Here a roundup of the latest reviews and articles:

Boston Venom 3401-7T Workstation Review
Boxx Apexx 2 Review
Cougar 500K Keyboard Review
Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 16GB DDR4 Review
CRYORIG R1 Ultimate CPU Cooler Review
Deepcool DQ750 Evo Quanta Review
GeForce GTX TITAN X Video Card Review
Gigabyte X99-SOC Champion
Google launches Project Fi mobile network
How to make a full backup of a Windows 10 or Windows 8.1 PC
Intel Compute Stick PC Review: Tiny, Sleek, And Versatile
Intel Compute Stick Review
Intel PPSTCK1A32WFC Bay Trail-T Compute Stick Review
Intel's Compute Stick miniature PC
Jamstik Guitar Controller – Rock Out On The Go!
Lian-Li O7S Chassis Review
Phanteks Enthoo Evolv Micro Tower Case Review
Semiconductors from idea to product

Boston Venom 3401-7T Workstation Review

Although Boston may at first not be familiar to many, rest assured with a presence in America, UK, Germany and India this is a truly global company. They supply one of the widest variety of business hardware available, from micro servers, blade servers, Quadro workstation and even green and cloud solutions. Today we will be looking at the Boston Venom 3401-7T, which is one of their flagship models of their Venom series, which has been designed for high-performance graphics, parallel processing and high-speed rendering. With this being one of our first enterprise workstation reviews we have a fresh selection of benchmarks which will help us push these high specification systems to their limits. We have a wide range including CPU, GPU, Memory and storage benchmarks which will help us collect some statistics which will help us find the cream of the crop of workstation rigs and at the same time provide our audience with informative concise results.

Although normally in reviews we don’t usually use descriptions that suppliers supply us with, with workstations often being targeted at a particular use or task and I feel that it makes sense for us to include a small description from Boston on what area the Venom is aimed at.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Boxx Apexx 2 Review

The Boxx company offers many different high performance and rendering systems that include workstations, virtual solutions, server-based rendering solutions, and simulation solutions. The Boxx team builds custom machines that focus on AutoCad, 3D, VFX, animation, multimedia, video editing, video game creation, and more.The Boxx Apexx 2 workstation (starting at $2,086.00, £1399.43, AU$2739.58) is a wonderful purchase for anyone who is looking for a computer that can produce amazing performance for AutoCAD and 3D modeling applications. Competing in the same arena as top-tier workstations like the Fujitsu Celsius W530 (around $2,160, £1,430, AU$2,680), the Dell Precision T7610 (about $3445, £2027.40, AU$3660), and the Mac Pro, ($2,999, £2,499, or AU$3,999), the Apexx is an underdog that holds its own very well.

Read full article @ Techradar

Cougar 500K Keyboard Review

CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICKY CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLACK. Chances are this series of "clicks" and "clacks" have become nothing more than a zoned out part of your life. No, I do not mean the noises coming from under the hood of your car, which yes, you should get checked. I am referring to the the new standard among PC … Read more.

Read full article @ Modders-Inc

Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 16GB DDR4 Review

DDR4 has been slow on the up-take thanks in part to the high price of Intel's i7 CPUs, the X99 chipset and of course DDR4 itself. Nevertheless, DDR4 remains at the for front of PC memory technology and thus is the stalwart flagship of memory manufacturers. With DDR3 we saw huge heatspreaders but the popularity of such memory kits waned when it became problematic to fit the large CPU air coolers required to keep Intel's CPUs cool. DDR4 then has seen a shift away from oversized heatsinks to low profile variants. Crucial, ever at the cutting edge of digital trends have also adopted the lower profile heatsinks to continue being one of the most popular brands of PC memory.

Read full article @ Vortez

CRYORIG R1 Ultimate CPU Cooler Review

Today we are reviewing a product from a new company to us here at ThinkComputers and a new company to many of you reading this I’m sure. CRYORIG was only founded in 2013 so they are quite new to the PC Enthusiast market and being so new they do have some very stiff competition when it comes to CPU Coolers. Today we are taking a look at their flagship air CPU Cooler, the R1 Ultimate. CRYORIG is touting this cooler as the “most sophisticated dual tower to date” and I do have to say it does have some things that I’ve never seen on a tower cooler before. This cooler is also one of the largest CPU coolers we have taken a look at this year, has dual 140mm fans, seven thick heatpipes, and a very sleek look. Let’s see what this cooler can do!

