It’s not being spelt out overtly, but there is a whiff of Intel’s new Battlemage GPUs being pitched as what the Alchemist generation should have been. Those eventually grew into their PCIe shoes, but only after months of dial-shifting driver updates – whereas the flagship B580 promises Nvidia-besting games performance from the off. Even at such a stage in the current graphics generation (the GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 could be revealed literally tonight, at CES 2025), there is something enticing about that proposition.
]]>Well slap my backplate and call me CUDA, because not only are Intel’s Arc Battlemage graphics cards not dead – having once been mired in production trouble rumours – but they’ve got names and are out from next week. The CPU makers’ second batch of dedicated gaming GPUs (following the decent budget-end Alchemist series) will comprise the Arc B580, releasing December 13th at $249, and the Arc B570, which arrives on January 16th from $219.
]]>Intel have announced their latest batch of desktop CPUs, the Core Ultra 200S series, and it's got the component giants singing quite a different tune. Instead of trying to stuff in ever more threads, and ever more PC-incinerating clock speeds, the Core Ultra 200S family – spearheaded by the Core Ultra 9 285K when it launches later this year – will dial back certain specs compared the 14th Gen range. Instead, the focus will be on power efficiency and lowering temperatures.
]]>Intel have identified the fault behind reported stability issues with their 13th and 14th Gen Core CPUs, many of which have been failing after feeding themselves excessive voltages. The blame, Intel told PCG, lies with the same kind of pernicious force that fills your Twitter feed with pillocks, has turned Google into an AI-sodden shell of its former self, and keeps making Spotify suggest I listen to ninety different electroswing arrangements of Everybody Wants to Be a Cat. That's right: an algorithm.
]]>Taipei’s annual Computex event is always a big, circled, triple-underlined mark in the PC gaming hardware calendar. Whereas CES splits its focus across tech, cars, and the occasional overdesigned white good, Computex is all computing, all the time, making it a prime source of reveals and showcases for the hardware bits that make games happen.
Sadly, Computex 2024 is unlikely to go down as a classic, largely because this year’s show has been mesmerised by AI and the most tedious applications thereof: search, but different somehow! Run art-stealing generation tools faster! Oh, Computex, what have they done to you, and why do you have seven fingers on one hand?
Granted, AI is a broad field, and not everything about it is necessarily gross or creatively bankrupting. But it also doesn’t deserve to overshadow all the other useful, unexpected, and curiosity-piquing gaming tech that Computex has to offer, from new Steam Deck alternatives to resurrected CPU lineups and promising graphics card updates. Here are those highlights of the show so far...
]]>While there are minor thrills to be had finding the very latest PC hardware in the Amazon Spring Deal Days sale, don’t underestimate the draw of an older favourite emerging with a new, knockdown price. So it is with the Intel Core i5-12400F: this was a great-value midranger when it was new, and now you get it at a true budget-tier price of £108.
]]>Intel's Optane drives are legendary in PC tech circles, offering random performance and low latency that remains unmatched amongst PCIe 3.0 drives. This Intel Optane 905P drive is the biggest they ever made at 1.5TB, and now it's reduced to $380 when you use code SYADP2Z384 at Newegg.
For systems that accept PCIe 4.0 or PCIe 5.0 drives, I'd recommend sticking with our usual gaming SSD recommendations, but for PCIe 3.0 systems this is a fascinating option that emphasises random performance against sequential speeds. I recorded some of the very fastest game load times with this drive when I tested it against other PCIe 3.0 options, and its random write speeds are competitive even with later generation PCIe 4.0 alternatives.
]]>The Intel Core i5 12600K remains a powerful CPU for gaming and content creation even in 2024, and offers better value than successors that use the same socket, like the 13600K and 14600K, due to similar performance at a lower price.
Today you can find the 12600K for £167 at Amazon UK as a US import, versus £221 for the same CPU via Amazon UK itself. That £167 price includes an import fee deposit and shipping too!
]]>One of Intel's best value CPUs for gaming is even better value than usual this week, as the Core i5 12400F is down to just £125 at Amazon. That's more than £75 cheaper than the 13th and 14th-gen equivalents, which add on only meagre levels of performance, and a great price for a CPU that can use the same DDR4 or DDR5 motherboards with PCIe 5.0 support. If you're building an Intel-based gaming PC, I'd argue that this is the best budget option going!
]]>Intel's Core i3 12100F is a surprisingly viable gaming CPU, with four Golden Cove P-cores and eight threads with DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 support, all for under £100. Don't be put off by 'Core i3' either - this model is similar in speed to the last-gen Core i5 11600K and not too far behind the Core i7 10700K, such is the leap forward Intel made with its 12th-gen CPU architecture. Today this processor is even cheaper than normal too, with prices dropping to £88 at Ebuyer in the UK.
]]>If you're looking for a great graphics card for 1080p gaming, three GPUs come to mind: the RTX 3060, the RX 6600 and the Arc A770. The latter is the most fascinating, in my opinion, as it's seriously faster than its rivals in many games and comes with a better upscaler than AMD's FSR in XeSS.
Today you can pick up this GPU for just £266 thanks to an Amazon UK Lightning Deal on a graphics card that comes from Amazon US - with no extra import or shipping fees. That compares favourably to the £320 that the next-cheapest A770 GPU costs, especially when you consider this is the better 16GB variant with a factory overclock!
]]>Intel have finally confirmed the full lineup and specs for their 14th gen Meteor Lake CPUs, which for now is comprised entirely of ultrathin laptop chips with the new Core Ultra branding. I appreciate that a PC gaming site might not be the most natural home for this information, considering both that these are not technically gaming CPUs and that that Meteor Lake’s most hyped-up feature is more of a productivity aid: a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for client-side AI work. However, as the new H-series parts also integrate Intel Arc graphics for the first time, there is some interesting potential for them to transform lightweight ultrabooks into viable gaming laptops.
]]>We reckon the Intel Core i5-13600K is not only Intel's best processor overall, but the best CPU for gaming currently available. That quality has also meant it's maintained its initial price fairly steadily for the last twelve months. But in both the UK and the US, you can get this excellent CPU for a pretty decent discount this Black Friday weekend.
