Here a roundup of todays reviews and articles:

ASUS Maximus VII Hero Review
ASUS Z97-A LGA1150 Motherboard Review
be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 CPU Cooler Review
Func MS-3 R.2 Gaming Mouse and Surface 1030 r2 Mouse Pad Review
GIGABYTE Z97X-Gaming G1 Black Edition Review
Intel i7 4790 Haswell Refresh Slower than previous Gen 4770K?
JLab Audio JBUDS J6M Earphones Review
Luxa2 By Thermaltake TX-P1 and TX-200 Single and Dual Qi Enabled Wireless Charger Review
MSI Z97 Gaming 5
Samsung Galaxy S5 Review
Synology DS414j Review
Toshiba Kira Review

ASUS Maximus VII Hero Review

ASUS has decided to equip their Hero motherboard with the new Z97 Express chipset from Intel. Other than that ASUS also decided to reposition the Maximus VII Hero on the market and today the Hero doesn't mark the entry into ASUS' ROG class. The Hero comes with a bunch of interesting features and it could be one of these products that perfectly match a sweet spot in case of price/performance.

Read full article @ ocaholic

ASUS Z97-A LGA1150 Motherboard Review

A little over a month ago, Intel was unusually candid about their upcoming processor roadmap. While the enthusiast-oriented Haswell-E, futuristic Broadwell, and special edition Pentium chip definitely caught our attention, it is the new "Devil's Canyon" Haswell refresh that we will be seeing first. Although this Devil's Canyon revision is by no means revolutionary, it should help lower operating temperatures and improve overclocking, courtesy of an enhanced thermal interface material (TIM) between the die and the integrated heatspreader (IHS) as well as a noteworthy reshuffling of the CPU die layout itself.

By themselves these updates shouldn't necessitate a new chipset, but regrettably Devil's Canyon support will apparently not make its way down to current 8-series LGA1150 motherboards. As a result, it has been deemed by the powers-that-be as a great opportunity to unveil the 9-series chipsets and their new forward-looking features. We can have a discussion about this approach at a later date, but for now let's see what ASUS have come up with this new generation of motherboards.

The Z97-A actually resides near the bottom of ASUS' extensive Z97 motherboard lineup but it also competes within some of the most popular alternatives around. This is due to its price of $150 filling the gap in one of the market's most desired price points; one which feeds the needs of budget-minded gamers while also offering something to price conscious overclockers.

Read full article @ Hardware Canucks

be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 CPU Cooler Review

In the quest for higher performance and higher overclocks, processors keep heating up our cases, and hardware manufacturers are always looking for new methods to keeping their products cool. And, with motherboard partners helping enthusiasts overclock so easily today, companies like be quiet! have their work seriously cut out for them. Their previous Dark Rock Pro and Pro 2 CPU coolers were very good contenders given their excellent quality. But like the reigning Noctua NH-D14 (and its successor, the NH-D15), their size can be intimidating for both installation and cost. The only evolutionary course of action is to focus completely on engineering better solutions, within the same or smaller spaces.

The be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 sheds a couple inches, adds some new curves, and reveals a hidden, polished, sexy side that increases TDP dissipation up to 250 Watts. Is this new cooler just a pretty face or does it really have some dark magic? Our many hours of testing with one of Intel’s 6-core processors shall reveal that answer!

Read full article @ Futurelooks

Func MS-3 R.2 Gaming Mouse and Surface 1030 r2 Mouse Pad Review

Func is a company you might have heard of before many years ago. Founded in 1999, fUnc released its first product in 2000, the sUrface 1030 dual sided mouse pad. Since its early rounds of early releases, Func grew quiet until last year when it began to release products both new and refreshed. The Func 10302 mouse pad is one of the refreshed products we’ll be looking at today in this combined review with their new gaming mouse called the MS-3. Read on to see how they both perform!

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

GIGABYTE Z97X-Gaming G1 Black Edition Review

GIGABYTE's entry into the Z97 motherboard market will be built atop the shoulders of their new Z97X-Gaming, the newest iteration in the G1-series. It represents a new direction for their design, hardware and marketing teams; one which hopes to bring the G1 series onto a more neutral ground without sacrificing its gaming roots.

