There's a brilliant combo deal to be had right now on two top-quality Hoto tools, giving you Hoto's electric screwdriver and vacuum cleaner for just $89.08. That's cheaper than this same deal has appeared during Amazon's big sales events recently, and one that'll save you $60.90 overall.

● Check out this deal on Amazon

I've owned this electric screwdriver for some time now, and it's become an essential part of the arsenal of tools that I use to renovate my home, while also becoming my go-to driver when I've needed to pop open my PC. It's also been a popular choice among the Tom's Hardware editorial team, with several of my colleagues owning and recommending one.

You're getting pieces of kit in this deal. First, the driver, which combines Hoto's NEX O1 Pro electric screwdriver in a set with 25 different bits. You also get Hoto's AutoCare handheld vacuum cleaner and air duster, which has the ability to both suck and blow, which you can put to good use by cleaning your car interior, blasting out the dust from your PC fans, or by eradicating the crumbs from the crevices in your keyboard.

The Hoto NEX O1 Pro 3.6V driver comes with a 1,500 mAh battery which, in practice, should let you drive over 1,000 screws on a full charge, according to Hoto. From personal experience, that seems about right: I've used the same driver almost every weekend since the start of this year and I've only needed to charge it once. It uses USB-C charging and comes with a supplied cable, so I'm able to use my existing phone charger to keep it topped up. A full charge takes only 150 minutes to complete, too.

You're getting 25 steel screw bits as part of the driver kit. These are rated at 60HRC on the Rockwell scale, with 24 standard bits, along with an additional extended PH2 bit. They come in a variety of shapes, with options available for Phillips, Torx, flat, hexagon, and Pozidriv screw heads. The driver has three different torque options to choose from and has a built-in sensor that will stop driving immediately as soon as you release control. An LED light, built into the top of the driver, also helps you see in dark spaces, which I've found particularly useful. The driver is also magnetic to help you avoid dropping screws.

Alongside the driver kit is the Hoto AutoCare. This is a 4-in-1 device with two alternate ends, giving you the option to either suck the air or blow it. You have five different attachments to use, too, all with different sizes and purposes. For instance, you might want to use the grooming brush on your car seat or sofa, or you might prefer to use the tiny pointed nozzle to get underneath your keyboard keys.

Like the NEX O1 Pro, the AutoCare is USB-C powered. It weighs 0.78lbs and has a 1,900 mAh battery, which Hoto reckons lasts for ten minutes of continuous use. While there are plenty of use cases, PC owners will find it easy to use to keep their setup clean and clear of dust and debris. It's also good for those once-or-twice-a-year jobs, such as vacuum packing clothes away, or for inflating air beds.

The $89.08 sale price for this Hoto electronic screwdriver and 4-in-1 vacuum and air duster set is a brilliant option for upgrading your home toolkit with two must-own gadgets. Hoto often discounts its products, so while this isn't ground-breaking, it's still a great price and a brilliant deal, leaving you to spend the $60.90 saving elsewhere.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

You can also join the Tom's Hardware deals Discord for up-to-the-minute hardware deals.

The ultimate starter toolkit for a PC builder or hobbyist is now on sale at Amazon. This Strebito 144-in-1 kit is just $39.99 right now, knocking 20% off the usual price for a set that includes both precision and electric screwdrivers, as well as 22 different maintenance tools and 120 magnetic driver bits.

● Check out this deal at Amazon

If you're looking to build or repair any kind of electronics, this Strebito kit will gives you everything you need, and at a fair price. A set that comes with two drivers, plenty of bits, built-in LED lighting, and a whole array of cleaning, scraping, and adjusting tools to help you with any job you're working on is a good set to have at your disposal.

The two drivers you're getting here suit different types of repair jobs. The mini electric screwdriver comes with a 350 mAh battery, which should charge within an hour over USB-C.

With a 200 RPM and adjustable torque between 0.15 and 0.5 Newton-meters, the electric driver is a good option for any fiddly repairs, and includes a built-in LED light to help you in those dark PC cases. Meanwhile, the precision screwdriver that also comes with this kit unlocks up to 7 Newton-meters of torque for seriously tricky screws that need a lot more pressure.

You don't need to worry about missing bits, either. There are 120 different bits in this set, covering major head styles, including flathead, Phillips, Torx, and Pozidrive. The kit comes with a magnetizer/demagnetizer tool to make it even easier for your drivers to grab hold of the screws, but it can also weaken them for those sensitive PC builds. The 5.7 x 3.3-inch magnetic project mat will help you to keep everything organized while you're building. A number of brushes, scrapers, a suction cup, and more round up the 22 additional repair tools included in this kit, which will prove useful if you're taking apart a laptop or smartphone, for instance.

The $39.99 price for this Strebito 144-in-1 precision screwdriver set makes it an unmissable option for yourself or as a gift for a PC builder, DIYer, or hobbyist in the making. Strebito offers a lifetime guarantee for this kit, so if you run into any issues, you'll be covered, too.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, gaming chair, or CPU Deals pages.

You can also join the Tom's Hardware deals Discord for up-to-the-minute hardware deals.

If you're not already familiar with Hoto, then you should be; they make excellent tools, a few of which are amazing for PC hobbyists and 3D printing aficionados. Perfect for many tasks, the Hoto cordless rotary toolkit is now only $29.95 in this Amazon deal, saving over $20 (40%) off the list price of $49.99. The tool comes with a staggering 35 different accessories for dealing with everything from drilling to sanding, cutting, and even polishing. There's an attachment for every occasion.

• Check out this Hoto deal at Amazon

The Hoto cordless rotary tool uses a high-speed motor that has five speed modes that operate between 5,000 and 25,000 RPM. This helps with being able to use the tool for varying tasks and also gives you fine detail when working on your creations. You can use the rotary tool for sanding, polishing, cutting, and carving, a lot of the prerequisites for finishing off a 3D printed model to a high finish. The rotary tool is battery-operated, using USB-C for charging. Simply connect the charging dock to power via USB-C and then place the tool in the dock when you need to top up the power.

Twist the end of the Hoto rotary tool to switch between five speed settings. You can use the tool as a drill to make small holes, or use one of the sanding attachments to smooth out the joins in your 3D printed projects. A shadowless LED light at the top of the tool illuminates your work, so that you don't miss any blemishes. There's even a protective dust shield that attaches to the tool, to keep mess to a minimum and also protect you against small bits of material flying towards your face or eyes.

More Tech Deals

Best Tech and PC deals | Best gaming PC deals | Best RAM combo deals | Best 3D printer deals | Best RAM deals | Best gaming laptop deals | Best gaming monitor deals | Best Wi-Fi Router deals | Best GPU deals | Best SSD deals | Best hard drive HDD deals | Best CPU deals | Best gaming chair deals | Best PC building tool deals | Best PC peripherals deals | Best filament and resin deals | Best motherboard deals | Best CPU cooler deals | Best PC case deals | Best Dell and Alienware deals | Best USB charger deals | Best gaming and productivity laptop deals under $1,000 | Best laptop PC deals

Also, you can join the Tom's Hardware deals Discord for up-to-the-minute hardware deals.

With widespread disappointment regarding the availability and pricing of Valve’s Steam Machine, influencers and creators have been mixing up ‘alternatives’ of various shapes and sizes. However, we think the Terk Box v1.1 looks like the closest alternative yet in design and spirit. The work, as spotted by Hackaday, appears to be a collaboration between Jacob Terkelsen, an ex-Tom's Hardware contributor currently working for AMD, and a 3D printing and SFF PCs enthusiast who goes by the handle of 3DCatt.

If you are a 3D printer owner, you can grab the source files for the Terk Box v1.1 direct from Printables.com. There you will find a parts list, which details the various screws, riser cables, and numerous other parts you will need. The .STL source files are all there, too, of course, under a Creative Commons license.

Specific component brands don’t seem to be suggested by the makers, which is probably due to the set of standards embraced by the various PC parts makers. However, we do note in the user comments some people may have had a hard time fitting their GPU. 3DCatt says the max length that will fit is “about 180mm long.” That isn’t all, though, as the recommended PCIe riser cable wasn’t long enough for some, depending on the GPU model. AMD’s Terkelsen chipped in that the build was suitable for his RTX 5060 LP graphics card, but he requested more room for a front 140mm case fan, among a few other tweaks.

The current revision of the Terk Box measures 167 x 168 x 225mm. That may be close enough to the official machine (152 x 162 x 156mm) to justify the extra effort of doing this instead of finding an off-the-peg compact Mini ITX case. Some of the compromises with the Terk Box v1.1 appear to be the fussiness with GPU choice we mentioned above, and the less-than-ideal positioning of the CPU socket in relation to the PSU. However, both 3DCatt and Terkelsen have hinted at refinements on the way to v1.2.

Since they have already strayed from the cubic confines of Valve’s actual Steam Machine, I feel they shouldn’t feel too shackled to the design they currently have. I’ll be watching further developments with interest.

In summary, this is a design much closer in stature and spirit to the original Valve effort, but it is definitely a work in progress. With the various component constraints, the DIY price for this won’t be the most compelling, either. Readers who are 3D printing and PC DIY aficionados, and we must have a few of those, might be able to contribute to the project with suggestions, tweaks, and remixes.

Leading Japanese capsule toy maker Tarlin International has announced an official collaboration with “the four major manufacturers” of the PC components industry. The teased result means that gachapon fans will be able to get their hands on tiny models of ASRock, Gigabyte, MSI, and Intel parts (plus fans, PSUs, and cases), accurate enough “that you can assemble and play with.” In 2026, PC building has become so expensive that perhaps Tarlin’s latest wares will fill an emotional vacuum in the market.

In the image above, you can see Tarlin has inked some kind of official licensing deal with ASRock, Gigabyte, MSI, and Intel. There’s already been four series of networking equipment gachapon launched by Tarlin, for some context.

As far as we can see from the social media posting, the new Tarlin gachapon series includes three branded miniature motherboards: the ASRock Z890 Steel Legend WiFi, the Gigabyte Z890 Aorus Elite WiFi7 Plus, and the MSI MEG Z890 Ace. Premium stuff. Intel’s Core Ultra 7 270K Plus seems to be the only CPU choice. There are also case fans, a PSU, and a tower case for your minuscule components PC build.

Tarlin’s eccentric gachapon pedigree

Compared with gachapon rivals like Bandai and Takara Tomy, Tarlin has carved a niche, eccentric furrow in the industry. It has a reputation for turning everyday, mundane, or highly technical objects into accurate scale miniatures.

Examples of other incredibly niche Tarlin-produced capsules include its Temporary Toilet Series, a realistic Articulated Crayfish, and its series of Cisco rackmount network gear toys. In this context, it's “serious spec” PC component capsule toys, which are made to such exacting precision that they can be assembled to make tiny tower PCs, aren’t so unusual.

In 2024, we spotted a Japanese capsule toy machine filled with Intel CPUs. One gacha chancer acquired an Intel Core i7-8700 CPU after inserting 500 Yen (around $3.25) and twisting the customary knob.

PC building during the RAMpocalypse and NANDpocalypse is challenging, to be sure, but you can still put together a great and relatively affordable box that will last during Prime Day thanks to abundant deals on core components. Yes, memory and SSDs are pricey, but we can dull some of the pain with deep discounts elsewhere.

For a $1000 budget, we've put together a great 1080p gaming PC with a 10-core Core i5-12600KF CPU and an RTX 5060 Ti 8GB graphics card for the best 1080p bang-for-the-buck you can find (and an RX 9060 XT 16GB alternative for $100 more if 8GB is a bridge too far).

Yes, the Core i5-12600KF is getting up there in years, and its P-cores lack the extra L2 of 13th and 14th Gen CPUs, but it boasts higher clocks and a higher TDP than non-K 13th and 14th-gen parts for better multi-threaded performance. For this low price, we'll deal.

$1,000 Prime Day gaming PC: Quick list

• Intel Core i5-12600K 10-Core Processor: $179.97 at Newegg
• Thermalright Assassin X 120 Refined SE CPU cooler: $17.89 at Amazon
• ASUS B760M-AYW WIFI D4 II Intel B760 (LGA 1700) mATX motherboard: $89 at Newegg
• Silicon Power 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-3600 kit: $198 at Newegg
• Silicon Power UD90 1TB PCIe NVMe Gen4x4 M.2: $144.99 at Silicon Power
• MSI Ventus GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB: $309 at Newegg with promos
• (Upgrade) XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT: $419 at Woot
• Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L Micro-ATX PC Case: $32.99 at Amazon
• ASRock PRO Series PRO-750G 750 W PSU: $54.99 at Newegg

Crucially, this PC still features 32GB of RAM for no-worries gaming with the latest titles and 1TB of storage for adequate room for files and games. Cheaper prebuilts might include just 16GB of RAM and a claustrophobia-inducing 512GB SSD. This is a PC that will last, and that matters in today's tight market.

The RTX 5060 Ti 8GB is selling for less than the slower RTX 5060 8GB right now, so you may as well take the free performance boost if you were only going with an 8GB card to begin with. The 5060 Ti gives you access to leading DLSS 4.5 upscaling across a huge swath of games, as well as MFG in titles that don't overrun its VRAM.

On top of the 5060 Ti 8GB's much higher baseline performance than the Steam Machine's GPU, DLSS 4.5 is a secret weapon for this build, thanks to its far superior image quality versus FSR on top of its AI-powered performance boost.

A quality Cooler Master case and 80 Plus Gold power supply make this a 1080p gaming build you (or a lucky kid or family member) can depend on for a long time to come.

$1,000 Prime Day gaming PC

All those parts should add up to about $1029.76. If you're seeing higher totals in your cart, make sure to apply every available promo code and redeem every mail-in rebate you see to get the lowest possible prices during these Prime Day sales. Happy building!

More Prime Day Tech Deals

Best Tech and PC deals | Best gaming PC deals | Best RAM combo deals | Best 3D printer deals | Best RAM deals | Best gaming laptop deals | Best gaming monitor deals | Best Wi-Fi Router deals | Best GPU deals | Best SSD deals | Best hard drive HDD deals | Best CPU deals | Best gaming chair deals | Best PC building tool deals | Best PC peripherals deals | Best filament and resin deals | Best motherboard deals | Best CPU cooler deals | Best PC case deals | Best Dell and Alienware deals | Best USB charger deals | Best gaming and productivity laptop deals under $1,000 | Best laptop PC deals

Also, you can join the Tom's Hardware deals Discord for up-to-the-minute hardware deals.

Amazon has posted a limited-time half-price deal for a comprehensive precision electric screwdriver plus tools, which packs away into a slim book-like hard case. The TanSon Precision Electric Screwdriver 71-in-1 cordless rechargeable 3.7V portable repair tool set has been slashed from $99.99 to $49.99 for Prime Day.

I've just been using a similar non-powered multi-bit tool set for a laptop screen replacement job today, and wished I had an electric version to save some time. Also, I had just one pry tool, so I am eyeing this comprehensive all-in-one selection with some envy.

• Check out this deal on Amazon

Inside a 110° retractable flip-top workbench case, you get a whole host of tools and repair accessories. Central to the product is the electric screwdriver itself. This is a cordless unit with a 500mAh battery inside, which you recharge via USB-C. Its knurled aluminum frame includes a display to show stats like battery remaining and torque settings. TanSon reckons you can (un)screw 1,100 fastenings with a single charge. Other attractions of the compact driver include its quad-LED light array to make sure the work tip is visible. With its selection of 42 steel bits, this cordless 200 RPM marvel should help you cut precision tinkering work time way down.

Augmenting the capable rechargeable driver and array of bits, there's a very handy selection of complementary tools in the carry case. The Amazon listing for the TanSon 71-in-1 cordless screwdriver toolkit confirms there are a magnifying glass, a suction cup, four plastic pry bars, a metal pry bar, a set of pointed tweezers, plus bent tweezers, a plastic scraper, a metal scraper, a shell opening pick, five spare picks, a magnetic pad, and an anti-static wrist strap in the pack, as well as the instruction manual.

Not everyone needs such an extensive set of tools as the TanSon kit above. So we've also put together a handpicked selection of tech toolkits of different styles and sizes. Follow that link, and you'll find alternative bargain tool kits priced from $25 to $80.

More Prime Day Tech Deals

Join the Tom's Hardware deals Discord for up-to-the-minute hardware deals.

Best Tech and PC deals | Best gaming PC deals | Best RAM combo deals | Best 3D printer deals | Best RAM deals | Best gaming laptop deals | Best monitor deals | Best Wi-Fi Router deals | Best GPU deals | Best SSD deals | Best hard drive HDD deals | Best CPU deals | Best gaming chair deals | Best PC building tool deals | Best PC peripherals deals | Best filament and resin deals | Best motherboard deals | Best CPU cooler deals | Best PC case deals | Best Dell and Alienware deals | Best USB charger deals | Best gaming and productivity laptop deals under $1,000 | Best laptop PC deals

Building a PC is a great experience. We sit there with a spreadsheet and multiple browser tabs, poring over the best CPUs, the best GPUs, PC cases, motherboards, RAM deals, and many more components.

The package arrives, and we are excitedly tearing into the boxes, putting the parts on the table, and we are ready to build! We reach into the toolkit and dig out the rusty old screwdriver we used to open a paint can back in 2014. We then spill standoffs and screws over the floor, ready for an unsuspecting foot at 2am!

But wait, it doesn't have to be like this! We've all done this, made the mistakes, and now we share my knowledge and that of the Tom's Hardware staff so you don't have to.

So tool up, and let battle commence!

• Check out all the PC tool deals on Amazon

Precision Kits

All the gear, and lots of ideas?

You need to start somewhere, and these kits have pretty much every tool that you could need to maintain a PC, all in a handy case. In my office/workshop, I have a general set of screwdrivers for general tasks, and a set of Hoto screwdrivers and bits for servicing my PC and any other parts I review.

Whether you call them Hex or Allen wrenches, this part of our toolbox is often overlooked. Why? Because we get one in every set of flat-pack, DIY furniture that's why! You can get cheap sets of Hex wrenches, but they are ultimately made from a material softer than Play-Doh, or have the power to strip a head. You need a good set of Hex wrenches and this set from Wera is awesome.

German made precision, strength, and a ball head to enable access to awkward screws. Grab this set now, and thank yourself later!

Everyone should own these great electric screwdrivers!

At least five Tom's Hardware editors own a Hoto screwdriver. I am one of them. It should be difficult to extol an electric screwdriver. After all, it is really just a motor that spins and screws / unscrews. But Hoto's new Pixel Drive is easy to glorify!

The main screwdriver chassis is chunky and features a rubberized finish to prevent it from slipping from your hands. The twist power ring offers three levels of torque, and the simple push-button forward/reverse is a joy to use. Throw in a bonus LED light ring, and you are ready to build and maintain PCs and have plenty of power to put up those shelves in the living room. All of the details are displayed on the LED display, so you know how much power you are putting down, and how much the screwdriver has left!

Screw Kits

Don't screw up your next PC build!

Let's be honest. We've all scrabbled around for a spare stand-off or screw to secure a motherboard to a chassis. We've cannibalized other components to ensure that our main rig has everything it needs to keep the motherboard in place and the GPU firmly attached to the case. But what if we just spent less than $10 for 400 screws?

That's right, for less than $10, we can have 400 screws, stand-offs, and insulation rings to secure every part of our PC.

In the kit, there are:

• Hard drive screws
• Motherboard screws
• Chassis fan screws
• SSD screws
• Insulation gaskets
• High-strength chassis screws (think GPUs)
• M2 screws
• Flat Phillips screws
• M3 Stand-offs
• Chassis hand twist screws

I bought myself a similar pack years ago since I deal with motherboards and system components on the daily, and it has proven its worth on more than a few occasions.

For less than $10, just throw it into your basket without thinking!

Flashlights

Save money on this 'illuminating' flashlight deal

A good flashlight is one of the most rewarding tools that we can own. It lights up the dark, helps us see obstacles and what we are working on, and could be used to signal planes, should you be trapped on the island from Lost.

Air dusters and cleaners

Clean the filth from your PC!

Air blowers/dusters are a popular choice for quickly blowing out fans and filters to remove any collected dust and fluff. They can also blow out the crumbs that linger under your keyboard. Air blowers are a great alternative to single-use compressed air cans.

The Wolfbox MegaFlow 100 (MF100) may sound like a 1990s Euro Rock tribute act, but it has 150,000 RPM of power to blow dust out of your PC at 45 meters per second!

This convenient blower is battery-powered and supports USB Type-C charging. The MF100 fully charges in 2.5 hours and provides up to 100 minutes of runtime on the first setting. The MF100 is small and compact, weighing only 0.66lb, so it can be easily stored when not in use. The MF100 is also supported by a 24-month guarantee and 24/7 customer service.

Not everyone wants to buy an $80 air duster. There are plenty that cost less that still move a lot of air and come with several attachments that are plenty useful for cleaning out your PC.

I clean out my desktop PC once or twice a year and my blower did a great job, but there were times when the amassed collection of dead skin cells, dog and cat hair, and other fluff was too much for my much weaker air duster. So I bought some cans of compressed air, and not the dollar store stuff either! I don't use them often, but they are handy when you need a little more power in a precise point.

