I should be on the beach, but instead I'm playing Resident Evil Requiem.

Here I am in Hawaii, sunny skies and steps from the ocean, and as soon as it gets dark, I'm thinking about making my way back to my hotel room so I can sit in the dark and play more of the Resident Evil that our reviewer Elie Gould praised for "wrapping all the best elements of previous Resident Evil games into one."

So far, I agree, but mostly I've been marvelling at just how playable this shiny new 2026 game is on the Steam Deck. Four years on from the gaming handheld's release, it's becoming more and more common for new triple-A games to be a bit too demanding of the Deck's modest hardware—even 30 fps can be out of reach.

When the Deck came out, the 2019 Resident Evil 2 Remake was one of the best games on it. I wrote at the time that "with a mix of low and mid settings I was able to run it at 60 fps, which was a genuine 'wow, this really works?' moment for such a relatively new and gorgeous game."

Capcom's in-house RE Engine developed a reputation for looking really nice while still scaling down impressively well to low-end hardware. Unfortunately, in the last couple of years, the RE Engine has also developed a reputation for not being great at everything Capcom has used it for—specifically Monster Hunter Wilds and Dragon's Dogma 2, open-world games which suffered from major performance issues that took months and months of updates to improve.

But you know what RE Engine is still really good at, it turns out? Resident Evil.

As PC Gamer's Nick Evanson highlighted in his Resident Evil Requiem performance analysis, there are some shiny new tricks in this updated version of the engine, like path-traced lighting, but mostly it's smooth performance that's a welcome sign. "Compared to the disappointment of Dragon's Dogma 2 and Monster Hunter Wilds, in terms of graphics and performance, Resident Evil Requiem is a breath of fresh air. But then again, it should be, as it's not an open world game and the levels are generally quite compact," he wrote.

Asus ROG Ally | 720p Lowest preset | No ray tracing (RT) | FSR Balanced upscaling

While Nick ran into a major issue running Requiem on the Windows-based ROG Ally, I've had zero problems running it on the Steam Deck at a very playable framerate. Initially, I let Requiem set the graphics options automatically, at which point it knocked everything to the lowest settings.

But with a bit of experimentation, I ended up with a balance of options that let me cap the framerate at a very stable 40 fps with a few nice improvements over the bottom-of-the-barrel preset:

• Hair Strands: On (from main menu)
• Screen space reflections: On
• AMD FSR 3.1.5 upscaling: Balanced
• Volumetric fog: Low
• Shadow quality: Normal
• Ambient occlusion: Low

As you can see from this video from YouTuber Santiago Santiago, who runs through all the game's graphical settings on the Deck and tries a variety of tweaks, Requiem can run on the Deck at 40 fps even in Leon's action sections, as long as you're okay with some shimmering from AMD FSR 3 upscaling.

If you disable upscaling and instead use TXAA, you're going to see some more dips into the 30s in scenes with a lot going on—but that's also a stress test scenario. Much of the game has you playing as Grace in confined hallways with just one or two enemies around at a time, making 40 fps a pretty reasonable target for at least the first half of Requiem.

If you're playing in the more confined first-person view, it's definitely easier to maintain a consistent 40 fps with few dips; I saw the framerate fluctuate more when I switched to the more expansive third-person camera, particularly with the fast camera movement from over-the-shoulder aiming. I'd love to see the same 60 fps RE2 Remake could deliver on the Steam Deck, of course, but seven years after that game's release hitting 40 with a few caveats still feels like a win.

If you're not used to Steam Deck tinkering, you may be wondering why 40, rather than bumping up some graphics settings and locking at the 30 fps that games have had on consoles for so many years. You certainly can do that, but I find that the lower frame times at 40 fps—exactly halfway between 30 fps's 33.33 ms and 60 fps's 16.66 ms—to feel noticeably better. Human perception is a bit too complicated to say that the math is the be-all end-all here, but it at least feels true that you can get a meaningful bump in responsiveness at a modest performance cost.

If I was at home, I'd definitely rather play Resident Evil Requiem on my OLED monitor with its inky blacks and a 120 fps framerate cap—but as distractions from the boundless beauty of the natural world go, turns out RE and the Steam Deck are still an eerily good match.

If you happened to have caught the Game Awards trailer for it, Highguard, an upcoming free-to-play hero shooter from ex-developers of Apex Legends and Titanfall, launches next week. You will need to enable Secure Boot if you plan on playing through.

As we've spotted on the Highguard Steam page, the game needs Secure Boot, TPM 2.0, and Easy Anti-Cheat to run. If you're wondering why that's a big deal, it's not to most gamers. If you have a Windows 11 PC with relatively new hardware, you should be able to enable all with little problem.

However, Secure Boot, as shown with the launch of Battlefield 6, tends to draw criticism. That's for three major reasons. The first is that Secure Boot is a kernel-level security measure, and anti-cheat software that uses it will effectively get privileged access to the inner sanctuary of your PC.

Secondly, older machines may not support Secure Boot or might not even have a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), which is used to store cryptographic keys. This means older machines are left in the dust.

However, one of the biggest complaints levied at Secure Boot is on behalf of Linux gamers. While Linux does have something called Secure Boot, that's not what game devs are tapping into. They want Windows. There are ways to get around it with virtual machines or streaming, but essentially, there's no casual route to playing these games without Windows.

However, Secure Boot and kernel-level anti-cheats are reportedly an effective way of dealing with cheaters, especially when the cost of entry to a free-to-play game is so low. If someone gets banned from playing Highguard, they simply need to use a different Steam account (and possibly use a VPN) to get around it.

Back in 2022, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney responded to criticism of Easy Anti-Cheat in Fortnite, saying, "We don’t have confidence that we’d be able to combat cheating at scale under a wide array of kernel configurations including custom ones."

Still, Highguard seems to be fighting an uphill battle with the amount of distaste it has received since its announcement. Linux gamers only represent a fairly small percentage of total gamers, if Valve's Hardware Survey is accurate, yet Highguard will need all the players it can get if it wants a strong launch.

If you plan on playing Highguard yourself and have a Windows rig, remember to enable TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot for the big day.

The best gaming keyboards provide a genuinely tactile interface with your gaming PC. And, as much as people might like the odd dalliance with a gamepad, it's the heroic mouse and keyboard combination that makes PC gaming such an involved, fast, and accurate a hobby.

And, like us PC gamers, gaming keyboards come in all shapes and sizes. That means you will always be able to find one that suits you, your needs, your aesthetic, and your budget. And we review a host of keebs every year, in fact we've actually reviewed more gaming keyboards than gaming laptops over the past couple of years.

Right here is a list of the best gaming keyboards we've reviewed throughout 2025 that have scored 80% or above in our rigorous tech testing.

Best gaming keyboard deals today

• Amazon: All the gaming keyboard deals on Bezos' shelves
• Newegg: Hundreds of gaming keyboards for any budget
• Best Buy: Discounts on Corsair, SteelSeries, Logitech and more
• B&HPhoto: Money off a wide range of high-end keebs
• Gamestop: Yes, that Logi board with a cloud wrist rest is here

⌨️Razer Blackwidow V3 Quartz | $85 $50 @ Gamestop
⌨️Logitech G Pro X TKL Lightspeed | $220 $160 @ B&HPhoto
⌨️Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96 | $210 $159 @ Amazon
⌨️8BitDo Retro keyboard N-edition | $100 $80 @ Best Buy
⌨️Ducky Zero 6108 | $99 $80 @ Amazon

The keyboard low-down

Silence is golden

Jess' verdict: 93%

"It's finally time to haul my verdict out of the shadows: though by no means silent, I'm definitely a fan of the sound-dampened clacks on Be Quiet's Light Mount. It lives up to its name in more ways than one, too, boasting vibrant, head-turning per-key RGB lighting—even the software offers few reasons to complain!"

Read our full Be Quiet! Light Mount review.

Pretty little thing

Reece's verdict: 92%

"An incredibly powerful low-profile gaming keyboard that lives up to its hype with super speed, fantastic looks, and a lot of power."

Read our full NuPhy Air60 HE review.

Mighty modular

Jess' verdict: 89%

"A modular keyboard boasting versatile, ambidextrous placements, an impressive suite of customisation options, and a just lovely sound-dampened typing experience. Vibrant per-key RGB lighting coupled with a light bar that runs along the entire outer edge of the keyboard makes the Dark Mount a board not so easily overshadowed."

Read our full Be Quiet! Dark Mount review.

Rapido

James' verdict: 86%

"The Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid is Logi's first attempt at rapid trigger and, despite being a bit loud and a bit niche, it's as solid as its aluminium front plate."

Read the full Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid review.

Peak collab

Hope's verdict: 86%

"I'm not sure the design fully justifies the $50 extra over the black edition, though, that seems a bit steep no matter the customisation. The lilac keys pop wonderfully against the black main chassis, and I enjoy the difference the circle media keys at the top add to the design."

