Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles, including Corsair Voyager GS 128GB USB 3 flash drive, Nexus 5 video Review, BlizzCon 2013 Coverage, Netgear ReadyNAS 312 2-bay SMB / SOHO NAS Review, and GeForce GTX 780 Ti vs. Radeon R9 290X 4K Gaming



Corsair Voyager GS 128GB USB 3 flash drive @ KitGuru

USB flash drives are a useful device to have at home or work, we use them all the time in the Kitguru labs for moving large amounts of data between systems. Today we review something rather special however the latest high capacity USB 3.0 drive from Corsair which claims to have a read speed around 260 MB/s.

Read more: Corsair Voyager GS 128GB USB 3 flash drive @ KitGuru

GIGABYTE R9 270X Windforce 3X Review @ Vortez

The GIGABYTE Windforce series of graphics cards have long been held in the highest regard here at Vortez thanks to the supreme cooling ability along with the factory overclocks applied to each card they produce. Of course, GIGABYTE also supply reference designed cards which are a little cheaper but we feel the extra few pounds it costs for the card to arrive on your doorstep factory overclocked and complete with one of the best aftermarket cooling designs is well worth the extra.

The AMD R9-270X has some very stiff competition in this highly contested market space because for the £159 GIGABYTE are asking for their R9-270X Windforce 3x graphics card, the options are varied from not only GIGABYTE's direct competitors who also have their own versions of the R9-270X but also from the NVIDIA GTX760, itself a very capable card for not a lot more money. Today however we will be concentrating our efforts on the AMD card which in reference format received our silver and value awards. Today, we will see if the GIGABYTE version can better this result.

Read more: GIGABYTE R9 270X Windforce 3X Review @ Vortez

Fuji X-A1 Review @ Techradar

The Fuji X-A1 is the fourth model in the company's X-series of compact system cameras, but it is identical to the Fuji X-M1 in all but one vital way - the sensor. Whereas the Fuji X-M1 has the same APS-C format X-Trans CMOS sensor as the Fuji X-Pro 1 and Fuji X-E1, the X-A1 has an APS-C format CMOS sensor with a Bayer pattern primary colour filter.While the X-Trans sensor's random colour filter arrangements means it doesn't require an optical low pass filter, the more standard Bayer pattern filter over X-A1's sensor does. This is likely to mean that the 16.3 million pixel sensor of the X-A1 isn't able to resolve quite as much sharp detail as the 16.3 million pixel sensor in Fuji's other cameras. However, we've been happy with Bayer patterns in digital cameras for years, so it may not be a major issue.The change to a more common sensor design enables Fuji to offer X-A1 at a more affordable price than the X-M1; with the X-A1 retailing for around US$599/£499 with the 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens and the X-M1 retailing for around US$799/£679 with the same optic.

Read more: Fuji X-A1 Review @ Techradar

Roccat Ryos MK Glow Review @ Hexus

We all have our favourite gaming keyboards, but if you're looking to mix things up or go mechanical, Roccat is vying for your attention with the new Ryos MK Glow.

Arriving at retail stores in time for Christmas with a £120 price tag, this premium bit of kit is described by the manufacturer as "the most advanced, most customizable mechanical keyboard ever." High expectations, then, and so there should be, as the Ryos is the spiritual successor to the well-received Isku.

This time around, and in an effort to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, Roccat will be making the Ryos MK available in three unique flavours. In addition to the standard model (£90), there's an LED-backlit MK Glow (pictured, £120), and a range-topping MK Pro (£150) that touts per-key illumination as well as an integrated media hub with two USB ports and audio passthrough.

Read more: Roccat Ryos MK Glow Review @ Hexus

Raijintek Ereboss CPU Cooler Review @ eTeknix

When it comes to components there was no one at the show with a better display than Case King, who had literally dozens of brands on display as well as a few very cool surprises on their extremely busy and fun packed booth.

