Here a roundup of todays reviews and articles:

ASUS GeForce GTX 780 Ti DirectCU II OC Review
ASUS USB-AC56 & PCE-AC68 Dual-Band Wireless AC Adapters Review
ASUSTOR AS-304T Multi Media Storage Server Review
Attitude One Almaz Stylish Headphones
Corsair Raptor M45 Review
Enermax iVektor Review
Exclusive interview with Thermaltake CEO Kenny Lin
GAMDIAS APOLLO Extension Optical Gaming Mouse Review
Intel Haswell Refresh CPU Details Leaked
Microsoft Sculpt Comfort Desktop Review
OCZ Vertex 460 240 GB Review
PDF Studio Pro Review
Radeon HD 6990 vs R9 290X - Should I upgrade?
Roku Streaming Stick Preview
Sapphire R7 250 Ultimate Review
The Craziest Network Messes Ever!
Thief Review

ASUS GeForce GTX 780 Ti DirectCU II OC Review

We review the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 Ti DirectCU II OC edition. Customized GeForce GTX 780 Ti graphics cards are a hot thing these days, as they are silent, running cool and offer tremendous gaming muscle for the most heavy games. The customized product is equipped with the ASUS popular DirectCU cooler armed with two fans. It remains to be quiet and keeps temperatures at roughly 70 Degrees C. ASUS clocked this product for you towards 954 MHz on the GPU core, that means it can boost towards 1020 MHz on all of the unlocked 2880 Shader processors available.

NVIDIA unlocked the GPU completely meaning all 2880 Shader processors are available. That combined with increased core and memory clock frequencies and nice overclock potential will make this the top 699 USD flagship product to purchase. This means it is based on the GK110 revision B GPU and has an whopping 7.1 Billion transistors. That makes it a nice, one of the fastest graphics cards available on the market today. We test the product with the hottest games like Metro: Last light, Battlefield 4, Medal of Honor Warfighter, Hitman Absolution and many more.Just like GTX Titan, the GTX 780 Ti is based on the GK110 GPU with the distinctions that the Titan has a GK110-300 GPU and the GeForce GTX 780 a revision B GK110 GPU. Same stuff, yet with some changes. The recipe for the GTX 780 Ti is fantastic though, as the product has the full 15 Streaming clusters thus 2880 Shader Processing Units enabled. That's 240 TMUs and 48 ROPs on a 384-bit memory interface of fast GDDR5. So yeah, NVIDIA in a nutshell that is a 45 mm × 45 mm 2397-pin S-FCBGA GK110b GPU with 2880 shader/stream/CUDA processors. But wait Dave, there's more. Memory wise NVIDIA equipped the GeForce GTX 780 Ti with 7Gbps memory, the fastest GDDR5 memory you can find on a graphics card today. The GeForce GTX 780 Ti ships with 3GB of this memory, providing up to 336GB/sec of peak memory bandwidth. That is still huge (12 pieces of 64M ×16 GDDR5 SDRAM) of memory (384-bit) on there and started designing a bunch of new tricks at BIOS and driver level. Combined with GPU Boost 2.0 you will see this product boosting towards the 1000~1050 MHz range once you tweak it. The reference clock is 875 MHz with a boost clock of 928 MHz. Looking at the specs you must think that this product must consume heaps of power, well it's not great, but definitely not bad at all either. Another improvement that Nvidia implemented to the GeForce GTX 780 Ti is a new power balancing feature that’s been made so enthusiasts can get the most out of their overclock. Typically GPU gets its power from three sources: the 6-pin and 8-pin power connectors, and the PCI Express interface. Under normal conditions, the power sent to the GPU is balanced across these three sources, but when a user overclocks their graphics card they can unbalance the power delivery and draw more power from one source than the others, potentially maxing it out. With this new feature we can steer power from one input to another, so if you max out one power source, you can draw more power from the others to make up the difference.

Read full article @ Guru3D

ASUS USB-AC56 & PCE-AC68 Dual-Band Wireless AC Adapters Review

Oftentimes, I have friends that ask me to help them fix their wireless networks. On more than one occasion, they only have one or two computers in their home, so there really is no reason for the network to be slow due to saturation. What I often discover is that they either are a victim of interference in the 2.4GHz wireless spectrum, or they have a low quality/damaged wireless adapter. With laptops, it is usually more of an issue of a low quality adapter because all the major players put cheap network cards in their machines. Other times, especially with desktops and USB adapters, they are simply damaged, which usually involve a bent USB connector.