Sometimes compressed air or turbo-force USB-powered jet fans aren't enough, and so you must get your hands dirty. Cleaning any electronic components should be done with care. Components aren't as static sensitive as their predecessors but we should take care not to trash our kit.

These nylon anti-static brushes come in a range of sizes and shapes to clean dust from components and inside drive bays, and to keep caked-on dust from your fan blades. It also includes a keycap puller and tweezers to deep clean the harrowing scene that lurks under your keyboard.

The final cleaning product that you need for building and maintaining PCs is Isopropyl Alcohol, IPA. Yes, 99% is overkill; heck, it's medical grade for first aid use, but if you really want to eke it out, get some distilled water and water down your mix to 70%. I don’t because it works well as it is.

My top tip, though, is not to spray it when the components are hot. There is very little risk of fire, but it will evaporate rather quickly. That said, in the electronics hobbyist world, rapidly evaporating IPA is used to identify super-hot chips, typically those that have shorted.

Thermal pastes

Thermal paste etiquette — pea-sized blob, an X, or a smooth layer like peanut butter?

Let's all agree that, however you apply thermal paste, that is the right way, ok? Thermal paste / TIM or thermal pads bridge the hot side of a component to a heatsink or heatpipe, which wicks away heat, keeping the component cool.

Thermal material is essential to keep your system cool, and I asked the team what they use. Our Editor-in-Chief, Paul Alcorn, said that MX-6 is his go-to thermal paste. So I looked around and found this handy kit that contains 4G of thermal paste and six handy wipes. The wipes are essentially isopropyl alcohol on a cloth, and they are used to prepare the surface for the new paste. They will wipe off the old paste, dust, dead skin (ewww) and leave the surface ready for pasting!

If you spot something better, or want to tell me I am wrong, hit the comments!

Best gaming laptop deals | Best GPU Deals | Gaming Chair | Best monitor deals | Best SSD deals | Best CPU deals | Gaming Chair | Best hard drive HDD deals | Best PC case deals | Best Dell and Alienware deals | Best 3D printer deals | Best PC peripherals deals | Best motherboard deals | Best CPU cooler deals | Best gaming chair deals | Best laptop PC deals | Best Gaming PC deals | Best RAM deals | Best Wi-Fi Router deals

A Redditor and PC gaming enthusiast says their PC might have saved their life, after the rig deflected a bullet fired through the wall of their house by their neighbour. According to the post, the neighbour claims that the firearm was accidentally discharged by her dog, sending the projectile into the house. u/angelbabyzz says police state the PC changed the trajectory of the bullet — which she found under her pillow — and that it would have otherwise hit her while she was sleeping. On a positive note, Angelbabyzz is now planning how to spend their $3,500 insurance payout on a new gaming PC build.

Neighbour shot my PC through the wall from r/pcmasterrace

While trying to make sense of what was happening, Angelbabyzz recalls that their neighbor arrived sobbing and shaking. They claimed that their dog had discharged the firearm, shooting through the wall, tearing through the tower PC on the other side. Images shared by the Redditor show the tower PC full of shattered glass and detritus. Among the most seriously damaged contents are G.Skill Trident Z RGB memory modules. These, and the motherboard RAM sockets, appear to have been heavily impacted by a weighty-looking lead slug.

If this tale isn’t already bordering on the bizarre, two further details push it firmly into truth-is-stranger-than-fiction territory. Firstly, Angelbabyzz’s neighbor claims that their dog “accidentally discharged” their firearm. Secondly, the police told the Redditor that “the PC changed the trajectory of the bullet, and it would have hit me while I was sleeping if the PC hadn’t been there.”

Good neighbors

Despite their recent brush with death or serious injury, Angelbabyzz is sympathetic with her trigger-happy dog-owning neighbor. The Redditor feels “she is appropriately paying her dues in this situation and won’t be pressing for anything further.” This is on account of the “constant apologies,” as well as her gun being confiscated, the criminal charges, and the insurance / monetary penalties the neighbor will face.

After three days of cleaning up broken glass, Angelbabyzz now has the much more pleasant problem of shopping for a replacement PC with a $3,500 budget. So, after recalling their hair-raising story on Reddit and sharing the gruesome images, they are now asking for build recommendations on PCMR.

In some replies to the original post, Angelbabyzz reveals that they found the bullet under their pillow, but their SSDs are said to be completely undamaged. That might be a reference to the Samsung SATA drive we can see in some of the images.

While the RAM kit is probably the worst damaged component, we think it is worthy of keeping to frame in a presentation case - ‘My Trident Z saved my life.’ G.Skill offers a lifetime warranty on its RAM, but it only covers defects in materials and workmanship.

A lucky HVAC technician seems to have stumbled upon the PC of former AMD CEO Rory Read while at a customer's house. The client apparently ran a computer shop back in the day, so they had a bunch of unused equipment in the basement, which somehow included this PC. The case is doused in various signatures, including one from Dr. Lisa Su, accompanied by a message that reads "To Rory - All the Best from Team AMD."

I think i have Rory Read's (former CEO of AMD) PC from r/Amd

We looked at Dr. Lisa's signature on special edition Ryzen chips from a few years ago, and it matches the signature on the PC, but of course, there's no way to officially verify the authenticity. Looking at the case itself, it's a Xigmatek XEN6329 Mini-ITX chassis that currently goes for over $1,000 on the aftermarket. Moreover, the hardware inside looks quite dated, with the GPU likely being an ITX variant of the R9 285 from Sapphire.

That card came out in 2014, so it lines up with Read's tenure at AMD, and further suggests this computer was a parting gift from the higher-ups. For some reason, it was never used because it's completely dust-free and in new condition even after twelve years. The OP explained that the box still had all the packing materials intact and that the computer even came with a wrapped Windows 8.1 CD that was never touched.

Comment from r/Amd

The leading theory in the comments inferred that Read pawned off the PC at a computer shop, where it sat for years before being salvaged. Or perhaps it was sent for a repair, setup, or some maintenance before he decided to use it, although this seems less likely. Being a high-level executive, there's a chance he simply never looked for it again. Speaking of which, it's important to know the lore behind this PC's potential recipient to understand its value.

Rory Read was the head of AMD between 2011 and 2014, responsible for leading a course-correction that navigated the company through its darkest times. AMD had just suffered a disastrous launch in the form of its Bulldozer CPU architecture that fell flat against Intel's offerings, and the chipmaker had basically no stake in mobile computing during its biggest boom.

Read came in and secured partnerships with both Sony and Microsoft for their next-gen consoles — a partnership that still runs to this day. He also brought legendary chip architect Jim Keller back to AMD to work on the Zen architecture alongside Mike Clark. He then recruited Dr. Lisa Su in 2012 and personally mentored her to eventually take over the company, believing that an engineer needs to lead AMD long-term.

Read's job was only to stabilize the falling tower, stop the bleeding, if you will, and never to actually run the company long-term. He's known as a sort of turnaround specialist in the industry, having previously performed similar duties at IBM and Lenovo. In a way, he paved the way for AMD's incredible comeback, positioning the chipmaker perfectly for a resurgence under another competent leader.

Coming back to the PC itself, it includes signatures from other AMD executives of that era, such as Mark Papermaster, Rajan (Raj) Naik, Devinder Kumar, Colette LaForce, John Byrne, and Darrell Ford. That seems like way too much effort for someone trying to fake a collectible. Therefore, even though we can't be certain, this is one of the coolest pieces of PC industry memorabilia, one that shows the intersection between business and engineering.

A lightning strike has reportedly turned an internet connection into a destructive pathway for thousands of volts, leaving behind a damaged router and PC motherboard. The rare incident was shared on Reddit by user u/Greatfulx, who claims that during a recent thunderstorm, lightning entered their apartment complex through its coaxial cable infrastructure before damaging their network equipment and desktop PC.

According to the shared photos, the Ethernet port on their PC appears to have suffered extensive damage, leading them to believe the surge traveled from the router into the PC via the Ethernet cable. Notably, the damage on the motherboard appears to be concentrated around the Ethernet port rather than the entire board. While most modern Ethernet ports include surge protection designed to shield devices from electrical faults, an extremely high voltage power surge can potentially overload such safeguards. Additionally, the photos showcase the damaged router alongside large burn marks on nearby walls and the coaxial cable outside the apartment.

Router Blewup Motherboard from r/pcmasterrace

"Recent lighting storm struck my complex and traveled down my coaxial cable and into my apartment. Blew up in the middle of the night, so that was scary," the user wrote. "Thought I’d share, not in the position to rebuild so there that I guess!" The user told onlookers in the comments they were chasing up parties over possible negligence after one user pointed out a grounding/earthing attachment outside the building didn't appear to be connected properly.

The incident draws parallels to similar lightning-related hardware damage stories shared on Reddit. In one case, a user reportedly lost internet connectivity after a loud thunderstorm and initially assumed the issue was limited to their network connection. After some inspection, they discovered that the motherboard's dedicated LAN protection component, branded as "LAN Guard," had reportedly detached from the board. The user claimed that a surge possibly traveled through the Ethernet connection and was absorbed by the protective circuitry, potentially preventing more extensive damage to the rest of the PC. A similar lightning-related incident was shared by a user on Reddit who reported that a thunderstorm damaged their PlayStation 5’s Ethernet port while the console was connected via a wired network connection

Such incidents highlight a common vulnerability that is overlooked in most home electronic setups. While many users protect computers and other components with surge-protected power strips or uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), surges can enter through network and communication lines as well. If a lightning strike enters through a coaxial cable, modem, router, or switch, the resulting electrical energy may bypass protections designed primarily for AC power outlets.

Although no consumer-grade protection device can guarantee safeguard against a direct lightning strike, it is highly recommended that coaxial lines are properly grounded and that the use of surge protection for both power and data connections is used where possible.

Innovative London-based PC cooling firm Billet Labs is back with another water-cooled system, this time aiming for a completely passive, fanless build. The video below explains why this interesting build was conceptualized, how it was built, its benefits and drawbacks, and how it performs, all with an eye on thermals.

Felix from Billet Labs starts the video presentation standing next to another of the firm's special projects – Walley. This machine is wall-mounted and shows plenty of Billet Labs signature flair. Its multiple powerful fans can get rather noisy when the system is under duress, though. If the fan speeds are scaled back, things start to get uncomfortably warm. The new custom build, therefore, targets a gaming PC that is much quieter.

Regular readers may be familiar with Billet and founder Felix on YouTube, most recently for ‘Raddy,’ the Victorian radiator PC. However, Raddy proved to be a bit noisy for a living room gaming machine, and it included some fans, so its performance components are being reused here.

Felix reveals that the hulking cast-iron radiator cooled beast known as Raddy wasn’t silent due to cavitation bubbles in the pump, which necessitates radiator flushing once a week. Not a trivial task. Also, Raddy wasn’t a fully passive design as it incorporated fans.

So, the new PC and Raddy share a lot of the same components, particularly the performance parts like an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080, and an Aorus Pro B850 motherboard.

The new build used a trio of radiators in different sizes, ranging from large to very large. They were arranged above the heat-generating components, taking advantage of what Felix describes as a convection chimney effect.

For about the next 30 minutes of the video, we get to witness the skills behind the Billet Labs build process. The main stages roughly consisted of building the platform (based on an 8mm aluminum plate), mounting the PC parts, adding cooling, and then plumbing. From about 33 minutes in, we get to see the new living room gaming PC fire up Windows 11 for the ‘first time,’ and performance / thermal testing commences.

Felix isn’t satisfied with the silence of the building at first. So he had to turn off the motherboard fan and also adjust the pump speed to 80%. The machine was then tested until temperatures began to level off, over various workloads. Testing began with idling for half an hour, playing Peggle for a while, and then running Cinebench for half an hour. Things got serious as Halo 3 was fired up for a session. In the real gaming tests (Halo 3, Expedition 33, Cyberpunk 2077), the GPU never thermal throttled, but the CPU would a little as it hit 95 °C or more.

More stress testing was initiated, culminating in running Cinebench and FurMark simultaneously. This pulled over 450W of power and brought the radiator water temps up to 60C+, which is the maximum rated level for the pump. A throttling CPU was observed again in these tests. A full table of tests, power output, and temperatures is shared in the Reddit post embedded below.

Fan-less gaming PC - 5080/9800x3d/32gb/2tb - Yes I’ll probably add fans next from r/pcmasterrace

In conclusion, Felix reckons passive water cooling alone isn’t really enough for a powerful modern gaming rig. Even a single case fan would probably be enough to make a world of difference. So, stay tuned for a follow-up video where you can see how the same Billet Labs PC performs with a 120mm fan atop, pulling air upwards, accelerating that chimney effect.

This ultra-limited time deal at Amazon is letting you grab 50% off the 25-bit Hoto Electric Screwdriver, dropping its price down to a lowly $29. The perfect gift for a friend or colleague, as well as a treat for yourself. You had better act fast, though, as there are just 14 hours left on this deal at the time of publication.

Such a great product that I have a Hoto myself, and I have to admit that I use it all the time, not just for PC building and deconstructing, but also for everyday DIY; I even put an entire garden shed together with this exact model and had no issues at all. Furthermore, the majority of the Tom's Hardware staff have one of these great little gadgets on their desk or in a nearby drawer.

● Check out this deal on Amazon

This compact kit comes with the 25-bit driver set, along with the screwdriver itself. The Hoto NEX O1 Pro 3.6V electric screwdriver is equipped with a 1,500mAh battery that advertises enough power to drive over 1,000 screws from a full charge. I'll have to keep a tally the next time I use mine, but I can attest to it being able to be by my side whilst putting together a full garden shed, and there was a LOT of screws included in that build. I didn't have to charge the driver that day either, plus the convenient size meant I could just pop it in my pocket during pauses in screwing.

The set includes 25 steel screw bits, all rated for 60HRC on the Rockwell scale, with 24 standard bits and 1 extended PH2 bit. All feature various shapes, with Phillips, Torx, flat, hexagon, and Pozidriv head options included. The Hoto NEX O1 Pro itself comes with three separate torque settings, as well as a built-in sensor that will stop driving as soon as you release control. There's also a circular LED light at the top to help you see what you're doing in dark spaces, particularly useful for finding any tiny dropped screws while you work.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

For anyone who has built their own PC, you probably know that incredible feeling of accomplishment when you finish. For an enthusiast, there’s just nothing like it. Flipping on the power switch, then pressing the power button on the case, and that sense of relief once you actually see the BIOS screen and watch it all come to life, accompanied by a swathe of RGB lighting illuminating the chassis like a warehouse rave.

There's the added benefit of hearing the machine finally take its first breaths, the fans spin up, creating a rush of air through your case. But then there’s that ever-constant hum in the background of those fans and the wind noise and other vibrations that make up the whole of the noise coming from your PC.

There are a few people out there, masochists perhaps, who don’t care about noise. The rest of us strive to have a quiet PC. Why a silent PC, some may ask? A silent PC helps with immersion if you’re a gamer, or can improve productivity by not being a loud distraction. You may be thinking, “I’ll just buy quiet fans and be OK.” And, in part, you’re not wrong.

But noise comes from a variety of sources. Be it fans on your case or on your AIO/CPU Air Cooler, a video card, or even chipsets and VRM heatsinks; fans are everywhere. There’s also noise from hard drives, pumps in an AIO or custom loop coolers, the ever-annoying coil whine, and even resonant vibrations from the chassis.

The good news is that, aside from coil whine, everything else is something you can mitigate in some fashion. Unfortunately, coil whine is something you simply have to tolerate, unless you want to apply clear nail polish to the chokes/inductors. You may be able to RMA the product due to coil whine, but you could be in the same boat after if it's a problem that plagues you later down the line.

Noise in your PC is, in fact, a byproduct of heat and airflow, and achieving the quietest PC possible requires balancing multiple competing factors. You also have to consider the tone versus loudness. Specific frequencies, like the high-pitched squeal of the chokes, can be more unappealing than lower-frequency noises. Building a quiet PC is not just about fans and buying better parts, but about working within the physical limits of your setup and figuring out how much money you’re willing to spend on silence.

Why it's challenging: the physics problem

The higher your processor or video card’s TDP/TBP (Thermal Dynamic Power/Total Board Power), the louder it gets, or the more cooling area you need to keep things quiet. The more powerful a system is, the more headwinds you face to keep it cool and prevent thermal throttling. In other words, it requires more effort to remove the heat from a fire-breathing 600W RTX 5090 and a 200W Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 than it does from a 250W RTX 5070 and a 120W Ryzen 7 9800X3D.

Thermal density on the dies themselves has also increased dramatically over the last several years. As more transistors are packed into a tiny space and stacked on top of each other, it becomes physically harder to remove the amount of heat generated within the same space. Because of this and other factors, keeping today’s high-end processors at or below their throttling points has become increasingly difficult, requiring larger coolers and more airflow to keep them running at peak performance.

Ideally, you want laminar airflow where air moves uniformly, parallel, and in the same direction at a constant velocity, but that’s nearly impossible inside a PC case. Moving air creates turbulence, which generates sound. Turbulence in fans can come from many sources, including the shape of the blades and the air passing over them, as well as being in front of or behind mesh panels, grills, heatsinks, or radiators. In short, when airflow encounters obstructions, it becomes audible as it weaves through and around them. There’s also the consideration of how multiple fans react together. If some are running at slightly different speeds, they can produce a rhythmic, off-putting resonance.

Since we know that more power and performance mean more heat, and that fans need to move more air to cool, more airflow means louder operation. And there lies the rub. If you cherish silence more than anything, something has to give. Between high-performance, cooling, and silence, you need to pick two. One will almost always be compromised for another.

Another noteworthy point is that diminishing returns of silence are also very real. While in general it’s easy to reduce noise from loud to moderate, it’s harder to go from moderate to very quiet, and even more difficult to move from very quiet to ‘near silent.’ Each small improvement requires disproportionately more effort, compromise, or cost. Massive AIOs or custom water-cooling loops aren’t cheap, and most silent fans and cases aren't either.

What can you do about it?

The first thing to be reminded of at this point is that it’s all a balancing act. You can only make a machine that outputs 750W so quiet without thermal throttling, losing performance, or spending a lot of cash. Therefore, setting your expectations is key, especially if you’re running a high-power machine. Even though it can be an uphill battle with some hardware, there are ways to get a quieter PC, at a cost or for free, even if your PC matches the output of a personal space heater. The good news is that everything below applies to any machine, be it an HTPC or a monster full-tower gaming rig.

What you can do for free

One of the first things you can do without spending any money is clean out the dust in your case, especially your dust filters, and from the components, like the CPU and GPU heatsinks and power supply intake. The more they get clogged with dust, the less air passes through to cool your system, lowers usable thermal dissipation surface area, and the more turbulent (and louder) the airflow can get, and the faster your fans need to spin to keep temperatures down.

Case placement is another factor you can easily change and matters for both dust and noise. Under the desk, or further from ear level, is ideal, so long as it’s not sitting directly on carpet (the worst place for dust!) and has access to cool air for the intakes. Proper cable management also helps, though it is often a minor detail, as most cables are tied up in the back and out of the way of fast airflow.

Another good way to reduce noise is to optimize your PC’s airflow and adjust your fan speeds. If you can run them slower, adjust it via the BIOS or through your motherboard’s software, like Armory Crate, Gigabyte Control Center, etc., and keep an eye on temperatures afterward to make sure you’re not starving any components for cool air. In the linked article, we discuss the importance of airflow, the good and bad of positive versus negative air pressure, and how to achieve those states, and it is, without a doubt, worth a full read.

At a high level, intake CFM (Cubic Feet /Minute - it’s not just fan count!!) greater than exhaust CFM is a positive-pressure environment, while more CFM exiting the case than coming in yields a negative-pressure environment. There are pros and cons to both configurations, but positive-pressure tends to be the most commonly used.

With positive airflow, the increased ‘pressure’ inside forces air out of the exhaust fans and vents, preventing dust from entering through cracks and crevices. Positive pressure is ideal for preventing dust build-up. It makes sense to use it with a high-airflow case with front mesh, a tower air cooler, and optimal for blower-style graphics cards, as it creates a balanced airflow pattern inside your chassis and keeps the temps of your core components in check.

Negative pressure is the opposite, where, at the cost of increased dust inside your chassis, it’s getting air out of the case at a greater rate. It’s good for preventing hotspots due to the vacuum effect, to use with restrictive front panels, and for small-form-factor PCs where clean airflow is hard to come by. It can even offer lower video card temperatures in specific cases, such as a restricted front panel, where heat is quickly removed from the chassis.

On the hardware side of things, starting from your CPU, you can adjust the voltage, called Vcore, through your BIOS or via overclocking software to use less power under load. Typically, you do this by using an offset that reduces voltage globally across all speeds and loads. On many AMD processors, this is even a good way to get more performance, as you can undervolt and overclock, raising the CPU multiplier for higher boost clocks. For many Zen 4 and Zen 5-based processors, you can often undervolt by 10-20mv and still boost your peak clock speed by 100-200 MHz.

