Here a roundup of todays reviews and articles:

ASUS STRIX GTX 980 OC 4 GB
ASUS X99 Deluxe Review
Bass Egg VERB Bluetooth Vibration Portable Speaker Review
Cooler Master Nepton 240M Review
Cooler Masters Nepton 240M liquid cooler reviewed
Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB 3300MHz DDR4 Review
Deepcool Maelstrom 240 Liquid Cooler Review
Deepcool Steam Castle Case Review
Gaming at 4K: GeForce GTX 970 SLI Performance
Gaming PC Under $800 (US) – Our Build Of The Week
Genius DVR-FHD568 Vehicle Recorder Review
iPhone 6 Plus Review
KINGMAX M.2 2242 SATA SSD Review (128GB)
MadCatz R.A.T. TE (Tournament Edition) Gaming Mouse Review
MSI GTX980 Gaming 4G Review
The iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 Review
Toshiba 2.5-inch 1TB Solid State Hybrid Drive Review
Toshiba Satellite Click 2 Review
Ubuntu 16.04 Might Be The Distributions Last 32-Bit Release
Upgrading your CPU cooler with Kitguru TV
Windows 10 Hands-On Review – Microsoft Makes Big Steps Forward

ASUS STRIX GTX 980 OC 4 GB

The ASUS GTX 980 STRIX OC is the company's latest flagship, featuring completely passive operation in idle and light load, and an extremely quiet cooler during full-on gaming. The GTX 980 STRIX also impresses with its power consumption, which is lower than the NVIDIA reference card, while still delivering more performance.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

ASUS X99 Deluxe Review

Just over a month ago, Intel released its latest Extreme Edition CPU based on its own Haswell architecture for use in new X99 chipset based motherboards. The Extreme Edition socket still retained the designation of the prior socket as LGA 2011, but changed the pin-out and added the v-3 qualifier at the end of the socket name. By doing so, the previous generation Socket 2011 processors will not fit into the new socket. Go figure!

With a new socket comes a new set of motherboards. ASUS' first board out of the gate is the X99 Deluxe, which comes to the end user full of all the innovation and features you have been accustomed to from ASUS over the past few generations. You get ASUS' all-digital Digi+ VRM circuit, a comprehensive software platform that features a 5-way optimization tool, an all new OC socket design to reduce voltage droop, SATA Express and M.2 support, 3T3R WiFi support, an award winning UEFI BIOS, and so much more. As a board designed for use with an Extreme Edition processor, such as the Intel Core i7 5960X, the price tag for an X99 motherboard is a bit higher than we see for standard Deluxe Edition boards from ASUS, coming in at $379. Let's dig in and take a look at what ASUS brings to the table with the X99 Deluxe.

Read full article @ OCC

Bass Egg VERB Bluetooth Vibration Portable Speaker Review

Have you ever felt that you've seen everything in your area of expertise (study/work) only to find out that you were wrong? Well i don't know if this happens a lot to you but in the electronics industry there's always something new that manages to catch us off guard either because its superior performance compared to similar products or because it's innovative. Well that happens to be one of the things we all like about this industry (a friend of mine says that there's always a surprise around the corner) so we're not really complaining. Now as you all know portable speakers use one or more drivers and sometimes even a passive bass radiator to produce sound a "rule" which pretty much applies to all kinds of speakers. Well our friends from Bass Egg seem to have a different idea in mind and so today we're testing their latest VERB portable speaker.

With the Bass Egg, EVERYTHING IS A SPEAKER. But what does that mean??? Traditional speakers employ a moving diaphragm, or speaker cone, to generate air disturbances; these disturbances are what we hear as music. The Bass Egg, on the other hand, has no speaker cone. Instead, it sends vibrations into the object it is sitting on, thus turning that object into a “speaker.” In today’s world of smartphones and tablets, portability is paramount. Consumers want to enjoy their music no matter where they are, and it is no surprise that the portable speaker market has exploded in recent years. But traditional portable speakers are plagued by small speaker cones and small, narrow sound that lacks lower midrange and bass. Simply put, traditional portable speakers can’t move enough air to produce full-frequency sound. Suddenly, with the Bass Egg, everything in your world has the potential to be a full-range speaker. The only limitation is your imagination.. These objects could range from a table, the hood of a car, a skateboard…. you name it. The result? Huge, full-range sound, generated by a device that fits in the palm of your hand.

Read full article @ NikKTech

Cooler Master Nepton 240M Review

We test and review the all new Cooler Master Nepton 240M, a 240mm Liquid cooler that is performing quite OK in a dense LCS kit market. Cooler Master announced the new Nepton model with a 240mm radiator cooled by two active fans. These are designed to be small solutions that are affordable for most of you guys. The product as tested today for example will hover in the 90 EURO marker.

The Nepton series liquid coolers have the same radiators as previous models, but do get some improvements in the pump/waterblock, as well as updated low-noise fans and a new design. Cooler Master says the “Advanced Silent Driver” in the Nepton pumps will offer extremely low vibration levels, providing a 120 L/hr flow rate at 11dBA. The units feature a Cooler Master-designed water block with a “large microchannel surface area and a high-efficiency jet impingement system to optimize hotspot cooling performance”.

