Table of contents for December 2016 in PC & Tech Authority

Gaming is serious business “PSVR is in a very early stage of its life cycle with promising software on the horizon” Setting up your headset is simple if not frustratingly time consuming. HDMI cables leading from the TV and console to the headset’s processing unit and a cable connecting to the headset bridge the three devices. Sold separately, the PlayStation camera connects to the back of the console with a short cable, limiting how far from the device you can place it. It’s definitely a hassle setting up, especially if you need to pack it up after use, and requires a day one update after installing. As expected of a product at launch, the headset is pricey, costing $549.95 with the camera an additional $89. A pair of PlayStation Move…

Google’s Pixel Phone Google’s own Pixel Phone is co-designed with HTC but made for Google users. The phone is the first to use Google’s Android software, Google Assistant, letting users ask the device to Google search simply by commanding, “find me photos of cats” or even more bluntly, “cats with hats”. The phone comes in either a 5-inch model with an HD display or a slightly more expensive 5.5-inch model with a QHD display. Both models include 64-bit quad-core processor and 4GB LPDDR4 RAM. MOST WANTED: Comes in a shimmering blue. By far the most unadulterated Android OS phone on the market. The addition of a QHD display allows for mesmerising resolution on a smartphone. Charges seven hours of battery life in 15 minutes. Captures and supports 4K videos. The…

Seagate’s new range of 2.5-inch hard drives provide for all your mobile computing needs and bring you industry-leading excellence in personal computing. The BarraCuda family of drives has delivered ultra-reliable storage for the hard drive industry for over 20 years. The FireCuda solid state hard drives blend SSD technology with a HDD platform for the instant-on performance and capacity you need. FIRECUDA’S FEROCIOUS PERFORMANCE By combining 8GB of fast MLC flash storage with large multi-terabyte HDD capacities, the FireCuda boots in seconds, not minutes. Compared to a regular 7200RPM HDD without the assistance of flash on-board, games load up to 50% faster, apps up to 300% faster and Windows 7 starts up to 25% faster – meaning less time waiting, more time getting stuffdone. Performance is further increased compared to…

Convertible laptops are one of the hottest sectors in mobile computing. Whether you’re using it as a slate, in tent mode for presentations, or just as a standard laptop, they o er a level of versatility that normal laptops lack. And yet it’s really just the fact they have special hinges and electronics that can detect which angle they’re at that enables these di erent modes. Asus’ new ZenBook Flip UX360UA is one of the latest convertibles to hit the market, with a price that sets it apart from the pack. Don’t let that $1500 price tag deter you – Asus has built a quality product that makes very few compromises in hitting such a reasonable cost. This 13.3-inch convertible is built around the 1920 x 1080 screen, and obviously…

This SSD elevates storage performance to levels that are sumptuously ridiculous. Compared to its predecessor, the 950 Pro, the 960 Pro cranks up sequential read speeds to around 3500MB/s, and sequential write speeds to about 2,200MB/s – that’s a 40% gain over the 950 Pro – and also over every other consumer NVMe SSD to date, which includes Intel’s 750 series and Toshiba/OCZ’s new RD400. It’s an astounding jump, even more so when you consider just how close the 960 Pro comes to achieving the theoretical maximum possible speed for a PCIe SSD, which is 3940MB/s. Not only does Samsung’s new SSD flagship rock otherworldly speeds, it lands with capacities far in excess of the 950 Pro (which is available in 256GB and 512GB models). Now, the smallest 960 Pro…

Gigabyte’s Brix systems are arguably the most popular line of non-Intel NUCs on the market, but the Brix Gaming UHD isn’t quite as small as a regular NUC. It’s still only 220mm x 110mm x 110mm, with an interior space of just 2.6 litres, but it’s about the size of three NUCs stacked on top of each other. This means it’s still tiny, easily able to be tucked away into the smallest of spaces, which makes the amount of hardware Gigabyte has stashed away quite remarkable. In fact, given the size and shape of this case, we’re surprised Gigabyte hasn’t given this a Tardis-façade, as it’s quite remarkable what they’ve managed to squeeze in. It’s a barebones unit though, making that price tag more than a little noteworthy – you’re…

