Here a roundup of todays reviews and articles:

ASRock D1800B-ITX Motherboard
ASUS GeForce GTX 970 STRIX OC Edition Review
Asus GTX970 STRIX OC Review
ASUS Strix GTX 970 OC 4 GB
EVGA GeForce GTX 970 FTW Review
EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX 4 GB
Fractal Design Core 3300 Computer Case Review
GeForce GTX 980 Review
Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 970 & GTX 980
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming Review
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming Review
Hands On With ODGs R-7: Augmented Reality Glasses
In Depth: Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Review
Intel P-State vs. CPUFreq Benchmarks On The i7-5960X
iOS 8 Is Here: 10 Reasons To Install It Right Away
Kingston HyperX FURY 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review
LUXA2 GroovyR 360° Micro Wireless Wall Mount Speaker Review
Maxwell is here! GTX 980 is now revealed!
Maxwell Makes its Debut: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 & GTX 980 Review
MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming OC Review
MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G GPU Review
MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G Review
NVIDIA GeForce GeForce GTX 980 Maxwell Video Card Review
Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 and 980 Reference Review
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 SLI
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 & 970 Maxwell GPU Reviews
Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 (28nm Maxwell) Review
Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 / 970 review (incl. Ultra HD)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4 GB
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Performance Review
Nvidia Geforce GTX 980 Review
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Review
Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 SLI / 3-way SLI / 4-way SLI Review
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Video Card Review
Nvidia GTX 980
NVIDIA GTX 980 Review
NVIDIA GTX 980 Review
NVIDIA Maxwell GPU GeForce GTX 980 Video Card Review
Nvidias GeForce GTX 980 and 970 graphics cards reviewed
Plextor PX-G256M6e M.2 256GB PCIE SSD Review
Rosewill R-Studio SP-4310BT Bluetooth Wireless 2.1 Speaker
Samsung Galaxy Alpha Review
Samsung Unveils the 27-Inch S27D590C Curved Monitor
Schenker Element 10.1 Review
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Review: Maxwell Mark 2

ASRock D1800B-ITX Motherboard

The ASRock D1800B-ITX is a Mini-ITX motherboard that comes with a Celeron J1800 "Bay Trail-D" dual-core CPU soldered. It has one USB 3.0 and two SATA-300 ports, but its highlights are actually its low TDP and low cost, besides, of course, its small footprint.

Read full article @ Hardware Secrets

ASUS GeForce GTX 970 STRIX OC Edition Review

Next to the GTX 980 STRIX, ASUS is also launching the GTX 970 STRIX graphics card today. As usual the GTX 970 is the smaller brother of the GTX 980 and it comes with a more attractive price but therefore offers a little less performance. There is also a custom design PCB as well as - apparently - ASUS STRIX cooler and overall this should be a rather punchy card.

Read full article @ ocaholic

Asus GTX970 STRIX OC Review

In the second of our GTX970 launch articles today, we look at the new ASUS version of the card – the GTX970 STRIX OC. As the name would suggest it ships in an overclocked state with a proprietary cooling system and a hybrid fan system to drop noise levels to a minimum.

Read full article @ KitGuru

ASUS Strix GTX 970 OC 4 GB

ASUS has just released their GeForce Strix GTX 970 OC, an overclocked, custom-PCB version of the GTX 970. What is special about the STRIX technology is that it will shut off the fans completely during idle, media playback and light gaming, resulting in a completely noiseless experience.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

EVGA GeForce GTX 970 FTW Review

A hefty overclock elevates Nvidia's second-rung GPU into GTX 980 territory. Nvidia's newly-unveiled GeForce GTX 980 will be hogging the majority of the launch-day limelight, but as was the case with previous-gen solutions, it's the second-rung card that arguably makes more sense to the majority of gamers.

Priced keenly compared to the top-of-the-range part, the second offering is typically better value for money and the formula used by Nvidia to derive a second-tier specification rarely alters: take the all-singing, all-dancing GPU, give it a snip here and a chop there, and hey presto, the next card in the product line is born.

Sticking with traditional naming conventions, Nvidia's latest #2 is the GeForce GTX 970, and going by past experiences of x70-series parts, it has a lot to live up to.

Read full article @ Hexus

EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX 4 GB

EVGA's brand-new GeForce GTX 970 SC ACX uses the company's latest ACX cooler, which promises reduced noise and lower temperatures than the reference design. It is also overclocked out of the box, for that little bit of extra performance to beat Radeon R9 290X.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

