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
![A promotional image for Samsung's latest HBM3E memory chips, showing a generic image on the left and a stylised render of the internal structure in a chip on the right](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/npJnfKvoc6sw4K3Jo5KKjm-320-80.jpg)
Samsung and SK Hynix spend billions more on DRAM production to feed the never-ending hunger for AI servers
By Nick Evanson published
news This could potentially be good news for PC gaming but not while the tech world loves AI.
![A photo of the Epic Minimalist Entertainment System next to a one Euro coin and two 'game cartridges' against a blue background](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/88WpB8p3AieMYQXawinwgW-320-80.jpg)
The Epic Minimalist Entertainment System is the leader of the itsy bitsy games console committee with its reverse-engineered 1980s LED dot matrix display
By Nick Evanson published
news Look at the ickle 'cartridges'! Aww, bless it's teeny socks.
![A promotional photo of an Nvidia GeForce GT 730 repurposed into a luxury purse](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/oKmPCJombXAgLTP6dtKsH3-320-80.jpg)
The world's worst GPU can now be yours for a mere $1,024 in the form of a 'luxury purse'
By Nick Evanson published
news If that doesn't float your boat, how about a Hopper-in-a-box for just $65k?
![A photo of the Kinesis Form all-in-one ergonomic keyboard](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/6RATBFNKjmVNAtBNHz3YG-320-80.jpg)
Kinesis Form ergonomic keyboard review
By Nick Evanson published
All in ergo Take a low-profile, wireless mechanical keyboard, split the keys in two and stick a touchpad between them. Now you've got a Kinesis Form.
![An image of an ASRock Phantom Gaming monitor against a teal background with a white border](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/EFAoEEkmgEGKic7pUkcicb-320-80.jpg)
Step into the world of ultrawide gaming with this 34-inch 2K curved monitor for just $295
By Nick Evanson published
deal It's the best budget ultrawide you can buy right now.
![An image of an Acer Nitro 16 gaming laptop against a teal background with a white border](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/iztFEiS9apSgMY8sJZEPdX-320-80.jpg)
This Ryzen-powered RTX 4070 gaming laptop is one heck of a great deal at just $1,100
By Nick Evanson published
deal And the only thing wrong with it is the tiny SSD, which is super easy to fix.
![Screenshot from Warhammer 40000: Space Marine 2 showing the main character standing in front of a landing craft](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/8aZUgTeBUbDiS9pfXJv6dV-320-80.jpg)
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 performance analysis—Blurry upscaling, mushy graphics, and so-so frame rates
By Nick Evanson published
Tyrannic FPS There's no ray tracing whatsoever, so you can't blame the middling performance on that.
![An image of an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D chip with its label amended to comically suggest it is a Ryzen 5 7600X3D](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/uXFac3FxbGuoZcMYyEpjJR-320-80.jpg)
AMD officially launches the Ryzen 5 7600X3D but in limited numbers and only through one US seller
By Nick Evanson published
news If you really want an X3D chip, you're probably better off waiting for the 9000 versions to launch.
![TSMC 3nm](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/jztXMbBi3tRtVBvhPowJQe-320-80.jpeg)
OpenAI plans to build its own AI chips on TSMC's forthcoming 1.6 nm A16 process node
By Nick Evanson published
news The report suggests that Broadcom or Marvell will design the chip, but Apple might be a partner, too.
![Ayaneo Kun handheld gaming PC](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/BnX2xUEyaCPmwZcUxYSuGQ-320-80.jpg)
Just in time for Labor Day, Ayaneo handheld gaming PCs are now available in the US at Best Buy
By Nick Evanson published
news It's a disappointingly small selection from Ayaneo's big collection of handheld, mini, and pocket PCs though.
![A screenshot from Ubisoft's Star Wars Outlaws, showing an open-world vista from a city location](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/4mDvmJcQtpzaYQUVsdW4We-320-80.jpg)
Star Wars Outlaws performance analysis: Ray traced galaxies far, far away really, really demand upscaling and frame generation
By Nick Evanson published
Galactic FPS There's a colossal range of graphics options to tweak, so most gaming PCs can run the game well enough. Well, kind of.
![A screenshot from Black Myth: Wukong showcasing the use of Nvidia RTX technology](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/F4NjXjn7PUjYoj8RdyD5ce-320-80.jpg)
With Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Black Myth: Wukong, and Star Wars Outlaws, ray tracing in games is slowly becoming an Nvidia-exclusive
By Nick Evanson published
news Ray tracing is old news, full ray tracing is where it's at now. Just don't call it path tracing, okay?