To get ultrawide curved monitors onto the desks of ordinary people, manufacturers have made some curious decisions. Because paying $1500+ for a monitor is no longer considered normal, technological compromises are used to keep costs down. Maybe it’s by only giving us a 1080p panel, or using TN or VA LCD tech. Sure, there are a couple of $2000 uber-gaming monitors with G-sync and all that, but what about a solid, IPS, high-resolution curved display for the rest of us? Here it is. LG’s 34UC88-B has the IPS panel we want, the 3440 x 1440 resolution we crave, and the amazing colour reproduction and near-zero backlight bleed we demand. Sit in front of this thing and you will disappear into whatever content you show on it: games, video (at 21:9…

“The drive looks great, with an all-metal outer casing that has a rough, sand-blasted finish” Kingston’s UV400 is the cheapest drive on test, with this 480GB model available for around $158 at the time of writing. It is, however, a brand-new drive that’s only arrived in the past few months, so it’s not just old tech being sold offat discount. Instead, it uses Toshiba’s latest 15nm 2D planar TLC NAND coupled with a Marvell 88SS1074 4-channel controller. This setup enables the range to offer up to 550MB/sec read and 500MB/sec write for sequential performance, and 90,000 and 50,000 IOPS for random 4KB read/write operations. We were only able to get the 480GB drive in time for this group test. However, that’s sure to be the choice drive for people considering…

Just as Samsung’s 850 Evo line has been one of the top choices for mainstream users for two years, the Samsung’s 850 Pro line been among the best choices for ultimate performance. Originally only available in sizes up to 1TB, the lineup has since expanded to include a 2TB version that demands a whopping $1080 or so. Meanwhile, down at more sensible levels, the 512GB version still goes for $300, almost double the price of the cheapest 500GB drive on test. For that extra cash, though, you get the level of performance and extras you’d expect. Samsung claims 550MB/sec and 520MB/sec sequential read and write speeds for all but the 128GB model, which drops to a 470MB/sec write speed. What’s more, with no SLC cache required to obtain fast write…

HOW WE TEST We’ve put six 2666Mhz and six 3000MHz+ 16GB dual-channel DDR4 memory kits through their paces in two separate group tests. Each kit is tested using the standard XMP profile, which loads the correct timings and frequency, which we cross-checked in the EFI of our ASRock Z170 Extreme4 motherboard. The rest of our test system comprises an Intel Core i5-6600K CPU, a Corsair AX860i PSU, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB graphics card, an NZXT Kraken X41 cooler and a 512GB Crucial MX100 SSD. We tested each memory kit in our RealBench test suite, testing performance in image editing, video encoding and multi-tasking. In addition, we also obtained a score in Cinebench R15 to assess rendering performance, and in Crysis 3 to gauge any di. erences in…

As the only memory kit without a heatspreader this month, you might expect Geil’s Dragon RAM to be at a disadvantage. However, with a voltage of just 1.2V, the lack of a heatsink is unlikely to be an issue in terms of cooling either. What’s more, to make the bare PCB look good, Geil has added a simply gorgeous colour scheme to the PCB instead. With a white background and gold dragon design, the modules look fantastic, sporting blue LEDs on one side as well. These modules will look great in clean white cases, or installed in MSI’s Krait or Titanium motherboards. Despite the lack of a heatsink, the Dragon RAM could also overclock, climbing to 3100MHz with a voltage of 1.4V and stock timings of 15-17-17-36, although this…

While G.Skill’s Ripjaws V modules might not offer the same topnotch aesthetics as their more expensive, faster siblings – the Trident Z series – they’ve at least seen a slight design revamp since the original Ripjaws sticks, and now have a slightly sleeker heatsink, although the red colouring is a little garish. The specs are good too, with very tight timings of 15-15- 15-35 and, like most of the other 2666MHz kits on test this month, they only require 1.2V of voltage, as opposed to 1.35V. The price of $120 is good for a fully fledged, 16GB dualchannel kit as well, although it’s well behind the very swanky-looking Geil Dragon RAM. The Ripjaws V modules proved to be great overclockers, rising from 2666MHz to 3200MHz with relative ease at…

There’s no lighting available on G.Skill’s Trident Z memory kits, but they still look great, thanks to a two-tone heatsink finished in dark grey and black brushed aluminium, with some red detailing. Our particular kit is rated at 3200MHz, so it’s one of the faster kits here, although its timings were fairly loose at 16-18-18-38, which left it a percentage point behind the competition in our benchmarks – not a tragedy, but it may put o. benchmarkers. At $140, it’s also a tad pricey for a non-LED kit, especially in a cutthroat market where mere dollars separate memory kits. As a result, there are a number of similar, better-looking kits available, including Corsair’s Vengeance LED, which retail for similar prices. If you’re not fussed about lighting, though, the Trident…

