Here a roundup of todays review's and articles:

CM Storm NovaTouch TKL Gaming Keyboard
Corsair Carbide Series 100R Case Review
Creative Sound Blaster ROAR Review
CRYORIG H5 Universal CPU Cooler Review
ECS Liva SOC Mini-PC System Review
ECS Z97I-Drone Motherboard Review
EVGA SuperNova 1000 PS Silent Series Power Supply Review
Gigabyte WaterForce 3 Way SLI Review: A Force to Recon With
Hands on: Lumia 640 ought to be enough for anybody
MSI GTX960 Gaming 2G OC Edition Review
Noctua NH-D9L CPU Cooler Review
Noctua NH-U9S Compact Lower Noise Heatsink Review
Product Review: Inateck USB 3.0 7-Port Powered Hub
Samsung 850 Evo SSD 120GB/250GB/500GB/1TB review: best SSD for the money?
The new Moto E is the most phone you can get for $150
The TR Podcast 171: Nvidia takes heat, Carrizo runs cool, and Fractal stays quiet
VisionTek USB Pocket SSD 120GB (900718), Pocket Sized Speed Demon
WD My Cloud DL4100 Business NAS Review

CM Storm NovaTouch TKL Gaming Keyboard

CM Storm is debuting its new gaming keyboard dubbed the NovaTouch TKL. The NovaTouch TKL features Topre switches with Cherry MX-type stems, which allows for a lot of accessories to work on these Topre mechanisms. The keyboard is, as the name suggests, a ten-key-less design, which is great for all gamers with limited desk space and lan-party goers!

Read full article @ techPowerUp

Corsair Carbide Series 100R Case Review

Just think. A large clear windowed panel with an all black sprayed interior, drive mounting that is very well thought out, semi tool-less designs and a special place for that AIO or all in one 240 X 120mm hydro cooler. They even offer the gamer an indirect intake air cooling from the side gills to keep the front nice clean and less noisy and you get that "Monster Corsair Obsidian" look on the front end with the faux brushed aluminum anodized look of a plastic front end. No one will know but you and it beats the other cases that are in this price range by a country mile. Would you believe it? Well truthfully I am slightly skeptical too, but I really am rooting for Corsair's newest 100R Carbide Series Case to make a true believer out of me, but we will see as the Review continues on. So let's see if this nice looking "Econ-o-Box" can stand up to a gaming setup and how will it fit the needs? Will it be a viable alternative and a budget saver to use the Corsair Carbide Series 100R or do we need to look further into the higher priced Cases?

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

Creative Sound Blaster ROAR Review

It has been a while since we looked at the Creative Airwave, and it would be fair to say that the portable wireless speaker market is now in hyperdrive. Meeting serious competition with serious design work, Creative have come up with the Sound Blaster ROAR. Described to be 'the size of a dictionary' and packing in 2x 1.5" tweeters and a single 2.5" subwoofer which is aided by 2x passive side radiators, the specifications are impressive for a product of this class. Clashing head on with products such as the Bose Soundlink range and the Beats Pill, Creative hope that their audio expertise and innovation will catch peoples attention.

On the surface we get a sleek polished metal mesh design that is both robust and elegant, but underneath is a monocoque chassis that tells a story of 2 years of design and precision crafting that has allowed Creative to pack in a wealth of features, hoping to deliver the best audio experience from a portable wireless speaker. It has a bi-amplified design for better frequency separation from the bass to the highs, there is a whopping 6000mAH rechargable battery that promises an 8 hour life, an integrated mini SD card slot, an intergrated microphone for voice calls and voice recording, various wireless connectivity modes, a micro USB slot for connecting the ROAR to your PC or laptop, a USB out for charging your phone and a 3.5mm jack aux input. Not stopping there, you can even link 2 of these together via a 'MegaStereo' cable or buy two of them in a multipack for when one just isn't enough.

Read full article @ Vortez

CRYORIG H5 Universal CPU Cooler Review

Believe it or not there was a time when you'd step into a computer store and see no after-market CPU coolers if at all since most only offered boxed CPUs. That however was well over 15 years ago just before the "big bang" in the computer industry. Today as you all know things have changed for the best so the moment you Walsh into a computer store you will find yourself in front of a very large number of CPU coolers, some from the very well-known and established manufacturers and some by the not so popular ones. Still if I've learned anything during all the time in this industry it's that even new players can produce very good products just as long as they put their mind to it. CRYORIG is one such player with an excellent track record so far and today we'll be testing one of their latest CPU Coolers the H5 Universal.

Read full article @ NikKTech

ECS Liva SOC Mini-PC System Review

ECS (Elitegroup Computer Systems) are no stranger to the PC hardware game despite not being instantly recognisable by most as a PC hardware vendor. In fact, they are the fifth largest motherboard manufacturer in the world, producing hardware for some of the biggest PC brands such as Acer, Zoostorm, IBM and Compaq, and have been around since 1987. Although their bread and butter has been motherboards for years, they have occasionally deviated from this, releasing everything from graphics cards to SOC (System on a Chip) computers. Speaking of which, today’s review is all about their latest SOC offering; the ECS Liva Mini-PC!

