Articles by Zhiye Liu, News Editor, RAM Reviewer & SSD Technician

Zhiye’s love for PC hardware began when he accidentally set his Pentium P54CS PC on fire, short-circuiting his entire home. From that day on, he has constantly pursued greater hardware knowledge, which ultimately led him from being a power user to a writer at Tom’s Hardware. When Zhiye’s not covering the latest news on CPUs or GPUs, you can find him overclocking RAM to the latest trance hits.

Articles by: Zhiye Liu

$50 junk second-hand motherboard turns into a SSD treasure trove worth $1,500 — 12 terabytes of blazing-fast storage finds a new owner amid crushing shortages

By Zhiye Liu published 17 February 26

A Redditor buys a damaged Z690 motherboard for $50 but discovers up to $1,500 worth of SSDs beneath the heatsinks.

Corsair fights back against RAM scammers and thieves with packaging shift — ditches iconic yellow boxes for transparent plastic and anti-tampering labels

By Zhiye Liu published 12 February 26

Corsair has informed its customers that it is revamping the packaging for its Vengeance DDR5 memory kits to enhance security and transparency.

RTX 5090 kicks off the Chinese New Year early with fireworks — $3,299 dream GPU upgrade becomes a fiery nightmare

By Zhiye Liu published 11 February 26

A Bilibili user sees their new MSI GeForce RTX 5090 32G Gaming Trio OC graphics card catch fire.

Logitech's Pro X2 Superstrike gaming mouse introduces electromagnetic induction tech, cutting down on latency and adding new features — $179 mouse adds 'Haptic Inductive Trigger' system that allows users to pick actuation levels

By Zhiye Liu published 10 February 26

The highly anticipated Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike is now available for $179.99 at major U.S. retailers.

G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB DDR5-6000 C34 2x64GB Review: The Sweet Spot For 128GB

By Zhiye Liu published 8 February 26

G.Skill unleashed a big 128GB memory kit from its Trident Z5 Neo RGB lineup, explicitly designed for AMD Ryzen CPUs. Is it worth your hard-earned cash?

Sandisk's rebranded Optimus SSDs now available at eye-watering $999 for 2TB, $1,799 for 4TB — Optimus brings a 5% MSRP over previous models, but WD Black predecessors can still be found for less

By Zhiye Liu published 7 February 26

Sandisk Optimus SSDs are finally available for purchase, but they come with a hefty premium over already hiked-up prices.

AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 9995WX with direct die cooling IHS

AMD's 96-core beast with watercooling engraved into CPU joins car and industrial parts in a 2,000W direct die cooling setup — $12,000 CPU runs at 5.3 GHz, devours 1,300W, and still runs cooler than your gaming PC

By Zhiye Liu published 6 February 26

Chinese tech YouTube channel Geekerwan tests direct die cooling on the 96-core Ryzen Threadripper Pro 9995WX, using a CNC-engraved IHS and automotive-grade cooling components.

Yet another Windows update is wreaking havoc on gaming rigs worldwide — Nvidia recommends uninstalling Windows 11 KB5074109 January update to prevent framerate drops and artifacting

By Zhiye Liu published 5 February 26

Nvidia representative recommends GeForce graphics card owners to uninstall the Windows 11 KB5074109 update to solve framerate drops and gaming artifacts.

NVMe SSD installed on a PCIe to PCI adapter

Modern NVMe SSD meets vintage PCI slot in quirky experiment — M.2 drive shows storage speeds worth dying for back in the '90s

By Zhiye Liu published 5 February 26

Redditor shows what it would have felt like to use a high-speed NVMe SSD with a PCI slot.

PNY GeForce RTX 5080 Overclocked Triple Fan

Gamer scores Nvidia’s $999 powerhouse RTX 5080 for a jaw-dropping $562 — the Walmart clearance aisle is the secret weapon to beat the AI-driven GPU shortage (Updated)

By Zhiye Liu last updated 4 February 26

Shoppers share their best GeForce RTX 50-series purchases in a Reddit thread from Walmart's electronics clearance aisle.