On my personal Ryzen 9 9900X3D, I achieved a stable -15 mV undervolt and a +200 MHz overclock. It isn’t a night-and-day difference performance-wise, but if we can get more from less, why not? Obviously, your mileage may vary, but this reduced the maximum load temperature by several degrees and lowered the part's power consumption by up to 2%.

You can also limit your GPU's power usage by manually adjusting the voltage, the voltage curve, or by lowering the power limit. I find it easier to lower the power limit on very powerful and power-hungry cards, since it's a simple slider. You can also set an FPS limit to match your monitor’s refresh rate, so the card won’t try to produce any frames past that limit, whether it’s 120, 165, 180, or 240 Hz, thus saving power.

For example, I set a couple of my games, mainly esports titles, to a 240 FPS limit, and with my graphics card, an RTX 5090, it rarely breaks 400W. Whereas, when left to its own devices, it will try to output every frame it can, and use the full 600W+ power budget, assuming you don’t have any other bottlenecks. Graphics cards also have variable-speed fans you can adjust via software (MSI Afterburner, for example), and this is another good way to hear the sounds of silence. But be careful here, as video cards will drop ‘boost bins’ as temperature rises until it’s below a threshold. The cooler your card, the longer it stays at maximum boost clocks.

Paying for the premium of silence

You can buy a new case with sound-dampening materials like the be Quiet! Silent Base 802 ($199.99) or other silent options such as the Dark Base Pro 901 ($199.90), Fractal Design Define 7 ($204.99), or even the old Antec P101 Slient, if you can find it. The downside of these cases is that you lose the front mesh and airflow, so if you have high-power components, the internals could run warmer than in a more free-flowing design, raising your internal temperatures and, thus, fan speeds and noise. If those options won’t work, you can take a look at our Best PC Cases article to see what we picked out across a wide variety of sizes.

Often, cheap stock fans that come with cases, especially off-brand chassis, are often noisey and inferior to those you purchase from popular quiet fan brands like Noctua, be quiet!, or Arctic. Buying quiet fans based on their specifications is a good start, physically, and will allow you to go from loud to moderate with just a little effort. Our Best PC Fans article can certainly help with that endeavor. If money is no object, we liked the Noctua NF-A12x25 G2 (2x @ $64.95, or one @ $34.95). If these are too expensive, our pick for best budget silence-optimized fans is the Arctic P120 Pro. Also, the larger the fan, the more air it can move, and generally quieter while moving the same amount of air.

When picking parts for your PC, you can choose quiet parts from the beginning, such as CPU coolers, like the Noctua NH-D15 Chromax.black ($129.95), the be quiet! Dark Rock Elite or Dark Rock Pro V (both are $84.90), or the Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120SE ($39.90) for a budget-friendly air cooler option.

In the world of AIOs, one of the best for silence is the be quiet! Silent Loop 3 (360mm $129.50), or the budget Montech HyperFlow Silent (360mm $76.00 - though our review said it wasn’t the quietest on the market). If you need a high-performing AIO with silence in mind, the Corsair iCue Link Titan 360RX RGB AIO ($159.99) and its magnetic bearing dome fans had “chart-topping noise-normalized performance” and the “Lowest noise levels in common scenarios” according to our review. Custom water cooling is another way to reduce noise compared with air coolers or AIOs. While you can replace the fans on those devices, a custom loop lets you pick your own radiator, fans, and pump to optimize for performance, quiet, or a balance of both. While this cooling method costs more than the other options, you have complete control over the parts that make noise and greater control over the pump and fans. You can also expand it to add more radiators for more cooling capacity and reduced fan noise.

Major contributing parts to noise out of the way, other things matter too. When silence is golden for your build, consider moving to SATA-based SSDs to eliminate noise if you're using HDDs for anything other than cold storage, where they’re inactive/sleeping most of the time. Another potential upgrade that could save some decibels is your power supply. Most of these days run in a ‘hybrid’ mode, where the fan stays off until a certain temperature or load is reached. But the more efficient it is, think Gold/Platinum/Titanium 80 Plus or Cybenetics certifications, the better chance it remains silent at light to medium loads. The be quiet! Dark Power 13 ($111.90) is a solid choice for quiet operation and reliability. If that doesn’t work for you, please check out our Best Power Supplies guide for other options.

Takeaways

Building a quiet PC can be quite challenging, especially if you’re trying to make it ‘near-silent’, as there are many considerations that go into making something that quiet. If you have a power-hungry system, it’s going to be that much more difficult to knock off some decibels compared to a low-power system, as it has less heat to evacuate. Still, there are plenty of things you can do to improve your acoustic performance from obnoxious to tolerable without emptying your wallet or losing performance.

• Dust and clean out your case
• Adjust fan curves
• Undervolt your CPU or GPU
• Set FPS limits in your games
• Move your PC away from ear-level
• $ - Rubber isolation for fans/HDD/pumps
• $$ - Upgrade to a more efficient power supply
• $$$ - Replace fans/coolers/case with ‘silent’ models

In the end, making a quiet PC isn’t as easy as slapping “silent” fans in your case and calling it a day, though that is a start. Every watt of power your system uses becomes heat, and that heat has to go somewhere. Between fan turbulence, pumps, vibration, coil whine, and even the way air moves through the mesh on your case, countless factors are working against true silence.

The reality is that building a quiet PC is one massive tightrope walk, balancing performance, acoustics, and cooling. The closer you get to silence, the more effort, money, and compromise it tends to require. You may never eliminate noise, especially with today’s high-powered hardware. Still, with the right expectations, some tuning, and perhaps a bit of cash, you can turn an obnoxiously loud system into something more pleasing to the ear.

You’ve probably seen a few examples of PC DIYers installing figurines in their elaborate, RGB-infused fishtank builds. Chinese TechTuber Soda Baka has scaled this phenomenon up to create a tower PC large enough for a human to work and play inside. What looks like a figurine in some of these PC pictures is actually the TechTuber posing. The video is shared on China’s Bilibili.

We aren’t 100% sure of the purpose of this build, other than spectacle, due to things getting lost in translation. However, a short skit in the video (machine translated) indicates the build was influenced by Baka’s little cousin being barked at by his mom “You play computer games all day, why don’t you just live in a computer!” Something like that.

We also get the feeling this is a canny video sponsorship deal as air conditioners start to become highly desirable, now that we are moving into warmer months in the Northern Hemisphere.

The human-habitable PC tower project gets underway with Soda Baka sketching and modeling before the construction begins in earnest. We see various huge components being fabricated, that look like case fans, GPUs, AiO CPU coolers, RAM sticks and so on. The TechTuber doesn’t forget to add splashes of RGB lighting, of course.

Some real-PC stuff is installed in the mega-PC, so there’s something to do once the side panel is put on… You can see Soda Baka sitting at a compact desk playing a game on the screen attached to the AiO – how modern.

Now things heat up, literally, as to simulate PC-scale heat at this large scale some hot-coal sauna installations are used. We see the TechTuber boosting the heat/humidity levels with a bottle of water. Apparently it doesn’t take long for the enclosed computer room (in the PC) temperatures to rise above 100°F (38 degrees Celsius).

Because all the huge fans and coolers are fake, our trapped TechTuber has to turn on the installed 12kW AC unit, which boasts 820m³/hr air circulation to cool the ‘PC system.’ Quickly enough the atmosphere changes to become “like a spring evening in the North [of China].” Was it all an elaborate Midea 3^rd Gen Pro AC unit sponsorship promotional video? Maybe it was.

You might recall that we put out a call for our readers to submit their PCs over on the forums recently, and many of you responded. With dozens of entries and configs to choose from, we whittled down the list to a dozen of the best-of-the-best to crown a winner in the inaugural Tom's Hardware Premium Rig Rundown. There was a bevy of entrants, spanning from dedicated wall-mounted OpenClaw setups, all the way to PC's with all the screens and RGB you could shake a stick at.

Our panel of staff has reviewed your submissions, and we're ready to show you the shortlist that had us in awe. So, thanks to the dedicated community of enthusiasts and PC modders who showed us that dedicated PC building and PC modding are still well and truly alive in 2026, despite the best efforts of AI companies and hyperscalers pricing us mere mortals out of NAND and RAM.

So, without further ado, here are the builds that impressed us the most, with our lucky winner at the end of the article.

The PC Cruiser by MissMercedes

What do you do when you're a car expert and a PC enthusiast? Take an iconic Chrysler RC Car and turn it into a real, working computer, naturally. Car journalist MissMercedes did exactly that with the PC Cruiser.

A 1:6 scale RC car turns the chassis into a case, but with the nominal amount of space inside, some deep modifications were required by removing the rear seats of the PT Cruiser model to ensure that everything could fit inside. The next challenge was to find the components to actually fit inside. With a budget build in mind, MissMercedes found an Antec H310N ITX PC, sporting an Intel Core i5-9400, and 16GB of (presumably some kind of DDR4) RAM.

MissMercedes wanted to boast that the V8 moniker would also stand true for the number of cores inside, and so the CPU was later upgraded to an Intel Core i7-9700, with the motherboard supporting Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. After tossing in an NVMe SSD, it was off to the races.

One problem remained: the 90W power supply couldn't quite handle the heft of the upgraded CPU, and so MissMercedes locked the clock speed to 3 GHz. For a budget work computer, relying on integrated graphics is more than fine enough for a journalist (ask me how I know), so this build is designed for aesthetics, not pure computing heft.

Builder MissMercedes also has designs on upgrades in the future; Cooler Master's V-series coolers have an engine-like look, but were not yet available to purchase. Other potential additions include small speakers and a healthy dose of RGB. But, the most eyebrow-raising addition is the potential to add a battery, as the RC parts of the PT Crusiser chassis are still fully functional.

Our thoughts: The PC Cruiser

Andrew Freedman: I love seeing motherboards fit in unexpected chassis without requiring modification. That's my dream. I'm so glad that this exists for the sake of it, and that lots of other people could now go and just do it after seeing this.

Matthew Safford: This build gets points for its name alone! Not sure I'd love having to pop the hatchback every time I wanted to plug something into the rear ports, though. Can't wait to see what you do whenever Cooler Master gets around to releasing its new V-Series CPU coolers!

Stewart Bendle: This is awesome. Adding a personal touch by modding your PC in line with your hobby/career.

Joe Shields: Unique build for sure! Creativity is a '10' on this one. That said, I would have picked a different car for an even better 'cool' factor, but getting everything inside that little PT Cruiser RC car without any obvious modifications is an absolute win. Well done.

Brandon Hill: That's probably the coolest PT Cruiser that has ever existed. The battery upgrade would be a great addition to this rig.

Sayem Ahmed: Now, this is the exact kind of build that I wanted to see on Rig Rundown. Not everything has to have the best, newest, top-of-the-line specs, or have a set of Lian-Li's glowing power cables. Taking a lower-powered PC and stuffing the chassis into a pretty iconic car is great fun for a build. I love it. I don't think my aunt's old PT Cruiser was this cool.

The Master Center by DronePilot

DronePilot's setup is almost dizzying to get your head around. From the sheer number of screens, to simply imagining how to set this all up in the first place. Regardless, this is less of a rig and more of a command center. Sporting a 12th Gen PC, a Lenovo Legion Go, a Haswell-based Mini-PC, a 13th Gen Intel Laptop, and a 13th Gen HP ProDesk Mini all in one place, and to have it all work exactly the way you want it to, takes an astonishing amount of work.

It's not all about the PCs, though, as the setup also features a $500 speaker setup, a bevy of ports, full Cat5, routed through switches, and, indeed, runs underneath the house itself, offering you pretty much everything within arm's reach.

The setup also functions as a real-world call center and includes a KVM to manage the sheer number of systems (and the number of TVs and displays!) this rig offers. It's an appropriately complex setup that goes beyond the scope of many of our humble desks at Tom's Hardware.

The amount of effort that's gone into the Master Center is immediately apparent, which is why it made our shortlist.

Our thoughts: The Master Center

Paul Alcorn: I am a fan of huge monitors for productivity use cases; this is an awesome setup.

Matthew Safford: Love to see a TH reader who also uses a 55-inch TV as their main monitor. And there is plenty else to be impressed with here.

Is that an Intel 4th Gen Haswell Mini PC you've got running Windows 11? If so, kudos to your abilities, and for keeping a PC that is still useful out of the trash heap! If it does what you need it to do, it's still useful.

Joe Shields: I'm on the other side of large TVs for monitors... depends on the use case. High DPI or bust when you're sitting that close.

A mid-range system feels curious, but if it works for his purpose, it works! No need to overspend! Looks like you have command of darn near everything and the ability to easily access all systems. Well done!

Stewart Bendle: Definitely a fan of the command center. The warmest room in Winter.

Sayem Ahmed: DronePilot's Setup is mighty impressive. Everything from the frankly ludicrous number of screens, to the actual layout of the room itself is super-well considered. Special shout to the speaker setup too, it's a point that often goes missed in a lot of setups, but not this one.

The Wall-mounted masterpiece by SilenceIsGolden

When a lot of people make their PCs, they want them to stand the test of time. But, as technology moves on, it becomes inevitable that one day, you'll have to replace your beloved build. But, for SilenceIsGolden, who told their wife that this would be the only PC built in the next decade, they pulled out all of the stops.

The results are nothing less than beautiful, blacked-out and wall-mounted Antec Core P3 Pro in black serves as the ultimate commitment to a computer, designed to weather the storms of time itself. Featuring 96 GB of RAM, 8 TB of total NVMe storage, including a curious Intel Optane 900p 480GB drive, a rip-roaring 9950X3D, and RTX 4090, the computer is indeed no slouch.

Even more impressively, the entire system is custom-looped and water-cooled with a suite of AlphaCool waterblocks, covering the CPU, GPU, SSDs, EK Fittings, and D5 Next pump. This was complemented with a customized Thermaltake Core Pacific DP100 distro plate, which was painted black, with some custom heatsinks thrown on for aesthetics. Alongside a handful of finishing touches, like Lian-Li's light-up Strimer RGB power cables and Alienware AW3425DW OLED display to drive it all.

SilenceIsGolden's goal of building a silent, custom-looped build certainly looks the part, but they are still looking for a way to silence the Seasonic x Noctua Prime TX-1600's PSU coil whine. When fully mounted to the wall, and with the smart-looking RGB, this build certainly looks lovely and heavy.

Our thoughts: The Wall-mounted masterpiece

Sayem Ahmed: Silence is indeed Golden for this slick wall-mounted build. The blacked-out look is very nice, but it must be pretty hard to dust a semi-open-air case like this. I appreciate the dedication to water cooling here, too. While a lot of folks buy the glowing power cables to put some awful animation over it, this actually looks really nice. I would love to do something like this, but I would also live in fear of the PC falling and cleaning it. My only real worry is for the plaster on your walls.

Stewart Bendle: These dust magnets look very cool in a clean, minimalist room. The RGB and color choices work well.

Matthew Safford: It's great to see Intel's still impressive Optane 900p drive in a modern, powerful build. And I hope you picked up all 8.5TB of solid-state storage before prices started climbing last year!

Andrew Freedman: I've never been in love with the look of a Strimer, but I quite like the RGB on this one. It looks like the electricity is flowing out of the walls and through the rig.

Joe Shields: Wall-mounted builds always get the nod in my book. This one takes it to the next level with the matching water cooling ecosystem and overall clean appearance. The high-end hardware complements the build well.

The Home Arcade by Destruk

Who hasn't dreamed of reliving the glory days of gaming with a dedicated at-home arcade setup? Modern emulation has gotten to the point where it is a reality, and with a bit of love and effort, you can get your own arcade-perfect setup at home. Destruk's home arcade gaming machine sets out to do just that.

Sporting an Intel Core i7-14700K, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a staggering 10TB in NVMe SSD storage, alongside a total 72TB in HDD storage, this setup is an arcade archivist's dream. Powering all the graphical heft of emulating MAME and CPS3 is an RTX 4060, which should do that job without so much as breaking a sweat. But the real beauty in this arcade setup is in the peripherals, of course.

A pair of Sinden Lightguns can emulate the arcade shooters of old, in addition to dual Atari Sixer joysticks, running through a serial to USB interface, two Atari Paddle controllers, two DualShock 3's, A Kensington Orbit Trackball, a Quickshot 2 joystick powering all the 90s action, in adition to two spinners, and two eight-button traditonal Noir Arcade layouts, complimented by a pair of eight-way joysticks and buttons, Skylanders Portal, and a Commodore 1541 disk drive. The arcade unit by GameRoomSolutions is wrapped in Gatchaman artwork, a nod to the classic anime, and whose cast features in the 2008 arcade fighter Tatsunoko vs Capcom.

This is all seemingly organized chaos, and it looks excellent. With the setup powered by a staggering 65-inch Roku TV, Destruk explains that the total cost of this setup came to less than $4,000, built before the RAMpocalypse. Somehow, Destruk still has three USB ports left and is planning to add a racing wheel and pedals.

Our thoughts: Home Arcade

Joe Shields: Yes, please. I always wanted a stand-up arcade game in my basement. The standup console with the buttons and the accessories on the wall is impressive.

Andrew Freedman: Do you have 'The Simpsons'? Can I come over and play 'The Simpsons'?

This system is prepared for everything. Lightguns? Atari joysticks? PS3 controllers (my least favorite PlayStation controller, but hey, not my rig!)? The Skylanders Portal of Power? That's dedication to playing games the way the developers intended.

Stewart Bendle: Everyone should have a home arcade. It should be mandatory. This is a sweet little construction that would certainly keep me entertained for days.

Sayem Ahmed: I have a real soft spot for emulation machines, and this feels like the natural conclusion of what I would want to achieve. It's great to see that the arcade spirit is alive and kicking, with a pair of Sinden Lightguns at the ready if you ever want to run through Point Blank or any other number of arcade classics at home. The mention of attaching a racing setup to this is interesting. I could use a bit of Outrun in my life. I'm also not sure how it's possible to work on 900 Pinball games, but if you can run Black Knight 2000 on there, I'll be at your door in a flash.

Manual Metal by Edman565 (Winner)

Manual Metal by Edman565 might be one of the wildest PC builds that we've ever seen at Tom's Hardware. Edman545's dedication to building the ultimate hard-lined, custom-looped build has collectively floored us.

From the images alone, we can see a total of 11 displays, and multiple devices powering Manual Metal, which has been named appropriately, as the build seeks to evoke the same feeling as tuning a manual car, with appropriate styling for the hard-lined steel pipes, and controlled via a custom built panel, with all of the switches and knobs you could want. Furthermore, the system has two radiators placed outdoors, for that extra cooling boon.

To get to the meat and potatoes of the build itself, we're looking at a Ryzen 9 9950X3D, alongside an AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, 128 GB of DDR5 RAM, and a total of 3.5 TB of NVMe storage. But, the more impressive part of all this is the cooling setup, which is powered by a total of ten Noctua Industrial F12 fans, two PrimoChill radiators, a Thermaltake Pacific W8 on the CPU, an AlphaCool Core Swift on the GPU, dual-looped Bykski PWM pumps and reservoirs, and custom stainless steel tubing and valves.

Aside from the dizzying number of displays, there's enterprise-grade networking involved here too, with an Intel X550-T2 Dual 10GB/s PCIe adapter, a dedicated Creative Sound Blaster, and a Game Capture card too.

The cooling setup here is by far one of the most impressive things about this build: "I commissioned a custom mount for the reservoirs. I used two so that it can be configured as two loops, depending on which valves are open. Being the only clear part of this system, I can tell the water is flowing by the vortex created when the pumps are cranking," said Edman565.

They also noted that one pump could easily power the system, but installing two allowed for manual adjustment of the flow rate for the outdoor loop. Even more impressive, the custom control panel evokes a classic fighter-jet feeling, which was entirely custom-made just for Manual Metal. It's pretty astonishing and resulted in a near-unanimous win for our panel.

Our thoughts: Manual Metal

Matthew Safford: Love seeing those old Dell 4:3 monitors (which I remember using in my college's library) put to good use! There's so much impressive customization going on here, I don't even know where to begin.

Andrew Freedman: Sometimes, you just have to drop your hands in admiration that someone has done something that you will never have the skills, space, or insurance coverage to do. The PC is incredible, but I'm wowed by the home improvement work.

Joe Shields: Wow. This is. Wow. If I wasn't married with two kids, it's how I would do it. Custom controller, outside cooling, 3D printed parts. Absolutely amazing setup, even if some of the screens are 4:3.

Sayem Ahmed: I think we have our winner, folks. This is really one of the most impressive systems that I've seen to date. The control panel not only looks cool, but serves as an excellent way to measure things in an analog-like way without resorting to a screen, which is frankly, more boring, and way less cool than this.

I cannot imagine the number of man-hours that it took to build Manual Metal. Everything from the fluid paths to the cable management and sheer amount of effort and love radiating from this system is everything an enthusiast should aspire to.

DIY forever.

Well done to Edman565 for winning Rig Rundown with the astonishing Manual Metal build. We'll be in contact with you shortly.

Motherboards, who needs them? Not Breadboarding Labs, which recently outlined plans to build a retro Intel 80386 (i386) PC using solderless breadboards. Don’t worry, this project isn’t pie-in-the-sky. Breadboarding Labs has two prior similar and successful feats behind them – two breadboard-based PC-XT and PC-AT (Intel 8088) computers. However, this new project, aiming to replicate the functionality of Compaq’s milestone DeskPro 386 system, will be a tougher challenge.

