Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

ASUS 970 Pro Gaming/Aura Review
Asus PG348Q and Acer X34 review: G-sync giants
be quiet! Pure Power 9 600W PSU Review
BIOSTAR RACING H170GT3 (LGA1151) Motherboard Review
Cities: Skylines - Let's go underground
Corsair RM1000x 1000 Watt 80 PLUS Gold Fully Modular Power Supply Review
Creative Sound Blaster Roar Pro Review
G.Skill's Ripjaws MX780 gaming mouse reviewed
IOGEAR Kaliber Mechlite Mechanical Keyboard Review
iRULU Walknbook 3 Hybrid Tablet PC Review
Kingston DataTraveler Micro 3.1 128GB USB 3.1 Gen 1 Flash Drive Review
Mionix Castor Optical Gaming Mouse Review
OWC Aura 1TB PCIe SSD Review (mid-2013 & Later) – The Wait Is Over
PNY CS2211 XLR8 240GB Solid State Drive Review
SteelSeries Siberia 200 Gaming Headset Review
Tt eSPORTS Poseidon Z RGB Keyboard
Zalman Z9 Neo White Review

ASUS 970 Pro Gaming/Aura Review

The 970 Pro Gaming/Aura from ASUS is part of the manufacturer's Gaming-Series motherboards, which makes it feature a black PCB and red-colored heatsinks. This board certainly offers more than just a pretty color scheme like for instance great versatility regarding storage and peripheral connectors like USB 3.1 and M.2 SSD. Also the price of this motherboard is very competitive.

Read full article @ ocaholic

Asus PG348Q and Acer X34 review: G-sync giants

The Acer Predator X34 and the Asus ROG Swift PG348Q bear more similarities than that they differ, at least on paper. A resolution of 3440x1440 pixels and a curved AH-IPS panel with a maximum refresh rate of 100 Hz, support for G-sync and a hefty, but almost identical price tag. This raises the question: which one is better?

'Better' in this price class is a relative concept, especially if you are comparing monitors with the same panel, driven by the same scaler. You will not have to worry about quality anyway in this price class, though it is of course always possible to be unlucky. That is what they made RMA for and they are usually fairly lenient regarding expensive monitors, at least within the warranty period.

So when we receive two nearly identical products from difference manufacturers, we cannot really do much more than measuring their performance. Response time and input lag are of course very important factors for gaming displays such as the Acer Predator X34 and the Asus PG348Q, but we also expect color fidelity to be at least decent for monitors as expensive as these.

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

be quiet! Pure Power 9 600W PSU Review

be quiet! released the updated Pure Power 9 series that consists of four semi-modular models with capacities ranging from 400W to 700W. Today, we're looking at the 600W implementation to see where it stands in the competitive mainstream market.

Read full article @ Toms Hardware

BIOSTAR RACING H170GT3 (LGA1151) Motherboard Review

BIOSTAR might not be the most recognizable motherboard brand in western markets but their pedigree for creating reliable products is worthy of praise. When compared to MSI, Gigabyte and ASUS, the company struggles to entice consumers with unique aesthetic designs. Furthermore, the BIOS and software package has been sorely lacking and in dire need of change. Thankfully, BIOSTAR have acknowledged these criticisms and decided to forge a brand new range based upon a racing theme to please petrolheads with an avid interest in enthusiast hardware. Each RACING motherboard sports a chequered flag PCB and stylish LED illumination while introducing a new BIOS layout. Clearly, this is a major departure from BIOSTAR’s previous products which evoked a fairly mundane appearance.

The BIOSTAR RACING H170GT3 is based on the mATX form factor and supports up to 64GB DDR4 with a maximum speed of 2133MHz. Intel’s H170 chipset blocks multiplier overclocking which means you have to resort to your processor’s default turbo frequency. Of course, there’s been some controversy surrounding BCLK overclocking on H170 and B150 motherboards to unofficially achieve boosts fairly close to traditional multiplier overclocking. Sadly, Intel has voiced their displeasure regarding this phenomenon and pressurized manufacturers to disable BCLK overclocking via a BIOS update. As a result, we have to rely on stock figures to determine the motherboard’s performance. Previously, I’ve seen some astounding results when it comes to storage with BIOSTAR products, and I’m interested to see if this trend continues.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Cities: Skylines - Let's go underground

Cars are love, cars are life. This be a traffic network optimization guide of Cities: Skylines, a cross-platform city building and urban simulation game, focusing on the management of the often overlooked underground transportation feature, cool examples and screenshots, tips and tricks, and more. Enjoy.

Read full article @ Dedoimedo

Corsair RM1000x 1000 Watt 80 PLUS Gold Fully Modular Power Supply Review

Corsair have been known to produce some of the best power supplies in the business and today, they look set to continue that trend with the release of their high-end RM1000x. Not everyone needs 1000w of power, of course, but when you do, it’s likely that you’re also the kind of system builder who demands the best performance from your components. Previous high-end PSUs from Corsair have reaped some of the best results we’ve ever seen, with ripple so low we thought there was an issue with our testing equipment, so to say we’re a little eager to see what this one can do would be quite the understatement.

