Nick Evanson
Nick, gaming, and computers all first met in 1981, with the love affair starting on a Sinclair ZX81 in kit form and a book on ZX Basic. He ended up becoming a physics and IT teacher, but by the late 1990s decided it was time to cut his teeth writing for a long defunct UK tech site. He went on to do the same at Madonion, helping to write the help files for 3DMark and PCMark. After a short stint working at Beyond3D.com, Nick joined Futuremark (MadOnion rebranded) full-time, as editor-in-chief for its gaming and hardware section, YouGamers. After the site shutdown, he became an engineering and computing lecturer for many years, but missed the writing bug. Cue four years at TechSpot.com and over 100 long articles on anything and everything. He freely admits to being far too obsessed with GPUs and open world grindy RPGs, but who isn't these days?
Latest articles by Nick Evanson
![Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Master X with a Core i9 14900K CPU installed](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/DJnNmegRqUZH29xqTccFBF-320-80.jpg)
Workstation builder Puget Systems' report shows the stability problems with Intel's CPUs can be managed if only you 'mistrust the default settings on any motherboard'
By Nick Evanson published
news The risk of failure is still there, however, until Intel releases a microcode fix.
![Zotac RTX 3060 12GB Twin Edge graphics card](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/5sDePApxFveCEEWcadMjdR-320-80.jpg)
Steam's favourite GPU, the RTX 3060, is nearing its end as Nvidia gets ready to issue the last batch of chips
By Nick Evanson published
news Ampere GPUs are still really great but Nvidia wants you to buy Ada instead.
![A collection of DDR4 and DDR5 DIMMs against a blue background, with a PC Gamer Recommended logo](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ykcvLk3kwQLo9MaifWyJVX-320-80.jpg)
Best RAM for gaming in 2024: I've tested the best DDR4 and DDR5 RAM to find the right kits for you
By Chris Szewczyk last updated
Dynamic I've put the top gaming memory through its paces to find out what the best RAM to pair with your new gaming PC is.
![A promotional image of the Xyber Team Xyber XPC mini gaming PC](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/yqTp7k4TjadbDiWR2RB6hn-320-80.jpg)
Brilliant execution, awful inspiration material: This AMD-powered Cybertruck mini PC really is in production
By Nick Evanson published
news It's a standard AMD Hawk Point system, shoehorned into a sturdy-looking chassis, but oh boy…those looks.
![A close-up photo of an Nvidia RTX 4070, with its heatsink removed, showing the AD104 GPU die and the surrounding Micron GDDR6X VRAM chips](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/mVkJiZ6oPE7PXZXsKsPpsd-320-80.jpg)
GDDR6X VRAM is claimed to be in short supply and could lead to an RTX 4070 being launched with slower GDDR6 to meet the demand
By Nick Evanson published
news Which should be fine, as long as it's not too much slower. Or the same price.
![An image of Nvidia's Jen-Hsun Huang and Meta's Mark Zuckerburg discussing AI at Siggraph 2024](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/gYQu9rd9WBjcWwxLL5RhC5-320-80.jpg)
Meta's Mark Zuckerberg chews AI cud with Nvidia's Jen-Hsun Huang, talking about delicious cows, slicing tomatoes, and old Chinese guys drinking whiskey
By Nick Evanson published
news "We're CEOs, we're delicate flowers." Aww, bless.
![An image showing Nvidia's Jen-Hsun Huang discussing the future of AI at Siggraph 2024 with Wired](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/xe44Ayc4HV54UCgJJe4rbK-320-80.jpg)
Nvidia's CEO chats about the future of AI: 'We're going to need three computers... one to create the AI… one to simulate the AI… and one to run the AI'
By Nick Evanson published
news Definitely not trying to make everyone buy even more Nvidia GPUs, no sir.
![Homeworld 3 space battle](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/U9vT6whp5zZdaGCYqdbMpM-320-80.jpg)
AMD introduces a beta preview of Fluid Motion Frames 2, with 'AI-optimized enhancements for improved quality, lower latency, and better performance'
By Nick Evanson published
news No, the frame generation algorithm doesn't use AI—it's just been optimised by it.
![MSI RTX 4070 Ti Super graphics card](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/8XkWTuUHYuVxxzb8NeudnE-320-80.jpg)
Nvidia's reportedly scaling back RTX 40 series production by as much as 50% in preparation for the Blackwell RTX 50 launch
By Nick Evanson published
news Either that or the dearth of new GPUs means it's just a nice time to hike prices. Again.
![A photo of two Samsung NAND flash chips](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/hR6rvz3ifjzhApuThJvQy9-320-80.jpg)
MIT researchers create a super-fast, super-tough, super-slidey transistor and claim that in '10 to 20 years from now could change the world'
By Nick Evanson published
news The ferroelectric material transistor could be used to make NVMe SSDs last a whole lot longer.
