Here a roundup of todays reviews and articles:

Alienware Unveils New Alienware 13 Gaming Notebook And External Graphics Amplifier
BitFenix Shadow Mid-Tower Chassis Review
Crucial 32GB DDR4-2,133 Memory Review
D-Link DHP-339AV PowerLine 3-Port Network Kit
DeepCool Steam Castle Micro ATX Chassis Review
Full Test Preview: Alienware Area-51: Triangular, Tri-SLI GTX 980, Haswell-E
Gigabyte Force H3X Gaming Headset Review
Hands-on review: Alienware 13
Inno3D GTX 980 iChill Herculez X4 Air Boss Ultra Review
Microsoft Lumia 830: A closer look at the new affordable flagship
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI 4K Video Card Review
NVIDIA vs. Nouveau Drivers On Ubuntu 14.10
Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV Case Review
QNAP HS-251 Fanless NAS
Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma Gaming Headset Review
Roccat Kave XTD Review
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Review
SanDisk Ultra II 240 GB SSD Review
Silverstone Fortress FT05 Case Review
Test and Compare battery life with PCMark for Android
Transcend MTS800 M.2 2280 SATA SSD Review (128GB)
Tt eSports Verto Review – Lightweight and Mobile-Friendly

Alienware Unveils New Alienware 13 Gaming Notebook And External Graphics Amplifier

We got the chance to spend some time with the folks at Dell Alienware and check out the just-announced Alienware 13 and its companion external Graphics Amplifier just a few days ago. We brought a camera along to capture some of the action and have some video along with all of the notebook’s juicy details posted for all to see. In the video, we’ll give you a quick tour of the Alienware 13, the external Graphics Amplifier, and the Alien Adrenaline real-time performance monitoring utility, which can monitor everything from the notebook’s internal components to the graphics card plugged into the Graphics Amplifier enclosure...

Read full article @ HotHardware.com

BitFenix Shadow Mid-Tower Chassis Review

BitFenix are one of the coolest chassis manufacturers around, they’ve made many great products; especially in the last couple of years with the release of products such as the Prodigy, Phenom and Colossus. Today we’re taking a look at their latest chassis, the Shadow, and while I doubt it’ll be as legendary as the Prodigy, it looks like a promising entry to the budget friendly mid-tower market.

The BitFenix Shadow is priced for the mid budget part of the market, typically where your average consumer will be spending their money when planning their new gaming build. To meet the demands of your average consumer and gaming rig, the Shadow has been equipped with plenty of features. There’s room for mini-ITX, Micro-ATX or ATX motherboards, three 5.25″ drives, seven 3.5″ drives and a single dedicated 2.5″ mount; which is way more storage space than most people will likely ever need. Since the market is so competitive, a chassis in this price range usually needs a few extras to stand out from the crowd; the Shadow ticks a few more boxes as it comes with two pre-installed BitFenix 120mm fans, SofTouch Surface Treatment, selectable red/blue LEDs and dust filters.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Crucial 32GB DDR4-2,133 Memory Review

Fill up the X99 platform with dense memory. DDR4 memory is all about increasing bandwidth through higher speeds while concurrently reducing energy consumption by dropping standard voltage from 1.5V to 1.2V. Such plays work well in the server market, so it's no surprise to see DDR4 memory validated and available for the latest Intel Xeon v3 chips.

But Intel X99 high-end desktop is the solitary consumer platform supporting DDR4 memory, which makes sense as the trio of Core i7-5xxx processors share significant commonality with their Xeon cousins. A new platform and new memory standard go hand in hand, but it will be a while before we see the nascent memory forge reasonable market share for mainstream PCs.

And like everything new and shiny in technology there's a considerable price premium for choosing a DDR4-based platform over widely available DDR3, evidenced by expensive kits to pair alongside that Haswell-E processor.

Read full article @ Hexus

D-Link DHP-339AV PowerLine 3-Port Network Kit

When it comes to ways one can connect their computers to the Internet, most people know of two ways; one being through the standard wired LAN port, and the other wirelessly through a Wi-Fi router.