If they end up needing a new wireless adapter, it is a case of buying the cheapest one available, or buying the next wireless generation (in this case 802.11ac) for future compatibility. Usually, I recommend that they spend the extra money so that they will get the best speeds when they upgrade their router at some point. Some of them even decide to bite the bullet and upgrade their router at the same time, once they realize the potential speed increase over 802.11n devices. Once they have all 802.11ac compatible devices, and realize how much smoother everything is able to run, there is no going back.

Read full article @ HiTech Legion

ASUSTOR AS-304T Multi Media Storage Server Review

People working in the corporate America, or any large company for that matter, will have undoubtedly heard terms like Network Attached Storage (NAS), File Server, Web Server and Application Server. These are really the cornerstone for getting work done in the modern world and are present everywhere but rarely seen. Your File Server will store the documents your team needs while the Web and Application servers will use that data to complete various tasks and basically get things done. A typical home user is never exposed to this kind of technology and may not realize that Web Servers actually provide all the data we consume over the Internet.

A common problem in the typical home is the sharing and storage of information. It is true that people find creative ways to share data however they are rarely efficient and often cumbersome. What people don't realize is that with a single device you could share your party photos with the entire family, store frequently accessed documents, broadcast your digital music collection and watch internet videos on your TV all without a single flash drive or sneakernet file transfer.

Read full article @ Hardware Asylum

Attitude One Almaz Stylish Headphones

Although i do enjoy listening to my favorite tunes while on the road in my car with the volume turned all the way up i can't say that i feel just as comfortable doing so when I’m on foot since where i live people tend to stare if they see you wearing headphones especially if it's a bulky model. Because of that I’m always trying to use the smallest headphones i can get my hands on without of course compromising on sound quality at the same time (doing so would be like missing the point). Unfortunately small headphones equal to small earcups and small earcups in turn equal to small driver units used (at least the majority of times) which naturally can't perform exactly like the ones used in larger models so up till this day i have yet to find the perfect headphones for me. Well the people over at Attitude One seem quite confident that they can change that with their brand new Almaz Stylish Headphones.

Read full article @ NikKTech

Corsair Raptor M45 Review

The gaming peripheral market is littered with brands and their offerings and therefore, gaining that all important spotlight is especially difficult because of the fierce competition.

Since their entry onto the gaming peripheral scene back in 2011, Corsair has had lots of success, particularly with the prolific Vengeance product lines. But today we are looking at a product from Corsair’s Raptor range, named M45.

Raptor M45 is a gaming mouse aimed at FPS gamers. It utilises the Pixart PMW3310 optical sensor which is capable of up to 5000 DPI and a unique weight system to allow the gamer to choose the specific weight of the mouse. Join us as we explore all of these features and more!

Read full article @ Vortez

Enermax iVektor Review

iVektor is an ATX case from Enermax. The front panel is made by a large amount of ABS covered by a soft-touch finish that looks very good. Other than that it look like the interior offers good flexibility and other than that no less than seven 2.5 inch drives can be installed. Furthermore there are several possibilities to place radiators. At a very first glance it looks like this could be quite a neat case for gamer and maybe also modder.

Read full article @ ocaholic

Exclusive interview with Thermaltake CEO Kenny Lin

Without doubt, Thermaltake is a Marmite company. Some people absolutely adore it, while others are just as vocal in the opposite direction. Whatever your personal feelings, there is no doubt that 15 years in the technology industry has seen some iconic releases from this Taiwanese manufacturer. KitGuru was fortunate enough to get an exclusive interview with CEO Kenny Lin as his company launches a year of celebration.

Read full article @ KitGuru

GAMDIAS APOLLO Extension Optical Gaming Mouse Review

I have heard the term, “One size fits all” many times throughout my life. I always thought it was an odd turn of phrase because it is simply impossible. Recently, I have started to see that phrase altered to be a little more politically correct so now it says, “One size fits most”. I guess at least that is possible. I can only imagine the arguments that ensued because something said one size fits all and someone couldn't fit in it.

While one size could never fit all, it is imperative that, in today’s incredibly diverse society, companies try to accommodate as many people as possible. That is, of course, as long as they want a good portion of the market share. Even when it comes to ever smaller groups of people, the diversity can be astounding. Start with PC gamers, a large group to be sure, and then divide that into FPS gamers, RTS gamers, RPG gamers, etc. Then take one of those groups and divide that into players who use different grip styles on a mouse. See where I am going with this? Making hundreds of different products for every niche group could quickly become daunting.

