PC, AI, Gaming & Retro News

By the SpecPicks Editorial Team · 63 news articles · Latest story 2026-07-23

Archive of 63 SpecPicks news briefs on AI hardware, PC gaming releases, retro PC scene updates and SBC/maker hardware, each rewritten with cited sources and dated. No new brief has been published since 2026-07-23, so check a story’s date before relying on it. Expired deal briefs sit at the bottom marked “Deal ended”. The full archive is at all articles →

🎮 PC Gaming — news 63 articles

🔥 ASRock Phantom Gaming 360 LCD Cooler Debuts With Strong Numbers

ASRock's first 360mm LCD AIO posts strong thermals — but for mainstream CPUs a $90 240mm AIO or a Noctua NH-U12S still delivers 95% of the cooling.

Mike Perry · 2026-07-21 · news · 8 min · trend 78

Asus ROG Xreal R1: 240Hz AR gaming glasses land

Mike Perry · 2026-07-18 · 9 min · trend 70
Sega's $5M Bet Saved Nvidia in 1996 — Jensen Heads to Tokyo

Mike Perry · 2026-07-12 · 10 min · trend 90
Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus: Dual-Channel Memory Scaling Tested

Mike Perry · 2026-07-10 · 5 min · trend 75
Mystery N64 Cartridge Found in the Woods Boots Up

Mike Perry · 2026-07-11 · 9 min · trend 70
Prime Day 2026: Gaming Monitor Deals Worth a Look

Mike Perry · 2026-06-30 · 9 min · trend 78
Budget 4K QD-Mini LED Gaming Monitors Hit New Lows in 2026

Mike Perry · 2026-06-19 · 3 min · trend 75
Asus ROG Harpe II Extreme Lands With a 65K-DPI Sensor

Mike Perry · 2026-06-15 · 10 min · trend 75
Linux Gaming Keeps Getting Faster: Windows APIs Land in the Kernel

Mike Perry · 2026-06-14 · 10 min · trend 78
Asus ProArt PA27USD OLED Lands — and What 4K Gamers Can Buy for Less

Mike Perry · 2026-06-16 · 10 min · trend 70
Asus ROG Harpe II Extreme: A 24K-Gold, 65K-Sensor Gaming Mouse

Mike Perry · 2026-06-13 · 9 min · trend 78
Intel Arc Pro B70 (BMG-G31) Posts Strong Linux Gaming Numbers — How It Stacks Up Against an RTX 3060

Mike Perry · 2026-06-11 · 12 min · trend 80
Gemini 3.5 Live Translate Goes Cloud-First — The Local, Private Path on a Raspberry Pi

Mike Perry · 2026-06-10 · 9 min · trend 70
Microsoft Now Points to 32GB RAM for Windows 11 Gaming — What It Means for Your Build

Mike Perry · 2026-06-10 · 8 min · trend 70
Corsair's New Gaming Mouse Has a Dedicated Stream Deck Launch Button

Mike Perry · 2026-06-07 · 9 min · trend 75
Asus ROG Harpe II Extreme: 24K-Gold, 65K-Sensor Gaming Mouse

Mike Perry · 2026-06-08 · 9 min · trend 70
Corsair Launches Lightweight Budget HS35 v3 Gaming Headset

Mike Perry · 2026-06-05 · 9 min · trend 78
Samsung's 2026 Odyssey Lineup Adds 5K, 6K and a 360Hz 4K QD-OLED

Mike Perry · 2026-06-04 · 6 min · trend 80
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Runs Well on Steam Deck

Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 11 min · trend 88
Samsung Unveils World's First 4K 360Hz QD-OLED Panel

Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 9 min · trend 78
Linux Beats Windows 11 on the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2, Phoronix Finds

Mike Perry · 2026-05-29 · 8 min · trend 80
Forza Horizon 6 Boots in 4 Seconds with Advanced Shader Delivery

Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 9 min · trend 70
Samsung Winds Down Chip Output Before Strike — Brace for SSD Prices

Mike Perry · 2026-05-26 · 10 min · trend 75
Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus vs Ryzen 5 7600X3D: The Mid-Range Faceoff

Mike Perry · 2026-05-27 · 9 min · trend 55
A 2007 Samsung UMPC Becomes a Wii U Gamepad

Mike Perry · 2026-07-23 · 4 min
Sony to End Physical PlayStation Disc Production by 2028: What It Means for Retro Collectors

Mike Perry · 2026-07-05 · 9 min
SteamOS Boots on Intel Hardware: Enthusiast Hack Lands

Mike Perry · 2026-07-04 · 10 min
SteamOS Boots on Intel Hardware in Community Hack

Mike Perry · 2026-07-04 · 9 min
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D Re-Review Shows DDR4 Still Has Gaming Legs in 2026

Mike Perry · 2026-07-04 · 9 min
ASUS Beta BIOS Restores Ryzen 9000 Memory Encryption Ahead of AMD

Mike Perry · 2026-07-04 · 10 min
ASUS ProArt PA27USD Lands: 27-Inch OLED Aims at Gaming

Mike Perry · 2026-07-04 · 12 min
Memory Prices Climb as Samsung and SK Hynix Pour $590B Into Chips

Mike Perry · 2026-07-04 · 9 min
A Red Hat Engineer Went Back to AMD Ryzen for His Linux Desktop

Mike Perry · 2026-07-02 · 2 min
SteamOS Boots on Intel Hardware: Enthusiast Hack Breaks AMD Lock-In

Mike Perry · 2026-06-26 · 9 min
Microsoft Signals 32GB RAM as the Windows 11 Gaming Baseline

