Review Index Page 34

  • Nokia Lumia 925 Review

    The Lumia 925 is what the Lumia 920 should have been at launch: a device with some fantastic technology packed into a design that isn't a massive, heavy slab of plastic. If you're after a Windows Phone, this is the high-end device you should be looking at, as it's simply the best one out there.

    By Tim Schiesser on

    80
  • Gigabyte Brix Mini PC Review

    Gigabyte's pint-sized Brix systems come in four different processor configurations, from Celeron to Core i7 variants. More powerful than Intel's NUCs, the BRIX is Gigabyte's take on SFF systems, adding more ports and Wi-Fi out of the box.

    By Steven Walton on

    70
  • Lian Li D8000 Review: Double-Sized, Full HPTX Tower

    Lian Li's latest HPTX chassis is larger than any case we've seen before, supporting well over a dozen hard drives, which should make it a hit among case modders, folks with liquid cooling and other extreme setups as well as professional users such as photographers, video editors and animators.

    By Steven Walton on

    85
  • Lenovo Yoga 11S Ultrabook Review

    A lot has changed since late last year when I first looked at the Yoga 13. That system showed that there is a market for convertible notebooks and while the Yoga 11S is essentially a slimmed down version of the original, there needs to be more to it at this point to make it a true standout device.

    By Shawn Knight on

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  • Palit GeForce GTX 780 Super JetStream Review: Overclocking to reach Titan-like performance

    We've only previously seen water-cooled GTX 780 cards pushed this far. Palit's GTX 780 Super JetStream is no ordinary graphics card, however, as its massive heatsink and three large fans keep its core cool when under stress -- a solution that allows the card to outpace the Titan, Palit says.

    By Steven Walton on

    90
  • Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 Review

    Apple won't appreciate my perversion of their iPad Mini slogan, but the Lenovo ThinkPad 2 is every inch a ThinkPad. Polarizing as it may be in the consumer world, ThinkPads have long-donned an inky-black design with well-defined corners and edges. Love or hate it, the ThinkPad 2 tablet lives up to its namesake.

    By Rick Burgess on

    85
  • Ouya Gaming Console Review

    The Ouya sets the bar low with its $99 price tag and its initially-free games. There are some good games, but not many, and they're hard to discover. Yet the system is a fascinating experiment and can be fun for those for whom $99 isn't much to plunk down. Read on for some of the hits and misses along with a look at the game lineup.

    By Stephen Totilo on

  • Razer Blade 14" Gaming Laptop Hands On

    At a mere .66 inches thick and powerful enough to capably handle some of the most demanding games on the market, Razer's new 14-inch Blade might be the coolest piece of equipment I've ever played a PC game on. Crammed inside its sleek aluminium body is an Intel Core i7-4702HQ and Nvidia GeForce GTX 765M.

    By Mike Fahey on

  • Company of Heroes 2 Performance, Benchmarked

    Company of Heroes 2 takes advantage of DirectX 11 but also supports DirectX 9, and Relic's proprietary Essence 3.0 engine has a mess load of new features. Our tests comprises nearly 30 graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia paired with an Intel Core i7-3960X to remove any CPU bottlenecks.

    By Steven Walton on

  • SanDisk Extreme II SSD 240GB Review

    The SanDisk Extreme II series is aimed at enthusiasts, with initial models offering capacities of 120GB, 240GB and 480GB. The Extreme II features an in-house developed firmware, dumping the SandForce controller in favor of the new Marvell 88SS9187.

    By Steven Walton on

    85
  • Company of Heroes 2 Review

    Seven years is a long time between wars, though, and now that we have a sequel, people are expecting a lot from this game, the first time Company of Heroes has ditched Western Europe for the Eastern Front. So what's new?

    By Luke Plunkett on

  • Gainward GeForce GTX 760 Phantom Review

    Previous 700 series cards have been heavy hitters. Assuming Nvidia doesn't throw us a curve ball, we expect the GTX 760 to deliver performance comparable to that of the HD 7950 with a price tag that's closer to that of most HD 7870s -- a situation that would invariably benefit anyone shopping for a mid-range GPU.

    By Steven Walton on

    85
  • In Win D-Frame Red Case Review

    In Win's latest open-air chassis has to be their finest creation yet. The D-Frame is a limited edition aluminum pipe and tempered glass case that is unique and equally pricey. DIY'ers will be pleased nonetheless.

    By Steven Walton on

    95
  • Gunpoint Review

    Gunpoint may be a stealth game, but Conway (the main player character) isn't some Sam Fisher-wannabe, crouching in the shadows and garroting unsuspecting guards. His methods are a bit flashier, and a hell of a lot of fun. Players line up his leap by holding down the left mouse button, sort of like taking aim in Tanks or Worms. Release, and sproiiing!

    By Kirk Hamilton on

  • AMD A10-6800K and A4-4000 Richland APU Review

    Last year Trinity picked up where Llano left off, providing an affordable package with enough processing speed for most users with powerful GPU performance (for integrated graphics). Now, little over 6 months down the road, AMD is updating their product lineup with Richland, a minor refresh that focuses on clock speed improvements and better power management.

