AMD: Losses Mount

Mark Pickavance looks at the sorry financial state of AMD and wonders how much longer this can go on

Losses for AMD are something of a regular occurrence, but even its most ardent supporters drew breath when AMD recently announced its straight fourth quarterly loss.

PSU Buyers's Guide

There’s more to getting the right power supply than just picking the one with the highest number

Power supply units (PSUs) are an essential component of any computer for what should be fairly obvious reasons. Most of us don’t waste a second thought on our power supplies for the majority of the time we use our PCs, but when the time comes to buy a new one, you’ll find that PSUs are as complex and varied as any other computer component and just as deserving of the proper attention.

In case you suddenly find yourself thrust into a potentially confusing world of wattages, efficiencies, amps, volts and rails, we’re here to help. But fair warning: if you’re not building a performance or gaming system, some of this information will be of no practical value. If you are, though, it’s required knowledge. Either way, you might find it useful to know.

Do You Need An Expensive Case?

We take some of the guesswork out of choosing the right chassis

When you’re trying to build a system, finding the best bargains can take a lot of research. You have to compare price and performance, as well as considering the economy of what you need now against what will be cheaper to buy in the future.

Poseidon Z RGB Gaming Keyboard

The best keyboards are the ones that manage to blend style with substance, aesthetics with customization. There is no shortage of mechanical switch-enabled keyboards with RGB backlighting marketed toward gamers these days, but it’s the little things about Thermaltake’s Poseidon Z RGB that make it stand out.

Thermaltake Core P5

Nobody appreciates modded PCs as art better than CPU. Just flip to the Mad Reader Mod in this issue and you’ll see yet another world-class example of a PC that’s pleasing to the eye yet brutal with the benchmarks. But thanks to Thermaltake and the new Core P5, you can concoct a system worth showing off without having to leave your day job and convert your bathroom into an ersatz paint booth.

Supermicro C7H170-M

The tight confines and limited airflow of a small form factor rig often make for a hotter environment than systems in a mid- or full-sized tower. Supermicro’s C7H170-M is a microATX motherboard that’s built with stability and reliability in mind, while still providing support for Intel’s Skylake processors, M.2 storage, and a few expansion card slots. As you might guess by the title, the C7H170-M runs Intel’s H170 chipset, which is quite comparable with Intel’s Z170 chipset. Typically, the H variant of Intel’s chipsets don’t support overclocking, but Supermicro uses a special hardware design and BIOS that lets you adjust the base clock on your Skylake processor. Read on for a deeper look at Supermicro’s C7H170-M.

Avast Fast Fixes

Fix broken updates, stop false positives and discover the hidden Repair mode

Programs, websites or email run slowly

Avast has a real-time scanning mode called Active Protection that checks program launches, sent and received emails and visited websites. If you’ve updated the program this could have enabled new options or ones that you’d previously disabled. You can tweak these options to speed up specific activities, or reduce the program’s optimisation to speed everything up – potentially reducing levels of protection.

Secret Tips For… NirLauncher

Speed up navigation, force apps to launch the way you want and add hundreds of extra tools

Turn on text descriptions

NirLauncher, which has just been updated to work in Windows 10, puts hundreds of free, portable NirSoft tools in one launcher. Download it free from http://launcher.nirsoft.net. In the program window, the collection of tools is categorised for easy navigation, but it’s still not always clear what each tool does. So open the Options menu and tick Show Description Text – and now you’ll see a more comprehensive description of each tool’s functions.

Canon CanoScan LiDE 220

A standalone scanner that still standing

Remember when things didn’t do everything? Your phone made phone calls, your camera took pictures and your pocket calculator did sums. Back then, you had a printer to get stuff out of your PC and a scanner to get stuff in. They were separate machines for a reason: a printer is nothing like a scanner. They don’t share any parts.

Desktop vs Mobile: computers in competition

Despite the last few years’ repeated claims of an impending “post-PC” age, when mobile devices would replace personal computers as the most commonly-used medium for computing, more recently, evidence has emerged that PCs are far from dead. In fact, for many of us, the question isn’t whether we should continue using a computer; instead, it’s what type of computer we should opt to use.