![A stylised render of an Nvidia-MediaTek G-Sync scaler chip for monitors](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/SUSxC3N5Qrb5Cf5JT9JcDo-320-80.jpg)
Nvidia's new partnership with MediaTek has just killed the module which made G-Sync monitors so damned expensive
By Nick Evanson published
news This new all-in-one scaler removes the need for a separate G-Sync module, helping to lower costs.
![Windows 11 2H22 update screenshots](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/3eLzhcqYBfwSAQDTneUPzk-320-80.png)
Microsoft closes another door for bypassing the TPM 2.0 requirement in Windows 11
By Nick Evanson published
news It's only in the beta versions of Windows at the moment but it won't be long before it's fully rolled out.
![A promotional image of the OneXPlayer OneXGPU 2 external GPU+SSD dock](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/k6sQagZeDGB6Mt56y9NRQg-320-80.jpg)
OneXPlayer is back with another external GPU and this time uses a graphics chip so new, not even its maker has announced it
By Nick Evanson published
news The full specs and price are still unknown at this time but expect it to be mightily expensive.
![Black Myth Wukong face mask](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/7PPiX4EDAM9fbUAVLirMo5-320-80.png)
Black Myth: Wukong—Here are the best settings to use with Arc, GeForce, and Radeon graphics cards
By Nick Evanson published
Monkey Magic The visual tour-de-force demands upscaling and frame generation for the best performance but at least you don't need huge amounts of VRAM.
![A promotional image of the Zotac Gaming Zone handheld PC.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/g3yTVNrBREsUjXWZ8sffgB-320-80.jpg)
Zotac Gaming officially launches its Zone handheld gaming PC with a super fancy AMOLED HDR screen
By Nick Evanson published
news But the handheld party is already pretty full, so will a (very) late entrance make much of an impact?
![MSI Pro Arrow Lake motherboard](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/wDVrPZNzGGcA3bWzJwgNGJ-320-80.jpg)
Intel's next-gen Arrow Lake desktop CPUs are reportedly only 7 weeks away from launch
By Nick Evanson published
news Bid a final farewell to the Core i9, Core i7, and Core i5. Say hello to the Core Ultra 9, Core Ultra 7, and Core Ultra 5.
![An image of an MSI RTX 4080 Super graphics card against a teal background with a white border](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/p6aLbAxuSfF8ci7EVKhDFc-320-80.jpg)
Grab this mighty fast RTX 4080 Super and save more than $140 off the MSRP
By Nick Evanson published
deal Nvidia's second-most powerful GPU will barnstorm through 4K gaming like it's a walk in the park.
![An image of a Silicon Power XS70 M.2 SSD against a teal background with a white border](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/jjeBJ3ce2ddp7ckYC8hiWi-320-80.jpg)
One of the best 2 TB gaming SSDs is now under $140 and it's the perfect upgrade for any PC
By Nick Evanson published
deal Full Gen 4 speed? Yup. DRAM cache? Indeed. Runs cool, fits in a PS5, not super expensive? Check, check, and check.
![A photo of an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X processor](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/orGuVP5KvAREzbNLAcjtgm-320-80.jpg)
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X CPU review
By Nick Evanson published
Mighty Zen 5 The most expensive and powerful Zen 5 chip in the Ryzen 9000-series enters the arena to dominate the benchmark wars and your wallet.
![A photo of an AMD Ryzen 9 9900X processor](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tVYgf5fXSEHs3yci9iXTqM-320-80.jpg)
AMD Ryzen 9 9900X CPU review
By Nick Evanson published
Middling Zen 5 Round two of the Ryzen 9000-series kicks off with the 12-core Ryzen 9 9900X but the shadow of the last-gen 7900X spoils its entrance.
![Two video snapshots of the Google DeepMind AI robot playing table tennis against human opponents](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Gz2XsivA5MSxg6sh2iZA6X-320-80.jpg)
A robot trained with AI to beat average randos at table tennis is a much more impressive thing than you might think
By Nick Evanson published
news Anyone who has spent hours battling with toolpaths and G-code will certainly be interested.
![A promotional image for Microsoft's Paint 3D application](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KhxJSdQdRWSzQSNnQ3iDrd-320-80.jpg)
Once the apple of Microsoft's eye, Paint 3D will be fully killed off in favour of its elder sibling Paint
By Nick Evanson published
news Few people wanted it when it was first launched, fewer people used it over the years, and now very few people will miss it.
![Shooting Lost Souls in Doom.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/d3JyrwwrsrFSZndLdgnm59-320-80.jpg)
Doom running on a Def Con attendee badge at 50 fps is the highlight of the otherwise messy backstory to this year's popular hacking conference
By Nick Evanson published
news Seeing hackers modding hardware to make it run Doom is cool. Seeing them fall out over coding projects is decidedly not cool.
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