Here a roundup of the latest reviews and articles:

AK RACING Nitro Gaming Chair Review
Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate PC port analysis
Change the color of inactive windows in Windows 10
Cooler Master Storm NovaTouch TKL (Barebones) Keyboard Review
Corsair Katar Gaming Mouse Review
ECS LIVA X2 Mini-PC Review
Intel Pentium G4400: Benchmarking A $60 Skylake Processor
Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain tested with 31 GPUs
NEC EA275UHD 27-inch UHD Monitor Review
Plextor M6V SSD Review
Rig of the Month - November 2015
Scythe Fuma CPU Cooler Review
Seagate Desktop SSHD 4TB ST4000DX001 Consumer Hybrid HD Review
TteSports Poseidon Z RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

AK RACING Nitro Gaming Chair Review

It's somewhat strange when you think about it but although people spend all their hard earned money on the best hardware components and gaming peripherals they can afford not many realize that in order to use and enjoy all those things you need to be sited. Sure many look for a good desk chair which can provide them with adequate support and comfort but if i judge even by my standards (have purchased 5 desk chairs in the last 8 years) these chairs are pretty much always designed for office use and never really good enough for long periods of gaming. The problem up until this day however was that no manufactured focused on the needs gamers have and although i know people who have spent large amounts of money to get ergonomic desk chairs (200-400Eur range) the end result didn't change that much. The gaming industry however evolves all the time (now more than ever thanks to the increasing popularity of eSports) and so lately we've seen quite a few manufacturers release gaming chairs based on sports car seats very similar to those bucket seats used in racing cars. AK Racing is perhaps the most popular such manufacturer in the market today and today we're going to find out why since under our scope we have their Nitro Gaming Chair.

AK Racing are one of the world’s premier gaming chair manufacturers, producing the highest quality products that are available today. With a focus on ergonomics, design and functionality, AK Racing gaming chairs have quickly become the smart choice across the eSport scene. Our close ties with top eSports teams such as Team Dignitas have given us the leading edge in meeting the durability and comfort requirements of gaming professionals everywhere.

The Nitro Gaming Chair represents the mid-end line produced by AK Racing and aside the red/black color combination we have here it's also available in blue/black, green/black, orange/black and white/black (check our conclusion page for more). This is a good start since aside the large selection of gaming chairs AK Racing does a great job in offering various color combinations to cover most if not all gamers out there. As mentioned already the Nitro Gaming Chair looks a lot like the one used in sports and racing cars but unlike those it features significantly more padding (plus two pillows) since increased comfort (and not keeping you in place when taking quick turns) is the primary goal. Of course that doesn't mean the seat is not durable since thanks to its metal frame and class-4 gaslift it should last for many years to come (certainly many more compared to most desk chairs). Also the mechanism used in the Nitro Gaming Chair allows the user/gamer to adjust the height, backrest position and tilt the chair backwards by up to 12 degrees. So what do you all say we take a closer look and see if this is really the dream chair for most gamers out there?

Read full article @ NikKTech

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate PC port analysis

Many PC gamers grew frustrated with Ubisoft last year following the abysmal launch of Assassin’s Creed: Unity, to the point where many were skeptical about this year’s release, Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate. Today we are taking a look at the PC version of Syndicate and seeing how it runs on a range of GPUs to see if anything has improved this time around. Can Ubisoft regain the trust of PC players this year?

Read full article @ KitGuru

Change the color of inactive windows in Windows 10

When Microsoft released the retail version of Windows 10, window titlebars supported only the white color. This meant that every titlebar, with some notable third-party exceptions that used their own color scheme, was white.