The Team Group Dark Pro memory kit might not have LEDs, but its chunky, multi-layered heatsinks are well made and look fantastic, with no unsightly joins across the top. Two red sections of aluminium sit on the memory chips themselves, sandwiched between two metal plates with hexagonal perforations and all these parts held together by a large top section that’s smoothly machined and coated matte black. This kit costs $10 less than Corsair’s Vengeance LED kit, though, which is better looking once illuminated. Most kits performed the same in our benchmarks, but there were some small di. erences and the Dark Pro was near the top of the charts thanks to tight timings of 16-16-16-36 and a 3200MHz frequency. Having applied a voltage of 1.4V and increasing the memory…

Temperature bubbles that follow you from meeting to meeting, wireless docking for easy hotdesking, smart conference rooms that know who to dial in – such offices of the future may sound a tad more appealing than the current trend for open-plan designs with no privacy or personalisation. For a glimpse of the future, look to the tech giants and startups: they’ve led the field when it comes to fun yet functional office space. Google’s Zurich office has a slide and massage room; Facebook’s Menlo Park headquarters includes a vending machine with free tech parts; and Apple is famously building a huge spaceship campus in its hometown of Cupertino. Even young startups have foosball tables and beer fridges to encourage sta. to work for them. As much fun as slides can…

“Quickly summarise the situation, and you can save yourself a bit of time on each call” One of readers, Kelvin, recently purchased Dell XPS13 notebook directly from Dell via their website. Although it was delivered promptly, it took him a few weeks to unbox the machine and start using it due to other commitments. But on that first start up it was apparent to him that the system was very slow. Kelvin says “There was a wait time between the Dell splash-screen and the Windows login screen. Less frequently a long wait after the login screen before the operating desktop came up. Periods of time after the splash screen were from 10 secs to 4 mins. Delays getting to the desktop usually resulted in my powering down the computer”. This…

It seems like every laptop manufacturer is going for thin-and-light gold in 2016, and now Acer is staking its claim. With its slender, lightweight chassis and bargain-basement price, it looks as if the Acer Aspire S 13 might just be the complete ultraportable package. Admittedly, it isn’t the thinnest laptop out there right now – HP’s Spectre 13 retains that title – but Acer maintains its low weight and low price by keeping metalwork to a minimum. However, the largely plastic housing doesn’t look cheap. The silver hinge adds a touch of class and contrasts nicely against the S 13’s all-black finish. If black isn’t your bag, you can opt for a white version. Build quality is a touch suspect, with both the screen and keyboard flexing considerably when put…

MANUFACTURER’S SPECIFICATIONS Intel SSDs have become renowned for owning the performance pile, and its SATA drives have always sat at or near the top of performance charts. While we were all amazed at the performance of these drives, Intel came along and blew them out of the water with NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller), a standard designed to make the most of solid-state storage and replace the aging AHCI specs used to control drives up until that time. For most of the last year Intel’s 750, followed by Samsung’s 950 and OCZ’s RD400 NVMe SSDs were the fastest you could buy. Intel has recently arranged a broad range of new SSDs to cover several segments of the market, and the Series 6 (which the 600p is part of), is aimed…

While we’re not sold on the benefits of Broadwell-E as a gaming CPU except for those users who need extra PCIe lanes for multiple graphics cards and storage devices, it seems the industry doesn’t agree. There’s been a major push since Computex of X99 motherboards using the new LGA 2011-v3 socket, a slightly updated version of the X99 chipset that came out a couple of years ago. If you’re looking to build a machine around one of these many-cored beasts, Asus has just delivered its gaming branded board, the Strix Gaming X99. Strix is the sub-brand that Asus reserves for the very best of its Republic of Gamers brands, so you can expect this motherboard to come packed to the gills with gaming and overclocking tech. Obviously this board supports…

Fuji sent a warning to the DSLR market with the release of the X-T1 back in 2014, and the X-T2 is here to stamp its mark on the professional photography market and dish out some killer blows to DSLRs. On the surface it might not look much di¤ erent to its predecessor, still with the same sexy retro look with its plethora of dials, but it has put on a little weight (+70g) but the upgrades are well worth the tiny addition to its weight. The senor upgrade is substantial with the original 16MP getting boosted to a 24.3MP X-Trans CMOS III sensor, and an upgraded processor also speeds up the camera with autofocus in as little as 0.06sec and a startup time of 0.3s. In place of the X-T1’s…

