Here a roundup of todays reviews and articles:

AOC U2868PQU 4K UHD 28 inch LCD Monitor Review
As Insomnia i53 kicks off explore its origins with Craig Fletcher
Asus RT-AC87U 4×4 (Bridge Mode) Review
ASUS Strix Claw gaming mouse and Strix Glide Speed mat review
Biostar A68N-5000
Brother MFC-L2740DW Mono Laser All-In-One Review
Cooler Master V1200 Platinum Power Supply Review
HGST Deskstar NAS 4 TB Review
Home Server - November 2014
HP Envy 15 x360 Review
Jabra Move Bluetooth Wireless Headset Review
Logitechs G Labs in Switzerland
Mad Catz S.T.R.I.K.E. M Wireless Mobile & PC Keyboard Review
MSI GTX 980 Gaming 4G Review
OpenSUSE 13.2 review - Back in the game
Scientific Linux 6.6 vs. Scientific Linux 7.0 Benchmarks
SteamOS on a Sub-$400 Gaming System
thinksound On1 Headphones Review
XFX XTS Series 1000 W

AOC U2868PQU 4K UHD 28 inch LCD Monitor Review

Ever since i got my first "serious" computer system back in 1990 (based on the Intel 80286 CPU) and my first serious gaming only system (the Commodore Amiga 500) roughly a year earlier (which i then upgraded to the 500 Plus model) I’ve always loved playing my favorite games on the largest screen possible. Of course until the late 90's a 17 inch EIZO CRT monitor was pretty much all i could afford but all that changed with the arrival of TFT monitors since by 2005 i was enjoying games on a 21.5 inch Super-IPS model by Samsung. Well after that things progressed much faster thanks to the arrival of the Full HD resolution (1920x1080) era so by 2009 i was using a 26 inch IPS monitor by NEC for gaming and an 55 inch LCD screen by SONY for watching movies. Now 4k Ultra HD resolution (3840x2160) has arrived and with it so have several compatible monitors and TV screens but is it as tempting and impressive as Full HD was over 5 years ago? Well in an effort to find out today we're testing the first 4k Ultra HD compatible monitor by AOC the U2868PQU.

AOC is one of the global top brands in the display market. High quality, first-rate service, an attractive design as well as environmentally friendly and innovative products at competitive prices are the reasons why more and more consumers and distribution partners trust in AOC. The exceptionally broad product range of computer displays has won numerous awards. AOC is a subsidiary of TPV Technology Limited, the world’s largest LCD manufacturer. AOC serves the Western European, Middle East and African markets from its headquarters in Amsterdam. The Eastern European and CIS markets are served by a local office in Prague. Through its network of local sales teams AOC works with all major IT distributors and resellers.

To my knowledge there are currently three types of 4k compatible screens in the market, the somewhat new IGZO ones (Indium gallium zinc oxide) which are manufactured by Samsung and Sharp, the high-end IPS ones and the low/mid-end TN ones. We all know what IPS panels are capable off but surprisingly enough the main "fight" is currently between IGZO and TN ones. Panels featuring IGZO technology however are more expensive than the regular TN ones for three very apparent reasons, better viewing angles, reduced power consumption and improved color accuracy/reproduction. Because of that many manufacturers like AOC choose TN panels to create cost-effective 4k UHD compatible screens and as you might have guessed already the brand new U2868PQU is one such monitor. The U2868PQU uses a WLED/TN panel which features a brightness of 300cd/m2, 60Hz refresh rate, 1ms GTG response time and a 1000:1 typical contrast ratio. 60Hz refresh rate may not seem much but leaving out the fact that in order to climb to 120Hz we need to wait for the new DisplayPort 1.3 specification it's much better compared to the 30Hz limitation of the first 4k monitors released over a year ago. Now since this is our first monitor review we don't have anything special in terms of testing equipment (if we get more screens for testing in the future we will) so this review is pretty much based on our opinion after using it for roughly a month primarily for games and movies.

Read full article @ Nikktech

As Insomnia i53 kicks off explore its origins with Craig Fletcher

Multiplay’s Insomnia event is the biggest LAN in the UK and it runs three times a year. Now in its 53rd iteration, it is bigger and better than ever. As it kicks off, we get 1-on-1 with founder and CEO Craig Fletcher to look at where it is now and its humble beginnings.