The fact remains that, for many purposes, especially business work and academic study, a PC remains the most useful computing device. And, whereas recent years have seen smartphones greatly diversify in their sizes, designs, features and software, computers reached the same stage many years earlier. PCs aren’t dying; rather, as The Verge’s Tom Warren has recently remarked, they have simply “matured enough that you don’t need to replace the one you bought years ago if it’s still working”.

Devialet Silver Phantom

A futuristic speaker, with an exceptional price

With more than 41 audio awards under its belt, the French company Devialet has finally released its much anticipated Phantom range of speakers.

The Silver Phantom, however, isn’t your everyday speaker. Within its glass fibre-filled polycarbonate shell lies an 800MHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processor, with 512MB of DDR3 memory and a single Cyclone-V system-on-chip sound processing engine.

Trendnet Home Smart Switch with Wireless Extender

A networking device, with a little something extra

The Trendnet Home Smart Switch is designed to bridge the gap between a network wireless extender HomePlug and a smart electrical outlet.

It’s designed for use with a number of home automation projects or simply just one remotely operated and automated item of houseware. For example, you can be sitting there enjoying the extra stretch of your home wireless coverage, when you decide to switch on the radio in the kitchen. Provided the Home Smart Switch is configured as correctly, a single tap on the accompanying app will power up the radio.

WebSite X5 Evolution 12

A new release from Incomedia of its flagship WebSite X5 website designer

This month sees the latest update from Incomedia of its WebSite X5 product line, adding another digit to make it the 12 edition. It's also reduced the Evolution version to £49.99 and the Pro version by £30 to £139.00 – something to factor in when you’re looking for a website designer. In fact, the company encourages potential users to try it out first before parting with their money.

Brother DCP-9015CDW

While not an all-in-one device, this multifunction product still has a few tricks up its sleeve

The Brother DCP-9015CDW brings together the functionality of a colour laser printer and an A4 flatbed scanner. Along with the main scan and copy features, this Brother multifunction product offers remote and duplex printing, plus a choice of USB, wired or wireless connectivity. This sturdy device, with dimensions of 410 x 483 x 410mm (W x D x H) and weighing 23.2kg, will certainly be more at ease in an office rather than a home environment.

Remembering… Nintendo Game & Watch

David Hayward recalls why his thumbs now hurt when the weather gets a little cold

Prior to having elaborate handheld consoles or even the smartest of smartphones and tablets, kids of the early 80s, because they were hip, could instead be seen strutting their stuff with a Game & Watch in hand.

PicaPic’s Retro Handheld Games Collection

Handheld gaming has never looked so good

Since we’ve been looking at the Nintendo Game & Watch handhelds in our weekly Remembering page, we thought it was only fair to mention this wonderful resource of online Game & Watch goodness.

PicaPic’s Retro Collection of Handheld Games is developed by Hipopotam, a small development studio from Warsaw, teamed by husband and wife Daniel and Aleksandra Mizielinscy. Together they design a number of projects using Flash and HTML5, which include children’s books, cookery books and retro gaming.

"Fast food" design

David Wieland on why taking the shortcut when creating your website is bad for your company’s health

Interactive design is a complex and poorly understood industry – after all, it is only decades old. What to an outsider seems a simple, albeit technical process (‘make a website’), is actually a complex combination of dozens of disciplines intertwining over an entire spectrum.

Add patch power to your antivirus

Your antivirus can’t work alone – it needs Windows Update. Jane Hoskyn reveals why updates are more important than ever, and what you must do now

Pro-Ject Elemental Phono USB

Success on a platter

After years patiently explaining that the hole in your car dashboard was originally designed for a plastic box that played magnetic tape, and the tray that pops out of your PC isn’t a cup holder, anyone over 40 will now be amused to note that the young folk are getting into vinyl. Good luck to them, but we own all the records. The only problem is finding a turntable to play them on.

Google Chromecast Audio

Stream music from phone to hi-fi

There are lots of ways to get music and radio on your smartphone or tablet, but how do you listen to it? A good way is to attach something that can receive audio wirelessly to your hi-fi, TV sound bar or multimedia speakers. This is the latest example of such a device, and at 30 quid it’s got to be worth a look.

Don’t pay for Office 2016

Microsoft Office 2016 is a fantastic program with a hefty price tag. Jonathan Parkyn reveals how to get its best features for free

If you read our review of Office 2016, you’ll know what we think about it. In short, it’s great – but it’s not cheap.

