Custom PC Issue 226, July 2022

EK EK AIO 240 BASIC/£83incVAT SUPPLIER overclockers.co.uk C ustom water-cooling hardware Elite Capellix, you get enough paste to cover the EK-AIO 240 Basic gets our vote. It’s a manufacturer EK has dabbled in the several remounts or upgrades. Unlike the shame LGA1700 compatibility doesn’t come AIO liquid cooler market for a few ARCTIC cooler, though, you’ll need to buy an as standard and the, and the waterblock/ years, and has now settled on a traditional LGA1700 mounting kit for Intel’s 12th-gen pump unit is a bit large, but we can’t argue design with a sealed loop, which comes in CPUs separately. On the plus side, it only costs with the cooling, build quality or price. either plain black design or with an RGB- a couple of quid. enabled pump and fans. It’s the former that For most people, we’d still recommend we’re reviewing here in the form of the With no lighting on offer, you only need opting for the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II EK-AIO 240 Basic; if you’re not fussed at all to deal with the 4-pin PWM cables for the 240 RGB, which offers a VRM cooling by multi-coloured flashing lights, this is the pump and fans. The latter benefit from a fan, slightly lower noise levels and RGB cooler to buy this month. PWM splitter cable, so you need just one lighting, as well as out-of-the-box LGA1700 At a price of £83 inc VAT, it’s very fan header on your motherboard to power compatibility. However, the EK-AIO 240 Basic reasonably priced too, shaving over £25 them. Installation is simple as well, with the remains a great choice if you like its classy off the price of the Corsair iCUE H100i Elite EK-AIO 240 Basic having a straightforward minimalist appearance. Capellix, although it does lack software mounting mechanism for all sockets, using control and a fan hub. On the other side of the thumbscrews, springs and a backplate. VERDICT pricing fence, the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240 Great cooling and quiet operation for a RGB is actually slightly cheaper and includes In terms of cooling power, the EK cooler’s reasonable price – ideal if you’re not fussed RGB lighting, as well as expertly tidied cables CPU delta T in our Intel system of 49°C beat about RGB lighting. and pre-installed fans. However, the EK’s the Corsair iCUE H100i Elite Capellix and was fans are more powerful, which was our one 6°C lower than the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II Intel LGA1700 complaint about the ARCTIC cooler. The EK’s 240 RGB too. What’s more, it made a similarly fans can hit 2,400rpm, which gives the cooler low amount of noise to the latter, and it was COOLING FEATURES OVERALL SCORE some clout on high-end CPUs. far quieter than the former. It wasn’t quite It’s also extremely well made, with braided as potent in our AMD system, though, only 36/40 8/20 80% and highly flexible tubing, along with chrome- offering a 4°C advantage over the ARCTIC plated end caps – it’s a premium look that cooler, and it was also bettered by the Corsair DESIGN VALUE helps to set the EK apart from other coolers. cooler in this system, although again the The black brushed cap on the pump will Corsair was much noisier. 18/20 18/20 look great with any grey or black-themed ustomP motherboards. Just be aware that the large Conclusion c FITTING waterblock/pump unit may be an issue on PPROVE some smaller motherboards when it comes While the EK’s setup is as basic as liquid D Easy to clearance. coolers come, if you don’t want RGB lighting COOLING C EK also includes a tube of high- and just want a reasonably priced, good- performance Thermal Grizzly thermal paste performing, classy-looking AIO liquid cooler, 36/40A in the box, so unlike the Corsair iCUE H100i DESIGN AMD Socket AM4 SPEC EK EEK 17/20 FEATURES OVERALL SCORE Intel compatibility LGA1700 (with optional ustomP kit), LGA1200, LGA115x, LGA2066, LGA2011 + Jet-black design - Rather basic 8/20 79% + Reasonable price PPROVE AMD compatibility Socket AM4 + Great build quality - No RGB lighting VALUE Radiator size with fans (mm) - LGA1700 kit is 18/20 120 x 275 x 52 (W x D x H) optional extra c FITTING Fans 2 x 120mm D Easy Stated noise 34dBA C A 51

LABS TEST / 240MM LIQUID COOLERS LIAN LIGALAHAD SL 240MM/£140 incVAT SUPPLIER overclockers.co.uk T he original Lian Li Galahad AIO liquid metal sheets with plenty of shiny GALAHAD SIR ROBIN cooler was a favourite from our last bevelled edges, which you’ll also 240mm cooler group test, thanks to find on the fans and waterblock/ + Fantastic looks - Poor cooling its stunning appearance, decent performance pump unit. It looks stunning. The + Innovative fan linking - Expensive and reasonable price, but a lot has changed pump also sports RGB lighting, with + Software control - Software is a bit clunky with the latest version. The Galahad SL a ring around its base and a dot display 240mm now costs £30 more than the in the cap, which is either partially covered by really can’t be justified when it has such original Galahad, which puts it at a distinct a Lian Li logo or by an aluminium cap that’s lacklustre cooling performance. The Corsair disadvantage when it’s up against the Corsair included in the box. iCUE H100i Elite Capellix is cheaper and a iCUE H100i Elite Capellix, which has received much better performer, while the ARCTIC a sizeable price cut and retails for £30 less. If you want to use an Intel 12th-gen CPU, Liquid Freezer II 240 RGB is cheaper and However, the Galahad SL 240mm sports then LGA1700 compatibility is all included cooler, while still offering RGB lighting. a number of upgrades this time. Its trump in the box too, as is a tube of thermal cards are its Uni Fan SL120 fans, which offer paste to cater for future CPU upgrades VERDICT stunning RGB lighting, and their slot-together or motherboard changes. The fans and A stunning-looking cooler, but its performance design that means only one PWM and RGB pump proved to be reasonably quiet in is let down by weak fans. cable is required for both fans. The pump our testing as well, but the fan blades are has both power and RGB cables trailing from significantly shorter than those on usual Intel LGA1700 it, though, so the cable setup isn’t quite as 120mm fans, in order to make way for the slick as that of the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II lighting components. COOLING 70%FEATURES OVERALL SCORE 240 RGB, although the Lian Li does at least come with a software-controlled fan and Unfortunately, this arrangement with the 32/40 14/20 lighting hub. fan blades seems to hamper cooling, with Using a USB header cable and Lian Li’s the Lian Li’s best delta T result of 57°C (on our DESIGN VALUE own software, you can individually control LGA1700 system) being 2°C warmer than the digital RGB lighting of each fan, as well that of the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240 RGB, 13/20 11/20 as the pump, and control the speeds as which is quieter and costs £60 less. Using the well. The software is quite basic, and no low speed setting in the software saw this FITTING match for Corsair’s powerful iCUE software, temperature rise by a further 4°C. It was again but it does the job. not able to better the cheaper ARCTIC cooler Easy Meanwhile, the cooler’s build quality is in our AMD system either, and the Corsair superb, and the radiator is clad in brushed iCUE H100i Elite Capellix was 6°C cooler in AMD Socket AM4 this test as well. SPEC COOLING 68%FEATURES OVERALL SCORE Conclusion Intel compatibility LGA 1700, LGA1200, 31/40 14/20 LGA115x, LGA2066, LGA2011 It’s hard not to be disappointed by the Lian Li Galahad SL 240mm, especially when DESIGN VALUE AMD compatibility Socket AM4 its predecessor was one of our favourite 240mm AIO liquid coolers. Here, though, 12/20 11/20 Radiator size with fans (mm) Lian Li has largely sacrificed cooling for 124 x 273 x 52 (W x D x H) aesthetics, and its SL fans appear to be FITTING quite compromised – their small fan Fans 2 x 120mm blades simply don’t push air at a rate that’s Easy consistent with the noise they churn out. Stated noise 32dBA This, is a real shame, as every other aspect of the cooler is fantastic, but its high price 52

NZXT KRAKEN Z53 RGB/£230 incVAT SUPPLIER scan.co.uk W hile Corsair’s iCUE H100i Elite a frightening amount of cable spaghetti, while making less noise too. However, both Capellix flagship 240mm AIO liquid though, and at this price, we expect more to be the EK EK-AIO 240 Basic and iCUE H100i cooler has seen a hefty price cut, the done to limit the excessive cabling, especially Elite Capellix were never far away in terms of same can’t be said for NZXT’s Kraken Z53 RGB as ARCTIC did a great job with its cooler for temperature, and they both cost significantly White, which is currently the company’s considerably less money. The pump section is less money. priciest 240mm model. As a result, it will set extremely large too, being too big to fit some you back over £200 and cost nearly three mini-ITX motherboards, including the Asus Conclusion times as much as the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II ROG Strix Z690-I Gaming WiFi. 240 RGB or the EK EK-AIO 240 Basic. If it cost £150 instead of £230, we’d be all The highlight of the cooler, of course, is over the NZXT Kraken Z53 RGB, but the NZXT hasn’t just slapped a randomly high its 2.36in customisable display mounted in competition in this market segment is fierce price on the box though – it's an extremely the waterblock/pump unit, which can cycle and some coolers have even received price good-looking cooler that’s packed with the through data inputs, such as GPU, CPU and drops too. This makes the Kraken less of a latest tech. Its 120mm AER RGB fans sport coolant temperature, as well as clock speed lustworthy item and more of a hideously amazing lighting arrays and can be software- and CPU load. You can also upload GIFs, and expensive one. It undoubtedly looks great, but controlled using NZXT’s CAM software, as can customise the display’s text, background and there are numerous coolers that are better the 7th-gen Asetek-derived pump. detail sections separately. buys on test this month. We haven’t had any issues with the latest Corsair’s latest displays are even better, VERDICT version of this software, but we’ve seen but they’re not included with the iCUE H100i Great cooling, lighting and software control, some complaints online about it being a little Elite Capellix and are a £90 optional extra. but it’s just too expensive. buggy. The pump and fans can be controlled However, even adding this option would still separately, either using Silent or Performance make the Corsair cooler significantly cheaper Intel LGA1700 profiles, a fixed speed or your own custom than the Kraken Z53 RGB. curve, using CPU, coolant or even GPU temperatures to control them. Sadly, the included RGB hardware only features proprietary connectors too, so you Despite the fans sporting daisy-chained can’t connect it to standard 3-pin or 4-pin RGB cables, you do still have to contend with controllers on your motherboard. THE KRAKEN BUBO THE OWL Meanwhile, the speed profiles on offer vary COOLING FEATURES OVERALL SCORE the fan and pump speeds, but even the Silent + Excellent cooling - Expensive profile will eventually ramp up to maximum 36/40 19/20 75% + Brilliant fan and speed at around 60°C, sitting at lower noise - Proprietary RGB levels below this temperature. DESIGN VALUE lighting control connectors On the plus side, an extra set of fan screws 12/20 8/20 + Great-looking display is included if you want to install a second row - Lots of cables of fans on the radiator. What’s more, Intel’s FITTING new LGA1700 socket for 12th-gen CPUs are SPEC usually supported out of the box too, with all Easy coolers manufactured this year including a Intel compatibility LGA1700, LGA115x, new installation kit. AMD Socket AM4 LGA1200, LGA2066, LGA2011 Cooling from the Kraken Z53 RGB was COOLING FEATURES OVERALL SCORE AMD compatibility Socket AM4, AM3+, TRX/4 excellent on both our CPU sockets, even matching the mighty Sapphire Nitro S240 in 38/40 19/20 75% Radiator size with fans (mm) our AMD system with a CPU delta T of 50°C, 123 x 275 x 55 (W x D x H) DESIGN VALUE Fans 2 x 120mm 10/20 8/20 Stated noise 33dBA FITTING Easy 53

LABS TEST / 240MM LIQUID COOLERS PHANTEKS GLACIER ONE 240 T30/£160 incVAT SUPPLIER overclockers.co.uk A s its name suggests, the Phanteks The rest of the cooler is the same as Conclusion Glacier One 240 T30 comes with Phanteks’ previous designs, though, with an Phanteks’ new T30 120mm fans, identical PWM-controlled 7th-generation The Phanteks certainly has formidable which have received rave reviews and we can Asetek pump, and Phanteks hasn’t yet added cooling, and it comes at a cost in terms of price see why. They’re fantastically well made and LGA1700 support to its liquid coolers either. and noise, but even at lower speeds, it’s still a they shift a huge amount of air, not only for match for the best-performing coolers on test the amount of noise produced, but also in Instead, a mounting kit is available for free this month. absolute terms. While there’s no software by contacting its customer support, or you control for the pump or fans, each fan has a can buy one for a few quid from retailers or The price for the Phanteks Glacier One 240 switch to toggle between Advanced, is included (overclockers.co.uk will include T30 is steep, though, especially given that the Performance and Hybrid modes. one if you buy the Glacier One 240 T30 too). Corsair iCUE H100i Elite Capellix was never The latter cuts the rpm to zero until a 50 per Thankfully, installation is straightforward on more than a few degrees off the pace and cent PWM signal is applied, before spinning all sockets, with the familiar Asetek mounting costs significantly less money. up to a lowly peak of 1,200rpm. Performance mechanism making use of backplates, pins mode raises the speed steadily to 2,000rpm and thumbscrews. The Phanteks is most at home when it's and Advanced mode peaks at an unpleasantly dealing with significant amounts of heat, so if noisy 3,000rpm, but this gives you a huge As expected, the Phanteks’ performance you want the ability to tap into some extreme range of speeds with which to play. was exceptional, although we couldn’t help cooling, the Phanteks is by far the most The benefit here is that each setting offers a feeling that a more powerful pump could powerful 240mm liquid cooler we’ve tested, maximum sound level and rpm speed, as well have yielded even better performance. but you have to pay for it. as an easy way to control fan speed ranges. Still, in Advanced mode it was the best- That said, we recommend that anyone who’s performing cooler on test, with CPU delta VERDICT familiar with their motherboard’s EFI should Ts of 49°C and 45°C in our AMD and Intel Monstrous cooling power, but it’s expensive just opt for the 3,000rpm mode and fine-tune systems respectively, outpacing the Sapphire compared with the competition. their fan speeds in the EFI themselves. Nitro S240 and bettering the ARCTIC Liquid In addition to the high-performance fans, Freezer II 240 RGB and Corsair iCUE H100i Intel LGA1700 the radiator is also much thicker than the Elite Capellix by wide margins. However, it others on test, sitting at 38mm deep, while was extremely noisy at this setting, which COOLING 7 7%FEATURES OVERALL SCORE most others are around 10mm thinner. This we certainly wouldn’t recommend using for allows the radiator to dissipate more heat, everyday computing. 38/40 14/20 thanks to an increased surface area, and make real use of its powerful fans, which can then Dropping to Performance mode and cutting DESIGN VALUE properly push air through the extra thickness. 1,000rpm from the fan speeds saw it match the Corsair cooler in our AMD system, with 14/20 11/20 SPEC a delta T of 51°C and hit the same 49°C delta T as the EK EK-AIO 240 Basic in our Intel FITTING Intel compatibility LGA1700 (with system, with comparable noise levels. optional mounting kit), LGA1200, Easy LGA115x, LGA2066, LGA2011 AMD Socket AM4 AMD compatibility Socket AM4, TR4/X COOLING 75%FEATURES OVERALL SCORE Radiator size with fans (mm) 120 x 273 x 63 (W x D x H) GLACIER ICE CUBE 38/40 14/20 Fans 2 x 120mm + Fabulous fans - Poor value DESIGN VALUE + Extreme cooling Stated noise 40dBA + Snazzy RGB lighting - No LGA1700 12/20 11/20 compatibility as FITTING standard Easy - Noisy at high speeds 54

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LABS TEST / 240MM LIQUID COOLERS SAPPHIRE NITRO S240/£130 incVAT SUPPLIER overclockers.co.uk S apphire is a brand that we normally speed. The fans have both speed and RGB to have running in your PC at full speed. It’s associate with graphics cards, but lighting signals sent over a single cable to cheaper than the Phanteks Glacier One 240 the innovative AMD GPU partner is reduce clutter, but with six cables running T30, but if we wanted the best cooling, we’d now branching out into the liquid cooler scene, off the pump, you’ll need to spend some opt for the Phanteks, which is even cooler and and the Nitro S240 seems like a decent first time reducing cable tangles around your is also still excellent at its lower fan speeds, effort, featuring an attractive RGB-enabled motherboard’s CPU socket. where it was quieter than the Nitro S240. pump and powerful 2,400rpm RGB fans. The pump is the same 7th-generation The cooler is powered by a single SATA Meanwhile, if you want RGB lighting, the Asetek design as we’ve seen on other coolers connector, while the RGB lighting is controlled Corsair iCUE H100i Elite Capellix is a better this month, such as the Phanteks Glacier using a standard 3-pin connector, so you can buy, saving you some cash while still offering One 240 T30, but we’re happy to report that, link it to your motherboard or use a separate decent cooling and full software control. unlike Phanteks, Sapphire includes LGA1700 RGB controller. The lighting is very bright and However, this is a superb first effort for mounting components in the box. vibrant too, giving Corsair and NZXT a run Sapphire, and only a few niggles and some Sapphire also offers useful measurements for their money this month, with beautifully stiff competition sees it miss out. for the waterblock/pump section, which is diffusing fan blades. This is where the extras quite hefty, and the company's web page end, though, as there are no additional fan VERDICT (sapphiretech.com) needs to be a first port of screws, nor a tube of thermal paste for future Good-looking and powerful, but it’s also call for anyone with a mini-ITX motherboard, applications, as the paste is pre-applied. extremely noisy and rather expensive. so you can make sure it fits, as its 91mm width might foul memory modules in some While the Sapphire Nitro S40 definitely isn’t Intel LGA1700 orientations. You don’t have to deal with an going to be a friend of your ears at full speed, overly chunky radiator, though, as it has the though, the decibels did at least translate into standard 27mm thickness. excellent cooling, with thermal performance Both the pump and fans have separate coming second only to the mighty Phanteks PWM cables for speed control, and you’ll Glacier One 240 T30 – the Sapphire even need them too, as it’s a noisy cooler at full outpaced the Corsair iCUE H100i Elite Capellix and EK EK-AIO 240 Basic in both our AMD and SAPPHIRE BLUE GLASS Intel systems. COOLING 73%FEATURES OVERALL SCORE + Vibrant RGB lighting - Extremely noisy Its CPU delta T when cooling our Core 38/40 12/20 + LGA1700 compatibility - Lots of pump cables i9-12900K was 46°C, which is just 1°C behind - A bit pricey the Phanteks cooler and 4°C lower than the DESIGN VALUE out of the box result from the iCUE H100i Elite Capellix. In our AMD system cooling, our overclocked 11/20 12/20 + Excellent cooling Ryzen 7 5800X it managed a CPU delta T of 50°C, again just behind the Phanteks cooler, FITTING SPEC but only a degree or two behind the Corsair and EK coolers. You can slow down the fan Easy Intel compatibility LGA1700, LGA1200, speeds, but at low speeds, the Phanteks was LGA115x, LGA2066, LGA2011 cooler and quieter than the Sapphire. AMD Socket AM4 AMD compatibility Socket AM4, TR4/X Conclusion COOLING 70%FEATURES OVERALL SCORE Radiator size with fans (mm) We can’t deny that the Sapphire Nitro S240 37/40 12/20 120 x 273 x 52 (W x D x H) looks great, and it’s also extremely powerful, but it really isn’t the most pleasant cooler DESIGN VALUE Fans 2 x 120mm 9/20 12/20 Stated noise 36dBA FITTING Easy 56