Read our full Razer x Kuromi collection review.

Free flowing

Alex's verdict: 86%

"Bringing notable enhancements over its predecessor, the Lofree Flow 2 is an excellent mechanical keyboard built with care and quality."

Read our full Lofree Flow 2 review.

Absolute bargain

Reece's verdict: 85%

"A powerful gaming keyboard that makes a bit of a mockery of more expensive rivals with beefy Hall effect switches, pleasant physical touches and decent software."

Read our full Gamakay x Naughshark NS68 review.

So retro

James' verdict: 83%

"The 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard is a very quirky choice for any typist or gamer but a surprisingly solid one that is more than just a pretty face. "

Read our full 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard review.

Preem

Jess' verdict: 83%

"Quieter clacking alongside a rich, customisable feature set make this a slightly more affordable alternative to the Corsair K70 Max. It's comparatively compact to boot though, alas, still chunky for a tenkeyless design."

Read our full Corsair K70 Pro TKL review.

Ergo

Nick's verdict: 83%

"Compact and great to type on, the Kinesis mWave is a good introduction to the world of ergonomic keyboards. It's ideal if you want all-day comfort for office work and gaming, but it's an absolute grease magnet."

Read our full Kinesis mWave review.

Our experts

The best gaming laptop can mean different things to different people, but it's something we spend a lot of time thinking about and testing ourselves on PC Gamer. In fact, of all the hundreds of products we prod, poke, and benchmark throughout the year, gaming laptops make up around 10% of the total we test.

So, we know our silicon onions when it comes to mobile machines for making good with the gaming. Each and every gaming laptop that crosses our path gets put through the same rigorous process, where we test gaming and productivity performance with a curated set of benchmarks, and monitor power and thermals, too. And, because we test a ton of them, we can compare each against all the gaming laptops that have gone before.

In this list right here are all the highest-rated machines we've scored over 80% so far this year, with links to their full reviews, and all the benchmarking data you could wish for. And we'll keep adding them as they keep on making good ones.

Best gaming laptop deals today

• Amazon: All the gaming laptop deals at Amazon.
• Best Buy: Asus RTX 5070 Ti gaming laptop for $1,600
• Razer: Our best 14-inch gaming laptop pick for $2,100
• Lenovo: Up to $700 off Legion gaming laptops
• Newegg: Lenovo Legion 5 OLED RTX 5060 gaming laptop for $1,100
• Dell: Up to $500 off Alienware laptops

💻 RTX 5050 - Acer Nitro V 16 AI | $629 at Walmart
💻 RTX 5060 - Lenovo Legion 5 | $1,000 @ Walmart
💻 RTX 5070 - Gigabyte Gaming A16 | $1,180 @ Newegg
💻 RTX 5070 Ti - MSI Vector 16 HX | $1,299 @ Walmart
💻 RTX 5080 - MSI Vector 16 HX AI | $1,900 @ Best Buy

The laptop low-down

Simply the best

Dave's verdict: 90%

"This is the first gaming laptop that has been able to deliver the sort of all-round PC experience that would have me consider ditching both my work laptop and my desktop gaming PC. And that is saying something. The Blade 16 is a genuinely lovely device, that can deliver whether plugged into a wall socket or running on its battery."

Read our full Razer Blade 16 (2025) review.

A little surprise

Jacob's verdict: 89%

"This gaming laptop is ideal for those who want to be able to take their laptop around with them and use it for more than just gaming. Its subtle design and form factor make it very portable, and its RTX 5060 GPU has surprisingly strong gaming chops, especially with frame gen enabled. You can probably get a little better performance for cheaper, but probably not in such a great form factor and premium chassis."

Read our full Asus TUF Gaming A14 review.

Fastest around

Dave's verdict: 87%

"The new Legion chassis looks good, and the performance is absolutely top-notch. But it's the level of customisation that sings to me, allowing you to create a gaming profile that at once delivers the frame rates and the noise level you desire. Just a shame the battery life is still so weak."

Read our full Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 review.

Object of desire

Dave's verdict: 86%

"Razer's "aggressively priced" Blade still manages to be frustratingly pricey, especially in the face of cheaper, more powerful competition. But when it comes to actual use, it's a huge improvement over last year's model and there's now no other gaming laptop I'd want to have my digits on or spend my money on."

Read our full Razer Blade 14 (2025) review.

A classic

Dave's verdict: 83%

"A classic gaming laptop, that makes up for its lack of battery performance or pencil-thin chassis design with serious gaming frame rates even outside of its cacophonous Extreme Performance mode."

Read our full MSI Vector 16 HX AI gaming laptop review.

Second best

Dave's verdict: 83%

"The strangely inconsistent fan noise really takes the shine of this generation's G14, despite it still being a delicious device, with a beautiful OLED screen, and decent gaming performance. But with a new Blade 14 rectifying all the issues Razer's compact machine has had over the past couple of years, it certainly suffers by comparison."

Read our full Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) review.

Sturdy

Ian's verdict: 81%

"A relative bargain among today's top-end gaming laptops, the 2025 Acer Predator Helios 16 offers solid performance and exceptional screen brightness with the usual drawbacks of running hot and having almost no battery life."

Read our full Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI review.

Budget boi

Zak's verdict: 81%

"Lenovo's hit the mark just right on three things in particular. The graphics card. The screen. The build quality. It's exceptional in those elements and delivers excellent 1080p gaming performance. Sadly, however, due to what are assumedly cost-cutting measures on the RAM and SSD front, it doesn't quite nail the landing with its entry-level model."

Read our full Lenovo LOQ 15 Gen 10 review.

That chassis

Jacob's verdict: 80%

"The Alienware 16 Area-51 is a great pick for someone looking to game primarily on a laptop and still have some semblance of portability. It lacks an OLED panel, which is its biggest miss, and performance is a touch slower than some we've seen. But it more than makes up for these with a price tag lower than others offering the same level of quality."

Read our full Alienware 16 Area-51 review.

Chonker

Nick's verdict: 80%

"With such a high price tag, you'd expect Alienware to pack this laptop with all the best goodies. For the most part, it has, and the performance and general experience are great. But the screen is disappointing, the unplugged performance isn't great, and the keyboard feels cheap. At least this gives Dell plenty of scope to make next year's version better."

Read the full Alienware 18 Area-51 review.

Our experts

Taiwan is one of the most important countries in the world when it comes to technology. With the likes of TSMC (the world's largest semiconductor fabrication company) being based there, it's right at the centre of the global chip trade. With America also looking to regain a slice of that technological pie, that has led to some chatter about potential deals between the two countries.

As reported by Reuters, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told News Nation (a US-based television network) that it would be proposing a 50/50 split with Taiwan for future chip production. In this, the US government wants Taiwan to move 50% of the chips it produces for US use to be made in the US. TSMC has fabs in America, newly-built ones with plans for more, but they don't make up anywhere near as much of global production as its facilities in Taiwan. This proposed deal would try to push for commitment to a huge increase in production on US soil.

Cheng Li-chiun, a Taiwanese politician and vice premier, told reporters, "Our negotiating team has never made any commitment to a 50/50 split on chips. Rest assured, we did not discuss this issue during this round of talks, nor would we agree to such conditions."

No word has currently been spoken on what exactly would be offered in return for this split. Last week, it was reported that the US government is looking to impose tariffs on US firms that do not source an equal amount of American chips. In a roundabout way, this would affect TSMC's demand. America is already offering "no charge" for companies currently building on American soil, so it seems TSMC will be able to avoid tariffs with its American fabs. Semiconductors have been a point of contention for Trump's tariffs over the past year, but exports from Taiwan without any exceptions are subject to 20% tariffs.

Under President Donald Trump, America has consistently implemented, then went back on, then restated, then changed terms around tariffs, in order to push more production in the country. These tariffs seem intended to punish consumers for buying tech from outside of the US and push companies into opening US facilities or sourcing parts from within the country. This does appear to have incentivised production somewhat, though some of this was also thanks to deals struck by the Biden administration. TSMC is investing $100 billion into three new fabs in the US, and Apple has pushed US commitment up to $600 billion.

At the end of the year, TSMC will be losing special export privileges that previously allowed it to fast-track exports. Trump reportedly threatened a 'big tax' upwards of 'maybe 100%' prior to TSMC opening its own US fab, so it isn't immune to throwing its global weight around. Earlier this year, it was announced that any Taiwanese companies with fabs producing outside of Taiwan must be a node generation behind. So the US and Taiwan are at odds with one another on policy.

TSMC has its N2 process node in the works for volume production later this year, with its cutting-edge A16 node and N2 derivative nodes set to arrive next year. It has already announced its A14 node after that, too. The majority of N2 production will be in Fab 20, located in Taiwan. TSMC Arizona, the US branch of the business, already produces N4 technology, with plans to hit volume production on N3 in 2028. It's also planning to open a third facility that will produce chips on the N2 and A16 nodes around the end of the decade. So, it's quite a delay for the US business.