You think you don’t need an overpowered NAS, a $1600 machine with full PC-spec, but you’re wrong. An overpowered NAS will change your life, whether you’re trying to operate a small business with a handful of sta­, or just manage a massive collection of totally legitimate digital content. Smaller NAS enclosures, like Qnap’s own TS-251A which we reviewed recently, are neat and useful, but can’t quite do it all. One of the frustrations with the TS-251A is that it has Qnap’s excellent QTS Linuxbased operating system, can run media servers like Plex, but doesn’t quite have the power to stream a 1080p movie with 5.1 surround sound. The TVS-471 has that power, and then some. We pushed it, but even three simultaneous 1080p streams – one to TV, two to…

Samsung has become known for dominating the entire spectrum of consumer SSDs over the past few years, partly thanks to it being the first company to market with 3D NAND. However, what really kicked off the company’s SSD success was its 2D planar TLC NAND, which was used in the hugely successful 840 Evo range. The strength of Samsung’s controllers, when coupled with this densely packed NAND, allowed for great performance and a competitive price. Meanwhile, other competitors were stuck using less dense, and thus pricier, two-level MLC NAND. Since then, Samsung has continued to work on its planar TLC NAND while also continuing its development of 3D NAND products, and the result of that development is its new entry-level drive, the 750 Evo. In contrast, Micron is set to…

Like the Samsung 850 drives, the SanDisk Extreme Pro bas been around for a couple of years, and there isn’t even a new higher-capacity model to spice up the series. Instead you just get 240GB, 480GB and 960GB versions. That may seem like it puts the Extreme Pro at a disadvantage, but a quick glance at prices redresses that balance. While the 1TB Samsung 850 Pro costs £380 or more, the 960GB Extreme Pro is £312. That’s a big saving. In most areas relevant to enthusiasts, the Extreme Pro can compete with the Samsung drives for features too. You get impressive performance figures, a long ten-year warranty and low power draw. SanDisk claims sequential speeds of 550MB/sec read and either 520MB/sec or 515MB/sec write depending on capacity. Meanwhile, 4KB random…

We’ve seen lights on RAM for many years, but Avexir is taking RAM lighting to a new level. We were sadly unable to get hold of its Raiden memory, with its snazzy light tube, but we did manage to snag its Impact memory, which has a pulsing LED strip on its top, covered with a length of red acrylic. It looks fantastic, even when it isn’t illuminated, with its compact (it measures less than 39mm in height), chunky design. When powered up, the DIMMs take turns in pulsing on and o. in a subtle lighting display. The name suggests it might pair well with Asus’ premium mini-ITX motherboard, and it has an Asus ROG-style look, with colour-coded red, black and silver details. Our Avexir Impact was also an overclocking demon…

Memory maker Kingston is using its HyperX brand for all sorts of products now, from SSDs to headsets, but it still makes plenty of enthusiast memory kits too. The HyperX Savage Black features a pair of 8GB 2666MHz DIMMS, sporting some very tight timings indeed at just 13-15-15-31. Aesthetically, the Savage Black modules look similar to Corsair’s Vengeance LPX DIMMs, with plain black jagged heatsinks and a jagged shape. The design looks better than a plain green PCB, but it ultimately looks a little dated compared with some of the models coming from the competition now, some of which are cheaper and also feature lighting. We also couldn’t overclock the Savage modules very far, with them topping out at just 2900MHz – the lowest result on test. We suspected that…

Intel’s Skylake platform supports dual-channel memory, enabling two memory modules to interleave their bandwidth, theoretically making them faster than a single stick of the same capacity. But how important is dualchannel mode when memory is already running at such a high frequency? Could you save some money by buying a single stick without much of a performance hit? To find out, we set a 16GB (2 x 8GB) kit and a single 16GB DIMM of the same type, with the same frequency and timings, and while the differences were small, they were definitely noticeable. Using our test system, which sported a GTX 1060 and Core i5-6600K, you see 3fps added to the Crysis 3 minimum frame rate in dual-channel mode – a boost of just under 5 per cent,…

