With Intel fleshing out their 9th-generation range, now comes the i5-9400. So we take a look at what it takes to build a balanced PC with this $185 CPU!
Building a PC with the i5-9400
- Chris Cunningham
- 8th May 2019
- PC Builds
Posts in Category: pc hardware
Comparing Single Board Computers
- Chris Cunningham
- 2nd May 2019
- Gadgets
A single board computer (or SBC) is an entire PC in the form of a single (usually quite small) piece of hardware. Some prominent names in the SBC market may be familiar to you—such as Raspberry Pi, Odroid, and LattePanda. At the high end, there are other familiar names that you may not even associate with SBCs . . . like Nvidia and AMD!
Single board computers can be used for many purposes, such as: a tiny general-purpose desktop PC; a dedicated media PC for playing music, TV, and movies; an emulation machine; a server; a hobby electronics or programming project; and much, much more.
Even though many single board computers are similarly priced, there is a ton of competition in the single board market. Wonder why that is? Well wonder no more: it’s because different single board computers are often specialized for different groups and different purposes. Now, join us as we delve into the big wide world of single board computers!
Your Comprehensive Wireless Network Adapter Guide
- 526christian
- 18th Apr 2019
- Guides
Previously, we’ve discussed routers and gave recommendations for some of the best routers in our article on The Best Routers, and How to Choose a Router for You. Today, we go over what we use to connect to those routers wirelessly: The wireless adapter.
We cover the most important things to know in detail, then we offer recommendations for internal and external options at different budget levels. So if you’re already knowledgeable about wireless cards (or you’re in a hurry), go ahead and scroll down to the list of recommended options!
Building a PC with the GTX 1660
- Chris Cunningham
- 21st Mar 2019
- PC Builds
Just when you thought new releases from NVIDIA could not get any weirder, they go and announce the GTX 1660 to the world.
With their first push into mid-tier-priced cards in years, we take a look at creating a balanced PC with the GTX 1660!
Building a PC with the GTX 1660 Ti
- Lauren Taylor
- 12th Mar 2019
- PC Builds
NVIDIA’s newly-released GTX 1660 Ti behaves almost like a new and improved GTX 1070. It comes with the new Turing architecture found in the RTX series, but without the ray-tracing and Deep Learning Super Sampling technology; these premium features are still in the early stages of adoption, and aren’t useful or economical for a mid-tier GPU. The GTX 1660 Ti offers the advantages of new architecture without the expense and burden of superfluous features.
The GTX 1660 Ti achieves framerates at resolutions and settings roughly comparable to the GTX 1070. It doesn’t reach the level of a GTX 1080, but it’s an affordable upper-mid-range graphics card that will meet the needs of gamers and digital artists alike.
What would a versatile, powerful, balanced PC build look like with this GPU?
Comparing the i9-9900k, i7-9700k, and i7-8700k: Which Should Gamers Buy?
- Lauren Taylor
- 20th Feb 2019
- PC Hardware
With the release of the highly-anticipated i9-9900k, gamers running Intel systems may still be wondering whether it’s worth upgrading to this pricey CPU, even over less-expensive options like the i7-9700k and the year-old i7-8700k. It can be tempting to default to the latest flagship model, but that may not be the best option for every builder.
Motherboard VRMs: What are Power Phases, and How Many Should I Have?
- 526christian
- 6th Feb 2019
- PC Hardware
Often, motherboard product pages and online forum users mention a motherboard’s VRM and how many power phases it has. Being a somewhat technical topic, VRMs aren’t an easy topic to get into. So today, we will introduce the concept of the VRM and these so-called power phases as simple and straightforward as possible, so that you can easily discern what a motherboard product page is telling you (and when it matters).
CES 2019 Recap: Zen 2 (AMD’s 3rd Generation Ryzen)
- Chris Cunningham
- 15th Jan 2019
- PC Hardware
With the madness of CES week more or less out of the way, I take a look at what was announced about the 3rd generation of Ryzen CPUs!
The RTX 2060 – Is It Worth Its Asking Price?
- Alex
- 11th Jan 2019
- Uncategorized
On January 7, nVidia announced the latest card in the RTX lineup—the RTX 2060. We recently took a deep dive into what the RTX technology had to offer, as well as (earlier this week) what instances the new high-end cards might be a good buy. But after the disappointing announcements of the first run of RTX cards, we were definitely still curious how the 2060 would pan out.
When Would an Upgrade to an RTX 2080 Ti, 2080, or 2070 Make Sense? A Breakdown
- Alex
- 7th Jan 2019
- PC Hardware
The much-anticipated release of nVidia’s newest generation of GPUs left many hopeful PC builders a tad disappointed. By many metrics, the cards were overpriced, with huge price hikes over the previous generation’s cards. To make matters worse, reports came out that the 2080 Ti had overheating problems, and the disappointing release of the cards’ key feature, real-time ray tracing, caused many to write off the cards altogether.
By and large, those two key hardware problems have been resolved, but the higher prices still remain. So in what scenarios would an upgrade make sense? Here we’ll look at each new high-end card and point out some cases where upgrading might be in the cards.