]]>Cheap graphics cards are practically mythical these days, which is great news for gaming obsessed unicorns and centaurs, less so for us mere mortals trapped in boring old reality. But there is one last torchbearer of the budget GPU, and weirdly enough that's Intel. If you happen to live in the US, then you can get your hands on the best cheap 1080p graphics card for a smidge more than $200 for Black Friday.
]]>Intel CPUs have disappointed twice this year, first with the why-even-bother Raptor Lake Refresh generation and now with a notable lack of decent Black Friday deals. There’s a small handful of 13th-gen chips at good prices, but nothing on par with the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X or Ryzen 7800X3D that Will highlighted earlier this week.
I have, however, spotted a surprise £20 discount on the Intel Core i7-14700K, which just happens to be the only CPU in the new 14th-gen lineup that actually is worth buying. And so, just as it carried the Raptor Lake Refresh launch, so too must it redeem Intel’s Black Friday showing.
]]>Intel's Core i5 12600KF is one of the company's best value gaming CPUs, and today it's down to $155 at Walmart (fulfilled via Newegg) versus its standard price of $220.
This chip offers solid gaming performance in modern AAA games plus PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 support (with the correct motherboard) all while costing significantly less than competing CPUs like the later 13600KF ($285) or AMD's Ryzen 5 7600 ($229) which offer only marginally better performance at 1080p and are basically the same speed at 1440p or 4K.
For reference, I saw the 12600K deliver a minimum of 85% of the performance of the later 13600K (and by extension the nearly identical 14600K), while costing 54% of the price with this deal - surely that makes the 12600K the obvious choice?
]]>False alarm! Intel’s big batch of new gaming CPUs for 2023 is not the architectural overhaul known as Meteor Lake. The 14th generation of Core chips is instead codenamed Raptor Lake Refresh, and if the Core i5-14600K and Core i9-14900K are any indication, that comes with an awful lot more emphasis on "Raptor Lake" than on "Refresh."
]]>We've covered Arc A770 deals a few times as of late, as Intel's aggressive pricing makes these 1080p/1440p graphics cards often a better value than alternatives from AMD and Nvidia. So too is it today, where you can pick up an Asrock Arc A770 8GB card for just $240 when you use code SSCV2886 at Newegg. That's a $50 reduction from its normal price and a great value for the level of performance on offer.
]]>Intel's A750 and A770 graphics cards tend to be great value, but have a few gaping holes when it comes to performance in older graphics APIs like DirectX 9 and DirectX 11. That's slowly changing though - in fact, the company announced significant frame-rate improvements in DX11 titles today - while price drops continue to bring these GPUs into an even more favourable price/performance window. One case is the Arc A770 16GB, which is now available from Newegg for just $300, down from their regular US MSRP of $330.
]]>Building a new PC? Newegg have specced out a great high-end combo that bundles a Core i7 12700K processor, MSI Pro Z690-A WiFi DDR4 motherboard and DDR4-3200 RAM for $347 with code BTS343A, a $230 savings over buying the same items individually.
That's a surprisingly awesome deal and would make the perfect beginnings of a high-end rig, with just a GPU, CPU cooler, SSD, PSU and case needed for a complete build - many of which you may want to bring over from your existing PC.
]]>Fresh info on Intel Meteor Lake, the blue team’s upcoming 14th Gen CPU family, has arrived from an unlikely yet still very official source. See, Intel haven’t revealed the chips themselves, but have announced a rebranding for future Core processors – one that will start taking effect with Meteor Lake. And, in doing so, they’ve let slip some details on the new range's design and capabilities.
]]>Intel's mid-range Core i5 processors have long been some of the best choices for gaming PCs, versus Core i7 and Core i9 models that require much more cooling while not providing much more performance in GPU-limited scenarios. Their 13th-gen models are a particular favourite, and today we have a US deal on perhaps the best value gaming CPU in that lineup: the Core i5 13400F is now down to $164.99 at Best Buy following a $50 discount.
]]>Both Nvidia and AMD's latest graphics card releases, the RTX 7600 and RTX 4060 Ti, have crashed and burned - so who's going to actually make a well-priced GPU? If you had Intel on your bingo cards, congrulations - their Arc A750 8GB graphics card is down to £230.98 on Amazon UK, marking a £20 price drop that brings this option way below the £300 RTX 3060 that it comprehensively beats.
]]>Intel's Arc series of GPUs has continued to improve following the launch of the A750 and A770 last year, and now these RTX 3060 competitors have hit a new low price point in the US: $199.99 at Newegg.
That's an awesome deal for an 8GB graphics card that delivers excellent RT performance for its tier, AV1 encoding/decoding and a solid upscaling solution in XeSS. If you're in the market for a GPU that can handle 1080p gaming with a relatively modern motherboard that supports the Resizeable BAR feature, this is an awesome pickup for the money.
]]>After debuting at £320, the Core i5 13600K has remained resolutely at that price thanks to limited supply and high demand. Now, the 13600K has seen its first major discount, dipping to around the £300 mark at Amazon UK. Meanwhile, the same CPU without integrated graphics, the 13600KF, is down to £281.
These are solid deals for a great-performing 14-core, 20-thread CPUs that excel in gaming and content creation - especially given that you can pick up a motherboard that allows you to carry over the DDR4 memory in your existing build to keep costs down.
]]>Total War: Warhammer 3’s next expansion Forge Of The Chaos Dwarfs is still coming on April 13th, but now it’s being accompanied by some free DLC too. Developers Creative Assembly have detailed the Mirror Of Madness update - previously teased a couple months ago - in a blog post, and it’ll contain two new game modes for all players.
]]>Until recently, the story of Intel’s Arc GPUs has been a litany of mild disappointments. After years of it being easier to buy an original O’Keefe than a reasonably priced graphics card, the Arc series brought hope that it might actually be possible to get a decent PC upgrade for less than £500. Then they were repeatedly delayed, confirmed to possess some unwelcome technical quirks (like wanting Resizable BAR on at all times), and ultimately released with merely decent-ish performance. Nothing awful, but nowhere near as special as they once seemed like they could be.
