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
![Baldur's Gate 3 - Karlach the red horned half devil smiles while carrying an axe](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/VgXsE2oup8yu8wjhEgVu93-320-80.jpg)
This 8-bit demake of Baldur's Gate 3 was made for a 40-year-old laptop, and it's a massive shot of pure 1980s gaming nostalgia
By Nick Evanson published
news Fan-favourite Karlach looks a tad pixel-y but it's a brilliant achievement.
![Intel Core i9 14900K CPU, held between a person's finger and thumb, with a packaging box displayed in the background](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/XCuiw4yKnPGF9m4yLaNdWA-320-80.jpg)
Intel found a bug in its high-end CPU microcode is 'potentially contributing to instability' though 'is not the root cause' of those long-reported game crashes
By Nick Evanson published
news Our advice is to stick to using the default power and current settings until a complete fix is found.
![Asus ROG Ally handheld gaming PC](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Ep7b4cSDP6vT77D85nsepc-320-80.jpg)
Asus agrees to a whole raft of US warranty service improvements after it meets with Gamers Nexus
By Nick Evanson published
news Put more trust in nobility of character than in an oath, so a very old saying goes.
![A promotional image for Microsoft Recall, an AI search tool in Copilot+ AI PCs](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/PHLGfEo78AkMsZPz5JFuTX-320-80.jpg)
Microsoft chickens out of rolling out Recall to all Copilot+ PCs, choosing instead to push the all-seeing AI tool out to Windows Insiders first
By Nick Evanson published
news So, not a total recall of Recall, then. Shame.
![A photo of an Intel Arc A770 Limited Edition graphics card, installed in an open-chassis PC](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/JXMtLe3PRkDwih68kZAKx6-320-80.jpg)
Retesting Ghost of Tsushima with a fresh Arc A770 shows that Intel has a mountain to climb to compete against AMD and Nvidia
By Nick Evanson published
Ghost of Arc But at least the latest game patch and AMD drivers mean RDNA 3 owners can fully enjoy the game now.
![Promotional image of a generic Snapdragon X Plus chip in a stylized circuit board](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/u4w4C8Cb3hWVPdFqYjYHDn-320-80.jpg)
Could Arm's legal battle with Qualcomm over technology licences stop Copilot+ PCs from really taking off?
By Nick Evanson published
news Nearly two years on and there's still no sign of the two companies coming to an agreement.
![A promotional image of a MediTek SoC model](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/6txZA9aMNyPCkd8PpW4gGS-320-80.jpg)
MediaTek is aiming to do a Qualcomm and make Arm chips for Copilot+ PCs, targeting a 2025 release
By Nick Evanson published
news But does this mean the Nvidia collaboration is still on or has that gone the way of the dodo?
![Promotional image of a generic AMD Ryzen AI 300 processor](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/sW4Nuf7QcZ6pd7jJMcmLpU-320-80.jpg)
AMD's new Ryzen AI laptop chips aren't officially supported on Windows 10, thanks to its NPU and Copilot+
By Nick Evanson published
news But don't worry, Ryzen AI laptops should still run that operating system perfectly fine.
![A close up image of an Nvidia graphics card showing VRAM chips, capacitors, and power VRMs.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/nvgPPFhjS9GbP2GMxyxEAU-320-80.jpg)
Fresh rumours claim Nvidia's next-gen Blackwell cards won't have a wider memory bus or more VRAM—apart from the RTX 5090
By Nick Evanson published
news Are we reaching the limits of GPU innovation or is it just a lack of serious competition? Place your bets now, folks.
![A delidded AMD Ryzen 9000 series processor held in a hand, showing the two CCD and one IOD chiplets](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/zu72JJXmoXDK29xyhrkFqh-320-80.jpg)
Ryzen 9000 X3D chips could be with us by September, just three months after AMD's Zen 5 launch
By Nick Evanson published
news Only one source claiming this right now but Zen 5 appeared sooner than we expected, too.
![A promotional image for Microsoft Recall, an AI search tool in Copilot+ AI PCs](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/PHLGfEo78AkMsZPz5JFuTX-320-80.jpg)
Microsoft makes Recall an optional feature on Copilot+ PCs after it 'heard a clear signal' from the public
By Nick Evanson published
news Better security has been added too but does that matter when you now have the option to ignore a feature nobody asked for?
![graphics cards on a purple background](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/4V2F8uBSraWcBEyWzPcvTM-320-80.jpg)
Powercolor's Edge AI aims to significantly reduce GPU power consumption without a big hit in frame rates
By Nick Evanson published
news It's very much a work in progress right now but the concept looks promising.
