Here a roundup of the latest reviews and articles:

AMD A10-7850K Performance Optimized Catalyst 14.2 Driver
ASUS Chromebox Small Form Factor Chrome OS PC
Asus ET2321INTH Review
ASUS Z87-Expert Motherboard Review
AZZA XT1 Review
Be Quiet! Power Zone 850W PSU
GeForce GTX 680 vs Radeon R9 280X - Should I upgrade?
GeForces 800M series combines Maxwell, Kepler
GTX 800M; NVIDIAs Maxwell Goes Mobile
Hands-on review: New Razer Blade
Hands-on review: Samsung Chromebook 2
HP Pavilion x360 hands-on Review
KobraLan V1 Review
MSI A88X-G45 Gaming Review
MSI GE60 2PE Apache Pro Review
MSI GT70 2PC Dominator Review
MSI GT70 Dominator Laptop featuring NVIDIA GTX 880M Graphics Review
PNY Turbo 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review
Rapoo 7100P Wireless Mouse Review
Rosewill Legacy V4 Aluminum Mini-ITX Cube Computer Case
Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 review: great screen, disappointing battery life
SilentiumPC Fera 2 HE1224
Thermaltake Urban T21 Mid-Tower Case Review
ZOTAC ZBOX Nano AQ02 Plus Review

AMD A10-7850K Performance Optimized Catalyst 14.2 Driver

With the release of AMD’s Kaveri APU and the realization of their heterogeneous compute vision, the A10-7850K has the potential to make a lot of changes in the way we use the processing power available to us. The A10-7850K can harness the full power of both its CPU and GPU cores equally, something that can benefit us, the end users, greatly. The problem is, that vision doesn’t fully come to life until developers start writing for it

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews

ASUS Chromebox Small Form Factor Chrome OS PC

Google's Chrome OS is an open source operating system that is designed to offer fast, simple, and secure computing for connected devices. That's not to say the Chrome operating system can't function offline, but connected to the cloud is where users can harness the full power of Google's cloud services and storage infrastructure. To date, we've shown you a few versions of chromebooks, like the Acer C720 Chromebook and Google's own Chromebook Pixel. Today, however, we have a look at the very first "official" Chromebox to hit the market and it comes to us by way of ASUS.

The ASUS Chromebox is a tiny palm-sized machine similar in form and footprint to Intel's line of NUC (Next Unit of Computing) mini PCs or the tiny Zotac ZBox Nano. It just so happens that all of these machines are also powered by integrated Intel processors, and the ASUS Chromebox is no different, though it employs Intel's 4th generation Haswell Core series architecture with Integrated HD 4400 graphics.

Read full article @ HotHardware

Asus ET2321INTH Review

Hands-on with Asus's 23in touchscreen all-in-one PC. There's a lot to be said for the convenience of a modern-day laptop or tablet PC, but if you're looking to make a design statement, nothing quite compares to the wow-factor of an all-in-one.

Apple's popular iMac remains the most obvious example of an all-in-one that oozes style and performance in a clutter-free package, and it stands as the benchmark by which most PC competitors are judged. Taiwanese giant Asus is the latest to step up to the challenge with the 23in ET2321INTH, priced at around £1,200.

Read full article @ Hexus

ASUS Z87-Expert Motherboard Review

ASUS’s mainstream line of Z87 motherboards can be quite overwhelming as there are a number of different boards in the lineup. While ASUS has motherboard lines for specific segments like gamers and overclockers the mainstream line are boards that are made for pretty much everyone. Today we are talking a look at a pretty interesting motherboard in the mainstream line, the Z87-Expert. It has two very unique features, the first is the addition of 802.11n WiFi and the other is IntelThunderbolt. If you happen to need these two features on a motherboard this could be the perfect one for you. Other features of this board include, ASUS’s DIGI+ Power Control, 8 SATA 6GB/s ports, USB 3.0 support, and ASUS’s Ai Suite III software. Let’s take a look…

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

AZZA XT1 Review

After collecting enough temperature data, I think it is safe to say that both the video card and CPU are not the best for capturing the chassis temps. While generally a degree or two off is considered within the margin of error, I keep my house a near constant 22 °C when I run the tests. On a warm day, the XT1 will not disappoint with the most airflow in a chassis I have tested so far. Yet, it still does not hold any records. The unfortunate effect of not overclocking high enough or having multiple video cards, it is hard to tell what the temperatures will look like in different scenarios. The XT1 is really meant as an airflow monster and if you have a hot video card or even multiple ones, this chassis has you covered.

