Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

ASUS ROG Zephyrus M GM501GS Gaming Laptop Review
Ballistix Tactical Tracer DDR4-2666 32GB Memory Kit Review
Best Windows 10 apps of June 2018
Intel Releases "Spectre" Hardening Microcode Updates for "Ivy Bridge" thru "Westmere" Architectures
Kingston A1000 NVMe SSD Review
Lightwave Light Switch Review
Next Headset Up for Review
Noctua NF-A12x25 (FLX, PWM, ULN) Cooling Fans Review
NZXT H500i Mid-Tower Case Review
Patriot Viper Gaming RGB 3200 MHz DDR4 Review
QNAP TS-328 Home NAS Review
Thermaltake View 22 Tempered Glass Chassis Review
Things Nvidia Needs to Fix
Typemock Isolator++ Review
WD Black NVMe 2018 SSD Review
Z370 & H370 Motherboard Charts: 10 Models tested - MSI H370 Gaming Pro Carbon

ASUS ROG Zephyrus M GM501GS Gaming Laptop Review

The More we see of the ASUS ROG (Republic of Gamers) range, the more we are impressed with it. It’s not even as if we’re blind fanboys to the brand. We have not only tested and reviewed many of their products, but many of our staff members have even taken things to the point of buying them. Put simply, we have never failed to be impressed not only with the quality of build, but the performance that the brand brings.

It is, however, hard to deny that the gaming laptop market is a very congested one. Nearly every major manufacturer is looking to part you with your money in a sector where you often see very high prices. With this, it can be sometimes difficult to strike that balance of performance on a reflective price scale.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Ballistix Tactical Tracer DDR4-2666 32GB Memory Kit Review

They have been around forever, and while the name is a mouthful, the Ballistix Tactical Tracer RGB we have been sent, have their name rooted deeply in the history of Crucial. As of right now, four kits have hit the market, all of which are based on 8GB sticks. Two of the kits are 16GB in density, and the other pair of 32GB, but can be had in either 2666MHz or 3000MHz speeds. As for the specific memory we have on hand for this review, it is a 32GB kit of 2666MHz sticks, sporting the part number BLT4K8G4D26BFT4K. Crucial bills this kit to run at 2666MHz with timings of 16-18-18-38 2T and is shown everywhere to run at just 1.20V.

The new Ballistix Tactical Tracer RGB memory is not only lit at the top, and offers various patterns and modes of light displays, there is also one thing about this DDR4 that we have not seen before this. Crucial went through the trouble of making the light bar that tops the memory removable. Why might you ask? Because they have made it so that those with 3D printers can make custom tops for the RAM, and have even made a file to start from, which has the dimensions of the base already there. While you could attempt to address the coloring of the LEDs via motherboard software, Crucial also made this memory work with the MOD software, which makes changing them via software a cinch.

Read full article @ Tweaktown

Best Windows 10 apps of June 2018

Creating content, enjoying music, and communicating with friends, are just some of the things you can do with this month's apps.

The Microsoft Store has become more diverse over the years. This month's apps include web-wrappers with enhancements, and incredibly powerful centennial apps, all of which can help you get the most out of your PC.

From one of the most expensive apps in the entire Microsoft Store to one of the store's best free utilities, these are the best Windows 10 apps I looked at in June 2018.

Read full article @ Windows Central

Intel Releases "Spectre" Hardening Microcode Updates for "Ivy Bridge" thru "Westmere" Architectures

Intel today released the latest round of CPU micro-code updates for its processors, which expand support for Intel processor microarchitectures ranging all the way back to 1st generation Core "Westmere," and "Lynnfield," and including "Sandy Bridge" and "Ivy Bridge" along the way, at various stages of roll-out (beta, pre-production, and production). This update probably features hardening against "Spectre" variant 4, and perhaps even RSRR (rogue system register read) variant 3A, chronicled in CVE-2018-3640.

Read full article @ TechPowerUp

Kingston A1000 NVMe SSD Review

Kingston's A1000 is the company's first foray into the growing entry-level NVMe SSD market, and their second consumer NVMe SSD. The A1000 features Toshiba's latest 64-layer 3D TLC NAND flash memory and Phison's second-generation PS5008-E8 NVMe SSD controller. We've previously reviewed that same basic combination in the MyDigitalSSD SBX and found it to be the best drive yet for establishing the viability of the entry-level NVMe market segment.

