Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles, including The Myths Of Graphics Card Performance: Debunked, NZXT H440 Mid-Tower Computer Case Review, Mach Xtreme MX-LX 128GB USB3.0 Flash Drive Review, Cooler Master WAVE Universal Aluminum Stand for iPad and Tablets Presentation, and AMD intros the Radeon R7 250X graphics card



The Myths Of Graphics Card Performance: Debunked, Part 1 @ Toms Hardware

Did you know that Windows 8 can gobble as much as 25% of your graphics memory? That your graphics card slows down as it gets warmer? That you react quicker to PC sounds than images? That overclocking your card may not really work? Prepare to be surprised!

Read more: The Myths Of Graphics Card Performance: Debunked, Part 1 @ Toms Hardware

NZXT H440 Mid-Tower Computer Case Review @ Benchmark Reviews

You might think, upon initial inspection, that the NZXT H440 Mid Tower computer case is just another well-crafted and attractive case from NZXT; and you'd be right, in the sense that it's both attractive and well-crafted. But the H440 hides several innovations under its painted steel skin, one of which will be controversial.

Read more: NZXT H440 Mid-Tower Computer Case Review @ Benchmark Reviews

NEC MultiSync PA272W 27" Professional Monitor Review @ Hardware Canucks

The all-new 27-inch PA272W is NEC’s most recent addition to their venerable MultiSync line and like previous generations it has been designed from the ground-up with professionals in mind. With this in mind, no expense has been spared to create the most color accurate, easy to use tool that goes out of its way to help professionals get the job done and done right.

Creating displays which may cost more upfront but are as accurate years later as the day they left the factory is what NEC have built their reputation on. It is this time saving, ultra high quality which separates true professional monitors from those marketed to so-called “prosumers”.

To attain its goals, NEC has decked out the 1440P PA272W with some of the best technologies around. There’s a 10-bit AH-IPS panel with a true 14bit internal Look Up Table, 340nits output using the newly developed GB-R LED backlighting, color saturation which scales perfectly with brightness output and supposedly some of the best panel uniformity around. Further adding to its long list of its features a four year warranty instead of the typical three years found with the competition. The end result is a monitor which should have all the building blocks for creating the perfect force multiplier tool that all professionals crave.

Read more: NEC MultiSync PA272W 27" Professional Monitor Review @ Hardware Canucks

Thecus N2310 Network Attached Storage (NAS) Review @ HiTech Legion

I had one of those dreaded experiences of data loss recently. I was backing up data off of a HDD that was starting to fail over to an external drive and happened to catch my foot in the cord of the HDD dock I was using. Needless to say, the drive went flying and hit the ground, causing it to fail instantly. I am sure recovery would be possible since it was the HDD motor that jammed and failed, however, the average person can't afford thousands of dollars to have their data recovered by one of the companies that specializes in it.

The worst part about it was the drive has been sitting on my desk for several months, so I don’t even remember everything that was on it. I have a backup of some of the information, but there is no way to tell what data was lost. For months, I have been looking into a centralized, safe location to store my data. A NAS device is that perfect solution for me so that I can backup data from all of my devices, as well as access some of that data, such as family pictures, on the fly.

Read more: Thecus N2310 Network Attached Storage (NAS) Review @ HiTech Legion

ASUS R9 290 DirectCU II OC Review @ Vortez

The AMD R9 290 follows in the footsteps of the flagship R9 290X by being equipped with the same Hawaii XT core. While the R9 290 features 256 less shaders than its bigger brother and a slightly trimmed clockspeed ASUS are looking to close the gap on the R9 290X by giving the clockspeed of this particular 290 a bump to 1GHz from 947MHz meaning that this card is running at the same speed as the 290X but with a few less shaders. The card does however come with a very healthy 4GB of GDDR5, the same as the R9 290X. In fact, one could say this is the very same card with just a few shaders disabled and you would be right. Some R9 290's are un-lockable to a full fat R9 290X with a simple BIOS flash which just goes to show how little there is to choose between the two. Sadly, not all R9 290's are un-lockable though so you will just have to play the retail lottery on that one I'm afraid.

Read more: ASUS R9 290 DirectCU II OC Review @ Vortez

Sennheiser MM 550-X Travelling Headset Review @ TechnlogyX

It just doesn't get better than starting an audio report while listening to Drift Away by Dobie Gray on the headset I am about to report on. This report actually started out as a challenge of my loyalty to my Fanny Wang 3000 Series Customs with Active Noise Cancellation that sees me typically through 15-20 flights a year. In this corner, sporting a solid black design and weigh-in in at 6.3 ounces, we have the Sennheiser MM 550-X Travelling Headset with Active Noise Cancellation, Bluetooth, SRS and TalkThrough. I guess I should have known as soon as the Sennheiser name was mentioned.

Read more: Sennheiser MM 550-X Travelling Headset Review @ TechnlogyX

Cooler Master Cosmos II Super Tower Chassis Review @ eTeknix

Today we are lucky enough to take a look at one of the most prestigious chassis designs on the market. Many of you will already be familiar with the Cosmos II as it has actually been on the market for a couple of years now, but it is still extremely desirable, popular and from what we’ve seen of it at trade shows or in custom builds, it is still awesome. This may not be a brand new product, but it’s still very much a flagship chassis for Cooler Master, and it’s the first time we’ve been able to get in close and take a closer look at what it has to offer.

