Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2023 i Custom PC UK

AMD has finally lifted the lid on its forthcoming Zen 4 chips that make use of the company’s 3D V-Cache tech. The new CPUs will feature a massive stack of L3 cache on top of one of the chiplet dies in each chip and, unlike the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, it looks as though the new CPUs will have decent boost clocks as well. Three chips have been announced, starting with the 8-core Ryzen 7 7800X3D, which has a total of 104MB (L2+L3) of cache and can boost up to 5GHz. In the middle is the 12-core Ryzen 9 7900X3D, which has a total of 140MB of cache and can boost up to 5.6GHz. Finally, there’s the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, which boosts up to 5.7GHz and has a 144MB total of…

SPEC Intel compatibility LGA1700, LGA1200, LGA115x, LGA 20xx AMD compatibility Socket AM4, Socket AM5 Radiator size with fans (mm) 124 x 281 x 52 (W x D x H) Fans 2 x 120mm Stated noise 36dBA EK has been contributing products to the AIO cooler market for a while now, despite the fact that it primarily focuses on custom water-cooling parts. It’s come up with some interesting designs too, from high-end expandable liquid coolers to traditional ones designed to compete with the coolers from the likes of Corsair and NZXT. The EK Nucleus AIO CR240 Lux D-RGB is the latest model and it’s available in both 240mm and 360mm flavours, and it’s the former we’re reviewing here. It features digital RGB fans and an RGB-enabled pump, but while these parts…

SPEC Thermaltake Toughfan 12 RGB Max speed 2,000rpm Stated noise 21dBA PWM control Yes (Thermaltake software) RGB lighting pins Yes, software controlled Accessories USB fan speed and lighting controller NZXT F140 RGB Duo Max speed 1,800rpm Stated noise 36dB(A) PWM control Yes RGB lighting pins Yes, software controlled Accessories USB RGB lighting controller The Thermaltake Toughfan 12 RGB is part of a pricey triple pack of 120mm fans, while the NZXT F140 TGB Duo includes two 140mm fans. The former set costs an eyewatering £125 inc VAT, but contains without a doubt the most amazing RGB fans we’ve ever seen. The fan frame facias feature single-piece areas of diffused RGB lighting, and both sides are illuminated with fabulous RGB lighting. Sadly, though, it’s all tied into Thermaltake’s RGB ecosystem using…

NURATRUE PRO 980 / £299 inc VAT SUPPLIER nurasound.com The Nura ear testing process is one of the oddest setup procedures you can encounter with earbuds. Your ear is scanned with sound by the earbuds and a profile is generated by the device app. The exact science of what happens with regards to the profile, how it’s generated and how it manifests itself in the sound you hear is largely opaque, but the resulting sound quality when the correct profile is active is superb. The quality of the sound output is aided by the ability to stream Qualcomm aptX Lossless audio codecs over its Bluetooth 5.3 connection. The general design is excellent too. The earbuds are fairly large but comfy, with the big flat external surface functioning as a button…

SPEC Base frequency 3.7GHz Max boost frequency 4.6GHz Core Zen 3 Manufacturing process 7nm Number of cores 6 x physical (12 threads) IGP None Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) Yes Cache 32MB L3, 3MB L2 Memory controller Dual-channel DDR4, up to 3200MHz Packaging AMD Socket AM4 Thermal design power (TDP) 65W Features Precision Boost 2, Precision Boost Overdrive, FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI / BMI1 + BMI2, AVX2, AVX, AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSSE3, SSE3, SSE2, SSE The Ryzen 5 5600X was meant to be AMD’s perfect all-rounder, with fantastic performance from its Zen 3 architecture at Core i5-beating prices. However, it never quite lived up to that claim. The Zen 3 cores under the heatspreader were fast enough, but it was too pricey for what was on offer, and stock was also often…

