Table of contents for August 2019 in Custom PC UK

I’m still amazed by the spec we’ve managed to cram into our budget PC build this month (see p78). I keep looking at it in disbelief. Normally, building a sub-£600 PC involves several substantial compromises – I’d usually expect to only have 8GB of RAM, a 250GB SATA SSD and a sub-£150 graphics card. There’s none of that this time around – our bargain blaster has it all – 16GB of memory, a 500GB NVMe SSD and a GeForce GTX 1660. It can even cope with some gaming at 2,560 x 1,440 as well as 1,920 x 1,080. The only area where the core spec could be described as compromised is the CPU and motherboard, but even the Intel Core i3 CPU we’re using is perfectly capable for gaming performance.…

The AOC C24G1 is one of the cheapest 144Hz gaming displays you can buy and, surprisingly, it uses a VA panel. VA tech is known for its much higher contrast, better viewing angles, generally better colour accuracy and higher price compared with TN. The C24G1 looks lovely too. Its thin bezels are largely hidden below the screen’s surface, giving the whole monitor a svelte look, while the slim-legged stand, narrow edges and slight curve to the display give it a modern feel. There are a couple of dashes of red – apparently the gamer’s colour of choice – but the shade is dark enough to not appear garish. Surprisingly, the stand also offers height, rotation and tilt adjustment – many alternatives at this price offer just tilt. This makes setting…

How we test When testing CPU coolers, we examine performance across a range of sockets, because mounting mechanisms vary between them, which can see coolers performing well on some CPU sockets, but not on others. We test LGA1151 performance courtesy of an MSI Z370 PC Pro and Intel Core i5-9600K overclocked to 4.8GHz and at a voltage of 1.32V. Next is LGA2066, using an MSI X299M Gaming Pro Carbon AC and Intel Core i9-7900X overclocked to 4.2GHz using a vcore of 1.15V. Finally, we check Socket AM4, using an Asus ROG Strix B350-F Gaming and AMD Ryzen 7 1700 overclocked to 3.9GHz, using a vcore of 1.425V. The test system is rounded off with 16GB of 3,000MHz Corsair Vengeance LPX memory along with a Samsung 960 Pro SSD and Corsair…

SUPPLIER quietpc.com It’s been a few years since we’ve looked at a be quiet! liquid cooler and since then, the company hasn’t updated its range. Aesthetically at least, that’s no bad thing and the Silent Loop 360 will likely be popular with anyone that’s not sold on RGB lighting, fussy shrouds or OLED screens. It’s a simple cooler, which is no bad thing, but it also lacks the expandability of Alphacool’s coolers, despite the fact they both sport identical radiators, tubing and mounting kits. As a maker of excellent fans, it’s no surprise that be quiet! includes its own for the Silent Loop 360, with three Pure Wings 2 PWM fans included in the box. These can spin at up to 2,000rpm and can be powered from a single fan…

SUPPLIER overclockers.co.uk A recent trend with all-in-one liquid coolers is manufacturers adding in other branded components, with Asus, for example, including Noctua fans. Overclockers UK has taken this to the next level, though, with its bundle of liquid-cooling components. The 360mm Extreme includes a sixth-generation Asetek cooler with a 360mm radiator, but also bundles a trio of Noiseblocker BlackSilent Pro PL-PS PWM fans in addition to Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut thermal paste, with enough included for several applications. The fans are worth £14 a pop, so the cheapest cooler on test offers more bang for your buck than first appears. Once thing to note, though, is that the cooler isn’t equipped with a multi-socket mounting kit. Instead you need to select the Asetek mounting kit you’ll need for your motherboard, and…

SUPPLIER overclockers.co.uk The Logitech F310 is one of the cheaper gamepads, and it looks it too. There’s a distinct toy-like quality to its build quality and blue colour scheme, but while it may not look all that clever, it’s more capable than you might think. A wired-only controller, it includes a full complement of digital and analogue controls. What’s more, it has one particularly useful extra, which is a switch on the back that will swap the controller between DirectInput and XInput modes. This means it can be used reliably with a wide variety of games, both old and new respectively. Installation is as easy as you’d expect too, as it functions just like an Xbox controller when in XInput mode. In terms of ergonomics, it’s a DualShockstyle controller with…

