TechSpot Features

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?"

We want to see how the Ryzen 5 1600X, 2600X, 3600X and 5600X compare in half a dozen games using the GeForce RTX 3090, RTX 3070, Radeon RX 5700 XT and 5600 XT, using both the ultra and medium quality presets at 1080p, 1440p and 4K.

Over the past 5 years, the Steam Controller has been my go-to device for PC gaming from the couch. I've tried Microsoft's controller, DualShock, DualSense, and even the Switch Pro and none come even close. But then, what went wrong with the Steam Controller?

If it's been a while since you've bought portable flash memory, you might be surprised by the broad availability and affordability of high-speed, high-capacity microSD and SD cards. With this guide, we'll break down what all the different codes and ratings mean, and offer the best choices for a range of categories.

Who would have guessed that stealthily scaling a building with a trusty hidden blade would become an annual tradition, but back in 2007, the exploits of Altair in Assassin's Creed were practically revolutionary.

Adaptive sync display technologies from Nvidia and AMD have been on the market for a few years now and gained plenty of popularity with gamers thanks to a generous selection of monitors with plenty of options and a variety of budgets.

One of the greatest tools to be spun out of AOL was its instant messaging client, affectionately known as AIM. Released in the spring of 1997 it allowed users to register an online handle, create buddy lists, and chat with friends in near real-time.

From what began life as a tech demo, the series has endured for over 16 years, producing 14 games (including Far Cry 6) that have sold over 50 million copies and spawned an utterly atrocious movie. This is the story of Far Cry.

Nvidia is a dominant force in computer graphics but there was a lot of work involved in getting to that level since the NV1 debuted in 1995. Lesson learned as the chips that followed included some surefire hits.

Input devices have a key role in the computing landscape, so the guts of them must be pretty cool to look at. Naturally, this means getting our scalpels out for another dissection of the anatomy of hardware.

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.

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?

There's plenty of graphics history and technology to unpack here after AMD purchased ATI, it didn't just absorb the company, but continued its reputation of being a graphics powerhouse for years to come.

We check out Intel's Core i5-10400F, a direct competitor to the Ryzen 3600 to see how this budget CPU performs when paired with a last-generation high-end Radeon gaming GPU.

Computer mice are often inexpensive and basic, but some of them boast all kinds of extras. In this Anatomy feature we'll dig into the guts of one inexpensive mouse and one Logitech MX model to see how the two compare on the inside.

Let's do a brief recap of 2020's best and worst PC hardware products. We have 5 categories to work through covering mostly PC hardware components like CPUs, GPUs and motherboards, as well as laptop hardware and monitors.

3D graphics turned a dull PC industry into a light and magic show after generations of innovative endeavour. Here's our extensive look at the history of the GPU, from the early days of 3D, to game-changing hardware and the industry's consolidation.

Today we're taking a detailed look at how AMD's Smart Access Memory (SAM) technology influences performance in a wide range of games. All in all, we plan to benchmark 36 games at 1080p, 1440p and 4K.

The Radeon RX 6800 is bound to be a popular GPU choice and with so many of you using the still amazing Ryzen 5 3600, it makes sense to see how it performs with the new RDNA2 GPU.

Portable apps are lightweight versions of applications that don't use an installer, so you can run them from a USB drive or a cloud folder. We've assembled a collection of the best and most useful portable apps across a variety of categories.

Resolution scaling is a great option if you're looking to eke out an additional 10-15% performance, after tweaking settings. If you're playing at a high resolution like 4K, and you combine res scaling with image sharpening, the results are often very close to native.

Computer technology is no strange to acronyms: CPU, RAM, SSD, to name but a few. Ever so often, new ones appear on the scene in the never-ending quest to improve the capabilities of our computing devices. Today we'll explain processor instruction set extensions MMX, SSE, and AVX.

Whenever you think of mobile computing, Arm is likely the first company that comes to mind, or it should be. Billions of Arm chips are used on phones, TVs, embedded systems and tablets. But they're coming for more.

Forging ahead with our reminiscence of the most memorable video game music, part two focuses exclusively on PC video game soundtracks. We've got our hands full as there's a lot of excellent material to consider, so here comes our list.

Today, multiplayer gaming is easy. But in the 90s, it was cumbersome and not exactly user friendly until an app called GameSpy hit the scene which made browsing for servers and connecting with players a far more intuitive process. It was a game-changer.

Do you think of the command line as an antiquated leftover from the past, or an old fashioned way of interacting with a computer? Think again. In Linux, the command line remains the most flexible and powerful way to perform tasks.

Few companies can brush off failure and come back stronger like the world's most famous gaming company. Nintendo has been synonymous with video games for decades, but it's not always been rosy for the Japanese giant.