Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles, including Samsung SSD 840 Evo Review, Intel's Core i7 4960X Ivy Bridge Extreme Processor Reviewed, Thermalright AXP-200 Low-Profile CPU Cooler, ADATA XPG V2 3100MHz 8GB Memory Kit Review, and Rosewill SilentNight 500W Fanless



Samsung SSD 840 Evo Review: 250GB & 1TB Drives Tested @ Techspot

If our lack of reviews didn't give it away, there have been few noteworthy SSD releases this year, with OCZ's in-house Vertex 450 and the Marvell 88SS9187-based SanDisk Extreme II being the primary exceptions. That's a lot less eventful than previous years and 2012 alone brought the OCZ Vector and Vertex 4, Crucial Adrenaline, Intel SSD 520 Series as well as countless other SandForce SF-2281-powered drives.

Samsung's contribution to the enthusiast flash drive market perhaps deserves special recognition, as its 840 Pro series arrived ahead of the holidays with 21nm Toggle NAND chips and crushed most of the competition. Although it's been a while and OCZ's flagships can certainly put up a fight, we still tend to favor Samsung's product -- at least partly because the 512GB 840 Pro as survived a year of duty in my office PC.

Read more: Samsung SSD 840 Evo Review: 250GB & 1TB Drives Tested @ Techspot

Intel’s Core i7 4960X Ivy Bridge Extreme Processor Reviewed @ Futurelooks

It’s been almost two years since the Hexacore Intel Core i7 3960X Sandy Bridge processors launched. In that time, quad core Sandy Bridge parts remained all time favorites amongst enthusiasts due to the gains in performance and overclocking, yet the hex core Sandy Bridge didn’t quite earn the same fanfare. Most end users said that the Core i7-980X Nehalem was just too good a processor to let go of. And then Ivy Bridge (and Haswell) got too hot because it had limited die surface for transferring heat to the heat sink. It seemed that Intel had a bit of a problem with getting more chips out there for the right reasons. With an Intel Core i7-4960X Extreme Edition (aka Ivy Bridge-E) processor and ASUS X79 Deluxe in hand, we evaluated both component performance characteristics and end user experiences in the lab. Join us for a look at the company’s latest hex core and the latest X79 motherboard technologies.

Read more: Intel’s Core i7 4960X Ivy Bridge Extreme Processor Reviewed @ Futurelooks

Toshiba mSATA Client SSD Review (256GB) @ The SSD Review

It is no secret that the popularity of mSATA SSDs is being pushed around just a bit by M.2 PCIe design. M.2 SSDs may even tempt us with a great deal more power for the punch and capacity down the road. What M.2 doesn't have, as of yet, is just about every popular ultra book in the world in their pocket and that is where mSATA SSDs feel secure. It is kind of like the SATA 2 to SATA 3 move made in SSDs where, as much as SATA 3 is faster and makes sense, 99.8% of the population uses SATA 2. You can imagine that we were more than a bit surprised when our expected receipt of a 512GB Toshiba Client notebook SSD not only included a 256GB mSATA form factor as well, but also, we think this is the first official shot of their new Client M.2 PCIe SSD in the wild; it being 512GB as well. Although we are not to sure about placement of the notebook SSD variation article, we can guarantee that the M.2 SSD will be fully reviewed soon enough on our sister site, The SSD Review We are off on a flight half way around the world early tomorrow am and returning Friday so expect the M.2 posting on TSSDR early next week.

Read more: Toshiba mSATA Client SSD Review (256GB) @ The SSD Review

Thermalright AXP-200 Low-Profile CPU Cooler @ NikKTech

Having 2 out of our 3 test rigs housed inside HPTX towers is perhaps the best indication that i personally have no intention of actually using an m-ATX or m-ITX PC case at least not any time soon (who knows how things may turn out in the following years?) but it really seems that the recent increase in m-ATX and m-ITX compatible PC Cases in the market has intrigued quite a few people out there (judging from all the messages we've been getting) so naturally it was only a matter of time before the leading CPU Cooling manufacturers found ways to further improve on their current solutions. Thermalright is amongst them and although the original AXP-100 low profile CPU Cooler released roughly 10 months ago proved to be very successful they didn't stop there and so recently they updated the AXP line with the AXP-200 which ended up on our test bench just less than a month ago.

Read more: Thermalright AXP-200 Low-Profile CPU Cooler @ NikKTech

ECS GANK Z87H3-AX GOLDEN Motherboard Review @ Madshrimps

Hardware-wise, the latest Z87H3-AX GOLDEN board from ECS is quite solid, incorporating a 12-phase VRM and high quality LAN and audio interfaces: the dual BigFoot Killer E2201 GbE controllers along with the Creative Sound Core 3D DSP. The UEFI comes with two sections, EZ BIOS and the Advanced area where we can also set the performance parameters.

Read more: ECS GANK Z87H3-AX GOLDEN Motherboard Review @ Madshrimps

ADATA XPG V2 3100MHz 8GB Memory Kit Review @ KitGuru

Targeting extreme enthusiasts with recording-breaking overclock aspirations, ADATAs 3100MHz XPG V2 memory kit is designed to be the best of the best when it comes to raw frequency. Can the 3.1GHz kits performance and overclocking potential prove that it currently sits at the top of the enthusiast memory pecking order?

ADATA XPG V2 3100MHz 8GB Memory Kit Review @ KitGuru

Gigabyte P25W Review @ Hexus

Battlefield 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, FIFA 14, a new Command & Conquer and, who knows, maybe even GTA 5. PC gamers have plenty to look forward to in the coming winter months, so now's as good a time as any to reconsider that gaming laptop you've always wanted.

The arrival of Intel's fourth-generation Core processor has seen a slew of new portable PCs arrive on the market, yet for gamers there tends not to be too much choice outside of the numerous Clevo-based rebrands. Step forward Gigabyte, who is gearing up to unleash an entire range of Haswell-infused gaming laptops including the eye-catching P25W.

Read more: Gigabyte P25W Review @ Hexus

Rosewill SilentNight 500W Fanless @ BCCHardware

Rosewill may not be the first name you think of when it comes to Power Supplies, but as they've partnered with Newegg, they've certainly made a bit of name for themselves. What I really appreciate about Rosewill is that they don't release products just for the sake of releasing products. They release some pretty nice stuff. Granted, some of it is heavily geared toward the value side of things, but they can and do produce some very decent products. Their Power Supplies have been one of their products that have helped them stand out from the crowd. In this segment, they have some 80 PLUS Bronze, Silver and Gold units as well as a few that have earned the distinction of 80 PLUS Platinum. The Platinum PSU must be no less than 89% efficient at 100% load and 92% efficient at 50% load. There are a few more distinctions of course, but these are some basics. For all of the 80 PLUS specifications and information, make sure you check out this link.

Back in February, we looked at their Tachyon 750W 80 PLUS Platinum unit and today we are scaling back the wattage and beefing up the awesome with the SilentNight 80 PLUS Platinum 500W Fanless PSU. That's right, this power supply has no fan or active cooling at all. It relies entirely on efficiency and a passive heatsink that also doubles as the top of this unit. What makes this unit awesome is that it is dead silent - and it still supports four PCIe connections for some dual-graphics card goodness. Make sure you stay tuned as we take a look, tear into this unit and then torture it to see if it can deliver.

Read more: Rosewill SilentNight 500W Fanless @ BCCHardware