Here a roundup of today's reviews with 20 new articles, including Xeon E5-2600 V2: 12-core Ivy Bridge EP, ASUS PCE-AC66 Wi-Fi AC1750 PCIe Wireless Adapter Review, Apple TV Review, Alienware 18 Gaming Notebook Review, and Intel Iris Pro Linux Performance Doubles With Driver Upgrades



Intel's Xeon E5-2600 V2: 12-core Ivy Bridge EP for Servers @ Anandtech

The core architecture inside the latest Xeon is typically a step behind what you find inside the latest desktop and notebook chips. A longer and more thorough validation is one reason, but there is more. The high-end model of the Xeon E5-2600 V2 or Ivy Bridge EP is, aside from the core architecture, completely different from the Ivy-bridge i7-3xxx that was launched in the spring of last year. With twelve cores, two integrated memory controllers, no GPU and a 30MB L3 cache, it's the big brother of the recently reviewed Ivy-bridge E (Core i7 4960x). What this processor brings to the server world is the subject of our review.

Read more: Intel's Xeon E5-2600 V2: 12-core Ivy Bridge EP for Servers @ Anandtech

Sapphire Radeon HD7730 1GB GDDR5 Video Card Review @ Bigbruin.com

Sapphire is a manufacturer of a variety of computer components, but I would guess that people probably associate them most with Radeon HD graphics cards. We have covered quite a few of their cards dating back to when we first met during the HD3000 generation, and we are happy to be taking a look at one of their latest cards today.

Read more: Sapphire Radeon HD7730 1GB GDDR5 Video Card Review @ Bigbruin.com

Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 2GB GHz Edition Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews

Let me start off by saying that I had a bad experience with an ATI based video card many years ago. I made the switch to NVIDIA and never thought about giving ATI/AMD another chance. When I was offered the Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 2GB GHz Edition video card for review, I was apprehensive. I have heard that the AMD Radeon HD graphics cards had become much more stable and that the more well-known manufacturers had increased the quality of the components from when I last tried them. Could my mind be changed to support AMD Radeon cards after my bad experience years ago? Read on to find out!

Read more: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 2GB GHz Edition Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews

ASUS PCE-AC66 Wi-Fi AC1750 PCIe Wireless Adapter Review @ Benchmark Reviews

The ASUS PCE-AC66 802.11ac wireless PCIe adapter is currently the only wireless adapter I know of, that allows you to experience the wonders of 3-Stream IEEE 802.11ac Wi-Fi. It wont be the last, for sure, because the gains in wireless throughput are too good to pass up. There are several significant changes in the new 802.11ac standard, and upping the maximum allowable number of spatial streams is one of them. Theoretically, eight individual streams are supported by 802.11ac, but the new chips from Broadcom top out at three streams on a single IC. Thats enough to push 1.3Gbps across the airwaves on the 5GHz Wi-Fi band, which is probably where the consumer devices will stay. There are several wireless adapters on the market that are capable of handling two streams, but right now the PCE-AC66 is alone at the top of the 802.11ac heap, with three streams and the data rates to match.

Read more: ASUS PCE-AC66 Wi-Fi AC1750 PCIe Wireless Adapter Review @ Benchmark Reviews

Crucial Ballistix Sport XT DDR3-1866 16GB Memory Kit Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Crucial has recently added a new line to their Ballistix Series of enthusiast memory. The Ballistix Sport XT is part of Ballistix Sport series and Crucial has aimed this kits specifically at gamers. Crucial has improved the heat spreader by making it larger, which gives it more surface area for better heat dissipation. Sport XT modules run at speeds all the way up to 1866 MHz and are available in 4GB and 8GB densities. Today we are going to be taking a look at the BLS4K4G3D18ADS3 kit, which is a 16 GB (4 GB) kit that runs at 1866 MHz with timings of 10-10-10-30 at 1.5v. Let's put this memory to the test and see it is worth getting for your next build!

Read more: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT DDR3-1866 16GB Memory Kit Review @ ThinkComputers.org

MyKronoz ZeBracelet Review @ TechReviewSource.com

Smartwatches have become extremely popular as rumors of an Apple iWatch are out there and Samsung recently released their smartwatch. This ZeBracelet smartwatch from MyKronoz looks to get in on the game with this Bluetooth model, but does it have enough features to compete?

