Innehållsförteckning för September 2020 från Custom PC UK

AMD has now seemingly formed its various parts into a massive armoured battlewagon, and it’s currently gunning down almost everything its path, while bulldozing the remains out of its way with a scoop made from the heatspreaders of its hapless victims. It’s probably manned by Orks from the Warhammer 40,000 universe and called Threadripper. It’s brought us to an extraordinary situation this month, where our £699 gaming build features AMD silicon throughout (see p74). While AMD’s APUs with integrated graphics have been fine for ultra-cheap PCs, entry-level gaming rigs have generally continued to be the domain of Intel and Nvidia, until now. That’s because AMD’s 1st-gen Ryzen 3 CPUs couldn’t really compete with Intel on the gaming front, and its Graphics Core Next GPUs were also hot and power-hungry. That’s…

SUPPLIER alza.co.uk The Acer XV273 X combines what many would consider the holy grail of a 240Hz refresh rate and the image quality of IPS. It even supports both FreeSync and G-Sync, which sync the refresh rate to your graphics card’s frame rate, eliminating tearing artefacts. We’ve seen plenty of 144Hz and 165Hz IPS screens before, but 240Hz is a big step up. As you might expect for such a step change, there’s a compromise - despite its 27in diagonal, this monitor only has a  1,920 x 1,080 resolution. That’s in line with most existing 240Hz displays, although most of those are 24.5in, but we’re starting to see 240Hz displays running at 2,560 x 1,440. However, while that resolution is a compromise, it’s not a major problem for competitive gaming,…

SUPPLIER chillblast.com Chillblast’s Louvre Pyramid PC channels its French namesake by deploying an Azza Pyramid 804 chassis, one of the most outrageous enclosures on the market. It features gunmetal grey aluminium struts, which taper to an eye-catching pinnacle, and all four sides are made from tempered glass. A 120mm exhaust fan sits towards the top and glows with a light blue, and every other RGB LED in the system shares the same shade. The Azza chassis measures a mighty 585mm tall and 490mm square, so it takes up loads of room, but it will also draw lots of comments. Despite the height, much of the design work is devoted to minimising the impact of components. The PSU and cooling hardware is installed beneath the motherboard, and the graphics card is…

How we test While motherboards that used AMD’s B450 chipset have often proven to be great budget-focused options, some B550-based motherboards retail for well over £300. They also have limited scope for using PCI-E 4 devices, as they have less PCI-E 4 bandwidth compared with AMD’s X570 chipset, but they’re at least retailing for slightly lower prices than their X570 equivalents. This month we’re looking at numerous B550 motherboards, starting from around £200. Our test kit includes an AMD Ryzen 9 3900X CPU, 16GB of 3466MHz Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro RAM, plus a 2TB Samsung 970 Pro SSD and Corsair MP600 PCI-E 4 SSD, to test the speed of M.2 ports, as well as heatsink performance. We tap into the Corsair SSD’s internal temperature sensor to see how well any…

SUPPLIER overclockers.co.uk Compared with its B450-based sibling that we used in this month’s £699 build feature (see p74), the Asus TUF B550M-Plus Gaming is a monster. It has massive heatsinks by comparison, which kept the VRMs below 55°C in our stress tests, and it includes two M.2 ports, one of which supports PCI-E 4. The power delivery system features numerous extra phases, and the rear I/O panel is far better populated than the B450 version too, with Asus’ USB BIOS FlashBack, an impressive tally of seven Type-A USB ports, plus a full-fat USB Type-C port too. There’s a couple of display outputs as well, for use with AMD’s next-generation APUs. Meanwhile, audio is provided by Realtek’s ALC1220 codec and Asus also includes noise-cancelling microphone software and the full complement of…