In 2023, however, Intel Arc may be on a redemption... arc. A series of driver updates, Intel claims, have improved average FPS performance by up to 87% since launch, with major gains in frame times (the time between each new rendered frame) as well. The specific model we have here, the Arc A750 Limited Edition, has also had its price cut from £330 / $289 to £250 / $250. More power for less money? I’d say that’s worth a fresh evaluation.
]]>Intel's Arc graphics cards debuted to surprisingly warm reviews late last year, including over at Digital Foundry where I endorsed them as a "pleasant surprise" that were "already cards worth buying" thanks to better-than-expected performance in modern titles. Six months of patches and performance improvements later, and these GPUs look even better - especially as neither AMD or Nvidia has launched mainstream desktop graphics cards from their most recent generation.
Today, the cheaper of the two cards, the Arc A750, is available for £250 plus shipping at Overclockers UK, a steep £80 reduction from their £330 launch price.
]]>One of Intel's best budget gaming CPUs, the Core i5 13400F, is down to £189 at Tech Next Day in the UK - compared to £238 for the cheapest 12400/12400F model on Amazon UK. This is a great price for this level of performance, with a 10-core and 16-thread design, max turbo frequency of 4.6GHz and of course the same socket 1700 compatibility as other 12th and 13th-gen Intel CPUs.
Note that to get this price, you'll need to use code TND-10 at the checkout - a long-running code that seems to apply to other products as well, FYI.
]]>CES 2023 came and went while I was burning through a statutory holiday entitlement in the Welsh countryside, so these highlights of the Vegas tech show’s PC gaming gear reveals may be as much news to me as they are to you. Unless you caught Katharine’s writeup on the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, which I did once I found a smidge of 4G signal. Cheers, chief.
]]>Intel's Core i5 13400F processor was just announced, but thanks to a discount code at TechNextDay you can pick up this brand new CPU for just a shade over £200 compared to £228 on Amazon UK. That's a solid price for a 10-core CPU capable of boosting to 4.6GHz, with more cache and turbo power available to it than last year's 12400F. To get this reduced price, use code TND-10 at the checkout.
]]>The Core i5 12400F is a surprisingly excellent gaming CPU, offering the power of Intel's new Alder Lake architecture in a simple six-core twelve-thread configuration. The CPU supports PCIe 5.0 and DDR5, but it also works with cheaper DDR4- and PCIe 4.0-based hardware.
It's normally £200, but it's down to £167 on AWD-IT which is a pretty decent deal if you want to build a powerful gaming PC on a budget.
]]>The Intel Arc A750 is a surprisingly strong graphics card for 1080p and 1440p gaming, and after an initial period of unavailability it is now back on sale at Newegg in the US.
]]>The Intel Core i5-13600K fills a familiar role in the latest 13th Gen/Raptor Lake series of CPUs. There are chips in this family with many more cores and even higher clock speeds, like the £700 Core i9-13900K, but this is the one most upgrade-seekers will probably look to first: a mid-range champion to take over from the Core i5-12600K.
]]>Update 30/9: In addition to the flagship Arc A770 Limited Edition, Intel have confirmed US prices and a release date for the Arc A770 and the Arc A750. These graphics cards will also launch on October 12th, same as the A770 Limited Edition, and cost $329 and $289 respectively.
]]>Intel's SSD 670p Series is one of the cheapest ways to add high-speed NVMe storage to your system, and now a 1TB drive has been reduced to just £59 in the UK. That's a big price drop on a drive that normally sells for £90, and is nearly as cheap as the £54 that this drive cost during the last Amazon Prime Day.
]]>For a good chunk of 2022, Intel Arc Alchemist – the CPU makers’ first attempt at a series of modern gaming graphics cards – looked like it might be in trouble. Long delayed, lacking in spec details, and subject to quickly-denied rumours of troubled production, the entire Arc Alchemist family was an enigma with DisplayPort sockets. Only very recently, during a live event mainly focused on Intel’s 13th Gen Raptor Lake CPUs, did desktop Arc GPUs get concrete price and release date details.
]]>Last week Intel published a “quick start guide” for their upcoming Arc A-series graphics cards, including a “Supported Hardware Configurations” section that only specifically namechecked their own 10th, 11th and 12th Gen Core CPUs. Cue a heady mix of confusion and perturbation – surely Intel weren’t suggesting that Arc GPUs would only function when paired with an Intel CPU, and a relatively new one at that?
No, they weren’t, though the guide’s vague wording isn’t doing it – and worse, potential Arc users – any favours. Parts of the guide appear to conflate support for Resizable BAR with support for the Arc A-series in general, which further muddies things as Resizable BAR works on AMD Ryzen chips as well as those three Core CPU generations. I asked Intel directly for clarification and essentially, Arc GPUs won’t have such super specific CPU requirements just to run - though they’ll apparently perform better in systems that do support Resizable BAR.
]]>Intel have finally launched the first of their Arc Alchemist graphics cards, the Arc A380, but only in China for now. VideoCardz spotted the press release for the small-scale launch, which confirms some of the A380 specs, its comfort zone of 1080p / 60fps on medium quality settings, and a recommended price: 1030 yuan. That’s about £130 / $150, not accounting for regional tax maths.
]]>EVE Online is famous for its player-led economy and the many player-led heists that happen within it. If I was in the midst of a long con to separate someone from their hard-earned spaceships, I'd probably want to be able to access EVE Online as easily, and from as many places, as possible.
That's what EVE Anywhere does. Lauched today, it lets you play EVE Online in your browser by streaming it from the cloud, as long as your internet connection is fast enough to handle it.
]]>If Intel’s recent takeover of the RPS best gaming CPUs guide wasn’t indication enough, their latest 12th Gen Alder Lake chips are the real deal – especially on pure games performance. This should make the newly launched Core i9-12900KS, in a way, the realest deal of all: it’s structurally identical to the Core i9-12900K, originally the top-spec CPU in the series, but made with an even more discerning binning process. A component of the highest quality components, if you will, and as such can brush past the Core i9-12900K’s maximum boost clock speed of 5.2GHz to reach a scorching 5.5GHz.