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LABS TEST / WI FI 6 MESH ROUTERS LABS TEST Team work Want Wi-Fi that covers your whole home? Edward Chester puts five of the latest mid-range Wi-Fi 6 mesh router systems to the test How we test (whereapplicable)just outsidethebackdoor,inanoutsideshed.Wi-Fi speedtests were thenperformed inthesame roomas therouter at a M eshWi-FiroutersarethebestchoiceforgettingareliableWi-Fi distanceof2m, in a first-floorrear bedroom(7m,one floorandone wall signal across a wide area, but the top-end systems can get away) and half way down the garden (20m and two brick walls away). very expensive, while the budget systems often lack the latest Tests were performedwithoneunit, twounits thenthree units,again Wi-Fi standards. So, to find out how to get high speeds without breaking where applicable. the bank, we’ve grabbed a selection of the latest mid-range offerings that include Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) but still all cost under £350 – believe it or We testedWi-Fithroughputusing LANSpeedTest,setting upa not, the top-of-the-range two-node systems cost double that figure. server attachedviaGigabit Ethernettotherouter,thenconnecting All the systemson testconsist of eithertwo or threeunits,ornodes, tothatserver overWi-FiusingalaptopwithanAX1650Wi-Ficard. one of which plugs directly into your broadband modem or ISP- We alsotestedforping(thespeed of responsefromaserver) using provided router, and theotherunitscan then beplaced throughout your netmeter.co.uk/ping-test. A low ping is essential for gaming and home, wheretheycan pickupthe originalWi-Fisignal andextendit other applicationsthat requirea rapid, thoughnotnecessarilyhigh- on to thefurthest reaches ofyourhome. A typical setupmight involve bandwidth, response. havingthe first unit in aground floorfrontroom,puttinga second uniton thefirstfloorandusingathirdunitforeven higherfloors,orinthegarage Elsewhere,ourassessmentcomes down tovalueformoney,easeof for wide coverage ofyourback garden. setup,reliability,features(someunits includeUSBports forsharingdata To test oursystems,we setthemupwiththebase unitinaground and printers,while others includeextraEthernetportsforconnecting floor front room, one unit in a ground floor back room and the third unit multiple devices) and build quality. Contents Netgear Orbi RBK752 /p62 TP-Link Deco X50 /p63 Asus ZenWiFi AX Hybrid XP4 /p59 Linksys Velop MX8400 /p60 Netgear Nighthawk Mesh MK63 /p61 58

ASUS ZENWIFI AX HYBRID XP4/£213 incVAT(twounits) SUPPLIER amazon.co.uk T heAsusXP4immediatelysetsitself mains powercabling. ustomP apart fromthe competition withone Circuit breakers, extension c usefuladdition–italso supports leads, oldwiring and powerlinenetworking. That’swhere a morecanresultin abreak AD E networkingdevice usesyourhome’spower or degradation of the C cables to transmitdata, allowingyouto signal. Unfortunately, it’s potentially getgreater reliability,higher speeds just about impossible to PRE andmuchgreater range thanwith Wi-Fi. knowexactlyhow well MIUM GR Inthisinstance,youjust plug eachof the powerlinewill work for units intothewall, andthey canautomatically yourhome setupwithout PEACEFUL PAINFUL create and use a powerline connection to pass trying it. data between each other (this link between + Powerline backhaul - Middling peak Wi-Fi networking nodesisknownas the backhaul). Inourtests, we setupthetwo + Solid Wi-Fi speeds This is particularly useful if you have a garage unitswithbothaWi-Fibackhaul andpowerline + Good value speed orsummerhouse that hasmains electricity, backhaul. For the former, we placed thesecond butiswelloutside the rangeof anormalWi-Fi unitin the backroomaswithourothertests. For - Only dual-band Wi-Fi signal. Some mesh routersystems also thepowerline backhaul,wesetup thesecond allow forwired backhaul viatheir Ethernet unit inthesame position, butthenalsouseda server. Both units also have two LAN ports, so connections,whichyou couldthen plug 30m extension cord to stretch the powerline you’llhavelessneed tobuya wirednetworking signal allthewaytothebottom of ourgarden, switchifyouwanttowireanyofyour network. into separate welloutof reach oftheothersystems. powerline Conclusion adaptors, but Asus’ With thelattersetup, we noted terrible solution to this performance inourinitial testsuntil we fully TheAsus ZenWiFiAXHybrid XP4isn’tthelast problem savesthe unfurled thespare3-4mof thecablefrom word in peak Wi-Fithroughputbut itputsin cost andhassleof the extensionreel.Withmainscablingbeing a solidshowingandoutclassessome other extra gear. unshielded,the coiled cable wascausing mesh systems rated tothe same AX1800 massiveinterference withitself.With the Wi-Fispeed.Itsuniquefeatureof built-in Thebig caveat cable fullyextended,we gotsolid speeds of powerlinenetworkingisalsoa boon for those with powerline 284Mbps,withveryimpressivepings ofno needing tostretchtheir Wi-Fi signalparticularly networks isthat higherthan 28ms. Pingsforourothertest long distancesorthroughthickwalls– they rely onthe setups at locationthree(whichiscloserthan assuming they have mains cabling to those qualityof your thistest)would regularly jumptoover100ms. locations.Youalso getplenty offeaturesforthis competitive price. SPEC As fornormalWi-Fispeeds,the XP4 putin a solidshowing.With one unit, itessentially VERDICT Weight 667g per unit maxed out our laptop’s Wi-Fi adaptor, hitting Solid all-round performance, plenty of 710Mbps at closerange. It alsodelivered features and potentially handy powerline Dimensions (mm) 143 x 65 x 207 (W x D x H) reliable performance in oursecond testlocation networking make the Asus a cracking buy. per unit (359Mbps), although failed to connect at our third location,asdidallthesingle-node setups. DESIGN FEATURES OVERALL SCORE Ethernet 1 x Gigabit LAN and 1 x Gigabit WAN Withbothunits, speeds averaged 477Mbps per unit with a Wi-Fi backhaul and 354Mbps with a 8/10 26/30 82% powerlinebackhaul atthesecond testlocation, Wi-Fi Wi-Fi 6 AX1800 (802.1ax) whilebothsetupsaveragedaround 250Mbps PERFORMANCE VALUE in the third test location. Claimed channel speeds 1 x 5GHz 1,202Mbps 22/30 26/30 channel and 1 x 2.4 GHz 574Mbps channel per unit Elsewhere, theXP4'sfeaturesetimpresses, with each unit including a USB 3.2 port that USB ports 1 x USB 3.2 port per unit supportsa mass offeatures, suchasprinter sharingandusingUSBstorage as a media Processor 64-bit 1.2 GHz quad-core Extras Powerline backhaul, USB hard drive and printer sharing, USB media server 59

LABS TEST / WI FI 6 MESH ROUTERS LINKSYS VELOP ustomPc MX8400/£300 incVAT(twounits) PPROVE D SUPPLIER ebuyer.com C A I fyouwantthebriefestpossible ThisLinksyssystemfirmlylands inthehigh- toget wideandfastWi-Ficoverage. However, summary of thekeyperformance end,tri-band category.Availablein packs with if youdoneedmorecoveragethentheVelop differences between more basic one(£150incVAT),two(£300incVAT)or three MX4200system(aseachunitis called)will Wi-Fi 6-capable routers and higher-end units, units(£400),theVelop unitsare eachidentical, sort youout. it’s thatthe top-of-the-rangeunits come with makingiteasyto buyonlyasmanyasyou three Wi-Fibands(2 x5GHz,1x2.4GHz),with need andthen addmore units further down Conclusion the second5GHzbandpeakingat speeds of theline.Theyalso supportwired backhaulvia 2,400Mbps. Meanwhile, cheaper units have theirEthernetports,making themeven more PreviousLinksysVelop systems havefelt just twobands (1 x5GHz,1x2.4GHz),withthe versatile and further freeing up Wi-Fi bands for a littlesparseonfeaturesfor theirprice,but 5GHz band peakingat 1,200Mbps. client connections rather than backhaul. thislatestsystemisfar morecapable and For standalone routers, theextrabands more competitivelypriced. Its Wi-Fispeeds are useful for spreading the Wi-Fiload when Setting up the Velop units has always areexcellent andyou getwiredbackhaultoo, manydevices are simultaneously connecting been expressly only via an app with a Linksys makingit easytosetupcomplex hybrid wired/ totherouter,whichcanactuallybe quitea account,which wefind a little irritating –it’s wirelessnetworksystems. Theadditionof rare occurrence. However,for mesh systems sometimeseasiertojustconnect aPCto a extra Ethernet portsanda USBport ineach router to setitup via abrowser.However, once nodeaddsextraflexibilitytoo. It’sstillnota the extra bands you’ve signed up, it’s a slick (if decidedly slow) cheapsystembutitspremiumprice ismatched are particularly process as you addeachnodeto thenetwork with premiumfeaturesandperformance. useful for ensuring separately.Somesystems aremore plug-and- yougetreally fast play when it comes to setting them up. VERDICT connections between Versatile and with strong Wi-Fi performance, allthe nodes, as well Each unithousesthree Gigabit LANEthernet the new Velop system is ideal for those as to your devices. ports as well asaWAN Ethernet port, along seeking a mesh system with more than Ifyou onlyhave withaUSB3port.Thelattercanbeused to just two nodes. twobands, mesh connectandshareahard drive on eachnode systems cangeta but it doesn’tsupportother features suchas bitcloggedup, aswe printer sharing. see with the Netgear Nighthawk Mesh In ourtests,theMX8400showed what system opposite. thatextra2,400Mbpsband cando, butonly incertaininstances.Intest location one,the SPEC Linksyswaslimitedby ourlaptop’sWi-Fi adaptorwhetherusing oneortwonodes, Weight 943g per unit hitting 770Mbps.In oursecondtestlocation, though, we sawspeedshit383Mbpswith one Dimensions (mm) 114 x 114 x 244 (W x D x H) nodeand535Mbpswithtwonodes.At thethird per unit test location,a single nodewasn’tenoughto reach our laptop, but with two nodes we saw Ethernet 3 x Gigabit LAN and 1 x gigabit WAN impressive speeds of 331Mbps. Pingswere per unit consistentlylow throughouttoo. Wi-Fi Wi-Fi 6 AX4200 (802.1ax) All told, that’s an impressive showing and certainly proves the point that for most homes Claimed channel speeds 1 x 5GHz 2,400Mbps a decenttwo-node meshsystem is enough channel, 1 x 5GHz 1,200Mbps channel and 1 x 2.4GHz 600Mbps channel per unit MISSING LINK WEAKEST LINK DESIGN FEATURES OVERALL SCORE USB ports 1 x USB 3 per unit + Very fast Wi-Fi - Quite pricey 8/10 24/30 80% + Wired backhaul Processor 1.4GHz quad-core + Versatile - Slow initial setup PERFORMANCE VALUE Extras Wired backhaul via Ethernet, hard drive 26/30 22/30 sharing via USB 60

NETGEAR NIGHTHAWK MESH MK63/£330 incVAT(threeunits) SUPPLIER amazon.co.uk N etgear’s Nighthawk Mesh system is system to largely work right out the box, speeds of 355Mbps and maximum pings of a bit of an oddity, as the company with a predetermined network name and under 35ms. In location three, we also got a normally reserves its Nighthawk password printed on the devices. Secondly, consistent 131Mbps, with pings that peaked at brand for its performance-orientated, it allows Netgear to add a sync button to the 128ms but largely stayed below 35ms. gamer-centric products. This system, devices that, when pressed, automatically though, is decidedly basic and includes three adds a node to the network with no other Adding a third node resulted in some units rather than two for its relatively modest configuration needed. bizarre performance results, which we’ve asking price. seen before with some dual-band systems Each node of this kit features a dual- Full setup can be done via a web browser when daisy-chained together. In location two, band Wi-Fi configuration that tops out at or the Netgear app, with the latter also we initially saw a big drop in performance 1,200Mbps for the 5GHz band and 600Mbps providing a useful network map view that until we manually disconnected and for the 2.4GHz band. Not only does that shows how the various nodes are connected reconnected it, at which point performance mean its peak performance isn’t as high as and what devices are connected to each one. was about the same as with two nodes. some other routers on test, but also that This makes it easy to know if any particular Meanwhile, at location three, performance performance at range will be limited by the device is mistakenly trying to connect to a dropped to just 59Mbps with maximum lack of an extra Wi-Fi band, especially if you’re node that’s further away than another one, pings hitting over 500ms. We’re sure daisy-chaining all three nodes in a row. for instance. performance would settle down over time, Also, while we say ‘nodes’, this system but it was notable how the other systems doesn’t have identical, multipurpose nodes Physical features are lacking though. Each on test didn’t have such issues finding an but instead has a dedicated router and tiny unit houses just a single Gigabit Ethernet optimal signal. two satellites. In theory, this could limit its LAN port (other than the router, which also versatility but in practice, one node will has a WAN port) and there’s no support for Conclusion always need to be configured as the primary USB devices. Thankfully, the Ethernet ports router, so Netgear is just skipping a few setup can be used to provide wired backhaul, so The Netgear MK63 may feature the steps for you. you can spread the network further, but if you company’s fancy Nighthawk branding but There are some other advantages too. do, you have no way of connecting any other its performance doesn’t really live up to the Firstly, the company can preconfigure the wired devices to the two nodes at either end. name. It provides solid Wi-Fi coverage but it’s outclassed for overall Wi-Fi performance DARK KNIGHT THE JOKER When it comes to performance, this by several cheaper systems. Its lack of USB modest Wi-Fi setup showed its limitations support and limit of a single Ethernet port per + Plug-and-play setup - Modest Wi-Fi speeds from the off. With one node, it peaked at node is disappointing too. + Wired backhaul - No USB ports 662Mbps in location one and only managed + Good Wi-Fi coverage - Only dual-band Wi-Fi 218Mbps in location two, with maximum VERDICT pings regularly hitting over 50ms at the latter. A relatively affordable way to get wide SPEC Wi-Fi coverage, but there are cheaper, With two nodes, performance in location more capable systems available. Weight 286g per unit two improved considerably, with peak Dimensions (mm) 122 x 122 x 64 (W x D x H) per DESIGN FEATURES OVERALL SCORE unit 6/10 18/30 66% Ethernet 1 x Gigabit LAN and 1 x Gigabit WAN (router), 1 x Gigabit LAN (satellite) PERFORMANCE VALUE Wi-Fi Wi-Fi 6 AX1800 (802.1ax) ) 18/30 24/30 Claimed channel speeds 1 x 5GHz 1,200Mbps channel and 1 x 2.4GHz 600Mbps channel per unit USB ports None Processor 1.5GHz quad-core per unit Extras Wired backhaul 61

