2014: Year in Review

April

AMD Radeon R9 295X2

Given the aforementioned heat issues with the R9 290X, the idea of sticking two of these GPUs onto a single PCB at first seemed absurd to us. However, this time around, AMD spared no expense on the cooling solution, with high quality metals and a 120mm radiator all-in-one liquid cooling used to keep things running smoothly. The result? The best dual-GPU reference model we've ever had the pleasure of using. At around £1,000, the launch pricing was ridiculous (it's actually a lot more palatable now given the hardware on offer), but equally the card is beautifully crafted, stays cool and quiet and, thanks to some hard work by AMD's driver team, scales well and is an absolute beast when it comes to performance.

Synology DS214SE

NAS enclosures are hardly the most exciting thing we look at here at bit-tech, but the right one can be a really useful addition to your life – we know many an enthusiasts swear by them. Synology has always been the company to beat in this arena, and in May we got our hands on the dual-bay DS214SE, which was also the first time we'd seen the company’s DSM 5.0 operating system. The speed of the DS214SE, as well as its ease of use and the very extensive feature list enabled by DSM 5.0 left us no option but to grace this NAS box with our Premium Grade award.

News

• Unreal Engine to get Linux, SteamOS support
  
• Newegg goes live in the UK
  
• Amazon says no to Bitcoin
  
• Attenborough working on a documentary for the Oculus Rift
  
• Alphacool to 3D-scan GPUs to make waterblocks for non-reference cards