PC Hardware News, Reviews & Buying Guides — 3046 Articles
Daily news digests, benchmark roundups, and long-form buying guides on GPUs, CPUs, home AI workstations, local LLM runtimes, retro PC builds, and the tools real builders use in 2026.
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More from the SpecPicks article archive
Long-form guides, deep dives, and how-tos from the broader SpecPicks editorial archive — hardware builds, retro PC restoration, local LLM tuning, and more.
- Best 1440p Gaming GPUs in 2026
- How to Build a Windows 98 Retro PC in 2026
- The Complete Voodoo5 5500 AGP Driver Guide (2026 Edition)
- Emulation Hardware in 2026: FPGA, Software, and Cart-Reader Ecosystems
- Best Budget Gaming PC Build 2026 — ~$1,000 Parts List
- Best Retro Handhelds in 2026 — From $35 to $500
- RTX 4070 Super vs RX 7800 XT — Which to Buy in 2026
Earlier SpecPicks guides worth revisiting
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.
GPUs: AMD Radeon Pro W7800 32GB · Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12GB · Intel Arc B370 GPU · Intel Arc B570 · NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti · Radeon RX 7900 XT · Radeon RX 6300 · GeForce RTX 5060 · AMD Instinct MI355X 288GB · Radeon RX 6850M · AMD Instinct MI210 64GB · Quadro RTX 5000 · Radeon RX 7650 GRE · Radeon RX 6600S · NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER · Radeon RX 6400 · NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 · Radeon RX 9070 · Radeon RX 9060 · Intel Arc A530M · NVIDIA Tesla P40 24GB · NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti · GeForce RTX 4060 · RTX 4500 Ada Generation · AMD Radeon Pro W7900 48GB — more →
CPUs: AMD Ryzen 5 5600F · Intel Core Ultra 5 250KF · Ryzen 5 7520U · Ryzen 5 2400G · AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 5655G · Apple M1 Ultra 20 Core · AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 7840U · AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 7745 · AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7445 · Ryzen 7 5800XT · AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 5945 · AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9745 · AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX · Apple M4 10 Core · AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5350G · AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7960X · AMD Ryzen 5 7540U · Ryzen 5 2600X · AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 · AMD Ryzen 5 5600T · Intel Core Ultra 7 265K · AMD Ryzen 3 7440U · AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7985WX · AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X · Ryzen 7 5700X — more →
Recently Added Hardware Benchmarks
New GPU, CPU, RAM, and SSD benchmark data added to the SpecPicks index.
- NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 64GB
- AMD Instinct MI210 64GB
- AMD Radeon Pro W7800 32GB
- AMD Radeon Pro W7900 48GB
- NVIDIA Tesla P40 24GB
- NVIDIA RTX A2000 12GB
- NVIDIA RTX A4000 16GB
- NVIDIA RTX A4500 20GB
- NVIDIA RTX A5000 24GB
- NVIDIA RTX A5500 24GB
- NVIDIA RTX A6000 48GB
- NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40GB
- NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80GB
