PC Components, Peripherals And Gadget Reviews And News
Dig into our deep-dive product reviews and news of PC components from processors, to motherboards, graphics cards (GPUs), sound cards, and storage, along with other gadgets and peripherals that complete the computing experience. Whether you're a DIY PC enthusiast builder or just looking to read-up on what should be inside or connected to your next pre-built PC, here's where you'll find all the nuts and bolts sorted on what makes modern computer systems tick, as well some of the best user interface devices to go with them.
Heads up to all ASUS motherboard, prebuilt system, and laptop owners: if you're running the company's DriverHub software, be sure to update it to the latest version ASAP. The reason for this is an exceedingly nasty bug loitering in the utility that could easily allow for remote code execution.
The vulnerabilities...
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If you're of a certain age, you might remember those Maxell cassette tape ads that featured a man in sunglasses in a recliner being literally blown away by the sound coming out of his hi-fi speakers. That's a bit like how we feel as we continue to test and benchmark this forthcoming laptop sporting AMD's new Ryzen 9...
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AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D: $699 MSRP The new Ryzen 9 9950X3D pairs AMD's Zen 5 CPU architecture with 2nd Generation 3D V-Cache for enhanced gaming performance, higher clocks, and more overclocking headroom. Great Overall Performance No Compromise Gaming Power Efficient Price Premium AMD announced a vast array of...
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AMD RDNA 4 And Radeon RX 9070 Series: Radeon RX 9070 - $549, 9070 XT - $599 MSRP AMD's Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT target the high volume, mid-range PC gaming market, are priced aggressively, and take the fight to NVIDIA. Competitive Overall Performance Improved Ray Tracing Aggressive MSRPs Many Software Updates...
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AMD RDNA 4 And Radeon RX 9070 Series: Radeon RX 9070 - $549, 9070 XT - $599 MSRP A look under the hood of RDNA 4 tells us AMD's Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT target the midsection of the PC gaming market, where the volume is, and appear poised to make a big splash at very competitive price points. 2 x Ray Tracing...
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ASUS PRIME GeForce RTX 5070 Ti: MSRP $749 The GeForce RTX 5070 Ti brings NVIDIA’s latest Blackwell GPU architecture down to a $749 starting price point, without sacrificing any features, but it’s not a huge upgrade over the previous gen. Latest Architecture And Feature Set Great Overclocker Relatively...
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ASRock Challenger Intel Arc B570: $219 MSRP Intel's even more cost-friendly Arc B570 Battlemage GPU brings strong feature support like XeSS 2 with frame gen and solid 1080p performance. Although, for just $30 more, B580 offers better performance-per-dollar value. Strong Feature Support Solid New Software Superior...
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AMD's Zen 5-based Ryzen 9000 series processors didn't set the DIY and enthusiast worlds ablaze when they initially launched, and that's understandable considering their relatively modest gains over the previous generation. However, the 3D V-Cache equipped Ryzen 7 9800X3D is out now, and it offers explosive...
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AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D: $479 MSRP The new AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D pairs Zen 5 with 2nd Generation 3D V-Cache to boost gaming performance, increase clocks, and enable more robust overclocking. capabilities. Great Gaming Performance Power Efficient Easy To Cool No Sacrifice General Computing Only 8 Cores Price Premium Anyone that has been paying...
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Alphabeats EEG Focus Trainer - $15.99 (Monthly), $149 (Annual), Branbit Headband $499 The Alphabeats EEG Focus Trainer uses proprietary neurofeedback technology and a specialized app to help users train their brain and achieve optimal mential focus more quickly. High Quality (Doesn't feel like a first-gen...
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At this point, AMD EPYC is certainly a brand which needs no introduction. AMD's dense server processors, based on its Zen 5 and Zen 5c core architecture, build on AMD's consumer PC origins to offer many-core solutions with huge compute resources and capabilities that continue to outstrip what people might have...
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ADATA SD810 SSD: Starting at $89.99 (1TB), up to $149.99 (2TB) The ADATA SD810 is a no-frills portable SSD with a tough titanium chassis, fast USB 20 Gbps connectivity, and IP68 ingress protection. Excellent USB SSD Performance IP68 Ingress Protection 5 Year Warranty No Software Required A Little Pricey Utilitarian Aesthetics ADATA sells a...
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AMD Ryzen AI 3000 (Mobile) And Ryzen 9000 (Desktop) AMD has revealed some new architectural information regarding its Zen 5-based Ryzen AI 3000 and Ryzen 9000 series processors, RDNA 3.5 iGPU, and XDNA 2 AI engine, and we've got the details. Big IPC Uplift Improved Efficiency XDNA 2 & RDNA 3.5 (Mobile Chips)...
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ASRock Challenger Arc A580 8GB OC: MSRP $169 We test the ASRock Challenger Arc A580 graphics card for mainstream gamers and assess where this GPU fits in the current market. Excellent Connectivity At This Price Good Value Inconsistent Performance High Power Draw Idle & Load Large Form Factor Dual 8-Pin Power...
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The PC scene is really heating up. With Arm-based processors from Qualcomm and Apple offering stark competition against the conventional x86-64 world, and with AI being such a focus of so many players, we've got hybrid machines with three, four, or five different types of processors on board and all sorts of hardware...
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Whether you knew you needed it or not, locally-hosted AI is the next big thing in PCs, and AMD is at the forefront of this movement. The company was first to market with consumer processors sporting AI-accelerating Neural Processing Units (NPUs), and it's now on its third generation of processors for "AI PCs."
That's...
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AMD released an array of professional workstation GPUs in 2023, with the powerful flagship Radeon Pro W7900 sitting at the top of the heap. You can read our in-depth review of the GPU right here.
The Radeon Pro W7900 has a similar GPU configuration to the consumer-class Radeon RX 7900 XTX, with the same 96 unified...
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Arm Holdings plc, or "arm", was once considered a vendor of processors designed for embedded and low-power systems, but those days are well past at this point. Having conquered mobile some time ago, processors based on Arm's Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) are now challenging the supremacy of the long-dominant...
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There can't really be any doubt at this point: AI is going to change all of our lives, and there's no going back from here. Still, there's quite a bit of debate over exactly how it's going to happen. If you listen to hardware vendors like AMD and Intel, they'll tell you that you absolutely need to upgrade your...
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ASRock Radeon RX 7900 GRE Steel Legend: MSRP $549 The AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE originally launched in China, but recent changes in the GPU market spurred the "legendary" release of this great new GPU option from ASRock and others.. Good Perf Per Dollar 16GB Of VRAM Good Overclocker Quiet Operation Dedicated Lighting...
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ADATA Legend 970 PCIe Gen 5 SSD: Currently $339 (2TB) The Competitive Overall Performance Great Game Level Loads PCIe Gen 5 Interface Low Latency, Good Responsiveness Negative Notes Audible Active Cooler Price Premium At this point in time, PCIe 5.0 SSDs have been around for while, and we've already evaluated...
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AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT: MSRP Starting @ $329 The affordably-priced Radeon RX 7600 XT has higher GPU clocks and double the VRAM of its predecessor to boost performance for mainstream PC gamers. Higher Clocks Double The Memory (16GB) Relatively Cool & Quiet Leading Display Output Config Minor Performance Upgrade...
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