Fractal Design Core 3300 Computer Case Review

If you take a look at your family, you will find you look quite a bit like your fellow kin. Now, for those who have studied basic biology or anything related to the subject will know genetics plays a role in the features we have. Thus if two people are born from the same parents, they will share similar features. From eye and hair color, to attached and detached ear lobes, genetics affect how you and your descendants will look like. For example, I find it kind of odd when people tell me I look like my sister, despite the fact I know I look nothing like my sister. Yet I once saw a picture my friend took where both my sister and I had the exact same facial expression. It was eerily similar, especially since neither my sister nor I expected him to have taken that photograph. On the other hand, it is not just genes, as environmental factors play a big role, too. Whether it is the geographical location, diet, or the media you are exposed to, these all play a part in shaping your appearances. These factors may take a bit longer to create parallels, especially since it takes people time to adapt to their surroundings. However, you can make this observation with married couples after a few years of living together. Even though they may have no blood connection, they start looking more and more like each other, because they are living in the same environment and exposed to similar external factors. What does this have to do with our review of the Fractal Design Core 3300? Fractal Design's most popular case is probably the Define R4, especially with its clean looks and excellent features. So when Fractal Design refreshed their budget-end Core series, I could only wonder if there would be any similar features between this and the higher end Define R4. There was a lot to like about the Fractal Design R4, so can we expect the same thing from the Core 3300? Is there any family resemblance between these two Scandinavian cases? Let's read on to find out!

Read full article @ APH Networks

GeForce GTX 980 Review

Today NVIDIA launch their latest GPUs, and in our GeForce GTX 980 Review we take a first look at that card, focusing on key features and performance, as well as a couple of lower priced GTX 970 variants.

Read full article @ HardwareHeaven

Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 970 & GTX 980

Today Nvidia is launching its latest GeForce 900 series with the introduction of the GTX 980 and GTX 970. These new Maxwell GPU’s promise dramatically improved efficiency over Kepler along with a number of other exciting new features. For testing we have the new Gigabyte G1 Gaming graphics cards which are equipped with the latest revision of their iconic WindForce X3 cooler...

Nvidia debuted its GeForce 700 series back in February of 2013 with the 2688 CUDA core GeForce GTX Titan. A few months later they followed up with the GeForce GTX 770 and GTX 780, while the flagship GeForce GTX 780 Ti was released 9 months later boasting an incredible 2880 core.

Read full article @ Legion Hardware

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming Review

Next to the flagship product we also test the more budget oriented Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 SOC gaming graphics card. The product does not vary much from the 980 other than a chunk of performance. This card however has one 6 and one 8-pin power feed but then again, does come with that 600 Watt WindForce cooler. The G1 Gaming has 4 GB graphics memory, is energy efficient and factory overclocked for you. You will be surprised by how this card looks, how silent it is and how well it performs.

The PC market is interesting, it has been on a decline for sure, but here at Guru3D.com we noticed an opposite trend, gaming PCs are getting more and more popular, much like an American muscle car or should we say card. We all want a beast of a gaming rig, as let’s face it, PC gaming as an experience is just so much better than anything else out there. Roughly a year and a half ago it became apparent that Nvidia was brewing a new GPU architecture under codename Maxwell, yes, named after the mathematical physicist. The Maxwell family of GPUs is actually the 10th generation of GPU architecture for Nvidia. With several design goals in mind (higher performance and lower power consumption) Nvidia was hoping to reach 20nm by the time their high-end product would be released. It is now September 2014 and it is abundantly clear that the 20nm nodes are not yet viable for volume production of wafers with huge transistor counts. So Nvidia pretty much had to go with plan B and stuck with 28nm, this makes their silicon sizable, in relative proportions of course. None the less, Nvidia has moved forward and today the 2nd Maxwell based products (GTX 750 was actually the first trial) are being released as GM204 based GPUs. Yes, correct, GM204 and not GM210, meaning Nvidia is once again using the ‘high-end’ and not ‘enthusiast class’ chip to empower the product series we are about to review. Armed with voltage, power and load limiters Nvidia these days can harvest massive performance out of chips when you think about it. They did the very same with Kepler really, GK104 versus GK110 anyone? So Nvidia certainly is doing something right. Today is testimony to that as we see two products performing in the GTX 780 Ti range of performance, but both will consume much less power. That’s actually a primary feature design target for Maxwell, more performance with less power consumption. The GPU used thus is the 28nm GM204, the two derivatives created from it are the GeForce GTX 970 and 980. Ah, you noticed? Yes, correct, Nvidia decided to skip the 800 series to avoid confusion with some of their rebranded mobile parts. Maxwell is a new and sound architecture and as such it is released with a new series name. In this article we will have an extensive look at the architecture behind Maxwell, we will look at gaming performance from Full HD to Ultra HD, we will look at power and thermal characteristics and will serve you that on a silver platter with a nice photo-shoot here at Guru3D.com of course.

Read full article @ Guru3D

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming Review

After the reference review we will now review the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 SOC (Super Overclock) gaming series graphics card. Armed with a totally custom design, two 8-pin power feeds and an all new WindForce based cooler this Maxwell based high-end card hauls azzz! The G1 Gaming has 4 GB graphics memory, is energy efficient and factory overclocked for you. You will be surprised by how this card looks, how silent it is and how well it performs.