A new breadboard PC project based on the 386 CPU is a more advanced electronics maker task due to the generations newer, relatively complex hardware involved. The maker will be spared making everything from scratch, though, as some breadboard modules from previous 8088 projects will be able to be reused.

The 386 Breadboard PC will be able to reuse the following prior works:

• Clock and bus controller
• MDA video controller
• CGA video controller
• Timer
• Parallel port
• Speaker
• Real-time clock
• Serial port
• Dual interrupt controller
• Power on self test port
• IDE hard disk and controller

Above you can see an annotated image showing the maker’s immediately previous project, the Breadboard PC 8088 Version 2. It is clear some of those assemblies will be taken forward for the 386 Breadboard PC project.

There remains a lot of extra work that needs addressing to complete the 386 project, such as:

• 80386 CPU interface
• 32-bit RAM, DMA, 16-bit ISA bus
• 16-bit DMA
• Timer 2 and variable speed control
• DMA-free DRAM refresh logic
• 16/8 MHz (reduced clocks)
• PS/2 mouse and keyboard
• VGA video
• 3.5-inch floppy drive and controller

Work will begin with the breadboard adapter for the 386 CPU. This will be a significant challenge compared to the prior 8088 processor-based systems the enthusiast has made. Not least because a 386 chip has 136 pins that need wiring up, compared with just 40 for the 8088.

If you are interested in following the progress of the freshly started 386 Breadboard PC project, then it will be worth staying tuned to the YouTube channel. We also hope to keep up to date with this and check out the finished remake. Some performance tests and comparisons of the functioning PC system would be very interesting to see. Overall, it is a far more complex grade of PC DIY than we are accustomed to.

For almost three decades, the Tom's Hardware team has reviewed the latest hardware, all the way from GeForce2 to the RTX 5000 series. We have racked up tens of thousands of man-hours dedicated to the most accurate results you'll find on the internet, spanning more rounds of benchmarks than you can imagine, for almost every product category you can think of.

But one thing we haven't done recently is take a closer look at the personal setups of our readers.

With Rig Rundown, we're changing that. We're on the lookout for all manner of incredible, chaotic, or interesting builds that you have to offer. So, whether you're running an eight-monitor behemoth with multiple systems or you've engineered a home server rack inside of a closet, we want to see it all. You don't need the latest and greatest specs to enter; it could be a simple PC build that you're really proud to share with someone. The beauty of inhabiting a community of tech enthusiasts is that we're all just simple nerds at heart, and with Rig Rundown, we want to give you the spotlight.

The premise is simple: submit your setup in the comments below, tell us a little about how or why you decided to build what you have, any particular specs that you want to show off, or what makes your space unique or special to you. Once we've accrued a good number of entrants, we'll place the best and brightest builds and setups into a shortlist. That shortlist will then be presented to our team of veterans and experts on staff at Tom's Hardware, who will offer their two cents on your particular submission. Our collective thoughts on all shortlisted builds will then be placed into a Tom's Hardware Premium article, where subscribers can read all about it.

We'll also be crowning one lucky entrant with a $100 / £75 Amazon Gift Card for their submission, so be sure to enter to be in with the chance of getting a spotlight and winning that Gift Card. (U.S. & UK only.)

Our full terms and conditions and privacy policy apply. Entries close on April 4, 2026, at 00:00 GMT.

I have loudly shared, on more than one occasion, about how much I rate the quality of my Hoto electric screwdriver. It has been an essential addition to my toolkit as I move in and renovate my home, used for everything from putting together new furniture to repairing the odd kitchen cabinet. If you're missing out, Amazon has luckily put together an epic combo deal that brings the combined price of Hoto's electric driver and vacuum cleaner down to $89.99, a saving of just under $60 ahead of its big Spring Sale.

● Check out this deal on Amazon

As you can probably tell, Hoto's original electric precision screwdriver is a personal favorite among the Tom's Hardware team, with several editors and writers owning and recommending one. This kit comes with the 25-bit driver set, along with the screwdriver itself, along with Hoto's AutoCare handheld vacuum cleaner, and air duster. With the ability to both suck and blow, you can use this to clean your car interior, blast the crumbs out of your keyboard, or clear the dust in your PC fans.

This Hoto NEX O1 Pro 3.6V driver is equipped with a 1,500mAh battery that reportedly allows you to drive over 1,000 screws from a full charge. That sits about right from personal experience, as I've used it almost every weekend since the start of the new year, and I've not yet charged it. USB-C charging is convenient, too, with the supplied cable, and a total charge takes around 150 minutes.

The set includes 25 steel screw bits, all rated for 60HRC on the Rockwell scale, with 24 standard bits and 1 extended PH2 bit. All feature various shapes, with Phillips, Torx, flat, hexagon, and Pozidriv head options included. The Hoto NEX O1 Pro itself comes with three separate torque settings, as well as a built-in sensor that will stop driving as soon as you release control. There's also a circular LED light at the top to help you see what you're doing in dark spaces, which I've found particularly useful. It's also fully magnetic, so you won't lose any tiny screws while you work, either.

Meanwhile, the Hoto AutoCare is a 4-in-1 device with two ends, letting you alternate between sucking the air and blasting it away. It comes with five different attachments, depending on the scenario, all with different sizes, from a grooming brush for a car seat or sofa to a tiny pointed nozzle for narrow gaps under keyboard keys and between car seats.

This is another USB-C powered device, but with a 1,900 mAh battery that reportedly lasts for ten minutes continuously, and weighs just 0.78lbs. There is a whole range of use cases for this handy, pocket-sized piece of kit: PC owners will want to use it to keep their devices free of dust or crumbs, but it can also be used to suck up any fallen debris around them. It's also good for inflation, such as air beds, as well as vacuum packing.

The $89.99 sale price for this Hoto electronic screwdriver and 4-in-1 vacuum and air duster set isn't one you'll want to miss, and both devices would be a seriously great addition to a toolkit. This isn't a deal that we'll expect to see around for long, dropping just before Amazon's Big Spring Sale starts, which will run until March 31.

• The best Amazon Big Spring Sale tech deals 2026

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

Creator and enthusiast ScuffedBits successfully ran a desktop PC for about five minutes on AA batteries alone and was even able to complete one round of Minesweeper on it. However, it seemed that that wasn’t long enough, so he decided to redo the project, intending to address the problems of the first build.

The biggest issue they fixed first was the high resistance of the tiny wires used to connect the batteries to the motherboard. Instead of replacing them, ScuffedBits modified the wiring of the battery packs to get around 25 volts, meaning that the PC would now require lower current, preventing instability because of the thin wiring. Of course, 25 volts isn’t good for the motherboard, so they also added three voltage regulators wired in parallel to get a consistent 12 volts until the batteries died. To further ensure that the system works, they also eliminated the alligator clips and soldered the wires directly to the capacitors that came from the original project.

With everything in place, ScuffedBits inserted the last three AA batteries, completing the circuit and bringing the PC to life. Unlike the last time, which needed an external power source to “jumpstart” the computer, it was able to boot straight up using just the AA cells this time. With the voltage holding steady, they were able to log into Windows and show us the specifications of the PC — an Intel Core i3-530 paired with 8GB of RAM and a WD SATA SSD.

The first thing they did was play one round of A Short Hike, which they finished some three and a half minutes after turning on the computer purely on AA batteries. But what’s more interesting was that they were able to run Cinebench on the system, pushing the rather old CPU to its limits. Even though this processor is rather old, TechPowerUp reports that it still has a power draw of 73 watts. Nevertheless, the system completed the test almost eight minutes after booting up, with no signs of slowing down.

So, after the benchmark, ScuffedBits decided to install Minecraft and play several rounds of Party Games. After that, he tried to install Portal 2, but the system finally died after 33 minutes and 19 seconds — quite a remarkable feat for a home-made AA-battery power solution for a desktop PC. This isn’t groundbreaking technology, especially as we have better battery solutions available to us nowadays. Besides, who would want to purchase 64 AA batteries at a gas station multiple times a day just to keep their laptops fully charged?

The creator also ran a test using a 12-volt car battery on the system, showing that it will work. But they also said that it was going to be quite boring, as the car battery should have enough juice to run the desktop computer for three to four hours without any problems. Nevertheless, the entire thing is still a fun project, tinkering with batteries and PCs, and we hope to see more similarly crazy experiments from ScuffedBits in the future.

RAM shortages are prompting some unheard-of moves on the part of some companies, like Transcend telling its customers that all deliveries were delayed, and Phison's CEO warning that smaller consumer electronics players might be headed for closure. Now, Silicon Power (SP) has added a notification to the header of its online U.S. store stating that "a full refund of the original purchase price will be issued if there is a shortage of replacement products." The new measure hints that, in some cases, SP is unable to source replacement parts or that the cost of replacement parts is now so high as to be unfeasible.

The latter is highlighted by the recent adventures of an Australian enthusiast's struggle to return his RAM kit for a warranty replacement, owing to the fact that the kit has quadrupled in price since he bought it. Retailers try their best to protect themselves from scarce availability and constantly fluctuating prices, all while consumers have to resort to paying highly inflated prices for what were once affordable staple items.

SP's statement is conditional and seems to indicate that in the case of an RMA, the SP store will make an attempt at replacing the item, but also prepares buyers for the possibility that they won't get a replacement unit. This is almost certainly due to the fact that flash chips have multiplied in price and become absurdly scarce, particularly for smaller companies.

As for its UK web-store, Silicon Power doesn't have a specific notice, and its warranty policy simply states that "due to ongoing technology or in case of discontinuity of any product, SP will be unable to repair the product, and therefore replace the product with a comparable one."

We took the opportunity to do a cursory browse of major memory and SSD manufacturers' RMA policies, and at the present time, we found that at least on paper, almost every major player says it will honor a replacement. Having said that, as the crises tighten, these policies might well change, and sooner rather than later. Note that our findings are consumer advice and not legal analysis:

• Corsair - Replacement: "If your Corsair product is not operating in accordance with its published technical specifications, the product will be replaced at Corsair’s expense."
  
• G.Skill - Replacement, conditional: "Any replacements provided will be with the same product model. This warranty obligation is conditioned upon the hardware being returned to the original place of purchase, or another place as directed by G.SKILL [...]."
  
• Kingston - Replacement: "Kingston will, at its option, either repair or replace any part of its products that prove defective by reason of improper workmanship or materials."
  
• Western Digital - Replacement, then equivalent item, then refund: "Western Digital will provide a Customer Replacement Unit (CRU) [...] it may instead provide a product with at least equivalent capabilities to the failed Product. [...] If Western Digital cannot provide a CRU replacement or an equivalent product, it may instead provide the user with a credit."
  
• Samsung - Replacement, then refund at current market value: "(1) repair or replace the Product with new or refurbished Product of equal or greater capacity and functionality; or (2) refund the then current market value of the Product at the time the warranty claim is made to SAMSUNG."
  
• Sandisk - Company chooses replacement or refund at current market value. "(1) repair or replace the Product with a new reconditioned or refurbished Product of equal or greater capacity, or another equivalent product; or (2) refund the current market value of the Product at the time the warranty claim is made."

The fact that nearly every company says it will honor a replacement is relevant against the backdrop of regional consumer protection laws. Most buyers' primary point of contact will be the store where they bought their hardware, but while most regional laws provide the buyer with multiple degrees of protection, for primary Western markets, the seller is apparently not obligated to replace the item and can instead issue a refund if said replacement would prove too onerous.

That seems to be the case with the European Union directive 2019/771, article 13.1.2.a, that sates that the consumer does have a choice between repair or replacement, "unless the remedy chosen would be impossible or, compared to the other remedy, would impose costs on the seller that would be disproportionate". The RAM price rise of 4-5x since last year would likely qualify, though individual EU member-states may offer additional protection, however.

The situation doesn't look too different in the United Kingdom, where the Consumer Rights Act of 2015 says, in section 23, item (3)(a), that although the customer has a choice between replacement or refund, they also "cannot require the trader to repair or replace the goods if that remedy (the repair or the replacement) [...] (b) is disproportionate compared to the other of those remedies."

As for the United States, most major PC hardware makers offer limited warranties, as opposed to full warranties, generally meaning that the manufacturer's policy dictates available options, save when specific state or regional laws apply. Broadly speaking, the stores are merely intermediaries in the process, and any protections they offer are a bonus.

The land down under has what appear to be the most consumer-oriented laws, as recently highlighted by the aforementioned Umart case. A browse of the Australian government's page dedicated to returns, refunds, and replacements clearly states that in case of a major failure of the item, "the consumer can choose," and should the seller be unable or unwilling to replace the item, the customer can "ask for a replacement [or] ask for a refund".

What this all means is that, should a person's RAM or SSD break under the manufacturer's warranty period in most regions, it might be wiser to try and go directly to the manufacturer instead of the place of sale, particularly considering that RAM almost always carries a limited lifetime warranty.

Just don't be too surprised if the AI component crisis continues to impact returns and refund policies, as other well-known manufacturers might be forced to follow SP, due to the shortage of DRAM or NAND flash chips.

You’ve seen the debates, and you’ve seen the Reddit threads. You’ve probably even flipped your rear fan orientation at 2 a.m. “just to test something.” As enthusiasts, we obsess over the tiniest details of our PCs just to get that extra frame while gaming, or to lower the temperatures of our GPU by one degree. This is where the importance of airflow becomes paramount.

Most PC builders spend hours finding the perfect CPU and GPU combination that stretches every penny of their budget. They pick the most optimal cooling components and even think about the conductivity numbers of their thermal paste, but when it comes to case airflow, it all becomes a bit rudimentary. In fact, some PC builders nowadays prioritize aesthetics over performance when it comes to choosing the number and size of their case fans.

The airflow configuration (i.e., where and how the air is flowing) of your PC build is one of the most overlooked parts of the entire process. It is something that is considered tedious and frequently glossed over, even though it can be a significant factor in determining the performance and longevity of your expensive internals.

If you've ever wondered why two identical builds running the same components in different cases can have wildly different thermals, this is often the culprit. And no, the fix isn't always "more fans." That's a rabbit hole we'll get into later.

So let’s jump into the ins and outs of airflow in a PC case and how you can use the various pressure configurations to maximize the performance of your rig. But first, let’s brush up on the basics.

The (Already Established) Importance of Airflow

Of course, airflow being important isn’t exactly breaking news. Your PC’s components generate heat, and that heat needs to go somewhere to prevent thermal issues. Airflow helps to take the heat away from the components and dissipates it to the outside of your case. The case airflow is doubly important in cooling down components that don’t have a heatsink or fan directly attached to them.

Fail to cool your internal components properly, and you’re putting both the performance and longevity of your PC at risk. Modern components such as CPUs and GPUs are smart and dynamically adjust their performance based on the thermal headroom. If your CPU or GPU is overheating, it will slow itself down in order to keep the temperatures within a safe limit. This process is called thermal throttling, and it can be highly detrimental to the performance of your rig.

Components like graphics cards and CPU coolers have their own cooling mechanisms that move air within the case to help in cooling, but they still depend on the overall airflow of the PC case to perform optimally. If the PC case has restrictive airflow, the fans on your expensive graphics card or tower cooler will do little else than make a load of noise.

Good airflow ensures that a steady supply of cool ambient air reaches your components. It creates a path for hot air to escape efficiently. It prevents hotspots, which are pockets of stagnant warm air that can accumulate near heat-generating components with no direct cooling coverage. And when done right, it even helps keep dust manageable by controlling where and how air enters the system.

Positive Pressure: What It Is And How To Achieve It

First off, "pressure" is generally a relative term when PC building, since cases aren't sealed, but differences can definitely change airflow patterns.

Positive pressure is exactly what it sounds like. You are pushing more air into the case than you are pulling out of it. There is increased pressure inside the PC case, which forces air out of the case through the exhaust fans, vents, cracks, and crevices of your case. This type of airflow configuration is the most popular in pre-built PCs and overall in the DIY space as well.

Simply put, you can achieve positive pressure inside the PC case by having more intake fans than exhaust fans. If you want to get a bit technical, the intake fans need to have a higher combined airflow rating (measured in CFM or cubic feet per minute) than the exhaust fans.

This configuration typically looks like 2 or 3 intake fans installed at the front of the case, with 1 or 2 exhaust fans installed at the rear or top of the case. This way, there is more air entering the case through the front than is leaving through the rear, resulting in a net positive pressure inside the chassis.

Here's a practical example: imagine a system with three 120mm intake fans at the front running at 1200 RPM, paired with a single 120mm exhaust at the rear running at 900 RPM, and a 120mm top exhaust at 900 RPM. Even with two exhaust fans, if the three front intakes are moving more total CFM, you're net positive. You don't need to get bogged down in the math, but the rough principle holds.

It is worth noting that if you're running a 360mm radiator as a front intake, that radiator also acts as a significant intake just like the regular fans. A system with a 240mm or 360mm radiator in the front and a 120mm exhaust fan in the back is also in a positive pressure state, though the restriction that radiator fins add to airflow does complicate things slightly.

You can also swap the position of the intake fans and the exhaust fans while still achieving positive pressure, provided that the total CFM of the intake fans remains higher than the exhaust fans.

Mastering Negative Pressure

Negative pressure is a bit of a sneaky one, as it is less popular and there is also a bit of misinformation about it that drives away new builders. In this configuration, more air is being exhausted out of the PC case than is being actively pulled in, resulting in a negative pressure inside the case.

You can think of negative pressure as a vacuum that pulls air into the case from the surrounding environment through the vents and crevices in the case. Contrary to popular belief, this also results in significant airflow within the system that effectively cools your components, provided you are smart about fan placement.

The classic negative pressure setup is a rear exhaust fan, a top exhaust fan or two (usually there's room for three), and fewer (or no) front intakes. The case becomes a giant vacuum, drawing air in through every available opening. You can also flip the front fans and use the front of the case as an exhaust, but that is not recommended if there is a dust filter on your front panel.

Of course, just like with positive pressure, the RPM and/or CFM rating of your fans matters if you want to build a negative pressure system. If your exhaust fans have a higher CFM than your intake fans, then you will achieve negative pressure. You can also use custom fan curves to ramp up your exhaust fans higher than intakes.

The major drawback of a negative pressure system is dust buildup. Since the inside of the case acts as a vacuum, the air (and accompanying dust) is pulled from all the vents, cracks, and crevices in the case, not just the filtered intakes. This means that dust builds up quickly and unevenly in your PC case. Most of the dust also builds up in areas that do not have a dust filter, making them a pain to clean.

Also, the difference in buildup between positive and negative pressure can vary substantially depending on how much small particulate matter is actually in the air around your PC.

When Is Positive Pressure The Clear Choice?

Positive pressure is the safe, tried-and-tested popular option that most PC builders tend to go with. It provides a balanced airflow pattern inside the system that keeps the temperatures of your core components under control. Here are a few scenarios where positive pressure makes the most sense.

1. You want to prevent dust buildup: The most important benefit of a positive pressure configuration is dust control. Since the inside of the system theoretically acts as a balloon being inflated, the air tends to escape to the outside of the case through any possible pathway. This means that air is exhausted through vents, grilles, or any opening that is present in the case.

Dust accompanies air, which is why this configuration prevents dust buildup inside your PC case. You will still need to regularly clean your dust filters, but this setup will prevent you from cleaning dust bunnies out of your GPU every week. If you have a pet cat or dog, you should go with a positive pressure layout to prevent pet hair from choking your PC components.

2. You have a high-airflow case with front mesh: Cases like the Fractal Torrent, Lian Li Lancool III, Corsair 4000D Airflow, or be quiet! Pure Base 500DX are designed to accommodate large front intakes efficiently. The unrestricted front mesh combined with large fans is one of the most effective thermal solutions available, and positive pressure maximizes that design.

3. You are using a tower air cooler: A large tower cooler will extract heat from the CPU and dump it into the case, which needs to be effectively removed. A positive pressure layout will create a nice airflow pattern from the front of the case to the rear or top, which will cause the heat to be exhausted regularly.

4. You are using a blower-style graphics card: While a bit uncommon nowadays, blower-style GPUs used to be everywhere in the last decade. A positive pressure system is quite nice for a blower-style GPU since it needs a lot of airflow inside the case to work optimally. With large front intakes, a blower-style card will get ample airflow to effectively cool its GPU, and it does act as an exhaust as well.

Is Negative Pressure Any Good? (Spoiler: Yes!)

While it gets a bad rap due to dust buildup, negative pressure also has its place and should not be dismissed entirely. It is a slightly more outside-the-box approach to airflow configuration, but under certain circumstances, it can be the right choice.

1. Your case has a restricted front panel: This is the primary use case of a negative pressure layout. If your PC case has a glass front panel or the vents are more for “aesthetics” than functionality, then you might want to give negative pressure a try. Instead of trying to bend the laws of physics by trying to force air through or around a solid metal panel, you can suck the air in through the other gaps that are present in every PC case.

