HOW TO

LOUNGING AROUND

BEING A PC USER IS GREAT, but it

Qualcomm aims for your desktop

Another ARM-based processor to enter the frame

NEW BABY SURFACE

FASTER, LONGER-LASTING AND STILL AS THIN

WIN11 WITH NO MINIMUM

New preview build shows how easy it is

Tech Triumphs and Tragedies

A monthly snapshot of what’s good and bad in tech

APPLE LAUNCHES M2 CHIP

4bn more transistors for second-gen silicone

INTEL SHOWS ITS NODES

Gelsinger’s grand plan starts to take shape

Zen 4 will be 35 percent faster

AMD’S ANNUAL FINANCE DAY may sound irredeemably dull,

Supercomputer goes exascale

The Dept of Energy at the Oak Ridge

Goodbye Internet Explorer

Microsoft has pulled support for Internet Explorer and

AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0

LAST YEAR, AMD launched FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR), an upscaling algorithm promising improved performance, possibly inspired by Nvidia’s DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling). Rendering at a lower resolution then upscaling can boost performance, and is almost a requirement to play games at 4K and maxed out settings, especially with ray tracing.

THE LIST

THE TOP FIVE CAPTURE CARDS

GPU prices come back down to Earth

WHEN IT COMES TO PRICES, good news stories are hard to come by right now. Ironically, the one exception is graphics cards, which are now returning to RRP—albeit the recommended pricing is still pretty painful. But contrar y to expectations of higher prices, there is reason to think that trend could be reversed. Cheap GPUs for ever yone? If not this year, then maybe next

DOCTOR

THIS MONTH THE DOCTOR TACKLES...

LETTERS

WE TACKLE TOUGH READER QUESTIONS ON...

LIVING ROOM LEGEND

Want to play your Steam librar y from the sofa on a console-sized PC? Guy Cocker has all the components, accessories, and build info you need for leaned-back bliss

WHAT’S IN THE BOX?

CPU INTEL CORE I5-12600K “The new gaming champ”

HEAD IN THE GAME

BUILD YOURSELF A COMPACT, CONSOLE-LIKE LIVING ROOM GAMING PC

SOFA, SO GOOD

WE’VE BEEN eager to build inside the NZXT

8 BEST COUCH GAMING ACCESSORIES

XBOX WIRELESS CONTROLLER The PC supports most controllers

PHOTOREALITY CHECK

Real-time photorealism is the holy grail of gaming. And it’s coming to the PC sooner than you think , says Jeremy Laird

AMD ZEN 4 UNWRAPPED

Welcome to the modern age

Sonos Ray

PERFORMANCE GEAR LAID BARE

BUILD A PI-POWERED MEDIA CENTER

Make your own home entertainment hub with a Raspberry Pi, free software, and a few programmable LEDs. Jonni Bidwell shows you how

KODI ACADEMY

New versions of Kodi and LibreELEC are out, but only for recent Pi owners

SETTING UP KODI

LibreELEC is probably the easiest Linux distro you’ll have ever installed, and Kodi will be ready for action in no time

HI-FIDELITY KODI

Integrate the world’s most popular streaming site into Kodi and see how the Pi fares at high-resolution

TRIPPING THE LIGHT FANTASTIC

Add a touch of pizzazz to your media center with a border of colorful, picture-reactive LEDs

Clean Out Windows 11

YOU’LL NEED THIS

Machine of the Month: Oric-1 & Oric Atmos

YOU’LL NEED THIS

3D map effect with GIMP

YOU’LL NEED THIS

AMD’s refreshed mid-tier machine

Is the new Radeon RX 6650 XT worth adding to your rig?

LAB NOTES

Playdate Netflix meets handheld retro gaming? NETFLIX AND

Asus RX 6750 XT ROG Strix

An incremental improvement worthy of the price?

Asus Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED

Two screens better than one?

Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2022)

Be careful what you wish for…

Acer Predator GD711

A solid projection selection

Samsung M8 Smar t Monitor

Care for some SmartTV and 4K monitor fusion?

PowerColor RX 6650 XT Hellhound

A case of style over substance?

computer-1

And Now For Something Completely Different

Corsair K70 RGB Pro

Premium price tag for a premium keyboard?

Logitech Lift Vertical Ergonomic Mouse

Vertical wireless mouse with compact size and price

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters

Grey Knights vs. the forces of Chaos in XCOM-alike

NordVPN vs. ExpressVPN

The battle to protect internet security and privacy

THE BUILDS

THIS MONTH’S STREET PRICES...