The more advanced nodes offer bigger benefits for the chips using them, in terms of performance and efficiency, with the likes of Apple and AMD often the first in line to use the latest technologies.

As reported by Reuters, Premier Cho Jung-tai said "critical substantive consultations are currently underway" with Cheng Li-chun speaking to the US. In this, they reportedly had discussions that suggest "certain progress."

The plan could be to talk through further terms to increase production in the US or speed up adoption of new nodes, but Cheng's comments suggest the 50/50 split is unlikely. It's not like you can switch on a new process node overnight, either, as these are incredibly complex processes often requiring new methods, lithographic machines, and even facilities to accomplish. So any plans won't materialise into anything soon, if the two countries ever come to any sort of agreement.

From time to time, I rely on machine translation. From time to time, machine translation reminds me why it can never truly replace human translators—case in point, referring to this VR glove as having 'vibrator' touch panels. Large Language Models are trained on many libraries worth of words, spitting out a statistically likely word vomit that can sound downright personable in a number of mother tongues—though AI chatbots are culturally clueless.

For instance, a fascinating paper out of Brock University in Ontario, Canada found that a number of AI LLMs, including DeepSeek, OpenAI's GPT-4o, and Meta's Llama 3 can do nothing but make social faux pas when it comes to Persian politeness culture (via Ars Technica). In Persian, this is called 'taarof' and can take the form of multiple polite refusals in response to, say, a host's offer of food. A good host will continue to insist and a good guest will refuse two to three times before pretending to cave and only then filling their plate.

AI chatbots like Llama 3, for instance, cannot read between the lines of taarof. The paper's research team presented Llama 3 with the scenario of being a passenger attempting to pay a taxi driver for the journey. The taxi driver observes taarof and politely says, "Be my guest this time." A polite passenger is then supposed to insist on payment until the driver accepts, but Llama 3 fails to follow this dance of etiquette, taking the driver at his word and responding "Thank you so much!" I feel no sympathy for LLMs—but I can't help but cringe at such a clear social faux pas.

This foot-in-mouth moment is courtesy of TaarofBench, a LLM cultural benchmarking tool created by the paper's research team. Comprised of "450 role-play scenarios covering 12 common social interaction topics, validated by native speakers," the team found it wasn't just Llama 3 that would make a fool of itself in Persian.

The team's benchmarking of "five frontier LLMs" ultimately revealed "substantial gaps in cultural competence, with accuracy rates 40-48% below native speakers when taarof is culturally appropriate." These stats improve in response to Persian-language prompts, but the team also observed that the LLMs were often still working within the "limitations of Western politeness frameworks," rather than taarof.

The paper elaborates that the LLMs struggled most in scenarios revolving around compliments and request-making. The researchers suggest this is "due to [these taarof scenarios'] reliance on context-sensitive norms such as indirectness and modesty that often conflict with western directness conventions." The team goes on to say, "In these scenarios, models often respond politely but miss the strategic indirectness expected in Persian culture."

Interestingly, all of the models tested performed best in the benchmark's gift-giving role-play scenarios. The researchers surmise, "This probably reflects the cross-cultural nature of gift-giving norms, such as initial refusal, which appear in Chinese, Japanese, and Arab etiquette and are therefore more likely to be represented in multilingual training data."

Which brings us to a key question within the paper: "Can models be taught taarof?" The researchers found that if they gave Llama 3 enough taarof context in their prompts, the accuracy of the model's responses "rose from 37.2% to 57.6%." The paper explains that the base model of Llama 3 has likely encountered taarof in its training data and this "latent cultural knowledge [...] can be activated through in-context learning."

So, the researchers also worked on training their own model of Llama 3 through supervised fine-tuning and Direct Preference Optimization. Giving Llama 3 a solid training nudge via DPO "nearly doubled performance (from 37.2% to 79.5%), approaching native speaker levels (81.8%)."

That's an impressive gain, but as any socially awkward person will tell you, getting by culturally is about far more than simply memorising social scripts. Furthermore, yeah, I could type my polite insistences and refusals into ChatGPT and show the output to my generous Persian host, but that's hardly the smoothest interaction for anyone. And if I've already tracked dirt into my generous host's home because I forgot to take my shoes off—well, I might as well see myself out at that point.

As such, I doubt LLMs will ever wholly replace human interpreters and translators. Besides that, maybe it's high time I, the linguistics drop-out, picked up just a little Persian myself.

In procuring any new piece of tech, my first question has always been "Can it run DOOM?" It's a query that becomes all the more far-fetched as the game storms through its countless evolutions away from the initial mishmash of bloody pixels on a CRT TV. Thankfully, GPUs are keeping up with the current graphical hellscape as it begs more and more of our gaming PCs. With NVIDIA's 50-series graphics cards in particular, ramping up the fidelity for the latest game in the DOOM series, DOOM: The Dark Ages, is a cakewalk. A bloody, brutal, and ever so twisted cakewalk. At least it can be, you just need to find the best settings in order to achieve it.

Whichever Blackwell GPU you're packing—from NVIDIA's more affordable RTX 5060 all the way up to the rocksteady RTX 5090—there's a spread of graphics settings below that'll deliver devilishly smooth gameplay in just a few short clicks. Even if you're planning to connect up one of the best 4K gaming monitors and run DOOM in all its ray-traced glory, you'll be able to get stuck into some Dark Age demon-slaying thanks to the breadth of technological advancements in NVIDIA's latest GPUs.

These include not only Reflex tech (to reduce system latency) and ray-tracing (to make everything look stunning), but also DLSS 4 which opens up access to the Blackwell exclusive Multi Frame Generation technology. With DOOM: The Dark Ages supporting these features, these 50-series GPUs can make the most of a full set of shaders with direct access to the chip's Tensor Cores and can AI generate up to three additional frames per traditional frame, offering a far smoother experience all-over.

With more advanced tech there's going to be a lot more to consider settings-wise when starting up a new game. I've made sure to break down the best settings for DOOM: The Dark Ages for every GPU in the NVIDIA 50-series, pointing out the strengths of each, and where you can tweak each one to make the most of said technology. Lets get stuck in, Doomslayer.

RTX 5090

Coming in at the top end, NVIDIA's RTX 5090 shouldn't need much tweaking to play DOOM: The Dark Ages, even when faced with 4K resolution and ray-tracing. In fact, crank it up to Ultra settings at 4K and it's unlikely you'll need to make a single change, bar any aesthetic preferences you might have. As the flagship of the 50-series, the RTX 5090 is more than fit for intense demonslaying sessions in 4K Ultra Nightmare settings. We're looking at 78% more memory bandwidth than the RTX 4090, and a boatload of goodies that translate to a 30% improvement in 4K gaming frame rates gen-on-gen.

Thanks to the 4th Gen RT Cores the RTX 5090 is hauling, you're in for a cracking time even with ray-traced Reflections and Shadows turned on. So, absolutely do that. Pair that with DLSS 4 (Performance) and Multi Frame Generation (4x), as well as DLAA, and you'll be laughing through the high-res carnage at 200+ frames per second.

• Resolution: 4K
• Target FPS: 200+
• Best Preset: Ultra Nightmare
• DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (4x), DLAA
• Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
• Sharpness: 40–50%
• All Quality Settings: Ultra Nightmare

DOOM: The Dark Ages’ newly added path tracing feature, sampling multiple potential light sources for each pixel, certainly adds some extra work onto your GPU, but you likely won’t have anything to worry about with a GeForce RTX 5090 system. Add on DLSS Ray Reconstruction and keep the settings as is and you shouldn’t struggle to get 100+ frames.

RTX 5080

This 360 Watt GPU blew onto the market with 5% more cores than the RTX 4080 Super, and a 15% performance bump to match. Since you're getting GDDR7 instead of GDDR6X, the RTX 5080 touts up to 7 Gbps over its predecessor Ada cards. Of course, with greater memory bandwidth comes more responsibility.

I'm joking. You really don't need to be gentle with this thing, though I still recommend turning Multi Frame Gen (x4) on to really push it past that 15% performance increase. Again, it'll happily chug along with Shadows and Reflections turned on in Ultra Nightmare settings. Even at 4K, you can expect around 200 fps with DLSS 4 (Performance) and DLAA backing it up.

• Resolution: 4K
• Target FPS: 200+
• Best Preset: Ultra Nightmare
• DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (4x), DLAA
• Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
• Sharpness: 40–50%
• All Quality Settings: Ultra Nightmare

Like the 5090, the GeForce RTX 5080 should be more than capable of hitting playable frame rates if you do decide you want some path traced goodness. We’d recommend turning the preset down to Ultra if you do want to comfortably hit 100+fps, and flip on DLSS Ray Reconstruction for maximum image quality.