The PC market is interesting, it has been on a decline for sure, but here at Guru3D.com we've noticed an opposite trend; gaming PCs are getting more and more popular, much like an American muscle car or should we say card. We all want a beast of a gaming rig as, let’s face it, PC gaming as an experience is just so much better than anything else out there. Roughly a year and a half ago it became apparent that Nvidia was brewing a new GPU architecture under codename Maxwell, yes, named after the mathematical physicist. The Maxwell family of GPUs is actually the 10th generation of GPU architecture for Nvidia. With several design goals in mind (higher performance and lower power consumption) Nvidia was hoping to reach 20nm by the time their high-end product would be released. It is now September 2014 and it is abundantly clear that the 20nm nodes are not yet viable for volume production of wafers with huge transistor counts. So Nvidia pretty much had to go with plan B and stuck with 28nm, this makes their silicon sizable, in relative proportions of course. None the less, Nvidia has moved forward and today the 2nd Maxwell based products (GTX 750 was actually the first trial) are being released as GM204 based GPUs. Yes, correct, GM204 and not GM210, meaning Nvidia is once again using the ‘high-end’ and not ‘enthusiast class’ chip to empower the product series we are about to review. Armed with voltage, power and load limiters Nvidia these days can harvest massive performance out of chips when you think about it. They did the very same with Kepler really, GK104 versus GK110 anyone? So Nvidia certainly is doing something right. Today is testimony to that as we see two products performing in the GTX 780 Ti range of performance, but both will consume much less power. That’s actually a primary feature design target for Maxwell, more performance with less power consumption. The GPU used thus is the 28nm GM204, the two derivatives created from it are the GeForce GTX 970 and 980. Ah, you noticed? Yes, correct, Nvidia decided to skip the 800 series to avoid confusion with some of their rebranded mobile parts. Maxwell is a new and sound architecture and as such it is released with a new series name. In this article we will have an extensive look at the architecture behind Maxwell, we will look at gaming performance from Full HD to Ultra HD, we will look at power and thermal characteristics and will serve you that on a silver platter with a nice photo-shoot here at Guru3D.com of course.

Read full article @ Guru3D

Hands On With ODGs R-7: Augmented Reality Glasses

While it's still unclear to me what the future of wearables will be, I must admit that all things considered I feel that glasses are a better idea than watches as a form factor. If the goal is glanceable information, a heads-up display is probably as good as it gets. This brings us to the ODG R-7, which is part of Qualcomm's Vuforia for Digital Eyewear (VDE) platform. This VDE platform brings new capabilities for augmented reality. What this really means is that developers no longer need to worry about coming up with their own system of aligning content from a VR headset to the real world, as this platform makes it a relatively simple process. Judging by the ODG R-7, there's no need for a 3D camera to pull this off.

So let's talk about the ODG R-7, one of the most fascinating wearables I've ever seen. While its primary purpose is for government and industrial use, it isn't a far leap to see the possibilities for consumers. For reference, the ODG R-7 that I saw at this show is an early rev, and effectively still a prototype. However, the initial specs have been established. This wearable has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 SoC running at 2.7 GHz, with anywhere between one to four gigabytes of RAM and 16 to 128 gigabytes of storage. There are two 720p LCoS displays that run at 100 Hz refresh rate, which means that the display is see-through. There's one 5MP camera on the front to enable the augmented vision aspects. There's also one battery on each side of the frame for a 1400 mAh battery, which is likely to be a 3.8V nominal voltage.

Read full article @ Anandtech

In Depth: Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Review

We've been waiting a long time for Nvidia to get the latest Maxwell GPU architecture into its high-end graphics cards, but finally the GeForce GTX 980 is here and it's looking like it's been worth the wait.The GeForce GTX 980 is the top Maxwell card running with the brand new, super-efficient, GM 204 GPU, with the second-tier GeForce GTX 970 coming close behind it. On the surface, the GTX 980 is a bona fide high-end graphics card, topping the performance of even an overclocked GTX 780 Ti from the last generation all the while generating less sound and fury than the outgoing Kepler cards. This isn't the first time we've come across Nvidia's latest architecture though; the inaugural Maxwell GPUs appeared back in February this year with the twin goodness of the GTX 750 and GTX 750 Ti. They marked a change in strategy for Nvidia. It was the first time the big green graphics giant had debuted a brand new GPU microarchitecture without launching it in a new high-end £500 graphics card first. Those initial Maxwell cards are unashamedly lower-end parts, designed to offer decent 1080p performance with the added benefit of seriously impressive thermal and energy efficiency.

Read full article @ Techradar

Intel P-State vs. CPUFreq Benchmarks On The i7-5960X

Continuing in our recent CPUFreq vs. P-State scaling driver benchmarks, here's some tests from the eight-core Core i7 5960X Haswell-E system as we test the two CPU frequency scaling drivers and their different governors.