Big chassis are gaining in popularity recently, the ever-increasing popularity of water cooling has led many gamers, system builders, and general enthusiasts to use bigger and bigger radiators as they seek to push the performance of today’s latest hardware to the very limits. Many high-end components demand a lot of space, bigger motherboards allow for more graphics cards, longer chassis allows for longer graphics cards, massive amounts of storage space allows you to create epic raid configurations and then you need more room still to keep all of it running cool and quiet.

The Cosmos II ticks many boxes, it’s big and heavy, promises class leading build quality and design, has room for dual socket motherboards, multiple graphics cards and a huge array of storage drives. On top of that it’s fitted extensively with mounts for extra cooling, dust filters and radiator mounts. In short, there isn’t much this chassis doesn’t promise to be able to do and for anyone building an extreme performance rig, the Cosmos II looks to be a great starting point. So with that said, lets take a closer look at what this chassis has to offer and see if it really can live up to both our expectations and to the level of quality that it promises.

Read more: Cooler Master Cosmos II Super Tower Chassis Review @ eTeknix

Mach Xtreme MX-LX 128GB USB3.0 Flash Drive Review @ eTeknix

Over the last few months the price of flash storage has been on a steady downhill curve and this drop in price has effected multiple sectors of the storage market. On one front, SSDs on the upper end of the capacity scale have been coming more and more affordable and as a result users have been able to get faster and larger drives instead. On another front and one which affects the product that I’m looking at today, the cost of producing larger flash drives, or ‘memory sticks’ as they are commonly known, has plummeted and high-capacity drives are more than within the budget of most of us out there who need them.

The way to look at this drop in price is to look at how expensive flash drives used to be only a few years ago. When you went online or into your high street retailer to get a flash drive, the cost of getting a 2GB drive for example was very costly and typically you saw 1GB and even 512MB drives commonly being used. Today we laugh at the cost of a 2GB drive and now we are literally being given 4GB and 8GB drives for free and this leads us back round to the statement above about how the price of storage drops over time to a more affordable level.

Putting the cost of storage to the side for a moment and taking a little trip down memory lane, we are no strangers to Mach Xtreme and the drives that they have to offer with this being the fourth drive that I’ve had to look at. Not only is this the fourth drive, but it is also the biggest, yet smallest drive that I’ve had in to review, which once again ties in with the points made above. Typically the drives that I’ve seen before now have featured SLC NAND inside and to bring this down to earth, this meant that the cost of producing the drives was a little higher in order to offer up the faster write speeds that early USB3.0 drives failed to provide. SLC NAND at the same time doesn’t suffer from the same high rates of wear over time when compared to the more affordable MLC NAND, but with advances in technology, MLC NAND now offers the best of both worlds with faster speeds and greater storage density. The end result is a drive that is faster, smaller and cheaper than before – just what everyone wants to hear in this day in age!

Read more: Mach Xtreme MX-LX 128GB USB3.0 Flash Drive Review @ eTeknix

Cooler Master WAVE Universal Aluminum Stand for iPad and Tablets Presentation @ Madshrimps

Thanks to the Wave Stand from Cooler Master we will be able to place our tablet comfortably at a desired angle in both portrait and landscape modes. The stand comes in two color flavors and is built from high quality light-weight aluminum; the rubber grip-pads cover the edges, do not scratch the surface of our tablet and keep it properly fixed on the stand.

Read more: Cooler Master WAVE Universal Aluminum Stand for iPad and Tablets Presentation @ Madshrimps

Antec NineTeen Hundred Review @ KitGuru

The Antec Nineteen Hundred - one of the biggest cases we have ever reviewed. The headline figures are mind-blowing; a dozen 3.5-inch drive bays, two 2.5-inch drive bays, three optical drive bays, six installed 120mm fans with mounts for two more fans, two power supply housings and nine expansion slots. If you want to install multiple graphics cards in your next gaming PC the Antec Nineteen Hundred sounds like it may be a contender.

Read more: Antec NineTeen Hundred Review @ KitGuru

The Homebrew Litecoin Mining Project @ Techspot

Despite boosting mining speed, GPUs proved less than ideal because of their power draw and resulting heat. Bitcoin miners eventually transitioned to FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), which brought a five-fold improvement to consumption levels. By mid-2012, FPGAs lost appeal with the arrival of fully functional application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) systems, today's standard for Bitcoin mining.

Needless to say, Bitcoin mining is now a serious endeavor and unless you're prepared to compete with professional mining operations like this guy, don't waste your time. Fortunately, however, Bitcoin's success has spawned many other virtual currencies, with nearly half a dozen deemed "major" cryptocurrencies on Wikipedia. Of those, Litecoin is among the most popular alternative to Bitcoin.

Read more: The Homebrew Litecoin Mining Project @ Techspot

Pad & Quill Little Pocket Book for iPhone 5/5S Review @ TestFreaks

In the past at TestFreaks we have reviewed several Pad & Quill products for various Apple devices. Their products are made using bookbindery techniques to create elegant looking book styles cases for iPhones and iPads as well as other electronic portable devices. Today we will look at the Little Pocket Book for iPhone 5/5S.

Read more: Pad & Quill Little Pocket Book for iPhone 5/5S Review @ TestFreaks

AMD intros the Radeon R7 250X graphics card @ Hexus

Launches this '1080p gaming' card at the important $99 price point today.

Read more: AMD intros the Radeon R7 250X graphics card @ Hexus