First of all they have a huge LED screen featuring product videos, in front of which we have the legend that is 8 Pack, who builds some of the finest custom rigs on the market exclusively for Case King / Overclockers UK. He was on show building some setups for overclocking and the use of LN2. Oh and lets not forget the very fancy Throne that was setup on stage.

they had some great brands on show with massive ranges of products from Rajintek including their brand new chassis which will offer some incredible HDD support that we say them developing the prototype of on the booth its self. We will have this in for review soon enough and show you a closer look asap.

Read more: Raijintek Ereboss CPU Cooler Review @ eTeknix

Nexus 5 video Review @ V3

We check out the key features of the world's first KitKat phone     

Read more: Nexus 5 video Review @ V3

Roccat Ryos MK Glow @ PureOverclock

ROCCAT has been known for delivering exceptional peripherals like keyboards, mice, headphones and mouse pads. They also have notebooks available but only in Germany. However, when it comes to keyboards, they have been a bit behind the times. After taking a year in development, they are ready to introduce gamers to the Ryos Series. We have the opportunity to review the Ryos MK Glow. It features a built-in palm rest, individual LED keys, an anti-smudge surface, fully capable macros and individual key remapping.

When it comes to their first Mechanical keyboard, ROCCAT makes a bold statement, “The most advanced, most customizable mechanical keyboard ever – NOBODY comes close! Introducing the illuminated ROCCAT Ryos MK Glow mechanical gaming keyboard. With an eye-watering number of configuration options and high-quality CHERRY MX key switches, you can break out – and unleash the gaming beast within.”

We have to ask ourselves, Is ROCCAT being overly confident with their first keyboard? There’s plenty of other manufacturers who have been releasing Mechanical keyboards for years and haven’t claimed to be the most customizable. If their statement is true, will there be room for improvement? These are just a few questions that come to mind after such a bold statement.

Read more: Roccat Ryos MK Glow @ PureOverclock

Fractal Design Adjust 108 Fan Controller Review @ TechwareLabs.com

Join TechwareLabs as we take a look at the Fractal Design Adjust 108 fan controller. Sporting a sleek brushed aluminum face, 6 channels capable of handling a whopping 36W each, and a low-profile slider design, this little controller is capable of making a big impact on your system.

Read more: Fractal Design Adjust 108 Fan Controller Review @ TechwareLabs.com

Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9-inch Review @ TechReviewSource.com

The Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" is the simplest-to-use high-quality, large-screen tablet, with built-in, on-demand tech support. And it's the best choice for handling your Amazon content.

Read more: Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9-inch Review @ TechReviewSource.com

BlizzCon 2013 Coverage @ Legit Reviews

After almost two years away in hibernation, BlizzCon returned to the Anaheim Convention Center with a bang as more than 20,000 fans poured in. With so many fans, gamers, and CosPlayer itching to see what Blizzard had in store for their three main franchises - World of Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo, many felt that there was little chance that the event could once again live up to it's hype...

Read more: BlizzCon 2013 Coverage @ Legit Reviews

Be Quiet! Power Zone 1000W Power Supply Unit @ NikKTech

As far back as i can recall I've always considered the power supply as one of the most important hardware components of a system. True i never thought about it to be just as important as the mainboard or the graphics card but i always knew that in order for these two to work flawlessly a good PSU providing stable power is a must. Of course back when i started testing power supply units they didn't have the many 80 Plus certifications that we have now nor did they have the features they do now but the entire concept was the same. Nowadays however things are quite easier so in a way the various 80 Plus certifications also provide a quick way for people to know what a specific power supply is capable off without digging deeper (for example we have yet to test an 80 Plus Gold or Platinum PSU that didn't have excellent performance). On one hand however not everyone can afford to purchase a high output Gold/Platinum 80 Plus Certified PSU while on the other there are several bronze and silver certified ones with excellent performance as well. Now as you all know recently we gave away a Power Zone 1000W 80 Plus Bronze Certified PSU by be quiet! and since we always like to know exactly what it is that we are giving away one such PSU ended up in our test bench.