Gigabyte's gaming orientated motherboards have had a rather tumultuous history with seemingly equal portions of detractors and aficionados. Whether you consider yourself part of the former or the latter group one thing is for certain: there are very few enthusiasts who don’t know about these boards and their pedigree. With such firmly entrenched brand recognition, Gigabyte has taken a risk by moving in another direction. Gone is the overly aggressive firearm motif that adorned previous versions, and so too is the whole "Sniper" and "Killer" taglines. In its place is a much tamer, more civilized naming scheme which literally states what these motherboards are made for: Gaming.

At the very top of the new Gaming series is the GIGABYTE Z97X-Gaming G1 WIFI Black Edition. While this is quite the mouthful and a long way away from the G1.Sniper 5 that it replaces as the de-facto halo gaming product from GIGABYTE , the core features will certainly make it a clear Sniper successor. In relation to the rest of GIGABYTE's Z97 lineup, this one sits near the top.

Read full article @ Hardware Canucks

Intel i7 4790 Haswell Refresh Slower than previous Gen 4770K?

Today is NDA day for Intel's brand new Z97 platform. Sadly there will be no launch article on MadShrimps; simple reason is because we have experienced some issues with the current Haswell refresh processors on our Z97 testbeds. MadShrimps has tested Z97 with the 4770K and did a comparison between Z87 and 297. That data is ready and was ready to be published, however the outcome we got when briefly testing the i7 4790 from the brand new refresh range is concerning to say the least. Time for a brief explanation of what happened today...

Read full article @ Madshrimps

JLab Audio JBUDS J6M Earphones Review

Hello ladies… or anyone who likes a little color in their life (don’t want to be mistaken as sexist…) Today up for review is J6M Pink Metal Earbuds and Mic by JLab. This particular model has the dual earbuds plus the mic for phone, video calls and voice search. This model is sold in several different colors such as Black, Silver, Blue, Pink (reviewed below), Black and Yellow, and Black and Pink.

Read full article @ TestFreaks

Luxa2 By Thermaltake TX-P1 and TX-200 Single and Dual Qi Enabled Wireless Charger Review

Our review today examines the new Luxa2 TX-P1 (http://technologyx.us7.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=3d9b6193ffd32dd60e84fc74b&id=18dbf45349&e=1230c2ab07) and TX-200 (http://technologyx.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3d9b6193ffd32dd60e84fc74b&id=88b333852a&e=1230c2ab07) Wireless Qi Enabled Charging Receivers by Thermaltake. The TX-P1 is a single wireless charger that allows for a second device being charged simultaneously via cable and the TX-200 is a dual wireless charger that provides for the charging of two devices wirelessly and one via charging cable.

Read full article @ TechnologyX

MSI Z97 Gaming 5

Typically, Intel keeps their chipset launches timed with new CPUs but todays (official) launch of the Z997 chipset does not come with shiny new silicon from Intel. There are rumors of launch days for a Haswell refresh but as of now, there isn’t anything official. Even without new CPUs we can still take a look at the latest in motherboards. To start things off, today I will be taking a look at MSI’s Z97 Gaming 5. With their new naming scheme we can tell right away that this is a gaming motherboard (of course) and the 5 is their entry level full ATX board with a 7 and a 9 that will round out the line. I’m excited to see what has changed and what remained the same!

Read full article @ LanOC Reviews

Samsung Galaxy S5 Review

Another year, another flagship Galaxy S device. Since the release of the original Galaxy S in 2010, Samsung has been routinely refining the formula through hardware upgrades, software polish and no shortage of gimmicks. We typically see larger displays, more cores, more megapixels, larger batteries and interesting new additions on every release and 2014’s Galaxy S5 does little to break away from this formula.

On the hardware front, the Galaxy S5 provides an arguably smaller upgrade than we’ve seen with past releases. The Super AMOLED display has seen a slight bump to 5.1-inches, and still packs the same 1080p resolution we’re used to. The Snapdragon 600 SoC of the Galaxy S4 is swapped out for the newer Snapdragon 801. A 16-megapixel camera is seen on the back, complete with 4K video recording. Nothing major, just continual improvements in all the key areas.

Read full article @ Techspot

Synology DS414j Review

Synology describes its new DS414j as the successor to the DS413. It’s a 4-bay NAS device, aimed at home users and SOHO environments requiring up to 20TB of storage, and they put the emphasis on the ‘retro looking black chassis, dual core CPU … and USB 3.0 which combine to make it ‘the fastest and most powerful J series NAS from Synology to date.’

Read full article @ KitGuru

Toshiba Kira Review

Toshiba's ultrabook offers MacBook Air styling for Windows users

Read full article @ V3