RTX 5070 Ti

With the 5070 Ti offering powerful gaming prowess at a more accessible price than the top-end GPUs in the 50-series, it's possible to deliver some divine retribution without spending all the gold in the empire. You will, before heading off to rip and/or tear, need to do a couple of minor graphical tweaks to give things a little boost, in particular if you're punishing hell freaks in 4K.

Touting a cut down version of the same chip used in the RTX 5080, the 5070 Ti isn't far behind its big sister in terms of performance. This 300W GPU comes in at 25 - 30% quicker than the old RTX 4070 Ti Super and hits a nice middle ground when it comes to price too, especially with it being available at and even below MSRP. And while this GPU is a beast when it comes to overclocking, your average user might want to make a few changes to the graphics settings to get the most out of this middling monster.

If you're aiming for 4K, you'll want to hold back a little with Ultra settings as opposed to Ultra Nightmare. Switch on DLSS 4 (Performance), Multi Frame Generation (4x), and DLAA to make the most of this powerful mid-range GPU with RT Shadows and Reflections on. At 1440p you can certainly get away with whacking the settings preset up to Ultra Nightmare mode.

• Resolution: 4K
• Target FPS: 200+
• Best Preset: Ultra
• DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (4x), DLAA
• Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
• Sharpness: 40–50%
• All Quality Settings: Ultra

If you’re planning on turning on path tracing with DOOM: TDA’s latest update, you may want to stick to 1440p for the best performance. With Multi Frame Generation and Ray Reconstruction, Ultra Settings should put you comfortably in the 100+ fps range.

• Resolution: 1440p
• Target FPS: 200+
• Best Preset: Ultra Nightmare
• DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (4x), DLAA
• Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
• Sharpness: 40–50%
• All Quality Settings: Ultra Nightmare

RTX 5070

The RTX 5070 is one of those cards that can still pack a punch with 12GB of VRAM. With RTX capability to match the RTX 3090 it's no slouch when it comes to both out-of-game rendering and in-game ray tracing. Tune it perfectly within the DOOM: The Dark Ages graphics setting page, and you can really make this baby sing.

I recommend first switching to the high preset, which should see you through at high resolution, as long as you have DLSS 4 (Performance), Multi Frame Generation (4x), and DLAA backing you up. That should nab you 100+ fps with Shadows and Reflections turned on.

• Resolution: 4K
• Target FPS: 100+
• Best Preset: High
• DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (4x), DLAA
• Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
• Sharpness: 40–50%
• All Quality Settings: High

If it's a 1440p gaming monitor you're working with, you can get away with switching up to Ultra settings with everything else left as-is. A 1080p will happily spit out Ultra Nightmare settings, though I suggest switching the Multi Frame Generation down a tad to 2x, rather than 4x (unless you have an ultra high refresh rate monitor). You should still see around 150+ fps with ray-traced Shadows and Reflections on at lower resolutions.

• Resolution: 1440p
• Target FPS: 200+
• Best Preset: Ultra
• DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (4x), DLAA
• Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
• Sharpness: 40–50%
• All Quality Settings: Ultra

Given how demanding full path tracing can be, we’d recommend sticking to 1080p resolution if you're planning on turning this setting on. Ultra preset and MFG should give you a more than playable experience, with every demon kill illuminated in glorious fidelity.

• Resolution: 1080p
• Target FPS: 150+
• Best Preset: Ultra Nightmare
• DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (2x), DLAA
• Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
• Sharpness: 40–50%
• All Quality Settings: Ultra Nightmare

RTX 5060 Ti (16GB)

When it comes to the 16GB RTX 5060 Ti, it becomes a little more of a dance to get the graphics settings right. That doesn't mean you can't get high fidelity performance at 1440p or even 4K. It's even possible to play with ray-tracing on at this end of the 50-series with a little extra tweaking, and still match 100+ fps.

Power up the 16GB RTX 5060 Ti with a 4K gaming monitor, and you'll want to keep to a maximum of Medium settings in DOOM: The Dark Ages. NVIDIA recommends sticking with DLSS 4 (Performance), DLAA, and Multi Frame Generation (4x) if you want everything to keep running smoothly at around 100+ fps.

• Resolution: 4K
• Target FPS: 100+
• Best Preset: Medium
• DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (4x), DLAA
• Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
• Sharpness: 40–50%
• All Quality Settings: Medium

I don't recommend pushing past Medium settings into Ultra unless you switch down to 1440p. You shouldn't have trouble switching Ray Tracing on with the 16GB either thanks to Ray Reconstruction tech, even if you knock down to 1080p and switch up to Ultra Nightmare settings.

• Resolution: 1440p
• Target FPS: 150+
• Best Preset: Ultra
• DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (4x), DLAA
• Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
• Sharpness: 40–50%
• All Quality Settings: Ultra

For Path Tracing, similar to the 5070 our recommendation is keeping it to 1080p Ultra, with MFG at 4x.

• Resolution: 1080p
• Target FPS: 100+
• Best Preset: Ultra Nightmare
• DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (2x), DLAA
• Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
• Sharpness: 40–50%
• All Quality Settings: Ultra Nightmare

RTX 5060Ti (8GB)

This is one we wouldn't recommend pushing your luck at 4K. Instead, at 1440p the 8GB RTX 5060Ti will appreciate dropping the settings preset down to High, but with the help of DLSS 4 (Performance), Multi Frame Generation (4x), and DLAA you're still looking at an admirable 150+ fps. That's with all the ray-traced glory switched on as well (you probably don’t want to push up to full path tracing).

• Resolution: 1440p
• Target FPS: 150+
• Best Preset: High
• DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (4x), DLAA
• Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
• Sharpness: 40–50%
• All Quality Settings: High

Drop down to 1080p and you'll be able to switch right up to Ultra Nightmare mode settings, though I recommend keeping Multi Frame Generation at 2x rather than 4x.

• Resolution: 1080p
• Target FPS: 100+
• Best Preset: Ultra Nightmare
• DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (2x), DLAA
• Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
• Sharpness: 40–50%
• All Quality Settings: Ultra Nightmare

RTX 5060

Even at the far end of the 50-series, the RTX 5060 shouldn't have trouble with the same settings as the 8GB RTX 5060Ti.

• Resolution: 1440p
• Target FPS: 100+
• Best Preset: High
• DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (4x), DLAA
• Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
• Sharpness: 40–50%
• All Quality Settings: High

Though you'll likely get fewer frames per second to play with, you should still be able to enjoy DOOM: The Dark Ages with ray-tracing switched on with the same settings as above in both 1440p and 1080p.

• Resolution: 1080p
• Target FPS: 100+
• Best Preset: Ultra Nightmare
• DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (2x), DLAA
• Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
• Sharpness: 40–50%
• All Quality Settings: Ultra Nightmare

Conclusion

In case you were concerned that you'd end up slaying a mass of pixels with the lower-end cards in NVIDIA's RTX 50-series, I hope you feel reassured that DOOM: The Dark Ages scales across the Blackwell GPU range. With minimal compromise in terms of performance, just a few tweaks can land you in the 100+ fps range even at the lower end. That's thanks in no small part to DLSS 4's many smashing features—such as Multi Frame Generation and Ray Reconstruction—that utilise all those AI cores in order to enhance the experience.

As part of the latest Windows Insider Preview build, Microsoft has announced that it's testing a feature called 'quick machine recovery' to prevent widespread outage-related failures. That'll likely be referring to the CrowdStrike bug then, but Microsoft's new methodology looks like it might be a promising new way to treat bootlooping nightmares yet to pass.

In a Microsoft Tech Community post, senior program manager Riddi Ameser said:

"With system failures, devices can sometimes get stuck in the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE), severely impacting productivity and often requiring IT teams to spend significant time troubleshooting and restoring affected machines.

"With quick machine recovery, when a widespread outage affects devices from starting properly, Microsoft can broadly deploy targeted remediations to affected devices via Windows RE—automating fixes and quickly getting users to a productive state without requiring complex manual intervention."

Essentially, when a Windows 11 device with quick machine recovery enabled encounters a critical failure preventing a normal boot sequence, it enters the Windows Recovery Environment as usual.

However, with the new feature enabled, Windows RE can now connect to the network using ethernet or Wi-Fi access to communicate with Microsoft's recovery services.

Not only will the device send crash data to Microsoft back for analysis, but in the event of a widespread outage a "targeted remediation" developed by a Microsoft internal response team can be sent back to affected machines, hopefully fixing them before any more butterfly-effect-like chaos can occur.

Ameser says that the feature will eventually be enabled by default for Windows 11 Home devices, although Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise users will be able to customize the feature for either their own devices or devices in their organisation.

The CrowdStrike outage is now widely regarded to be the worst IT shutdown of all time, among many potential candidates. On July 19, 2024, CrowdStrike pushed a content configuration update for a Windows sensor on systems using its Falcon cybersecurity platform, causing them to become stuck in a boot loop in which the machine crashes, restarts, and then crashes again.