LABS TEST / WI FI 6 MESH ROUTERS NETGEAR ORBI RBK752/£320 incVAT(twounits) SUPPLIER amazon.co.uk N etgear’s Orbi systems have long held You can add several printed on the two units, so you can easily get the performance crown for two- more units but because away without having to think up a Wi-Fi name node mesh router systems, with its each unit still only has and password that you’ll inevitably forget. flagship RBK852 system currently topping our three Wi-Fi channels, overall test charts. However, with that system one channel can no When it comes to performance, the RBK752 costing £700, it’s rather out of contention of longer be dedicated to showed what that dedicated backhaul band is most buyers. This cheaper RBK752 system, backhaul. What you can all about, with excellent performance across though, sits on the next rung down and still do for more complex or long-range the board. In location one, we were hitting sports impressive specs. arrangements, though, is set up Ethernet over 700Mbps with one or two nodes, while This tri-band system can simultaneously backhaul. This will free up a Wi-Fi channel each in location two, the Orbi hit 374Mbps with handle one 600Mbps 2.4GHz stream, a on the nodes that are connected over Ethernet. one node and 560Mbps with two nodes. 1,200Mbps 5GHz stream and a 2,400Mbps At location three, we didn’t get a signal with 5GHz stream. Like other Orbi systems, though, In practice, though, most households will one unit but had a consistent and test- one of the 5GHz streams is dedicated to being find that two nodes are plenty for getting topping 358Mbps with two nodes, and with a wireless backhaul. good coverage. It’s only for enormous consistently low pings too. Netgear’s theory is that this dedicated houses, offices or situations where you either approach allows for the system to best have outhouses or garden space that need Conclusion optimise that single connection (with coverage that you’ll find you need a further- technologies such as beam-forming), reaching mesh network. Netgear’s latest Orbi system brings its increasing peak performance and reducing the excellent two-node Wi-Fi performance to chance of signal drops from having the router Although the rather large nodes of the a more affordable price point, making it an constantly trying to dynamically reassign RBK752 system look identical, one is actually excellent choice for those who need only a the channels, as with other systems. That’s a dedicated router and the other a satellite. small boost in range but want high speeds. A the theory and we’ve found it’s borne out in The former includes a Gigabit WAN port for lack of USB support makes this a less versatile practice too. connecting to your modem, along with three system than some, though, and its speed A key factor to note, though, is that this Gigabit Ethernet ports. The satellite just has advantage is modest for its price. arrangement only really brings a significant two Gigabit Ethernet ports, while both units performance advantage with a two-unit setup. lack any form of USB connection. VERDICT Excellent Wi-Fi speeds for a two-node SPEC Thanks to the units’ predetermined nature, system, but its feature list is modest and one of the big advantages of this system it’s quite pricey too. Weight 862g per unit is that it’s largely plug and play. Other than sometimes needing to reboot your ISP router Dimensions (mm) 183 x 71 x 231 (W x D x H) per or modem to get it communicating with the unit Orbi router, you can just turn on the units and they should automatically connect. Ethernet 2 x Gigabit LAN and 1 x Gigabit WAN (router), 2 x Gigabit LAN (satellite) Netgear also uses a fun, yet secure, and often quite easy-to-remember system for Wi-Fi Wi-Fi 6 AX4200 (802.1ax) naming its Wi-Fi signals too, using a random combination of two words and some numbers, Claimed channel speeds 1 x 5GHz 2,400Mbps such as orangecandle1234. These are then channel, 1 x 5GHz 1,200Mbps channel and 1 x 2.4GHz 600Mbps channel per unit ORBITAL PERIPHERAL DESIGN FEATURES OVERALL SCORE USB ports 1 x USB 3 per unit + Very fast Wi-Fi - No USB ports 8/10 20/30 75% + Plug-and-play setup - Quite pricey Processor 1.4GHz quad-core + Excellent coverage - Large units PERFORMANCE VALUE Extras Dedicated wireless backhaul 28/30 19/30 62

TP LINK DECO X50/£285 incVAT(threeunits) SUPPLIER box.co.uk T he TP-Link Deco X50 has an Finally, adding the third DECOROUS DISASTROUS intriguing Wi-Fi setup that combines node showed the lack of a single 2,400Mbps 5GHz band and a third Wi-Fi band really + Good Wi-Fi coverage - No USB ports a 600Mbps 2.4GHz band, rather than the affecting long-range + Fast peak Wi-Fi speed - Only dual-band Wi-Fi 1,200Mbps 5GHz and 600Mbps 2.4GHz performance. In location + Decent value - Slow long-range Wi-Fi combination we often see on mid-range, three, we saw only small dual-band mesh systems. This means you gains in throughput VAT and as a twin-pack for £220, making the should get high peak performance up close, (171Mbps) over having just triple-pack very clearly the best-value option if but performance won’t hold up as well as tri- two nodes. However, the signal you’re likely to need that many nodes. band systems once you get further away with was stronger, making for more consistent multiple nodes daisy-chained together. speeds and reliably low pings. Exact Conclusion That’s the theory, and it was our experience performance will also depend on your setup in practice too. Setting up our three-node and whether you’re daisy-chaining nodes, or Thanks to its reliance on a dual-band system initially with just one node, in test if you have them arranged around a central configuration, the TP-Link Deco X50 doesn’t location one we saw chart-topping speeds of hub node. set new records for performance at long 775Mbps (although all routers were limited by range, especially if you’re having to daisy- our test laptop’s Wi-Fi adaptor at this range) That’s the performance story of the X50 chain three or more nodes together. It’s also and average speeds of 331Mbps in location system, but what else does it have to offer? a shame it lacks any USB ports for sharing two. Pings were more inconsistent (regularly Well, as its fairly modest price for a triple-node connected devices. However, it has high peak jumping to over 100ms) than all the other kit suggests, it’s not bursting with features. performance up close, it’s easy to set up, it has routers on test this month in location two, Each very compact and fetching node houses reliable long-range coverage and it’s versatile though, so gaming and applications such as three Ethernet ports, so you have plenty of thanks to its support for wired backhaul. It video calls could be affected. options for connecting wired devices directly. offers decent value too, especially in this With two nodes, we saw speeds jump to What’s more, the Ethernet ports support triple-pack version. 454Mbps in location two, and the pings then wired backhaul. However, you don’t get any settled down. In test location three, we now USB ports, which rules out a great swathe of VERDICT had a signal but it was fairly slow at 147Mbps. potentially useful features. Not a speed demon at range, and not exactly Pings were quite high too, with an average of bursting with features, but the Deco X50 is a 27ms and highs hitting over 125ms. Setup can be performed via a web interface solid option for getting reliable wide coverage. or using the Deco app and it was a simple and SPEC quick procedure. The app also lets you see DESIGN FEATURES OVERALL SCORE connected devices, change device priority Weight 456g per unit and set up guest networks. The system is 8/10 18/30 74% compatible with Amazon Alexa as well, so you Dimensions (mm) 110 x 110 x 114 (W x D x H) per can get your voice assistant turn on the guest PERFORMANCE VALUE unit network, for instance. 22/30 26/30 Ethernet 3 x Gigabit LAN per unit TP-Link HomeShield is also built in, providing features such as a real-time Wi-Fi Wi-Fi 6 AX3000 (802.1ax) scanning for Internet of Things (IoT) devices, checking that their security is up to par. There’s Claimed channel speeds 1 x 5GHz 2,402Mbps also a malicious site blocker, parental controls channel and 1 x 2.4GHz 574Mbps channel per unit and it can spit out a host of impressively detailed reports to help you track time spent USB ports None online, sites visited, blocked activity and more. Processor 1GHz dual-core As well as a triple-node pack, the X50 units are available individually for £130 inc Extras Wired backhaul 63

Elite Ourchoiceofthebesthardwareavailable Core component bundles The fundamentalspecifications we recommendfor various types of PC. Justadd yourpreferredcaseandpowersupply,anddouble-check there’s room in your case for your chosencomponents, especiallytheGPU coolerand graphics card.We’velargelystoppedreviewingpowersupplies,asthe 80 Pluscertification scheme has noweffectively eliminated unstablePSUs.Instead,we’verecommended thewattage and minimum80Plus certification you should considerforeachcomponentbundle.Youcan thenchoosewhetheryouwantaPSU withmodular or captivecables. 8-core system with 1,920 x 1,080 gaming integrated graphics 6-core CPU, 1080p gaming 8-core CPU, basic gaming Needs an ATX case. We recommend a Needs a micro-ATX or ATX case. We recommend 500W 80 Plus power supply. See Issue a 450W 80 Plus Bronze power supply. See Issue 224, p76 for an example build guide. 218, p76 for an example build guide. PRICE PRICE COMPONENT NAME SUPPLIER ISSUE inc VAT inc VAT COMPONENT NAME SUPPLIER ISSUE CPU Intel Core scan.co.uk #224 £169 i5-12400F p14 CPU AMD Ryzen 7 scan.co.uk #218 £280 5700G p20 CPU COOLER ARCTIC scan.co.uk #224 £20 Freezer i13X p76 CPU COOLER AMD Wraith air N/A #218 £0 cooler included with CPU p20 GRAPHICS CARD AMD Radeon overclockers.co.uk #220 £390 RX 6600 XT p53 AMD Radeon RX N/A #218 £0 MEMORY 16GB (2 x8 scan.co.uk #224 £62 GRAPHICS CARD Vega 8 integrated p20 GB) Corsair box.co.uk p76 Vengeance LPX into CPU DDR4 3200MHz (CMK16GX4M2E 3200C16) 16GB (2 x 8 GB) #218 MOTHERBOARD Gigabyte B660 #224 £138 Corsair p78 Gaming X DDR4 p50 MEMORY Vengeance LPX scan.co.uk £63 (ATX) Pro 3200MHz (CMK16GX4M 2B3200C16) STORAGE 1TB WD Blue scan.co.uk #222 £77 SN570 p20 Asus TUF (M.2 NVMe) B450M-PLUS II MOTHERBOARD (micro-ATX) with awd-it.co.uk #218 £90 BIOS flash p78 Total £856 STORAGE 500GB WD Blue scan.co.uk #222 £43 UPGRADES SN570 (M.2 p20 NVMe) SWAP Nvidia GeForce scan.co.uk #220 £480 cclonline.com p55 GRAPHICS CARD RTX 3060 Ti Total £476 SWAP STORAGE 1TB ADATA XPG #215 £116 GAMMIX S50 p43 Lite 64

2,560 x 1,440 Mid-range gaming system gaming system 10-core CPU, 1080p and some 2,560 x 10-core CPU, smooth 1,440 gaming 2,560 x 1,440 gaming and ray tracing Needs an ATX case. We Needs an ATX case with room for a 240mm all-in-one liquid recommend a 550-600W 80 cooler. We recommend a 750W 80 Plus Bronze power supply. Plus Bronze power supply. COMPONENT NAME SUPPLIER ISSUE PRICE COMPONENT NAME SUPPLIER ISSUE PRICE inc VAT inc VAT CPU Intel Core scan.co.uk #220 £269 CPU Intel Core scan.co.uk #220 £269 i5-12600K p19 i5-12600K p19 CPU COOLER ARCTIC Liquid scan.co.uk #226 £80 CPU COOLER ARCTIC Liquid scan.co.uk #226 £80 Freezer II 240 p49 Freezer II 240 p49 RGB (240mm RGB (240mm AIO liquid AIO liquid cooler) cooler) GRAPHICS CARD Nvidia GeForce scan.co.uk #220 £480 GRAPHICS CARD Nvidia GeForce #220 £630 RTX 3060 Ti p55 RTX 3070 Ti overclockers.co.uk p43 MEMORY 16GB (2 x 8GB) scan.co.uk #221 £75 MEMORY 16GB (2 x 8GB) scan.co.uk #221 £75 Corsair p76 Corsair p76 Vengeance RGB Vengeance RGB Pro 3200MHz Pro 3200MHz DDR4 DDR4 (CMW16GX (CMW16GX 4M2C3200C16) 4M2C3200C16) MOTHERBOARD Gigabyte Z690 scan.co.uk #222 £200 MOTHERBOARD MSI MAG Z690 ebuyer.com #222 £250 Gaming X DDR4 p46 Tomahawk WiFi p48 DDR4 STORAGE 1TB ADATA XPG cclonline.com #215 £116 STORAGE 1TB ADATA XPG cclonline.com #215 £116 GAMMIX S50 p43 GAMMIX S50 p43 Lite Lite Total £1,220 Total £1,420 UPGRADES UPGRADES ADD SECONDARY Western Digital #166 ADD SECONDARY Western Digital overclockers.co.uk #166 £78 p54 p54 STORAGE Blue 4TB overclockers.co.uk £78 STORAGE Blue 4TB 65

ELITE / THE BEST KIT Core component bundles cont … 4K gaming system Content creation system 12-core CPU, 4K gaming 16-core CPU, Needs an ATX case with room for 1,920 x 1,080 gaming a 360mm all-in-one liquid cooler. We recommend an 850W 80 Needs an E-ATX case with room for a 360mm all-in-one liquid Plus Gold power supply. See p78 cooler. We recommend a 750W 80 Plus Gold power supply. for an example build guide COMPONENT NAME SUPPLIER ISSUE PRICE COMPONENT NAME SUPPLIER ISSUE PRICE inc VAT inc VAT Intel Core #226 CPU Intel Core scan.co.uk #220 £550 i7-12700K p78 i9-12900K p16 CPU cclonline.com £377 CPU COOLER Corsair iCUE scan.co.uk #226 £250 H150i Elite LCD p78 Corsair iCUE (360mm AIO H150i Elite LCD #226 liquid cooler) (360mm AIO p78 CPU COOLER liquid cooler) scan.co.uk £250 GRAPHICS CARD AMD Radeon RX overclockers.co.uk #220 £390 6600 XT p53 GRAPHICS CARD Nvidia GeForce nvidia.com #226 £1,050 32GB (2 x 16GB) RTX 3080 Ti p78 Corsair Dominator MEMORY Platinum RGB scan.co.uk #221 £295 5200MHz DDR5 p76 (CMT32GX5M2 16GB (2 x 8GB) B5200C40) Corsair MEMORY Vengeance RGB scan.co.uk #226 £75 Pro 3200MHz p78 DDR4 (CMW16GX4M2 MOTHERBOARD MSI MEG Z690 scan.co.uk #222 £520 C3200C16) Unify p50 MOTHERBOARD MSI MAG Z690 ebuyer.com #226 £250 2TB WD Black #215 Tomahawk WiFi p78 SN850 p49 £220 DDR4 STORAGE scan.co.uk STORAGE 2TB WD Black box.co.uk #226 £178 Total £2,225 SN770 p78 UPGRADES Total £2,180 SWAP GRAPHICS Nvidia GeForce #221 p48 CARD RTX 3080 Ti nvidia.com £1,050 UPGRADES #166 ADD SECONDARY 4TB Western overclockers.co.uk #166 £78 p54 p54 ADD SECONDARY 4TB Western overclockers.co.uk £78 STORAGE Digital Blue STORAGE Digital Blue 66

Mini PCs Our favourite components for building a micro-ATX or mini-ITX PC. Always double-check how much room is available in your chosen case before buying your components. Some mini-ITX cases don’t have room for large all-in-one liquid coolers, for example, or tall heatsinks. You’ll also need to check that there’s room for your chosen graphics card. Mini-ITX Micro-ATX Motherboards Motherboards CATEGORY NAME SUPPLIER ISSUE PRICE CATEGORY NAME SUPPLIER ISSUE PRICE scan.co.uk inc VAT inc VAT Intel Z690 Asus ROG Strix awd-it.co.uk #220 (LGA1700) Z690-I Gaming scan.co.uk p22 £375 AMD B450 Asus TUF awd-it.co.uk #218 £80 WiFi #214 (AM4) B450M-PLUS II p76 Intel Z590 Gigabyte Z590I SUPPLIER p18 £180 (LGA1200) Vision D scan.co.uk #206 £205 AMD B550 MSI MAG B550M #204 AMD B550 Asus ROG Strix overclockers.co.uk p44 (AM4) Mortar p42 (AM4) B550-I Gaming scan.co.uk PRICE quietpc.com ISSUE inc VAT Cases Cases scan.co.uk £130 SUPPLIER #206 £100 CATEGORY CATEGORY NAME scan.co.uk p18 scan.co.uk #225 £100 BUDGET ALL PURPOSE Cooler Master p51 £110 NAME SUPPLIER ISSUE PRICE MasterBox #225 £203 inc VAT TOWER NR200P p45 Kolink Citadel HIGH AIRFLOW #214 PRICE Mesh RGB #218 £63 PREMIUM Ssupd p51 inc VAT overclockers.co.uk Meshlicious ISSUE £55 p26 Fractal Design £130 Torrent Nano #219 Streacom DA2 p54 V2 #219 p72 Other components CATEGORY NAME Networking LOW PROFILE Noctua NH-L12S CPU COOLER SilverStone SFX POWER SX750 SUPPLY CATEGORY NAME SUPPLIER ISSUE PRICE currys.co.uk inc VAT ATX cases BUDGET Belkin ROUTER RT3200-UK #216 £130 p52 CATEGORY NAME SUPPLIER ISSUE PRICE ROUTER Asus scan.co.uk #216 £170 scan.co.uk inc VAT RT-AX68U p51 BUDGET RGB Antec DF700 scan.co.uk #214 SUB £100 FLUX scan.co.uk p26 £75 MESH ROUTER Asus ZenWiFi AX amazon.co.uk #226 £213 AIRFLOW scan.co.uk #222 £90 Hybrid XP4 p59 COMPACT Corsair 4000D overclockers.co.uk p56 Airflow scan.co.uk £100 WI FI ADAPTOR TP-Link Archer #196 £60 HIGH AIRFLOW Fractal Design scan.co.uk #215 TX3000E overclockers.co.uk Meshify 2 scan.co.uk p20 £136 MID RANGE Compact £140 p58 Fractal Design #212 £147 SUB £150 Meshify 2 p45 £220 DUAL BAY NAS Synology DS220j box.co.uk # 200 £154 PREMIUM HIGH £350 BOX p22 AIRFLOW Phanteks Eclipse #202 LUXURY P600S p44 DUAL BAY Synology box.co.uk #174 £202 ebuyer.com p34 Fractal Design #204 MEDIA NAS BOX DS218play Define 7 p18 2.5 GIGABIT QNAP TS-231P3 #212 £293 Fractal Design #225 DUAL BAY p25 Torrent RGB TG p20 NAS BOX Corsair iCUE #224 5000T RGB p22 67