Microsoft’s new office suite will set you back at least £120 for a standalone version (Home and Student). If you opt for an Office 365 Personal or Home subscription plan, it’ll cost £60 or £80 per year respectively. But Office 2016 is far from being your only option – there are several free office suites that offer equivalent features for free. Here we reveal the best of the bunch.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0

An Android rival for the iPad mini 4

Some people say Samsung copies Apple’s products. Some of those people are even judges. But nobody can accuse Samsung of copying this tablet from the iPad mini 4. If it’s a copy of anything, it’s the iPad mini 3. It has a screen the same size and shape, with the same number of pixels; wide borders at the top and bottom, and narrow at the sides; and a Home button that doubles as a fingerprint sensor.

Sony Xperia Z3+

Not the phablet we were hoping for

Counting is harder than it looks. The French get to 69 without much trouble, then panic and say ‘sixty-ten’ before moving on to ‘four twenties’. Microsoft goes 1, 2, 3, 3.1, 95, 98, ME, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10. Apple prefers 1, 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S, 5, 5s and 5c, 6, 6s. Google just lists snacks (KitKat, Lollipop and so on).

What you must never click

Phishing is still hackers’ favoured method to get malware – including ransomware – into your PC. Jonathan Parkyn reveals their latest tricks

Poor Hillary Clinton. As if running for US President wasn’t stressful enough, Mrs Clinton has reportedly been plagued by phishing emails. These included fake notifications of parking violations containing malware that could have let hackers gain access to her precious PC.

Vibox Exile

All-round desktop PC that’s beyond the ordinary

Everyone in science fiction has a silly name. It’s always Grand Phage Zebulus Ka’alantis, Fourteenth Lymptus of the Bliquity of Strope – never Emma Hodgkins. There’s a lot of fun to be had in this, of course, but it can get confusing.

Amazon Fire tablets

Amazon’s latest own-brand Fire tablets look cheap, but are they any good?

When the iPad first came out, there were debates about whether it was intended for creation or consumption. All you could do with it was gawp at things and play silly games, said the doubters. But look at all the office software, music tools, photo- and video-editing, art, education and more, said its fans, as all of those apps began to appear. Once MPs, doctors and airline pilots were being equipped with iPads as standard, the argument was won. Tablets aren’t just for watching stuff on the internet.

Tails 1.6

Tails is a Linux distribution that protects your online privacy with the high goal of breaking down censorship barriers. Running as a live DVD or on a flash drive, Tails can be used on any type of computer and encrypts your data and saves it to a persistent volume for easy transport. Tails also comes with a whole suite of security focused applications.

Denon DRA-100

Expanding its Design Series, Denon adds an all-in-one network receiver to the stylish lineup, and Andrew Everard is impressed

Tested Denon’s PMA-50 – the company’s compact amplifier – always had the promise to be the start of something big. Building on the technology of the DA-300USB DAC, it added in amplification and a sleek look combining a gloss black main body with aluminium top and bottom plates, plus a novel design with revolving main display to allow it to be used horizontally or vertically.

Lotoo PAW 5000

Fed up with touchscreen portable players? Lotoo’s PAW 5000 takes a different approach

Since the demise of the iPod Classic, the dedicated portable audio player has staged a small but meaningful fight back. Music is a storage-heavy medium and relying on your mobile phone to hold it all is problematic even before any argument about sound quality is entertained. Many players that have hit the market recently have been heavily influenced by smartphone and tablet touchscreen technology and are often rather large as a result.

How SSD work

Before we start to explain what an Solid State Drive (SSD) is and how it works we should first take a look at where we’ve come from.

Epson TW5300 Projector

Big-screen gaming, on a small-screen budget

I’ve been a vocal proponent for projectors for almost 15 years now, ever since I fired up my first 720p model hooked up to an Xbox, and was blown away by the true bigscreen experience. I’ve never gone back to gaming on a monitor since then, it’s that bloody good, with only VR tempting me away from its epic levels of immersion. Epson absolutely dominates the projector market here in Australia with over 50% of local sales, and its 9300 has been on our Beast page for quite some time. This month sees the arrival of its more affordable sibling, the TW5300. At a fraction of the cost, this is the perfect entry-level projector for gamers, and in some ways is even superior to its bigger bro.

