To start off this guide we’ll be going through our standard methodology for overclocking Nvidia graphics cards and specifically the new RTX series. We’ll also be showing you how Nvidia’s new Scanner API works and just how good their one-click overclocking can be, comparing to a manual overclock, while also showing you how to do said manual overclock. The cards we’re using today are the Founders Edition RTX 2080 Ti and Founders Edition RTX 2080....

On average, the Arc 100 240GB was 16% slower than the MX100 512GB in our file copy tests and while OCZ’s offering is cheaper and faster than Samsung’s Evo series, the latter is also more than a year old. Of note, we would have preferred to test the 480GB Arc 100 for fairer results but OCZ didn’t have samples. Still, on paper the larger 480GB model can only hope to be about 5% faster, which isn’t enough to catch the MX100....

One of the driving forces behind SSD technology has been Intel, whose drives have always remained one step ahead of the competition. Not surprisingly, the second generation Intel X25-M is arguably the best MLC-based solid-state drive money can buy. That’s not to say there are no more choices out there, but quite the contrary as you’ve seen us reviewing a variety of drives from different manufacturers, and perhaps most importantly using different controllers under the hood....

Photoshop suffers from the patches as well, though it does depend on the filter you are using. One of the most intensive in the application is the Iris Blur, which takes 11 percent longer on Intel’s 8th gen CPUs and 19 percent longer on 5th gen after the patches are applied. This is a bit of a worst-case scenario as a number of the less intensive filters see a negligible difference, but that is a reminder that only some workloads are hit by the patches....

This thing is pretty big, and I’ll talk a bit more about the size later. But first, a couple of important specs: this 43" 3840 x 2160 panel uses VA technology with a Quantum Dot film and it sports DisplayHDR 1000 certification, plus you get adaptive sync a.k.a. FreeSync, though in a rather narrow 48 to 60 Hz range. With a 48Hz minimum, we’re not getting low framerate compensation (or LFC) and as a result, we’re not getting the full benefit of FreeSync....

We’ve typically found that the fastest 2.5" SATA SSDs take around 95 seconds to install Red Orchestra 2 while the PCIe RevoDrive 350 offers a time of 80 seconds. Given the average file transfer performance of Plextor’s SSDs, the M6S and M6M blew us away with 91-92 seconds to complete the install for the fastest 2.5" SSDs we have tested to date. The M6e also scored well with a time of just 88 seconds....

The soundbar can also connect to other Porsche Design products for multi-channel streaming. There is additionally an exhaust system strapped to the front of the soundbar. Wait, what? The standout feature here is without a doubt the exhaust. Porsche Design slapped an actual exhaust system from the original Porsche 992 GT3 onto the front of the soundbar. As awesome as that is for Porsche and auto enthusiasts in general, the exhaust is purely for aesthetics as the sound from the bar does not route through the pipes....

Again, the synthetic benchmark reports that the TS-412 is faster than the N3200XXX, this time when measuring random 512K performance. The margins are quite shocking in fact, as the TS-412 Turbo was supposedly 55% faster than the Thecus N3200XXX when looking at write speeds. The TS-412 had poor random 4K-QD32 results, which likely explains why it struggled in our game and program tests.

Update four for the re-released version of Quake includes the return of the legendary game mode. As Bethesda highlights, the original threewave CTF was developed by David “Zoid” Kirsch and released in October 1996. The mod was an instant hit, prompting id Software to officially add the mode to Quake II. For the updated version of Quake, Bethesda has resurrected nine levels from the original mod including McKinley Base, McKinley Station, Spill the Blood and Gloom Castles....

The key takeaway for this article is to see what kind of upgrade the Radeon 5600 XT offers over the GTX 1060 when testing a huge range of games. This will also give RX 580 owners a good idea how much faster the 5600 XT is as we found last year when testing 38 titles that the 580 was only 2-3% faster than the 1060 on average. That’s another GPU battle we’ll probably revisit shortly....