Windows machines around the world began to crash en masse, causing emergency service outages, cancelled flights, bank access denials, and many other sorts of chaos worldwide. While CrowdStrike took the brunt of the blame (and its CEO delivered a public apology), Microsoft's infamous Blue Screen of Death was everywhere—and that's not a great look when it sits next to headlines reporting global disaster.

So, here's hoping quick machine recovery provides a speedier solution should such an outage happen again. Microsoft will be crossing its metaphorical fingers, at the very least.

My kingdom for a gaming handheld with better battery life. Well, other than the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and Asus ROG Ally X. I mean one I actually own, like my Steam Deck. But today I rejoice, for Valve's latest Beta client update for the Deck is said to improve battery life.

When the Steam Frame Limiter is active. And, err, by six whole percent. In low-powered games.

Look, I know it's not a lot. But when it comes to battery life every little bit counts, as anyone will attest if they've sat in an airport lounge trying to do a bit of handheld PC gaming with selfish MacBook users taking up all the available charging sockets.

This is a prime moment to enable the frame rate limiter, as it brings down power usage in its own right by taking some of the stress and strain off of the ageing Zen 2-based APU inside.

And an extra six percent? That might be the difference between reaching Terra Tunnel in a Spelunky 2 run or wondering for the rest of your flight what might have been.

Valve says it's achieved this by reducing the polling rate when the frame limiter is active, and the "up to 6%" claim is based on running something undemanding at low frame rates, like Half-Life 2 at 30 fps. It's a squeak, a tad, a squidge more power out of your gaming handheld on the move, no doubt, but still worth celebrating.

Slightly. Perhaps not with a whole cake and balloons fiasco, but more with a polite nod and a reassuring slap on the back.

Still, battery tech doesn't look to be making any major leaps and bounds in the near future (despite what many claim) and it'll still likely be a while before we see a Steam Deck 2 with hopefully a bigger battery and a more efficient APU, so in the meantime I'll take what I can get.

Six percent? Sold. Now where did I leave my portable battery pack?

Sometimes, in this topsy-turvy PC hardware world of ours, a rumour turns up that really makes us scratch our heads. This week, it was rumblings about a 32 GB variant of AMD's upcoming RDNA 4 graphics card, the RX 9070 XT. You can rest easy in your beds tonight, though, because AMD's Frank Azor has categorically denied its existence. For now, at least.

Alright, let me qualify that. It's certainly possible that AMD has a 32 GB test card rattling around in its labs, because hey, everything gets a little crazy on a Friday and the team thought it might be fun. But as for one turning up on sale in March? Nuh-uh.

That's it. That's the tweet. It's no surprise that AMD isn't planning on cramming the RX 9070 XT with an excessive amount of VRAM, because it's been very open for some time about its humble aims to bring mid-range cards to the market this generation, not high end.

32 GB of VRAM would only really make sense for AI and high-level rendering purposes, not a stated goal of this generation of AMD GPUs. And while we've certainly seen controversy regarding a perceived lack of VRAM in cards like the RTX 4060 Ti in the past, 32 GB would be over-egging the pudding significantly for a mid-range GPU.

Plus, it's fairly expensive. VRAM, that is. Stuffing a card full of it while trying to keep the price competitive with Nvidia's offer of the RTX 5070 for $549 makes about as much sense as, ooh, I don't know, offering one with a gold-plated cooling shroud for bragging rights.

Although, anything's possible. Just wanted to add that qualifier, in case AMD announces the RX 9070 XT Gold Standard edition in a week. And hey, companies do be doing crazy things sometimes. One for the future maybe? Perhaps. Just not now.

This batch of cards will need to be high-performing (for their product category) and relatively cheap to sell well, and that's something that AMD appears to be keenly aware of.

At least, we're sort of hoping so at this point. Given the claimed advantages of DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation (we've yet to test it on a mid-range card, although we've been diving in to the figures for the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090), the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 look like they'll have an uphill battle on their hands this generation to grab some market share.

And 32 GB of VRAM, for no real reason other than a marketing-friendly number on the box? That really doesn't seem like the play. Anyway, here's the word, straight from the horse's mouth. You can all go back to your bunks.

I'm old enough to remember a pre-YouTube era, where children played happily in the fields and everyone wore fetching hats to church. Now, though, it's a staple of so many of our lives, mine included. And according to YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, it's not just dominating the arena of our phone and desktop PC video watching, but on track to take over television, too.

In a blog post on the, err, YouTube official blog, Mohan takes a moment to mark the internet video sensation's 20th birthday, with his four "big bets" for YouTube in 2025 (via Sweclockers). "YouTube will remain the epicenter of culture", he says. Heavens help us all.

"For more and more people, watching TV means watching YouTube. Viewers are watching, on average, over 1B hours of YouTube content on TVs daily, and TV is now the primary device for YouTube viewing in the U.S" says Mohan.

"It’s interactive and includes things like Shorts (yes, people watch them on TVs), podcasts, and live streams, right alongside the sports, sitcoms and talk shows people already love."

I feel like following a statement on Shorts viewership with a "yes, really" qualifier is perhaps a tad defeatist, but I'll admit that even I watch the occasional YouTube Short. On my TV, though? That's sacrilege, surely.

In other news, YouTube TV apparently has more than eight million subscribers and YouTube Premium has over 100 million happy payees. Given YouTube's increasingly aggressive (and incredibly lucrative) policy of filling my watching hours with ads, I've considered paying for one myself on occasion.

Ah, who am I kidding. That'd eat into my Steam budget, and I feel its kinda like letting that sort of ad-based incentive win. Anyway, Mohan also boldly states that "YouTubers are becoming the startups of Hollywood," as would-be filmmakers are starting off on the platform in the hope of graduating to the really, really big screen:

"Creators are bringing that startup mindset to Hollywood: leaning into new models of production, building studios to elevate their production quality, and exploring new creative avenues.

"We're committed to meeting creators where they are with tools and features that power their businesses and communities" he continues. "We’ll continue to support their growth through more traditional revenue streams like ads and YouTube Premium, while introducing new ways for creators to partner with brands to bring their products to life."

Ah good, more brands. It seems like most of my favourite creators are now acting like the QVC shopping channel and hawking dubiously-effective wares, although I've not yet been tempted to buy anything simply because a gurning thumbnail-enthusiast has shoved it in my face mid-video.

Still, it must be working in general. There's gold in them thar hills, or so I've been told.

And actually, while it's fun to poke fun, I think Mohan has a point. Even my dear sainted mother has been known to watch YouTube on her televisual box, and if that's not a sign of mass-adoption, I don't know what is. YouTube is on your phone, your desktop browser, and now, it seems, increasingly replacing the other apps on your TV set-top box.

A brave new world indeed. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to tie a ring of daisies in my hair and frolic among the heather. It's a beautiful day outside, y'know?

I like to think I'm pretty speedy when it comes to building a gaming PC, but my record is firmly in the mud. Two contestants at Newegg's PC speed building contest at Megacon 2025 have finished with sub-five minute times, and that's a mighty impressive feat, even if it does come with some caveats.

And what are they, you might be asking? Well, it's not really building a PC from scratch, as all that needs to be done here is installing the motherboard, GPU, PSU and RAM, before booting the PC and ensuring that it posts correctly.

Which, if I'm honest, makes me feel a bit better about myself. I normally dally around a bit with the CPU installation, admiring the shiny new chip and thinking about all the infinitesimally small pathways inside. Then I have a cup of tea, debate once again how much thermal paste to use (it's a pea-sized amount, always), and by that point it's usually time for lunch.

Anyway, Newegg has posted a timelapse of two of its top competitors going head to head, in a competition I would surely be disqualified from for interfering with my opponents machine. We also have photos of four winners holding various bits of hardware as prizes, with two of them managing times under five minutes.

The winning time? Four minutes, nine and a half seconds. Even discounting the fact that they didn't have to unbox the components, install the CPU, or mess around with various cable configurations to make things look pretty inside the case, that's darn impressive.

Our winner appears to have nabbed themselves an Intel Arc B580 GPU, an Intel Core 7 Ultra CPU, and a $1,000 Newegg gift card. That's the beginnings of an excellent gaming PC right there, so well done them.

One thing I would like to know is how many of our brave competitors managed to drop a screw inside the casing. I have yet to manage a build where this hasn't happened at least once, and I'm pretty sure you can tell which PCs I've built the quickest simply by picking them up and shaking them around a bit to listen for tell-tale rattles.

Don't tell anyone though, alright? I've got a reputation to protect, and a career to continue. Oh goodness, I've said the quiet part out loud, haven't I? Move on, everyone. Move on.

For those who love the idea of a Mini-ITX PC but think it might be a pain to build (yours truly included), how about the Geometric Future Model O Flamingo?