Read more: Be Quiet! Power Zone 1000W Power Supply Unit @ NikKTech

ADATA XPG V2 Review: 2x8 GB at DDR3-2400 C11-13-13 1.65 V @ Anandtech

Memory has an odd part to play in the desktop ecosystem. There is plenty of it from many different manufacturers at various prices, speeds and benefits. Most of the differentiation comes around the product, such that two sets of 8GB DDR3-1600 might differ in warranty and aesthetics alone. With that in mind, we have several memory kits in the office tested, and the first one under analysis is a 2x8 GB DDR3-2400 C11 kit from ADATAs XPG V2 line.    

Read more: ADATA XPG V2 Review: 2x8 GB at DDR3-2400 C11-13-13 1.65 V @ Anandtech

Netgear ReadyNAS 312 2-bay SMB / SOHO NAS Review @ Anandtech

x86-based NAS units targeting SMB consumers are usually of the 4-bay or more variety. However, there is a growing market for 2-bay high-performance units. Almost all major NAS vendors have an Atom-based 2-bay SMB NAS unit. Today, we are going to look at Netgear's latest offering in this space, the ReadyNAS 312. This lineup marked the debut of Netgear's new OS, ReadyNAS OS 6.0, with a BTRFS internal file system. Read on for notes from our evaluation of the RN312.    

Read more: Netgear ReadyNAS 312 2-bay SMB / SOHO NAS Review @ Anandtech

Magellan Echo Smart Running Watch Review @ TUAW

There is a lot of activity in Smart Watches these days. There's the Pebble, another from Martian, the Galaxy Gear and a host of others. There is also a great deal of buzz around lifestyle or fitness watches, like the Fitbit, and the Garmin Forerunner.

Magellan, maker of GPS navigation software and hardware, has jumped into the pool with the Magellan Echo Smart running Watch. It's US$149.95

Read more: Magellan Echo Smart Running Watch Review @ TUAW

Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 16GB DDR3 1866 MHz Review @ HCW

Technically speaking, Intel’s latest CPU architecture Haswell still only officially supports memory up to DDR3 1600 MHz. Anything above that is considered running beyond specifications in some way. Don’t worry though, , it’s not really considered overclocking. There are plenty of choices at 1866 MHz, and the products aren’t running out of spec at all.

Today we’re looking at a DDR3 1866 kit from Crucial, in their Ballistix Sport XT lineup. This 16GB kit is designed to run at 1866 MHz with 10-10-10-30 timings at 1.5v. We’re going to find out whether it’s worth it to run Haswell CPUs at 1866 MHz and beyond, and what kind of scaling to expect in artificial and real world benchmarks.

Read more: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 16GB DDR3 1866 MHz Review @ HCW

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 Ti WindForce 3X OC review @ Guru3D

In this review we test the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 Ti WindForce 3X OC, with a new revision 450W WindForce X3 cooler and a factory overclock this thing is fast 'n cool ! NVIDIA unlocked the GPU completely meaning all 2880 Shader processors are available. That combined with increased core and memory clock frequencies and nice overclock potential will make this the top 699 USD flagship product to purchase for the Christmas holiday season. So yeah, this means it is based on the GK110 revision B GPU and has an whopping 7.1 Billion transistors. That makes it a nice one of the fastest graphics cards available on the market today. We test the product with the hottest games like Metro: Last light, Battlefield 4, Medal of Honor Warfighter, Hitman Absolution and many more.The GeForce GTX 780 Ti is NVIDIA's all new high-end graphics card based off the same chip that is the GeForce GTX Titan. However, NVIDIA probably figured, save the best for last as NVIDIA unlocked the GPU completely meaning all 2880 Shader processors are available. That combined with increased core and memory clock frequencies and nice overclock potential will make this the top 699 USD flagship product to purchase for the Christmas holiday season. So yeah, this means it is based on the GK110 revision B GPU and has an whopping 7.1 Billion transistors. That makes it a nice one of the fastest graphics cards available on the market today. We test the product with the hottest games like Metro: Last Light, Battlefield 4, Medal of Honor Warfighter, Hitman Absolution and many more.