    By Steven Walton on

    80
  • Intel Haswell Makes Its Debut: Core i7-4770K Review

    So what is Haswell exactly? It is Intel's 4th generation Core architecture which will see a major refresh of the entire Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 product lineup in 2013. Today we'll be checking out the new HD 4600 Graphics which comes as part of the high-end Core i7-4770K desktop processor.

    By Steven Walton on

    80
  • Gainward GeForce GTX 770 Phantom Review

    Much like a GTX 680 on steroids, the GeForce GTX 770 features the fastest GDDR5 memory we have ever seen at 7GHz. Memory at that clock rate is good for a peak bandwidth of 224GB/s, 16% more than the GTX 680. Therefore, technically if you could overclock a GTX 680 well enough you could create a GTX 770.

    By Steven Walton on

    80
  • AMD A4-5000 Review: Kabini, the mainstream APU

    AMD are releasing their first Kabini based processors today with the launch of the A6-5200 and the A4-5000. Kabini will be AMD's first, and also the first ever, quad-core x86-based SoC. With the Kabini platform AMD is aiming to compete in the subnotebook, ultra-thin and small form factor markets.

    By Steven Walton on

    80
  • OCZ Vertex 450 SSD Review

    Meet the Vertex 450, OCZ's latest addition to the Vertex SSD series based on a slightly modified version of the Barefoot 3 controller that is designed to be more cost effective. So how does the new Vertex drive fare against the best SSDs in the market including OCZ's own?

    By Steven Walton on

    85
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Review

    The new GeForce GTX 780 is based on a similar, albeit slightly cut down version of the Titan GPU, managing to keep many of the features that make the $1,000 graphics card great, such as the 384-bit memory bus.

    By Steven Walton on

    85
  • Metro: Last Light Performance, Benchmarked

    Metro: Last Light follows its predecessor roots by using a heavily customized version of the 4A Engine. Boasting one of the most graphically advanced engines and visuals today, our focus will be on benchmarking almost 30 graphics cards and CPU performance.

    By Steven Walton on

  • Metro: Last Light Review

    At the heart of Metro: Last Light is the return of the mysterious "Dark Ones," some freaky-looking humanoid beings who possess psychic powers and terrify the human denizens of the Metro. Last Light assumes that players got the "bad ending" in Metro 2033 and took the option to blast the entire population of Dark Ones into oblivion. The subsequent discovery of a single surviving Dark One sets the plot of Last Light in motion.

    By Kirk Hamilton on

  • Gigabyte U2442F Ultrabook Review

    Without question the Gigabyte U2442F is cutting edge stuff when it comes to ultrabook performance. Armed with a 3rd-Gen Core i7 processor, plenty of memory, and a quality SSD, the U2442F is as capable as a high-end desktop.

    By Steven Walton on

    85
  • Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon Review

    'The game is stupid,' Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon creative director Dean Evans proudly proclaimed during a recent press event — not foolish pride, but pride in foolishness. The story unfolds through a series of 2D cutscenes that wouldn't be out-of-place in an NES-era adventure (well, except for the foul language and... other things). And when those scenes end, it's into a day-glo nightmare from the early days of MTV.

    By Mike Fahey on

  • Samsung Galaxy S4 Review

    If the Galaxy S III was Samsung's crowning achievement, the Galaxy S 4 is the first defense of the throne. Arriving on the heels of one rival's flagship, the Galaxy S 4 will prove whether Samsung is continuing its trend of advancement or becoming just as predictable as the old guard that it mocked. So naturally we must ask: just how good is the Samsung Galaxy S 4?

    By Andrew Kameka on

    90
  • AMD Radeon HD 7990 Review

    Although it's been over a year since AMD launched the Radeon HD 7970, we are just getting an official dual-GPU version. The Radeon HD 7990 takes a pair of 7970 GPUs with overclocked cores and memory, packing 8.2 TFLOPS computer power, 6GB GDDR5 and an upgraded PEX bridge to connect the two GPUs.

    By Steven Walton on

    85
  • Sapphire Edge VS8 Mini PC Review

    The idea of shrinking hardware hasn't been overlooked by manufacturers as several are now feature space-saving designs based on mobile hardware. Such is the case with Sapphire's new Edge VS8 mini-PC powered by AMD's A8 APU.

    By Shawn Knight on

    80
  • GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost & SLI Performance Review

    At $170, the GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost sits between the Radeon HD 7790 and the 7850. In terms of performance, we actually expect the GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost to be a lot faster than the GTX 650 Ti, even when it's based on the same GK106 architecture.

    By Steven Walton on

    80
  • LG Lucid 2 Smartphone Review

    The Lucid 2 sports 4G LTE, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, plenty of software additions courtesy of LG, and a favorable price for someone looking for a new Android smartphone. You may be surprised to learn how tall the Lucid 2 can stand against the rest of the mid-range pack.

    By Andrew Kameka on

    80
  • LG 29EA93 Review: Are Ultra Wide Monitors Next?

    The 29EA93 is LG's first entry into the nascent category of ultra-wide consumer displays. While the 29EA93 seems suitably equipped to watch movies with its expansive 21:9 aspect ratio, how does it fare against other types of computer use? Could it be a worthy replacement for your trusty dual-monitor setup?

    By Rick Burgess on

    90