you actually buying? Do you get more bang for your buck by going for the cheapest possible CPU, buying the most expensive in the range or is there, in fact, a sweet spot in the middle.

To answer this question properly takes a lot of time, effort and money.

Read more: Picking the perfect system with PC Specialist @ KiGuru

Acer Aspire V5-571PG-9814 Review @ TechReviewSource.com

The Acer Aspire V5-571PG-9814 is a slim and portable 15-inch laptop that has a DVD drive, strong graphics performance and a comfortable, backlit keyboard. It could have better battery life and the display's screen resolution could use an increase, but overall it's a good laptop for the money, especially if you want to play 3D games on-the-go.

Read more: Acer Aspire V5-571PG-9814 Review @ TechReviewSource.com

Thermalright True Spirit 120M CPU Cooler Review @ Madshrimps

The Thermalright company is one of the market leaders in processor, graphics cards and chipset cooling. Sporting great designs with innovative ideas, Thermalright has truly deserved it's current position in the very competitive world of aftermarket cooling solutions. Today we review the latest addition to their lineup, the True Spirit 120M CPU cooler. The new kid on the block is based on the their best selling True Spirit cooler. Hence why the product name is practically the same. The addition of the M comes from the increased Memory compatibility this new 120M CPU cooler has. Let's see what all the fuzz is about.

Read more: Thermalright True Spirit 120M CPU Cooler Review @ Madshrimps

Tomb Raider (PC) Video Review with Kaeyi Dream @ HardwareHeaven.com

Today Kaeyi Dream takes a look at the latest Tomb Raider video game. Check it out!

Read more: Tomb Raider (PC) Video Review with Kaeyi Dream @ HardwareHeaven.com

SteelSeries Guild Wars 2 Gaming Mouse Review @ Madshrimps

SteelSeries have produced another cool themed product and now we are talking about the Guild Wars 2 gaming mouse. The maximum 5670 CPI value is not stellar, but the tracking is really good on many surfaces we have tried the mouse on. GW2 mouse is also equipped with red LEDs which can be customized from the Engine unified software interface.

Read more: SteelSeries Guild Wars 2 Gaming Mouse Review @ Madshrimps

The TR Podcast 131: News from GDC and FCAT attacks @ The Tech Report

In this episode of the TR Podcast, we answer listener mail, bring you the latest from GDC, and delve into the crazy rabbit hole that is Nvidia's FCAT frame capture system.

Read more: The TR Podcast 131: News from GDC and FCAT attacks @ The Tech Report

Fractal Design Define R4 Arctic White Case @ Benchmark Reviews

In the PC hardware market you tend to get exactly what you pay for. It's not always the case, but 9 times out of 10 you will find that if you pay less you get less. How else can we justify handing over $110 for 12kg of cleverly crafted sheet metal and moulded plastic. We pay for the brand and we pay for the looks, and some of us also pay for build quality.

In this article Benchmark Reviews aims to delve deep into the Fractal Design Define R4 Arctic White Case (Model: FD-CA-DEF-R4-WH), and see if it's got what it takes to satiate the appetite of today's PC hardware enthusiast. The Fractal Design Define R4 features include: the use of sound reducing materials, A 3-speed fan controller supporting up to three fans, modular drive bays and support for very large hardware.

Read more: Fractal Design Define R4 Arctic White Case @ Benchmark Reviews

Fractal Design Integra R2 650W Power Supply Review @ Hi Tech Legion

As an adult putting together computers is my favorite pastime. The same type of excitement of getting a new pack of Legos happens when I get components for a new build. The act of ripping the cellophane off, opening the box, and smelling that “new car” smell so to speak is exciting. Just like how you need to have a good base to build a solid Lego project you need a good base for a new computer build and for that you need a solid power supply. Judging a solid power supply first starts with the build quality and then move on to how efficiently it converts AC power to DC power.

Fractal Design Integra 650W power supply is 80 Plus Bronze rated, this meets the standard that it will run at a minimum of 82% efficiency. Fractal has built a large 120mm sleeve bearing type temperature controlled fan into the Integra 650 watts PSU to keep it cool. There are two 12V rails that are capable of providing 30 amps and 22 amps each for a total of 576 watts output. The cable design is non-modular but is full sleeved in black mesh. Cable connections include two 6+2 pin, one 24-pin ATX, one 4+4 pin, six SATA, two peripheral, and one floppy power connection. The Integra 650W also comes with a full suite of industry standard power protection circuits.

Read more: Fractal Design Integra R2 650W Power Supply Review @ Hi Tech Legion

NZXT Phantom 630 Enclosure and HALE90 V2 1000W Modular Power Supply Reviewed @ Futurelooks

Companies like NXZT offer a wide variety of computer enclosures and power supplies. We’ve seen the contemporary H2, artistic Phantom and professional Switch 820. All of which offer a very enticing array of standard and sometimes unique features. Sometimes though, it’s not always about offering a unique feature but who can implement them better. Today, we’re looking at the NZXT Phantom 630 enclosure which is a nice revision to the tried-and-true, award winning, Phantom 820, but with some improvements that make the two cases distinctly different.

Complementing this coveted beautiful exotic is NZXT’s HALE90 V2 1000 Watt 80Plus Gold efficient modular power supply in white which we’ll also be taking a look at today. Coupled with the Phantom 630, we’ll see if the HALE90 V2 1000 truly can handle a massive power hungry gaming system and if the combo can stand up to stringent system integrator and enthusiast standards.