Negative pressure uses the vacuum inside the PC case to bypass the restriction of the solid front panel. The target is to achieve airflow inside the case, and it does not really matter where that air comes from. However, you should get some cans of compressed air and be ready for more frequent cleaning sessions.

2. Better GPU temperatures (in certain cases): That’s right. A negative pressure setup can be better than a positive pressure setup when it comes to GPU cooling. This point goes hand-in-hand with the first one.

If you have a case with a restrictive front panel, then a negative pressure setup will provide better GPU cooling since it pulls in air from vents and PCIe holes that are physically close to the GPU. Moreover, any heat that is dumped from the graphics card into the case is promptly removed by the exhaust fans that also sit very close to the GPU (at the rear and top of the case).

Even if you don’t have a particularly restrictive PC case, going with a negative pressure setup could shave a few degrees off your GPU temps simply due to the way the air behaves near the graphics card.

3. Prevent heat buildup or “hotspots”: Negative pressure has an inherent advantage of preventing the creation of hotspots in the PC case. In a positive-pressure system, there can potentially be several spots of heat buildup where air cannot directly reach. If these areas have heat-sensitive electronics like SSDs or memory sticks, then they can also be negatively affected by the heat buildup.

In a negative pressure system, the air moves throughout the system due to the vacuum effect. Smoke tests show negative setups create turbulent flow, scrubbing hot boundary layers off components faster. This means that negative pressure could be better for components that are passively cooled and do not have direct access to airflow from a fan.

4. In Small Form Factor PCs: Negative pressure is especially relevant in small form factor (SFF) and compact mid-tower builds where component density is high, and there simply isn't room for a conventional airflow path.

In these scenarios, controlled negative pressure (combined with case designs that have strategically placed ventilation holes near the GPU bay) can result in meaningfully better graphics card temperatures. Of course, this will vary significantly from case to case, but if you are struggling with GPU temperatures in an SFF chassis, give negative pressure a go.

The Law Of Diminishing Returns

You don't have to go off to buy a boatload of fans for your new PC; this is where we need to talk about the law of diminishing returns.

Here's the underlying principle: airflow efficiency is limited by the thermal load of your components and the physical limits of your case. Once you've established adequate intake and exhaust to handle the heat your system generates, adding more fans produces rapidly diminishing returns.

This means that adding more fans is not necessarily better. At a certain point, the cost of adding another fan significantly outweighs its benefit, making it a poor value for your money. If you just have extra fans lying around and don’t mind the added noise, by all means install them. But if you are building a new PC from scratch or want to optimize the airflow of your existing build, throwing on more fans does not necessarily solve the problem.

For a regular mid-tower case with mid-range components, a couple of front 120mm intake fans and a singular rear 120mm exhaust fan are typically enough for a positive pressure layout. On the flip side, you may want to use a couple of 120mm or 140mm fans with no intake fans in order to get a good negative pressure system.

If you have an AiO, then it is your personal preference whether you want to use it as an intake or an exhaust. Both configurations are fine and should help you move adequate air in or out of the system, provided you have other fans in relevant positions.

Time To Clear The Air

At the end of the day, optimizing your PC’s airflow is a balancing act. You need to find the right mix of intake and exhaust that works for your build, keeps temperatures in check, while being relatively quiet and dust-free. Don’t be afraid to experiment.

It is easy to just go for the reliable positive pressure just because it provides better dust control. However, if you are struggling with GPU temperatures or have bought one of those PC cases that treat airflow as “optional,” then you may want to give negative pressure a go.

You definitely don't need the extra fans. Instead, you can spend that money on better quality fans in the positions that actually matter, route your cables properly, and make sure your case has adequate mesh coverage to support the setup you're going for. Three great fans doing their job properly will outperform six mediocre ones fighting each other every single time.

Also, don’t put your PC on a carpet. Just don’t.

One of the best additions to my toolkit has been an electric screwdriver. This Hoto screwdriver, in fact. Not only has it been a lifesaver for putting together new furniture and for fixing dodgy kitchen cabinets in my new home, it's genuinely impressed me with its functionality, not to mention the battery life, in the last few months. If you're overdue a driver upgrade, now's your chance, as this Hoto electric screwdriver set is back down to its lowest ever price of £28.48 as part of Amazon's Spring Sale Days.

• Check out this deal on Amazon

Hoto's original mini electric precision screwdriver set is one that we've often seen come down in price around Amazon sale events, including just before Christmas. As you can probably tell, it's a personal favourite of mine, but several other editors and writers at Tom's Hardware own and regularly use it, too. With 29% off its £39.99 list price, you're getting a great bargain on a driver that a PC builder, hobbyist, or just a casual DIY-er will love.

The 3.6V driver is equipped with a 1,500mAh battery that reportedly allows you to drive over 1,000 screws from a full charge. From personal experience, having used it almost every weekend since the start of the year, I've not had to charge it once, so longevity hasn't been an issue. It uses a USB-C connection for charging the 1,500 mAh battery, ditching any need for outdated AA batteries, and comes with a supplied cable, with a total charge taking only 150 minutes to complete.

The kit itself is ultralight, too. It weighs just 250g, with a round casing made out of plastic and TPE rubber. It's robust, and I've certainly dropped it a few times to check, but it's also comfortable to pick up, thanks to its rubberised feel. The Hoto NEX O1 Pro itself is fully adjustable for different situations, coming with three separate torque settings, as well as a built-in sensor that will stop driving as soon as you release control. There's also a circular LED light at the top to help you see what you're doing in dark spaces, which I've found particularly useful. It's also fully magnetic, so you won't lose any tiny screws while you work, either.

This is a portable kit with 12 different screw bits, and I've found it covers all of the bases quite well. It has a good selection, with Phillips, Torx, flat, hexagon, and Pozidriv head options, all rated for 60HRC on the Rockwell scale. These all come with the driver in a sturdy aluminium storage box, which helpfully protects the Hoto driver when it isn't being used.

This Hoto NEX O1 Pro electronic screwdriver is, in my opinion, a must-have with a wide appeal, whether you're a 3D printer enthusiast, home DIY-er, PC builder and repairer, hobbyist, or tradesperson. The Amazon Spring Sale is live until March 16th, but there's no guarantee the deal will last that long. If you want to grab the Hoto NEX O1 Pro at its lowest ever price of £28.48, you'd best do it before the stock or the discount runs out.

• The best Amazon UK Spring Deal Days tech sales 2026

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

A Dutch designer has crafted a 10:1 scale working model of the classic wedge-shaped LEGO computer brick. Paul Staal from Watt IV, shares the idea, the magic, the build, and even a shopping list on his blog post about the project. Inside the scaled-up ‘brick’ is a punchy little Mac Mini M4. Other key components for this build include a 7-inch IPS display and about $20 of PLA filament (with access to a 3D printer required, of course).

Interestingly, the original LEGO brick computer (Part 3039p23), was introduced in 1979, half a decade before the original Apple Macintosh (1984). So the brick surely took design cues from the 1970s, rather than the 1980s, computers. Nevertheless, Staal ties these two iconic designs together in his timeline of influences behind “the upscaling” and creation of the new M2x2 workstation.

Staal shares the process behind the design of the M2x2. He explains it was a challenge to fit “a full M4 Mac Mini, a 7-inch display, and an array of peripherals into a form factor that remains true to the original brick.” Moreover, it is a 10:1 scale replica, but perseverance and attention to detail in Fusion 360 look to have paid off.

We also appreciate that the design’s two LEGO studs on top of the ‘brick’ are functional knobs. One can be turned for media control, like computer volume or track selection, the other includes a wireless charger for charging an Apple Watch or Airpods. “Every detail was considered, from the ‘pocket’ in the back that acts as a handle (a nod to the original Mac) to the fold-out ‘wings’ that manage the power cable with classic elegance,” explains the M2x2 maker.

While the M2x2 is a self-contained computer, no one in 2026 could put up with such a cramped 7-inch screen for long, for anything beyond the basics. Thus, Staal’s daily use of the system is with a spacious LG DualUp monitor, with the 7-inch built-in touch display used “mainly to show my Home Assistant dashboard.” It is also still useful, beside him on the desk, offering front ports to quickly charge devices like his keyboard or phone.

Staal kindly shares plenty of details about making the M2x2, and you can also find the 3D printer .STL files to download.

LEGO and computer tech often intertwine in surprising ways, and we have also seen commercially available computer accessories integrate features for LEGO fans.

In 2025, we introduced Tom's Hardware Premium, an even deeper dive into the world of tech and DIY computing, which you can access through our website for a small fee. While that includes exclusive news analysis, features and hardware roadmaps, the Premium offering also sports a large database of benchmark test results, named Bench.

Bench is a performance analysis tool that gives you deeper access into how a given product performs in real-world and synthetic benchmarks. Using it, you can compare two different products in a given category, offering you the ability to view benchmark data between products with a simple click.

Bench is a Tom's Hardware Premium exclusive feature, and you can get access to it — as well as everything THP has to offer — by subscribing now for as little as $3 a month.

With that out of the way, here's a sneak preview at what you can expect when subscribed. Let's take a look at a CPU comparison table to kick things off. Let's pit the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D against Intel's Core Ultra 9 285K.

First, all I have to do is hit the compare tab and select the category, which spans CPUs, GPUs, Laptops, Monitors, and SSDs. Once we're in the CPU category, we can select the two products. Then you'll see a comparison between all of the data points we recorded for those two CPUs in alphabetical order.

As well as the comparison tool, Bench offers tables of data per category. So, if you're looking to see which part performs the best in a certain workload, you can do that too.

For the next example, we're going to pick out a specific GPU workload and see which consumer graphics card performs best in that scenario. Let's take the Sony hit God of War: Ragnarok. If you are building a mid-range system, then 1440p or QHD is a good spot to select for this benchmark. Since we're focused on the mid-range, let's take a look at the middle of the table. Here, we can see that the Radeon 9060 XT is faster than Nvidia's RTX 5060. These two GPUs hit around the same price point, so if I were a God of War fanatic looking to save, that would be my pick.

How we run Bench

Bench offers tons of data to browse through; these are just two examples of how you can use the tool to browse through hardware benchmarks. While the database is primarily built from the work completed while reviewing a given product, the data that you see in reviews is often truncated into geomean values, or put into a certain workload "bucket."

Of course, while Bench has been live since last year, benchmarks don't stay up to date: Drivers change. New standards emerge. Therefore, we're undergoing a large-scale overhaul of our GPU and CPU tests, documenting exactly how we are benchmarking and what methodologies are being used.

Recording benchmark values and taking the time to run the tests in the first place is inherently time-consuming, and Bench is the perfect reason to maintain a source of truth for all enthusiasts.

As for our testing methodologies, here's a glimpse of what's next for our massive database.

Revamped data for GPU testing

On the GPU side of things, Senior GPU Analyst Jeffrey Kampman has the reins. He's worked out exacting testing methodologies and strategies and outlined them in a separate Tom's Hardware Premium article. For those who are not yet subscribed, we've explained why we're not using frame generation or upscaling technologies like DLSS and FSR, and how we conduct real-world benchmarks. A canned benchmark is handy, but it doesn't represent how it really feels to play a game on the hardware. And more important, it's a more accurate measure of what to expect when playing those titles for yourself.

As Jeff explains, he's spent years testing GPUs in both media and dedicated game testing labs, ensuring the integrity of the results on offer. The spread of titles being tested for 2026 is also representative of what players are actually playing, not merely popular benchmarking titles. For example, we've added the single-player epic Expedition 33, in addition to the multiplayer hit Arc Raiders. Adding newer titles to the list, across a range of engines and with Ray Tracing, allows us to build a cohesive outlook on how a given GPU performs in a wide range of scenarios.

Updates will be going in phases, first from current-generation hardware like Nvidia's RTX 5000 series and AMD's 9000 series, all the way back to RTX 3000 and the Radeon 6000 lineup. Of course, Intel's offerings are in the mix there too — no matter how small the market share of the dedicated GPU, it'll be being tested for 2026.

The three waves of updated tests will take around a month to fully complete, but will offer you a holistic look at the GPU market, and more importantly, offer you granular testing information that you simply can't get anywhere else.

A herculean CPU retesting effort

CPU Analyst Jake Roach is working alongside Editor-in-Chief and former CPU reviewer Paul Alcorn to deliver a gargantuan update to our CPU tests. Their goal is building a complete dataset of CPU releases that spans over a decade of hardware. For Premium subscribers, you can read Jake's entire methodology behind CPU testing here.

Between two and six machines are running concurrently, with two Golden OS images, frozen and duplicated across setups, using the same testing hardware, down to the TIM, to ensure consistent results. Of course, as we are currently testing different platforms, the motherboards used between CPUs differ, but are consistent between rigs.

While we are testing hundreds of CPUs, everything from the version of the software to the processes running in the background are identical. For the CPU effort, we'll be going from AMD Excavator and 7th-gen Intel to Zen 5 and Intel Arrow Lake. That's a lot of CPUs, and even more benchmarks.

Each modern CPU takes between 10 and 14 hours to test, with some older and slower models taking nearly an entire day, and with the number of chips on offer, it's going to take some time to get things up-to-date. As for the tests we run, things are split into several categories, such as applications, power/efficiency, and gaming workloads. While some tests are automated, each result is manually verified before being uploaded into our database and tools.

Application testing goes across a wide range of workloads, from rendering and encoding to code compilation and data science. We're testing power efficiency across benchmarks like Y-Cruncher, Handbrake, and Prime95, just to name a few. Gaming testing is hands-on where possible. The selection of titles is broad and represents real-world players and what people are playing.

As a result, no, you're not going to see something like Ashes of the Singularity, which no one plays, but is merely used as a benchmark. Instead, gaming benchmarks are selected across a range of popular titles like Monster Hunter: Wilds, DOOM: The Dark Ages, and Oblivion: Remastered, all of which use wholly different engines, and are being played by many today.

Results will begin to trickle out across the database over time, and given the scale of the tests on offer, we will continue to evolve the benchmarking suite, while acknowledging that we might not revisit some of the older architectures on this list again.

The benchmarks never stop

On the backdrop of a challenging year for consumer hardware, no thanks to the ongoing AI buildout and supply challenges. Getting the most out of what's available is imperative, and Bench gives you access to all of the data you need for whatever workload or game you're looking at within a handful of clicks.

We've put a lot of effort into building and maintaining this feature, and we will continue to do so, documenting the process and keeping things nice and fresh for Tom's Hardware Premium subscribers.

Maintaining Bench without Tom's Hardware Premium simply isn't possible. It offers us the bandwidth to test, retest, and refine our methodologies outside of a standard CPU cycle or hierarchy update. It also becomes an invaluable reference point for those of you who wish to seek out specific hardware workloads, going beyond our standard reviews and wading through the data yourself.

We're never going to stop testing, and Bench is the perfect place to compile our data. As we look forward to the next generation of PC hardware, we'll be sure to keep things up-to-date, giving you access to the cold, hard data behind our testing. In addition to our testing updates, we will also keep working behind the scenes to add new functionality to Bench in the coming months.

Tom's Hardware Premium is priced at $3 a month when taking out an annual plan, or $7 for a rolling monthly subscription. Bench is just a single piece of what's on offer. To take advantage of the ultimate resource for enthusiasts, be sure to check it out today.

Billet Labs is back and has finalized its cast-iron Victorian radiator gaming PC build. Alex from the London-based PC cooling innovators shared a detailed hour-long video with insights into the build, which should answer all your what, why, and how queries. However, he thought that even for this impressive radiator-as-a-PC build, “cooling something like a 5090 is probably out of the question,” so an RTX 5080 and Ryzen 7 9800X3D combo were judged to be the sweet spot.

We covered a teaser for this incredibly stout Victorian-era cast-iron PC build just ahead of the New Year. Thankfully, we now have a lot more information about this fascinating build and the concept/process behind it.

The video begins with Alex explaining that this amazing-looking PC is destined - not for some showroom or exhibition - but for an “actual usable long-term gaming PC, for myself.” Previously, we saw estimates that the charming but portly radiator was 110 pounds (~50kg) in weight. Now we have a clearer set of figures. The radiator is actually about 178 pounds (81kg) empty, and 218 pounds (99kg) when filled with coolant.

Commenting on this hulking mass of metal, “the thermal mass is absolutely insane,” enthused Alex. “And, secondly, it looks %^&* awesome!”

The key approach to the design and build was to keep the Victorian artifact’s visual appeal intact, and mount PC parts “as invisibly as possible, on the bottom.” But an immediate challenge to this idea was the fact that “there’s not a single flat surface, and not a single hole that I can bolt anything to,” wryly commented the PC liquid cooling specialist.

The first practical step in the build process was the 3D scanning of the bottom of the radiator to create an accurate 3D model. Armed with this, Felix designed a highly accurate 3D printed mounting system for PSU, mobo, GPU, and so on. This 2-part plastic chassis was fixed to the central underlying spine of the radiator, with corresponding half-pipe fixings securing it in place.

Though we had the impression this was going to be a fanless radiator system, the below-decks chassis design included room for sliding in a trio of super-thin 120mm fans.

To mate the heat-generating components with the radiator and plumbing, Billet Labs chose an Alphacool water block for the RTX 5080, and its own prototype AM5 CPU cooling block.

On the topic of PC build components, the list was roughly as follows:

Another nice touch with this fantastic PC build project was the choice of the power button. Felix sourced a sprung antique brass gear lever to power up the PC stylishly. This was fitted into one of the side vents on the rad using a custom mount.

Before the end of the video, we see the antique cast-iron PC used for a bit of gaming and benchmarking. In a ‘torture test,’ drawing about 520W of power for over an hour, the water temperature appeared to stabilize at under 30C. Notably, the RTX 5080 peaked at 75 °C during the most extreme testing Alex could throw at it.

Finding an antique cast-iron radiator isn't that easy in 2026, but at least Amazon still sells some modern ones in various sizes.

It seems that even an OEM as large as Dell isn't safe from the incendiary woes of the 16-pin connector, as it's taking extra measures to ensure safety. In a Japanese review of the company's "EBT2250" prebuilt by Chimorogu, the teardown reveals a rather interesting approach to supplying power to the GPU inside. The connector is permanently bolted on so it doesn't move even a bit.

As the picture above shows, Dell uses genuine Amphenol metal fittings to make sure the 12V-2x6 connector is completely fixed in place, unable to accidentally come loose. Amphenol is one of the world's biggest manufacturers of interconnect products. The cable actually plugging into this female connector isn't even a native 16-pin one; rather, it's an adapter that terminates in 2x standard 8-pin PCIe plugs.

For years at this point, we've seen how the 12VHPWR and now the 12V-2x6 connectors are prone to overheating. Countless stories of meltdowns and even the GPU catching on fire are on record, and that's just the documented cases. Different companies have tried different solutions, including active monitoring tools or even building protection right into the power supply. Everything is an effort to fix an issue that simply shouldn't exist.

It's clear that if even Dell has to make sure there's not an ounce of leeway in the 16-pin connection, it's perhaps too fragile or reactive or a connector to begin with. If any of the pins inside stop making proper contact, the other pins become overloaded and start overheating. In a prebuilt that's otherwise completely shut off and has no see-through panels, this is even more of a fire hazard.

The power supply fueling this card is a proprietary unit made by LITEON, a manufacturer in Taiwan. It's a 1000W 80+ Platinum unit with standard connectors, so there's plenty of room for future upgrades. It's likely not a native ATX 3.0/3.1 power supply since it's lacking the 16-pin connectors, forcing Dell to bolt on that adapter. Speaking of which, the GPU is also a Dell-branded version of the RTX 5070 Ti, but its performance is not hindered by its OEM nature.

You can check out the original review if you're interested in the system itself — it's actually a great deal — but the main takeaway was the metal fitting on the 12V-2x6 connector. The funny thing is that the 5070 Ti doesn't even have a large enough power appetite to really require that connector, but you can't really be too cautious. Hence, Dell has also set the GPU on a sag bracket to support its weight. The prebuilt is otherwise fitted with a Core Ultra 275K and 32 GB of DDR5-5600 RAM.

Folks who follow hardware might recall that, right about a year ago, Thermal Grizzly started selling delidded Ryzen 7 9800X3D processors for a small markup. These CPUs are functionally identical to the chips sold by AMD — indeed, they were chips sold by AMD to begin with — except that they've had their Integrated Heatspreaders (IHS) removed. Well, if the Ryzen 7 9800X3D isn't good enough for you anymore, you can now pick up a Ryzen 7 9850X3D with the top popped for a bit extra.

It makes more sense than you think, even at the eye-watering prices the company is asking. You pay the cost up-front, and you get the best (or one of the best) gaming CPUs in the world, delidded by Thermal Grizzly's technicians and then verified for correct operation. Once that's verified, they put the whole thing in a box, including the delidded CPU, the removed IHS, and a USB flash drive that includes the testing protocol and a screenshot of the results. It also comes with a microscope image of the delidded processor and a small card describing the delidding results.

With the new addition, Thermal Grizzly is now offering four models of delidded CPUs. That's the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, Ryzen 7 9850X3D, and Ryzen 9 9950X3D, and then Intel's Core Ultra 9 285K for those who bleed true blue. They don't come cheap; US pricing listed on the site right now comes out to $794.43 for a 9800X3D, $876.33 for a 9850X3D, and a whopping $1168.83 for the 16-core 9950X3D. Meanwhile, the Intel chip is a bit cheaper at $934.83.

