Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

Alphacool Eisbaer LT 240 Review
ASRock Fatal1ty H370 Performance Motherboard Review
ASRock X299 Extreme4 Motherboard Review
be quiet! Dark Rock 4 CPU Air Cooler Review
Ecobee Switch+ Smart Switch with Amazon Alexa Review
Ecobee4 Thermostat Review
Fractal Design Meshify C Case Review
Galactic Civilizations III: Intrigue and v3.0 Review
Gigabyte X470 Aorus Gaming 7 WiFi Review
Guru3D Rig of the Month April 2018
HUDWAY Cast Head-Up Display Review
Intel outlines its struggles with 10-nm chip production
Kubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver - Long-term uncertainty
Linksys Velop Dual-Band AC3900 Review
Microsoft Surface Book 2 13.5" Review
Murderous Pursuits Review
Patriot Scorch 256GB M.2 NVMe SSD Review
Patriot Viper V770 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review
Supermicro C7Z370-CG-IW Motherboard Review

Alphacool Eisbaer LT 240 Review

Deepcool was founded with the mission of providing the best performance and humanized thermal solutions for worldwide customers. Established in 1996, Deepcool originally produced desktop and server coolers for ODM partners. With the rapid development of personal computers, Deepcool expanded the business into desktop cooling products and laptop cooling accessories.

Deepcool has built up its distribution network in over sixty countries all over the globe, by which end-users can purchase Deepcool products online or in their nearest local stores. With more and more media exposure and publication, such as awards from renowned websites and magazines like Pure Overclock, Tom's Hardware, Guru3d, CHIP, etc., Deepcool now enjoys a good reputation among daily computer users, gamers, and overclockers.

Read full article @ TechPowerUp

ASRock Fatal1ty H370 Performance Motherboard Review

High-end and H370 might not be a common occurrence, as the H370 and B360 chipsets that recently launched are meant to be on the more affordable side, but ASRock has delivered a high-end H370 motherboard. The Fatal1ty H370 Performance is aimed at gamers and power users alike who have opted to not buy a K-SKU CPUs as they don't care for overclocking and just want a motherboard that works. Let's take a look at this high-end H370 motherboard from ASRock.

Specifications: The Fatal1ty H370 Performance features dual x4 PCI-E 3.0 M.2 slots, Gbit LAN port, USB 3.0, USB 3.1, and SATA6Gb/s.

Read full article @ TweakTown

ASRock X299 Extreme4 Motherboard Review

In the next couple of weeks, we will be reviewing a few ASRock motherboards that have just recently been released, and also a few that have already been on the market for some, but are still pretty interesting.

In this review we will focus on the X299 Extreme4 motherboard which is designed for the Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X processors. All tests will be performed on the i9-7900X processor as I don’t think that many users wish to buy 4 core processors for a high-end desktop platform when 6 core Coffee Lake processors cost not much more.

Read full article @ FunkyKit

be quiet! Dark Rock 4 CPU Air Cooler Review

be quiet! has quietly made a name for itself in the CPU air cooling business over the years and now demands a very solid following of fans and users. It may surprise you to know, that be quiet!'s claim to fame is...wait for it...being quiet. That however is not usually our main concern when it comes to cooling, which is...wait for it...cooling.

It has been four years since a cooler from German based be quiet! was on one of our test systems. be quiet! Has long been known for their range of premium air coolers, and today we will be testing the brand new Dark Rock 4. The Dark Rock 4's 135mm Silent Wings fan, airflow-optimized fins, and six copper heat pipes will be going against our highly overclocked Ryzen test system. It claims "Extreme cooling power," today we will test that claim.

Read full article @ HardOCP

Ecobee Switch+ Smart Switch with Amazon Alexa Review

The ecobee Switch+ packs quite a bit inside. There is built-in Alexa with microphone and speaker, a motion sensor, light sensor, temperature sensor, night light, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n @ 2.4GHz, and it is designed to be controlled through the ecobee app. In addition it can be integrated with HomeKit, Alexa, SmartThings, IFTTT, and Google assistant. And since this is obviously designed to replace a standard wall switch (SPST), you can toggle your light locally.

Read full article @ Bigbruin.com

Ecobee4 Thermostat Review

The ecobee4 is easily one of the best smart thermostats you can buy, the only questions being compatibility with your house and whether you can justify its hefty price tag.
$550 iPhone: Next-gen 6.1" LCD model could see reduced price

For me, at least, the concept of a smart thermostat has had a strange appeal since the launch of the first-generation Nest. It may be because my body heat is out of control —I'm the lunatic who opens the window when it's still jacket weather outside. But I also enjoy gadgets that can save you money, and just the concept of home automation delivering pure comfort when I want it.

Read full article @ Apple Insider

Fractal Design Meshify C Case Review

If you are familiar with Fractal Design you probably know their Core and Define case series. These are the company’s most popular and you will find quite a lot of cases in each series. Well Fractal Design has introduced a new series which focuses on high airflow as well as having current features like tempered glass panels, easy SSD mounting, and more. The series is called Meshify and today we are checking our the Meshify C case, which is an ATX mid-tower case. Let’s take a look and see what this new case series is all about!