Aside from being charmingly named, Geometric Future says this is a 'backpack class' case design that doesn't just look pretty on the outside but folds down flat to theoretically allow 360-degree access to your components (via Tom's Hardware).

I've always been a bit wary of Mini-ITX PCs. In concept, I love them. But when it comes to the task of building one myself, I know I'd end up spending hours cramming components that are far too large into a compact chassis, cursing merrily away as I go.

I'm not really sure this case design solves that issue, to be honest, as I can absolutely see myself stacking together a tower of components on its bottom panel, only to fold it together and realise I've messed up with the tape measure once again. It's a genuinely good idea though, and the finished case looks brilliant in the photos. The Model 0 Flamingo measures 3.2 x 8.1 x 8.2 inches when fully constructed, and comes in a matte black finish with some orange highlights.

And there are some interesting logistical possibilities created by this sort of design, too. Traditional PC cases are mostly empty boxes shipped inside, well, mostly empty boxes, so they're a bit of a nightmare for manufacturers to send all over the world when it comes to costs and environmental wastage. Never mind the warehouse logistics, for that matter.

Having a PC case that folds down to a flat pack means it should be much easier (and cheaper) to ship. I could be snarky here and say something about those saved costs being passed on to the consumer, but... well, I just sort of did, didn't I? Still, cheaper is cheaper, no matter who ends up gaining.

It even comes with an 80 Plus Bronze-certified 200 W dedicated power supply. That might not sound like much wattage on offer, but it should still be enough to power a decent APU for a bit of low-load gaming shenanigans.

Just be careful to measure up the cooler, ey? Japanese importer Dirac has said the case will release on January 30, so there's hopefully not long to wait before you too could be swearing at an entirely different kind of PC build experience.

When Square Enix announced that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth was Steam Deck verified, I confess that I was immediately suspicious. Steam is now full of demanding games that are technically verified, despite the fact that the Deck simply can't handle them without significant performance issues. We're talking blurry messes that dip below 20 fps even on the lowest settings.

My suspicious nature was not calmed by the content of the announcement itself, which said absolutely nothing about what kind of performance we could expect, or the steps that had been taken to make it a smooth experience on the handheld. Instead, there were just boasts about all the bells and whistles you'd be able to enjoy on your desktop—irrelevant information for anyone hoping to play it on the go.

Then, at the bottom of the announcement, Square Enix showed off a heinous chocobo-themed Deck. While this Deck was shown running Rebirth, it looked to be edited footage of the Deck with the game overlaid—and even if it was real footage, it was so brief that it told us nothing about how the game worked on the device.

With all of this on my mind, I started playing on my OG Steam Deck (no OLED or HDR here) with some trepidation. As well as some frustration, because I had to get rid of some games to make room for this 155GB behemoth. But that also meant I was rooting for Rebirth to be a great experience on my tiny PC. There's nothing worse than downloading a massive game that you're going to dump the moment you finish testing its performance.

Unfortunately, that's exactly what's going to happen, because I hate playing Rebirth on my Deck.

The medium settings it defaulted to gave me slideshow-like performance, but I didn't expect to be able to start playing immediately anyway. So I hopped into the graphics menu to do some tinkering. Picking the low preset was a real punch in the face once I left the menu and got to see what my changes had done to Cloud and the gang, though.

Yep, not great! A proper eyesore, really. But unbearably fuzzy smear aside, I was getting OK performance—at least when I was standing still. As I started to run around, though, it veered wildly, from a low of 30 fps to 50 fps at its peak. But the area was a particularly graphically intense location, and once I sauntered down from my high vantage point, the framerate stabilised a bit more, giving me between 35-45 fps most of the time.

But this all came at a steep cost: fuzziness everywhere, a disappointing lack of detail and serious pop-in. Even on the small screen, it looked rough. Now this was partially down to the low preset automatically turning on the dynamic resolution scaling to 50%. Turning that up to 100%, effectively turning off dynamic scaling, improved the visual fidelity significantly—naturally. But I had to swallow a noticeable performance dip. Wandering around the first area for a while, getting into fights, exploring a village, doing a spot of mountaineering, saw the framerate fluctuate between low-20s to low-40s.

The sweet spot seems to be setting the minimum dynamic resolution scaling to 66% and keeping everything else low, with a 30 fps cap. That produces the smoothest experience in Rebirth's first open-world area. Though there are still some occasional dips and the odd bit of hitching. And this is a location with very few NPCs.

On Steam Deck, 30 fps is fine, though. What I find jarring on my monitor or TV, I hardly even notice on the Deck's little screen. And while the combat isn't turn-based, it's so rife with slow-motion attacks and menu-pausing that you really don't need a blisteringly high frame rate to enjoy it. But the other concessions aren't as easy to swallow.

At 66%, the dynamic resolution scaling isn't quite as egregious as it is at 50%, but the reduction in resolution is still pretty noticeable at times. And with the rest of the settings at their lowest, there are a lot of niggles that undermine what is normally a rather handsome game. I found the foliage and texture pop-in so distracting that I really wish there was an even lower setting—just get rid of most of these plants entirely and it would be a lot better. And the loss of detail makes a lot of things in the distance shed all of their identifying features. The spire of Kalm's striking clocktower, for instance, could be the peak of a mountain, or the top of a ruin. It's just an indistinguishable triangle with some weird shadows that look like holes.

It's rather telling that I fired up Xenoblade Chronicles 3 after my Steam Deck battery died (about an hour and a half after I unplugged it from the mains, during which time I was mostly in the menu) and found it to be a lot easier on the eyes. Now, XC3 is not a graphical powerhouse—it's a Switch exclusive after all—but unlike Rebirth, it was actually designed for a handheld. So while it doesn't boast even close to the same level of visual fidelity, it works within its limitations so much better. Rebirth just feels like it's struggling—as impressive as the feat of a game like this running on the Deck at all might at first seem.

For PC-specific comparisons, the likes of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain and Mad Max end up looking better on the Deck, despite both being almost a decade older than Rebirth. They require no concessions to run on their highest settings while still achieving 60fps, and have none of the inescapable issues like constant pop-in, texture flickering or the muddiness created by the resolution scaling.

So what you end up with is a game that looks and runs worse than open-world romps from 10 years ago. And there's no real upside, aside from the fact that, in Square Enix's words, "you’ll be able to play the critically acclaimed RPG on a train, on a plane, swaddled up in bed, in the bathroom". Yep, you can technically play Rebirth in all of these places. But with the Steam Deck's library as big as it is, you have much better choices for your poop game.

So no, I don't recommend you play Rebirth on the Deck, at least not if you can help it. It's playable, and by making lots of concessions you can get acceptable performance levels, but the sacrifices feel too great.

To see Rebirth's broad performance on different setups, check out our Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth performance analysis.

If you've experienced a crypto-jacking from an online exchange in the past twelve months, there's a decent chance your cyber cash may have been the victim of a North Korean hack. That's according to a report from blockchain analysis company Chainalysis, which says that a massive $1.3 billion worth of stolen internet funny money this year can be attributed to the actions of state-sponsored North Korean hackers.

"In 2023, North Korea-affiliated hackers stole approximately $660.50 million across 20 incidents; in 2024, this number increased to $1.34 billion stolen across 47 incidents—a 102.88% increase in value stolen" says the report (via Bleeping Computer).

A number of large scale hacks are primarily to blame, according to the report, although small scale attacks appear to also be on the rise.

Notable high-profile incidents in 2024 attributed to North Korean-sponsored hackers include a $50 million heist of Radiant Capital, "a cryptocurrency that operates on an omnichain money market, aiming to consolidate fragmented liquidity across various blockchain protocols."

Yep. Anyway, Chainalysis says that while the number of crypto thefts overall is the highest its ever been this year, with 303 major incidents reported, 2022 still remains supreme when it comes to most money stolen, with a staggering $3.7 billion in crypto estimated to have been lost.

Regardless, that $1.3 billion figure accounts for 61% of the $2.2 billion total of funds stolen from crypto platforms in 2024, according to the report.

Most of the incidents were said to occur between January and July, when 72% of the total yearly value was pilfered. The analysts noted that DPRK-associated hackers conducted more frequent attacks than average over the year as a whole, which may indicate more capacity to execute large-scale attacks than years previous.

Earlier this year, it was reported that CoinStats, a cryptocurrency portfolio management app with over 1.5 million users, suffered a security breach that compromised 1,590 crypto wallets. The attack was blamed on North Korean hackers, specifically the Lazarus hacking group, a shadowy organisation said to be made up of an unknown number of individuals allegedly working for the government of North Korea.

The group has previously been blamed for multiple online crimes, including a $12 million cyber heist from the Bandcom Del Austro in Ecuador, and an attack on the Bangladesh Bank in which 35 fraudulent transactions were issued via the SWIFT network to transfer close to $1 billion in funds.

Only five of the transactions were successful, but it still amounted to $101 million being transferred to accounts traced to the Phillipines and Sri Lanka.