These two options are most prevalent in today's computing world, for both consumers and businesses. We know that wired connections are the best in terms of overall speed and latencies, those who play online multiplayer games can attest to this, as they need lower ping rates (which wired connections provide) to have the smoothest online gaming experience. Those also streaming HD media through their network can also attest to wired connections offering the best speed and latencies, this means less buffering and less lag.

On the flip side with Wi-Fi, it's the convenience of no wires that attracts people to use a wireless router instead, so that we can connect to the Internet virtually anywhere our home with a Wi-Fi adapter. No one wants to be running 100-FT Ethernet cables to the next room in order to have Internet, I used to do that back in the day and it was both inconvenient and downright ugly.

Read full article @ ModSynergy.com

DeepCool Steam Castle Micro ATX Chassis Review

Although the future is all about miniaturization and thus we should see powerful systems which will fit at the palm of our hands sooner rather than later i still haven't given up on full towers. Of course this might have to do with my line of work but still as far back as i can remember I’ve always preferred full towers over midi/mini ones so it may just be me. However i can't deny that there's an increase in demand for mATX/mITX cases lately mainly from people who are either looking for something to blend in beneath/next to their TV set or people who just don't want to sacrifice much room space. The only downside with the majority of HTPC cases out in the market is their design since with very few exceptions (like the train model by Lian-Li) they have nothing to show for. Well Deepcool decided to address that issue with their latest Steam Castle mATX/mITX compatible PC case.


Deepcool was founded with the mission of providing the best performance & humanized thermal solutions for worldwide customers. Deepcool design and manufacture a comprehensive range of high quality products, covering desktop cooling solutions, laptop cooling solutions, server cooling solutions, embedded cooling solutions, and other thermal components. Our goal is to maintain customer satisfaction by serving our customer’s ever-changing thermal needs and providing the quickest and most comprehensive service available. As our slogan goes, we wish you all “Enjoy your cool life”!

Read full article @ NikKTech

Full Test Preview: Alienware Area-51: Triangular, Tri-SLI GTX 980, Haswell-E

Dell's Alienware division has a knack for making a splash with PC system design, whether it's with their big, bad unapologetic notebooks, unique X51 small form-factor PCs, or their no-holds-barred Area-51 killer gaming rigs. In fact, for some folks, Alienware designs can be an either "you love it or hate it" affair. Full disclosure: personally, we tend to be cut from the former affectionate group of performance enthusiasts that generally favor Alienware's outside-the-box design efforts -- and oh boy, Alienware's recent redesign of the Area-51 is way outside the box.

In fact, it's not really even a box at all, it's what Dell's Alienware design team calls a "Triad" design.

With 45-degree angled front and rear face plates, that are designed to direct control and IO up toward the user, in addition to allowing cool airflow in, with backside warm airflow directed up and away from the rear of the chassis, this machine grabs your attention right away. There's nothing else like it on the market currently.

Read full article @ HotHardware

Gigabyte Force H3X Gaming Headset Review

Gigabyte is well-known in the PC gaming industry for their high performance motherboards and graphics cards, but in recent years, they’ve also been toying around with peripherals. Last year saw the release of their first set of headphones, and while they weren’t perfect, they were a promising start. Gigabyte is about to take another shot at the audio market with their new Force headset range; which focuses on desktop PC gaming. They kick off their new range with the Force 3Hx, a powerful stereo gaming headset that promises the usual high performance and build quality we’ve come to expect from Gigabyte.

The headset is pretty straight forward in terms of specifications, but it does come equipped with two powerful 50mm drivers, a unidirectional microphone, an in-line controller and a 2m long cable; pretty much everything you need.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Hands-on review: Alienware 13

The Alienware 13, when it ships in December, will bring a lot of firsts for Alienware. First and foremost, it's the first 13-inch gaming laptop from Dell - an interesting statistic as Alienware, the gaming arm of Dell, isn't exactly new to the scene.The Alienware 13 is also the thinnest laptop they've ever made at just over one-inch thick. That's still a fair amount larger than the Razer Blade, which measures in at an incredible .66 inches, but the fact that Alienware is closing that gap is amiable.If it's only one-inch thick and 4.5 pounds, how can it withstand the everyday dings and bumps that occur in our bags?