Having picked up an award for its 2666MHz kit this month, Geil is also o. ering a competitive price of just $95 for the 3200MHz Dragon RAM, with just Patriot’s Viper kit costing less money in this category. However, there’s plenty of competition in the immediate vicinity, so it will still have its work cut out. There’s also one key di. erence, apart from timings and frequency, between the 2666MHz and 3200MHz kits, which is that Geil has also coloured the memory chips on the latter. They’re white on the 3200MHz kit, which makes the modules look even better, along with the PCB’s same satin-white finish, plus the golden dragon and subtle blue LED. The timings are quite tight for a 3200MHz kit at 15-17-17-35, but we still managed…

If you’re gunning for maximum visual pizzazz then Corsair’s new Vengeance LED kits are as swanky as you can get. They sport a glowing, pulsating light bar at either end that looks great, although it’s currently only available in red or white and there’s no way to control the lighting. Knowing Corsair, though, an RGB version may arrive at some point, which would be handy for colour-matching your memory to your motherboard and case. Despite sporting full lighting, though, the Vengeance LED doesn’t cost a small fortune. This 3000MHz kit costs just $150, saving you $70 over the 2666MHz Avexir Impact kit. We were unable to get a 3200MHz kit from Corsair to test in this category, but this 3000MHz kit was able to reach 3466MHz without raising the…

LIKE A SUPERNOVA For a fleeting moment in time the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was our favourite smartphone. But like a ship in the night, it sank, never to be seen again. So, we are reverting back to the previous champ, being the OnePlus3 which is still the best going right now. Honerable mentions to the Huawei P9 and Google Pixel, and the Galaxy S7. PC DESKTOP ALL.IN.ONE Apple iMac 27in with Retina 4k display PRICE $2,299 SUPPLIER www.apple.com/au The Apple 27in iMac with Retina 4K display is great. The best all-in-one computer around, and by a furlong. SPECIFICATIONS Quad-core 3.1GHz Intel Core i5 processor; Intel Iris Pro graphics 6200; • 8GB RAM • 1TB HDD • 27in 4096 x 2304 Retina 5K IPS display • SDXC card slot •…

“there are hundreds of millions of IoT products out there with little or no security” At the time of writing a new milestone has just been passed – a rather dubious one that cements the vulnerability of the world’s largest and most important technological marvel to date. A chunk of the internet – large enough to encompass Amazon, Netflix, Paypal, Twitter, Reddit, Spotify, The New York Times, WIRED and most of the East Coast of the US – su. ered outages as it came under sustained DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack. That we see yet another DDoS taking place isn’t so much news anymore – they’re simply part of the internet weather now – but the scope and scale of this attack reveals just how damaging they can be.…

HP SPECTRE LAPTOP The black and rose gold design may not be to everyone’s taste, but what you can’t argue over is how damn slim this laptop is. It’s the thinnest laptop HP has ever made, measuring just 10.4mm at the thickest point and weighing only 1.1kg. It’s no slouch either, with a Core i7 CPU and PCIe SSD making it plenty fast for anything besides gaming. $2399 • www.hp.com EDIFIER S1000DB SPEAKERS These Edifier speakers are perfect for anyone who just wants simple to use, old school stereo quality hi-fiaudio. Stick them on a shelf and they’ll fill the room with audio from your Bluetooth aptX device or connected up to any audio source via 3.5mm, RCA, optical or coaxial cables. The wooden side panels add a touch of…

The Zenbook 3 is the culmination of several years of development of the highly successful Zenbook series, and we have to say that it’s a piece of art. When you pick this Ultrabook up, you’ll be simply amazed at how thin and light Asus has managed to create a laptop – it actually feels lighter than a standard print magazine. It’s a sign that we’ve entered a new era of ultra-portable computing, and we’re enamoured by it in nearly every way. Measuring a mere 11.9mm in depth, Asus apparently had to invent the world’s thinnest screen hinge to make this a reality, at just 3mm deep. Despite its small 12.5-inch 1920 x 1080 screen, Asus has managed to fit a full-sized keyboard into this laptop – if the screen were…

Last year’s Amazon Fire HD 8 was a decent cut-price tablet, but it struggled to stand out against its cheaper Fire 7 sibling, or the larger Fire HD 10. This year, Amazon has revamped the 8in Fire tablet with more storage, more colour and more powerful internals. And what a di­ erence it makes. Where last year’s model was hamstrung by 8GB of storage, the new Fire HD 8 comes in 16GB and 32GB models that can be expanded by up to 200GB via microSD. Plus, there’s a new quad-core 1.3GHz chip inside and a more generous 1.5GB of RAM. It’s chunky, weighing 341g, but Amazon distracts from the thick bezel by o­ ering a choice of four colours: black, blue, tangerine and magenta. Despite its girth, it feels robust…

