Alan Dexter
Alan has been writing about PC tech since before 3D graphics cards existed, and still vividly recalls having to fight with MS-DOS just to get games to load. He fondly remembers the killer combo of a Matrox Millenium and 3dfx Voodoo, and seeing Lara Croft in 3D for the first time. He's very glad hardware has advanced as much as it has though, and is particularly happy when putting the latest M.2 NVMe SSDs, AMD processors, and laptops through their paces. He has a long-lasting Magic: The Gathering obsession but limits this to MTG Arena these days.
Latest articles by Alan Dexter
![AMD Ryzen 7 5700X in motherboard.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tKcj33a2fo4Su2UdhJdiMK-320-80.jpg)
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X
By Alan Dexter published
Review A year ago this would have been the Zen 3 to get, but today it simply isn't good enough.
![AMD Ryzen 5 5500](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/6idNtX46nHJcZT4w3gmiJa-320-80.jpg)
AMD Ryzen 5 5500
By Alan Dexter last updated
Review AMD's most affordable Zen 3 chip is finally here but it's too little too late.
![Intel's Ryan Shrout talking about Arc A750 and A770](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Sa77quDQiRn68XyMdFk7Zg-320-80.jpg)
Intel Arc GPUs don't natively support HDMI 2.1
By Alan Dexter published
News Intel's openness about its GPU's capabilities is certainly refreshing.
![MSI image of DDR5 overclocking record](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeVtbjBUFY4ruYgFAxBNUU-320-80.jpg)
Raptor Lake appears to enjoy a 20% performance boost from DDR5
By Alan Dexter published
News It's early days, and it's only one benchmark, but that's still an impressive uplift.
![AMD Zen 4 AM5 socket photograph](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/z4FcLUghB6rnmVvwFKmVBm-320-80.jpg)
I have a deep fear about how messy AMD's Ryzen 7000 CPUs will be with too much thermal paste
By Alan Dexter published
News Zen 4 is coming and looks utterly metal.
![Hard Drive](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/eZC4bgmzupKwqK85GyQuoP-320-80.jpg)
The surprising bit about hard drive shipments being down 35% in a year is that it's not by more
By Alan Dexter published
News Desktop PC drives still account for a surprising chunk of that storage though.
![Microsoft Store front](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/g9mmKgTyJn8wkEzwHbmFUm-320-80.jpg)
Microsoft changes its mind about open source monetization
By Alan Dexter published
News Microsoft was trying to do the right thing, but it turns out doing nothing is better.
![Windows 11 search bar](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/hqdTEzL3DkBVr7TFAjuNnM-320-80.jpg)
Latest Windows 11 security patch is causing problems, again
By Alan Dexter published
News Installation errors and known issues make the latest update a tricky one.
![Google Chrome OS Flex running on an Acer Aspire V5](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/wSoyJkRq9juGNAeyX9f6NK-320-80.jpg)
Give your old laptop a new lease of life with Chrome OS Flex
By Alan Dexter published
Shiny Shame you need semi-decent graphics hardware to install it though.
![Intel Alder Lake HX CPU](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/qedREmJtZTNHyzagqhM9ti-320-80.jpg)
Intel's next-gen Raptor Lake CPU is 39% faster in Cinebench than the Core i9 12900KF
By Alan Dexter published
News That 400W power consumption is looking a little worrying though...
![Windows 8.1](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/rFBJFneH83rDC7gUrhKjPT-320-80.jpg)
Windows 8.1 has begun warning users of its imminent demise
By Alan Dexter published
News Not long to go now before it follows Windows 7 into the long dark night.
![Shot of a chip on a blue circuit board](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/DSgp5rpHevdVqE9rJdBgN3-320-80.jpg)
EU tells big companies to make it easier to get rid of pre-installed software or pay up
By Alan Dexter published
News The EU will keep a watchful eye on the "Wild West" of the digital world.
![Shot of Password on a screen with hex codes.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/SM8hnsh8PPqNMXUJSPvVmW-320-80.jpg)
AMD hack due to some of its passwords being just 'password'
By Alan Dexter published
news Extortion group allegedly has "more than 450Gb" of AMD's data.
![Cyberpunk 2077](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/7mqy9bbUr2UUejQFt5msW3-320-80.png)
Cyberpunk 2077's clever AMD FSR 2.0 mod can double performance but is definitely a work in progress
By Alan Dexter last updated
News We've put this one-man FSR 2.0 mod up against DLSS 2.0 and the results are impressive. Just kill motion blur, eh?
![AMD Adrenalin](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tUQ3S4WB7Rg7pKNZTzj6tg-320-80.jpg)
AMD has released new drivers for GPUs it no longer supports
By Alan Dexter published
News It's been a year since the last update and it isn't clear what's new here either.
![Valve HMD Patent Application](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/vxPhEtu8AMvNjsugh9V3QZ-320-80.png)
Valve could cut the cord for future VR headset suggests new patent
By Alan Dexter published
News Let's just hope it isn't planning on powering it with a Steam Deck.
![Intel Core i9 12900KS processor](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/aEFZxVpVAdK2kc8FiCqvu6-320-80.jpg)
Intel really just asked the EU for $624M to pay it back for overturned anti-AMD fine
By Alan Dexter published
News This battle has been ongoing since 2009 and shows no sign of abating.
![Shot of DIY Perks PS5 Slim](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/rrJ8KA84i7H3rUtMsTFVxj-320-80.jpg)
Modder builds the world's first PS5 slim
By Alan Dexter published
News DIY Perks is at it again, but this build is his coolest yet.
![Gigabyte Aorus 17 XE4 on a desk](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/mHKRSz3GJxMDLkndhm4ryP-320-80.jpg)
Gigabyte Aorus 17 XE4 gaming laptop
By Alan Dexter published
Review A beefy gaming laptop that balances power and price, if not quite portability and noise.
![A collection of graphics cards on a colourful background.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/V8wiUBwunrqA24vJHEheUR-320-80.jpg)
Don't be blinded by GPU price drops, buying an RTX 3080 even at MSRP is a mistake
By Alan Dexter published
Pick a card Nvidia's 4000-series is too close to release to be dropping serious money on today's hyper-expensive GPUs.
![An ethereum sun rises over the RTX 3080 Ti](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/2o8JhZJ26vhCYYRpuanGr9-320-80.jpg)
It's now 'more cost-effective to turn off the mining rig and buy Ethereum'
By Alan Dexter published
News GPU mining is now not profitable due to the perfect storm of dropping value and spiking energy prices. The hopeful few will continue for a little while yet.
![Image of a physical Bitcoin on a PCB.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/fbS5kjGRT4umPC7ZyhABu5-320-80.jpg)
4 months after infamous Super Bowl ad, Coinbase lays off 1,100 staff
By Alan Dexter published
News "Crypto winter" has seemingly begun.