Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

A Look At Ubuntu 10.04 To Ubuntu 18.04 Linux Performance
Anker Nebula Capsule Review
Asus ROG Strix X370-I Gaming Review
Biostar Intros TB250-BTC D+ Motherboard for Mining Builds
CHERRY GENTIX Silent Mouse Review
Crucial MX500 SSD Review
Cryorig H7 and Cryorig H7 Quad Lumi Review
Enermax Revolution DUO 700W 80+Gold PSU Review
Far Cry 5 Benchmarked at 8K (7680x4320): Do We Get 30FPS?
Hades Canyon NUC Review: Intel taps AMD's Radeon Vega graphics for a powerful mini-PC
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK NUC Review
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Review
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Review
Intel NUC 8 VR (NUC8i7HVK) Review: Core i7, AMD Vega Meet in Hades Canyon
Koolance 400A-S Threadripper Water Block V2 Breakdown
MSI Vigor GK70 Rainbow Road Review
MSI X299M Gaming Pro Carbon AC Motherboard Review: MicroATX to the Max
Netgear Orbi Outdoor Satellite Review
Phanteks Enthoo Evolv mATX Tempered Glass Review
SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD Review (1TB)
Seagate IronWolf Pro 12TB ST12000NE0007 NAS HDD Review
SteelSeries Rival 600 Mouse Review
Thermaltake X1 RGB Cherry MX Silver Keyboard Review

A Look At Ubuntu 10.04 To Ubuntu 18.04 Linux Performance

With the Ubuntu 18.04 "Bionic Beaver" release fast approaching and it being the latest Long-Term Support release, the latest benchmarking at Phoronix has been looking at how the Ubuntu LTS performance has evolved going as far back as the Ubuntu 10.04.0 LTS "Lucid Lynx" release. On three systems where supported Ubuntu 10.04 / 12.04 / 14.04 / 16.04 / 18.04 were tested each time.

On three older systems I went as far back as possible in testing each of the Ubuntu YY.04.0 LTS releases, as far back as Ubuntu 10.04.0. With Ubuntu 18.04 LTS I was using a daily development snapshot as of this week, considering the kernel version and all other key components are now onto their final versions. As the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS release approaches at the end of April, there will continue to be more benchmarks of this Linux distribution on Phoronix.

Read full article @ Phoronix

Anker Nebula Capsule Review

There's something nice about being able to carry around a compact portable projector that can also double as a 360-degree speaker. But what would you be willing to sacrifice for the convenience?

You may not have heard of Anker before, but the company has been around for years, offering different kinds of charging solutions like power banks and AC adapters. The firm has also expanded into other product categories like flashlights, Bluetooth speakers, and projectors. The last one might come as a bit of a surprise but Anker has produced two so far under its Nebula brand. The Nebula Capsule is the most portable model the company offers and combines a portable projector with a 360-degree speaker.

Read full article @ Neowin

Asus ROG Strix X370-I Gaming Review

Next-gen Ryzen CPUs might be around the corner but I can’t forget about the X370 ITX board that Asus sent over a while back. While the AM4 boards launched early last year, ITX took a while longer. So even with new CPUs on the way if you are looking to build small form factor you will most likely still need to go X370 initially. So I’m excited both to finally see what Asus has to offer for AM4 ITX and to see how it compares to the Gigabyte AB350N board that I’ve been using all over the office. But I’m also hoping the Strix X370-I Gaming is a solid board that will let me build a crazy second gen Ryzen build when they finally come out as well.

Read full article @ LanOC Reviews

Biostar Intros TB250-BTC D+ Motherboard for Mining Builds

Biostar introduced the TB250-BTC D+ motherboard for crypto-mining builds. This board appears to be a re-brand of Colorful C.B250A-BTC PLUS V20. This is probably a case of Colorful piggybacking Biostar to reach markets it cannot (yet). The socket LGA1151 motherboard supports 6th and 7th generation Core "Skylake" and "Kaby Lake" processors, with basic I/O connectivity, and a single DDR4 SO-DIMM slot. The star attraction here are eight PCI-Express x16 slots with 2U spacing between them. One of these slots is electrically x16, the other are x1 (you only need x1 for mining). There are also eight 6-pin PCI-Express I/O ports, so the x16 slots are powered. The board is 195 mm wide, and 485 mm long, designed for mining cases, or something miners put together themselves.