Read full article @ KitGuru

Asus RT-AC87U 4×4 (Bridge Mode) Review

We have reviewed many of the latest high performance 802.11AC capable routers in recent months. ASUS recently sent us not one, but two of their RT-AC87U routers to test performance in single and bridge mode. Bridge Mode allows a second RT AC87U to be utilised as a ‘receiver’ – theoretically holding onto maximum performance, especially as we have a shortage of high grade 4×4 receivers.

Read full article @ KitGuru

ASUS Strix Claw gaming mouse and Strix Glide Speed mat review

ASUS may be best known for their motherboards but they have a diverse portfolio including graphics cards, cases, peripherals alongside a new range of ‘wearables’. The technology giant has various product ranges – such as the Strix series, aimed at the enthusiast user and designed to supplement the Republic Of Gamers range.

Today we are looking at a Strix mouse and mat combo: the Claw and the Glide Speed. They are each very ‘orange’ and feature some interesting design ideas that could set them apart from the crowd. Let us find out if that holds true.

Read full article @ KitGuru

Biostar A68N-5000

If you are anything like me then you most likely aren’t just limited to having a PC or two in your office, you most likely are using an HTPC or something similar at one or more televisions in your house. You could just pick up one of the many options available on the market right now, or you could put together something yourself. I’ve done this a few times in the past but over the past few years the prices for capable components have come down and let’s be honest, the performance requirements aren’t really going anywhere until 4k becomes a little cheaper. So today I’m going to take a look at a nice budget motherboard with a built in quad core AMD Fusion APU from Biostar. I don’t expect the A68N-5000 to be a hardcore gaming board, I’m really just curious how well it will handle simple tasks that an HTPC or small home server would require.

Read full article @ LanOC Reviews

Brother MFC-L2740DW Mono Laser All-In-One Review

Brother has introduced a range of new laser printers for the SOHO market promising affordable, compact and reliable printing. The range includes standalone printers and all-in-ones, with RRPs ranging from just £90 to £251 including VAT. The MFC-L2740DW is the flagship of the range, and its low RRP is already being undercut: at the time of writing it's available online for £207 including VAT. That's very little money for an awful lot of features. SpecsThe MFC-L2740DW can print, copy, scan and fax, offers double-sided printing, connects via USB, Ethernet or WLAN, and has 64MB of on-board memory.

Read full article @ Techradar

Cooler Master V1200 Platinum Power Supply Review

Cooler Master is one of the oldest and most reputable companies that offer advanced cooling and power solutions. If you are a PC techie, chances are youve owned at least one of their products in the past. Today we are going to look at their current flagship PSU, the V1200 Platinum, and see how it fares in todays demanding market.

Read full article @ Anandtech

HGST Deskstar NAS 4 TB Review

The increasing affordability of SSDs has put a strain on the traditional market for hard drive vendors. However, new opportunities have opened up, thanks to the rapid growth in the SMB / SOHO / consumer NAS market. Every hard drive vendor now has a lineup to target this market. Today, we will be looking at HGSTs offering in the desktop NAS space, the HGST Deskstar NAS

Read full article @ Anandtech

Home Server - November 2014

The home server. It's subject to heated debate on Hardware.Info. Opinions differ widely on subjects like the necessity for keeping the design compact, the advantage of hot-swap bays, acceptable energy consumption, how much CPU power is needed, what type of storage and so on. It's safe to say that the "ideal home server" does not exist, because its intended use differs widely among our readers.

This doesn't mean that we can't provide a good guide to effective home servers. There are two options, either you buy one off-the-shelf or you build one yourself. While there are a number of pre-assembled home servers available that have advantages in terms of compact design and price-performance ratio, the seasoned Hardware.Info reader of course prefers building one themselves. Our guide will focus finding the right balance between energy consumption, affordability and expandability.

Read full article @ Hardware.info

HP Envy 15 x360 Review

The introduction of Windows 8, the emergence of touchscreens and the increasing efficiency of components have helped laptops get thinner and lighter, and they're also behind the growth of hybrids – machines designed for use as both notebooks and tablets. The HP Envy 15 x360 (model 15-u000na) is one such system. It flips between laptop and tablet modes with a hinge that rotates through 360 degrees, and its 15.6-inch screen makes it one of the biggest hybrids we've seen.Turning headsThe Envy's 5.3 pound weight (2.4kg) and 0.94-inch thickness (about 24mm) are more akin to laptops than tablets, and that stands up when the HP is compared to its rivals: the Lenovo Flex 2 15 is another 15.6-inch hybrid, but it's thinner and lighter. The HP's nearest laptop competitor, the Dell Inspiron 15 7000, is only a little bigger.

