Here the latest reviews and articles:

BitFenix AEGIS mATX Case Review
Hands-on review: Acer Iconia One 8
HGST Touro S 1TB Review
Home server - April 2015
How to turn your PC or Mac into a lean, mean retro gaming machine
Kingston HyperX Cloud II Gaming Headset Review
Kingston HyperX Savage 240GB SSD Review, Raw Savage Speed (SHSS3B7A/240G)
Lenovo ThinkStation E50 Review
Phanteks Enthoo Primo White Computer Case Review
TSST TB100PA Portable Charger Review

BitFenix AEGIS mATX Case Review

BitFenix AEGIS is an exciting watercooling-optimized mATX chassis that could become the next signature release from the company. It’s vibrant color options may not suit everyone’s pallet but we appreciate the different approach BitFenix has taken with this $119 case for a more traditional gaming appeal.

The addition of the BitFenix ICON 2.8” display on the front panel allows you to drag and drop a JPG file to customize the front face. As a concept it is fun and interesting, but requires further perfection as aside from showing images with limited viewing angles, no brightness control and poor colors, lacks any real applications. The source code is open for developers to tinker with what to display, but until we see a proper UI to roll out for temperature showcase or hardware usage etc, the BitFenix ICON will be nothing more than an idea waiting to prosper. Those not liking the ICON display can save some cash and look into the AEGIS Core model with a simple BitFenix logo embedded into the bottom portion of front panel.

Read full article @ Hardware Canucks

Hands-on review: Acer Iconia One 8

The tablet category is decelerating, which is possibly down to a number of factors: a lack of innovation; the fact that people aren't so inclined to refresh their tablet as frequently as their phone; and, of course, the rise of the phablet. Acer's trying to solve at least the first of those problems with the Iconia One 8, the cheap and cheerful new slate that wants to appeal to artists and education types. Its big selling point is its super-sensitive touchscreen, which comes about due to Acer's Precision Plus technology. Every tablet manufacturer wants their slates to appeal to designers and artists, but technological barriers too often prevent a touchscreen from being a real replacement for a bit of paper or a canvas.

Read full article @ Techradar

HGST Touro S 1TB Review

WD acquired storage firm HGST a few years ago and although both companies are kept separate, there's a deliberate strategy to prevent products from both companies from overlapping. So WD ends up selling mostly storage solutions for the consumer, OEM and SMB markets, with HGST focusing on the B2B and enterprise side.Amongst all this is an oddity – the Touro range which comprises of desktop and mobile external hard disk drives, which is technically an HGST brand but is seen as a separate entity entirely. One of its products stands out from the market, the Touro S (otherwise known as the HTOSEA10001BHB), a 1TB 2.5-inch external hard disk drive that has a 7200RPM spinning speed.

Almost all other 2.5-inch hard disk drives run at a comparatively mundane 5400RPM, so in theory, the Touro S should be up to 33% faster than the competition, although there are other factors influencing speed like the number of platters. HGST is more conservative when it comes to detailing the enhanced performance here, quoting only a 23% boost.

Read full article @ Techradar

Home server - April 2015

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

How to turn your PC or Mac into a lean, mean retro gaming machine

Before the IBM PC changed the computer world forever, for many the pinnacle of personal computing was the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and the BBC Micro. For gamers these computers defined the first screen generation. As an object of desire the ZX81 may not have won any design awards, but for many it was their first true computer.Anyone who would love a trip down 8-bit memory lane can take one thanks to a range of emulators that have been developing for several years. The rise of virtualisation has also heralded a new era of emulation with powerful desktop PCs from Apple and Windows offering platforms for the retro gamer to exploit.

Read full article @ Techradar

Kingston HyperX Cloud II Gaming Headset Review

It was just last year that Kingston HyperX decided to rebrand some SteelSeries headsets. Sure, they were pretty good headsets for gamers on a budget. Plus, they had that cool HyperX logo which for some enthusiasts really shows pride. The HyperX team then released the Cloud Gaming Headset, which was truly indicative of enthusiast level gamer quality. Not only do the QPAD drivers sound great, but they're superbly crafted and quite comfortable. In fact, I've been hard pressed to meet someone who has been unsatisfied by the HyperX Cloud.

