Here a roundup of todays reviews and articles:

Noctua NH-U12S, NH-U14S and NH-D14 CPU Coolers Review
ADATA Premier Pro SP920 256GB Solid State Drive Review
AMD AM1 Review
Coolermaster HAF Stacker 935, 315R & 315F Modular Chassis Review
EVGA SuperNova 850 G2 Power Supply Review
Fractal ARC MINI R2 Computer Case Review
GeForce GTX Titan vs Radeon R9 290X
Hands-on review: Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme review
MSI A88XM-E35 Review
Nokia Lumia 930 Preview
NVIDIA F2P Bundle (2014) Review
NZXT H440 Silent Mid-tower Case Review
PC-BSD 10.0 Joule Review
ROCCAT Kone Pure Gaming Mouse
ROCCAT Siru Gaming Mousepad Review
Seasonic S12G 450 W
Tt eSPORTS Level 10 M Hybrid Gaming Mouse Review
Tt eSPORTS Saphira Gaming Mouse Review
What Role Do SSD Components Play
Windows Phone 8.1 Preview
XFX Radeon R9 290 Double Dissipation Video Card Review

Noctua NH-U12S, NH-U14S and NH-D14 CPU Coolers Review

Today DaveChaos takes a look at some Noctua CPU coolers, including the NH-U12S, NH-U14S and NH-D14.

Read full article @ HardwareHeaven.com

ADATA Premier Pro SP920 256GB Solid State Drive Review

In the world of solid state drives, there are a vast number of advantages to be seen and had over the older mechanical counterparts and aside from raw capacity and the consequent price per GB of storage, the SSD is bar far the superior option to opt for when upgrading or building your new system. On the face of it, solid state drive are all about pure speed and whilst they are able to hit the limits of what the SATA III interface can handle, there is a whole lot more to the humble SSD to what lies on the surface and the crib sheets that are laid beside them.

The behind the scenes operations that hard drives rely on are pretty set in concrete and whilst there are some minor differences in performance to be seen, the way in which data is read and written to the drive stays the same with the iconic spinning platters and a read / write head which flickers back and forth hundreds of times a second. Solid state drives as we know by now are much more different and the lack of moving parts as indicated in their name means that everything is electronically altered within the silicon chips that are laid out on the PCB. How this data is read and accessed though does vary and overall we find three types of NAND available; synchronous, asynchronous and toggle. Typically we see most drives on the market offering up asynchronous or toggle mode NAND and this on the basic level comes down to the price. As we know, if you want better and more consistent performance, then you’ll be expecting to pay that bit more and this is exactly the case with synchronous NAND. The performance levels that are on offer on paper may look vastly greater, but in the real world the differences in speed are a lot closer than expected – the real advantage comes in sustained performance. I will go into this all a little later on to explain how it all works.

Read full article @ eTeknix

AMD AM1 Review

AMD launched its low-cost AM1 platform last month and we must note that it was a rather unusual launch. Since it's AMD's entry level socketed platform, there was no hype and oddly enough AMD's NDA is still in effect, despite the fact that AM1 products have been available for weeks.

Since Fudzilla is a no-NDA zone, that does not concern us very much. According to our info the NDA will be lifted in a few days, so we'll finally get a chance to see loads of proper reviews next week.

Luckily we managed to get a bit more info from an early AM1 adopter and Fudzilla regular Andrea Sibaldi. Sibaldi decided to pick up an Athlon 5350 and an Asrock AM1B-ITX board, both of which are available in Italian retail.

Read full article @ Fudzilla

Coolermaster HAF Stacker 935, 315R & 315F Modular Chassis Review

When it comes to big chassis, we have products like the 900D, Xigamtek Elysium, Antec Nineteen Hundred and more, but they’re all little runts compared to what we have in the eTeknix office today. The Coolermaster HAF Stacker may not be the biggest chassis we’ve ever seen, but with just a simple screw driver it has the potential to be as big, bold and over the top as you like! A blend of full tower and mini-ITX chassis products that are modular beyond all belief, allowing you to bolt them together, link up cables, components, cooling and more between them to create one or more systems work together like never before.

The HAF Stacker is a beast, it is obviously a big case and with the epic size comes an equally epic price tag. The HAF 935 is a 2-in-1 boxed product, coming with the full tower and one of the mini-ITX modules (915F), this will set you back around £160. In addition to this you can buy the mini-ITX modules separate. We have the HAF 915F at our disposal today today which is an extra £68, but can also be bought for the same price in HAF 915R format, the difference being that the F has a front mounted PSU, the R is mounted in the back and we’ll explain why later. So in the eTeknix office we have the HAF 935 + 915R, that’s one full tower and two mini-ITX modules. Total retail price for this will be £228, which obviously puts the HAF Stacker out of the reach of your average consumer, but if it wasn’t immediately apparent that this is ultra-high-end enthusiast grade hardware, then you’ve clearly never heard of the HAF Stacker before.

