Here a roundup of todays reviews and articles:

ADATA XPG V2 2600 MHz RAM Review
AMD Beema and Mullins APU Performance
AMD Radeon R9 295X2 CrossFire Video Card Review
ASUS Maximus VII Gene Preview
ASUS Rampage IV Black Edition Review
ASUS Z97 Motherboard Launch Coverage
Bitfenix Fury Gold 750 W
Booq Boa Brief Laptop Bag Review
Corsair Graphite 730T Chassis Review
How much RAM do I really need for gaming?
Intel Ultrabook Benchmarks On The Linux 3.15 Kernel
Kingston DataTraveler Mini 16GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review
Noctua NH-D15 Heatsink Review
OCZ RevoDrive 350 PCIe SSD 480GB Review
SATA Express Performance: Asus Hyper Express Benchmarked
Silverstone Tundra Series TD03 CPU Water Cooler Review
Synology DiskStation DS414j NAS Review
Tech Tip: Quick Guide to Running Linux From a USB Drive
Windows Phone 8.1 Tip: Configure a Voice Navigation App
Windows Phone 8.1 Tip: Manage App Updates
Xigmatek Nebula Review

ADATA XPG V2 2600 MHz RAM Review

Today we are taking a look at ADATA's XPG V2 2600 MHz memory. With a blazing fast clock speed, tight timings, and a sexy heatsink to keep it cool, it looks to be a real contender. Read on to see how it performed.

Read full article @ TechwareLabs.com

AMD Beema and Mullins APU Performance

During CES 2014, AMD announced their development of their next generation low powered APUs being designed for tablets, notebooks and small form factor systems. Detailed information is finally available for their new €œBeema€ and €œMullins€ APUs. Beema is being targeted at the notebook, ultrabook and small form factor type systems, while Mullins is geared towards tablet usage. For this generation of APU, AMD has achieved integrating an ARM Cortex A5 for platform security processor, quad Puma+ GPU cores, lowering power usage for CPU, GPU and I/O, increasing the frequency, and increasing the memory bandwidth. In April 2014, AMD invited Legit Reviews to their corporate office to have some hands-on time with their Mullins APU. Read on to see what we learned and how a discovery tablet performed!

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

AMD Radeon R9 295X2 CrossFire Video Card Review

Got extra PCIe slots and have no idea what in the world you can do with those Well if you have $3000 burning a hole in your pocket, wiring in your house that is up to code, a good air conditioning system, and a Type C fire extinguisher that you are not using, AMD's Radeon R9 295X2 QuadFire may be just what the fire marshal ordered.

Read full article @ HardOCP

ASUS Maximus VII Gene Preview

With the Maximus VII Gene, ASUS shows their next generation mATX gaming and overclocking motherboard, which is based on Intels upcoming Z97 chipset. Like it's predecessor this board wants to convince with a balanced feature mix that pleases overclockers as well as gamers. At this point we're very curious what ASUS has come up with regarding layout, design and obviously features.

Read full article @ ocaholic

ASUS Rampage IV Black Edition Review

Fast forward to 2014 and ASUS has again upped the ante with the Rampage IV Black Edition. Since the X79 platform was released back in 2011, Intel has delivered another CPU (IVB-E) for use on the platform that opens up some additional tuning opportunities. Sure, you get the standard platform basics, and you can get these on just about any board out there, but for an ROG board just any average feature set would not do. ASUS' Extreme Engine Digi+ III all-digital voltage control sees an update with Black Wing chokes, 90% efficient NextFET MOSFETs, and 10K Black Metallic Capacitors. The board, as you might have surmised by the name, now gets the black out treatment with just a little red thrown in for good measure. ASUS takes an all-new approach to the cooling system for the Extreme Engine Digi+III power components through the use of a new heat sink design that wraps around the I/O ports for a unique look to go with the added cooling functionality.

The biggest change we see from the RIVE is the sound solution that can rival the sound quality you get from several of the discrete audio cards on the market. Things like Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC, WIMA film capacitors, a stainless steel EMI protection cover, ELNA premium audio caps, and a TPA6120A2 Hi-Fi headphone amp that all help to deliver that improved sound quality the end user is after.

