Feature Index Page 27

  • DirectX 12 Multi-GPU Technology Tested: GeForce and Radeon Paired Together

    The new Ashes of the Singularity benchmark 2.0 brings support for explicit multi-adapter (EMA), DirectX 12's multi-GPU technology, which enables support for both AMD and Nvidia GPUs in the same system. This means it's possible to pair a GeForce GTX 980 Ti with a Radeon R9 Fury X and that's exactly what we'll be focusing on today.
    By Steven Walton on
  • Finding the Right Components for a Well-Rounded Gaming Laptop

    Unlike years past, today there are a vast number of quality gaming laptops available that can not only match most home rigs but occasionally outperform them. If you're in the market for a new gaming laptop and want to know what components will give you a well-rounded rig, here's a breakdown of what's on offer.
    By Rob Thubron on
  • The Ideal Smartphone for 2016

    In 2015 I saw a ton of great smartphones hit the market, but I'm yet to see the elusive 'perfect' device -- the phone with no compromises in hardware or software. In this article I'll go through every aspect of the modern smartphone and list exactly what I want to see, with every aspect of it firmly grounded in reality. This is a smartphone that should be possible to create in 2016.
    By Tim Schiesser on
  • The Five Stages of Video Game Disappointment

    I think it's happened to us all at some point or another: a game you've idolized from afar finally comes out. You boot it up and brace yourself for magic. Hours pass. Magic still hasn't happened. This is... unexpected. That is when you begin your Dante-esque multi-stage descent into a very unique sort of madness: disappointment.
    By Nathan Grayson on
  • TechSpot Best of CES 2016

    Here's our selection of the most innovative, promising, or downright cool products we saw during this year's massive show. So without further ado here's the best of CES 2016
    By TechSpot Staff on
  • 10 Tech Predictions for 2016

    Looking ahead to 2016, I expect we will see changes that, on the surface, also don't seem to amount to much initially, but will actually prove to be key foundational shifts that drive a very different, and very exciting future.
    By Bob O’Donnell on
  • 4K Monitors: Can you actually see the difference?

    With 4K monitors becoming more and more affordable, it appears that the long-standing reign of 1080p may finally be coming to a close. The question is: can the human eye actually see the difference with a 4K monitor? To answer that question we will need to determine the pixel pitch of a monitor and compare it to what you are actually capable of seeing.
    By Matt Bach on
  • The 10 Best Things About Building a New Gaming PC

    Building a gaming PC can be time-consuming and stressful. There are a thousand things that could go wrong, and any one of them could wind up costing hundreds of dollars. And yet we do it anyway. Why? Because building PCs is totally awesome.
    By Kirk Hamilton on
  • The State of PC Gaming in 2015

    Unlike the other gaming platforms we've been evaluating here at the end of the year, the PC's been around for decades. Recently, the PC's long legacy of openness and customization has come into conflict with a mainstream that's finally-finally-realized just how big of a deal PC gaming actually is. By and large, the PC is in a great place in 2015.
    By Nathan Grayson on
  • TechSpot PC Buying Guide (Late 2015)

    The TechSpot PC Buying Guide offers an in-depth list of today's best desktop PC hardware, spanning four unique yet typical budgets and a fifth for the no-expense spared, extreme PC crowd.
    By TechSpot Staff on
  • Intel's 100-Series Chipsets Detailed Side-by-Side

    The Z170 chipset has been available for some time now, but due to Intel's staggered launch of Skylake-S, other chipsets from this generation have just recently become available. In addition to the Z170, there are now five other consumer chipsets: the H170 and H110 for consumers and the B150, Q150, and Q170 for business. We explain the differences between them side-by-side.
    By Matt Bach on
  • An Android User's Perspective: Two Weeks with the iPhone 6s, Part 2

    Part one of this series focused on software. This second part will focus mostly on the iPhone 6s' hardware, and how it compares to some of the best Android devices I've used this year. Apple is widely respected for their hardware design, both on the inside and outside of their phones, but just how good is it in 2015?
    By Tim Schiesser on
  • The Story of Solitaire, One of the World's Biggest Video Games

    There have been many popular and important games included with operating systems over the years. But only one game can lay claim to having once been the most-used Windows application in the world, as Microsoft's Chris Sells described Solitaire back in 2004. This is the story of Solitaire, which has been included with every copy of Windows since version 3.0.
    By Luke Plunkett on
  • Check If Adobe Flash is Installed, Then Get Rid of It

    Flash, it's been a good run. We've had a lot of fun together, but it's time to get some distance.. permanently. That doesn't erase my fond memories of playing together back in the day, but we both have to wake up and face the truth. You're outdated and insecure and untrustworthy. It's not me, it's you.
    By Devin Kate Pope on
  • Should You Buy a Sound Card? An Enthusiast's Perspective

    There's no clear-cut metric to use as a guideline if you're shopping for a sound card. Lengthy audiophile reviews are available, but they generally don't offer a quantifiable takeaway if you have a limited point of reference and don't know much about the subject to begin with. I fall into that category.
    By Matthew DeCarlo on
  • An Android User's Perspective: Two Weeks with the iPhone 6s, Part 1