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Peripherals and audio cont … Game controllers Gaming headsets CATEGORY NAME SUPPLIER ISSUE PRICE CATEGORY NAME SUPPLIER ISSUE PRICE currys.co.uk inc VAT scan.co.uk inc VAT currys.co.uk amazon.co.uk #210 RACING WHEEL Logitech G29 currys.co.uk #202 £269 BUDGET STEREO Roccat Elo X Stereo ebuyer.com p56 £40 Driving Force scan.co.uk p50 scan.co.uk #210 p54 £50 PREMIUM Razer Wolverine V2 #221 £139 STEREO Epos | Sennheiser SUPPLIER #204 GAMEPAD Chroma p30 GSP 300 overclockers. p50 £155 WIRELESS #211 BUDGET FLIGHT Logitech Extreme #207 £37 PREMIUM Corsair Virtuoso co.uk p26 £149 STICK 3D Pro Joystick p52 WIRELESS RGB Wireless FLIGHT STICK Thrustmaster Razer BlackShark T.16000M FCS V2 Pro HOTAS #207 £100 Speakers p56 CATEGORY NAME ISSUE PRICE inc VAT Non-gaming keyboards STEREO Edifier R1280DB #224 p59 £110 CATEGORY NAME SUPPLIER ISSUE PRICE keyboardco.com inc VAT keyboardco.com #220 WIRELESS 84 KEY Niz Mini 84 Pro keyboardco.com p29 £165 ELECTRO CAPACATIVE keyboardco.com #208 WIRELESS TKL MECHANICAL Keychron K2 Version 2 p57 £84 Filco Majestouch Convertible 2 #203 TKL MECHANICAL Tenkeyless p55 £140 Unicomp New Model M #219 BUCKLING SPRING p26 £129 MECHANICAL PCs and laptops Pre-built PC systems CATEGORY NAME CPU GPU SUPPLIER ISSUE PRICE AMD APU PC AMD Ryzen 5 5600G inc VAT BUDGET GAMING Wired2Fire Ultima Ryzen Intel Core i5-12400F Integrated AMD Radeon custompc.co.uk/W2F #222 £692 QUIET GAMING Gamestation Intel Core i5-12600K RX Vega 7 custompc.co.uk/Phoenix p36 £1,099 SMALL FORM FACTOR Wired2Fire Phoenix Intel – Intel Core i7-12700K #224 £1,799 4K GAMING Powered by MSI Intel Core i7-12700K Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 p38 £2,399 WATER COOLED ALDER LAKE Intel Core i9-12900K #225 £2,499 ULTIMATE PERFORMANCE Gladiator Nocturnal Intel Core i9-12900K Nvidia GeForceRTX3070 custompc.co.uk/Nocturnal p36 #226 £3,820 Chillblast Fusion Torrent Mini Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 custompc.co.uk/ p40 MiniChillblast #225 £4,899 PC Specialist Magnus Pro Nvidia GeForce RTX p34 K500 3080 Ti custompc.co.uk/ CyberPower Hyper Liquid Nvidia GeForce RTX MagnusPro #222 Infinity X129 3080 p34 custompc.co.uk/CPHL Scan 3XS Torrent Ti Nvidia GeForce RTX #226 3090 Ti custompc.co.uk/TorrentTi p36 Laptops CATEGORY NAME CPU GPU SCREEN SUPPLIER ISSUE PRICE inc VAT BUDGET GAMING Lenovo Legion5Pro AMD Ryzen 7 5800H Nvidia GeForceRTX 16in, 2,560 x 1,600 IPS custompc.co.uk/ #222 £1,399 AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX 3070 Laptop 165Hz G-Sync Legion5Pro p32 AMD Ryzen 9 5980HS £2,120 ULTRA PORTABLE Razer Blade 14 Nvidia GeForce RTX 14in1,920 x1,080IPS custompc.co.uk/Blade14 #220 GAMING 3070 Laptop 144Hz p40 £2,956 ULTRA PORTABLE AsusROG Flow X13 Nvidia GeForce GTX 13.4in 1,920 x 1,200 IPS custompc.co.uk/ #219 1650 Max-Q (laptop) / 120Hz ROGFlow p28 GAMING + EGPU DOCK GV301 RTX3080 Laptop(dock) 69

Games RICK LAN E / INVERSE LOOK RING OF CHANGE Elden Ring may be brilliant, but Rick Lane argues that it would be a mistake to try to mimic its success W hen I reviewed Elden Ring last month, I gave it one that spent well over a decade cultivating its design ethos. of the highest scores I’ve ever doled out in these Like Nintendo and Kojima Productions, From Software excels hallowed pages, and this opinion seems to be a because its team doesn’t think like other developers, and you general consensus. Within three weeks of launch, From can’t replicate creative minds that have dedicated themselves Software’s fantasy magnum opus had sold 12 million copies, to this style of game design for years. making it the biggest new title (not a sequel) since Tom We have evidence that you can’t outdesign From Software, Clancy’s The Division in 2015. as developers have already tried. Dark Souls brought about What makes this success particularly remarkable is that the emergence of the ‘Soulslike’ genre, inspiring Mortal Shell, Elden Ring breaks many of the rules that have come to define the Surge and Nioh, among others. mainstream gaming. It’s a difficult, obscure adventure that Some of these games have been commercially successful, offers minimal hand-holding. Your foes are brutal and ruthless, but none of them is anywhere near as good as Dark Souls while the game rarely provides information From Software can’t be and Bloodborne. They’re lesser imitations, on how to beat them. Quests aren’t marked highlighting that From Software can’t be on the map, so you might never meet some beaten by playing it at beaten by playing it at its own game. of its most important NPCs. Indeed, it’s its own game There are lessons that developers can take possible to play through the entire game from Elden Ring. Consistent and contiguous without ever truly comprehending the story. world design is one. Although it’s massive, Every aspect of Elden Ring is wilfully mysterious and Elden Ring focuses on a very specific mood and atmosphere. enigmatic. This, alongside its incredible visual design and You don’t see it shoving racing minigames into the mix to spectacular combat, has proved popular at a time when open- bulk out the experience. world games often spoon-feed the experience to players at It’s also possible to borrow elements of it and use them to every turn. Naturally, other major studios will now look at build a different game, as the delightful Tunic (see opposite) Elden Ring’s success and wonder how to get a slice of the pie, shows with its synthesis of Dark Souls and classic Zelda. but this would be a mistake. However, lifting the game’s structure wholesale is simply While you can identify elements within Elden Ring that never going to work. players like, such as challenging boss fights and a story you Ultimately, the reason players love From Software’s games is piece together yourself, trying to break down Elden Ring’s because they’re made by From Software. They’re special events success into a repeatable formula is folly. Elden Ring is more on the calendar, artworks with a distinctive and unmistakable than the sum of its parts, a holistic creation by a developer identity. They should remain as such. Rick Lane is Custom PC’s games editor @Rick_Lane 70

ustomP c D Tunic / £24.99incVAT C DEVELOPER Andrew Shouldice/ PUBLISHER Finji A PPROVE A tfirstglance,Tunicresembleshomagetoclassic alphabet(whichcanbe deciphered,ifyouchoose).However, TUNIC Zelda,from its miniaturised,isometric world,to its explorationslowlyreveals thepathwaysand rules ofthe cute fox protagonist dressedinaragged greenshirt. game world. When fighting those aforementioned bulls, for + Clever synthesis of But Tunic’sdivergence from Nintendo’s second-bestmascot example, you’ll quickly discovertheirswordscutthrough Zelda and Dark Souls becomesclear when you first meet oneofits bullish soldiers, seemingly impassableshrubbery.Hence, when youpickup andgetthesoulliterallybeatenoutofyouinthree hits. your ownsword,you unlock a bunch of newpathwaysaswell + Wonderful visual Tunicmightlook like Zelda,but it feels likeDarkSouls, as a betterwaytofight. presentation combiningthe former’s presentation andspatialpuzzling with the latter’sbrutal combatand,er, spatial puzzling.Developer Fightingandunlockingpathwaysis prettymuchthe + Fun puzzle-box world Andrew Shouldicehas cleverly latched on to thecross- structureof therest ofthe game.Thelatteris wherethegame pollination ofideasbetween Nintendo and FromSoftware, excelsbest.Tunic’sworld isa brilliantlydevisedclockwork PANTS deliveringa captivating adventurepointedattheintersection labyrinth, whereyou’reconstantlyloweringropes,bridges between thetwo studios’ designphilosophies. and laddersto unlocknewareas and createshortcuts to - Combat lacks depth The game sees our nameless vulpine heroawakenonthe old ones. Eachnewareais simultaneouslybeautifuland shore of some idyllic-looking land,pursuinga questfor an dangerous, whetherit’sanundergroundriverprowled by /VERDICT unspecifiedobjective.There are clues delivered inthe form of spinning octopuses, ora darkened tomb littered withspike statuesandvisions ofa maternal-looking vixen,butwhether trapsand walking skeletons. Tunic blends a she’s a goddess, family member or something else is unclear. Zelda-like world Indeed, muchabout Tunic isleftto your owndevising. Combat is alighter butnolesslethal varianton DarkSouls, with Dark Souls- Even the game’s manual, whichis collectedpage bypage where you combine precise sword swings with carefully ish combat for as you explore, is written in Tunic’s custom language and timed blocksanddodgesto avoidenemyattacks.It’saneatly an entertaining designed system, but Tunic’s battles lack the depth and and challenging creative potential of the game that inspired it. adventure. You’ll unlock a few new abilities as you progress, such OVERALL SCORE as amagicstaffand one-offequipment suchassticksof dynamite. However, the combo you learn at the start of the 82% game isthe sameone you’llusethroughout,andthere’s simplynotenoughroom in Tunic’sminiatureworld for battles to really shine. Still,Tunic’s gloriouslypresented worldandcleverly designedenvironmental puzzling morethanmakeup forthe comparatively basic combat. It clearly understands the appeal of classicZelda,butmixesup the formulajustenoughtomake itmore than a glossy imitation. RICK LANE 71

GAMES / REVIEWS Total War: Warhammer III / £49.99 incVAT DEVELOPER Creative Assembly / PUBLISHER SEGA TOTAL WAR T otal War: Warhammer III can’t be faulted for Whether you play the prologue campaign or not, the main ambition. This wild and spectacular finale sees campaign sees the race to claim Ursun’s power open up to + Fantastic new Warhammer’s armies of Chaos battling across eight playable factions. These include the human factions armies reality to claim the power of a giant bear god. You’ll field of Kislev and Grand Cathay. The former is a Slavic-inspired armies of plague-spreading monsters, watch elemental faction that fields ice warriors and bear cavalry, while the + Lots of new ideas polar bears battle woolly mammoths, and send out your latter takes inspiration from Total War: Three Kingdoms, + Good prologue hellish minions to collect skulls for the skull throne. blending dragon magic and gunpowder inspired by the It’s a game filled with amazing units and silly, enticing Romance era of Ancient China. campaign concepts. However, within its maelstrom of ideas, the core appeal of both Total War and Warhammer – conquering the They’re both excellent factions, but the true appeal TOTAL CHORE world with your army of choice – gets rather lost. It pulls in of Warhammer III lies in its daemonic armies. There are too many different directions while pushing all its cool ideas four from which to choose. The armies of Khorne are the - Main campaign at you too hard, too soon. The result is that the most exciting most straightforward, crimson-skinned daemons that entry in the trilogy is also the hardest to enjoy. overwhelm their foes with force and rage. The armies of forces you into This isn’t to say Warhammer III is a disaster though. For Nurgle, meanwhile, cripple enemy armies with plague constant starters, it has the best introduction to any Total War game, and pestilence, using units that range from sentient mould firefighting in the form of a prologue campaign where you play a lost spores to huge, sickness-spitting blobs. prince searching the frozen Chaos Wastes for the bear-god - Performance Ursun, imprisoned by a daemon named Be’lakor. The units of the serpentine Slaanesh, god of temptation, The prologue campaign meticulously explains the all seem to have arrived on the battlefield via an S&M issues on base mechanics of Total War, while also providing an convention, and can actually lure enemy units to their side campaign map overview of the new Kislev faction, one of two new human with their wily ways. Finally, there are the forces of the God factions introduced in Warhammer III. It also provides an Tzeentch, whose shambling pink and blue horrors double intriguing self-contained story that feeds cleverly into the as some of the best ranged units in the game. main campaign. Each daemonic faction is so darkly appealing that it can be hard to choose which one to play. Luckily, Warhammer III is one step ahead of you, offering a fifth daemonic faction 72

named ‘Daemons of Chaos’. Led by a newly minted daemon More broadly, the structure of the campaign seems /VERDICT champion, the Daemons of Chaos can recruit units from any designed in direct contradiction to the core appeal of playing of the other daemonic factions by earning favour with them as an Army of Chaos, namely rolling over the green and Total War: through missions or conquering settlements. They offer a pleasant lands of non-chaos armies in a tsunami of fire and Warhammer III great way to tour the various armies of Chaos, making them blood. Perhaps Creative Assembly is saving that for the truly embraces an ideal choice for your first campaign. Mortal Empires update, which will stitch together all three Chaos, with both TW: Warhammer games and let you take on the entire positive and At least, that’s the idea. Although designed to be an Warhammer world with the faction of your choice. However, negative results. introductory faction, in practice the daemons of chaos are that doesn’t change the fact Warhammer III’s campaign one of the more challenging factions to play. Their starting feels more like a daemonic rat race than a glorious conquest. OVERALL SCORE location near a long coastline, combined with the fact they commence the campaign at war with all non-chaos factions, The campaign map is also poorly optimised, with 70% makes them vulnerable to invasion by sea. Within just ten frame rates frequently dropping to half that of battle-map turns you’ll be fending off large armies from Imperial and performance on the same settings. It’s a hugely detailed Elven factions, as well as more local enemies designed to be map, but often that detail makes the map harder to read, your first major encounters. which isn’t ideal in a strategy game. In addition, there are some smaller changes that are just annoying, such as pre- This is where the gap between Warhammer III’s ideas battle summaries not showing you the relative strength of and their implementation begins to reveal itself. The story each army. campaign isn’t won through conquest. Rather, you need to collect the souls of four daemon princes to unlock the path You can have a good time with Warhammer III, but it to the Ursun. doesn’t give all its systems equal room to breathe, and you need to play it the way it wants. You need to be up for This is achieved by taking your main army through Chaos making lots of difficult decisions and engaging in almost Rifts into separate planes of existence, doing battle with constant battles. If you’re looking for the slow-burn empire multiple armies there before engaging in a massive ‘survival building on which Total War made its name, you’re better off battle’, which sees you fighting huge waves of enemy with Total War: Three Kingdoms, or waiting for the Mortal forces. Oh, and you can’t do this in your own time. You’re Empires update. racing with other AI factions to acquire these daemon prince souls. If they beat you to them, it’s game over. RICK LANE The idea is clearly to create a campaign that’s pacey and intense from the start. However, being accosted by multiple huge armies within a handful of turns is more stressful than entertaining. It means you’re constantly fighting fires; strategy games are about balancing reaction and preparation, but in Warhammer III, you’re always reacting and never preparing. 73

GAMES / REVIEWS SHADOW WARRIOR 3/£34.99 incVAT DEVELOPER Flying Wild Hog/ PUBLISHER Devolver Digital SHADOW S ince the surprisingly decent reboot in 2013, the these made you feel supremely powerful against even WARRIOR Shadow Warrior series has opted to parody other the toughest foes. In Shadow Warrior, there are no such shooters, with the latest one picking Doom strategies. Enemies are made either of titanium or tissue + Colourful Eternal as its target for inspiration/mockery. It wholesale paper, meaning the game alternates between way too environment and borrows the mechanics from id Software’s excellent FPS, easy and way too hard. enemy designs as protagonist Lo Wang embarks on an adventure to save the world from a giant, planet-eating dragon. Ironically, Shadow Warrior 3 is strongest where it’s + Some fun Killing enemies with guns makes them drop health, while least like Doom Eternal. Both its world and enemy weapons killing enemies with your katana makes them drop ammo. designs are colourful and creative, while certain levels, It even has a grappling hook because, as Lo Wang put it, such as That Damn Dam, provide impressive views and SHADOW OF ITS ‘everybody is doing it these days’. platforming challenges. FORMER SELF Flying Wild Hog clearly aims to replicate the brutality and intensity of Doom Eternal’s combat, but it’s a clumsy The game’s most novel mechanic is that performing a - Roughadoption imitation. The grappling hook, for example, is locked into finishing move on special enemies gives you temporary specific animations, meaning the game has to awkwardly access to a new weapon, such as the arm of a Minotaur-like of Doom Eternal levitate Lo Wang into the right position before completing beast, which Lo Wang uses as a bludgeon. It’s a neat idea, mechanics the swing. Meanwhile, the game’s equivalent of ‘glory kills’ but finishing moves can only be performed after killing only have one animation per enemy, and they take too long a certain number of enemies, so often you’ll only access - Poor balancing to complete, quickly becoming tiresome. these special weapons when the fight is almost over. - Dreadful humour Doom Eternal also gave players specific strategies for finishing off enemies quickly; if executed correctly, The game’s main problem, though, is its humour. It /VERDICT isn’t simply that it’s puerile, although there are endless references to body parts and bodily fluids, it’s that the Shadow Warrior’s developer seems to have forgotten what makes a joke. continuing search Many of Lo Wang’s quips involve just reciting the lyrics to for an identity a song, or making witless references to other games or leads it to a general pop culture. It’s also relentless. Lo Wang’s verbal middling Doom diarrhoea is so acute that quips are frequently interrupted Eternal cosplay by another one-liner before the punchline. and a bunch of bad jokes. The fun that Shadow Warrior 3 offers simply doesn’t warrant putting up with its egregious humour and ethically OVERALL SCORE questionable representations of Chinese and Japanese culture. Thanks for the ride, Lo Wang, now please, shut up 48% and get out. RICK LANE 74