At $499 the Rampage IV Black Edition is clearly designed for the end user looking for a specific feature set. The Rampage IV Black Edition delivers all the performance and overclocking features you could ever want wrapped up in a board that seems right at home in the office or in a custom water cooled, quad GPU-equipped high end gaming machine. Let's see what sets this board apart from the standard (if you could call it that) Rampage IV Extreme.

Read full article @ OCC

ASUS Z97 Motherboard Launch Coverage

The official Intel Z97 chipset launch day is finally here but it’s hardly been a surprising arrival. There have been leaks left, right and centre so most of today’s revelations probably won’t come as a surprise to most of our readers. However, this article (as the title suggests) is about the ASUS Z97 launch. ASUS went to great lengths in April to communicate with the global media about what is actually new with their Z97 motherboards. Making people aware of the “new” is important because as some of you may know, the new Haswell Refresh CPUs are not yet ready, we don’t have DDR4 support and the Z97 chipset doesn’t really bring anything new. In fact the Z97 chipset still has 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes, six SATA III and six USB 3.0 ports just like Z87. Don’t let that fool you though, Z97 does bring some new features to the table even if many of these features will be vendor specific. A couple of the more important features that Z97 is pushing are storage related – SATA Express support and PCIe M.2 support. Most vendors will vigorously taking advantage of these and ASUS are certainly no exception.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Bitfenix Fury Gold 750 W

Bitfenix decided to enter the PSU market, and today, we have the chance to look at the flagship of their Fury series. It has a capacity of 750 W, is 80 Plus Gold certified, and features individually sleeved cables of high quality and stunning looks.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

Booq Boa Brief Laptop Bag Review

Protecting expensive equipment while traveling is the primary goal of any laptop-focused backpack or briefcase. Aesthetics are subjective; individuals’ style ranges widely. Some prefer flamboyant or easily spotted colors, while others want something rustic and classy. Booq’s Boa Brief briefcase leans towards the latter. It’s subtle and bold, appearing understated but being functionally useful and focused on its primary goal: protect the stuff. ThinkComputers takes a look…

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

Corsair Graphite 730T Chassis Review

The Corsair Graphite 730T is a budget version of the 760T which means you miss out on the polycarbonate side panel and don’t get any fan controllers. Also, like a Model T Ford, the 730T only comes in black, whereas the 760T is available in black or white. On the plus side the 730T costs a reasonable £110, which is a good bit cheaper than the £147 you pay for the 760T.

Read full article @ KitGuru

How much RAM do I really need for gaming?

For this test I thought it would be interesting to find out exactly what the performance implications of using different amounts of RAM would be in various gaming scenarios. I have been wondering if 4GB is enough for games nowadays, as it used to be the ‘sweet spot’ around 3 years ago. However, many systems are now using at least 8GB, due to RAM being one of the lowest cost components in a modern PC. What I want to know is –‘Is 8GB of RAM really necessary for current gaming?

Read full article @ PC Review

Intel Ultrabook Benchmarks On The Linux 3.15 Kernel

Now that things are settling down with Linux 3.15, here's some fresh benchmarks of the Linux 3.15 kernel off an ASUS Zenbook Prime.

Read full article @ Phoronix

Kingston DataTraveler Mini 16GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review

In this review we are going to take a quick look at a tiny USB 3.0 flash drive that sports 16GB of storage. The Kingston DataTraveler series has been around for years, and the current "Mini" version is available with capacities of 16, 32, 64, or 128GB. The promotional image below shows the drive in question, which features a rectangular metal body with a somewhat artisitic take on the lanyard connection off to one side.

Before taking a closer look at the drive on hand, let's look at some published data on this little drive...

Read full article @ Bigbruin.com

Noctua NH-D15 Heatsink Review

Weighing 1,320 grams with both fans installed, Noctua's NH-D15 heatsink is big. It stands 162mm tall and has a footprint of 151x161mm so prospective buyers will want to measure their case clearances first. It's six heat pipes are soldered to the nickel plated copper base plate and aluminum cooling fins; overall the fit and finish is top notch.