SUPPLIER currys.co.uk The Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless range arrived with quite a splash, with the Special Edition (SE) version (see Issue 195, p30) sporting a very fetching all-aluminium construction and great audio performance. However, with a price tag of £180 inc VAT, it was a bit expensive for most folks. Thankfully, the same performance can be had from the more affordable non-SE versions, which drop some of the aluminium parts and replace them with plastic. The £30 saving isn’t exactly game-changing, but every little helps. So what exactly does change between the SE and the standard Virtuoso models? Well, instead of the outer plate of the earcups sporting an aluminium plate, you get a plastic plate. However, you still retain the aluminium earcups holders of the SE, so you get…

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. Core component bundles cont … 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…

DEVELOPER The Coalition/Splash Damage / PUBLISHER Microsoft Studios A Gears of War tactics game may sound like a strange idea, given the series’ reputation for being thicker than a wheelbarrow full of bricks. But the truth is that tactics has always played a significant role in what used to be Epic’s most famous gaming series. It was one of the first shooters to introduce the use of cover during a firefight, while also encouraging players to deploy flanking manoeuvres rather than rocket-jumps. Gears Tactics simply changes the weight of emphasis, putting tactics at the forefront, but never forgetting the intense action that has always been a staple of the series. The result is possibly the best tactics game since XCOM 2, offering both the strategic chin-stroking you’d expect from the…

REVIEW THE ROOM VR: A DARK MATTER / £24.99 inc VAT DEVELOPER Fireproof Games / PUBLISHER Fireproof Games Escape-room style puzzles are a natural fit for VR gaming. The contained space and minimal movement required makes them ideal for room-scale play, while also helping to negate the less pleasant effects of Virtual Reality on the digestive system. Moreover, the intricate objects that make up the puzzles combine well with VR touch controls. Hence, it should come as no surprise that The Room VR slots into VR platforms with a satisfying click. The game takes place in 1908 at the British Institute of Archaeology, and sees you assume the role of a police investigator on the trail of a missing Egyptologist. From here, the story descends into a light horror plot…

ADDITIONAL UPGRADES We’ve added an additional fan in the front of our case, in order to boost airflow and add a bit of pizzazz to the front panel. Here, we’ve used an Antec Spark-series RGB fan, which costs £13 from amazon.co.uk. Rather than ditch the Thermaltake’s perfectly acceptable rear fan, we’ve instead added one of Phanteks’ Halos RGB LED frames in this location, which sits over the front of the fan and adds lighting. It costs £10 inc VAT from overclockers. co.uk As the Antec fan and the Halos frame both use the same 4-pin RGB connection, and the frame has a splitter cable, you can control both these additions from our chosen motherboard’s single fan header.…

DirectX 12, the low-level application programming interface (API) that gives games developers close-to-the-metal access to your GPU, is getting a grab bag of new features that Microsoft collectively calls DirectX 12 Ultimate. However, in order to understand what DX12 Ultimate really means for us, we need to look at it in the context of the past, so let’s kick off with a little history lesson. During the birth and rapid explosion of real-time 3D acceleration, it was common for each graphics chip manufacturer to provide its own API, for programmers to use to ask the GPU to perform a useful job. S3 had MeTaL, 3dfx had GLide and Rendition had an API for its Verite accelerator, which id Software used in vQuake. However, no game developer wants to have to…

One of the last missing features on the Raspberry Pi 4 has now been ticked off, thanks to the release of a firmware that allows for direct boot from a USB mass storage device, with no micro-SD card required. Available in beta from raspberrypi.org at the time of writing, and likely to have been placed in general availability by the time this issue hits shelves, the new beta allows for any mass storage device connected to the Raspberry Pi to be used as a boot device, alongside the existing micro-SD and network boot capabilities.…

AMD’s Ryzen 4000-series laptop CPUs clearly have the potential to power amazing mobile gaming machines, with the performance and power efficiency of the Ryzen 9 4900HS in the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (see Issue 202, p28) recently blowing us away. Despite this CPU power, though, that laptop only comes with a GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q GPU. In fact, you’d be hard-pushed to find any AMD Ryzen 4000-series laptop with a GPU more powerful than the RTX 2060. Meanwhile, the Dell G5 15 SE is the only laptop available with AMD SmartShift this year, and AMD-based laptops frequently have lower-spec features than their Intel counterparts. Despite the better availability of AMD-based laptops this year, the choices are still pretty uninspiring. An open laptop platform would give PC component makers new opportunities…