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

Deepcool DQ750 Evo Quanta Review

Deepcool takes aim at the highly-competitive PSU market. Deepcool has established a name for itself as a supplier of inexpensive PC hardware that punches well above its financial weight. The GamerStorm Lucifer cooler being a prime example of the company's value-driven approach, Deepcool has diversified into chassis, watercoolers, laptop cooling and, more recently, PSUs.

Not a name you're familiar with? Deepcool OEMs for some major companies and has over 700 staff at its headquarters in Shenzhen, China. Intent on building a retail presence with the Deepcool brand itself, the across-the-board infiltration comes as no surprise.

PSUs can be a lucrative source of revenue for a company. Oftentimes built by a seasoned manufacturer and tweaked for retail by the partner in question, they're relatively straightforward to integrate into an ever-expanding catalogue. Deepcool sells four ranges, covering a wide array of features and price points, and we have the DQ750 Evo Quanta in for technical evaluation today.

Read full article @ Hexus

GeForce GTX TITAN X Video Card Review

Launched last month, the GeForce GTX TITAN X is the fourth video card from the TITAN high-end video card series from NVIDIA, and the first one to support DirectX 12 (actually, DirectX 12.1), promising to be the fastest single-GPU video card to date. With superlative specifications, such as 12 GiB of memory, let's see how well it performs in games using UHD 4K resolution, compared to the GeForce GTX 980.

Read full article @ Hardware Secrets

Gigabyte X99-SOC Champion

So what is now years ago Adam and I were at a press event for Gigabyte at CES. At that event I spent some time playing against a pro gamer and we also had the chance to see them introduce their new games series of motherboards. At the end of that speech they slipped in a quick sneak peak of a new line of overclocking motherboards with an orange theme that they called OC Orange. Now I think everyone knows just how much I love orange and OC orange to me is LanOC orange, a color that we have used on the website from nearly the start. At that time Adam wrote that he imagined that I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I got my hands on one of the boards. Well it has been a long few years, but today is finally the day. Gigabyte sent over their new X99-SOC Champion flagship overclocking board and today I’m going to dig into it and see what it is all about. Oddly enough now that I can sleep, I want nothing more than to stay up and see what sets the board apart from the competition.

Read full article @ LanOC Reviews

Google launches Project Fi mobile network

But this new US MVNO is limited to Nexus 6 smartphone owning invitees. Google has, as expected, launched a new mobile network service in which it essentially operates as an MVNO. It will provide subscribers, who all pay a flat fee of $20, unlimited calls and texts with an additional $10 per GB of data. It runs off the back of the T-Mobile and Sprint networks as well as making use of Wi-Fi hotspots as and when available.

Google's aim with launching Project Fi is that communications and connectivity services "keep pace" with the advancements offered by our mobile devices and provide mobile services that are "fast everywhere, easy to use, and accessible to everyone." With mobile network switching between T-Mobile and Sprint in the USA, depending upon which is the fastest available and the auto connection to over a million Wi-Fi hotspots Google sounds pretty confident of shaking up the US mobile network industry.

Read full article @ Hexus

How to make a full backup of a Windows 10 or Windows 8.1 PC

There is no such as thing as too many backups. If you can make a backup of the backup, do it. Luckily, Windows makes it super easy to make an exact copy of your entire computer using the System Image Backup utility. Never used it before? We'll explain what it does and how to use it.

Read full article @ Windows Central

Intel Compute Stick PC Review: Tiny, Sleek, And Versatile

We first got an official look at the Intel Compute Stick earlier this year, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. In one of those “But wait! There’s more!” kind of moments common at trade shows, one of the good folks at Intel that was previously showing off a few upcoming NUC systems pulled a tiny device from his shirt pocket and revealed the diminutive Compute Stick.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Intel Compute Stick, it’s essentially a fully-functional, low-power, Atom-based system—with memory, storage, and an OS--crammed into a form factor not much bigger than a large flash drive. Though Intel has had their hand in similar devices like the MeeGoPad in the past, the Compute Stick we’ll be showing you here is an actual Intel-branded and marketed product that will be sold by the company in the U.S. and many other countries around the globe, similar to its NUC line of small form factor systems...

