Parrot Bebop Drone

Killer camera, prone to breakage

Ok, so it’s not exactly PC hardware, but we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to check out Parrot’s latest entry-level drone, the Bebop. Boasting massively improved specifications over its predecessor, it sounds like the perfect way to ease newcomers into the art of remote controlled flying. It’s now equipped with a stunning 1080p camera as well, making it one of the most affordable ways to capture epic sweeping shots for your home movies. Unfortunately some rather buggy software and poor battery life makes the high pricetag a rather risky investment.

Forge Quest

The Block Heads (sans Ian Dury)

Though still in early access, Forge Quest, a dungeon crawling, voxelbased hack and slash ARPG looks extremely polished. It’s also charming as hell, not simply because of the blocky world but for the humourous back story as well. Set in the land of Schmoop, players take the role of a licensed adventurer. The license is important, because adventuring is what keeps the economy buoyant. You see, many years before, the constant battles between good and bad became so omnipresent that the entire economy relied on them – blacksmiths repaired weapons and armour, henchmen were in high demand, as were healers, potion makers, poisoners and the like. When good finally overcame evil, the economy collapsed. Now, to keep things balanced and allow the trades to flourish, Schmoop licenses heroes and villains, maintaining a balance between the sides so that everyone, outside of the inevitable dead heroes and villains, can flourish.

Galax GTX 970 HOF

Galaxy drops a letter, and boosts the build quality

This is the first graphics card we’ve reviewed with the Galax brand name, and it couldn’t be more different to the budget offerings we’ve previously associated with Galaxy graphics cards. This is one serious piece of hardware, redesigned from the ground up to extract every possible ounce of sweat out of the GTX 970 GPU at its heart.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan X

Go big, or go home - and NVIDIA’s going very big!

Just when we thought NVIDIA couldn’t release a more expensive product, along comes its latest premium product, the Titan X. Unlike previous Titans, this isn’t just a slightly enhanced version of its flagship GPU; NVIDIA has gone the whole hog and developed a product t hat is a huge step up from the GTX 980. Whether or not it’s worth the audacious price tag is another question entirely.

GTA V. PC Performance Analysis

Make the most of your time in Los Santos with our handy guide

We’re trying something a little different this month in PC PowerPlay’s tech section, by taking one of the year’s most anticipated PC titles and putting it through its paces on a variety of GPUs and CPUs. The game in question is Grand Theft Auto V, and to say PC gamers have been itching to scratch their trigger fingers in its epic open world is like saying the media beat up around the hot coffee mod was only slightly sensationalistic. We’ve had to wait two long years for the PC version of Rockstar’s Magnum Opus to land on the one, true gaming platform, but the excruciating wait has been worth it. Past PC ports of Grand Theft Auto have been rough to say the least, but Rockstar has truly outdone itself this time around, delivering a magnificently polished experience with a huge range of graphics options. Crank these detail settings to maximum and it’s almost an entirely new game compared to the console versions, with vastly further draw distance, richer textures and a swathe of sexy new graphical effects. You’ll need an absolute beast to run it at maximum detail, yet Rockstar has ensured that even midrange systems get a console-beating experience.