While the Cloud version 1.0 headset offered great audio quality over analog output, the HyperX Cloud II offers the same via a USB 2.0/3.0 headset. It even favors motherboards with some DAC assisted support like the ones from Gigabyte. Is it as good as the first? Even better? Let's find out!

Read full article @ Futurelooks

Kingston HyperX Savage 240GB SSD Review, Raw Savage Speed (SHSS3B7A/240G)

The HyperX Savage 240GB SSD is powered by a quad-core, 8-channel Phison S10 controller providing speeds up to 560MB/s Read and 530MB/s Write. The IOPs on this Savage Monster are 100K/89K read / write and it represents Kingstons fastest Sata drive to date. Sata 6G tops out at 600MB/s per controller but sustained drive operations run more in the 560MB/s range so for Sata 6G the HyperX Savage saturates practical bandwidth. The HyperX Savage challenges the bandwidth Sata 6G offers and shows that drive technology has outstripped the Sata 6G interface. Leave it to Kingston to taunt the Sata 6G interface and challenge the Sata 6G interfaces speed.

The HyperX Savage 240GB drive comes in two forms, bare drive and upgrade kit. We have to say that we would recommend the upgrade kit for the simple reason that the bundle is so sweet it reminds us of days gone by when vendors offered little luxury extras that were actively sought after. We’ll cover the bundle a little later so stick around and discover this luxury bundle containing the must have HyperX Savage SSD.

Read full article @ Bjorn3D

Lenovo ThinkStation E50 Review

A long time ago, laptop manufacturers used desktop components to keep costs down. Taiwanese manufacturer ECS, for example, shoved a desktop processor into a laptop form factor without the battery and called it a desknote (desktop and notebook).Now Lenovo has gone the other way, using laptop components in a desktop computer – and it, kind of, makes sense due to economies of scale. Using the same components across different parts of your product portfolio means that you can theoretically bring down the bill of materials and have more flexibility in your supply chain.

Meet the Lenovo ThinkStation E50 (90BX0018UK), which is also known as the ThinkCenter E50. It uses an external power supply unit, a 65W model, just like a laptop, to power the base unit, rather than an integrated one. If something goes wrong with it, you only need to send the PSU back rather than the whole thing, plus this method saves up to a third compared to a traditional desktop power supply.

Read full article @ Techradar

Phanteks Enthoo Primo White Computer Case Review

With the NHL playoffs well on its way, teams become more and more competitive with only one objective: To win the Stanley Cup. Along with its competitiveness comes more body checks, penalties, and fights. This can be seen especially in the second first round game between the Vancouver Canucks and the Calgary Flames. Things simply heated up fast, and there were fights essentially every ten seconds or so. This ultimately led to a talk to both teams by the NHL commissioner. Although I cannot say exactly which team was right or wrong, we can say that it was a pretty intense game, to say the least. Even though many players have calmed down after the game, emotions still lingered when heading into the third game between the two teams. What does this concept have anything to do with our review today? To put it simply, consumers are always out to push the limit of their systems, just like teams in the NHL playoffs. This is especially true in the world of gamers and high graphics rendering artists. They build high end systems to have the ability to display eye-catching artwork and produce realistic visualizations. As such, it is very typical such users are looking for towers to house all their hardware, not just their graphics cards, but everything else to keep it running smoothly. Turn our attention to our review unit for today: The Phanteks Enthoo Primo White. First and foremost, this case is, simply put, looks like a mammoth with too much space to spare. Will it keep components running nice and cool, or will let things heat up a little too quickly? With much excitement, we quickly cracked the box open at our APH Networks headquarters to take a look at this beast.

Read full article @ APH Networks

TSST TB100PA Portable Charger Review

Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology (TSST) is not a name known to many people. A recent alliance between the two tech giants, TSST have started to expand and produce quality tech accessories. Today we review their 10,000 mAh portable charger and see if it’s worth the cash.

Read full article @ KitGuru