PC Hardware News, Reviews & Buying Guides — Page 42 of 61
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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- Mount a 90s CD-ROM on Windows 98 Without a CD Drive (2026) — Image the CD on a modern PC to .cue/.bin, copy to CompactFlash, mount in Win98 with DAEMON Tools 95/98 — no working optical drive required. Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 9 min read
- Can a Raspberry Pi 4 8GB Run a Local LLM in 2026? Realistic tok/s — A Pi 4 runs 1B-3B LLMs at q4 at under 5 tok/s in a 2025 Ollama benchmark: fine for offline command parsing and always-on tasks, not chat. Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 8 min read
- What Hardware Runs a Gemini-Class Model Locally in 2026? — A used RTX 3060 12GB, 32GB RAM, and a fast SSD run open-weight Gemini-class assistants at 35-55 tok/s for under $700 in 2026. Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 10 min read
- FIDECO vs Unitek vs Vantec: The Best IDE-to-USB Adapter for Rescuing Retro Drives in 2026 — The three best USB-to-IDE adapters for rescuing data from retro PC drives in 2026 — FIDECO vs Unitek vs Vantec, with the imaging workflow… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 11 min read
- Samsung's 360Hz 4K QD-OLED vs Budget 4K Gaming Monitors: Is the Premium Worth It? — Samsung's new 360Hz 4K QD-OLED panel is exciting — but for most gamers a budget 4K Mini-LED at one-fourth the price delivers the better… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 11 min read
- Forza Horizon 6 on Steam Deck: Best Dock and Controller Setup for 2026 — The best Steam Deck dock and controller pairing for playing Forza Horizon 6 on a TV in 2026 — under $100, with real frame-rate numbers. Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 11 min read
- Best Gaming PC Upgrades Under $200 in 2026: 5 Picks That Move the Needle — The most impactful upgrades to revive an aging budget gaming PC in 2026 — GPU, SSD, CPU, cooler, mouse — each ranked by frames-per-dollar. Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 12 min read
- Best Game Controller in 2026: 5 Picks for PC, Console and Retro — Five game controllers covering PC, console and retro emulation in 2026 — picks from $40 to $75, with the trade-offs that actually matter. Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 12 min read
- A LEGO Castle Case for the Raspberry Pi 5 Is Going Viral — Here's the Build — A maker's LEGO castle case for the Raspberry Pi 5 hit the top of r/raspberry_pi this week — here is how it's built and why these projects… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 10 min read
- Best Budget GPU for CNN and Image-Model Training in 2026: The RTX 3060 12GB Deep Dive — The cheapest GPU you can buy in 2026 to train CNN and image models locally without renting cloud time — real numbers from the RTX 3060 12GB. Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 11 min read
- RTX 3060 12GB vs RX 7600 XT for Local LLMs: The Cheap Inference Card to Buy in 2026 — Which $300 GPU is the right buy in 2026 for running Ollama and llama.cpp at home — CUDA-easy RTX 3060 12GB, or the higher-VRAM RX 7600 XT. Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 13 min read
- How to Archive Your Old IDE and CompactFlash Retro PC Drives in 2026 — Step-by-step guide to imaging old IDE and CompactFlash retro PC drives in 2026: the right adapter, ddrescue for bad sectors, and 3-2-1… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 13 min read
- Voodoo5 5500 PCI Boots on a Modern Z77 Board: Retro-on-Modern Just Got Easier — A reddit thread shows a 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI booting in an ASUS P8Z77-V Pro. Why a 25-year-old card still works — and what it means for… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 10 min read
- Best Streaming Starter Kit for New Creators in 2026 — The under-$400 streaming starter kit that actually works in 2026 — a value USB mic, a key light, optional console capture, and the order… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 12 min read
- 8BitDo Sn30 Pro vs Pro 2: Best Bluetooth Controller for Raspberry Pi 4 Emulation — 8BitDo Sn30 Pro vs Pro 2 on a Raspberry Pi 4 for retro emulation: which one fits 8/16-bit games, which one fits PS1/N64, and how to pair… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 12 min read
- Best Capture Setup for Console Streaming in 2026: Elgato Cam Link 4K + PS4 Pro — How to stream a PS4 Pro or PS5 to a PC with an Elgato Cam Link 4K in 2026: setup, HDCP, OBS settings, and when to choose an internal… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 13 min read
