Components

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Two GPUs in a large PC case.
I tried NVIDIA's DLSS 5 before its official release—it's incredible

DLSS 5 isn't slop.

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An ESP32 board with a relay attached to a motherboard.
How a $3 ESP32 card turns your PC's power button into a remote switch—no Wake-on-LAN required

I can turn on my PC from anywhere.

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A Ryzen 7 7700 processor in an AM5 socket.
Why used Ryzen 5000 chips are suddenly the smartest CPU purchase in years
AMD

Now is not the time to invest in the latest components

An NVMe SSD heatsink that came stock with a motherboard.
Your fancy PCIe 5.0 drives are probably running at half speed
SSD

There's a good chance your Gen5 SSD is only using half the lanes it was sold with.

A stick of DDR4 laying on an old motherboard.
I built a NAS from a decade-old PC and it still beats a Synology

A commercial NAS is convenient, but building your own gets you better performance.

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An AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT installed in a desktop PC.
Nvidia is all-in on DLSS, but AMD’s simpler GPU strategy is starting to look smarter
GPU

Actual hardware improvements feel better when you have to spend a lot of money

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A red and blue horsehoe magnet with numerous paperclips stuck to it.
How magnets went from "computer poison" to being in everything

From floppy-era disasters to laptop lids and MagSafe snaps, an unexpected journey through magnets in computing.

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Corsair RAM sticks in a gaming PC.
DDR5 might be the "lost generation" of PC RAM
RAM

Are you still using DDR4? You're not alone

Closeup of graphics card in ITX case
GPU undervolting isn't worth the hassle: Set a power limit to drop temps in seconds
GPU

A simple power limit can tame runaway temps and fan noise while keeping most gaming performance intact and stable.

The rear I/O of a NZXT motherboard, showing nine USB-A ports and just one USB-C port.
This is the cheapest solution to your PC's dead USB port
USB

USB port is toast? Don't worry, you can fix it up

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A crucial SSD inside of a motherboard for a gaming PC.
The M.2 slot under your CPU is in the worst possible place, and manufacturers are never going to fix it
SSD

Your SSD gets the fastest connection possible, but only if you can actually reach the slot.

An AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT installed in a desktop PC.
Why AMD's latest drivers make ditching NVIDIA actually worth it
GPU

And I say that as an NVIDIA GPU owner.

The EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 SSC GAMING ACX 2.0 graphics card sitting on a desk.
I stopped saving up for a new GPU after optimizing my CPU's graphics performance

Who has the money to buy a new GPU right now, especially when the CPU can help?

Two RTX GPUs in a home server.
I thought 16GB of VRAM was overkill until I started automating my work with local LLMs

I can never get enough VRAM these days.

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An AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT installed in a desktop PC.
I switched from NVIDIA to AMD, and one difference surprised me every day
GPU

I don't have to use two separate GPU utilities? Brilliant!

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CyberPowerPC Phanteks CPU cooler inside a gaming pc.
It's time to throw away your PC's small AIO liquid cooler

Small radiators choke under long loads as modern heatpipe air coolers close the gap with quieter reliability.

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Two video out ports on a dinged up old GPU.
I've started buying "broken" GPUs, and it's not because I know how to fix them
GPU

One gamer's trash is a self-hoster's treasure.

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A USB bus plugged into a PC with all the ports on
Your PC has a hidden USB limit

I pushed my USB ports to the limit just to see how many devices my PC could handle.

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A Ryzen 5 5600X CPU inside a B550M motherboard with some DDR4 RAM and an NVMe SSD.
Stop gaming on these 4 AMD processors
AMD

AMD has come a long way, and these CPUs are proof of how far!

Plugable UD-MSTH3 PC dock with external monitors
This PC dock gives you dual 4K 60Hz monitors without using Thunderbolt

Plugable offers a sharp multi-display setup with USB-C and no drivers.

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