ADATA XPG Alpha Review: An Ergonomic Gaming Mouse That Delivers

Adata recently launched its series of XPG Alpha gaming mice, which come in both wired and wireless flavors. The sleek and ergonomic mouse is designed to offer a combination of high-performance and gamer-centric features, with an array of customizable options available via the included XPG Prime software. The XPG Alpha gaming mouse is based on an industrial design language Adata XPG has dubbed its "Exoskeleton". The focus of the design is a balance between form and function. The XPG Alpha aims to provide an ergonomically sound and comfortable mousing experience, without skimping on features intended...

Falcon Northwest Tiki 2022 Review: Tiny Gaming PC That Slays

by Zak Killian - Wed, Jun 08, 2022

Back in the mid-90s, I recall sitting around with friends at the school lunch table poring over glossy magazines like PC Gamer and the long-defunct PC Accelerator, as well as the immense, phone-book-like Computer Shopper. Sure, you had your Dells, and your Compaqs, and your smaller vendors too, like ZEOS, Quantex, ALR, and the fledgling Alienware. Yet among PC gamers in the 1990s, none of those names held quite the same prestige as Falcon Northwest. Whether it was the high specs of the machines, sleek designs, or their unique, classy advertising, Falcon Northwest established itself as the Bugatti...

OnePlus Nord Buds Review: Great Sound, No-Frills Value

by Myriam Joire - Tue, Jun 07, 2022

In just two years, OnePlus has managed to launch four pairs of TWS (true wireless) earbuds: the excellent OnePlus Buds ($79), the affordable OnePlus Buds Z ($49), the higher end OnePlus Buds Pro ($149) with ANC (active noise canceling) and wireless charging, and the mid-range OnePlus Buds Z2 ($99) with ANC. Now, OnePlus is capitalizing on its affordable Nord sub-brand with a fifth, even more budget-friendly option – the $39 OnePlus Nord Buds – which are now available from OnePlus and Amazon. That’s great, but are these new TWS earbuds any good? What do you give up for $39? And...

HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless Headset Review: Great Battery Life And Fidelity

by Nathan Wasson - Thu, May 26, 2022

Gaming headsets, in an effort to stand out from regular headphones, often sport flamboyant designs with harsh angles, polygonal shapes, and RGB LEDs. However, this styling trend can put off some gamers who have more subdued tastes or simply don’t like the stealth-fighter-Christmas-tree look. Fortunately, HyperX has a history of offering gaming headsets with more restrained, classier designs, going back to the original Cloud, which launched in 2014. The HyperX Cloud looked like a regular pair of headphones with a detachable microphone and attractive red accents. Since then, the company has...

AMD FSR 2.0 Takes On NVIDIA DLSS In Deathloop, Believe The Hype

by Zak Killian - Tue, May 24, 2022

AMD's original implementation of its FidelityFX Super Resolution technique, while good, was not quite on the same level as NVIDIA's DLSS solution in many circumstances. FSR has its advantages, to be clear—it's super-easy to implement and it has a low performance cost—but it wasn't a massive visual upgraded over the bilinear upscaling most games already offered as an option. FSR 2.0 aims to change that. Smart upscaling technologies came to the forefront of gaming graphics during the last game console generation, when players were buying 4K TVs, yet even the upgraded game consoles (the...

Origin PC Neuron 4000X Review: A Powerful, Clean 12th Gen Gaming PC

by Keith May - Wed, Apr 20, 2022

Origin PC has been building top-flight gaming rigs for over a decade now, and the attention to detail that the company demonstrates in its builds is right up there with the best of them. There was a time when Origin PC featured custom chassis designs, like the Genesis series of years past, which only Origin had in its line-up. Since being acquired by Corsair, however, there has been a shift in design philosophy that has played out well and has been beneficial to both Origin PC and its customers. This integration with Corsair has enabled Origin to create a tight-knit ecosystem within its gaming...

ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 Review: 12th Gen Power, RTX Punch

by Ben Funk - Wed, Apr 06, 2022

By most accounts, Intel's 12th Gen Core processors based on the hybrid Alder Lake mobile architecture have been a smashing success for gaming laptops. From class-leading desktop performance to outstanding mobile prowess, the blue team's Alder Lake family has shown strong gains in workloads of all kinds. The first notebooks we looked at, an updated MSI GE76 Raider and an Alienware x17 R2, were both suitably impressive, but their large footprints and hefty weights aren't for everybody. Enter an upgraded version of one of last year's slimmer and lighter gaming laptops, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus...