Read full article @ TechPowerUp

CHERRY GENTIX Silent Mouse Review

The mouse is enough wide, but not too long, which makes it a little difficult to use for users with bigger hands. We did initially try the mouse on our 27’’ 2560x1440 display and the preset resolution of 1000 DPI was not enough but as soon as we did switch to a FHD laptop display, Gentix Silent has performed quite fine. The product is plug-and-play and does not require any additional software to function.

Read full article @ Mad Shrimps

Crucial MX500 SSD Review

As if they had matched it up, Samsung and Crucial will both present new series of SATA SSDs this month. It's no secret that Samsung has been working on a 860 EVO and 860 Pro. The Crucial MX500 recently arrived in the Hardware.Info test lab and in this article you can read all about it.

The most important component of the recipe used by Crucial for the MX500 is a new generation of 3D NAND, which, in the case of Crucial, of course comes from the factories of parent company Micron. This new flash memory consists of 64 layers, whereas the MX300 still used 32-layer NAND. As more layers of memory cells are stacked, the density increases, resulting in lower production costs and more storage capacity on the same surface area.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

Cryorig H7 and Cryorig H7 Quad Lumi Review

Today we are testing two coolers, namely the H7 and H7 Quad Lumi from Cryorig. We will check if there are other differences besides RGB lighting and of course show the beautiful lighting effects in our OCinside YouTube channel. There are also more videos in the review and two brand new 360 degree views on the third page, which we will use more often now on OCinside.de, so you can look at the cooler and a few other products from all sides.

Read full article @ OCinside.de

Enermax Revolution DUO 700W 80+Gold PSU Review

After longer break from Enermax products we are presenting the Revolution DUO PSU which is specified for maximum of 700W of pure power. It has also special design about which I will tell you a bit later. For sure it’s worth to check our review as maybe you will change your point of view at modern power supplies for desktop computers.

Key features:
Ideal for PC cases with PSU shrouds
DUOFlowTM design for active ventilation and silent operation
Patented FMA (Fan-speed Manual Adjustment) to create turbo airflow

Read full article @ FunkyKit

Far Cry 5 Benchmarked at 8K (7680x4320): Do We Get 30FPS?

Far Cry 5 is one of the biggest games of the year, with Ubisoft really putting some effort into the PC side of things. The company worked with AMD on the launch of the game for the PC, with included multi-GPU support and 8K resolution support. We've done some preliminary testing on the game at 8K, and have those results in the coming pages.

But first, a quick run-down on Far Cry 5. Far Cry 5 is powered by the Dunia Engine, which is a modified version of CryEngine and scales beautifully on a vast range of hardware. The game world itself is set in the fictional Hope County in Montana.

Read full article @ TweakTown

Hades Canyon NUC Review: Intel taps AMD's Radeon Vega graphics for a powerful mini-PC

Intel’s Hades Canyon is more than a simple successor to its Skull Canyon predecessor, an extreme version of Intel’s Next Unit of Computing (NUC). When Skull Canyon launched in 2016, it bucked the mini-PC trend of modest specs designed for general computing, instead boasting the absolute latest in hardware for its size: a 45W quad-core processor, integrated graphics capable of 1080p gaming, and a port that supported external graphics. At the time, that ultra-compact mini-PC was unrivaled.

Read full article @ PC World

Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK NUC Review

I hate to break it to the current Intel Skull Canyon (NUC6i7KYK) owners, but your system has been replaced by the newer Intel Hades Canyon models. Intel will be offering Hades Canyon NUCs in two flavors. You have the 100 Watt NUC8i7HVK (with Vega M GH graphics) that has an MSRP of $999 for the barebones kit or for those that don't need something so powerful or expensive there is the 60 Watt NUC8i7HNK (with Vega M GL graphics) at an MSRP of $799.