- NVIDIA H100 NVL 94GB
- NVIDIA H100 PCIe 80GB
- NVIDIA L40 48GB
- NVIDIA L40S 48GB
- NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell
- Radeon RX 5700
- GeForce RTX 3050 6 GB
- Radeon RX 5500 XT
- Radeon RX 5600 XT
- GeForce RTX 3050 8 GB
- Radeon RX 5700 XT
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB
- RTX 4500 Ada Generation
- Intel Core i5-14600K
- Intel Core i7-14700K
- Intel Core i5-13600K
- Intel Core i7-13700K
- GeForce Tensor-Throttle Unlock: RTX 3060 12GB vs RTX 4090 for Local LLMs — The GeForce tensor unlock speeds prefill, not token generation. RTX 3060 12GB and RTX 4090 bandwidth math, runtime support and the real… Mike Perry · 2026-10-27 · 14 min read
- Qwen3-Coder-Next 80B-A3B on a 12GB RTX 3060: Per-Quant VRAM, RAM and tok/s — Qwen3-Coder-Next on an RTX 3060 12GB: per-quant GGUF sizes, RAM needed, KV-cache math and offload tok/s from published 12GB runs, with… Mike Perry · 2026-10-26 · 14 min read
- RX 9060 XT 16GB vs 8GB: Which One to Buy (Benchmarks) — RX 9060 XT 16GB vs 8GB: same chip, but at 1440p high settings the 16GB card ran 17% to 184% faster in TechSpot's tests. Who should buy… Mike Perry · 2026-10-25 · 9 min read
- Gemma 4 31B on a 24GB GPU: RTX 3090 vs RTX 4090 vs RX 7900 XTX Quant Table (2026) — Gemma 4 31B on 24GB: Q4_K_M (18.3 GB) fits with 32K context. RTX 3090 hits 34.7 tok/s; the RTX 4090's edge is prefill. Quant, VRAM and… Mike Perry · 2026-10-25 · 17 min read
- Tesla P40 vs RTX 3090: Used 24GB GPUs for Local LLMs in 2026 — Tesla P40 vs RTX 3090 for a used local LLM rig: 54.7 vs 158.2 tok/s on Llama 2 7B, $345 vs $1,399 used, plus cooling, power, drivers and… Mike Perry · 2026-10-25 · 12 min read
- RTX PRO 6000 vs RTX 5090 for Local 70B LLMs: 96GB vs 32GB — RTX PRO 6000 vs RTX 5090 for 70B LLMs: 96GB runs Llama 3.3 70B Q4 at 32 tok/s on one card; the 32GB 5090 needs 3-bit or a second GPU. Fit… Mike Perry · 2026-10-25 · 11 min read
- RTX 5090 vs RTX Spark for Local LLMs: 32 GB GDDR7 vs 128 GB Unified (2026) — RTX 5090 vs RTX Spark for local LLMs: per-model tok/s, quant fit for 27B, 70B and gpt-oss-120b, bandwidth vs capacity, and which to buy… Mike Perry · 2026-10-24 · 17 min read
- $1,200 Gaming PC Build 2026: Parts, Cost, 1440p FPS — A Ryzen 5 5600 + RX 9060 XT 16GB build: 64 fps at 1440p Ultra and 100 fps at 1080p Ultra in Cyberpunk 2077 per Gamers Nexus. Live-priced… Mike Perry · 2026-10-24 · 6 min read
- Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B on RTX Spark: Which Surface Laptop Ultra Memory Config to Buy — Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B runs at 89.2 tok/s on the Surface Laptop Ultra's RTX Spark. Which memory tier holds Q4, Q8 or BF16, with per-quant sizes… Mike Perry · 2026-10-23 · 19 min read
- gpt-oss 20B on Surface Laptop Ultra (RTX Spark) vs DGX Spark: tok/s by Config — gpt-oss 20B runs at 58-59 tok/s on the Surface Laptop Ultra (RTX Spark) per StorageReview, against ~80 tok/s on DGX Spark. Memory configs… Mike Perry · 2026-10-22 · 14 min read
- Best GPU for Local LLMs by VRAM: 2026 Reddit Consensus — RTX 3060 12GB, RTX 5060 Ti 16GB (51.41 tok/s on Qwen3 8B per Hardware Corner), used RTX 3090, 48GB and Strix Halo picks by VRAM tier. Mike Perry · 2026-10-21 · 6 min read
