PC hardware news and analysis
News, analysis and buying advice on PC hardware: what changed, what it means for a build, and the sources behind it.
Latest articles
Why memory bandwidth decides how fast local AI runs
A language model reads every weight for every token, so the speed limit is memory bandwidth, not compute. Tokens per second for nine graphics cards and three model sizes.
What recent PC games actually ask for
We read the published requirements of the 25 games released since 2023 in our catalogue. Memory, storage and video memory have moved; the processor has not.
How much VRAM do local AI models need?
Weights, KV cache and runtime overhead for eighteen models people actually download, and what fits on an 8, 12, 16, 24 or 32 GB card.
Which graphics card can your power supply run?
The answer depends on the processor as much as on the card. Recommended supply size for 35 graphics cards against four classes of processor.
What running AI on your own graphics card really costs
Electricity per million tokens for four graphics cards, why the fastest card is the cheapest per token, what the hardware adds, and the reasons that matter more than price.
How to balance a processor and a graphics card
Every pairing has a bottleneck; what matters is its size. Eleven real CPU and GPU pairings measured on one index, why resolution changes the answer, and where to overspend.
DDR4 vs DDR5 in 2026: the performance-per-dollar verdict
The technical comparison between the two memory generations has not changed. The price has, enormously, and that inverts a good deal of the usual advice.
The Ryzen 5 5500 in 2026: when it still makes sense
It is the cheapest processor you can build something decent around, and also the one most people buy without reading the single specification that matters.
Reading older articles
Articles here are listed newest first, eight to a page. An older piece is not an abandoned one: when a price, a specification or a recommendation in it changes, it is corrected in place and its update date moves, so the date shown on each article is when it was last updated rather than the day it first appeared.
Hardware figures in every article come from the same catalogue the calculators use. If an article quotes a card's power draw and the power supply calculator shows a different one, the calculator has the newer figure, and a note through the contact page gets the article fixed.
For material that does not date — how to choose a power supply, read a bottleneck result or plan a first build — the guides are the better starting point. They are longer, organised by chapter, and revised rather than replaced.
Every article sits in one of four sections. Hardware covers parts and how they fit together, software covers running AI models and other demanding programs at home, gaming covers what games ask of a machine, and news gathers practical pieces on buying, building and running a PC. The section is part of each article's address, so it is always visible at a glance.