Read full article @ Phoronix

iOS 8 Is Here: 10 Reasons To Install It Right Away

Apple issues an update to the software that powers its iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch devices once a year, and this years update is finally upon us in the form of iOS 8. You should routinely update your software and devices for security reasons above all else, but if youre putting off the iOS 8 upgrade, here are a few compelling reasons to download it immediately. Track Your Health HealthKit is the name of the API used by developers to collect and manage information about an iPhone users movement.

Read full article @ MakeUseOf

Kingston HyperX FURY 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review

This isn't the first time we've seen FURY from the Kingston HyperX lineup, and likely not the last we'll hear of it either. Most of you might think of the auto-overclocking FURY DDR3 or the HyperX FURY SSD when you first see the name, but this time Kingston is adding to its line of USB drives. Today we'll take a look at the HyperX FURY USB 3.0 flash drive capable of 90MB/s read and 30MB/s write. The drive itself is available in three capacities: 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB, each with its own distinct color: red, blue, and black, respectively.

We will specifically look at the largest of the three, the 64GB drive in all black. Like other HyperX products, it is designed to take your gaming to the next level. The HyperX FURY is compatible with the PS3, PS4, and XBOX 360 consoles to extend storage and playback capabilities for movies, music, and photos. So whether you need a new stick for on-the-go, or expansion to your console life, the HyperX is ready to provide. Let us take a look at its outer appearance and then how it performs with what is on the inside.

Read full article @ OCC

LUXA2 GroovyR 360° Micro Wireless Wall Mount Speaker Review

LUXA2 has been releasing quality accessories at an accelerated pace. GroovyR is their latest Bluetooth speaker, but there’s a twist. Instead of being rectangular shaped like most Bluetooth speakers, GroovyR is a circle with a kick out stand that can hold your mobile phone, or allow GroovyR to be wall mounted. In addition to its unique appearance, it has a built-in microphone, 3.5mm input, and rechargeable battery. Let’s get dirty into the details.

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

Maxwell is here! GTX 980 is now revealed!

Nvidia always has a bit of flair when it comes to new launches and this newest launch is no different as they organized a special gaming/modding event based around the celebration of gaming as a whole over the massive expanse of years. GAME24 and MOD24 is the name of the celebration and this is also the main stage for the new product announcement of the new Maxwell Architecture GPU and of course the GTX 980 we are going to look at today. To top this off Nvidia is actually launching two cards: the flagship GTX 980 and the GTX 970 as well so lets dive in and see what Maxwell is all about!

Read full article @ Bjorn3D

Maxwell Makes its Debut: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 & GTX 980 Review

Last year's GeForce 700 series pushed Kepler to its limits. With such a strong showing, Maxwell's first appearance had us excited for higher-end cards and today we finally have them: the $329 GTX 970 will try to carve a place out for itself between the R9 280X and 290, while the $549 GTX 980 is positioned against the R9 290X.

Read full article @ Techspot

MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming OC Review

We review the new MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming OC edition. This affordable model comes with the new TwinFrozr V cooler. The GM204-200 chip is smacked onto a custom PCB surrounded with Military class components and obviously, with OC in the name... it comes a little tweaked as well. This card however has one 6 and one 8-pin power feed and again, does come with that new revision model 5 TwinFrozr cooler. The card has 4 GB graphics memory, is energy efficient and factory overclocked for you. You will be surprised by how this card looks, how silent it is, how well it performs and how much it can be overclocked.

The PC market is interesting, it has been on a decline for sure, but here at Guru3D.com we've noticed an opposite trend, gaming PCs are getting more and more popular, much like an American muscle car or should we say card. We all want a beast of a gaming rig as, let’s face it, PC gaming as an experience is just so much better than anything else out there. Roughly a year and a half ago it became apparent that Nvidia was brewing a new GPU architecture under codename Maxwell, yes, named after the mathematical physicist. The Maxwell family of GPUs is actually the 10th generation of GPU architecture for Nvidia. With several design goals in mind (higher performance and lower power consumption) Nvidia was hoping to reach 20nm by the time their high-end product would be released. It is now September 2014 and it is abundantly clear that the 20nm nodes are not yet viable for volume production of wafers with huge transistor counts. So Nvidia pretty much had to go with plan B and stuck with 28nm, this makes their silicon sizable, in relative proportions of course. None the less, Nvidia has moved forward and today the 2nd Maxwell based products (GTX 750 was actually the first trial) are being released as GM204 based GPUs. Yes, correct, GM204 and not GM210, meaning Nvidia is once again using the ‘high-end’ and not ‘enthusiast class’ chip to empower the product series we are about to review. Armed with voltage, power and load limiters Nvidia these days can harvest massive performance out of chips when you think about it. They did the very same with Kepler really, GK104 versus GK110 anyone? So Nvidia certainly is doing something right. Today is testimony to that as we see two products performing in the GTX 780 Ti range of performance, but both will consume much less power. That’s actually a primary feature design target for Maxwell, more performance with less power consumption. The GPU used thus is the 28nm GM204, the two derivatives created from it are the GeForce GTX 970 and 980. Ah, you noticed? Yes, correct, Nvidia decided to skip the 800 series to avoid confusion with some of their rebranded mobile parts. Maxwell is a new and sound architecture and as such it is released with a new series name. In this article we will have an extensive look at the architecture behind Maxwell, we will look at gaming performance from Full HD to Ultra HD, we will look at power and thermal characteristics and will serve you that on a silver platter with a nice photo-shoot here at Guru3D.com of course.