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

Galactic Civilizations III: Intrigue and v3.0 Review

Just how intriguing is this latest expansion and update of Galactic Civilizations III? I know I can say I have been greatly enjoying it and so I can easily recommend it. With the exception of commonwealths, I cannot say any change has particularly 'wowed' me, but all of the changes work so well to make the experience more interesting and engaging. I like having to be mindful of the various governments and the differences between them, even if I can go a long time without needing to look at them. They add a welcome kind of depth, as do the farming and taxes. The Galactic Market is a welcome addition as it lets you work around your limited access to resources, provided you have the money, and the change to extreme worlds is a clever way to make civilization choice more significant.

Read full article @ OCC

Gigabyte X470 Aorus Gaming 7 WiFi Review

Okay, so last week was a crazy one, at least here at the office. Testing and writing about the Ryzen 2000 series took up a lot of time then not to mention they also launched the X470 chipset. Well, I published our first X470 review and I finished testing other boards including the Gigabyte X470 Aorus Gaming 7 WiFi that I’m going to take a look at today. We already know that the difference between X370 and X470 isn’t huge but I am curious to see what some of the companies have changed in the year gap between the chipsets. So today I’m going to see what Gigabyte has gone with their flagship gaming branded board and then see how it compares to the MSI board that I already tested.

Read full article @ LanOC Reviews

Guru3D Rig of the Month April 2018

Each month one winner walks away with a cool prize. This month we give away a K70 LUX with red lighting. All keys are mechanical, in our case making use of Cherry Red MX switches. The idea behind mechanical switches is that they give a key press a more perceptible feel than the standard rubber membrane used in cheaper keyboards. Gamers seem to prefer mechy's very much over dome based keys and ever since the past year or two mechanical keyboards have been on the rise. The keyboard registers ALL keys pressed at once, as such this is a full key rollover. With virtually unlimited customization directly integrated into Corsair's legendary construction, the LUX line of gaming keyboards is the key to breaking through the competition. Express yourself with programmable advanced lighting control and large font keycaps, and transform your gameplay with on-the-fly macro programming. Loaded into a rugged aluminum body, Corsair LUX keyboards provide the ultimate experience for every situation.

Read full article @ The Guru of 3D

HUDWAY Cast Head-Up Display Review

If you happen to drive a car and you find yourself using Google Maps (or any navigation app for that matter) quite often then you know just how hard it is to keep your eyes both on the road and the map on your smartphone. HUD (heads up display) systems have solved the largest part of that issue but on one hand even now not all cars are equipped with one while on the other the ones that are usually display only basic information like speed and RPM (more advanced models also display traffic signs, speed limits and even lanes). Many aftermarket manufacturers have released HUD devices over the years but it wasn't until HUDWAY announced their innovative Glass model back in 2013 that people started to notice. The Glass however was just the beginning so last year and roughly 3 years since its official release HUDWAY announced the far more advanced Cast model which has been with us for almost a month now.

HUDWAY is not another navigator wrapped creatively. With our app and accessory, we want to enhance the drivers’ safety in poor visibility (nighttime, heavy fog, rain, blizzard, etc.), when the headlights won’t let you see the road ahead beyond 50-100 meters, — and that’s dangerous. We increase the drivers’ awareness — and we do it right on the windshield, in their main viewpoint, so that they are not distracted from the road to a bright navigator display showing loads of tiny inscriptions, signs, lines and arrows. We believe that simple solutions can save lives. And we ought to try them, since about 120.000 people a year die only because of poor visibility. It’s almost 350 people every day.

Read full article @ NikKTech

Intel outlines its struggles with 10-nm chip production

On Intel's most recent earnings call, CEO Brian Krzanich finally admitted what many in the industry have long intuited, understood, or scooped: the company is struggling with its 10-nm process technology, and those struggles are preventing the company from achieving good yields of 10-nm chips.

Krzanich admitted to analysts that the company "bit off a little too much" with its aggressive 2.7x scaling target for the process compared to its 14-nm products. Consequently, Intel says it's in the process of correcting the yield issues it has identified with its chips. The downside is that those yield issues will apparently require lots of time yet to resolve. Although Krzanich still says Intel is shipping 10-nm products today (although it still isn't clear to whom), the CEO says volume production of 10-nm silicon will not occur before 2019, and he wouldn't confirm to analysts whether that production would occur in the first half or second half of that year.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

Kubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver - Long-term uncertainty

Begin to start to commence the spring distro testing season! We open with a long, thorough review of Kubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver, tested in a mixed multi-boot Windows and Linux setup on a laptop with UEFI and GPT, covering live session, installation and post-install use and tweaks, including look & feel, fonts, networking support and many associated troubles with Wireless connectivity, Bluetooth, Samba sharing and printing, multimedia support - HD video and MP3 playback, smartphone support - Android, iPhone, Windows Phone, partitioning, package management and updates, applications, hardware compatibility, webcam, proprietary drivers, suspend & resume, stability, resources, performance, severe desktop hangs due to Baloo indexing, application crashes, various visual niggles and bugs, other problems, customization, and more. Enjoy.