SUPPLIER overclockers.co.uk The MSI GC20 is an impressively fully featured alternative to the Microsoft Xbox 360 wired controller. For the same price, it comes with swappable D-pad covers, rubber grips, multiple input modes and a removable cable that also lets you hook up the gamepad to Android phones. Like several controllers on test, the GC20 is a direct take on the Xbox 360/One formula, sporting the same basic shape and button layout. There are some subtle differences, though. The grips aren’t quite as deep and narrow, so they feel like more of a hybrid between a DualShock and an Xbox 360 controller. The sides of the GC20 also have a patch of grippy rubber, just where the grips nestle into the meat of your palm, which helps to keep the…

SUPPLIER currys.co.uk While the DualShock will work with Windows if you just plug it straight into a USB port, it uses the older DirectInput system rather than XInput so many games won’t work with it. Instead, you’ll have to either rely on Steam’s controller support system for Steam games, or use apps such as DS4windows or x360ce, which convert the DualShock’s DirectInput signals to XInput signals. The latter adds support for the controller’s basic functions, while DS4windows will also enable features such as the touchpad. It’s the latter feature that makes the DualShock 4 great as a PC controller. The touchpad can be used just like a touchpad on a laptop, and while it’s not as good as your average laptop touchpad, it still makes for a much easier way…

Service-model games have been gaining traction for years. Rather than sell a game once to a customer, games are structured like a platform, delivering a regular influx of content designed to keep players engaged over long periods of time, usually funded by a subscription or microtransactions. Many of today’s biggest games are built around this model. Fortnite, Minecraft, Destiny, Anthem, Dota and League of Legends trade by persistently catering towards their audience. Meanwhile, almost every major mainstream game release features some kind of long-term component, be it frequently updated multiplayer material or downloadable content (DLC). Even indie developers are expected to have a road map outlining their post-release support. Do you want Google in charge of your games library? I don’t The logic of service games is ostensibly sound. Games…

DEVELOPER Paradox Interactive / PUBLISHER Paradox Interactive As with all of Paradox’s grand strategy games, Imperator: Rome lets you conquer its world with any of the countries on its massive map. However, the game is primarily built around the great states of the ancient world, such as Carthage, Egypt, Macedonia and, of course, Rome itself. Your objective is simple –paint the map in the colour of your choice. Achieving this feat, however, requires you to spin a Wedgwood factory’s worth of plates. Primarily, you need to build an economy that can support an increasingly large military. Doing so involves managing a whole range of different sub-systems, from a complex trading simulation with dozens of goods to import and export, to a legal system that allows you to change laws for…

Configuring the EFI and fan speeds Once your system is powered on, head into the EFI by tapping the delete key as soon as you see the motherboard logo on the screen. Enter the M.I.T section and locate the Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) option and select profile one. This will apply the correct memory speed and timings. However, it’s worth noting again here that you’ll be limited to the CPU’s default memory frequency – in this case, 2400MHz – and you won’t be able to get any higher unless you use a Z-series motherboard. Next we need to head to the Smart Fan 5 fan control section. Our Raijintek cooler doesn’t respond well to being controlled in DC voltage mode, so be sure to set it to auto or PWM,…

Last month’s review of the Jetson AGX Xavier development kit (see Issue 190, p98) revealed a fascinating device with pricing that put it out of the reach of the average hobbyist. It’s a criticism Nvidia has heard before, ever since the launch of the £200 Jetson TK1 (reviewed in Issue 133), and it’s one the company is now looking to address with the Jetson Nano. As the name suggests, the Jetson Nano is designed to be the smallest entry into the Jetson family of artificial intelligence system-on-module (SOM) development kits. Like its bigger siblings, the Jetson Nano pairs an in-house ARM chip with a wodge of stream processors – 128 Maxwell-class stream processors in this case – on a SOM that slots neatly into the carrier board for ease of…