The mini PC/net-top market that followed the brief fad of netbooks never really seemed to take off – by the time everyone had realised that netbooks were generally awkward to use and fairly underpowered the tablet market had began to take off, with manufacturers realising that netbooks wouldn’t survive the test of time. Interestingly, the net-top has had a recent resurgence of interest in recent times, with Android based net-tops offering low-cost media centres to Windows and Linux-based net-tops promising business users a cheap office worthy PC that uses a fraction of the power. ECS has come out swinging here, taking aim straight at the budget net-top market, providing the user with everything (with the exception of OS) needed to turn this little box of tricks into whatever PC they require, while undercutting rival offerings which often need extra components such as RAM or SSD’s first to function.

Read full article @ eTeknix

ECS Z97I-Drone Motherboard Review

Small, smaller aaaaand stop .. 17 CM ! Tagged in their L337 Gaming series, ECS released the Z97I Drone motherboard. It offers decent features at a very good price. ECS took the Z97 chipset and made a nice dark looking motherboard. It also comes with a custom audio solution. Join us in the Z97I Drone review, a product that will please the budget PC gamer with the hunger for a high-end PC at an incredibly small form factor.

Intel released their series 9 chipsets, among them will be low-end and high-end desktop solutions. For the consumers and readers of Guru3D, H97 and Z97 should be the two most interesting ones. For the HTPC end of things H97 is the most appealing as tweaking options are stripped away with a lower price-tag. For the more hardcore gamers and PC aficionados, the Z97 is the most interesting. Z97 by itself as a chipset is nothing special. HOWEVER, we have plenty to look at as the motherboard manufacturers went totally nuts and started redesigning their motherboards, added new features and made them extraordinarily cool. You'll spot new redesigns build on the DNA of Z87 yet improved massively. Cool looks, features like AC WIFI, M2 SSDs and Sata Express will bring some very interesting features onto the market. So if (at the time) you didn't upgrade to Z87, now might be a good time.

Now back to ECS, the machine series really is supposed to be the mainstream model but I'd tag this in the somewhat high-end class alright, you can fit even Devils Canyon processor on it (Core i7 4970K). This Intel Z97 based motherboard will come with nice PC options like 8-pin EPS connectors, a 4+1-phase VRM design for the processor, a full PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x16 with one card).

Read full article @ Guru3D

EVGA SuperNova 1000 PS Silent Series Power Supply Review

Marketing can sometimes be a very strange area, and many times it makes little sense on the surface. There is a condition that exists that is often referred to as “competing with one’s self”. While that may sound somewhat obtuse, it can actually be taken at face value. It is the situation of a single vendor introducing two similar products into the market at similar, or the same, price point. This would naturally put two items from the same seller in direct competition for market share. There are times this is done to accommodate production capabilities or component availability, and there are other times that the seemingly similar products have a distinct difference that may not be notable on the surface.

We see this condition quite often with power supplies. While it typically comes from labels directly tied to oem, we see it in private brand names as well. There are brand names with five and six lines of PSUs, often with only a few dollars separating them, and often with huge differences inside of the casing. At first glance, the new EVGA SuperNova 1000 PS, billed as the “Silent Series”, may look completely redundant in the line next to the already silent and stellar performing 1000 P2. The fact that they share the same MSRP probably makes this look even more curious. But, this is one of those times that what is on the surface does not tell the whole story.

Read full article @ HiTech Legion

Gigabyte WaterForce 3 Way SLI Review: A Force to Recon With

There comes a time when you have to do something outrageous in order to advance yourself. The companies that are always in the forefront are continuously on this edge, pushing and striving for better products. As a consumer we might ask: Why in the world would they make this and who will buy it? Gigabyte has the answer to both of … Read more.

Read full article @ Modders-Inc

Hands on: Lumia 640 ought to be enough for anybody

A well-rounded smartphone experience for less than $250. Why pay more?

Read full article @ ArsTechnica

MSI GTX960 Gaming 2G OC Edition Review

Today we take a look at the MSI GTX960 Gaming 2G OC Edition – another custom Nvidia partner card featuring the popular and somewhat attractive red MSI cooling solution. This card receives a core clock boost and substantial heatsink design to help drop temperatures. How does it compare with the other GTX960 cards we have reviewed so far?

Read full article @ KitGuru

Noctua NH-D9L CPU Cooler Review

Today I will be reviewing the NH-D9L brought to us by Noctua. Noctua has long been a front runner in the cooling world. Today I have my hands on the NH-D9L. The picture may resemble the last Noctua I covered (NH-D15) except the NH-D9L is a third of the size. The NH-D9L supports 92mm cooling fans. Some applications require the smallest cooler achievable and that can really be a dilemma when you also want superior cooling in a small package. What is great about the NH-D9L is you have the option to purchase a second fan and install a dual fan setup. I can not wait any longer, I want to see the cooling capabilities of the NH-D9L.