Read full article @ Guru3D

Cooler Masters Nepton 240M liquid cooler reviewed

The Nepton 240M is a big liquid cooler with a price to match. We strapped it to TR's Casewarmer to see whether it could take the heat.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB 3300MHz DDR4 Review

Last week we looked at the Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB 3200MHz DDR4 memory kit. That kit of memory offered pretty impressive performance, but it is not the fastest DDR4 memory kit that Corsair has to offer. Corsair has a Dominator Platinum DDR4 memory kit clocked at 3300MHz and that is the fastest memory kit that Corsair currently offers. Corsair calls this the World's fastest production memory kit and that appears to be true. The only memory company that is able to compete at this level would be G.Skill, but we can't find any 3300MHz or 3333MHz DDR4 memory kits by them available to purchase online. Read on to see how this kit performs and to see how it overclocks. We were able to get it past 3333MHz!

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

Deepcool Maelstrom 240 Liquid Cooler Review

Several weeks ago in another review I related to you about my prior experience with liquid cooler systems, how I had to pick the individual components and make sure they were compatible with the coolant tube size, radiator/fan size, pump capacity, liquid type, etc. My greatest concern with those old style liquid cooler systems was placement of the components inside the case, especially the pump as the radiator is normally mounted with the fan on the back. Fortunately I am finding now that the new all-in-one (AIO) liquid coolers along with the newer case designs have eliminated most of those concerns.

In this review I get to present another AIO cooler with a long radiator and dual fans. Recently introduced to the cooler market, Deepcool's Maelstrom 240 AIO liquid cooler is a 240mm long radiator outfitted with mountings for two 120mm fans. Using the included 4-port fan adapter, the two fans can be connected to the motherboard CPU fan header for PWM control.

Outfitted with a ceramic bearing pump inside a high-density micro channel copper block, the liquid coolant is efficiently transferred to the aluminum fins of the radiator for maximum performance via the fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) tubing. Mount the two fluid dynamic bearing (FDB) 120mm fans and you have what looks to be a highly efficient AIO system to keep your CPU cool even during extreme gaming or heavy computing workloads.

Read full article @ Neoseeker

Deepcool Steam Castle Case Review

This past January at CES Deepcool showed us a prototype of a Micro-ATX case that had sort of a Steampunk design to it. That prototype would later become the Deepcool Steam Castle, which we have in to review today! This case really stands out with its design and will definitely get some attention if you are attending a LAN party or other computer event. Besides its unique look the case also supports both micro-ATX and mini-ITX motherboards, has room for 5 hard drives, full size ATX power supplies and lots of room for cooling. Let’s take a look…

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

Gaming at 4K: GeForce GTX 970 SLI Performance

Nvidia's GeForce GTX 970 positioned itself it as an ideal candidate for multi-GPU 4K gaming by outperforming the Radeon R9 290 while undercutting its price too. As expected, AMD was quick to respond with price cuts, which means folks looking to game at 4K have some capable multi-GPU options for as little as $600 to $660.

Read full article @ TechSpot

Gaming PC Under $800 (US) – Our Build Of The Week

Today we’re introducing an all new weekly segment called Build Of The Week. In it, we’ll be providing custom PC build lists tailored for specific-uses and budgets, these builds are curated by our best and brightest to be guaranteed to meet your needs. – This week, we’re providing our readers with an $800 (USD) gaming PC build that is capable of playing all of the latest games at up to 1440p.

Read full article @ TechnologyX

Genius DVR-FHD568 Vehicle Recorder Review

Not all that long ago Benchmark Reviews tested the Genius DVR-FHD590, which received high marks for it’s clear picture and wide viewing angle. The minds at Genius went right back to work implementing our suggested improvements into their latest dash camera; replacing the distracting LED lamp with six-layer glass lens and high dynamic range (HDR) image sensor technology. In this article Benchmark Reviews tests the Genius DVR-FHD568 Vehicle Recorder. Featuring wide-angle 1080p video recording at 30 frames per second, the Genius DVR-FHD568 Slim Style Wide Angle Vehicle Recorder uses a large f/2.4 lens aperture paired to an 8-Megapixel 1/2.7″ CMOS image sensor to capture the sharpest details.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews

iPhone 6 Plus Review

Phablet is a welcome addition to Apple smartphone range

Read full article @ V3

KINGMAX M.2 2242 SATA SSD Review (128GB)

KINGMAX started off back in 1989 and has been committed to becoming a leader in global memory technology since. They manufacture an array of memory products from DRAM to USB drives to SSDs. They have been offering 2.5″ SSDs since 2008 and the release of their M.2 2242 and M.2 2280 SATA SSDs marks their first step into the M.2 world.