Read full article @ Techradar

Jabra Move Bluetooth Wireless Headset Review

The first Bluetooth headset review I did was several years ago. It is amazing how things have changed. Back then it was a bulky over the ear set up that required a wired receiver dongle plugged into the headphone jack of a music-playing device. Thankfully times have changed and Bluetooth headsets now look like their wired brethren and have sound quality that is worth the investment.

Today we are looking at the Jabra Move – a beautifully designed headset that sounds pretty awesome. They are lightweight, comfortable and built to last. Besides music playback Jabra also created the Move to wirelessly control your smartphone. Calls can be answer and made using the controls on the side of the headphones.

In addition to wireless sound playback, you can also use the included 3.5mm cord to convert the Move into wired cans for those times when they run out of power for Bluetooth playback.

Read full article @ Technogog

Logitechs G Labs in Switzerland

Logitech invited Kitguru to their test labs in Switzerland. These guys take peripheral development very seriously and we were given a tour of all their facility - their stress testing alone needs to be seen. Driving over a keyboard in a truck? Just one of the tests! These guys don't mess around.

Read full article @ KitGuru

Mad Catz S.T.R.I.K.E. M Wireless Mobile & PC Keyboard Review

Gaming is incredibly popular, that much is obvious to anyone who hasn’t been living on a remote island for the last 40 years! It doesn’t matter what kind of games you play, these days you’re overwhelmed with options of when and where you can play; gaming at home on your desktop computer, consoles, handhelds, laptops, phones, tablets and more, or gaming on the go with most of the same devices. It doesn’t matter where, but how you play that really makes a difference. Touch screen phones are a prime example of how many people play games on their tablets and smartphones, but they’re simply no substitute for a good old fashioned keyboard and mouse, or at least a high quality control pad. The same can be said about touch screens for typing and working, writing up a long email, a word document or any large block of text on a touch screen device can be a labour intensive task.

Mad Catz are well-known for their high-end gaming peripherals; they make some of the coolest and most unique gaming keyboards, mice and headsets on the market and now they’re taking a shot at the world of mobile peripherals. Mad Catz new STRIKE M keyboard looks set to solve the problem of cumbersome touch screen interfaces by giving you a real keyboard for your mobile work and gaming. The STRIKE M promises a compact, lightweight design that is packed full of the kind of features you would expect to find on a premium desktop gaming keyboard.

Read full article @ eTeknix

MSI GTX 980 Gaming 4G Review

A couple months ago, NVIDIA introduced its new flagship card equipped with a full Maxwell GM204 chip. The GTX 980 proved to be a product the likes we have never seen from the green team. This card comes at an unprecedented price point for a high-end GPU compared to previous generation Kepler-based products. The GTX 980 also brought to the table impressive power efficiency without sacrificing any performance and was up there with the GTX 780 Ti in the charts. The new NVIDIA flagship card comes with a rich feature set; including Multi-Frame sampled AA (MFAA), DirectX 12 support, Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR), and Voxel Global Illumination (VGI).

While providing impressive gaming performance at stock speeds, the reference NVIDIA GTX 980 I reviewed previously also showed great overclocking headroom. It was only a matter of time before various manufacturers started releasing non-reference cards that tapped into the new architecture potential. MSI is one such manufacturer that - sure enough - did not miss on the opportunity to expand an already extensive product lineup. The Taiwanese company produces some of the best gaming hardware available today, and what I personally consider some of the best looking motherboards and GPUs. Yep, I'm a sucker for anything with tribal dragons on it.