Still, it seems that groups like Lazerus are zeroing in on the once-again-booming cryptocurrency market. Is this the point where I remind you that crypto is still the wild west, and your money is better kept in... ah forget it. If the headline hasn't convinced you by now, not much else will. Happy holidays, everyone. Stay safe out there.

The outgoing Biden administration has made a point of prioritising chip manufacturing over its four year run, while also enforcing tough sanctions on China in order to slow down its chip making progress.

With only a few weeks until the incoming Trump administration takes over, US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo has given an interview (via The Wall Street Journal) in which she discusses her belief that export controls matter far less than infrastructure investment in the global race for chip domination.

Raimondo refers to holding back China by the use of sanctions as "a fool's errand", and that the CHIPS act, in which the US government poured billions of dollars of investment into US semiconductor manufacturing, "matters more than export controls."

"The only way to beat China is to stay ahead of them", she said. "We have to run faster, out innovate them. That's the way to win."

Despite Raimondo's beliefs, the Biden administration has continued to enforce tough trade restrictions on China throughout its time in office, including a ban on US semiconductor equipment suppliers from exporting to China, and the prohibition of the sale of advanced, high performance chips to the country, citing national security reasons.

In the meantime, the CHIPS act has been pouring billions of dollars of federal funding into companies like Samsung, Intel and TSMC in order to woo chipmakers into building fabs on US soil.

Whether the CHIPS act continues under the Trump administration is a question mark for now, although president-elect Trump is not believed to be a fan.

Despite the bill initially receiving bipartisan support, Trump was quoted in October as saying "that chip deal is so bad", and has plans of his own to enact huge tariffs on multiple countries, including China—citing the country's perceived failure to crack down on fentanyl smuggling as the reason for an extra 10% tariff on top of a planned 25% tariff on incoming goods.

Kush Desai, a spokesperson for the Trump transition, said that the incoming administration's plans include "enacting tariffs, cutting taxes, slashing regulations, and unleashing American energy." In regards to foreign chips, Trump was quoted as saying that the CHIPS act had provided "billions of dollars for rich companies" and that his plan would be to "tariff it so high that they will come and build their chip companies for nothing."

So, given that Raimondo has played a role as a key part of the outgoing administrations international economic policy, it's perhaps no surprise that she's throwing out cautionary rhetoric given Trump's recent comments. The inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States is scheduled to take place on January 20, 2025, and by the sounds of it we won't be seeing the ongoing trade disputes between US and China soften once his administration takes charge, although they may take a different form.

What this means for chip manufacturing in the US moving forwards, and the global flow of chips in general, is unclear. While Trump has not yet stated whether he will abolish the CHIPS act entirely, that hasn't stopped companies from rushing to finalise agreements in case of a sharp turnaround when the new government comes into power next January.

Gaming hardware today is more responsive and more sensitive than ever. We have mice with unthinkable polling rates, keyboards with instantaneous actuation, and monitors with minimal latency. But in recent years, Wi-Fi 7 has quietly arisen to become an crucial part of a gamer's arsenal. With everything—from the latest iPhone 16, to AMD and Intel mobos, AI NUCs, PCs, and the shiny new PS5 Pro—utilising the new generation of Wi-Fi technology, it's time to start thinking about a Wi-Fi 7 router to take advantage of it all.

A high-quality gaming router will prevent dropped connections, ping spikes, and slowdowns during those critical moments in online matches—whether your groundsliding past a doorway in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, or trying to outfox your opponent in League of Legends. Veteran hardware manufacturer ASUS knows this, and is here with a whole armoury of gaming routers for all budgets and needs. Here are the best of 'em.

ASUS WiFi 7 gaming routers

WiFi 7 brings many massive upgrades over its predecessor: up to 46 Gbps data transfer speeds (versus 9.6 Gbps for WiFi 6), the new 320 MHz channels double the channel bandwidth to allow more devices to operate at optimal network speeds at the same time, and Multi-Link Operation (MLO) allowing devices to use the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz frequency bands simultaneously for seamless networking performance. Jumping onboard with WiFi 7 is a big step up, and will futureproof you for years to come.

The headliner of Asus' WiFi 7 router collection is the ROG Rapture GT-BE19000. It features all the bells and whistles of WiFi 7, including 320 MHz channel bandwidth and Multi-link Operation for up to 2.4X wireless gaming speeds and extra-low gaming latency. Among its high-speed ethernet ports, you have a physical 10G port dedicated for gaming whereby it will take priority over the others while you're playing. You can also create a dedicated SSID or VLAN for your gaming network, and easily set up a subnetwork or VLAN for your IoT devices, favourite VPN services or even your kid’s room.

If you have a large home you want to evenly spread your network throughout, then look no further than the ROG Rapture GT-BE98. It has all the same gaming features as the GT-BE19000, but with two 5 GHz bands, one of which you can allocate as a dedicated wireless backhaul with ASUS AiMesh technology to create a mesh network with any compatible ASUS router, easily giving you seamless roaming across multiple floors.

For apartments, you can't go wrong with the ASUS RT-BE86U, which along with 6800Mbps throughput, enhanced 160 MHz, dual-band MLO, and 4K QAM, has abundant ethernet options thanks to a 10G WAN/LAN port and four 2.5G LAN ports. ASUS offers complete AiMesh compatibility between its WiFi 7 and WiFi 6 routers, so if you own a WiFi 6 ASUS extendable router think twice before you throw it away. You can repurpose it as a WiFi node and extend your home network under one SSID with comprehensive ASUS network security suite support. Meanwhile, this WiFi node is unrivalled by any repeater as it serves as a main router with top-tier hardware and signal range.

And finally, we have the enthusiast's and eSports player's choice: the ASUS RT-BE88U. With a total network capacity of 34G distributed across a 10G SFP+ port, a 10G port, four 2.5G ports and four Gigabit ports, it's guaranteed to handle the wired gaming load of every player on your eSports team (or a studio relying on a high-bandwidth multi-gig local network).

ASUS WiFi 6 gaming routers

While WiFi 7 is the future, WiFi 6 has got plenty of life left in it yet, and offers enough network capacity and functionality to cater to everyday gaming needs (plus, it's more budget-friendly!). ASUS has you covered on this front too.

The best WiFi 6 router in the ASUS armoury is the ASUS RT-AX82U. With up to 5400Mbps speeds, a dedicated Mobile Game Mode to reduce lag and latency during sessions, and parental controls to control your kids' game time, it offers a great all-round gaming package. It supports AiMesh too, letting you set up a mesh network to ensure smooth signal throughout your home. Customisable RGB lighting on the front of the router turns a normally nondescript device into a slick light feature of any gamer's room.

The ROG Rapture GT6 is your best bet for covering a larger space. Along with all the great features of WiFi 6, this router uses nine powerful internal smart antennae and ASUS RangeBoost technology to offer solid WiFi performance (or upgrade to a two-pack for 5800 sq. ft. of coverage). It also includes Triple Level Game Acceleration, which optimises network traffic, from gaming devices to gamer GPNs, during those gaming sessions where every millisecond matters.

And for the budget-conscious gamer or casual gamer, there are the TUF Gaming AX4200 and TUF Gaming AX3000. These are great if you want a durable dual-band router with no faff required in getting it set up and ready for gaming or everyday networking tasks. If you do want to get a bit more hands-on with them, however, then you can use ASUS AiMesh technology to create a mesh network throughout your home, ensuring stable WiFi connection throughout.

If you're under the impression that the PC Gamer hardware team practices perfect cable management, I have some disappointing news for you. Beneath our desks and behind our rigs lies a tangled web of cable calamity, and somewhere in the mix there's likely to be an HDMI cable or two knocking around.

Messy as HDMI cables might be, according to the efforts of a research team from Uruguays University of the Republic, they might just be a cyber security hazard, too (via Techspot). The research team's been experimenting with a new technique [PDF warning] to spy on digital signals being transmitted through HDMI connections by recording and decoding electromagnetic signal leakage, and the key to the whole puzzle appears to be our good friend, AI.

Digital signals sent through an HDMI connection are remarkably complex, and while it's possible to capture leaks (or the rather beautifully phrased "unintended electromagnetic emanations") from a cable or connector with an SDR (Software Defined Radio), what you're left with is a lot of very complicated data that's difficult to rebuild into a useable result.

That's where AI comes in. The researchers trained an AI model on samples of matched original and intercepted signals, before letting it loose on leaked signal data in an attempt to decipher the results.

They then took the resulting visual data and ran it through text recognition software, comparing the results to the original output. While some data is inevitably left unreadable, the researchers claim that reconstructed text from the signals maintained around a 70% accuracy rate.

That's easily enough to allow a human to make educated guesses as to what missing text data might be, meaning that common passwords, email addresses and more can be left mostly legible by the AI-enhanced technique.