SPEC Base frequency 3.8GHz Max boost frequency 5.3GHz Core Zen 4 Manufacturing process 5nm Number of cores 8 x physical (16 threads) IGP AMD Radeon Graphics Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) Yes Cache 32MB L3, 8MB L2 Memory controller Dual-channel DDR5, up to 5200MHz Packaging AMD Socket AM5 Thermal design power (TDP) 65W Features Precision Boost 2, Precision Boost Overdrive 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI / BMI1 + BMI2, AVX-512, AVX2, AVX, AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSSE3, SSE3, SSE2, SSE When AMD first announced it was releasing cheaper versions of its Ryzen 7000-series CPUs, we assumed the likes of a Ryzen 7 7700 would be noticeably cheaper than the Ryzen 7 7700X. However, a few weeks after its launch, the former only saves you £20 over the X-edition CPU. However, both the Ryzen…

SPEC Base frequency 4.7GHz Max boost frequency 5.6GHz Core Zen 4  Manufacturing process 5nm Number of cores 12 x physical (24 threads) IGP AMD Radeon Graphics  Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) Yes Cache 64MB L3, 12MB L2 Memory controller Dual-channel DDR5, up to 5200MHz  Packaging AMD Socket AM5 Thermal design power (TDP) 170W Features Precision Boost 2, Precision Boost Overdrive 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI / BMI1 + BMI2, AVX-512, AVX2, AVX, AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSSE3, SSE3, SSE2, SSE Another CPU to see a drastic cut in its price over recent months is the Ryzen 9 7900X, which has had £100 slashed from its tag, meaning it now sits level with the Intel Core i5-13700K, which is arguably where it should have been at the start. We’ve never seen such significant price…

SPEC Base frequency P-Core 3.7GHz, E-Core 2.8GHz Max boost frequency P-Core 4.9GHz, E-Core 3.6GHz Core Alder Lake Manufacturing process 10nm Number of cores 6 P-Cores, 4 E-Cores, (16 threads) Hyper-Threading Yes Cache 20MB L3, 9.5MB L2 Memory controller Dual-channel DDR4 and DDR5 Packaging LGA1700 Maximum turbo power 150W Features Turbo Boost 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI /BMI1 + BMI2, AVX-512, AVX2, AVX, AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSSE3, SSE3, SSE2, SSE, MMX The Core i5-12600K turned out to be one of the best CPUs Intel has made in recent years, with a hefty core-count increase over its predecessor and every aspect you need from a CPU retailing for around £300 inc VAT. That included great gaming and content creation performance, making this Alder Lake CPU a great buy. However, the Raptor Lake…

SPEC Base frequency P-Core 3.5GHz, E-Core 2.6GHz Max boost frequency P-Core 5.8GHz, E-Core 4.3GHz Core Raptor Lake Manufacturing process 10nm (Intel 7) Number of cores 8 P-cores, 16 E-cores, (32 threads) Hyper-Threading Yes Cache 36MB L3, 32MB L2 Memory controller Dual-channel DDR4 and DDR5 Packaging LGA1700 Maximum turbo power 253W Features Thermal Velocity Boost, Turbo Boost Max Technology 3, Turbo Boost 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI / BMI1 + BMI2, AVX2, AVX, AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSSE3, SSE3, SSE2, SSE, MMX As we wrote this, the Core i9-13900K’s usurper as Intel’s mainstream flagship had just arrived, with the Core i9-13900KS being able to hit 6GHz out of the box. However, this new CPU is also likely to be very hot and power-hungry, and it also demands a hefty premium. If…

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide’s depiction of a Warhammer 40,000 Hive City is both visually and audibly stunning, and it sees players teaming up on missions to clear the Hive City Tertium of an infestation of poxwalkers – maggot-riddled servants of the plague-god Nurgle. Unlike Fatshark’s previous game Vermintide, Darktide sees you create your own character from a range of four classes – the soldier class of Veteran Sharpshooter, the close combat specialist Zealot Preacher, the magic infused Psyker, or the towering bulk of the Ogryn Skullbreaker. Whichever class you choose, each of the game’s 13 missions will see you carving and blasting your way through a different section of Tertium. Melee weapons range from basic axes and swords to more iconic 40K implements, such as the Chainsword and Thunderhammer. Whichever weapon…

