PC Hardware News, Reviews & Buying Guides — Page 6 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.
Showing articles 251–300 of 3046.
Browse 14 Categories
- Best CPU Coolers for Ryzen and Intel Builds in 2026 — The Noctua NH-U12S is the best overall CPU cooler in 2026 — reliable, quiet, and rated well above modern eight-core TDPs. Here are five… Mike Perry · 2026-08-07 · 11 min read
- RTX 3060 12GB vs 8GB in 2026: Which VRAM Tier Still Holds Up at 1080p — The 12 GB variant of the RTX 3060 aged meaningfully better than the 8 GB one. Here's when it's still the right 1080p budget buy in 2026… Mike Perry · 2026-08-07 · 10 min read
- Qwen3.8 Max vs Claude Opus 4.8: What the Cost-Per-Task Gap Means for Local Rigs — Qwen3.8 Max just caught Claude Opus 4.8 on the Intelligence Index at roughly a third the cost per task. Here's what the math means for a… Mike Perry · 2026-08-07 · 11 min read
- retrorecs.com: A New Retro Game Recommendation Engine — A developer-built site called retrorecs.com aims to match players with retro titles using genre and mechanic filters — here is how the… Mike Perry · 2026-08-07
- RTX 5070 vs 5080: Which GPU Fits Your Build? — RTX 5070 vs RTX 5080 compared on VRAM, bandwidth, power draw, and pricing to help Ryzen-based gaming builds pick the right GPU tier. Mike Perry · 2026-08-07
- 9800X3D Build: RTX 5080 vs 5070 Ti vs 9070 XT at 1440p — A synthesis of public benchmarks and pricing on whether the RTX 5080 is worth waiting for over the RTX 5070 Ti or RX 9070 XT in a 9800X3D… Mike Perry · 2026-08-07
- RTX 5070 Ti + Ryzen 7 9850X3D: Is It a Good Combo? — A synthesis of public specs and benchmark patterns on pairing the RTX 5070 Ti with AMD's Ryzen 7 9850X3D for 1440p and 4K gaming builds in… Mike Perry · 2026-08-07
- DIY Pinball Controller for Retro Gaming: Build Guide — Community DIY builds show how Arduino Pro Micro boards and QMK firmware turn 3D-printed cases into HID pinball flipper controllers for… Mike Perry · 2026-08-07
- How to Backup a NAS on a Budget in 2026 — A budget NAS backup plan using free rsync/Duplicity tools, cron scheduling, and inexpensive external drives instead of a cloud subscription. Mike Perry · 2026-08-07
- Best SSDs and Storage Adapters for Retro PC Builds in 2026 — The Crucial BX500 1TB SATA SSD is the best 2026 storage upgrade for a retro PC — cheap, silent, and cool — with a CompactFlash card for… Mike Perry · 2026-08-07 · 13 min read
- GameSir G7 SE vs DualSense for PC Emulation in 2026 — The GameSir G7 SE is the better default for PC emulation in 2026: Hall-effect sticks kill drift, wired USB removes Bluetooth jitter, and… Mike Perry · 2026-08-07 · 13 min read
- RX 9070 XT vs RTX 5080 for a 9800X3D Build (2026) — Pairing a Ryzen 7 9800X3D with an RX 9070 XT or RTX 5080? This synthesis compares specs, upscaling, power draw, and value for 2026 builders. Mike Perry · 2026-08-07
- The Pac-Man Benchmark: Testing Local Agentic Coding AI — The 'Pac-Man benchmark' — cloning the arcade classic in one AI prompt — has become an informal gut-check for local coding agents. Here's… Mike Perry · 2026-08-07
- Logitech G29 vs HORI Racing Wheel Overdrive for Entry Sim Racing — Buy the Logitech G29 if you intend to learn how to drive; buy the HORI Racing Wheel Overdrive if you play arcade racers casually on Xbox… Mike Perry · 2026-08-06 · 12 min read
- Best CPU Cooler for the Ryzen 7 5800X: Air vs 120mm vs 240mm AIO — The best CPU cooler for a Ryzen 7 5800X is the Noctua NH-U12S when clearance allows and the CoolerMaster ML240L RGB when it doesn't. Skip… Mike Perry · 2026-08-06 · 12 min read
- Best Budget SSDs for Gaming PC Builds in 2026 — The best budget SSD for a gaming PC in 2026 is the Crucial BX500 1TB at roughly a nickel per gigabyte, with the Samsung 970 EVO Plus 250GB… Mike Perry · 2026-08-06 · 13 min read