Given that AMD and Intel are obviously not going to warranty your modified CPU, Thermal Grizzly itself is taking on the burden of warranty service for the delidded chips. The company warranties the chips for 24 months from the date of purchase, and for the first year, TG will take responsibility for nearly any chip failure that isn't caused by obvious user damage to the CPU. Quite generous, although it also doesn't cover "overclocking beyond the manufacturer's specified values"; a bit peculiar given that we expect most people who delid their CPUs are chasing clocks, not improved thermals or better acoustics.

Thermal Grizzly notes on the product page that the chips are "Optimal for TG Direct-Die cooling solutions," but also specifically remarks that the Ryzen 9 9950X3D is not compatible with its Direct Die frames. The company also notes that the stock heatspreader must "never be used under any circumstances" and that using the original heatspreader will void the warranty offered by Thermal Grizzly. Given that, it's a little odd that the part is included, but I suppose you could turn it into a keychain or something.

For folks who want to get into direct-die cooling, or who simply want the absolute best cooling efficiency, this saves a lot of hassle, but there are absolutely still challenges to be aware of. Oldheads like this nerd in particular will recall the bad old days of the original AMD Athlon, which came bare-die with no heatspreader; it was all too easy to crack those chips when installing a heatsink. That risk is no less salient today with delidded CPUs. Moreover, you've got to make sure that your cooling solution is properly spaced for the lid-less chip; both AMD and Intel use thick heatspreaders that will leave an air gap under their stock heatsinks. Head over to the Thermal Grizzly site if you'd like to ponder the idea of buying a scandalous naked CPU.

Getting into PC hardware and building can be daunting. There’s a ton of jargon, spools of technical details, and the thorny topic of compatibility to consider, just to avoid the simplest errors. However, Redditor JoeBiden-mytime (JB) has got off to a grand start thanks to a generous neighbor. They are now the owner of a potent PC packing an RTX 3090 FE and liquid-cooled i9-10850K, which said neighbor passed on to them – for free.

Being a newcomer to the PC DIY scene, JB posted details of their neighbor’s kind donation onto the PCBuild subreddit. Under the heading of ‘Got a free PC,’ they asked “are these components any good or are they outdated?” JB admitted they were a PC building greenhorn, but were attracted to the platform.

Of course, some wise crackers said the system was junk and offered to take it out of JB’s hands to recycle, for free. The first two pictures shared by JB showed that the system was a little dusty, which may have made the poster wonder how old the PC was. However, they’ve followed up with more specs, so we have a good overview of this great neighborly gift.

Out of interest, we have tabulated the key components in this free PC next to their prices at launch:

To get a modern GPU to replace or rival the RTX 3090 in 2026, you would probably be pondering an RTX 5070 Ti from the green team or an AMD RX 9070/XT. Both of those have less VRAM (16GB vs 24GB) but not dreadfully so, and are more modern and efficient. Replacing this single component would set you back around $1,000 right now, if you wanted to stay with Nvidia.

The freebie PC’s supporting components are suitably premium, and appear to include an NZXT Kraken X63 AiO and an NZXT H510i case. The Task Manager screenshot also shows that the system came with 16GB of RAM and a pair of SSDs. In the same screenshot, we see this new member of the PC community is busy browsing the Steam sales for the unbeatable breadth and depth of titles available on the platform.

Later on, we see some pictures of the system powered up by JB, with RGB lighting across the fans, cooler, RAM sticks, etc. It still looks a little dusty, though, and perhaps the new owner of this older-but-gold system should do a bit of dust busting to keep the system ticking over smoothly. Free doesn't mean junk.

Now might be one of the worst times ever to build a new PC. Not only are GPU prices climbing, particularly at the high-end, but the RAM and NAND pricing apocalypse has pushed memory and storage — two components that are traditionally among the cheapest in many builds — to new highs. That makes building a new PC from scratch with DDR5 particularly tough right now. Upgrading, though, is a different story. If you have an old kit of DDR4 kicking around, and maybe an SSD, you can make a substantial upgrade to your PC without shelling out for insanely priced hardware right now.

We’ve put together two builds based on the latest chipset and processors that support DDR4, from both AMD and Intel. Intel certainly has the edge, as it supported DDR4 all the way up to its last-gen Raptor Lake Refresh chips. AMD stopped supporting DDR4 with Zen 3, and if it weren’t for some well-timed refreshes a couple of years back, you probably wouldn’t be able to find Zen 3 chips at all. If you have RAM and a decent CPU already, now is the time to buy a new video card, as prices are expected to further increase over the coming months. A modern Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB balances budget and performance at 1080p, and even into 1440p.

The builds here are complete, short of an operating system (which you can get for free or cheap), but pick and choose components based on what you have to carry over from a previous build. If you have an older AM4 motherboard, you might be able to use it with a Ryzen 7 5800XT. Just make sure to check for compatibility with your motherboard manufacturer. Especially as we ride out the surge in RAM pricing, piecemeal upgrades are your best bet if you’re trying to take the value of your PC dollar the furthest. You could even buy 32GB today and sell your 16GB kit to offset costs.

If you’re coming from a really old build, you may not have a choice but to buy from scratch, and we have you covered there, too. For under $1,300, you can build a well-performing machine that not only plays games well at 1080p (or even 1440), but also serves as a solid productivity PC. In fact, you won’t be able to reach these performance levels until our $2,000 ($2,400 with RAM factored in) best PC build. Compared to DDR5, you’re saving at least $200 by using (or sticking with) DDR4.

Unfortunately, DDR4 builds are effectively a dead end. AMD moved past AM4 and DDR4 a few years back, and Intel abandoned DDR4 as it sunset the LGA1700 socket. However, these builds set you up for a full platform upgrade in the future. You might not be able to drop in a new CPU, but you’ll at least have all the other components you need once RAM pricing is under control.

DDR4 Intel Build

Intel had some fortunate (if unintentional) foresight by supporting both DDR4 and DDR5 on its 12th through 14th-gen CPUs. The Core i5-14600KF we chose for this build still remains an excellent processor. It’s less than 6% behind the Core i7-14700K on average in games at 1080p, and about 7% behind the newer Core Ultra 5 245K in multi-threaded performance. DDR4 represents an additional performance loss, though only around 5% (or less) in most cases. It depends on the workload.

We paired the Core i5-14600KF with a B760 chipset, which should (rightfully) send up alarm bells for regular Tom’s Hardware readers. This is an unlocked SKU, and Intel still doesn’t support CPU overclocking on its B-series chipsets. The Core i5-14600KF is the best deal we could find right now, though. The Core i5-14600 isn’t available, while the base Core i5-14600K sells for around $290. At $230, the Core i5-14600KF is the clear pick for this build.

Although a Z-series chipset is ideal to give you the full performance of the chip, there aren’t a lot of options available. Most Z-series motherboards still available at reasonable prices only support DDR5. For the few Z-series motherboards that have DDR4 support, you can expect to spend north of $250.

Along with the CPU, we chose the Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120, both because of how inexpensive it is and because it’s one of the best CPU coolers. Raptor Lake Refresh is known for getting hot, but that’s less of an issue for a chip like the Core i5-14600KF.

For the GPU, we’re going with the Gigabyte Windforce OC RTX 5060 Ti 16GB. This card has more than enough grunt for 1080p, and it can scale up to 1440p with its 16GB frame buffer and a little help from DLSS 4 (and even the newer DLSS 4.5). If you can spend around $150 more, the RTX 5070 is available for true 1440p sweet spot, or you can go with the AMD RX 9070 XT, which is currently our top pick for the best graphics card.

Rounding out the build is an inexpensive Montech XR midtower that posted solid thermal performance in our Montech XR Wood review (this version is $10 cheaper and ditches the wood but is otherwise identical). We also chose the Crucial P310 for its solid pricing and performance, along with the ASRock Steel Legend SL-850G, mainly due to the price and because it’s fully modular.

DDR4 AMD Build

The full build at Newegg when we wrote this was $1,262.84. For the money, you get the latest-gen AM4 processor, in this case a Ryzen 7 5800XT with an 8c/16t configuration and a max boost of 4.8 GHz. Priced at $219.99, the CPU isn’t a great deal (it sold as low as $124.99 previously), as people are already looking for DDR4/AM4 upgrades or new systems. Worse yet, for gamers, AM4 X3D options are either sold out at popular e-tailers, or third-party vendors are charging significantly higher prices. If you want a 5800X3D today, a third-party seller on Newegg has you covered…for over $600 (MSRP at launch was $450). Yikes.

We paired the Ryzen 7 5800XT with the budget-friendly Asus TUF Gaming B550-Plus Wi-Fi ($119.99). This motherboard supports 3000- and 5000-series processors (including 4/5000 G series), offers PCIe 4.0, dual M.2 sockets (one PCIe 4.0, one PCIe 3.0), and six SATA ports. Connectivity includes 2.5 GbE, Wi-Fi 6E, and eight rear USB ports, including a 10 Gbps Type-C. It utilizes the Realtek ALX897 audio solution and has robust power delivery for compatible CPUs.

We also chose Gigabyte’s RTX 5060 Ti Windforce OC 16G for this budget AM4 build (or upgrade) for its ample VRAM, important for the future, and solid 1080p performance across a wide variety of games, even AAA titles. The dual-fan solution should keep things running cool and quiet, and its all-black look blends in with most build themes.

For RAM, we stuck with the same 32GB from the Intel build, so you can have the best experience possible. We chose Patriots’ Viper Steel DDR4-3200 (2x16GB CL16) for the capacity, tight timings, and ‘low’ price of $172.99. You can go faster, but this is a budget build, and you generally wouldn’t notice the difference. Save the money here for spending elsewhere.

Storage-wise, Patriot’s Viper VP4300 1TB PCIe 4x4 fits the bill at $139.99. The drive uses DRAM cache for quick bursts, and lists speeds up to 7,400/6,100 MB/s R/W for longer transfers, which is plenty fast for loading your games and applications quickly. You can use SATA-based SSDs or hard drives for additional storage at a lower price per TB if necessary.

The machine is powered by an ASRock Steel Legend SL-850G 80Plus Gold (Cybenetics Platinum) 850W power supply. This mid-range unit supports ATX 3.1 and PCIe 5.1 standards, including a native 600W 12V-2x6 cable. At under $90, this 'future-proof' PSU is backed by a 10-year warranty.

We selected the Montech X3 Mesh (black) case ($69.90), which includes six preinstalled, fixed-lighting RGB fans for excellent airflow. The chassis supports ITX to E-ATX motherboards, multiple drives, PSUs up to 160mm, coolers up to 160mm, and GPUs up to 305mm. A side-swivel tempered glass panel provides easy access and displays the internals. For under $70, it’s a good-looking RGB case with ample space and cooling for high-performance components.

Conclusion

As you can see, building a new gaming PC today using DDR4 can get you plenty of performance for the money – and all the more so if you have RAM you can carry over from a previous system. Intel’s i5-1400KF and AMD’s 5800XT are formidable processors by nearly all measures. They’ll game and do well with most highly threaded work, too. Nvidia’s RTX 5060Ti 16G is arguably one of the better price-to-performance-to-VRAM ratio cards around, doing well at 1080p, and even stretching its legs to 1440p if you choose.

While these systems aren’t the pinnacle of DDR4-based PCs, they are full, well-rounded builds from Intel and AMD. Swap in your existing RAM and/or storage where you can, to help you get even more out of your build budget.

AMD and Intel have both moved past DDR4 at this point, so some element of building a DDR4-based PC is based on what’s available, not necessarily what’s objectively best. With that in mind, also check your local Micro Center and Best Buy, particularly when it comes to CPUs and motherboards. You might be able to score a deal if you shop at a local retailer.

Boston’s Rare and Remarkable Auctions has begun a blockbuster sale of 191 lots of historic Apple Computer artifacts. The Steve Jobs & the Computer Revolution: The Apple 50th Anniversary Auction sale has kicked off, and will end on January 30. Among the star attractions under the hammer are an Apple-1 ‘Prototype Board #0,’ Apple’s first check, an Apple Computer registered 1989 Jaguar XJS V12 convertible, and several of Steve Jobs personally-owned treasures.

Apple-1 Computer Prototype Board #0

As per our headline, probably the most tempting purchase for retro vintage hardware enthusiasts would be lot 6003, the Apple-1 Computer Prototype Board #0. RR Auctions refers to this as “The ‘Celebration’ Board, Representing the Earliest Known Fiberglass Apple-1 Prototype.”

This prototype is claimed to have been used by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak “to validate the Apple-1 design before entering into commercial production.” It is the first corrected PCB layout readied ahead of the famous first Byte Shop production run. The first 50 following machines produced for Paul Terrell’s Byte Shop order were based on this design.

As a validation prototype, the Apple-1 Prototype Board #0 includes several distinguishing features that set it apart. For example, it uses “wave-soldered Robinson-Nugent sockets instead of the cheaper Texas Instruments sockets used on production boards,” notes RR Auctions. It also has a different heatsink and a unique modification to diagnose RAM timings.

For the estimated $500,000+ hammer price, you won’t just get the aforementioned system PCB. That would be poor value. You also get a vintage, period-correct Key Tronic keyboard (c. 1977), a vintage, period-correct power supply, a vintage Sony TV, a replica Apple-1 Operation Manual, signed in blue felt tip by Steve Wozniak, and a replica Apple-1 schematic, signed in blue felt tip by Steve Wozniak.

Apple Computer Check No.1

Lot 6000 is a mere sliver of paper, but has the same auction estimate of “$500,000+.” It is a Wells Fargo check for $500, signed by Steve Jobs and Wozniak. This is the first-ever check made from Apple's first bank account. Tying in with the Apple-1 Prototype board, above, this check was to pay for the design of the Apple-1 PCB.

Apple Computer was officially incorporated as a business entity sixteen days after the date on this check. That would be on April Fool’s Day, 1976.

The RR Auctions Steve Jobs & the Computer Revolution: The Apple 50th Anniversary Auction sale is open to bids now, with the auction closing on January 30, which is just three weeks away.

A major Japanese PC and electronics store is pleading with customers to sell their old PC gear. “As a favor, if you buy a new one, please sell your gaming PC to our company,” begged the X-account of Sofmap Gaming in Akihabara, the Electric Town district of Tokyo (machine translation, h/t PC-Watch). The store shared a photo of some almost barren shelves, presumably taken at its triple-floor retail establishment.

“Gaming PCs, even used ones, are really out of stock right now,” wrote Sofmap, as an explanation for its call for old rigs. In the above Tweet, it asks customers to come in and sell their old PCs, highlighting that “We buy them back at pretty high prices...”

Moreover, the company underlined that it wasn’t going to be fussy. “Whether it's a gaming desktop or a laptop, or even a regular non-gaming one, we pretty much buy any PC...”

These are clearly the words of a PC retailer facing consumer demand that it just can’t meet. We reported on Akihabara store trying to limit new RAM, SSD, and HDD sales back in November.

Old becomes gold

The memory supply crunch impacted the PC industry faster and more deeply than many would have predicted. The insatiable demand for memory from AI data center makers, with their deep circular-funded pockets, caused the first pricing jolts in the PC memory market. That’s reasonable, as consumers and industry both need to be fed product from the same big-three memory makers.

Consumers saw the first impacts on modern DDR5 pricing. Some DDR5 kits, if you can find them in stock, like this Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-5200 16GB (2x8GB) on Amazon is now $235. That price is more than 3.5X what it cost last October ($66).

However, there remains some hope that DDR4 pricing and availability, thanks to old stocks and upgraders already having DIMMs, could provide a safe haven for continued PC building. This perception even seems to permeate PC component makers, with more DDR4-supporting motherboards being manufactured, plus hints about new processors for DDR4 platforms.

However, we are continuing to feel RAM crunch aftershocks. Prices of pre-built PCs were the next market affected. Graphics cards with more generous VRAM quotas are also strongly rumored to be facing constraints. We should at least expect a price rise for GPU-restocks, with next-gen GPUs rumored to be delayed…

Now, underlined by this Japan retail report, it even seems like stocks of old used PCs are being snapped up by consumers.

How old is too old?

Of course, some old PCs are too old for retailers like Sofmap, even during today’s PC drought. We’d expect retailers that dabble in used PCs for non-enthusiast users to limit their purchases to DDR4 platforms, with hardware support that slots above the Windows 11 minimum requirements (Intel 8^th Gen, AMD Ryzen 2000).

There’s an entirely different market for really old PCs, though. Vintage computers of certain eras have been increasingly pricey for quite a long time now. I was in Japan this time last year and astonished by the bountiful supplies of old PCs at used electronics retailers like Hard-Off. Hopefully, these computing gems (see the above picture), many of which live in the awkward zone between vintage and modern, will remain plentiful and affordable for PC retro-fans and tinkerers alike.

While the entire industry is in disarray, with overstretched production lines and rising costs, there are still good deals to be had. And as far as scores go, it doesn't get a whole lot better than this. A fortunate Redditor in the UK managed to snag a high-end prebuilt PC for just £1,800, or $2,431.36 USD, calling it the "greatest deal of all time." The rig even came with 64GB of DDR5 memory, which is currently priced at $700 due to the ongoing pricing crisis.

The greatest PC deal of all time from r/pcmasterrace

On the r/pcmasterrace subreddit, user u/la_mano_la_guitarra found the computer at a local Costco, marked down from its original £3,600 asking price, which comes to ~$4,863 USD — which is what it's actually worth right now. That's because the PC makes no compromises on performance.

Specs-wise, we're looking at an RTX 5090, the best (and most expensive) gaming GPU in the world right now. Nvidia's MSRP is $2,000, but you'll realistically pay around $3,000 for one. The MSI Ventus 3X variant in this prebuilt is currently priced at $2,900 on Newegg. That's paired with the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, also the best gaming CPU in the world, which goes for around $450.

Surrounding those are 64 GB of 6000 MT/s DDR5 memory, priced at least $700 right now, and a 2 TB SSD, priced between $150 and $250 for a well-reviewed model. The power supply, motherboard, case, and cooler are standard for a high-end build, and these parts haven't seen price increases yet, so we won't break them out individually.

Looking at the receipt the OP posted in the comments, the prebuilt appears to be an AWD-IT Evolution 9, but it's actually the "AWD-IT Creator Series Evolv X2" as listed on the system integrator's website. There, if you add the cheapest 2 TB SSD, the cheapest 64 GB RAM kit, and upgrade the default 7800X3D to a 9800X3D — all while leaving out Windows — it still comes to £4,225.95. So, it was already a good deal at Costco's list price.

Putting together an identical rig in PCPartPicker yields a total build cost of $4788.83 right now, so our lucky Brit got this PC for pretty much half off. Going so far as to consider normal prices for RAM and SSD would still make this count as one incredible deal. Costco also includes a two-year warranty with the system, so you have another layer of assurance on top of the robbery you just committed.

As good as this deal was, we saw someone grab a $2,500+ PC for just $600 a few weeks ago, which automatically wins by a factor of the discount ratio. Almost 50% off versus roughly 75% off is a significant difference, and that build still had 64 GB of DDR5 RAM. Regardless, it's clear that if you're at the right place at the right time, and look hard enough, you might just beat all odds.

Every facet of computing seems to be consumed by the growing appetite of the AI boom. It's already snatched enough production lines that DDR5 memory now costs 4x as much, while most SSDs have also doubled in prices. Now, we're seeing reports from Japan where PC vendors are closing orders for the remainder of the year because they simply cannot keep up with the demand.

Shops in the region that sell pre-assembled builds, known as Build-to-Order (BTO), are struggling to fulfil even existing commitments as RAM and storage gets more expensive by the day, with dwindling inventories exacerbated by the inability to procure new parts at consistent prices. This makes it difficult for these BTO shops to offer quotes to customers.

IT Home remarks that at least three popular stores in its coverage, have implemented some sort of a halt, along with late delivery alerts. First up is Sycom that momentarily paused orders on its website from December 16 to December 19, but they've since reopened, but it remains to be seen for how long. Even so, the shop has warned that delivery times will take longer than before.

Next, we have the iconic TSUKUMO retailer who has two in-house brands known as G-Gear and eX.computer, think of the former as a local iBuyPower or CyberPower stand-in. Both of these brands have stopped taking new orders entirely. The store in general has also paused ordering for delivery for the remaining days of 2025.

Lastly, we have Mouse Computers who announced on December 16 that sales for some products will soon face suspension, while also citing "delays in shipping and delivery." That was followed up with another announcement on December 19. This time, Mouse Computers warned that their consultation counters are congested and that some items available on their website currently have "undecided" shipping dates.

Today, Mouse Computers posted a dedicated statement on X, saying PC products from NEXTGEAR, G TUNE, and DAIV PC brands are the ones going on a sales hiatus. Specifically, they'll stop being sold between December 23, 2025, to January 4, 2026. When orders resume on Monday, January 5, 2026, they'll bring with them inflated prices.