Read full article @ Techradar

Inno3D GTX 980 iChill Herculez X4 Air Boss Ultra Review

Got some spare cash to upgrade that weak old graphics card? If you have £500 burning a hole in your bank account then the Nvidia GTX980 is the first choice on our list. KitGuru has already looked at custom partner cards from MSI, ASUS and Palit but today we look at something very special indeed. The Inno3D GTX980 iChill Herculez X4 Air Boss Ultra is without a doubt one of the most hardcore graphics cards to grace our labs – featuring a scary looking four fan heatsink, and crazy ‘out of the box’ clock speeds. This is not one for the faint of heart.

Read full article @ KitGuru

Microsoft Lumia 830: A closer look at the new affordable flagship

Microsoft launched its Lumia 830 last month, referring to the device as its 'affordable flagship'. Ahead of our full review, we take a closer look at what the new Windows Phone has to offer

Read full article @ Neowin

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI 4K Video Card Review

If you thought one GeForce GTX 980 was a great gaming solution, wait till you see what GeForce GTX 980 SLI can do for gaming at 4K. We look at performance, efficiency, and even a little 1440p SLI goodness. However, some of the results may not be what you would exactly expect.

Read full article @ HardOCP

NVIDIA vs. Nouveau Drivers On Ubuntu 14.10

Over the weekend I began posting Ubuntu 14.04 LTS vs. 14.10 benchmarks of the open-source Radeon Gallium3D drivers to show how their software stack has advanced. With our NVIDIA graphics testing it's slightly different since the performance state of Nouveau hasn't changed a lot in the past six months since the re-clocking support overall is still in quite inadequate shape for end-users. However, for some new open-source NVIDIA Linux benchmarks to share today is a look at the open-source NVIDIA (Nouveau) driver performance out-of-the-box on Ubuntu 14.10, then with the Oibaf PPA enabled plus the Linux 3.17 stable kernel, and lastly when using Ubuntu 14.10's supplied NVIDIA proprietary driver.

Read full article @ Phoronix

Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV Case Review

The Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV must be experienced up close and in person to be understood and to be fully appreciated. This case sets the bar high in the premiere level cases in the same company with well known excellence as Lian Li or Siverstone products and may even surpass those in unique features here and there. This all new design for the Phanteks m-itx or uATX case builders’ features an all new tool-free release system for the front cover that is released the same as any high end HI FI speaker grills are and some high quality cases with mechanical spring loaded action quick release designs. Actually the Lian Li uses a system very close to this design for their tool less release panels. The Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV has it all, and maybe even more than you might expect for a high end case no matter what your skill level or your custom ideals, inspiration’s or budgets. This is not a showy design but it could be. It has a true minimalistic quality that can only be appreciated up close and personally to see what it is really like. Like a fine wine or a beautiful woman it hides it’s best qualities for only the special few that are able to get close enough to appreciate their true appeal.

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

QNAP HS-251 Fanless NAS

Lots of new QNAP offerings lately utilize Intel's Bay Trail CPU, an ideal choice for a NAS. In this review, we will take a look at the HS-251. A mixture of a NAS and HTPC, it comes with the best of both worlds, passive operation, and great looks.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma Gaming Headset Review

Peripherals with multicolor lighting are trending this year thanks in part to Corsair's RGB keyboards redefining creative possibilities. The hyped showcase at CES 2014 was beset by many months of waiting for the actual release and during that time, other companies have stepped up to the plate with their own similar offerings. Razer answered in time with its Chroma lineup which includes a headset with multicolor illumination unlike the new Corsair Gaming lineup. As such, Razer becomes the second in recent memory to offer a gaming peripheral set consisting of a keyboard, mouse, and headset with multicolor lighting. The first set that could be assembled was from some 2013 SteelSeries products such as their Apex keyboard, Sensei Wireless mouse, and Siberia Elite headset. This review focuses on the Kraken 7.1 Chroma, the headset entry in Razer's new Chroma lineup as well as a new addition to the Kraken family of headsets. The Kraken 7.1 Chroma features RGB multicolor lighting, virtual surround sound, and a retractable microphone.

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

Roccat Kave XTD Review

Today we take a look at a new PC headset in our Roccat Kave XTD Review.

