Reviewed Products with Top Scores Page 6

  • The Best CPU for the Money: Intel Core i3-6100 Skylake Tested

    The FX-8320E has been AMD's go-to option for budget quad-core computing without integrated graphics for a few months now. But the landscape has shifted on Intel's side with the arrival of its new Skylake-based Core i3 and Pentium processors. After being disappointed in August by the marginal performance between Skylake and Haswell Core i7s, we're interested in seeing how the i3-6100 stacks up against the older i3-4360, as well as the i5-4430 and the overclocked FX-8320E.
    By Steven Walton on
    90
  • Apple iPhone 6s Plus Review

    As with previous "s" releases, the iPhone 6s Plus is defined by a single feature: 3D Touch, which is best described as right-click for your iPhone. The iPhone 6S Plus also features an upgraded 12-megapixel iSight camera with 4K recording and a powerful new A9 processor that's up to 70 percent faster than the one it replaces.
    By Shawn Knight on
    85
  • Motorola Moto X Style / Pure Review

    The Moto X Style packs a 5.7-inch 1440p display and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 808 SoC, 3 GB of RAM and a 3,000 mAh battery. Familiar features like Moto Display and always-on voice commands are present, plus a much better camera than last year's model with a 21-megapixel sensor and f/2.0 lens. All of this in a sub-$400 package.
    By Tim Schiesser on
    85
  • Silverstone Raven RVZ02 Mini-ITX Case Review

    Silverstone is back with a new compact gaming chassis. The Raven RVZ02 is 15% smaller than its predecessor while still supporting graphics cards up to 13" long. Silverstone believes that the RVZ02 is one of the easiest compact Mini-ITX cases to build a gaming system in and we'll be putting that claim to the test.
    By Steven Walton on
    90
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 Active Review

    For the most part, the S6 Active is a clone of the Galaxy S6 featuring the same 5.1-inch 1440p display, Exynos 7420 SoC inside, and 16-megapixel optically stabilized camera. But where they differ is in design. The S6 Active is better suited to survive drops, harsh conditions and liquids. The Active also features a considerably larger battery, which promises to deliver far better battery life than the standard S6.
    By Tim Schiesser on
    90
  • Lenovo ThinkPad T450s Laptop Review

    The Thinkpad T450s is Lenovo's latest addition to the legendary Thinkpad T series. This update brings Broadwell and several other refinements, but most notably a much needed trackpad redesign. An ultrabook aimed squarely at professionals, the T450s carefully balances portability, power and features in a semi-rugged 3.5 pound package.
    By Rick Burgess on
    85
  • Windows 10 Review

    Windows 10 is the best Windows you can run today. This alone should make it a big win, not to mention the fact that it's "free." However I don't think Windows 10 is there yet. Can Windows 10 bring seamless updates that one or two years from now will make it the best, most polished desktop OS available, and still be called Windows 10? Microsoft must prove itself under this new direction.
    By Julio Franco on
    85
  • LG G4 Review

    Every year, LG manages to impress me in one way or another with their new flagship Android smartphone. Whereas past models brought a near bezel-free design, great battery life, a crisp 1440p display and a laser-assisted autofocus system, this year LG has mostly focused on improving various aspects of its hardware, like the camera and display. It's an incremental update for sure but the results might prove impressive once again.
    By Tim Schiesser on
    85
  • The Best Wireless Gaming Headset

    The magnitude of gaming headsets out there is bewildering. If you're in the market for a wireless headset though, the dizzying array of options dwindles to fewer than a dozen choices. I decided to chronicle my hunt for the perfect wireless gaming headset. I hope you find the resulting comparison useful.
    By Rick Burgess on
  • AMD Radeon R9 Fury X Review

    On the heels of delivering its latest round of rebadges with the Radeon 300 series, AMD has launched what may be its most hyped product of 2015. The R9 Fury X employs the GCN 1.2 architecture as the R9 380 but doubles the SPU count, and touts a massive memory bandwidth of 512GB/s thanks to an exciting new memory technology known as HBM.
    By Steven Walton on
    85
  • Synology DiskStation DS1515 Review