SUPPLIER ebuyer.com There was a huge amount of variation when it came to X570 mini-ITX motherboards, as manufacturers had to find a way to add a chipset fan to an already space-starved PCB. Gigabyte’s answer was the X570-I Aorus Pro WiFi, which picked up an award in our mini-ITX X570 motherboard Labs in Issue 195, thanks to a decent feature set, good overclocking performance and a reasonable price. With B550, the company has a similar offering, but it’s £40 cheaper than the X570 model’s current price. The most obvious change is the lack of a cooling fan. However, as much of the PCB has stayed the same, Gigabyte has kept the header that powered it and included an adaptor for it to add a third fan header. That’s a handy…

SUPPLIER ebuyer.com Cherry is famous for making the most popular brand of mechanical keyswitches for gaming keyboards: the Cherry MX line. However, it also turns its hand to making whole keyboards, such as this the Cherry MX Board 1.0. Perhaps surprisingly, while the company’s high-quality switches are revered for their premium build quality, the MX Board 1.0 is a budget keyboard that costs under £75 inc VAT, making it one of the cheapest full-sized keyboards with true Cherry MX switches. The construction is all plastic, and the basic appearance isn’t helped by Cherry also opting for a particularly utilitarian grey plastic for the underside. The modest attempt to elevate the appearance by having an angled border around the keyboard, with each of the corners chamfered and left with a shiny…

SUPPLIER ebuyer.com A price over £300 might seem questionable for a B550 motherboard, but that’s still £50 cheaper than Gigabyte’s X570-based Aorus Master board. We’ve come to expect big specs from Gigabyte’s Aorus Master brand too, so the B550 version has to live up to high expectations, and its good looks and outlandish feature set will certainly help here. It also weighs a tonne, thanks to large finned heatsinks and a backplate that also helps to cool the VRMs. They didn’t top 50°C in our stress test, so the heatsinks clearly do a good job of cooling the 16 power phases. The Gigabyte can deliver up to 70A for each phase, which is the most of any board on test too. It’s also the only board on test with a…

How we test By and large, the criteria for testing wireless headsets fall in line with testing any other type of headset. Factors such as design, build quality, fit, long-term comfort, sound quality and features all come into play. However, for wireless headsets, there’s a few more areas to consider. First up is the reliability of the wireless connection. We check for decent range, interference from other devices and lag. Battery life is also a factor. Any longer than around eight hours is enough to last a lengthy gaming session, or a working day, but ideally you want double this figure, so the battery lasts for a couple of gaming sessions and not come up short if you forget to charge it every day. Most wireless gaming headsets also offer…

Over the past decade, remasters and remakes have become commonplace in the game industry. They come in many different forms, from HD makeovers, such as Red Faction: Guerrilla, through complete visual overhauls such as Halo 2 and the Command and Conquer remaster (both reviewed this issue), right up to remakes built from the ground up, such as Black Mesa and Resident Evil 2. A remaster that’s too honest can end up feeling underwhelming You might think remasters and remakes are just cheap and easy ways for publishers to make money off old rope. Certainly, remastering a well-loved classic is economically safer for a big publisher than taking a risk on an untested new idea. However, that doesn’t mean remastering or remaking a game is necessarily cheap, or easy for that…

DEVELOPER 343 Industries, Saber Interactive and Bungie/ PUBLISHER Microsoft Studios Microsoft’s gradual release of the Halo series onto PC has been a mixed bag. Halo: Reach and Combat Evolved both struggled to hide their age (the latter in spite of being remastered), so it’s a relief to say that Halo 2: Anniversary offers a considerable improvement. Like the Halo: Combat Evolved remaster, Halo 2: Anniversary offers a comprehensive overhaul of the game’s audio and visual components. It brings HD textures, dynamic lighting and improved object and character models to this 16-year old game. Also, while Halo: Anniversary compromised the original game’s strange and austere atmosphere, the sequel’s overhaul dramatically improves what was a fairly grey and nondescript-looking game. The more varied environments of Halo 2 – let down at launch…

