Hardware

We can say upfront that this article is in no way buying advice, but we're testing purely for the science of it. For the unaware, IPC (instructions per cycle) provides a good indicator of how fast a processor is, so with that in mind we're putting Intel and AMD's latest CPU architectures to the test running at a flat 4GHz.

MSI has joined the Coffee Lake laptop party with a brand new slim gaming laptop. The MSI GS65 Stealth Thin has been hotly anticipated as it brings new internal hardware along with a full refresh of MSI's gaming line build and design.

Today we’re checking out the $200 Ryzen 5 2600, the most affordable chip of AMD's 2nd-gen processors. It's a bit cheaper than the 2600X we tested on launch day, but the real competition comes from the Core i5-8400 which is a little more affordable at $179. Let's find out where each stands.

Today we're taking a closer look at the Gigabyte Aero 15X, launched alongside Intel's new H-series Coffee Lake processors which brought up to 6 cores and 12 threads to the laptop form factor. Gigabyte is key to stress this isn't just a gaming laptop, but a machine designed for productivity, and that shows with features like an X-Rite certified display.

It's been great to have more competition in the CPU sector since Ryzen arrived. Based on the refreshed Zen+ architecture, today we're testing AMD's new X processors: the 2700X is an 8-core/16-thread CPU with a 3.7 GHz base and a 4.3 GHz max boost and the 2600X is a 6-core/12-thread CPU operating at 100 MHz lower clocks.

Following to our best motherboard picks on Intel's Z370 and AMD's budget B350 platform, today we're checking out the best value Intel B360 motherboards. Our criteria for this one was simple: the boards must feature some form of VRM cooling to be considered, and of course, pricing. Less than $100 a pop.

With solid state drives now fully mainstream and hard drives being more affordable than ever, there is a broad a mix of high-performance and high-capacity options to choose from in a range of form factors. Fortunately for you, we have spent dozens of hours testing storage, so we have a pretty clear idea about what devices are worth buying.