Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2016 i Custom PC UK

There are lots of ridiculously big numbers associated with Nvidia’s new Titan X graphics card (see p20). It’s difficult to comprehend that there are 12 billion transistors busily switching on and off inside the GPU, and it’s similarly tough to get your head around the £1,099 asking price. However,the number that really stood out as over the top when I first saw it was a simple 12 – the number of gigabytes of memory stuck onto the Titan X’s PCB. I’ve never liked the phrase ‘less is more’, mainly because it’s the sort of phrase people use to tell me why the gratuitously technical music I like isn’t very good, but in this case it’s true that ‘less is fine’ and that ‘more is a silly waste of money’. There…

Corsair announces Lux keyboards Corsair’s K70 RGB Rapidfire (see Issue 154, p21) proved that Corsair hadn’t abandoned the metal chassis and premium build quality that made its K-series mechanical keyboards so great, and now the company has launched a whole new range of Lux-branded keyboards, which bring the design into the modern era. The new keyboards will have an aircraft-grade aluminium chassis, and sport the media controls found on the older K-series keyboards, but will also come equipped with an enhanced lighting controller, to give you finer control over the colours and patterns produced by the backlight LEDs. The Lux keyboards will also feature a larger font on the keys, and a range of lighting options and switch types will be available. AMD unveils Zen details AMD’s new Zen CPU…

 SUPPLIER www.mysn.co.uk The GTX 1070 offered silky frame rates at the native 1080p resolution /SPECIFICATIONS CPU 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ Memory 16GB 2400MHz DDR4 Graphics Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 8GB (mobile) Screen size 15.6in 1,920 x 1,080 Nvidia G-Sync IPS Hard disk 256GB Samsung SM951 NVMe M.2 SSD, 1TB hard disk Weight 2.94kg Networking Gigabit Ethernet, dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi Ports 3 x USB 3, 2 x USB 3.1 Type-C, Gigabit Ethernet, 3 x audio, SD card slot, HDMI, 2 x mini-DisplayPort, SIM card slot Dimensions (mm) 385 x 270 x32(WxDxH) Operating system Windows 10 Pro 64-bit Warranty One year parts and labour return to base The XMG P507’s understated appearance hides one of the world’s greatest mobile GPUs: the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070. The new GPU core uses Nvidia’s Pascal…

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 32-queue-depth random test to use four CPU threads. Each test is run five times and we report the average. Next up are two ‘real-world’ 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…

Essentially an upgraded 840 Evo, the 750 Evo uses the latest 16nm TLC NAND USABLE CAPACITY 465GB / SUPPLIER www.ebuyer.com 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,…

There’s still a small amount of SLC caching, which SanDisk calls nCache Pro USABLE CAPACITY 446GB / SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk 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.…

SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk / MODEL NUMBER CMK16GX4M2A2666C16 /SPECIFICATIONS Frequency 2666MHz Timings 16-18-18-35 Voltage 1.2V Height (from base) 33.5mm Lighting No Corsair’s Vengeance memory has graced the pages of our Elite List for dozens of issues, but Corsair is up against some stiff competition in the 2666MHz market now, not least from its own Vengeance LED series, which only costs £5-10 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 £80 inc VAT it undercuts the Crucial Ballistix Tactical and Avexir Impact while matching the HyperX…

SUPPLIER www.comwales.co.uk / MODEL NUMBER GWB416GB2666C15DC /SPECIFICATIONS Frequency 2666MHz Timings 15-17-17-36 Voltage 1.2V Height (from base) 30.5mm Lighting Single blue LED 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,…

SUPPLIER www.novatech.co.uk / MODEL NUMBER F4-3200C16D-16GTZB /SPECIFICATIONS Frequency 3200MHz Timings 16-18-18-38 Voltage 1.35V Height (from base) 49mm Lighting No 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 off benchmarkers. At £93 inc VAT, it’s also a tad pricey for a non-LED kit, especially in a cutthroat market where mere pounds separate memory kits. As a result, there are a number of…

SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk/MODEL NUMBER TDPRD416G3200HC16ADC01 /SPECIFICATIONS Frequency 3200MHz Timings 16-16-16-36 Voltage 1.35V Height (from base) 44.5mm Lighting No 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 £1 more 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 differences and the Dark Pro was near the top of the charts thanks to tight timings…

