Here a roundup of todays reviews and articles:

8 Steam Features You Didn’t Know You Had
AMD launches second generation R-Series APUs and CPUs
BitFenix Colossus Micro-ATX Case Review
Bitfenix Phenom ITX Review
CLUB3D R9 290X RoyalAce Superoverclock Review
Corsair Raptor M45, Vengeance M65 and M95 Video Review
Cryorig R1 Ultimate CPU Cooler Review
Dell Inspiron 15 7537: NVIDIA Graphics Bring the Game
Dual boot: Windows 8 and Ubuntu 14.04
ECS Z87H3-A2X Golden Motherboard Review
G.Skill ARES F3-2400C11D-8GAB 2x 4GB DDR3
Hands On: Linux Mint 17 Release Candidate
Is Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 A Good Corporate Desktop?
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Review
MSI Z97 XPOWER AC Motherboard Review
Raidmax Viper GX Midi Tower Review
Sapphire R9 290X Vapor-X OC 4GB Video Card Review
Sapphire R9 290X Vapor-X Tri-X OC Video Card Review
Sapphire Vapor-X R9 290X - Cooling the Savage Beast
SilverStone Strider Essential Gold ST70F-ESG 700W Review
Team Group Xtreem 32GB PC3 17000 DDR3 2133 Memory Kit Review
The ultimate guide to Linux for Windows users
Verizon Wireless Nexus 7 2013
Windows 8.1 Still Outperforms Linux With Latest Intel GPU Drivers

8 Steam Features You Didn’t Know You Had

You probably think you know how to use Steam pretty well. You shop for your favorite titles, chat with your gaming friends, and manage your library with ease. You know how to find the best prices on games and make the most of Steams trading card system. Youre a natural. But as with any piece of software, there are the features you use everyday, and the features you dont even know you have until you go looking for them. See where you can find these 8 features that inform and fine tune your Steam use for the better.

Read full article @ MakeUseOf

AMD launches second generation R-Series APUs and CPUs

The 'Bald Eagle' platform is aimed at the embedded market. Today AMD launched a second generation of its R-Series APUs and CPUs, aimed at the embedded market. The platform was previously codenamed 'Bald Eagle' and has been purposed for; gaming machines, medical imaging, digital signage, industrial control and automation (IC&A), communications and networking infrastructure. The chips are particularly suitable for the more demanding applications in these areas, as they provide "industry-leading compute and graphics processing," capabilities.

Announcing the chips Scott Aylor, corporate vice president and general manager at AMD Embedded Solutions, said that the second generation R-Series will lead the embedded market in compute and graphics performance as well as performance per watt. "The addition of HSA, GCN and power management features enables our customers to create a new world of intelligent, interactive and immersive embedded devices," he explained.

Read full article @ Hexus

BitFenix Colossus Micro-ATX Case Review

When BitFenix first entered the chassis market they did so with a case which was much more impressive than a debutant should be able to create. Clearly they had a lot of design expertise behind the scenes but even down to the finish on the case the original Colossus was a unit with buying. Since then they have vastly expanded their range and one of the more recent units is the Colossus Micro-ATX. Today we have one of those on our test bench to see how it handles an enthusiast compact build.

Read full article @ HardwareHeaven.com

Bitfenix Phenom ITX Review

During the last few years, Bitfenix offered a great number of mini-ITX cases, managing to merge great performances into little systems: the new Bitfenix Phenom Mini-ITX is just the last one of a long series of great products.

Read full article @ ocaholic

CLUB3D R9 290X RoyalAce Superoverclock Review

With the price of Ultra HD 4K screens dropping this year there has never been a better time to upgrade your system. Today we look at the latest high end graphics card from Club3D – the R9 290X RoyalAce. This card ships with a custom cooler design and a healthy out of the box overclock. Today we will find out just how well it performs.

Read full article @ KitGuru

Corsair Raptor M45, Vengeance M65 and M95 Video Review

For our first full-length video review, we take a look at several Corsair gaming mice, the FPS-focused Raptor M45 and Vengeance M65 and the RPG-ready Vengeance M95.

Read full article @ The Tech Report

Cryorig R1 Ultimate CPU Cooler Review

How do you feel about the sideshow-like atmospheres that many times needlessly accompany things? Does a contending boxer really need a posse of twenty guys and a couple of scantily clad women to dance down the aisle around him, music blaring, as he makes his way to the ring to face a stoic reigning champ? Will it make him a better fighter? Do we need to get hit with countless ads prior to the launch of a new product along with a frenzy pf media coverage before we even see the product? Or should the quality of the product itself should do the talking, just as the boxer needs to prove himself in the ring or all of his antics will have been for naught.

Over the years I have seen many contenders come in with more hype than actual chance of reigning supreme. I vividly remember Caveman Lee’s circus being burned to the ground by a classy Marvin Hagler in 1:07. I have also seen Evander Holyfield quietly enter the ring and pick apart the one-man circus that was Mike Tyson. Strangely, cooling tends to run in a very similar fashion. The incredibly classy Noctua NH-D14 reigned supreme for years without question. We saw cooler after cooler come in amidst incredible hype, offering the latest nano-twister circular heatpath technology claiming it would overtake the NH-D14. Invariably they hit the ground with a dull thud…until upstart Phanteks dropped the PH-TC14PE on the world amidst no hype. There were buzzwords attached to the cooler, but each of them was easily explained and made sense. Now upstart Cryorig is following a similar path, quietly releasing a cooler that certainly looks like a true contender to the crown.

Read full article @ HiTech Legion

Dell Inspiron 15 7537: NVIDIA Graphics Bring the Game

As one of the top-shelf systems in the company's mainstream line-up, the Inspiron 15 7537 is in an interesting position in Dell’s extensive family of laptops and ultrabooks. This laptop is too pricey to be considered affordable by most consumers, and yet it’s not quite in the same class as and doesn't have the luxury features of Dell’s XPS systems.

Understandably, Dell’s premium XPS line gets a lot of attention in the press. We recently checked out the XPS 13 ultrabook and XPS 15 laptop and pegged them quality products for serious users. The Inspiron series is more likely to be overlooked by power users because the Inspiron 3000 and 5000 are Dell’s value and mainstream Inspiron lines. The 7000 represents the best of the Inspirons, however, and the specs and design quality make it worth a look for serious buyers who are turned off by the high price points of the XPS models...

Read full article @ HotHardware.com

Dual boot: Windows 8 and Ubuntu 14.04

I've written an extensive, step-by-step tutorial to installing and configuring Windows 8 (or windows 8.1) and Ubuntu (14.04 Trusty Tahr) in a dual-boot, side-by-side configuration on a real, production machine - Asus VivoBook (Ultrabook) with UEFI, Secure Boot and GPT, including preliminary reading and preparation steps, Windows 8 installation, Ubuntu installation, hardware setup, disk and partition layout change, resizing, shrinking and creation of new partitions, bootloader setup, tests in both operating systems, additional tips and tricks on data backup, system imaging, recovery, GRUB, GParted, Clonezilla, and more. Enjoy.

Read full article @ Dedoimedo

ECS Z87H3-A2X Golden Motherboard Review

The ECS Z87H3-A2X Golden motherboard is a good example of their progress from low-end OEM products to top tier Z87 enthusiast motherboard. The ECS Z87H3-A2X offers almost every option under the sun for a Z87 board as well as the promise of good performance.

Read full article @ Modders-Inc

G.Skill ARES F3-2400C11D-8GAB 2x 4GB DDR3

I called out for some help in fighting the never-ending stream of motherboards that come my way, and G.Skill sent none other than the god of war kit, ARES F3-2400C11D-8GAB, to fight beside me. Can these G.Skil ARES F3-2400C11D-8GAB sticks turn the tide in the battle for top-level memory performance for a good price?

Read full article @ techPowerUp

Hands On: Linux Mint 17 Release Candidate

The next release of the very popular Linux Mint distribution will arrive soon. Here is a look at the Release Candidate, with Cinnamon and MATE desktops.

Read full article @ ZDNet

Is Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 A Good Corporate Desktop?

Red Hat recently released version 7 of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), the latest release of the most used Linux enterprise desktop. Since the release of RHEL 6 in 2010, Linux in general and Fedora (RHELs testing ground) specifically have changed a lot. Some notable changes of Fedora include GNOME 3 and the new Anaconda installer. Both of these items were controversial when first introduced. Many users stated that GNOME 3 and its search-oriented Activities View was too different from what enterprise users would expect, and the Anaconda installer was too confusing for just about anyone to use.

Read full article @ MakeUseOf

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Review

When Lenovo first introduced the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultrabook in 2012, we were faced with a machine that was close to perfection. Sure, the original iteration was not perfect in every sense but it came closer than any Ultrabook we had available. Now that we have landed in 2014, the company has released its third iteration of the ThinkPad X1. We've spent a little time with the 2014 edition of the ThinkPad X1 and after the break, we see what has changed for the better and for the worse.

Read full article @ WPCentral

MSI Z97 XPOWER AC Motherboard Review

We review the MSI Z97 XPOWER AC motherboard which is seated in the MSI OC series. MSI's new OC Series include the Z97 MPower, Z97 MPower MAX AC, and the Z97 XPower AC. We test the flagship today, the Z97 XPOWER AC. It is big, it is fast, it is extensive and it probably is one of the most aesthetically pleasing Z97 motherboards available on the market today. MSI took the Z97 chipset and then started adding. Adding a PLX chip for quad-SLI/Crossfire support, adding AC WIFI, adding heaps of SATA3 connectors, adding overclock features, adding a very nice audio solution and well, they added pretty much anything they could find. Join us in a the Z97 XPower AC review, a product that is bound to please the enthusiast PC gamer.

Intel released their series 9 chipsets, among them will be low-end and high-end desktop solutions. For the consumers and readers of Guru3D, H97 and Z97 will be the two most interesting ones. For the HTPC end of things H97 is the most appealing as tweaking options are stripped away with a lower price-tag. For the more hardcore gamers and PC aficionados, the Z97 is the most interesting. Z97 by itself as a chipset is nothing special. HOWEVER we have plenty to look at as the motherboard manufacturers went totally nuts and started redesigning their motherboards, added new features and made them extraordinarily cool. You'll spot new redesigns build on the DNA of Z87 yet improved massively. Cool looks, features like AC WIFI, M2 SSDs and Sata Express will bring some very interesting features onto the market. So if (at the time) you didn't upgrade to Z87, now might be a good time.

The Z97 XPOWER AC comes with powerful CPU and RAM overclocking capabilities. Now this board can manage 3 and 4-way SLI really well. To increase PCI-E Lane bandwidth MSI added a PLX PEX8747 bridge chip allowing you to drive four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots. The MSI Z97 XPower AC is build to impress and as such will bring 10 x SATA 6Gbps ports to the table. That's next to the new sporty M.2 slot and 12 x USB 3.0 ports. Much like the entire MSI range this board is fitted with AudioBoost audio that has a built-in headphone amp. Obviously the board has 802.11 ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, Intel based Gigabit Ethernet and many OC features, something that includes a coolant based heatsink so you can liquid cool the CPU VRM, voltage measurement points 2, on-board OC/voltage fine-tuning buttons, and a backup BIOS. The V-Check Points 2 which will let use 2 ground connectors so that you now can use up to 3 multi-meters at the same time.

Read full article @ Guru3D

Raidmax Viper GX Midi Tower Review

People on a tight budget may not pay much attention when looking for a PC case but gamers, enthusiasts, overclockers and professionals alike tend to spend countless hours online checking reviews and specifications sheets before they finalize their decision. Ever since the beginning of the 90's when i first started working with personal computers i have used and tested countless towers from entry level budget models and up to ultra-high end ones that cost almost as much as a complete system. However at the end of the day although all of those were designed by a very large list of manufacturers in the market i can't really say that I’ve had the pleasure of cooperating with every single one. Raidmax is amongst the oldest PC Case manufacturers around and although not a complete stranger to me this is the first time after many years that i have one of their latest midi towers called the Viper GX on the photo bench.

Raidmax was founded in 1988 with the mission of providing the best solutions: specifically, meeting your requirements for innovative designs, excellent performance and quality products. In early 2003, Raidmax was the first to debut the design "Scorpio": an alien eye shape on its general front panel. At the time, it was the best ever hit in the gaming case business and almost every factory had owned at least one similar design back in China. Two years later, Raidmax released another cutting-edge design, Samurai, and people who had seen the case itself instantly fell in love. After numerous global feedback, Raidmax is known all over the world. It is said our company is not only a case designer but also the perfect budget keeper. You can simply spend a little but you receive higher quality than you expect. It has been more than 10 years since Raidmax began its work on its unique product lines and market position. The name of Raidmax is synonymous to gaming design and budget cases. In the United States, Raidmax is considered to be the best second tier brand; in Asia, it is said that only Raidmax can offer the budget cases with great designs; in Europe, with almost no brand management, Raidmax' followers are still showing their loyal support in many ways.

Just by taking a quick look at the box of the Viper GX midi tower you know that it's target audience is gamers since it features a pretty weird sci-fi like design (reminds me of vehicle designs found in some PC games) which you will either like or hate, i don't think there's really a middle ground for that. That being said the Viper GX is one of the smallest midi towers I’ve ever come across but that didn't stop the people over at Raidmax from outfitting it with an external hot-swap 2.5" port, three 5.25" bays, seven 3.5" HDD trays (3 of which can also be used with 2.5" drives) and room for up to six 120mm fans for superior airflow levels. So we are basically talking about a great looking midi tower (especially if you happen to be a gamer) with a good number of features and what seems to be a spacious interior so let’s take a closer look and see if that's really the case.

Read full article @ NikKTech

Sapphire R9 290X Vapor-X OC 4GB Video Card Review

The Sapphire R9 290X Vapor-X OC is one of the most recent AMD Radeon R9 290X video cards to come to market. The Radeon R9 290X became the flagship single-GPU card for AMD nearly 8 months ago (released in October 2013) and it has been a popular card for both gamers and Litecoin miners. While the Sapphire R9 290X Vapor-X OC was arguably late to market, it might very well be one of the best Radeon R9 290X video cards due to the custom Vapor-X/Tri-X GPU cooler, 10-phase power design and one of the highest factory overclocks that we have seen on any Radeon R9 290X 4GB graphics cards...

Read full article @ Legit Reviews

Sapphire R9 290X Vapor-X Tri-X OC Video Card Review

Sapphire has just added a new graphics card to their R9 290X lineup. It is the R9 290X Vapor-X Tri-X OC graphics card. The thing that sets this card apart from their other R9 290X cards is that it features vapor-chamber technology to improve cooling even more than than their current cards and this card features a factory overclock on both the GPU and the memory. The card will have a GPU frequency of 1080 MHz (80 MHz over reference) and the memory will be running at speeds of 5.64 GHz (effective). Other features of the card include a pretty sleek backplate, a Sapphire logo that lights up and even changes colors and dual BIOS support. Is this the Radeon R9 290X that you want? Read on as we take a look…

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

Sapphire Vapor-X R9 290X - Cooling the Savage Beast

“Music can calm the Savage Beast”, that statement may or may not be true and I’m not willing to try it. One thing I do know is that heat is the major cause of computer component failure. Which actually makes this statement viable, “With proper cooling your computer won’t become the savage beast.” Why is heat such a major issue? It causes silicon to fail or degrade, plain and simple. If you haven’t cleaned you system in a while now’s your chance get out that blow off, shut it down and maybe even vacuum some of the dust off. Summer is upon us and heat is going to become an issue.

6 months ago AMD launched their R9 290X and although being one of the most powerful, performance video cards on the market it had issues and they resulted from heat. The reference design R9 290X (on auto) ran at approximately 90C, which caused the card to transfer power from the GPU to the fan causing throttling and insanely loud fan noise. Normally when a video card is launched most partners already have an aftermarket design available which usually includes, their own PCB, cooling solution and power control, for this launch that wasn’t the case. By the time we began to see any aftermarket solution it was already 3 months down the road. My explanation although not official, no one knew the best solution on how to cool the savage beast. It may be a little late to the game but Sapphire has launched their latest version of the R9 290X, The Vapor-X with Tri-X cooling and enough other goodies that do “Calm the Savage Beast.”

Read full article @ HiTech Legion

SilverStone Strider Essential Gold ST70F-ESG 700W Review

"Saskatchewan jokes are the best," I told my friend. My friend nodded in agreement. "They are simply endless," he replied. What makes Saskatchewan jokes so funny? For those who live south of the forty-ninth parallel, or the rest of the world, for that matter, let me put it this way: Let's say your dog ran off. If you lived in Saskatchewan, you can still see your dog running after three days. Haha! Now, despite all the Saskatchewan jokes the rest of Canada likes to crack occasionally, the bread basket of the world is actually quite a desirable place to live -- at least according to the 20,000 people who just moved in last year. In fact, their population growth rate is second only to Alberta. What makes Saskatchewan so desirable? Well, it fills in the criteria for many essentials: A healthy economy, affordable living, high employment, good environment, and low crime rates; just to name a few. Sure, living in provinces like British Columbia or Ontario is more exciting, but when it comes to making decisions like where to move to, practical considerations win over pure emotional desirability. When it comes to buying power supplies, the same goes. Sure, there are many exciting modular power supplies out there. In fact, my Vancouver colleagues have reviewed no less than four from SilverStone; including the Strider Gold ST65F-G 650W, Strider Gold ST75F-G 750W, Strider Gold Evolution ST75F-G 750W, and Strider Plus ST75F-P 750W. But today, we are going to step back a little bit on the fancy features, and hit up on the basics: A down to earth, non-modular, non-LED, matte black, 80 Plus Gold certified Strider Essential Gold 700W. Do we have a check in essential practicality over emotional desirability? We cracked one open to find out.

Read full article @ APH Networks

Team Group Xtreem 32GB PC3 17000 DDR3 2133 Memory Kit Review

The latest Xtreem 32GB C11 DDR3 2133 memory kits from Team Group come with beefy heatspreaders in two different colors and have proven really overclockable, being able to reach speeds up to 2400MHz while keeping the voltages at safe levels.

Read full article @ Madshrimps

The ultimate guide to Linux for Windows users

Please, breathe deeply. This is going to be super long. I've compiled the ultimate, most comprehensive guide to the Linux operating system for Windows users, newbies and fresh converts, including Linux history, purpose, major differences between Windows and Linux, Linux architecture, Linux distributions overview, Linux distribution components, desktop environments - KDE, Gnome, Unity, Cinnamon and others, Linux package managers - APT, YUM, Zypper and others, Linux command line, popular and most useful commands, filesystem layout, disk layout, special devices, how to find Linux, top distributions and reviews, where to start, Windows installation, Linux installation, dual-boot side-by-side configuration, how Linux works, boot process, runlevels, user setup, common desktop activities and overview, common software, common games, common tasks like Wireless, graphical drivers and desktop wallpaper setup examples, additional look & feel and customization guides, best Linux resources, tons of other examples and references, and more. I honestly hope you will find this most enjoyable and practical.

Read full article @ Dedoimedo

Verizon Wireless Nexus 7 2013

Both my wife and I have been putting our Nexus 7’s to a lot of use for a few years now. They have been used for reading, gaming, redditing, facebooking, finding dinner while traveling, as a GPS, countless other things, and most importantly they have both been used to end debates about who is right or wrong almost daily. Of all of the devices that we have they rarely get left behind when traveling or when we are out and about. We opted to wait when we saw the Nexus 7 2013 simply because replacing both devices can add up a little when you add in new cases, screen covers, ect. Just before heading out for our vacation this summer Verizon Wireless offered to send a new 2013 Nexus 7 with LTE over for us to toy with. Today I will talk a little about how it compares to our older Nexus 7 and how well it worked out while on vacation.

Read full article @ LanOC Reviews

Windows 8.1 Still Outperforms Linux With Latest Intel GPU Drivers

It's been a while since last comparing the performance of the Windows and Linux Intel Haswell OpenGL graphics drivers. Last year when we looked at the Intel "Haswell" HD Graphics 4600 performance the driver speeds under Ubuntu Linux and Windows 8.1 were almost neck-and-neck, but since then it seems the rate of performance optimizations and improvements within the Intel Windows driver has outpaced the open-source Intel Linux graphics driver.

Read full article @ Phoronix