REVIEW Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 8GB The launch of the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B last year (see Issue 193) marked a shift away from the single-SKU-per-generation approach taken by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in the past. Where its direct predecessor, the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ (see Issue 178), launched with 1GB of RAM, the Raspberry Pi 4 launched with a choice of 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB models. Since then, the dropping in RAM prices allowed the 2GB model to replace the 1GB version in the mainstream sales channels (discussed in Issue 201). It’s not technically a retirement of the 1GB model, as the latter remains in production and available to industrial customers who have certified on the platform and aren’t looking to recertify on the 2GB model. Now, however,…

Beware of riser cables with PCI-E 4 As you may have gathered from our recent review of NZXT’s H1, I was quite taken with this fabulous dinky mini-ITX case (see Issue 201, p24), so I decided to carry out some additional testing on my YouTube channel (youtube.com/ crazytechlab). I received dozens of questions about the case following a  post on Reddit, so I set about investigating certain aspects, such as the CPU cooler height if you removed the internal liquid cooler, or whether the case could handle a 16-core CPU such as AMD’s Ryzen 9 3950X. All the testing went fine until I tried to compare a blower-style graphics card to an open-air one in terms of case airflow, as there had been reports of blower coolers recirculating air. I…

NEXT MONTH While a Raspberry Pi DOSBox emulator does a decent, hassle-free job of getting you access to a fully working DOS prompt, there’s nothing quite like running a native DOS machine with original hardware if you want to run classic games as they were originally intended. Next month we’ll show you how to cross over the best of the DOS era with today’s era, taking you through what hardware you need to build a 1st-gen Pentium system with a full hardware sound system, while getting mod cons such as solid state storage, plus a modern case and PSU.…

The Corsair Hydro X Series XD3 RGB Pump/ Reservoir Combo features a high-performance DDC PWM pump, integrated RGB lighting and in-loop temperature sensor to drive even the most compact custom cooling systems. It has a high-performance Xylem DDC PWM pump controlled via PWM to deliver the perfect flow balance for your loop. There are also 16 individually addressable RGB LEDs, which light up the pump head to produce stunning, customisable lighting effects to match your build.…

The Corsair Hydro X Series XC7 RGB CPU Water Block combines premium construction, vivid RGB lighting and extreme cooling performance to become the centrepiece of your water-cooling loop. It has a nickel-plated copper cold plate and more than 60 high-efficiency micro-cooling fins, which efficiently draw heat away from your CPU, lowering operating temperatures and allowing for maximum overclocks. You can choose the AM4/LGA1151 or LGA2066 version.…

Imagine going to the doctor and leaving with a prescription for a video game. It sounds like the setup to a joke or a weird marketing campaign for Surgeon Simulator, but it’s actually a real thing. In the USA, the FDA has just approved the prescription-only video game EndeavourRx for children aged 8-12 with certain types of ADHD. The game has also been awarded the CE mark that allows it to be marketed in Europe. It’s the first video game that’s been approved for prescription, it so could be a big deal. ADHD diagnosis and treatment (meds, therapy and lifestyle changes) are constantly changing as more is learned and understood about it. Society is slowly learning to accept that the ADHD brain isn’t wrong or abnormal, it’s just different, but…

SUPPLIER scan.co.uk Antec is hoping to make a splash in the burgeoning all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooler market with its new Neptune range of liquid coolers. At £80, this 240mm model is more affordable than many models we’ve seen recently, costing only £5 more than our current budget-focused favourite, the ARCTIC Freezer II 240. While the ARCTIC lacks lighting, though, Antec has managed to include digital RGB lighting and a five-port PWM and lighting hub. At first, we thought the latter was just a cheap proprietary fan controller, but as it turns out, all five fan headers are standard 4-pin connectors, and you can hook up the hub to your motherboard to control all five fans at the same time. The same goes for the lighting, where five 3-pin digital addressable…