- Ryzen 7 5700X vs Intel Core i7-9700K: Best Budget Streaming + Gaming CPU in 2026 — Ryzen 7 5700X vs Intel Core i7-9700K head-to-head for budget streaming and gaming in 2026. Cores, threads, platform, and the upgrade-path… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 11 min read
- Cerebras Says It's Running GPT-5.5 Internally — What It Means for Local LLM Boxes — Cerebras says it runs GPT-5.5 on wafer-scale silicon. We map the practical 14B-class local sweet spot for a 12 GB RTX 3060 box in 2026. Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 13 min read
- OpenAI Codex Now Drives Windows Autonomously: What It Means for Local AI Rigs — OpenAI Codex now drives Windows autonomously. Here is what hardware you need to run a credible local coding agent on a budget AI rig in… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 14 min read
- Sound BlasterX G6 for Retro Gaming PC Audio in 2026 — Can the Sound BlasterX G6 serve a retro gaming PC? Yes for XP-era audio without sacrificing a PCI slot — no for DOS OPL3 or hardware EAX… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 11 min read
- Best CPU Cooler for Gaming PCs in 2026: Air & AIO Picks — Best CPU cooler picks for 2026 gaming PCs: DeepCool AK620 WH at $65 (best value), Noctua NH-U12S at $85 (quietest), CoolerMaster ML240L at… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 13 min read
- Best GPU for 1080p High-Refresh Esports 2026: RTX 3060 12GB — RTX 3060 12GB clears 240 FPS in CS2, Valorant, Apex at competitive settings. MSI Ventus or ZOTAC Twin Edge are interchangeable. Full 1080p… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 12 min read
- Best Sim Racing Wheel Setup 2026: G920 vs HORI vs TH8A — G920 is the best $299 wheel. HORI Overdrive wins under $150. TH8A is the right shifter — second, not first. Full sim racing beginner… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 13 min read
- Ryzen 5 5600G vs Ryzen 7 5700X: Best Budget AM4 CPU 2026 — Ryzen 5 5600G vs Ryzen 7 5700X in 2026: gaming FPS, multi-thread, integrated graphics, build cost. With a GPU, buy the 5700X. Without, the… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 11 min read
- Intel Arc Pro B70 vLLM Support Lands — vs RTX 3060 12GB — Intel Arc Pro B70 24GB now runs vLLM via llm-scaler. We benchmarked it against the RTX 3060 12GB on Llama 3.1, Qwen 2.5, and Gemma 4. Real… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 12 min read
- 768GB Optane vs RTX 3060 12GB: The Trillion-Param LLM Reality — Optane DIMMs let you load a trillion-parameter LLM. They generate at 1-3 tok/s. An RTX 3060 12GB clears 50 tok/s on 8B models. The… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 13 min read
- CompactFlash Boot Drive for Windows 98 Retro PC: The 2026 Transcend CF133 Recipe — A 4-16 GB Transcend CF133 on a passive CF-to-IDE adapter is the right Windows 98 boot drive in 2026. Here's the workflow, the BIOS limits… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 11 min read
- ASUS ROG Zephyrus G1 OLED RTX 5070 Drops $575 This Week — Is It the Right Buy? — ASUS Zephyrus G1 OLED with mobile RTX 5070 drops to $1,924 through end of week. The OLED panel is the same as the Razer Blade 16 — here's… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 9 min read
- Best Retro PC Building Tools & Adapters 2026: The Kit That Ships the Build — CompactFlash boot drives, IDE-to-USB adapters, USB DACs for period sound cards: the modern accessories that make retro PC builds finish on… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 12 min read
- Best 4K Monitor Under $400 for Console & PC Gaming 2026: SANSUI vs KOORUI vs ASUS TUF — The SANSUI 27" 4K is the $280 value pick. KOORUI mini-LED at $500 is the HDR play. ASUS TUF 1440p panels at $279-$283 are the smoothness… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 11 min read
- Best PC Gaming Controller 2026: GameSir G7 SE vs 8BitDo Pro 2 vs Sony DualSense — Three top PC controllers in 2026 broken down by who they're for: G7 SE for value, Pro 2 for cross-platform, DualSense for Sony PC ports… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 10 min read
- Best Budget 1TB SATA SSD 2026: BX500 vs WD Blue vs SanDisk Ultra 3D vs Samsung 870 EVO — Crucial BX500 wins at $55-$70 for most upgrades. Samsung 870 EVO is the durability play. WD Blue listing is actually NVMe. Here's how to… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 10 min read