“Corsair RMx series power supplies give you extremely tight voltage control, quiet operation, Gold-certified efficiency, and a fully modular cable set. Built with all Japanese 105°C capacitors, they’re a great choice for high-performance PCs where reliability is essential. 80 PLUS Gold efficiency reduces operating cost and excess heat, and Zero RPM fan mode ensures virtual silence at low and medium loads. And, the fully modular DC cables make builds and upgrades easy, with clean, great-looking results.” – Corsair

Read full article @ eTeknix

Creative Sound Blaster Roar Pro Review

A year ago, Creative graced us with the Roar portable Bluetooth speaker. It's sleek, compact design and fantastic audio quality only tells half the story. The long list of features and I/O options helped to make it a useful, functional tool more-so than just a speaker to pair your phone with.

The Roar Pro comes with familiar Roar features as it shares the same dimensions, weight and aesthetic to the original Roar. It has a similar driver ensemble (that being 1x 2.5" sub, 2x 1.5" tweeters and 2x passive side radiators) that is powered a bi-amplified design, giving a dedicated amplifer for the stereo and subwoofer channels. Looking at the changes, the circuitry has been improved by the Creative team to maximise the efficiency of that 6000mAh battery, giving a nice bump in its rated life span from 8 to 10hrs (T&Cs apply). You will also find that the Roar Pro also sports the latest aptX Low Latency wireless codec that is recommended for syncing video/audio.

The defining difference is the ability to pair it with the iRoar microphone, transforming the Roar Pro into a powerful yet compact, wireless PA system. The iRoar microphone is a lightweight, wireless microphone that features a 3.5mm line-in that can transmit high quality music playback along with your voice, as well as a mic-in port. This opens up possibilities beyond just a PA system, including use for karaoke and recording your singing session via the Roar's recording to microSD card function.

Read full article @ Vortez

G.Skill's Ripjaws MX780 gaming mouse reviewed

G.Skill may be best known among TR readers for its RAM, but the company is branching into gaming peripherals, as well. We test-drove G.Skill's Ripjaws MX780 gaming mouse to see whether it can stand out in a crowded market.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

IOGEAR Kaliber Mechlite Mechanical Keyboard Review

IOGEAR pledges to "providing innovative all-in-one computer connectivity solutions and support" with its lineup of audio visual and KVM connectivity products. The good news is that the manufacturer by this point has been providing for desktop, server room or front lobby setups with multiple monitors and/or computers needing inter-connection for many years.

However they've entered enthusiast gaming products as well, as evident in the IOGEAR Kaliber Gaming Mechlite backlit mechanical keyboard on our review bench. Announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Jan 6, 2016, the Mechlite is a full mechanical keyboard with blue Kailh switches rated for 50 million keystrokes.

The Kaliber Gaming Mechlite has a blue LED backlight with adjustable brightness levels in 7 different patterns. It has 5 programmable macro keys supporting up to 32 characters each, anti-ghosting keys with full N-key rollover, a Windows key lockout, laser cut keys and braided USB connector cable.

Read full article @ Neoseeker

iRULU Walknbook 3 Hybrid Tablet PC Review

Today we are looking at the newest version of the iRULU WalknBook 3 W1005 and just from my initial research into this product it definitely has been growing better and better with age. Yes, we reviewers read other reviews during our research to ensure we are giving the consumer the best information we possibly can. It is essential, just so we don’t miss anything that others might catch on the good side and the bad. I would categorize this tablet with the build quality of a Samsung Tablet with the power of full Windows 10 Home experience. The heavy-duty construction is heavy and the solid button feel is tight. Actually, in my opinion, the way this iRULU WalknBook 3 feels in the hand and in the user experience like a high-quality hybrid tablet/Notebook computer. It’s fully functional 10.1 inch IPS display is bright and true and the computer shares the same Bay Trail Z3735F ATOM Quad-Core / 7th generation Intel processor that some of its competition use. The unit is quick and responsive in many usual applications that don’t require the need for super number crunching skills.

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

Kingston DataTraveler Micro 3.1 128GB USB 3.1 Gen 1 Flash Drive Review

The Kingston DataTraveler Micro 3.1 128GB USB 3.1 Gen 1 USB flash drive may not be at the top of the "food chain" but it's tiny, made out of metal (zinc alloy) and offers reasonably good read performance.

Read full article @ NikKTech

Mionix Castor Optical Gaming Mouse Review

Mionix are one of my all time favourite gaming brands, as they’ve created some of my own personal favourite peripherals over the years. Of course, I’m not the only one who thinks this, as Mionix products have won many awards around the world and that fills me with confidence that their latest gaming mouse, the Mionix Castor, is going to be something special.

Equipped with a fast processor, ergonomic design, fully programmable buttons, RGB lighting and more, the Castor is certainly well equipped, so let’s take a closer look at what it has to offer. First up, however, here’s a quick product video from Mionix, it’s a little strange, but I’d love to know what on Earth they’re pretending to play here; any guesses?

