Reviews 52191 Published by

Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

Antec ISK 600M
Asus Zenbook UX305 Review: Core M Powered
Crucial Ballistix DDR4 2666 Review
Crucial BX100 and MX200 250GB / 500GB SSD review: sandwiching the MX100
Dell's Venue 8 7000 tablet reviewed
Fractal Design Define R5 Case Review
GIGABYTE Force H3X Gaming Headset Review
ID-Cooling SE-204K Review
Intel's Broadwell-powered NUC mini-PC reviewed
LibreOffice 4.4 review - Finally, it rocks
Noctua NH-D9L and NH-U9S CPU cooler Review
NZXT Doko Review
Pebble Steel Review
PNY CS2111 XLR8 SSD Review (480GB)
Thermaltake Core V1 Mini-ITX PC Case Review
Trying out Windows 10 for phones on the Nokia Lumia 1520



Antec ISK 600M

Antec aimed to take the ISK 600 and enlarge it with the ISK 600M - for a mATX board, more hard drives, and better cooling, and it does so while re-defining some design elements in the front. Will this bigger version of the ISK 600 manage to leave a mark and is bigger better in this particular case?

Read full article @ techPowerUp

Asus Zenbook UX305 Review: Core M Powered

Asus announced the super slim Zenbook UX305 during the IFA trade show in Berlin in September. This ultrabook will be available in two models: one with a 1920x1080 IPS display and one with a QHD+ display that boasts a resolution of 3200x1800. Asus claims the latter model is the world’s slimmest 13.3-inch QHD+ laptop.

The UX305 is powered by the new Intel Core M processor which was built for ultra-thin, fanless form factors. The Core M offers some significant advances for both power consumption and performance and enables the thin design found on the UX305...

Read full article @ HotHardware.com

Crucial Ballistix DDR4 2666 Review

Crucial bring their performance DDR4 to market, we test it. This is our Crucial Ballistix DDR4 2666 Review.

Read full article @ HardwareHeaven

Crucial BX100 and MX200 250GB / 500GB SSD review: sandwiching the MX100

Crucial introduced their new BX100 and MX200 SSDs during CES. The BX100 is a new budget series which is priced even lower than the extremely popular MX100 series. The MX200 series, on the other hand, has clearly been developed by Crucial to take on Samsung's 850 Evo series. We tested the 250 GB and 500 GB models of both series.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

Dell's Venue 8 7000 tablet reviewed

Dell's Venue 8 7000 is the thinnest tablet around, and that's not even the most exciting thing about it. This premium Android slate packs a Moorefield-based Atom processor with quad x86 cores, a RealSense camera that embeds 3D depth data into still images, and a staggeringly beautiful OLED display that steals the show. Read on for our take on a truly compelling tablet.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

Fractal Design Define R5 Case Review

This Fractal Design Define R5 is not the first Define R5 to be assembled. There have been others before it and they are the Mid-tower silent partner series of the Fractal Design Label. The Fractal Design Define R5 is made for the addition of plenty of parts, custom and not so custom, all in one units, but also it is made for less noise, deadening vibration, and built to a high of standard of quality and excellence in and out that seem to defy their economical prices. An example is the Power Button looks like it belongs to a luxury car and the outer steel and inner insulation is hefty and you know by just having these parts in your hand that you are not just picking up some cheap lightweight panel cover. The steel panel is heavy and the window is beautifully clear and the isolation is thorough but not interfering even in cable management which is a trade off most take in stride when buying a quiet and insulated case.

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

GIGABYTE Force H3X Gaming Headset Review

Don't you hate that when you are camping with a sniper rifle and all of the sudden some one sneaks up behind you and puts a knife through your head? Of course! We have all been there. Don't you wish you heard that guy who was sneaking up on you? Maybe then you could have switched to a Desert Eagle … Read more.

Read full article @ Modders-Inc

ID-Cooling SE-204K Review

Performance was on par with similar sized (and price) coolers. The SE-204K is a nice jump beyond OEM cooling, but still a sizable notch below the larger dual tower coolers with 140mm fans, and that is no surprise. For daily use in a mild gaming rig, this cooler will be right at home. If you really overclock and frequently load your system, you may want to look at a larger capacity cooler.

Read full article @ OCC

Intel's Broadwell-powered NUC mini-PC reviewed

Thanks to the Broadwell-U silicon inside, Intel's new NUC promises better performance and power efficiency than the previous generation. There are other improvements under the hood, too, including the addition of an M.2 storage slot and a built-in Wi-Fi controller.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

LibreOffice 4.4 review - Finally, it rocks

My latest Netrunner article, and today we review the brand new LibreOffice 4.4 release. It promises everything, it promises thick and thin, you know. That's a Dire Straits song. And this is a kickass article. Take a look.

Read full article @ Netrunner

Noctua NH-D9L and NH-U9S CPU cooler Review

We test and review two new coolers from Noctua, the NH-D9L and NH-U9S CPU coolers. These small puppies can be used with any motherboard but focus on Micro ATX and Mini ITX. They are small, deadly silent but do pack enough punch to even cool a Core i7 4790K. And yes, you can even overclock a bit as well. Yes Sir, that would be Noctua for ya.

You know, there really aren't bad performing coolers produced anymore. For every segment and budget you can find something you need. The market stabilized and within the entire range and scope of heatpipe based coolers there's a certain comfort zone with a corresponding product available. As a result, most of these coolers available on the market are all adequate at the very least. There are always exceptions to this, there's a handful of manufacturers out there that offer the really interesting stuff, the kit and gear that really stand out from the cooling crowd, the hardware you and me crave and need so badly... that is in the enthusiast domain of gaming hardware. And that's where we need to make a stop at Noctua as they tick all those boxes.

