Zak Killian
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
AMD's Fluid Motion Frames (AFMF) is a driver-based version of its frame generation technology. It's not the same as the frame generation feature in FidelityFX Super Resolution 3, as that requires game-specific integration. Instead, AFMF is implemented at the driver level, which means it can actually work for any...
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If you haven't heard about Intel's Sierra Forest Xeons, then no, you haven't had too much coffee, and yes, you read that headline correctly. These upcoming processors are massive chips that eschew P-cores entirely for a giant platter of tiny little E-cores. That's left some wondering about performance, and while we...
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It's probably not an exaggeration to say that AI may be the biggest tech buzzword since the invention of the integrated circuit—bigger than blockchain, bigger than cloud computing, bigger than IoT, and so on. Unlike a lot of buzzwords, however, AI isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and it's critical for a processor...
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Have some sympathy for marketers. They're on the front lines of the brand wars, fighting for mindshare as part of the eternal battle for market share. Like any soldiers in a war zone, sometimes marketers make risky decisions if they think it will give them a leg up on the enemy—questionable decisions like "comparing...
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When Cyberpunk 2077 got its Phantom Liberty expansion and 2.0 update, CD Projekt Red said that was the end of the line for major content updates to the title. Well, the company appears to have done a little fibbing, because a new trailer just dropped for Update 2.1, and it's coming along with a whole pack of new...
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There's a whole bunch of PC gaming handhelds on the market now, and just about every one has its advantages and disadvantages. The Steam Deck has the most varied inputs (and now with the OLED model, arguably the best screen), the Lenovo Legion Go has the biggest screen and detachable controls, and the various Ayaneo...
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Let's talk about Grand Theft Auto for a bit. Despite only having five mainline games in the series since the breakout hit Grand Theft Auto III moved millions of PlayStation 2s in 2001, the "GTA" franchise has continued to be one of the most important in all of gaming. If you need evidence for that claim, look no...
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AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution is available for use on any graphics card, and that includes FSR 3 frame generation. However, you can't use FSR 3 at the same time as DLSS. Or can you? In AMD's beta graphics drivers, you can enable a function called Fluid Motion Frames that essentially applies frame generation to...
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Did you know that by subscribing to Netflix you get access to a library of free games? It's right there on your phone in the Netflix mobile app. Apparently very few people take advantage of this, which is kind of a bummer because there's a fair few quality games in there, like Dead Cells, TMNT Shredder's Revenge, and...
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The next product in Ayaneo's Remake Collection has arrived. The Retro Mini PC AM01 is technically Ayaneo's first mini PC, although one could argue that the company's many x86-based handheld gaming systems also qualify. Still, this is the company's first machine without an attached screen or gaming controls, and you...
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Remember that Alienware M18 R1 laptop that we made some fuss about awhile back? We reviewed the original NVIDIA-powered version, but there's a new AMD Advantage model that uniquely comes with a mobile variant of Navi 31 called the Radeon RX 7900M. Sadly, reviewers and early adopters have complained of black screens...
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In AMD's mobile processor naming scheme, the first digit tells you what year the chip came out, and the third digit tells you what CPU core IP it implements. The Ryzen 7040 series came out this year and had Zen 4 CPU cores, so it follows that the Ryzen 8040 series will come out next year with, yes, Zen 4 CPU cores...
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Whether it's a skin in League of Legends, keys for Counter-Strike lockboxes, or some energy to continue playing Candy Crush, it's extremely likely that you've bought a microtransaction at least once. Imagine if you paid out for some in-game currency and the game operator shut down the title a couple of months or even...
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Alright, here's the scenario: you, a friend, or a family member want to move their gaming experience from console to PC, but you're looking at popular builds and balking at the prices. Who has $200 for a CPU cooler or $35 apiece for ARGB fans? Well good news: that stuff is for enthusiasts, and isn't necessarily...
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Today we've discovered a pretty big leak that, if accurate, reveals most of the pertinent details about AMD's first Socket AM5 "APUs", or desktop processors with powerful integrated graphics. We don't have any way to verify the content of the leak so take this with however many grains of salt that you wish, but the...
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Arguably the greatest handheld game system ever made, the Nintendo Switch may be nearing its end of life, but that's actually the best time to dive into a game system. You get the final revision of the hardware with all of the improvements made across its lifetime, and you have the full game library available without...
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If you're thinking it's finally time to retire the trusty old Haswell workhorse, or perhaps you're frustrated with the performance of your Ryzen 5 1600AF in Cyberpunk 2077, whatever the case may be, if you want some new PC parts, now is a great time.
We've picked out an absolutely astonishing gaming PC for you...
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AMD's Radeon RX 7000 series graphics cards are based on the RDNA 3 architecture, and if you keep up with hardware news, you've probably heard of RDNA 3.5. That revision to the RDNA 3 design is not coming to discrete GPUs, though; it's strictly for integrated graphics. Instead, AMD's next Radeons will be based on RDNA...
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If you're reading this site, you're almost assuredly aware of the impressive GPT-4 language model, the basis of recent versions of ChatGPT as well as Bing Chat. OpenAI's GPT family of AI models are only one of many different language models, though. Anthropic's AI Claude is a similarly-capable language model in...
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It's one of the arguments of the age: like Coke vs. Pepsi, Apple vs. Samsung, or Nike vs. Adidas, the choice of Xbox or PlayStation is a highly contentious one. There are a lot of factors that fans take into account, but arguably the biggest one is simply your choice of controller layout; where Xbox pads have the left...
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As you'll know if you've been reading our deals posts recently, this Friday is Black Friday. The infamous day of deals heralds the beginning of the holiday shopping season. If you have kids, then you probably already know what they want as gifts, and there's a pretty good chance it's video games.
Actually, that...
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Meteor Lake, the first-generation "Core Ultra" processors, will be Intel's first "disaggregated" or chiplet-based CPUs. The launch of these important chips is less than a month away, and Intel is continuing to drip-feed details to the press and the public. The latest news comes from a video posted to the "Intel...
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