Here today's reviews and articles, including Workstation Graphics: 14 FirePro And Quadro Cards, Western Digital My Net AC1300 Router, AMD’s Richland APUs – The A10-6800K and A10-6700 Reviewed, Western Digital SE 4TB Hard Drive Review (Single & RAID), and Addonics CipherUSB Review – Portable Encryption Made Easy



Workstation Graphics: 14 FirePro And Quadro Cards @ Tom's Hardware

We put 14 professional and seven gaming graphics cards from two generations through a number of workstation, general-purpose computing, and synthetic applications. By the end of our nearly 70 charts, you should know which board is right for your workload.

Read more: Workstation Graphics: 14 FirePro And Quadro Cards @ Tom's Hardware

Western Digital My Net AC1300 Router @ TestFreaks

When thinking of routers the names that come to mind are Netgear, Linksys, Asus, D-Link and Belkin. Today we will be looking at a relatively newcomer to the network world, a company know for storage more than anything else – Western Digital. Approximately one year ago Western Digital released their first line of routers, a series of 802.11n capable devices.

With the introduction of the 802.11ac standard, Western Digital has brought the My Net AC1300 to the market. This protocol is designed to transmit 450 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band and 1300 Mbps on the 5 GHz band providing wired speeds wirelessly. While this standard is not yet commonplace and hardware that takes advantage of these speeds are still scarce it will soon gain a foothold as Apple has released its latest MacBook Airs with 802.11ac capability. Western Digital also sells the My Net AC Bridge to provide these speeds to areas that are not hardwired such as entertainment centers.

Read more: Western Digital My Net AC1300 Router @ TestFreaks

BIOS Option Of The Week - PCI 2.1 Compliance @ Tech ARP

Since 1999, we have been developing the BIOS Optimization Guide, affectionately known as the BOG. From a meager beginning of a single page, it now covers over 440 BIOS options. As old BOG readers will know, we started offering two editions of the BOG since Revision 8.0 - a simplified edition and the complete edition.

In the simplified edition, the description of each BIOS option in this guide is condensed and written in a simplified format. This simplified edition is not a sampler or demo version of the complete BIOS Optimization Guide. It is merely a simplified version with all the essential points and minus the frills.

The complete edition, on the other hand, features both simplified descriptions as well as full details of each BIOS option. This allows you to quickly get the gist of what each BIOS option mean and delve deeper into the details if you wish to learn more about it.

Read more: BIOS Option Of The Week - PCI 2.1 Compliance @ Tech ARP

Corsair 900D Super Tower @ PureOverclock

Cases have come so far in so little time that it’s almost impossible to see every single one. They’ve transformed from being plain beige boxes to offering just about any shape and/or color your heart desires. They also come in a variety of sizes – from cases designed for Mini-ITX boards to those designed for E-ATX or even bigger. The case we’ll be looking at today fits firmly into the “E-ATX or bigger” category. You’re all familiar with the name Corsair – they’ve been around making high-end cases, peripherals, SSDs, RAM, and more for quite some time. Corsair just released their latest top-of-the-line case – the 900D – and we’ve got our hands on one to check out for you guys. Grab a drink and a snack and settle in – this case is loaded to the gills with goodies.

The 900D Super Tower is the latest offering in the Obsidian series lineup from Corsair. Here’s a little background info on the company

Read more: Corsair 900D Super Tower @ PureOverclock

GIGABYTE GTX 770 OC Windforce 3X Review @ Vortez

We've seen a couple of variants of the GTX 770 so far. The reference design with the TITAN-esque cooler running at reference speeds and a customed version with a factory overclock. Today, we take a look at the GIGABYTE version which also includes a factory overclock and a tweaked version of the excellent Windforce 3x cooler.

