Here today's reviews and articles, including Dell XPS 18 Portable All-in-One Desktop Review, Last Call: Google Reader Dies Monday, Here Are The Best Alternatives, AMD Radeon HD 7950 w/ Boost Versus NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760, AMD RadeonSI Gallium3D Performance Has A Long Way To Go, and Linux Mint 15 Cinnamon Review



Dell XPS 18 Portable All-in-One Desktop Review @ HardwareHeaven.com

So phones start to become something else at around 5-6inches but when does a tablet become something more? Today we look at a device which Dell market as a 'Portable All in One Desktop', the XPS 18. Is it a desktop though... or is it just about the biggest (and most powerful) tablet out there?

Read more: Dell XPS 18 Portable All-in-One Desktop Review @ HardwareHeaven.com

Last Call: Google Reader Dies Monday, Here Are The Best Alternatives @ TechSpot

With Google Reader nearing its imminent death, a race to build the perfect alternative for the service's refugees has been taking shape over the last few weeks. Even though there are dozens of alternatives already out there, if you care about cross-platform compatibility and synchronization across different devices for things like read and favorited items, then your options are a little more limited than you'd imagine.

Read more: Last Call: Google Reader Dies Monday, Here Are The Best Alternatives @ TechSpot

Gigabyte GTX 760 OC Windforce @ LanOC Reviews

So up until now we have taken a look at the stock GTX 760 with its single fan, the EVGA GTX 760 with its dual fans, that really only leaves one logical option right? Today I’m going to take a look at the GTX 760 from Gigabyte with their Windforce cooler that packs in a whopping 3 fans. The card is also overclocked a little more than the previous card as well. I’m expecting good performance and I’m very curious about how well Gigabytes Windforce cooling will do because this is our first chance to check out a card with it.

Read more: Gigabyte GTX 760 OC Windforce @ LanOC Reviews

CyberPower PC Gamer Xtreme 4200 System Review @ Ninjalane

As computer users we have all gotten the question. "What system should I get?" That short sentence often leads into an hour long discussion to determine how they plan to use the new box and if they even plan to play games or do any sort of content creation. We strive to be as helpful as possible but sometimes the issue of choosing a computer isn't about the cost or components but rather the question of "Where do I get the system I want?"

In the early days of this site we were strong supporters of the upgrade path meaning that if you build a system you should always give yourself a way to upgrade later. These days the upgrade path is a little more confusing and virtually non-existent with the inexpensive OEM systems. So, what is a tech savvy, yet mechanically declined, computer advocate supposed to do in these dark times?

Read more: CyberPower PC Gamer Xtreme 4200 System Review @ Ninjalane

AMD Radeon HD 7950 w/ Boost Versus NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 @ Legit Reviews

At the end of the day, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 2GB and the AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB video cards perform very closely together. For right around $250 either of these cards are more than capable of powering a single monitor gaming system without a problem. We were also impressed by what they could do on a 5760x1080 triple monitor setup thanks to NVIDIA Surround and AMD Eyefinity...

Read more: AMD Radeon HD 7950 w/ Boost Versus NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 @ Legit Reviews

Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 G3 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive @ MEGATechNews

When it comes to shopping for a new USB flash drive, many people just see those little sticks of memory as disposible commodity items. However, there are still several characteristics that are well worth considering. You want it to be fast, for example, and you want the memory inside to be reliable. You also want it to be reasonably well built so that it doesn’t fall apart on you. And you want it to look good. The Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 G3 is the kind of USB 3.0 flash drive that addresses all of these concerns.

Read more: Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 G3 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive @ MEGATechNews

AMD RadeonSI Gallium3D Performance Has A Long Way To Go @ Phoronix

With Fedora 19 presenting a nice "out of the box" experience for AMD Radeon HD 7000 series graphics using the open-source RadeonSI Gallium3D driver, benchmarks of the open-source driver were done and compared to previous generations of AMD hardware. Sadly, there's still much work ahead for the Radeon HD 7000 series driver in being able to catch up with the hardware supported under the mature R600 Gallium3D driver.

Be sure to read AMD HD 7000 "RadeonSI" Runs Well With Fedora 19 for information on the "out of the box" experience of the AMD Southern Islands GPUs on the upcoming release of F19 and why it took so long for this open-source driver support. In this article, the "out of the box" software is being compared for two Radeon HD 7000 series graphics cards against earlier Radeon HD 4000/5000/6000 series graphics cards.