A song of ice and fire

When talking Souls, be it Demon’s or Dark, it’s hard to avoid the subject of difficulty. To the casual observer, frequent deaths followed by a taunting ‘YOU DIED’ screen makes player persistence seem borderline masochistic. Add this to the tantrums thrown when a Souls game aims to be more “accessible”, and it’s easy to misconstrue intentions. But those more experienced with Dark Souls as a series know better. So, to get this out of the way: is Dark Souls III difficult? You bet it is. In the five or so hours spent with the title I was stabbed in the back, burnt to a crisp, frostbitten and even torn apart by tentacles. But it wasn’t the difficulty that kept me pushing through, nor the variety of ways in which I died (although it does keep things interesting). It was everything else around it.

Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection

Drake comes up with solid gold in this gorgeous remaster

Remember the first time you saw Uncharted? That vibrant jungle you couldn’t wait to rush into, lush greenery that was an antidote to every bit of brown that had infested games, and the alchemy that made Nathan Drake’s clothes stay sodden when he got out of water? The Nathan Drake Collection will make you feel that awe all over again.

Homefront: The Revolution

Playing at a disadvantage in Dambuster’s occupied urban jungle

The Homefront series’ luck is notorious. Despite taking a swing at a half-taboo subject and sparking controversy with its marketing, 2011’s linear run-and-gun through a USA under hostile occupation met with generally mild reviews and mass indifference. In its wake, developer Kaos was shuttered by THQ; two years later, the publisher also went extinct. Crytek then acquired the rights and envisioned a new game to be developed by Crytek UK and co-published with Deep Silver – a clean break, but one that would retain the challenging subject matter. Crytek’s own financial crisis would see what is now The Revolution changing hands again, Deep Silver’s parent, Koch Media, taking ownership of both the IP and Crytek UK, rebranding the latter Dambuster Studio. After so much misfortune, a superstitious observer might easily conclude that the series was cursed.

Windows 10 Gaming Guide

Get the most out of gaming with Bennett Ring

The release of a new Operating System is usually accompanied by a feeling of nervous anticipation followed by outright dread amongst gamers. Compared to the general PC populace, we’re the most sensitive to software change, with our demanding games putting more pressure on the entire PC than nearly every other type of software. If something doesn’t work quite so, it can destroy the entire gaming experience. It could be as simple as a broken refresh rate thanks to wonky monitor drivers, or as drastic as multiple-GPU setups no longer working caused by a revised version of DirectX; we’re accustomed to the release of a new OS breaking something. With the recent release of Windows 10, many gamers have adopted the safe Wait-and-See approach, which usually equates to waiting to see just how horrible the new OS is at gaming. Windows 10 seems to be something different though – despite the leap in version number up to 10, this isn’t really a giant leap forwards as an OS. It’s more a lick of paint applied to Windows 8.1, which probably explains why it’s already so good at gaming. We know this, because we’ve spent a month testing the ins and outs of this operating system in our regular gaming box. We’ve benchmarked the bejeesus out of it, but before we get to the performance metrics, let’s check out the new gamerspecific features that Microsoft has included.

Website Paywalls: Can They Work?

Could website content gated behind a subscription work or will the practice ensure the death of a site? Aaron Birch reports

The internet is seen by most as a free source of information. Whatever you want to know, you can find a site online, somewhere, that has what you need. Whether it’s news, the latest movie reviews, reference material for an exam or simply the latest juicy gossip, it’s all there. Sites are available for you to visit and soak up all that they contain.

The World’s Most Expensive Software Errors

Coming on the back of some recent revelations regarding software in cars, Mark Pickavance looks at the errant software that cost companies millions

The power of software is that it’s a flexible component, able to be adapted quickly to meet new requirements and challenges. But as much as that malleability is a strength, it’s also a weakness, because often changes can occur rapidly and without sufficient testing before they’re deployed. Sometimes this can cause inconvenience, but on occasion it can also be horribly expensive for the company involved.