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Review

The Intel NUC8i7HVK, codenamed Hades Canyon, is an interesting product for a number of reasons. First, because it’s the most powerful NUC released to date and packs more I/O and connectivity than any of Intel’s previous mini-machines. It also has user-configurable lighting and activity LEDs and an aggressive design-language that looks great, in our opinion. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Intel NUC8i7HVK, however, is that it’s powered by an Intel 8th Generation Core processor with integrated Radeon RX Vega M graphics. More specifically, the NUC8i7HVK is packing a Core i7-8809G with a Radeon RX Vega M GH GPU and 4GB of HBM2 memory, linked together on a single package though something Intel calls an Embedded Multi-Die Interconnect Bridge, or EMIB...

Read full article @ HotHardware

Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Review

We reviewed the Skull Canyon NUC before, and the Hades Canyon NUC is the natural progression of the product. Skull Canyon was the first of its kind; it offered up the latest Iris Pro graphics at that time with a powerful mobile CPU, and it facilitated the latest features and storage standards.

The Hades Canyon upgrades to a Vega based graphics core with HBM on the package. Using Intel's latest embedded multi-die interconnect bridge (EMIB), they were able to link the Vega graphics to the CPU core while maintaining high performance. Let's take a look at the new Hades Canyon NUC.

Read full article @ TweakTown

Intel NUC 8 VR (NUC8i7HVK) Review: Core i7, AMD Vega Meet in Hades Canyon

We usually hear rumors of new processor launches months before they happen, so truly earth-shaking announcements are rare. But AMD’s disclosure last year that it was creating a semi-custom GPU for its bitter rival Intel was genuinely surprising.

As a result, though, Intel's eighth-gen mobile Core processor rides on the same package as an AMD Radeon RX Vega graphics chip, complemented by 4GB of HBM2. This configuration is meant to address the shortcomings of Intel's own HD Graphics engine, allowing mini-PCs, thin-and-lights, and notebooks to deliver a smoother gaming experience. Intel claims its new chips should serve up similar graphics performance as Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q.

Read full article @ Tom's Hardware

Koolance 400A-S Threadripper Water Block V2 Breakdown

We told you last week that Koolance had made available its water block hold-down kits in retail. When Koolance told us this, it also let us know that it was shipping its new version of its Threadripper water block. We did our original Koolance 400A-S TR4 Threadripper CPU Water Block Review in December of last year. We also included the first version of the 400A-S in our year end round up of Threadripper water blocks, and it did very well cooling our highly overclocked 1950X.

At that time, Koolance was very open about the fact that it was then incorporating its Intel water block technology in that block, and that the Threadripper water block would be redesigned in 2018. After our testing last year we gave Koolance a list of our suggestions as to what design changes should be incorporated, and it looks to us that Koolance engineers agreed with all of our suggestions, as those are included in the new version of the 400A-S.

Read full article @ HardOCP

MSI Vigor GK70 Rainbow Road Review

In the assemblage of mechanical keyboards there are quite literally thousands to choose from. MSI is no newcomer to the world of gaming peripherals. They’re a leading force in exceptional and affordable products across all of PC building, but is the Vigor GK70 more than a light show with mechanical switches? We’re getting into the nitty gritty of this tenkeyless. This is our official review of the MSI Vigor GK70.

MSI has been delving into gaming keyboards for quite some time, but their most recent models - the GK40, GK70 and GK80 - all have specific pros and cons that we’ll see delved into at length in the near future by some others on our team soon. We’re starting with the middle child, the fully mechanical but bite-sized GK70. Let’s breakdown the specifications before indulging in the meat and potatoes of its form and functions.

Read full article @ MMORPG

MSI X299M Gaming Pro Carbon AC Motherboard Review: MicroATX to the Max

Buyers trying to decide between ATX and Mini-ITX have our complete sympathy, as the larger form factor is beyond the needs of most enthusiasts. Hardcore gamers typically run one or two ultra-high-end graphics cards, and even power users typically have only four DIMMs, a single high-end graphics card, and no more than two other high-bandwidth devices. Going ATX means buying all the huge pieces that support it, which seems like a terrible waste of space to users who only wanted a couple more DIMM slots and a slightly larger CPU voltage regulator.