Read full article @ Guru3D

MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G GPU Review

We were able to get our hands on a retail version of the GTX 970 from MSI. The MSI GTX 970 features the new Twin Frozr V that features two 10 cm fans that can be controlled individually through MSIs software. Through MSIs Gaming App, overclocking of the GTX 970 can be automatically controlled. So how does the MSI GTX 970 stack up against other cards in the same class? Read on to find out.

Read full article @ Modders-Inc

MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G Review

This week Nvidia launch their new GTX970 and GTX980 GPU’s – based on the exceptionally efficient Maxwell architecture. In this review we look at a modified, overclocked solution from partner MSI – the GTX970 Gaming 4G. Not only does this card ship with a tasty overclock, but it is one of the prettiest graphics cards we have ever seen.

Read full article @ KitGuru

NVIDIA GeForce GeForce GTX 980 Maxwell Video Card Review

Earlier this year NVIDIA gave us our first look at the Maxwell GPU architecture with the release of the GeForce GTX 750 Ti video card. We were thoroughly impressed by the little card and have been waiting for more than half a year for the ‘larger’ GPU cores to come to market. NVIDIA is ready to release the latest Maxwell GPU, GM204, that will be featured on the new GeForce GTX 980 and GeForce GTX 970 video cards that are coming to market today. Read on to see how they perform!

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 and 980 Reference Review

Ah yes, welcome to a reference series product review that a lot of you fine ladies and gentlemen have been waiting on for a long time. Would it be released, wouldn’t it..? Delays at the manufacturing nodes in terms of fabrication process and die-shrinks; yes, a lot has been speculated about in the past six months. But we all knew that Nvidia would come up with something for the pending Christmas season, a season filled and loaded with nice PC game releases I must state.

The PC market is interesting, it has been on a decline for sure, but here at Guru3D.com we noticed an opposite trend, gaming PCs are getting more and more popular, much like an American muscle car or should we say card. We all want a beast of a gaming rig, as let’s face it, PC gaming as an experience is just so much better than anything else out there. Roughly a year and a half ago it became apparent that Nvidia was brewing a new GPU architecture under codename Maxwell, yes, named after the mathematical physicist. The Maxwell family of GPUs is actually the 10th generation of GPU architecture for Nvidia.

With several design goals in mind (higher performance and lower power consumption) Nvidia was hoping to reach 20nm by the time their high-end product would be released. It is now September 2014 and it is abundantly clear that the 20nm nodes are not yet viable for volume production of wafers with huge transistor counts. So Nvidia pretty much had to go with plan B and stuck with 28nm, this makes their silicon sizable, in relative proportions of course. None the less, Nvidia has moved forward and today the 2nd Maxwell based products (GTX 750 was actually the first trial) are being released as GM204 based GPUs. Yes, correct, GM204 and not GM210, meaning Nvidia is once again using the ‘high-end’ and not ‘enthusiast class’ chip to empower the product series we are about to review. Armed with voltage, power and load limiters Nvidia these days can harvest massive performance out of chips when you think about it. They did the very same with Kepler really, GK104 versus GK110 anyone? So Nvidia certainly is doing something right. Today is testimony to that as we see two products performing in the GTX 780 Ti range of performance, but both will consume much less power. That’s actually a primary feature design target for Maxwell, more performance with less power consumption. The GPU used thus is the 28nm GM204, the two derivatives created from it are the GeForce GTX 970 and 980. Ah, you noticed? Yes, correct, Nvidia decided to skip the 800 series to avoid confusion with some of their rebranded mobile parts. Maxwell is a new and sound architecture and as such it is released with a new series name. In this article we will have an extensive look at the architecture behind Maxwell, we will look at gaming performance from Full HD to Ultra HD, we will look at power and thermal characteristics and will serve you that on a silver platter with a nice photo-shoot here at Guru3D.com of course. Next to that, this reference review will also cover some new technologies like Multi Frame Sampled AA (MFAA) and Voxel Global Illumination (VXGI).

Read full article @ Guru3D

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 SLI

At half the price of a GeForce GTX 780 Ti, the GeForce GTX 970 can tempt you to buy a pair of them. With Ultra HD monitors dropping below the $500 mark, a playable Ultra HD gaming PC under $2000 suddenly sounds realistic. Here's why spending 3 grand on a GTX TITAN-Z was a bad idea.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 & 970 Maxwell GPU Reviews

NVIDIA has lifted the embargo on its latest flagship graphics cards based on its Maxwell architecture, the GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970. The two cards are somewhat similar and share the same 4GB frame buffer and GM204 GPU, but the GTX 970’s GPU is clocked a bit lower and features fewer active SMs and CUDA cores. The GeForce GTX 980’s GM204 GPU has all of its functional blocks enabled and is the full implementation of the chip, however.