Read full article @ Dedoimedo

Linksys Velop Dual-Band AC3900 Review

About a year ago we were in the beginnings of the Mesh Wi-Fi platform launch for many vendors. This included Linksys and Velop one of the top Mesh platforms of 2017. The Velop Dual-Band is the second iteration of the popular Mesh platform from Linksys, this time around a much smaller footprint for each node allowing them to blend into your home. In addition, Linksys has aimed to lower the cost of entry for many users creating an entry-level solution for those that didn't need the Tri-Band features of the original Velop platform.

Specifications for the Velop Dual-Band platform include each node being an AC1300 class device. This means across a three-node platform the entire system falls into the AC3900 class. That said we have 400Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 867Mbps on the 5GHz band just as we did on the original Velop. The 2.4GHz band supports 256QAM while both bands support beamforming and seamless roaming technology.

Read full article @ TweakTown

Microsoft Surface Book 2 13.5" Review

2015 seems to have been a turning point for Microsofts Surface hardware initiative. Despite the failure of Windows RT and the associated Surface RT, the Intel-powered Surface was beginning to gain some real traction and notoriety with the Surface Pro 3 in late 2014, but was still fairly niche.

In October of 2015, Microsoft signaled that they were taking this fledgling Surface thing seriously with the announcement of their second Surface device, the Surface Book. Fitting into a more traditional notebook-style form factor rather than the Surfaces approach to the idea of a 2-in-1 design, the Surface Book introduced several radical design elements, both to Microsoft and the entire PC ecosystem at large.

Read full article @ PC Perspective

Murderous Pursuits Review

There aren’t a lot of online multiplayer options for folks who aren’t interested in shooters, fighters, or real-time strategy clickfests. What if you’re more into the thoughtful side of gaming? Just because you’d rather be unraveling a tricky Zelda dungeon or old-school adventure game than scoring headshots doesn’t mean you’re not competitive!

Murderous Pursuits was seemingly created with these more laid-back gamers in mind. Described as a “multiplayer stealth-em-up” by its developers, this is a game that’s more about deception and close observation than twitch action. Does Murderous Pursuits prove low-key online multiplayer experiences can work or is it a deathly bore?

Read full article @ Wccftech

Patriot Scorch 256GB M.2 NVMe SSD Review

Are you looking for a low cost entry-level M.2 PCIe NVMe drive and don’t need a ton of storage capacity? The Patriot Scorch Series of M.2 PCIe NVMe drives might be what you are looking for. Patriot Scorch drives are rather affordable as you can pick up the smallest 128GB model for $49.99 or for those that are needing a little more storage space the 256GB model can be purchased for $84.99 shipped. Patriot has a Scorch 512GB coming to market soon, but for right now there are just the 128GB and 256GB drives on the market.

A good number of SSD brands no longer offer 128GB drives, so Patriot is able to target a small niche of the market that is looking for the lowest priced drives around. You can find SATA III SSDs for less than M.2 PCIe NVMe drives, but PCIe NVMe drives are generally faster and require no power or data cables. That means you can ditch your modular power supplies SATA power cable and improve airflow inside desktop PCs. Many cryptocurrency miners use USB flash drives or the lowest priced drives they can find to hold the OS on their mining rigs, so there is certainly still a market for 128GB and 256GB drives.

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

Patriot Viper V770 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

Patriot is well known in the PC market for their awesome memory products. However, a few years ago they expanded their Viper gaming range to include gaming peripherals. This saw them launch the fantastic V760 RGB Mechanical Keyboard (review). We couldn’t find anything we didn’t love about the V760. However, now they’re back with their new flagship, the Viper V770 RGB Mechanical Keyboard, which aims to improve on virtually every aspect. How much improvement have they made in two years? Well, that’s what we’re here to find out!

The V770 comes equipped with Aircraft Grade Aluminium chassis construction, mechanical gaming switches, per-key RGB LED lighting, audio and USB pass-through, dedicated macro keys, dedicated multimedia keys, a detachable wrist rest, and much more. When it comes to flagship keyboards, that’s more than the basics covered, and should put it in direct competition with the best from any rival brand.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Supermicro C7Z370-CG-IW Motherboard Review

Today we get an opportunity to look at a board from Supermicros consumer segment, SuperO, in the exquisitely named C7Z370-CG-IW. This is their first gaming Mini-ITX motherboard, and having spoken to the team in charge of it, they are very hopeful in entering this market. This small board includes Wi-Fi capabilities, USB 3.1 ports, dual M.2 slots, as well as RGB LED features. These are all features we are used to seeing in a board designed for gaming, so it will be interesting to see if Supermicro has executed them well.

Read full article @ Anandtech