Read full article @ eTeknix

EVGA SuperNova 850 G2 Power Supply Review

I don’t know….I’m out of ideas here. Since it is a PSU review and the world apparently thinks that ‘Star Trek’ and computers are somehow intertwined, maybe I could go that route. You know, maybe a whole Mr. Scott needing four days to repair some dilithium crystal issue he’s having. It would seem to fit the bill, but I found Sulu saying “Captain! It's the condiments bar. There's a problem with the Special Sauce. The dispenser is jammed. It will take days to repair. “ on SNL more entertaining. Speaking of Sulu, George Takei is hilarious. If you aren’t following him on Friendface (or whatever your social media choice is), you are missing out.

Our computers aren’t run on dilithium crystals, however, and George Takei’s interesting takes on the world may be powerful, but they won’t run a GPU. These days, we are still dependent on PSUs. Fortunately, individual component power consumption is going down, even as performance goes up. With these lower power consumption components comes a different need, which is cleaner, better regulated power. It stands to reason that when consumption and need goes down, so does tolerance. While an 850 watt PSU has all the power it takes to run an enthusiast SLI/Crossfire gaming rig, the quality of that power, the regulation and stability of the power supply will be vital to peak performance and longevity.

Read full article @ HiTech Legion

Fractal ARC MINI R2 Computer Case Review

Swedish case manufacturer Fractal Design, know for its stylish, high quality, yet affordable cases surprised friend and foe at the last CeBIT 2014 Messe. Their latest creation the Node 804, again a stunning looking and no frills design, might be one of the hot selling case products once it will hit the retail shelves; however till then we have to be happy with the current line up and review some of their more common looking enclosures. Today we review the micro ITX/ATX compatible ARC Mini R2, a mini sized tower case with tremendous storage and cooling capacity.

Read full article @ Madshrimps

GeForce GTX Titan vs Radeon R9 290X

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 GTX Titan and the R9 290X.

Read full article @ ocaholic

Hands-on review: Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme review

The rugged computing space is one met with little competition. Panasonic has long been the known commodity when it comes to field-ready laptops and tablets. But Dell looks to keep its rivals on their toes with the industry's first rugged convertible laptop, the Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme.This bulging behemoth of a laptop-tablet hybrid is designed for use in several high-impact fields, namely police work, emergency response and in the military. That's why Dell made sure that this Latitude meets several military specifications for field use – MIL-STD-810G, IEC 60529 (IP-65), MIL-STD-461F, and ANSI/ISA.12.12.01, if you're keeping score.

Read full article @ Techradar

MSI A88XM-E35 Review

Value and performance go hand-in-hand. Chip company AMD is having to play the value game in both CPU and GPU markets. There's nothing wrong with this strategy, of course, but it needs retail partners to be fully cognisant of the messaging. Take the latest 'Kaveri' APUs as an example. They work best when paired with a value-based motherboard, further strengthening AMD's bang-for-buck.

But manufacturers tend to seed press with deluxe boards that usually elicit the same reaction going along the lines of 'a cheaper version would be almost as good.' We've seen MSI and Gigabyte provide £80-plus boards that take some shine away from the overall proposition.

Read full article @ Hexus

Nokia Lumia 930 Preview

Nokia announced its new flagship smart phone today, but you'll be forgiven if it looks a little familiar: The Lumia 930 doesn't just look like a Lumia Icon, it quite clearly is a Lumia Icon, albeit one that will ship to markets around the world in the coming months. But a quick peek at the spec sheets for each phone reveal a few key differences.

Read full article @ WinSupersite

NVIDIA F2P Bundle (2014) Review

Heroes of Newerth requires investing a bit more time into each match as they can run from twenty minutes on up, and also has a steep learning curve for a new player. If you can climb that curve or have friends to help you, this is going to be a good game for someone looking for a more team-based and deeper game than Warface.

Read full article @ OCC

NZXT H440 Silent Mid-tower Case Review

NZXT is taking the idea of cable management even further with their new H440 case by hiding critical cable choke-points while providing plenty of cable routes as well as offering remarkable cooling and radiator support on a mid-tower frame.