SUPPLIER scan.co.uk WD’s SN500 SSD is a capable budget SSD that’s ideal for people simply seeking the convenience and compactness of an M.2 drive, and the performance uptick of NVMe, without breaking the bank. Or at least it was. Now the company has returned with a revised version, the SN550, which ups performance across the board and increases the maximum capacity from 500GB to 1TB. For many, it’s that latter upgrade that will be most relevant. While many of us are now used to the primary SSD/secondary hard drive (or larger-capacity SATA SSD) dichotomy, the availability of high-capacity M.2 drives and motherboards with two or more M.2 slots means many of us can finally swap over to M.2 storage completely. Elsewhere, performance has seen a healthy boost too. Whereas the SN500…

GAM3GEAR IPEGA 9099 WOLVERINE GAMEPAD / £ 25.99 inc VAT SUPPLIER amazon.co.uk The Ipega 9099 Wolverine is a multifunctional gamepad with a PlayStation layout, which means you get parallel thumbsticks, as opposed to the Xbox layout, which inverts the placement of the D-pad and left stick. It uses Bluetooth to connect to Android devices and PCs, although it can also connect via the micro-USB cable it uses for charging. There’s a flip-up clamp to attach an Android phone, but it’s a tight squeeze and chunky cases can’t be accommodated. On a PC, meanwhile, the Wolverine can be either a standard gamepad or a multimedia pad, although selecting these modes could be smoother. When connecting the pad to a PC as a gaming pad, for example, you have to hold down…

SUPPLIER ebuyer.com Thankfully, you don’t need to spend £200 to bag a B550 board, and MSI’s MAG B550M Mortar strikes the right balance between features and price. You get PCI-E 4 support, of course, but MSI hasn’t devastated other features, or the board’s cooling. It also includes MSI’s BIOS Flashback feature, so if you pick up the board in six months to pair with a Zen 3 CPU, you’ll be able to update the BIOS to a compatible version without needing an old CPU. You get an M.2 heatsink for the PCI-E 4-compatible M.2 slot, but you can use PCI-E 3 and SATA SSDs in this slot as well, plus there’s a second slot that’s limited to PCI-E 3 SSDs. You get one more fan headers than the more expensive…

SUPPLIER currys.co.uk Like Corsair, Logitech has a stark division in its ranges of headsets, with the likes of the G935 and G633 going all out on their RGB lighting and sporting very aggressive, angular designs. Then there’s the G Pro range and the headset we’re reviewing here, the G533, which eschew all such fripperies and instead opt for a simple, staid, all-black design. Of course, aesthetic design preferences are all down to personal taste, but we’re all for this approach, as it gives the G533 a smart and classy appearance. Despite the lack of frills, it’s also a noticeably more stylish headset than the likes of the Sennheiser GSP 370 (see p55), which opts for a similar muted design but is much more utilitarian in its approach. The Logitech G533…

DEVELOPER Westwood Studios/Petroglyph / PUBLISHER EA Remastering games isn’t simply about making games look better – it also involves judging the extent to which a game needs to be changed (and not changed) to be still enjoyable. For this overhaul of Command and Conquer and its spinoff Red Alert, developer Petroglyph Games has got the balance just right. The Remastered Collection updates the cosmetics and general functions of both games to make them easier to enjoy, but without compromising the core systems; remarkably, these stand up superbly well a quarter of a century later. The chief alteration is that the games’ 2D artwork has been redrawn at a much higher resolution. The games don’t start in their remastered form, but briefly let you play them as they originally looked, before…

DEVELOPER Tripwire Interactive/ PUBLISHER Deep Silver Not to be confused with the (awful) Nelly Furtado song, Maneater is an open-world game in which you play a killer shark. Set in the waters surrounding the fictional city of Port Clovis, you play a rogue bull shark who, after seeing her mother killed by professional shark hunter Scaly Pete, embarks upon a quest for vengeance against Pete and the rest of humanity. Starting as a lowly shark pup, your primary objective is simply to grow, which you achieve by eating absolutely everything you can clamp your jaws around. Initially, that means smaller fish, groupers, catfish and the occasional muskellunge. Soon enough, though, you’ll hit the teen and adult stages, at which point you’re chomping up barracudas, alligators, other sharks and, of course, humans.…