In their long line of CPU coolers, Noctua recently introduced two new models in the small form factor range, the Noctua NH-D9L and NH-U9S coolers. Both coolers have recently been introduced into the channel to offer nice performance created with the help of some really nice airflow PWM controlled fans that are drop-dead silent with a focus on small form factor PCs. These two incredibly small products are bound to keep any CPU released to date nicely cooled and chilled, that includes even the most high-end Haswell SKUs.



Read full article @ Guru3D

NZXT Doko Review

NZXT Doko is a gaming device that extends the range of your gaming PC so you can sit back in comfort and play games on your TV. The idea is that your gaming PC is over there, probably near your router, while your TV is some distance away, probably in a different room. You need to connect Doko to your router using Ethernet with the HDMI output used to connect to your TV. Then, when you run a utility called Sender on your PC, Doko is able to mirror your PC display on your TV.

Read full article @ KitGuru

Pebble Steel Review

Wind the clock back to 2013 and the Pebble smartwatch was taking the fledging wearable market by storm, bringing notifications to the wrists of gleeful iPhone users.It wasn't exactly a looker, and the e-ink screen was hardly eye popping, but it sold by the bucket load and it was no surprise when the swish metal and leather Pebble Steel swooped in.A lot has changed since the Pebble's early days in the wearable market and the Steel now faces some seriously tough competition from the army of Android Wear watches plus the imminent Apple Watch.Launched back at the beginning of 2014 the Pebble Steel took a while to come to market, and in that time more contenders arrived, so it's not sporting the latest technology.It's not particularly cheap either, and at £179, $199 it's on par with the latest Android Wear offerings from Motorola, LG, Samsung and Sony.That outlay gets you a 1.26-inch 144 x 168 e-paper display which has an optical hard coating to prevent it from getting scratched.

It's not a touchscreen, and that's the thing which most annoyed me when I first started to use the Pebble Steel. I've used the LG G Watch R extensively as well as trying out all the other Android Wear smartwatches and it's a natural reaction to prod the screen, expecting something to happen.Being forced to use the buttons on the side felt like I was taking a step backwards, but after a few days with the Steel I'd got used to not tapping the display.The joy of the e-paper technology is it's perfectly readable even in direct sunlight, where as you can struggle with the Android Wear army, plus a LED backlight activated at the flick of the wrist means you can also see the time at night.It's also has a lower power consumption, which means the battery inside the Steel lasts longer than its colourful rivals.Don't be put off by the low resolution of the screen, as predominantly you'll only be staring at text - this isn't a device you'll be viewing pictures on, watching movies with or attempting some graphically intensive gaming sessions.

Read full article @ Techradar

PNY CS2111 XLR8 SSD Review (480GB)

If you have been into computers any time over the past few decades, you probably know of PNY. They are an American company that manufactures graphics cards as well as all things flash. Over the past few years they have joined in on the SSD industry, offering some very competitive products. Today, we have one of their latest creations on our test bench, the CS2111 XLR8.

Read full article @ The SSD Review

Thermaltake Core V1 Mini-ITX PC Case Review

Although in the past we didn't focus much in doing PC case reviews since quite frankly they weren't really as popular with most of our readers as some other product lines (storage and gaming peripherals usually take the lead) things have changed a bit lately largely thanks to many requests by some of you asking for more midi and full tower reviews and others asking for mATX and mITX case reviews. A few days ago we took a look at the very good XPredator X3 Devil Red Edition Midi Tower by AeroCool so today we decided to move to the other side and bring all of you a review about one of the latest mITX cases to hit the market and more specifically the Core V1 by Thermaltake.

The beginning of every myth and legend is about dreams and desire: the challenging, creative and combative features of Thermaltake Group create an exciting and fascinating user experience to share with everyone, while allowing users to enter a selfless state in terms of function and potential. Thermaltake Group's 3 main brands: Thermaltake, Tt eSPORTS and LUXA2 have been merchandising throughout the world, and have successfully established 6 business footholds in areas such as Europe, America, Oceania, Japan and China, with 95 regional distributors and over 4000 premium retailers. All product planning is orientated by observation of global PC peripheral market and understanding of consumer demands. Thermaltake creates direct contact opportunities with resellers and consumers by participating major global ICT exhibitions and trade shows every year, and develop innovative marketing strategies for the promotions of new products. Meanwhile, Thermaltake incorporates the composite marketing system by making branch offices and regional distributors both the distribution channel and technical support or service center to provide instant support; by maintaining close contact with end users, we manage to strengthen corporate competitiveness and create the momentum for the growth of accomplishments. With its outstanding wisdom and strength Thermaltake Group is recruiting creative talents to build a cultural brand for the enjoyment of entertainment, e-Sports, technology and lifestyle!

We've already covered most of the Core line of PC cases by Thermaltake so we know that they don't use that name for no reason so the V1 must be a special little case. Well just by reading the features list it becomes clear that it is since despite its size Thermaltake has managed to equip it with a interchangeable panels (one of which is windowed), space for up to 4 3.5/2.5" drives, mounting spots for up to two 120/140mm radiators (even 240mm ones depending on the model), two PCI expansion slots for graphics cards up to 260mm long, room for CPU coolers up to 140mm in height and PSUs up to 200mm long and finally the ability to reposition the entire mainboard tray and the PCI expansion slots either horizontally or vertically. Of course it can't really match its larger brothers in features or interior space but the Core V1 does look promising so let's check it out.

Read full article @ NikKTech

Trying out Windows 10 for phones on the Nokia Lumia 1520

Everyone who uses or keeps an eye on the Windows Phone world knows that Microsoft released the first technical preview of Windows 10 on phones last week. 

Read full article @ WinSupersite