TOTAL PROJECT TIME / 72 HOURS Painting your case is a great way to make your PC stand out from the usual sea of black and grey boxes. It isn’t without its challenges, of course, but it will enable you to make your rig unique. There are thousands of colours from which to choose, as well as effect sprays, and of course, you can play around with masking too. The process can be tricky, though, with plenty of conflicting advice about which paints to use, how to apply them and how to prepare your case for painting. We’ll take you through how to do the whole job step by step, resulting in a pro finish for as little cash as possible. 1 / CHOOSE YOUR COLOURS You need acrylic spray…

Corsair’s K70 LUX RGB keyboard features Cherry MX key switches backed by a lightweight, durable aluminium frame and dynamic, multi-coloured lighting. The USB pass-through port is positioned for uninterrupted gameplay, and ready for your mouse or wireless headset adaptor. You can also use CUE for sophisticated macro programming and dramatic lighting effects. Meanwhile, 100 per cent anti-ghosting with full key rollover helps to ensure accuracy, while the Cherry MX key switches give you a linear response and fast actuation. Corsair will provide a keyboard with your own choice of Cherry MX Brown or Red switches.…

Water-cooling hardware manufacturer Alphacool is offering a choice of £150 worth of gear to every featured Readers’ Drives winner. For your prize, you can select from DIY water-cooling kits, the Eiswolf and Eisbaer all-in-one CPU and GPU liquid coolers, as well as a vast range of individual components, including waterblocks (pictured), fittings, reservoirs, pumps and radiators. Alphacool also makes coolant, tubing and fans, as well as modding and water cooling-related tools.…

EK wooden waterblocks EK launched its Lignum series of water-cooling hardware, which replaces the acrylic tops with locally sourced walnut wood, giving them a softer, warmer look. The new line-up included the EK-CPU Lignum block, EK-HTC Lignum 12mm compression fittings and a single full-cover GPU block for the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition. SilverStone curved glass chassis SilverStone’s new Alta S1 is a large ATX case that makes use of curved aluminium and curved tempered glass. It supports motherboards measuring up to 355 x 355mm, with three 200mm fans along the base pushing air upwards in line with natural convection. You can also install a massive 560mm water-cooling radiator here too. Despite its size, heft and use of premium materials and production methods, it costs $300 US, which is…

Corsair’s Ironclaw RGB Wireless aims to make owning a wireless mouse a little easier than usual. For starters, while it requires its small USB dongle to connect to your PC using Corsair’s low-latency 2.4GHz Slipstream wireless technology, the mouse also has its own built-in Bluetooth controller, allowing you to connect to a Bluetooth-enabled PC or laptop without the dongle. So, if you find you left the dongle at home, all is not lost. However, we’d like to see a way of storing the dongle within the mouse – a common feature found on many wireless mice, from £20 generic models to Logitech’s new G502 Lightspeed. The Ironclaw can also connect to your PC using a micro-USB cable, with a 1.8m braided cable included. As long as you have a cable,…

SUPPLIER chillblast.com As the name suggests, this Chillblast system is built in collaboration with the Williams F1 team, because Chillblast supplies all the PCs the F1 squad uses for its esports efforts. The system reviewed here is the middle option of three builds, with a price of £1,149 inc VAT, and it includes an AMD Ryzen 7 CPU alongside a GeForce GTX 1660 GPU. Spend £820 inc VAT and you’ll get the Lite version, with a Core i3 CPU and GTX 1650. Fork out £2,000 inc VAT and you get the Ultimate model, with a Core i7-9700K and a GeForce RTX 2080. All the systems proudly wear their Williams branding on a vinyl cover that takes over the entire front panel. In the case of this model, the case is…

SUPPLIER aquatuning.co.uk We’ve reviewed the Eisbaer 360’s smaller siblings before, including those in the Eisbaer LT range, and most have fared well, delivering decent cooling, solid build quality and reasonable price tags. In fact, the 360mm version of the Eisbaer LT costs just £100 at the moment, making it even cheaper than the OcUK 360mm Extreme we also looked at this month, although it lacks the Eisbaer 360’s glowing refillable reservoir. Despite this wallet-saving pedigree, though, the Eisbaer 360 finds itself not representing obviously great value, compared with ever-cheaper competition, such as the software-controlled and RGB-enabled Corsair H150i Pro RGB, which costs £6 less. However, given the excellent fan control that’s available on modern motherboards, lack of software-controlled cooling isn’t quite as frown-inducing as it used to be. Besides, the…