Kingston brings a few potential advantages to the table that MyDigitalSSD doesn't offer. Kingston is one of the largest fabless memory companies, and they buy DRAM and NAND flash by the wafer. They can perform their own binning and packaging, which gives them extra flexibility in choosing what grade of memory goes into which product line. Kingston also has very close technical and financial relationships with both Phison and Toshiba Memory.

Read full article @ Anandtech

Lightwave Light Switch Review

Apples smart home standard, HomeKit, is gradually picking up steam as more accessory manufacturers get on board. However, the availability of HomeKit accessories is still much smaller outside of the US.
For smart lightning, bulbs like Philips Hue are great for a quick-and-easy way to add HomeKit into your home, but ideally you want to make your light switches themselves smart. Lutron Caseta has been available in the US for some time. Now, theres a (great) choice for UK homes too: the LightwaveRF Light Switch. Read on for my full review.

Read full article @ 9to5Mac

Next Headset Up for Review

The next headset we are going to be covering is not wireless, and is not 7.1, but it does hit the $100 price point. The Cloud Alpha's claim to fame is its "Dual Chamber Drivers." On the upside, it looks like this one will not require much adjust for the melon-heads among us.

More chambers for less distortion - With one chamber for bass and a separate one for mids and highs, HyperX Cloud Alpha provides more distinction between sounds and minimizes distortion.

Read full article @ HardOCP

Noctua NF-A12x25 (FLX, PWM, ULN) Cooling Fans Review

A week after my finals at university ended, I moved to a camp for work. I still return to Calgary on the weekends, but for the most part I am away. During these first two months of working at the camp, I have been sharing a large cabin-like room with a couple of guys. It is all nice and not like the usual idea of what a cabin is. However, all the little annoyances that come from sharing a room with a couple of people are still present. If someone snores, it takes a little longer to fall asleep, and some people wake up earlier than others. However, none of that has caused any grievances, as it really is a great group of people I get to work with. What is interesting are all the little quirks or routines each person has before going to bed or when they wake up. I myself have a routine as well. I am one of the early risers, and will frequently be one of the first two people out of the room. As well, I need complete darkness to fall asleep, which happens to be quite difficult when there are still traces of daylight at ten o'clock at night. A different person in the room needs white noise to fall asleep, and they have a loud fan running at night. He did ask everyone if it is okay if he leaves it on and we all agreed. Now, when I head back to Calgary, I actually recognize how quiet my room is. This recognition of the absence of a norm is true in plenty of other areas as well. I recently switched from an enclosed boring looking computer chassis to a tempered glass panel and RGB festival of a computer chassis, and the stark change was appreciated. It is always a thrill to upgrade to something new and experience the effects of the changes. Today, we have the Noctua NF-A12x25 in three different versions; the FLX, PWM, and ULN. Will the addition of these fans cause the new feeling of upgrading and the satisfying experience of its effects? Read on to find out!

Read full article @ APH Networks

NZXT H500i Mid-Tower Case Review

As a replacement for the successful S340 cases, NZXT has launched two new cases in their H-Series lineup; the H500 and H500i. These cases come in multiple colors and feature a tempered glass side panel, two pre-installed 120 mm Aer F120 fans, and a removable front radiator bracket for easy installation. The H500i does have a few more features, like a vertical GPU mount, the CAM-powered Smart Device, and two built-in RGB lighting strips. Our friends at NZXT were kind enough to send Benchmark Reviews the matte-white H500i for this review.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews

Patriot Viper Gaming RGB 3200 MHz DDR4 Review

We review all-new Viper Gaming RGB 16 GB (dual channel) 3200 MHz DDR4 RAM kit from Patriot. It’s not the fastest in their new series but still looks very reasonable with a proper price & perf ratio. It should be also possible to overclock these DIMMs a bit further, so – why not have a look at that? Simply put, Viper Gaming RGB looks very cool with RGB implementation, and it’s good that an XMP 2.0 memory profile for Intel is available as well of course.