Just like Titan, the GTX 780 Ti is based on the GK110 GPU with the distinctions that the Titan has a GK110-300 GPU and the GeForce GTX 780 a revision B GK110 GPU. Same stuff, yet with some changed. The recipe for the GTX 780 Ti is fantastic though, as the product has the full 15 Streaming clusters thus 2880 Shader Processing Units enabled. That's 240 TMUs and 48 ROPs on a 384-bit memory interface of fast GDDR5. So yeah, NVIDIA in a nutshell that is a 45 mm × 45 mm 2397-pin S-FCBGA GK110b GPU with 2880 shader/stream/CUDA processors. But wait Dave, there's more. Memory wise NVIDIA equipped the GeForce GTX 780 Ti with 7Gbps memory, the fastest GDDR5 memory you can find on a graphics card today. The GeForce GTX 780 Ti ships with 3GB of this memory, providing up to 336GB/sec of peak memory bandwidth. That is still huge (12 pieces of 64M ×16 GDDR5 SDRAM) of memory (384-bit) on there and started designing a bunch of new tricks at BIOS and driver level. Combined with GPU Boost 2.0 you will see this product boosting towards the 1000~1050 MHz range once you tweak it. The reference clock is 875 MHz with a boost clock of 928 MHz. Looking at the specs you must think that this product must consume heaps of power, well it's not great, but definitely not bad at all. Another improvement that Nvidia implemented to the GeForce GTX 780 Ti is a new power balancing feature that’s been made so enthusiasts can get the most out of their overclock. Typically GPU gets its power from three sources: the 6-pin and 8-pin power connectors, and the PCI Express interface. Under normal conditions, the power sent to the GPU is balanced across these three sources, but when a user overclocks their graphics card they can unbalance the power delivery and draw more power from one source than the others, potentially maxing it out. With this new feature we can steer power from one input to another, so if you max out one power source, you can draw more power from the others to make up the difference.

Read more: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 Ti WindForce 3X OC review @ Guru3D

Intel Core i5-3570K vs Core i5-2500K Gaming-Performance @ ocaholic

Maybe some of you are curious to see how close a Core i5-2500K can come to a Core i5-3570K. Obviously this article should not be seen as some kind of buying advice it's more about illustrating that the CPU isn't the most important piece of hardware when it comes to gaming performance. And that's exactly what you will notice when checking out all the results we gathered.

Read more: Intel Core i5-3570K vs Core i5-2500K Gaming-Performance @ ocaholic

HIS R7 260X iPower IceQ X2 2GB GDDR5 Video Card Review @ Madshrimps

Are you a gamer on a budget? Do you own a 22’’ monitor for playing the latest games or even a 24’’ and would not mind sacrificing some detail levels? Then the HIS R7 260X might be for you since it comes with a custom PCB and cooling system which allows raising the GPU/memory frequencies even further in order to gain some extra FPS.

Read more: HIS R7 260X iPower IceQ X2 2GB GDDR5 Video Card Review @ Madshrimps

Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti OC & Gigabyte GTX 780 GHz Edition Review @ Techspot

The graphics card market has experienced some amazing turns lately even though AMD and Nvidia haven't made serious architectural changes in 2013. Most recent GPUs have been rebadges, while a handful are just extensions of previous-gen technology, including the flagships from both camps. The R9 290X's Hawaii XT core boosted the performance of the HD 7970's Tahiti XT core around 38% with a memory bus that's 33% wider, while the GTX Titan is powered by a version of the GTX 680's GPU, except it's 90% bigger!

Having traded performance blows, both companies are tightening their pricing with the $400 R9 290 forcing the GTX 780 down to $500 from $650, further invalidating the GTX Titan, which is effectively history after the announcement of the GTX 780 Ti that we'll be testing today.

