Month: February 2016

Motherboards

ASUS Z170 ROG Maximus VIII Formula Motherboard Review

February 29, 2016 Joe Shields 4

In a change of pace from my previous reviews, today we will take a look at a high-end gaming board from ASUS, the Maximus VIII Formula. The Formula is pegged as the flagship gaming board in their product stack. Not only does it have gaming centric features, the design theme is also agnostic and will fit in perfect with any theme or color scheme. Missing are the colored logos, heatsinks, and shrouds, replaced with a basic black motherboard with grey/silver heatsinks and shrouds. A monochromatic look.

One of the unique features is the integration of their Aura software and a header on the board to control your external RGB LED lighting strips. The board also has its own RGB LED lighting (28 LEDs in total) controlled by the same software. Outside of that, there is an integrated waterblock to keep the VRMs cool. Let’s dig in and see what else the board has to offer!

Motherboards

ASRock Z170 OC Formula Motherboard Review

February 24, 2016 Joe Shields 16

In this review we will wrap up the “major” overclocking boards. We looked at the ASUS Maximus VIII Extreme and, more recently, the Gigabyte SOC Force. Both of which were pretty formidable motherboards in their own right. The last board is one of everyone’s favorites in the extreme overclocking community, the ASRock Z170 OC Formula. Like those mentioned above this board has, for generations, been noted by respected extreme overclockers as being one of the best for the job. Sadly, I won’t be using LN2 for this review, but we will beat on it none the less and come up with a good idea on how it stacks up anyway!

Motherboards

GIGABYTE Z170X SOC Force Motherboard Review

February 9, 2016 Joe Shields 0

It has been several weeks since we had an opportunity to review a Z170 board from our friends at GIGABYTE, but, I have to imagine the wait will be worth it. We (and by ‘we’ I mean Mattno5ss) previously reviewed a mid-range offering, the Z170X UD5 which turned out to be quite a good board. This time around, we get to focus on their flagship overclocking board, the venerable, Z170X SOC Force.

Reviews

Patriot Supersonic Magnum 2 USB 3.1 256GB Flash Drive Review

February 8, 2016 Austin Matthews 0

Following up Dino’s review of the Supersonic Rage 2 is a newer Supersonic flash drive from Patriot. Today we will be looking at the Supersonic Magnum 2, a USB 3.1 Gen 1 flash drive available in either 256GB or 512GB with blazing fast transfer speeds. This review is covering the 256GB flavor. Personally, I think it’s incredible knowing flash drives with this level of specifications exist. Let’s put this thing through the paces and see how it performs!

Memory

Mushkin Blackline 16GB DDR4-2400 CL15 Memory Kit Review

February 3, 2016 Bartosz Waluk 1

Recently we reviewed the Mushkin Redline 16GB DDR4-2800 memory kit. Today, we take a look at another Mushkin memory kit, this time from the Blackline family. This memory series is designed for gamers, one of the more demanding computer users. Even though at first the DDR4-2400 specification doesn’t look like anything special, I am certain we can overclock a bit if the Blackline is anything like the Redline kit we reviewed previously.

Cooling

Scythe Fuma Heatsink Review

February 2, 2016 Ed Hume 13

Scythe has released its entry into the world of tandem tower heatsinks: the Fuma. Scythe heatsinks all have Japanese names, and the Fuma is no exception: it means “wind demon” in Japanese. It is powered by two Slip Stream 120 PWM fans. Sounds promising, but unlike the seemingly unending series of 160+ mm towers, the Fuma is less than 150 mm tall. Is this heatsink a wind demon or a mere dust devil? Let’s find out!

Memory

Mushkin Redline 16GB DDR4-2800 CL15 Memory Kit Review

February 1, 2016 Bartosz Waluk 0

Following our review of the Mushkin STRIKER 480GB SSD, it’s time to present new memory kits from this enthusiast-oriented manufacturer. We saw the new Mushkin Redline and Blackline memory kits just a few weeks ago at CES, so they are pretty fresh products. In this review we will focus on the Redline 16GB DDR4-2800 CL15 memory kit. Stay tuned for a look at the Blackline series to come later in a future article.