BEST VALUE GAMING PC

The best new mid-range AMD system?

Why does GPU pricing have to be so infuriating?

I NOTED A WHILE BACK that prices of pretty much everything had normalized with the pandemic receding and other supply chain abnormalities subsiding. The one exception were GPUs. Several months later, while graphics cards are cheaper, they still haven't returned to historical trends. But what's even more frustrating is that pricing just doesn't make sense.

Samsung GDDR7 Heads for 32Gbps

DRAM IS AT THE HEART of many computing devices. Whether it's DDR4 and DDR5 in PCs, HBM2 and HBM3 in GPUs, or GDDR6 and GDDR6X in graphics cards, a lot of the building blocks remain the same. It's the signaling that get upgraded, and now GDDR7 is on its way, with Samsung modules in production and Micron's alternatives to arrive in 2024.

THE BEST GAMING MONITORS

PICTURE THE SCENE: you’ve bought the best CPU and GPU you can afford, and you’re kitted up with a game-winning keyboard and mouse.

UNITY TO CHARGE FOR INSTALLATIONS

New plan derided by developers

AMD'S V-CACHE CPU GOES MOBILE

New Asus ROG is a monster

Intel's Raptor refresh

New world's fastest desktop processor. Possibly...

AMD has canceled some GPUs, but don't panic!

SPEND ENOUGH TIME in this game and you get a feel for rumors that are very likely true. And I'm getting the sense that the latest ones suggesting AMD has ditched the high-end variants of its next-gen RDNA 4 graphics family are on the money. At first glance, this seems pretty disastrous, especially given how expensive gaming GPUs have become and how desperately we need somebody to put Nvidia under pressure. But is it? Is it actually?

Mountain Makalu Max

A great wired gaming mouse, but sometimes a frustrating wireless one

Drop Lord of the Rings Dwarvish ENTR

As sturdy as a stout dwarf but basic under the skin

Corsair HS80 Max Wireless

Revised mid-tier headset from Corsair has plenty of features in its arsenal

Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000

A lot of router for a lot of cash

AOKZOE A1 Pro

Definitely more than a Deck, but is it better than a ROG Ally?

Razer Blade 14

Good things come in small packages

Kingston XS1000

Good things come in small packages

Skytech Chronos 2

Cost-effective gaming that comes with a couple of caveats

Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 G95SC

An OLED experience on an absolutely epic scale

CHOOSE THE BEST VPN PROVIDER

Nate Drake gives you the rundown on how to select the very best VPN service for your needs

MAKE WINDOWS GREAT AGAIN

Microsoft has made many unwelcome and unnecessary changes to Windows 10 and 11. Robert Irvine reveals how to reverse all the ways it has messed up its operating system

BEYOND MOORE'S LAW

Moore's Law is mostly dead, yet it stumbles ominously forward. Jeremy Laird investigates whether the Lord of Light can revive computing's prospects or are they already zombified?

AMD RADEON ON A BUDGET

Team AMD or Team Intel? Which sub$1,000 machine should you side with?

THREADRIPPER REACHES 96 CORES

New Zen 4 chip is a beast

NVIDIA'S AI GOLDMINE

Three lakes, two sockets, and lots of confusion

Intel's messy roadmap

Three lakes, two sockets, and lots of confusion

Start 11 vs StartAllBack

Change how the Start menu looks with these apps

Lexar NM790

A cost-effective and snappy storage solution

Corsair TC100 Relaxed

A relaxed gaming chair at a very relaxed price

Logitech Pro X 2 Lightspeed

This graphene driversequipped headset is another win for Logitech

Elgato Wave DX

XLR audioquality XLR in a cool-looking set of boxes

Alienware M16

A mostly desk-bound beast, but with plenty of power