Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 GAMING K6+ (Intel LGA-1151)
ASUS Maximus VIII Extreme Preview
Case Mod Friday: Neun Blanc
Deep Cool DA500 Aurora 500W Power Supply Review
First Look: Microsoft Lumia 950
G.Skill Ripjaws MX780 RGB Laser Ambidextrous Gaming Mouse Review
Hot Holiday Gift Guide 2015: Tablets, Smartphones, Laptops, and Systems
In Win 805 Computer Case Review
PC Specialist Nox Review
Rosewill Photon and Quark Overview: Affordable Power
Sapphire Radeon R9 380X Nitro Video Card Review
SilverStone ECM20 m.2 Adapter Review
Thermaltake Core X9 Stackable E-ATX Chassis Review
Ubuntu Phone is getting better
XFX XTR 1,050W Review

ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 GAMING K6+ (Intel LGA-1151)

We all know who Fatal1ty is. If you don't, what rock have you been under? The original pro gamer's take on Intel's Z170 chipset is provided by none other than ASRock, known for crazy things like motherboards that support 22 hard drives. What happens when the two meet and take gaming needs, not your budget, to the limit?

Read full article @ techPowerUp

ASUS Maximus VIII Extreme Preview

The Maximus VIII Extreme, is ASUS's new flagship overclocking and gaming motherboard regarding Intels latest Z170 chipset. Next to a never-ending feature list there is the new ROG design. Meanwhile we're rather curious to find out more about all the different components ASUS has put on this motherboard.

Read full article @ ocaholic

Case Mod Friday: Neun Blanc

Welcome to another Case Mod Friday showcase! This week we have jlakai's “Neun Blanc” build. Here is what they had to say about it, "This will be the first PC I've built in almost a decade. Having built my own computers since the 80's up until early 2000's I switched over to using macs. I will still be using a mac as my main computer but this will be for gaming and video editing / vfx stuff that I enjoy. I've been gathering components since Nov' 14 while researching and buying a lot of different things impulsively but this will be my first real water cooling attempt . The only prior experience I had was on my last build back in 2006 using a Cool-IT Freezone TEC cooler. I decided just go all out and see where this takes me."

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

Deep Cool DA500 Aurora 500W Power Supply Review

The DeepCool Steam Castle is finally here! I’ve waited such a long time for this chassis after first seeing it at CES in January, then once again at Computex 2014 and each time I’ve seen this chassis it has been tweaked and fine tuned to become the final retail product that I have here today.

The Steam Castle is certainly unique in terms of design, DeepCool tried to push the limits of normal chassis aesthetics by creating a SteamPunk inspired product for the mATX market and the result is something that is certainly unique, but also runs the risk of being a Marmite product, you’re either going to love it, or you’re going to hate it. It’s not the first product in this size category to try and shake things up, BitFenix played their hand with their Prodigy and subsequent models, Aerocool recently released their Dead Silence Cube, Parvum released their unique water cooling friendly chassis and many others, each trying to offer something a little bit different from the more conventional tower chassis or HTPC style units.

Gamers love these small-but-capable style cube chassis, they can still pack plenty of gaming hardware, but keep a form factor that allows you to pick up the system and easily move it to another location, something that is proving incredibly popular with the LAN gaming crowd. So let’s jump right to it and look at what DeepCool have to offer with the SteamCastle.

Read full article @ eTeknix

First Look: Microsoft Lumia 950

Thanks to Microsoft, I’ve been testing the new Lumia 950 this week. As tends to be the case with technology these days, there’s too many innovative components to give just a single-page review and expect it to get adequate coverage. Case in point: when the Surface Book’s first released, pre-release testing by bloggers gave such glowing reviews you thought Microsoft had crafted the perfect laptop. Now a month and a few firmware updates later and some of those same bloggers are backtracking.

I learned an all important lesson recently after testing and reviewing the Lenovo Yoga 900. A proper review takes time. If I had given the Yoga a once-over and started writing, I wouldn’t have fallen in love with it. Those that try to be the first to release a review after an embargo is lifted aren’t doing a product or the vendor justice. So, just as I did with the Yoga 900, I’m taking a more responsible approach to ensure you get what you need from a review of what I believe is a pretty monumental piece of hardware. Granted, I personally can't live with the form factor (even the smaller 950 is too large for me), but the technology is solid. So, I’ll be picking apart each innovative piece of the 950 and delivering a review for each component over the next week or so.

Read full article @ WinSupersite

G.Skill Ripjaws MX780 RGB Laser Ambidextrous Gaming Mouse Review

When you think of the name G.Skill, I bet you think of memory products. That’s hardly surprising, as their Ripjaws memory are regarded as some of the best in the world and are loved by overclockers, system builders, modders and more around the world. All that is about to change, as G.Skill are taking the PC gaming world by storm, with a very exciting range of gaming peripherals that will change how you see the name G.Skill forever.

Check out the rather awesome product video from G.Skill below for a quick look at some of the cool features on offer.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Hot Holiday Gift Guide 2015: Tablets, Smartphones, Laptops, and Systems

It's hard to believe this year is nearly over. It feels as if our holiday gift guides are being assembled at an ever more rapid pace. Perhaps that has to do with the non-stop innovation in the tech sector, and our insatiable desire for ever-advancing product development. Each year, the leaps in processing power and graphics performance, in addition to the miniaturization and integration of advanced technologies, seems to constantly push the envelope, which means that there are almost always plenty of suitable upgrade replacements for our favorite gadgets and gizmos.

And if you're on the hunt for gifts for a special someone, we think we've got you covered...