All that is on top of the typical, seasonal rush of the holidays. It's clear the situation has reached a critical point, one not too dissimilar from the GPU shortage we had a few years ago where the community would scour stores and sites for stock updates.

It's time to put aside that rusty old screwdriver and invest in an upgrade for your next project. Hoto's original mini electric precision screwdriver is an absolute steal at the moment, dropping down to a record-low price on Amazon. This is a firm favourite of ours at Tom's Hardware, with several editors and writers (including myself) owning this very set.

• Check out this deal on Amazon

We saw this screwdriver drop in price over Black Friday, but this Hoto screwdriver is now down to just £28.49 on Amazon, with delivery still possible before Christmas. The RRP for this set has dropped from its original £80 starting position with the release of its upgraded model, but a 43% saving on this model's current £49.99 list price is still one that you'll find is hard to beat.

This portable kit is a great starter kit for an enthusiast, ready to deal with any seriously small screws that you might be faced with. The 3.6V driver itself uses a 1,500mAh battery that reportedly allows you to drive over 1,000 screws from a full charge. It uses USB-C for charging via the supplied cable, so there's no need to worry about finding a set of AA batteries, with a total charge taking just 150 minutes from start to finish.

This is an ultralight kit, weighing just 250g, with a casing made out of plastic and TPE rubber that makes it both robust and comfortable to hold. The Hoto NEX O1 Pro itself is fully adjustable, too, with three different torque settings, along with a built-in sensor that will stop driving as soon as you release control. The HOTO also includes a circular LED to help you see, even in a tight spot or dark environment. It's also fully magnetic, so you won't lose any tiny screws while you work, either.

You get 12 different screw bits with this kit, with the selection including a variety of Phillips, Torx, flat, hexagon, and Pozidriv head options, which are all rated for 60HRC on the Rockwell scale. These come stored in a sturdy aluminium storage box, which also protects the Hoto screwdriver itself when it isn't in use.

This Hoto NEX O1 Pro is a must-have piece of kit for a hobbyist, 3D print enthusiast, or even a DIYer, and it's one I'm personally glad to have in my arsenal. You'll struggle to find a better price on an electric driver than this original set at its £28.49 sale price, so if you're looking for an upgrade like this, make sure to grab it before the discount runs out.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, or CPU Deals pages.

While us mere mortals are stuck facing the aftermath of the AI boom with soaring DDR5 prices and dwindling inventories, a chance hunter on Reddit has bagged possibly the best deal we've seen in a while. A fully-fledged, high-end custom gaming PC with all the bells and whistles — including, most importantly, 64 GB of DDR5 RAM — that would cost at least $2,500 to build right now. Our lucky buyer? They got it for just $600 at a pawn shop, and that's negotiated down from $750!

This win was posted by u/uneektnt on the r/pcmasterrace subreddit, where they unwittingly hoped it's "decent enough for some games," not knowing the beast they'd just acquired. Specs-wise, we're looking at a Core i9-14900KS processor, the best consumer chip Intel has made to date (yes, it beats Arrow Lake). That's paired with Nvidia's RTX 4070 Ti Super, a proper 4K-capable GPU that churns through 1440p-Ultra gaming like butter.

Got this beast at the pawnshop today from r/pcmasterrace

If that weren't already crazy enough, the PC also came with 64 GB (32GB x 2) of T-Force Delta RGB 6000 MT/s memory that's sitting at a casual $689.99 on Newegg right now — so, the entire PC was cheaper than just the cost of the RAM. To put that into perspective, this exact same kit cost less than $200 a few months ago. Aside from RAM, storage has also seen massive surges but, unfortunately, u/uneektnt didn't disclose that info, though we can at least see an M.2 SSD mounted in the pictures.

Taking to PC Part Picker, kitting out a similar system turned up a value of about $1,800 without a GPU, which we left out since most RTX 4070 Ti Super variants are overpriced right now. Generally, street pricing for this card floats around the $800 mark, and the cheapest we could find was a $979 PNY model. Regardless, you're looking at over $2,500 of parts that this lucky buyer was able to snag for almost one-fifth of its worth.

With that, the duology is complete: both a PS5 and, somehow, a high-end PC are cheaper than 64 GB of DDR5 RAM. Even if memory prices weren't in a doozy, this is an incredible deal that would've cost at least twice as much in routine times. It also serves as a nice contrast to a previous story where someone traded 192 GB of memory for an RTX 5070 Ti, which is a worse deal than it sounds.

Watching RAM prices skyrocket in recent weeks has been painful for my PC-building soul. 64GB of DDR5 has gone from around $500 to over $900 in just days, eclipsing the cost of entire builds. So Newegg's B650 motherboard and 16GB DDR5-6000 combo got me thinking: How cheap can you go on a build this deals season without sacrificing single-threaded CPU performance or gaming prowess?

Using that combo deal as a foundation, we put together a $650 build that doesn't suck. It's impossible to go any cheaper for a DDR5 platform right now, and moving back to DDR4 platforms is shockingly constraining. Many once-attractive CPUs and compatible motherboards have gone NLA, stopping us cold.

No, this build isn't going to run monster RT titles at 4K, and it's not going to chew through Blender work or 8K video edits. What it will do is run today's most popular games at well above 60 FPS at 1080p, and you have best-in-class DLSS 4 upscaling in your pocket if the RTX 5050's native performance isn't enough.

This parts list is perfect as a kid's first gaming PC, and it's a gift that will keep on giving every time your lucky recipient fires up Roblox, Fortnite, Apex Legends, or CS2. Unwrap it on Christmas morning, build it together, and you'll have warm memories that'll last long after this system becomes obsolete. Or just build it for yourself and enjoy a cheap and capable upgrade from an older gaming box.

Quick list: $650 suck-free gaming PC build

• Ryzen 5 7500F CPU + Wraith Stealth cooler: $160.99 at Newegg
• Gigabyte B650M Gaming Plus Wifi mobo and 16GB Team Group DDR5-6000 RAM: $109.99 at Newegg
• Crucial P310 1TB SSD: $79.99 at B&H Photo Video
• MSI Shadow 2X OC GeForce RTX 5050: $219.99 at Amazon // $219.99 at Walmart
• Cooler Master Elite 302 mATX case: $39.99 at Newegg
• Montech APX 550 power supply: $39.99 at Amazon

I'm not sure it's possible to build or buy a cheaper modern PC than this right now. You can swap out the RTX 5050 for a $199 Arc B570 if you want, but you're giving up valuable performance and DLSS support to get there.

The cheapest RTX 5050 prebuilt on Newegg is $100 more and isn't specced any better than this, and similarly priced prebuilts have ancient GPUs that sometimes don't even have 8GB of VRAM.

In any case, act fast on this parts list if it tempts you, because Newegg won't be running that free mobo + RAM combo forever, and that's the life preserver that's keeping us afloat as the DDR5 pricing waters threaten to drown PC builders at every price point.

Cyber Monday is upon us, and there are still PC hardware bargains aplenty. You might have noticed that there is something of a RAM apocalypse going on, with prices of DDR5 tracking upwards of 400% higher than they were just a few months ago. Building a PC in this economy is not for the faint-hearted.

Luckily for you, Tom's Hardware eats PC hardware deals for breakfast. We're hooked up to a drip of discounts astride a database of hot hardware you wouldn't believe.

To that end, we've scoured the internet, wringing every last possible dime out of a set of PC parts capable of 1440p performance on PC, without breaking the $1,500 mark. It wasn't easy (I'm looking at you, $274 of 32GB DDR5 RAM), but we did, in part thanks to the excellent value of Intel's LGA 1851 platform and a stonking set of deals on the Intel Core Ultra 7 series.

Of course, you can't please everyone with a PC build, so take this as a handy starter guide to building your very own 1440p PC. We focused on a balanced config that's got plenty of cores and threads for productivity work, plus a 16GB Radeon RX 9070 that's a value champ at 1440p gaming (and even beyond if you don't mind upscaling).

You can, of course, chop and change parts, add a bit more storage, use a different case, or add more power supply for futureproofing, but this is a pretty good start, and for 1440p gaming, it could be the best it gets for a long time. Thanks to some great bundles, if you buy this build, you'll get two free games, including Star Wars Outlaws and a choice of Intel holiday offerings, including Battlefield 6.

$1,500 Cyber Monday gaming PC: Quick list

• Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF + MONTECH HyperFlow ARGB 240: was $379 now $239.99 at Newegg
• MSI MAG B860 Tomahawk: was $229.99 now $149.99 at Newegg
• PowerColor Reaper AMD Radeon RX 9070 16GB: was $579.99 now $519 at Amazon
• Crucial Pro Overclocking 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR5 6000: $274 at Best Buy
• Crucial P310 2TB: was $200.99 now $134.99 at Amazon
• Corsair Frame 4000D: was $104 now $79.99 at Amazon
• Montech Century II 850W fully modular PSU: was $89 now $82 at Amazon

$1,500 1440p Cyber Monday PC

Our mid-range 1440p build has, in the past, run us $1,600, so we are pretty proud of a $1,500 alternative given the pricing landscape of vital components like RAM and SSDs. Obviously, we've made some compromises, but this is a PC that will handily see you through 1440p gaming for the foreseeable future.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, or CPU Deals pages.

Black Friday may be past, but it's still a great time to save a pretty penny on PC parts and build a storming rig at a discounted price. If money is no object or you want the best PC without compromise, then we've put together an all-singing, all-dancing PC build that will run any game at 4K or beyond and blitz through any benchmark you can think of.

We've paired the best processor in the world, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D from AMD, with the world's best gaming GPU, the RTX 5090. Yes, that's a lot of money, but we haven't been silly about the rest of our components, tracking down some good deals to score us a 4TB SSD, a great motherboard and cooler, and somehow, 96GB of DDR5 RAM for "just" $559.

$5000-ish gaming PC: Quick list

• AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU: was $699 now $660 at Amazon
• be quiet! Light Loop 360mm White CPU cooler: was $199 now $143 at Amazon
• Asus ROG Strix X870-A motherboard: was $329 now $239 at Amazon
• Asus TUF RTX 5090: $2,999 at Best Buy
• G.Skill Ripjaws M5 Neo RGB Series 96GB: $559 at Newegg
• Samsung 9100 Pro 4TB SSD: was $469 now $369 at Amazon
• NZXT H9 Flow mid-tower case: was $169.99 now $139 at Amazon
• Corsair HX1500i (2025) power supply unit: was $389 now $349 at Amazon

Money no object: Cyber Monday gaming PC

With gobs of CPU and GPU power, a clean white theme, RGB LEDs aplenty, a roomy, stylish case, and a rock-solid power supply, we think it's hard to do much better than this build for the deep-pocketed enthusiast. Sure, you can start looking at Threadripper CPUs and RTX Pro 6000 graphics power if you need even more compute on tap, but that's truly territory for those who already know.

Best gaming laptop deals | Best monitor deals | Best PC and laptop deals | Best SSD deals | Best CPU deals | Gaming Chair | Best hard drive deals | Best PC case deals | Best Dell and Alienware deals | Best 3D printer deals | Best PC peripherals deals | Best motherboard deals | Best CPU cooler deals | Best gaming chair deals

If you want to build a budget-friendly PC on Black Friday, spiraling RAM prices and GPU shortages might make you think twice about trying to put together a cash-conscious gaming rig. Fear not. Tom's Hardware is back with its iconic budget build, as made famous by Amazon Prime Day.

Pleasing everyone is impossible when it comes to building a PC, so consider this a helpful guide as you get started. It includes an 8-core processor, 32GB of DDR4 RAM (DDR5 is simply not an option at this price), a 1TB M.2 SSD, and the potent RX 9060 XT with 16GB of VRAM.

We've previously done builds of this caliber for $800 to $850, but crippling price increases on RAM and SSDs mean that $950 is the best you'll get, even with Black Friday discounts. We've optimized this build to the bone, but price increases have been unavoidable. For example, our RAM was $69 the last time we put together this parts list; it's now $140. Likewise, the SSD is $20 more.

At worst, let this serve as a guide as to what you can expect to pay for a budget-friendly enthusiast PC, or the individual parts contained therein, as we close out the year.

$950 Black Friday gaming PC: Quick list

• AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor: $183 at Amazon
• Gigabyte B550 Eagle Wi-Fi 6 motherboard: was $119 now $89 at Amazon
• PowerColor Reaper AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT: was $369 now $349 at Amazon
• PNY 32GB (2 x 16GB) XLR8 3200 MHz DDR4: $139.99 at Newegg
• Crucial 1TB P310: was $95.99 now $79.99 at Amazon
• Phanteks XT Pro: was $59 now $49.99 at Newegg
• Thermaltake Toughpower GX2 80+ Gold 600W: was $69.99 now $49.99 at Amazon

$950 Black Friday gaming PC

And there you have it, a capable and affordable gaming PC that can handle 1080p and 1440p gaming, no corners cut. Pick up this parts list now before the AI gold rush makes budget-friendly PC building a thing of the past.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best Black Friday PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, or CPU Deals pages.

The iFixit and Wera range of tools have a reputation for quality and longevity, but they usually come with a hefty price tag. I get it, you pay for quality. You can get by with cheaper tools, in fact when you are starting out these are the tools that you should reach for. But when you have a few miles under your belt, you'll start to appreciate the tools that you need and use. That is when you should stump up the cash and get quality.

These two iFixit kits are ideal for PC building, 3D printer maintenance, and general DIY / furniture assemblies. The Wera Hex-Plus set also has a great discount right now, making Black Friday the right time to buy quality tools.

• There is 20% off the $32 iFixit Mako Driver deal on Amazon.
• The iFixit Manta is down to $56 at Amazon — now 20% off!
• With 27% off Wera's hex key set is now $19!

iFixit Mako Driver Set

The Mako driver kit is designed for general electronics and PC tasks. You'll find all the bits that you could possibly need to take apart a laptop, PC, Nintendo, or other electronic device. Don't believe me? Strap in, because here is the list!

• 1 x 1/4 inch to 4 mm Adapter
• 2 x Gamebit (3.8mm and 4.5mm)
• 1 x iPhone Standoff
• 1 x Magnetic Pickup
• 1 x Oval Drive
• 5 x Phillips (#0 #00, #000, #1, #2)
• 2 x Spanner (6.0 and 8.0)
• 4 x Torx (T2, T3, T4, and T5)
• 4 x Tri-point (Y000, Y00, Y0, Y1)
• 6 x Flathead / Slot (1mm, 1.5mm, 2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 4mm)
• 11 x Hex (0.7mm, 0.9mm, 1.3mm, 1.5mm, 2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 3.5mm, 4mm, 4.5mm, 5mm)
• 4 x JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard 0, 00, 000, 1)
• 6 x Nut Drivers (2.5mm, 3mm, 3.5mm, 4mm, 5mm, 5.5mm)
• 3 x Pentalobe (P2, P5, P6)
• 1 x SIM Eject
• 2 x Square (1, 2)
• 8 x Torx Security (TR6, TR7, TR8, TR9, TR10, TR15, TR20, TR25)
• 2 x Triangle (2, 3)

All of those bits, the driver handle and the flexible shaft are stored in a lovely ABS plastic case which clips together using neodymium magnets -- very fancy! The case top also doubles as a screw sorter, keeping all the screws in a safe place so that you can put (most of) them back when you reassemble.

Yes, you are paying a premium over other, cheaper sets, but the iFixit Mako kit is a great upgrade to complement your growing skills.

iFixit Manta Driver Kit

Need a bigger screwdriver kit? A kit with both 4mm and 1/4 inch drivers and bits? Still want iFixit quality and the sublime ABS plastic case with magnets and screw sorter? We've got ya!

Want to know what bits you get in the kit? Sit back and relax, here is the complete set!

• 1 x 1/4 inch driver to 1/4 inch socket
• 1 x 1/4 inch socket to 1/4 inch driver
• 3 x Clutch (1, 2, 3)
• 2 x Gamebit (3.8mm and 4.5mm)
• 9 x Hex Security (2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 3.5mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 7mm, 8mm)
• 1 x Hook Driver
• 4 x JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard 0, 00, 000, 1)
• 6 x Nut Drivers (2.5mm, 3mm, 3.5mm, 4mm, 4.5mm, 5mm, 5.5mm)
• 3 x Pentalobe (P2, P5, P6)
• 4 x Pozidriv (PZ0, PZ1, PZ2, PZ3)
• 1 x SIM Eject
• 3 x Spline (M5, M6, M8)
• 3 x Torq-set (6, 8, 10)
• 8 x Torx Security (TR6, TR7, TR8, TR9, TR10, TR15, TR20, TR25, TR27, TR30, TR35, TR40)
• 4 x Tri-wing (1, 2, 3, 4)
• 1 x 1/4 inch to 3/8 inch socket
• 1 x 1/4 inch to 4 mm Adapter
• 11 x Flathead / Slot (1mm, 1.5mm, 2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 3.5mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 7mm, 8mm)
• 4 x Hex (0.7mm, 0.9mm, 1.3mm, 1.5mm)
• 6 x Hex Security SAE (0.7mm, 0.9mm, 1.3mm, 1.5mm)
• 1 x iPhone Standoff
• 1 x Magnetic Pickup
• 1 x Oval Drive
• 6 x Phillips (#0 #00, #000, #1, #2, #3)
• 5 x Spanner (4.0, 6.0, 8.0, 10.0, 12.0)
• 4 x Square (0, 1, 2, 3)
• 4 x Torx (T2, T3, T4, and T5)
• 4 x Tri-point (Y000, Y00, Y0, Y1)
• 4 x Triangle (2, 3, 2.2, 2.6)

That is probably all the bits that you will ever need, wrapped up in a fancy case that looks good on your desk and seals shut to move from job to job.

Wera 950/9 Hex-Plus Long Arm Hex Key Set

We've all used those horrible, cheap, soft metal hex keys. Be it furniture, PC cases, 3D printers, those hex keys turn up all over the place, and using a cheap set is a false economy. Why? Because the metal used to make them is some sort of weird hybrid of modeling clay and cotton candy!

Get a set of these Wera long arm hex keys and enjoy the quality German engineering!

In the set you get (yes, another list of every single thing that you get)

• 1.5mm, 90mm long shaft
• 2mm, 100mm long shaft
• 2.5mm, 112mm long shaft
• 3mm, 126mm long shaft
• 4mm, 140mm long shaft
• 5mm, 160 long shaft
• 6mm, 180mm long shaft
• 8mm 200mm long shaft
• 10mm, 219mm long shaft

All of these hex drivers have a ball-end, which is useful for accessing hex screws that are at odd angles or for fast tightening / loosening before using the long arm to finish off the job. Wera makes quality tools; I have a few of them in my tool drawer for maker projects. They will last you a lifetime and are a sound investment for the creator and maker who uses their skills for a living.

If you're looking for more Black Friday savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard or CPU Deals pages.

It’s time to retire that rusty old screwdriver and treat yourself to an upgrade before your next PC build or DIY project. This Black Friday deal on Hoto’s original mini electric screwdriver is an absolute steal! Thanks to this Black Friday deal, Amazon has this great, portable driver with a rechargeable battery and all kinds of goodies, and all for a record-low price of $29.99.

• Check out this deal on Amazon

That’s because Amazon has dropped the price of this Hoto screwdriver to just $29.99, which is 40% off the original price and a deal that you’ll find hard to beat. Ideal for hobbyists, the Hoto NEX O1 Pro is a personal favorite of at least three (soon to be four) Tom’s Hardware editors, and one that we’ve regularly recommended, even at higher prices.

This portable kit is perfect for any seriously small screws you might be dealing with. The 3.6V driver itself features a 1,500mAh battery that reportedly allows you to drive over 1,000 screws from a full charge. It uses USB-C for charging via the supplied cable, so no need to worry about finding some AA batteries, with a total charge taking just 150 minutes from start to finish.

It’s ultralight, too, weighing just 250g, with a tough plastic and TPE rubber casing that makes it easy to grip. The Hoto NEX O1 Pro is also fully adjustable, with three separate torque settings, along with a sensor that can quickly stop driving when you release control. The HOTO also features a circular LED that helps you get the job done, even in a dark environment, and is fully magnetic, so you won't lose any tiny screws along the way.

This particular set comes with a set of 25 bits, with a selection of Phillips, Torx, flat, hexagon, and Pozidriv head options included, all rated for 60HRC on the Rockwell scale. The bits are stored inside the included aluminium storage box, which you can also use to protect the Hoto driver when you’re not using it. You can also use any 1/4 inch bits with the NEX O1 Pro, from your sacrificial dollar store bits to those expensive Wera ones that you save for special occasions (or is that just me?)

A PC builder, 3D printing hobbyist, or simply a DIY enthusiast will also have space for a set like this one in their life. With the holidays coming, you’ll struggle to find a better price for Hoto’s original (and still very impressive) screwdriver set than this $29.99 sale price, so make sure to grab it before the price or stock runs out.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, or CPU Deals pages.

It’s time to retire that rusty old screwdriver and treat yourself to an upgrade before your next PC build or DIY project. This pre-Black Friday deal on Hoto’s original mini electric precision screwdriver is an absolute steal at the moment, thanks to Amazon, scoring you a portable driver with a rechargeable battery and all kinds of goodies, and all for a record-low price.