Somerville is the debut title from a new, UK-based studio cofounded by Dino Patti, whose previous studio Playdead is famous for the dark puzzle-platformers Limbo and Inside. You play a nameless father living an idyllic life in the English countryside, when your peaceful existence is obliterated by an alien invasion. Separated from your partner and child, you travel across the country in search of your family, while avoiding the brightly coloured death rays of the extraterrestrial invaders. Like Playdead’s games, Somerville’s art style is striking and distinctive, with slender character design and landscapes that seem to be painted in brushstrokes. It depicts the British countryside in muted beauty, all russet and khaki green. The rolling hillsides stand in stark contrast to the rectangular alien monoliths that hang upside down from…

Open Circuits isn’t a textbook in the traditional sense, although it’s undeniably educational. Created by Eric Schlaepfer and Windell H. Oskay, it’s a coffee-table tome that aims to get you looking at your electronics in a new light, by literally opening them up to see what’s inside. At this point, you’re probably picturing a book akin to the work of iFixit: large-scale consumer electronic devices, such as smartphones and laptops, broken down into their individual components. Schlaepfer and Oskay, though, think smaller. Inspired by the work of Ken Shirriff, who served as a technical reviewer on the book, the pair go a stage deeper by slicing open individual components and picturing them in cross-sections. The book’s six chapters split the tortured components into categories – passives, semiconductors, electromechanical devices, cables…

Intel has released a new desktop CPU that it says can boost to up to 6GHz. The Core i9-13900KS has the same core spec as the Core i9-13900K, with eight P-Cores and 16 E-Cores, but it’s based on speed-binned silicon that can hit higher clock speeds. The new flagship raises the Thermal Velocity Boost and Max turbo clock speeds of the P-Cores to 6GHz, up from 5.8GHz on the standard Core i9-13900K. It also raises the Turbo Boost Max 3 speed from 5.7GHz to 5.8GHz. The E-Cores remain clocked at the same frequency of 4.3GHz, however. Samples of the Core i9-13900KS came out just too late to be featured in this month’s Labs test, but it’s available to buy now from scan.co.uk for £690 inc VAT.…

SPEC Graphics processor Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, 2310MHz base clock, 2700MHz boost clock Pipeline 7,680 CUDA cores, 80 ROPS RT cores 60 (3rd-gen) Tensor cores 240 (4th-gen) Memory 12GB GDDR6X, 1313MHz (21GHz effective) Memory interface 192-bit Card interface 16x PCI-E 4 Bandwidth 504.2GB/sec Power connectors 1 x 16-pin / 3 x 8-pin The latest slice of Ada silicon to escape from Nvidia’s big green barn of overpriced wares is the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. Originally called the GeForce RTX 4080 12GB and priced at £899, Nvidia quickly ‘unlaunched’ it after negative feedback. It’s now dropped the price by £100 for the base spec and renamed it the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. This was definitely a move in the right direction, as this GPU is nothing like a GeForce RTX…

SPEC be quiet! Pure Rock LP Intel compatibility LGA1700. LGA1200, LGA115x AMD compatibility Socket AM4, Socket AM5 Radiator size with fans (mm) 92 x 92 x 45 (W x D x H) Fans 1 x 92mm Stated noise 10-37dBA Noctua L9a Intel compatibility N/A AMD compatibility Socket AM4, AM3, Socket AM5 (with free adaptor kit) Radiator size with fans (mm) 92 x 114 x 37 (W x D x H) Fans 1 x 92mm Stated noise 24dBA Noctua’s L9 coolers have been a staple of compact low-profile cooling for a couple of years now, with recent tweaks to the design and availability of adaptor kits allowing them to cater not just for AMD’s Socket AM4 and Intel’s LGA1700 sockets, but Socket AM5 too. There’s a new kid on the block,…

SPEC CPU 2.5GHz Intel Core i9-12900H Memory Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 8GB Screen Storage Networking 802.11ax Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2 Weight 3kg Ports 1 x Thunderbolt 4/USB Type-C/1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1, 1 x audio, 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x mini-DisplayPort Dimensions (mm) 360 x 275 x 28 (W x D x H) Operating system Windows 11 Home 64-bit Warranty One year parts and labour return to base Not many companies have tried to bring 3D gaming to laptops, but Acer has never shied away from innovation, and its SpatialLabs tech makes a big impression on the Helios. This tech combines a stereoscopic display, head-tracking camera and some AI tech to deliver 3D imagery in dozens of games. It’s easy to use – a Steam-style app lists and launches…