Read more: NZXT Phantom 630 Enclosure and HALE90 V2 1000W Modular Power Supply Reviewed @ Futurelooks

HGST Touro Mobile Pro 1TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive Review @ Nikktech

Thanks to the continuous price drops of storage media devices in the market lately whenever i log onto various forums to participate in various conversations and also see what's happening around the world i can't keep up with the number of threads from people who are looking to get new portable USB hard drives and USB flash drives. Unfortunately most consumers seem to first focus on capacity, then performance and leave quality for last but i can't really blame them with the current state of the economy. However I’ve seen quite a few people who always seem to place performance first and for good or bad that's pretty much the why we do storage related reviews since consumers need to know what performance levels they are getting with their hard earned money. A few months ago we reviewed the very fast TOURO MOBILD PRO 2.5" 500GB USB 3.0 portable hard drive by HGST and today we will be testing the latest and even faster 1TB variant.

HGST, a Western Digital company, is a market leader in enterprise hard disk drives and develops advanced hard disk drives, enterprise-class solid state drives, and external storage solutions and services that are used by large and sophisticated technology companies to store, preserve and manage data. HGST storage solutions have a reputation for quality, reliability and innovation. Our drives are trusted by the world’s high-transactional enterprises, Internet services companies, creative professionals, and consumer electronics and automotive system manufacturers to store the avalanche of new content resulting from cloud computing and services, virtualization, social networks, HD video and mobile platforms. HGST focuses on delivering innovative, customized storage solutions that are an integral part of a customer’s broader systems, infrastructure and application platforms ensuring a storage value proposition that addresses each customer use case and pain point. This consultative approach to storage coupled with technical expertise, a comprehensive customer support infrastructure, world-class operations and a broad portfolio of solutions sets a high standard for product and service excellence. Founded by the pioneers of hard drives in 2003, HGST became a separate and wholly owned subsidiary of Western Digital Corporation in March, 2012. HGST maintains its U.S. headquarters in San Jose, California and is marketed under the HGST brand name.

The TOURO MOBILE PRO 2.5 USB 3.0 1TB PHD is based on one of the fastest 2.5" SATA III HDDs currently available in the market, the brand new Travelstar 7K1000 featuring a rotational speed of 7200RPM, two 500GB Platters and 32MB of data buffer (cache). So just by looking at the specs sheet of the drive inside you know that you are getting top tier performance right from the get go. Moving to the housing well nothing really new to see here since it's the exact same one used with the 500GB variant (that's a good thing in case you're wondering) so once again it's made by hard plastic and has a nice piano black finish at the top/bottom. So the only remaining question just how it compares to its smaller 500GB brother and all the other solutions in our charts so shall we?

Read more: HGST Touro Mobile Pro 1TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive Review @ Nikktech

Silent, But Deadly: Build Your Own Gaming-Ready 0 dB PC @ Tom's Hardware

For many folks, the most beautiful sound that a PC can make is no sound at all. How close can Tom's Hardware get to a zero-decibel configuration and still lend up with a compact, functional machine capable of mainstream gaming, without breaking the bank?

Read more: Silent, But Deadly: Build Your Own Gaming-Ready 0 dB PC @ Tom's Hardware

The Great Equalizer: Apple, Android & Windows Tablet GPUs Compared using GL/DXBenchmark 2.7 @ Anandtech

For the past few years we have been lamenting the state of benchmarks for mobile platforms. The constant refrain from those who had been around long enough to remember when all PC benchmarks were terrible was to wait for the release of Windows 8 and RT. The release of those two OSes would bring many of the traditional PC benchmark vendors space into the fray. While we're expecting to see new Android, iOS, Windows RT and Windows 8 benchmarks from Futuremark and Rightware, it's our old friends at Kishonti who are first out of the gate with a cross-OS/API/platform benchmark. GLBenchmark has existed on both Android and iOS for a while now, but we're finally able to share information and performance data using DXBenchmark - GLB's analogue for Windows RT/8.

Read more: The Great Equalizer: Apple, Android & Windows Tablet GPUs Compared using GL/DXBenchmark 2.7 @ Anandtech

Gigabyte GeForce GTX Titan Graphics Card @ iXBT Labs

Today we'll take a first look at the flagship NVIDIA GPU of the current generation—the mighty GeForce Titan. The review will also include tests in a solid number of games, and a comparison with other top graphics adapters.

Model name: GV-NTITAN-6GD-B
GPU: GTX Titan (GK110)
Interface: PCIe 3.0 x16
GPU clock rate (ROPs/shaders): 837-876 MHz (as the standard)
Memory clock rate, physical (effective): 1502 (6008) MHz (as the standard)
Memory bus: 384-bit
Stream processors: 2688
Texture units: 224 (BLF/TLF/ANIS)
ROP units: 48
Dimensions: 270x100 mm, 2 slots
PCB color: black
Peak power consumption (3D/2D/standby): 262/78/74 W
Output connectors: Dual-Link DVI-I, Single-Link DVI-D, HDMI 1.4a, DisplayPort 1.2
Multi-GPU mode: SLI (hardware)

Read more: Gigabyte GeForce GTX Titan Graphics Card @ iXBT Labs

NVIDIA's GeForce 700M Family: Full Details and Specs @ Anandtech

With spring now well under way and the pending launch of Intel's Haswell chips, OEMs always like to have new parts across the board, and so once more we're getting a new series of chips from NVIDIA, the 700M parts. We've already seen a few laptops shipping with the 710M and GT 730M; today NVIDIA is filling out the rest of 700M family.

Read more: NVIDIA's GeForce 700M Family: Full Details and Specs @ Anandtech