Read full article @ HotHardware.com

Intel Compute Stick Review

How we access the internet on a daily basis has drastically changed over the past five years and there has been a clear shift away from the desktop PC. Intel knows that the market is changing and doesn’t want to miss out on the shifting market, so they are working on a number of new products that will help keep traditional computers relevant even though they might not look like a PC. One of the products that Intel has been working on in recent months is the Intel Compute Stick. The Intel Compute Stick was designed to allow users around the world to quickly and easily make any HD television a computer. Like it or not it appears that we are entering the era of having an entire PC on an stick!

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

Intel PPSTCK1A32WFC Bay Trail-T Compute Stick Review

The success of UCFF PCs have made vendors realize that small and power-efficient computing platforms are here to stay. ARM SoC manufacturers, finding that the tablet market had reached saturation, kick-started a new product category in the form of HDMI sticks. As a computing platform, they were smaller than the ultra-compact form factor PCs - just looking like an oversized USB key. Intel announced the Compute Stick at CES to bring one of the first Wintel platforms into this space. Late last month, Google also introduced a Chrome OS-based HDMI stick. Both of these point to the stick computing platform being more than just a passing fad. The Intel Compute Stick we are reviewing today comes with Windows 8.1 with Bing (32-bit) pre-installed, making it ready to roll right out of the box. Read on for a performance review and our thoughts on the product.

Read full article @ Anandtech

Intel's Compute Stick miniature PC

Despite being the size of a small candy bar, Intel's Compute Stick is an honest-to-goodness PC with a quad-core Bay Trail processor, expandable flash storage, USB connectivity, and built-in networking. The Windows 8.1 version is priced at only $150, and we've tested one to see what's what.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

Jamstik Guitar Controller – Rock Out On The Go!

Have you ever wanted a way to learn the guitar that was easier than traditional methods? Or have you ever wanted a way to input some of your riffs into Garageband? That’s where Zivix has come up with a nifty gadget called the Jamstik Guitar controller.

Read full article @ TechnologyX

Lian-Li O7S Chassis Review

We review the Lian-Li O7S, a mid sized aluminum chassis with looks that will make you eyebrow's flinch. Based on an innovate design this PC case will set and create a new standard in the industry as in terms of design nothing in this chassis is normal, a product that was designed by thinking outside the box. Got curious already? Yeah, you most certainly should be.

The O series was launched in December with the O5S initially, and Lian-Li a few weeks ago released a mid-tower sized version, the O7S. Built to impress, the chassis has a stunning design, nice cooling and a lot of visual trickery harbored. Let me give you an example, don't you hate it when you purchase an expensive graphics card and all you can see through that side-panel windows is the backside of the PCB and the top of the VGA card? Well, with the help of a riser cable your graphics card will now 'float' inside this chassis. Yeah, incredible and innovative looks. From the inside and out the aluminum chassis is coated in black, the side panel window has 5mm tempered see through which covers the entire left side of the chassis creating an open look inside in an unprecedented fashion. The O7S is all about the looks, but it can house water-cooling, hide your HDD/SSDs and pretty much only places the important stuff on display. At the backside there is great space for cable routing and even the power supply is positioned in such a way that it'll make you wonder how it all works. Lian-Li calls this series their open-air chassis, hence the O. It inevitably will become available in four models, the PC-O5, PC-O5S, PC-O6S and today's tested O7S.

Well have a peek before we dive into the review with photos, lots of photos.

Read full article @ Guru3D

Phanteks Enthoo Evolv Micro Tower Case Review

It's time to look at another Phanteks case and based on the other offerings we previously reviewed from the manufacturer, we know Phanteks knows what it's doing. With the recently announced Evolv ITX case, Phanteks now accommodates a full range of systems with the entire Enthoo series. Before I get way ahead of myself let me give a little history of Phanteks itself. Established as company in 2007, Phanteks aims to provide "high-end quality and innovative products in thermal solutions." Over the years Phanteks has been known mostly for its CPU coolers and fans.

The Evolv has the same bells and whistles as the rest of the Enthoo series with maximum customizability through the use of screws instead of rivets, along with fan hub and SSD mounts. Without spoiling too much more, let's get a closer look!

Read full article @ Neoseeker

Semiconductors from idea to product

Have you ever wondered how the chips in PCs, smartphones, and other devices go from initial ideas to final products? Rys Sommefeldt walks us through the entire process, from conception through mass production.

Read full article @ The Tech Report