]]>PAX East 2022 may be over, but we’ve still got plenty of things to talk about from our time in Boston. We have a bunch of videos in the pipeline that I can’t wait to share with you (including a fun piece exploring PAX staple collectible Pinny Arcade) but for now I think it’s about time we spoke about one of the best bits of in-person shows: the booths.
Now, we already highlighted most of the booths at PAX East in our show floor tour that we published during the event itself, but we wanted to focus on some of our favourites in a little more detail. Come and see them (and their carpets) in all their glory below. I'm not kidding about the carpets. They were astounding.
]]>Back in March 2021, when the Intel Arc Alchemist graphics cards still went by their architecture title of Xe HPG, Intel launched a digital scavenger hunt to drum up interest in these upcoming desktop GPUs. This ran for so long and so quietly that I’ll admit I forgot it was happening, but it’s now concluded, and prize info sent to the 200 winners contains the first real hints at what these mysterious gaming cards will cost.
]]>Hullo chaps! Yes, it's another US processor deal, as there have been quite a few good ones recently. The 12700K is my personal pick of the new Intel 12th-gen family, as it offers the same number of performance cores and therefore much the same performance as the flagship 12900K - all while producing far less heat and costing much less too. It normally retails for around $385, but today a $45 discount code on Newegg brings it to just $340.
]]>The Intel Core i9 10850K is the defacto 10th-gen flagship CPU for Intel, and it's going cheap at Newegg today. It's been reduced to $290 when you use code 4FSBR2Z26 at the checkout, compared to a launch price of $450. Not bad for a CPU that launched less than two years ago - and a damn sight cheaper than upgrading to a 12th-gen system that requires a new CPU, motherboard and potentially expensive new DDR5 RAM as well.
]]>Some of Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake processors are among the best gaming CPUs you can buy, but certain owners have noticed a seemingly worrisome trend: their LGA 1700 motherboard socket puts so much pressure on the chip that its IHS (integrated heat spreader, the big grey bit on top) starts to bend. This isn’t so much a concern for the CPU’s structural integrity as it is a cooling issue, as a non-flat IHS will struggle to transfer heat to the CPU cooler plate as effectivity.
In a statement to Tom’s Hardware, however, an Intel spokesperson has essentially said it’s not as bad as it sounds. The statement does acknowledge the warping (or “deflection”, to use Intel’s more engineer-y term), but says there’s no evidence thus far to suggest it drives load temperatures up to unsafe levels.
]]>Intel have become the latest Western tech company to suspend all business operations in Russia, in response to ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The CPU (and gaming GPU) makers announced in a statement that they have immediately ceased their activities in Russia entirely, having previously only suspended product shipments to Russia and political ally Belarus.
]]>The first Intel Arc GPUs are finally here, and they are… for laptops. That might not please anyone hoping for relief from ongoing stock woes in the desktop graphics card market, but the mobile Arc A-Series chips are built for gaming all the same – and the first Arc laptops are launching today. That’s all via the livestreamed launch event that finished mere minutes ago, and that you can find liveblogged below.
]]>There sure are a lot of “world’s fastest” gaming CPUs around these days. Just two weeks after AMD confirmed a date and price for their own champion, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, Intel have formally unveiled the Core i9-12900KS: a new addition to the 12th Gen Alder Lake lineup that promises superlative performance and up to 5.5GHz clock speeds.
That’s all less than five months since the launch of the original Intel Core i9-12900K, which as far as I can tell actually is the best CPU for gaming right now in pure performance terms. And the Core i9-12900KS is even set to beat the Ryzen 7 5800X3D to shelves, releasing on April 5th to the Ryzen’s April 20th street date. No brakes on the top-tier processor train, it seems.
]]>Intel’s Arc graphics cards are, despite apparent delays, likely to launch this year. And not just with the expectation of being good GPUs, but with the hope that they can fix one of the biggest vexations in PC gaming: a years-long component shortage that’s made all of the best graphics cards nearly impossible to buy at fair prices.
Intel graphics chief Raja Koduri is at least well aware of the pressure, tweeting that the company is “working hard to find a path towards the mission - getting millions of Arc GPUs into the hands of PC gamers every year.” Koduri was responding to an open letter from our friends at PC Gamer, calling on Intel to finally toss an escape rope down the hardware hellmouth we’ve all found ourselves trapped in. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger also responded, claiming “We’re on it.”
]]>There was cause for joy and concern alike when Intel revealed the Core i5-12400F, alongside loads of other new 12th gen Alder Lake CPUs. Here was a much more affordable, still gaming focused-alternative to the Core i5-12600K, yet it would lack the signature hybrid of fast Performance cores and flexible Efficiency cores that made that chip one of the best gaming CPUs ever made.
Turns out, the concern was for naught: the Core i5-12400F is a cracking slice of silicon, both for the money and for games specifically. Although the sole reliance on Performance cores (or P-cores) puts it behind the Core i5-12600K for desktop multitasking, if it’s just the frames per second you’re after, this cheaper chip can match and sometimes even surpass its big brother.
]]>The vanguard of Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs had some seriously good chips in it – including two of the best CPUs for gaming overall – though there weren’t many models for aspiring PC builders on tight budgets. Now, though, Intel has used CES 2022 to launch the rest of the 12th Gen desktop lineup, adding loads of more affordable Core i5 and Core i3 processors on top of new Core i7 and Core i9 options. Intel also unveiled its new H-series, 12th Gen gaming laptop chips, which use the same hybrid architecture (combining powerful P-cores with smaller, less energy-intensive E-cores) as their Alder Lake desktop cousins.
]]>There’s no single, solitary reason why it’s been so hard to buy certain PC components over the past year and a bit – it’s more like a perfect storm of multiple circumstances, unfortunate coincidences and unforseen annoyances. That said, one of the biggest underlying causes of MIA CPU and graphics card stock has been a shortage of the chips needed to make them, and it’s a shortage that Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has warned could likely continue into 2023.