Read full article @ Modders-Inc

PC-BSD 10.0 Joule Review

Let's step into the twilight zone, the curious world of UNIX: Here's a review of PC-BSD 10.0 Joule, a FreeBSD-based UNIX-like operating system with KDE desktop, covering installation setup and requirement, desktop overview, look & feel, networking, Samba access, package management & updates, applications, multimedia playback - MP3 and Flash, system management, system resources, and many problems like crashing applications, no printing to Samba, no suspend or hibernate, slow performance, and more. Enjoy.

Read full article @ Dedoimedo

ROCCAT Kone Pure Gaming Mouse

Everyone has their short list of preferred gaming mice for various reasons and we rarely step outside our comfort zone with these choices, which is why I was excited when Wes offered me the opportunity to take a look at a gaming mouse from ROCCAT. It was an opportunity to take a look at something different from a company we have heard encouraging things about as of late and try out a gaming mouse that offered nearly infinite customization. Join me as I take a look at the Kone Pure and see if its deserving of joining our personal short list.

Read full article @ LanOC Reviews

ROCCAT Siru Gaming Mousepad Review

Optical and laser mice will work fine on just about any smooth surface they encounter. So what is the point of a mousepad? To answer that question we would need a science lesson so we will sum it up with one word: Friction. Everyone has their own preference and ROCCAT has many different gaming surfaces to cater to those needs. Today, Benchmark Reviews will be testing the ROCCAT Siru Pitch Black Desk Fitting Gaming Mousepad model# ROC-13-070. The Siru mousepad is unlike any mousepad I have seen before, it is a high speed wafer thin surface and is truly non-slip thanks to an innovative backing surface. Read on to find out more.

Read full article @ Benchmark Reviews

Seasonic S12G 450 W

Seasonic is one of the best PSU OEMs and has lately been trying to improve its presence in the mainstream and lower-end segments by releasing affordable products. Today, we will evaluate the S12G 450 W which is essentially a G series PSU without modular cables.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

Tt eSPORTS Level 10 M Hybrid Gaming Mouse Review

Gaming mice may be a rather new addition to PC peripherals (always compared to others) but that hasn't really stopped manufacturers from developing and releasing a huge number of models up until today from basic ones aimed at casual users and up to blazing fast and extremely accurate ones designed primarily for serious gamers and professionals. As mentioned in previous reviews however there aren't that many feature-rich models currently in the market that also combine blazing fast speeds with wireless connectivity and although i have to admit that i was never into using wireless keyboards and mice (mainly due to signal issues in the past) most people i know do. Tt eSPORTS is also rather new in this industry but in the short period they've been around they have released more gaming mice models than any other manufacturer to date and so they naturally possess a great deal of knowledge involving the development of such peripherals (they also know what sells). Today on our test bench we have a gaming peripheral that we never really thought they'd develop and we are talking about no other than their latest achievement the Level 10M Wireless Gaming Mouse.

Read full article @ NikKTech

Tt eSPORTS Saphira Gaming Mouse Review

Many people might know who White Ra is, or maybe they don’t and have just heard the name before. He has been a part of the PC gaming scene for some time. White Ra has been an important gamer in the Starcraft scene in the Ukraine. He has also been one of the main people to work with the Tt eSPORTS product line and has had some heavy influence in product design and features. Today we will be reviewing the Tt eSPORTS Saphira Gaming Mouse which has been designed and developed in conjunction with the one and only Aleksey “White Ra” Krupnyk. The Tt eSPORTS Saphira Gaming Mouse is designed for RTS/FPS gaming in mind.

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

What Role Do SSD Components Play

Although most parts are consistent in all SSDs (PCB, controller, memory, interface), we will describe that which the consumer is most likely to see, the notebook SSD. Originally available in a thickness of 9.5mm, today’s notebook SSDs are typically only 7mm thick to allow for ultra book installations and may include a ‘rubber spacer’ to allow it to fit notebooks that require that 9.5cm width.

Read full article @ The SSD Review

Windows Phone 8.1 Preview

Microsoft announced Windows Phone 8.1 during the keynote address on the opening day of Build 2014, as expected. Despite the version number, Windows Phone 8.1 is a major update to the world's most personal smart phone platform, as Microsoft calls it, adding deeply integrated voice interaction, a new Action Center, and many other features.

Read full article @ WinSupersite

XFX Radeon R9 290 Double Dissipation Video Card Review

Today we will be reviewing the XFX Double Dissipation Radeon R9 290 4GB graphics card that is sold for $439.99 shipped with a Limited Lifetime Warranty if you register within 30 days of purchase. It is powered by a single 28nm AMD Hawaii GPU that has 2,560 stream processors running at 947MHz and the 4GB of GDDR5 memory on a 512-bit wide bus that is clocked at 1250MHz (5000MHz effective). Read on to see how this card performs!

Read full article @ Legit Reviews