Read more: MyKronoz ZeBracelet Review @ TechReviewSource.com

Apple TV Review @ Hardware Secrets

The Apple TV is not actually a TV: it is an "entertainment center" that allows you to access digital content in your actual TV. It can access online services such as Youtube, Netflix, and others, as well as access the iTunes store and content shared by a computer running iTunes on your local network. Let's see what it can do.

Read more: Apple TV Review @ Hardware Secrets

Raijintek Themis @ techPowerUp

Raijintek's Themis CPU cooler is muscling in on the competition in the budget sector. Featuring three 8 mm heatpipes, fifty-four aluminum fins, and a single 120x25 mm fan, it has some nice specs for a traditional tower-style CPU cooler, but does it have what it takes to become the new budget king?

Read more: Raijintek Themis @ techPowerUp

Hands and Eyes On The Oculus Rift Virtual Reality System @ HotHardware

A year ago at PAX Prime 2012, the Oculus Rift was a fusion of electronics, barely more than an idea and literally held together with duct tape. Even then it delivered an impressive demo running a VR-optimized, playable version Id Software's Doom 3. What a difference a year makes. This year at PAX Prime 2013, Oculus VR had an entire booth and a dozen stations for press and fans to check out the latest generation of the Oculus Rift technology. And clearly enthusiasm and excitement for the Oculus Rift is exploding. The line to try them was densely packed for the entirety of the show. The tape is gone and the Oculus Rift looks much closer to a final, polished product. It's sporting a better screen than its predecessor and now offers a full 1080p VR experience, but otherwise what's under the hood is still likely to remain unchanged. "This still isn't the final hardware of course, but we're getting much closer," Nate Mitchell, Oculus VR's VP of Product (and my Oculus Rift tour guide) explains...

Read more: Hands and Eyes On The Oculus Rift Virtual Reality System @ HotHardware

OpenPandora - Gaming and more @ Dedoimedo

Here's the third long, thorough review of OpenPandora gaming micro-computer, covering another, successful firmware update process, hardware quality, battery life, overview of the MiniMenu interface, many games like Little Big Adventure, Battle For Wesnoth, OpenTTD, Duke Nukem, ZOD Engine, Gravity, Cannonball, and many others, some problems, overall look & feel, suggestions, and more. Enjoy.

Read more: OpenPandora - Gaming and more @ Dedoimedo

Alienware 18 Gaming Notebook Review @ Anandtech

Alienware's deluxe model benefits the most from the refresh.    

Read more: Alienware 18 Gaming Notebook Review @ Anandtech

ASUS GTX 670 DirectCU II OC Mini @ Bjorn3D

ASUS GTX 670 DirectCU II Mini Graphics Card After the 680 card launched there was the 670 and the line carried on, then we had heard word of a special Mini card and even a few sneak peeks here and there but I never honestly thought it would materialize.

Read more: ASUS GTX 670 DirectCU II OC Mini @ Bjorn3D

MSI GTX 780 Lightning Review @ Hardware Canucks

Some may be wondering why it took this long for MSI to launch the GTX 780 Lightning considering we’re now some four months after NVIDIA announced the reference card. Truth be told, we haven’t seen a single Lightning generation that was introduced close to a technology’s original unveiling. This is simply because MSI pays minute attention to their flagships by specifically binning cores and engineering the best possible cooling / PWM solution. Al of this takes a significant amount of time. We also can’t forget that the GTX 780 still has a good amount of shelf life left so it’s not like the Lightning is being rolled out during its twilight days.

One interesting aspect of this card is MSI’s claim to have tested each unit for overclocking headroom. Now, they don’t make any guarantees, nor is an average achievable clock speed talked about in their documentation but supposedly burn-in routines are applied to every card before shipping so that should give some peace of mind for overclockers.

Read more: MSI GTX 780 Lightning Review @ Hardware Canucks

Zalman Reserator 3 Max watercooling setup @ Rbmods

With todays high performing cpu´s you need some decent cooling to keep your rig stable. There are a few good watercooling manufacturers on the market at this point, but as of yet Zalman has not had many watercooling setups in the last few years. Today though this changes; we will be looking at the Reserator 3 Max. It promises to be an easy to install high performance system, lets find out how well it performs.

