Budget articles

Following up to our best value FreeSync monitors feature, we though this review would be ideal. Today we're looking at the Viotek GFT27DB which is a brand new display release, sporting a new TN panel (ideal for gamers) that promises a lot on paper. Having reviewed several Viotek displays in the last year, we've been consistently impressed with the value proposition, so we are hoping nothing changes here in that respect.

When Intel raced out 8th-gen Coffee Lake CPUs last year, they did so with a single chipset, the high-end Z370. Now 6 months later Intel is finally unleashing their more budget friendly chipsets which includes the B360, which we're taking a look at today. So what's there to know?

Along with our recent editorials on why it's a bad time to build a gaming PC, we've been revisiting some older GPUs to see how they hold up in today's games. But how do you know how much you should be paying for a secondhand graphics card?

We've learned most of what there is to know about AMD's new Vega-infused CPUs, but those of you thinking about buying the Ryzen 3 2200G or Ryzen 5 2400G after seeing how it competent it is as a budget gaming platform may be asking yourselves whether the chip would be best installed on an A320 or B350 motherboard.

Updating its entry-level and mid-range product lines, AMD's new Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 3 2200G APUs are set to replace nearly all of the company's offerings under $200. Making these chips special is the integration of Radeon Vega graphics for budget desktop PCs.

The Chuwi Lapbook Air is billed as an ultraportable 14-inch machine with a price tag of just $430. This puts it in the realm of some of the cheapest Windows laptops on the market of this display size. Chromebooks are also available for $400 or less, but let's just put those over in the dunce corner for now, because we're mostly interested in true Windows systems.

It's time for another GPU battle, though this one is a bit different with GPUs under $100: from AMD we have the Radeon RX 550 and on Nvidia's side is the GeForce GT 1030. Our focus will be primarily on eSports titles including CS:GO, Overwatch and Dota 2 running on a Ryzen 3 test bench.

Although Ryzen 3 is just getting released, it feels like we already know everything about AMD's new R3 1200 and 1300X CPUs after running simulated benchmarks last week. Today we get to see how accurate those results were and how Ryzen 3 does at the $110 price point.

Today we're taking a glimpse into the future to see how Ryzen 3 will perform when it's released next week. We did the same with Ryzen 5 and those results turned out to be 100% accurate. Ryzen 3 is very similar to the Ryzen 5 1400 with one key change, SMT support has been disabled. So let's find out.

Enter the Radeon RX 560, AMD's last ditch effort to reclaim the entry-level market segment for this generation. Compared to its predecessor, the RX 560 packs 14% more cores that are slightly faster clocked for good measure. But the GTX 1050 enjoyed of a comfortable 18% lead against AMD's last-gen GPU, so it'll be interesting to see what this means for the RX 560.

It's almost always better to purchase a last-generation flagship over a current-gen mid-range device. Last-gen flagships routinely pack better hardware, superior cameras, better performance, and more software features. You won't be getting the freshest hardware, however you'll be surprised at the value some year-old products can provide.

What if you want a mechanical keyboard but only have $40 to spend? With the market now flooded with loads of Cherry MX knock-off switches, this has enabled companies to develop very affordable mechanical keyboards. One such case is the GranVela MechanicalEagle Z-77, available on Amazon for as little as $35.

For budget smartphone buyers, the phone series I continually recommend is the Motorola Moto G. Now in its fourth iteration, the Moto G has delivered excellent entry-level value since its inception, despite increasingly stronger competition from Chinese vendors. The recently-released Moto G4 Play is no exception.

It isn't often that we see Nvidia being so aggressive in the entry-level segment and historically they've seemed happy to let AMD take the hit on margins here. Driving the sub-$150 GeForce GTX 1050 is the newly developed GP107 GPU that is more powerful than anything we've tested before on this price range.

In the past we've had no trouble recommending the Moto G for those after a fantastic budget smartphone. In 2016, Motorola has expanded the Moto G line and the $250 Moto G4 Plus is the most fully featured of the bunch. It shares the same display, SoC and design with the basic Moto G4 but upgrades the camera and includes a fingerprint sensor.

The new Radeon RX 460 is a Polaris 11 part that starts at only $109. Products based on Polaris 11 will also be turning up in ultra-portable devices as the power draw is expected to be very low. On the desktop, AMD hopes to capture the entry level eSports market by providing acceptable 1080p performance in titles such as CS:GO, Dota 2, League of Legends, Overwatch and Rocket League.

If you're in the market for a new phone and don't have a ton of money to spend, most companies would want you to look at their collection of mid-range and entry-level handsets. But that's not always the smartest move. If you know where to look, the flagship phones of yesteryear can provide considerably better hardware and value.

Which of the two would you rather hold?