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
![Promotional image of the Tecno Pocket Go handheld gaming PC](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/mL5YEocQiDqPHWjBxwkvBM-320-80.jpg)
Screens? Where this new AMD-powered handheld PC is going we don't need screens. Just silly Cyberpunk glasses
By Nick Evanson published
news You'd never look anyone in the eye again while gaming with this on your face.
![Promotional image of the GameScent device](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/TFaKcPy6953BAjMSxZAZWA-320-80.jpg)
A new frontier of immersion awaits you with a device that fires the smell of games into your home
By Nick Evanson published
news Haptic feedback is just so old school now. Haptic stench is where the cool kids are at.
![Nvidia GeForce Now](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/F4YWHgDEumcx99cjo2M3zX-320-80.jpg)
Nvidia will soon be showing adverts to calm queue rage for free tier users of GeForce Now
By Nick Evanson published
news Ah well. It was nice while it lasted.
![Promotional screenshot of Microsoft Copilot in Windows](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/QeScCDNmkNWMQ95KR3DFAL-320-80.jpg)
Windows Copilot gets its artificial tendrils deeper into the OS settings in a new beta update
By Nick Evanson published
news And, for once, some of what it can do looks genuinely useful.
![Samsung Hwaseon S3 and S4 manufacturing plants](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/CBiCPfVsWppEZZh5t8kudf-320-80.jpg)
SSDs are getting more expensive again because the biggest NAND supplier has throttled production to half its previous output
By Nick Evanson published
news And where the leader goes, so the rest of the mob is likely to follow.
![C sharp programming language source code example on monitor and bokeh background](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/4RcbBcTnU79qPYapYPoQXK-320-80.jpg)
US White House: The responsibility of cybersecurity should be tech companies' and the Federal government's, not the individual
By Nick Evanson published
news The safety of cyberspace rests on using the right software and hardware in the future.
![A photograph of a prison laptop by X user, zephray_wenting](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/2at7gzsNywywFoASTh6kYk-320-80.jpg)
One person's journey to jailbreak a second-hand prison laptop is the most compelling read I've had in absolutely ages
By Nick Evanson published
news And I hadn't realised that prison laptops were even a thing.
![A collection of graphics cards on a colourful background.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/V8wiUBwunrqA24vJHEheUR-320-80.jpg)
AMD, Microsoft, and Nvidia are getting cosy at GDC 2024 to tell us all about the new DirectSR upscaler
By Nick Evanson published
news Mum: But we already have DLSS, FSR, and XeSS at home.
![A squad of heroic helldivers stood back-to-back, firing weapons at bugs in Helldivers 2.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/anLaFKnGHkdyL3YyEw9z74-320-80.png)
Helldivers 2 CEO talks DLSS and FSR: 'When you are in a prio meeting and it's more awesome content vs more tech the decision is easy…'
By Nick Evanson published
news You can't please all people, all of the time, but that never stops people from complaining.
![WinRAR logo on website](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/M2BvTUBPpcWvGeQznqFSyU-320-80.jpg)
Dev who created Zip file support in Windows is part of the shadowy cabal of people who have actually paid for WinRAR
By Nick Evanson published
news There should be a globally-recognised medal for anyone who's bought WinRAR.
![Someone at Intel Overclocking Labs pouring LN2 on a processor](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/JHWQyyPBroFcTCNPgdPqUP-320-80.jpg)
Upscaling and frame generation are the final nails in the coffin for overclocking, and I'm absolutely okay with that
By Nick Evanson published
Bye-bye boiling It's not that I'm lazy or that it's without merit, it's just not worth it anymore.
![Starfield space game](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/bkfEdsUXErFF5aFAdDQGBY-320-80.jpg)
FSR 3 and XeSS now available in Starfield, bringing upscaling and frame gen boosts to all space farers
By Nick Evanson published
news Now, can we have some more content to enjoy, please Bethesda?