Intel NUC 12 Extreme Dragon Canyon Mini PC Review: A Fire-Breathing Little Beast

by Marco Chiappetta - Tue, Mar 01, 2022

When Intel introduced its first NUC systems featuring its Compute Element, it said the modular design would decrease the time to market for newer, more powerful small form factor systems. That certainly appears to be the case. Hot on the heels of our NUC 11 Extreme review from a few months back, we have the latest NUC 12 Extreme. At first glance, the NUC 11 and NUC 12 Extreme are nearly indistinguishable from each other. However, this latest little beast – code named Dragon Canyon – is packing a 65W Alder Lake-based 12th Gen Core processor, which should boost performance up quite a...

Here Are Some Of The Best TVs With Variable Refresh Rate For Xbox, PS5 And PC Gamers

by Paul Lilly - Mon, Feb 21, 2022

So you scored yourself a newfangled Xbox Series X|S or PlayStation 5 console (congrats!), or at least you're hopeful you will during the next restock event. Now you're wondering what's the best TV to connect it to for the best high action experience. You're absolutely correct to assume that your choice of display matters, at least if you want to take full advantage of your console's capabilities. The latest generation game consoles are essentially home theater gaming PCs, in that they use similar hardware and support some of the same features. The PS5 and Xbox Series X both support 4K resolution...

Dying Light 2: Stay Human Gameplay And Performance Review - Beautiful But Deeply Flawed

by Zak Killian - Tue, Feb 15, 2022

Back in 2011, a little Polish games company released a game called Dead Island. It was a bit buggy and lacking in polish (no pun intended), but it was remarkably ambitious, and succeeded more than it failed. Dead Island was a big hit for the developer, Techland S.A., and so it went that "zombie game" sort of became Techland's bread and butter. After releasing a sequel to Dead Island, Techland released a game called Dying Light in 2015. Just like the Dead Island games, the new title was a first-person survival horror game, but it was more properly open-world, rather than the "wide linear" style...

Alienware x14 Laptop Review: Potent, Petite Gaming Prowess

by Dave Altavilla - Fri, Feb 11, 2022

Alienware's X Series of thin and light gaming laptops was first introduced a little less than a year ago, and Dell's gaming products division has been refining the sleek, spacey looking machines at a fairly rapid clip ever since. A couple of weeks ago, we gave you a look at the new Alienware x17 R2, the second coming of Alienware X Series flagship, now powered by Intel's 12th Gen Core (Alder Lake) CPUs and the mighty GeForce RTX 3080 Ti mobile GPU. That machine put up some fantastic numbers and looked great doing it, but today we return to the X Series with an entirely new offering from Alienware,...

PlayStation Gamers, Here’s How To Link Your PSN Account To Discord

by Jeff Butts - Tue, Feb 01, 2022

In May 2021, Discord announced an upcoming feature allowing gamers to link their PlayStation Network accounts to the chat platform. That feature is finally rolling out, after Discord’s announcement on Jan. 31 that it would soon arrive. Here’s how to link your PSN account, if you either didn’t get the invite notification or accidentally dismissed it. The feature, announced after Sony Interactive Entertainment bought a minority stake in Discord, is gradually rolling out in the U.S. It allows you to showcase whatever game you’re playing on PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5 in...

Buzzkill Nintendo Shuts Down YouTube Soundtrack Party With A Flurry Of Copyright Blocks

by Lane Babuder - Mon, Jan 31, 2022

Nintendo, known primarily for games, game consoles, and its iconic characters has become so ubiquitous in our worldwide culture that you can barely go into any store without seeing something it has had its hands in. For Nintendo music is no different, being the place many of the best composers in gaming have had their starts. Unfortunately for consumers, streamers, and YouTubers alike, Nintendo likes to keep its intellectual property close to its chest, lashing out at anyone who uses it without its permission. Even those who are granted permission often end up losing it, such as when Nintendo canceled...

Watch Doom Run On This Devilishly Small QT Py-Powered PINKY Adafruit Handheld

by Lane Babuder - Thu, Jan 27, 2022

Can it run DOOM? The meme-worthy phrase almost everyone has uttered in the tech space, at one time or another, today is true of this absolutely tiny device. A newly created Adafruit QT Py-powered handheld (which they code-named PINKY) does indeed run DOOM. With minimal modification to the open-source emulation project Retro-Go the team working on this project was able to load up the shareware DOOM1.WAD almost immediately using its PrBoom functionality. They were also able to confirm getting a headphone jack out working, so you can enjoy that amazing Bobby Prince 1993 soundtrack while blasting...

Valve Confirms Steam Deck Shipments Will Begin February 25, What You Need To Know

by Jeff Butts - Thu, Jan 27, 2022

Valve has finally given a launch date for its long-awaited Steam Deck. The company has confirmed the handheld gaming PC will officially launch on Feb. 25. Don’t expect to see it in stores or on your doorstep on that date, though. According to its press release today, Valve will begin emailing invites to reservation holders at 10:00 a.m. PST on February 25, 2022. If you receive an invite, the countdown begins: you have 72 hours to make your purchase or lose your spot to the next person in the queue. The first units ship out on Feb. 28, and new invite emails will go out on a weekly basis to...