Read full article @ gHacks

Cooler Master Storm NovaTouch TKL (Barebones) Keyboard Review

Believe it or not, but Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Kwan was actually the first person to introduce me to an APH Networks favorite show, Top Gear. One of my favorite episodes is the first episode of the tenth season, where a challenge was set by the producers to find the best driving road... in the world. All three of the presenters brought a lightweight supercar, with James May's Aston Martin V8 Vantage N24, Richard Hammond's Porsche 911 GT3 RS, and Jeremy Clarkson's Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera. Oddly enough, all of their cars were more expensive than the regular editions, despite having less features. While the pricing of the cars may not make sense, I can understand why car manufacturers like Aston Martin or Lamborghini makes lighter editions of cars. Shedding weight will naturally improve the performance. In addition, these cars are targeted at the enthusiast crowd, who are willing to sacrifice some convenience features, and their wallet, for a better driving experience. However, at the end of the episode, all three of the Top Gear hosts preferred the regular editions over the lightweight ones. They believed the regular editions of their cars would provide a similar driving experience with more equipment. Fast forward to today, and we have the NovaTouch TKL Barebones edition keyboard by Cooler Master. This keyboard is targeted at the enthusiast crowd for several reasons, including its Topre switches, and absent features like a number pad. Furthermore, the Barebones edition means this keyboard does not even come with keycaps. Even though I may not be a keyboard ricer or enthusiast, I will give it a fair shake as a reviewer. How does the Cooler Master Storm NovaTouch TKL Superleggera hold up? Hopefully this review will answer all your questions, so read on to find out!

Read full article @ APH Networks

Corsair Katar Gaming Mouse Review

The Corsair Katar ($39) is a mid-priced gaming mouse aimed at the basics of the FPS and MOBA market that does what it says on the box and nothing more. It suits its purpose well with a pleasant form, great build quality, and great sensor.

If you're into Counter-Strike or DOTA 2, could this be your next mouse upgrade? So-called professional gamers would certainly like to convince you this is what they would use and believe it or not, this time they seem to be endorsing a peripheral that could be beneficial. Anyone who needs lightning-quick response times in their games should look no further than the Katar.

Read full article @ Hardware Canucks

ECS LIVA X2 Mini-PC Review

When the ECS LIVA Windows Based Mini PC Kit came out in the summer of 2014 it was a pretty nifty little system that ran pretty good considering it only cost $135. Without breaking the bank you could purchase an ECS LIVA, assemble the included hardware and then put on the Windows copy that you wanted to run. It came with everything you needed to get up and running out of the box when it came to hardware, but the initial reviews and consumer feedback was that people wanted the units to be fully assembled and more powerful. ECS heard the feedback and answered with the ECS LIVA X 64GB Mini PC Kit just a few months later that was a larger, fully assembled system that just needed the OS installed. The ECS LIVA and LIVA X models are powered by the 22nm Intel Bay Trail-M SoC, which was a decent part when it came out, but those processors have been succeeded by the Intel 14nm Braswell SoC. Braswell is basically Bay Trail's die shrink and has some new features sprinkled in along with improved efficiency, better thermals and much better graphics thanks to the inclusion of Intel Generation 8 graphics technology. The ECS LIVA series aren't very powerful systems, so we are glad to see that ECS is staying current and putting Intel Braswell N3050 SoC's into the latest LIVA system, the ECS LIVA X2.

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

Intel Pentium G4400: Benchmarking A $60 Skylake Processor

The Pentium G4400 is a dual-core processor running at 3.3GHz without any Hyper Threading nor any Turbo Boost capability. This 3.3GHz dual-core CPU has a 54 Watt TDP and features Intel HD Graphics 510 that run up to a 1GHz frequency. This low-end CPU has a 3MB cache. Unlike the higher-end Core CPUs, this Skylake Pentium processor lacks AVX support. This Pentium processor also lacks vPro, TSX-NI, SIPP, and Trusted Execution Technology. The Pentium G4400 supports DDR4-2133/1866MHz memory or DDR3L-1600/1333MHz memory depending upon the motherboard.

This CPU certainly isn't meant for any really demanding workloads, but could serve as a potential Linux desktop with basic accelerated graphics via the HD Graphics 510. The Pentium G4400 is still rated to drive up to three displays and can handle 4K via HDMI/DP. Like the other Skylake processors with HD Graphics 530, the hardware can support up to OpenGL 4.4 / DirectX 12 but under Linux the current Mesa driver still only has full OpenGL 3.3 support with the GL 4.x support being a work-in-progress.