    With the recent launch of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, I decided to pick up one of Apple's latest smartphones and use it exclusively for two weeks. What follows are my thoughts on the phone and the ecosystem as primarily an Android user, how the two experiences compare, and whether long-time Android users should contemplate an iOS switch.
    By Tim Schiesser on
  • The Dos and Dont's of Water Cooling

    Water cooling systems -- whether they are a custom loop or an AIO -- all follow the same basic principles. You have the reservoir, the pump, the radiator, the fans, some tubing, a block (for either the CPU, GPU, or both), and the water itself. After years of working with water cooling kits, here are some important tips to help you get the most out of your system.
    By William Seibert on
  • Thirteen Steam Features You Probably Don't Know About

    As Steam has expanded over the years it's also taken on an infernal-machine-like quality; it's become this cacophonous conglomerate of bells and whistles, many of which are buried under other bells and whistles. It's hard to know everything it is capable of, so here are a few lesser-known Steam features I've come across.
    By Nathan Grayson on
  • Touring Logitech's Audio HQ

    Logitech recently reached out to us for a tour of their audio headquarters in Camas, Washington, where it's spent the last 18 months designing what it believes to be the best sounding, most well-featured headset on the market, gaming or otherwise. In fact, they're so confident in the Artemis Spectrum, it bravely threw its creation to a small pack of skeptical tech journalists in hopes they'd go home impressed. Here are our thoughts.
    By Rick Burgess on
  • Internet for All

    The last two decades has seen users rising from forty million to around 3 billion, with one billion added in the last four-five years itself. And yet over 4 billion people remain unconnected to the Internet.
    By Vignan Velivela on
  • Top 10 Hidden Windows 10 Features

    Many of Windows 10's key features have been talked about at length, but the operating system actually comes with a lot of great features that aren't as immediately obvious to everyday users and even enthusiasts. Here are the top 10 hidden features of Windows 10.
    By Tim Schiesser on
  • The 10 Biggest Changes of the Last 10 Years in Video Games

    Thanks to the rapid rate of change in video games, both my job and the industry I cover are practically unrecognisable. This is largely what keeps me interested in video games, this pace of transformation: there is always something new to cover, and we're always trying to find new ways to talk about it.
    By Keza MacDonald on
  • Old School PC Gaming: Classic Games that Have Aged Well

    There are some classic PC games -- some old enough to buy their own alcohol -- that are as good today as the day they were released. You may not have heard of all of them. After all, when a game has been out for a while, people generally stop talking about it. They are still out there though, waiting patiently for someone to pick them up and play. In this article, we are looking specifically at games that are still fun to play, ten or more years old, and are the best of their style in their series.
    By Satish Mallya on
  • Quality Assured: What It's Really Like To Test Games For A Living

    For a very long time, people have imagined the life of a video game tester, not as 9-to-5 job but as the fantasy of teenagers everywhere. Who wouldn't want to sit on a comfy couch and play games all day. Reality is a little different. Over the past few months I've had extensive conversations with several dozen current and former QA testers in an attempt to explore the world of video game testing and try to explain what it's really like to play games for a living.
    By Jason Schreier on
  • Then and Now: Almost 10 Years of Intel CPUs Compared

    Take a look back at how Intel CPUs have progressed over the years. We're testing and comparing the original Core 2 Duo CPUs against the Nehalem-based Core i5-760 and Core i7-870, the Sandy Bridge Core i5-2500K and Core i7-2700K chips, and then to the current generation Haswell Celeron, Pentium, Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 parts.
    By Steven Walton on
  • How to Balance Video Games with Real Life

    One of the worst things about growing up is that you never seem to have any time left over for yourself. Sure, you may still watch a bunch of television shows and go to concerts, but video games? Video games could be kicked to the curb. In an attempt to convince more people to at least try to make gaming more a part of their life, here are some tips for time management that will help them do so.
    By Tina Amini on
  • A Beginner's Guide to the Linux Command Line, Part II

    While it may seem antiquated the command line is the most flexible and powerful way to perform tasks in Linux. In the first part of our ongoing command line series, we discussed some of the very basic operations, and now we'll build on that as we discuss more things like file metadata, permissions, timestamps, as well as some new tools like tee, Vim, and more.
    By Himanshu Arora on
  • Stop Preordering Video Games

    There once was a time15 years ago when the concept of pre-ordering made sense. Publishers would have a better idea of how many boxes they'd need to ship, and customers could guarantee they'd get hold of the latest game as soon as it was released. It was a good arrangement! It didn't take long for publishers and retailers to realise, though, that once a customer put their money down for a game that wasn't finished, that customer was on the hook.
    By Luke Plunkett on
  • Is Windows 10 Free? Yes, and No. An Explainer

    Microsoft is set to release Windows 10 later this year and users of current versions of the operating system will get an upgrade free of charge. So where's the confusion? There has been speculation about who gets the free upgrade and who doesn't. Here's a brief overview of the different upgrade paths to Windows 10.
    By Julio Franco on
  • Why Owning a Real Camera Matters

    Google recently said it best: photos are more than just pixels. They're moments in time we'll never want to forget. Depending on your age and / or life experiences, that may not mean much to you at this point. Having crossed into my 30s a few years back and having already lost both parents and a best friend, it certainly resonates with me. Memories fade but the images you capture with friends and family last a lifetime.
    By Shawn Knight on