SPEC Base frequency 4.7GHz Max boost frequency 5.3GHz Core Zen 4 Manufacturing process 5nm Number of cores 6 x physical (12 threads) IGP AMD Radeon Graphics Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) Yes Cache 32MB L3, 6MB L2 Memory controller Dual-channel DDR5, up to 5200MHz Packaging AMD Socket AM5 Thermal design power (TDP) 105W Features Precision Boost 2, Precision Boost Overdrive 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI / BMI1 + BMI2, AVX-512, AVX2, AVX, AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSSE3, SSE3, SSE2, SSE AMD implemented some drastic price cuts a few months ago to make its Ryzen 7000-series CPUs more competitive with Intel’s 13th-gen Raptor Lake CPUs, and the Ryzen 5 7600X now costs just £249 compared to the launch price of £320 inc VAT. For a CPU that’s less than a year old, that’s a…

SPEC Base frequency 4.5GHz Max boost frequency 5.4GHz Core Zen 4 Manufacturing process 5nm Number of cores 8 x physical (16 threads) IGP AMD Radeon Graphics Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) Yes Cache 32MB L3, 8MB L2 Memory controller Dual-channel DDR5, up to 5200MHz Packaging AMD Socket AM5 Thermal design power (TDP) 105W Features Precision Boost 2, Precision Boost Overdrive 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI / BMI1 + BMI2, AVX-512, AVX2, AVX, AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSSE3, SSE3, SSE2, SSE While the Ryzen 5 7600X is a questionable purchase, given the expense of buying a Socket AM5 motherboard and the need for DDR5 memory, the Ryzen 7 7700X is where AMD’s Zen 4 platform starts to make a bit more sense. What’s more, thanks to AMD’s recent price cuts to the relatively new…

SPEC Base frequency 4.5GHz Max boost frequency 5.7GHz Core Zen 4 Manufacturing process 5nm Number of cores 16 x physical (32 threads) IGP AMD Radeon Graphics Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) Yes Cache 64MB L3, 16MB L2 Memory controller Dual-channel DDR5, up to 5200MHz Packaging AMD Socket AM5 Thermal design power (TDP) 170W Features Precision Boost 2, Precision Boost Overdrive 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI / BMI1 + BMI2, AVX-512, AVX2, AVX, AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSSE3, SSE3, SSE2, SSE Unbelievably, the Ryzen 9 7950X costs nearly £300 less than it did at the time of launch a few months ago. The fact that its launch price was a whopping £850 inc VAT means it now costs 40 per cent less. Not surprisingly, it now sits in line with the Core i9-13900K, so…

SPEC Base frequency P-Core 3.5GHz, E-Core 2.6GHz Max boost frequency P-Core 5.1GHz, E-Core 3.9GHz Core Raptor Lake Manufacturing process 10nm (Intel 7) Number of cores 6 P-Cores, 8 E-Cores, (20 threads) Hyper-Threading Yes Cache 24MB L3, 20MB L2 Memory controller Dual-channel DDR4 and DDR5 Packaging LGA1700 Maximum turbo power 181W Features Turbo Boost 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI/BMI1 + BMI2, AVX2, AVX, AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSSE3, SSE3, SSE2, SSE, MMX As if Intel’s Core i5-13600K wasn’t already attractive enough when we first reviewed this chip, it’s also received a price cut since our first review, meaning it now sits at just £329 inc VAT. Both the Ryzen 7 7700X and Ryzen 7 7700 cost about the same amount, while the Ryzen 5 7600X costs significantly less and the Core i7-13700K…

SPACE + Looks super+ Combat can be fun+ Some great sci-fi moments DEAD - Combat can also frustrate- Thin story- Poorly written characters- Badly paced- Terrible checkpoints The Callisto Protocol is a spiritual successor to 2008’s Dead Space in the same way that Maximilian Robespierre was a spiritual successor to King Louis XVI. Historians may argue over the finer points of what it did well or badly, but there’s little question that what it offers is hardly an improvement over what we had before. Set 200 years in the future, The Callisto Protocol puts you in the spacesuit of Jacob Lee, an interplanetary courier running a delivery to a prison complex on Jupiter’s moon Callisto. Unfortunately for Jacob, a lot goes wrong as he approaches his destination. A raid by…