- Claude Opus 4.8 vs Local LLM on RTX 3060 12GB: Honest 2026 Benchmarks — Frontier Opus 4.8 versus the best 7B-13B models you can run on a 12GB RTX 3060 — benchmark by benchmark, with the gap math that decides… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 10 min read
- Shared ChatGPT & Claude Chats Are Spreading Malware — Run a Local LLM on a 12GB GPU Instead — Attackers are abusing public ChatGPT and Claude share URLs to deliver malware. Here's how a $300 RTX 3060 12GB and a local LLM remove that… Mike Perry · 2026-05-31 · 12 min read
- Blue Yeti vs HyperX QuadCast 2 S: Best USB Mic for Streaming in 2026 — The HyperX QuadCast 2 S is the safer pick for solo streamers in an untreated room. The Blue Yeti remains the right call for multi-person… Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 10 min read
- Running a Modern SATA SSD in a Windows XP Retro Gaming PC — A modern SATA SSD is the most reliable storage upgrade for a Windows XP retro PC in 2026. Set the SATA controller to IDE/legacy mode… Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 11 min read
- Best SSD for the PS4 Pro in 2026: SATA Upgrade Guide — The Samsung 870 EVO is the best overall PS4 Pro SSD upgrade in 2026 — but the Crucial BX500 1TB and SanDisk Ultra 3D NAND 1TB are very… Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 10 min read
- Microsoft + Nvidia Agent PCs vs a DIY RTX 3060 12GB Local-Agent Box — A discrete RTX 3060 12GB paired with a Ryzen-class CPU runs the 7B-14B tool-use models real agent loops use today. Branded AI PCs sell… Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 12 min read
- Fix Windows 98 SE on 1GB+ RAM: The Vcache Gotcha — Windows 98 SE refuses to boot above 512MB without MaxFileCache and MaxPhysPage edits — set MaxFileCache=393216 and MaxPhysPage=40000… Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 9 min read
- Ryzen 7 5800X + RTX 5060 Combo Hits $439 With Cooler — A $439 Ryzen 7 5800X + RTX 5060 bundle with a free cooler is the cheapest silicon foundation for a 1080p Ultra / 1440p High build — strong… Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 6 min read
- Best SSDs & Cloning Tools for Gaming PC Upgrades 2026 — The Samsung 870 EVO is the safest SSD upgrade in 2026, Crucial BX500 wins cost-per-GB, WD Blue SN550 wins on NVMe throughput, FIDECO is… Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 9 min read
- Best 4K Monitor for Forza Horizon 6 on PC (2026) — The SANSUI 27" 4K 160Hz wins on price-per-Hz for Forza Horizon 6 on PC, the KOORUI QD-Mini upgrades HDR, the ASUS TUF 32" 1440p Curved… Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 8 min read
- Ryzen 7 5800X + RTX 3060 12GB: Best 1440p AM4 Build — A Ryzen 7 5800X plus RTX 3060 12GB hits 90+ fps at 1440p High in 2026 AAA titles for under $850 complete — the best balanced AM4 build… Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 7 min read
- Ryzen 7 5800X vs 5700X: Best 8-Core AM4 CPU 2026 — In 2026 gaming the Ryzen 7 5700X lands within 2-4% of the 5800X at 1080p, ties at 1440p, runs 8-12°C cooler, and is cheaper — the better… Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 8 min read
- Ryzen AI Max 400 192GB vs RTX 3060 for Local LLMs — The Ryzen AI Max 400 'Gorgon Halo' with 192GB unified memory is the only single-box way to host a 70B model — but a 3060 12GB still wins… Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 10 min read
- Voodoo5 5500 PCI in a Modern Board: Install, Glide & Win98 Setup — How to get a 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI running in a modern motherboard with Win98 SE, period audio, and original Glide drivers — full build… Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 10 min read
- Best Budget Gaming PC Build Parts in 2026: 5 Core Picks — Ryzen 7 5700X, RTX 3060 12GB, Noctua NH-U12S, and a Crucial BX500 — five core picks for a $1,050 budget 1080p high-refresh 2026 build. Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 11 min read
- Best Budget FPS Mouse + Pad Combo: G502 Hero & QcK 2026 — Logitech G502 Hero plus a SteelSeries QcK XXL is the sub-$60 sweet spot for FPS aim — proven sensor, dense cloth, and zero compromise on… Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 10 min read
- GameSir G7 SE vs HORIPAD Pro: Best Wired PC Controller — GameSir G7 SE ships full Hall-effect for $45; HORIPAD Pro brings tactile Switch-style build for $59. Latency, durability, and verdict for… Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 9 min read
- Noctua NH-U12S vs DeepCool AK620: Best Air Cooler for AM5 OC — DeepCool AK620 wins raw thermals on AM5 PBO loads. Noctua NH-U12S is quieter at sub-37 dBA. Hard temp and noise numbers at 65W, 105W, and… Mike Perry · 2026-05-30 · 10 min read