The original Camera Module launched in 2013 as Raspberry Pi’s first official accessory and was followed by a NoIR infrared-sensitive variant later that year. The Camera Module 2, built around Sony’s eight megapixel IMX219, dropped in 2016 and has served the community ever since. More than two million units of the Camera Module 2 have been sold to date. The standard-FoV cameras provide a 66-degree field of view while the wide-FoV checks in at 102 degrees....

All eGPUs on the market currently use the Thunderbolt interface. Intel and Apple designed Thunderbolt as just a fancy wrapping of the PCIe and DisplayPort interfaces in an external cable. This allows for a connection between PCIe devices and Thunderbolt-enabled laptops with a single controller chip. Putting this design into practice, today we’ll be taking a look at Razer’s Core X external GPU enclosure. Of course, you need a compatible laptop to make use of the enclosure, so we’ll be using the Razer Book 13 that we recently reviewed....

The M2 chip consists of an 8-core CPU (four performance cores and four high-efficiency cores) alongside a GPU with up to 10 cores. In the Air, it is passively cooled, so you won’t have to worry about fan noise. The new MacBook Air also packs a 1080p FaceTime HD camera that affords twice the resolution and low-light performance compared to the previous generation. There’s also a four-speaker sound system that supports Spatial Audio for movies and music with Dolby Atmos alongside a trio of microphones, all of which sit between the keyboard and display....

Researchers have achieved the first nuclear fusion reaction that produced more energy than it took to start the reaction. The result represents a significant milestone in nuclear fusion energy development, but we’re probably still many decades away from fusion power plants. The US Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration announced that the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory achieved what it calls “fusion ignition” or “scientific energy breakeven.” On December 5, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in Livermore, California, used 192 lasers to deliver 2....

For comparison, the Apple Watch Series 7 is offered with your choice of 41mm or 45mm case size. The more affordable Apple Watch SE is sold with 40mm or 44mm cases while the lingering Apple Watch Series 3 - the cheapest of the bunch starting at $199 - is available in 38mm or 42mm sizes. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, a well-known Apple analyst, tweeted in response to the rumor saying he believes the Apple Watch Pro will support older bands....

The R9 3950X is a $750 processor, so pairing it with motherboards priced a little over $100 wouldn’t be considered by most right now. However, in the not too distant future you’ll be able to snag a second hand 3950X at a significant discount, that’s just the way it seems to go with AMD processors. There are a few reasons for this, but the two main ones are that AMD doesn’t lock you into a platform like Intel, so second hand shoppers have significantly more options....

Today’s test is an exciting one for that same reason. Laptop maker XMG recently reached out to offer their machines for testing, saying they offered both Ryzen Mobile 4000 and Intel laptops… using the same design and chassis! To be clear, the design in question isn’t made by XMG, but comes from Chinese ODM Tongfang, who supply designs to many other laptop brands. XMG have branded this laptop as the Core 15, but you may have also seen it as the Eluktronics RP-15, among others....

The HD Tune Pro write performance results are pretty impressive. When measuring the 512 bytes performance, the Samsung 470 Series 256GB was the second fastest SSD. Then when looking at the 1MB random performance and the random file size tests, the Samsung 470 lead the charts.

Filling up the SSD 850 Pro only had a slight impact on performance, reducing the large file copy results by just 4% based on an average of three runs. This time we see just a 3% reduction in performance once the SSD 850 Pro is full. There is almost no difference (a 2% dip) in performance when comparing the SSD 850 Pro empty and full using our game data....

Samsung used the Galaxy S II to show off its brand new TouchWiz 4.0 user interface, which runs atop of Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread. I was a big fan of TouchWiz 3, and am pleased to report that 4.0 is even better. The main menu and home screens, as you’ll see in our videos, are even more flexible and useful than before. The improved unlock screen provides quick access to missed calls or messages, plenty of new and attractive widgets for the home screens have been added, and the phone’s 1....