Mike Perry · 2026-06-11 · 9 min
Steam Controller (2026) Scores 83/100 in Early Reviews

Mike Perry · 2026-06-11 · 9 min
Intel's Bartlett Lake Core 9 273PQE Loses to a 4-Year-Old CPU

Mike Perry · 2026-06-05 · 9 min
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Runs Faster on Linux Than Windows 11

Mike Perry · 2026-06-04 · 11 min
Asus ROG Harpe II Extreme Brings a 65K-DPI Sensor — and a Gold Price Tag

Mike Perry · 2026-06-04 · 10 min
Forza Horizon 6 Is the Highest-Rated Game of 2026: What Metacritic's 94 Says About Where Racing Sims Are Going

Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 10 min
Samsung Winds Down Memory Output Before 18-Day Strike — SSD Price Watch

Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 11 min
Samsung Winds Down Chip Production Six Days Before Strike: What Memory Buyers Should Do Right Now

Mike Perry · 2026-05-27 · 10 min
ASUS ROG Crosshair 2006 X870E: A Retro-Styled AM5 Mobo for ROG's 20th Anniversary

Mike Perry · 2026-05-25 · 9 min
Asus ROG Xreal R1 AR glasses pre-orders start today at $849 — 240 Hz virtual gaming at 171 inches on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation

SpecPicks News Desk · 2026-05-18 · 9 min
LG UltraGear 52G930B 52-inch 5K gaming monitor review: Extreme in every respect

SpecPicks News Desk · 2026-05-18 · 8 min
Samsung 27" 1440p 240Hz Gaming Monitor Drops to $169 in 2026 Deal

Mike Perry · 2026-07-12 · 10 min · Deal ended · trend 88
Samsung's 240Hz 1440p Gaming Monitor Drops to $169

Mike Perry · 2026-07-11 · 8 min · Deal ended · trend 70
256GB Samsung microSD Drops to $32 — Storage Prices Slide

Mike Perry · 2026-06-24 · 10 min · Deal ended · trend 80
Ryzen 7 5800X + RTX 5060 Combo Drops to $439 with a Free Cooler

Mike Perry · 2026-06-06 · 9 min · Deal ended · trend 70
Ryzen 7 5800X + RTX 5060 Combo Drops to $439 With Free Cooler

Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 9 min · Deal ended · trend 70
AMD RX 9070 XT Hits All-Time Low $629 in Amazon Lightning Sale

Mike Perry · 2026-05-27 · 9 min · Deal ended · trend 78
Prime Day 2026: Logitech Gaming Mice Drop Up to 47% Off

Mike Perry · 2026-07-01 · 9 min · Deal ended · trend 9
Logitech Gaming Mouse Deals Hit 47% Off for Prime Day 2026

Mike Perry · 2026-07-06 · 1 min · Deal ended
Logitech Slashes Gaming Mouse Prices up to 47% for Prime Day

Mike Perry · 2026-07-04 · 8 min · Deal ended
Samsung 256GB microSD Drops to $47.99 — 40% Off Storage Deal

Mike Perry · 2026-07-04 · 10 min · Deal ended
Samsung's 256GB microSD Drops to $47.99 — and What It Means for Cheap Storage

Mike Perry · 2026-07-04 · 9 min · Deal ended
Ryzen 7 9800X3D Hits Record-Low Price — and the 5800X Value Case

Mike Perry · 2026-07-04 · 9 min · Deal ended
Prime Day 2026: Gaming Monitor and Logitech Peripheral Deals to Watch

Mike Perry · 2026-07-04 · 10 min · Deal ended
Logitech Prime Day Peripheral Deals Hit 47% Off — What Is Actually Worth Buying

Mike Perry · 2026-07-04 · 7 min · Deal ended
Ryzen 7 9800X3D Hits Record-Low Price — What It Means for AM4 Upgraders

Mike Perry · 2026-07-02 · 3 min · Deal ended
32GB of DDR5 Drops to $240 in New Newegg Build Bundles

Mike Perry · 2026-06-16 · 10 min · Deal ended
Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 Drops $700 — and a Cheaper 4K Path

Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 6 min · Deal ended
Ryzen 7 5800X + RTX 5060 Combo Hits $439 With Cooler

Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 6 min · Deal ended

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Older long-form guides and explainers from the legacy editorial archive — same trust, same affiliate disclosure as the modern feed above.

Hardware Benchmark Data

Gaming FPS, AI inference tok/s, and synthetic scores for GPUs, CPUs, RAM and SSDs — sourced from TechPowerUp, PassMark, Tom's Hardware, and community measurements.

CPUs: Intel Core Ultra 5 250KF · AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D · Apple M3 Ultra · Ryzen 5 7500X3D · Ryzen 9 9950X3D · AMD Ryzen 5 9600 · Apple M4 · Apple M4 Max · Apple M4 Pro · Intel Core i5-14500 · Intel Core Ultra 5 245K · Intel Core Ultra 7 265K · Intel Core Ultra 9 285K · Ryzen 5 9600X · Ryzen 7 5800XT · Ryzen 7 9700X · Ryzen 7 9800X3D · Ryzen 9 9950X · AMD Ryzen 5 7430U · Intel Core i5-14600K — more →

RAMs: DDR5-8000 CL38 32GB (2x16) · DDR5-6000 CL30 64GB (2x32) · DDR5-6400 CL32 32GB (2x16) · PC3200 DDR-400 Memory · PC2700 DDR-333 Memory — more →

SSDs: Crucial T705 2TB · Samsung 990 PRO 2TB · WD Black SN850X 2TB — more →