    The DiskStation DS1515 is aimed at home users as well as small businesses. Out of the box this NAS can handle five 3.5" hard drives, giving it a maximum capacity of 40TB using the latest 8TB drives, while the addition of two DX513 expansion units boosts capacity to a whopping 120TB.
    By Steven Walton on
    90
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Ti Review

    The new GeForce GTX 980 Ti is still targeting 4K gaming and with 6GB of memory onboard it's still overkill but without excess. We expect the GTX 980 Ti to be a processing powerhorse that rivals the more expensive Titan X but for $350 off the sticker price.
    By Steven Walton on
    90
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 & S6 Edge Review

    The launch of the Galaxy S6 is one of the most important for Samsung in a long time, and this time around there's not just one flagship, but two: the company has released a curved-display Edge variant. Both come with a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED display with a top-end 1440p resolution, a brand new Exynos 7 Octa 7420 SoC, and a 16-megapixel optically stabilized camera. Unlike with the past three generations of Galaxy flagships, there's no Qualcomm model in sight.
    By Tim Schiesser on
  • Asrock X99E-ITX/ac Mini-ITX Motherboard Review

    Asrock doesn't mind taking chances with design and proof of this is the X99E-ITX/ac, the world's first and only Mini-ITX X99 motherboard and the first ever of its kind to support an Intel Extreme-series chipset. Though we were skeptical at first, it delivers the performance of a full-sized EATX X99 board in a 170mm x 170mm package that still manages to carry enthusiast trappings from Wi-Fi & Bluetooth to SATA Express & M.2 connectivity.
    By Steven Walton on
    90
  • Samsung SM951 PCIe SSD 512GB Review

    If Samsung's claims are true then the lack of NVMe support shouldn't be too devastating for the SM951 as read speeds are said to reach 2150MB/s and 1500MB/s for writes, which should give the SM951 an advantage in write tests over the Intel SSD 750 1.2TB.
    By Steven Walton on
    90
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan X Review

    The GeForce Titan X is a processing powerhorse, with its GM200 chip carrying 6 graphics processing clusters, 24 streaming multiprocessors with 3072 CUDA cores. Combined with six 64-bit memory controllers for a total 12GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 7GHz, that's 50% more cores and memory bandwidth than today's single-GPU king, the GeForce GTX 980. Needless to say, we're eager to see what the new Titan X is capable of.
    By Steven Walton on
    85
  • Dell XPS 13 (2015) Review

    The ideal Windows laptop is very hard to find but the new XPS 13 ticks most boxes. It has a 13-inch display with a very slim bezel, the aluminium shell with a carbon fibre-style interior looks pretty darn good, there's a new Intel Broadwell Core i5 under the hood, and battery life is rated at up to 15 hours. The XPS 13 is a return to form for Dell in a big way.
    By Tim Schiesser on
    95
  • GeForce GTX 960 Review: Gainward GTX 960 Phantom Tested

    With most gamers spending $200 or less on a GPU, the new GeForce GTX 960 is set to take over the so-called value sweet spot, offering a cost-effective way to enjoy high-end games and should appeal to gamers who are preparing for the impending wave of DirectX 12 titles on a budget.
    By Steven Walton on
    85
  • Samsung SSD 850 Evo 500GB Review

    Helping to build anticipation for the 850 Evo was the SSD 850 Pro, remaining to this day the fastest 2.5" SSD money can buy. The good news is the 850 Evo shares many of the same technologies found in the 850 Pro, however by using TLC V-NAND the 850 Evo is much more cost effective.
    By Steven Walton on
    85
  • Lian Li PC-O5S Review

    I would say the 'O' stands for "oversized window," as one of the key aspects of the series are the oversized tempered glass windows that combined with Lian Li's renowned aluminum construction and PCI riser cards make them perfect for showing off your machine's guts.
    By Steven Walton on
    90
  • Sony Xperia Z3 Compact Review

