Build a pc articles

The Core i3-12100F is more impressive than what we were expecting. Despite only packing 4 cores, the performance is excellent, often rivaling previous generation 6-core/12-thread processors.

A close look at memory scaling performance with Intel Core 12th-gen CPUs, to help you choose the best DDR4 and DDR5 memory kits for Alder Lake.

In reviewing the Core i5-12400, there's nothing on paper that tells you this could be an amazing CPU. It's mostly a cut down 12600K, and yet this may be one of the most exciting CPUs to be released in the last few years.

Here's a confession: I haven't built a PC from scratch in almost a decade. Sure, I've replaced RAM, SSDs, and several graphics cards, but it's been years since I sat down with a load of boxed components ready to be put together.

We test VRM thermal performance of nine Intel Z690 motherboards priced between $220 and $300. If you're aiming for best value, these are budget motherboards to pair with new Alder Lake 12th-gen Core CPUs.

The Core i5-12600K is Intel's latest mainstream CPU and a direct competitor to AMD's popular Ryzen 5 5600X. The Alder Lake chip packs 6 P-cores and 4 E-cores for a total of 16 threads.

After looking at the flagship Core i9 on launch date, this time we're reviewing the more mainstream Core i7-12700KF which is meant to do battle against AMD's Ryzen 7 5800X at around $450.

Starting with the top-of-the-line Core i9-12900K CPU, we can finally show you how Intel's new 12th generation Alder Lake processor architecture performs and how it's positioned against the Ryzen 9 5900X and 5950X.

When buying a new desktop PC you have two main options: you can build one yourself or you can buy a "pre-built." Here are some of the best desktop PC in a variety of form factors for gaming and basic computing.

It's time to discuss something that's been bugging me for some time: Ultra quality settings in PC games. Everyone wants to crank stuff up to the max, but what we've discovered is that Ultra settings are actually pretty dumb.

Is this a better time to buy or build a new PC than it was earlier this year, when we saw component shortages and skyrocketing prices? Let's take a look at how the market has changed in the past few months.

We'll compare the Radeon RX 6600 XT head-to-head against the GeForce RTX 3060 in 30 games, to see how they stack up, giving us a second chance to sort of re-review the 6600 XT using actual retail pricing.

The Ryzen 3 5300G is a 4-core, 8-thread processor featuring 6 CU Vega graphics... the problem is, you can't buy it. You see, the 5300G is an OEM-only part, but a pretty interesting value part at that.

How should you keep your CPU cool? And should you opt for the best air cooler or an all-in-one liquid cooler? This guide will cover many great options at every size and price point.

The Ryzen 7 5700G is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture. It used to be OEM only but it's now landing on retail as well, sporting Radeon integrated graphics. So is it any good?

If your PC case is several years old, you may feel like you could do with some convenience or utility features that it's missing and it's not a replacement that you want but some useful add-ons.

With insane GPU prices out there, are you better off buying a gaming laptop? Laptops are more widely available and are not ridiculously priced in some instances, and performance has improved a lot in recent years.

After a long testing process, we're ready to show our Intel B560 motherboard VRM thermal data. We've tested a dozen B560 motherboards priced between $80 and $150 with four different 11th-gen Intel CPUs. Here are the results.

Recently we compared the Ryzen 7 5800X and Core i7-11700K in 32 games, but now we're including the more affordable Core i7-10700K which has very similar specs, is still widely available, and can net you some real savings.

Buying a new gaming PC today presents a few challenges due to the GPU shortage. We recently compared our recommended PC building specs to OEM gaming PCs. Now let's do the same comparing pre-builts to boutique PC builders.

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.