Read full article @ HotHardware

In Win 805 Computer Case Review

If you have been following our reviews for a while, you will know Fractal Design's Define series of computer cases are some of the highest scoring products here at APH Networks -- and having personally reviewed every model in the lineup, sans the original Define R2, you will have to appreciate the company's unblemished record in creating products that garnered relentless praise from yours truly. In fact, in the conclusion of my Define R5 review earlier this year, I said it was "about as technically perfect as it can get, at a price you simply cannot turn down". Why? From the perspective of an "APH-spec" chassis defined as "clean exterior look, large unobstructed clear side window, mid-tower, refined build quality, and filters on every vent except rear exhaust", the Define R5 is literally an embodiment of such specifications implemented into a real world design. Unfortunately, such technical perfection -- along with even sound dampening material to boot -- lacked emotional appeal. Simply put, the Define R5 is boring to look at. I mean, it is a product you cannot go wrong with, but would not it be better if it stirred your heart and emotions as well? On the other end, we have the In Win 904 Plus, which has exceptional emotional appeal, but not a lot more beyond that. Is there a way to design a chassis that meets the "APH-spec", and to borrow a term from V-MODA, without resorting to ubiquity? In Win thinks so. The latest 805 is a slightly more conservative and practical version of the 904 Plus, but still comes with stunning looks. Tinted tempered glass, larger rear exhaust fan, and front panel USB 3.1 Type-C -- it has it. Read on to find if we have finally found the one!

Read full article @ APH Networks

PC Specialist Nox Review

PC Specialist has announced a gaming PC with the shortest name we have ever heard. Ladies and Gentlemen, we present ‘Nox’. There is always a danger that a review of a PC can turn into a list of components and Nox falls under that heading as PC Specialist has selected some top notch hardware and then assembled a high end gaming PC that is ideal for Full HD gaming. Nox can also handle 4K provided you are sensible about image quality settings.

Read full article @ KitGuru

Rosewill Photon and Quark Overview: Affordable Power

While many companies may offer a vast selection of hardware to choose from, Rosewill's product portfolio is able to dwarf the best of them with a range that spans basic hand tools and peripherals to household and kitchen equipment. They are mostly known in the DIY PC market for their enclosures and power supplies however whose relative affordability, reasonable accessibility … Read more.

Read full article @ Modders-Inc

Sapphire Radeon R9 380X Nitro Video Card Review

AMD launched this week what is likely their last desktop graphics card of 2015, the AMD Radeon R9 380X. AMD is hopeful that this card at the $229 price point (£185 inc. VAT for our readers in the UK) will be just what gamers will be looking to purchase this winter now that most of the big name games have come out for the holiday gaming season. All the usual AMD board partners will be releasing cards, but we were sampled the Sapphire Radeon R9 Nitro OC 4GB...

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

SilverStone ECM20 m.2 Adapter Review

The m.2 form factor is becoming popular for SSDs due to its small size, and, in PCI-E guise, superior performance. As our recent test of the Samsung 950 Pro m.2 SSD has shown, PCI-E m.2 SSDs offer performance many times that of the very best SATA SSDs, so if you’re looking for a storage upgrade, m.2 is definitely the way to go. While m.2 slots are only available on the latest motherboards, SilverStone Technology’s ECM20 m.2 adapter card offers an inexpensive way for older systems to enjoy the performance and space savings of modern m.2 SSDs. Benchmark Reviews tests the ECM20 and compares the performance of a modern m.2 PCI-E SSD on this adapter card with its performance on a native m.2 port.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews

Thermaltake Core X9 Stackable E-ATX Chassis Review

Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX and heck, even ATX chassis are great, but they’re just too small, at least for some builds. What do you do when you need to fit an absolutely ridiculous amount of hardware into a single build? What if you have the biggest graphics cards money can buy, gigantic water cooling radiators, huge amounts of storage, multiple PSUs and more that you want to fit into your chassis? You get an absolutely freaking huge chassis, that’s what you do!

Thermaltake are known to make quite a few monster-sized chassis and one of their latest efforts, the Core X9 is certainly one of the biggest. Not only is this chassis big to start with, but it comes with a rather cool feature that allows you to take two or more of them, bolt them together and make it even bigger. This means it’s possible to have one system which spans both chassis, or even simply stack multiple systems, the choice is yours.

The specs are not for the faint of heart, with room for E-ATX motherboards, a huge amount of storage drives and a dizzying array of cooling configurations.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Ubuntu Phone is getting better

Geek Wars, Episode 2: A New Hope. This is a second review of the BQ Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Phone after six months of use and a successful Ubuntu Phone 15.04 r25 operating system upgrade, covering new look & feel, improvements in stability, speed, responsiveness, and gestures, new features, home screen and applications, maps, battery life, Bluetooth connectivity, some persisting problems, suggestions for improvement, and more. Well worth a second [sic] chance. Enjoy.

Read full article @ Dedoimedo

XFX XTR 1,050W Review

Tempting the dual-GPU enthusiast. The PSU market is rife with supplies housing the very latest technology. Want a fully-modular supply with a zero-noise feature, sleek cabling, rock-solid performance and ripple suppression that wasn't commercially available 10 years ago? You can, and not just from one guy.

Such knowledge means that anyone playing in the premium space really needs to be on their game. Better known for its slew of AMD-based graphics cards but having enjoyed an obvious presence in the PSU market for years, XFX believes it has the supplies to compete on a price-to-performance metric.

For those of you intent on running dual graphics cards and overclocking the CPU by a healthy margin it makes sense to consider a quality 1,000W supply. Enter the XTR 1,050W.

Read full article @ Hexus