Believe it or not, the earliest machines that could harness the power of electricity to speed up our lives date all the way back to the late 19th century. Through complex arrangements of technologies such as relays – electromagnetically activated switches – machines could count for us or allow for the input of complicated patterns of instructions for devices such as weaving looms. One of the most famous examples was the Tabulating Machine invented by Herman Hollerith in the late 1890s. It was designed to collate data from the 1890 US census and used punch cards(100 million of them) to input data into an electromechanical counting system for quickly collating the census results. It allowed for the census count to finish in a matter of months, when the previous 1880…

A great time to build a small PC With the prices of PC components still all over the place at the moment, it’s more important than ever to build the best PC for you needs. You don’t want to be upgrading or swapping components more than necessary, at least for the time being, and with graphics cards remaining super-pricey even though crypto mining on GPUs has essentially died, a lot of people are turning to other areas of their PCs for their upgrade fixes. Looking at the hardware market, there are very compelling reasons for anyone interested in building a small PC to take the plunge over the next few months. There are some very well-established and affordable cases, such as the Ssupd Meshlicious and Cooler Master NR200P, both of…

SPEC Dimensions (mm) 290 x 466 x 495 (W x D x H) Material Steel, glass Available colours Black, white Weight 12.1kg Front panel Power, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 2 x USB 3, stereo Drive bays 2 x 3.5in/2.5in, 4 x 2.5in Form factor(s) ATX, micro-ATX Cooling 3 x 120mm side fan mounts (3 x 120mm fans included), 3 x 120mm/2 x 140mm base fan mounts (fans not included), 3 x 120mm/2 x 140mm roof fan mounts (fans not included), 1 x 120mm rear fan mounts (120mm fan included) CPU cooler clearance 165mm Maximum graphics card length 435mm With so many case launches popping up over the past 12 months, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the H9 Flow is just another sleek, well-made – if a…

SPEC Full capacity 2TB Formatted capacity 1.81GB Heatsink No NAND TLC Controller SK Hynix Aries Endurance rating 750TBW (1TB), 1,200TBW (2TB) Warranty Five years SOLID + Excellent sequential speeds+ Competitive price+ Great game load performance WEAK - Not as cheap as similar PCI-E 4 SSDs- Other SSDs have higher endurance ratings- Heatsink required to prevent throttling We can’t imagine it’s been easy for SK Hynix to reinvent its recently purchased Intel SSD division under its own brand Solidigm, especially in a crowded market that’s seeing reduced prices for the latest PCI-E 4 SSDs. However, it has a few SSDs to its name already and the latest is its flagship, the P44 Pro. Pricing is critical for any SSD at the moment, given that real-world differences in speed are often indistinguishable…

SPEC Weight 718g per unit Dimensions (mm) 168 x 64 x 210 (W x D x H) per unit Ethernet 3 x Gigabit LAN and 1 x Gigabit WAN for router, 2 x Gigabit LAN per satellite Wi-Fi AX5400 (802.1ax) with two 5GHz 2400Mbps channels and one 2.4GHz 600Mbps channel per unit USB ports None Processor 1GHz dual-core processor Extras Dedicated wireless backhaul WI-FI MESH + Fantastic performance+ Wide range+ Easy setup WHAT A MESH - Very expensive- No USB ports- No 2.5Gb Ethernet support As with other Netgear Orbi systems, and unlike most other mesh systems, the RBK763S doesn’t contain three identical units that can be configured to work together in a mesh network. Instead, there’s a dedicated router unit and two satellite units that can be added to…

How we test AMD and Intel have taken very different approaches to the design of their current processors, but with both companies offering powerful models that are very well matched across the price spectrum, picking the right CPU is trickier than ever. Compounding the issue are motherboard costs, especially for AMD’s new Socket AM5 platform, which is also limited to only using pricey DDR5 memory. To help guide you through the current CPU landscape, this month’s CPU Labs test covers the latest models from AMD and Intel, as well as a couple of golden oldies from the previous generation, such as AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800X3D. Our CPU test systems include an Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Apex for Intel CPUs, an Asus ROG Strix X670E-E Gaming WiFi for AMD 7000-series CPUs…