When it comes to PCs, especially in our realm, Gaming is the thing that is what it is all about in the market now. Many types of parts and accessories usually sell better, when they’re marked and marketed directed towards gamers. Part of that is RGB, which is very trendy, but most definitely can increase the already high price of memory kit. Almost every manufacturer introduced RAM with some kind of lighting. The first one in the market was G.Skill with their TridentZ RGB series, then the others have been and are Corsair, Team Group, Geil and Ballistix. Patriot didn’t want to be too far behind, as HyperX and others want to have a piece of the market too. High-end enthusiasts will definitely have a look at the Patriot Viper RGB kit. Patriot Viper RGB Series was designed for extreme performance, even 4133 MHz modules are available. RGB lighting included 5 different lighting zones – all fully customizable through Viper RGB software.

Read full article @ The Guru of 3D

QNAP TS-328 Home NAS Review

Home storage is pretty easy to find nowadays. What are your needs from your home storage device? Many of us look for reliability and performance at a reasonable price. When someone mentions reliability in storage I personally think of RAID technology which many NAS manufacturers use today. RAID is a Redundant Array of Independent Disks which combines multiple of disks into one volume for data redundancy. This data distribution method was created in 1970s. RAID comes in many levels and RAID 5 is widely used. RAID 5 requires three disks to stripe data across and in the event of a drive failure your data is still safe. The QNAP TS-328 provides exactly that. TS-328 is a tree bay, budget-friendly NAS that comes with all of the goodness of QNAP’s QTS(Operating System) and its applications.

Read full article @ Modders-Inc

Thermaltake View 22 Tempered Glass Chassis Review

Thermaltake is one of the biggest names in the chassis business, and continue to release a huge range of products every year. Of course, they’re also huge when it comes to peripherals, power supplies, cooling, and beyond. However, today we’re focusing on their latest case, the View 22 TG (Tempered Glass Edition). Price at under £70, it’s aimed at a more affordable end of the market, but still promises plenty of features to entice the more premium end of the market.

With a 4mm thick tempered glass side panel, it’s perfect for showing off your hardware. It also features a unique curved front panel design that promises to be a welcome break from the flat rectangles that dominate the market. So, let’s dive in and take a closer look at what it would be like to live with the View 22 TG!

Read full article @ eTeknix

Things Nvidia Needs to Fix

The third and final installment in our 'Needs to Fix' series is focused on Nvidia. Having previously discussed what we feel Intel and AMD can do with their upcoming products to become more consumer friendly, it’s now time to look at the green team. As before, we're looking at this from the perspective of the consumer and not as industry analysis. Here we go...

After the GTX 970 mess, we thought Nvidia would want to play it cool with the GeForce 10 series. But considering that was one of their best selling GPUs, they clearly didn’t see the need. Nvidia started off strong in May 2016 with the GTX 1080, followed up by the 1070 in June and 1060 in July. It was a strong line up covering the $250, $400 and $600 price points.

Read full article @ TechSpot

Typemock Isolator++ Review

Good code is 1% development and 99% testing. Today, we have a review of Typemock Isolator++, a cross-platform unit testing solution for C and C++, including installation and setup, null pointer exception and buffer overflow examples, compilation errors, testing, results and logs, other observations, and more. Have fun.

Read full article @ Dedoimedo

WD Black NVMe 2018 SSD Review

Last month, WD introduced the second generation of its Black series SSDs. This top model of the storage manufacturer should be considerably faster than its predecessor and thus be able to compete with the popular NVMe SSDs from Samsung, such as the recently released 970 Evo. Today we are testing the WD Black NVMe 2018 1TB to find out if WD is really participating in the high-end SSD market.

Of course, we have always known WD as a manufacturer of mechanical hard disk drives, but with the acquisition of Sandisk, the company also gained a position in the SSD market. However, the first generation Black SSDs were not very successful - their performance did not match the competition. In this second generation, not only is the board neatly black instead of blue, but the performance really needs to be brought to 'Black level'. For example, WD promises reading speeds of up to 3400 MB/s, compared to only 2050 MB/s in the previous generation. Writing speed should even have increased from 800 to 2800 MB/s.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

Z370 & H370 Motherboard Charts: 10 Models tested - MSI H370 Gaming Pro Carbon

Meanwhile you can find benchmark values of the first Z370 motherboards in our comparison tables. We do not comment the benchmark values. The idea and also the goal is to present to you an overview which helps you choose the right motherboard simply based on facts in the form of numbers.

Read full article @ ocaholic