]]>There's no time to explain: the Intel Core i5-12600K has a Black Friday deal. I mean that's weird, right? It only came out scant weeks ago and it's already on the sharp end of a meaningful discount. Not that I'm complaining, mind, as this Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake mid-ranger proved itself the best CPU for gaming immediately upon arrival.
]]>Well, here’s a bit of a bum note in the otherwise upbeat tune of Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs: the new chips are apparently tripping up games that use Denuvo DRM. Not all of them, fortunately, but Intel has listed over 50 games that might suffer compatibility issues across Windows 10 and Windows 11 when using an Alder Lake processor. These include big names like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Total War: Three Kingdoms. (Update - Fallen Order has now removed Denuvo completely, so should be fine.)
]]>By now you’ve probably heard about how Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs shake up the previously stagnant Core line. Led by this, the Intel Core i9-12900K, Alder Lake sees the adoption of a hybrid architecture that combines high-power Performance cores (P-cores) with Efficiency cores (E-cores) that can free up headroom by taking on background tasks. The Core i9-12900K takes this opportunity to bulk up, combining eight P-cores and E-cores apiece for a total of 16 cores and 24 threads.
]]>The Intel Core i5-12600K is, in some ways, the CPU that Intel should have made three or four years ago. Ever since AMD’s Ryzen chips appeared with an alluring balance of gaming speed, desktop multitasking performance, efficiency, and affordability, Intel seemed to sink into a comfort zone of simply raising clock speeds and maybe adding a few cores.
This was often enough to earn some half-throated recommendations for gaming builds specifically, but this past year proved that something needed to change, with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X claiming the best gaming CPU title and 11th Gen Rocket Lake Intel chips – like the 5600X’s rival Core i5-11600K – looking thoroughly skippable. For those who did decide to wait until the 12th Gen Alder Lake launch, consider yourselves vindicated, as the Core i5-12600K is a great all-rounder: both a Ryzen-beater in games and, thanks to a long-overdue architecture revamp, a drastically better general purpose processor.
]]>Amidst all the excitement of Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs, let’s not forget that the first Intel dedicated graphics cards are on their way. Codenamed Arc Alchemist, these GPUs will launch alongside XeSS (Xe Super Sampling), an Nvidia DLSS-style upscaling/anti-aliasing piece of tech that promises to boost performance while sharpening up those jagged edges. And we now know the first two games that will support XeSS: Hitman 3 and The Riftbreaker.
]]>After a months-long spin around the rumour mill, the first batch of Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs is official. Despite the 11th Gen Rocket Lake chips only launching earlier this year, Alder Lake represents the biggest generational jump for Intel in over half a decade, thanks to its completely redesigned “hybrid” architecture and DDR5 memory support.
]]>What better place to start building a PC than by giving it a brain? Thus begins the first, pleasantly easy, step: learning how to install a CPU. Don’t be discouraged by the importance of this particular part of your soon-to-be desktop, as while installing a CPU is best done with a delicate touch, it takes mere moments.
That said, the process can vary slightly depending on which specific CPU model you’re installing. For instance, Intel and AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs are secured in their socket by a hinged metal cover – but if you’re here to find out how to install a CPU from AMD’s older Ryzen range, you’ll find it instead plops into a moveable socket that locks the chip in place by sliding to the side. This guide will cover both approaches, mind, so you’ll be covered regardless.
]]>We haven’t seen much of Intel Alder Lake so far, despite being set for release in a matter of weeks. One thing we do know is that like the majority of Intel’s last few chip family releases, the desktop contingent of these 12th-gen processors will need a brand-new motherboard socket: LGA 1700.
]]>Intel have chosen an interesting time to launch the Core i9-11980HK, their latest top-of-the-line CPU for gaming laptops. Their 12th-gen Alder Lake chips, after all, are launching in what’s likely a matter of weeks. Why, then, should you drop £4098 / $3400 on a laptop like the MSI GE76 Raider, even if its 11th-gen chip is primo for the time being?
]]>Having previously announced Arc, the upcoming gaming models in its Xe graphics card range, Intel have explained more of what to expect from their attempt at Nvida GeForce/AMD Radeon-style GPUs. That includes a look at XeSS, or Xe Super Sampling, Intel’s framerate-boosting upscaling tech.
]]>The Intel Core i7 11700K is a very strong processor for gaming, inheriting the same huge single-core uptick as other 11th-gen processors while offering eight cores and sixteen threads, the exact same count as the flagship Core i9 11900K. That means nearly flagship-level performance for a much lower price - and now an Ebay seller is offering the 11700K at £60 off its normal price, just £279. That's a deal worth knowing about, so here's the link - and a little more on what makes the 11700K a suitable choice for your next PC build.
]]>Amazon US has some pretty decent CPU deals for Prime Day this year, but not all of them are as good value as they might first appear. Nabbing the Intel Core i7-9700K for $260 might seem like a great discount compared to its usual price of $317, for example, but when the just-as-fast Core i5-10600K can be had for just $179 today, would-be upgraders would be much better off choosing the latter if you're looking for a great CPU on the cheap.
]]>It's been a long while since there's been a truly great budget gaming CPU that's actually been available to buy. AMD's Ryzen 3 3300X filled that hole admirably when it first launched back in May last year, but the sheer popularity of that £115 / $120 CPU has meant that it's been out of stock almost ever since. Indeed, AMD still haven't released a Ryzen 5000 successor for it, and even Intel's 11th Gen Rocket Lake earlier in the year didn't yield any promising Core i3 candidates, either, with the chip maker stopping firm at the Core i5-11400 and i5-11400F, the latter of which is on test today.
The Core i5-11400F is fundamentally identical to the 11400 - it's just that the F model doesn't have any integrated graphics built-in. As such, you'll need to pair it with a graphics card if you want anything to appear on your monitor when you come to turn it on. Otherwise, they're exactly the same chip. And for lack of any other competition right now, this £150 / $230 CPU is probably the closest thing you'll get to a great budget gaming CPU in 2021.
]]>Yesterday saw the release of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, a remaster which used AI to upscale many of the original game's textures so they look better at 4K.