LOST ARK /FREE TO PLAY DEVELOPER Smilegate/ PUBLISHER Amazon Games L ost Ark is a sprawling MMO and ARPG hybrid, theory, but are ultimately grindstones designed to keep LOST ARK essentially World of Warcraft meets Diablo. The you playing the game. game sees you pick one of eight classes as you + Excellent search for seven fabled ‘Arks’, artefacts of enormous Quest design, meanwhile, is utterly insipid. Some quests combat system power that could turn the tide in humanity’s war against ask you to move in-game objects a matter of yards, while the demonic hordes. others are resolved by performing an emote. This isn’t too + Colourful,diverse These classes range from warriors and mages to much of a problem in the early game, when you’re pushing fantasy world gunslingers and martial arts specialists. However, through zones at lightning pace. However, at around level they’re all built to look spectacular and feel powerful, 50, character progression switches emphasis from XP to + Gooddungeons able to blow away crowds of enemies with rays of the level of your equipment, meaning you must actively + Greatset-pieces holy light, devastating meteor showers and massive seek out small islands filled with these tenuous missions in artillery bombardments. order to progress. CRYSTAL SKULL Using these powers, you carve a path through Lost Ark’s fantasy world, which is split into around a dozen different Lost Ark’s biggest flaw is that, for all its locational variety - Boringstory continents, each of which is completely different. One and stunning set pieces, the story is downright inert. Its few - Emptyquests might see you explore the miniature civilisation of a race consistent characters are all one-dimensional archetypes, - Toomuch of pixie-like creatures, before sailing off to a steampunk from the tedious King Thirain to its pantomime demon society with fully functioning railways and airships. Each lords. Most of the other characters you encounter are MMO fluff zone ends in a colourful dungeon, while each continent has little better than quest dispensers, making it all the more at least one spectacular set piece, ranging from awakening ironic that there’s an elaborate sub-system called ‘rapport’ /VERDICT gods to battling an army of clowns. dedicated to getting to know them. It’s filled with wonderful highs, but there’s a fair amount Lost Ark may not of MMO drudgery involved in seeing them. Many of the Lost Ark is too wedded to MMO convention to be a truly be the smartest game’s secondary systems, such as the instanced Fortress great game, but as a free-to-play experience, it’s worth MMO around, but you can build, or the ship-sailing minigame, sound cool in trying for its propulsive combat and dazzling class design. it offers some Moreover, while the story lacks both brains and heart, the big flashy fun for game world constantly tempts you to look around the next free, which isn’t a corner, and there are some truly breathtaking moments bad deal at all. that make it worth persevering with the more arduous parts of the journey. OVERALL SCORE RICK LANE 70% 75

GAMES / VIRTUAL REALITY REALITY NEWS CHECK COLOSSAL CAVE 3D ADVENTURE Rick Lane checks In what is surely the most dramatic video pandemic I wrote a book about the old Sierra his time-travelling game glow-up of all time, foundational game days. Its success surprised me and brought watch, and has a look Colossal Cave Adventure is getting a VR back many memories of our days making at some upcoming VR remake. Originally released in 1976, Colossal games. This led me to investigating how retro remakes, in this Cave Adventure was one of the first text modern games are made and I just started month’s VR roundup adventures, inspiring games such as Zork coding using the Unity game engine for fun,’ and Rogue among many others. Williams said in a statement. Created by developer Will Crowther, an Colossal Cave 3D Adventure will stay enthusiast cave explorer, it saw players delve true to the original game’s core premise and into an elaborate cave network, seeking story, but will obviously be quite a different treasure and encountering characters such experience, featuring a wide array of puzzles as bears, snakes and trolls. in what Williams describes as a ‘completely immersive 3D world with almost 150 The remake, named Colossal Cave 3D locations’. The final product is due to release Adventure, is being designed by Cygnus this summer. entertainment, a new studio founded by Sierra On-Line creators Ken and Roberta Williams, themselves pioneers of adventure gaming through the King’s Quest series. Speaking to IGN, Ken Williams revealed that the project came about because he was bored during the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘While locked down by the NEWS STAR WARS: DARK FORCES MODS Although there are several decent Star Wars projects were recently announced that both a demo that lets players don their headsets games on VR now, such as the excellent focus on remaking games from the Dark and blast stormtroopers in a segment of the Star Wars: Squadrons and the (slightly less) Forces series into VR. original game’s first level. excellent Vader Immortal trilogy, this hasn’t prevented the VR modding community from First up is Dark Forces VR. Developed Arguably even more ambitious is Jedi adding their contributions to the VR sector of by small UK studio Shadow Art Games, it Knight II VR Remaster, which strives to Disney’s sci-fi universe. Indeed, two separate attempts to recreate the 1996 FPS in Unreal recreate the 2002 hybrid of FPS and third- Engine 4. Funded via Patreon, there’s already person melee combat originally developed by Raven Software. This is an enthusiast project by a solo designer, Guido Mariano, and Mariano’s footage of his work shows an impressive recreation of JK II’s lightsaber combat, right down to the way it scores red- hot gashes into walls and floors. Both projects look exciting, but whether or not either sees the light of day is debatable. Mariano admits his work is a personal endeavour, offering no guarantee as to how far it will go. Shadow Art seems more committed to seeing its project through, but long-term viability isn’t the only factor at play. The spectre of Disney hovers over both projects, and the corporate behemoth could easily step in and attempt to shut down these remakes at any time. 76

REVIEW WANDERER / £29.99incVAT DEVELOPER M-Theory, Oddboy / PUBLISHER M-Theory, Oddboy Wanderer is a rare VR title with a premise that detailed and convincingly designed, although travelling watch doubles as your inventory, goes further than ‘experience X, but in VR’. the most striking location is arguably the one letting you store objects to carry across time A time-travelling extravaganza, M-Theory’s in which you start, with flooded, overgrown (don’t ask how this works, it just does). game putsyouintherole of ayoungman Boston offering some truly impressive named Asher Neumann, who begins the VR vistas. To store items, however, you must first tap game searching for his grandfather’s Boston the watch to bring up the inventory, which apartment in the year 2061. In any case, each location is themed around means dropping the item you want to store, elaborate, bespoke puzzles, from trying to bringing up the inventory, then picking the item The city is flooded and overrun by hostile open a Mayan tomb to assemblingtheEnigma back up before you can finally store it. Also, the gangs after an unspecified disaster in the past. machine. What makes Wanderer’s puzzling game arbitrarily locks storage slots behind an Upon reaching the apartment, Asher discovers interesting, however, is the crossover between upgrade system, which seems to exist solely what’s essentially a talking watch that lets him timelines. For example, you may need to bring so that the game can have an upgrade system. travel to different time periods, along with a a power tool from Asher’s post-apocalyptic message from his grandfather tasking him present to open a container on the moon, Still, Wanderer’s impressive locations and with‘fixing’thetimeline,so theapocalypse or use an anti-bacterial spray to clean off a elaborate,tactilepuzzlesmorethanmake up never happens. Mayan plaque, so it can be translated. It’s like for these shortcomings. It doesn’t quite reach a big-budget, VR Day of the Tentacle, only with the heights of Half-Life: Alyx in terms of its It’s a slightly convoluted premise, but more elaborate puzzles. significance for VR gaming, but it’s nonetheless Wanderer quickly gets you on board with both one of the better premium VR experiences, its fiction and puzzling. You approach your Wanderer can’t match Day of the Tentacle comfortably justifying its price tag. given objective by visiting a bunch of historical for humour, though, despite making a locations, such as a Mayan temple and 1940s concerted but ill-judged effort. While WANDERER BLUNDERER German bunker. You even get to visit the lunar the broader story is well told, your main surface in 1969. These locations are highly companion – the watch itself – has a built-in + Great concept - Annoying sidekick AI that affects a US ‘Southern Gentleman’ + Some fantastic persona. It’s an exaggerated performance - Fiddly inventory system that’s frankly more irritating than endearing, locations particularly when you’re stuck on a puzzle and your timepiece keeps chiming in with its + Complex, entertaining unfunny ‘Ma Gawsh’ shtick. puzzles Beyond a slightly annoying sidekick, VERDICT OVERALL SCORE Wanderer’s other notable issue is that interactioncanbe alittleclunky. Yourtime- Wanderer is a delightful 85% time-hopping adventure, even if your travelling companion should have been left in the past. 77

F E AT U R E / CUSTOMISATION BUILD A 4KGAMING PC RUNNING THE LATEST GAMES IN ULTRA HIGH DEFINITION REQUIRES SOME SERIOUS COMPUTING POWER, AND A CAREFUL SELECTION OF COMPONENTS. ANTONY LEATHER SHOWS YOU HOW IT’S DONE P icking the right parts to build a 4K gaming PC can be tricky, as you not only need to factor raw gaming performance into the equation, but CPU power and cooling too. This month, we’ve picked some of the best PC hardware for the job that, until recently, would have been a very tough (and prohibitively expensive) job. However, now that GPU prices are finally starting to settle, you can pick up Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition, which is a great 4K gaming GPU, for just over a grand. Meanwhile, CPU and motherboard prices are reasonable, and cases, PSUs, coolers, memory and SSDs are all readily available. With Intel’s latest Alder Lake CPU architecture, a decent storage system and plenty of cooling power, this month we’ll show you how to build a cracking 4K gaming PC with hardware that’s actually available and for a decent price. Plus, we’ve also got an extensive list of alternative parts and detailed discussion to suit lower or higher budgets, so you’ll be equipped to build the best PC for you. Finally, we’ll show you how to put it all together and what frame rates you can expect in the latest games. 78

OUR 4K PC SHOPPING LIST CPU thentheCore i9-12900Kmightwell beworth fantasticcontrolover your PC’slighting and the extramoney,butfor a purehigh-end cooling andusesa large360mm radiator to Intel Core i7-12700K gamingsystem,theCorei7-12700Kcovers all keepyour PCcool.As theradiator andits three yourbases,whilestilloffering plentyofmulti- 120mmfans candissipate more heatthan £377 inc VAT threaded power ifyoueverneedit. a 240mm radiator, it will be able to keep its fansatslowerspeeds, butcoolyour CPU to cclonline.com Alternatives the same levelasa smallercoolerwithmuch louder fans. Intel’scurrentstack of12th-generation CPUs Intel’s Corei7-12700K strikes agood balance are fantastic, but itstill pays to doa little digging ofpowerandvalue, offeringplenty of change Alternatives into thespecificationsandprices,so you’re not from £400,butyoucansave evenmore wastinghundredsof poundsonapointlessly money by opting for its Core i5-12600K. It Ifyou’re not tooconcernedaboutnoise, and powerfulprocessor. Forstarters,whiletheCore costsjust£260incVAT,shaving over£100off youwant tosaveabitofcash,thenusing a i9-12900Kandmorerecent Corei9-12900KS the price of itsbiggersibling. The downside 240mmliquidcoolercansaveyou over£150. are theflagshipmodels, they won’t leave you is thatwhileithasthesame fourE-Cores,it Corsair’s own iCUE H100i Elite Capellix costs withanychange from £500. onlyhas sixP-Corescompared toeight for the just over£100,andoffers thesame levelof Core i7-12700K. Italso has lower peakboost controlasourchosen cooler,except with a There’s also the factthat,at our target frequencies forboth its E-Coresand P-Cores. less funky pump top out of the box. resolutionof4K,thegraphics cardwill bethe bottleneck interms of gaming performance. However, benefitsoftheCore i5-12600K ARCTIC’sLiquid FreezerII240RGBisalso It hasto deal witha hugeamountofpixel are its reasonableoverclockingheadroom an excellent choice and costs just £80. Unless pushingpower, andit’sonly really at 1,920 x andreducedcooling and powerrequirements, you’re pushing theCore i7-12700Ktoitslimits, 1,080 and 2,560 x 1,440 that bottlenecking so you’ll likelyend up savingmorethanjust neitherofthesecoolersis likelytoget near could result from apoor choice of CPU. £100forverylittleperformance sacrifice. It’s their peak fan speeds often anyway. also abetteroptionforgamingthanAMD’s We’veoptedfortheCore i7-12700K,as Ryzen 55600X. MOTHERBOARD even in our tests at 1080p, it was barely any slowerthantheCore i9-12900Kwithlittle CPU COOLER MSI MAGZ690Tomahawk to no differenceat higher resolutionsandit WiFi DDR4 will savenearly £150overaCore i9-12900K. Corsair iCUE H150i Elite LCD The twoCPUseachhave eight performance- £250 inc VAT optimisedP-Cores, whichaccountforthe £250 inc VAT bulk of performance, with the pricier Core ebuyer.com i9-12900K benefiting fromeight efficiency- scan.co.uk optimised E-Cores compared to four for the Giventhat amanualall-coreoverclock onthe Core i7-12700K. As we’ve seen inthis month’sAIOliquid cooler Core i7-12700K will result in slower gaming grouptest(see p48), 240mmliquidcoolers performancethanleavingtheCPU toits own In all other areas, the two chips are evenly cancopewithIntel’sCore i9-12900Katstock boosting algorithms,there’s noneedtoopt matched, withslight dropsin cache amounts speed. Some can evendoitatreasonable for a veryexpensivemotherboard.The MSI and frequencies, but nothing that willresult noiselevels,andifyou’re on a tightbudget, we MAGZ690 Tomahawk WiFi DDR4isa great innoticeableperformance sacrificesat high highlyrecommend takinga lookat theLabs all-rounder.It costs £250 inc VAT,whichis resolutions.Of course,ifyou’llbe doinga fair beforereaching foryourwallet, astheycost reasonableforaZ690motherboard,but it amount of multi-threaded content creation, lessthanourchosen coolerhere aswell. doesn’thackand slashitsfeaturesettoget there. For starters, you get Realtek ALC4080 With 12 cores under the hood,though, audioinsteadofthebasicand dated ALC897 your cooler will needtobeable toshiftquite codecprovidedbymanycheaper offerings. a lotofheatfromtheCPU,despitethecores beingproduced usinga10nmmanufacturing What’s more, all its M.2 ports are equipped process. If you’reserious aboutyour gaming, with heatsinks(andthree of themsupport4x andwantyourPC tobeas quiet as possible, thenwe’dargue themoney saved byopting for theCore i7-12700KovertheCore i9-12900K wouldbebestspentonapotentCPU cooler. We’vepickedCorsair’siCUE H150iElite LCD,asit notonlylooks fantastic,butit’s also LGA1700compatible outofthebox,givesyou 79

F E AT U R E / CUSTOMISATION PCI-E 4) andthere are 16powerphasesfor there issomegoodnewsas,following 18 Radeon RX 6900 XT from £999 from theCPU, alongwithlargeheatsinkstocoolthe monthsofsky-high graphics card prices,the overclockers.co.uk VRMs.There’s asmatteringoffutureproofing priceofNvidia’sGeForceRTX 3080Tihas too, with a 16x PCI-E 5 slot and,asits name plummeted inpriceoverrecentweeks. Belowthis level,theGeForceRTX 3080 suggests, there802.11axWi-Fiand2.5Gigabit gets our vote. It’s still a capable 4K card, Ethernet.Youalsoget aUSBType-Cport on Most GPUs haveseensmallprice reductions especiallyifyouenableDLSS, butyou’llbe the backpanel, as well as aheader on thePCB. in bothnewandused markets, buttheRTX entirelyreliant onpartner cards,thecurrent 3080 Ti’s hard-wiredlow hash rate makes priceofwhichwill onlysave youacoupleof Alternatives it unattractive to crypto miners, and the fact hundredpoundsatmost comparedwiththe it’s prettyexpensive in thefirst placelimits its RTX 3080Ti. Gigabyte’s cheaperB660 Gaming X DDR4 appeal to mainstream users too – amazingly, might lack the ability to tweak the unlocked it’s nowbackto its MRSPinseveral places. MEMORY multiplieronIntel’s K-series CPUs, but it handles them perfectly well at stock speed, We’ve picked theNvidiaGeForce RTX 16GB(2 x8GB)3200MHz plusit hasdecent coolingforits VRMsandM.2 3080 Ti FoundersEdition,as it’s beenin stock DDR4 Corsair Vengeance SSDs, solid power circuitryanda USB Type-C on Nvidia’s onlineGPUshop(which linksto RGB Pro header.However, there’s noWi-Fi or rearUSB scan.co.uk)foracoupleof weeksatthetimeof Type-Cportand its audio codec isRealtek’s writing.It’savailablefor£1,050incVAT, which £75 inc VAT paltry ALC897. is the MSRPof the FoundersEdition card– yes, the mind-bogglingly expensiveRTX 3090Tiis scan.co.uk The MSIMAG Z690 TomahawkWiFi faster,but itcosts over£800more fora pretty DDR4isn’tparticularlylavish either, andif minimalboost inperformance. Foroursystem, we’veoptedfora16GBkit you want to go all-outwith a good-looking of Corsair’s VengeanceRGB Promemory motherboard that’s packed withfeatures, Ifit’s outofstock when you’relooking to withaspeed ratingof 3200MHz. Ourchosen then MSI’sMEG Z690 Unify orAsus’ ROG buy,there are alsosomeother options. At the motherboard supportsDDR4,whichisstill MaximusZ690Apexget our votes, although timeofwriting, KFA2’sRTX3080 TiSG 1-Clock significantlycheaperthanDDR5forthe same they cost alot more money. OCcoststhesame£1,050inc VAT price at capacity, and our testsshowthatgoingfor overclockers.co.uk, and there are plenty of DDR5memorycurrentlyonlygives you a GRAPHICS CARD otheroptionsfrom board partners,withmore miniscule performanceadvantage. RGB bells and whistles, going for under £1,300 Nvidia RTX3080Ti at various etailers. As usual, we suggest 16GB is the bare minimum we’d Founders Edition checkingprices to see what’saround, asthe recommendforahigh-endsystem now, situationchanges allthe time. though, and with memory prices currently low, £1,050 inc VAT it’s worth considering buying a 32GB kit instead, Alternatives especiallyifyoulike tohave lotsofsoftware scan.co.uk andbrowsertabs openatthesametime. Once you getabovethe RTX 3080Ti, the Your choice of graphics card for a high-end situation starts togettricky and extremely CASE gamingsystem isextremely important,and at expensive, as the RTX3090andRTX 3090 the moment,a pretty complicatedonetoo, so Tiare retailingfor silly prices. Theyhavea Corsair iCUE 5000X RGB we’ll go into some extra detail here. Thankfully, lotmorememorythan the RTX 3080 Ti, which canbe usefulfor workstation use, but £147 inc VAT our tests have shown it doesn’t make much differenceingames yet.These cardsare also ebuyer.com a bitfasteringames thanthe RTX 3080Ti, but nottoanextent that’s justifiedthehuge We’ve opted for Corsair’s beautiful iCUE difference in price. 5000X RGBforthistop-end build. It’s agreat- looking case, and it’s equipped with three RGB AMD’sRadeon RX6900 XTisanother fansas standard,ithastemperedglass all option –in some titles, such as Assassin’s aroundit,andevenhas its ownfan and lighting Creed Valhalla,itbeatsthe RTX3080 Ti,and control. There’s plentyof scope forliquid innon-ray-traced software it’s competitive, coolingtoo,with360mm radiator mountsin but its ray-racing performance ispoor. You the front,sideandrear.It’sa great premium can alsocurrentlypickup a SapphireNitro+ caseintermsofbothlooks and features. 80