Seagate’s new line of hybrid drives, known as the FireCuda, promises to solve all the wrongs of past hybrid drives. These mish-mashes of mechanical and SSD drives are meant to deliver SSD performance at HDD prices. The problem is that in the past they’ve failed, which is why we rarely see them. However, the FireCuda apparently uses new tech to get around these issues. We received a 2TB version of the FireCuda, which comes in the 3.5-inch form factor most mechanical hard drives use. It connects to your PC via a standard SATA 6Gb/s interface, so there’s no need for a fancy M.2 or PCIe connection to get the most out of it. A 5-year warranty is pretty standard these days, especially for SSDs which apparently su. er fewer failures,…

Considering how long we stare at our displays all day, it’s a little scary about how little thought we put into the long-term effect these screens have on our eyesight. Our vision is without doubt our most important sense, and yet most PC users pay little attention to whether their monitor could cause any medical issues with our eyesight. BenQ has led the charge now for several years to introduce new technologies that lessen the damage staring at a screen does to our eyesight, and the new WE2775ZH is a budget-level monitor that incorporates everything they’ve learnt to this day. It may not be the sexiest monitor around, but at least you can be sure it’ll lessen the long-term damage to your eyeballs. At 27 inches in diameter, this $329…

HOW WE TEST Our first test is CrystalDiskMark, a freely available synthetic benchmark. We test at queue depths of both 1 and 32 – the former is the most relevant for regular users, while the latter is more representative of intensive workloads. We use the default settings but set the 32queuedepth random test to use four CPU threads. Each test is run five times and we report the average. Next up are two ‘realworld’ benchmarks PCMark 7 and PCMark 8, which both have storage tests that use genuine SATA trace data from applications such as Windows Defender and Battlefield 3. For PCMark 7, we only report the final overall score, but for PCMark 8 we also compare the data for the Battlefield 3, Microsoft Word and Photoshop Heavy tests. All…

The Samsung 850 Evo has been the go-to mid-range drive ever since it launched nearly two years ago. Its debut combined 3D TLC NAND with Samsung’s excellent controller, providing such a great balance of price and performance that its dominance hasn’t let up since. So is it still the best choice? Let’s first recap what’s on o. er here. Available in capacities from 120GB up to 4TB, the 850 Evo has a class-leading five-year warranty and impressive overall performance figures. All drives come with at least 540MB/sec and 520MB/sec sequential read and write speeds. As with other TLC SSDs, Samsung dedicates a portion of the NAND for use in SLC mode, for faster write operations. The size of that portion varies with the size of the drive, from 3GB for…

Crucial’s new MX300 line-up is the first to feature Micron’s new 3D TLC NAND. A full two years after Samsung first unveiled its own 3D NAND technology, Micron – Crucial’s parent company – has finally joined the party. The move to a 3D arrangement instantly triples density when compared with the company’s conventional 2D or planar NAND. This situation should help to push down SSD prices, while pushing up capacities, as Samsung now has some competition. Right now, though, the MX300 isn’t exactly gunning for the current 3D TLC champion, the Samsung 850 Evo. Instead, it’s priced a little lower, and a quick glance at this drive’s specs shows it isn’t likely to be taking the performance crown from Samsung. The maximum sequential read and write speeds of 530MB/sec and…

Corsair’s Vengeance memory has graced the pages of our Elite List for dozens of issues, but Corsair is up against some sti. competition in the 2666MHz market now, not least from its own Vengeance LED series, which only costs $10-$20 more. However, the Vengeance LPX sticks still have a few advantages over other models on test this month. For a start, they have a very low profile, standing less than 34mm tall, which is handy if you need it to squeeze them under low-riding CPU coolers. This kit is also inexpensive – at just $125 it undercuts the Crucial Ballistix Tactical and Avexir Impact while matching the HyperX Savage. It’s available in a range of colours to match your system as well, with the white and red models looking…