Conceptualized to support the low-energy processors of set-top boxes, digital signage, and office terminals, Mini-ITX was never intended to have those things. AMD tried to address the conceptual flaws of the Mini-ITX “godbox” in its 9.6”-deep DTX initiative, whereupon experienced builders mostly asked “why” and didn’t stick around to hear the answer.

Read full article @ Tom's Hardware

Netgear Orbi Outdoor Satellite Review

Netgear has one of the best Wi-Fi mesh network systems on the market in the Orbi RBK50, and now it’s the only manufacturer to offer a weatherized mesh node that will extend your network deep into your yard.The company says its Orbi Outdoor Satellite (Netgear model number RBS50Y) can add up to 2,500 square feet of Wi-Fi coverage, and I did see significant increases in throughput and range. I tested it with Netgear’s $370 RBK50 kit, which consists of an RBR50 router and one RBS50 indoor satellite. I updated all three devices to the latest firmware prior to benchmarking and recorded a substantial increase in indoor performance as well.

Read full article @ PC World

Phanteks Enthoo Evolv mATX Tempered Glass Review

The Phanteks Enthoo Evolv mATX Tempered Glass takes the aging Enthoo Evolv as inspiration and gives it a fresh modern take. With its RGB elements, much better liquid-cooling support and a long list of refinements, you may not even recognize it anymore were it not for the same timeless design and excellent use of materials.

Read full article @ TechPowerUp

SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD Review (1TB)

Portable SSDs provide the added benefit of data mobility and security, in that, media professionals can back up their work on-the-go, with storage of a much higher capacity, a smaller footprint and much faster than just a few years back. Our report today takes a close look at the SanDisk 1TB Portable SSD which is a very good example of all of these qualities…and then some. This SSD moves that line in the sand just a bit further by adding water and dust resistance to the IP55 standard, along with it being shockproof.

Read full article @ The SSD Review

Seagate IronWolf Pro 12TB ST12000NE0007 NAS HDD Review

Earlier, we’ve talked about the IronWolf Pro series and test its IronWolf Pro 10TB drive. We’re reviewing the IronWolf Pro 12TB NAS HDD and see how this performs. It should be interesting to observe if this NAS HDD holds similar performance. To give a concise explanation, IronWolf Pro is made for commercial NAS operations. Naturally associated with the “Pro” word, it is recommended for NAS builds up to 16 bay drives, a higher mean time between failures, five years warranty period with rescue support for up to two years, vibration sensors and optimized HDDs for multi-user connections.

Since we already about its features and benefits of the IronWolf Pro earlier, we’ll simply go ahead with the testing.

Read full article @ Hardware BBQ

SteelSeries Rival 600 Mouse Review

While SteelSeries has a good reputation for its gaming mice, there’s one thing its mice have always been missing: lift-off distance adjustment. Until now, that is, as the Rival 600 boasts a secondary sensory dedicated to lift-off distance (LOD) which can be tweaked to adjust the LOD between 0.5mm to 2mm. With a new weights system as well, is the Rival 600 worth the £80 asking price? Let’s find out.

Read full article @ KitGuru

Thermaltake X1 RGB Cherry MX Silver Keyboard Review

As a Thermaltake Premium product, the X1 RGB combines outstanding build quality with the ability to synchronize lighting effects across a variety of Tt RGB Sync compatible hardware. Not only does it come with a desktop gaming software for customization, the X1 RGB has an iOS app with voice controlled AI for changing lighting effects and macro settings from a smartphone or tablet. With the iOS app, it also features a patented designed Virtual Game Controller (VGC), which turns the smartphone/tablet into a wireless gaming controller. The X1 RGB keyboard comes in two variants: the slightly less expensive model with Cherry MX Blue switches, and the pricier model with Cherry MX Speed RGB Silver mechanical key switches. In this article, Benchmark Reviews will take a look at the X1 RGB with MX Speed RGB Silver switches, model KB-TPX-SSBRUS-01.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews