Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

Amazon Echo Spot Review
AOC G2590PX 24.5in 144Hz Gaming Monitor Review
ASUS ROG Strix Flare Review
Be quiet! Silent Loop 360mm AIO Liquid CPU Cooler Review
Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 Pure Edition Hi-Resolution PCIe Gaming Sound Card Review
In Win 305 Computer Case Review
Intel Core i7 8086K Review
Noctua NH-U14S TR4-SP3 AMD Threadripper CPU Cooler Review
Stormforce Prism GTX 1080Ti Review
Things Intel Needs to Fix

Amazon Echo Spot Review

The Echo Spot is undeniably a cool product, but without YouTube it's hard to justify over a regular Echo, except for people with security cameras or those wanting the world's best alarm clock.

When the first-generation Echo was announced in 2014, I — and a lot of other people, I imagine — thought it was an overly ambitious device. It was hard to imagine AI being advanced enough that you could interact with a computer using only your voice. Cut to 2018 though and smartspeakers have not only proliferated, but come full circle, to the point that touchscreens are being added to Echo line to enhance their voice functionality, instead of the other way around.

Read full article @ Apple Insider

AOC G2590PX 24.5in 144Hz Gaming Monitor Review

If you're looking to get into high refresh-rate gaming, this AOC could be just the thing. There are some promising specifications elsewhere, too. Although 1,000:1 contrast is a bit pedestrian, 400cd/m2 brightness is good for TN. You also get a four-port USB 3.0 hub built in, plus stereo 2W speakers. The video connections are reasonably extensive, too, with a pair of HDMI 1.4 ports, DisplayPort 1.2, and VGA for legacy devices.

There’s tilt, swivel and height adjustment available, plus the ability to pivot into portrait mode. With a street price under £220, this isn’t quite a budget monitor, but you do get a lot of gaming features for your money, at least on paper. Read on to find out if the practice lives up to the theory.

Read full article @ KitGuru

ASUS ROG Strix Flare Review

The ROG Strix Flare is also sporting genuine Cherry MX switches of which there are four options to choose from. There is either the MX Black, Blue, Brown or RED, each offering their own characteristics. The ROG STRIX Flare also has dedicated media keys as well as a USB pass-through and much more.

Read full article @ Vortez

Be quiet! Silent Loop 360mm AIO Liquid CPU Cooler Review

The Silent Loop 360mm is the flagship AIO liquid CPU cooler by be quiet! and just like its smaller siblings it also combines excellent build quality with very good cooling efficiency.

All-in-one liquid CPU cooling systems may have been around for roughly 8 years now but just like CPU air coolers they haven't really changed/evolved that much. Sure through the years manufacturers have used larger and higher fin density radiators, stronger and more durable pumps, more flexible tubes, improved cold plates/waterblocks, faster fans and even RGB lighting but the basic three-part configuration remains the same. Of course just like in the case of CPU air coolers these changes/improvements have effectively pushed the cooling efficiency of AIO models to a level where some of them can even compete with complete water cooling kits. The latest Silent Loop 360mm AIO Liquid CPU Cooler by our good friends over at be quiet! was released with that exact purpose in mind and today we have it on our test bench.

be quiet! is a premium brand of power supplies, PC cases and cooling solutions for desktop PCs. Consistently the leader in the German PC power supply market since 2007*, be quiet! is one of the most successful PSU brands in Europe. This enduring success is largely thanks to the typical German passion for quality and precision. All product conception, design and quality control is performed in Germany. German expertise is evident the moment an idea is born and throughout the entire design and production process. be quiet! never releases a product until it meets the highest expectations. All materials used – from the smallest screws to the metals in the cases – are tested to rigorous standards. That is why be quiet! power supplies, PC cases, CPU coolers and case fans are among the most silent, powerful and reliable on the market. Innovative engineering concepts coupled with an uncompromising choice of premium materials and world-class manufacturing quality make be quiet! second to none when it comes to noise reduction. With over ten years of experience, be quiet! are truly the quietness experts.

Read full article @ NikKTech

Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 Pure Edition Hi-Resolution PCIe Gaming Sound Card Review

After finalizing the hardware installation of the the AE-5 Pure Edition card to our test system, we did proceed further with the Sound Blaster Connect 2 installer, which did also contain the necessary drivers; in order to have the Aurora RGB setup functional, we also have to supply extra power via Molex., After adjusting the EQ with our preferences, together with the BlasterX Acoustic Engine settings, we did start the listening experience by connecting the SteelSeries Arctis Pro headset and watched various movies and TV shows. The audio output was clear, with plenty of bass and clear highs and loud enough as well after modifying the amplification, thanks to the Xamp build. We also ran multiple rounds of Quake Champions and the sound of the weapons was a joy to listen to and at the same time we were able to easily pinpoint where the enemy was coming from.

Read full article @ Mad Shrimps

In Win 305 Computer Case Review

The In Win 305 is a sleek and well built computer case made out of thick sheet metal and tempered glass.

The other day, I was talking to my colleague about cars. He said he really wanted to buy a 2008 Acura TSX with manual transmission. I was quite surprised, since I knew he drove a manual Honda Accord with K24 engine. If he really wanted a car just to enjoy the driving experience, why not considered buying a totally different car? You know, the 2004 to 2008 model years Acura TSX with a manual transmission was equipped with a K24 engine as well. In my opinion, the two cars are really similar. The TSX is only a little bit more exciting than the Accord thanks to a different chassis. However, that was the “a little bit” of extra excitement really made my friend wanted to own a TSX. I think it is the same thing for us when we decide to buy a new computer case. It is neither because our old computer case is obsolete, nor the new case is dramatically different from our old one. The reason we want that new case may simply because it is just a little bit more exciting, and we believe the new product can make us really happy. However, as the competition in the computer case market is becoming more and more intense, it seems all new products are pretty exciting nowadays. It is hard to find a computer case that can stand out. For today’s review unit, the In Win 305, is it an exciting product that can draw customers’ attention, or it is just another run-of-the-mill computer case? Let us read on and find out!

Read full article @ APH Networks

Intel Core i7 8086K Review

Last week, at Computex in Taipei, Intel introduced the Core i7 8086K Anniversary Edition processor to celebrate the very first introduction of the so-called x86 architecture, the Intel 8086, exactly 40 years ago. The new Limited Edition processor is the first Intel CPU with an official clock frequency of 5 GHz. That is very promising

Processors speak a certain language, the microarchitecture in jargon. With smartphone chips this is the ARM architecture while Intel and AMD PC processors are based on the x86 architecture that was created 40 years ago. Of course, during these years, the x86 architecture has been extended to include all kinds of bells and whistles, and today's processors, which are made up of billions of transistors, no longer resemble the 1978 Intel 8086 chip. It consisted of about 29,000 mini switches!

Read full article @ Hardware.Info

Noctua NH-U14S TR4-SP3 AMD Threadripper CPU Cooler Review

We’ve already reviewed two coolers from Noctua AMD Threadripper series so it’s time on the last one, the most powerful and the largest, NH-U14S TR4-SP3.

Every Noctua cooler is designed in a different size so all users can pick the right one for their PC and other needs. The largest tower coolers with 140mm fans like the NH-U14S won’t fit into every typical ATX case but many enthusiasts are prepared for that and large enough casing is not the issue when they want the best cooling for their HEDT CPU.

We already know how other Noctua TR4 coolers perform so let’s focus on the NH-U14S TR4-SP3 as it’s really interesting product.

Read full article @ FunkyKit

Stormforce Prism GTX 1080Ti Review

Those with deep pockets often feel the urge to splash a large amount of cash on something particularly special; the Stormforce Prism deserves every letter of that definition, with a GTX 1080Ti providing the graphics horsepower and an AMD Ryzen ThreadRipper 1950x CPU to coordinate everything.

Read full article @ Vortez

Things Intel Needs to Fix

As the market leader and long time dominant force in the CPU space, Intel's been able to get away with a lot and this is partly because the competition has allowed them to. In this column we're looking at possible improvements from the consumers' perspective and specific to Intel's personal computing side of the business.

Read full article @ TechSpot