Posts in Category: pc hardware

Building a PC for Video Editing

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Video editing PCs are not like your typical gaming build. Though they share a lot of components, this type of build requires more of focus on processing and quick storage over sheer graphical horsepower. The following PC build should serve the purpose of photo and video editing very well, and would even perform 3D modeling much better than your average computer. Please note that we will focus on having reasonably-priced components, instead of recommending best-in-class items that not everyone can afford.

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Choosing the Right PC Parts: Tips for First-Time Computer Builders

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There’s lots of reasons to build your own computer but the main 2 are so you can give it the performance you want it to have and to save money. But building a rig for the first time can be an intimidating prospect. All those parts! All that electricity flying around! All those weird terms like “form factor” and “SSD” and “PCI Express 3.0 x16” that have increasingly occupied your mind ever since you first floated the idea of upgrading your computer! You start to wonder why you tried this and didn’t just go to a computer recycling site instead. It’s a lot to think about – and a lot to buy. Here’s a short guide on how to get started and keep things as simple and stress-free as possible.

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SSD Prices Keep Falling

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Prices on solid state drives have dropped significantly in recent months, with some brands seeing extremely deep price reductions. Over on Reddit’s r/buildapcsales community, members have been capitalizing on several deals around the $60 range for 120GB drives and $90-100 for 240GB models of some lower-end brands.

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What We Are Waiting For, Part 5: Beyond 1080p

It seems that we are entering a new phase for PC screen resolution, a phase that is several years late. Let us take a look at the latest developments.

Dell has very recently announced that it will be offering a new 24″ screen with a 4K resolution (3840×2160). The shocker? It will be priced at $1400. But that is not all: Dell also announced that in “early 2014”, it will sell a 28″ 4K screen for $1000. If you are not into screens, then you might be thinking that $1400 and $1000 are insanely high prices for a PC screen. Let us put these prices in perspective: Up till last year, if you wanted 4K, you either got a 4K TV ($5000-$6000), or you get a proper PC screen in the form of a $30,000 Eizo.

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Building a PC for the Battlefield 4 Beta

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I’ve been playing the Battlefield 4 beta, and it’s definitely taxing my system. We’ll see how things improve by launch time, but it might be time for an upgrade.

Benchmark results have already been popping up, and paint an interesting picture of performance. Battlefield 4 (BF4) appears to be well-threaded, with AMDs 8-core FX-8350 and FX-8150 doing very well, being competitive with Intel’s quad core i5’s and i7’s. It also seems to favor AMD graphics cards this time around. This makes sense, since the new consoles use 8-core AMD CPUs, as well as AMD GPUs.

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