Read full article @ OCC

Be Quiet! Power Zone 850W PSU

Be Quiet! has been a very active player in the PSU market during the past few months. Not only have they released several new products and new series of units, the German company is currently on their way to “invade” the North American markets. We reviewed several of their products in the past, such as the top-tier Dark Power Pro 10 and the mainstream Pure Power L8. There is a huge gap between these two series however and Be Quiet! has released a new series of units, the Power Zone, in order to bridge it.

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

GeForce GTX 680 vs Radeon R9 280X - Should I upgrade?

A gamer simply can't get enough graphics power in their rig, which makes the upgrade question omnipresent. To show you whether it makes sense to upgrade from one generation to another we created this series of articles, where we will compare graphics cards from different generations. Today we're having a close look at the differences between the GTX 680 and the R9 280X.

Read full article @ ocaholic

GeForces 800M series combines Maxwell, Kepler

Spring is almost here, and yet again, Nvidia has marked the equinox (or just about) with a series of new mobile graphics processors. The GeForce 800M family spans six new models, introduces power-saving mojo called Battery Boost, and features both Nvidia's latest Maxwell architecture as well as the older Kepler architecture.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

GTX 800M; NVIDIAs Maxwell Goes Mobile

NVIDIA’s introduction of the Maxwell-based GTX 750 Ti represented a turning point for the desktop GPU market, moving it towards a new level of performance without an associated increase in power consumption. If anything, the GTX 750 Ti blew preconceptions away and redefined what could be achieved within a low wattage framework. These advances are now partially making their way into the notebook market with the GTX 800M’s introduction.

The notebook segment has been quite volatile as of late with a large number of users gravitating towards the “good enough” approach offered by inexpensive tablets and, to a lesser extent, the latest crop of superphones. With a simple wireless keyboard, a $300 tablet can be converted from a basic media consumption device to a pretty capable platform for content creation. As a result, sales of some traditional low and mid range notebook categories are suffering while Ultrabook sales have been decimated.

This might sound like an odd preamble since by all indications the downturn in notebook interest should sound a death knell for stand-alone mobile GPUs, right? Not so fast. While the segments that include basic entry level systems may be in trouble, recent studies have shown that PC gamers are keeping both the desktop and notebook markets humming. The potential for sales of those specifically targeted notebooks represents a potential cash cow and builders are rushing to adapt. As we saw at CES, more and more big-name companies are now refocusing of their efforts on gaming-oriented systems while slimming down any mid range offerings being savaged by tablets.

Read full article @ Hardware Canucks

Hands-on review: New Razer Blade

There's something gratifying about a company keying in on customer complaints and attempting to, if not making, amends on the next version of a product.Not that the first 14-inch Razer Blade was a disaster - we gave it 4.5 stars out of five in our review - but Razer recognized it could have been better, especially its 1600 x 900 screen. With the new Razer Blade, available for pre-order today, Razer may have outdone itself. I recently went face to face with the next-gen Blade, and the results were stunning. The screen is vastly improved, but Razer didn't stop there. It also took the laptop's GPU to a whole new class, all the while maintaining its thinner than a dime profile. It's not a perfect machine, but with a gorgeous face and snappy responses, the 2014 Blade left a lingering impression.

Read full article @ Techradar

Hands-on review: Samsung Chromebook 2

More laptops based on Google's Chrome OS are hitting the market and Samsung's second generation of Chromebook is testament to the resolute approach Google's partners have adopted.The Korean company had its Chromebook 2 11-inch and 13-inch Chromebooks on display at its booth at CeBIT 2014 in Germany, two models that it announced earlier this month.The new Chromebooks (XE503-C12 and XE503-C32 respectively) will sell alongside the original one, bringing the total number of inventory units on the market to three. Prices in the UK have yet to be announced but we expect the 11-inch to retail for around £250 and the high-end, 13-inch model to hit £350.

Read full article @ Techradar

HP Pavilion x360 hands-on Review

EVER SINCE Microsoft released its touch-focused Windows 8 operating system, hardware makers have been wrestling with finding the best way to show off its finer points and create a truly usable laptop/tablet hybrid.

Some firms like Asus have tried to solve the problem by building dockable keyboard attachments for Windows 8 tablets. Others such as Lenovo have been a little more creative, making Ideapad Yoga devices with flexible hinges that let users turn the laptop into a tablet by rotating its keyboard to go behind the screen.

HP has traditionally chosen the same route as Asus, creating standalone tablets that can be turned into laptop replacements with optional dock attachments. But that changed at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2014, where the company chose to quite literally reverse itself and unveil its Ideapad Yoga-like Pavilion x360 laptop.

Read full article @ The Inquirer

KobraLan V1 Review

KobraLan V1 is the first mini-pc born for events and LAN parties, built and studied by KobraPC. The small Kobra is very compact and powerful. Despite its compact size, there are high-end and recent components inside. In this article we will analyze the performance, power consumption and also the temperatures of all components.