thelatestgigabyte-munchingtitles Thankfully, the2TBmodel ofthe SN770 isnow one of thecheapest2TBPCI-E 4M.2SSDs available, retailing for just £178 inc VAT, which is over £100 lessthan the costatlaunch. This isastealandoffersgreatwayto ditchhard disksfor anytaskotherthan massstorage. With read andwrite speeds around 5,000MB/sec, it’s not the fastest SSD available,butit’splenty quickenoughfor gaming needs. Alternatives Alternatives EXTRAS There aredozens of fantastic cases available Thereareevencheaperways toditchyour CorsairML120 ProRGB rightnow,andwe’realso hugefansofFractal hard disk ,as Crucial’s 2TB 2.5in BX500 costs Design’s Define 7 and Meshify 2 cases – it’s just £130 incVAT,giving youagreatwayto £25 inc VAT easier to work with bothof themthanthe add extra storage space for less frequently Corsair case, they costaround thesame price used games andprograms.Also,inreal- scan.co.uk andtheybothcome in compact versionstoo, worlduse, youwon’t noticeahuge difference which costsignificantly lessmoney. We fell between thisdrive andtheWD BlackSN770, We’ve nothadtoaddmuch toour PC, but as inlove withFractalDesign’sTorrentcase at least outside oflarge filetransfers.Ifyou thecaselacksarear exhaustfan, we’veadded last issuetoo, withits fantastic cooling and needmorespacefor mass storage,then we anotherRGBfantothemixintheformof a eye-catching front grille,making itour most can recommendWD’sBlue harddisks, with CorsairML120 ProRGBfan.Itcanbecontrolled wantedcase for around £200. a4TBdriveavailable for£80. by our cooler’s fan and lighting hub, and will boostcoolingwhileoccupyingthe otherwise- STORAGE POWER SUPPLY vacantrear fan mount. 2TB WD BlackSN770 Corsair RM850x Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro Light EnhancementKit £178 inc VAT £130 inc VAT £30 inc VAT scan.co.uk scan.co.uk scan.co.uk Since wereviewed the WDBlackSN770 in our Nvidia’shigh-end GPUs arepretty power- last issue,the price of the1TB modelhasfallen hungry,and usingthelikes oftheRTX3080 Filling allyour motherboard’smemoryslots from around £130 to just £100. However, if Tiwill see yourPCdrawover500W whenit’s always looksbetterthanjustfillingtwoof you’re serious about your games, you’ll need runninggames. Thismeansthatyouneed to them, especially when you’reusing Corsair’s larger capacityinorder to house half a dozen of factor at least another 300W into your PSU VengeanceRGB Promodules. Thankfully, budgetontop of this figure,inorder toensure there’sa cheaperwaytofillvacantslots your PC isn’t pushing your PSU to its limits, than buyingextra memory,whichistouse which will onlyresultin itmakingmorenoise Corsair’s LightEnhancement Kit.This is simply andrunning lessefficiently.We’ve optedfor apairofdummymodulesthatfill outyour Corsair’sRM850x–it has850Wofpoweron lightingarray acrossallfourmemoryslots. tap,whichis plentyforthis system, anditcosts They’recompletelysuperfluous tocomputing around £130. It’s quietand hasplentyofafter- requirements, but they look lovely. marketcustomcable supporttoo. TOTAL £2,512 INCVAT 81

F E AT U R E / CUSTOMISATION BUILDING THE PC identify these parts and use them – you don’t want to end up using the LGA1200 kit by tart by installing the CPU in the the CPU socket 2 . This will ensure the mistake. The new CPUs sit a little lower than motherboard. Press on the handle memory runs in dual-channel mode. Not their predecessors, and using the wrong next to the CPU socket and lift it up, doing this could result in the memory fittings can result in higher temperatures. along with the socket lid. The CPU can only running in single-channel mode, making Install the cooler’s backplate in the back of fit in the socket one way around, but be your PC slower. your motherboard, then secure it in place by extremely careful with the CPU socket pins installing the LGA1700 mounting pins 4 . as these are easily damaged. Now install the SSD. We’ve placed it in Don’t lower the CPU down into the socket the top slot above the graphics card, as it’s The cooler’s waterblock/pump section from a height. Instead, move it over from the slightly easier to access once the system is has a removable top, and it’s a good idea to side an inch or so above the socket and built. The motherboard includes a tool-free detach this before installing the pump. It’s gently lower it into place 1 . When it’s in clip, so you don’t need to use screws 3 . also a bit easier to install the pump with the place, gently place the lid over the top of Next, remove the protective film on the motherboard out of the case than once all the CPU and slide down the handle. underside of the heatsink to reveal the the gear is installed. Next, install the memory modules and thermal pad, then replace the heatsink on Light Enhancement modules into the top of the SSD. However, it’s a good idea to hold the motherboard, placing the actual memory radiator up and orientate it into the position in modules into slots two and four away from The Corsair H150i Elite LCD CPU cooler which it will sit in the case. This way you can includes specific components in the box for work out the best orientation for the tubes. Intel’s new LGA1700 socket, so be sure to Thermal paste is pre-applied to the pump’s contact plate, so there’s no need to apply any 1 here. Fit the waterblock/pump unit to the LGA1700 mounting pins around the CPU 3 4 2 5 82

6 78 socket 5 , and secure it, following the MAKE SURE YOU INSTALL THE FANS WITH instructions with the cooler. THEIR CABLES POINTING TOWARDS THE Another reason to check which way MOTHERBOARD TRAY around the radiator will sit in the case before you install it is to make sure you install the Now screw the motherboard into the tubes sat best with the tubing end of the fans with their cables pointing towards the standoffs in your case 7 , using the provided radiator positioned towards the front of the motherboard tray 6 . Do this using the long screws, and place the radiator next to the roof fan vent. Before you install it, though, screws provided with the cooler. We’ll be case, supporting it if necessary, so it doesn’t thread the fan cables through the routing installing the radiator in the roof and it’s dangle. You can now also install the extra holes in the case’s motherboard tray 8 . It important to point the cables this way, or the 120mm fan in the rear of the case. This is will be impossible to do the latter after wires will end up dangling from the radiator optional, but it will improve airflow as well as you’ve installed the radiator. in full view of the side window. filling the vacant rear mount with some extra snazzy lights. To install the radiator in the roof, you’ll We’re using the radiator as an exhaust, need to remove the dust filter and top glass as this means the heat from the CPU will Now move the radiator and its attached panel in order to access the fan mounts – be expelled straight out of the case, and the fans into the case. We found the radiator these parts are tool-free and simple to Corsair iCUE 5000X case has three front 120mm fans to balance out the airflow too. 83

F E AT U R E / CUSTOMISATION 10 9 11 remove 9 . Both will need to be replaced there are two headers required for the Edition’s flow-through cooling system, with later, with the dust filter protecting the inside cooler, powering both the pump and the a row of roof fans helping to exhaust the of the PC from dust falling into the case. Commander Core hub. warm air from the case 14 . Use the small screws provided with the Thankfully, Corsair has included a USB However, we’d don’t recommend using cooler to mount the radiator into the roof of header splitter cable, so even though you the vertical GPU mount in the case, as it the case. The 360mm radiator has 12 screw have three header cables to connect, you will mean the hot exhaust air from the RTX threads to accommodate three 120mm fans, only need two actual USB headers. 3080 Ti will be pointed straight at your motherboard, and there’s also very little CORSAIR HAS INCLUDED A USB HEADER clearance between the cooler and the side SPLITTER CABLE, SO YOU ONLY NEED TWO panel of the case. ACTUAL USB HEADERS We’ve also opted for an extension cable for the graphics card’s power cable. This but you only need to use four screws, with Connect the cooler’s two headers to the replaces the rather unattractive one provided one in each corner of the radiator, in order to splitter cable, and then connect this and the with the graphics card and simply connects mount it 10 . case header cable to the USB 2 headers on to two 8-pin PCI-E power connectors. the motherboard 13 . The radiator tubes need to be routed so The CPU cooler’s Commander Core hub that they don’t straddle the memory You can now install the graphics card. can be installed anywhere with a flat surface, modules. We found that one tube can sit Our system is well suited to the Founders thanks to its included double-sided foam where the radiator meets the case, and the pads – we found the perfect place was other can rest just below (make sure it’s not 12 behind the motherboard tray beneath the touching) the middle fan, clearing the memory so it’s in full view 11 . The case includes its own fan hub and RGB lighting controller, which can be connected to your motherboard and controlled using Corsair’s iCUE software. You’ll need to ensure the case fans and connected to these parts, including the new 120mm fan we added 12 . We’ve opted to use the Commander Core hub included with our cooler to control its fans and lighting, as neither the case or cooler’s hub has enough connectors to power every part . As both the case and cooler are software- controlled, they both need to be connected to motherboard USB headers. However, 84

13 15 14 case’s own RGB hub 15 . Don’t worry about highly recommend removing the hard disk headers at the bottom of the motherboard connecting the RGB cables in order, as you mount that’s located here too. 18 . There’s a table next to the headers that can rearrange them in Corsair’s iCUE shows where the connectors go, but you can software later if necessary. You can now route the power cables from also refer to the motherboard manual if the power supply to the parts where they’re you’re not sure. You can now install the power supply in needed. The case has a large cover to hide the case’s mount 16 , being sure to only the cable-routing holes, so make sure to The rear of the case has a large area to connect the power cables you’ll be using. thread as many cables as possible through stow cables, and hefty Velcro ties to anchor For this specific build, we didn’t need any here in order to keep the PC neat and tidy. them down too. However, there’s no point 4-pin Molex connectors, for example, and going too overboard with the cable tidying, as we only needed a single pair of 8-pin PCI-E Next, thread the case’s USB 3 and USB the case includes a large cover than hides connectors, as well as the usual 8-pin CPU Type-C cables under the cover and connect them all anyway. However, it won’t fit if all the and 24-pin ATX connectors. them to the motherboard as well 17 . At this cables are loose, so you’ll need to at least tie point, you also need to hook up the case’s down the key ones 19 . The basic PC is now Space is tight in the lower chamber, so if front panel connectors for its power and built, so you can plug in your monitor, you don’t plan to use a hard disk, we also reset buttons, as well as its audio jacks to the 16 85

F E AT U R E / CUSTOMISATION 17 20 18 21 19 keyboard, mouse and power supply, and Once you’ve installed Windows, as Here, we can see the three fans on the switch it on. well as the latest Intel chipset driver, the cooler’s radiator, with the four case fans motherboard drivers and the driver for the combined into one setting at the bottom, We’re leaving our Core i7-12700K at stock Nvidia GPU, install Corsair’s iCUE software. running at a slightly lower speed. Above speed, as there are limited gains to be had This is easy to use, but can be a little these readouts are the icons to control the from a manual overclock, especially in overwhelming if you’re using it for the first memory lighting, case fan lighting, cooler games. However, you’ll need to enter the EFI time, especially with the hefty amount of and pump display, as well as the lighting on in order to make sure the correct memory fans in our system. the graphics card. speed and timings are applied. Press the Del key as soon as you see a display on your We decided to connect the PWM input for From the iCUE software, you can screen and you’ll enter the EFI. You can then the case’s own fan hub to the Commander select from profile presets or create your switch to Advanced mode, find the setting Core hub on the cooler, as this will allow us own custom fan speed curve based on for Extreme Memory Profile, and in the to control all four case fans as one in order various temperature inputs. However, we Overclocking section and enable it 20 . to save time 21 . suggest using one of the presets unless 86

THERE ARE LIMITED BENCHMARK RESULTS GAINS TO BE HAD FROM A MANUAL 77,667 855,918 316,761 323,329 OVERCLOCK, ESPECIALLY GIMP IMAGE HANDBRAKE H.264 HEAVY MULTI SYSTEM IN GAMES EDITING VIDEO ENCODING TASKING SCORE you know what you’re doing. There’s TOTAL SYSTEM POWER CONSUMPTION plenty of headroom here, so feel free to experiment and fine-tune your own cooler CPC 4K gaming PC 57W 200 480W to your surroundings. 0 400 600 Beware of the temperature input that controls the fans though. This should be Lower is better set to coolant temperature and not CPU temperature, but you also need to bear in Idle Load mind that CPU and coolant temperatures have different thresholds – 70° might be fine ASSASSIN’S CREED: VALHALLA for the CPU, but not for your coolant. 2,560 x 1,440, Ultra settings You don’t want the coolant to get this hot, so run a load test using Prime95’s small FFT CPC 4K gaming PC 62fps 85fps 120 test for ten minutes with your custom curve, 30 60 90 and see how warm the coolant and CPU 0 become. Loading one of the presets and tinkering with it is a good place to start. 3,840 x 2,160, Ultra settings You can also use iCUE to customise the CPC 4K gaming PC 47fps 62fps screen on the cooler’s waterblock/pump unit, which we’ve done with a CPC Premium 0 30 60 90 120 Grade award as an example 22 . It looks great when it’s all lit up with the rest of CYBERPUNK 2077 the system 23 . 2,560 x 1,440, Medium ray tracing preset, DLSS Balanced 22 CPC 4K gaming PC 61fps 76fps 23 90 0 30 60 120 3,840 x 2,160, Medium ray tracing preset, DLSS Balanced CPC 4K gaming PC 38fps 42fps 0 30 60 90 120 DOOM ETERNAL 2,560 x 1,440, Ultra Nightmare settings CPC 4K gaming PC 260fps 351fps 400 0 100 200 300 2,560 x 1,440, Ultra Nightmare settings, ray tracing enabled CPC 4K gaming PC 100 217fps 245fps 400 0 200 300 3,840 x 2,160, Ultra Nightmare settings CPC 4K gaming PC 156fps 201fps 0 100 200 300 400 3,840 x 2,160, Ultra Nightmare settings, ray tracing enabled CPC 4K gaming PC 113fps 140fps 0 100 200 300 400 99th percentile Average 87

F E AT U R E / ANALYSIS FRCATEOHLQNLEUFYBEUOENSUSCETNDIEAEBSUEY?DDCEITODOOWDEKXEANCPROESDRWACINETHNDOECFASELTBUEFOMROURMETXYOGPOXELUTEATDRIINNPBGCYS T he world of PC audio has gone digitally. If you’re trying to get a sound into However, many devices these days come through all manner of shifts in your computer, it will need to go through with built-in ADCs and DACs, and use a trends when it comes to device an analogue to digital convertor (ADC), convenient USB interface to connect directly capabilities over the years. A decade or two and if you’re trying to get sound out of a to your computer, negating the need for ago, a quality gaming sound card was a computer, it will need to go through a digital any other sound interface devices – even must-have, along with a surround sound to analogue convertor (DAC). on-board motherboard audio. Many gaming speaker setup. These days, though, built-in headsets, gaming/streaming-orientated motherboard audio is greatly improved and At their core, then, the role of any audio microphones and even many speakers most 3D effects and other gaming features interface is to perform either or both the come with a USB connection, while any are handled in software by your CPU, ADC and DAC conversion for the devices wireless devices with a USB dongle, such negating the need for fancy gaming connected to it. The simplest audio as wireless headsets, will take care of ADC/ features in sound cards. interfaces do that and nothing more, DAC duties internally. Meanwhile, headphones with virtual providing an input for a microphone or surround sound have well and truly taken output for a set of speakers or headphones, In many ways, this greatly simplifies your over from surround sound speakers, and such as with USB headphone DACs. buying decision, as a device with all these external headphone amps are all the rage instead of internal sound cards. All of which ANY WIRELESS DEVICES WITH A USB DONGLE, begs the question of just what is the overall SUCH AS WIRELESS HEADSETS, WILL TAKE CARE situation with PC audio these days – are you better off with an audiophile-grade OF ADC/DAC DUTIES INTERNALLY headphone amp, a wireless headset, an internal sound card or just sticking with your Crucially, any such dedicated interface features built into it will only ever deliver monitor speakers and integrated audio? is only useful when connecting analogue sound quality of a certain level, so you don’t That’s what we’re here to find out. devices to your computer, such as a set of need to worry about whether to buy a fancy speakers with a line level input, an analogue sound card or headphone amp to get the Digital tech in an analogue world headset or a microphone with an analogue best from it. If the whole unit is high-quality output. Buying the best-quality or most then it will produce quality audio, regardless The most fundamental difficulty that any feature-rich interfaces/converters will bring of your other hardware. audio device connected to a computer benefits to any such analogue devices that needs to overcome is that sound is an are plugged into them. However, the downside of devices that analogue signal and computers operate don’t have an analogue input or output is 88