Read full article @ HiTech Legion

Intel Haswell Refresh CPU Details Leaked

CPU-World recently scored inside details of the forthcoming Intel Haswell Refresh processors. As is well known by now, Intel has decided to delay their "Tick" - the 14 nm die shrink, and introduce a refresh of the Intel Haswell processors instead, starting with the desktop models.

While these "Haswell Refresh" models have new model numbers, they are no different from the current Haswell processors - just faster at the same price. They will therefore replace (not supplement) the current Haswell processors, although they will co-exist until stocks of the older models have exhausted.

Read full article @ Tech ARP

Microsoft Sculpt Comfort Desktop Review

As users across the world embrace a more mobile – and increasingly touch-focused – approach to computing, the market for ‘traditional’ peripherals is not what it once was. When the overwhelming majority of us relied on big, bulky Windows PCs as our main tools for emailing, creating documents and playing games, there was a vast and seemingly infinite market for PC accessories and peripherals – from speakers to webcams, printers to scanners, and keyboards to mice.

These days, the focus is on notebooks and tablets, which integrate or negate many of the features that the accessories market used to cater for. But the PC is not dead yet, and many still rely on desktop computers every day. While the PC lives, demand for peripherals will live on – and while the market for mice and keyboards is perhaps not quite as diverse and lively as it once was, it too lives on, dominated largely by the likes of Logitech and Microsoft.

Microsoft’s Sculpt Comfort Keyboard is no stranger to us here at Neowin. In fact, we reviewed it almost a year and half ago, and it performed pretty well. Since many of our readers still rely on desktop computers – with good ol’ fashioned mouse and keyboard set-ups – we thought it would be helpful to revisit this keyboard, alongside the mouse with which it is paired in a desktop set.

Read full article @ Neowin

OCZ Vertex 460 240 GB Review

After the Vertex 460 with 120 Gigabyte capacity we're now having a look at the Vertex 460 with 240 Gigabyte. Usually solid state drives with 240 Gigabyte capacity are quicker than 120 Gigabyte models. In this case we're curious to see what the differences between these to drives will be.

Read full article @ ocaholic

PDF Studio Pro Review

I have conducted a review of PDF Studio Pro software, covering install & setup, look & feel, basic and advanced functionality, editing, authoring and collaboration tools, document text and image processing and editing, security features, price tag, other considerations, and more. You might find this interesting.

Read full article @ Dedoimedo

Radeon HD 6990 vs R9 290X - Should I upgrade?

A gamer simply can't get enough graphics power in their rig, which makes the upgrade question omnipresent. To show you whether it makes sense to upgrade from one generation to another we created this series of articles, where we will compare graphics cards from different generations. Today we're having a close look at the differences between the HD 6990 and the R9 290X.

Read full article @ ocaholic

Roku Streaming Stick Preview

Roku announced today that it will soon release a $50 streaming stick device that closely resembles the Google Chromecast but comes with two key advantages: It includes an actual remote control and it of course features Roku's much wider array of supported services. While I feel that today's Roku devices are already superior to the Chromecast, this inexpensive device should settle the argument for most others.

Read full article @ WinSupersite

Sapphire R7 250 Ultimate Review

Many of the leading graphics manufacturers have been working hard on developing new coolers and fan technology to reduce noise emissions as much as possible. This is never more important than when building a media center for a living room or bedroom. If you are unwilling to accept any noise at all, then why not bypass the use of fans completely and opt for a totally silent solution? Sapphire have just released their latest silent R7 250 Ultimate, a fan less design to target the high definition television audience. Is it worth the modest £70 asking price?

Read full article @ KitGuru

The Craziest Network Messes Ever!

When designing a network most system administrators like a nice and clean cabled cabinet of servers. Well sometimes it does not work out that way. We have compiled some of the craziest network messed ever! Some of these will make even the most seasoned network administratorcringe. Enjoy!

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

Thief Review

In this state, if you enjoy games of this genre and can overlook the technical problems it has, I am very comfortable recommending the game. I cannot recommend Thief to anyone else at this time, though. If you cannot overlook the problems, then of course you should consider waiting to make a purchase. If you do not greatly enjoy this genre, but are willing to give it a try, this is not at the quality I would require to say you should give it a shot. I truly do hope this will change, just I cannot and should not speak to the future of a game, but to how it is now.

Read full article @ OCC