We are now very familiar with the Windforce cooler and know exactly how well it performs; having tested it on a couple of older NVIDIA graphics cards. However, the true potential of the cooling capabilities could never be realised because up until the advent of GPU BOOST 2.0, temperatures had little part to play except of course for keeping the GPU cool. Now however, the cooler a GPU runs, the more potential there is for the card to 'boost' its overclock, at least until the temperature threshold is reached. This should mean the card we have in our hands (with 450W of cooling power) should give us a mouthwatering boost clockspeed on the core which is actually already overclocked from the factory to a blistering 1137MHz (1189MHz BOOST) from a reference speed of 1046MHz (1085MHz BOOST). 100MHz+ for free? Yes please!

Read more: GIGABYTE GTX 770 OC Windforce 3X Review @ Vortez

Gigabyte Z87X UD4H Motherboard Review @ Ninjalane

Haswell was a large part of Computex this year and with every new processor launch we have an accompanying chipset that brings with it a slew of new features, compatibility and creative ways for motherboard makers to re-invent their product lineups. One of these reinventions has been the alignment of products for their intended target. For instance gamers and overclockers each have their own segmentation leaving mainstreamers with clear options to choose from.

In this review we will be looking at an excellent example of what a well rounded motherboard should be the Gigabyte Z87X UD4H. For those familiar with the Gigabyte line up you'll realize the UD4 is a mainstream motherboard designed for power users who want a little more from their system but don't need many of the other features included in the higher-end product offerings.

Read more: Gigabyte Z87X UD4H Motherboard Review @ Ninjalane

Corsair CX600M PSU Review @ Guru3D

We review the Corsair CX600M PSU today. This 600 Watt power supply is quite nice in features but even better in price. A product that is affordable, yet comes with the quality you can expect from a name like Corsair. Being the more 'regular' non CX model these power supplies ar, well not cheap, but a bit more affordable. Meanwhile it remains to be a quality and high performance and 80 Plus Bronze certified product. Yep, 80 Plus Bronze, semi-modular, and the fan doesn't really spin up beyond its minimum speed until around 50% load. How does that sound ?

And sure true, here at Guru3D.com we mostly review PSUs series that are a little more high-end and often at the top of the budget as we feel, a PSU is an important investment to make. You have no idea how many game crashes and BSODs originate from a cheapo PSU. The exception to the rule however is that the more affordable PSUs these days can be good quality for your money but you need to stick to a known brand, in this case Corsair. So the new PSU line is called CX Series with an M for Modular. The CX Series Modular power supply series right now offers four members in the following models 430W, 500W, 600W and 750W, respectively. For energy efficiency we notice 85% efficiency at 50% typical load. This makes the series a 80 Plus Bronze certified product, while not superb these days, it's definitely efficient enough for SOHO and gaming usage. According to Corsair, the CX Series Modular PSU will offer higher reliability, less noise and less heat than other power supplies in this mainstream segment of the PSU arena. You'll notice modular on the box, well that's partly true. It is a hybrid symbiosis of a couple of (de)attachable cables with a non-detachable ATX cable and CPU power cable mounted to the PSU. The SATA, 4-pin MOLEX and PCI Express cables are modular though.

Read more: Corsair CX600M PSU Review @ Guru3D

ASUS Z87-Plus Review @ OCC

Overclocking with the ASUS Z87-Plus board wasn't too difficult at all. Having a new chip with no known "max" OC was rather quick to find its limits with the board. As always, I try for my high hopes and attempted a 4.8GHz boot. That didn't happen; 4.7GHz however, at least posted and made it to Windows before shortly failing through a run of IBT. Wiggling some settings and setting the voltage up to 1.3V finally got me to a very sound and stable maximum overclock of 4.6GHz. Any bit more and I would quickly find it throttling under the stress of higher temperatures. Sure it is lower than the the other max OCs on the chart, but you must remember that this is a different sample than the others it is compared to; thus, the maximum OC it may ever get on any board, stable, may be this same 4.6GHz. This won't be known until the next board comes along, so don't feel the ASUS Z87-Plus isn't good enough just yet.