Read full article @ FrostyTech

OCZ RevoDrive 350 PCIe SSD 480GB Review

It has been three years since we looked at the OCZ RevoDrive 3 x2 480GB (http://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/zardon/ocz-revodrive-3-x2-480gb-review/) – at the time it was the fastest SSD that the desktop audience could buy. As it connected via the PCI Express interface it wasn’t a victim of the SATA bottleneck, which is still a problem in 2014. Today we look at the latest RevoDrive 350, developed and released by Toshiba owned OCZ to deliver performance levels well in excess of anything possible from the SATA 3 interface.

Read full article @ KitGuru

SATA Express Performance: Asus Hyper Express Benchmarked

We revisit the SATA Express interface to obtain a more up-to-date look at what the next generation of SATA connections is capable of. Our tools for the job; a retail Asus motherboard set to release soon, and a concept version of Asus’ Hyper Express enclosure, internally powered by solid state storage.

Read full article @ KitGuru

Silverstone Tundra Series TD03 CPU Water Cooler Review

The Silverstone Tundra TD03 is one of the most unusual 120mm water coolers I’ve seen, it stands out in a market that is crowded by Asetek water coolers that are all pretty much identical. Silverstone have a legendary reputation for their engineering prowess and there’s no way they’re going to import a 3rd party design for their cooler. It was this unique design that meant I had to get one in for review, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about and I really wanted to see if Silverstones design was better than all the other models that are available on the market these days.

Water cooling is big business these days, what was once the plaything of the enthusiast system builder can now be bought as an off-the-shelve product, installed with ease thanks to the closed loop / all-in-one designs and in many cases you can find a good 120mm water cooler for less than a high-end air cooler. Water cooling has a lot of benefits, it can often cool more efficiently, it’s got great potential for overclocking and many water-cooled systems are quieter than their air-cooled counterparts.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Synology DiskStation DS414j NAS Review

Since they entered the NAS marketplace a few years back Synology have been continually evolving their products. The majority of their products get a yearly refresh for enhanced performance and features and between hardware launches their DiskStation Manager OS has continued to receive significant new revisions. Today we take a look at the latest revision of each, the DS414j (their first j model with dual core CPU + FPU and USB 3.0) with DSM 5.0.

Read full article @ HardwareHeaven.com

Tech Tip: Quick Guide to Running Linux From a USB Drive

Live Linux environments work just like a typical operating system but run entirely from a CD or USB stick -- the latter being the most common choice these days. Since nothing is written to the host computer’s local storage, when you’re done all you need to do is remove the media, reboot, and everything will be exactly as it was.

There are a number of uses to this, from simply test driving Linux to troubleshooting a Windows PC, or work on the go from someone else’s computer but running your own OS securely with all your personal files and settings.

There are basically two options when it comes to running Linux from a USB drive: from within Windows using virtualization software such as VirtualBox, or creating a boot disk. This quick guide details both methods in a few easy steps.

Read full article @ Techspot

Windows Phone 8.1 Tip: Configure a Voice Navigation App

Windows Phone 8.1 ships with a basic Maps app, which provides location and direction information, as well as a neighborhood guide called Local Scout. What's missing, of course, is voice guided turn-by-turn navigation. But thanks to an integration model, these facilities can be provided by a third party app that you can get from your handset maker, your wireless carrier, or the Store. Here's how to configure a navigation app, and access it from Maps.

Read full article @ WinSupersite

Windows Phone 8.1 Tip: Manage App Updates

One of the best new features in Windows Phone 8.1 is that the OS, finally, downloads and installs new app updates automatically. This behavior is probably optimal for most users, and you can see which apps have been updated at any time. But you can also configure this behavior in various ways and even disable it if needed.

Read full article @ WinSupersite

Xigmatek Nebula Review

Xigmatek's Nebula is a compact Mini-ITX chassis that utilizes an interesting mixture of materials and comes with the ability to hold a fully sized ATX PSU and dual-slot graphics card. But will it look as elaborate on the inside as it does on the outside, or is this Nebula not hiding any secrets of the universe?

Read full article @ techPowerUp