Under The Shroud

Fan Technologies Unwound

There have been fans in computers ever since the power demanded by the components inside outstripped the cooling capabilities of passive convection. For CPUs, this occurred in 1989 with the launch of Intel’s 80486, commonly known as the 486. Discrete graphics cards were ushering in a new era of 3D aming in the late ’90s when cards like ATI’s Rage Fury Maxx, NVIDIA’s RIVA TNT2, and 3DFX’s Voodoo Banshee all launched with active cooling. PSUs have shipped with built-in fans for even longer, and at least one intake and one exhaust fan have become the minimum requirements in PC enclosures.

Remembering… Maths Coprocessor

This week, we get a little help from a mathematician

Back in the early 80s the PC was essentially a business only machine. Gaming hadn’t really taken off, and there would still be a few more years until the PC would become a recognised gaming platform, so the vast majority of PC-based computing was word processing, spreadsheets, design and CAD stuff.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Into a land of magic, war and terror we ride. Mouse and keyboard in hand

Polish developer CD Projekt Red has had extraordinary success with the Witcher series. Since the release of the first title in the series, in 2007, the core game has matured and evolved into something rather epic. But does The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt have what it takes to be the best open world RPG ever released or is it just a passing fad?

Sennheiser Urbanite XL Wireless

With the freedom to walk around untethered, Michael Fereday has been testing a Sennheiser headset

The Urbanite XL Wireless product is a Bluetooth on-the-ear type headset from Sennheiser. This particular model is a collapsible headset, which comes packaged with a standard micro-USB lead for battery charging, an audio lead with built-in remote and microphone plus a draw-string soft cloth carry case for transporting the headset when not in use.

i-Rocks Rock Series K10 USB Gaming Keyboard

A no-nonsense keyboard for those who want quality and durability

i-Rocks may sound like a relatively new company in the technology arena, but it has been in operation for at least 13 years, producing computer peripherals. With this experience behind it, the company is now introducing more affordable and interesting products to the peripheral market, in particular gaming products.