- $1,500 Gaming PC Build 2026: Parts, Cost, 1440p FPS — A Ryzen 7 5700X + RX 9070 build: 106 fps in Dying Light 2 at 1440p High per Gamers Nexus. Live-priced parts list and one-click cart. Mike Perry · 2026-10-21 · 5 min read
- $2,000 Gaming PC Build 2026: Parts, Cost, 1440p FPS — A Ryzen 5 7600X + RX 9070 XT build: 109 fps in Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p Ultra per Gamers Nexus. Live-priced parts list and one-click cart. Mike Perry · 2026-10-21 · 5 min read
- Can You Build an $800 Gaming PC in 2026? Parts + Cost — Not from new parts: the cheapest complete list (Ryzen 5 5600 + Arc B570) still costs more than $800. Live total, cart and cited 1080p FPS. Mike Perry · 2026-10-21 · 6 min read
- Halloween Talking Prop: Qwen3 4B on Jetson Orin Nano Super vs Raspberry Pi 5 16GB — Qwen3 4B hits 19.53 tok/s on a Jetson Orin Nano Super; the Pi 5 16GB's 1-4B median is 7.5 tok/s. Which board fits a talking Halloween… Mike Perry · 2026-10-19 · 14 min read
- FLUX.2 Klein 4B for Halloween Art: RTX 3060 12GB vs RTX 5060 8GB — Can FLUX.2 Klein 4B run on 8GB? Only quantized. VRAM by precision, RTX 3060 12GB vs RTX 5060 8GB specs, and which card fits a Halloween… Mike Perry · 2026-10-17 · 16 min read
- 9800X3D + RTX 5070 Ti PC Build 2026: 1440p High-Refresh — A Ryzen 7 9800X3D + RTX 5070 Ti build: 187 fps in FFXIV and 130 fps in Dying Light 2 at 1440p per Gamers Nexus, live Amazon prices where… Mike Perry · 2026-10-13 · 7 min read
- Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B on a 16GB GPU: RTX 5060 Ti vs RX 9060 XT Quant Table — Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B fits a 16GB GPU at IQ3 (13.7 GB) and a public RTX 5060 Ti run hit 89 tok/s. Per-quant VRAM, offload math and an RX 9060… Mike Perry · 2026-10-11 · 14 min read
- Gemma 4 31B on a 16GB GPU: RTX 5060 Ti vs RX 9060 XT vs Arc A770 Quant Table (2026) — Can a 16GB GPU run Gemma 4 31B? Per-quant VRAM table, KV-cache math and sourced tok/s for the RTX 5060 Ti, RX 9060 XT and Arc A770 vs a… Mike Perry · 2026-10-10 · 17 min read
- Local-LLM PC Build on a 16GB Card: What r/LocalLLaMA and r/buildapc Concluded (2026) — RTX 5060 Ti 16GB or RX 9060 XT 16GB, 64GB RAM for MoE offload and an AM4 Ryzen host: the 16GB local-LLM build Reddit threads converge on… Mike Perry · 2026-10-09 · 14 min read
- gpt-oss on a 12GB GPU: 2026 Community Consensus (RTX 3060) — gpt-oss-20b runs at 53-85 tok/s on an RTX 3060 12GB; gpt-oss-120b needs --n-cpu-moe and 64GB+ RAM. What 12 community threads report. Mike Perry · 2026-10-08 · 10 min read
- RTX 3060 12GB Local LLM: Reddit Consensus on What Runs (2026) — r/LocalLLaMA 3060 owners run 35B-A3B MoE with RAM offload (~47 tok/s reported) or dense 14B Q4 (22.7 tok/s at 16k, Hardware Corner). Mike Perry · 2026-10-08 · 9 min read
- Used RTX 3090 vs New GPU for Local LLMs: 2026 Reddit Consensus — A used 24 GB RTX 3090 stays the community default for 27B–32B local LLMs at Q4. When a new 16 GB or 32 GB card is the better buy instead. Mike Perry · 2026-10-08 · 9 min read
- Qwen 3.6 27B on 16GB: RTX 5060 Ti 16GB vs RX 9060 XT 16GB by Quant (2026) — Which Qwen 3.6 27B quants fit a 16GB GPU, how much context they leave, and why the RTX 5060 Ti's extra bandwidth should beat the RX 9060… Mike Perry · 2026-10-08 · 14 min read