Alienware x17 R2 Review: An Alder Lake-H And RTX 3080 Ti Gaming Battleship

by Dave Altavilla, Paul Lilly - Tue, Jan 25, 2022

For those of you who find joy in larger gaming laptop form factors, the recently unveiled Alienware x17 R2 is proof that your mobile battle station size preference has not been left behind. Better still, Dell has a found a way to maintain its larger display and keyboard form factor while making this the thinnest 17-inch Alienware laptop yet, and it doesn't come at the expense of CPU and GPU firepower or cutting-edge features. So, when the opportunity came to kick the tires on the new Alienware x17 R2, we pounced. Afterall, now also infused with Intel Alder Lake mobile CPU and beastly GeForce...

God Of War PC Gameplay And Performance Review: Nailed It

by Zak Killian - Fri, Jan 21, 2022

I'll tell you the truth, loyal HotHardware reader: I passed on the original God of War when it was new back in 2005. One of my friends picked up the game in its original PlayStation 2 form a few days after it released, while I purchased Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, which had just come out a month before. We played the two games side by side, and it made an interesting comparison, but it left me without much interest in playing Sony's game for myself. Over two years later, when God of War II came out, I became interested to try it on my new HD TV and backward-compatible PlayStation 3. The...

UK Government Plans Huge Manipulative Ad Campaign Against Private Chat Encryption

by Lane Babuder - Sun, Jan 16, 2022

End-to-end Encryption for most people this is something invisible they never even think about, but for just about everyone who uses messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Signal and many others, this is an absolute necessity for privacy. In a recent report by Rolling Stone it was revealed that the UK Government Home Office is set to launch a massive £534,000 advertising campaign against the practice of utilizing end-to-end encryption utilizing public funds. Hiring the advertising agency M&C Saatchi, a spin-off of Saatchi and Saatchi who made "Labour Isn't...

OnePlus Buds Z2 Review: Solid ANC Earbuds For Under $100

by Myriam Joire - Thu, Dec 16, 2021

Since OnePlus introduced the original and excellent OnePlus Buds ($79) a year and a half ago, the company has launched two more pairs of TWS (true wireless) earbuds – the affordable ($49) OnePlus Buds Z, and the higher end ($149) OnePlus Buds Pro with ANC and wireless charging. Today we’re taking a listen to OnePlus’ fourth set of earbuds, the brand new OnePlus Buds Z2 ($99), which feature ANC but lack wireless charging. Basically, the OnePlus Buds Z2 are to the Buds Pro what the Buds Z were to the original OnePus Buds – lower specced, but also more affordable. So, what...

NVIDIA DLSS Vs AMD FSR: F1 2021 Performance & Image Quality

by Ben Funk - Tue, Dec 14, 2021

Ignoring the difficulties securing hardware for a moment, it's a pretty glorious time to play games on the PC. We get our choice of resolutions, frame rates, and detail levels, and if our hardware isn't up to snuff there's some innovative creative technologies available that try to bridge the gap. NVIDIA's Deep Learning Super Sampling requires the green team's RTX hardware, but AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution upscales graphics on just about any modern graphics card worth owning. Since FSR's public release, the question has always been about which method is better, assuming we have a choice in...

Watch The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience And Prepare To Be Blown Away

by Jeff Butts - Tue, Dec 14, 2021

Ahead of the Christmas release of Matrix Resurrections, Epic Games has released The Matrix Awakens on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Built around the recently-unveiled Unreal Engine 5, the interactive tech demo reintroduces us to the boundary-pushing universe at the core of the Wachowski’s films. Director Lana Wachowski helped hatch the idea for the demo at a dinner with Kim Libreri, chief technology officer for Epic Games, and VR guru John Gaeta. Wachowski told the pair of her plans to make the fourth movie, asking them to spearhead the visual effects for the film. According to Libreri,...

Qualcomm And Razer Partner On Impressive Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 Android Gaming Handheld

by Paul Lilly - Wed, Dec 01, 2021

Gaming is a lucrative business, and that includes the mobile front, which generates around $175 billion per year from an audience of 2.5 billion mobile gamers. Compare that to the movie industry that raked in less than $45 billion last year and you'll understand why gaming is such an important consideration for many companies. That's all to say there is ample incentive for chip makers to focus on gaming, and so it's no surprise Qualcomm is expanding its offerings with the new Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 gaming platform, with an assist from Razer (more on that in a moment). The Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 is...

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