That's nothing compared to what Intel are working on, however. In a video called "Enhancing Photorealism Enhancement," embedded below, Intel show Grand Theft Auto 5 after it has been run through a neural net to make the streets of Los Santos look more photorealistic. It works.
]]>Intel have finally unveiled their full line-up of 11th Gen Tiger Lake H-series laptop CPUs today, and with it a fresh wave of over 80 new gaming laptops to be released over the coming weeks. These high-performance laptop CPUs will succeed Intel's ubiquitous 10th Gen Comet Lake chips such as the Core i7-10750H and Core i9-10980HK, bringing with them up to 19% gen-on-gen multithreaded performance improvements, PCIe 4.0 support and the latest wireless connectivity standards. Here's everything you need to know.
]]>When AMD launched their Ryzen 5000 series last year, it quickly became apparent that throwing more cores and threads at a game didn't necessarily result in significantly faster frame rates. Indeed, unless you regularly use your gaming PC for other intensive desktop tasks such as editing videos, running virtual machines or you're a full-time streamer, you're usually much better off opting for a mid-range CPU like AMD's Ryzen 5 5600X than spending loads of cash on something more upmarket like their Ryzen 9 5900X. The same can be said for Intel's new Core i9-11900K, their latest flagship CPU in their 11th Gen Rocket Lake family.
]]>After their 10th Gen Comet Lake CPUs got well and truly whomped by AMD's Ryzen 5000 series at the end of last year, Intel have come back fighting with the launch of their 11th Gen Rocket Lake CPUs. With proper PCIe 4.0 support across the board, memory overclocking available on more motherboard chipsets than ever before, as well as some welcome improvements to its instructions per clock performance, Rocket Lake finally feels like an Intel platform that's worth upgrading to - especially when the ongoing hardware shortages have put quite the premium on their Ryzen rivals. Indeed, with Ryzen 5 5600X prices currently hovering around the £350 / $375 mark, the £250 / $270 Intel Core i5-11600K certainly looks a heck of a lot more attractive by comparison for new PC builders at the moment.
]]>After months of waiting, the official release of Intel's new 11th Gen Rocket Lake CPUs is now just a couple of weeks away. Launching as planned at the end of March, Rocket Lake will not only usher in a whole new generation of Intel gaming processors, but several key tech improvements that finally bring them up to speed with AMD's Ryzen 5000 series. Chief among them is support for the super fast PCIe 4.0 standard, but perhaps more importantly, Rocket Lake will also see the introduction of memory overclocking on a much wider range of motherboard chipsets than ever before. So to help you prepare for Intel's 11th Gen CPUs, here's everything you need to know about their new Rocket Lake chips, including their specs, backwards compatibility with Comet Lake and more.
]]>Intel's first batch of Xe graphics cards are here at last. Sort of. While they won't be available to buy as standalone GPUs, Intel have announced that they've finally started shipping them to system builders worldwide for use in entry-level desktop PCs.
]]>Asus and MSI have lifted the lid on their upcoming line-up of Z590 motherboards for Intel's soon-to-be-released 11th Gen Rocket Lake CPUs. Launching on January 27th, these new motherboards will be primed and ready for Rocket Lake, and Asus have confirmed their boards will be backwards compatible with Intel's existing 10th Gen Comet Lake CPUs as well..
]]>Intel have just announced their first crop of 11th Gen H-series CPUs for gaming laptops. Comprising of three processors in total, this new trio of high-performance Tiger Lake CPUs will help usher in a new era of even thinner and lighter gaming laptops in 2021, with the first laptop designs coming in at just 16.6mm. Here's everything you need to know.
]]>Even with a convenient guide to best gaming CPUs, picking out a new processor will invariably require some thought. Maybe even some chinstroking. Besides the need to pair your desired chip with a compatible motherboard and RAM, modern CPUs have tangled themselves up in a dense snarl of mathematical naming conventions and increasingly bewildering variations of core and thread counts. A situation that’s unlikely to be helped by Intel’s Core rebrand.
This guide aims to take the brow-furrowing out of buying a central processor, by narrowing things down to a select handful of only the best CPUs that’s we’ve tested in games. Because while there are sexier PC upgrades, keeping this particular part up to date is worth doing: even if it’s not a 24-core gigabrain, a good CPU can and will boost gaming performance, especially when it can unlock the full power of your graphics card.
]]>Intel have revealed more details about their upcoming 11th GenRocket Lake CPUs, including the name of its new desktop architecture, "Cypress Cove". Intel claim this new architecture will bring "double-digit percentage IPC (instructions per clock) performance improvements" over their current 10th Gen Comet Lake CPUs, leading to even faster gaming performance. We still don't know the exact specs of Intel's Rocket Lake CPUs, but they will include Intel's hotly anticipated Xe graphics and, crucially, introduce support for a brand-new motherboard chipset, the Intel 500 series.
]]>Intel have unveiled the first details about their upcoming 11th Gen desktop Core CPUs today, confirming their rough release window and that they'll have PCIe 4.0 support from the off. Code-named "Rocket Lake", this new family of desktop processors will be arriving sometime between January and March next year, according to a new Intel blog post, succeeding their current line-up of 10th Gen Comet Lake CPUs.
]]>As the ongoing hardware shortages continue, trying to buy a new CPU at the moment is still fraught with difficulty. It's a little bit better than trying to buy a new graphics card, but in terms of hard cold CPU deals, it's still pretty slim pickings. If you are in the market for a new CPU, though, you're in the right place, as I've rounded up all the best prices for today's best gaming CPUs. Whatever type of PC you're looking to build, here are the cheapest CPU deals going on this week.
]]>Intel have officially unveiled their 11th Gen Tiger Lake laptop CPUs with integrated Xe graphics, and they might just be about to change the future of gaming laptops. With up to double the gaming performance compared to Intel's previous generation of mobile CPUs, Tiger Lake laptops with Xe graphics were shown playing big blockbuster games such as Grid and Gears Tactics at 1080p at close to 60fps during Intel's online press conference this evening, representing a huge leap in performance for ultraslim laptops compared to their AMD and Nvidia-powered competition.
