Muscle memory myths

It’s tempting to always get the biggest and fastest memory kit, but how much RAM do you actually need? By Mike Jennings

Component lifespans are usually pretty easy to track. Processors get higher clockspeeds, more cores and smaller silicon; graphics cards get better clocks, more transistors and bigger heatsinks; and storage gets bigger and cheaper.

Memory is another component that’s constantly evolving: faster speeds, bigger quantities, more channels. Conventional wisdom suggests that adding faster and larger amounts of memory will allow games and applications to run faster, but that’s not always the case, which is why we’ve examined this murky situation.

Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX

A feature-packed modder’s dream

So why is this Evolv ATX so much better that the ITX version, or the original Evolv Phanteks, released way back in September 2014? Quite simply, it’s the build quality. This isn’t a cheap case, oh no – it’s currently available for £140 over at www.overclockers.co.uk, and we’ll admit that figure is enough to make anyone wince. But then you unpack the chassis. And then you take a look at what’s included, and the stunning build quality that’s been achieved. You quickly begin to appreciate what Phanteks has managed to pull off at such a low (yes, low) price point.

Sapphire R9 285 ITX

A decent graphics card, but why would you buy it?

With AMD’s latest offerings to the bloodthirsty GPU gods right around the corner, it’s about time we wrapped up the last of the old breed. Compact and Mini-ITX machines have, over the last two years, become predominantly more popular as consumers lean towards cleaner, tighter rigs. This, coupled with the introduction of the Steam OS and in-home game streaming, means it’s suddenly become more appealing to build your own ITX dream machine.

MSI Cubi

Fantastically small home theatre PC in a box

If the MSI Wind Box was really just a tub of hot air, then the Cubi is a hurricane. A very good-looking hurricane. Sleek and small, with a clean design, our review sample is a treasure trove of golden hardware. It’s everything the Wind Box should’ve been.

Kingston HyperX Savage 240GB

Performance soothes the savage beast

Tech naming conventions are becoming a parody of themselves. Yeah, a solid-state drive Kingston wants to describe as ‘savage’. As well as ‘hyper’. With an extraneous ‘X’. We’ve seen more savage things at OAP days down the bingo.

But compared to some of the SSDs we’ve seen from Kingston, we’ll accept this latest drive has some call to use the HyperX nomenclature. It’s actually impressively speedy, and not just when compared to some of its more pedestrian stablemates. Put up against Samsung’s 850 EVO, resplendent with its 3D memory and in-house MGX memory controller, this Kingston effort manages to keep pace and, in some instances, actually outperform it.

SVS Prime 5.1

Something of a departure from the kings of cubic capacity, the SVS Prime Satellites make a big impression on Ed Selley

When you think of SVS, a number of words spring to mind but 'compact' isn't often one of them. The last SVS kit I reviewed, the PB1000 sub, would have made a decent coffee table as well as an excellent woofer. The company has a reputation for serious AV gear but little of it has been anything other than big.

Remembering... Manic Miner

David Hayward taken on the Amoebatrons this week

The first game I ever bought for my ZX Spectrum was Gobble a Ghost, which incidentally was a Рас-Man clone. The second, however, was a tad more known. It was Manic Miner.

Manic Miner is probably the one game that most people of a certain age will fondly recall when you mention the ZX Spectrum. It spawned a million clones, featured elements that most people thought were impossible on the machine at the time, and it was fiendishly addictive.

Top 5 Spam Emails

Which of these is clogging your inbox right now?

1 Lotto Winnings

It wasn't that long ago we didn't have a national lottery in the UK, but since its launch it's quickly become an everyday part of life. Not only that, but you can also win the lotto in other countries too - all without ever buying a ticket! Quite why anyone would believe their numbers have come up in a competition they never entered is a mystery, but clearly this scam must have worked at least a few times for spammers to bother sending out this nonsense.

MSI R7 370 Gaming 2G

Gaming on a budget these days looks pretty good

Earlier in June, AMD launched its new 300-series of Radeon cards and MSI has been quick to move in with the launch of the R9 390X Gaming 8G, R9 380 Gaming 2G and the card we're looking at today, the R7 370 Gaming 2G. The R7 370's GPU first appeared as the driving force behind the Radeon HD 7850, which was a pretty decent budget gaming card some years ago. The GPU was then resurrected for the R7 270 sometime later and is now once more resurfacing with a new lease of life in the R7 370.