SPEC Base frequency 3.4GHz Max boost frequency 4.5GHz Core Zen 3 Manufacturing process 7nm Number of cores 6 x physical (12 threads) IGP None Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) Yes Cache 96MB L3, 4MB L2 Memory controller Dual-channel DDR4, up to 3200MHz Packaging AMD Socket AM4 Thermal design power (TDP) 105W Features Precision Boost 2, Precision Boost Overdrive 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI / BMI1 + BMI2, AVX2, AVX, AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSSE3, SSE3, SSE2, SSE In some ways, AMD has partially shot itself in the foot with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, giving Socket AM4 customers a great gaming upgrade thanks to its FPS-boosting 3D V-Cache, and without the need to upgrade to the company’s Socket AM5 platform. In effect, the existence of the 5800X3D has made the high prices of AMD’s…

SPEC Base frequency 3.7GHz Max boost frequency 5.4GHz Core Zen 4 Manufacturing process 5nm Number of cores 12 x physical (24 threads) IGP AMD Radeon Graphics Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) Yes Cache 64MB L3, 12MB L2 Memory controller Dual-channel DDR5, up to 5200MHz Packaging AMD Socket AM5 Thermal design power (TDP) 65W Features Precision Boost 2, Precision Boost Overdrive 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI / BMI1 + BMI2, AVX-512, AVX2, AVX, AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSSE3, SSE3, SSE2, SSE Another addition to AMD’s line-up this month comes in the form of the Ryzen 9 7900, which is a TDP-trimmed version of the 12-core Ryzen 9 7900X. Like its cheaper non-X sibling, though, it doesn’t save much cash compared with the X-edition CPU, sitting at £430, while we could find the Ryzen 9…

SPEC Base frequency P-Core 3.4GHz, E-Core 2.5GHz Max boost frequency P-Core 5.4GHz, E-Core 4.2GHz Core Raptor Lake Manufacturing process 10nm (Intel 7) Number of cores 8 P-Cores, 8 E-Cores, (24 threads) Hyper-Threading Yes Cache 30MB L3, 24MB L2 Memory controller Dual-channel DDR4 and DDR5 Packaging LGA1700 Maximum turbo power 253W Features Turbo Boost Max Technology 3, Turbo Boost 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI / BMI1 + BMI2, AVX2, AVX, AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSSE3, SSE3, SSE2, SSE, MMX Even though we only reviewed the Core i7-13700K recently, it already costs a little less money than it did at launch, with the latest cuts shaving around £30 off its price from a couple of months ago, so it now sits at £424 inc VAT. As luck would have it, for those of…

PENTIMENT + Superbly crafted medieval mystery+ Impactful choices+ Gorgeous art PAVEMENT - Some key decisions aren’t clarified- A little too bookish for its own good Veteran RPG developer Obsidian Entertainment has enjoyed a strong run of late. Recently, the studio’s diminutive survival game Grounded launched out of Early Access, proving itself a fantastic game that’s very different from Obsidian’s usual fare. Pentiment, by comparison, is perhaps the most Obsidian game the company has ever made, a pure narrative adventure about solving a murder in a 16th-century German town. You play Andreas Maler, a journeyman artist working in a monastic scriptorium in the town of Tassing. A rare free spirit in the chokingly rigid society of Medieval Europe, Andreas’ life is turned upside down when a powerful nobleman is murdered in…

Mike Bushell’s CRUMB looks like a game, but it’s not one – at least, not technically. Sure, it’s published on Steam and uses the Unity game engine, but it’s designed as a technical tool for those who want to learn the basics of electronics without having to splash out on components. ‘Our modern world is dominated by electronics. With a diverse range of careers in electronics available for young and adult minds alike, CRUMB offers an easy-to-use and interactive introduction to electronic circuitry,’ Bushell claims of his creation. ‘I started development just over a year ago, after I discovered some of the videos made by Ben Eater and wanted to create a simulator that would allow people to craft some of the amazing circuits he has made.’ Bringing electronics education…