Read more: AMD RadeonSI Gallium3D Performance Has A Long Way To Go @ Phoronix

Noctua NH-U14S @ techPowerUp

The NH-U14S from Noctua continues their well-known tradition of exceptional quality. Offering low noise levels and exceptional cooling performance, the NH-U14S looks to give the competition a serious beating.

Read more: Noctua NH-U14S @ techPowerUp

Lenovo IdeaPad S405 Review @ TechReviewSource.com

As a budget system, the Lenovo IdeaPad S405 comes with all the usual caveats: lower quality construction, fewer features, and good-enough hardware. That said, for an inexpensive laptop that will get you online and get you through your homework, the Lenovo IdeaPad S405 looks good, has passable performance, and does it all for an affordable price.

Read more: Lenovo IdeaPad S405 Review @ TechReviewSource.com

Does Mayonnaise Last as a Thermal Compound? @ Hardware Secrets

Back in 2011, we tested mayonnaise as a thermal interface between the CPU and the base of the cooler. Amazingly, it worked nicely, proving to be, at least in a short term, a better thermal compound than several well-known commercial products. But, at the time, we could not determine how long it would continue to work before a degradation in performance was noted. This time around, we ran a long-term test to determine if mayonnaise can last as a thermal compound.

Read more: Does Mayonnaise Last as a Thermal Compound? @ Hardware Secrets

ASUS Z87-A Review @ Vortez

Whilst ASUS’ Republic of Gamers series has enjoyed lots of attention throughout the Intel 6 and 7 series, their mainstream segment motherboards have been somewhat pushed into the background compared to rival brands and their more affordable options. But with the introduction of Intel’s 8 series motherboards ASUS have redesigned their motherboards in a bid to diversify and today we are turning to their mainstream category to see whether the new wave of Z87 motherboards compare against the popular motherboards we have already reviewed.

The Z87-A is an affordable LGA1150 motherboard with plenty of features to keep even avid enthusiasts entertained. Modelling the new gold theme, this motherboard promises to perform and overclock just as well as other mainstream and even higher-end models – will it have what it takes to impress us?

Read more: ASUS Z87-A Review @ Vortez

Tt eSPORTS Theron Gaming Mouse and Galeru Bungee Review @ HardwareHeaven.com

The Theron mouise is aimed squarely at the real time strategy player with the mouse being promoted and design in partnership with Softball, the StarCraft 2 player from Tt's professional gaming team, the Tt Apollos.

Read more: Tt eSPORTS Theron Gaming Mouse and Galeru Bungee Review @ HardwareHeaven.com

Case Mod Friday: monsterITX @ ThinkComputers.org

Welcome to another Case Mod Friday showcase! This week we have Tim Stokes monsterITX build. Here is what he had to say about it: I've built several ATX systems and decided this time around, I wanted to go mITX. I chose the Case Labs Mercury S3 case because I knew I wanted it to be a little monster. The focus for this case was to do subtle mods that kept the case looking for the most part stock, but adding touches that finished it out.

Read more: Case Mod Friday: monsterITX @ ThinkComputers.org

KFA2 Geforce GTX760 EX OC Review @ KitGuru

Earlier this week Nvidia launched their GTX760 graphics card, the direct replacement for the ever popular GTX660 Ti. We focused on the GTX760 reference card at launch but today we get the chance to look at a customised, overclocked solution from KFA2 the GTX760 EX. This card is modestly priced at £227.99 inc vat (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-049-KF&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1830) , but it is worth shortlisting?

Read more: KFA2 Geforce GTX760 EX OC Review @ KitGuru

Linux Mint 15 Cinnamon Review @ LinuxBSDos.com

Linux Mint 15, the latest edition of the desktop distribution based on Ubuntu Desktop, was released at the end of last month (May 2013). It features the latest versions of the MATE and Cinnamon desktop environments. MATE is a fork of what used to be the GNOME 2 desktop environment, and it is, in a sense, based on old technology. Cinnamon is a new desktop environment built atop the latest GNOME (GNOME 3) technology, but presenting a traditional desktop interface, rather than the GNOME Shell that ships with GNOME 3.

This article is a review of the Cinnamon edition, and starts by taking a look at the installation program. Keep in mind that all Linux Mint editions share the same installation program, so everything that’s written here for the Cinnamon edition also applies to the MATE edition. And also to the KDE and Xfce editions, though the final editions of those are yet to be released.

Read more: Linux Mint 15 Cinnamon Review @ LinuxBSDos.com