]]>Intel have confirmed that their first discrete Xe GPU is still on track to release before the end of 2020. Code-named DG1, the graphics card is currently in production and will begin shipping before the end of the year, just in time for an almighty showdown between the upcoming Nvidia Ampere cards and the next-generation of Big Navi GPUs.
]]>When AMD launched their incredible Ryzen 3 3300X the other week, I called it the $120 Core i5 killer. At the time, I only had Intel's existing Core i5-9600K to compare it to, but finally we have its 10th Gen Comet Lake successor in the ring, the Core i5-10600K.
Like the 9600K, this 10th Gen chip still has six cores to its name, but Intel have doubled the thread count (that is, the number of virtual cores it has) up to 12 this time, giving it a bit more oomph when it comes to multi-tasking. Its clock speed has also been bumped from a base of 3.7GHz to a nippy 4.1GHz, while its max Turbo clock has inched up from 4.6GHz to 4.8GHz. However, with current prices for both the Core i5-9600K and its nearest AMD rival, the Ryzen 5 3600X, sitting at $200, is the Core i5-10600K worth its $262 asking price?
]]>When Intel declared their 9th Gen Core i9-9900K was the world's fastest gaming CPU at the end of 2018, it came at an astronomical cost. £600 / $580 was the asking price for the best gaming CPU money could buy at the time, which today could get you an entire RTX 2080 Super GPU. Thankfully, Intel have reined in the pricing for their brand-new crop of 10th Gen desktop CPUs, with their flagship Core i9-10900K receiving one of the biggest price cuts across the entire Comet Lake family. It will still set you back a sizeable $488 in the US (UK pricing TBC), but with its closest AMD rival, the Ryzen 9 3900X, coming in just below it at $440 at time of writing, it does at least look more competitive than it was a generation ago.
Indeed, a cursory glance at the i9-10900K's headline specs - its 10 cores, 20 threads and 14nm manufacturing process - might make it seem like Intel's latest and greatest is already a bit old hat compared to 12 cores and 24 threads of the 7nm Ryzen 9 3900X. And in some respects it is. AMD still have the fastest CPU for juggling lots of multimedia tasks, but in terms of raw gaming performance, the Core i9-10900K is in a class of its own, blazing past its AMD rival with frames to spare. It is, without doubt, the best gaming CPU you can buy right now.
]]>Hot off the heels of revealing their next generation of Comet Lake laptop CPUs, Intel have finally lifted the lid on their 10th Gen Comet Lake line-up of desktop CPUs, and man alive there are a lot of them. Leading the pack is Intel's Core i9-10900K, which has a whopping 10 cores and a maximum clock speed of 5.3GHz, making it the world's new fastest gaming processor - a title previously held by its 9th Gen predecessor, the Core i9-9900K.
It's not just super fast Core i9 CPUs Intel have unveiled today, though, as they've also revealed their full suite of Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors as well. Here's everything you need to know, including their specs, how much they cost, and when (roughly) you're going to be able to get your hands on one.
]]>Intel have lifted the lid on their H-series of 10th Gen Comet Lake laptop CPUs today, and gee whiz they're nippy. With top clock speeds reaching all the way up to 5.3GHz in some cases, Intel are quite rightly calling these "the world's fastest mobile processors". It's not just the really high-end CPUs that have super high frequency speeds, either. Of the six new CPUs being announced today, four of Intel's 10th Gen Comet Lake H-series line-up will have clock speeds that break the 5.0GHz speed barrier. That's pretty darn fast for a laptop CPU, and should mean even better gaming performance when you're on the move. Here's everything you need to know.
]]>Earlier this week, we got our first glimpse of Intel's Xe GPU in action when they showed a live demo of it running Destiny 2 on one of their new Tiger Lake laptops during their CES press conference. At the time, the GPU code-named DG1 was buried deep inside the laptop, but now Intel have released some official images of the desktop version of their upcoming Xe graphics card as well. Technically, Intel are calling it their "DG1 software development vehicle" (or DG1 SDV), but this is what's now being shipped to software companies around the world to get them ready for what Xe has to offer when it launches later this year.
]]>2020 is the year Intel finally make their return to the discrete graphics card arena, and last night they gave us our first look at their upcoming Xe GPU during their CES 2020 press conference. Admittedly, Intel only showed one of their mobile Xe GPUs in action rather than a full desktop version, but when that demo involved running Destiny 2 on one of their new Tiger Lake series of ultra-thin Core laptops, there's still plenty to get excited about.
]]>Intel's best gaming CPU just got even better. Launching today (October 30th), the Intel Core i9-9900KS is primed to deliver a massive 5.0GHz all-core turbo speed straight out of the box. It's going to cost you, though, as this special edition CPU has a recommended retail price of $513.
]]>I've always been a bit baffled by Intel's Core F and KF processors. Not in theory, you understand. Making CPUs without integrated graphics makes a lot of sense for gaming PCs, especially when you're almost certainly going to be pairing it with a proper discrete graphics card anyway. Instead, it's the price of them that's been the most perplexing thing about them, as until now they've always cost the same as their integrated graphics (or iGPU) counterparts. I know I'm never going to use the integrated graphics on a new Intel Core i5-9600K, for example, but why would I spend the same amount of money on a technically lesser product? Thankfully, that's all set to change very soon, as Intel have just announced a price drop for their 9th Gen Coffee Lake F and KF CPUs, making these pure processing machines much better value for money.
]]>Let's pretend for a moment that you're the sort of person who has a grand to spend on your CPU. Your craving for cores knows no bounds, and you gobble up threads like bowls of digital spaghetti. You're the kind of person who takes one look at my best gaming CPU list and laughs because chips like Intel's Core i7-9700K just don't have the raw speed and power you hunger for. You, my friend, want the X-rated stuff. The XTREME. Well, you'll be very pleased to hear, then, that not only are Intel releasing a four new Core X-series desktop processors sometime later next month in November, but that the top-end (and oh so memorably named) Intel Core i9-10980XE Extreme Edition also (finally) costs less than a thousand bucks. Rejoice!