- RX 9060 XT 16GB vs RTX 3060 12GB for Local LLMs: 4GB More VRAM, Which Wins? — RX 9060 XT 16GB vs RTX 3060 12GB for local LLMs: llama.cpp scoreboards show a near tie at 7B, but 16GB fits 14B Q6, gpt-oss-20b and long… Mike Perry · 2026-10-07 · 12 min read
- 1080p Gaming PC Build 2026: Cost, Parts, FPS — A Ryzen 5 7600X + Arc B580 1080p build: 74 fps in Cyberpunk 2077 at Ultra per Gamers Nexus, with live Amazon prices where available. Mike Perry · 2026-10-05 · 6 min read
- 1440p Gaming PC Build 2026: Cost, Parts, FPS — A Ryzen 7 7700X + RX 9070 XT 1440p build: 109 fps in Cyberpunk 2077 at Ultra per Gamers Nexus, with live Amazon prices where available. Mike Perry · 2026-10-05 · 6 min read
- 4K Gaming PC Build 2026: Cost, Parts, FPS — A Ryzen 7 9850X3D + RTX 5080 4K build: 112 fps in FFXIV and 58 fps in Wukong at 4K per Gamers Nexus, live Amazon prices where available. Mike Perry · 2026-10-05 · 6 min read
- Ryzen CPU Deals 2026: 5600X, 5800X3D and 9800X3D Price Lines — Ryzen CPU picks for Black Friday and Cyber Monday (Nov 27–30, 2026): 5800X, 5600X, 5800X3D, 9800X3D and 5600G, with the MSRP line for a… Mike Perry · 2026-10-01 · 16 min read
- Black Friday Monitor Deals 2026: 5 Picks for Gaming and AI Desks — Black Friday monitor picks (Nov 27–30, 2026): Samsung Odyssey 4K, KOORUI dual-mode 4K, LG 34" ultrawide and two 1440p panels, plus how to… Mike Perry · 2026-09-30 · 19 min read
- Best Mini PC Deals 2026 for Local AI and Home Labs — Which mini PC to buy on Black Friday or Cyber Monday 2026 for local LLMs or a home lab: five picks ranked by RAM and bandwidth, Ryzen 7… Mike Perry · 2026-09-29 · 17 min read
- GPU Deals for Local LLMs 2026: 12GB vs 16GB Cards — Which GPU to buy on Black Friday or Cyber Monday 2026 for local LLMs: 16GB RTX 5060 Ti vs RX 9060 XT vs 12GB cards, with sourced tok/s and… Mike Perry · 2026-09-28 · 14 min read
- Gaming Desk Deals 2026: 5 L-Shaped and Standing Desks for a Tower + Multi-Monitor Setup — Black Friday desk picks (Nov 27–30, 2026) for a tower plus two monitors or an ultrawide: five L-shaped, standing and 2-person desks sized… Mike Perry · 2026-09-27 · 16 min read
- Prebuilt Gaming PCs 2026: RTX 5060 vs 5060 Ti vs 5070 — Which prebuilt to buy on Black Friday or Cyber Monday (Nov 27–30, 2026): RTX 5060 vs 5060 Ti 8GB/16GB vs 5070 tiers, a parts-sum check… Mike Perry · 2026-09-26 · 18 min read
- Local AI and Gaming Setup Picks 2026: 5 Buys With Price Anchors — Five gaming and local-AI picks for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2026, from an RTX 5060 Ti 16GB prebuilt to a budget standing desk, each… Mike Perry · 2026-09-25 · 15 min read
- Best Hardware for Local OCR and Document AI in 2026 — The hardware you need to run OCR and document-AI models locally in 2026: a 12GB RTX 3060, an 8-core Ryzen for batch OCR, and a Pi for… Mike Perry · 2026-09-24 · 17 min read
- Best GPU for gpt-oss 20B in 2026 — The best GPU for gpt-oss 20B is a 16 GB card: the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB fits the whole model at 128K context. Picks for 12 GB, 24 GB and 4 GB… Mike Perry · 2026-09-24 · 13 min read