Read full article @ eTeknix

OWC Aura 1TB PCIe SSD Review (mid-2013 & Later) – The Wait Is Over

Considering my rather vocal opposition to Apple’s products over the years, it’s somewhat amusing that I make daily use of a 27″ iMac, MBA and new iPhone. It is not so much the product as it is internal decisions on build that bothers me, my present MBA being the longest I have ever kept a laptop, eliminating any question whatsoever of product build. Because of its limited storage capacity and Apples horrendous cost for upgrades, it was very close to being replaced, at least until OWC contacted me a week ago asking if we might like to review their latest 1TB Aura PCIe SSD replacement for mid-2013 and later MacBooks.

Read full article @ The SSD Review

PNY CS2211 XLR8 240GB Solid State Drive Review

The drive is rated for a sequential performance of up to 565 MB/s reading and 540MB/s writing, which is about as good as it gets on the SATA3 interface. The random input-output performance is equally impressive with 95K IOPS ratings for both reading and writing. Those are at least the ratings for the larger models and the small 240GB version can’t keep fully up with that. It still comes with impressive ratings despite being a little slower ,with an 87K IOPS rating and a drop in sequential writes to 470MB/s.

It is no surprise that the drive has such good ratings as it is built with only the best components. It utilizes 15nm Toshiba MLC NAND and a Phison PS3110-S10 controller aided by 256MB DDR3 cache package

Read full article @ eTeknix

SteelSeries Siberia 200 Gaming Headset Review

Traveling can be a fun and new experience, depending on where you end up going to. I have traveled quite a bit with my family, but have never really gone anywhere crazy; we usually end up at standard tourist destinations. One country that has always intrigued me -- which I have never visited before -- is Russia. Whether it is this history or the people or the pictures you see on the internet, the largest country in the world has some sort of strange attraction. If you look further into the map, a large part of Russia is made up of Siberia, a frozen wasteland, but even this part Russia is larger than Canada combined. Siberia is a truly unique place, and the coldest city in the world resides there, with an average temperature of -40 degrees Celsius in January. This region of Russia also houses the biggest unfrozen fresh water source in the world. Other big things Siberia has is the largest swamp in the world, the Great Vasyugan swamp, which is quite a bit bigger than Switzerland. Our review unit today is the SteelSeries Siberia 200 gaming headphones, which I do not believe was named with these characteristics of Siberia in mind, but they might help with the cold temperatures to keep your ears warm, haha. We then set out to look for other characteristics in headphones, such as the sound quality, and how comfortable they are. Coming in at $70 USD at press time, will the SteelSeries Siberia 200 perform better than expected? Read on to find out!

The SteelSeries Siberia 200 arrived in a medium sized, brown corrugated box along with the SteelSeries Rival 100 we recently looked at. The package was shipped from Chicago, Illinois, and arrived in good condition via UPS Standard to the APH Networks offices here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. After the pictures were taken, the box was opened up, so we can have a look inside.

The SteelSeries Siberia 200 arrived in a medium sized retail package. I found the outside look of the box to be very clean and simple. The different shades of grey gave it a steel type of look, which is appropriate considering the "Steel" in SteelSeries' name. There are many different colors available to choose from, but we received the Forge Red version, which is advertised at the bottom right of the front. Below that, it informs us it can be used for Windows or Mac. On the middle right is the SteelSeries branding and the model name. The left and right sides of the box just have close up pictures of different parts of the product. The back of the retail package has all the different features, such as the lightweight design, and the in-line controls, while the bottom flap features the technical specifications.

Read full article @ APH Networks

Tt eSPORTS Poseidon Z RGB Keyboard

Tt eSports has hit the market with an RGB keyboard aiming to attract customers with its low price. The Tt eSPORTS Poseidon Z RGB is not only cheap since it is packed full of functions, including mechanical switches, full macro support, multiple lighting effects, and more.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

Zalman Z9 Neo White Review

Zalman released an all white edition of their Z9 Neo chassis, a chassis has a very nice design chassis and comes with some proper fan LED bling as well. It is a chassis that can keep up with the bigger names in the industry as it has refined features with the ability to hide your components inside the chassis. Let's have a peek at the Zalman Z9 Neo White edition.

ATX Mid Tower
2 x USB 3.0 / 2 x USB 2.0 / Audio Front Ports
2 External 5.25" Drive Bays
4 Internal 3.5" Drive Bays

Zalman has been around for years, building an ongoing reputation that started mostly with their controversial cooler designs (who doesn't remember the butterfly cooler back in the days?). Over the years the market changed, Zalman has had some rough waters to sail but they are still around with a firm product line including power supplies, coolers, fans and obviously chassis. Especially in the chassis segment we have a changing enthusiast PC landscape, both mITX and full size entghusiast builds seem to be the trend. Add to that features like two tone colors, backplate cut-outs, water cooling options and fan controllers and we have summed up the trend anno 2016.

Read full article @ Guru3D