• Check out this deal on Amazon

That’s because Amazon has dropped the price of this Hoto screwdriver to just £29.98, a half-price saving that you’ll find hard to beat. Ideal for hobbyists, the Hoto NEX O1 Pro is a personal favorite of at least two Tom’s Hardware editors, and one that we’ve regularly recommended, even at higher prices.

This portable kit is perfect for any seriously small screws you might be dealing with. The 3.6V driver itself features a 1,500mAh battery that reportedly allows you to drive over 1,000 screws from a full charge. It uses USB-C for charging via the supplied cable, so no need to worry about finding some AA batteries, with a total charge taking just 150 minutes from start to finish.

It’s ultralight, too, weighing just 250g, with a tough plastic and TPE rubber casing that makes it easy to grip. The Hoto NEX O1 Pro is also fully adjustable, with three separate torque settings, along with a sensor that can quickly stop driving when you release control. The HOTO also features a circular LED that helps you get the job done, even in a dark environment, and is fully magnetic, so you won't lose any tiny screws along the way.

This particular set comes with a set of 12 bits, with a selection of Phillips, Torx, flat, hexagon, and Pozidriv head options included, all rated for 60HRC on the Rockwell scale. The bits are stored inside the included aluminium storage box, which you can also use to protect the Hoto driver when you’re not using it.

A PC builder, 3D print hobbyist, or just a plain old DIYer will also have space for a set like this one in their lives. With the holidays coming, you’ll struggle to find a better price for Hoto’s original (and still very impressive) screwdriver set than this £29.98 sale price, so make sure to grab it before the price, or stock, runs out.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, or CPU Deals pages.

Compaq took the wraps off its first product in November 1982, revealing the computing world's first true IBM PC clone, and an all-in-one portable model at that. The Compaq Portable featured a legally reverse-engineered IBM BIOS and delivered near 100% compatibility with those all-important IBM PC applications.

Kickstarting the IBM PC Clone business

Before Compaq splash-landed on the PC scene, the market was dominated by IBM and a rival group of PC work-a-like machines with varying degrees of compatibility. These ‘almost compatibles’ would use the same Intel 8088 as the incumbent IBM, and would run a version of DOS. However, the adoption of these challenger products was held back by incompatibility wrinkles and their makers being in precarious disputes with IBM over copyright claims.

Key features of the Compaq Portable

Compaq negotiated these sticky hurdles with its reverse-engineered BIOS, using zero IBM code, heading off legal disputes. The rest of the Compaq Portable, like the IBM PC it copied, was basically off-the-shelf hardware components. More importantly, the reverse-engineered BIOS did such a good job that it could be marketed with claims of 100% compatibility.

Meanwhile, Compaq’s luggable also came with Compaq DOS. This OS was basically a version of MS-DOS that could run a standalone BASIC interpreter without IBM Cassette BASIC being present in the system ROMs.

Compaq Portable hardware

Compaq’s groundbreaking Portable could easily break your foot if dropped. Weighing in at 28 pounds, the device’s keyboard popped off to reveal the built-in screen and removable disk drives. The first model featured a single half-height 5.25-inch 360KB diskette drive and was priced at $2,995 (~$9,500 today). Though there was a dual-drive model for an extra $600-ish. Later revisions would offer hard disk options.

Specs:

• CPU: Intel 8088, 4.77 MHz
• RAM: 128KB, 640KB max
• Display: 9-inch monochrome green monitor
• Video: Support for CGA graphics with 80 X 25 character display
• Storage: Two 320K 5-1/4" disk drives, 10MB HDDs in later revisions
• Ports: 1 parallel port (via expansion card)
• OS: Compaq-DOS 1.12 to 2.00

Legacy of this ‘luggable’

The Compaq Portable was a massive success; it truly kick-started the PC clone industry and sparked an era of PC enthusiasts and DIYers that still thrives today.

This portable PC would break business records for three years running. “Compaq sold 53,000 units in the first year with a total of $111 million in revenue, an American Business record,” notes our source. The youthful computer company would continue to break US/industry records in years two and three.

Of course, Compaq’s success would inspire others to join in the PC-clone making feast, lighting the way to hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue.

IBM copied back

It would take IBM almost a year, after the Compaq Portable hit the market, to prepare a true rival to the popular luggable. IBM’s Portable Personal Computer arrived in February 1984, at a price of $4,225 (~$12,200 today).

For the money, you got the assurance of the IBM brand, and ‘no one got fired for buying IBM.’ It still had the same Intel 8088 at 4.77 MHz, though, plus the same storage and monitor/CGA video configuration – and weight. However, it came with 256KB of RAM by default.

Surely, IBM’s embattled sales force welcomed even a more expensive product to show potential customers.

Compaq's star shone bright, then HP snuffed it out

Despite being announced in November 1982, Compaq wouldn’t ship any of its Portables until March 1993. However, it still set the stage for the PC industry revolution ahead, and inspired customers with its bold first product being a ‘portable.’

Sadly, the Compaq brand was retired in 2013 in North America, about a decade after the firm was acquired by HP in what turned out to be a $25 billion catch-and-kill operation.

An enthusiast has shared their first designs, melding the disparate worlds of PC DIY with model railroading. Beautiful-Turnip-353 shared a video of a prototype PC build with a small T-gauge train circling atop their chunky GPU. It adds a truly dynamic aspect to the case window view, and we can imagine a tiny stationmaster shouting, “All aboard the PCI Express, we’re going gaming.”

GPU Mounted Model Train from r/PcBuild

T-gauge model trains are the smallest commonly available to hobbyists. With a track gauge of just 3mm (0.118 inches) and a model scale of somewhere between 1:450 to 1:500, these are the minnows of the model railroading hobby world. Nevertheless, once properly set up, T-gauge builders can enjoy realistic speed controls and the convenience of magnetized track building systems. They also fit well in the smallest of spaces – or allow for the most intricately detailed large-scale dioramas.

Even the biggest and best graphics cards don’t really have enough room for anything more substantial, so T-gauge is the best choice in a PC like this. T-gauge track has a minimum corner radius of approximately 60mm; moving up to Z-gauge would double that. However, perhaps the GeForce 60 series will inadvertently open up Z-gauge options to the model train/PC building enthusiast community.

Hotter PC = faster train

Beautiful-Turnip-353 reveals that they have more ambitious plans for the build. Currently, it is explained that the electric loco is powered via “an Arduino on a USB port that is sending a PWM 5V signal to the rails.”

Power delivery for the train set is one aspect of the design that is earmarked for further refinement, though. The Redditor said the current setup doesn’t allow a great range of speed controls. A helpful fellow enthusiast in the comments suggested controlling the train throttle via an internal 5V PWM fan header and adjusting it using software such as FanControl. Another pointed out that it would also be possible, for example, to auto-adjust the train's speed in line with the PC’s temperature sensors.

Beautiful-Turnip-353 hints that they are seeking to intensify their railroad/PC crossover designs. “I want to make a much more train-themed build in the future, but something is better than nothing, haha.” There is a lot Beautiful-Turnip-353 could do with more scenery in the case, and the outer PC case design, and they know it.

More interesting track layouts, interactive signaling and control systems, and lighting would add atmosphere and charm to the build. It would be a spectacular cherry on top if a chuffing steam train could run around in the case, too.

An awesome custom gaming PC built into a microwave might be our favorite-ever 'kitchen gadget.' This is an All-in-One PC design, with the microwave window filled by a monitor panel. Other neat integrations include adding a Stream Deck where the microwave keypad usually resides. The microwave door still opens, with the turntable is used as a rotating motherboard tray.

SignalRGB is the company behind this new PC build, so it’s no surprise to see the microwave feature copious amounts of RGB lighting.

The above video showcases many of the nice touches and design flair behind this custom build. For example, the monitor built into the door appears to have a pass-through video function, so you can see the RGB-lit PC components inside. Later in the video, we see the main display being used for a spot of gaming and for some SignalRGB software configuration.

Having the AIO CPU cooler recessed into the microwave wall to the side of the turntable is another nicety. However, the graphics card, on the opposite side, is mounted on the wall rather than in it.

This “$2,000 Microwave PC” has a customizable LCD screen where the microwave display used to be, in the upper right corner of the chassis. Then there is an interactive Stream Deck pad below.

Readers may be interested to check through the SignalRGB microwave gaming PC’s tech specs. The firm has put together a custom PC build which truly deserves its ‘gaming’ prefix.

• Intel Core Ultra 5 225 Processor
• Nvidia RTX 5060Ti 16GB Graphics Card
• MSI MPG Z890I EDGE TI Motherboard
• 1100W SFX, 80+ Platinum Efficiency Power Supply
• Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 M 48GB 6000MT/s Memory
• Patriot Viper VP4300 Lite NVMe 2TB SSD (7,400MB/s)

SignalRGB was in our headlines earlier this year for making the PC-Toaster dream a reality. However, adding PC components to that kitchen essential neutered its toasting abilities, just like this new microwave PC can't really be used to warm up your porridge.

The device you see in the video is being given away in a competition. This is a Gleam-hosted sweepstake, so you get more entries in the hat through more social media following and sharing. It looks like you can earn 17 entries, or more, this way. There are 75 days left to enter, at the time of writing.

An RGB ‘gaming PC’ build in a translucent plastic jug can provide an uncomfortably beguiling proposition. The design, showcased by The87Player on Reddit, is simultaneously grotesque yet elicits nods of respectful approval in the Tom’s Hardware newsroom. Perhaps the PC industry, now stuck in a groove producing almost endless small variations of wood veneer and/or fish tank-style cases, needs to be disrupted. This won’t do it, of course, but it shows us that ‘something else’ now has a lot of appeal.

The87Player also showcased this PC in a YouTube Short, embedded above, which would have looked much better if videoed in landscape. At least we get to see the case window, seen in the Reddit images, is actually a hinged door that is open for easy access to the internals.

So, the most charming things about this “beast gaming PC” are its case, and its price. On the topic of pricing, The87Player asserts that the whole build cost a total of €130 (~$150). Yes, that’s a great price for a full RGB gaming PC, that is a purported “beast,” but closer inspection of the specs reveals a list of pretty ancient components inside the translucent chassis.

Bottlenecked?

The conclusion is that the Redditor has a well developed sense of humor, with their superlative description of this gaming PC, as they go on to ‘boast’ that it is only capable of “15fps in Fortnite high.” Another Redditor quipped that there must be a “bottleneck.”

Specifically, the key PC components used here are the:

• Intel Xeon E5 2673 v3 (12C/24T ‘Haswell’ processor) at up to 3.1 GHz
• Unnamed MSI motherboard
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 graphics card
• 16GB DDR3 RAM
• Kingspec SATA SSD
• 500W Bronze EVGA PSU

Thanks to the magic of video (pausing), we also noticed the ‘case’ was actually an empty flower-scented liquid soap container. It held 20kg of that liquid, which if a similar density of water would make it a 20 liter case (roughly 5 US Gallons). You can buy a similar translucent plastic jug in the US on Amazon for $30 (in blue), and similar-capacity translucent colorless ones here. Many folks might already have similar containers in their workshops, garages, or other areas.

PC cases and water canisters are both sold in liter sizes, which might have inspired The87Player to undertake this project. However, we will only know that this is a real, established trend in the PC enthusiast world when Amazon listings for water containers start including motherboard compatibility. For example, we could eventually see listings like ‘3-gallon plastic jug, mini-ITX compatible.’

Yesterday, MSI unveiled its new AI assistant called "EZ PC Builder," which is a tool designed to guide beginners to build and spec out their computers. MSI partnered with MaiAgent, utilizing LLMs available as part of Amazon's Bedrock service to provide answers through a chatbot. It's available for free around the world, and PC Gamer has already tested it. Their findings revealed that the AI suggests a Ryzen 9 9800X3D processor when asked for budget recommendations — questionable advice that it also dished out to us.

When we talked to the little dragon mascot representing EZ PC Builder, it also brought up the 9800X3D as a budget component, corroborating that it wasn't a one-time fluke; the AI genuinely wants you to buy. It also really wants you to buy MSI products, which makes sense considering it's literally made by MSI. It would be weird if it didn't suggest the company's stuff, but sometimes the recommendations become a little egregious. For instance, as part of the aforementioned budget build suggestion, it recommends the CoreLiquid A13 360mm AIO.

On one hand, it makes sense that a 360mm AIO would be ideal to cool a 9800X3D, but we've already established that's not the right choice. So, by proxy, the cooler is also a bad pick. We also only gave it 3 stars in our review, despite the $99 price tag, which, funnily enough, does meet the budget designation. It's quite an interesting dilemma. Moving on, we were recommended a B650 motherboard, an RTX 5060 GPU, a Gen4 NVMe SSD, an 850W power supply, and a full-size ATX case — all from MSI. Only the 5600 MT/s Kingston memory it mentioned wasn't in-house.

Also, 5600 MT/s isn't exactly great for a 9800X3D. If you're spending close to $500 on a CPU, you would surely get better RAM — but, then again, it fits our original budget requirement. It's like the AI is trying its best to fight back against a lobotomized version of itself. We even started a new chat and asked it if a 9800X3D was a good budget CPU, and EZ PC Builder, to its credit, said, "it depends on your perspective." As you can see above, the AI clarified it's a "mid-to-high tier" gaming CPU, and that we should consider the 7800X3D to save a buck but still get similar performance. That's solid advice, and something we also suggest in our own roundup.

When seeking build advice, the chatbot asks whether you prefer AMD or Intel for your processor, which is something a beginner would definitely not know. Interestingly, it doesn't make the same distinction for GPUs; asking wherever we prefer Nvidia or AMD, or even Intel, for that matter. Lastly, the biggest caveat is that EZ PC Builder doesn't have any idea about pricing, like at all. It's not connected to the internet to check for updated prices, but it also just seems entirely disconnected from reality in general.

As evident from the screenshot above, it suggested a 9800X3D (again) and RTX 5060 Ti as part of a $1,000 build, which is certainly impossible, unless you choose to abandon nearly every other component. That combo alone would run you almost $900, so you'll be left with $100 to scavenge RAM, storage, cooling, case, and the motherboard — which should be a B850 Tomahawk, according to the AI. Great value-oriented board, but it's over $200. In fact, this entire build would easily run you over $1,700, and that's with updated street pricing that always fluctuates.

It's clear that EZ PC Builder needs some work; it's in beta after all. MSI is a big name in the PC hardware market, and we suspect a lot of people may try this AI assistant for advice, so it needs to be sharper than its current state. The website for the chatbot is also a bit bloated, because at first glance, you might think it's interactive and a lot more ambitious than just a chatbot in the corner. Not to mention the fact that it only suggests MSI products, when you should always try to find the best deal, instead of being solely brand-conscious.

Many consider cars to be the most exciting thing out there. Those adrenaline-pumping feats of engineering, harmonizing cutting-edge hardware and software to push the boundaries of physics. A lot of people, though, are equally enthusiastic about PCs and how they contribute to the world of racing. After all, a car is technically just a computer on wheels, so why not combine the two to birth something truly unique that honors both cultures?

That's exactly what Nvidia did, in its latest episode of GeForce Garage, where it partnered up with modder JCustom (Justin Chu) to fit an entire gaming PC inside a wheel of a Porsche 911. The build also has a real key fob to turn it on or restart it, wirelessly.

Our journey begins with an HRE FF21 wheel (not acually Porsche, we know) that alone starts at $750 and that's before the custom paint job on top. See, this rig is being built for someone very special that we'll reveal at the end; they have a Porsche 911 Turbo S in the Python Green colorway, so our modder Justin decided to color-match the entire build to that. That meant power-coating the sides (barrel) of the wheel to be the same green, and even updating the silver to resemble what Porsche uses from factory.

The main PC is placed right behind the spokes and appears like it's floating because the custom-built motherboard tray is mounted directly to the wheel's barrel, with the help of some tabs that extend into the tray. You can see how that looks in the next set of pictures after this. The end-result is flawless, but achieving such elegance was only possible after Justin put the wheel inside CAD to iron out all the details and create the necessary parts himself.

Speaking of, the motherboard tray is what houses most of the cabling as it's actually quite thick — from the pictures, we can estimate ~3 inches. The tray is suspended from four sides via metal beams that provide rigidity, and to advance this magical appearance, Justin used a back-connect motherboard. This way all the wires would conveniently route through this tray compartment, and the motherboard assembly itself would be the only thing visible on the outside.

The tray includes an SFF power supply, too, and sleeved PCIe cables for the GPU, which is a Founder's Edition RTX 5080. Back-connect graphics cards have existed for a while, so it's interesting to see Justin stick with a classic choice here. You can check out the full specs of the PC in the table at the end to see what else he paired up with this GPU. Lastly, the tray also has little LED diffusers placed across the perimeter to provide a subtle ambient glow to the wheel, almost like underglow on a real car.

To cool the entire system, Justin separated the custom liquid-cooling into its own apparatus, sitting beneath the wheel assembly. This compartment fits the pump, reservoir, radiator and all the tubing for the loop, which is connected to the CPU and GPU via quick-disconnects at the back of the wheel. This is where you can also see that the rearside is entirely flush, implying that the PC can even be wall-mounted in the future.

If you look closely, the water block on the CPU is tubeless, which means the water actually flows through the block's mounts itself. You can also see a miniaturized version of the aforementioned Porsche 911 floating inside it, further paying tribute to the petrolhead this PC's owner is. The GPU block, on the other hand, is made by Modern Cafe and showcases a small trophy on one side (more on what that is later), along with a spinning wheel on the other side that doubles as a flow meter.

The cooling system essentially becomes a display stand for the wheel, complimenting each other both functionally and aesthetically. The build is finished off with a Python Green paint job on the stand as well, and Alcantara is glued onto the sides to simulate the luxurious feel of a Porsche's interior. A Porsche Knight badge is placed in the middle of this stand, while the wheel's center cap is upgraded with a screen for displaying telemetry data (playing what seems like custom animations), accompanied with a small GeForce Garage pin underneath.

Given how powerful the specs are, it was kind of surprising to see Nvidia test two games with multi-frame gen enabled. In Borderlands at 4K with max settings and DLSS set to performance, the PC achieved 160-180 FPS. Over in Cyberpunk 2077 with max settings, along with path tracing, we saw 160-170 FPS. Forza Horizon 5 maxed out with ray tracing set to high netted around 200 FPS; DLSS was set to high but no MFG.

So, who's the lucky recipient of this technological marvel? Well, that would be up-and-coming actor Micheal Rainey Jr., who recently won an NAACP award for his role in the Starz's Power franchise, where he plays Tariq. The mini version of that exact trophy is what was enclosed inside the 5080, highlighting Michael's accolades. When he's not winning over judges, though, you can find him obsessively playing videogames, like Call of Duty.

Interestingly, prolific filmmaker Steven Spielberg — the guy who made Saving Private Ryan — wanted to direct a COD movie but Activision turned him down; instead, selling the film rights to Paramount. It would be destiny's calling to see Paramount just hire Spielberg after all, where he ultimately casts Michael as a tank driver, bridging together his acting and gaming journeys in the most poetic way possible.

If you're in the market for a budget gaming rig and don't want to shop around for parts this Amazon Prime Day, then we've put together an epic budget build using parts on sale at Amazon (and rivals) during the Big Deal Days event.

Market conditions mean we couldn't quite squeeze out an $800 rig without significant compromises, such as skimping on the RAM or just stuffing all the parts into a ziplock bag rather than a real case. However, we've still produced a brilliant machine that will smash 1080p gaming and features a handy 16GB GPU, all for just $850.

• Check out all the deals in Amazon's Prime Day Sale

While you can't please everyone with a PC build, this is a great starting point for anyone wanting to get a head start on building a budget rig during this sales event. You'll get an 8-core processor, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB M.2 SSD, and the plucky RX 9060 XT with 16GB of VRAM.

As is often the case, Amazon isn't always the best place to buy parts during its own sales events, so you'll find Newegg and even B&H Photo have come in clutch to get us under budget. We attempted a similar build during the main Prime Day sale this summer, so scroll on down to see how this one has panned out by contrast.

$850 Prime Day gaming PC: Quick list

• AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor: $158 at Amazon
• Gigabyte B550 Eagle Wi-Fi 6 motherboard: was $119 now $89 at Amazon
• PowerColor Reaper AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT: was $369 now $349 at Amazon
• PNY 32GB (2 x 16GB) XLR8 3200 MHz DDR4: $69 at B&H Photo
• Samsung 990 EVO Plus SSD 1TB: was $104.99 now $59.99 at Amazon
• Phanteks XT Pro: was $59 now $49.99 at Newegg
• Thermaltake Toughpower GX2 80+ Gold 600W: was $69.99 now $53.19 at Amazon

$850 Prime Day gaming PC

And there you have it, a capable and affordable gaming PC that will handle 1080p and even some 1440p for a little shy of $850, no corners cut.

We are working hard to find the best computer hardware deals for you this Amazon Prime Day. We cover the hottest deals in real-time at our Best Amazon Prime Day Deals Live page. If you're looking for more savings, check out our Amazon Prime Day deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, or CPU Deals pages.