Read full article @ HardwareHeaven

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Review

The next big thing is here. Again.

When the first Samsung Galaxy Note launched a few years ago, people scoffed at the idea of having a smartphone that size. Now, with the launch of devices like the iPhone 6 Plus, a “phablet” is no longer a niche product. You could say that Samsung was ahead of the curve this whole time and they’re more than happy to keep a good thing going with their latest: the Galaxy Note 4. It’s the biggest and boldest Galaxy Note smartphone to date.

Read full article @ MEGATech

SanDisk Ultra II 240 GB SSD Review

SanDisk has released the affordable Ultra II series SSD which we'll benchmark and review. Performance wise these SSDs will be fast with exceptional reads, and with writes - thanks to Toggle NAND flash - a little slower. However armed with a very competitive price/performance ratio, these things will kick the proverbial azz in a laptop or mainstream PC. Meet the “affordable SSD” from SanDisk, as we review their all new Ultra II SSDs with nCache technology. The successor SSD is made in-house by SanDisk themselves including the PCB design and the actual NAND storage flash memory. The SSD series has been developed alongside a Marvel controller tied to SanDisk NAND flash memory.

With the Ultra II series Sandisk ups their more affordable SSD series a notch. It is a bit faster, but more importantly, SanDisk focused at pricing. Half a year ago prices where settling at just under 1 USD per GB for the end-user. That level has now roughly halved again. As such, SSD technology and NAND storage have gone mainstream. The market is huge, fierce and competitive, but it brought us where we are today offering nice volume SSDs at way more acceptable prices. SanDisk pairs the SSD series with a Marvell (88SS9190-BJM2) controller, and they combine it with their own and latest Toggle NAND flash memory. The end result is a SSD series that is offering very decent specs, these devices passes 550 MB/s in reads and 500 MB/sec writes (depending on the volume size of the SSD). Now I state this in all my SSD reviews; not one test system in my lab has a HDD, everything runs on SSD while I receive and retrieve my bigger chunks of data from a NAS server here in the office. The benefits are performance, speed, low power consumption and no noise. Today's product passed crazy read speeds of 550 MB/sec with measured write speeds of 520 MB/sec (for the 240GB version). When you think about that performance and place it in relation to real-world performance (if the source is equally fast), that means you could copy the entire contents of a CDROM in just over a second to the SSD and a DVD in less than 10 seconds.

Read full article @ Guru3D

Silverstone Fortress FT05 Case Review

While the Raven and Fortress series appear to be very different, they often use the same interior design. This is certainly the case with the RV05 and the FT05 cases. With this in mind, how can consumers decide which chassis suits their needs? In this Benchmark Reviews article, I will discuss the differences between the RV05 and FT05 and potential reasons to pick one over the other before delivering my final rating of the FT05.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews

Test and Compare battery life with PCMark for Android

If you compare the battery life of popular devices, or read about it in magazines or on the web, you will notice a huge gap between the top and bottom.

Read full article @ gHacks

Transcend MTS800 M.2 2280 SATA SSD Review (128GB)

We have been seeing more M.2 SSDs lately, a lot of which are companies’ first steps into the market since the form factor is so new. They have been designed to meet strict size requirements and allow for greater flexibility in product development. They are the perfect fit for mobile devices with their compact size and light weight.

Transcend was founded in 1988, today they are a leading global brand for digital storage with over 2,000 products. From memory modules to SSDs, they market and sell them all. Their commitment to quality control has been one of the main factors for their success. They were the first memory module manufacturer in Taiwan receive ISO 9001, ISO 14001, QC080000, and ISO/TS 16949 certifications. Every product is tested before is goes off to market to ensure customer satisfaction.

Read full article @ The SSD Review

Tt eSports Verto Review – Lightweight and Mobile-Friendly

In competitive gaming one of the most important things is sound. Whether it be for communicating with your teammates or listening for the footsteps of your enemy, the right gaming headset can be the difference between clutching a 1v3, and getting shot in the back unexpectedly. – Which is why we’re pleased to have the opportunity today to take a look at the Tt eSports Verto gaming headset by Thermaltake.

Read full article @ TechnologyX