When you see the GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970’s specifications, you may scratch your head a bit and wonder how products with seemingly lower-end specs can replace powerhouses like the GeForce GTX 780 Ti and GTX 780, but rest assured they do. NVIDIA’s got a few tricks up their sleeve this time around and the end results are a couple of high-performance, highly-efficient graphics card that will be right at home in the fastest of systems...

Read full article @ HotHardware.com

Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 (28nm Maxwell) Review

The first enthusiast Maxwell GPU enters the fray. Nvidia is today launching two high-end desktop graphics cards known as the GeForce GTX 980 and GeForce GTX 970. The duo are not the first to be based on the latest Maxwell architecture - that honour goes to the GTX 750 Ti and select mobile GPUs - but they do, for now, represent the best that the energy-efficient architecture has to offer.

It makes sense to give you some relevant background information at the outset, helping frame the new Maxwell GPUs in context. Nvidia's codenames provide more than just reference for GeForce cards. The designation is telling insofar as it describes how the company views retail cards based upon it. For example, the x10 GPUs are the absolute best implementation of that particular architecture, while the x04 are released first, to test out the waters, and are tuned for a smaller, less expensive die size and lower energy consumption.

Remember back to the GK104-based GeForce GTX 680? This first performance Kepler GPU was designed to fend off the AMD Radeon threat without having to extend the architecture. Undeniably competent for its time, the real enthusiast Kepler card, GTX 780 (Ti) (GK110), rolled into town 18 months later. Swinging twice the silicon as the GK104 GPU and cranking all the dials to 10, it remains, arguably, the best sub-£500 consumer graphics card today.

Read full article @ Hexus

Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 / 970 review (incl. Ultra HD)

Today, Nvidia introduces the GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970, two new high-end cards of the Maxwell generation. The GeForce GTX 750 and 750 Ti, which were introduced a few months ago, also belong to this generation. We extensively tested both new cards on our completely revamped test platform for video cards, including 2-way, 3-way, and 4-way SLI configurations for the GTX 980, as well as MSI's and ASUS' variants of the GTX 970.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4 GB

Today NVIDIA releases their new GeForce GTX 980 which brings the Maxwell architecture to the high-end. It features massive power efficiency improvements, reduced noise, but also beats GTX 780 Ti in raw performance. Pricing is quite acceptable, too, with $549 MSRP.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Performance Review

Unlike in previous generations, necessity has dictated that efficiency improvements are based on a given core architecture rather than switching to a different manufacturing process. Whereas Kepler’s optimizations on the performance per watt front partially originated from the switch towards 28nm, Maxwell doesn’t rely on anything quite a obvious to achieve its goals. While it still uses the same highly refined 28nm manufacturing process of its predecessors, power consumption and heat production are both far, far lower. By optimizing at the architectural and draw command levels, NVIDIA can remain on a mature, less expensive manufacturing process while deftly avoiding the potential supply issues which are typically created when using a new process technology.

Read full article @ Hardware Canucks

Nvidia Geforce GTX 980 Review

The Maxwell architecture has been a remarkable advancement for Nvidia. Partner GTX750Ti solutions have earned many awards at KitGuru due to a combination of minimal power drain, modest heat output and excellent frame rate performance at 1080p resolutions. Today is an important one for the company as they expand their Maxwell portfolio, releasing not one but two new models – the GTX970 and GTX980. We look at the reference GTX980 in this specific analysis.

Read full article @ KitGuru

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Review

Almost a year ago, NVIDIA revealed the GTX 780 Ti during a private press event held in Montreal, Canada. The launch of the Kepler-based flagship card was not the only highlight of the 2013 "The Way It's Meant to Be Played" event; NVIDIA also showcased the impressive GameWorks platform and a unique gaming ecosystem that links PC, SHIELD, and Cloud Gaming. Since then, we had a glimpse at the new Maxwell architecture through the GTX 750 and GTX 750 Ti. These cards showed the great potential of the new NVIDIA architecture; however enthusiasts were left wanting for more: a high-end card based on Maxwell. The wait is finally over, and today I will be putting all the rumors about the new NVIDIA GTX 900 series to rest!

NVIDIA revealed two new Maxwell-based cards during a press event held in Monterey, CA last week; the GTX 980 and 970. In this review I will be focusing on the GTX 980 flagship card which will be available through regular retail channels beginning September 19, 2014. The GTX 970 will also be available at the same date. Both cards were publicly revealed on September 18, alongside the NVIDIA Game24 event billed as a worldwide celebration of PC gaming.

Read full article @ Neoseeker

Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 SLI / 3-way SLI / 4-way SLI Review

Nvidia introduces the GeForce GTX 980 and 970 today. More on this in our extensive review. What's the performance of these cards in tandem, you might wonder. Well, we've tested the GTX 980 in SLI, 3-way SLI, and 4-way SLI. So here goes!