SUPPLIER cclonline.com It’s been over a year since we first reviewed the Corsair H150i Pro RGB and while the product itself hasn’t changed, it has received a sizeable price cut and now sits at a more reasonable £134. This means that it undercuts the very similar NZXT Kraken X72 by a significant amount too. There are some subtle differences between the two coolers, though, despite the fact they both hail from Asetek’s factory and come with near-identical radiators and mounting kits. The Corsair cooler has slower 1,600rpm fans compared to the 2,000rpm beasts on the NZXT cooler, so it doesn’t have quite the cooling headroom for if you have a massively overclocked CPU that’s able to stretch the legs of a 360mm radiator. The NZXT cooler’s pump is better-looking too…

SUPPLIER scan.co.uk If you want some visual pizzazz from your all-in-one liquid cooler then there’s really only one model to consider in this Labs test, and that’s the Thermaltake Water 3.0 360 ARGB Sync Edition. Not only does it have the most RGB lighting zones but they’re all separately addressable too, so you can individually control the pump section and all three of its Pure ARGB 120mm fans. What’s more, you get an inline remote control for the lighting and Thermaltake includes cables to connect the system to addressable RGB ports on Asus, ASRock, Gigabyte and MSI motherboards, allowing you to use their software to control it. The remote control allows for colour changes and switching between effect modes and speeds, but it’s quite limited, so it’s great to see…

SUPPLIER game.co.uk The Microsoft Xbox One Wireless Controller has extensive support across the entire Windows gaming eco system, and it’s also a great controller. Like most other wireless controllers, it offers both wired and wireless support, with a micro-USB connection on the back for the former and Bluetooth (PC) and a proprietary wireless connection (Xbox) for the latter. Note that only the newer version of the controller supports Bluetooth though. Further adding to this controller’s overall versatility is its support for normal AA batteries as well as battery packs, although it’s a little annoying that it can’t charge rechargeable batteries while they’re inside it – to do this you’ll need to buy the Play and Charge kit for £20. Another key aspect of this controller is its comfort. It’s a…

SUPPLIER amazon.co.uk A Nintendo Switch controller probably isn’t the first option that springs to mind when considering a gamepad for a PC, and Nintendo hasn’t exactly been known for its PC support in the past either. However, technically, the Switch Pro controller can be made to work, just with a few caveats. The single biggest stumbling block is that wired support only comes via Steam, with no native Windows support, despite Nintendo using a standard USB Type-C port. Otherwise, you can also connect the controller via Bluetooth and it will appear as a standard Bluetooth game controller. However, this setup still limits the controller to DirectInputcompatible games, rather than XInput ones. To get around this limitation, you can install an app to map the DirectInput instructions to XInput ones, but…

SUPPLIER overclockers.co.uk The Speedlink Xeox Pro is an unabashed copy of the Xbox 360 wired controller, with an almost identical shape and button layout. The Xeox name on the central button is even styled so that it could be mistaken for the word Xbox, and has the ring of light around it too. It’s also rather good. Crucially, when compared with the very cheapest controller in this test, the Thrustmaster Dual Analog 4, you don’t miss out on any key features. Also, like the Logitech F310, a switch on the back allows the controller to swap between XInput and DirectInput modes, so there’s no need to use any extra software, or rely on Steam, to get full game compatibility. Speedlink has made a few tweaks to the Xbox 360 formula…

DEVELOPER Saber Interactive / PUBLISHER Saber Interactive World War Z almost impresses with its mediocrity. This cooperative shooter is based on the middling film of the same name (itself based on the far superior novel) and plays like it was made in 2009 rather than 2019. There isn’t an original hair on its rotting head. Despite bearing the World War Z film brand, it has far more in common with Valve’s Left 4 Dead. The game lets four players band together as ragtag survivors in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, blasting through hordes of zombies as they search for safety. There are some similarities to the film. Each of the four campaigns takes place in a different city, where you play different characters. The introductory campaign is set in…