As to how feasible such an attack might be in the real world? Well, the real secret sauce here is the AI model training, not the signal pickup itself. Still, it's unlikely that your home connections would present much of a risk, as someone would have to capture them specifically from a nearby vicinity, before feeding them into a similar model to decode the results.

That'd be a whole lot of effort go to in order to spy on a private individual, so unless you're on the Interpol Red Notice list I wouldn't worry too much. Still, as lead researcher Federico Larroca says:

"Governments are worried about this, [but] I wouldn't say that the normal user should be too concerned. But if you really care about your security, whatever your reasons are, this could be a problem"

Indeed. No reason to wrap tin foil around your cables just yet though, I reckon—or to turn it into protective headgear either, for that matter.

It's been years since I've had to endure playing a game at a glacial 30 frames per second, and I don't think I'd survive going back. Most gaming PCs have been able to hit 60 fps without much trouble for years now, as long as you're not cranking the settings up to ultra on a 4K screen. Consoles, on the other hand, often still have to sacrifice a lot of visual fidelity to make games run as smoothly as our eyes deserve.

The PlayStation 5 Pro doesn't get rid of all the trade-offs for playing games at a high frame rate, but it removes enough of them to make the choice a no-brainer in any game with a proper "performance" mode.

I've been using a pre-release PS5 Pro from Sony for the last week, and the biggest upgrade it has over the original console is how good games look in their new 60 fps modes. Every game I tested had an improved "performance" option with fewer knocks to image quality than before. With the extra horsepower in the PS5 Pro and Sony's homemade AI upscaling tech, PSSR, you have to squint to notice what you're giving up from the 30 fps "fidelity" modes. I'm happy for everyone with a deep library of games tied to a PSN account.

The PS5 Pro is no threat to your gaming PC though. The Pro still can't match a decent graphics card, nor does it offer enough graphics options to let you find your own balance of frame rate and image quality. You're stuck with presets outside of some first-party games like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Spider-Man 2. But it's nice to finally have a console that doesn't smear Vaseline over the screen when you ask it to output some extra frames.

To be clear, my PS5 Pro tests weren't scientific. I don't have the kit to measure frame rate on a console, so I don't have the kind of in-depth performance analysis that we do for PC games. If you want to see real-time comparisons, I'm sure Digital Foundry will have you covered. But after primarily playing PC games at 60 fps (and higher) for years, I'm pretty confident I can identify the frame rate for each game and pick up on dips when they strike.

The Last of Us Part 1's new "Pro" mode uses the PS5 Pro's Nvidia DLSS equivalent to hit a steady 60 fps without a ton of visual degradation. The game is rendered at 1440p and upscaled to 4K using PSSR, and the biggest downside seems to be softer edges on things like blades of grass and bricks. Details like the fronds of ferns, however, are surprisingly accurate to the native 4K mode without PSSR. Naughty Dog's head of technology Travis McIntosh told IGN that PSSR's "neural network is trained to do foliage really well," and it shows.

The soft layer over the detailed objects and edges is tough to notice in motion, so keep that in mind when flipping back and forth between the screenshots. While I was playing through the game's harrowing opening sequence in the city, I was more struck by the smoothness of 60fps than the blurry objects I was running beside.

This effect isn't uncommon with upscaling tech on PC either. AMD's FSR is particularly problematic when it comes to image distortion. In my tests, PSSR generally looks better than FSR, but worse than DLSS on a PC. Distant buildings in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart's intro have the "fizzle" you get with FSR where pixels distort during motion because the upscaler fails to accurately fill those spots in. But, again, it's hard to notice while smacking enemies with an oversized wrench at a high frame rate.

Spider-Man 2 is a similar story. Its 60 fps "performance pro" mode also uses PSSR and has raytraced reflections enabled. It's only when you're fighting down on the ground that the raytraced shadows and ambient occlusion make a difference in its 30 fps "fidelity pro" mode, giving scenes more realistic lighting on the buildings and streets. The smaller crowds and fewer shadows in performance mode didn't bother me. I was much more impressed that the game maintains close to 60 fps during its bombastic opening battle against the Sandman, which makes the combat feel way better than it does in fidelity pro mode.

If your monitor or TV supports a 120Hz refresh rate, Spider-Man 2's fidelity pro mode can be boosted up to around 40 fps with its raytracing settings knocked down to medium. As a Steam Deck user, I've learned to appreciate how close 40 fps can feel to 60 fps as long as it's consistent. I obviously can't speak to performance for the entire game, but it's a neat option if you have the setup for it. And screens that support variable refresh rates can use the "unlocked" setting to add some extra fps overhead to keep the game from getting choppy at the cost of the resolution dipping when it needs to.

Both Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Horizon: Zero Dawn Remastered hit a solid 60 fps in their performance modes, and I still only really noticed what I was giving up by searching for it in screenshots. Alan Wake 2, one of the few third-party games I tested, suffered the biggest visual quality drop when touring the town of Bright Falls. I suspect the slower pace and increased focus on dynamic lighting makes losing raytracing hurt more than in other games.

The jump in frame rate with Alan Wake 2's performance mode, especially during fast-paced action sequences, felt worth it to me, but it's a good example of the limits of the PS5 Pro compared to a PC. On a PC, I can flip on exactly the settings I want. Maybe I want raytracing set to low but view distance on high for Spider-Man 2, and for all that stuff to be cranked up to max in Alan Wake 2 because the action isn't as constant. The PS5 Pro simply isn't going to offer that kind of customization. You're at the whim of however each mode is designed by the developers.

The PS5 Pro is a big step toward console players joining the 60 fps party that PC players have enjoyed for years, and a lot of it is due to PSSR. I don't think these improvements are worth $700, though, especially if you own a gaming PC or even a PS5. Unless you're desperate to play the Sony games that haven't been ported over yet, PC is still the way to go. But hopefully it means Sony's next console won't make it look like you're playing the Wish.com version of a game to reap the benefits of a silky smooth 60 fps.

The PlayStation 5 Pro isn't going to replace your gaming PC. I could've told you that the moment it was announced. But after spending the last week with a pre-launch console from Sony and testing various games with it connected to my gaming monitor, I don't think I'm going to move it off my desk.

Much like my gaming PC, the PS5 seems better suited to a monitor than a TV, especially with the PS5 Pro. Several of the games I tested had options for utilizing my monitor's 120Hz refresh rate and variable refresh rate mode. Both of them help boost your game's frame rates based on how fast your display is. It's hard to find a monitor at this point without them, but TVs charge a premium for these 'speciality' features.

Basically, if you have a gaming monitor that does G-Sync or Freesync, the PS5 Pro will benefit. The base PS5 does too, but the beefier hardware in the Pro, along with its new PSSR upscaling tech, gives you more options for how you want to apply it.

The PS5 Pro's greatest feature is how easy it is to play games at 60 fps without giving up a ton of visual quality. There are some minor issues here and there, like some objects looking a little too smooth, but they're mostly invisible while actually playing a game. Frame rate is the bottleneck to beat and having a monitor that can push a high refresh rate gives you more options than just using a game's 60 fps performance mode.

A few of the Sony-published games I tested can push past their "fidelity" modes' 30 fps caps by increasing the refresh rate to 120Hz and unlocking the refresh rate through VRR. Spider-Man 2 can be set to "smoothed" so the frame rate increases to 40 fps and stays stable or "uncapped" to reach higher frame rates at the cost of dynamically changing the resolution based on the scene. While I can't speak to how stable the resolution is without a lot more time to test, I can say that even the smoothed option is a big improvement over not having it on at all.

Steam Deck owners might've played with its 40Hz mode, locking the fps to 40 and giving you almost as much responsiveness of 60 fps without the visual drawbacks. The PS5 Pro can do it too. I was able to play Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart at a pretty steady 40 fps in the mode that is supposed to sacrifice frame rate for raytracing and other visual improvements.

You can also stack this feature on top of the 60 fps performance mode, giving you an even higher frame rate or more overhead for when it can't quite maintain its target fps. I found it particularly useful while swinging through New York City in Spider-Man 2. It's certainly not the kind of flexibility you get with a list of graphics options on a PC, but it's a start.

The problem is that the list of games that support it is fairly small and if you only include the ones with PS5 Pro-exclusive graphics presets, it's even smaller. That said, older games that support it should run at a higher frame rate than the base PS5. You just won't get the better image quality unless the developers update the game to support the PS5 Pro—which Sony says will happen over time.

As is sort of expected for a $700 upgraded console, the performance increases aren't big enough to justify buying one if you already have a gaming PC or a base PS5. And if you really want to experience a good 4K picture, you need a big TV. But it's a strong case for anyone who does end up getting one to keep this thing on your desk, or to plan accordingly for a PlayStation 6 or whatever. It helps that it's also smaller than the original PS5—although it still looks like I have an Alienware PC living on my desktop. But, hey, it's quiet and plays the games Sony hasn't ported over yet. I'll take it.