CPU AMD Ryzen 3 3300X £120 inc VAT ebuyer.com Until recently, AMD hadn’t made any new CPUs priced below £180 for a while, except for its APUs, but these always run a generation behind AMD’s CPUs in terms microarchitecture. As such, APUs aren’t really worth considering for gaming unless you’re on an extremely tight budget. However, AMD has now seen fit to finally introduce two quad-core CPUs based on its Zen 2 microarchitecture. The best of these two chips is the Ryzen 3 3300X, which has a peak boost frequency of 4.3GHz and all its cores on a single core complex (CCX). The cheaper Ryzen 3 3100’s cores are spread across two CCXs, giving it higher latency, and ultimately it’s a poorer performer than the 3300X, even at identical clock…

Once you’ve installed Windows 10, it’s time to set up your PC. Start by installing the latest version of Prime 95 mersenne.org and Ryzen Master amd.com which will enable you to check out your load CPU temperature. Run the smallestfft test in Prime 95 and disable all AVX options. Run Ryzen Master and check the temperature. As long as the temperature stays below 75°C, there’s enough headroom for some overclocking fun. Now restart the PC and head into the EFI by tapping the Del key as soon as you see something appear on the screen. Locate the XMP profile setting (on Asus boards it’s called D.O.C.P) and select your memory speed. This will apply the right voltage and timings. Next, we need to overclock the memory, so head to the…

Seeed Studio’s partnership with BeagleBoard.org on variants of its BeagleBone Black single-board computers (see Issue 120) has resulted in another device: the BeagleBone Green Gateway. Based on Seeed’s BeagleBone Green Wireless, which in turn was based on the BeagleBone Green variant of the original BeagleBone Black, the BeagleBone Green Gateway includes a single wired 10/100 Ethernet port, alongside 802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1/BLE wireless support. It also offers dual-46-pin GPIO expansion, two USB 2 ports and a pair of Grove connectors. The board is available to buy now from seeedstudio.com for $59.90 US (ex tax).…

TOTAL PROJECT TIME / 72 HOURS Spray-painting your PC is one of the best ways to customise it, as it gives you a chance to make your PC look totally unique, with your own personal stamp on it. You can choose from a huge array of colours, and even throw funky effects into the mix. It’s also relatively easy, as long as you have some space – even large cases can be painted without too much hassle. Preparation is key, of course, but over the next few pages we’ll take you through every step of the process. 1 / EXTERIOR OR WHOLE CASE? While many cases sport clear side panels, and even exposed innards sometimes, many cases don’t offer a great view of the interior, if at all. In these…

CPC: How did this project start? Chris: I’m a total geek, and I wanted to advertise this fact to people the moment they walked into my home. Me and my partner moved into our first home together a couple of years ago, which is a typical suburban townhouse. I’d always run a Plex server in my old home, and when it came time to set up one up for our new home, I decided to make it special and show off my skills. I’d only recently changed my main gaming PC’s water-cooling loop to hard tubing, and had a few parts left over. The overall look was inspired by some of the early images of wall-mounted PCs I saw over a decade ago. CPC: What are the benefits of running…

I have a confession. I hate laptops, especially gaming laptops. My disdain for gaming laptops is multifaceted, and so strong that, when I was given two free samples recently, I didn’t use either of them and passed them onto colleagues instead.Nevertheless,the market for gaming laptops has doubled in the past few years. I fully get why this has happened – there’s been a big marketing focus by manufacturers and resellers, combined with R&D investment, but I still find it baffling. Less space and mass for cooling means lots of little noisy whirling fans Regular readers probably won’t be too surprised to read that my first reason for disliking gaming laptops is noise. There’s no getting away from the fact that gaming laptops are noisier than PCs, both when idle and…