DEVELOPER Blue Byte / PUBLISHER Ubisoft Anno 1800 is a city-builder about smog, sails and socialism. Themed around the industrial revolution, it sees players become budding business magnates by taking an untouched patch of countryside and gradually destroying it with coalmines and smoke-belching factories. It couldn’t be more thematically different from its predecessor, Anno 2205, which involved building an environmentally friendly city in the not-too-distant future. Nevertheless, 1800’s depth and detail makes it the superior game. Anno games are more about managing production lines than building cities, where your buildings act as links in an increasingly long chain. To build a thriving city, you need to produce goods to support different classes of workers, who in turn provide access to more advanced construction projects. That is, assuming you can keep…

CPU Intel Core i3-8100 Price £110 inc VAT Supplier overclockers.co.uk Given the importance of the graphics card to a gaming PC, it would seem like the first place to start. However, it ended up being the CPU that took the most deliberation and dictated much of the rest of the build, for three main reasons. The first is that, while you can get away with skimping on your CPU in the name of maximising your graphics card spend, going too far will hold back gaming performance. For a while, we settled on using the incredibly cheap AMD Ryzen 1200, but quickly realised it’s too slow. The second reason was because we’d have liked to include a CPU and motherboard that are overclockable – after all, this is Custom PC. However,…

Wi-Fi is perhaps the most freeing yet frustrating technology of modern times. On the one hand, it has revolutionised the way we design and use our devices, letting us roam free, while browsing, sharing and streaming to our heart’s content without the hassle of wires. But on the other hand, it often struggles to deliver on that promise. Whether it’s poor range throughout a house, the congestion of busy public areas or the high latency that can ruin gaming sessions, the real-world experience of Wi-Fi has often failed to live up to expectations. With the latest version of Wi-Fi, though, we could finally see it deliver the goods. The new Wi-Fi 802.11ax, or Wi-Fi 6, standard incorporates a raft of changes that improve the peak speed, latency and congestion handling…

Open hardware company Olimex has announced the launch of the first FreedomBox Home Servers, in partnership with the FreedomBox Foundation. It’s based on the company’s A20-OLinuXino-LIME2 single-board computer (SBC), which is a dual-core ARM Cortex-A7 with 1GB of DDR3 memory. The FreedomBox Home Server Kit ‘Pioneer Edition’ aims to provide as close to a plug-and-play experience as possible for self-hosting a range of web services – including calendar, contacts, encrypted chat and file synchronisation. Each unit includes a built-in battery good for around four hours of use. More details can be found at freedomboxfoundation.org, while the FreedomBox HSK itself is priced at €98.40 (around £85 inc VAT).…

Xiaomi has a growing presence in the UK, but only for a surprisingly small subset of its products. A quick search on your favourite UK etailer will pull up the firm’s wearable activity trackers, surprisingly low-cost Android smartphones and maybe the odd robotic vacuum cleaner or electric scooter. In its native China, though, Xiaomi offers a whole range of products from air purifiers to power tools, the latter including this Wowstick. Effectively an electric screwdriver, the Wowstick takes a leaf from the Apple design book circa the classic G5. From the brushed-metal finish to the admittedly very well put-together packaging – which places each separate part of the bundle into its own internal box – the Wowstick is designed to feel like a premium product. Designed for precision work, rather…

This month I caught up with Stuart Morton, producer at Irregular Corporation, about PC Building Simulator. We also talked about customising PCs, water cooling, modding, the game’s success and the company’s plans. Antony: How did PC Building Simulator start? Stuart: Claudiu Kiss from Romania posted his prototype on itch.io, where Irregular Corporation spotted it and saw an opportunity. We’re PC enthusiasts too, and offered help, as Claudiu had limited time once he attended university. We spooled up the development team on our side to take over from him full-time ahead of release. Claudiu felt the simulator should allow people to put together a PC without the expense or risk normally associated with building a PC. Antony: What other titles is Irregular Corporation involved in making? Stuart: We tend to focus…