Playing No Man’s Sky for the first time happens in four phases: curiosity, wonder, frustration and acceptance. Hello Games’ stupendously ambitious space simulator promised an explorable virtual galaxy of unprecedented scale and diversity – 18 quintillion systems, each with multiple planets and moons on which you could land and explore. On this promise, the developer categorically delivers, and the results are worth the entrance fee alone. However, Sean Murray and his team have been comparatively cryptic on what players will actually be doing on those 18 quintillion planets. The answer proves to be a mishmash of activities that, while functional enough, fail to amount to an experience that equals the joy of watching a new world unfold before you. It’s a challenging game to criticise, so let’s break down our…

INTERVIEW Maker-friendly laser cutters I catch up with Grant Macaulay from Theo Lasers about his plans to introduce affordable, low-power laser cutters for makers I gave my job up 18 months ago, after volunteering in a makerspace, and I saw that artists were coming in and cutting A4 sheets of paper on big industrial laser cutters,’ Grant Macaulay told me at his stand during the Maker Faire UK earlier this year. ‘I thought, “Right, I’ve been a maker, I’ve been making stuff under Creative Commons; I’m going to make a laser cutter and give it all away – the plans, Grbl and an Android mobile phone app.”’ The result of Grant’s surprise career shift was Theo Lasers, a small startup looking to crowdfund a family of affordable, open-hardware, reproducible laser…

Poor water-cooling support for small Pascal cards When the GTX 960 was launched, it seemed a foregone conclusion that waterblock manufacturers wouldn’t release waterblocks for it, as it had a fairly low TDP, and many third-party cooling systems had fans that could switch off under low loads too. The situation was annoying for me, though, as I always water-cool my graphics cards so that I can eliminate fan noise all the time, even in games, and to make sure I get maximum overclocking headroom. Plus, as the rest of my system is water-cooled, I’d much rather water-cool the graphics card for aesthetic reasons. Also, my office gets pretty toasty in the summer, so using a behemoth of a graphics card just isn’t an option in my quiet mini PC. As…

MILESTONES THIS MONTH TOP 20 OVERALL TOP 20 PRODUCERS WHAT IS FOLDING? Folding@home uses the spare processing cycles from your PC’s CPU and graphics cards for medical research. You can download the client from http://folding.stanford.edu and our team’s ID is 35947. Once you pass a significant milestone, you’ll get your name in the mag. You can also discuss folding with us and other readers online at the www.bit-tech.net forums.…

You can’t even add a flexible PCI-E riser to flip a card underneath the board Custom mini PCs have been gaining a large following, as people swap their ATX gear for small form factors that deliver more variety and challenge. Mini-ITX – introducedbyVIAin2001–hasgonefromaniche,underpowered form factor to a full, top-to-bottom market segment in the past five years. The ecosystem around it has flourished with new complementary products, such as SFX PSUs, low-profile coolers, small graphics cards and even a small form factor liquid cooler from Corsair. Then there are the dozens of different and sometimes experimental mini-ITX chassis (the NCase M1, for example) that provide some excitement that a bog-standard ATX build sorely lacks. However,attheexpenseofmini-ITX’ssuccess, we’ve lost FlexATX (by Intel in 1999) and mini-DTX(proposedbyAMDin2007).Boththeseideas would have given us a little more…

 SUPPLIER www.nvidia.co.uk We regularly saw the GPU boost to over 1800MHz during our tests /SPECIFICATIONS Graphics processor Nvidia Titan X, 1417MHz base clock, 1531MHz boost clock Pipeline 3,584 stream processors, 96 ROPs Memory 12GB GDDR5X, 10GHz effective Bandwidth 480GB/sec Compatibility DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.5 Outputs/inputs 3 x DisplayPort, 1 x HDMI, 1 x DVI-D-DL Power connections 1 x 8-pin, 1 x 6-pin Size 267mm long, dual-slot Oh come on, Nvidia, £1,099? For one graphics card? That’s just silly. If I was Graham Chapman, I’d be seriously thinking about marching over to your HQ in my uniform and giving you a stern talking to. Interestingly, you’ll only be able to hand over 1,099 of your hard-earned pounds for a Titan X card at the Nvidia store as well, as it won’t…

Harman Kardon is potentially being a little optimistic emphasising the portability of the Go + Play. Yes, the speaker iis movable; it has a handle and an eight-hour battery life to keep it going on the road, but if you were to pack it for a holiday, you might have to leave behind all your clothes to make room for it. The speaker’s bulk costs it portability points, but iti means there’s plenty of room for two 3.5in drivers, a pair of 1in tweeters and a large central passive bass radiator. The effect is a very even, round sound that’s more than capable of filling a large room or garden. For this price, though, we’re surprised that neither aptX nor Spotify Connect are supported – an omission that makes the…

