The power supply (PSU) is a critical part of any PC. It powers all the components in your PC, and a bad or faulty one can bring everything down. Here’s what to look for in a power supply while putting together a PC….
Laptops offer the power of a PC wherever you go, from the other side of the country to the other side of the couch. But sometimes you want a desktop for a bigger display, a larger keyboard, and a beefy mouse. Here’s how to t…
You might not realize it, but every time you purchase a new desktop CPU, you also get a ticket for a giveaway called the “silicon lottery.” Two CPUs of the same model can perform differently when pushed to their limits thanks…
Anybody looking for serious graphics power needs to have a graphics card from AMD, NVIDIA, or (someday soon) Intel. Not everyone wants that kind of power, however, especially when it comes at a price tag of $150 to more than …
Computer graphics are an essential part of any modern computer system, even lightweight laptops. “GPU” stands for graphics processing unit, and it’s the part of the PC responsible for the on-screen images you see….
For years, getting a dedicated sound card for your PC was a given because it was the only way to get quality sound. Modern PCs, however, have good audio hardware built into their motherboards. But dedicated sound cards still …
Apple is rethinking how components should exist and operate inside a laptop. With M1 chips in new Macs, Apple has a new “Unified Memory Architecture” (UMA) that dramatically speeds up memory performance. Here’s how memory wor…
People often draw parallels between computers and the human brain, and sometimes, it’s an apt comparison. For example, both the brain and a computer have short- and long-term memory. RAM is where a computer stores its short…
The most important part of your computer, if you had to choose just one, would be the central processing unit (CPU). It’s the primary hub (or “brain”), and it processes the instructions that come from programs, the operating …
Here we go again! AMD Zen CPUs already have a reputation as the best performers in multi-threaded and productivity application performance. Now, the chip manufacturer has its eye on Intel’s longtime dominance in PC gaming….
MSI Afterburner is one of the most popular ways to see in-game PC performance statistics. And yes, it works on all systems, whether you have an MSI graphics card or not. Here’s how to set it up!
There was a time when the prescription for speeding up a slow PC was just to add more (or faster) RAM. These days, though, that’s not necessarily the best upgrade to choose first.
No one wants to build a new PC if, in a month or so, some super-awesome component is going to roll out, or prices are going to drop significantly. So, is 2020 a good time? Yes, but waiting until October is a good idea—espec…
Building a new PC is fun, exciting, and . . . expensive. After you’ve built a few desktops, all those new boxes of Corsair, NVIDIA, and Intel gear can lose their luster—especially after you tally up the bill….
Building a PC on a budget is a delicate balance between price and performance. How much should you spend on the motherboard and CPU, and what about the graphics card? Which parts are worth spending some extra cash on?…
When it’s time to buy a new PC, upgrade your graphics card, or swap out your storage, you’ll see one word repeatedly: benchmarks. But how representative are benchmarks of real-world performance?
Hard drives are like printers: the technology is so old and well-understood, there’s really nothing new happening. Besides, aren’t we all about NVMe and SATA SSDs these days?
This is an amazing time to build a PC! Online tutorials are plentiful, and desktop components are so standardized, building a computer is almost foolproof. We say “almost” because, if you haven’t done your homework, you can…
What’s in a name? A lot, actually, if we’re talking about Intel processors. Intel uses internal code names designed to hide what the company is working on until it’s ready to go public. So, it’s no wonder these terms aren…
In 2018, Nvidia rolled out its RTX graphics cards, which rocked some killer features for gaming, including ray tracing and mesh shaders. However, Microsoft needed a standard that supported these features on more than just NV…
Companies all over the world sell VPN services to secure your online activity, but can you really trust a VPN provider? If you want, you can create your own virtual private network with the open-source Algo software, and the …
CPU reviews are complicated. Before you even get to the performance benchmarks, you have to navigate a maze of terms, like silicon, die, package, IHS, and sTIM. That’s a lot of jargon with little explanation. We’ll define the…
The mouse is a great invention, but don’t sell the keyboard short—even for web browsing. Thanks to a very effective browser add-on called Vimium, you can browse the web without ever touching your mouse….
Intel rose to AMD’s Ryzen 3000 challenge with its recent announcement of new 10th generation desktop processors. Dubbed Comet Lake-S, these CPUs bring a slew of improvements and a few surprising new features. Here’s what…
We live in the future. Your living room speaker turns on the coffee pot, a robot vacuums the house, and the thermostat knows when you get home. But even in this amazing era of automation, your PC still needs some manual help …
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