![OpenAI logo displayed on a phone screen and ChatGPT website displayed on a laptop screen are seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on December 5, 2022.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/eQ4QvnT5n24R9f4nQNq5MP-320-80.jpg)
Report claims that OpenAI has burned through $8.5 billion on AI training and staffing, and could be on track to make a $5 billion loss
By Nick Evanson published
news Generative AI makes billions of dollars in revenue but more is needed to cover the operational costs.
![A photo of an Asus ROG Ally X handheld gaming PC, with a PC Gamer Editor's Choice logo](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/vKWg88pZnKKPbxEEjFytb-320-80.jpg)
Asus ROG Ally X handheld gaming PC review
By Nick Evanson published
Bigger but better Some big changes and a host of further tweaks have fixed the old flaws making this the handheld gaming PC to get.
![An Intel Arc A770 Limited Edition graphics card from various angles](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/rSgW4YvezTnrXsd3HEfJX9-320-80.png)
I downloaded Intel's new AI Playground beta and may have finally found something Arc is honestly good at
By Nick Evanson published
news It turns out that Intel's graphics cards are better at doing AI than they are at churning out ultra-high frame rates in games.
![Chrome Browser Logos](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/EdZQfCyReBjSAgbb64XZ9T-320-80.jpg)
Google has changed its mind about dropping support for third-party cookies in Chrome, after years of trying to make it happen
By Nick Evanson published
news Depending on who you listen to, this is either a brilliant decision or a truly horrible one.
![A stylised image of AMD's RDNA 3 GPU design for its Radeon RX 7000-series graphics cards](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/b5hZ3jGxuxwssYSDEA4iLE-320-80.jpg)
AMD RDNA 4 info leak confirms RT performance is getting boosted but could fall short of a major hardware redesign
By Nick Evanson published
news AMD's GPUs are perfect at rasterization but still trail behind Nvidia when it comes to ray tracing.
![An image of Linux's mascot, Tux the penguin.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/i5TSKD2VVirrGsyqqwK4cG-320-80.jpg)
It's not just Windows PCs that have gone belly up, as CrowdStrike's Falcon software has been b0rking Linux-powered computers, too
By Nick Evanson published
news It doesn't matter what operating system you use, a buggy application can seriously ruin your day.
![A photo of an RTX 4070 Ti with its heatsink removed, showing the factory-applied thermal paste on the GPU die](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/wYtS9WUArtiqMeRJEH82u-320-80.jpg)
Nvidia's third-party RTX 40-series GPUs are losing performance over time thanks to rubbish factory-installed thermal paste
By Nick Evanson published
news It's not just about bad hotspots, the whole chip ends up getting hotter, causing it to hit thermal limits quicker.
![A close-up image of an Intel Raptor Lake die.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/hHGDd3xd2xfFZxauXbcesH-320-80.jpg)
No E, just the P—Intel quietly launches Raptor Lake Rekked for the embedded market
By Nick Evanson published
news But with the Core i9's reputation looking very iffy, would anyone want to take the gamble and use it in an industrial situation?
![A photo of an AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D processor resting on a metal heatsink](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/9WKMCNYDHRUSMttqUSudUV-320-80.jpg)
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D CPU review
By Nick Evanson published
Cache for cash It's just a 5800X3D, except a bit slower and a whole lot cheaper. Which actually makes it better.
![A stylized, rendered image of the Earth (focus on Europe) represented by little dots, binary code and lines](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/XSgWNxzWMtfTHhfqgVfmQZ-320-80.jpg)
The CrowdStrike IT outage is pretty grim but let's hope it's not as bad as the infamous Dyn DDoS attack, Facebook mega-crash, and Rogers network disaster
By Nick Evanson published
news This one looks as bad as they come and there have been some truly massive IT problems in recent years.
![AMD Strix Point APU chip, held in a hand, with the reflected light showing the various processing blocks in the chip die](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/VCkwq2FV7M7bUiVenTvcmb-320-80.jpg)
AMD's tweaked RDNA 3.5 GPU is solely focused on improving mobile gaming performance
By Nick Evanson published
news There are plenty of little changes under the hood to help the graphics processor do more for less power.
![NASA astronaut and Expedition 68 Flight Engineer Woody Hoburg riding the Canadarm2 robotic arm while maneuvering a roll-out solar array toward the International Space Station’s truss structure 257 miles above the Pacific Ocean](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/RRvyKTNszKpk5RtwXQLEFC-320-80.jpg)
Researchers create Dune-like pee-pants for the next generation of astronauts and maybe even wealthy, overly 'dedicated' gamers
By Nick Evanson published
news The design looks far more appealing than the adult diapers spacewalkers currently have to use.
![intel cpu](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Ria5erNerXX8q9PbzyAZvG-320-80.jpg)
It's 2024 and yet Intel is still churning out DUAL CORE CPUs for desktop PCs, and I'm a little in awe of the plucky trooper
By Nick Evanson published
news Two P-cores are all you're getting, but they're speedy little things, so it's not as awful as you might think.
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