Purported Arrow Lake Refresh CPUs might bring extra performance with no price premium — early retailer listings show practically no price hike for some Core Ultra 200K Plus chips

By Zhiye Liu published 3 February 26

The performance benefits of a refresh at current-gen prices

Fake Samsung 990 Pro passes basic checks but runs slower than a USB 2.0 drive — counterfeit SSDs proliferate as NAND shortage creates the perfect storm for bogus deals

By Zhiye Liu published 2 February 26

A Redditor recounts his experience with a Samsung 990 Pro clone that looks like the real deal.

Sandisk crushes wallets with up to 2.8X SSD price hikes as NAND shortage strangles the market — WD Black SN8100 8TB skyrockets past $2,500, more than a high-end gaming PC

By Zhiye Liu published 31 January 26

Sandisk has significantly increased prices on SSDs sold through its online store, with some models seeing increases of up to xx.

Ryzen 7 9800X3D drops within dollars of all-time low price in wake of 9850X3D launch — previous gaming champ now down to $443 from $479

By Zhiye Liu published 29 January 26

The Ryzen 7 9850X3D hits retail for $499, while the Ryzen 7 9800X3D's price has gone down to $443.

Cooler Master makes a massive AIO liquid cooler for up to 2000-watt CPUs — a gigantic 360x360mm MO-RA-like cooler for mere mortals

By Zhiye Liu published 29 January 26

Cooler Master showcases its upcoming 360² (360x360mm) AIO liquid cooler for workstations at an event in China.

Zotac warns component shortages threaten the 'very survival' of GPU manufacturers and distributors — message to Korean customers suggests that the worst could be yet to come

By Zhiye Liu published 27 January 26

GPU vendors and distributors are feeling the AI pinch.

AMD's next gaming champ to debut at $499, and you can already buy it ahead of launch — Ryzen 7 9850X3D is $30 more expensive than the Ryzen 7 9800X3D

By Zhiye Liu published 22 January 26

AMD has confirmed that the Ryzen 7 9850X3D will hit retail on January 29 at an MSRP of $499.

V-Color Manta XFinity RGB DDR5-6400 C32 2x64GB Review: Two-Module Powerhouse

By Zhiye Liu published 21 January 26

The Manta XFinity RGB DDR5-6400 ranks among the fastest 128GB memory kits available today. But does it truly live up to the hype?

Intel axes 12th Gen Alder Lake and 4th Gen Xeon Sapphire Rapids — final orders for Intel's first hybrid CPUs end in just a few months

By Zhiye Liu published 21 January 26

Intel's 12th Generation Alder Lake and 4th Generation Xeon Sapphire Rapids Scalable processors have reached end-of-life (EOL) status.

Kioxia exec says the AI boom means the era of the cheap 1TB SSD is over —company's NAND supply is sold out for this year and likely through 2027

By Zhiye Liu published 21 January 26

Kioxia's Memory Business Director warns that the global NAND flash shortage means affordable SSDs are gone for good.

DRAM shortage fuels fake GPU scams as China-based fraudsters exploit the supply crisis — RTX 4080 GPU sold at cut price was actually an RTX 3060 mobile chip with fake VRAM

By Zhiye Liu published 20 January 26

Chinese GPU repair shop exposes massive fraud operation selling counterfeit GeForce RTX 40-series cards on the secondhand market.

AMD vows to fight for gamers as DRAM shortage sends GPU prices skyrocketing — Radeon GPU prices have already surged over 10%

By Zhiye Liu published 17 January 26

AMD will try to keep graphics card prices as low as possible for gamers during the DRAM shortage.

Nvidia CEO with GeForce RTX 50-series GPU

Gamers face another crushing blow as Nvidia allegedly slashes GPU supply by 20%, leaker claims — no new GeForce gaming GPU until 2027

By Zhiye Liu published 15 January 26

Hardware leaker MEGAsizeGPU claims Nvidia has reportedly slashed graphics card supply to its AIC partners by 15% to 20%, and there won't be any new GeForce graphics cards until 2027.

Best RAM for Gaming: DDR4, DDR5 Kits for 2026

By Zhiye Liu last updated 15 January 26

Here is the best RAM for gaming we’ve tested: computer memory that is ideal for video editing and graphics-heavy applications.

Intel’s comeback weapon to fight AMD reportedly drops this spring — Core Ultra 200K Plus and 200HX Plus CPUs set for March or April launch

By Zhiye Liu published 14 January 26

Hardware insider shares launch and embargo information for Intel's upcoming Arrow Lake Refresh and Panther Lake processors.

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