Official Raspberry Pi Touchscreen Display

David Briddock examines the latest official Raspberry Pi accessory

It’s been a long wait, but on the September 8th the Raspberry Pi Foundation launched its official Raspberry Pi touchscreen display kit. Since then, the display has been available for purchase from the Pi Swag Store (goo.gl/SFNms5) for £48, or from RS Components/Allied Electronics, Premier Farnell/Newark and others at a similar price.

Is LiFi The Successor To Wi-fi?

Could a bright new alternative one day replace wi-fi? David Crookes talks to LiFi pioneer, Professor Harald Haas

There is no denying that wi-fi has revolutionised our lives, allowing us to speedily access the internet while on the move and removing the hassle of wired connections. It has saved us lots of money by letting us conserve our mobile data plans, and it has become a utility just like electricity and water for so many of us. You only have to gauge our reaction when it slows or stops working: we get on the phone and argue the toss with the service provider and we become stroppy at the sheer inconvenience of it all.

More than human

Jensen’s back, and he’s more powerful than ever in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Deep in a theatre in rainy Prague, bionic commando Adam Jensen is trapped in a closet. The door is the only exit, and that’s guarded by a bipedal robot loaded up with machine guns. There must be a way out; Deus Ex is all about choice.

Remembering… MMX Processors

David Hayward tries to understand Intel’s abbreviations

Just as the computing world was getting used to the high clock speeds of the DX range of Intel processors, there came a point early in 1997, when adverts in magazines and on the TV announced the next generation of CPU: the MMX.

Usheru

Although we can now have full surround sound, enormous 4K TVs and the most comfortable seats at our disposal in our living rooms, it’s still not quite as much fun as going to an actual cinema.

Of course, at home, we don’t have to spend £50 or more for a family to get tickets, a tub of popcorn, drinks and some wine gums (my favourite, in case anyone is interested). But more often than not, we go to the cinema not just to watch the latest blockbuster but to enjoy the experience – a form of art that sadly seems to be in decline, for a number of reasons.

Ulefone uWear

Can a ultra cheap smartwatch really compete with the big boys?

Before we get into the review of this watch, please bear with us for a moment as we provide a bit of background.

A couple of months ago, a press release dropped into our inbox, extolling the virtues of the Cube i10 tablet. In spite of costing just £82, it offered dual Windows and Android booting, as well as array of quite impressive features. This press release was written in broken English, and a visit to the retail site that issued it confirmed that the i10 was a cheap Far East product and would be sent from abroad.

Wo wWee MiPosaur

We bow down to our robot overlords

One of the biggest Christmas present items of the last couple of years was the rather impressive RoboSapien. The technology involved in this unique robot was exceptional, and both children and adults alike enjoyed programming and playing with it.

Now WowWee, the company behind RoboSapien, has returned with another great gift item for this year: the MiPosaur.

Myfox Home Alarm And Security Camera

Mark celebrates national home security month with a Myfox review

If I was handing out accolades purely for design and style, the Myfox Home Alarm and Security Camera would be heading for glory. I can imagine Apple’s Jonathan Ive would gush over them (if they had an Apple logo on them, obviously).

Synology DS215+

Mark investigates if the DS215+ is the fastest small NAS box yet?

Synology’s number versioning isn’t as easy as it once was, since it stopped releasing a baseline year model and then the budget and performance derivatives above and below it.

Therefore, with the DS215 range there is no Value Series model, just the budget J Series DS215j and, reviewed here, the DS215+. The equivalent Value Series machines are the DS214 and DS214Play, and this is a different beast to those other dual-drive NAS solutions.

Beware of the bandwidth thieves

Barry Collins is tired of companies stealing bandwidth for software updates and patches

Here’s a simple maths puzzle. If your monthly broadband data cap is 10GB and Microsoft secretly swallows 4GB of that without your permission, how angry would you be (show your working)?

Leave it ON or switch it OFF?

There’s much debate about whether you should leave your devices switched on all the time or turn them off when they’re not in use. Rob Beattie weighs up the pros and cons

Boost your security using hacker tricks

Protect yourself from cybercriminals by using their own tools to fight them. Robert Irvine explains the best free and legal ways to turn the tables on the bad guys

Best iOS content blockers

With the release of iOS 9, Apple has opened up Safari to content-blocking software, to keep your mobile browser free of ads and other distractions. But which of these new apps is the best? Andy Shaw puts them to the test