Today I will be looking at the factory overclocked MSI GTX 980 Gaming 4G, where MSI takes the reference design and looks to improve it in every possible way. This video card comes with the distinct look of the MSI Gaming series with a red and black color theme and a familiar shroud design. Although the card looks similar to previous products from MSI, the GTX 980 Gaming 4G is actually equipped with a new hybrid cooling solution labeled Twin Frozr V. Built around two 100mm Torx fans, a massive heatsink, and a set of large heat pipes; this cooling solution is coupled with the latest MIL-STD-810G certified "Military Class" components to provide stability and keep the temps in check. Surely a welcome setup knowing that out of the box, the MSI GTX 980 Gaming 4G runs at core speeds of 1216MHz with boost clocks of 1317MHz in OC mode compared to the reference clock speeds of 1126MHz with a Turbo Boost 2.0 of 1216MHz. The card's clock speeds can be controlled through the MSI Gaming App, which makes available two additional modes: a Gaming mode with 1190MHz clock speeds (1291MHz Boost clock), and a Silent mode running at 1140MHz (1241MHz Boost clock).

Read full article @ Neoseeker

OpenSUSE 13.2 review - Back in the game

SUSE, back from the dead. Here's a long, thorough and highly enthusiastic review of openSUSE 13.2 64-bit edition with the KDE desktop, tested on a laptop with Intel graphics and SSD in a quad-boot configuration, covering live session, installation and post-install use, including look & feel, network connectivity - 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wireless, Samba, multimedia playback - MP3 and Flash in the live and installed system, intelligent installation suggestions, manual partitioning and BTRFS subvolume handling, bootloader niggles, package management, updates, extra repositories and third-pary software via 1-click installs, applications, system resource usage, stability, suspend & resume, desktop effects, customization, and some problems like the familiar screenshot bug, missing Samba printing, one-time freeze, and more. This should be interesting. Enjoy, for real.

Read full article @ Dedoimedo

Scientific Linux 6.6 vs. Scientific Linux 7.0 Benchmarks

Scientific Linux 6.6 vs. Scientific Linux 7.0, which of these Red Hat Enterprise Linux derived distributions are faster? Here's some benchmark results from a ten-core Xeon system

Read full article @ Phoronix

SteamOS on a Sub-$400 Gaming System

Earlier in the week we showed off the parts we are going to use for a dedicated gaming machine using the SteamOS. The goal of the system was to build a gaming rig that would be comparable to the cost of the current generation of console systems. Since both the Playstation 4 and the Xbox One retail for $400.00, that's what the budget for this gaming system was set at. Today we are going to take a look at the SteamOS and see what it's all about!

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

thinksound On1 Headphones Review

I woke up early in the morning one Friday morning in late September. As leaves on the tree began to fall, and the ground is decorated by a new found blanket of yellow scatter, young kids are making their way to school to embark on a new year of challenges. What lies ahead of them is uncertain; what is certain is as surely as the sun rises from the east, the bell to indicate the beginning of class is about to ring. I started my car, and stopped just before the end of my driveway, patiently waiting for a spot on the road between cars driven by parents eagerly trying to get their children to class on time. Sitting in the seat next to me inside a hemp-looking cotton drawstring bag -- with the "thinksound" logo proudly proclaimed across the front -- is a pair of On1 supra aural headphones. I got on the road, drove out of my neighborhood, and merged into an expressway to a endless stream of motorists traveling to their destination of the hour. My destination of the hour, however, happens not to be work or school. Instead, it was to the dealership to drop my vehicle off for a morning appointment. I arrived right on the minute, pulled into the service bay, and dropped my keys off to the friendly receptionist at the desk, who led me to the shuttle bus sign up sheet next door. Fifteen minutes later, I boarded a minivan that took me to the University of Calgary. Still, clutched in my arms is the pair of thinksound On1 in its drawstring bag. After a brief chat with the driver, I arrived to door of my building. I got into my office, pulled out my chair, sat down, and placed the supra aural headphones next to its new friend, the V-MODA XS, who was already there waiting for it on the desk. Things began to heat up as a few of my coworkers dropped by to witness this rivalry on the brink of commencement. I plugged the thinksound On1 into SilverStone EB01-E and EB03 setup. Here at APH Networks, the first day of the thinksound On1 was about to begin.

Read full article @ APH Networks

XFX XTS Series 1000 W

XFX teamed with Seasonic to introduce the new XTS line of PSUs. In this review, we will test the flagship of the series with 1 kW capacity, Platinum efficiency, a fully modular cabling design and hybrid-fan-mode operation for as little noise output as possible at light loads.

Read full article @ techPowerUp