Read full article @ The SSD Review

MadCatz R.A.T. TE (Tournament Edition) Gaming Mouse Review

MadCatz have been making gaming peripherals for many years now, and while the company used to have a bit of a reputation for cheaper third-party console peripherals, that is now a distant history for the company. MadCatz now make some of the hottest gaming accessories on the market and the R.A.T. gaming mice series is a prime example of what the company is capable of.

Today we’ll be taking a look at the MadCatz R.A.T. Tournament Edition (TE), which has been designed with competitive gaming in mind. With the ever-growing popularity of eSports, pro gaming, competitive gaming, online gaming or what ever you want to call it, there is a growing demand for premium grade peripherals that can help people win games.

Read full article @ eTeknix

MSI GTX980 Gaming 4G Review

Since the Nvidia GTX970 and GTX980 launch last month, we have looked at a wide cross section of partner solutions. Today we review the MSI GTX980 Gaming 4G – the big brother of the formidable MSI GTX970 Gaming 4G, which we reviewed (http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/msi-gtx-970-gaming-4g-review/) back on September 19th. Should you be treating yourself to an MSI GTX980 upgrade before the end of the year?

Read full article @ KitGuru

The iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 Review

It's a conflicting time for Apple. On one hand, it's a joyous occasion for the company because its latest iPhones, which come in larger screen sizes than the last, set new sales records worldwide; but on the other hand, its lineup of iPads just experienced its third straight quarterly decline. Coincidentally, this comes just a week after Apple announced its annual tablet refresh, which includes a thinner and more powerful version of the iPad Air along with a Touch ID-enabled mini with Retina display.

Read full article @ Engadget

Toshiba 2.5-inch 1TB Solid State Hybrid Drive Review

Toshiba is one of the world’s leading suppliers when it comes to OEM Hard drives, so it’s no surprise that they also want to be part of the Hybrid Drive wave led by WD, with their own OEM drives and range of consumer SSHD drives. Today we’re taking a closer look at the Toshiba 1TB 2.5″ Notebook Internal Solid State Hybrid Drive, the MQ01ABD100H.

Hybrid drives enter a sweet spot between traditional hard drives with spinning platters and solid state drives with their flash memory. They are giving us the capacity we’re used to from the hard disk but with a boost to the most-used-files on your system to near SSD speeds. Toshiba uses self-learning caching algorithms to determine your usage pattern and optimize file locations.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Toshiba Satellite Click 2 Review

Toshiba is one of those companies that dares to experiment with the shape of laptops. Just looking at the the company's small portfolio of convertible laptops alone we've have the Satellite U920T with a screen that slides into place and the screen flipping Satellite Radius. While many of these designs are novel, many of them have fallen to the wayside being either too weird or unwieldy for its own brilliance.Now Toshiba has just updated one of its only hybrid designs to get a second pass with the Toshiba Satellite Click 2. Sporting a detachable screen, the Click 2's splits into a thick 13.3-inch tablet and exceptionally thin keyboard base. Compared to the last model, Toshiba has refreshed its laptop-tablet with slightly news looks, and more importantly, a more powerful Intel Pentium processor. Now the question is if this is enough to fix the ills of the original Click or is this the Click 2 destined to fade into obscurity like so many hybrids before it.

Read full article @ Techradar

Ubuntu 16.04 Might Be The Distributions Last 32-Bit Release

Ubuntu contributor Bryan Quigley is considering a proposal to make Ubuntu 16.04 LTS the last release of Ubuntu with 32-bit installation images.

Come April 2016, Intel 32-bit users might be on their last, overdue leg for upgrading their distribution. Quigley is considering a proposal to kill off the 32-bit install (ISO) images after that point while support for 32-bit applications on 64-bit Ubuntu would still be supported. The proposal would only involve Intel/AMD x86 with 32-bit ARM being unaffected given that 32-bit ARM is still very common to devices.

Read full article @ Phoronix

Upgrading your CPU cooler with Kitguru TV

Are you running with a reference AMD or Intel cooler? Are you feeling in the mood to upgrade? For those who have never done it before – how hard is it and is it worth the hassle? Kitguru TV Guru Leo Waldock takes a look at the process and just how much cooler the processor will run with a good third party cooler fitted. If you are still running with a stock cooler and want to make the move then our video should help!

Read full article @ KitGuru

Windows 10 Hands-On Review – Microsoft Makes Big Steps Forward

Recently Microsoft unveiled the next version of its massively popular Windows operating-system: Windows 10. The oddly named successor to Windows 8 aims to bring back the familiarity of Windows 7, while still bringing something new and fresh to the table.

After the lukewarm reception of Windows 8, Microsoft is obviously attempting to distance the next version of their OS by skipping version 9 all-together. No doubt this is an attempt by their marketing team to make Windows 10 seem like a much larger step-way from Windows 8; telling users that all the problems that came with it are now fixed. But are they? Is Windows 10 really everything Microsoft claims? Today we’ll find out as much as we can about the future of the Windows platform as we go hands-on with the Windows 10 Technical Preview.

Read full article @ TechnologyX