External audio interfaces, such as the Epos GSX 1000, Creative T60, this set’s USB and Bluetooth Recording-focused interfaces provide useful bring convenient audio controls to your desktop connections are convenient, but sonically, functions, such as XLR input and microphone gain these speakers aren’t as good as the controls, as well as top-notch sound quality that, if the internal circuitry isn’t very good, it company’s identically priced, simpler and can hold back the potential performance of all-analogue T20 speakers. However, you adjust any settings, such as microphone gain the analogue parts of the device. will need a decent-quality audio output to or headphone volume, except via software. get the best from the T20s. We find this quite often with cheaper With external interfaces, though, you speaker sets, such as the Creative T60 All of which is to say that, if you’re eyeing get easy access to sockets in which you (see p30), that offer a USB or other digital up a wireless headset, USB microphone can quickly plug and unplug headphones connection. Circumvent their cheap circuitry or Bluetooth speakers, almost all other and microphones (or other devices such by using an analogue input, and they can considerations about PC audio go out the as keyboards and guitar amps if you want often produce better audio quality – you’ll window. If they’re high-quality, they’ll deliver to record your own music), and you often still be relying on the cheap amplifiers in the that quality consistently whichever device get convenient gain/volume controls and speakers, but they’ll at least be fed the best they’re connected to, and if they’re not very even extra buttons for quickly muting your quality signal. high-quality, there won’t be much you can audio, turning on effects or playing and do to get around it. pausing music. Some wireless and USB headsets can suffer noticeably from this phenomenon We always recommend seeking out For example, devices such as the Epos too. Their audio quality is seldom terrible devices that at least give you the option of GSX1000 provide just three jack sockets with the built-in hardware, but if an analogue an analogue input, especially when it comes for an analogue headset (separate input is available, they’ll often sound better to any vaguely portable device. Being able headphone and microphone inputs) and when hooked up to a quality headphone to fall back on plugging in a 3.5mm jack a stereo speaker output – so there’s no amp. Analogue inputs in headphones also plug is always preferable to a device being fancy multi-channel audio here – but skip any internal amplifiers, so this method unusable because its digital input is down. then you also get a volume wheel and means you’re often getting the very best touch-buttons for switching between a possible signal to the headphones’ drivers. Utility first host of virtual surround sound modes, different EQ settings and more. You pay extra for digital convenience Assuming you’re not investing purely in too. Again, taking the example of the standalone USB or wireless audio devices, Other gamer-focused examples include at some point you’ll need to plug your the Elgato Wave XLR, which provides a Some audio interfaces provide a huge array of extra analogue device into an audio interface, headphone output and an XLR input for controls and connections for gaming and streaming which is where all the other considerations attaching a professional-grade microphone about motherboard audio, sound cards and for streaming. The desktop interface then external interfaces come into play. allows for volume control, mic muting, and controlling the mix of your own voice and However, while many buyers primarily your game. consider sound quality and price, it’s also worth thinking about the features and utility Taken to extremes, you have the Creative of these devices. With motherboard audio, Sound Blaster GC7, which provides a it’s just inconvenient to be reaching round whole mixing desk-like desktop interface, the back of your PC to plug in devices, as with volume knobs, game/voice faders, is also the case with internal PCI-E sound dedicated buttons for mic mute and EQ, plus cards. Most such devices offer the option of extra programmable buttons. You also get a front panel audio connections to plug into mass of inputs and outputs that allow it to be your case, but not all cases have multiple used for both PCs and consoles. jack sockets on the front. You also can’t For those more interested in home recording than gaming, the options are even vaster. Something of an industry standard entry-level option is the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, which provides a headphone amp output and two combined XLR and 1/4in jack inputs (with gain controls) for use with microphones and musical instruments such as electric guitars. This style of interface 89

F E AT U R E / ANALYSIS The Logitech Z906 is one of the last holdouts for an all-in-one surround sound speaker system designed to plug straight into a computer Razer’s spatial audio software makes it particularly In particular, we’ve been impressed by do at least widen the perceived sound field easy to fine-tune its virtual surround sound Razer’s spatial audio tuning software, which and can sometimes pull out the dialogue to is based on THX virtual audio and can be sound a little clearer. However, equally we’ve can also scale all the way up to models with bought separately for use with any headset come across systems – we’re looking at you, dozens of inputs. for £20 inc VAT. cheap TVs and monitors – where the virtual surround setting sounds downright terrible. All these extra features are at the heart of The crucial addition is a little graphic why most people should consider investing that shows a top-down view of a person Make sure you play around with these in external audio interfaces, although standing in the sound field, allowing you to settings to find the one you prefer, as often certainly there can be audio quality benefits move the speakers relative to the person to the default setup will have these features too, as we’ll discuss shortly. adjust the surround effect and tune it to how turned on, making your device sound worse you perceive the sound. This enables you than necessary. Virtual vs real surround to account for any slight imbalance in your hearing, and ensure the delivered surround As such, if you’re in the position to hook One of the key shifts we’ve seen in effect reflects what you perceive. up a full surround system with multiple computer audio over the past decade or speakers and a subwoofer and not worry two has been away from surround sound The situation is far less clear-cut when about disturbing your neighbours or family, speaker systems, and headsets with it comes to speaker surround sound. then a true surround speaker setup is still multiple drivers in each earcup, to virtual Virtual surround through stereo speakers far superior to any sort of virtual surround surround sound. The latter uses just two is inherently limited by the speakers being speaker setup. drivers in a headset (or set of headphones), in front of you and not directly next to your or two speakers, and then uses digital ears. As such, any software manipulation Unfortunately, the trickiest aspect when manipulation of the signal to emulate the has to not only account for how the sound it comes to real surround sound these days effect of surround sound. bounces around a virtual world and into your is the lack of options for direct connection to ears, but also how it bounces around your a PC. Creative no longer lists any surround It seems like it should be a gimmick, but it room before reaching your ears. systems on its site, while the Z906 is the ultimately makes sense given we only have only system from Logitech. two ears. As long as the sound manipulation There are systems used to tune rooms is sophisticated enough, it should be and speaker systems in this way, but they’re Even Edifier – one of the last holdouts for possible to recreate as decent a sense of not readily available for home PC users, and making a wide range of quality PC speakers direction as our ears can otherwise provide. even then, they’re generally still designed – only lists a single system on its website. for optimising physical surround systems, For more choice, you’ll have to invest in an Sure enough, that’s been our experience, rather than producing virtual surround over AV receiver and dip your toes into the vast particularly in recent years as the technology stereo speakers. array of home cinema surround sound has improved. In fact, when it comes to systems if you want to take the surround headphones and headsets, we find good Our experience of the various stereo speaker route. virtual surround is actively better than the ‘surround’ modes often provided on old multi-driver surround sound headsets of speakers and hi-fi systems is that they Motherboard audio the past. When it comes to the specifics of motherboard audio options, there are four main factors to consider. The first is, as highlighted above, whether you have any audio devices that already have their own ADC and DAC hardware. If you have an external audio interface for your speakers, a USB microphone and a wireless headset (or a similar combination that doesn’t use your motherboard’s audio sockets), you simply don’t need to worry about motherboard audio at all. In fact, you can even go as far as turning off the 90

Headsets with multiple drivers used to be the only viable surround sound headset option but virtual surround is now as good, if not better on-board audio in your motherboard’s Also, one specific consideration for different functions), echo cancellation EFI. Doing so makes for one less driver on-board audio is whether you’ll be using on mics and support for alternative audio to install and one less audio device from a headset or headphones, and whether formats, such as direct stream digital (DSD), which you have to choose when setting up your case has audio connections on its along with various EQ and audio effects. your programs. front panel. If the answer is yes to both We’ll discuss these features in more detail those questions then you’ll want to pay shortly, but the key point here is that the Next will be the number and type of attention to the specific capabilities of your codec is only a part of the audio circuit. connections you need. If you’re hoping to motherboard’s front panel audio. run an analogue surround system (with The final consideration is the amplifier individual speakers connected to multiple The latest and highest-end motherboards circuitry and noise isolation between the jack plugs), you’ll require a sufficient number specifically provide headphone-friendly codec, and the inputs and outputs. of outputs from the motherboard to attach features for these outputs, such as a high- all those speakers. Or, if you have a digital quality DAC with a high signal-to-noise ratio It’s all very well having lots of ports and software/digital features, but it counts for IT COUNTS FOR NOUGHT IF THERE’S LOTS OF NOISE nought if there’s lots of noise on the line and ON THE LINE AND THE AMPLIFIERS AREN’T UP TO the amplifiers aren’t up to snuff for driving your devices. It’s for the latter reason that SNUFF FOR DRIVING YOUR DEVICES most motherboards have a gap on the PCB between the audio section and the rest surround system, it may require an optical (SNR), the use of a capacitor-free connector of the board; the extra physical isolation or coaxial digital S/PDIF output. that reduces the loud pops and crackles reduces the chance of interference from the when you plug in your headphones, and an rest of the board. However, if you’re only using stereo amplifier that’s optimised for use with high- speakers and a headset, you’ll only need impedance headphones. These features are among the trickiest to the trio of jack plugs that come with basic find when browsing through motherboard on-board audio. The next factors to consider are the feature lists and reviews. Unless internal features that the main audio coder manufacturer websites (or reviews of the At least that’s the theory. In practice, fewer decoder (codec) chip provides. Modern products) really highlight exactly what high- outputs tends to be a sign of lower-quality codecs support all manner of extras, such end features have been added to a board’s on-board audio, so you often have to invest as port routing (so you can plug a device into audio circuit, it can be very tricky to know in boards with many extra connections just one of several ports and have it perform how the real-world audio quality will sound. to get good quality audio from one of them. Generally, though, the better the codec, the better the hardware matched with it. 91

F E AT U R E / ANALYSIS The Creative SoundBlasterZSEis one ofthefew dedicated internalsound cards still available Codec cracking In comparison, the lower-end ALC892 On higher-end motherboards, the audio codec is codec, for instance, still has ten DACs but often shieldedfrom interference byan extracover At the heart of any motherboard audio – and their SNR is only 95dB, so every output is indeed most audio interfaces – is the codec just a little noisier and less clear. Likewise, devices, we set up a test using RightMark chip. The biggest player on the market is the ADCs drop to a 90dB SNR, making it less Audio Analyzer. It feeds a set test signal Realtek whose chips are used on just about suited for use as a device for high-quality out through an output of the audio device every motherboard available these days, recordings, although it’s still ample for most then records that signal back through one but the features of its codecs can also be in-game chat and video call input. of the inputs of the device (via a cable, not a compared with those of other standalone microphone). sound cards and audio interfaces. Meanwhile, the Creative Sound Blaster Z SE – among the most popular internal The software then analyses the combined Among the most popular current- sound cards on the market – provides an ability of the two connections to produce a generation high-end Realtek codecs is the clear signal. ALC1220, which boasts ten 110dBA SNR DAC channels for supporting up to 7.1 channel WHEN IT CAME TO SUBJECTIVE TESTING, WE DID IN speaker setups and two other stereo FACT PREFER THE SOUND BLASTER Z SE’S SOUND outputs via the front panel headphone output (they can be multi-streamed TO THE OTHER DEVICES TESTED together). It also provides three 102dBA SNR ADC channels for microphone and line-level impressive 116dBA SNR front panel output, It’s not a perfect, all-encompassing test, input, with the microphone input supporting while its rear outputs are rated to 102dBA. but it gives reliable results for indicating acoustic echo cancellation, beam forming, Its headphone amplifier can also drive the combined quality of a device’s inputs noise suppression and far field voice pickup. headphones with an impedance of up to and outputs. We also plugged a set of 600Ω. However, it has less multi-channel headphones into one of the outputs Three of the outputs can be driven by output support, providing connections for to assess the subjective audio quality internal headphone amplifiers, with the front only a 5.1 speaker system (although it can produced by each device. panel output given a boosted SNR of 120dB provide 7.1 virtual surround). All of which compared to 110dB for the other outputs. puts it a little behind the highest-end Realtek In our RightMark tests, we saw a fairly It also has a 2.1V RMS output voltage that on-board codec. linear relationship between the claimed can drive headphones with up to 600Ω abilities of any given device’s codec and impedance, and it has a capacitor-free Audio quality compared the SNR, dynamic range and total harmonic output that reduces the pops when you plug distortion numbers of our tests. In particular, in your headphones. To test the audio quality claims of the latest the ALC1220 codec we tested was an motherboard audio codecs, as well as a outright winner, showing that on-board Onlower-endmotherboards, the audio range of sound cards and external audio audio really has come a long way in recent codec tends to be left uncovered 92

RightMark Audio Analyzer results Realtek ALC1220 Realtek ALC892 Creative Sound Creative Sound Blaster Z SE Blaster X4 Frequency response (dB) +4.97, -3.79 +3.13, -2.93 +0.02, -0.2 +5.18, -3.57 Noise level (dBA) -106.2 -88.5 -99.5 -91.3 106 88.5 99.5 91.2 Dynamic range (dBA) 0.00327 0.00839 0.00308 0.00606 0.016 0.00971 0.014 Total harmonic distortion (per cent) 0.268 -82.6 -92.2 -84.4 -16.8 0.015 0.011 0.484 Intermodulation distortion + noise 0.053 (per cent) +3.1, -2.8 +0.0, -0.1 +3.5, -2.6 +9.1, -3.9 Stereo crosstalk (dB) Intermodulation distortion + noise - swept frequencies (per cent) Frequency response - swept sine (dB) Codec comparison Our tests showed the latest on-board audio really can outperform discrete audio hardware, but that Realtek Realtek Creative Sound doesn’t tell the whole story ALC892 ALC1220 Blaster Z SE As an aside, our tests were done with Channels 7.1 7.1 5.1 lossless FLAC encoded tracks, rather than MP3s or a streaming service. When using Input SNR (dB) 90 110 101 Spotify, although the ALC892 board was still noticeably worse, the difference was Output SNR (dB) 95 110 102 muddied considerably by the low overall quality of that streaming service. Front audio SNR (dB) 95 120 116 Even when opting for the best streaming Stereo ADCs 232 quality, we noticed a massive difference compared with the FLAC tracks. Suffice to Front audio port (Port D) Standard output, Capacitor-free Standard output, say, make sure your audio source is good- 32Ω output, 600Ω 600Ω quality before spending lots of money on high-end audio hardware. Headphone impedance No Yes No detection Nonetheless, what our tests proved sufficiently for us was that motherboard Different codecs and sound cards provide audio quality, such as the PCB design and audio really is good enough for most uses fundamentally different capabilities that can shielding of the board. these days, assuming you’re getting a top- significantly impact sound quality and usability end codec. An external headphone DAC Also, when it came to subjective testing, might be more convenient, but you’ll have years. The older ALC892 chip came dead we did in fact prefer the Sound Blaster Z to spend quite a bit of money to get a clear last, with poor results across the board. SE’s sound to the other devices tested, with advantage over a good on-board setup. Meanwhile, the Creative Sound Blaster Z the X4 coming next, then the ALC1220- SE sound card and Sound Blaster X4 USB equipped motherboard and finally the Of course, discrete devices – whether interface both sat in the middle of the pack, ALC892 setup. The difference between the internal or external – mean you only have comfortably behind the ALC1220 codec. top three options was very small though. to spend the extra once to get the benefit of All three had a much fuller bass sound than great audio across multiple motherboards. However, in some areas, the ALC1220 the ALC892 codec and more articulation Plus, any external devices can be plugged setup wasn’t quite as accomplished, with in the top-end. There was just a hint more into laptops and other devices. very high stereo crosstalk in particular. This smoothness again in the Z SE. is testament to how other factors can affect Add in all the extra features such devices can bring to the table and there’s still plenty of reasons to opt for one. 93