]]>The Acer Predator Triton 500 is probably the first gaming laptop I've tested where I've almost completely forgotten it's a gaming laptop. Sure, the keyboard's RGB backlight is a bit of a giveaway, as is the blue LED Predator logo on the back of the display, but this is by far one of the quietest gaming laptops I've had on my desk in quite some time. It's by no means completely silent, of course - its fans still kick up a bit of fuss when playing games - but it never got to the point where I felt the need to plug in a pair of headphones or fiddle about with its various cooling profiles. If my Dell XPS 15 gave up the ghost tomorrow, I'd seriously consider making this my next laptop.
]]>A new wave survival mode coming to Total War: Three Kingdoms will pit three heroes against hundreds of enemy soldiers. Dynasty Mode is its name, and it's coming in a free update next week. It looks to be inspired by the more fantastical side of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms as well as, y'know, probably the Dynasty Warriors games (which are also based on the historical epic). If you want magical lords murdering a dozen men with a single swing of their blade, baby, they're coming. Have a look in the trailer below.
]]>For years, Intel's Core i5-8600K has been the go-to gaming CPU for mid-range PC builders the world over. Try and find one now, however, and you'll see prices have soared way beyond its new 9th Gen Coffee Lake successor, the Core i5-9600K, and even AMD's upmarket Ryzen 7 2700 CPU. Is it still worth hunting one down? Here's wot I think.
]]>Intel's Core i7 processors may not be the absolute cream of the crop any more thanks to the introduction of their new 9th Gen Coffee Lake Core i9 range of gaming CPUs, but I'll be damned if the Core i7-9700K still isn't one of the best gaming CPUs you can buy today. For starters, it costs a heck of a lot less than Intel's top dog Core i9-9900K, with prices starting at £360 / $410 at time of writing compared to the whopping £485 / $490 you still have to fork out for the i9. Plus, its gaming performance is pretty darn great, too. Here's wot I think.
]]>Here it is, the big daddy of Intel's 8th Gen Coffee Lake gaming processors. Once the six-core king of the bestest best gaming CPUs, the Core i7-8700K has since been dethroned by both its immediate 9th Gen Coffee Lake successor, the Intel Core i7-9700K, and Intel's new super duper Core i9-9900K. Both CPUs, however, are still relatively expensive compared to the i7-8700K, so is this £345 / $350 processor still worth seeking one out for your next PC build? Here's wot I think.
]]>Intel's Core i5-8600K has been one of the top gaming CPUs ever since it came out at the end of 2017. Now, however, there's a new best gaming CPU in town in the form of its 9th Gen Coffee Lake successor, the Core i5-9600K.
Priced at a very competitive £220 / $230 at time of writing, Intel's Core i5-9600K is a tough act to beat - especially when AMD's upcoming Ryzen 5 3600X CPU is slated to start at an even more expensive $250 when it launches on July 7th. The Ryzen, admittedly, does have the added benefit of coming with a bundled cooler in the box (which the i5-9600K sadly does not), but even once you factor in the additional cost of a cooler, the Ryzen 5 3600X is going to have a pretty tough job on its hands if it's going to beat the i5-9600K's exceptional gaming chops. I will, of course, be updating this review once I've got my hands on the Ryzen 5 3600X, but in the mean time, here's how the i5-9600K stacks up to the rest of the gaming CPU spectrum right now.
]]>When I first reviewed AMD's Ryzen 5 2600 and 2600X CPUs, I called them the Intel Core i5 Coffee Lake killers. Specifically, I said they were Intel Core i5-8600K killers - and to some extent that's still true. While not as fast as the Core i5-8600K when it comes to overall gaming performance, their lower price, bundled cooler and generally superior multi-tasking performance in everyday desktop tasks make them a compelling alternative for mid-range PC builders. But how do they stand up against Intel's entry-level Core i5 CPU, the i5-8400? Priced much more closely to AMD's rival pair of CPUs, this £185 / $212 processor might just be a potential Ryzen 5 killer. How about that for a twist in our best gaming CPU rankings, eh?
]]>At just £120 / $130, Intel's Core i3-8100 is one of the cheapest gaming CPUs you can buy today. It's a pretty tempting package, too. Unlike previous generations of Intel's Coffee Lake Core i3 chips, the i3-8100 comes with four cores clocked at a reasonably nippy 3.6GHz, and its 1080p gaming performance impressed when I first saw it inside Overclockers UK's Kinetic Z1 gaming desktop.
However, now that I've had a chance to test it against some of its other Core i3 siblings, such as the top-end Intel Core i3-8350K, and its rival AMD Ryzen 5 2600 CPU, is it worth spending a little bit more on your gaming CPU, or can the Core i3-8100 still hold its own as the go-to best gaming CPU for those on a budget? Here's wot I think.
]]>For some, spending more than £300 / $300 on a graphics card can sometimes feel like a step too far. For me, it's spending that kind of money on a processor, as I've just never been able to justify forking out that kind of cash for a top-notch gaming CPU. Is it really worth it? In the case of Intel's Core i7-8700, I'm not so sure it is, especially when its Intel Core i5-9600K cousin offers similar (ish) levels of performance for £100 / $80 less. Don't get me wrong - there are definitely benefits to stepping up to one of Intel's Core i7 Coffee Lake CPUs, but is the six-core i7-8700 really best gaming CPU material? Here's wot I think.
]]>Intel's Core i3-8350K CPU probably isn't the first processor you'd think of for building your next gaming PC, but this £170 / $195 quad-core chip holds its own surprisingly well against the Core i5 and Ryzen 5 big boys. Priced at a similar level to AMD's Ryzen 5 2600X CPU, Intel's Core i3-8350K could be just the thing if you're looking for a new best gaming CPU that doesn't end up breaking the bank.
]]>Not to be outdone by AMD's Ryzen 3000 announcement, Intel have revealed that their very first 10th Gen Core CPUs have finally begun landing in the hands of laptop makers around the world for an intended launch later this year. Code-named Ice Lake, these 10th Gen CPUs will eventually replace Intel's current slate of 9th Gen Coffee Lake mobile processors, which just started appearing in laptops about a month ago, offering up to twice the integrated graphics performance thanks to their new Gen11 graphics engine and new and improved 'Sunny Cove' core architecture.
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