![Enermax AQUAFUSION ADV AIO cooler](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/9uv7mr3TEpW45Mt2TDJoPg-320-80.jpg)
The CPU Cooler Wars saga continues, as Cooler Master sues a bunch of other manufacturers over all-in-one patent infringements
By Nick Evanson published
news One of the defendants is definitely not cool about this, not one bit.
![Intel Core i9 14900K CPU on a box and inside a motherboard socket.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/XCuiw4yKnPGF9m4yLaNdWA-320-80.jpg)
There are increased reports of crashing in Unreal Engine games, etc. and Epic is blaming Intel chips
By Nick Evanson published
news Power-hungry, high-clocked CPUs can be a tad unstable if they're not given the right BIOS settings.
![Chatbot icon on the digital binary code background](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/5uhPjUweP3AHvsFS9zSuHL-320-80.jpg)
Reddit's set to rake in $60M per year in a deal with an unnamed AI company to train future models on its 20 years' worth of user generated content
By Nick Evanson published
news In the eyes of AI, it would seem that nothing is ever truly yours once it's posted online.
![Kioxia Exceria Pro 2TB on a desk](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ZtyH9gq7zJrdNJfFQRuYSU-320-80.jpg)
Kioxia aims to sweet talk SK Hynix into letting the Western Digital merger go ahead, with a new manufacturing deal as the carrot this time around
By Nick Evanson published
news Daytime soap operas don't have this much on-again, off-again drama.
![3D illustration of a grid of black cpus with different IoT symbols, representing a botnet concept](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/gEUMCSDZd4nPA9UcnGkhoX-320-80.jpg)
US Dept of Justice used existing router malware to quietly purge a Russia-backed 'vast spearphishing' botnet from devices in peoples' homes
By Nick Evanson published
news Moral of the story? Update your router and change the admin password.
![Microsoft Windows desktop wallpaper](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/H6fdCdJLpKaeZV44vVzCJY-320-80.jpg)
Turns out speedrunning Windows installs is a thing, so why not spare 106 seconds to watch the world's most 'heart-pounding' record attempt?
By Nick Evanson published
news That's quicker than it takes me to make a cup of coffee. Or even drink it.
![A drone photo of Intel's new Fab 9 in Rio Rancho, New Mexico](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/HdtXxupTwmtfJxk7doENUb-320-80.jpg)
Intel is asking for an additional $10 billion from CHIPS act subsidies because the chip giant feels it deserves more cash for investing in US developments
By Nick Evanson published
news Good job it's the CHIPs Act, not CHiPs because what would extra motorcycle cops do for CPUs?
![Generic product image of an AMD Ryzen CPU, against a stylised background](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/UJzKcMEZUhmREzEFWHM84J-320-80.jpg)
AMD's Zen 5 chips will reportedly hit mass production at TSMC in the summer
By Nick Evanson published
news Just in time to give your gaming PC a serious Christmas upgrade.
![Nightingale Realm Cards](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/w2bi3wLpQGrwWreD6nUMQb-320-80.jpg)
FSR 3 removed from Nightingale's launch plan with 'a significant number' of game crashes blamed on the AMD tech 'whether or not users had the setting turned on'
By Nick Evanson published
news The bug affected everyone but Radeon owners are the ones left paying the price.
![A lineup of motherboards of different specifications.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ZRTfrsYtscRisEtzmQV9V7-320-80.jpg)
What motherboard chipset and socket do I need?
By Nick Evanson last updated
Know your sockets How to pick the right motherboard for your next AMD or Intel PC build.
![Mallet of a judge, with books and scales of justice in background, of a court-like scene. on the floor, place for typography. Courtroom theme](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Pn5oURaRSv3ov9rEGctJQM-320-80.jpg)
Round three of Reddit versus the movie industry ends in yet another win for the social network site, because the First Amendment didn't suddenly change overnight
By Nick Evanson published
news What's the betting that there will still be a fourth attempt to blame social media for supporting piracy?
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