CU STO M I SATION / HOBBY TECH GARETH HALFACREE’S Hobby tech The latest tips, tricks and news in the world of computer hobbyism, from Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and Android to retro computing REVIEW Argon Eon A rgon40 is no stranger to building Produced following a highly successful The big sibling to the Argon One, the Eon packs in up boxes in which you can nestle a crowdfunding campaign, the Argon Eon is a to four SATA drives for a home-brew NAS system Raspberry Pi computer. Its first case that turns any Raspberry Pi 4 model into design, the Argon One (see Issue 188) a four-bay network attached storage (NAS) The rear of the machine exposes the launched in late 2018, and was updated for the system. Like its predecessors, it has a near- Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2 and USB 3 ports of the latest Raspberry Pi 4 in 2019 (see Issue 197). full-metal construction (the two magnetically connected Raspberry Pi 4, although one USB 2021’s Argon One M.2 (see Issue 213) added attached side panels are made of thin acrylic), 3 port is occupied by a bridge connector to the a neat new feature in the form of an M.2 slot with the metal doubling as a heatsink for the SATA backplane. There’s also an audio-video connected to a USB-to-SATA adaptor for high- Raspberry Pi 4 inside. daughterboard with 3.5mm AV jack socket and speed storage, but the Argon Eon is a different two full-sized HDMI ports, an easily accessible beast entirely. It’s a lot larger than an Argon One, though, and for good reason. Inside are four SATA 3 The Raspberry Pi 4 mounts upside down, with ports, connected to a USB-to-SATA bridge pillars connecting to the system-on-chip and chip, supporting up to four hard drives or SSDs. RAM for cooling To keep down the size, Argon40 has opted to focus on 2.5in drives – you can install four 2.5in drives with plenty of room for each to breathe, or two 3.5in drives and two 2.5in drives, but the two larger drives will end up being crammed very closely together. There’s an internal USB 3 port too, designed for booting from an SSD without sacrificing a SATA port. Oddly, this also works around a flaw in the design that renders all four SATA ports non-bootable for reasons that didn’t make themselves known during the review. 94

NEWS IN BRIEF FreeDOS reaches version 1.3 The OLED display is handy, although it fails if you The rear includes full-sized HDMI ports and FreeDOS, the open-source alternative configure a slow fan speed two break-outs for an as yet unpopulated to MS-DOS, has hit version 1.3 – a expansion header release that brings support for FAT32 micro-SD slot, a 12V jack for the bundled 60W storage devices on 8086 hardware, new power supply and access to the Raspberry Firing up the device reveals a bonus feature networking support, updated packages Pi 4’s 40-pin general-purpose input/output – a single-colour OLED screen hidden behind and a floppy disk installer that requires (GPIO) header. the power button on top. Once Argon40’s around half as many disks as MS-DOS. software is installed, this pages through a Two round break-out sections are also selection of system stats, including CPU ‘The new FreeDOS 1.3 reflects all present, near an unidentified expansion temperature, CPU usage, RAM usage, storage the hard work of everyone who wrote header. Argon40 has yet to reveal its plans usage, IP address, and date and time. The code, translated messages, edited for these sections, although an optional high- latter is linked to a real-time clock, which documentation, tested new versions, quality audio board seems a likely guess. requires an optional CR1220 battery, and is offered support,’ says project maintainer capable of waking the system from standby Jim Hall, ‘and all the other things that go Assembly is reasonably straightforward, on a schedule. into a new version.’ although the instructions are lacking – pushing the Raspberry Pi 4 home is near impossible As with the Argon One, the metal chassis FreeDOS is available to download without removing the back I/O shield, a step acts as a passive heatsink, although it’s also from freedos.org now. not shown in the small manual provided. easily scratched, making installing the rubber There’s not much room to manoeuvre 3.5in feet on the base the first step to take during it makes little difference to drive temperatures hard drives, and until secured with the bundled assembly. A 40mm fan at the top provides and makes a real racket at the same time, plus screws, they bend the SATA ports alarmingly. active cooling, and it’s configured to pull in when it’s running at slow speeds, it somehow On the plus side, you can fasten the screws air through three thin vents and blow it down disables the OLED display. with the high-quality bundled screwdriver. through the case. That’s a shame, as a better fan could have For best results, use 2.5in drives; you can squeeze Community-driven testing shows that made all the difference to cooling – with two 3.5in drives into the Eon, but they practically flipping it over to exhaust hot air instead a whisper-quiet USB-powered, speed- end up touching makes for a better setup, with Argon40 controlled 120mm fan pointing at the rear saying it will ship future models in that panel, the hard drive temperatures plummet configuration instead. by over 10°C each in our tests. With all that metal, it’s no surprise to see Performance is good though. The the Raspberry Pi 4 keeps cool. The same can’t Raspberry Pi 4 runs exactly as you’d expect, be said for the hard drives, however. With two with no thermal throttling, and the SATA 3.5in 6TB NAS-spec SATA drives installed, the bridge benchmarked at 390MB/sec read and hottest drive idles at 41°C. 261MB/sec write speeds. Meanwhile, the internal software- Power draw is a little high – the Eon idles at controlled fan is almost entirely ineffective. 5.5W with no drives installed, a notable uplift Whether it’s working as an exhaust or intake, over the 2.9W sipped by the Raspberry Pi 4 alone. With two 3.5in drives installed, that idle draw jumps to 14W. The Argon Eon is available to order from argon40.com now at $150 US (around £115 ex VAT). 95

CUSTOM I SATION / HOBBY TECH REVIEW RoundyPi and RoundyFi D esigned by self-described ‘DIY programming, and an Unpopulated pin headers enthusiast’ Om Singh, and unpopulated 2.54mm are provided for access to produced by SB Components, header at the bottom four GPIO pins the Roundy family consists of a pair of for breadboard use or development boards with a difference – the external expansion. NEWS IN BRIEF fronts feature surprisingly high-resolution colour displays shaped as perfect circles. It’s here that Monotech offers hope The two devices use identical displays, the Roundy range for missing MOS chips but different microcontrollers. The RoundyPi begins to show its is based on the Raspberry Pi RP2040 limitations. Only four Pseudonymouselectronics designer microcontroller, offering a dual-core Arm general-purpose input/output Monotech has designed acarrierboard Cortex-M0+ processor running at 133MHz, (GPIO) pins are brought out to the 2.54mm to address theincreasingscarcityof with 264KB of static RAM, an eight-state- header, leaving a lot of the microcontroller MOS Technologychips foundin vintage machine programmable input/output (PIO) features inaccessible. computing hardware, by converting block, 1MB of external SPI flash memory and the considerably more common MOS a micro-SD slot for local storage. The next disappointment, which isn’t 6502 chip. The RoundyFi, by contrast, has an Espressif surprising given a little thought into the ESP-12E, one of the company’s ESP8266 matter, is the display’s resolution. Dubbed theMOSCPU Replacer, range, running its single Tensilica L106 core Monotech’scarrier boardaccepts an at up to 160MHz. It also has 128KB of static While SB Components claims the screen original MOS6502 andaddsinthe RAM, 4MB of flash memory and its key has a 240 x 240 resolution, astute readers missing logic to convert it to the equivalent feature, 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. will note that an image with 240 pixels on of amuchrarerMOS6510/8500,6510T, Regardless of whether you’re using the each side forms a square – not a circle. In the 7501/8501 or 8502 chip. Design files for RoundyPi or RoundyFi, the boards include company’s demo code square format, 240 x theboards areavailableatcustompc. a 1.28in 65,000-colour display, with a 240 images are loaded into flash for display, co.uk/CPUReplacer, while assembled 240 x 240 resolution, driven by a GC9A01 and appear as a cropped circle with a 240- boards can be purchased now from driver module. There’s a micro-USB port at pixel diameter. custompc.co.uk/ReplacerBoards, the top of each board for power, data and starting at $15 US (around £11.50 ex VAT). A quick calculation reveals a usable display pixel count of around 45,239 – notably lower than the 57,600 available from a square display of the same claimed resolution. The two variants differ in microcontrollers and features – one has Wi-Fi, the other a micro-SD slot 96

The display on the Roundy range is eye-catching, CircuitPython code for the RoundyPi. It’s The RoundyPi is programmable as a Raspberry colourful and bright, but also glossy very much a learn-by-doing approach with Pi Pico in MicroPython and CircuitPython little hand holding, and the provided brief If you want a square display, though, instructions are sometimes misleading and and a Wi-Fi-connected clock – the latter there are plenty to be found. If you’re occasionally entirely wrong. is the only one of any of the samples that picking up a Roundy, it’s because you want makes use of the boards’ circular display. a circle – and it’s certainly eye-catching. The The projects themselves are basic too. display is bright and clear with good colour The company’s Kickstarter campaign shows It’s not a deal-killer, by any means. If you reproduction, but the glossy finish to its glass a RoundyPi being used as a smartwatch, don’t mind poring over source code and cover makes it ill-suited for use outdoors or in complete with heart monitoring, step jigsawing things together, there’s enough the presence of bright light. tracking, time, date and weather information, there to build a bigger project – loading but that’s just a mock-up, and these graphical images from a micro-SD card instead of The documentation, sadly, is less clear. SB smartwatch features aren’t found in the the RoundyPi’s tiny 1MB flash memory, for Components has prepared a small handful provided source code. example, or having the RoundyFi pull down of sample projects for both boards, offering system stats via Wi-Fi for a system monitor Arduino-based code for the RoundyFi and Instead, the RoundyPi has a project to with realistic gauges. However, it’s unlikely load predetermined images from flash you’ll get close to the company’s smartwatch With a 1.28in display at the front, the memory, another to read and write text to a mock-up, particularly given the relatively Roundy range is pleasingly compact micro-SD card, and another to interface with primitive drawing tools included in the an external air quality sensor and display graphics library. the readings as flat text on the screen. The RoundyFi has a simple web server example, The biggest issue with the Roundy a weather app that again, uses basic flat text, range, however, isn’t the accessibility of programming it but its price. The RoundyPi is the cheapest mode in the range, yet costs £35 (inc VAT), while the RoundyFi will cost you an additional £5 at £40 (inc VAT). The same GC9A01-driven round LCD panel purchased from a Chinese seller in single quantities, meanwhile, will set you back as little as £5.74 (inc VAT) – and a Raspberry Pi Pico to drive it costs just £3.60 (inc VAT), while providing access to all the RP2040’s GPIO pins. Add a micro-SD breakout for under a pound and you’ve built your own RoundyPi. The all-in-one format of the Roundy range is admittedly attractive – particularly for projects where space is at a premium, with a footprint only marginally above that of the 1.28in display itself. If SB Components can improve the documentation and build some better sample projects, the premium asking price could potentially be justified. Both Roundy boards are available to buy from shop.sb-components.co.uk now. 97

CUSTOM I SATION / HOBBY TECH REVIEW The Colouring Book of Retro Computers T heColouringBookofRetroComputers, Each reference photo has been turned into a This vintage computing colouring book gives by Neil Thomas, host of the ‘RMC’ detailed line-art illustration, with casings opened you an excuse to sharpen your beige pencils YouTube channel, is on the surface a to reveal circuitboards and other components – similar tome to the Retro Computer Colouring an opportunity to drop the beige pencil and pick A bigger problem is the print quality or, rather, Book (see Issue 214). It’s aimed at adults and up some greens, blacks and golds. image quality. Many pages are perfectly clear, packed with nostalgia-tinged line-art illustrations showing dark line-art against a bright white of vintage computers. While the Retro Computer To keep it interesting, every page also has a page with clearly defined boundaries. Others are Colouring Book had 15 entries, though, Thomas’ background containing joysticks, batteries, floppy muddied by the tell-tale block-like artefacts of version of the idea packs a grand total of 31. disks, tapes, CD-ROMs and more. However, heavy or repeated JPEG compression. This isn’t Every machine pictured is found in Thomas’ background imagery is shared between pages, nearly as visible, oddly, in the digital download collection, housed in an old mill dubbed The and there isn’t a great deal of choice when it variant, suggesting a mistake was made Cave, which Thomas is opening to the public comes to colouring button-cell batteries. somewhere during the printing process. as a museum of classic computing – complete with a mock-up shop where users can browse, What isn’t found inside the book, sadly, is any It’s a minor nitpick, and any quality issues are but not buy, old games and software. labelling. Each page has a caption at the bottom, quickly buried when you whip out the Crayolas While Thomas took the reference photos, but it’s provided by those who paid for the for a colouring session. The 31 machines include though, the line-art illustrations were created privilege of leaving a personal message during an arcade cabinet, a Commodore PET, an NEC by Stuart ‘Stoo’ Cambridge, a former Sensible the book’s crowdfunding campaign. PC Engine with CD-ROM add-on, a Nintendo Software staffer best known for his iconic pixel- Game Boy, an immediately recognisable Vectrex art work in games including Cannon Fodder and None of the machines is identified, which is and an equally standout Sinclair ZX Spectrum – Sensible World of Soccer. a missed opportunity, but also gives the book a there’s certainly plenty to keep even the quickest second life as a ‘guess-the-machine’ quiz, albeit colourist busy. Stoo Cambridge’s art is great, although the print one where no answer is provided. It’s also made version has quality issues and no systems are more challenging by Thomas’ decision to skirt It does, however, come at a price. While the labelled or even badged any potential copyright complaints by replacing Retro Computer Colouring Book was priced at company logos and product identifiers with just £4.50 (inc VAT), Thomas’ take on the concept ‘RMC’ equivalents. will set you back £9.60 for the PDF download or £12 in print (both inc VAT). The former is the version to choose – the image quality is higher, and you can print multiples of your favourites to experiment with different colour schemes. The Colouring Book of Retro Computers is available from rmcretro.store now. Gareth Halfacree is a keen computer hobbyist, journalist, and author. His work can be found at freelance.halfacree.co.uk @ghalfacree 98

FOR THE WIN / COMPETITION WIN AN NZXT GAMING PERIPHERALS BUNDLE Fresh off the launch of its new award-winning mechanical keyboard and gaming mouse (see p32- 33), NZXT has partnered with Custom PC to give away a cracking bundle of peripheral goodies in this month’s competition. One winner will bag a Function full-sized mechanical keyboard, Lift gaming mouse, Capsule USB microphone with matching boom arm and an extra-large mousepad. NZXT FUNCTION The Function keyboard features hot-swappable Gateron key switches, per-key RGB backlighting and a slick black or white design (winner’s choice). With its handy USB Type-C socket, you can also swap out the main cable or easily replace it if it ever gets broken. NZXT LIFT The Lift mouse weighs just 67g and sports a comfortable symmetrical design that we found to suit all grip types. Again available in black or white, it features six main buttons and uses the excellent PixArt 3389 optical sensor for faultless tracking. Coming with an extra-large fabric mousepad that will fit under your keyboard and mouse, you’ll have no excuses for missing your shots. NZXT CAPSULE The Capsule is a stylish and compact USB microphone that houses a single condenser capsule, USB connection and headphone amp to provide superb audio quality for your home recordings, video calls or gaming streams. Coupled with NZXT’s matching Boom Arm, you won’t even have to worry about how to fit the Capsule on your desk – it can clamp to the side of your desk and swing easily in and out of range. SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY AT CUSTOMPC.CO.UK/WIN Competition closes on Friday, 10 June. Prize is offered to participants in the UK aged 13 or over, except employees of the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Raspberry Pi Ltd, the prize supplier, their families or friends. Winners will be notified by email no more than 30 days after the competition closes. By entering the competition, the winner consents to any publicity generated from the competition, in print and online. Participants agree to receive occasional newsletters from Custom PC magazine. We don’t like spam: participants’ details will remain strictly confidential and won’t be shared with third parties. Prizes are non-negotiable and no cash alternative will be offered. Winners will be contacted by email to arrange delivery. Any winners who have not responded 60 days after the initial email is sent will have their prize revoked. 99

MODDING / OPINION ANTONY LEATHER’S Customised PC Case mods, tools, techniques, water-cooling gear and everything to do with PC modding Keep an eye on your AIO liquid cooler L ast month I wrote about my the radiator are NZXT makes some does seem to be relatively rare, and the experience with NZXT’s left exposed to great liquid coolers, NZXT H1’s AIO liquid cooler is the first original H1 case, and its the coolant. but the one in its time I’ve come across it. included AIO liquid cooler filling up with original H1 case gunk. This gunk ended up clogging the The anti-corrosion additives then didn’t last long at all This is off the back of a decade of copper contact plate and saw my CPU react with the flux to create the gunk using AIO coolers to test CPUs, and temperatures skyrocket – only that clogs the contact plate, reducing models from the likes of Corsair, EK extensive flushing ridded the loop of heat transfer and eventually killing flow and NZXT have lasted years, so I’m the gunk that kept blocking it. It seems rates too, which is what I found. The in no doubt that not all liquid coolers this issue is more widespread than you Igorslab investigation went through not suffer this problem, at least not in might suspect too, according to a well- some serious lengths to identify the under a year. Still, it does bolster the researched article I found after writing chemical reactions and compounds argument for opting for custom liquid last month’s column. concerned, and it seems that cheaper cooling, especially if you’re considering I found an article on igorslab.de coolants that use aluminium silicate as an AIO liquid cooler that costs upwards looking at this exact issue, posted a protective layer against corrosion are of £200. At the very least, a custom after I wrote my article last month, the prime suspects. loop will certainly last longer than some and the issue seems to be related AIO liquid coolers. to comparatively cheap AIO liquid What can we do as PC enthusiasts? coolers that use aluminium radiators. Well, not a lot other than monitor CPU Don’t be put off using an AIO liquid These aren’t uncommon, of course, temperatures, and if they start to climb cooler though. Good-quality units that but they skip one or two steps of the for no apparent reason then you have match the correct coolant with decent manufacturing process. To achieve two options. The first is to clean the quality control should be fine. However, lower prices, Igorslab claims residues contact plate and flush the coolant, I’ll certainly be keeping a close eye on from the solder flux used to create as we did our last issue on p106. The any models that we use long-term. second is to send back your liquid cooler via RMA. Thankfully, this issue 100