- Best GPU for i7-13700K at 1440p 180Hz (GTX 1080 Upgrade) — Retiring a GTX 1080? See which GPUs pair best with an i7-13700K for 1440p 180Hz gaming, per public benchmarks, PSU needs, and cooling notes. Mike Perry · 2026-08-06
- BIOS Says Resize BAR Is On But Nvidia Disagrees — BIOS shows Resizable BAR enabled but Nvidia Control Panel or GPU-Z says otherwise? Here's why the mismatch happens and how to actually fix… Mike Perry · 2026-08-06
- Local LLMs for Generating Interactive Textbooks On the Fly — Local LLMs can draft adaptive, recursive textbook chapters on-device — no cloud API needed. Here's the hardware, software, and real limits… Mike Perry · 2026-08-06
- Qwen 0.8B AI Detectors: Fine-Tuned on Pangram-Style Data — Small fine-tuned models like a Qwen 0.8B AI content detector promise fast, local text detection. Here's what's verifiable and what to… Mike Perry · 2026-08-06
- Pushing a 6GB VRAM Laptop to Its Limits With Qwen3.6-35B-A3B — Can a 2021-era 6GB VRAM laptop run the Qwen3.6-35B-A3B MoE model? A synthesis of quantization, CPU offload, and where aging hardware hits… Mike Perry · 2026-08-06
- Is the Ryzen 7 7800X3D Worth It in 2026? — The 7800X3D still games well in 2026, but the 9800X3D and Zen 5 field have narrowed its edge. Here's who should still buy it. Mike Perry · 2026-08-06
- Best Budget PC Gaming Upgrades Under $200 in 2026 — Five under-$200 upgrades — GPU, SSD, cooler, NVMe, and mouse pad — that match a specific bottleneck. Buy the one that fixes yours, not the… Mike Perry · 2026-08-06 · 13 min read
- Ryzen 7 5800X vs Core i7-9700K for 1080p Esports in 2026 — The Ryzen 7 5800X wins for 1080p esports in 2026: steadier 1% lows, SMT headroom for streaming, and AM4 still has a real X3D upgrade path… Mike Perry · 2026-08-06 · 12 min read
- 18 LLMs Benchmarked on OCR: Why Cheaper Models Often Win — An open-sourced OCR benchmark spanning 18 LLMs and 7,000+ calls finds older, cheaper models often match flagship accuracy at a fraction of… Mike Perry · 2026-08-06
- GTX 1660 VRAM: Why 8GB Doesn't Exist (Real Specs) — The GTX 1660 shipped with 6GB GDDR5, not 8GB — here is why the mix-up spread, and which cards actually deliver real 8GB of headroom today. Mike Perry · 2026-08-06
- How to Identify Your Motherboard: A Step-by-Step Guide — Unsure which motherboard you have? This guide explains how to read BIOS strings, PCB silkscreen, and socket markings to identify any board… Mike Perry · 2026-08-06
- Field Report: Running Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B on a 32GB M2 Mac — What it takes to run Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B's MoE coding model on a 32GB M2 MacBook Pro: memory math, quantization tradeoffs, and realistic… Mike Perry · 2026-08-06
- EU GPU Price Tracking: Why RTX 5090 Won't Get Cheaper — A 50-day price-tracking report spanning 15 EU retailers found most GPUs sliding in price recently — except the RTX 5090, which has barely… Mike Perry · 2026-08-06
- How to Build a Fully Declarative Homelab Stack — How self-hosters combine Terraform, Komodo, Gitea, Infisical, and PocketID into one declarative homelab — and where custom tooling fills… Mike Perry · 2026-08-06
- Best PC Couch-Gaming Setup in 2026: Controllers, Display, and Audio — The five pieces you actually need to play PC games from the couch in 2026 — controller, display, audio, and cable — plus the mistakes that… Mike Perry · 2026-08-06 · 12 min read
- ZOTAC RTX 3060 Twin Edge vs MSI Ventus 2X: Which 12GB Card for a Quiet Build? — Comparing the ZOTAC RTX 3060 Twin Edge OC and the MSI Ventus 2X for a quiet small-case build, using published thermals and noise data. Mike Perry · 2026-08-06 · 13 min read
- SATA SSD vs NVMe for a Ryzen 5 5600G Budget Build in 2026 — On a Ryzen 5 5600G budget build, an NVMe SSD is worth about $10-15 extra as the boot drive and roughly zero extra for a games library… Mike Perry · 2026-08-06 · 14 min read