Setting up the configurations was quite hassle-free, which certainly isn't always the case. We know that from experience. The only thing we had to do was update the BIOS on our MSI X99S Gaming 9 AC motherboard, that was basically it. There were some problems when it came to scaling to three or four cards, but that's to be expected. The only game that didn't feel like doing anything in certain configurations was Total War: Rome II. A reboot generally solved these issues though.

What struck us most during testing the GTX 980 and GTX 970 cards was the power consumption. Let's put it this way, you no longer need a 1500W PSU to be able to run four high-end graphics cards (in this case the GTX 980) on Haswell-E.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Video Card Review

Codenamed NVIDIA Maxwell, GM204 GPUs debut the company’s 10th-generation graphics processing architecture. Maxwell improves upon all previously released processor designs, and delivers greater performance while reducing energy consumption. Anticipated as the replacement for GTX 680, the new GeForce GTX 980 yields up to 200% performance increase (per watt) while requiring less power. Voxel Global Illumination and VR Direct technologies have been added to improve upon picture quality and virtual reality immersion. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the GeForce GTX 980 graphics card against today’s best gaming solutions.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews

Nvidia GTX 980

Nvidia may have officially launched Maxwell with the GTX 750 Ti launch back in February, but I think we can all agree that things don’t get really serious until they refresh their flagship card with the new architecture. Well the wait is over, Nvidia is taking the cover off of their new cards as you read this at their Game24 event. The new card is the GTX 980, this may come as a surprise seeing that the last generation of cards was the 700 series. Nvidia needed to sync their mobile and desktop GPUs, skipping 800 and jumping to the 900 series was the way to go about doing this. Before we dig into the changes moving to the GTX 980, everyone should check out our original Maxwell article HERE to see how well it performed.

Read full article @ LanOC Reviews

NVIDIA GTX 980 Review

From a performance perspective the GTX 980 has some positives and very few negatives. In games that can use the additional memory bandwidth, we can see decent performance scaling and margins over the GTX 780 Ti, and an even wider gap when compared to the R9 290X. The 3DMark results point to a card that is going to rewrite the record books by this weekend, if not tonight. Overall you do get a higher level of performance, but in some games the margin is almost non-existent over the GTX 780 TI. With base clock speeds of 1126MHz on the GM204 core that hits 1216MHz under Turbo Boost 2.0 speeds, and 1750MHz on the 4GB of GDDR5 memory, the GTX 980 comes right out of the gate with a pretty strong baseline performance level.

Read full article @ OCC

NVIDIA GTX 980 Review

NVIDIA’s Maxwell architecture, a successor to the Kepler architecture seen in the majority of 600- and 700-series GPUs, was first introduced in February with the GTX 750 & 750Ti. However these are entry-level gaming parts which, despite showing some cool technology and excellent power efficiencies, weren’t tempting for many enthusiasts; rightly so in fact, they still had the GTX Titan Black and later Titan Z to dine out on. Maxwell has therefore been only at the back of our minds - something to look forward to, but with trepidation over whether NVIDIA could scale up the promise of the GTX 750 to a far bigger GPU.

It’s theorised that the Maxwell architecture was originally designed for the 20nm process node, a node which has apparently been delayed well beyond original projections. NVIDIA couldn't afford to wait on TSMC, especially with new graphics standards and use cases such as DirectX 12 and Occulus' Rift Consumer Beta arriving in the not-to-distant future, necessitating the release of a major architecture revision without a process node shrink. Whether or not it was designed for 20nm, 28nm was what they had to work with.

Read full article @ Vortez

NVIDIA Maxwell GPU GeForce GTX 980 Video Card Review

The "Big" Maxwell is here! Well..."the "bigger" Maxwell is here," would be more accurate. The much anticipated next generation GPU from NVIDIA is ready for prime time. We've actually seen a hint of what NVIDIA had in store for us with the release of the GeForce GTX 750 Ti back in February of this year. The GeForce GTX 750 Ti was actually the first next generation Maxwell chip release from NVIDIA.

One of the key features of the GeForce GTX 750 Ti is its tremendous power savings and efficiency over previous generation GPUs at the price point of ~$149. We've evaluated several GeForce GTX 750 Ti's and have raved about the power efficiency which leads to smaller cards, less extreme cooling mechanisms required, and less power requirements. While GeForce GTX 750 Ti was just a hint at what was to come, NVIDIA now has the bigger, enthusiast level Maxwell ready to go now. If you are not familiar with the GTX 750 Ti video cards, we have reviews here, here, and here from various board builders.

What you are going to find as we explore Big Maxwell, also known as GM204, is that Maxwell is more about feature additions, rather than revolutionary architecture changes. If you were hoping this included Project Denver with ARM cores and 3D memory cell stacking, this is not that. This however is an evolutionary advancement over Kepler that leads to a faster architecture that is more power efficient. Maxwell has more features that will hopefully push the next generation of games forward in 3D technology. NVIDIA's goal for Maxwell is: "Best gaming experience, regardless of what PC they have."