The NH-D9L is a premium grade dual tower CPU cooler that has been designed to provide excellent quiet cooling performance at a height of only 110mm. Its comparably low profile (15mm lower than classic 9cm tower coolers such as the NH-U9S) doesn’t only guarantee full 3U compliance but also makes the NH-D9L ideal for compact HTPC and Small Form Factor cases that have airflow paths parallel to the mainboard. Thanks to its 95x95mm footprint, the NH-D9L clears the RAM and PCIe slots on all Intel based and most AMD based ITX mainboards. The included NF-A9 premium fan supports automatic speed control via PWM for outstanding quietness of operation and a second, optional NF-A9 fan can be added for further improved performance in dual fan mode. Topped off with the trusted, pro-grade SecuFirm2 multi-socket mounting system, Noctua’s proven NT-H1 thermal compound and full 6 years manufacturer’s warranty, the NH-D9L forms a highly compact premium package for space-restricted applications. 

Read full article @ FunkyKit

Noctua NH-U9S Compact Lower Noise Heatsink Review

Noctua has responded to the siren call for a more compact CPU cooler with its NH-U9S heatsink. It claims this mid-size cooler has "100% RAM compatibility" and "100% compatibility with PCIe cards on miniITX" motherboards. That's relatively easy to accomplish by sticking to the Intel/AMD thermal design guidelines, but how much thermal performance is sacrificed? Noctua's NH-U9S heatsink is an upgraded version of the NH-U9B, incorporating more heatpipes, a completely revamped fin geometry and a higher airflow Noctua NF-A9 fan. Noctua's NH-U9S mid-size heatsink is rated to heat loads of 140W TDP and installs onto AMD socket AM2/AM3/FM1/FM2 and Intel LGA2011-0/LGA2011-3/115x processors.

Read full article @ Frostytech.com

Product Review: Inateck USB 3.0 7-Port Powered Hub

A new 7-port hub offering from Inateck offers USB 3.0 speeds and standalone device charging.

Read full article @ WinSupersite

Samsung 850 Evo SSD 120GB/250GB/500GB/1TB review: best SSD for the money?

There are two SSD series which sold extremely well during the last year: the Samsung 840 Evo series and the Crucial MX100 series. Perhaps the most important factor was the extremely competitive prices of both series. Although other manufacturers are certainly trying their best, the battle for the favour of the SSD-purchasing consumer appears to become more and more about Samsung and Crucial. Recently, the 850 Evo series was introduced as the successor to Samsung's 840 Evo SSDs. These new Evo drives should be faster and (even) more reliable than their predecessors. Will Samsung be able to break Crucial's stride? We have extensively tested the complete 850 Evo series – that is, the 120 GB, 250 GB, 500 GB, and 1 TB models – in order to be able to answer that question.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

The new Moto E is the most phone you can get for $150

The first Moto E cut too many corners, but this one can hold its own.

Read full article @ ArsTechnica

The TR Podcast 171: Nvidia takes heat, Carrizo runs cool, and Fractal stays quiet

This episode is a fantastic assortment of GDC expectation, PC hardware controversy, and in-depth discussion of AMD's Carrizo APU and a svelte PC case. Plus, listener mail!

Read full article @ The Tech Report

VisionTek USB Pocket SSD 120GB (900718), Pocket Sized Speed Demon

Want the speed of an internal Hard drive in a pocket portable size? The VisionTek USB Pocket SSD (120GB) might be what you’re looking for. Rated at speeds up to 455MB/s Read and 440MB/s write the VisionTek USB pocket SSD should not only meet your speed needs but also your size requirements. Sporting a generous 120GB usable space the drive is actually 256GB but uses 16GB for true SSD features like Trim.

Read full article @ Bjorn3D

WD My Cloud DL4100 Business NAS Review

Legit Reviews took a look at the WD My Cloud EX4 back in 2013 and found it to be one of the easiest to setup and use 4-bay NAS models on the market at that time. The WD My Cloud EX4 was part of the Expert Series, which meant it ran Linux and was aimed at Prosumers. If you wanted to step up to a businesses line you had to move up to the Windows powered WD Sentinel series and you were talking more than double the price. The divide between the Prosumer models and the small business models were crystal clear thanks to the significant price gap. All that changed last week when WD launched the WD My Cloud Business Series with the DL2100 (2-bay) and DL4100 (4-bay). These new business models were designed from the ground up to be a high-performance NAS solution designed for small businesses, so you'll find business class hardware features like a high-performance Intel Atom C2338 dual-core processor, 2 GB of expandable DDR3 memory, dual NICs and dual power ports. Read on to see how the WD My Cloud DL4100 performs when we put it to the test!

Read full article @ Legit Reviews