- Can Local LLMs Actually Do Anything Useful? — A synthesis of public benchmarks and community reports on what local LLMs are genuinely good at today, and where cloud APIs still hold an… Mike Perry · 2026-08-06
- Is vLLM Worth It If You're Not Serving Other Users? — vLLM's speedups come from batching concurrent requests. For solo local-AI use, community consensus favors llama.cpp instead. Mike Perry · 2026-08-06
- Alien: Isolation on Steam Deck: Best Settings for 2025 — Alien: Isolation runs smoothly on Steam Deck thanks to native Linux support and a Verified rating — here's what public reports say about… Mike Perry · 2026-08-05
- Buying Pre-Owned SSDs and HDDs: Good Idea in 2026? — New SSD prices have spiked in 2026. Here's what public reliability data, warranty terms, and pricing say about buying used storage instead. Mike Perry · 2026-08-05
- Best Streaming Setup for PC Gamers in 2026: 5 Picks Under $500 — A $500 streaming kit for PC gamers in 2026: a strict-cardioid HyperX QuadCast 2 for voice, the UBeesize 22-inch ring on a stand for… Mike Perry · 2026-08-05 · 14 min read
- RTX 3060 12GB vs Ryzen 5 5600G iGPU: Do You Need a GPU for 1080p Esports? — Ryzen 5 5600G iGPU vs RTX 3060 12GB for 1080p esports: which titles hit 144 fps on integrated Vega, when the discrete card is mandatory… Mike Perry · 2026-08-05 · 13 min read
- RTX 5080 vs RTX 4090: Is the Future-Proofing Worth It? — The RTX 5080 brings DLSS 4 and a newer architecture, but the RTX 4090's 24GB of VRAM still wins on raw future-proofing. Here's the real… Mike Perry · 2026-08-05
- RX 580 in 2026: Still Worth It for 1080p Gaming? — The RX 580 launched in 2017 with 8GB of GDDR5. Here's how its VRAM, power draw, and upscaling support hold up against 2026's budget GPUs. Mike Perry · 2026-08-05
- First Homelab Setup: Hardware, Security & Networking Guide — A synthesis guide to a first homelab: which CPU and hypervisor to pick, how to segment and secure the network, and realistic budget tiers. Mike Perry · 2026-08-05
- How to Make Steam Deck Intros Last Longer (2026) — Display, power-profile, and background-process settings that stretch Steam Deck battery life during intro cutscenes and loading screens… Mike Perry · 2026-08-05
- DIY Ambient Home Hub: Raspberry Pi CM4 + ESP32-S3 for Kids — A no-app ambient home hub built from a Raspberry Pi CM4 and ESP32-S3 wearables turns household data into light and motion kids can read at… Mike Perry · 2026-08-05
- HyperX QuadCast 2 vs Blue Yeti for Streaming in an Untreated Room — The HyperX QuadCast 2 rejects room reflections better than a Blue Yeti in an untreated bedroom, but gain staging and mic placement change… Mike Perry · 2026-08-05 · 13 min read
- Best GPU for Ollama Under $300: Why 12GB Beats a Faster 8GB Card — The best GPU for running Ollama under $300 in 2026 is a 12GB RTX 3060. Here is why capacity beats a faster 8GB card once you leave 7B… Mike Perry · 2026-08-05 · 14 min read
- Steam Deck Sleep Mode: Should You Leave It Plugged In? — Leaving a Steam Deck plugged in during long sleep periods can stress lithium-ion cells. Here's what battery science and Valve's guidance… Mike Perry · 2026-08-05
- What Happened to the LLM Training Data Shortage? — The 2023 fear that AI labs would run out of human text didn't play out as predicted. Synthetic data and reasoning models changed the math… Mike Perry · 2026-08-05
- How to Filter Steam Deck's 20K+ Games by FPS, Price, HLTB — A community method for filtering Steam Deck's Verified library by frame rate, price, and HowLongToBeat runtime — and why no official tool… Mike Perry · 2026-08-05
- Qwen3.6 the Right Way: Run It Through a Pi Coding Agent — How to actually pair Qwen3.6 with a Raspberry Pi coding agent: which AMD GPU should host the model, and why Pi-based GPU passthrough… Mike Perry · 2026-08-05