Shawn Sanders
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
Whether you’re just getting into PC gaming, or are a seasoned DIY PC gamer with dozens of monster builds under your belt, NVIDIA’s GeForce Experience can be a useful all-in-one tool for taking the drudgery out of fine tuning and expanding your PC gaming experience. Want to optimize all those settings in Gears of...
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On October 11, Gear of War 4 landed with boots on the ground for Microsoft Windows and the Xbox One console. This fifth entry in the series marks the first time a Gears title has launched simultaneously on both the PC and Xbox. It's also breaking new ground with cross-play functionality between the two platforms and is part...
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We have another premium Z170-based motherboard on the test bench today, by way of MSI. The MSI Z170A Gaming M9 ACK motherboard is the company’s top end gaming board for use with Intel 6th Generation Skylake-based Core series processors. The MSI Z170A Gaming M9 is packed with a host of premium features aimed at...
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No Man’s Sky, the interstellar survival/exploration title from Hello Games, hit the PC and console platforms this month, roughly two years after its now infamous reveal at the 2013 VGX Awards. There it received exuberant praise and took home several awards—including a “Special Commendation for Innovation.” During that showing, what impressed...
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DirectX 12 is gaining momentum with both game developers, hardware manufacturers and, as a result, now gamers as well. The Windows 10 enabled low-level API is being adopted in more and more titles, with both legacy and cutting-edge game engines now taking advantage of its benefits. Using an ASUS STRIX Radeon R9 Fury...
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Overwatch, the team-based multiplayer shooter from Blizzard Entertainment has proven to be an unstoppable force in the industry having now reached the hands of more than 7 million gamers within a week of launch. Many predicted as much once the early beta saw nearly 10 million users. Admittedly, we too have been...
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Fans of the original Mirror's Edge will be happy to hear that a follow-up titles is in the works, dubbed Mirror's Edge Catalyst ME Catalyst revisits the dystopian world of the original game with a fresh new story that expands on the origins of protagonist Faith Connors. The beta test just wrapped up last week...
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The Asus Z170 ROG Maximus VIII Extreme motherboard is the latest in Asus' flagship line of enthusiast-class motherboards for gamers. It’s a top-end premium solution with a dizzying array of tuning options to supercharge your next build and tweak overall performance in games, networking and more. Our previous...
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Rise of the Tomb Raider has hit the PC lining it up in our gun sights for graphics, gameplay and performance analysis. The game launched on the Xbox family of consoles a few months back and has since been ported to PC thanks to NIXXES Software. It’s a competent console to PC port updated with many graphics settings...
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To expand on our coverage of Intel’s Z170-chipset, we now turn our focus to another Gigabyte motherboard for Intel Skylake CPUs. The Gigabyte Z170X-UD5 Ultra Durable motherboard is up at the plate and has the budget-builder firmly in its sights. Conversely, the company’s pricey Z170X-Gaming G1 motherboard, which we...
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EVGA decided to branch out this year. No, not with AMD graphics; the company's GPU offerings are still very much based on reference cards from Team Green. Yet, in an effort to expand their product lines, the largest North American vendor of NVIDIA graphics cards now offers their own branded memory modules in both DDR3...
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Dell's Alienware Steam Machine is under the microscope today. In partnership with several leading PC makers, Valve has finally taken their often-talked about Steam Machine with custom SteamOS to market, promising the depth and precision of PC gaming driven by a purpose-built operating system, that offers a...
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Fallout 4 is finally here. Channeling its best 50's era paranoia and the allure of a warm, radiation-free bomb shelter, Bethesda’s newest RPG tells us doomsday prepping and cryogenics actually work—yay! Well, that is until they malfunction and you’re thrust topside to an irradiated, post-apocalyptic wasteland filled with vile mutated everything,...
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Intel Skylake processors have landed and motherboard manufacturers now have a wide range of boards sporting the necessary LGA 1151 socket and Z170 chipset to support the CPUs. Under the microscope today we have a high-end model from Gigabyte, the formidable Z170X-Gaming G1—a board that's virtually bursting at the...
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The wait is over. The time is nigh for sci-fi super-spy gadgets, cigar-smoking, and rampant exclamation points. Oh yes, the one-eyed one has returned. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has landed on the PC and it’s a doozy. Using the same Fox Engine game engine, this latest effort nicely follows-up last year’s...
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Windows 10 is finally here. The new OS has been spit-shined and primed for an official release. As advertised, Windows 8/8.1 users can upgrade to the new operating system, provided that current Win8 installs have been properly activated. Make sure you check our comprehensive Migration Guide for details on...
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We are back with another high-end X99-based motherboard on the test bed. This time around we've got the latest from ASUS, the Sabertooth X99 TUF motherboard, which supports USB 3.1 and sports ASUS' "OC Socket". The first wave of motherboards based on Intel’s X99 chipset launched with attractive features and eye-catching designs. But as time...
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Batman Arkham Knight is here and as we're sure most of you have heard, the game is currently no-longer for sale for the PC platform due to a flood of performance issues. WB Games has pulled the title from store shelves, both physical and digital copies. Can you say “Holy botched game launch, Batman?” We usually don’t start a piece with such...
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Intel's X99 chipset, aka Wellsburg, is the company’s latest chipset for the high-end desktop market segment. Motherboards making use of the chipset have been readily available since last summer of 2014. Still, it took some time for motherboard manufacturers to kick out boards which can better take advantage of the...
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