Read more: Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti OC & Gigabyte GTX 780 GHz Edition Review @ Techspot

Lian Li PC10-N Mid-Tower Case Review @ HiTech Legion

People say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I believe that is only somewhat true. Sure, different people have different preferences, but beauty is beauty no matter how you like it. Think about it, you and your friends all know who the more beautiful girls (or boys, if you are a girl) are, even if you each have a different favorite. Same would go for flowers or houses or cars or anything. By contrast, we can all spot ugly and all agree what ugly is. It isn’t like someone out there thinks ugly is pretty and vice versa. Even nature itself knows what beauty is and almost everything is designed to be beautiful for its own reasons. Flowers are beautiful so that bees will be attracted to them and, some say, so that humans will cultivate them and allow them to proliferate around the globe. Even still, everyone has their favorite but most will commonly agree on a few popular flowers that are clearly the most beautiful.

Computer cases are no different really, while each person may have their favorites and their own set of preferences, I think it is safe to say we can all agree on what makes a case good looking. That is why, in the PC world, we often see the same thing over and over again. Almost like semantic satiation where a word or phrase is said so much it loses meaning; the same thing can happen with the design of technology, or in our situation, PC cases. Sometimes part of a really great design gets repeated so often that we forget how great it is. That is not the case with Lian Li’s PC-10N Mid-Tower case.

Read more: Lian Li PC10-N Mid-Tower Case Review @ HiTech Legion

OCZ Vector 150 240GB SSD Review @ Hardware Canucks

SSD enthusiasts have notoriously short memories and a company’s reputation is only as good as their last model. Fortunately for OCZ their last enthusiast-oriented product was the Vertex 450, an altogether excellent drive with loads of potential and a great price. Meanwhile, the Vector was launched nearly a year ago and is still considered one of the better drives on the market. The Vector 150 aims to capitalize upon that SSD’s success in a number of different ways.

While OCZ may have hit rough patch of late, their in-house Indilinx Barefoot 3 controller combined with good NAND has traditionally proven to be a winning combination and a true differentiator in a market that seems to have stagnated. The problem with the Vector was it was a victim of its own success. After some well-publicized missteps, OCZ made a promise to never silently change the NAND used in any model. However, finding sufficient quantities of the older 25nm ONFi 2 NAND became an ongoing challenge. Using these older generation modules also meant that their flagship model was slowly losing ground to newer models equipped with even more powerful NAND ICs. So just a short 345 days after releasing the original Vector 256GB, the updated Vector 150 240GB is being launched.

Read more: OCZ Vector 150 240GB SSD Review @ Hardware Canucks

Sapphire AMD Radeon R9 280X Toxic Edition 3GB Graphics Card Review @ eTeknix

When it comes to overclocked graphics card with ridiculous speed Sapphire’s Toxic series is one of the most renowned in the “AMD world”. Today we have Sapphire’s Toxic R9 280X which comes with a massive out of the box overclock of 15% – taking it from 1GHz core to 1.15GHz core, on the memory we see a more modest increase of 100MHz (6.67%). The Sapphire Toxic R9 280X features the respected Tri-X triple fan cooler with a huge 10mm heat pipe and a dense aluminium heatsink. From what I’ve heard and read about this graphics card already the main selling point of this GPU is its ability to offer near-GTX 780 levels of performance for a substantially lower price.

Read more: Sapphire AMD Radeon R9 280X Toxic Edition 3GB Graphics Card Review @ eTeknix

Teratrend (SilverStone) TS432U 4 Bay USB3.0 RAID Enclosure Review @ eTeknix

The storage markets are growing rapidly at the moment and this is certainly clear from the large number of home and small office users that are jumping onto the NAS bandwagon to increase their storage capacity to satisfy their needs. For some people though the prospect of setting up network devices is still either a daunting process or even more simply, too much hassle. Having a solution that is virtually plug and play is still the main choice of many users and as a result there is a market flooded by USB enclosures for both 2.5″ and 3.5″ drives.