Read full article @ ocaholic

MSI A88X-G45 Gaming Review

MSI has released two new AMD APU motherboards, and they do look chill. As such we review the MSI A88X-G45 Gaming edition. It seriously is one of the most beautiful and feature rich motherboards that MSI can offer for Kaveri. The new MSI FM2+ gaming series motherboards features Killer LAN, Audio Boost sound enhancement technology, and a whole new software and hardware design for enhanced gaming performance. In addition Assassin's Creed Liberation HD comes for free. We will test this motherboard with AMDs new A10-7850K APU, which has has eight Radeon cores totalling towards a nice 512 shader processors clocked at 654 MHz base and 720 MHz boost. The APU memory controller supports up to DDR3-2400 MHz memory speeds. As a K-series processor it is unlocked as well so you may tweak a little more out of it. The motherboards features a Killer Gigabit Ethernet controller and now comes with Audio Boost technology for better sound clarity and USB Audio Power that delivers a constant 5V power at all times to the USB ports. Based on Military Class 4 components you should get better durability and stability when overclocking. The motherboards have DVI, HDMI, VGA and DisplayPort out with a maximum resolution of 4K over DP. The A88X-G45 Gaming is an ATX form factor board and can seat two graphics cards. You are going to spot six USB 3.0 ports and two USB 2.0 ports. It's four DIMM slots that house a total of 32 GB of DDR3 memory at a maximum of 2400 MHz. The A88X-G45 Gaming features eight SATAIII connectors.

Read full article @ Guru3D

MSI GE60 2PE Apache Pro Review

As LAN parties get bigger and popularity continues to grow the mobile gaming platform demand increases too. Although desktop gaming systems are becoming more flexible and portable, not everyone wants to transport their system to a gaming LAN. Gaming notebooks are certainly more portable as the user only has to drop the product into a satchel and away they go. To play games fluidly and at a competitive level, high-end hardware is essential and this is where most gaming notebooks tend to struggle. Today we will be taking a look at one of MSI’s new gaming notebooks to feature NVIDIA's new Maxwell mobile GPU - GTX 860M.

GE60 is a mid-high end gaming notebook which has sleek and professional aesthetics whilst harbouring Intel's Core i7-4700HQ processor and NVIDIA's GTX 860M. It has all the ingredients for being a very capable offering but can it tackle the latest gaming titles?

Read full article @ Vortez

MSI GT70 2PC Dominator Review

The emergence of efficient components, tiny SSDs and Intel's Ultrabook brand has seen the laptop market shift towards lithe, light machines, but they're still no good if you're a keen gamer. If you want to play new titles at high settings, you still need a chunkier gaming machine – and the MSI GT70 could be one of the most powerful we've ever seen.That's down to one component: the GeForce GTX 870M. It's the first mobile GPU to emerge from Nvidia's new range, and it supercharges the firm's high-end hardware to return some of the best results we have ever seen from a laptop.The GTX 870M has 1,344 stream processors, which is one of the largest amounts ever included in an Nvidia mobile GPU, and they're clocked to 941MHz – higher than every enthusiast GPU in the firm's last mobile range. There's GPU Boost, too, so this chip hits a peak of 967MHz. Nvidia's new Maxwell architecture is currently reserved for the mid-range, so the GTX 870M has Kepler silicon instead. Nvidia specifies this GPU with 3GB of GDDR5 memory, but that's not enough for MSI – it's soldered 6GB of 1,250MHz silicon to this GPU, which is the most we've seen on any gaming notebook.

Read full article @ Techradar

MSI GT70 Dominator Laptop featuring NVIDIA GTX 880M Graphics Review

Today MSI refresh their laptop range, bringing to their systems NVIDIA GeForce GTX 800M series GPUs and pairing them with existing high end parts such as Core i7 CPUs. Today we take a look at the GT70 a high end system which uses the GTX 880M 8GB GPU and Core i7-4800MQ CPU along with SSDs in RAID and 16GB of DDR3.

Read full article @ HardwareHeaven.com

PNY Turbo 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review

Just before releasing this review the drive stopped working. It shows up in Windows 7 as an unrecognizable device, and when you try to initialize it, it shows up with a 0GB capacity. This drive was used for benchmarking and once to transfer files, so basically on its third use in just about 2 weeks of ownership it has failed. Looking more closely at reviews from Amazon.com and other places finds more people reporting the same type of rapid, complete failure. Returning it would incur a 15% restocking fee (since I threw out the packaging - which you basically have to destroy to open), and I am now waiting on RMA info from PNY. The following is how the review read prior to the failure, with additional notes added to the conclusion...