![Comparison screenshots of Borderlands 3, showing the difference between native rendering and the use of Microsoft Automatic Super Resolution](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/BGAB6hoYakQv8FNcAMk6w5-320-80.jpg)
Microsoft details how its Automatic Super Resolution upscaler will benefit gamers with Copilot+ AI PCs
By Nick Evanson published
news It's not like FSR, DLSS, or XeSS and that's a good thing. It's also a bad thing.
![Render of AMD 3D V-Cache technology](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/q2WXdWXfd8Q7FmiGW5g7pM-320-80.jpg)
AMD is 'working actively on really cool differentiators' to make the next generation of 3D V-cache 'even better'
By Nick Evanson published
news X3D versions of Ryzen 9000-series chips won't be announced for a good while, though.
![A photo of the signature of Nvidia's Jen-Hsun Huang on a Gigabyte graphics card, on display at Computex 2024](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ZgZ96iBE52BaNMo8TgXZtm-320-80.jpg)
Gigabyte's been autograph hunting with signatures from Jen-Hsun, Pat, and Lisa for some of its GPUs and motherboards
By Nick Evanson published
news We tried to write PC Gamer all over Gigabyte's Computex display but they shooed us away.
![A photo of the AMD keynote speech at Computex 2024, with AMD and Asus CEOs on stage](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/LA4TDVDkCRNsi6MnAjQFVa-320-80.jpg)
AMD is right about AI PCs being 'the biggest change in the PC form factor in the last decade' but it's not because of AI
By Nick Evanson published
It's not AI PC, it's just PC Good competition drives innovation and development, not fads and phrases.
![A photo of the ThunderX3 Core Smart gaming chair, on display at Computex 2024](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/rZVPqXPLbCeYUTGnPsEhsM-320-80.jpg)
ThunderX3 shows off two new gaming chairs, an update to one of the best gaming chairs you can buy and a funky-looking mesh model
By Nick Evanson published
news Best of all, the replacement for the brilliant ThunderX3 Smart is actually $100 cheaper.
![TAIPEI, TAIWAN - 2023/06/01: Jensen Huang, President of NVIDIA holding the Grace hopper superchip CPU used for generative AI at supermicro keynote presentation during the COMPUTEX 2023. The COMPUTEX 2023 runs from 30 May to 02 June 2023 and gathers over 1,000 exhibitors from 26 different countries with 3000 booths to display their latest products and to sign orders with foreign buyers.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/bLqSjQze5JVwnLLPQ5Ks2N-320-80.jpg)
Thanks to billionaires and businesses going mad for AI, Nvidia's market cap rockets past $3 trillion, pushing Apple into third place
By Nick Evanson published
news Microsoft is fractionally ahead and you guessed it—that's all down to AI, too.
![Two Aerocool Apnx AP1-V CPU coolers on display at Computex 2024](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/yCS6fxsMHyGtDJBUm6PExa-320-80.jpg)
Aerocool's budget CPU cooler looks like it was inspired by running a Founders Edition through a bandsaw
By Nick Evanson published
news It's a very clean and cool design, though, whatever the inspiration for it was.
![Photo of the Avermedia Premium Go series of GaN chargers, with HDMI 4K output, USB hub, and 1080p capture in the Elite Go](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/YhxT7SBpY67vAegvYSMqaJ-320-80.jpg)
Power your laptop, while capturing its video output, with Avermedia's new 100W GaN charger
By Nick Evanson published
news It's one seriously beefy charger but how many can claim to be a capture card too?
![A photo showing an AVerMedia X'Tra Go GC515 docking station, on display at Computex 2024](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Jq8tUugZULCsi4f9o97zrH-320-80.jpg)
Capture up to 4K gaming footage from your Steam Deck with Avermedia's new X'Tra Go docking station
By Nick Evanson published
news No additional hardware is required, just an SD card for the dock.
![Promotional image of a generic Snapdragon X Plus chip in a stylized circuit board](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/u4w4C8Cb3hWVPdFqYjYHDn-320-80.jpg)
Qualcomm's CEO on AI performance in laptops: 'People talk about TOPS but they should be talking watts'
By Nick Evanson published
news NPUs in processors are all well and good, but not if they make them power-hungry.
![Jen-Hsun Huang on stage at Computex 2024](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/v8K2amr7JHMNcEvnZGodsK-320-80.jpg)
Nvidia's Jen-Hsun Huang reflects on how AI already creates pixels and entire frames, before saying that 'games will be generated with AI'
By Nick Evanson published
news Meshes, textures, and even complete NPCs could soon be AI-generated on gaming PCs.
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