Teratrend is a name that some may look at and turn away as its not recognised, but the sooner its realised that their a sub-brand of SilverStone – the same people of manufacture many great looking chassis and power supplies as well as coolers, the attention is soon brought back with the prospect of a high quality, well build unit.

As storage is not the main focus of SilverStone, the Teratrend brand was brought in to distinguish the new line of products a few years ago and since then we have seen a number of two and four bay options that take the effort out of storage expansion with say to use and simple devices that look good at the same time on any desk.

Read more: Teratrend (SilverStone) TS432U 4 Bay USB3.0 RAID Enclosure Review @ eTeknix

OCZ Vector 150 SSD Review: A New Flagship With 19 nm Flash @ Tom's Hardware

OCZ is re-launching its flagship consumer SSD as the Vector 150. Armed with 19 nm Toggle-mode flash and new encryption functionality, this new drive is purported to be the pinnacle of of enthusiast-class solid-state storage. Does it live up to the hype?

Read more: OCZ Vector 150 SSD Review: A New Flagship With 19 nm Flash @ Tom's Hardware

GeForce GTX 780 Ti vs. Radeon R9 290X 4K Gaming @ HardOCP

It's time to take the GeForce GTX 780 Ti and Radeon R9 290X and see what kind of gameplay experience we can get on an Ultra HD 4K display. We saw AMD very much outpace NVIDIA at these 4K Ultra HD resolutions previously. We will find out which one dominates the super-high-resolution gaming scene.

Read more: GeForce GTX 780 Ti vs. Radeon R9 290X 4K Gaming @ HardOCP

iPad Air vs iPad 4 head to head review @ V3

We pit Apple's new lightweight tablet against its predecessor     

Read more: iPad Air vs iPad 4 head to head review @ V3

Patriot Supersonic Magnum 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review @ Hardware-360

We have reviewed multiple flash drives throughout the last week and maybe, just maybe we saved the best for last. Today we are going to be looking at the Patriot Supersonic Magnum 128GB Flash Drive. Like the other drives we examined the Magnum utilizes the USB interface to achieve amazing read and write speeds of up to 260MB/s and up to 160MB/s sequential write speeds respectively. The Magnum is able to achieve this by using a flash memory controller with 8-Channel technology that splits the throughput going to the USB 3.0 controller into 8 separate data lanes, allowing more read and writes to happen simultaneously.
Patriot-Supersonic-Magnum-Front-page

The Patriot Supersonic Magnum also comes with a heavy duty aluminum enclosure that is shock resistance of up to 15Gs to ensure greater protection of your data, and the strength of the metal will protect the drive is accidentally dropped. The enclosure is large though, which tends to be the standard for high capacity flash drives that feature an 8-channel controller. This means it can block nearby USB ports, however, the rectangular shape prevents it from blocking any ports above, or below it, just ones that that are to the sides.

Read more: Patriot Supersonic Magnum 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review @ Hardware-360

D-Link DIR-868L review: extremely fast router @ Hardware.Info

D-Link recently overhauled its line of routers and replaced them with 802.11ac models. We tested the new flagship product, the DIR-868L, which is capable of some very impressive performance indeed.

And while the technology inside is new, D-Link is continuing with the black cylindrical water kettle design introduced with last year's DIR-645. It also features the SmartBeam technology first used in the DIR-645. The concept uses 6 multi-directional antennas to find and track individual devices, then focus beams of bandwidth to those particular devices.

Read more: D-Link DIR-868L review: extremely fast router @ Hardware.Info

Noctua NH-U12S and NH-U14S CPU Coolers Review @ Tech Lobby

We’ve had a good few opportunities to test out various Noctua coolers and fans and have found them to be of very good quality. Today we look at the new NH-U12S and NH-U14S CPU Coolers. As the names suggests both models are indicative of their size.

Read more: Noctua NH-U12S and NH-U14S CPU Coolers Review @ Tech Lobby