Read full article @ Phoronix

Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain tested with 31 GPUs

At the start of September, Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain has been released, the newest installment in the Metal Gear series. This series has been made by the Japanese game developer Hideo Kojima for almost thirty years, in cooperation with distributor Konami. A total of 40 million games have been sold in this series, and Phantom Pain is one of the highest rated installments of them all.

Chronologically, this open world game is set eight years before the events of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, its predecessor. The background of this series is the battle between the "Skulls", an evil collective, and the "Diamond Dogs", an organization which fights for the good of the world. Next to this, there is fear for the super weapon "Metal Gear", which can fire nuclear weapons.

Because there have been twenty games already in this series, it's hard to summarize the story, because of its complexity. In any case, Phantom Pain players are satisfied: 89% of the Steam reviews are positive. Furthermore the game has a score of 93 on Metacritic. This makes it one of the best scoring games in the Metal Gear series.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

NEC EA275UHD 27-inch UHD Monitor Review

NEC adds to its Ultra HD offerings with a 27-inch IPS model, the EA275UHD. Solid build quality and performance mark this enterprise-ready display.

The mainstay of NEC’s consumer display offerings are the EA and PA-series screens. PA encompasses professional models with factory-certified calibrations, precise color accuracy, a comprehensive OSD that includes color management, and top-of-the-line build quality. And as you’d expect, they come at a premium price.

Read full article @ Toms Hardware

Plextor M6V SSD Review

Value-oriented shoppers in the market for an SSD don't have to settle for TLC-based drives. Plextor found another way to reduce prices with two-bit-per-cell MLC: just use flash with smaller cells.

Read full article @ Toms Hardware

Rig of the Month - November 2015

Each month one winner walks away with a cool prize. This month we give away a platinum certified Corsair HX750i power supply. The power supply is rather extraordinary in performance and its Platinum 80 plus certification, the one massive 63 Amp 12-volts says it all really. Superb for mainstream to high-end and even multi-GPU solutions. Corsair also embeds their LINK technology into the PSU. That means you can monitor the PSU with the help of software, things like PSU efficiency, power usage or simply to adjust the fan RPM. The winner also receives a fully sleeved cable kit (cables + 24 pin).

Read full article @ Guru3D

Scythe Fuma CPU Cooler Review

There is another CPU cooler review on our agenda. Today's candidate is the Scythe Fuma. At review date the double tower cooler has not been officially released, but we have already received one for testing. The Scythe Fuma will be released very soon in Europe.

Read full article @ OcInside.de

Seagate Desktop SSHD 4TB ST4000DX001 Consumer Hybrid HD Review

A SSHD is the marriage of a platter hard drive and a SSD Controller linked to the same Nand flash used in a Solid State Drive. The drive electronics are a little more sophisticated than a regular platter drive deciding what is stored on the SSD portion of the drive using an algorithm that determines what is used the most often. Designed for desktop computers and DAS (Direct Attached Storage) situations the Seagate 4TB SSHD is the latest iteration of Hybrid drives from Seagate. The SSD qualities of the Seagate SSHD married to the capabilities of the platter portion of the drive let the drive have unique advantages over normal platter drives. Seagate’s SSHD can achieve higher transfer rates and faster Bootups at a fraction of the cost of a SSD the same size.

SSD’s remain on the expensive side for the amount of storage you get for the price you pay and it’s rather a waste of SSD storage to say store large volumes of music or video on an SSD as the speed isn’t going to do you a lot of good and frankly storing that amount of material on an SSD gets expensive fast. Last we checked you could snag a 240 – 256GB SSD (good quality) in the neighborhood of $125 – $140 with no frills models a little cheaper.

Read full article @ Bjorn3D

TteSports Poseidon Z RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

RGB keyboards are all the rage right now, with every major manufacturer churning out updated and new models of their hardware with fancy new colour customisation features. TteSports aren’t the first or the last to join this race, and the extremely popular Poseidon series now features RGB Kailh mechanical switches, giving us the Poseidon Z RGB. The keyboard comes in a choice of Blue and Brown switches, giving you a nice selection between tactile and acoustic response.

Read full article @ eTeknix