The SPRK+ marks a change in tack for Sphero, as it’s billed more as an entertaining way for kids to learn code, rather than an out-and-out toy. Playing to this billing, the outer shell is transparent, exposing the internal circuitboards, servos and motors, and it’s great to see it all in action. The ball is coded via the Lightning Lab app, which offers a clearly laid out and intuitive way for children to get acquainted with coding operators such as ‘equals’ and ‘less than’. It’s fun too – programming routes and seeing the robot enact them is rewarding, and we could completely see class competitions for achieving the fastest maze completion and so on. Battery life is a sticking point, as you still only get an hour of action, but…

Crucial’s new MX300 line-up is the first to feature Micron’s new 3D TLC NAND USABLE CAPACITY 488GB and 977GB / SUPPLIER www.ebuyer.com 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…

USABLE CAPACITY 111GB and 465GB / SUPPLIER www.currys.co.uk 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 offer 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…

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 multitasking. In addition, we also obtained a score in Cinebench R15 to assess rendering performance, and in Crysis 3 to gauge any differences in games. We…

SUPPLIER www.novatech.co.uk / MODEL NUMBER BLT2C8G4D26AFTA /SPECIFICATIONS Frequency 2666MHz Timings 16-17-17-36 Voltage 1.2V Height (from base) 37mm Lighting No 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…

SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk / MODEL NUMBER HX426C13SB2K2/16 /SPECIFICATIONS Frequency 2666MHz Timings 13-15-15-31 Voltage 1.35V Height (from base) 33.5mm Lighting No 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…

SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk / MODEL NUMBER CMU16GX4M2C3000C15R /SPECIFICATIONS Frequency 3000MHz Timings 15-17-17-35 Voltage 1.35V Height (from base) 49mm Lighting Red or white LED 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 £89, saving you £40 over the 2666MHz Avexir Impact kit (see p51). We were unable…

SUPPLIER www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/MODEL NUMBER GWW416GB3200C15DC /SPECIFICATIONS Frequency 3200MHz Timings 15-17-17-35 Voltage 1.35V Height (from base) 30.5mm Lighting Single blue LED Having picked up an award for its 2666MHz kit this month, Geil is also offering a competitive price of just £84 inc VAT 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 difference, 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…

Build a home theatre PC The parts you’ll need to build an affordable, home theatre PC that’s ideal for putting in the lounge and playing back all manner of video formats. This machine will handle general computing and media tasks with no trouble, and its dual-core Skylake CPU can even handle 4K video playback. Meanwhile, its super-quiet Noctua CPU cooler prevents it from making a racket. Build a budget gaming PC The parts you’ll need to build a budget machine capable of playing the latest games at maximum settings on a 1080p monitor, and even some games at 2,560 x 1,440. The machine has a discrete graphics card, a Skylake dual-core CPU and DDR4 memory. The ASRock Extreme4 motherboard is also capable of base clock overclocking via a BIOS update.…

Abzû is the spiritual successor to Journey, ThatGameCompany’s PS3-exclusive indie hit, which saw wandering nomads exploring a vast and eerily beautiful sandy desert. Abzû was created by a former team member of ThatGameCompany, and offers a similar overall structure, with an emphasis on motifs such as mystery and wonder. Yet where Journey was subtle, Abzû is like being slapped in the face with a fish. That’s fitting, because the power and allure of marine life is the theme of this underwater adventure. You play a lone diver who awakes in a crystal-clear ocean, and the player must traverse the subaquatic environment and locate the ruins of a lost civilisation, accompanied by almost every sea creature you can imagine. Even now, when visually spectacular games are a dime a dozen, we’ve…

New York is a cultural staple for disaster media. The Big Apple has been mulched into cider in films ranging from King Kong to Independence Day, while players have run rampant in Manhattan in games such as Max Payne and Crysis 2. Tom Clancy’s The Division represents the most expansive representation of New York in the grip of a crisis yet, as players join together to patrol its snowbound streets, trying to restore order after a deadly virus outbreak. With highly realistic visuals and large-scale, persistent multiplayer gaming, The Division is one of the most technically ambitious games released this year. Powering that ambition is Snowdrop, Ubisoft Massive’s bespoke engine, and the Division is the first game to use it. According to Massive senior system architect Christian Savoie, however, it…