- RTX 4090 vs RTX 5090 for Local LLM Inference: 24 GB vs 32 GB (2026) — RTX 4090 vs RTX 5090 for local LLMs: 1,008 vs 1,792 GB/s bandwidth, 24 vs 32 GB VRAM, and published tok/s on Qwen3 32B. Which models fit… Mike Perry · 2026-09-24 · 15 min read
- Arc Pro B60 Dual 48GB vs Dual RTX 3060 12GB for 70B Local LLMs (2026) — Arc Pro B60 Dual 48GB vs two RTX 3060 12GB cards for local LLMs: only 48 GB fits Llama 3.3 70B at Q4. VRAM math, tok/s, bifurcation and… Mike Perry · 2026-09-24 · 14 min read
- Ryzen 5 2600 vs Ryzen 5 5600X for CPU-Only gpt-oss 20B (2026) — Ryzen 5 2600 vs 5600X for CPU-only gpt-oss 20B: rated DDR4 bandwidth (46.9 vs 51.2 GB/s) caps generation; full-width AVX2 speeds prompts… Mike Perry · 2026-09-24 · 14 min read
- RTX 5060 8GB vs RTX 4070 12GB for Qwen3 14B: Does 8GB Fit? (2026) — Can an RTX 5060 8GB run Qwen3 14B? Only at Q3 or with slow CPU offload. The RTX 4070 12GB fits Q4_K_M fully and hits 42.5 tok/s. Full VRAM… Mike Perry · 2026-09-24 · 12 min read
- Best GPU for Qwen3 8B in 2026 — The best GPU for Qwen3 8B in 2026 is a 12 GB card. We rank five NVIDIA picks by VRAM fit, tok/s and price, from the RTX 3060 12GB to the… Mike Perry · 2026-09-24 · 14 min read
- Raspberry Pi 4 8GB vs Ryzen 5 2600 for Gemma 3 4B: Which Cheap Box Wins? — Gemma 3 4B on a Pi 4 8GB: an estimated ~1.4 tok/s vs ~11 on a Ryzen 5 2600, scaled from measured runs. Quant sizes, prefill, KV-cache RAM… Mike Perry · 2026-09-24 · 17 min read
- Best GPUs for Mixtral 8x22B Local Inference in 2026 — Best GPUs for Mixtral 8x22B in 2026: VRAM and RAM needs per quant, llama.cpp expert offload, and five picks from RTX 3060 budget builds to… Mike Perry · 2026-09-24 · 13 min read
- RTX 3060 12GB vs RTX 4090 for Local LLMs (2026): Is 2x VRAM Worth the Price Jump? — RTX 3060 12GB vs RTX 4090 for local LLMs: sourced llama.cpp tok/s on 8B-32B models, quant fit tables, KV-cache math and perf-per-dollar… Mike Perry · 2026-09-24 · 13 min read
- RTX 3060 12GB vs RTX 4070 Super for Local LLMs (2026): Same VRAM, 40% More Bandwidth — RTX 3060 12GB vs RTX 4070 Super for local LLMs: same 12 GB model ceiling, 360 vs 504 GB/s bandwidth, 31 vs 45 tok/s on Qwen3 14B. Which… Mike Perry · 2026-09-24 · 15 min read
- Two GTX 1050 Ti 4GB vs One RTX 3060 12GB for 8B Local LLMs — Two GTX 1050 Ti 4GB cards can load an 8B LLM but generate at single-card speed. One RTX 3060 12GB runs Llama 3.1 8B at 51 tok/s with room… Mike Perry · 2026-09-24 · 16 min read
- Best GPU Upgrade From a GTX 1050 Ti for Local LLMs in 2026 — Five ranked GPU upgrades from a GTX 1050 Ti for local LLMs, with measured tok/s, VRAM tiers, PSU requirements and the CUDA deprecation… Mike Perry · 2026-09-23 · 18 min read
- Llama 4 Scout: RTX 3060 12GB Expert Offload vs Ryzen 7 5800X CPU-Only (2026) — Llama 4 Scout is 109B parameters in a 42GB file. Quant sizes, RAM floors, llama.cpp expert-offload flags and measured DDR4 MoE throughput… Mike Perry · 2026-09-23 · 16 min read
- RTX A6000 48GB vs RTX 3090 24GB for Production LLM Inference (2026) — The RTX 3090 beats the A6000 on every workload that fits 24GB. Measured tok/s, KV-cache math and vLLM concurrency for when 48GB is worth… Mike Perry · 2026-09-23 · 18 min read