TRIPLE THREAT TIME

NOW THAT I’VE BEEN at the helm of

THE NEWS AMD refreshes three 6000-series GPUs

Flagship GPUs launched ahead of RDNA 3 this fall

AMD Seeking Zen, Round Four

THE PROCESSOR DEVELOPMENT cycle takes a long time, from initial goals and planning through early simulations and hardware revisions. When AMD started working on the Zen 4 architecture, switching to a DDR5- exclusive memory controller probably seemed like a sensible choice.

THE LIST

THE TOP FIVE WIRELESS GAMING MICE

The danger of dabbling in Alchemy…

CAN INTEL FINALLY DO IT and produce a competitive graphics card? The answer should already be in hand. But the release of higher-performing versions of Intel’s Arc graphics cards is likely to be delayed. For how long Alchemist could be held back isn’t clear, but from a company with a dismal record for delivering dedicated graphics products, it hardly bodes well.

DOCTOR THIS MONTH THE DOCTOR TACKLES...

> Upgrading N > HDMI without wir > Dual-boot and EFI

LETTERS WE TACKLE TOUGH READER QUESTIONS ON...

> SSD Firmware Wo > Laptop Longevi > Dead as a Dro > Sony Gaming Phone

THE BUILDS THIS MONTH’S STREET PRICES...

BUDGET WOW! Our Intel system looks like a

BENCHMARKI NG BUSINESS

Christian Guyton is testing, testing, one two three…

TEST DUMMIES

1080P 1440P 4K IT’S US; we’re the test

RYZEN AGAIN THE RESURRECTION OF AMD

Five years ago, AMD nearly went to the wall. Now, it has the edge on Intel and Nvidia, and billions in the bank. Jeremy Laird investigates its dramatic resurgence

PCs VS CONSOLES: GAME ON

Games consoles have become more like PCs, and with subscription services such as Xbox Game Pass blurring the lines between PC and console gaming, which is the better platform for gamers in 2022? Guy Cocker investigates

CENTERFOLD PERFORMANCE GEAR LAID BARE

HAVE YOU EVER LOOKED at your fancy-pants 4K

THE RACE TO EXASCALE SUPERCOMPUTERS

Powering AI, medicine, weather, and more. By Jarred Walton

SIMULATING THE HUMAN BRAIN

If the goal is to create a machine

AMD’S EX ASCALE AMBITIONS

AMD’s EPYC processors packing up to 64 cores

INTEL’S AURORA, BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

The Aurora supercomputer has a lengthy history. Originally

NVIDIA GOES ALL-IN ON AI

While scientific research using FP64 remains important, Nvidia

GPUS AREN’T JUST FOR GAMES

The advent of modern GPUs has radically altered

MEET GOOGLE’S TPU V4, KIND OF

Google is another company that has put a

Advanced Win11 tips: Command Prompt

YOU’LL NEED THIS ANY WINDOWS PC WILL DO Windows 10 release 20H1 (or later) to use the Windows Terminal; otherwise, tips should all work in the old Command Prompt console

Machine of the Month: Apple Macintosh II

YOU’LL NEED THIS A COPY OF MINI VMAC Plus working system ROM and OS image. https://www.gryphel.com/c/ minivmac/download.html

GIMP neon line emphasis

YOU’LL NEED THIS GIMP 2.1 www.gimp.org OS: Windows 7 or newer

LAB NOTES GUY COCKER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

HDR10+ PC gaming is coming Samsung goes big

MSI RX 6950 XT Gaming X Trio

Cranking the GDDR6 dial all the way up to 18Gbps

Geekom Mini IT8

Is this dinky desktop PC a viable laptop alternative?

Lenovo Legion S7

Steely but slender

BenQ Mobiuz E X2710R

Curved, VA, and a high refresh rate... we’re hooked

MSI MPG Artymis 273CQR X-QD

MSI’s gaming monitor also aims to please creative types

HP Chromebook x2 11

Magnetic personality

Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal

Looks, performance, and the sound to back it up?

NZXT Function

Typing into the peripheral mainframe

NZXT Lift

Clicking into the peripheral mainframe

Lego Star Wars: The Sk y walker Saga

A chip off the old block

LastPass vs. Bit warden

Which password manager is better?