TechSpot Features

Here's our monthly update looking into the current state of the CPU and graphics card markets. The good news is that one of the two is looking quite healthy, while the other is looking perhaps even worse than it was a month ago.

These days it's rare to see a new hardware company break ground in the world of PCs, but 30 years ago, they were popping up all over the place. Join us as we pay tribute to S3 and see how its remarkable story unfolded over the years.

The rest of the year is filled to the brim with what looks to be an excellent selection of new PC-exclusive and cross-platform releases. Here's a condensed list of some of the more exciting and anticipated PC game releases.

Recently I found testing Intel B560 boards so frustrating that I had to stop to warn readers of the possible pitfalls when buying one such board. Our findings are alarming and something all potential buyers should know.

Doom is rightly considered the granddaddy of the FPS genre, a claim few games can make. Let's look at each memorable entry in the Doom series from development to reception.

With ongoing component shortages and insane graphics card prices, a pre-built gaming PC that gets you a new fast GPU suddenly looks like a very reasonable option that we must consider.

History is filled with famous rivalries, but few have matched the intensity and the viciousness seen when two tech industry giants clash heads. Here are the 5 biggest rivalries in computing history.

When we look at the video games that have truly stood the test of time, MMORPGs are always near the top of that list. The genre has been around for decades, but what's the secret sauce that makes MMOs so popular and long-lasting? And which titles are worth playing today?

Today, there are at least 1 million miners for Bitcoin alone. How is this all happening? What role is the miner playing? And how might this change the landscape of computing in the future?

By far the most common types of display panels used on PC monitors are TN, IPS and VA. We're sure you've heard these terms before if you've researched monitors to purchase, and to be clear, the type of panel is a key piece of information that reveals a lot about how the monitor will behave and perform.

If you want to upgrade your iPad, you may find there are more options than ever before. The latest Pro models differ in more than size, and these add to the existing 8th-gen iPad, 5th-gen iPad Mini, and 4th-gen iPad Air.

The 3D games we play and love are all made up of thousands, if not millions, of colored straight lines, which inevitably will look jagged in our screens if not for smoothing anti-aliasing techniques.

As stock shortages of CPUs and graphics cards continues, it's time for an update on the market to see what the current situation is looking like, and whether there will be any relief for buyers in the coming weeks.

The TechSpot PC Buying Guide offers a comprehensive analysis of today's best desktop PC hardware spanning four budgets and intended uses.

Going "hands-free" in a car used to relate to talking on your phone, but the phrase is taking on a whole new meaning thanks to hands-free driving technology like GM's Super Cruise which we had a chance to test out.

Mattel developed a gaming system called Intellivision in the late 1970s, around the same time that the Atari 2600 launched. However, it made such an impression that the iconic console was never forgotten and is, in fact, making a comeback.

So you're going to buy a game from one of those no-good-gray-market key sites like G2A? Are those legit? What do developers and gamers think?

Many of the breakthroughs made since the advent of the transistor were simply inconceivable a century ago, but what makes tech culture even more interesting are the anecdotes and fun facts that came along the way.

For the past two months, I've been using Superhuman, an invite-only email client Silicon Valley startup owners swear by. With a wait list that's 250,000 users long, it's touted it as "Gmail, if it'd been built today, not a decade ago."

The Hitman series helped define the modern stealth action game, with the formula evolving and building up a large following spanning 20 years. Here's a recap of the key titles featuring genetically engineered and professional hitman Agent 47.

With spring upon us, it's not just our homes and cars that deserve a bit of elbow grease to make them shiny and spotless -- our tech and computing devices need just as much care and attention.

Science fiction books, movies, games, TV shows and other media have long been home to amazing technology. Many of these ideas can serve as inspiration for today's scientists, but just how close are we to the real-life versions?

CPU and graphics card pricing and availability are still a mess, but is the situation improving? Can we expect to get back to PC building any time soon?

It's not every day that you can get a free AAA game like GTA 5, but thanks to periodic giveaways, gamers' libraries are bursting with great titles. But we must ask, how this is a valid business strategy?

A checksum is a number, in the form of a binary or hexadecimal value, that's been derived from a data source. The important bits to know are that it's typically much smaller than the source, and it's also almost entirely unique.

Whether you just want to play Skyrim in bed, or take your your work apps with you to the living room, solutions like Steam in-home streaming and Moonlight offer a near-flawless experience.

Screen tear or input lag? To vsync or not to vsync? For the longest time, this was an either-or question in the PC gaming space. You could either have a tear-free, properly frame-paced image or low input latency. But here's a trick to try.

In the last decade, graphics processors became one of the largest, most complex, and most expensive components that could be found in almost any computing device.

Input devices have a key role in the computing and gaming landscape. Today we'll finish our autopsy of the major input devices by chopping open a classic gamepad: Microsoft's Xbox 360 controller.

Not everyone likes gaming. Picture the scene: you're with a perfect new partner who shares many of your likes and interests, but upon asking if they prefer shooters or RPGs, they respond with, "Oh, I don't really play games, though I enjoy Candy Crush---does that count?"