Earlier this month I had the misfortune of having to spend some time using Windows 10 in S Mode. This is the new name for Windows 10 S, a special locked-down version of Windows 10 that Microsoft tried and failed to push into the education market a few years ago. Now it’s back again under a new name, and if you don’t read the product description carefully, it could be pre-installed on the new PC or laptop you buy. I’ll start with Microsoft’s own literature description, which states that ‘Windows 10 in S Mode is streamlined for security and performance, while providing a familiar Windows experience. To increase security, it allows only apps from the Microsoft Store, and requires Microsoft Edge for safe browsing’. Improved security is always welcome, although…

I firmly believe that video games are art, because they both reflect and influence culture. This is also why films are art, as are comics and books. But where comics and books have been exhaustively adapted into films, games remain a relatively untapped source for Hollywood. Where are the blockbuster video game movies? Sony has just announced PlayStation Productions, a new company that will make film and TV show adaptations of Sony games, but until now there has only been 36 live-action films based on video games (with another few coming up), compared with hundreds based on comics and graphic novels, many of which rank among the most successful films of all time. If you add books to that list, it becomes uncountable. The written word and movies have always…

You might think Intel had given up on the low-end market with its 9th-generation CPUs, but models beneath the Core i5-9600K are finally starting to appear in the shops. There’s a mix of 4-core and 6-core CPUs, and both K-series and multiplier-locked models too. We’re looking at two this month – the Core i3-9350KF and Core i5-9400, which both still use Intel’s aging but refined 14nm manufacturing process, as well as its Coffee Lake architecture. Physically, they both work with existing LGA151 Coffee Lake-compatible motherboards that use 300-series chipsets. However, you’ll need to check whether your motherboard has a BIOS that’s new enough to support them, as we’ve found some retail stock doesn’t boot with them. As we mentioned in this month’s budget PC build feature (see p78), Gigabyte looks…

The ViewSonic Elite XG240R is a FreeSync gaming monitor that offers an entry-level set of features with a few premium extras. It still has a utilitarian appearance, with a chunky bezel and a generally boxy overall look, but the RGB lighting helps to improve the styling. Split into two opposing V-shaped sections, the multi-zoned lighting produces a rainbow pattern from the central point of each ‘V’. Its patterns and colour link to other RGB lighting schemes, such as Cooler Master MasterPlus+, Razer Chroma and Thermaltake RGB Plus, through the ViewSonic Elite RGB alliance. Sadly, though, you can’t control the lighting directly from the display’s menus. Elsewhere, you can easily alter the stand’s height, as well as rotate, tilt and pivot the display, the latter being useful for accessing the rear…

SUPPLIER scan.co.uk MSI GL73 8SE’s has a very tempting price of just £1,480 inc VAT, but the relatively slim budget means a few compromises. The exterior, for instance, is fine – but it’s not groundbreaking. There are plenty of visible seams and the fat screen bezels, red accents and glossy metal all make it look dated. This machine’s weight of 2.9kg is also a little hefty, even for a 17.3in laptop, and it has a chunky thickness of 33mm thick. The display also distorts when the rear of the screen is pressed, and the wrist rest feels flimsy. That won’t be a problem if the MSI isn’t leaving the house, but we’d use a padded sleeve to cart the MSI to LAN events. In terms of connections, you get one…

Rii X8 Mini Wireless Keyboard/ £16.99 inc VAT SUPPLIER amazon.co.uk The Rii X8 attempts to cram a keyboard and touchpad into a single wireless device approximately the size of a gamepad. You get a QWERTY-pattern keyboard, a touchpad, mouse buttons, volume controls, scroll wheel and buttons to open the web browser and search menu. There’s also a secondary function button, which means you can use the F keys. The net result is a device that’s incredibly densely packed with controls. The X8 is small and neat-looking too. It has built-in lights and you can change the colour to whatever you like, which isn’t necessary at all, but has to be admired just for the sheer willingness to throw functions onto this device like Homer Simpson’s dream car. The receiver plugs…