Read more: Zalman Reserator 3 Max watercooling setup @ Rbmods

Kingston HyperX Predator 16GB DDR3-2133 Kit Review @ OCIA.net

The HyperX Predator series is one of Kingston's enthusiast level memory kits offering speeds from 1866MHz up to 2666MHz, with 2800MHz awaiting certification. Kits are available in either 8GB or 16GB capacity with several different XMP profiles and CAS levels and from 1.5V to 1.65V voltage requirements. All Kingston memory is 100% tested and backed by their lifetime warranty.

Read more: Kingston HyperX Predator 16GB DDR3-2133 Kit Review @ OCIA.net

Tt eSPORTS Console One Stereo Gaming Headset Review @ HardwareHeaven.com

Today we will be taking a look at Tt eSports Console One headset. As its name suggests the Console One is aimed at not just the PC gaming market but also the console arena as well. Supporting both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, as well as the PC, the Console One is an all-round gaming stereo headset based on the Shock design.

Read more: Tt eSPORTS Console One Stereo Gaming Headset Review @ HardwareHeaven.com

Intel Iris Pro Linux Performance Doubles With Driver Upgrades @ Phoronix

Last week I ran a System76 Galago UltraPro Preview with some benchmark results and a special article looking at the Intel Iris Pro 5200, the Haswell graphics cores with 128MB of dedicated video memory stacked onto the die itself. Those tests were done remotely but now with having a System76 Galago UltraPro ultrabook review sample in the labs, here are some fresh tests looking at the very latest state of Haswell Iris Pro graphics under Linux. The benchmarks cover the state of Ubuntu 13.04 going through the latest open-source Linux graphics driver code with the yet-to-be-released Mesa 9.3 and the Linux 3.12 kernel.

The Galago UltraPro review sample that System76 sent over employs an Intel Core i7 4750HQ CPU with Iris Pro 5200 (Crystal Well) graphics, 8GB of DDR3 system memory, and a 120GB Intel SSD. While Phoronix benchmarks have shown the Intel Haswell performance is dramatically better if using the latest packages over what's offered in Ubuntu 13.04 and other distributions from earlier in H1'2013, System76 is shipping a relatively stock Ubuntu 13.04 x86_64 configuration with the Linux 3.8 kernel, GCC 4.7, and Mesa 9.1.4.

Read more: Intel Iris Pro Linux Performance Doubles With Driver Upgrades @ Phoronix

Arma 3 Benchmarked: GPU & CPU Performance

Bohemia Interactive has been around for more than a decade, earning awards including "Best PC Game Developer of the Year" for its 2001 PC exclusive Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, but you're probably most familiar with the developer through its Arma franchise, which has just received its third major entry.

Like most of its previous releases, Bohemia Interactive is offering Arma 3 exclusively for PC, and the studio has no doubt been working tirelessly to ensure a smooth launch. As part of its development process, the company held lengthy alpha and beta phases that ran for more than six months starting back in March.

Read more: Arma 3 Benchmarked: GPU & CPU Performance

Thecus N2560 Review @ Hexus

The Thecus N2560 is a dual-bay NAS aimed at the home multimedia user. Heading to stores in the next couple of weeks, the compact network storage solution touts "improved performance along with cutting-edge features," making it worthy of consideration for consumers looking to consolidate their media library in one central location.

Right from the off, it's clear that Thecus's design isn't intended for business environments or experienced network administrators. The white, 166mm x 114mm x 210mm chassis is a departure from the company's staid black boxes, and though NAS aesthetics are unlikely to be a key requirement for would-be buyers, a bit of swagger won't do any harm. Pricing, meanwhile, is set at £270, though Thecus isn't expecting UK availability until November at the earliest.

Read more: Thecus N2560 Review @ Hexus

Antec SP1 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker Review @ FunkyKit

The SP1 shares a striking similarity to those gold bars you see in movies all the time. This isn't a bar of gold, but it's probably the next best thing when it comes to portable audio hardware. Portable speakers are nothing new; the first one I believe I saw was the Sansa Shaker with which you could change tracks on your mp3 player by simply...what else? Shaking it! Antec doesn't recommend shaking the SP1, but you can still have a lot of fun regardless.

As the title suggests, you don't have to worry about a pesky bundle of cable or tripping over one. We're instead going to err on the side of bluetooth for easy use with your choice of iPod touch, iPad, smart phone, or even your computer if you happen to have a bluetooth adapter. If you don't already have one, they're easy to find and well worth the cost.

Read more: Antec SP1 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker Review @ FunkyKit