Crucial has seemingly started to rein in its premium memory offerings, and only makes a few DDR4 kits that are rated beyond 2400MHz, such as this Ballistix Tactical kit. The modules look fairly attractive but basic, with dark grey metallic heatsinks. However, a number of other kits we’ve reviewed this month look much better, and without LEDs too, if you’re more concerned about aesthetics. The modules have a reasonably low profile at 37mm, although again, there are shorter kits on test. It doesn’t have the tightest timings on test either, although it was only a tiny fraction slower than the competition in our benchmarks. We managed to coax an additional 534MHz out of the Crucial Ballistix Tactical kit, using a voltage of 1.4V and leaving the timings alone, giving us…

In addition to the clock frequency, your memory will also be set to certain latency timings, usually listed as a series of numbers, such as 13-15-15-31, which refer to the number of clock cycles needed for your memory to perform a whole operation. For example, the CAS (column address strobe) is the first figure in the series, and refers to the number of clock cycles that occur between your memory controller issuing a command to look up a particular column address, and that data then being output from the memory. Latency timings do affect performance, but the differences you’ll see among memory kits with similar frequencies aren’t usually enough to warrant opting for one kit over another. For instance, there was very little difference in our benchmarks between the loosest…

If you’re looking for a cheap 3000MHz 16GB dual-channel memory kit, then Patriot’s Viper hits the mark, being even cheaper than any of the slower 2666MHz kits on test this month too. However, there are a number of shortcomings, even if it initially looks like a bargain. First o. , is the decidedly bland and dated design - even the heatsink-less Geil DIMMs we reviewed this month are much better looking. They will fit in with a silver colour scheme, but you can get more pizzazz for not much more money elsewhere. The Viper Elite’s timings of 16-16-16-36 are reasonably tight, potentially providing some more headroom for extreme overclockers if you loosen them up a bit. Sadly, however, raising the DDR voltage to 1.4V and leaving the timings at…

As one of Crucial’s fastest RAM kits, the Ballistix Tactical enters with all guns blazing and, at $135, it undercuts the Corsair, Team Group and G.Skill Trident Z kits too. It has an identical physical design to the 2666MHz kit we reviewed, so it isn’t particularly flashy – it has a comparatively bland, but smart-looking grey metallic heatsink. There’s no lighting and there are definitely more attractive heatsinks too although, with a height of just 37mm, the heatsink is fairly shallow and shouldn’t foul large CPU cooler heatsinks. The latency timings are tight for a 3000MHz kit too, which gave it a marginal advantage in some tests. Sadly, though, we could only coax an additional 200MHz out of this kit when overclocking using the standard timings and raising the…

It’s the world’s first bionic Olympics, but the Cybathlon shouldn’t trigger images of robot-powered competitors breaking the records set in Rio this summer. Instead, the competition – held on 8 October in Zurich, Switzerland – aims to spur real-life improvement in smart prosthetics and other assistive hardware through a series of races. These will cover “an assault course of day-to-day activities”, such as manoeuvring stairs in a wheelchair, or setting out a table for breakfast with a bionic arm. “These are tasks that, if you’re living with a disability and using these advanced assistive devices, you want to do every day,” explained Dr Ian Radcli. e, project manager in Sports Innovation Challenge at Imperial College London, during the FutureFest conference in September. “You don’t necessarily want to be jumping eight…

Arkane Studios’ Dishonored was more than a smash hit. It delivered an incredibly immersive story populated with memorable characters, a unique artistic presentation, and a range of powers that let players tackle each mission in an array of ways. You could sneak, you could stab, you could teleport from place to place… the sense of freedom offered in the game was unsurpassed. Which makes developing a sequel a challenge of the highest order, but so far, Arkane seems on the money. Dishonored 2 advances the story a few years, and introduces a new playable character alongside the first game’s Corvo Atano. You can choose to play as him, or as the deposed Empress, Emily Kaldwin. Each character brings an array of different skills to the game, which means that a…

KING OF SSDS Because it’s the perfect PC, and with price no object in the quest for ultimate ultimateness, out go the otherwise spectacular Intel 750, OCZ RD400 and Samsung 950 Pro NVMe drives, and in with the utterly monstrous Samsung 960 Pro. Our review is on page 44, which spells out just what a leap in storage performance it offers. But yes, it is expensive, and at this exact moment in time, with the printing machines warming up to receive these pages today, we don’t yet know the Au price. So for just this month we’re using a guesstimate based on the US price. NVIDIA 1050 AND 1050TI COMETH The Labs is running hot with the excitement of a new video card series. We’re putting the new budget cards…