Ever wondered what the cryptocurrency fuss is all about? Why are some PC enthusiasts so upset about cryptocurrency? And why are some other PC enthusiasts so happy with cryptocurrency?
Let us take a thorough look at this tantalizing love/hate relationship, then consider what companies are doing to address the situation, and finally present a ‘new and improved’TM prediction about when the graphics card market will improve.
Intel recently launched its Rocket Lake CPUs, which include the i9-11900K, the i7-11700K, and the i5-11600K. There are a tonne of reviews out there, including some highly entertaining videos which should not be missed. What follows is our take on this launch, including the changes it will be bringing to the Logical Increments build chart on our homepage.
So, let us take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly highlights of this launch.
The PC buyers have been living in the dry desert of GPU-lessness for 5 months now, and a few days ago, nVidia promised that relief is coming with the RTX 3060.
But let us get the usual things out of the way: $330, great performance for the price, runs cool. It is a modern nVidia launch, and you typically only need to ask if they have messed up the price or not. This time, the price is good.
Or is it?
Logical Increments is looking for freelance writers who are passionate and knowledgeable about PC hardware to write for our blog and potentially other parts of our website. This post will detail how to become one of our writers, as well as what that would entail.
As if a deadly pandemic, rising sea levels, AND a botched Cyberpunk 2077 launch are not enough, today’s gaming-PC buyers are faced with an additional unpleasant situation: Product unavailability! When will it end?!
Oh, and… Greetings.
AMD has released a new flagship graphics card, and it is good.
For more on the RX 6900 XT, and details concerning other GPU changes in our chart, read on.
If you missed this launch, it is perfectly understandable; the big stars from nVidia (xx80/xx90 cards) get the royal media treatment. But their mid-tier cards (xx60/xx50 cards) that launch with less fanfare are the ones that get the most sales.
Now, let us take a look at this new $400 card from nVidia.
Prices for various PC parts often have a huge range, depending on items quality, performance, and availability. Some CPUs are $100, some are $1000, and some cannot be bought for love or money. Some other items have a much smaller range of prices, and this can be seen when we look at PC memory and storage (including RAM and hard drives). Memory and storage are offered by a large number of sellers, and thus the options are competitively priced. Most options that are similar in speed and capacity tend to be close to each other in price, making it easy to track and compare.
With time, long-term and short-term computer memory always sees a downward trend in price, with the only exception being when a factory is burned or flooded or something. Once certain items (or capacities) can be reliably found for a particular price, we overhaul our memory recommendations to recommend better/larger components, for the same price.
Along those lines, let us take a look at some recently changed recommendations:
AMD makes both CPUs and GPUs. We have followed AMD’s CPU journey, from competitive, to underdog, and back to competitive. Now, with the launch of the RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT, it looks like AMD wants to get back to being competitive with GPUs as well.
AMD and Intel have been the desktop CPU duopoly for as long as we can remember, with the mantle of “best CPU manufacturer” having been worn by both. From about 2005 to 2017, Intel was king. AMD’s Ryzen series began stealing the multi-threaded marketshare with the launch of a large number of high-core-count CPUs at a moderate price. These CPUs did not make AMD the “best CPU manufacturer” though, since single-threaded performance was still behind.
Numerically, 2017 was 3 years ago, but the numbers do not match the emotion: 2017 feels like it was in the Dark Ages. Many centuries have passed since the year 2017, and AMD has been improving. With each revision to the Ryzen family, AMD’s multi-threaded superiority was extended, and Intel’s single-threaded lead was diminished.
With Intel stubbornly refusing to abandon the 14nm process that has been (reportedly) in use since the times of Genghis Khan, this day had to come. Intel’s single-threaded dominance is over, for no king can rule forever.