SUPPLIER scan.co.uk Motherboard manufacturers are rare additions to the CPU cooler market, but with the ROG Ryujin 360, Asus is showing it has some serious ambitions in the area. It’s one of several ROG-branded all-in-one liquid coolers to be unleashed by the company, but while all indications are that at its heart beats your typical Asetek-built cooler, Asus has gone all out with the extras. This is just as well, because its price tag is an eyewatering £230, making it £100 more expensive than the Corsair H150i Pro RGB. Both the radiator and pump sections offer some interesting additions. Asus has opted for super-premium Noctua NF-F12 industrial fans, which are rated up to 2,000rpm and retail for £20 each online, so you can see where at least some of that…

SUPPLIER overclockers.co.uk While they use many of the same fixtures and fittings as other Asetekmade liquid coolers, and are especially similar to Corsair’s latest coolers, NZXT’s Kraken coolers have for a while offered a slightly more premium look and feel. The most obvious place this is felt is in the pump design, with most of the range sporting a brushed metal finish and a clever lighting effect where an internally reflected ring of light gives the impression of a deep hole into which the rings are descending. The Kraken X72 is the company’s flagship cooler and sits above the already potent Kraken X62, which ditches the trio of 120mm fans on the cooler we’re looking at here in favour of a pair of 140mm fans and a 280mm radiator. The…

How we test Amouse and keyboard may be the input of choice for most PC games, but sometimes they just don’t feel right. Whether it’s the style of game your playing, such as racing games or beat ’em ups, or that at certain times you just prefer to sit back in a more relaxed manner, there are some occasions when a gamepad is the way to go. There’s plenty of choice, with all the official controllers for the major games consoles being supported to some degree on PC, plus there are many third-party options too. However, not all controllers are created equal, so there’s plenty to consider. For a start, you need to think about whether you want a wired or wireless connection. You’ll pay more for wireless pads, but…

SUPPLIER microsoft.com The Xbox One Elite Wireless controller is an all-round upgrade to the vanilla Xbox One controller. It packs in several extra features and provides a big leap in build and button quality, making for a controller that feels surprisingly worthy of its premium price. In terms of overall feel and ergonomics, it’s essentially identical to the conventional Xbox One controller. The build quality is noticeably improved across the board though. The top surface has a soft-touch plastic finish, while the underside of the grips has a textured rubber coating that greatly aids grip. The D-pad and additional back paddles are also made from solid metal, giving them a reassuring heft and cold, steely feel. The D-pad top can also be removed and replaced, with both a conventional cross-style…

SUPPLIER razer.com The Raiju Tournament Edition is Razer’s second-tier PS4 controller, after the Raiju Ultimate, but it’s still the most expensive gamepad on test. Like the top-tier Raiju Ultimate, it offers a raft of premium features over and above what you get with a standard DualShock 4 controller, such as extra and higher-quality buttons, and a hair trigger mode for the main triggers. However, it doesn’t feature the swappable D-pad and analogue stick covers of its more expensive sibling. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this controller, though, is that it has a different layout to the DualShock 4. Instead of two central analogue sticks, the left stick and D-pad have been swapped, so the layout’s like an Xbox controller. What’s more, the overall shape is much more akin to…

SUPPLIER box.co.uk Priced at just £16 inc VAT, the Thrustmaster Dual Analog 4’s price is about as low as you can go for a gamepad with two analogue sticks. Drop lower and you’ll confine yourself to just a D-pad and ABXY buttons, which won’t be much use for PC gaming with a pad. Inevitably, though, this cost-cutting means the Dual Analog 4 has some limitations. While you get two analogue sticks, for example, you don’t get analogue triggers, so this controller isn’t ideal for racing games, where the fine trigger control works well for controlling the throttle and brakes. The D-pad also feels very mushy and indistinct. There’s no clear click or step as you press the buttons, just a stiff, linear movement. As such, it’s not well suited to…

Core component bundles The fundamental specifications we recommend for various types of PC. Just add your preferred case and power supply, and double-check there’s room in your case for your chosen components, especially the GPU cooler and graphics card. We’ve largely stopped reviewing power supplies, as the 80 Plus certification scheme has now effectively eliminated unstable PSUs. Instead, we’ve recommended the wattage and minimum 80 Plus certification you should consider for each component bundle. You can then choose whether you want a PSU with modular or captive cables. Mini PCs Our favourite components for building a micro-ATX or mini-ITX PC. Always double-check how much room is available in your chosen case before buying your components. Some mini-ITX cases don’t have room for large all-in-one liquid coolers, for example, or tall…