Read full article @ Bigbruin.com

Rapoo 7100P Wireless Mouse Review

Computer mice are such odd peripherals. So many variations to suit different personal preferences, resulting in a difficult time trying to guess which one is best for you. Having seen a decent number of mice in my days, suffice it to say I’ve seen both good and bad, and plenty in-between. Particular models become popular amongst users, making a name for themselves, and often taking on the established industry. One of the up-and-coming companies which seems to have a good understanding of what makes a good mouse, is Rapoo.

Today we have a chance to review the Rapoo 7100P Wireless Mouse with adjustable DPI. Despite the difference in DPI, the other major difference is that this new product utilizes optical sensors rather than laser internals. This has several pros and cons, which we’ll discuss in more detail, but the overarching point to realize here is you get nearly the same mouse for less money.

Read full article @ PureOverclock

Rosewill Legacy V4 Aluminum Mini-ITX Cube Computer Case

With hardware getting smaller and able to keep it powerfully the Mini-ITX computer case is making a statement. A Mini-ITX case can be used for your own desktop PC, Home Theater PC (HTPC) and now for the new rush to create as Steam Box PC. Rosewill is introducing the Rosewill Legacy V4 Aluminum Mini-ITX Cube Computer Case.

Read full article @ Modders-Inc

Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 review: great screen, disappointing battery life

We often tease Samsung about the seemingly arbitrary way it divvies up its tablet offerings -- not content with round numbers, it's released tablets that are 10.1 inches wide instead of 10, 8.9 instead of 9, 7.7 instead of 8, and so on. And so too is the case with the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4, whose extra 0.4 inch seems unnecessarily tacked on. Yet, this results in a 16:9 aspect ratio that makes it well-suited for watching movies, which makes us willing to forgive its silliness. Plus, even if that weren't enough to sway us, there's so much else to like about Tab Pro 8.4 that the odd screen size is but a minor detail. Indeed, while Samsung released its latest Galaxy Tab Pro line of tablets in both 10.1 and 12.1 inches, it's the 8.4-inch model that's likely to win the hearts of most.

Why do I say that? Simple: Portability. Just like the iPad mini with Retina display, the Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 offers a sharp tablet in a travel-friendly form factor. Except, of course, the Tab Pro 8.4 runs Android, and is thus an alternative for those who'd like a premium 8-inch tablet without having to lock themselves into iOS. And that's not all that the tiniest Tab Pro has going for it: The display is pin-sharp; the design is handsome; and the quad-core processor is not to be sneezed at. But at $400, it's not exactly cheap and it's also got some serious competition.

Read full article @ Engadget

SilentiumPC Fera 2 HE1224

SilentiumPC looks to shock and awe with the affordable Fera 2 HE1224 CPU cooler. Do not let its generic appearance fool you - it has much to offer. Featuring exceptional memory clearance and amazing performance, it sets the bar for what budget coolers should offer.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

Thermaltake Urban T21 Mid-Tower Case Review

I remember my first apartment. It was so small that I could barely turn around without being in another room. It was the epitome of urban living, but I loved it. It was mine and it was perfect for me. It wasn’t like I needed any more; all I did was sleep there and play video games. I hardly ever stayed there at all. I was a man about town. Oh, to be young again. Living in the middle of Dallas’ urban sprawl taught me more than a few things about making the best of a small area, and to appreciate the simplicity that comes with it.

Now I live in a far more rural area. My house is so big I actually do not even use almost half of it. I have a den that is completely empty and is larger than my whole first apartment. It is ridiculous really, but I suppose I am planning for the future. Somehow, my wife thinks in the future we will need enough space for 5 or 6 people. (I’m scared.) Computer cases can be like that. I was using a huge full tower case for a while and I kept telling myself I needed the space so I could make a custom water loop, maybe a second or third GPU. Of course, all of that is unnecessary, but it really does sound great still doesn’t it? Oh well, time to move on and use only what I need.

Read full article @ HiTech Legion

ZOTAC ZBOX Nano AQ02 Plus Review

Prolific in the graphics card arena, ZOTAC are also known for their passion in the mini-ITX motherboard and mini PC markets too. The ZBOX is a product-line which has been an extremely successful avenue for the brand and today we are to look at ZOTAC's second quad-core ZBOX nano mini PC.

ZOTAC’s AQ02 is housed inside the palm sized nano enclosure. Compared to the AQ01, the AQ02 has the upgraded AMD A8-5545M APU which delivers AMD Radeon HD 8510G graphics. This CPU is quad-core and rated at 2.7GHz, the question is – can such a condensed computer system really offer enough processing power for a home-theatre configuration?

Read full article @ Vortez