    The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact packs all the same goodness of its larger sibling in a more manageable body. That includes a powerful Snapdragon 801 SoC, a 20.7-megapixel Exmor RS camera, Category 4 LTE, NFC, and IP68 waterproofing. Paired with a 4.6-inch display, the Z3 Compact occupies an interesting position in the market with little, if any competition if you're not particularly fond of the recent trend of massive flagships.
    By Tim Schiesser on
    85
  • Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Review

    Samsung was on to something when they launched the original Galaxy Note back in 2011. The large-screened smartphone seemed awkward at the time, but quickly became Samsung's second most popular line. The fourth-generation Galaxy Note is the same 5.7" size as its predecessor but packs a Quad HD display, a more premium and much requested part-metal construction, and an improved 16MP camera with optical image stabilization.
    By Tim Schiesser on
    90
  • Motorola Moto G (2014) Review

    The first-generation Moto G was a fantastic Android smartphone that cost just $179 unlocked and outright. It was Motorola's first major push into the entry-level market under the guidance of Google, and it was quite a successful one. The new 2014 model keeps the same low price point, packs a larger 5-inch display and addresses some of its predecessors shortcomings with a much improved camera and a microSD slot for expandable storage.
    By Tim Schiesser on
    85
  • Apple iPhone 6 Plus Review

    While virtually every other manufacturer began pumping out phones with increasingly larger screens, Apple held off as long as it could while still selling millions of iPhone 5 and 5s handsets. Apple's response finally came in the form of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus -- the latter of which represents its first foray into phablet territory.
    By Shawn Knight on
    85
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 & GeForce GTX 970 Review

    Last year's GeForce 700 series pushed Kepler to its limits. With such a strong showing, Maxwell's first appearance had us excited for higher-end cards and today we finally have them: the $400 GTX 970 will go head to head with the Radeon R9 290 while the $600 GTX 980 is positioned around $50 higher than the R9 290X.
    By Steven Walton on
  • Intel Core i7-5960X Haswell-E Review: A True 8-core Desktop CPU

    Intel's Extreme Edition processor line is over a decade old now, starting way back in 2003 with the single-core Pentium 4 EE 3.4GHz. Fast forward to today, the chip we'll be looking at boasts eight cores, a massive 20MB smart cache, support for the latest DDR4 memory, and is accompanied by the new X99 chipset.
    By Steven Walton on
    85
  • LG G3 Review

    Touting several refinements and a new 5.5-inch Quad HD display, LG has brought to market the new LG G3. The new, larger display brings a resolution and pixel density above of what we've seen on the current crop of flagships. You also get a 13-megapixel camera with a unique laser autofocus system, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 SoC that's at the top of its class.
    By Tim Schiesser on
    85
  • Samsung 850 Pro SSD Review

    The 840 Pro was one of the most successful high-end SSD series over the past few years, and now it's time for an update. Samsung's 850 Pro SSD is powered by the company's cutting-edge in-house 32 layer 3D V-NAND technology, which is said to deliver up to twice the density and write speed of traditional 20nm planar NAND flash.
    By Steven Walton on
    85
  • NZXT H440 Mid-Tower Case Review

    Typically, cases designed with the goal of being silent have been bland looking. But NZXT jazzes things up with the H440 using bright accents -- without looking too flashy -- along a redesigned interior and next-gen FN V2 fans. It also drops the old-fashioned 5.25" drive bays to use the space for other hardware, a move we're interested in seeing other manufacturers make.
    By Steven Walton on
    90
  • The Fast and Affordable SSD: Crucial MX100 256GB & 512GB Review

    Crucial has become a trusted name when it comes to high-performance solid-state drives, but the company's entry-level efforts have been less than laudable to date. They're taking another crack at producing a cost effective SSD with the MX100, and things look more promising this time, thanks to an upgrade to the same Marvell chip used by the high-end M550 series.
    By Steven Walton on
    95