Audio Technica ATH-R70x

Heaven for your ears

While most of the headsets we’re looking at in this roundup are specifically gaming related with all the bells and whistles that usually come with their place in the market – attached microphone, flashing lights, pumped bass to accentuate explodey things – there’s also a place for professional studio monitor headphones in the world of gaming. If you have a good sound card and want to appreciate subtleties in sound, the richness of a soundtrack or simply use your headphones for more than just gaming, the ATH-R70x should be your dream upgrade.

AMD Radeon R9 Fury X

Small on size, big on performance

The Fury X is the first release in a range of high-end graphics cards all based around the Fiji chip, debuting in Australia on June 25, and it’s going to be the most expensive. With an Aussie recommended price of $979, this water-cooled speed demon is AMD’s new flagship graphics card. Soon after its launch will come Fury, an air-cooled version of the product at a lower price. AMD wouldn’t reveal any other changes to the Fury, but we expect fewer Stream Processors and/or a lower clock speed. If it’s anything like other product releases, expect a sizeable price drop yet most of the Fury X performance in the new Fury, which is probably why AMD isn’t releasing any info on it, for fear of eating into Fury X sales.

Cardboard 2.0

Discover how Google is unfolding the future of virtual reality and making it accessible to everyone

What a difference a year makes in the world of technology. Last year Google gave away its Cardboard virtual reality headset as a free gift to developers at the end of the Google I/O conference. This year, the product was firmly placed in centre stage during the conference keynote. One million Cardboard viewers have been shipped worldwide and over 500 compatible apps are available on the Play store. But Google is not going to stop there. With a new-look Cardboard viewer and an ambitious vision to make sharing virtual reality experiences accessible to everyone, the tech giant is pushing the envelope of virtual reality.

Acer B326HUL

A screen with space to burn

If you have the room, a bigger display always looks better. The same cannot be said for bigger pixels - the smaller the better. Although more affordable 32in monitors are beginning to muscle in on 24 and 27in models, they often come with a relatively low resolution of 1920x1080 - fine for watching TV, not so good for Windows, especially when you’re sitting close to the screen. Unfortunately, you tend to pay a lot more for monitors with higher resolutions.

Chillblast Helios i5

Air on a shoestring? Sounds good to us

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Apple must be feeling fairly smug right now. Here’s the latest rival product that, at first glance, looks like an Apple clone except for the missing fruit-shaped logo. It’s even made of aluminium, not plastic, just like the real thing. Surely no coincidence?