DEVELOPER NetherRealm / PUBLISHER Warner Bros Mortal Kombat has always been the black sheep of fighting games, thanks to its obsession with gruesomely eviscerating its own cast of fighters. Since Warner Brothers picked up the franchise, however, Mortal Kombat has started to mature. It’s still fascinated with gore and guts, and pulling organs out of orifices, but developer NetherRealm has added more nuance to the fighting and produced increasingly ambitious modes for both single and multiplayer. The latest iteration is easily the best Mortal Kombat yet, and quite possibly the best single-player fighting game around. That’s largely down to Mortal Kombat 11’s story mode, which is a strange sentence to write. Playing a fighting game for the story is a bit like playing an FPS for the peace and quiet,…

NEWS Feel the Force In what surely must be one of the dream VR experiences, Star Wars: Vader Immortal lets players duel with everyone’s favourite Dark Lord of the Sith on the Oculus Quest. It’s a new narrative-driven adventure that takes place between Episodes III and IV, and sees players encounter Vader on the lava planet of Mustafar. The main story is a fleeting affair, lasting around an hour. However, Vader Immortal comes bundled with a lightsaber dojo that offers plentiful opportunity to hone your saber skills. Immortal is also titled ‘Episode 1’, suggesting there will be more Vader-related action coming soon. Whether or not Vader Immortal encourage people to invest in the Quest is another matter, especially considering it will almost certainly arrive on the other Oculus headsets eventually.…

1 Install the CPU Never underestimate the fragility of Intel’s socket pins. These are easily damaged and dropping the CPU into the socket will likely render it useless. Leave the protective cap on, open the mechanism and move your CPU over the socket before lowering it gently into place. Now secure the top plate using the latch – the black protective cap will pop off of its own accord. 2 Apply thermal paste The cooler comes with thermal paste in a small sachet. Open this sachet and apply the paste in a line from the top to the bottom of the CPU heatspreader. This will ensure it covers the whole heatspreader once you install the cooler. 3 Install cooler The Raijintek Juno Pro RBW uses pins to secure to Intel’s…

Project ReVolt started life as a rebuild of a past project called Inkling. Inkling was themed on the video game series, Splatoon, so it was painted with a pink and green splatter-paint job. Unfortunately, a few months into using Inkling, my monitor shut off in the middle of a game; I looked down and noticed coolant on my Asus Strix GTX 1080 graphics card. I immediately switched off the PC and removed the graphics card to clean it, but it was too late, the card was dead. The culprit was the 12mm PETG tubing that I originally used for the water-cooling loop. It was thin-walled and had buckled around the fittings, causing it to lose its seal. I contacted Bitspower about this issue, and the company sent replacement parts, but…

The last time a Hobby Tech tutorial looked at The Internet Archive, the not-for-profit organisation founded in 1996 with no lesser aim than serving as a library capturing every single piece of digital and analogue media in existence, it was from the perspective of consuming its content (see Issue 132). Now, it’s time to start giving something back. Much of the content on The Internet Archive is uploaded manually by a range of contributors from around the world; a huge amount, however, can only be captured automatically. From links used as references on Wikipedia and other sites, which have been archived before they can be edited or taken down (accidentally or otherwise), to the final destinations of various URL shortening tools, a wealth of data is captured by the self-identified…

People often nostalgically reminisce about archaic technology, laughing about the frustrations and limitations of cassette tapes or floppy disks, before adding ‘but they were amazing at the time!’ You simply can’t hide the horror of the PC’s first colour graphics adaptor (CGA) behind such rose-tinted glasses (although orange-tinted glasses might help – more on that later). Nobody, absolutely nobody, thought CGA was amazing at the time. I had a CGA PC in the 1980s, and but even then you felt disappointed when you fired up a PC game to be greeted by a mess of purple and black on the screen. At the time, we joked that CGA stood for ‘crap graphics adaptor’. Nobody thought of IBM computers as games machines then, of course – CGA was the product of…