Dell’s XPS 13 ultrabook just received a significant performance upgrade and enhanced asthetics.

The new XPS 13 now uses Intel’s 8th gen Quad-core i5-8250 and i7-8550 CPUs. The CPUs have a baseline TDP of 15W, but can be configured for to up to 25W. Dell states that the new cooling solution in the new XPS 13 can handle up to 27W, so it’s likely that the CPUs had their TDPs increased accordingly. Despite the robust cooling, the weight of the is kept at  just 2.67 lbs.

The Dell XPS packs a display that guarantees a peak brightness of 400nits. It covers 100% of the sRGB color gamut and 72% of the Adobe RGB color gamut. Full HD and 4K resolution [...]

Dell recently introduced their new U2518D 2560×1440 monitor which on paper is a pretty good monitor. The U2518D is a 25-inch 2560×1440 WQHD resolution IPS monitor capable of up to 99% sRGB coverage, 350 cd/m² maximum brightness, a 1000:1 contrast ratio, and a 5ms GTG response time.

The only problem? Dell advertises that it includes a feature called “Dell HDR” which sounds a lot like HDR (High Dynamic Range), but it’s not. In fact, it’s not even close. According to Dell, “Dell’s HDR feature has been designed with a PC user in mind and supports specifications that are different from existing TV standards for HDR.” Hmm… [...]

The AMD Ryzen Flagships

AMD launched their newest Ryzen CPUs to great fanfare back in March and while we found performance to be good in our launch review of the Ryzen 1700, we noted that there were quite a few growing pains that needed to be fixed before Ryzen could really shine against Intel. As such, rather than publishing another review of Ryzen on motherboards using incomplete BIOS firmware and badly optimized Windows, we decided to wait it out until AMD and its motherboard partners roll out the badly needed updates to allow Ryzen to really shine in all its glory.

As such, today we’ll be finally reviewing the AMD Ryzen 7 1700X and 1800X, the flagship AMD [...]

Samsung now has the biggest monitor on the market with the announcement of its CHG90 HDR gaming monitor.

The CHG90 comes in a whopping 49-inch form factor. Yep. You read that right – a full 49 inches. For those of you yearning for a larger, wider monitor monitor, it doesn’t get bigger than this.

Having a 49″ monster monitor erected in your face can make your head spin and that’s why the CHG90 features an 1800R curvature for your viewing pleasure. With all that wideness is also a wider resolution of 3,840×1080, the combined resolution of two 1080p monitors placed next to each other.

Being one of Samsung’s top-end displays, [...]

Polaris Enhanced?

A few weeks ago, AMD launched the Radeon RX 500 series, which is mostly a refresh of the previous-generation RX 400 series they launched less than a year ago. Mostly because the Radeon RX 500 series is based on the very same Polaris architecture as its predecessor, albeit on a slightly more mature process. Whatever your stance on rebadges, it’s clear that AMD has decided to double-down on its Polaris architecture in 2017, at least for the midrange and entry-level segments until its RX Vega GPUs appear later on to cover the high-end market. So like it are not, Polaris is here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Today, we’re going to take a [...]

The newly released AMD Radeon Software Beta 17.4.4 brings performance optimizations for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III, boosting the performance of the RX 580 by up to 7% at 1440p, compared to the previous version 17.4.3 that was released alongside the RX 500 series. This substantial increase allows performance to push past the 60 FPS threshold, which is crucial to delivering a smooth gameplay experience.

Other fixes include:

Some displays may experience corruption when using HDMI® scaling. Battlefield™1 may experience stuttering in Multi GPU mode with 4K display resolutions when using DirectX®11. HDR colors may appear incorrect in Mass Effect™: [...]

 

If you’ve ever craved for display resolutions higher than 4K, the Dell UltraSharp UP3218 is ready to answer your call.

As one of a handful of monitors that offer 8K resolution with HDR support, the Dell UltraSharp UP3218 is ready to be deployed for creative and design work. At the heart of the Dell UltraSharp UP3218 is a anti-reflective coated 7,680 x 4,320p 60hz 10-bit IPS panel supporting a color depth of 1.07 billion colors, 100% Adobe RGB, 100% sRGB, 100% Rec709 and 98% DCI-P3 color gamuts. It also features a contrast ratio of 1300:1, response time of 6ms grey to grey and a brightness of 400 nits.

Inputs on the Dell UltraSharp UP3218 [...]

Tiny Graphics Card for the Casual Gamer

Gaming hardware has traditionally held a reputation for being bulky and intimidating. Gaming PCs are often visualized as huge towers decked out with flashy lights and sports car inspired paint jobs. While that would’ve been accurate just a few years ago, performance PCs are no longer confined to just “big”. Thanks to ever increasing tiny hardware that pack a serious punch, SFF, or Small Form-Factor, gaming systems are significantly growing in popularity.

Today we’ll be reviewing one tiny, budget-focused graphics card that can fit almost anywhere yet provide decent gaming performance for the casual gamer, the [...]

Well, this is it ladies and gentlemen. We’ve been waiting anxiously for over a year now for AMD’s latest Processor, after the disappointment of Bulldozer the PC building scene became primarily an Intel favored one for most serious workloads. While AMD’s APUs have found a pleasant place in the budget market and the FX lineup became a decent option for gamers looking for good bang for the buck, AMD remained way behind Intel in technology for what seams like forever. That changes today. Today we will be looking at Ryzen, will it live up to the hype? Will it fall flat on it’s face?

AMD Ryzen Specs CPU Ryzen 1700 Ryzen 1700X Ryzen [...]