1 INSTALL CPU Remove the CPU protection cover, open the CPU latch and move the CPU over the socket at a low height – with this method, if you drop it, you stand the least chance of damaging the delicate pins inside the socket. Some motherboards include CPU installation tools as well, but the key is to be extremely careful not to bend any pins. 2 MOUNT COOLER HARDWARE We’llbetemporarilymountingtheNZXT KrakenX41totestourhardwareoutofthecase, before it’s installed, as most new Intel CPUs don’t include stock coolers for quick and easy testing any more. If any of your components are faulty, which can happen, you then don’t have to dismantle your whole system to diagnose any faults. Once you’ve tested all the gear, it’s best to remove the pump and then install the motherboard…

The Genuino Zero follows a string of split-personality devices from Arduino.cc, thanks to the ongoing trademark dispute with Arduino.org. In the UK, the Zero is a Genuino product, but in the USA, you’ll find it under the Arduino brand. Don’t, however, confuse it with the Arduino Zero Pro, a modified version made by Arduino.org. Clear? No, but with the lawyers involved, it’s the best we’ll get. Nomenclature aside, the Genuino Zero initially looks like a slightly busy Arduino Uno. The familiar footprint is entirely intact, although there’s one immediate difference that leaps out: there are two micro-USB ports on the board’s left-hand edge, where an Uno would have a single USB port. These ports reveal two of the Zero’s prime selling points: a built-in JTAG debugger, and the ability to…

The police, in a move I call ‘obeying the law’, didn’t release details If you live under a rock you’ll still be aware of Pokémon Go,because hordes of players will have been hanging around your rock trying to catch a Geodude. However,one annoying effect of a game becoming such a huge social phenomenon is that the mainstream media feels obliged to report on it, and either get facts wrong in a hilarious trying-to-be-cool way, or get facts wrong in an un-hilarious thinking-new-things-are-inherently-bad kind of way. Regular readers will already know that the latter type of reporting is my biggest bugbear (Bugbear isn’t,sadly,a type of Pokémon),and I’m quite simply not having it. Where there’s technology, there are naysayers, technophobes and click-hungry news outlets. Self-driving cars are going to kill us all…

It laughs in the face of last-gen midrange GPUs SUPPLIER www.box.co.uk /SPECIFICATIONS Graphics processor AMD Radeon RX470, 1250MHz boost clock (Gaming mode), 1270MHz boost clock (OC mode) Pipeline 2,048 stream processors, 32 ROPs Memory 4GB GDDR5, 6.6GHz effective Bandwidth 211GB/sec Compatibility DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.5, Vulkan Outputs/inputs 1 x DisplayPort 1.4, 1 x HDMI 2b, 2 x DVI-D DL Power connections 1 x 6-pin Size 242mm long, dual-slot Ah, that’s more like it. It feels weirdly refreshing to see a graphics card costing £187 after the price shock of the Titan X (see p20). AMD is now filling out its Radeon RX 400-series line-up below the RX480, with the RX470 aiming to clear up in the very popular sub-£200 bracket. It’s based on the same GPU as the RX480,…

 SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk The EFI’s GUI is well laid out with snappy, lag-free response /SPECIFICATIONS Chipset Intel Z170 CPU socket Intel LGA1151 Memory support 4 slots: max 64GB DDR4 (up to 3866MHz) Expansion slots Three 16x PCI-E 3, three 1x PCI-E 3 Sound Realtek ALC1150 Networking Intel I219-V Gigabit LAN Overclocking Base clock 98–341MHz, CPU multiplier 8-80x; max voltages, CPU 1.55V, RAM 2.2V Ports 1 x U.2 32Gbps, 2 x M.2 4x PCI-E 3 32Gbps/SATA 6Gbps, 6 x SATA 6Gbps, 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C, 1 x USB 3.1 Type-A, 1 x USB 3 Type-C, 6 x USB 3 (four via header), 6 x USB 2 (two via header), 1 x LAN, audio out, line in, mic, Optical S/PDIF out, HDMI 1.4, DVI-D Dimensions (mm) 305 x 244 We’re now a…

The drive looks great, with an all-metal outer casing that has a rough, sand-blasted finish USABLE CAPACITY 447GB / SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk Kingston’s UV400 is the cheapest drive on test, with this 480GB model available for under £100 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 off at 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…

USABLE CAPACITY 238GB and 476GB / SSUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk 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 line-up has since expanded to include a 2TB version that demands a whopping £800 or so. Meanwhile, down at more sensible levels, the 512GB version still goes for £215 inc VAT, over 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.…

SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk/MODEL NUMBER AVD4UZ126661508G-2IPROG /SPECIFICATIONS Frequency 2666MHz Timings 15-15-15-35 Voltage 1.2V Height (from base) 38.5mm Lighting Red LED 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 off in a subtle lighting display. The name suggests it might pair well with Asus’ premium mini-ITX motherboard, and it has…

SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk / MODEL NUMBER F4-2666C15D-16GVR /SPECIFICATIONS Frequency 2666MHz Timings 15-15-15-35 Voltage 1.2V Height (from base) 37mm Lighting No While G.Skill’s Ripjaws V modules might not offer the same top-notch aesthetics as their more expensive, faster siblings – the Trident Z series (see p57) – 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 £73 is good for a fully fledged, 16GB dual-channel kit as well, although it’s only £1 behind the very swanky-looking…

SUPPLIER www.ebuyer.com / MODEL NUMBER BLT2C8G4D30AETA /SPECIFICATIONS Frequency 3000MHz Timings 15-16-16-35 Voltage 1.35V Height (from base) 49mm Lighting No As one of Crucial’s fastest RAM kits, the Ballistix Tactical enters with all guns blazing and, at £85 inc VAT, 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 on p52, 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…

SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk / MODEL NUMBER PVE416G300C6KBL /SPECIFICATIONS Frequency 3000MHz Timings 16-16-16-36 Voltage 1.35V Height (from base) 42mm Lighting No 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 off, 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…

When two players did find themselves in the same location, they couldn’t see each other at all No Man’s Sky is out. The game that lets you explore and land on a universe of colourful planets,which I’ve been wantingforapproximatelymyentirelife,wasreleased last August. You can read my overall opinion of it over the page, but there’s a particular issue with the game I want to tackle here. Aside from the incredible procedural generation,perhaps the most talked-about aspect of No Man’s Sky prior to release was the nature of its multiplayer. All players explore the same universe, and any discoveries players make are shared among everyone. However, the extent to which this universe is shared between players has led to a bit of controversy Until recently,many anticipants of No Man’s Sky believed that…

Inside is a sequel to Limbo in all but name. It’s a subdued yet gorgeous 2D platformer in which you play as a vulnerable little boy in a world where everything you encounter wants to kill vulnerable little boys. It uses its minimalist control scheme to craft some simple yet enjoyably brain-tickling puzzles. It’s violent, sombre and darkly funny. It’s also not as good as Limbo, although it does have a few standout moments. Inside primarily offers a new art style and a new world to explore. The beginning deliberately evokes Playdead’s first game, as the boy awakes alone in a darkened forest. This time, there’s no giant spider lurking in the shadows. Instead, men in vans patrol the roads threading through the trees, heavily armed and accompanied by vicious…

Now is a fantastic time to build a new PC. For starters, the furore of last summer’s Intel Skylake launch has died down, so CPUs and motherboards are more reasonably priced than a year ago. Perhaps more importantly, though, mid-range GPUs are currently battling, with Nvidia launching the GeForce GTX 1060 and AMD releasing the Radeon RX480. At the moment, the Nvidia card just edgesouttheRX480,whichcostsaround£20-30less.However,prices are hovering between £200 and £250 for the cheaper models for both GPUs, so they’re both great options for a sub-£1,000 PC. There are more great PC cases around than ever, plus SSDs are getting cheaper. If you’re looking to build a decent gaming PC that won’t bankrupt you, then read on, because we’ve cherry picked our favourite hardware of the moment to construct an…

Gaming often looks to the past for inspiration. You only need to look at the hundreds of indie-developed pixel-platformers from the past few years to understand that. However,some developers aren’t just looking to the past for visual elements now, but also for the way in which players interact with their games. One particular mode of interaction that had previously been consigned to the dustbin of history is the command line interface (CLI). Once the default method of controlling text adventures and early RPGs such as Zork, the command line interface died out when mice infested thedesksofplayers.Untilrecently,you were only likely to encounter a command line interface in gaming if you were a developer, but there’s just been a spate of games that have reintroducedcommandlineinterfaces to gaming. In fact, these interfaces do…

The sheer number of new cards and price points (ranging from £99 to £7,749) is simply staggering As the PC turns 35 this month, it continues to evolve to meet new challenges, diversifying into an even greater plethora of form factors and designs optimised for different applications.Nowhere is this evolution more apparent than in the GPU market, which is not only taking an increasing share of the cost of modern PCs but still advancing technologically at an incredible rate. This summer alone has seen AMD unveil three new Radeon gaming GPUs and 11 Fire Pro professional cards, while Nvidia has launched several new GeForce gaming GPUs, plus six Quadro and Tesla professional cards, with another two more Quadro cards already announced and due next month. The sheer number of new…