Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles, including Corsair Force LS 240GB, Gigabyte G1 Sniper A88X Gaming Motherboard Review, Streacom FC5 EVO Fanless HTPC Case Review, Iris Pro Driving an Accurate Display, and Cooler Master G500 PSU Review



Corsair Force LS 240GB review: budget quality @ Hardware.Info

Corsair has launched a new line of affordable SSDs, using the lesser known Phison PS3108 controller. We tested the 240 GB model to find out whether Corsair's new series can hold its own against some pretty stiff competition in terms of price and performance.

Unlike the markets it operates in, Corsair has been growing steadily over the past few years. Fewer RAM modules, power supplies and other PC components are being sold, but the combination of quality products and an effective marketing strategy has increased the market share of Corsair. In the Hardware.Info User System statistics, Corsair has been in first place the last six months when it comes to RAM, PSUs, case fans and CPU coolers.

Read more: Corsair Force LS 240GB review: budget quality @ Hardware.Info

Gigabyte G1 Sniper A88X Motherboard Review @ KitGuru

Today we are going to look at one of the first Socket FM2+ motherboards designed for gaming, the Gigabyte G1 Sniper A88X. This has similar characteristics as the other products in Gigabyte's gaming range, including the trademark green and black colour scheme.

Read more: Gigabyte G1 Sniper A88X Motherboard Review @ KitGuru

Gigabyte G1 Sniper A88X Gaming Motherboard Review @ Ninjalane

Trinity Gaming? Richland Gaming? Might sound like a boutique gaming store but really its code for a motherboard designed to help gamers running the AMD FM2. We tested the G1 Sniper A88X using the A10-6800K Black Edition and found it to be quite good despite the obvious lack of power.

Read more: Gigabyte G1 Sniper A88X Gaming Motherboard Review @ Ninjalane

Streacom FC5 EVO Fanless HTPC Case Review @ KitGuru

Today we are going to take a look at the Streacom FC5 EVO Fanless chassis which is designed for those people who are looking to build a completely silent home theatre PC. This takes things one step further than most HTPC cases which are designed to be low-noise, as there are no fans at all in this particular case.

Read more: Streacom FC5 EVO Fanless HTPC Case Review @ KitGuru

iconBIT NetTAB THOR QUAD FHD NT-1005T Tablet Review @ Madshrimps

The Thor Quad FHD tablet from iconBIT is quite balanced, featuring a Rockchip RK3188 Quad Core CPU at 1.6GHz, Mali MP-400 MP4 GPU, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of NAND Flash. Of course, we also have a microSDHC card slot for expanding the storage (supports up to 32GB cards). Besides those mentioned, it is also notable the inclusion of the 5MP camera with flash on the back, which provides better quality shots compared to lower specced models.

Read more: iconBIT NetTAB THOR QUAD FHD NT-1005T Tablet Review @ Madshrimps

OCZ Vertex 450 256GB SSD @ Custom PC Review

OCZ’s Vertex line of SSDs has had a pretty long and pretty interesting history. Starting all the way back in 2008, the earliest Vertex carried the original Indilinx Barefoot controller, which was quite successful due to the great performance of the Barefoot controller at the time. Shortly after, OCZ introduced the Vertex 2 followed by the Vertex 3, which featured multiple iterations of the powerful SandForce controllers that has shaped the standard in SSD performance today.

After OCZ’s acquisition of Indilinx back in 2011, they put their new acquisition to good use, taking the company’s experience and applying it via custom firmware designs to Marvell controller hardware coming out with the Indilinx Everest 2 powered Vertex 4. Several months later, we saw the release of the OCZ Vector carrying the Indilinx Barefoot 3 controller, which shaped up to become the first controller produced completely in house from the Indilinx acquisition – sans Marvell or SandForce hardware underneath.

Read more: OCZ Vertex 450 256GB SSD @ Custom PC Review

Gigabyte Force K7 Stealth Gaming Keyboard Review @ HiTech Legion

The human eye is capable of perceiving millions of colors, but all of those colors stem from the three primary colors, red, blue, and green. Most people know this in one form or another but did you know that of our 126 million rods and cones that see light and distinguish grey scale and differentiate color, only 6 million cones actually see color, and those are divided more or less equally between the primary colors. That leaves us with only 2 million cones for red, 2 million for green, and a final 2 for blue. Two million seems like a lot but compared to nearly 130 million you see it is not. Yet, somehow, color is one of the most important things humans have for visual cues. We use color to help determine the mood of other people. We use color to signal intent and to notify others of danger or safety. We use color to direct traffic. We use color for so many different things, I could never list them all.

Read more: Gigabyte Force K7 Stealth Gaming Keyboard Review @ HiTech Legion

21.5-inch iMac (Late 2013) Review: Iris Pro Driving an Accurate Display @ Anandtech

I have a confession to make. For the past year Ive been using a 27-inch iMac as my primary workstation. I always said that if I had a less mobile lifestyle the iMac is probably the machine Id end up with (that was prior to the announcement of the new Mac Pro of course). This past year has been the most insane in terms of travel, so it wasnt a lack of mobility that kept me on the iMac but rather a desire to test Apples new Fusion Drive over the long haul.

Read more: 21.5-inch iMac (Late 2013) Review: Iris Pro Driving an Accurate Display @ Anandtech

ASUS Z87I-Deluxe Motherboard Review @ Bjorn3D

ASUS Z87I-Deluxe ASUS while best known for the crazy features and designs on ROG boards they also do design some very impressive mainstream level boards much like the ITX offering we are looking at today.

Read more: ASUS Z87I-Deluxe Motherboard Review @ Bjorn3D

Cooler Master G500 PSU Review @ OCinside.de

Cooler Master offers with the Cooler Master G500 PSU a new 80PLUS bronze power supply in the lower price segment.
At OCinside.de, we already tested some Cooler Master power supplies and can thus make a good comparison to some high-end and low-budget PC power supplies.
Let us take a look at the inexpensive non-modular Cooler Master G500 power supply, that will convince with no frills but with a good energy efficiency at a reasonable price.

Read more: Cooler Master G500 PSU Review @ OCinside.de

Gigabyte P34G Laptop Review @ Hexus

Gigabyte may be best known for its graphics cards and motherboards, but the Taiwanese manufacturer's laptop division has been on a roll of late. Just last month, we were generally impressed with the P25W - a 15.6in gaming laptop that exhibited a quad-core Intel processor, dedicated Nvidia graphics, a good backlit keyboard and an enjoyable 1080p display.

There was plenty to like, but there was also a bright-yellow top that was in our estimation too ostentatious for mainstream users. We were silently hoping that Gigabyte would follow-up with a similarly powerful alternative that's thinner, lighter, and far easier on the eye. Enter the 14in P34G, priced at £1,160.

Read more: Gigabyte P34G Laptop Review @ Hexus