Zak Killian
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
At Computex 2025, veteran overclocker Pieter-Jan "Skatterbencher" Plaisier set a new world record for graphics processor frequency by pushing Intel's upcoming Core Ultra 9 285K to its absolute limit—specifically, the simply-named "Intel Graphics" integrated GPU, which hit an eye-watering 4250 MHz. While there's no...
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In the endless race for smaller and thinner devices, every micrometer counts. That's why device manufacturers are likely excited for Micron's latest LPDDR5X memory, which is 14% shorter than the last generation. For our part, though, we're also pretty keen on the upgraded transfer rate, which is a speedy 10.7 Gbps per...
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If you've ever played a video game based on Unreal Engine 5 and grumbled about the poor performance of it, we're right there with you. Unreal Engine 5 games are notoriously heavy, and to some degree this is down to what the engine is doing. But it turns out that, at least partially, this is also down to the engine's...
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For a long time, the play when you need critical real-time performance has been to set up a specialized embedded system for that task, meaning you need a whole other system for general-purpose computing. Intel wants its customers to know that its hardware and software support for "Time Coordinated Computing" means you...
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This story is a bit odd but potentially huge, so sit up and pay attention to this one carefully. You may have read previously about NVIDIA's Project DIGITS, which was formally renamed to DGX Spark back in March at GTC. It's a tiny mini-PC that sports a chip known as GB10, which integrates "a high-performance 20-core...
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Google I/O was about a week ago, and if you haven't heard, one of Google's biggest announcements was the company's Veo 3 generative AI model for video. Gone are the days of creepy, low-quality clips that vaguely look like Will Smith eating spaghetti and don't traverse the uncanny valley very well. Veo 3 is more than...
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We recently posted an article that explored the idea of serious gaming on integrated graphics. In that post, we were using an older Ryzen 5 5600G chip to prove our point, but AMD's Ryzen 8000G processors are much faster. (We're about to update that post with some numbers on that, if you're keen to see the difference.)...
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If you're reading this, chances are high that you got here via a Google search because someone told you to "update the BIOS" on your PC, and you're wondering what the heck that means. Don't worry; we're gonna get you sorted out. "BIOS" stands for Basic Input/Output System, and it used to be the lowest-level firmware...
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In what has become the most notorious will-they-or-won't-they saga of the graphics market this year, rumors have yet again revived the idea that Intel will launch the Arc B770 sometime in Q3 or Q4. We first heard whispers of the BMG-G31 GPU way back in July of last year, but then, usually-reliable Intel leaker Jaykihn...
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If you're a die-hard "Soulsborne" series veteran, you probably already know about this unusual spinoff title's rather quiet launch. Instead, we're going to try and pull in some of the folks who may have bounced off of Dark Souls or Elden Ring because of those games' dense RPG mechanics and long playtime. If you're...
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It might surprise you to learn this, but cybercriminals are usually fairly protective of the data they steal, because things like credentials and login details have value, and can be sold to the right buyer. That's why it's so unusual that this latest discovery was apparently found completely unencrypted and visible...
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If you've ever played with an original 8-bit computer—a Commodore, an Atari 400/800, or anything else of that vintage—you already know that getting clean video output can be a terrific struggle. These systems were primarily built to output a video signal using radio frequency (RF) output, not unlike a regular TV...
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If you've been keeping up with Nintendo Switch 2 news, you've probably already seen that the Joy-Con 2 controllers can be used like mice thanks to optical sensors on the inside edge, where they connect to the Switch 2 console. This is an awesome feature and we're glad to see it, but apparently, Switch 2 gamers will...
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The latest generation of mainstream GPUs has arrived, and as has been the case for several generations now, the most affordable parts only have 8GB of memory onboard. This has caused some consternation among portions of the gaming public who feel that 8GB of video RAM is simply not enough in 2025. This point of view is somewhat elitist and
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The DIY PC market is in a tough spot. If we disregard older, previous-gen graphics cards for a moment, the only company currently selling anything approaching a modern entry-level GPU is Intel, and those cards are nearly impossible to find for anything approaching MSRP. Quality motherboards for under $100 barely exist, and those that do are
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Let's talk about gaming handhelds for a moment. Actually, first, let's introduce a new product -- the ASUS ROG Bulwark, shown at Computex 2025, which is a dock primarily (but not exclusively!) for those very same handhelds. It connects to a compatible device with USB 10Gbps, supplying up to 100W of power, and then...
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Regular readers will probably know this already, but AMD's RDNA 4 GPUs are quite good at machine learning workloads. The company's FSR 4 AI-powered upscaler delivers excellent results, much closer to NVIDIA's DLSS in terms of image quality versus previous iterations of the technology. AMD isn't done trying to reverse...
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Have you read our review of the MSI Claw 8 AI+? If you haven't, please do! We were quite fond of the machine and had a lot of nice things to say about it, although one of our complaints was about the aesthetics; the odd beige color that MSI chose for the system's handgrips gave it a very unusual vibe. Well, MSI's...
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File this one under "fun to think about, probably not changing your day job": a new study just dropped that suggests gravity itself might be the smoking gun that our entire universe is one big computational simulation. Yep, we're talking simulation theory again — the idea that reality is just a very elaborate piece of...
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In a twist straight out of a sci-fi flick, researchers have discovered that AI agents—specifically large language models (LLMs)—can independently develop their own communication systems and biases, all without human intervention. This revelation comes from a recent study by City St George's, University of London, and...
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DOOM is back—and it's never looked meaner. DOOM The Dark Ages is the latest installment in Id Software's iconic franchise, which just launched, bringing with it a brutal blend of medieval mayhem and modern firepower. Powered by the latest iteration of the id Tech engine, Id Tech 8, this entry trades Mars for dark...
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AMD's "AMD Gaming" account just dropped a spicy little teaser on Xwitter reminding everyone about its May 20th Computex conference—and in the process, all but confirming the Radeon RX 9060 XT. The post features a sleek, compact dual-fan GPU render with a single 8-pin power connector. There's a disclaimer saying it's...
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