Read full article @ HardOCP

Nvidias GeForce GTX 980 and 970 graphics cards reviewed

Nvidia's ultra-efficient Maxwell GPU architecture has finally made its way into a bigger chip aboard a pair of new graphics cards: the GeForce GTX 980 and 970. We've gone inside the second to see how they really perform. See our results here.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

Plextor PX-G256M6e M.2 256GB PCIE SSD Review

Compared to mSATA SSDs, M.2 PCIE SSDs have far more potential in the desktop market. mSATA has a much lower bandwidth limit than M.2. In fact, M.2 utilizes the PCIE lanes to transfer data which means much higher potential. Also, while mSATA is limited to its own little port, M.2 PCIE SSDs can be plugged into PCIE adapter cards. giving older systems a boost in performance, or it can provide an additional slot for fast storage when the main slot on the motherboard is already in use. Although M.2 PCIE SSDs currently come in x2, x4, how much faster are they in real life? That’s why we have the Plextor PX-G256M6e in our lab today to find out!

Read full article @ Futurelooks

Rosewill R-Studio SP-4310BT Bluetooth Wireless 2.1 Speaker

I’ve never been one to just blast music throughout the house. I love listening to music, but I much prefer wearing headphone and shutting out the world. I like to get lost in music, so it’s much more of a personal experience to me. That’s why I was a bit excited to check out the R-Studio SP-4310BT Bluetooth Stereo Speakers from Rosewill. I wanted to wait until my roommates were gone, crank up the volume and the bass to a wall-vibrating degree, and just rock out. And that’s exactly what I did.

Read full article @ MTN

Samsung Galaxy Alpha Review

While Apple is being praised and mocked in unequal measure for launching the bigger than bigger iPhone 6 with a 4.7-inch display and the even bigger iPhone 6 Plus - is that a reversing beep I can hear? - Samsung has performed an about-turn of its own with the launch of the Galaxy Alpha. This is the first Samsung smartphone I can remember using that values attractive design ahead of spec list box-ticking. Whilst it's not the finished article, it marks a welcome departure in an exciting new direction for the company. It's also arguably the most balanced and comfortable-to-use premium phone Samsung has made since the Samsung Galaxy S2.

Read full article @ Techradar

Samsung Unveils the 27-Inch S27D590C Curved Monitor

Monitor designed to make multimedia content more engaging, vibrant and true-to-life.

Samsung Electronics today announces the 27-inch S27D590C Full HD Curved Monitor designed to enhance visually compelling entertainment content. The display creates a more immersive viewing experience through its curved design and innovative features.

Read full article @ FunkyKit

Schenker Element 10.1 Review

You could be forgiven for not having heard of Schenker Technologies, since until now, the company has been better known in its native Germany. But you might have heard of high-end gaming laptops sold in the UK under the name XMG, which is a subdivision of Schenker. The company therefore knows how to build mobile PC hardware, but has taken this expertise in a slightly different direction with the Element 10.1 tablet, which is powered by Intel's Bay Trail hardware platform, and runs the 32-bit version of full Windows 8.1, rather than the less useful Windows RT. Just like Microsoft's Surface Pro 2 tablet, it can be used in both tablet-friendly Modern UI and legacy desktop modes, and run any Windows software.As with Acer's Aspire Switch, but unlike XMG laptops, the Element won't make a hefty dent in your wallet.

Read full article @ Techradar

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Review: Maxwell Mark 2

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the biggest story in the GPU industry over the last year has been over what isn’t as opposed to what is. What isn’t happening is that after nearly 3 years of the leading edge manufacturing node for GPUs at TSMC being their 28nm process, it isn’t being replaced any time soon. As of this fall TSMC has 20nm up and running, but only for SoC-class devices such as Qualcomm Snapdragons and Apple’s A8. Consequently if you’re making something big and powerful like a GPU, all signs point to an unprecedented 4th year of 28nm being the leading node.

We start off with this tidbit because it’s important to understand the manufacturing situation in order to frame everything that follows. In years past TSMC would produce a new node every 2 years, and farther back yet there would even be half-nodes in between those 2 years. This meant that every 1-2 years GPU manufacturers could take advantage of Moore’s Law and pack in more hardware into a chip of the same size, rapidly increasing their performance. Given the embarrassingly parallel nature of graphics rendering, it’s this cadence in manufacturing improvements that has driven so much of the advancement of GPUs for so long.

With 28nm however that 2 year cadence has stalled, and this has driven GPU manufacturers into an interesting and really unprecedented corner. They can’t merely rest on their laurels for the 4 years between 28nm and the next node – their continuing existence means having new products every cycle – so they instead must find new ways to develop new products. They must iterate on their designs and technology so that now more than ever it’s their designs driving progress and not improvements in manufacturing technology.

Read full article @ Anandtech