Read more: ASUS Z87-Plus Review @ OCC

Inno3D iChill GTX 760 Video Card Review @ Madshrimps

The iChill GTX 760 implementation from inno3D comes with a well-build cooling system with 3 fans and pre-overclocked from the factory and succeeds to come very close to the non-GHz Edition version of the Radeon HD 7970. Besides that, for added value we also get a nice cloth pad inside the box that we can use at LAN parties or at home along with a high-performance gaming mouse.

Read more: Inno3D iChill GTX 760 Video Card Review @ Madshrimps

AMD’s Richland APUs – The A10-6800K and A10-6700 Reviewed @ Futurelooks

The introduction of the original AMD FM1 APU (codenamed Llano) was an innovation because, for the first time, a CPU maker treated the on-die GPU as an important piece of the silicon. And over the last 3 years, AMD has continued to refine the APU design with improvements in every aspect from generation to generation. The new Richland series looks to continue this trend and represents the first drop-in updates to the current FM2 socketed Virgo Platform. Lets breakdown the new APU to see if an upgrade is warranted over the previous generation.

Read more: AMD’s Richland APUs – The A10-6800K and A10-6700 Reviewed @ Futurelooks

Western Digital SE 4TB Hard Drive Review (Single & RAID) @ Hardware Canucks

With ever increasing pressure being brought to bear on the Enterprise storage marketplace, even firmly entrenched manufacturers are being forced to innovate like never before. The new $295 SE 4TB shows that Western Digital up to the challenge and ready to take an even larger portion of the enterprise market share.


In previous generations most HDD manufacturers tended to take a ‘one size fits most’ approach to their entry level Enterprise clientele with a single model being expected to cover everyone’s needs. For Western Digital it was their Raid Edition (or RE) model. Last year, when the RED series was introduced they further split this category into two distinct groups: RAID and NAS.

The current generation continues this expansionist trend by changing from a single or even doubly category to a truly multilayered approach. Western Digitals’ new Datacenter / Enterprise lineup consists of a currently unannounced SSD alongside their XE HDD, followed by the ‘tier 2’ RE offering and the aforementioned SE. Supposedly, additional models filling out the lower price brackets will be announced in the coming months as well. All in their entire lineup will be one that offers a top-to-bottom solution for professional consumers.

Read more: Western Digital SE 4TB Hard Drive Review (Single & RAID) @ Hardware Canucks

Corsair Obsidian 350D Micro ATX Computer Case Review @ Benchmark Reviews

When Corsair introduced its Obsidian line in 2009 with the 800D it brought out a case that was beautiful, functional, and massive. In 2011 Corsair introduced the mid-tower Obsidian 650D it was still beautiful, functional, and just a bit too big for many enthusiasts. In 2013, Corsair introduced its first Micro-ATX case the 350D. The 350D keeps the beauty and functionality of its larger brethren but fits it into 17.7 x 17.3 case designed to contain a powerful multi-GPU system in a much smaller enclosure than many enthusiast have been accustomed to in the past. So let Benchmark Reviews walk you through the Corsair 350D and look at the new smaller case design.

Read more: Corsair Obsidian 350D Micro ATX Computer Case Review @ Benchmark Reviews

Addonics CipherUSB Review – Portable Encryption Made Easy @ Techgage

It doesn’t take a very deep search through my article history to know that I’m a big security nut. I live and breathe it for much of my job, given the sensitive data that I work with. These habits have followed me home, with the likes of encrypted drives, encrypted SSH tunnels, HTTPS protocols for all Web-based stuff. It’s not just paranoia anymore, of course… it’s pretty clear at this point (as Edward Snowden has proven) that “they” are listening – to you, to me, to everyone.

This digital, always-on and always-exposed world has led to a new push for security at more than just the major corporation level. Churches, community organizations, small businesses, and even individuals need to start taking more control over their digital fingerprints. However, anyone who has bothered with even the simple concept of PGP for his or her email knows what a pain it can be to truly live and interact with a secure environment.

Read more: Addonics CipherUSB Review – Portable Encryption Made Easy @ Techgage